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Mr. Hubbell, Thanks again for your insights. Your telling of Lori E’s phone banking story was important to me. I will not be so dismissive of the incoming unsolicited telephone callers without faces who are grinding out the important one at a time conversations that when taken together will make the different in November 2024 for our democracy. Those Lori Es are the foot soldiers the battle against the dark MAGA forces of hate.

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It's ironic that places like Philadelphia MS, county seat of Neshoba County - and the county itself - a century before the murders was known as the capital of Southern Unionism in Mississippi. throughout the South, many of the places that during the Civil War were locations of resistance to the Confederacy, became - over the near century of Jim Crow - the most reliable places for resistance to the Rights Movement and centers of KKK resistance, when the KKK had originally terrorized the ancestors of many of the people who were then in the KKK in the 1960s. The miseducation of Jim Crow white supremacy destroyed most of the history of Southern Unionism (one-third of southern white males wore Union blue, not Confederate gray), which was centered in the mountain people of western Virginia (became West Virginia), east Tennessee, northern Georgia, northern Alabama and Mississippi, northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas - now the most reliably pro-Trump parts of the South.

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Thank you TC. Always expanding our understanding.

Never taken lightly.

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August 4, 2023
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Flattery will get you everywhere, Janet. :-)

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Bill Barr has never been, nor will he ever be a friend of democracy, despite his comments now disparaging Trump. He enabled Trump at every turn and now seeks fame and fortune by criticizing Trump. Moreover, when pressed by the CNN interviewer, Barr left open the possibility that he would vote for Trump again if Trump is the GOP nominee. How much does THAT say about Barr and his love of this country?!!!

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founding

It says everything. Barr is a fraud himself. As you wrote he is exploiting the moment for his own self interest. Prior to leaving Trump’s administration he was an active tool of 45.

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He was interviewed on the PBS Newshour last night and stated that he didn't think that trump would go to jail for any of his convictions. He sounded like a wet washcloth to me.

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*I’m* also afraid Trump won’t go to jail for any of his convictions.

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Simply outstanding, Robert. A couple of comments. Three years ago Maureen Dowd wrote a column about Trump. The headline was “Donald Trump American Monster.” That headline was and remains perfect. Absolutely perfect. We get overwhelmed by his daily outrages and so are tempted to tune out. We can’t afford to tune out entirely. Just remember that headline.

The section on the Mississippi Freedom Summer is welcome. An important reminder on many levels. So many heroic young people - some of my college classmates. But - here I tread gingerly - I would like to point out that Goodman and Schwerner were both Jews — something that has made me proud - proud to see Jews and Blacks risking and sacrificing their lives together.

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Please remind Bernie and the Squad of this.

And Don't forget Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching into Selma at the front of the line with MLK

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Heschel was missing (removed) from that front line in the movie *Selma*.

People shouldn’t learn history from Hollywood movies.

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I know. He was airbrushed or "whited out." The movie folks said something to the effect that it was okay to be revisionist.

For those of you reading this: Rabbi Heschel was spirited out of Poland to avoid the Holocaust. He ended up teaching Jewish mysticism in NY. He put his own life on the line to march with MLK. MLK also got Rabbi Heschel to protest Vietnam. Coretta King asked Rabbi Heschel to eulogize MLK at his funeral.

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I agree that it’s ok to be “revisionist” with regard to INTERPRETATION OF THE FACTS. The removal of Rabbi Heschel was an attempt at *revising the facts*. It reminds one of manipulation of official photographs by the Soviet government.

I think it’s a dishonest practice.

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Yup!

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founding

Today’s Edition and the stories of the murders of the civil rights workers and Norman Rockwell’s painting put me squarely back in touch with the importance of our work.

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founding

Over and over, your blog soundly illustrates the fundamental and critical importance of one’s character in determining one’s conduct, day by day, hour by hour, thought by thought. Thank you for reminding us of this truth! Let’s continue to work on our own character development so that “our light will shine” in the right place at the right time!

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Oh SO TRUE. Character matters every moment of every day. I taught my children that and I am still teaching myself.

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Gobsmacking picture.

Most of us are only faced with words, not swords.

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If anyone hasn't seen Mississippi Burning, starring Gene Hackman, Willem Defoe, Frances McDormand, and Brad Dourif, watch it. Great flick.

Query: Will Secret Service have to work in a federal prison if you-know-who serves hard time? Using taxpayer dollars? Will they build him a wing fit for a Saudi king? With a driving range?

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Even if that is what eventually transpires, that will be hell on earth for Drumpf. No more cheering crowds, his erstwhile wife and youngest child spirited away to Slovinia, and his adult children contemplating their own imprisonments.

Let us all work diligently to make it so.

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He u fortunately will never actually serve time because he will appeal all the verdicts and thst will take years.

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That's reality. I was wondering more in the fun zone.

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I don't think you stay out once convicted.

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There is an old adage that says “ if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there does it make a sound.?” The same applies to many recents events. The release of the transcripts in the Hunter Biden hearing will not make major media news in relationship to the media coverage of the Republicans on the committee making false statements about the hearing. The majority of the voting public will not read the indictments and will rely on the media to cover the “ facts” of the case for them. The right wing defense of Trump based on throwing around the First Amendment argument is totally wrong on multiple levels yet many Americans who don’t really understand the First Amendment to begin with will believe it. I think it would be entirely appropriate if those individuals who claimed they told Trump he lost the election show be forced to go on Fox News and other media outlets and look straight into the camera and say “ The election was not stolen, Trump lost , he knew he lost and he lied to the American people, and you to stay in power after he lost. At the end of the day Trump will like a lot of sporting teams in close games try and “ run out the clock “ in hopes he either gets re-elected or dies before he goes to jail. The MAGA brand has a shelf life and let’s hope it’s past it’s expiration date.

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Thank you for your words about Andrew Goodman. He was a student at Queens College in New York, as I was, at the time of his active Civil Rights activities. I did not know him personally and his presence on campus only became relevant to me subsequent to his death. On the other hand, meeting those who knew him, I understood the depth of his feeling and his commitment to justice and civil rights. It is interesting how lives can intertwine, like fine threads weaving a fabric, his life had become part of my story - yes, if only by association. I have throughout the years thought about Andrew as I grew more enlightened and engaged. I believe I can be honest in the assertion that he has been a model for me and many others. His life has had meaning.

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I was a senior at Hunter College in 1959 and exhausted from a day in the field with Visiting Nurse of New York and facing an evening class in something when in the cafeteria there was a call to stand up for voting rights in the South. I was eating a terrible cafeteria dinner and refused to stand when a volunteer asked me to join in the protest. I told her I was late, I was hungry and I was tired altho , at twenty I didn’t know the real meaning of “tired”. To this day my action of non participation bothered me. I knew better and I know better today. I stand with those three poor boys, murdered by hatred and sick at heart knowing that things have not changed. We have laws now that protect minority voting and rights but many hearts have not changed or else these so called leaders could have not slithered out. They reject the “other” and create a campaign around them - the “woke”, the elite”, the migrants, Socialism, diversity and inclusion, librarians , teachers, other races, other religions, LBGT…. - whatever. We, the enemy. Democrats fight back by voting against Donald Trump or his minions every chance we get. They fight back with violence and vitriol and lies. It is a grim prospect at best !

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I actually was in the Contemporary Civilization class with Andrew Goodman in 1963. It was one of those huge lecture classes, and I did not know him personally, sorry to say.

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Thank you for this post and keeping us informed on the never ending whine-fest of the TPoT (That person on trial. I can no longer bear to even see his name in print). I’ve been following this and reading the indictment all week.

But an article in your closing thoughts section hooked me. I got curious about the Rockwell painting as I was not familiar with it, so googled it for more info. The story is horrific and Rockwell reveals that truth in his painting. Such a stark contrast to the lies and misinformation TPoT spews.

I found this YouTube video about the painting produced by the Rockwell museum: https://youtu.be/r8T2x8UZlxc

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author

wonderful video. thanks!

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Happy to contribute! Have a great weekend!

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Thank you very much, Sharon. It's a powerful clip.

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Jamelle Bouie makes an important point in the NYT Opinion section today: " If we truly hope to avoid another Jan. 6, or something worse, then we have to deal with our undemocratic system as much as we do with the perpetrators of that particular incident. Whatever benefits our unusual rules and procedures are supposed to have are more than outweighed, at this point in our history, by the danger they pose to the entire American experiment. The threat to the integrity of the republic is coming, as it often has, from inside the house."

Winning in 2024 is life-or-death for democracy in America. The Electoral College remains an important obstacle to democratic victory in our winner-take-all system. It offers an established path to minority victory, as happened in 2000 and 2016. It invites third-party intervention to dilute the majority and elevate the minority. Even if we can make democracy stay alive in 2024, this problem will persist as long as the racist and nonsensical Electoral College persists.

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Unfortunately one item that escaped the news when Trump pleaded not guilty yesterday was the response of the judge who said, " Really?"

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Democracy Docket is reporting this morning that Eastman's CA disbarment hearing is scheduled for later this month.

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author

Thanks!

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Cannot come soon enough! I am counting on the California Bar to evaluate the evidence of Eastman's seditious behavior carefully and act with the attention to facts and truth that this situation and the American people deserve. I am very sorry to say they have not always done that with famous, well-connected lawyers who have abandoned their integrity and failed the people they are supposed to serve.

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Charley O

Mr. Hubbell: I remember the murders of the three civil rights workers well. They were shot to death and buried in an earthen dam outside of Philadelphia, MI. They were unearthed after being missing for some time. The Neshoba County Sheriff was implicated in the crime. It was horrible.

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I wonder why Trump has not been described as a traitor ? He seems to fit that description as well if not better than others who have been so labeled.

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