December 24, 2022

I became a cowboy Christmas of '67

...woke up one winter morning to find a cowboy outfit just my size under the Christmas tree, complete with fringe vest, fringed chaps, a red cowboy hat with a multi-colored rolled stitch around the brim, and two six-shooting pearl handled pistols which fired off rolls of red caps.

I wore that outfit everywhere until it wore out years later, storing all my cowboy gear at night in a smooth, rounded wooden chest by the window where I kept the rest of my toys hidden away until the next day arrived and I became a cowboy once more.

I almost didn't become a cowboy that year. Two days before Christmas, my older sister led me down to the cellar where the root beer Dad had made and bottled was stored, the same homemade brew that exploded one day and sliced his arm open so bad that Mom made me drive with him to the hospital. He had made his way there wincingly in our olive green Impala and I stood beside him as he got stitched up, just as he stood beside me when I broke my arm after he tried to straighten it out by himself and ended up racing us to the hospital in that same green Impala and I got my first plaster cast.

My sister Maria told me that day there was no Santa Claus, and she'd prove it to me in the basement. There behind the stacked cases of potentially explosive brew looked to be a pile of every toy we'd written Santa for, and more.

My sister looked triumphant, and, while I was a little excited to see the toys, I was a little bit crushed that she'd managed to spoil my visions of other-worldly magic and wonder with her selfish act of superiority; my know-it-all big sister beating me over the head with yet another tattle-tale truth to shatter my childhood dreams.

"Nuh-uh,' I shot back.

"Uh-huh," she retorted, and before she could twist the knife any further, Mom appeared behind us and we scattered, denying we'd seen anything. But she'd heard everything. There was no punishment meted for being down there, but it felt like I'd been caught trying to rob a bank.

That feeling of dread was still with me on Christmas Eve, and, no one was more excited and relieved to see the presents under the tree than I was. But before I could dive in, Dad called me over and said he was phoning Santa to tell him about my sister and me sneaking and peeking at presents. When he finished his strange conversation into the receiver, he told me Santa would forgive me 'this time,' and let me have my gifts.

It started out the most frightening Christmas Day ever in my life, and ended as the best one yet. It's really the only one I can remember well, except for the 'Christmas play' my sister wrote and organized around our piano for our parents in which I just stood there dumbfounded while my ballerina sister acted out her ingratiatingly pretentious Christmas gift.

After attacking every present and littering the living room with wrapping paper and ribbon, I quickly slipped into my new cowboy duds and went out back to play, popping off the red roll of caps through the pistols, then just banging the caps on the frozen ground with my shiny new pistol's pearl handles (no they didn't last long, not the caps, nor the pearl handles).


...it's a cold and windy holiday this year without any snow, but it's still a perfectly picturesque Christmas Eve. A pair of young deer are undoubtedly nestled together among the bushes I planted in the backyard, sheltering against the cold, likely to inch out one by one Christmas morning to warm themselves in the dappling sun.

I do miss snow on the holidays, so I dug up a poem I wrote back a bit for a little of a dusting... Merry Christmas, y'all!

November 29, 2022

Much gratitude to DOJ prosecutors for their outstanding legal work re: Rhodes et al

...how it started:

____Over roughly two hours, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy walked the jury through some of the evidence — text messages, videos and witness testimony — presented over the past seven weeks and said it demonstrates a conspiracy to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history.

"Our democracy is fragile. It cannot exist without respect for the rule of law," Rakoczy said. "And it will not survive if people who are dissatisfied with the result of an election can use force and violence to change the outcome. That is what these defendants did. They conspired to — and did — halt the transfer of power on Jan. 6."

"That is unacceptable," she said. "That is criminal."

"Two days after the presidential election," Rakoczy told jurors, "Mr. Rhodes called for war with all of its horrors and violence to oppose the results of a presidential election. Think about that."

"A mountain of evidence has shown that these five defendants joined together and agreed to do whatever necessary, up to and including the use of force, to stop the lawful transfer of power to Joe Biden," she said.

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/18/1137372415/oath-keepers-closing-arguments-jan-6-seditious-conspiracy-stewart-rhodes
__________________________________

“These defendants repeatedly called for the violent overthrow of the United States government and they followed those words with action,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy said in her closing statements. “Please do not become numb to these statements. Think about what is actually being called for in these statements.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/18/prosecutors-seditious-conspiracy-case-oath-keepers-00069405


...how it ended:

Brandi Buchman @Brandi_Buchman

Elmer Stewart Rhodes jury verdict by count:
GUILTY: seditious conspiracy
NOT GUILTY: conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
GUILTY: obstruction of an official proceeding
NOT GUILTY: conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging
GUILTY: Tampering with docs

Kelly Meggs jury verdicts
GUILTY: seditious conspiracy
GUILTY: Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
GUILTY: Obstruction of an official proceeding
GUILTY: Conspiracy to prevent officer from discharging duties
NOT GUILTY: Destruction govt property
GUILTY: Tampering w/docs

Kenneth Harrelson jury verdicts:
NOT GUILTY: seditious conspiracy
NOT GUILTY: Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
GUILTY: Obstruction of official proceeding
GUILTY: Conspiracy to prevent ofcr from doing duties
NOT GUILTY: Destruction of prop
GUILTY: Tampering w/docs

Jessica Watkins jury verdicts:
NOT GUILTY: Seditious conspiracy
GUILTY: Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
GUILTY: Obstruction of official proceeding
GUILTY: Conspiracy to prevent officer from doing duties
NOT GUILTY: Destruction govt property
GUILTY: Civil disorder

Thomas Caldwell jury verdicts per count:
NOT GUILTY: Seditious conspiracy
NOT GUILTY: Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
GUILTY: Obstruction of an official proceeding
NOT GUILTY: Conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging duties
GUILTY: Tampering with docs

November 17, 2022

There's an injunction prohibiting DOJ from using unclassified records seized at MAL

emptywheel @emptywheel 17m
There is an injunction prohibiting DOJ (on threat of contempt and losing the evidence) from using the unclassified records seized at MAL in any investigation of Trump. DOJ would use those docs to show Trump interspersed at least 3 classified docs w/others.

emptywheel @emptywheel
The very SOONEST that injunction will be lifted is on November 22 when the 11th Circuit, on quick turnaround, will hear the case. That would put an indictment sometime in December at the earliest, best case scenario.

There are still known steps that have to or probably will happen before Trump would be indicted in any of the known criminal investigations into him. For those demanding proof of life from the DOJ investigations into Trump, you need look no further than the public record to find that proof of life. The public record easily explains both what DOJ has been doing in the Trump investigations, and why there is likely to be at least a several month delay before any charges can be brought.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/11/14/merrick-garland-hasnt-done-the-specific-thing-you-want-because-doj-has-been-busy-doing-things-they-have-to-do-first/

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1593250600669433856

November 14, 2022

Inspiring portraits

Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton 33m
I was thrilled to help honor my friend and mentor, Marian Wright Edelman, at the @smithsoniannpg #PortraitofANation celebration this weekend. Marian has spent six decades bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice, and we are all the beneficiaries of her noble mission.

November 11, 2022

Parade in a Small Town

I put together a small gif slideshow of 5 pics from a homecoming parade in Charleston, W.Va. that my father participated in sometime at the later end of the 40's.

I think the mix of races in the crowd is fascinating. Dad told me that, on the way home after being shipped to New Guinea and back to the base out West, he had to change train cars on the rest of the way back home to Pennsylvania from the integrated train to the 'colored' rail line when they reached the segregated towns.

This parade and the obviously interested crowd is pretty unique (for the time) with its unit of black soldiers, and the old and young folks who came out for this fascinating procession.

I've always named the one photo with the single soldier strutting out in front 'Proud Soldier' for the one fellow's sense of pride and the apparent appreciation shown by the mix of residents of the town looking on . . . (wait for it to change)




(Dad, in stride, third photo)

November 11, 2022

Dad's fight didn't end with his short service in WWII

Dad joined the U.S. Army in 1942, during WWII. He'd had enough of life in Reading, Pa. and the world was beckoning. That summer as he trained in munitions handling and other military tasks, U.S. troops had landed on Guadalcanal... (self-obliging re-post for Veterans Day)




SOME of the most important and relevant aspects of our BHM celebrations have been our highlighting and honoring of our country's African American heroes whose efforts helped our nation advance and grow beyond our challenging, and often, tragic beginnings. Although most would be loath to call themselves 'heroes' or volunteer themselves for any special recognition at all for their deeds, there is certainly a benefit in framing and promoting these brave citizens' struggles and triumphs as a guide to future generations as they navigate their own inter-ethnic/inter-racial relationships among our increasingly diverse population. Their work and sacrifices form the foundation for the actions we took to reject and defend against discrimination, racism, and other abuses and injustices; as well as provide sustaining inspiration for the conduct of our own lives.

The most enduring and important legacy of these societal pioneers has been the uplifting of a people, and the promises gained, of opportunity and justice for black Americans (and, subsequently, other minorities, women, and the disabled) to be realized through the affirmative action of our federal government.

It was only through the tireless activism and advocacy of notables like Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the civil rights movement in the 1960's, who were protesting and demanding equal opportunity and access for African Americans, that politicians like John F. Kennedy and his political predecessors saw fit to introduce and advance legislation which would bring the federal government into compliance with the aim of equal employment opportunity and require contractors who were hired by government agencies to form 'affirmative action' programs within their own companies as a prerequisite for getting tax dollars from Uncle Sam.

Although President Kennedy didn't live to see the passage of the Civil Rights Act, he did manage to accommodate the lobbied demands of Dr. King in both, his Executive Order 10925, introduced. in 1961, establishing a 'Committee On Equal Employment Opportunity' (providing for the first time, enforcement of anti-discrimination provisions) ; and in his introduction of the Civil Rights Act to Congress on 19 June 1963.

Almost a year after President Kennedy's assassination, Lyndon Johnson pushed the Civil Rights Act through Congress and signed it into law. One of its major provisions was the creation of the 'Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.' The law provided for a defense by the federal government against objectionable private conduct, like discrimination in public accommodations; authorized the Attorney General to file lawsuits to defend access to public facilities and schools, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, and to outlaw and defend against discrimination in federal programs.

So, Dr. King and others in the civil rights effort, had done their part in agitating and promoting through demonstrations, the notion and the ideal of advancing equal opportunity into action and law. The passage of the Civil Rights Act was, by no means, the end of advocacy by black leaders. Neither was it the end of the political effort by Johnson and others committed to advancing and enhancing black employment and establishing anti-discrimination as the law of the land.

On September 24, 1965, President Johnson originated and signed Executive Order 11246 which established new guidelines for businesses who contracted with the Federal government agencies, and required those with $10,000 or more of business with Uncle Sam to take 'affirmative action' to increase the number of minorities in their workplaces and keep a record of their efforts available on demand. It also set 'goals and timetables' for the realization of those minority positions.

As far as the activists and politicians' abilities went, they had stepped up to the plate and hit the ball into the outfield. Now, the challenge was to bring the jobs home; to protect and defend the new employment provisions in the federal government, as well as, around the nation in the myriad of public facilities and other amenities which were connected to the federal government through funding. Enforcement was the key.

That would require reliance on a newly formed bureaucracy and its government managers and directors; some appointed by the president, most others brought into government on a less auspicious level.

One of those 'managers and directors' who was present and accountable in government at the time of these important changes in our employment law was my father, Charles James Fullwood.


Charles James Fullwood

In a bit of a self-indulgent look back at his almost 40 years in government -- in relation to some of the changes in the federal government's evolving embrace of its responsibility to defend and promote the remedies and benefits of the equal protection clauses in the Constitution -- we can see a tenuous, but, determined fight beyond the protests; beyond the political arena; to press on with the implementation and realization of some of the promises of the Civil Rights movement.

In Charles Fullwood's personal development and advancement in the military and in government, we can also see many of the dynamics of inclusion and adjustment in play which marked his coming of age in the midst of poverty and oppression, and also, the period beyond the bold actions and bold choices our nation subsequently undertook through their elected representatives.

As humble beginnings go, it's hard to get more quaint than his first home near an Indian reservation in the mountains of Black Hills, North Carolina. He said his daddy used to run a speakeasy with a still in the cellar which he liked to nip at a little when he fetched and filled the jugs for the blues-loving customers partying upstairs. A run-in by my grandfather with a local sheriff was said to have sent the Fullwoods packing and making their way up North in a hurry. The family of eleven settled down in Reading, Pennsylvania, and, but for a few exceptions, like Dad, lived most of the rest of their entire lives there.


On the Sidewalk Outside of 4th Street Address

Reading was a hard-scrabble, mostly poor community which was mostly known, as my father liked to say, for it's 'pretzels, prostitutes, and beer.' In his neighborhood, at least, he described a people who were laid low by poverty and discrimination, and advantaged more by the 'mob' than by the government or its industry. Their burly representatives were said to bring food and clothing to some of the needy families in the neighborhood, once, as Dad described it, looking in the door and seeing all of the children running around, remarked, 'Look at all the hungry little bastards! Little bastards gotta eat.'

Dad said that they would come by occasionally with items like underwear that folks had discarded, and, they'd take them -- happily, because it might be their only opportunity. It's not as if their father hadn't worked to provide for his large family. In fact, James Beulo Fullwood, who immediately applied for 'Relief', upon arrival in town, refused to send his children to school unless the local government provided all nine of them with new clothes. I'm told he got the clothes.





Somehow, Dad and his sister Olivia (who was a young, tragic casualty of the seedy side of the town) managed to gain admission to a Quaker grade school nearby and enjoyed the benefits of educational integration well before most of the rest of the nation. He also worked with the conscientious objectors in the Quaker community as a member of the local Civilian Conservation Corps.


Dad and the Reading Civilian Conservation Corps

Like most endeavors in his life, Dad was on the cusp of a revolution of societal changes which would both advance his careers, and bring his life experiences to bear as he took advantage of the opportunities that the political community's (and the nation's) determination to implement the 'Great Society' ideals expressed and advanced by King, Kennedy, and Johnson into action or law afforded him.

Charles completed three years of high school (vocational school) without a degree and worked as a machinist apprentice operating a drill press. As far as opportunity went in that town, he had the best of it at the machine shop.

He joined the U.S. Army, in 1942, during WWII. He'd had enough of life in Reading and the world was beckoning. As he was training in munitions handling and other military tasks, U.S. troops had landed on Guadalcanal. A year later, as Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met together for the first time, Dad was aboard a Navy carrier bound for New Guinea (the time of his life).





He was attached to the 628th Ordinance Company and their mission was to establish an ammo dump near Brisbane, Australia. The voyage was 'uneventful;' touching once at Wellington, New Zealand and eventually docking at Sydney, Australia.


Members of the 628th Ordinance Company

"Today is cruel:" he wrote, in a brief, but compelling journal of his first voyage and his first trip abroad. "the sky is cold. not a particle of cheery blue is seen. Nature has sketched a lifeless and deadly scene whose background is obscurity . . The elements are warring."





Dad gained a field promotion in New Guinea to Staff Sargent after his superiors recognized him as a leader among his unit of black soldiers. He had an experienced ability to relate with and communicate effectively with the majority of white commanders and superiors in the military and that also served to elevate his profile among the military leadership.


New Guinea -- Cadre and Locals

Dad returned from his voyage and two-month deployment to New Guinea and Australia, newly energized and ambitious. On the way home from the West, he had to repeatedly switch trains to ride on the 'colored' cars through the segregated states and towns. He arrived home to Reading and immediately threw his abusive, deadbeat father to the curb. He didn't plan to stay there long, though.


Dad and Sister

Charles received an honorable discharge in 1946. Four years later, he was a graduate student on the GI Bill at West Virginia State College. Dad met my mother there and married her after graduation. He received a degree there in Psychology and went on to further his education at Princess Anne College in Maryland, where he described living in a rundown, segregated, barrack-like dorm.





At WVa. State College, Dad became a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and joined the ROTC.


W.Va, College President, John W. Davis Presents the ROTC Unit's Colors to Senior Cadet, Lt. Charles Fullwood

He subsequently enlisted in the USAR in 1950 where he was assigned to work on civil affairs, recruiting, and personnel. Years after that, in 1963, Charles became a military policeman in the National Guard of the District of Columbia.


Public Safety Officer With D.C. National Guard

Back in his community, Mr Fullwood had also organized a civic association in his home named the Raritan Valley Association which was founded to further the goal of racial equality and for "greater awareness among Negroes of their own responsibility to the community."





It was also at this time -- right at the point in 1963 where President Kennedy is introducing the Dr. King-inspired Civil Rights bill of his to a divided Congress -- that Charles Fullwood was hired as an Employee/Management Relations Specialist in the Office of Undersecretary of the Army overseeing and processing complaints that passed through the Army Policy and Grievance Board.

When the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, Mr. Fullwood had been promoted to a Personnel Staffing Specialist, Chief of Employee Services Section, at NASA, with responsibility for managing equal employment, mentally ill, and affirmative action programs; along with responsibility for recruiting and outreach. By 1966, he was NASA's 'principle action,' Equal Opportunity Employment Specialist for the Federal Government, and assisted in the implementation of Kennedy and Johnson's 'affirmative' action-based Executive Orders, 10925 and 11246.


Dad at NASA

By 1967, Charles had advanced to the U.S Civil Services Commission, assisting in developing general and special inspection plans for employer compliance with affirmative action laws and participating in EEO reviews.


Graduating Class at Judge Advocate General's School

In 1968, after being a rare bird in the Judge Advocate General's School and completing its International Law course, he was, simultaneously appointed Deputy Chief, Placement at the Office of Economic Opportunity Personnel and Job Corps. The remnants of the OEO that were reorganized into the Department of Health and Human Services. were the last vestiges of Sargent Shriver's hopes and dreams which Nixon had dismantled and tried to underfund and eliminate.

The next year, Charles Fullwood was moved to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as a senior consultant top legislative officers of state, local governments, and private industry in providing ways to implement Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.



By 1970, he was promoted to a position as Deputy EEO Officer, responsible for implementing and evaluating a program of equal employment opportunity for employees of the Public Health Service hospitals, clinics, and major health services divisions.

Later, as Deputy Director of OEEO and HSMHA in 1972, Mr. Fullwood would direct the implementation and administration of affirmative action, upward mobility programs, and the processing of the Federal Women's and the Spanish-Speaking Program which had also been folded under EEO's mantle. This was the period where EEO had been granted actual authority to file lawsuits against violators. In the past, those cases were processed and prosecuted by the Labor Dept., with EEO merely providing friend-of-the-court briefs in support or opposition.

Dad took advantage of this period to play 'Lawrence of Arabia' and leave his paperwork-laden office and go out in the field to bonk some heads. He'd take a sheaf full of the new regs and new authority and put on his best angry administrator face for the code violators and abusers he encountered along the way. Not to diminish the effect of the enforcement ability afforded EEO, there were several landmark cases which were quickly prosecuted by the government and won.

____ It was also during this period that my father had become frustrated over being ignored, yet again, for a promotion in his membership as a major in the Army Reserve. He had been with the Reserve for over 20 years at that point, attending to that career at the same time he was submerged in his government one. Three times he had achieved the required service for consideration for advancement, and twice he had been passed-up.

Anxious that this third bid was destined to be rejected, he wrote then- Brigadier General Benjamin L. Hunton, USAR Minority Affairs Officer, and complained about a process where there were never enough blacks available in the pool to ever stand a chance of any minority gaining the promotion.

"There are a total of 61 officers in the unit," he wrote. "Two are minority group members; a total of 67 officers in another -- two are minority group members . . . a total of 63 in yet another unit with three minority members. The first cited has seven officer vacancies."

"The normal promotional procedure has been to select company and field-grade officers from the companies to fill headquarters vacancies. The procedure of promoting from within is as it should be. My only reservation," he wrote, "is that there are too few black officers at the company grade level available for consideration -- and when available, not selected for promotion."

450th - First Year With Unit

After little more than lip service from the general, Major Fullwood wrote then-Major General Kenneth Johnson:

"I am concerned that, despite the rhetoric and regulations, the Army Reserve and Command, have not now, nor in the past, initiated programs designed to seek and encourage blacks and other minorities to enlist in the Reserve forces . . ."

"Where they do exist, implementation of programs designed to recruit and maintain minority members has been delegated to local commanders with authority to implement according to local needs, but, without specific guidance or compliance review. Herein lies the problem; historically, the Reserve program, as you know, has been a haven for white boys. It has not changed . . . "

450th - Two Years Later

"I have approximately 22 years of combined service in the National Guard and Reserve Corps and am now being denied the opportunity for advancement. If local commanders can capriciously and unilaterally make the decision to deny me, an officer, opportunities that have been offered in abundance to whites, it doesn't require a great deal of imagination to realize the treatment black applicants to the reserve are being subjected to . . . The Reserve recruiting proedures and the Reserve program are, in the main, designed for whites, and consequently, mitigate against recruiting career-minded blacks," he wrote.

Dad's in the far back row, third from the left, behind a soldier

Major Fullwood recieved his commission to Lieutenant Colonel almost 3 years after he had lodged his complaints, and he retired from the Reserve at that rank in 1981.

Ironically, one year after that promotion, LTC Fullwood was assigned by the U.S. Army as an Education and Training Officer, providing support and assistance to U.S. Army Race Relations/Equal Opportunity Staff in preparation and presentation of the Unit RR Discussion Leader Course.



In a validating, but dumbfounding review by his commander, of his new promotion and new 'race relations' assignment, LTC Fullwood was described as 'diligent' and 'exemplary' in the performance of his duties. "His background as Director of Equal Opportunity for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare enabled him to greatly assist First U.S. Army in establishing the Unit Race Relations Discussion Leaders Course," the recommendation read.

No kidding.

Charles Fullwood would serve as Acting Director of OEEO and the Health Services Administration from August 1973 to September 1974. Next, he would serve as Special Assistant to the Administrator for Civil Rights, and then, as Director of the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.



"The HSA Administrator is responsible for the administration of the EEO and Civil Rights programs," Mr. Fullwood told the 'Health Services World' magazine in 1976, after gaining his appointment, "And Dr. Hellman, HSA Administrator, has appointed me to implement them. I intend to do just that, with the help of all of the HSA employees," he said.

That's the long and short of Dad's military and public service. He advanced in the military and the government -- almost Gump-like in his relative obscurity; an uncomfortable aberration in the images capturing the racial make-up of his peer groups -- working to elevate and implement so many of the ideals and initiatives contained in the civil rights legislation that Martin Luther King Jr. and others fought for; working to implement the orders and initiatives from two successive presidents determined to make the 'Great Society' programs a reality (and Nixon, curiously providing the first actual governmental language), and serving as administrator for the inevitable outgrowths and expansions of those initiatives into the federal workforce and beyond; recruiting countless African Americans into the federal workforce, in his time, and providing some of the early backbone for the nation's new impetus in the hiring and advancement of blacks in government.

Most interesting to me, is that image after image shows the extent that, in those early days, Mr. Fullwood was usually, either the only black official in the rooms where important decisions were made concerning equal employment and other vestiges of the Civil Rights Act; or he was one of just a few. It's remarkable how steadfast he appeared over the years as he navigated his way to the senior positions he held in government and in the military.




Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Moves to HSA

In our nation's democracy, social, economic, and legal changes are advanced by a combination of activism, political initiative, and administrative implementation and interpretation. We are advantaged in the realization of our individual and collective ideals by activists, politicians, and bureaucrats. They all contribute.

It's wise to avoid getting too sentimental about the role of government in carrying out our ideals and addressing our concerns in the form of legislation or Executive actions. We, correctly, continue to press our concerns, even after we've passed our legislative remedies and tasked them to administrators and managers to implement. However, it doesn't hurt to recognize the tenacious, principled individuals inside of government who are driven by a determination to make it all work for as many Americans as possible to carry out our political mandates.

I think my father (with the help of countless others assuming the same responsibilities of implementing the dream) fulfilled that role with a characteristic routineness that mirrored the disciplined, principled personal life this African American sought to lead against so many obviously threatening odds; mirroring the unflagging commitment to the nation's advancement that countless generations of black Americans have repeatedly demonstrated, against all odds.

With all of the controversies today about corruption and greed influencing our political and governmental leaders, it's nice to know that there was a sober and trustworthy individual working on these issues behind the scenes. Charles Fullwood was transparently, if nothing more, a decent and principled man. That seems to be a rarity in government these days. It's certainly worth celebrating.

We're left to wonder just what we'd do without them; these good guys in government . . . I look optimistically to the future for more Chuck Fullwoods to run the bases after we've hit our political balls deep into the nation's outfield. How have we ever managed without him?

October 30, 2022

I was reading a tweet updating moves in the Jan.6 investigation. What do we do without those?

...detailed stuff that can't be found anywhere else.

It started me thinking about just where I would go to find the same detail of info that I've grown accustomed to on twitter, info that I've relied on for years now.

As far as I can tell, the vast majority of newsmakers, from press to pols to advocates to experts will still be dropping information in tweets which can't be found anywhere else, except, I suppose if you want someone else on the news or somewhere to break those down for you.

Point is, there isn't yet a mass exodus of news sources from twitter. There isn't a mass exodus of pols, either, and we're in the middle of a gd election. There may come a time, but it is not now. Those jumping off are jumping into a wasteland bereft of views and nowhere near the participation level that exists on the admittedly flawed platform.

I hear the calls and testimonials about leaving Twitter, as if walking away makes all of the negative influences and influencers disappear. What kind of self-immolating strategy is it to just cut ties with almost everything which is shaping the politics and political future we're all focused so intently on influencing?

Walk away from the very forum we were just communicating our Democratic messaging across? Just where are we supposed to come up with a forum that generates as many views... in a nanosecond, or even in any imaginable span of time?

Come get me when that happens, because I'll be damned if I believe the owners of Twitter are any more pernicious than the owners and investors in ANY of the major news organizations. How hypocritical is it to act, as some have, as if Twitter is the only compromised media we rely on to communicate and discern what's happening around us? Let me know when the voices we rely on are silenced there.

We're DAYS away from an election and people are out here advocating walking away from our country's biggest organizing and advocacy forum. How many ways can you imagine that hurting our party? It's not only antithetical to what we do here, it's political malpractice.

We have a choice to either directly challenge the negative influences on Twitter, with our own discourse and dissent, or retreat from them and cluck our tongues at how awful they are. I've never retreated (well, almost never ).

October 29, 2022

If these Democrats win -- Black officials will hold many of the top state offices in Maryland

The Associated Press @AP 24m
Wes Moore could soon make history if elected Maryland’s first Black governor and Rep. Anthony Brown would be the state’s first Black attorney general. If these Democrats win — Black politicians will hold many of the top state offices in Maryland.

Wes Moore, Black Democrats aiming to make Maryland history

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Wes Moore could soon make history if elected Maryland’s first Black governor, and he’s not alone: Rep. Anthony Brown would be the state’s first Black attorney general. Aruna Miller, Moore’s running mate who immigrated from India, would be the first Asian-American elected statewide in Maryland.

If these Democrats win — Moore has led by more than 30 percentage points in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 — Black politicians will hold many of the top state offices in Maryland, which is now a majority-minority state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

With a victory, Moore would reclaim the governor’s office for Democrats, after eight years of term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-race-and-ethnicity-larry-hogan-maryland-37d789bcbab2fac6fead0a71eab0d743

My state poised to elect the first black governor in our history, running mate would be the first Asian-American elected statewide in Maryland
Moore leads Cox by 31 points in new poll. Statewide GOP ticket getting crushed by 2-to-1 margin.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217292021

...also, pot is on our ballot this election!

Maryland Question 4, the Marijuana Legalization Amendment, is on the ballot in Maryland as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022

A "yes" vote supports legalizing marijuana for adults 21 years of age or older beginning in July 2023 and directing the Maryland State Legislature to pass laws for the use, distribution, regulation, and taxation of marijuana.

A "no" vote opposes legalizing marijuana for adults 21 years of age or older beginning in July 2023 and directing the Maryland State Legislature to pass laws for the use, distribution, regulation, and taxation of marijuana.

https://ballotpedia.org/Maryland_Question_4,_Marijuana_Legalization_Amendment_(2022)

October 28, 2022

Mood and conversations on Twitter remind of early days DU

...at least as it was described, as a refuge on the World Wide Web, waiting for the hammer to drop and discussing ways to resist if the doom that was feared eventually happened (I got here a bit later).

Lots of people milling around Twitter with a sense of intrepidness and bravado, waiting for the horde, I suppose, that's predicted to come back on and alter the state of advocacy and discussion there. I think they look far more formidible than anything arrayed on the other side of the political and social spectrum of belief and promotion, but time will tell.

To me, it looks like a fight well worth waging on Twitter, if there's really one to be conducted by Musk and his ilk.

October 13, 2022

Compelling new author

Ryan J. Reilly @ryanjreilly 9m
just a few good dudes celebrating literature.



https://twitter.com/libradunn/status/1579816239215828992
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Hold-the-Line/Michael-Fanone/9781668007198