Happy Tax Day!
A FRIENDLY REMINDER OF WHY YOU NEED TO VOTE!
Some days we just need to be quiet. That explains why I’ve not posted anything extra over the weekend. With the weather being better, I was able to relax and sleep, repairing some of the damage done by almost two straight weeks of rain. When I wasn’t sleeping, I watched the news unfold in Gaza, sitting outside with the dogs, and enjoying Tipper celebrating her birthday. The kids managed to mow the lawn without too much arguing. The dogs rolled around over the fresh-cut grass. We watched as a neighbor’s two-year-old tried kicking a soccer ball and missed repeatedly.
I mentioned yesterday about the huge furry head Tipper got for her birthday. It’s roughly three times the size of her normal head with blue and black fur and a textured face that looks rather vicious. She decided to wear it while G was moving, along with her white and red cape. It was an interesting look.
We have a lot of families who walk through the neighborhood when the weather is nice. A family with a little one, probably 14-16 months old, was out about the same time as the kids. The little guy was already fussy. He absolutely wanted to be carried. Then, he saw Tipper. The volume of his screams went up enough that I heard them from inside the Recovery Room. The little guy was wrapped around his dad’s leg, screaming as much as his little lungs allowed. I think his dad thought the baby was just continuing to fuss, but the look on this baby’s face said otherwise. I’d be willing to be Tipper was in his nightmares last night!
Today iLearn testing begins in Indiana. This is that wonderful time of year when the state attempts, miserably, to make all our multi-shaped personalities fit into the round hole that adults think they need to fit. I cannot say enough bad things about standardized testing. Studies have repeatedly shown how deficient they all are, and iLearn continues to be one of the worst ever conceived. Neurodivergent children are especially misserved during this testing. There are limited resources to help kids get through these tests and if you don’t know about them and advocate for your children, they won’t get the help. I hope our kids will grow up and outlaw this imbecilic means of pushing children toward sameness rather than glorifying their individuality.
We’re still keeping a close eye on the Middle East. President Biden has said that the US will not help Israel retaliate. What the weekend proved, however, is that we can help minimize the effects of attacks without setting foot on soil. Israel is not a member of NATO, yet we are spending MILLIONS to help them defend themselves against attack. Why won’t we do the same for Ukraine? If one deserves our help, there’s no reasonable argument for denying the other. Either we’re in, completely, or we’re out. We can’t afford to let Russia win any more than we can afford to give Iran any manner of foothold. Both are controlled by absolutely insane people who have no concern for human life. We need to put them both out of commission.
G told me yesterday that he needs AA batteries. So, I put together a small order that’s being delivered this morning. A third of the cost is taxes and fees that I wouldn’t need to pay if I could drive. 😒This drives me nuts. On the bright side, it was here before 7:30.
It’s been over three weeks since I’ve set foot outside the confines of the yard. I’m feeling that maybe it’s time to get out again. We’ll see how safe I feel wandering with the dogs today. Meanwhile, Solaris has the zoomies. No place on the bed is safe.
Let’s talk briefly about this morning’s picture. It was taken almost exactly 16 years ago. This is the first time we shot with Alicia. The rain you see is real, not manufactured. We originally processed the 8-megapixel image in black-and-white because technology at the time barely made the rain visible in color. For this morning, we took the processed .TIFF file (because I don’t have the RAWs) and colorized it, then enhanced the texture to pick up on the rain.
Alicia was just stepping into modeling. Her eldest son, Benjamin, was still the tiniest little guy. Now, she’s happily married, living in Florida, and has two more little buggers running around keeping her busy. Looking back on memories like this makes me smile, and make me very happy there was no lightning that morning. I miss moments like this and cherish them to the core of my being.
![One With The Night [original 2008 modified with neural filters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.charlesiletbetter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/JackieFigure20-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C2560&ssl=1)
Protesting For The Right To Protest
One of the primary tenets of the First Amendment of the US Constitution is the right to “peacefully assemble,” re. the right to protest. It has been an anchor in the right to free speech and has been presented to us as one of the underlying differences between the US and other countries. The fact that we allow our citizens to protest is supposed to be one of the things that make us better than anyone else.
Well, as of Monday, April 15, 2024, you can pretty much toss that one in the can. The Supreme Court of the United States, in its endless bafflement, ruled against the First Amendment in rejecting an appeal from DeRay Mckesson in a case that stems from a 2016 protest over the police killing of a Black man in Baton Rouge. What the court appears to have said is that the person who organizes a protest is responsible for the actions of the people participating in the protest.
There are some caveats. First, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned lower courts to “not read anything” into the decision. In other words, by rejecting this particular case the court does not rule out the possibility that it might take up the full matter at a later date. Second, it is important to realize that in rejecting the case, justices did not hear full arguments on the matter, which would give the matter the weight of precedence in subsequent cases.
However, the decision is still troubling. The decision will most definitely hold some influence over lower courts. Yet another Pandora’s Box has been opened (how many of those damn boxes does Pandora have?).
What’s all the fuss, Gus? Back in 2016 (remember 2016?), a man named DeRay Mckesson organized a protest in Louisiana after police killed a black man in Baton Rouge. During that protest, someone unidentified threw a “rock-like object” and it hit an officer. Since the rock thrower couldn’t be identified, the officer, hiding behind the moniker John Doe, decided to sue Mckesson for not controlling the protest he instigated. The initial federal court threw out the suit, which was, unquestionably in my opinion, the correct decision. However, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to pick it back up because Mckesson didn’t lead the protest onto the highway, resulting in a standoff with police and the injury to the officer.
If this is going to be the case, someone let that former president know that he is now on the hook for every action taken by protestors on January 6, since he organized that melee. It’s all his fault.
More seriously, though, we have to look at this decision as a warning to anyone who might consider organizing future protests. How the fuck are you supposed to “control” a crowd who is righteously angry? Do you remember what was going on in 2016? We were finally standing up to the fact that people of color were being indiscriminately murdered by police! There was every reason in the world to protest and every reason to exhibit anger as part of those protests.
So, what happens when the Supreme Court does something really stupid like take away the right to gender-affirming care for everyone, not just trans kids in Ohio? Is that topic safe to protest? Can we get everyone on the highway? What happens this fall when Republican Governors mobilize the National Guard because they don’t like the way the elections go? Is that going to be safe to protest? What about when the Supreme Court overturns the January 6 convictions on a technicality? Are we safe to protest that fatality of justice?
The nature of protests is that the more people participating, the more seriously the protest is taken. However, the more people protesting, the more likely it is that someone is going to misbehave, often out of anger at a gross miscarriage of justice and the fear that their opinion is not being heard by those in power. The more government leaders attempt to shut down protests, as they did the Black Lives Matter protests of 2016, the more angry protestors are going to be. If elected leaders aren’t going to pay attention to their constituents through the manners prescribed by law, then protestors are more likely to resort to more extreme manners of communication.
Did we learn nothing in history class?
We need to protect the right to protest. When those we’ve elected to uphold the law take it upon themselves to ignore the law, protest may become the only way we have of solving the problem.
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