Someplace I read that John Roberts has an acute sense of what history will make of his tenure as Chief Justice. Nonsense, his place in history gets cemented with every decision handed down. They take positions that are clearly at odds with what the founders intended, what they wrote down and what became the constitution. Rendition to third countries without due process? Yeah, that's in there. My slight hope that Roberts and Coney-Barrett would somehow come to thier senses has been destroyed, back to stammering in disbelief.
That "discussion" by town board members made it sound like it had never occurred to them to have disclosure forms to sign every year (truthfully). Smaller less impact full boards have those forms, but the lax and self-interested attitude toward ethics has their slips showing, so to speak. Thank you for watching and reporting their shenanigans from afar. Your information about factory workers once again points to the need for workers who absolutely, desperately need jobs to survive with their families, and many of those travel far and wide for the privilege of employment. But racism and bigotry prevail in our current administration, glaringly biting the hand that feeds class society. Sotomayor's signature tells me that the rage and righteous indignation she should feel toward her biased colleagues has turned to hopelessness. It is interesting that the millions made by a democratic Supreme Court Judge for her book has made recent headlines, while other glaring perks garnered by long standing Supreme Court judges are literally glossed over. They absolutely need to expose their own conflicts of interest/ethics criteria also. What a rotten mess this all is.
“Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.” - Thomas Jefferson
It is obvious that foot dragging is the name of the game. Since McNulty holds a hammer over the heads of the other Republican members of the Board, the can will be kicked down the road until the cows come home. The Conflict of Interest issue will only be solved if the Chairperson of the Warren County Republicans no longer represents Ward 4. That would take someone to challenge him in an election. Could that happen? It could but will it?
(My @#%$&?! laptop's rebelling) About 1 in 5000 births, the newborn has both male & female sex organs (God made heaven & earth; this ain't heaven - I have my own birth defects). Upon such a birth, the parent(s) have hard choices: leave the kid to grow up that way & hope for the best; or choose, knowing the odds are 50/50 the kid's puberty brain chemistry might later disagree. Why it can happen elsewhere is still unknown. Less than 1% of the population. Not a threat to democracy.
At Watertown's June 14th anti-Trump rally (my 7th) of 6 to 700, a lot of LGBTQ+ folks came out. All concurred with my greeting: "Brain chemistry! Neurodiversity! My variation's ADHD (can't you tell?) You must be in that other alphabet soup? Not a big deal."
As far as Justice Sotomeyer's comparison to interracial marriage, that ship has sailed: The fastest growing demographic - up 248% in 10 years - are folks handling their being from differing major ethnic groups. My grandma said to my kids, "We represent the United Nations." Some in-laws call me Rolando.
This „above the law attitude“ is the flaw in our system that needs fixing… how though… if the shoe were on the other foot…you know they‘d be on it in a heartbeat…is it purely abuse of power…do they not have any conscience? Apparently not!
I agree, but currently the only "fix"(of course it isnt) seems to be "whataboutism"! Both sides use it and combating it in any intelligent way just seems impossible.
The whole "alternative facts" stupidity is equally non-intelligent! Its FACTS or LIES. How hard is that to understand? It wasnt for most of us until about 10-11 years ago.
I get that all administrations hedge or hide information to a certain degree (some more than others) - BUT this one truly takes the cake!
I recently went to a Salem Town board meeting, where one of the items on the agenda was the weekly pro-democracy protest. I live in Hebron, but I feel like Salem is my home too. It was extremely interesting and I am so glad I went. A friend had asked me to show up for moral support because she had heard “they” wanted to shut the protests down.
It was a full house, standing room only, in fact. After the usual town business part, the open comments began. The first speaker was a local business owner, who started out saying she did not want to take away anyone’s right to protest, and understood that standing on public sidewalks and protesting is protected under both the US and NYS constitutions. Her issue was not the protest per se, but the effect it was having on the small businesses up and down Main Street.
Every Saturday in prime morning errand running time there has been a crowd, and it’s growing in number, so the limited parking in Salem is tied up more and more, and the businesses are losing money because customers don’t want to deal with the parking, the crowds, etc. Other business owners echoed the same sentiment, and all took pains to say this was not about politics, but about their livelihoods and having common courtesy and common sense.
The crowd being pretty evenly divided, I would say, between pro Trump and anti-Trump factions, began to get a little unruly, speaking out of turn, some making loud side comments like how “outside” people were ruining things for the locals, and others loudly declaring they’ve lived here as long as anyone else and have the absolute right and duty to stand up for their beliefs. It was starting to get testy, and I thought Sue Clary the town supervisor did a pretty good job of soothing everyone’s ruffled feathers and facilitating dialogue instead of anger.
In fact, it really was outside the town’s power to do anything, because the fact is as long as the sidewalks and streets remain passable and entrances to businesses are not blocked and it is peaceable, it is protected speech. But Ms Clary said as a community and as neighbors we should all be able to work this problem out and the town was happy to provide a forum and a space for discussion. And discuss we did.
I’ve been attending the protests since the winter. I wasn’t aware it was causing so much disruption to the businesses, but now that I do know, I certainly want to do what I can to fix the problem. The issue of safety was also brought up. I personally have witnessed some close calls, and it’s only a matter of time before some one whose counter-protest consists of spinning his tires and fishtailing through the intersection, or someone honking in support so enthusiastically that they go through the stoplight, causes an accident. And don’t think I haven’t worried about a really bad thing like driving a car or truck deliberately into the crowd.
So alternate times and locations were discussed, with Salem Veteran’s Park a little further south on Rte 22 seeming to be a good possibility. I don’t know what will happen. Was there an undercurrent from Trumpers in the crowd of contempt for the liberal snowflakes with nothing better to do than stand on a street corners holding a sign? Yes, there was. Was there an undercurrent from some protesters in the crowd of being up on their constitutional high horse and they weren’t going to come down because some wanna-be fascists snowflakes can’t bear to be confronted with opposing viewpoints? Yes, there was. But on the whole, most protesters were willing to accommodate the businesses, and most businesses were supportive of the right to protest. It truly gave me hope. There is no real organizing force behind these protests in Salem, so there is no leader who decides when or where or how. But I know that starting this Saturday I will be standing with my sign down at the Veteran’s Park, where I can stand under a beautiful American flag, near a cemetery where many Revolutionary War soldiers are buried. It is not as completely visible a location as the main intersection in town, but visible enough for me, and if standing there instead helps keep the auto parts store and the hair salon open, it’s an accommodation I’m willing to make.
This has been a long comment. I apologize, but I wanted to tell everyone that small town America may not be as far gone as we all think. All it takes is a willingness to talk with each other and listen to each other.
Good for you, Tanya, both in relating the details of this story, and setting an example by standing your ground a little further away from “downtown” Salem for upcoming peaceful protests.
Thanks! Continuing it where it was might legally be my right, but like I always tell the kids at school, if someone tells you something you are doing is bothering them and asks you to please stop and you keep on doing it, well then, you are bullying them. This situation is a little more complex than schoolyard name-calling, but the difference to me is a matter of degree, not of kind.
When it comes to the Voice of America and spreading the good news of democracy throughout the world, the extreme right has developed a serious case of laryngitis.
Belated thank you, Ken, for persevering in pointing out the failure of the Qsby Town board to deal with the blatant conflict of interest. The added disrespect and dismissive attitude toward Patsy, as an Ethics Committee member, was appalling. I’m sure she appreciated your attendance at the faux- ethics meeting.
FYI - if there are fewer responses to your essays lately…major problems with Spectrum internet, TV and telephone services locally , and in Alabama where my brother and his wife live, and Florida where my sister-in- law lives. Dropped calls, loss of or delayed emails and TV program interruptions. My St. Petersburg sister-in- law missed 8 attempts by her PT center to set up her rehab appts. after her knee replacement surgery. They said 3 different cellphone service companies were involved in not transmitting calls/texts to many of their patients.
Someplace I read that John Roberts has an acute sense of what history will make of his tenure as Chief Justice. Nonsense, his place in history gets cemented with every decision handed down. They take positions that are clearly at odds with what the founders intended, what they wrote down and what became the constitution. Rendition to third countries without due process? Yeah, that's in there. My slight hope that Roberts and Coney-Barrett would somehow come to thier senses has been destroyed, back to stammering in disbelief.
I had same hopes.
That "discussion" by town board members made it sound like it had never occurred to them to have disclosure forms to sign every year (truthfully). Smaller less impact full boards have those forms, but the lax and self-interested attitude toward ethics has their slips showing, so to speak. Thank you for watching and reporting their shenanigans from afar. Your information about factory workers once again points to the need for workers who absolutely, desperately need jobs to survive with their families, and many of those travel far and wide for the privilege of employment. But racism and bigotry prevail in our current administration, glaringly biting the hand that feeds class society. Sotomayor's signature tells me that the rage and righteous indignation she should feel toward her biased colleagues has turned to hopelessness. It is interesting that the millions made by a democratic Supreme Court Judge for her book has made recent headlines, while other glaring perks garnered by long standing Supreme Court judges are literally glossed over. They absolutely need to expose their own conflicts of interest/ethics criteria also. What a rotten mess this all is.
“Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.” - Thomas Jefferson
We are all prey now.
It is obvious that foot dragging is the name of the game. Since McNulty holds a hammer over the heads of the other Republican members of the Board, the can will be kicked down the road until the cows come home. The Conflict of Interest issue will only be solved if the Chairperson of the Warren County Republicans no longer represents Ward 4. That would take someone to challenge him in an election. Could that happen? It could but will it?
(My @#%$&?! laptop's rebelling) About 1 in 5000 births, the newborn has both male & female sex organs (God made heaven & earth; this ain't heaven - I have my own birth defects). Upon such a birth, the parent(s) have hard choices: leave the kid to grow up that way & hope for the best; or choose, knowing the odds are 50/50 the kid's puberty brain chemistry might later disagree. Why it can happen elsewhere is still unknown. Less than 1% of the population. Not a threat to democracy.
At Watertown's June 14th anti-Trump rally (my 7th) of 6 to 700, a lot of LGBTQ+ folks came out. All concurred with my greeting: "Brain chemistry! Neurodiversity! My variation's ADHD (can't you tell?) You must be in that other alphabet soup? Not a big deal."
As far as Justice Sotomeyer's comparison to interracial marriage, that ship has sailed: The fastest growing demographic - up 248% in 10 years - are folks handling their being from differing major ethnic groups. My grandma said to my kids, "We represent the United Nations." Some in-laws call me Rolando.
This „above the law attitude“ is the flaw in our system that needs fixing… how though… if the shoe were on the other foot…you know they‘d be on it in a heartbeat…is it purely abuse of power…do they not have any conscience? Apparently not!
I agree, but currently the only "fix"(of course it isnt) seems to be "whataboutism"! Both sides use it and combating it in any intelligent way just seems impossible.
The whole "alternative facts" stupidity is equally non-intelligent! Its FACTS or LIES. How hard is that to understand? It wasnt for most of us until about 10-11 years ago.
I get that all administrations hedge or hide information to a certain degree (some more than others) - BUT this one truly takes the cake!
I recently went to a Salem Town board meeting, where one of the items on the agenda was the weekly pro-democracy protest. I live in Hebron, but I feel like Salem is my home too. It was extremely interesting and I am so glad I went. A friend had asked me to show up for moral support because she had heard “they” wanted to shut the protests down.
It was a full house, standing room only, in fact. After the usual town business part, the open comments began. The first speaker was a local business owner, who started out saying she did not want to take away anyone’s right to protest, and understood that standing on public sidewalks and protesting is protected under both the US and NYS constitutions. Her issue was not the protest per se, but the effect it was having on the small businesses up and down Main Street.
Every Saturday in prime morning errand running time there has been a crowd, and it’s growing in number, so the limited parking in Salem is tied up more and more, and the businesses are losing money because customers don’t want to deal with the parking, the crowds, etc. Other business owners echoed the same sentiment, and all took pains to say this was not about politics, but about their livelihoods and having common courtesy and common sense.
The crowd being pretty evenly divided, I would say, between pro Trump and anti-Trump factions, began to get a little unruly, speaking out of turn, some making loud side comments like how “outside” people were ruining things for the locals, and others loudly declaring they’ve lived here as long as anyone else and have the absolute right and duty to stand up for their beliefs. It was starting to get testy, and I thought Sue Clary the town supervisor did a pretty good job of soothing everyone’s ruffled feathers and facilitating dialogue instead of anger.
In fact, it really was outside the town’s power to do anything, because the fact is as long as the sidewalks and streets remain passable and entrances to businesses are not blocked and it is peaceable, it is protected speech. But Ms Clary said as a community and as neighbors we should all be able to work this problem out and the town was happy to provide a forum and a space for discussion. And discuss we did.
I’ve been attending the protests since the winter. I wasn’t aware it was causing so much disruption to the businesses, but now that I do know, I certainly want to do what I can to fix the problem. The issue of safety was also brought up. I personally have witnessed some close calls, and it’s only a matter of time before some one whose counter-protest consists of spinning his tires and fishtailing through the intersection, or someone honking in support so enthusiastically that they go through the stoplight, causes an accident. And don’t think I haven’t worried about a really bad thing like driving a car or truck deliberately into the crowd.
So alternate times and locations were discussed, with Salem Veteran’s Park a little further south on Rte 22 seeming to be a good possibility. I don’t know what will happen. Was there an undercurrent from Trumpers in the crowd of contempt for the liberal snowflakes with nothing better to do than stand on a street corners holding a sign? Yes, there was. Was there an undercurrent from some protesters in the crowd of being up on their constitutional high horse and they weren’t going to come down because some wanna-be fascists snowflakes can’t bear to be confronted with opposing viewpoints? Yes, there was. But on the whole, most protesters were willing to accommodate the businesses, and most businesses were supportive of the right to protest. It truly gave me hope. There is no real organizing force behind these protests in Salem, so there is no leader who decides when or where or how. But I know that starting this Saturday I will be standing with my sign down at the Veteran’s Park, where I can stand under a beautiful American flag, near a cemetery where many Revolutionary War soldiers are buried. It is not as completely visible a location as the main intersection in town, but visible enough for me, and if standing there instead helps keep the auto parts store and the hair salon open, it’s an accommodation I’m willing to make.
This has been a long comment. I apologize, but I wanted to tell everyone that small town America may not be as far gone as we all think. All it takes is a willingness to talk with each other and listen to each other.
Good for you, Tanya, both in relating the details of this story, and setting an example by standing your ground a little further away from “downtown” Salem for upcoming peaceful protests.
Thanks! Continuing it where it was might legally be my right, but like I always tell the kids at school, if someone tells you something you are doing is bothering them and asks you to please stop and you keep on doing it, well then, you are bullying them. This situation is a little more complex than schoolyard name-calling, but the difference to me is a matter of degree, not of kind.
Common sense or "horse sense" used to be used a lot more often than it is currently - Nice to know it still exists!
When it comes to the Voice of America and spreading the good news of democracy throughout the world, the extreme right has developed a serious case of laryngitis.
In this case, Sotomayor wrote, "In sadness, I dissent."
welcome to America (trmpistan) 2025
Belated thank you, Ken, for persevering in pointing out the failure of the Qsby Town board to deal with the blatant conflict of interest. The added disrespect and dismissive attitude toward Patsy, as an Ethics Committee member, was appalling. I’m sure she appreciated your attendance at the faux- ethics meeting.
FYI - if there are fewer responses to your essays lately…major problems with Spectrum internet, TV and telephone services locally , and in Alabama where my brother and his wife live, and Florida where my sister-in- law lives. Dropped calls, loss of or delayed emails and TV program interruptions. My St. Petersburg sister-in- law missed 8 attempts by her PT center to set up her rehab appts. after her knee replacement surgery. They said 3 different cellphone service companies were involved in not transmitting calls/texts to many of their patients.
Wow, had not heard about those problems.