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#Post#: 267--------------------------------------------------
Profiles in Courage
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: April 19, 2022, 7:02 pm
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--- Quote ---
> All 😈 done with the
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-080419191019.png<br
/>'Commies gonna getcha'.
--- End Quote ---
--- Quote ---
> 1950 was the first time in American History that the word,
"Treason" was used against a political oponent.
--- End Quote ---
[center]FAULK ✨ AT HIS FINEST - Meet Uncensored Humorist
John Henry Faulk (1985)[/center]
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/49uOfSjZSu4[/center]
#Post#: 384--------------------------------------------------
Brave Ecuadorians continue to Resist right-wing President
Guillermo Lasso's regressive economic policies
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: June 24, 2022, 10:59 am
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[center]
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June 14, 2022
[center]
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[center]Ecuadorians continue to resist as national strike enters
second week
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-240422194917-922398.jpeg<br
/>
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122257-657398.png[/center]
Defying the state of emergency, enduring brutal police and
military repression, hundreds of thousands of Ecuadorians
continue to remain on the streets to protest the
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>right-wing government of
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-250718205808.gif<br
/>President Guillermo Lasso and his regressive economic
policies.
Continue reading:
HTML https://therealnews.com/ecuadorians-continue-to-resist-as-national-strike-enters-second-week
#Post#: 491--------------------------------------------------
HALF of Supreme Court Trump (who LOST the popular vote) and
confirmed by senators from low population states
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: September 1, 2022, 6:52 pm
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HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-010922195111.png
[move]📢 "With half of the members of the extreme right
supermajority on the Supreme Court having been nominated by a
president who had lost the popular vote by 2.7 million votes and
confirmed by senators who represent well less than half of the
voters in the country, the court’s recent decisions move our
country perilously close to minority rule." [/move]
BY PAUL BLAND 08/23/22 5:30 PM ET
[center]Congress needs to modernize the 🦕 [b]Supreme
Court and bring it into the 21st century[/b][/center]
SNIPPETS:
In the last four years, my organization, Public Justice, has won
three victories at the U.S. Supreme Court. Two of those
victories were unanimous, and two of them were written by
justices who had been nominated by Republican presidents. So one
might think, given the court’s recent tendency to side with us
in important cases, that everything is just fine. If so, you’d
be wrong.
Instead, our view is that the nation’s highest court has
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>veered off the rails in troubling and extreme ways. Far from
acting in a restrained, careful way, the court has recently
issued drastic and extreme opinions that are harmful to American
society. ... ...
... the
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080822134118-17091258.gif<br
/>🦖 Court invented a new doctrine (not based in any
serious reading of the text of the Constitution) sharply
limiting the ability of the federal government to protect the
environment, address the climate change crisis or limit
pollution.
And this builds upon other decisions in recent years that
undermine democracy, such as Citizens United v FEC (which paved
the way for billionaires to spend far more of their money on
elections, multiplying their power) and Shelby County v. Holder
(where the court greatly undermined the Voting Rights Act). And
the list goes on.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080422121435.png
With half of the members of the extreme right supermajority on
the Supreme Court having been nominated by a president who had
lost the popular vote by 2.7 million votes and confirmed by
senators who represent well less than half of the voters in the
country, the court’s recent decisions move our country
perilously close to minority rule. Each of the extreme decisions
described above is badly out of touch with the views of the
majority of the American people, and this fact is reflected in
the court’s plummeting public approval rating.
And
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-010922192452.gifhttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>they’re clearly not done yet. ... ...
The court has taken a case which raises the possibility that a
heavily gerrymandered state legislature could overturn a
presidential election 😵 in which a candidate the state
legislative majority disfavors wins the clear majority of the
votes. ... ...
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422133654.gif<br
/>It is now clear that the court badly needs reforming and
modernizing. That’s why we at Public Justice are calling on
Congress to take action. First, the court should be expanded to
13 justices
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422145344-560693.png.<br
/> And second, term limits should be implemented, capping
service
at a maximum of 18 years
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422145344-560693.png.<br
/>... ...
Expanding the court should not be the end of Congress’s work to
modernize our judicial system, however. ... ...
In the past, justices have seemed to struggle to understand such
basic modern concepts as text messaging, social media and other
modern-day devices and issues, despite being asked to make
weighty and consequential decisions about them. Term limits
would also help address the growing problem of justice being
held as a political prisoner based on who happens to be
president when a sitting justice decides to retire or dies.
Absent death, justices increasingly step down when they believe
a president who shares their philosophy will nominate their
replacement. That hardly helps keep the court above the
political fray; indeed, it drops our most important legal body
right in the middle of political hurricanes. That was never
meant to be the case.
Full TRUTH FILLED 🗽 article:
HTML https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3612817-congress-needs-to-modernize-the-supreme-court-and-bring-it-into-the-21st-century/
#Post#: 526--------------------------------------------------
You Can Arrest Us, but You Can't Silence 🗽 Us
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: September 22, 2022, 4:54 pm
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[center]
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[center]Manchin 😈 🦕 Deal Revealed, Center
Founder Arrested[/center]
This morning, in solidarity with the frontline communities most
threatened by Manchin's dirty deal, the Center for Biological
Diversity's Executive Director Kierán Sucking was arrested at a
protest at the Capitol, saying, “They can arrest us, but they
can't stop us from speaking out.”
The protest came a day after Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin released the details of their
secret deal, which Manchin demanded as payment for voting to
pass the Inflation Reduction Act. As the leaked draft foretold,
this legislation overwhelmingly benefits the fossil fuel
industry, weakening the National Environmental Policy and Clean
Water acts.
The deal would also ram through the approval of the disastrous
Mountain Valley Pipeline, causing yet another environmental
justice catastrophe and driving two beautiful, endangered fish
to the edge of extinction.
Join the Center and more than 650 climate, social justice and
frontline groups in calling on congressional leaders to
🗽 oppose
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-220922180440.gif<br
/>this 💰🦕 giveaway
HTML https://act.biologicaldiversity.org/CY8F9RqKPEePB5HmQ3_upA2.
--- Quote ---
> September 22, 2022
> As people of 🙏🏼 faith and 🙌
conscience, our shared values call us to 🕊️ love
our neighbors and to care for Creation. We must defend
communities’ rights to have input into projects that would
affect them, and work toward environmental justice for all
Americans.
>
> This vote on project permitting was apparently required by
Sen. Manchin to gain his support for the landmark climate and
clean energy investments in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA.)
The ‘deal’ would weaken strong environmental protections like
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which creates
essential opportunities for public input around new polluting
projects. -- Susan Stephenson, Interfaith Power & Light
> Tell Congress: 🦅 Stop the Dirty Deal
HTML https://interfaithpowerandlight.salsalabs.org/stopthedirtydeal?wvpId=0dd5a026-d6fa-41bf-b899-6750bb95be0f<br
/>
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-090422150144.png
--- End Quote ---
[center]
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#Post#: 554--------------------------------------------------
Increasing the number of justices to 13 will bring the Supreme
Court in line with the philosophy behind its founding str
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: October 3, 2022, 11:06 am
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Agelbert FULL DISCLOSURE: I 🗽 signed.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-010922195111.png
October 3, 2022
Anthony, the Supreme Court’s new term is underway.
At a time when public confidence in the Court is at an all-time
low, and their extremely politicized decisions cast doubt on
their impartiality, I hope we can all agree it’s time for
Congress to bring the Court into the 21st century.
The current supermajority on the Supreme Court was configured in
large part through made-up arbitrary rules by the party in power
effectively ‘stealing’ the Court from you and me. Today, the
Court is vastly out of step with the American public and
detached from the ways their decisions impact the daily lives of
people like you and me.
In the last term alone, justices in the majority eliminated the
constitutional protection of the right to abortion, struck down
a commonsense law aimed at reducing gun violence, and sharply
limited the ability of the federal government to address the
climate change crisis.
Moreover, half of the members of the extreme right supermajority
on the Supreme Court were nominated by a president who lost the
popular vote by 2.7 million votes. They were confirmed by
senators who represent well less than half the population of the
country.
These are just a few of the reasons why I’m asking you to join
Public Justice in calling on Congress to reform the Supreme
Court by passing the Judiciary Act. Sign our petition now to
increase the number of justices to 13 and impose an 18-year term
limit.
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-031022115604.png[/center]
The current number of justices was established in 1869 when
there were only 37 states with a population of roughly 39
million people. Today’s nine Supreme Court justices are tasked
with overseeing the law as it applies in the 21st Century to
over 300 million people in all 50 states, the District of
Columbia and 14 U.S. territories.
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-031022115716.png[/center]
Increasing the number of justices to 13 will bring the Supreme
Court in line with the philosophy behind its founding structure.
When the current nine justice bench was established, there were
nine appellate courts. Today there are 13 federal appellate
courts and, as such, there should be 13 justices on the bench of
the highest Court in the land.
In addition, implementing term limits would help ensure an
ever-evolving bench of justices who will more accurately reflect
the diversity of our nation and better understand the
implications of the Court’s actions. It will also help lift the
Court out of the political fray it has fallen into.
So today, I ask you to please add your name to our petition.
Add your name
HTML https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/KjtkyQ8<br
/>
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422145549-5701455.gif
While it will take time and effort to modernize the Supreme
Court, every major change in our government has come after the
people rose up to demand it. With your signature today, we can
work to get the bill passed to expand the Supreme Court.
In 🗽 justice,
Paul Bland
#Post#: 565--------------------------------------------------
Insecure Housing is a Social Crime❗
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: October 5, 2022, 8:01 pm
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[center]Economic Update:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422133654.gif<br
/>Insecure Housing is a Social Crime❗[/center]
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/BS3toP2KzNM[/center]
Premiered Oct 3, 2022 12,111 views
Democracy At Work 286K subscribers
Insecure Housing is a Social Crime
In this week's show, Prof. Wolff talks about the large strikes
in Seattle (teachers) and Minnesota (nurses), the significance
of Sweden's big vote for ex-Nazi party, and how anti-Russia
sanctions cause US electricity prices to rise at twice the
inflation rate. In the second half, Wolff interviews Leilani
Farha, global campaigner for housing as a human right and
against the financialization of housing.
*Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff is a @Democracy At Work
production. We make it a point to provide the show free of ads.
Please consider supporting our work. Join our Patreon community:
HTML https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork
and help us spread Prof.
Wolff's message to a larger audience. Every donation counts!
A special thank you to our devoted Patreon community whose
contributions make this show possible each week.
****************************************************************************************
SUBSCRIBE: EU Podcast | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts |
Spotify | iHeartRADIO
SUPPORT: Join our Patreon community at
HTML https://www.patreon.com/democracyatwork
or donate on our website
at
HTML https://www.democracyatwork.info/donate
#Post#: 630--------------------------------------------------
Lula WINS! ✨🌞
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: October 31, 2022, 4:57 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
CLASS STRUGGLE
New York Times
October 30, 2022 by Jack Nicas, Flávia Milhorance, Ana Ionova,
André Spigariol, Laís Martins
[center]Brazil Ejects
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622153109-13662238.png<br
/>[color=red]Bolsonaro
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080422121656.png<br
/>and Brings Back the Former Leftist Leader Lula
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-110422180554-644315.gif[/center]
SNIPPETS:
BRASÍLIA — Voters in Brazil on Sunday ousted President Jair
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202719-1406786.gif<br
/>Bolsonaro after just one term and elected the leftist former
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to replace him, election
officials said, a stinging rebuke to Mr. Bolsonaro’s far-right
movement and his divisive four years in office.
The victory completes a stunning political revival for Mr. da
Silva —from the presidency to prison and back— that had once
seemed unthinkable
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164519-508103.gifhttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422145218.gif.<br
/>... ...
Without evidence, the president has criticized the nation’s
electronic voting machines as rife with fraud and suggested he
might not accept a loss, much like former
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202719-1406786.gif<br
/>President Donald J. Trump. Many of his
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>supporters vowed to take to the streets at his command.
The results on Sunday made clear that tens of millions of
Brazilians had grown tired of his polarizing style and the
frequent turmoil of his administration. It was the first time an
incumbent president failed to win re-election in the 34 years of
Brazil’s modern democracy. ... ...
Mr. da Silva’s election brings an end to a presidential race
that was widely regarded as one of the most important votes in
Latin America in decades, a match between perhaps Brazil’s two
biggest living political figures, with starkly different visions
to reverse the country’s fortunes.
His victory also pushes Brazil back to the left
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422145344-560693.png,<br
/>extending a string of leftist victories across Latin America,
fueled by a wave of anti-incumbent backlash. Six of the region’s
seven largest countries have now elected leftist leaders since
2018.
Mr. da Silva, a left-wing firebrand who for decades made his
name as a champion of the poor, confronts significant
challenges. Brazil faces environmental threats, rising hunger, a
sputtering economy and a deeply divided population. ... ...
Mr. da Silva’s central pitch to voters was that his eight years
in office were Brazil’s best moment and that, after four years
of instability under Mr. Bolsonaro, he would “reestablish
harmony” in the country.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422144605.png<br
/>... ...
“Lula’s election represents a real likelihood of a return to
regional integration, especially via the Union of South American
Nations, where Brazil acted as an important leader under its
previous Workers’ Party governments,” CEPR senior policy analyst
Guillaume Long, who recently coauthored a report on the
prospects for relaunching UNASUR, said. “Brazil has much to gain
from better economic, political, and cultural ties to its
regional neighbors, and Lula has already suggested he may return
Brazil to UNASUR were he to be elected.”
Read more:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164615-5351419.gif
HTML https://ongoingclassstruggle.blogspot.com/2022/10/brazil-ejects-bolsonaro-and-brings-back.html
#Post#: 857--------------------------------------------------
Eddie Conway 🕊️ RIP ☝🏻 February 13,
2023
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: February 15, 2023, 10:23 pm
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February 15, 2023 By Staff, THE REAL NEWS NETWORK
[center]Let’s Honor the Late [shadow=teal,left]Eddie
Conway[/shadow] 🦅 by Continuing to Fight
Oppression[/center]
[move]On the streets or behind bars, [glow=teal,2,300]Eddie’s
commitment[/glow] to organizing for liberation was
unwavering.[/move]
--- Quote ---
> “Do your little part. Do whatever you can to help change these
conditions. Because we’re moving into a critical period of
history, not just for poor and oppressed people, Black people,
but for humanity itself. So you need to engage. Do whatever
little bit you can, but you need to do
[glow=teal,2,300]something[/glow].” —[glow=teal,2,300]Eddie
Conway 🕊️[/glow] in 2019, celebrating five years
of freedom
--- End Quote ---
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the death of
our friend, co-worker, and comrade Marshall “Eddie” Conway.
[glow=teal,2,300]Eddie[/glow] joined the ancestors on February
13, 2023, surrounded by family and loved ones. After falling ill
nearly a year ago, while still dealing with the immeasurable
toll nearly 44 years of incarceration as a political prisoner
took on his body, Eddie had been hospitalized and fighting
valiantly to recover. That is who he is, who he was, and who he
always will be: a fighter. After a lifetime of fighting, though,
the time has come at last for our dear Eddie to rest — and for
all of us to carry on his fight.
Read more:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422133332.gif
HTML https://truthout.org/articles/lets-honor-the-late-eddie-conway-by-continuing-to-fight-oppression/
#Post#: 885--------------------------------------------------
RIP President Jimmy Carter
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: February 25, 2023, 3:55 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-250223170026.png
February 23, 2023 By Carolyn Fortuna
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164555-532108.png[/center]
[center][glow=green,2,300]Jimmy Carter, The Most Eco-Friendly
President Of Our Times[/glow]
HTML https://cleantechnica.com/2023/02/23/jimmy-carter-the-most-eco-friendly-president-of-our-times/[/center]
AGelbert COMMENT: President Jimmy Carter was not a perfect man,
but he was a better man than any President since
FDR.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202720-1408267.gif
#Post#: 891--------------------------------------------------
"The Right despises you because you’re the Christian they
fake-claim to be themselves."
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: February 27, 2023, 3:59 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Dear [glow=teal,2,300]President Carter[/glow]
FEB 27, 2023 MICHAEL MOORE
Dear President Carter:
I know you told me to call you Jimmy, but I couldn’t then. And I
can’t now.
In 2004, you invited me to sit next to you in the presidential
box at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. It was
truly one of the great honors of my life. It also did you no
favors, and in that moment I wondered why would you want to
suffer the attacks for placing beside you the person who just a
year earlier was booed off the stage at the Oscars for dressing
down the commander in chief as a war criminal on the fifth night
of the Iraq War.
But you didn’t care about the political reaction to you cozying
up to me, the backlash you’d get from the 70% of the American
public who supported the invasion of Iraq. You weren’t offended
by me who had stood in front of a billion people stating that we
were being lied into this war, that Saddam Hussein had nothing
to do with 9/11, that we would find zero weapons of mass
destruction, and that thousands of American soldiers and
hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were about to die.
In fact, you agreed with me.
Adding more fuel to the fire as we sat there in your box was the
fact that in 2,000 theaters across the country that summer,
audiences were making Fahrenheit 9/11 the only documentary in
history to become the #1 grossing movie in North America.
Right wing media went bananas over the shot on live TV of you
wanting me to sit beside you as we watched over the nomination
of the Democrat who would almost remove George W. Bush from
office.
I had a great conversation that night with you and Rosalynn.
Your running commentary on the Democrats was priceless. Your
sense of humor was making it all bearable for me.
The news last weekend that you’ve decided to enter hospice — an
“end of life” hospice as the news reports called it — was
devastating. I broke down and cried. People will say that at 98
years old you’ve been blessed to live such a long life. And of
course, that is true. But I’m not crying over you. I’m crying
for us. We need 10,000 more of you, not one less as you leave
us. Pundits will continue to “explain” and misunderstand your
presidency. The [glow=red,2,300]Right[/glow] despises you
because [glow=green,2,300]you’re the Christian[/glow]
[glow=red,2,300]they fake-claim to be themselves[/glow]. You’ve
lived like a [glow=green,2,300]true Christian[/glow] — humble,
kind, forgiving, and always making sure your actions matched
your words. You could have had a lucrative post-presidency,
raking in the big bucks by sitting on corporate boards and
investing in growth capitalism (greed).
Instead, you chose to be a carpenter. You spent your weekends
for free building homes for the poor. Most of us had never heard
the words “Habitat for Humanity” before you. You set up a center
to promote democracy and you personally traveled all over the
world to help oversee free and fair elections. For decades you
did this — until sadly we needed you to protect us from our own
anti-democracy authoritarians at home.
You also traveled the world helping to eradicate disease and
perhaps save the lives of millions. For the better part of the
three decades after you returned to Plains you wrote nearly a
book a year. Few presidents have been as literarily prolific.
Who would’ve imagined, almost a quarter of the way through the
21st century, that simply not being an illiterate was the new
bar for a politician? You set the highest of goals: Thinking
matters. Words matter. Reading and more reading is essential.
Listening to others, and caring about what they say and what
they need is everything.
You were the first president to speak out for the rights of the
Palestinians. Almost 50 years ago, back before it was too late,
you installed solar panels on the roof of the White House.
Ronald Reagan made a big deal out of tearing them off the roof
as one of his first “official” acts as president. You never
started a war and when Iran kidnapped Americans as hostages and
held them for over a year, you didn’t retaliate by wiping out
Iran. You were not on the Left (you signed the Hyde Amendment
and you brought back required registration for the draft, but
years ago you said you regretted both and today, your idea of a
Democrat is much closer to Bernie and AOC than, say, to the
former senator, Joe Biden).
Speaking of which, one thing I remember about that day in your
presidential box was that, in addition to meeting you, I got to
spend time with your son Chip and your very cool daughter Amy.
And it’s where I met Joe Biden for the first time. I guess he
heard you had quite a spread of food so he just popped in to
grab a plate of goodies. He saw me there with you and flipped
out with glee. “I was raised in the Flint of Pennsylvania!” he
exclaimed. Like someone who was proud of the comparison, and I
was happy he made it. It was the first moment I saw what would
later become the new Joe Biden — regretful of his treatment of
Anita Hill, acknowledging the racist “mistakes” of the 1994
Crime Bill, and becoming the loopy, too-honest BFD VP to our
first Black President. I sat and had an intense talk with Biden
in that dining area of your box, and twelve Biden F-bombs later,
I decided I liked him. He didn’t have to be me. And I didn’t
have to be you for you to invite me to sit with your family.
FOX News kept cutting away to what they were calling the “Odd
Couple” shot of you and me. Or of you and me and Rosalynn. Back
in those days it must have seemed weird. But with the
installment of an idiot like George W. Bush — America had
already entered its CrazyTown Era, and we had begun our slow
creep to the edge.
I know that you’ve lovingly decided to spend your final days
with your family. So I haven’t called or emailed or texted. If
your family wants to read this to you because it’ll bring a
smile, then great. But mostly I wanted to give the public a
chance to join with me and thank you for what you have done for
humanity and for this planet. Please take all this gratitude
with you. Please know that you mattered to all of us, you made a
huge difference, you fought for those who had the least, and for
those deemed to be the last you did your best to make them
first.
Jimmy, we love you.
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