We cannot underestimate the contribution Eleanor Roosevelt has made for this country and the world. Franklin and Eleanor are the patron saints of democracy. Thanks Heather and love the early edition!
Frances Perkins was among the best of the FDR cabinet. She shattered the glass ceiling, first. She led women and taught the misogynists - and my impressive conservative macho dad just smiled. Everyone that took solid food admired Frances Perkins. Some quietly. She was iconic and brilliant. She awoke her culture and led the parade.
We could use her today - to run Harvard, MIT, U Penn and dozens more. This good lady was so very special. No one could fool her. She inspired the best in the best.
We have at least two - of five - granddaughters that will study her. They’re brilliant, natural leaders. Undergrads at U of Chicago and Amherst College, today’s students.
This grandfather has suggested one of them run for president. Either might.
Imagine a world run by women... just think. Would we have a Bibi playing with democracy? Would we have a GOP and Trump? Would we have Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and Putin?
I am nearly 85. Let’s think about women running the Planet. Would we have Texas’ Ken Paxton? Does he belong in jail.
Be careful what you wish for S B. Women running the world might give us better odds of great leaders but would also include possibilities like Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Bobert, Bridget Ziegler of Moms For Liberty notoriety, Phyllis Schlafly, Betsy DeVos, even the Melania Trump of "I Don't Care, Do you?" notoriety.
Right you are, JohnM. Plenty of sick women out there. Mostly GOP nut jobs today. And Abe Lincoln never ran on abolishing. The collection of Big Lie psychos square dancing on the truth with the Orange Man Lying is huge. What will it take? Don’t know. Let’s give good women a shot. Mika made sense this morning. Her dad worked for us for months. Zbig was smart. Hated Russia. She and Morning J are paired. MSNBC is making sense.
Phyllis Schlafley was so full of BS and such a hypocrite. Yes, Ken Paxton should absolutely be in jail, if for no other reason than endangering Kate Cox's life.
Mary Ellen Spicuzza - "Just to comment on one from your list, Schafly...she did so much damage. I shudder when I remember all the hate she spread."
Watch "Mrs. America" on HULU for an in-depth account of how truly damaging she was. Yeah, it is nine hours (nine one-hour episodes) but that's what it takes to adequately tell the story of the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment failure to be ratified.
Mrs. America tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly, aka “the sweetheart of the silent majority.” Through the eyes of the women of the era – both Schlafly and second wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus – the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the 70s helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted the political landscape.
Now that's definitely got my attention Ron Boyd ! Might you, or any others know of a way to watch that besides on Hulu ? I don't have an account and no plans to (financial challenges). I am however fascinated at the prospect - if the series is legit and certifiable truth. My dearest departed Dad, a good, honorable man got roped in by the "Moral Majority" hook, line, and sinker. I'd love to connect some 'heart dots' if you take my meaning. Thanks ~
Yes, lesser angels reside in the female form too. Freedom and dignity for others will always be challenged by the greedy and power-grabbing demons. These demons must be fought, resisted, and overcome by the better angels. Maintaining democracy, dignity, equality, and freedome for all, must be fought for in every generation.
You are both correct.....there are some women who are anti-feminist/anti-life. But I think in a world LEAD by women (NOT "run by women"), those women would not appear so much.
S.B.Lewis, I am pleased that so many women are in the positions of authority they are in today. I appreciate that fewer and fewer things appear “men’s work” today as my grandchildren come of age. I always felt that the goal of the Women’s Movement, and of Feminism, was to free all of us from a narrow-minded, reductive, destructive, patriarchal mindset. Living in Michigan, we have long suffered with Betsy DeVos. So my belief that “women running the world” would improve it, is tempered. We need GOOD leaders. And GOOD leadership is best served when it is available for all willing to shoulder its immense responsibility, without being seduced by personal, corruptible ambition. But how do we get that, when dark money plays such an outsized roll in today’s politics?
Good to see you again, Sandy. I'm not sure that substituting women for men would make a difference in and of itself. But I think you have a point. My traditional people had a Council of Women who were regarded as the ultimate oversight of governance. Nothing happened without their approval. That's the part that our "founding fathers" left out.
It probably never occurred to them to take it seriously. Though they got the separation of powers part, the built in assumption they had that only men were fit for governance handicapped their ability to see the essential role of women as ballast. It meant a struggle for power among ambitious men, often with poor outcomes
The Council would have been a smart move. The model we have now requires women to take European style male role models in a system based on competition. What a mess. Suppose I should give a tip of the hat to TC, and say "What a fine mess..."
But the good news is that we do have some fine men and women in the Congress. They are holding the line, and now it is up to us to back them up and send in reinforcements.
Hi Annie ! It may please you to get a 'thumbs up' from me regarding our last small bit of exchange; your logic, grammar, spelling, punctuation are flawless in your above ↑ idea posting ! Some may 'niggle / nitpick, but not me ! Lol.... Love your thoughts there too ↑. Brava sister !
If the best women had been running the planet, hopefully, we wouldn’t have paxton, abbott or “Cancun cruz” or cornyn and any of their cronies. And, perhaps, no mtg, boebert or lake…
I would LIKE to think you are right, but there are probably lots of dopey women in the world who might get elected, too. But women SHOULD have an equal chance to run, anyway. More options for good to rise, along with the dopes …
Frances Perkins is a national treasure. I really love the documentary about her directed Mick Caouette. It’s incredibly inspiring. (I was fortunate to go to the opening that included discussion with Mick and several Minnesota leaders.) Summoned: Frances Perkins and the General Welfare (2019) - IMDb With David Brooks, Amy Klobuchar, Nancy Pelosi. Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to a U.S. presidential cabinet, created the Social Security program, a federal minimum wage, the 40-hour work week…
More women in world leadership has real appeal. Here’s an article that’s food for thought, though I think the title could be better. Here’s part of the intro:
“The mountain of evidence keeps growing. Women leaders outperform. Especially during a crisis. Companies with more of them do better. Countries led by women are managing the Covid crisis better than their male counterparts. Why aren’t we all celebrating a global human awakening to the miracle of women’s century-long rise this International Women’s Day? Because only half the world is listening. And no, it’s not women vs men. It’s public vs private sector.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2021/03/06/data-shows-women-make-better-leaders-who-cares/?sh=757710e546be
Nancy, one of the many things about Dirty Dancing that make it a MUCH smarter movie than some people give it credit for! Frances Perkins should be that well known, that a casual namedrop is instantly recognized. She shows up in Annie, too!
"Perkins' most important role came in developing a policy for social security in 1935. She also helped form government policy for working with labor unions, although the union leaders distrusted her. Perkins' Labor Department helped to mediate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service. Perkins dealt with many labor questions during World War II, when skilled labor was vital to the economy and women were moving into jobs formerly held by men.[3]"
Wikipedia, for those of us who have heard the name but cannot remember what the one sentence in the boring history book said.
Heather has spoken about Frances Perkins a lot. If memory serves, Frances' advocacy for the victims in the fire of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory is what led to her being appointed Labor Secretary by FDR.
Mike S I believe that Frances Perkins, who first worked for FDR when he was NY governor, was the only member of FDR’s cabinet who served for all 12 years.
I found she was the fourth longest Cabinet Secretary (longest Labor Secretary for sure), while Harold L. Ickes, who started the same day she did, served 6-1/2 months longer since Francis Perkins left the Sec of Labor position on June 30, 1945 to serve on the United States Civil Service Commission. Ikes served as Secretary of Interior until Feb 1946 when he retired to his Headwaters Farm in Olney Maryland. FDR had been a frequent visitor to what I was surprised to learn was his Sears built home, as described at https://activerain.com/blogsview/1738387/maryland-historic-homes---headwaters--11-shallow-brook-court-olney--maryland
James Wilson was the only one who served over the 12 years and 346 days Ikes served at a day short of 16 years under McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, and Taft as Secretary of Agriculture up to 1913 (110 years ago).
I'd bet there's enough elements of human emotion, conflict and intrigue, not to mention a love story or two for someone to make a movie on the first Roosevelt term or two.
I've never seen _Dirty Dancing_ but I'm guessing the point is that Johnny doesn't seem to get the significance of "first woman in the Cabinet.' (Maybe he doesn't understand "Cabinet" either?)
Susanna, I have to jump to Patrick Swayze's defense - I worked with him and he was a much smarter actor than people think. Lovely person, too.
The significance of Baby's father naming her after Frances Perkins is actually a big set up of the plot. The name indicates her father has big expectations of her, in a socially conscious, moral way. In the main plot line of the story, Baby does EXACTLY what a Frances Perkins namesake would do: she breaks an unjust law (against abortion) to help a dancer who's gotten pregnant by a rich asshole. In a crucial scene, Baby's doctor father comes to the rescue but excoriates Baby for her role in it, and Baby becomes a woman by standing up to her beloved father and pointing out that she did what HE raised her to do.
Thank You Alexandra. I included the movie, "Dirty Dancing" in my birthing plan with my 4th pregnancy (which came 4 years after my tubes had been tied). My daughter (after 3 boys) is an amazing advocate.
Who's attacking Patrick Swayze, or _Dirty Dancing_?? I was addressing Lynell's comment that she didn't get the _Dirty Dancing_ reference -- which I think you'll agree wasn't exactly clear.
Helen Stajninger (and everyone else commenting on Dirty Dancing) All these plot levels are new to me and fascinating. At the risk of sounding shallow I could watch it again just to admire Patrick Swayze-so good looking!
I agree with you, Christopher. If there were such a thing as a secular religion, Eleanor Roosevelt would be its patron saint. I think at times she dragged Franklin along with her, but she was insistent, and got the UHDR job done too. If only more people in power aspired towards what it contains.
There is certainly a secular sense of core values. Of mindfulness. I have probably run this one too often, but it seems so apropos, whether one credits God or not:
"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength our gallant and disciplined army? These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of those may be turned against our liberties, without making us weaker or stronger for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises." - Lincoln
It is a great speech of Lincoln's, JL, but he gravely miscalculated how toxic and relentless the slaveowners he urged pardon and forgiveness for would prove to be. When will we ever learn to treat sociopathy as the fatal (for other people) disease it is?
Yes. And they reproduced generation after generation that same toxic bigotry that still haunts us now. Why isn't the Confederate battle flag treated in the same manner as a Nazi swastika? I am not sure how Confederate leaders should have been treated post Civil War. But they certainly should have been banned from holding any form of public office. Welcoming traitors back into the fold was a big, big mistake. Selecting Andrew Johnson as a VP candidate was...Oy.
All that right up there with Ford pardoning Nixon and perhaps the US not arresting Trump in January, 2021 (jailed without bail - no cell phone). "Stand down and stand by" and "We love you" should have been enough.
Bill, I am so with you on banning Confederate symbols the way Germany banned the swastika. And yes, what I believe should've happened was that Confederate leaders should've been banned for life from public office. How hard is that?
The thing about Andrew Johnson was that he talked a good game before he was actually in office. Many abolitionists in Congress believed he would be harsh on traitors. What he actually wanted was for them to "bend the knee" and beg forgiveness - of him. And he pardoned almost all of them.
I agree, Bill, that failure to arrest and confine the chief seditionist (Trump) will be analyzed by future historians. It may be that they will conclude that it was a failure of leadership to do what should have been done. Let's hope that we can survive this mistake on the part of our government leaders.
Bill, in some circles, the Confederate battle flag and the Nazi swastika are treated the same way; problem is there are multiple circles, and some of those circles revere the symbols whilst in others (the one that most of us here are in) see them as an anathema.
Sociopathy is humanity's Achilles' Leg. It becomes even more dangerous as we develop increasingly dangerous tech toys. We as a society need a much closer look at human nature. I think we have what we need for a just, open, and sustainable society, though at best, that will be a rough ride. We have to agree to want it.
Imagine this: the Great Ayatollah now has possession of enough nuclear bombs to destroy the world. He decides that he wants to die in Jihad and launches a nuclear holocaust that wipes out all humans and much other life on earth. One wonders, at this moment, what God was doing or thinking.
Probably thinking man is his own worst enemy. Man will destroy the earth, probably with fire (nuclear weapons). We all have freedom of choice. Many of us choose poorly.
In one way, we are in our current moment because we forgot that Sociopathy is a many-headed Hydra. Americans in the last half of the 20th century became quite smug about “defeating tyranny”. Tyranny doesn’t died; it morphs. Our aspirational American Dream is always going to be at odds with Sociopathy. A government “by the people, for the people” must ever be vigilant. The Boomers felt that the work they did in the 60’s was enough. Yet the cauldron kept cooking with new fuel from new power-mongers. The most exhausting lesson of this current moment is knowing that we will always need to be fighting.
The land of liberty. I was so inspired as a child when pledging allegiance, when listening to the Voice of America broadcast over our school intercom. But after bravely fighting the fascists, our country turned to murder in numerous countries, most egregiously in Iraq and now with the unspeakable horror on Gaza. I am no longer proud to be an American. I am ashamed.
I was ashamed of my country in the early seventies, rallied for the bicentennial, and then the shame returned. Being reminded of the despicable things we have done in the name of spreading democracy makes me heartsick. We desperately need people, men and women, of stature and integrity to look up to again. What frightens me is that they will only be formed in a crucible of fire. Things may have to get that bad.
"Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors." Another reason to take Trump at his word and vote him down in 2024.
Lisa, I couldn’t agree more about our horrific behaviors in Iraq and have NEVER forgiven Cheney and his ilk for that; yet, I fail to understand how we can alter the Israeli government’s steadfast desire to eradicate Hamas, regardless of the cost to innocent Palestinians.
Do you think we can halt Netanyahu's desires to destroy the Palestinians? Because we failed to comply with the UN’s resolution? That is indeed shameful but I still wonder if that resolution would have any effect on the Israeli’s actions... Confused in Colorado. 😣
Thank you, JL, for the quote from Lincoln. I am going to clip it out of the conversation; print it on a 4x6 card; and slip it in my pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution. It would help our battered and bleeding civic culture if, once a week, it were read on the nightly news.
No need to "think" she did - she definitely did. It's in the public record. Pretty much every progressive thing Franklin did, he got (mostly) dragged to it by her.
Right on Deirdre, " If only more people in power aspired towards what it contains." instead of power to aggrandize self with power over others. This is a very timely piece. Such a good examples of why we need women's voices in the public arena... Eleanor, Heather, Deirdre...
Women’s voices belong at the table the same way men’s voices belong at the table, because we are human, part of the body polity and we have the right to self determination. This is denied when we justify being at the table because we present a unique view!!
These women were not invited to be part of a discussion because they were represented a particular view... each was self-appointed to a role and when they spoke they spoke of WE and MANY. Eleanor may have been assigned to UN, but she assigned her-self a role long before. However, your point is well taken, Gloria. Thank you.
LOL I was thinking you represented all women using their voice to make a better world. But, you selected from Heather's words, the essence of this discussion, I think that is a quality worth lauding.
Eleanor argued for allowing the ship from Germany, the St. Louis, to dock in America. She was overruled, and the ship returned to Europe and persecution of many of the ship's passengers.
___Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees’ as Israel pushes into Khan Younis’ (WAPO)
___Trump defends dictator comments amid NYC soiree filled with MAGA diehards (Politico)
___‘Buying Quiet’: Inside the Israeli Plan That Propped Up Hamas (NYTimes)
___Release of Palestinian prisoners sheds light on controversial Israeli justice system in the occupied West Bank (CNN)
__’Ukraine’s first lady pleads for aid: ‘If the world gets tired, they will simply let us die’ (TheHill)
'Seventy-five years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). '
‘UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) was necessary because “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” and because “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Because “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble said, “human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”
'The thirty articles that followed established that “[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” and regardless “of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs.”
'Those rights included freedom from slavery, torture, degrading punishment, arbitrary arrest, exile, and “arbitrary interference with…privacy, family, home or correspondence, [and] attacks upon…honour and reputation.” (Letter)
The list of the rights in UDHR continues in today's Letter.
‘The UDHR is a vital part of the rules-based order that restrains leaders from human rights abuses, giving victims a language and a set of principles to condemn mistreatment, language and principles that were unimaginable before 1948.’
‘But the UDHR remains aspirational. “As we look at the first 75 years of the UDHR,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today, “we recognize what we’ve accomplished in this time, but also know that much work remains.’ (Letter)
That was the Secretary of State’s appraisal, and I would add that it was quite an understatement!
State Department bypasses Congress to send thousands of munitions to Israel
By Natasha Bertrand, CNN
4 minute read
Updated 2:00 PM EST, Sat December 9, 2023
—
The US State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to lawmakers late Friday night for the sale of thousands of munitions to Israel, the agency announced, bypassing the standard 20-day period that congressional committees are typically afforded to review such a sale.
...
A State Department spokesperson confirmed to CNN on Saturday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Congress on Friday “that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer” of the tank munitions.
Yes, I read that piece, and thank you for bringing it to the forum. It is an excellent example of the US' engagement in Israel's war, which has killed more than 17 thousand people living in Gaza, where the sickness and suffering are 'beyond the pale'.
The following is a brief excerpt from the article and a link to it:
'CNN'
—
'The declaration followed a request by the State Department earlier in the week for Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells to Israel for its Merkava tanks. A source with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN that the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which have oversight over military sales, had been under “pressure” from the State Department to approve the request quickly amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.'
'The committees typically have 20 days to review foreign military sales, allowing lawmakers to raise questions about a transaction and delay it if needed. But late Friday night, the State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to the committees for over 13,000 of the tank shells, worth about $106 million, for immediate delivery to Israel, the source said Saturday.'
“Effective immediately, the items can be transferred,” the source said. “No further information, details or assurances were provided.”
'The administration’s move to transfer some of the munitions comes as the US is under growing domestic and international pressure to support a ceasefire in Gaza and place conditions on some of the weapons it is providing to Israel.'
The US is supporting the right of Israel to exist and retaliate against ONLY at Hamas, not the Palestinians. Biden has been trying to negotiate getting the hostages returned with interim ceasefires. The Palestinian people are caught in the middle and it’s heartbreaking. Israeli forces are threatening to pour salt water into the tunnels to flush Hamas out. It could kill the hostages!
I would like to say this in a more accurate, less cloaked way:
"The Palestinian people now find themselves with no place to go, in the fenced (by Israel) area known as Gaza.
Israel claims that it is retaliating against ONLY Hamas, however, when leaflets fall telling the people of Gaza where to go to avoid being bombed, and then they arrive at those places, they are saturation bombed in those "safe" locations as well.
Genocide is a strong word.
However, to my own understanding of that word, it would appear, to me, that Israel's government is sponsoring one of the most obvious, blatant, arrogant, genocides against any people that I have seen in my lifetime.
The United States open acceptance of what I see as genocide is a mistake that will have long term consequences that cannot be good.
There was nothing the least bit cloaked in Marlene's comment. Why make such a claim, following it with your assertion of 'Genocide' on the part of Israel against the Palestinians? Could you not make your claim without faulting the contribution of another?
'ISRAEL AND HAMAS AT WAR': from Reuter's Daily Briefing
'Fighting between Israel and Hamas intensified across Gaza, fueling fears flagged by the United Nations at the weekend of a breakdown in public order and a mass exodus of Palestinians into Egypt.'
'The World Health Organization chief said it will be all but impossible to improve the "catastrophic" health situation in Gaza even as the board passed an emergency motion by consensus to secure more medical access.'
***
'Gazans say hunger is growing, fuelling fears of exodus into Egypt'
'Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and residents say it is impossible to find refuge in the densely populated enclave, with around 18,000 people already killed and conflict intensifying.'
'Since the breakdown of a week-long ceasefire, Israel launched a ground offensive in the south last week and has since pushed from the east into the heart of the major city of Khan Younis, with warplanes attacking an area to the west.'
'On Monday, militants and some residents said fighters were preventing Israeli tanks moving further west through the city and there were also fierce clashes in parts of northern Gaza, where Israel had said its tasks were largely complete.'
'Gazans forced to flee repeatedly described desperate attacks on aid trucks, sky high prices, and said people were dying of hunger and cold as well as bombardment.'
"Hunger is the base for all evils that destroy the social fabric of communities," writer Aziz Almasri said on Facebook. "It is the second face of the war we see today in Gaza."
'Israelis fled to shelters after new warnings of rocket fire into from Gaza, including in Tel Aviv. The armed wing of Hamas said it was bombarding the city in response to' "the Zionist massacres against civilians".
'In the northern Gazan city of Jabalia, Palestinians ran to escape smoke bombs fired near tents and other homes and militants said they were clashing with Israeli troops.'
'Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a new call on X on Monday for Gaza residents to evacuate Gaza City and other areas of the north as well as Khan Younis in the south.'
'U.N. officials say 1.9 million people - 85 percent of Gaza's population - are displaced and describe the conditions in the southern areas where they have concentrated as hellish.'
"I expect public order to completely break down soon and an even worse situation could unfold including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt," U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.' (Reuters) See link below.
Is this about the off shore Gaza's natural gas reserves. I read in our local paper today that the Midwest may have blackouts this winter if we have a major freeze because our power stations use natural gas, and we lack sufficient supplies.
Thank you. Then why did our local paper say we have a shortage and may have black outs this winter? The Op Ed, "Could a Winter Storm Topple America's Electric Grid?" in the Rockford Register Republic, 12/10/2023 is critical of the EPA for closing down power plants, especially coal plants that we need in the winter because we increasingly depend on natural gas. Customers have been asked to conserve and blackouts occur during "freezes."
I'm trying to understand why the US is supporting Israel in their vengeance against the civilian population. Seventeen thousand, killed already and the bombing continues? It's unbelievable that Israel would need more tanks and that we would send them on an emergency basis without authorization. There is a piece of the puzzle missing from what we are allowed to know. Hamas terrorists are horrible, but isn't Israel's response to the attack worse?
"Then why did our local paper say we have a shortage and may have black outs this winter? The Op Ed, "Could a Winter Storm Topple America's Electric Grid?" in the Rockford Register Republic, 12/10/2023 is critical of the EPA for closing down power plants, especially coal plants that we need in the winter because we increasingly depend on natural gas. Customers have been asked to conserve and blackouts occur during "freezes."
This is a right wing lie Gloria. "The government" has never shut down even one coal fired power plant. Those decisions are made locally.
IF you guys run out of natural gas, don't blame Biden. Blame the folks who run those plants and made bad choices.
"The Government" does NOT decide what plant does what.
The pursuit of Hamas in Gaza is an act of survival and self preservation. I too, am horrified by the destruction, death and misery in Gaza. But Israel has been declared dead by Hamas. Hamas has declared a war of annihilation on Jews in Israel. They are dedicated to the elimination of Israel and the deaths of ALL its Jewish citizens. How should Israel respond?
I don't know what I would do if I were an Israeli. But if my friends or family were among those 1400 who were slaughtered, would I be justified in seeking justice for those who did it? Or should I just sit by and wait for a Palestinian (Qatar funded or Iran provided) rocket to destroy the rest of my family?
If there is another way to find and eradicate Hamas, I am listening. But the people of Gaza who don't eschew Hamas, who don't push them out of power, who don't select other leaders - are not helping their cause. If you protect people who rape, torture, murder and kidnap...where is that going to lead?
Here is the analogy I repeat often. In the 1940s as Israel was forming, many thousands of Palestinians were displaced - pushed off their ancestral homes. Jews certainly deserved a homeland. It could have happened differently. And so it began. Does that justify a massacre at a music festival?
In the earliest days of the European invasion of North America, a genocide of indigenous people began that continued for hundreds of years. Talk about wrong and evil. But if tomorrow, Native American extremists were to launch rockets from their reservations - to land in LA or Las Vegas, killing "white" Americans, how would/should the US government respond? With olive branches and peace signs?
I am anti-war, anti-violence. But I am also a human who if threatened would respond just like humans have for eons - in a manner to survive.
Historically and aspirationally, it was most appropriate to inform or remind people of The Declaration of Human Rights but to do so without elaboration on what is going on at this very moment is beyond my understanding in terms of HCR's Letter.
I concur FERN. The Declaration of HR is a bedrock of international Law the stuff Jack Smith prosecuted a War Criminal with at The Hague
12/11 Monday Morning email from the US State Department that JESSICA STERN, who is the "Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Intersex, LGBTQI+" people is traveling to recognize the 75th Anniversary of the UDHR, Universal Declaration of Human Right" today.
"but to do so without elaboration on what is going on at this very moment is beyond my understanding in terms of HCR's Letter."
Fern, I agree. BUT, maybe she wrote this in the hopes that Biden will read it?
Because, no reasonable person can read her writing today and then ship weapons to Israel.
Maybe it is Dr. Richardson's method of attempting to move Israel to a less brutal approach in Gaza? I mean, if you are "just" a "History Professor" and you want to make a difference, how would you do it?
Fern, I suspect she ran into her 1200 word limit before being able to list all that is going on today, and that this is a foundational report for stepping off into that which is going on currently.
Ally, I don't think or speak for HCR, but when I saw what I believed to be a glaring omission, it seemed appropriate to comment on it. Blinken was used to cover that omission, which I did not strongly enough indicate was weaker than pale tea!
Thank you for posting this link. I am shocked that no one else in this discussion has acknowledged the Hamas brutality. They singled out women for special horrific attacks.
"Eleanor advocated for a form of public education that included thorough engagement with the arts, music, and literature. She believe that through analysis and interpretation, students could arrive at a more complex and fulfilling understanding of theirs lives, both private and public."
Here, here. I do believe that I am personally a product of her efforts because my little rural library (stocked by an older, kind but steady woman) had all kinds of books and those books are what allowed me to succeed. I was a powerful reader upon arriving on my college campus.
It really is too bad so many Americans, including me (for a while) out of sheer, unadulterated ignorance, bought into the Ronald Reagan "disaster for America" program of "trickle down" and inadvertently supported "gushing up" thereby destroying the middle class.
When UDHR was finally ratified, Eleanor Roosevelt was given standing ovation by every one in the UN. It was the first and last time that has ever happened .
Lots of digressions in the discussion today, but let's not lose sight of Eleanor Roosevelt and her seminal role in opening the eyes of patrician Franklin D. Roosevelt to the plight of poor Americans, old and new, by taking him on a tour of the settlement houses in lower New York City. Word was, that Franklin was astonished, perhaps mortified, at the poverty, illness and unhappiness of people whom he had apparently not really ever thought about.
Eleanor's actions realigned and molded FDR into the person we know about who spent most of his time in the White House working to raise up Americans as he beat back the Great Depression.
Eleanor was an ardent fighter for the rights of all, which made her an outstanding voice of and fighter for the rights of all men, and women, no matter their differences from one another. She was truly one of our greatest Americans.
I didn't quite realize this when she was a guest speaker at my high school in New York City in the late 1950's. At first look, I thought she was ungainly, unattractive and just plain uninteresting; I didn't see how I would make it through 45 minutes of this ever-smiling, gawky woman who spoke in a high, reedy voice about the basic goodness of all of us, our commonalities, and our basic rights.
By 10 or 15 minutes into her speech she had fully captured my attention and held it to the end. I was enthralled. And I stood for an ovation to her at the end of her speech. I knew that I had just listened to someone extraordinary who had spoken directly to me, young as i was, raising issues and ideas that I knew down deep were right, and important, and that in doing so she had changed my life forever.
Often times, the digressions from the topic of LFAA are where some of the best conversations happen. Anything involving the debacle on the Gaza Strip does not fall into that category.
I have come to the personal (uninformed and admittedly biased) conclusion that there is no common sense or rational discussion that can occur around the events between Israel and Palestine along the Gaza Strip since people are so focused on the action (Hamas attack on concert goers and the Israeli response the attack, which has been far more violent) that the vision of what has created this unstable dichotomy is lost, the ability for rational thinking is lost, and the way to a reasonable and just resolution is lost.
It is so cool that you got to hear Eleanor Roosevelt speak when you were in high school, and that you had the reaction that you did.
Thank you, Ally, I'm right with you. One smart comment on Eleanor Roosevelt went to Frances Perkins, admittedly a great woman for her times but then to Dirty Dancing and continued to spin off into subject unrelated to the meat of Heather's incisive and much-needed discussion of Eleanor and human rights.
The discussion descended from there to Gaza; where might it go next? I have the apparently strange viewpoint that what Heather researches and writes so very well, so on-point for the day, should be read at least once, digested and duly commented upon. But Elon and Trump? This is all too Reddit for me, and even far below the sort of bulletin boards of Pandora and CompuServe, which at least tended to be mostly on-point.
Where will smart discussions descend to next - TikTok?
Unfortunately, they were also the patron saints of capitalism. The ultimate purpose of the New Deal was to make America safe for its privileged class, of which the Roosevelts were prominent members.
"The ultimate purpose of the New Deal was to make America safe for its privileged class"
Definitely, you should visit the Roosevelt museum. I spent a day there about 7 months ago.
I really do believe Roosevelt was attempting to improve America's underclass.
Now, his efforts WERE targeted ONLY at white people since the FHA, which helped create the American middle class, was ONLY for white people and created the "Red Lined" areas that became black only slums in America.
BUT, if you were white, and poor, Roosevelt was really on your side I think.
I think you just inadvertently made Talia's point. I don't think Eleanor (or FDR) were directly responsible for the fact that black vets, for instance, did not get the same post-war benefits as white ones did, or that housing was red-lined. But your last line hints at an acceptance of the fact that white people (not just poor) benefited, and black and brown people didn't. I know that Frances Perkins worked against that. But the easy acceptance that it worked for white people is revealing, both then and now.
"But the easy acceptance that it worked for white people is revealing, both then and now."
I don't know if it is "just America" or if humans are constantly trying to find a reason to feel superior to their neighbor. I have tried to see inside myself but, honestly, cannot.
Hey Talia. Super cool that you are a bat researcher! I think the New Deal in the US helps the poor and the elderly a great deal. But I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this matter.
In honor of Eleanor Roosevelt, chief among my personal heroes, I plan to reread her 1940 essay, The Moral Basis of Democracy. It reminds me that democracy is not a matter of winning (and losing) elections, not a matter of yelling and screeching and vilifying those with whom we disagree. Democracy is the responsibility of all of us, in part, to "make the will and desire of the people the result of adequate education and adequate material security." Each of us is responsible for adopting personal principles and values, and then acting on them, that support the wellbeing of all our neighbors, "all those who live anywhere within the range of our knowledge.," and supporting governments that truly advance the good of all. Be well, Dr. Richardson and each of your readers, be happy, love and be loved.
Yes. Imagine, if one can, world order based upon rules, rather than might, and protection of people through rights enshrined for everyone, everywhere. Imagine how such a world order to bring peace, stability, honor, and lasting dignity to mankind; even in these troubling times among out people an nation. What a hope, gift, for 2024. I too like HCR recognition of Mrs Roosevelt today.
"Most notoriously, in June 1939, the German ocean liner St. Louis and its 937 passengers, almost all Jewish, were turned away from the port of Miami, forcing the ship to return to Europe; more than a quarter died in the Holocaust.
"Government officials from the State Department to the FBI to President Franklin Roosevelt himself argued that refugees posed a serious threat to national security."
But I agree re Eleanor! I think whatever good Franklin did was at her urging.
Exactly, Christopher. Not enough credit is given to her for tweaking FDR's humanitarian policies. I believe she had Frances Perkins' ear, too. Something I admire about Eleanor was her volunteerism. She rolled up her sleeves and got in the midst of impoverished humanity, so she knew what she was talking about.
a poignant view from history and done at a time when the world was so nearly divided along the lines of rights and wrongs. And Blinken is correct in that we have made progress, and that there is still so much to do...but I have to wonder as to human nature and the devils and angels that exist within our own psyche...and if we are not struggling with these en-masse. How fortunate we are to have had the Roosevelts from that bygone time to light a candle v cursing the darkness. May we continue to follow the way lit back then in both our personal and collective lives. As always Dr. Richardson, our thanks for keeping us grounded in our past, and looking to a brighter future.
I was thinking along the same lines and here's my optimistic takeaway from tonight's newsletter--for all of the putrid conflicts the world has faced, some of which were described in paragraph two of this newsletter, there is an action of good. Thank you UN and the Roosevelts!
Unfortunately, TFFG feels free speech includes hate speech advocating violent action against others. And then the media is compelled to report it because it brings views and clicks.
We need to call out the MAGANAZIs as well as the MSM when they amplify the hate speech. We also need to continue to make our elected officials understand that we did not elect them to slur and denigrate others, but to do a simple job -- make the lives of their constituents better.
Yes, you're on to something big-time and universal with this comment:
"I have to wonder as to human nature and the devils and angels that exist within our own psyche."
Freud with his epic CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS sold me on Pogo's famous conclusion: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." We are, as Christian theologians say, so deeply flawed; it does seem as if we're cursed; the Edenic story is poetically true. Just as another example, I just read that a university did a study and found that 60 percent of the study's participants could not go ten minutes without lying. Holy cow, no wonder we can't have nice things.
First, let's try to get the ERA included in the Constitution. And get rid of the Electoral College, where horrible Presidents are elected without winning the popular vote.
10 or 15 years ago, I studied the needed amendments to the Constitution to restore rights and concluded that we have always been a nation of assholes for the last 250 years. Sorry to be so negative.
There could be a book written about your comment. Boiled down to a few sentences I would replace "nation" with "species" and greatly expand your time frame. We are still tribal creatures. We value inclusion and greatly fear exclusion from our tribe, whom ever we deem them to be. And we are presently roaring down the road to extinction, quick and dirty with nukes or slow and painful from climate change. See you weren't very negative; you left a lot of ground to cover in that direction. Have a wonderful day.
Regarding global warming and climate change, the good news is that we mostly have the tech needed. It is matter of execution now. And the political will to make it happen, which puts solving global warming at the highest risk in my opinion.
Ironically the Black petition “We Charge Genocide” documenting the lynching and torture of American Blacks drafted by William Patterson Oaul Robeson and W E Dubois was not allowed to be presented. Roosevelt had it confiscated on its way to France. Because she was afraid that the White Southern Dixiecrats would block the US approval. Roosevelt knew she could not defeat them as we know even today how much control they have over our country, how they have spread their doctrine of White supremacy in many places in our land, and now are trying to bring a would be dictator to power. Let us not turn a blind eye to this contradiction and weakness in the highest efforts of liberals to secure freedom and equality. Denial will be our undoing. As we saw in the dreadful attacks on college presidents in Congress the MAGA effort to unseat our liberal strongholds is now beginning in anticipation of the time when they hope to jail journalists and take over our educational system. (PS intifada does not mean genocide it means uprising not necessarily violence—our liberal media didn’t even bother to check that manipulation, so submissive were they). If liberals do not take a strong stance against and expose the true intentions behind such attacks we will be overtaken by their manipulations.
I've been reading a million novels and all kinds of turn of the century, up through the 20's publications-- from the US and UK-- at librivox. From lots of humane authors,, too, and NOWHERE are Black people mentioned, their lives just don't appear.
Jews, though, esp. in the UK books, appear in stereotype I'm sorry to say. So that it's almost unbelievable-- some funny author, so sharp and interesting who's written 100 mystery stories I've loved-- I start to dread it when the detective is on his way to some pawnbroker's shop, or to the house of some huge millionaire who arrived on the scene from no one knows where, and now occupies the showiest house in London. I know it will be terrible and it always is.
All too often we forget--just imagine the horrors that might have occurred had we not had the UN and the declaration of human rights. It's too easy to condemn the organization as weak and disabled. In fact, it has brought strength and hope to many parts of the world. I am embarrassed by my own country's inability to support the call for a ceasefire in the current Middle East conflict, but I'm glad the UN is on the ground, monitoring things on all sides.
World history is pretty ragged. We live, so far in a fortunate place in a fortunate time, though with many and extreme exceptions. May we do better.
"The thirty articles that followed established that '[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status' and regardless 'of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs. ' ”
Mike, your comment implies that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself. Your statement that “Israel is quick to whip out the "anti-Semitism" cloak and hide behind it” indicates to me a lack of thought and consideration for the position of Israel and Hamas, a terrorist organization whose purpose is the destruction of Israel. Prior to reading today’s Letter, I read about the unspeakably horrendous attacks on women by Hamas invaders on 10/7. It is jarring to read these comments now.
I don’t think anyone thinks Israel has no right to defend itself.
But what Israel is doing is loathsome, they can be considered to have brought on the hatred themselves by stealing even more land than they were allotted at Israel’s founding.
And they counter any criticism by whipping out the anti- semitism cloak and hiding behind it.
Netanyahu and his supporters need to be disempowered, and a way forward found.
Gloria, what you might not be in a position to see is that Jewish citizens of Israel are actively speaking out against the handling of the war, as well as Israeli handling of the leadup to it (and they are being systematically punished for speaking out). The government failed to pay attention and got caught off guard; many of their actions since have made the situation worse. The other thing that many people confound is that Hamas does not represent Palestinians, and yet Palastinians pay the price. Israel does have the right to protect itself, but it seems to have extended that right beyond a rational response. This does not at all excuse Hamas. But it does require that the Israeli government be held accountable for its own excesses.
The complexity of this violent torturous situation is mind numbing. I detest Netanyahu; trust him as much as the loathsome nefarious red tie wearing t. As for Hamas, it’s rise seems to have become inevitable due to the claustrophobic policies Israel developed, especially more recently in The West Bank. However we all know that Hamas’ attack placed the Palestinian people they’re supposed to represent in an untenable situation as they literally hid and operated from underground.
"it’s rise seems to have become inevitable due to the claustrophobic policies Israel developed, especially more recently in The West Bank."
By "claustrophobic" I think you mean the random killings of Palestinians on the West Bank on their own land, the imprisonment of them for no reason and the confiscation of their land, followed by displacement, as part of NitWitYahoo's policy of expansion.
"your comment implies that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself"
Naw, if someone punches me in the face, I can punch them back. Even pummel them into the ground (and then go to jail for assault of course).
But, I cannot, having been punched in the face, seek out the family members of the person that has punched me and kill them, maim them, and bomb them and starve them and freeze them.
About the public’s demand for a cease fire in the Israel Gaza war, has anyone read that Hamas is offering or asking?
Would today’s public opinion have clamored for a cease fire during WW II when the USA was bombing German and Japanese cities to incredible destruction?
Nancy, of course I’m not saying two wrongs make a right I’m talking about public perception and what is acceptable to the American public.
There is a tendency in the American public to accept what is presented in the public press as the victim of the day. The best example I can come up with a bit of this phenomenon is from Rwanda. We were all horrified of the killings there and happy when it ended. We then heard about some refugees in the eastern part of the Congo and the terrible conditions they were living under. These refugees were from ruined, and it turns out that they were the people who have been doing the killings. However, this wasn’t revealed in the newspapers immediately in the American public built a great deal of sympathy for them when they were presented as refugees. the same refugees turned out later to have caused a great deal of havoc and chaos and killings in the eastern part of Congo. This was not widely publicized by the American press, certainly not as widely publicized as their conditions as “refugees.”
Nancy, my comment is about perception not “two wrongs making it right”.
Yes, many people are horrified by the atomic bomb now but were they.at the time. Ninety Japanese cities were firebombed. Germany was laid to waist, not just Dresden. As a child I traveled through Germany in 1951 and saw scenes from hell.
War is never justified but people have the right to protest themselves.
This right was recognized in WWII but not now in the Israeli Hamas war.
I noticed a tendency of the American public to be sympathetic to whoever is portrayed as the victim by the press, a sort of victim du jour. The best example that comes to my mind is from Rwanda. We all rightfully agonized over the horrendous killings and rejoiced, when it was finally put the end. Then some months later, we became aware of horrible conditions refugees were living under in the Congo. The refugees were from Rwanda in public opinion in the USA was very much in their favor. Interestingly enough, these refugees living in dire conditions in the Congo were the same people who had been doing the killings in Rwanda, but that was forgotten. They became the victims and deserve our sympathy. In spite of your sympathy, they continue their evil ways, causing havoc and chaos in eastern Congo and the stabilizing the central government.
As you can see, I am a subscriber to your letters. Your column today, on the universal declaration of human rights occasion me to write to you with respect to same.
I was formally an American, but left the United States in 1969 rather than participate in the genocide in Vietnam. I am a lawyer now and live in the small town of Hampton New Brunswick.
You may or may not be aware that our hometown boy, John peters Humphrey, was asked by Eleanor Roosevelt to write the first draft of the universal declaration of human rights and did so. He is greatly honoured in our little town, and we have a statue of him as an adult and also as a boy. When he was a boy, he played with matches, and ended up losing his arm.
Thank you for doing this column which I read every day and was “turned on to it by my high school, classmate, Russell, Gamber, DO(ret.).
Thank you for the details. As a high school student I had to learn details (population, products, geographical position) of countries as they joined the UN. Seeing Tryg Vlie’s name again after all these years (still cannot spell it) was a treat. It still fascinates this non-Scandanavian. What a precious gift to try to live up to. I hope the new Speaker of the House reads this letter and puts down his Bible long enough to understand the UN charter.
Wishful thinking in terms of the House Speaker, Virginia and as you know he the type of Christian that gives it and other religion a bad name. I note below that someone is OK with the speaker holding his Bible, but implies that of course, he hasn't read it. He probably has, but doesn't understand the core message of Jesus. As far as I am concerned, the Speaker is an abomination, detrimental to our democracy and our secular government.
I agree. I am thoroughly fed up with this distorted view of Christianity. It is warped and wrong. To “love and serve the poor “ not subsidize the rich and powerful.
His type of Christianity disregards the New Testament, the part with Christ's forgiveness highlighted. He likes that eye-for-an-eye God of the Old Testament. One could argue that since Christ's teachings are easily disregarded by him he's a CINO, but that's another story.
We seem to be locked into “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” As Americans who think so little about history, we forget that others do not forget. The Holocaust played into that, digging into an ancient wound. The Protocols didn’t help. What makes us grab onto propaganda so fiercely?
Unfortunately, hoping that the Speaker will either read Heather's words or understand the UDHR is futile. Those who are guided only by a lust for power and their own cowardice in speaking truth to those more powerful than they are not reliable repositories of our hope. Where does our hope lie? It lies in our own power to stand up to lies and to enlist others to join us in recognizing the principles of the UDHR.
In not religious, at least in no conventional sense, but it seems to me that the Gospels are way more consistent with the UDHR than whatever the Speaker of the House must be reading. Perhaps a MAGA comic book hidden in his Bible?
I think it'd be helpful to hear the Speaker acknowledge that the oath he swore is to the US constitution, not the Bible. There's a place for the Bible and other holy books, but in the US House of Representatives, it's the constitution that should be the north star.
The House of Representatives is defined by the Constitution. According to Jefferson: " I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties."
And the irony is that the separation of church and state was meant to prevent the very situation we find ourselves confronting: the potential of one religion imposing itself on everyone else. This was the Freedom of Religion referred to: the right of each of us to choose what path to walk, without coercion.
I went back to the letter and laughed at my spelling. It was always one word TrygveLie as we learned to say it, but now I know where it divides. Thank you, Professor Richardson.
Yes you can edit. I've goofed up spelling, grammar, unrefined thoughts countless times, and especially when posting while exhausted.. Heck, I've even found mistakes after correcting. Luckily, most of the good folks here 'try' to get the gist regardless.
D4N, I'm so glad to see you post this. I have a hand condition that has worsened over time. I can barely write long-hand anymore (which saddens me, as I loved script), and now even typing is often challenging. I've turned off auto-correct because I miss letters all the time or add in extra ones; the result is unreadable. I self-correct every other word, it seems, and have learned not to sweat the odd grammar and structure I sometimes end up with. We used to have some compulsive grammar police here, but thankfully, they either lightened up or went elsewhere. That makes this a much friendlier place to be.
Virginia, its function is iffy on mobile devices, and occasional blips when I am on my laptop. As Anne-Louise says, you have the option for edit only on things you've written; on others' posts, you can choose "report" if the content violates the Substack standards.
Thank you. I am so grateful for everyone’s going though the comments on the Speaker. We need to shine a spotlight on him to remind that he is a constant danger to US: Trump with Bible.
It's the three dots after your own contribution. If you click on the dots after someone else's contribution, you get a flag and "Report" in red letters.
Like you, Virginia, I only recalled the name from my civics class as three syllables rolled together - and it's been so long since then that I'm amazed it actually was remembered. Apparently, we are of the same vintage.
It is in the striving that we will find our fulfillment of freedom and democracy, because it will never be obtainable—only worthy of pursuit, to ensure it is protected from the backsliding to authoritarianism that always beckons humanity, like the Sirens’ deadly call.
I’m beginning to see it that way now. I used to think, so stupidly, that Germans who were adult in 1933 must have been weird Nazis. When Trump was elected over my extreme dead body, I realized how silly that was. And it’s easy to see within personalities how, one minute they’re successful, confident guys and five years later— they’ve stopped talking to half their friends— the non-saluting ones.
One of the only places in the world where the UDHR Articles are on permanent public display is Boise, Idaho. The engraved tablets are part of the Anne Frank Memorial, the only memorial to her in the United States. It's an awe-inspiring public space and Stop No. 1 for any visitor to Boise., and a regular stop for many residents. https://annefrankmemorial.org/anne-frank-memorial-background/
Thank you for this link, Spudnik. I copied from this article for those who wonder, like I did, why Idaho would have an Anne Frank Memorial:
"WHY AN ANNE FRANK MEMORIAL IN IDAHO?
"The legacy Anne Frank left for human dignity is one that resonates strongly in Idaho.
"In 1995, a traveling exhibit on Anne Frank drew in tens of thousands of visitors from around Idaho. This overwhelming interest sparked the idea for a more permanent tribute. Over the next several years, a group of community leaders, human rights stalwarts and citizens from across the state and the country worked tirelessly to bring the Memorial to life.
"In 2002, their long-held vision was realized, and the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial opened to the public. Since its opening, the Memorial has welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors and students to better understand the human rights challenges our communities and world face today."
Nice words, and I'm sure that the people who are responsible for the memorial meant them. But I note that the result they celebrate is that it has drawn visitors to Idaho. Be nicer if Idaho were to live up to them. I'm not sure the memorial plays a large role in helping "hundreds of thousands of visitors and students to better understand the human rights challenges our communities and world face today".
This is the state that banned abortion, and then declined to fund maternal and pediatric health services. I don't think I'm wrong when I say that reproductive rights and maternal and child health are among the human rights challenges we face. Idaho is just above the non-industrialized countries of the world. Let's start at home.
Thanks for this, Annie. Other than where it's located on the map, I don't know much about Idaho or its people. When I read the link, it didn't persuade me that they were any more committed to human rights than the rest of us.
Is there a "commitment" metric? I encourage you to learn more about what Boise and the rest of Idaho do to uphold human rights. Did your community stand up to fascists to create a memorial and education center? Does your community have staff dedicated solely to removing hateful graffiti within 24 hours of discovery? I suggest that you visit the memorial and use it as a template for your town.
You might want to enlarge your own perspective and visit what some other places are doing to support human rights. I know Idaho more than well-enough to readily grasp that Boise did do something remarkable in establishing this memorial. You are understandably proud of it, but perhaps you underestimate what others have done and are doing, and overestimate the impact of the Boise memorial. I say this not to minimize it, but to point out that it exists in a larger context. Where are your memorials to the indigenous people of Idaho? The only memorials I saw there were to the white people who displaced them.
I encourage you to visit the AF Memorial. And maybe take in the statue of Sacajawea in front of our State Historical Museum ( a short walk away) and take the time to go through the Museum. Maybe take a ride over to the Minidoka "Relocation" center. Wait, don't forget to visit our Statehouse and see the recently installed "Spirit of Idaho Women" statue. While you are there, you can experience the Steunenberg Memorial, right across the street. Governor Steunenberg was murdered at his home, not for his Jewish faith but for his involvement in labor issues in Idaho mines. Or spend a day visiting our Ribbon of Jewels parks along the Greenbelt - all named after women who have contributed to the Boise community. Or visit the Heart of the Monster near Kamiah. This site is part of the nimíipuu's creation story.
Don't be too harsh on Idaho. As with many places in this country, and possibly our entire country soon, the narrative has been captured by a fascist minority. The Memorial's website doesn't contain this information, but it I remember correctly the money to fund the Memorial came from a settlement of a court case against a white supremacist group in North Idaho. They made the mistake of firing a weapon at someone who had the misfortune of a flat tire near the group's compound. They were found guilty of something and the ensuing financial settlement allowed the Wasmuth Center and others to create the Ann Frank Memorial. The white supremacist group relocated to Pennsylvania. Do you think that all the people of Pennsylvania haven't lived up to our highest ideals? As my original post indicated, this is the only Ann Frank Memorial in the country and one of the only public places in the world that you can read the Articles. What is your city/town doing to educate the public about past horrors?
I urge you to visit Boise and the Memorial. Its impact is changes lives.
Meant to add that my grandparents were potato farmers in eastern Idaho until the farmer's depression (the 20s). Both my parents were born in Idaho, but didn't meet until their 20s in Portland, Oregon, as my entire family escaped Idaho. We made frequent trips to Idaho to visit other relatives, especially elders. I'll pass on visiting Boise again.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my comment, Spudnik. I appreciate it. After all, this kind of dialogue is what our country most needs. I noted in my comment that the people who were responsible for the memorial meant well. I knew the outlines of the court case, and that the fascists had moved (didn't know it was PA, but that doesn't surprise me). Good for the decision to use the money to build the memorial.
My point was the importance to Idaho as stated was that it brought in so many tourists from outside Idaho. I think the message on the memorial should be for Idahoans, and perhaps should have added that. There are other US memorials on a smaller scale, some as traveling exhibits or incorporated within a larger informational context. Idaho's is indeed the only major Ann Frank memorial in the US, but that is only part of the story. It is noteworthy that the memorial was defaced in 2021, followed by much understandable indignation. The graffiti was painted over, but I wonder if that was a good idea. Perhaps leaving the graffiti and including it in the memorial's story might have added to its impact, telling more of the story.
The Memorial has been vandalized countless times. Boiseans don't allow their public spaces to be defaced, regardless of content. If you ever visit the Memorial you will see many examples of horrific inhumanity in the quotes and stories along the walls. These are stories from anyone from children to heads of state. While we have tourists (sometimes large groups) visit the site, many more visitors are students and the many residents who use our Greenbelt every day.
You might find lots of places that do not meet your preconceived notions. Try visiting before you look down your nose at good people everywhere. I am originally from the East Coast, which people in the West often think of as a concrete jungle populated with drug lords and inconsiderate nincompoops who rush around their cities and ride crowded subways just to sit in a cubicle all day. Has nobody in your neighborhood succumbed to MAGAness? Gross generalizations get you nowhere, except maybe for a fleeting feeling of superiority over another class of humans.
Spudnik, I’ve been to Idaho several times. Thoroughly enhoid camping at 3 Island Crossing, a brief stay in Tein Falls, and several training seminars I attended in Boise where I got to see more of the town.
I have friends, MAGAts every one of them, who have moved to Idaho to “avoid the libs”. I’ve also been through northern Idaho and had contact with people from the anti-government folks from there.
I have other friends who strongly support the “Greater Idaho” movement. I know of what I speak.
Speaking for Jeri, she’s lost friends and family to the MAGA movement. She, too, has direct experience in that regard.
Those are all anecdotal experiences. Most of us know people who have been swept out to sea by the MAGA undertow. Regardless, it's a mistake to write off an entire group of people based on experiences with a few.
I too thank Heather both for her early posting, and for her magnificent letter detailing and celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I note that Eleanor Roosevelt's husband, President Franklin Roosevelt was the author of the magnificent Four Freedoms speech which was clearly one of the inspirational touchstones for the UDHR. I would imagine he would be rolling in his grave if he were to realize that the Governors of the two largest Southern States, Texas and Florida, states that voted regularly for him (Texas of course, producing his first VP, John "Cactus Jack" Garner), have gone out of their way to intentionally violate both the spirit and the letter of the UDHR with their cowardly exploitation and bullying of innocent immigrants.
Broadening my gaze beyond the shores of our gun loving Nation under Jesus, I would be remiss if I did not note that the current egregious violation of human rights being rained down upon the people of Gaza by the fascist and racist Israeli Likud government funded unremittingly by our very own, constitutes a paradigmatic traducing of the UDHR.
I like Secretary Blinken, but did he realize whom the bell tolls for when he stated that "Too often, authorities fail to protect or--worse--trample on human rights and fundamental freedoms, often in the name of security or to maintain their grip on power"?!?
Hopefully people in this country will read this and start living by it! It’s for damn sure we aren’t following it today. With Trump able to do as he dies, the abuse he serves up to others, and has served up. It’s in direct violation of the UDHR.
Something else, on a personal note. I gave over 26 years of my life serving the public in public service employment. Since I was forced to retire, and denied my medical by the state retirement board of Florida 28 years ago, my life has been a living hell. That cost me everything to the point where I ended up homeless, without medication, my oxygen, nothing. I almost died. Yet, reading this about the UDHR that was adopted by all these nations, including the United States, I’m questioning how it’s being followed now with all the homelessness in this country, our treatment of those trying to enter this country to find a better life than what they have in their communist countries, or dr g filled countries.
Is this how we treat our sick, elderly, and those seeking asylum?
Thank you for the kind words, Miselle! Greatly appreciated for sure. As long as I’m breathing, I intend to keep on fighting, and voicing my “Thoughts and Opinions” on things going on in this country, good or bad.
The UDHR was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century, and Mrs. Roosevelt one of the greatest spokespeople for human rights. The fact that the document expresses aspirations does not diminish its value. Before that time, such a document would have been unthinkable, or seemingly foolhardy.
In this culture, yes. But other cultures have been living by these principles for a very long time. We have not just short memories, but blinders beyond our own immediate history.
The United States of America doesn’t give a hoot about human rights, nor a rules-based order. Anyone who believes this is a fool. Everything our government does is based on a wish for American hegemony. If human rights and rules-based order fits the hegemony, we offer up platitudes to both. If neither does, we ignore both.
Is support for genocide a desire for human rights or rules? I think not.
Genocide? No. Horrors of war? Yes. Over-reaction to the Oct 7 attack by Hamas? No. Is it time to change the tactics? maybe. Can peace exist with Hamas in power with its genocidal charter to kill or expel all Jews from Israel? No.
Your continued reliance on YouTube videos is tiresome. Yes, it's your right. It's my right to point you to a common dictionary definition of the word.
“Israel supporters will defend any evil — literally any evil — as long as it is being perpetrated by their favorite regime. There are zero constraints of any kind, because Israel supporters are completely uninterested in morality. If they were, they wouldn’t be supporting one of the most immoral governments on this planet even after all it has done in the last two months.
Part of the problem is the widespread consensus that October 7 means Israel is justified in doing literally anything in response, no matter how heinous. Israel could exterminate the entire population of Gaza and its supporters would still be saying “WHAT ABOUT OCTOBER 7??””
That’s describing you, and it didn’t come from a YouTube video. Neither did this:
Since you didn’t point to any definition of genocide, probably because you want to cling to the one in your head that would excuse Israel from it, here’s one for you, and it describes actions which various Israeli ‘leaders’ have endorsed in many instances since Oct. 7: “Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people[a] in whole or in part. In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.[1][2]”
The result of Israeli bombing, shelling, and other atrocities, say, like causing Palestinian babies to die in incubators, in relation to the five acts cited in the definition above? Check, check, check, check, and…. Check.
Genocide is wrong period. Slavery is wrong period. Governments and groups who pursue either are wrong, especially those who use these abuses in order to cling to power. UDHR spells that out clearly.
"acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group"
Giving Gaza residents 3 weeks of warning before the ground operation, giving warning to leave areas next to be attacked, giving time for hospital staff time to evwcuare as many people as possible, including babies in incubators before entering a hospital and finding tunnels with wespons and communications equipment. Wll that matches your quote?
We're done. We live in different realities. You believe the narrative that only focusses on Israel's actions while ignoring the persistent attacks on it from Arabs over decades. I've seen those attacks and survived one (rocket eas too far away). You can't erase the Israelis' experiences. I can't make you see everything I see. Goodbye.
To say the Gazan civilians were warned or given time to evacuate is just Israeli propaganda. There is mass destruction, murder and humiliation throughout Gaza. Yesterday a medical school was leveled. A thousand year old mosque the day before, in addition to 103 other mosques. Every hospital and school. Refugee camps leveled. Surgery performed without anesthetic. Doctors murdered. Over 72 journalists who appear to have been precisely targeted with Israel's fancy US bought smart bombs, murdered. People are now starving and have no clean water. Their homes are gone. The UN reported today that the situation is apocalyptic, catastrophic. For lack of captured Hamas soldiers, the IDF rounded up a large group of innocent men and made them strip, except for underpants, and sit on the ground, heads bowed. They gave one a gun and tried to film him as they directed him to wave the gun in the air. They did two takes, but he switched the gun to the other hand for the second take, and both got out. The IDF "director's" voice audible on the film. It would be laughable if it weren't deadly. Oct.7th, IDF helicopters shooting indiscriminately. False stories of exactly 40 beheaded babies. Unproven rape allegations. The actual facts have still not been determined. Israel manufactures propaganda incessantly. Seek out multiple sources if you actually care about the truth: Truthout, Vox, The Guardian...
I see everything you see, just like I see the misplaced reactionary/revenge mindset from a MAGA supporter over brown people crossing the border, feelings caused by reading about immigrants bringing in drugs and committing crimes. You’ve seen those Hamas attacks personally? You’ve also, unless you ignored it, seen Israeli snipers target innocent children? You’ve seen Israel order a barely above starvation-level diet to the occupants of the open-air prison that is Gaza? You’ve seen Palestinians repeatedly forced from their homes, and imprisoned, in the West Bank? You’ve seen Israel put its Defense HQ in a civilian neighborhood in Tel Aviv; human shields much?
Your lack of narrative understanding is depressing in its breadth and depth. You don’t understand the concept of oppressor/oppressed, nor truth, nor justice. You cling to the WWII holocaust narrative, and there is nothing wrong with that, except to hold it to the exclusion of all other narratives in importance blinds you to the current reality, which places the current actions of the Israeli government, and it’s use of genocide in pursuit of ethnic cleansing, as dangerously close to the same desired outcome policies that Germany had in the 1930s, with its lust for collective punishment.
You, simply put, are propagandized, by both American and Israeli product. I hope you realize this one day soon, hard as it will be to admit. Supporting the wholesale murder of innocent women and children is not a good look, and untenable for anyone who professes to care about truth and justice.
No, you don’t get it. Look up the word proportionality, and try to grasp the concept.
Then do the same with oppressed/oppressor. Then with the phrase collective punishment.
Take your ‘ongoing response’ absurdity and shove it. It’s as clueless as the George W. Bush ‘Mission Accomplished’ reasoning, especially since the IDF would kill every hostage held, even if they were all children, if it thought it could get a dozen or so Hamas fighters in the process, and wouldn’t blink doing it.
Hmm. Human rights? My guess would be that the UN is questioning what is happening in the US. I believe our democracy is on some type of watch list concerning the condition of our democratic values & it may be predicting the demise of those values.
Women's rights are being stripped away.
Humans have very little support in dealing with democracy in the US, while corporations are now considered "people" & they can wield considerably more power than our government because they can buy votes & legislators. And while this new type of person flexes it's power, real people are losing more true representation. Gerrymandering has to be stopped! Voting must be made easier to do. It's time to pass an amendment to outlaw gerrymandering & to eliminate the electoral college. The electoral college was a compromise devised to be sure the more sparsely populated south with a higher number of slaves then of men eligible to participate in government would join with the northern states to become the United States.
Our country was founded & prospered on the backs of indigenous people & slaves.
And it seems like we are heading backwards in human rights. It's hard to encourage people around the world to respect one another when we can't respect ourselves.
We cannot underestimate the contribution Eleanor Roosevelt has made for this country and the world. Franklin and Eleanor are the patron saints of democracy. Thanks Heather and love the early edition!
Frances Perkins was pretty darn good, too.
Frances Perkins was among the best of the FDR cabinet. She shattered the glass ceiling, first. She led women and taught the misogynists - and my impressive conservative macho dad just smiled. Everyone that took solid food admired Frances Perkins. Some quietly. She was iconic and brilliant. She awoke her culture and led the parade.
We could use her today - to run Harvard, MIT, U Penn and dozens more. This good lady was so very special. No one could fool her. She inspired the best in the best.
We have at least two - of five - granddaughters that will study her. They’re brilliant, natural leaders. Undergrads at U of Chicago and Amherst College, today’s students.
This grandfather has suggested one of them run for president. Either might.
Imagine a world run by women... just think. Would we have a Bibi playing with democracy? Would we have a GOP and Trump? Would we have Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and Putin?
I am nearly 85. Let’s think about women running the Planet. Would we have Texas’ Ken Paxton? Does he belong in jail.
Leonard Leo? Donald Trump! Who needs this bunch?
Be careful what you wish for S B. Women running the world might give us better odds of great leaders but would also include possibilities like Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Bobert, Bridget Ziegler of Moms For Liberty notoriety, Phyllis Schlafly, Betsy DeVos, even the Melania Trump of "I Don't Care, Do you?" notoriety.
Right you are, JohnM. Plenty of sick women out there. Mostly GOP nut jobs today. And Abe Lincoln never ran on abolishing. The collection of Big Lie psychos square dancing on the truth with the Orange Man Lying is huge. What will it take? Don’t know. Let’s give good women a shot. Mika made sense this morning. Her dad worked for us for months. Zbig was smart. Hated Russia. She and Morning J are paired. MSNBC is making sense.
Yes, and by the way, nobody ever seems to separate the 'sick men' when election criteria comes up.
Sick men outnumber sick women.
Just to comment on one from your list, Schafly...she did so much damage. I shudder when I remember all the hate she spread.
Phyllis Schlafley was so full of BS and such a hypocrite. Yes, Ken Paxton should absolutely be in jail, if for no other reason than endangering Kate Cox's life.
Mary Ellen Spicuzza - "Just to comment on one from your list, Schafly...she did so much damage. I shudder when I remember all the hate she spread."
Watch "Mrs. America" on HULU for an in-depth account of how truly damaging she was. Yeah, it is nine hours (nine one-hour episodes) but that's what it takes to adequately tell the story of the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment failure to be ratified.
https://www.hulu.com/series/96f330fe-878d-412e-949f-fd8b69b3adf2
Mrs. America tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly, aka “the sweetheart of the silent majority.” Through the eyes of the women of the era – both Schlafly and second wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus – the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the 70s helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted the political landscape.
Absolutely fantastic and heartbreaking series, every minute worth watching.
Now that's definitely got my attention Ron Boyd ! Might you, or any others know of a way to watch that besides on Hulu ? I don't have an account and no plans to (financial challenges). I am however fascinated at the prospect - if the series is legit and certifiable truth. My dearest departed Dad, a good, honorable man got roped in by the "Moral Majority" hook, line, and sinker. I'd love to connect some 'heart dots' if you take my meaning. Thanks ~
Yes, lesser angels reside in the female form too. Freedom and dignity for others will always be challenged by the greedy and power-grabbing demons. These demons must be fought, resisted, and overcome by the better angels. Maintaining democracy, dignity, equality, and freedome for all, must be fought for in every generation.
You are both correct.....there are some women who are anti-feminist/anti-life. But I think in a world LEAD by women (NOT "run by women"), those women would not appear so much.
A minority of them, JohnM. Be careful about "Whataboutsim."
S.B.Lewis, I am pleased that so many women are in the positions of authority they are in today. I appreciate that fewer and fewer things appear “men’s work” today as my grandchildren come of age. I always felt that the goal of the Women’s Movement, and of Feminism, was to free all of us from a narrow-minded, reductive, destructive, patriarchal mindset. Living in Michigan, we have long suffered with Betsy DeVos. So my belief that “women running the world” would improve it, is tempered. We need GOOD leaders. And GOOD leadership is best served when it is available for all willing to shoulder its immense responsibility, without being seduced by personal, corruptible ambition. But how do we get that, when dark money plays such an outsized roll in today’s politics?
Good to see you again, Sandy. I'm not sure that substituting women for men would make a difference in and of itself. But I think you have a point. My traditional people had a Council of Women who were regarded as the ultimate oversight of governance. Nothing happened without their approval. That's the part that our "founding fathers" left out.
It probably never occurred to them to take it seriously. Though they got the separation of powers part, the built in assumption they had that only men were fit for governance handicapped their ability to see the essential role of women as ballast. It meant a struggle for power among ambitious men, often with poor outcomes
The Council would have been a smart move. The model we have now requires women to take European style male role models in a system based on competition. What a mess. Suppose I should give a tip of the hat to TC, and say "What a fine mess..."
But the good news is that we do have some fine men and women in the Congress. They are holding the line, and now it is up to us to back them up and send in reinforcements.
Hi Annie ! It may please you to get a 'thumbs up' from me regarding our last small bit of exchange; your logic, grammar, spelling, punctuation are flawless in your above ↑ idea posting ! Some may 'niggle / nitpick, but not me ! Lol.... Love your thoughts there too ↑. Brava sister !
If the best women had been running the planet, hopefully, we wouldn’t have paxton, abbott or “Cancun cruz” or cornyn and any of their cronies. And, perhaps, no mtg, boebert or lake…
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrjYcaKJ3dl4L89mkMPxQt.;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=keb+bo+put+a+woman+in+charge+youtube&type=type9085796-spa-3537-84480¶m1=3537¶m2=84480&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mnet&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-mnet-001&turl=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOVP.LkEGBFFnlNS1wJNYivXW8QHgFo%26pid%3DApi%26w%3D296%26h%3D156%26c%3D7%26p%3D0&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFciQeRGYFlw&tit=Keb%27+Mo%27+-+Put+a+Woman+in+Charge+feat.+Rosanne+Cash+%28Official+Music+Video%29&pos=1&vid=b3080b916df0d9d7bccf9ab00d1744b2&sigr=wdZi.ZpUvPG3&sigt=YQul16Y._ZTX&sigi=k4DjsMMtwiZd
I would LIKE to think you are right, but there are probably lots of dopey women in the world who might get elected, too. But women SHOULD have an equal chance to run, anyway. More options for good to rise, along with the dopes …
I’m 97 and like you still entertained by this world. Unlike you IMO women are not so different from men. However I hope we would establish e
Frances Perkins is a national treasure. I really love the documentary about her directed Mick Caouette. It’s incredibly inspiring. (I was fortunate to go to the opening that included discussion with Mick and several Minnesota leaders.) Summoned: Frances Perkins and the General Welfare (2019) - IMDb With David Brooks, Amy Klobuchar, Nancy Pelosi. Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to a U.S. presidential cabinet, created the Social Security program, a federal minimum wage, the 40-hour work week…
More women in world leadership has real appeal. Here’s an article that’s food for thought, though I think the title could be better. Here’s part of the intro:
“The mountain of evidence keeps growing. Women leaders outperform. Especially during a crisis. Companies with more of them do better. Countries led by women are managing the Covid crisis better than their male counterparts. Why aren’t we all celebrating a global human awakening to the miracle of women’s century-long rise this International Women’s Day? Because only half the world is listening. And no, it’s not women vs men. It’s public vs private sector.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2021/03/06/data-shows-women-make-better-leaders-who-cares/?sh=757710e546be
Sorry, I digress -
film “Dirty Dancing” - 1987
Johnny:
What's your real name, Baby?
Baby:
Frances. For the first woman in the Cabinet.
[laughs]
Johnny:
Frances. That's a real grown up name.
https://clip.cafe/dirty-dancing-1987/whats-real-name-baby/
Nancy, one of the many things about Dirty Dancing that make it a MUCH smarter movie than some people give it credit for! Frances Perkins should be that well known, that a casual namedrop is instantly recognized. She shows up in Annie, too!
"Perkins' most important role came in developing a policy for social security in 1935. She also helped form government policy for working with labor unions, although the union leaders distrusted her. Perkins' Labor Department helped to mediate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service. Perkins dealt with many labor questions during World War II, when skilled labor was vital to the economy and women were moving into jobs formerly held by men.[3]"
Wikipedia, for those of us who have heard the name but cannot remember what the one sentence in the boring history book said.
Thanks for the reminder Alexandra.
Heather has spoken about Frances Perkins a lot. If memory serves, Frances' advocacy for the victims in the fire of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory is what led to her being appointed Labor Secretary by FDR.
Mike S I believe that Frances Perkins, who first worked for FDR when he was NY governor, was the only member of FDR’s cabinet who served for all 12 years.
Thanks Keith. I am reading more. My wife and I visited the FDR museum and library about a year ago. Fascinating and well done museum.
I found she was the fourth longest Cabinet Secretary (longest Labor Secretary for sure), while Harold L. Ickes, who started the same day she did, served 6-1/2 months longer since Francis Perkins left the Sec of Labor position on June 30, 1945 to serve on the United States Civil Service Commission. Ikes served as Secretary of Interior until Feb 1946 when he retired to his Headwaters Farm in Olney Maryland. FDR had been a frequent visitor to what I was surprised to learn was his Sears built home, as described at https://activerain.com/blogsview/1738387/maryland-historic-homes---headwaters--11-shallow-brook-court-olney--maryland
James Wilson was the only one who served over the 12 years and 346 days Ikes served at a day short of 16 years under McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, and Taft as Secretary of Agriculture up to 1913 (110 years ago).
Good point. I wasn't aware of the "Annie" reference. Tks for posting.
I'd bet there's enough elements of human emotion, conflict and intrigue, not to mention a love story or two for someone to make a movie on the first Roosevelt term or two.
I WISH!!
I don't get it, Nancy, but I defend your right to digress!
I've never seen _Dirty Dancing_ but I'm guessing the point is that Johnny doesn't seem to get the significance of "first woman in the Cabinet.' (Maybe he doesn't understand "Cabinet" either?)
Susanna, I have to jump to Patrick Swayze's defense - I worked with him and he was a much smarter actor than people think. Lovely person, too.
The significance of Baby's father naming her after Frances Perkins is actually a big set up of the plot. The name indicates her father has big expectations of her, in a socially conscious, moral way. In the main plot line of the story, Baby does EXACTLY what a Frances Perkins namesake would do: she breaks an unjust law (against abortion) to help a dancer who's gotten pregnant by a rich asshole. In a crucial scene, Baby's doctor father comes to the rescue but excoriates Baby for her role in it, and Baby becomes a woman by standing up to her beloved father and pointing out that she did what HE raised her to do.
Thank You Alexandra. I included the movie, "Dirty Dancing" in my birthing plan with my 4th pregnancy (which came 4 years after my tubes had been tied). My daughter (after 3 boys) is an amazing advocate.
Very interesting! I loved Dirty Dancing, and that's a whole new underlying layer that I never realized. Thank you.
I think I need to watch Dirty Dancing....again!
Who's attacking Patrick Swayze, or _Dirty Dancing_?? I was addressing Lynell's comment that she didn't get the _Dirty Dancing_ reference -- which I think you'll agree wasn't exactly clear.
Loved Dirty Dancing. Had a few different levels.
Helen Stajninger (and everyone else commenting on Dirty Dancing) All these plot levels are new to me and fascinating. At the risk of sounding shallow I could watch it again just to admire Patrick Swayze-so good looking!
Frances Perkins
One of my all time favorite movies. I have the DVD and I watch it at least once a year.
Uuuum, sequels ...
“Dirty Dancing 2” 2025 summer release
https://screenrant.com/dirty-dancing-2-cast-story-updates/
Yes, Frances Perkins and Harry Hopkins. They were an effective duo. Also, joined by FDR and Eleanor, they made for a very effective quartet.
Amen!
I agree with you, Christopher. If there were such a thing as a secular religion, Eleanor Roosevelt would be its patron saint. I think at times she dragged Franklin along with her, but she was insistent, and got the UHDR job done too. If only more people in power aspired towards what it contains.
There is certainly a secular sense of core values. Of mindfulness. I have probably run this one too often, but it seems so apropos, whether one credits God or not:
"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength our gallant and disciplined army? These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of those may be turned against our liberties, without making us weaker or stronger for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises." - Lincoln
It is a great speech of Lincoln's, JL, but he gravely miscalculated how toxic and relentless the slaveowners he urged pardon and forgiveness for would prove to be. When will we ever learn to treat sociopathy as the fatal (for other people) disease it is?
Yes. And they reproduced generation after generation that same toxic bigotry that still haunts us now. Why isn't the Confederate battle flag treated in the same manner as a Nazi swastika? I am not sure how Confederate leaders should have been treated post Civil War. But they certainly should have been banned from holding any form of public office. Welcoming traitors back into the fold was a big, big mistake. Selecting Andrew Johnson as a VP candidate was...Oy.
All that right up there with Ford pardoning Nixon and perhaps the US not arresting Trump in January, 2021 (jailed without bail - no cell phone). "Stand down and stand by" and "We love you" should have been enough.
Bill, I am so with you on banning Confederate symbols the way Germany banned the swastika. And yes, what I believe should've happened was that Confederate leaders should've been banned for life from public office. How hard is that?
The thing about Andrew Johnson was that he talked a good game before he was actually in office. Many abolitionists in Congress believed he would be harsh on traitors. What he actually wanted was for them to "bend the knee" and beg forgiveness - of him. And he pardoned almost all of them.
Wait, that's sounding familiar somehow....
Sadly, yes
I agree, Bill, that failure to arrest and confine the chief seditionist (Trump) will be analyzed by future historians. It may be that they will conclude that it was a failure of leadership to do what should have been done. Let's hope that we can survive this mistake on the part of our government leaders.
He was still Pres on Jan 7, that very fact scared me. And, well, Joe had a plateful on Jan 20. But then, all bets off.
Bill, in some circles, the Confederate battle flag and the Nazi swastika are treated the same way; problem is there are multiple circles, and some of those circles revere the symbols whilst in others (the one that most of us here are in) see them as an anathema.
Sociopathy is humanity's Achilles' Leg. It becomes even more dangerous as we develop increasingly dangerous tech toys. We as a society need a much closer look at human nature. I think we have what we need for a just, open, and sustainable society, though at best, that will be a rough ride. We have to agree to want it.
Just saw that Elon let Alex Jones back on X, everybody else should get off. It’s time to stop pretending that Elon is not an enemy of sanity.
And stop buying/using his products. As long as he owns a share of Tesla stock I'll never own one.
"Achilles' Leg." Yeah, that's about the size of it.
Imagine this: the Great Ayatollah now has possession of enough nuclear bombs to destroy the world. He decides that he wants to die in Jihad and launches a nuclear holocaust that wipes out all humans and much other life on earth. One wonders, at this moment, what God was doing or thinking.
Probably thinking man is his own worst enemy. Man will destroy the earth, probably with fire (nuclear weapons). We all have freedom of choice. Many of us choose poorly.
In one way, we are in our current moment because we forgot that Sociopathy is a many-headed Hydra. Americans in the last half of the 20th century became quite smug about “defeating tyranny”. Tyranny doesn’t died; it morphs. Our aspirational American Dream is always going to be at odds with Sociopathy. A government “by the people, for the people” must ever be vigilant. The Boomers felt that the work they did in the 60’s was enough. Yet the cauldron kept cooking with new fuel from new power-mongers. The most exhausting lesson of this current moment is knowing that we will always need to be fighting.
The land of liberty. I was so inspired as a child when pledging allegiance, when listening to the Voice of America broadcast over our school intercom. But after bravely fighting the fascists, our country turned to murder in numerous countries, most egregiously in Iraq and now with the unspeakable horror on Gaza. I am no longer proud to be an American. I am ashamed.
Lisa, it certainly seems like we are not following the declarations in the UN, regarding Human Rights, in supporting the relentless bombings in Gaza.
I was ashamed of my country in the early seventies, rallied for the bicentennial, and then the shame returned. Being reminded of the despicable things we have done in the name of spreading democracy makes me heartsick. We desperately need people, men and women, of stature and integrity to look up to again. What frightens me is that they will only be formed in a crucible of fire. Things may have to get that bad.
"Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors." Another reason to take Trump at his word and vote him down in 2024.
Lisa, I couldn’t agree more about our horrific behaviors in Iraq and have NEVER forgiven Cheney and his ilk for that; yet, I fail to understand how we can alter the Israeli government’s steadfast desire to eradicate Hamas, regardless of the cost to innocent Palestinians.
Do you think we can halt Netanyahu's desires to destroy the Palestinians? Because we failed to comply with the UN’s resolution? That is indeed shameful but I still wonder if that resolution would have any effect on the Israeli’s actions... Confused in Colorado. 😣
I love that🙏
Thank you, JL, for the quote from Lincoln. I am going to clip it out of the conversation; print it on a 4x6 card; and slip it in my pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution. It would help our battered and bleeding civic culture if, once a week, it were read on the nightly news.
Yup.
How prescient was the man
No need to "think" she did - she definitely did. It's in the public record. Pretty much every progressive thing Franklin did, he got (mostly) dragged to it by her.
Yes, and I believe Eleanor introduced Harry Hopkins to FDR. Hopkins became indispensable to President Roosevelt.
Right on Deirdre, " If only more people in power aspired towards what it contains." instead of power to aggrandize self with power over others. This is a very timely piece. Such a good examples of why we need women's voices in the public arena... Eleanor, Heather, Deirdre...
Women’s voices belong at the table the same way men’s voices belong at the table, because we are human, part of the body polity and we have the right to self determination. This is denied when we justify being at the table because we present a unique view!!
These women were not invited to be part of a discussion because they were represented a particular view... each was self-appointed to a role and when they spoke they spoke of WE and MANY. Eleanor may have been assigned to UN, but she assigned her-self a role long before. However, your point is well taken, Gloria. Thank you.
Lynn, you have elevated me more than I deserve! But I agree women bring a different perspective to the table.
LOL I was thinking you represented all women using their voice to make a better world. But, you selected from Heather's words, the essence of this discussion, I think that is a quality worth lauding.
I read a bio of her and she often dragged him along.
Eleanor argued for allowing the ship from Germany, the St. Louis, to dock in America. She was overruled, and the ship returned to Europe and persecution of many of the ship's passengers.
She tolerated her cousin. He cheated on her.
Agreed Deirdre, let’s give credit to Franklin for his willingness to be “dragged”!
Among today's headlines:
___Gaza’s health system is ‘on its knees’ as Israel pushes into Khan Younis’ (WAPO)
___Trump defends dictator comments amid NYC soiree filled with MAGA diehards (Politico)
___‘Buying Quiet’: Inside the Israeli Plan That Propped Up Hamas (NYTimes)
___Release of Palestinian prisoners sheds light on controversial Israeli justice system in the occupied West Bank (CNN)
__’Ukraine’s first lady pleads for aid: ‘If the world gets tired, they will simply let us die’ (TheHill)
'Seventy-five years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). '
‘UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) was necessary because “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” and because “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Because “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble said, “human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”
'The thirty articles that followed established that “[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” and regardless “of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs.”
'Those rights included freedom from slavery, torture, degrading punishment, arbitrary arrest, exile, and “arbitrary interference with…privacy, family, home or correspondence, [and] attacks upon…honour and reputation.” (Letter)
The list of the rights in UDHR continues in today's Letter.
‘The UDHR is a vital part of the rules-based order that restrains leaders from human rights abuses, giving victims a language and a set of principles to condemn mistreatment, language and principles that were unimaginable before 1948.’
‘But the UDHR remains aspirational. “As we look at the first 75 years of the UDHR,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today, “we recognize what we’ve accomplished in this time, but also know that much work remains.’ (Letter)
That was the Secretary of State’s appraisal, and I would add that it was quite an understatement!
State Department bypasses Congress to send thousands of munitions to Israel
By Natasha Bertrand, CNN
4 minute read
Updated 2:00 PM EST, Sat December 9, 2023
—
The US State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to lawmakers late Friday night for the sale of thousands of munitions to Israel, the agency announced, bypassing the standard 20-day period that congressional committees are typically afforded to review such a sale.
...
A State Department spokesperson confirmed to CNN on Saturday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Congress on Friday “that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer” of the tank munitions.
...
Yes, I read that piece, and thank you for bringing it to the forum. It is an excellent example of the US' engagement in Israel's war, which has killed more than 17 thousand people living in Gaza, where the sickness and suffering are 'beyond the pale'.
The following is a brief excerpt from the article and a link to it:
'CNN'
—
'The declaration followed a request by the State Department earlier in the week for Congress to approve the sale of 45,000 shells to Israel for its Merkava tanks. A source with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN that the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which have oversight over military sales, had been under “pressure” from the State Department to approve the request quickly amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.'
'The committees typically have 20 days to review foreign military sales, allowing lawmakers to raise questions about a transaction and delay it if needed. But late Friday night, the State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to the committees for over 13,000 of the tank shells, worth about $106 million, for immediate delivery to Israel, the source said Saturday.'
“Effective immediately, the items can be transferred,” the source said. “No further information, details or assurances were provided.”
'The administration’s move to transfer some of the munitions comes as the US is under growing domestic and international pressure to support a ceasefire in Gaza and place conditions on some of the weapons it is providing to Israel.'
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/politics/state-department-congress-tank-munitions-sale/
The US is supporting the right of Israel to exist and retaliate against ONLY at Hamas, not the Palestinians. Biden has been trying to negotiate getting the hostages returned with interim ceasefires. The Palestinian people are caught in the middle and it’s heartbreaking. Israeli forces are threatening to pour salt water into the tunnels to flush Hamas out. It could kill the hostages!
Marlene:
"The Palestinian people are caught in the middle"
I would like to say this in a more accurate, less cloaked way:
"The Palestinian people now find themselves with no place to go, in the fenced (by Israel) area known as Gaza.
Israel claims that it is retaliating against ONLY Hamas, however, when leaflets fall telling the people of Gaza where to go to avoid being bombed, and then they arrive at those places, they are saturation bombed in those "safe" locations as well.
Genocide is a strong word.
However, to my own understanding of that word, it would appear, to me, that Israel's government is sponsoring one of the most obvious, blatant, arrogant, genocides against any people that I have seen in my lifetime.
The United States open acceptance of what I see as genocide is a mistake that will have long term consequences that cannot be good.
There was nothing the least bit cloaked in Marlene's comment. Why make such a claim, following it with your assertion of 'Genocide' on the part of Israel against the Palestinians? Could you not make your claim without faulting the contribution of another?
'ISRAEL AND HAMAS AT WAR': from Reuter's Daily Briefing
'Fighting between Israel and Hamas intensified across Gaza, fueling fears flagged by the United Nations at the weekend of a breakdown in public order and a mass exodus of Palestinians into Egypt.'
'The World Health Organization chief said it will be all but impossible to improve the "catastrophic" health situation in Gaza even as the board passed an emergency motion by consensus to secure more medical access.'
***
'Gazans say hunger is growing, fuelling fears of exodus into Egypt'
'Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and residents say it is impossible to find refuge in the densely populated enclave, with around 18,000 people already killed and conflict intensifying.'
'Since the breakdown of a week-long ceasefire, Israel launched a ground offensive in the south last week and has since pushed from the east into the heart of the major city of Khan Younis, with warplanes attacking an area to the west.'
'On Monday, militants and some residents said fighters were preventing Israeli tanks moving further west through the city and there were also fierce clashes in parts of northern Gaza, where Israel had said its tasks were largely complete.'
'Gazans forced to flee repeatedly described desperate attacks on aid trucks, sky high prices, and said people were dying of hunger and cold as well as bombardment.'
"Hunger is the base for all evils that destroy the social fabric of communities," writer Aziz Almasri said on Facebook. "It is the second face of the war we see today in Gaza."
'Israelis fled to shelters after new warnings of rocket fire into from Gaza, including in Tel Aviv. The armed wing of Hamas said it was bombarding the city in response to' "the Zionist massacres against civilians".
'In the northern Gazan city of Jabalia, Palestinians ran to escape smoke bombs fired near tents and other homes and militants said they were clashing with Israeli troops.'
'Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a new call on X on Monday for Gaza residents to evacuate Gaza City and other areas of the north as well as Khan Younis in the south.'
'U.N. officials say 1.9 million people - 85 percent of Gaza's population - are displaced and describe the conditions in the southern areas where they have concentrated as hellish.'
"I expect public order to completely break down soon and an even worse situation could unfold including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt," U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.' (Reuters) See link below.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-presses-ahead-battle-against-hamas-southern-gaza-2023-12-11/
Fern,
No harm or ill will intended.
Is this about the off shore Gaza's natural gas reserves. I read in our local paper today that the Midwest may have blackouts this winter if we have a major freeze because our power stations use natural gas, and we lack sufficient supplies.
USA is a net EXPORTER of natural gas. We export over 50% of our output.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/natural-gas/imports-and-exports.php
Thank you. Then why did our local paper say we have a shortage and may have black outs this winter? The Op Ed, "Could a Winter Storm Topple America's Electric Grid?" in the Rockford Register Republic, 12/10/2023 is critical of the EPA for closing down power plants, especially coal plants that we need in the winter because we increasingly depend on natural gas. Customers have been asked to conserve and blackouts occur during "freezes."
I'm trying to understand why the US is supporting Israel in their vengeance against the civilian population. Seventeen thousand, killed already and the bombing continues? It's unbelievable that Israel would need more tanks and that we would send them on an emergency basis without authorization. There is a piece of the puzzle missing from what we are allowed to know. Hamas terrorists are horrible, but isn't Israel's response to the attack worse?
"Then why did our local paper say we have a shortage and may have black outs this winter? The Op Ed, "Could a Winter Storm Topple America's Electric Grid?" in the Rockford Register Republic, 12/10/2023 is critical of the EPA for closing down power plants, especially coal plants that we need in the winter because we increasingly depend on natural gas. Customers have been asked to conserve and blackouts occur during "freezes."
This is a right wing lie Gloria. "The government" has never shut down even one coal fired power plant. Those decisions are made locally.
IF you guys run out of natural gas, don't blame Biden. Blame the folks who run those plants and made bad choices.
"The Government" does NOT decide what plant does what.
The pursuit of Hamas in Gaza is an act of survival and self preservation. I too, am horrified by the destruction, death and misery in Gaza. But Israel has been declared dead by Hamas. Hamas has declared a war of annihilation on Jews in Israel. They are dedicated to the elimination of Israel and the deaths of ALL its Jewish citizens. How should Israel respond?
I don't know what I would do if I were an Israeli. But if my friends or family were among those 1400 who were slaughtered, would I be justified in seeking justice for those who did it? Or should I just sit by and wait for a Palestinian (Qatar funded or Iran provided) rocket to destroy the rest of my family?
If there is another way to find and eradicate Hamas, I am listening. But the people of Gaza who don't eschew Hamas, who don't push them out of power, who don't select other leaders - are not helping their cause. If you protect people who rape, torture, murder and kidnap...where is that going to lead?
Here is the analogy I repeat often. In the 1940s as Israel was forming, many thousands of Palestinians were displaced - pushed off their ancestral homes. Jews certainly deserved a homeland. It could have happened differently. And so it began. Does that justify a massacre at a music festival?
In the earliest days of the European invasion of North America, a genocide of indigenous people began that continued for hundreds of years. Talk about wrong and evil. But if tomorrow, Native American extremists were to launch rockets from their reservations - to land in LA or Las Vegas, killing "white" Americans, how would/should the US government respond? With olive branches and peace signs?
I am anti-war, anti-violence. But I am also a human who if threatened would respond just like humans have for eons - in a manner to survive.
Clickbait in your local paper. Happens all the time.
Antony's appraisal was just 'aspirational'.
Historically and aspirationally, it was most appropriate to inform or remind people of The Declaration of Human Rights but to do so without elaboration on what is going on at this very moment is beyond my understanding in terms of HCR's Letter.
I concur FERN. The Declaration of HR is a bedrock of international Law the stuff Jack Smith prosecuted a War Criminal with at The Hague
12/11 Monday Morning email from the US State Department that JESSICA STERN, who is the "Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Intersex, LGBTQI+" people is traveling to recognize the 75th Anniversary of the UDHR, Universal Declaration of Human Right" today.
"but to do so without elaboration on what is going on at this very moment is beyond my understanding in terms of HCR's Letter."
Fern, I agree. BUT, maybe she wrote this in the hopes that Biden will read it?
Because, no reasonable person can read her writing today and then ship weapons to Israel.
Maybe it is Dr. Richardson's method of attempting to move Israel to a less brutal approach in Gaza? I mean, if you are "just" a "History Professor" and you want to make a difference, how would you do it?
But, I agree with you broadly speaking.
Fern, I suspect she ran into her 1200 word limit before being able to list all that is going on today, and that this is a foundational report for stepping off into that which is going on currently.
It's only a guess...
Ally, I don't think or speak for HCR, but when I saw what I believed to be a glaring omission, it seemed appropriate to comment on it. Blinken was used to cover that omission, which I did not strongly enough indicate was weaker than pale tea!
I agree Fern. I did make such a comment earlier
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-eerie-silence-around-hamas-sexual-violence/
I thought of this as I read Heather’s letter.
Thank you for posting this link. I am shocked that no one else in this discussion has acknowledged the Hamas brutality. They singled out women for special horrific attacks.
Yes, Eleanor's push and then support for the WPA arts program ended up supporting many artists and producing a large amount of now famous art.
"https://omekalib.bard.edu/exhibits/show/er-patron-saint-art/arts-across-the-nation--eleano
"Eleanor advocated for a form of public education that included thorough engagement with the arts, music, and literature. She believe that through analysis and interpretation, students could arrive at a more complex and fulfilling understanding of theirs lives, both private and public."
Here, here. I do believe that I am personally a product of her efforts because my little rural library (stocked by an older, kind but steady woman) had all kinds of books and those books are what allowed me to succeed. I was a powerful reader upon arriving on my college campus.
It really is too bad so many Americans, including me (for a while) out of sheer, unadulterated ignorance, bought into the Ronald Reagan "disaster for America" program of "trickle down" and inadvertently supported "gushing up" thereby destroying the middle class.
When UDHR was finally ratified, Eleanor Roosevelt was given standing ovation by every one in the UN. It was the first and last time that has ever happened .
Lots of digressions in the discussion today, but let's not lose sight of Eleanor Roosevelt and her seminal role in opening the eyes of patrician Franklin D. Roosevelt to the plight of poor Americans, old and new, by taking him on a tour of the settlement houses in lower New York City. Word was, that Franklin was astonished, perhaps mortified, at the poverty, illness and unhappiness of people whom he had apparently not really ever thought about.
Eleanor's actions realigned and molded FDR into the person we know about who spent most of his time in the White House working to raise up Americans as he beat back the Great Depression.
Eleanor was an ardent fighter for the rights of all, which made her an outstanding voice of and fighter for the rights of all men, and women, no matter their differences from one another. She was truly one of our greatest Americans.
I didn't quite realize this when she was a guest speaker at my high school in New York City in the late 1950's. At first look, I thought she was ungainly, unattractive and just plain uninteresting; I didn't see how I would make it through 45 minutes of this ever-smiling, gawky woman who spoke in a high, reedy voice about the basic goodness of all of us, our commonalities, and our basic rights.
By 10 or 15 minutes into her speech she had fully captured my attention and held it to the end. I was enthralled. And I stood for an ovation to her at the end of her speech. I knew that I had just listened to someone extraordinary who had spoken directly to me, young as i was, raising issues and ideas that I knew down deep were right, and important, and that in doing so she had changed my life forever.
Often times, the digressions from the topic of LFAA are where some of the best conversations happen. Anything involving the debacle on the Gaza Strip does not fall into that category.
I have come to the personal (uninformed and admittedly biased) conclusion that there is no common sense or rational discussion that can occur around the events between Israel and Palestine along the Gaza Strip since people are so focused on the action (Hamas attack on concert goers and the Israeli response the attack, which has been far more violent) that the vision of what has created this unstable dichotomy is lost, the ability for rational thinking is lost, and the way to a reasonable and just resolution is lost.
It is so cool that you got to hear Eleanor Roosevelt speak when you were in high school, and that you had the reaction that you did.
Thank you, Ally, I'm right with you. One smart comment on Eleanor Roosevelt went to Frances Perkins, admittedly a great woman for her times but then to Dirty Dancing and continued to spin off into subject unrelated to the meat of Heather's incisive and much-needed discussion of Eleanor and human rights.
The discussion descended from there to Gaza; where might it go next? I have the apparently strange viewpoint that what Heather researches and writes so very well, so on-point for the day, should be read at least once, digested and duly commented upon. But Elon and Trump? This is all too Reddit for me, and even far below the sort of bulletin boards of Pandora and CompuServe, which at least tended to be mostly on-point.
Where will smart discussions descend to next - TikTok?
Ally, thank you. You got it in one.
Unfortunately, they were also the patron saints of capitalism. The ultimate purpose of the New Deal was to make America safe for its privileged class, of which the Roosevelts were prominent members.
Or you can interpret it as the rich finally doing something to help the poor. I’m OK with that concept.
Talia,
"The ultimate purpose of the New Deal was to make America safe for its privileged class"
Definitely, you should visit the Roosevelt museum. I spent a day there about 7 months ago.
I really do believe Roosevelt was attempting to improve America's underclass.
Now, his efforts WERE targeted ONLY at white people since the FHA, which helped create the American middle class, was ONLY for white people and created the "Red Lined" areas that became black only slums in America.
BUT, if you were white, and poor, Roosevelt was really on your side I think.
I think you just inadvertently made Talia's point. I don't think Eleanor (or FDR) were directly responsible for the fact that black vets, for instance, did not get the same post-war benefits as white ones did, or that housing was red-lined. But your last line hints at an acceptance of the fact that white people (not just poor) benefited, and black and brown people didn't. I know that Frances Perkins worked against that. But the easy acceptance that it worked for white people is revealing, both then and now.
"But the easy acceptance that it worked for white people is revealing, both then and now."
I don't know if it is "just America" or if humans are constantly trying to find a reason to feel superior to their neighbor. I have tried to see inside myself but, honestly, cannot.
Roosevelts were a far cry from the rich of today.
Hey Talia. Super cool that you are a bat researcher! I think the New Deal in the US helps the poor and the elderly a great deal. But I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this matter.
That was the effect. But get real.
In honor of Eleanor Roosevelt, chief among my personal heroes, I plan to reread her 1940 essay, The Moral Basis of Democracy. It reminds me that democracy is not a matter of winning (and losing) elections, not a matter of yelling and screeching and vilifying those with whom we disagree. Democracy is the responsibility of all of us, in part, to "make the will and desire of the people the result of adequate education and adequate material security." Each of us is responsible for adopting personal principles and values, and then acting on them, that support the wellbeing of all our neighbors, "all those who live anywhere within the range of our knowledge.," and supporting governments that truly advance the good of all. Be well, Dr. Richardson and each of your readers, be happy, love and be loved.
Yes. Imagine, if one can, world order based upon rules, rather than might, and protection of people through rights enshrined for everyone, everywhere. Imagine how such a world order to bring peace, stability, honor, and lasting dignity to mankind; even in these troubling times among out people an nation. What a hope, gift, for 2024. I too like HCR recognition of Mrs Roosevelt today.
Yes indeed.
Franklin not so much: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/us-government-turned-away-thousands-jewish-refugees-fearing-they-were-nazi-spies-180957324/
"Most notoriously, in June 1939, the German ocean liner St. Louis and its 937 passengers, almost all Jewish, were turned away from the port of Miami, forcing the ship to return to Europe; more than a quarter died in the Holocaust.
"Government officials from the State Department to the FBI to President Franklin Roosevelt himself argued that refugees posed a serious threat to national security."
But I agree re Eleanor! I think whatever good Franklin did was at her urging.
Exactly, Christopher. Not enough credit is given to her for tweaking FDR's humanitarian policies. I believe she had Frances Perkins' ear, too. Something I admire about Eleanor was her volunteerism. She rolled up her sleeves and got in the midst of impoverished humanity, so she knew what she was talking about.
a poignant view from history and done at a time when the world was so nearly divided along the lines of rights and wrongs. And Blinken is correct in that we have made progress, and that there is still so much to do...but I have to wonder as to human nature and the devils and angels that exist within our own psyche...and if we are not struggling with these en-masse. How fortunate we are to have had the Roosevelts from that bygone time to light a candle v cursing the darkness. May we continue to follow the way lit back then in both our personal and collective lives. As always Dr. Richardson, our thanks for keeping us grounded in our past, and looking to a brighter future.
I was thinking along the same lines and here's my optimistic takeaway from tonight's newsletter--for all of the putrid conflicts the world has faced, some of which were described in paragraph two of this newsletter, there is an action of good. Thank you UN and the Roosevelts!
And thank you to our "better angels" as a society. May they prevail.
Unfortunately, TFFG feels free speech includes hate speech advocating violent action against others. And then the media is compelled to report it because it brings views and clicks.
We need to call out the MAGANAZIs as well as the MSM when they amplify the hate speech. We also need to continue to make our elected officials understand that we did not elect them to slur and denigrate others, but to do a simple job -- make the lives of their constituents better.
yes, a remarkable milestone for human kind coming out of such difficult times.
Difficult times that are so similar to what's happening now.
Yes, you're on to something big-time and universal with this comment:
"I have to wonder as to human nature and the devils and angels that exist within our own psyche."
Freud with his epic CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS sold me on Pogo's famous conclusion: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." We are, as Christian theologians say, so deeply flawed; it does seem as if we're cursed; the Edenic story is poetically true. Just as another example, I just read that a university did a study and found that 60 percent of the study's participants could not go ten minutes without lying. Holy cow, no wonder we can't have nice things.
My sincere hope is that there is a renewal of commitment to the tenants of the original Charter of the United Nations
And I think we need to propose a US constitutional amendment to affirm said rights.
First, let's try to get the ERA included in the Constitution. And get rid of the Electoral College, where horrible Presidents are elected without winning the popular vote.
10 or 15 years ago, I studied the needed amendments to the Constitution to restore rights and concluded that we have always been a nation of assholes for the last 250 years. Sorry to be so negative.
There could be a book written about your comment. Boiled down to a few sentences I would replace "nation" with "species" and greatly expand your time frame. We are still tribal creatures. We value inclusion and greatly fear exclusion from our tribe, whom ever we deem them to be. And we are presently roaring down the road to extinction, quick and dirty with nukes or slow and painful from climate change. See you weren't very negative; you left a lot of ground to cover in that direction. Have a wonderful day.
Regarding global warming and climate change, the good news is that we mostly have the tech needed. It is matter of execution now. And the political will to make it happen, which puts solving global warming at the highest risk in my opinion.
Tenets
Ironically the Black petition “We Charge Genocide” documenting the lynching and torture of American Blacks drafted by William Patterson Oaul Robeson and W E Dubois was not allowed to be presented. Roosevelt had it confiscated on its way to France. Because she was afraid that the White Southern Dixiecrats would block the US approval. Roosevelt knew she could not defeat them as we know even today how much control they have over our country, how they have spread their doctrine of White supremacy in many places in our land, and now are trying to bring a would be dictator to power. Let us not turn a blind eye to this contradiction and weakness in the highest efforts of liberals to secure freedom and equality. Denial will be our undoing. As we saw in the dreadful attacks on college presidents in Congress the MAGA effort to unseat our liberal strongholds is now beginning in anticipation of the time when they hope to jail journalists and take over our educational system. (PS intifada does not mean genocide it means uprising not necessarily violence—our liberal media didn’t even bother to check that manipulation, so submissive were they). If liberals do not take a strong stance against and expose the true intentions behind such attacks we will be overtaken by their manipulations.
I've been reading a million novels and all kinds of turn of the century, up through the 20's publications-- from the US and UK-- at librivox. From lots of humane authors,, too, and NOWHERE are Black people mentioned, their lives just don't appear.
Jews, though, esp. in the UK books, appear in stereotype I'm sorry to say. So that it's almost unbelievable-- some funny author, so sharp and interesting who's written 100 mystery stories I've loved-- I start to dread it when the detective is on his way to some pawnbroker's shop, or to the house of some huge millionaire who arrived on the scene from no one knows where, and now occupies the showiest house in London. I know it will be terrible and it always is.
All too often we forget--just imagine the horrors that might have occurred had we not had the UN and the declaration of human rights. It's too easy to condemn the organization as weak and disabled. In fact, it has brought strength and hope to many parts of the world. I am embarrassed by my own country's inability to support the call for a ceasefire in the current Middle East conflict, but I'm glad the UN is on the ground, monitoring things on all sides.
World history is pretty ragged. We live, so far in a fortunate place in a fortunate time, though with many and extreme exceptions. May we do better.
"The thirty articles that followed established that '[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status' and regardless 'of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs. ' ”
Ragged, indeed
The UN is accused of antisemitism by Israel and well over 100 UN workers have been slaughtered in Gaza.
Lisa,
Yes, I note that anytime anyone notes the disastrous bombing in Gaza, Israel is quick to whip out the "anti-Semitism" cloak and hide behind it.
It is not anti-Semitic to watch the people of Gaza be murdered, starved, bombed, deprived of water, heat and shelter, and feel that is wrong.
Mike, your comment implies that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself. Your statement that “Israel is quick to whip out the "anti-Semitism" cloak and hide behind it” indicates to me a lack of thought and consideration for the position of Israel and Hamas, a terrorist organization whose purpose is the destruction of Israel. Prior to reading today’s Letter, I read about the unspeakably horrendous attacks on women by Hamas invaders on 10/7. It is jarring to read these comments now.
I don’t think anyone thinks Israel has no right to defend itself.
But what Israel is doing is loathsome, they can be considered to have brought on the hatred themselves by stealing even more land than they were allotted at Israel’s founding.
And they counter any criticism by whipping out the anti- semitism cloak and hiding behind it.
Netanyahu and his supporters need to be disempowered, and a way forward found.
Gloria, what you might not be in a position to see is that Jewish citizens of Israel are actively speaking out against the handling of the war, as well as Israeli handling of the leadup to it (and they are being systematically punished for speaking out). The government failed to pay attention and got caught off guard; many of their actions since have made the situation worse. The other thing that many people confound is that Hamas does not represent Palestinians, and yet Palastinians pay the price. Israel does have the right to protect itself, but it seems to have extended that right beyond a rational response. This does not at all excuse Hamas. But it does require that the Israeli government be held accountable for its own excesses.
The complexity of this violent torturous situation is mind numbing. I detest Netanyahu; trust him as much as the loathsome nefarious red tie wearing t. As for Hamas, it’s rise seems to have become inevitable due to the claustrophobic policies Israel developed, especially more recently in The West Bank. However we all know that Hamas’ attack placed the Palestinian people they’re supposed to represent in an untenable situation as they literally hid and operated from underground.
"it’s rise seems to have become inevitable due to the claustrophobic policies Israel developed, especially more recently in The West Bank."
By "claustrophobic" I think you mean the random killings of Palestinians on the West Bank on their own land, the imprisonment of them for no reason and the confiscation of their land, followed by displacement, as part of NitWitYahoo's policy of expansion.
I concur. Apparently a lot of Israeli Jewish citizens agree with you and are being targeted by Netanyahu's government as a result.
NorCal,
"your comment implies that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself"
Naw, if someone punches me in the face, I can punch them back. Even pummel them into the ground (and then go to jail for assault of course).
But, I cannot, having been punched in the face, seek out the family members of the person that has punched me and kill them, maim them, and bomb them and starve them and freeze them.
About the public’s demand for a cease fire in the Israel Gaza war, has anyone read that Hamas is offering or asking?
Would today’s public opinion have clamored for a cease fire during WW II when the USA was bombing German and Japanese cities to incredible destruction?
NorCal,
There were many, many Americans that were horrified to learn that Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been bombed with a new weapon.
Germany? I am not so sure about. The fire bombing of Dresden was, indeed, horrific.
But, Hamas is a faint shadow of the Nazi's.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Nancy, of course I’m not saying two wrongs make a right I’m talking about public perception and what is acceptable to the American public.
There is a tendency in the American public to accept what is presented in the public press as the victim of the day. The best example I can come up with a bit of this phenomenon is from Rwanda. We were all horrified of the killings there and happy when it ended. We then heard about some refugees in the eastern part of the Congo and the terrible conditions they were living under. These refugees were from ruined, and it turns out that they were the people who have been doing the killings. However, this wasn’t revealed in the newspapers immediately in the American public built a great deal of sympathy for them when they were presented as refugees. the same refugees turned out later to have caused a great deal of havoc and chaos and killings in the eastern part of Congo. This was not widely publicized by the American press, certainly not as widely publicized as their conditions as “refugees.”
Nancy, my comment is about perception not “two wrongs making it right”.
Yes, many people are horrified by the atomic bomb now but were they.at the time. Ninety Japanese cities were firebombed. Germany was laid to waist, not just Dresden. As a child I traveled through Germany in 1951 and saw scenes from hell.
War is never justified but people have the right to protest themselves.
This right was recognized in WWII but not now in the Israeli Hamas war.
I noticed a tendency of the American public to be sympathetic to whoever is portrayed as the victim by the press, a sort of victim du jour. The best example that comes to my mind is from Rwanda. We all rightfully agonized over the horrendous killings and rejoiced, when it was finally put the end. Then some months later, we became aware of horrible conditions refugees were living under in the Congo. The refugees were from Rwanda in public opinion in the USA was very much in their favor. Interestingly enough, these refugees living in dire conditions in the Congo were the same people who had been doing the killings in Rwanda, but that was forgotten. They became the victims and deserve our sympathy. In spite of your sympathy, they continue their evil ways, causing havoc and chaos in eastern Congo and the stabilizing the central government.
Ms. Richardson,
As you can see, I am a subscriber to your letters. Your column today, on the universal declaration of human rights occasion me to write to you with respect to same.
I was formally an American, but left the United States in 1969 rather than participate in the genocide in Vietnam. I am a lawyer now and live in the small town of Hampton New Brunswick.
You may or may not be aware that our hometown boy, John peters Humphrey, was asked by Eleanor Roosevelt to write the first draft of the universal declaration of human rights and did so. He is greatly honoured in our little town, and we have a statue of him as an adult and also as a boy. When he was a boy, he played with matches, and ended up losing his arm.
Thank you for doing this column which I read every day and was “turned on to it by my high school, classmate, Russell, Gamber, DO(ret.).
David M. Lutz, K.C
Great post David, and, whenever you want to return, draft dodgers are all pardoned!!
As is appropriate.
Thank you for the details. As a high school student I had to learn details (population, products, geographical position) of countries as they joined the UN. Seeing Tryg Vlie’s name again after all these years (still cannot spell it) was a treat. It still fascinates this non-Scandanavian. What a precious gift to try to live up to. I hope the new Speaker of the House reads this letter and puts down his Bible long enough to understand the UN charter.
Wishful thinking in terms of the House Speaker, Virginia and as you know he the type of Christian that gives it and other religion a bad name. I note below that someone is OK with the speaker holding his Bible, but implies that of course, he hasn't read it. He probably has, but doesn't understand the core message of Jesus. As far as I am concerned, the Speaker is an abomination, detrimental to our democracy and our secular government.
I agree. I am thoroughly fed up with this distorted view of Christianity. It is warped and wrong. To “love and serve the poor “ not subsidize the rich and powerful.
100%, Michele.
His type of Christianity disregards the New Testament, the part with Christ's forgiveness highlighted. He likes that eye-for-an-eye God of the Old Testament. One could argue that since Christ's teachings are easily disregarded by him he's a CINO, but that's another story.
We seem to be locked into “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” As Americans who think so little about history, we forget that others do not forget. The Holocaust played into that, digging into an ancient wound. The Protocols didn’t help. What makes us grab onto propaganda so fiercely?
Unfortunately, hoping that the Speaker will either read Heather's words or understand the UDHR is futile. Those who are guided only by a lust for power and their own cowardice in speaking truth to those more powerful than they are not reliable repositories of our hope. Where does our hope lie? It lies in our own power to stand up to lies and to enlist others to join us in recognizing the principles of the UDHR.
In not religious, at least in no conventional sense, but it seems to me that the Gospels are way more consistent with the UDHR than whatever the Speaker of the House must be reading. Perhaps a MAGA comic book hidden in his Bible?
J L Graham, the evangelical persons that I’ve known personally are more at home with Paul’s epistles and the Old Testament than the gospels.
And yet the Jesus they claim to follow talked about a "new covenant" as I recall.
They missed that, deliberately, I think.
Don’t forget our Puritan heritage!
Not everybody still subscribes to it.
🤣🤣🤣 You May have stumbled onto something, though I suspect he never got to the psalms or the love stories.
Some of the OT is too racy and should result in the Bible being removed from the shelves of school libraries.
I’ve often wondered that
LOL. J L. Now that image will be in my head.
I'd be OK with him holding on to his Bible if he actually read it.
I think it'd be helpful to hear the Speaker acknowledge that the oath he swore is to the US constitution, not the Bible. There's a place for the Bible and other holy books, but in the US House of Representatives, it's the constitution that should be the north star.
The House of Representatives is defined by the Constitution. According to Jefferson: " I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties."
Bible thumping isn't part of the job description.
And the irony is that the separation of church and state was meant to prevent the very situation we find ourselves confronting: the potential of one religion imposing itself on everyone else. This was the Freedom of Religion referred to: the right of each of us to choose what path to walk, without coercion.
I do confess that on occasion, I think Bibles would be more useful for thumping the heads of certain types.
Absolutely! 100%.
Really good point!
Amen!
I went back to the letter and laughed at my spelling. It was always one word TrygveLie as we learned to say it, but now I know where it divides. Thank you, Professor Richardson.
Yes you can edit. I've goofed up spelling, grammar, unrefined thoughts countless times, and especially when posting while exhausted.. Heck, I've even found mistakes after correcting. Luckily, most of the good folks here 'try' to get the gist regardless.
D4N, I'm so glad to see you post this. I have a hand condition that has worsened over time. I can barely write long-hand anymore (which saddens me, as I loved script), and now even typing is often challenging. I've turned off auto-correct because I miss letters all the time or add in extra ones; the result is unreadable. I self-correct every other word, it seems, and have learned not to sweat the odd grammar and structure I sometimes end up with. We used to have some compulsive grammar police here, but thankfully, they either lightened up or went elsewhere. That makes this a much friendlier place to be.
Virginia--You can always edit what you have posted. Click on the three dots to the right of your post. I do it all of the time.
That’s really good to know. I’ve been wondering if there was a way to do that 🙏
I had to go back to the letter to get the spelling and thought I’d lose what I had written. Still have to learn how the three dots work.
Virginia, its function is iffy on mobile devices, and occasional blips when I am on my laptop. As Anne-Louise says, you have the option for edit only on things you've written; on others' posts, you can choose "report" if the content violates the Substack standards.
Thank you. I am so grateful for everyone’s going though the comments on the Speaker. We need to shine a spotlight on him to remind that he is a constant danger to US: Trump with Bible.
It's the three dots after your own contribution. If you click on the dots after someone else's contribution, you get a flag and "Report" in red letters.
When I click the three dots there is no edit option.
You cannot edit on your phone, only from your computer.
You can edit on your phone. The difference is you can’t edit in the app. You can only edit from a browser.
Oh, thank you!
You can edit from phone if you first "open in browser." (Upper right corner of opening page)
Emily, I believe it is possible to edit on my phone. I'll try it now....
Sure, it's a snap!
Open in Browser first to be sure.
First "open in browser" above heading of the artivle/Letter
Like you, Virginia, I only recalled the name from my civics class as three syllables rolled together - and it's been so long since then that I'm amazed it actually was remembered. Apparently, we are of the same vintage.
I used to hear that as "Trigby Lee". Got a surprise to see it in print.
That would be refreshing indeed.🙏
What an education! A Scandanavian name like none we had ever heard!
It is in the striving that we will find our fulfillment of freedom and democracy, because it will never be obtainable—only worthy of pursuit, to ensure it is protected from the backsliding to authoritarianism that always beckons humanity, like the Sirens’ deadly call.
Despotism is the real forbidden fruit. It gets people organized, but the price is horrifying.
I’m beginning to see it that way now. I used to think, so stupidly, that Germans who were adult in 1933 must have been weird Nazis. When Trump was elected over my extreme dead body, I realized how silly that was. And it’s easy to see within personalities how, one minute they’re successful, confident guys and five years later— they’ve stopped talking to half their friends— the non-saluting ones.
Love these bite size pieces of history.
One of the only places in the world where the UDHR Articles are on permanent public display is Boise, Idaho. The engraved tablets are part of the Anne Frank Memorial, the only memorial to her in the United States. It's an awe-inspiring public space and Stop No. 1 for any visitor to Boise., and a regular stop for many residents. https://annefrankmemorial.org/anne-frank-memorial-background/
Thank you for this link, Spudnik. I copied from this article for those who wonder, like I did, why Idaho would have an Anne Frank Memorial:
"WHY AN ANNE FRANK MEMORIAL IN IDAHO?
"The legacy Anne Frank left for human dignity is one that resonates strongly in Idaho.
"In 1995, a traveling exhibit on Anne Frank drew in tens of thousands of visitors from around Idaho. This overwhelming interest sparked the idea for a more permanent tribute. Over the next several years, a group of community leaders, human rights stalwarts and citizens from across the state and the country worked tirelessly to bring the Memorial to life.
"In 2002, their long-held vision was realized, and the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial opened to the public. Since its opening, the Memorial has welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors and students to better understand the human rights challenges our communities and world face today."
Nice words, and I'm sure that the people who are responsible for the memorial meant them. But I note that the result they celebrate is that it has drawn visitors to Idaho. Be nicer if Idaho were to live up to them. I'm not sure the memorial plays a large role in helping "hundreds of thousands of visitors and students to better understand the human rights challenges our communities and world face today".
This is the state that banned abortion, and then declined to fund maternal and pediatric health services. I don't think I'm wrong when I say that reproductive rights and maternal and child health are among the human rights challenges we face. Idaho is just above the non-industrialized countries of the world. Let's start at home.
Thanks for this, Annie. Other than where it's located on the map, I don't know much about Idaho or its people. When I read the link, it didn't persuade me that they were any more committed to human rights than the rest of us.
Is there a "commitment" metric? I encourage you to learn more about what Boise and the rest of Idaho do to uphold human rights. Did your community stand up to fascists to create a memorial and education center? Does your community have staff dedicated solely to removing hateful graffiti within 24 hours of discovery? I suggest that you visit the memorial and use it as a template for your town.
You might want to enlarge your own perspective and visit what some other places are doing to support human rights. I know Idaho more than well-enough to readily grasp that Boise did do something remarkable in establishing this memorial. You are understandably proud of it, but perhaps you underestimate what others have done and are doing, and overestimate the impact of the Boise memorial. I say this not to minimize it, but to point out that it exists in a larger context. Where are your memorials to the indigenous people of Idaho? The only memorials I saw there were to the white people who displaced them.
I encourage you to visit the AF Memorial. And maybe take in the statue of Sacajawea in front of our State Historical Museum ( a short walk away) and take the time to go through the Museum. Maybe take a ride over to the Minidoka "Relocation" center. Wait, don't forget to visit our Statehouse and see the recently installed "Spirit of Idaho Women" statue. While you are there, you can experience the Steunenberg Memorial, right across the street. Governor Steunenberg was murdered at his home, not for his Jewish faith but for his involvement in labor issues in Idaho mines. Or spend a day visiting our Ribbon of Jewels parks along the Greenbelt - all named after women who have contributed to the Boise community. Or visit the Heart of the Monster near Kamiah. This site is part of the nimíipuu's creation story.
Don't be too harsh on Idaho. As with many places in this country, and possibly our entire country soon, the narrative has been captured by a fascist minority. The Memorial's website doesn't contain this information, but it I remember correctly the money to fund the Memorial came from a settlement of a court case against a white supremacist group in North Idaho. They made the mistake of firing a weapon at someone who had the misfortune of a flat tire near the group's compound. They were found guilty of something and the ensuing financial settlement allowed the Wasmuth Center and others to create the Ann Frank Memorial. The white supremacist group relocated to Pennsylvania. Do you think that all the people of Pennsylvania haven't lived up to our highest ideals? As my original post indicated, this is the only Ann Frank Memorial in the country and one of the only public places in the world that you can read the Articles. What is your city/town doing to educate the public about past horrors?
I urge you to visit Boise and the Memorial. Its impact is changes lives.
Meant to add that my grandparents were potato farmers in eastern Idaho until the farmer's depression (the 20s). Both my parents were born in Idaho, but didn't meet until their 20s in Portland, Oregon, as my entire family escaped Idaho. We made frequent trips to Idaho to visit other relatives, especially elders. I'll pass on visiting Boise again.
Your loss.
Not from my point of view.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my comment, Spudnik. I appreciate it. After all, this kind of dialogue is what our country most needs. I noted in my comment that the people who were responsible for the memorial meant well. I knew the outlines of the court case, and that the fascists had moved (didn't know it was PA, but that doesn't surprise me). Good for the decision to use the money to build the memorial.
My point was the importance to Idaho as stated was that it brought in so many tourists from outside Idaho. I think the message on the memorial should be for Idahoans, and perhaps should have added that. There are other US memorials on a smaller scale, some as traveling exhibits or incorporated within a larger informational context. Idaho's is indeed the only major Ann Frank memorial in the US, but that is only part of the story. It is noteworthy that the memorial was defaced in 2021, followed by much understandable indignation. The graffiti was painted over, but I wonder if that was a good idea. Perhaps leaving the graffiti and including it in the memorial's story might have added to its impact, telling more of the story.
The Memorial has been vandalized countless times. Boiseans don't allow their public spaces to be defaced, regardless of content. If you ever visit the Memorial you will see many examples of horrific inhumanity in the quotes and stories along the walls. These are stories from anyone from children to heads of state. While we have tourists (sometimes large groups) visit the site, many more visitors are students and the many residents who use our Greenbelt every day.
In Idaho, really.
Surprises me too, Jeri.
I knew some people who live there. There were kind, good people, but more likely to have turned Magat, sad to say
You might find lots of places that do not meet your preconceived notions. Try visiting before you look down your nose at good people everywhere. I am originally from the East Coast, which people in the West often think of as a concrete jungle populated with drug lords and inconsiderate nincompoops who rush around their cities and ride crowded subways just to sit in a cubicle all day. Has nobody in your neighborhood succumbed to MAGAness? Gross generalizations get you nowhere, except maybe for a fleeting feeling of superiority over another class of humans.
Spudnik, I’ve been to Idaho several times. Thoroughly enhoid camping at 3 Island Crossing, a brief stay in Tein Falls, and several training seminars I attended in Boise where I got to see more of the town.
I have friends, MAGAts every one of them, who have moved to Idaho to “avoid the libs”. I’ve also been through northern Idaho and had contact with people from the anti-government folks from there.
I have other friends who strongly support the “Greater Idaho” movement. I know of what I speak.
Speaking for Jeri, she’s lost friends and family to the MAGA movement. She, too, has direct experience in that regard.
Those are all anecdotal experiences. Most of us know people who have been swept out to sea by the MAGA undertow. Regardless, it's a mistake to write off an entire group of people based on experiences with a few.
Very thoughtful post. Thank you.
Good Evening to All!
I too thank Heather both for her early posting, and for her magnificent letter detailing and celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I note that Eleanor Roosevelt's husband, President Franklin Roosevelt was the author of the magnificent Four Freedoms speech which was clearly one of the inspirational touchstones for the UDHR. I would imagine he would be rolling in his grave if he were to realize that the Governors of the two largest Southern States, Texas and Florida, states that voted regularly for him (Texas of course, producing his first VP, John "Cactus Jack" Garner), have gone out of their way to intentionally violate both the spirit and the letter of the UDHR with their cowardly exploitation and bullying of innocent immigrants.
Broadening my gaze beyond the shores of our gun loving Nation under Jesus, I would be remiss if I did not note that the current egregious violation of human rights being rained down upon the people of Gaza by the fascist and racist Israeli Likud government funded unremittingly by our very own, constitutes a paradigmatic traducing of the UDHR.
I like Secretary Blinken, but did he realize whom the bell tolls for when he stated that "Too often, authorities fail to protect or--worse--trample on human rights and fundamental freedoms, often in the name of security or to maintain their grip on power"?!?
Boy is That AN ‘ON POINT’ comment! The abuse of those Palestinian ‘Human rights’ shrieks for relief!
WOW! Might be the best comment of the day. Did Blinken know of whom he was speaking? Thank you!
I'm flattered by your comment, Michael. Thanks much.
Hopefully people in this country will read this and start living by it! It’s for damn sure we aren’t following it today. With Trump able to do as he dies, the abuse he serves up to others, and has served up. It’s in direct violation of the UDHR.
Something else, on a personal note. I gave over 26 years of my life serving the public in public service employment. Since I was forced to retire, and denied my medical by the state retirement board of Florida 28 years ago, my life has been a living hell. That cost me everything to the point where I ended up homeless, without medication, my oxygen, nothing. I almost died. Yet, reading this about the UDHR that was adopted by all these nations, including the United States, I’m questioning how it’s being followed now with all the homelessness in this country, our treatment of those trying to enter this country to find a better life than what they have in their communist countries, or dr g filled countries.
Is this how we treat our sick, elderly, and those seeking asylum?
Really?
I don't want to "like" this, but I want to support your words. I'm grateful that you survived this all, Daniel, as you add much to the forum here.
If only the Religious Right thought long and hard about "Whatsoever you do to the least of My people, that you do unto me."
But they don't consider "others' to be people of God.
Thank you for the kind words, Miselle! Greatly appreciated for sure. As long as I’m breathing, I intend to keep on fighting, and voicing my “Thoughts and Opinions” on things going on in this country, good or bad.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daniellcooper/p/our-rights-are-going-away?r=fnfar&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
To them, “others” means close family.
I'm so sorry to hear about your wholly unfair and unjust predicament Daniel, and your resultant sufferings.
I hope you have found some personal peace now, even as you righteously agitate for peace and justice here in our US of A
I have no intention of quitting my fight, Daniel.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daniellcooper/p/our-rights-are-going-away?r=fnfar&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
The UDHR was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century, and Mrs. Roosevelt one of the greatest spokespeople for human rights. The fact that the document expresses aspirations does not diminish its value. Before that time, such a document would have been unthinkable, or seemingly foolhardy.
Eleanor Roosevelt was a remarkable human being in so many, many ways.
In this culture, yes. But other cultures have been living by these principles for a very long time. We have not just short memories, but blinders beyond our own immediate history.
The blinders were not of our own making, though removing them is our responsibility!
The United States of America doesn’t give a hoot about human rights, nor a rules-based order. Anyone who believes this is a fool. Everything our government does is based on a wish for American hegemony. If human rights and rules-based order fits the hegemony, we offer up platitudes to both. If neither does, we ignore both.
Is support for genocide a desire for human rights or rules? I think not.
Hedges lays bare our hypocritical sin here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly6lfhOxTe0
Genocide? No. Horrors of war? Yes. Over-reaction to the Oct 7 attack by Hamas? No. Is it time to change the tactics? maybe. Can peace exist with Hamas in power with its genocidal charter to kill or expel all Jews from Israel? No.
Your continued reliance on YouTube videos is tiresome. Yes, it's your right. It's my right to point you to a common dictionary definition of the word.
Genocide? Absolutely. What’s tiresome is your continuing reference to Oct. 7, and to Hamas, in defense of genocide.
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-supporters-would-defend-literally
“Israel supporters will defend any evil — literally any evil — as long as it is being perpetrated by their favorite regime. There are zero constraints of any kind, because Israel supporters are completely uninterested in morality. If they were, they wouldn’t be supporting one of the most immoral governments on this planet even after all it has done in the last two months.
Part of the problem is the widespread consensus that October 7 means Israel is justified in doing literally anything in response, no matter how heinous. Israel could exterminate the entire population of Gaza and its supporters would still be saying “WHAT ABOUT OCTOBER 7??””
That’s describing you, and it didn’t come from a YouTube video. Neither did this:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-vetoes-cease-fire
Nor this: https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-2666509472
Since you didn’t point to any definition of genocide, probably because you want to cling to the one in your head that would excuse Israel from it, here’s one for you, and it describes actions which various Israeli ‘leaders’ have endorsed in many instances since Oct. 7: “Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people[a] in whole or in part. In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.[1][2]”
The result of Israeli bombing, shelling, and other atrocities, say, like causing Palestinian babies to die in incubators, in relation to the five acts cited in the definition above? Check, check, check, check, and…. Check.
Genocide is wrong period. Slavery is wrong period. Governments and groups who pursue either are wrong, especially those who use these abuses in order to cling to power. UDHR spells that out clearly.
"acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group"
Giving Gaza residents 3 weeks of warning before the ground operation, giving warning to leave areas next to be attacked, giving time for hospital staff time to evwcuare as many people as possible, including babies in incubators before entering a hospital and finding tunnels with wespons and communications equipment. Wll that matches your quote?
We're done. We live in different realities. You believe the narrative that only focusses on Israel's actions while ignoring the persistent attacks on it from Arabs over decades. I've seen those attacks and survived one (rocket eas too far away). You can't erase the Israelis' experiences. I can't make you see everything I see. Goodbye.
To say the Gazan civilians were warned or given time to evacuate is just Israeli propaganda. There is mass destruction, murder and humiliation throughout Gaza. Yesterday a medical school was leveled. A thousand year old mosque the day before, in addition to 103 other mosques. Every hospital and school. Refugee camps leveled. Surgery performed without anesthetic. Doctors murdered. Over 72 journalists who appear to have been precisely targeted with Israel's fancy US bought smart bombs, murdered. People are now starving and have no clean water. Their homes are gone. The UN reported today that the situation is apocalyptic, catastrophic. For lack of captured Hamas soldiers, the IDF rounded up a large group of innocent men and made them strip, except for underpants, and sit on the ground, heads bowed. They gave one a gun and tried to film him as they directed him to wave the gun in the air. They did two takes, but he switched the gun to the other hand for the second take, and both got out. The IDF "director's" voice audible on the film. It would be laughable if it weren't deadly. Oct.7th, IDF helicopters shooting indiscriminately. False stories of exactly 40 beheaded babies. Unproven rape allegations. The actual facts have still not been determined. Israel manufactures propaganda incessantly. Seek out multiple sources if you actually care about the truth: Truthout, Vox, The Guardian...
I see everything you see, just like I see the misplaced reactionary/revenge mindset from a MAGA supporter over brown people crossing the border, feelings caused by reading about immigrants bringing in drugs and committing crimes. You’ve seen those Hamas attacks personally? You’ve also, unless you ignored it, seen Israeli snipers target innocent children? You’ve seen Israel order a barely above starvation-level diet to the occupants of the open-air prison that is Gaza? You’ve seen Palestinians repeatedly forced from their homes, and imprisoned, in the West Bank? You’ve seen Israel put its Defense HQ in a civilian neighborhood in Tel Aviv; human shields much?
Your lack of narrative understanding is depressing in its breadth and depth. You don’t understand the concept of oppressor/oppressed, nor truth, nor justice. You cling to the WWII holocaust narrative, and there is nothing wrong with that, except to hold it to the exclusion of all other narratives in importance blinds you to the current reality, which places the current actions of the Israeli government, and it’s use of genocide in pursuit of ethnic cleansing, as dangerously close to the same desired outcome policies that Germany had in the 1930s, with its lust for collective punishment.
You, simply put, are propagandized, by both American and Israeli product. I hope you realize this one day soon, hard as it will be to admit. Supporting the wholesale murder of innocent women and children is not a good look, and untenable for anyone who professes to care about truth and justice.
How many of these describe acts by Hamas? Taking hostages, in particular, justifies ongoing response. You don’t get that.
No, you don’t get it. Look up the word proportionality, and try to grasp the concept.
Then do the same with oppressed/oppressor. Then with the phrase collective punishment.
Take your ‘ongoing response’ absurdity and shove it. It’s as clueless as the George W. Bush ‘Mission Accomplished’ reasoning, especially since the IDF would kill every hostage held, even if they were all children, if it thought it could get a dozen or so Hamas fighters in the process, and wouldn’t blink doing it.
Human rights for me but not thee…
Hedges was born with his head up his ass.
Why do you say that?
So early tonight,Heather! Good for you!: Hope your week isn't too bad!
Hmm. Human rights? My guess would be that the UN is questioning what is happening in the US. I believe our democracy is on some type of watch list concerning the condition of our democratic values & it may be predicting the demise of those values.
Women's rights are being stripped away.
Humans have very little support in dealing with democracy in the US, while corporations are now considered "people" & they can wield considerably more power than our government because they can buy votes & legislators. And while this new type of person flexes it's power, real people are losing more true representation. Gerrymandering has to be stopped! Voting must be made easier to do. It's time to pass an amendment to outlaw gerrymandering & to eliminate the electoral college. The electoral college was a compromise devised to be sure the more sparsely populated south with a higher number of slaves then of men eligible to participate in government would join with the northern states to become the United States.
Our country was founded & prospered on the backs of indigenous people & slaves.
And it seems like we are heading backwards in human rights. It's hard to encourage people around the world to respect one another when we can't respect ourselves.
I have seen several essays on this topic, return. The US is not a shining city on the hill in this regard, both currently and historically.