Frank S Robinson Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

February rambling: We Are All Immigrants

Do Not Obey In Advance

Henry Louis Gates Jr. On The Message Of ‘Finding Your Roots’: ‘We Are All Immigrants’ | The View

Can Characters Come Alive Without People? By Hank Azaria; recommended with your sound on

A directory that connects veterans with rehab facilities and recovery services across New York

The Best Anti-Fascist Films of All Time

Tony Roberts, Woody Allen sidekick, and Broadway stalwart, Dies at 95

Fay Vincent, who served as 8th MLB Commissioner, dies at 86

Olga James, ‘Carmen Jones,’ Actress and Singer, Dies at 95

Dick Button, Icon of Olympic Figure Skating, Dies at 95

9 Fascinating Facts About Food Allergies

Now I Know: A Prankster With a Legacy of Love and When Cardboard Art Goes Sledding and The Life-Saving Power of a … Jump Rope? and Why Do Nigerian Email Scammers Still Claim to Be From Nigeria? and The Place Where You’re Not Allowed to Die

The new normal?

The Path to American Authoritarianism

Is Elon Musk Staging a Coup? Unelected Billionaire Seizes Control at Treasury Dept. & Other Agencies

The Musk-Altman Feud Is Kendrick-Drake But With a Lot More Impact on Our Lives

Elon Musk Is Hacking German Politics, and the Berlin Film Festival May Pay the Price

This is a full-frontal assault on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If the agency can no longer effectively represent the American people, FOTUS’ favorite billionaire will have much to gain personally.

The World’s Richest Men Take On the World’s Poorest Children; Shutdown of USAID ‘Would Have Deadly Consequences for Millions’

They dismiss the national archivist.

CDC Researchers Ordered to Retract Papers Submitted to All Journals — Banned terms must be scrubbed from CDC-authored manuscripts

Rubio skips G20 summit due to South African ‘DEI’

He dismisses the Kennedy Center chair and plans to make himself the head

FOTUS taps televangelist kook to run new White House ‘faith’ office.
Man who loves to build walls demolishes the wall between church and state.

Reactions to the madness

Jamil Smith, the Emancipator: Along with a copy of the 13th Amendment, I typically carry a copy of historian Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” in my satchel when I’m headed out of the door in the morning… Snyder’s book aims to help citizens of every nation learn from history and it’s filled with needed lessons on how to resist those who seek to exploit those faults for power and profit… Snyder’s first bit of advice in the book has successfully entered the national lexicon: Do not obey in advance.

I Refuse to Be a Good German

We Are All Gazans Now

Just Security keeps a continuously updated litigation tracker to help the rest of us stay current.

The Fagin figure leading Elon Musk’s merry band of pubescent sovereignty pickpockets

Cartoon: Tom the Dancing Bug implores you not to call them Nazis!
Don’t call that Nazi a Nazi—you’ll hurt his feelings!

Don’t Believe Him| The Ezra Klein Show; What He’s Doing

Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God– Rabbi Morris Panitz | Vaera 5785 / 1.25.2025

Music

Singer Marianne Faithfull Dies at 78; Broken English, The Ballad of Lucy Jordan; As Tears Go By (2018)

The Mynah Birds – It’s My Time w/ Rick James & Neil Young

Elizabeth Mitchell: Little Liza Jane

Wood Notes by William Grant Still

Lucy Dacus – Ankles

Coverville 1520: Billy Ocean Cover Story and Listener-Submitted Set and 1521: The INXS Cover Story III

Teddy Swims: Lose Control

Marcel Tyberg’s Piano Trio in F major

Japanese Breakfast – Orlando In Love

Indiana Jones: The Raiders March by John Williams

A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Postmodern Jukebox ft. Nathan Chester

Hamilton Leithauser – Knockin’ Heart

American Pie – Don McLean.

Frank, Dino, and Bing perform Style from their 1964 movie, Robin and the Seven Hoods

You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Rolling Stones

Khruangbin: May Ninth

This Magic Moment – The Drifters

Dreamgirls title song from Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon (1983)

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, Sandy Duncan (1980), and Cathy Rigby (2009) performing a number from Peter Pan

Project 2025: Schoolhouse Rock-like

immigration

You don’t need to read about the 900-page Project 2025. “Here’s a look at Project 2025 as it might be explained if Schoolhouse Rock was still around.”

“Delete the terms sexual orientation, gender equality, awareness and sensitivity, diversity, equity, inclusion, abortion, reproductive health, and reproductive rights out of every rule, regulation, contract, grant, and piece of federal legislation that exists…” and that’s an actual quote.

Immigration

“Project 2025 proposes to severely roll back both legal and unauthorized immigration through a number of untested, novel approaches that extend far beyond the policies of Trump’s first term. The plan would potentially make hundreds of thousands of people vulnerable to deportation through the loss of temporary protected status, and could ensnare their families, those they live with, and other members of their communities. Extreme anti-immigration organization the Center for Immigration Studies has partnered with Project 2025 in supporting these radical immigration policy ideas.”

But you don’t have to wait until 2025. djt put the kibosh on the admittedly imperfect bipartisan bill this year.

Worse, JD Vance was on the Sunday morning talk shows on 9/15, admitting on CNN the stories he and djt spewed regarding Haitian immigrants were bogus. He defended his lies, “If I have to create stories to get the media to pay attention then that’s what I’ll do!” Vance says he and his running mate have to “create stories” about migrants eating cats and dogs “so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people.”

WHAT? The real-world consequences of these unfounded, unhinged rantings are substantial.

As the Guardian noted, Vance was saying, “‘Basically, if I have to lie and demonize innocent people and they are then targeted for violence by my hateful unhinged followers, I will. Collateral damage. So what? Because that’s what it takes to scare Republicans into voting for me.’ I don’t care how you slice it; that’s right out of the Josef Goebbels Reich Minister of Propaganda playbook.”

Community asset

Meanwhile, the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH, are a boon to the industry in town.

Weekly Sift guy writes: “How racism manifests. To begin with, the Haitian Fright of 2024 provides a teaching opportunity about racism. I am constantly seeing accounts from White people online and on television, who believe they are not racist because they don’t internally experience what they imagine racism to be: a blind and senseless hatred of other races. ‘I don’t hate anyone,’they claim, and believe that they are telling the truth.But the Haitian Fright points out a more subtle and widespread kind of racism: a propensity to believe (and even pass on) negative stories about other races without requiring evidence.”

Another important point: “Many Americans claim that they don’t object to immigrants per se, but only to illegal immigrants. If people would only come to America ‘the right way, as my ancestors did,’ they would be welcomed…

“You know who else is here the right way? The Haitians in Springfield. They qualify for a program known as ‘temporary protected status,’ which provides legal status to people from countries that (because of either natural disaster or political unrest) are not safe to return to. Others came ‘as part of a parole program that allows citizens and lawful residents to apply to have their family members from Haiti come to the United States.'”

Finally, “As for the liberal memes, I have changed my mind several times. Yes, Trump deserves to be ridiculed for this. And yet I find myself agreeing with media studies scholar Whitney Phillips:

While Phillips said she doesn’t begrudge people “having fun online,” she warned that liberals who think they’re cutting Trump down to size risk giving oxygen to a trope that ultimately plays into his hands — and endangers the Haitians who were its original targets.

“When you’re making a joke using the frame” of immigrants as cultural invaders, she said, even if you’re pushing back on it, “the frame is still amplified.”

March rambling: Odyssey of the Mind

Vote for Rebecca Jade!

The team from Wizard’s Wardrobe, the one-to-one literacy program in Albany’s South End, won an Odyssey of the Mind program’s regional competition. And they’ll travel to Syracuse next month to compete on the state level!

If you would like to donate to Wizard’s Wardrobe to defray the additional expenses of travel, please go to the Wizard’s Wardrobe website or send a check to Wizard’s Wardrobe, PO Box 61, Albany, NY 12201. I should note that my wife is the Program Director of Wizard’s Wardrobe.

News and features

‘Cowardly’: NY Times Pummeled for Ignoring NC GOP Nominee’s Hitler and Holocaust Remarks

SCOTUS failing

Incomplete vs. overshoot

Biden Met the Challenge (SotU)

Boeing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The real problem with anonymity

The Death of Peak TV

Grandparents and Their Coresident Grandchildren: 2021

The Advventures of Prisma and Hydrofera Blue

THE ART AND HISTORY OF LETTERING COMICS by Todd Klein, a free online book by Todd Klein and why you might want to check it out

From eerily prescient to wildly incorrect, 100-year-old predictions about 2024

Iris Aptel. renowned New York designer and style icon dies aged 102

How to Move a 1,000-Pound Rescued Manatee (Swimming Isn’t an Option)

Why Peter Pan Needed a Dusting and The Guy Who Flew to School and The Philadelphia Poison Plot and Can Killing Vampires Cure Tuberculosis?

Wikipedia is home to a list of lists of lists.

SMH: Catskill High School

Catskill, NY, is about three-quarters of an hour south of Albany. The basic facts are not in dispute. Choral director Michelle Storrs-Ryan was conducting a rehearsal for the upcoming high school production of Cinderella. Storrs-Ryan said facetiously to the young performers, “Be quiet, I’m going to get the tape!” according to a student named Madison, who said she volunteered. Madison took the piece of tape, put it on her mouth for about 30 seconds, removed it, and everyone laughed.

Well, almost everyone. Someone reported the occurrence, and the district superintendent, Dan Wilson, suspended Storrs-Ryan and school Principal Junait Shah. Several protests and walkouts involving students and parents have occurred over the suspensions. Many want the superintendent to be removed over what most considered a “non-incident.”

Meanwhile, Cinderella is scheduled to premiere on March 15. The show’s choreographer, Marcus McGregor, is trying to hold things together. But would the student actors want to continue without their beloved director? McGregor was quoted in the March 12 Times Union that the show wouldn’t be ready by then, with a dress rehearsal over the past weekend canceled.

Having seen several productions at Catskill High School – my niece Alexa was in them – I can attest that the shows were quite good to excellent and that her students adore her. Unsurprisingly, I have seen universal anger on the Catskill Community Board page on Facebook regarding the treatment of the teacher and principal.

The Board of Education released a statement noting its regularly scheduled board meeting would be March 13. As Frank S. Robinson pointed out, this is an insanity machine.

Albany Public Library trustees

Albany people: Want to be a library advocate for the community? Consider becoming a library trustee!

The APL is looking for three new library trustees this spring. Two seats carry full five-year terms, while one seat carries a partial term of one year.

Albany residents interested in running for a seat on the board need to complete and submit nominating petitions by May 1. Please visit the website for full details and to download a nominating petition.

There will be two information sessions for people interested in running:

You’ll learn more about the nomination and election process, and what it’s like to serve on the APL board. Several current trustees will discuss their experiences. The trustee election is set for May 21.

MUSIC

The San Diego Music Awards voting is open until March 27th at 5pm. I’m voting for #21 Best Video: My Reason by Rebecca Jade and #3 Best Jazz Album: Side Streets- Peter Sprague.

The Jade Element – Move On: Live from Higher Ground Music & Media

Peter Sprague Plays Have You Heard featuring Leonard Patton

Eric Carmen of the Raspberries and a solo career, died at 74. Here are some K-Chuck Radio songs.

American Festival Overture by William Schuman, with Leonard Bernstein conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

J. Eric Smith’s favorites: NoMeansNo and The Damned and CAN

Coverville 1478: Cover Stories for Manic Street Preachers, Corinne Bailey Rae and The Alarm and 1479: Cover Stories for The Who and Justin Bieber

The Sirens by Reinhold Gliere

Bob Dylan – Things Have Changed

Scandal in Oz: Was “Over the Rainbow” Plagiarized? Concert Étude, Op. 38 by Signe Lund, played by Rune Alver; Over The Rainbow – Judy Garland

With A Little Help From My Friends – Joe Cocker; I am namechecked!

Steve Lawrence, the Grammy and Emmy winner who made up pop music duo Steve & Eydie with wife Eydie Gormé, has died. He was 88.

Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm is coming to the Portland (ME) Art Museum Opening September 14th, 2024 until January 19th, 2025

How do we not get djt 47?

a movement

I need your help. Please explain to me how we do not get djt 47. I do not see how this doesn’t happen on January 20, 2025. I’m certainly not happy about it.

Despite some successes (the infrastructure bill et al.), Joe Biden does not engender the necessary enthusiasm. The expected recession of 2023 did not take place. The inflation rate is down, but especially without those stimulus checks, it “feels” worse. (Frank S. Robinson explains “the big misunderstanding.”)

In 2011/2012, even when he seemed to be trailing in the polls, Obama could share his Spotify playlist and show how relatable he was. Joe is… Joe, grandfatherly, a policy wonk without the requisite swagger despite the aviator glasses.

October 7, the start of the Israel-Hamas war, has been a losing issue for Biden. Those who support Palestine feel betrayed by him. Specifically, Arabs and Muslims in places like Michigan have openly indicated that they will not vote for him in 2024 as they did in 2020. The Biden administration is navigating both support for Israel and the desire that the Israelis work to minimize Palestinian casualties. As someone said at a recent book talk, Joe is schmoozing. The problem is that neither position is palatable to a wide swath of voters.

Likewise, Foreign Policy magazine indicates that Biden has no good options in Yemen. “The decision to bomb the Houthis was likely the administration’s least bad path.”

The border crisis affects not just the border states but those cities where the migrants have been shipped to. Yet djt wants to scuttle bipartisan legislation to address the issue, and House Republicans might just fall in line to do just that.

Demographic slump

According to the polls, Biden’s job approval rating is down among black voters, especially the younger ones, even more than he’s losing Hispanic and non-Hispanic white voters.

It’s not that he’s too old to do the job, but he’s an old-generation public service guy who has been prone to malaprops for a very long time. An editorial in The Hill suggests that perhaps the President is a superager, “someone generally older than 80 who has cognitive and physical function higher than their peers, more akin to people decades younger — and argued that framing Biden in particular as “too old” is both ageist and politically motivated.

Meanwhile

Nothing that happens with djt seems to affect his core supporters. His presidency has been “defined by corruption, self-dealing, and abuse of power.” He fomented violent insurrection against democracy and called the criminals convicted for their actions on January 6, 2021, “hostages.”

His legal difficulties are part of his campaign. He uses the cases as “proof” that Joe and his allies are engaging in “election interference.” He’s practically begging judges to find him in contempt – see, “they’re denying me my right to participate in my defense.” A convicted sexual predator, also guilty of defamation of character, can win a caucus and a primary.

Maybe he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in NYC, and it wouldn’t affect his voters, as he said eight years ago.

So, in some bizarre way, it seems consistent that his attorney would speak before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding djt’s claims of absolute immunity. He posited that “a President could order the assassination of his political rival and not ever face prosecution unless the House successfully impeached him and the Senate convicted him for that crime.”

As Major Garrett of CBS News noted, djt can and does run simultaneously as an incumbent, an outsider, and a victim. djt support is a movement. If he is elected again, he’ll abuse the office of the presidency and has promised to use the government to punish his enemies.

Hope?

Joe’s only positives are negatives: djt is an existential threat to democracy. djt put those three SCOTUS justices on the court to gut abortion rights and women’s health. Is that enough? I see 2000/2016 again.

If djt isn’t convicted of something criminal by November 5, I fear the outcome of January 6, 2025. If djt didn’t think he should have had to leave office on January 20, 2021, his supporters would think he should be reinstated four years later.

So tell me, how don’t we get the return of the Orange? Please tell me how I’m wrong. I’d LOVE to be wrong.

Not entirely unrelated, here’s the trailer for a new movie called Civil War. i have no plans to watch the film.

NY: released from prison? you can vote

Poll workers are needed

My sister Leslie and I attended the service at Trinity AME Zion Church in Binghamton, NY, on October 9. During the announcements, it was noted that “if you are convicted of a felony and released from prison, you can vote. If you are convicted of a felony, and your sentence is suspended, you can vote. Visit the New York State Board of Elections website to register or re-register to vote.”

Read this information from nycourts.gov. “All other criminal convictions do not take away your right to vote. So, misdemeanor and violation convictions do not prevent you from voting even if you are serving time in jail.” The legislation that allowed this was passed in September 2021, yet I managed to miss it.

Moreover, “before being released from prison, you will be notified verbally and in writing by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (“DOCCS”) that your voting rights will be returned once you are released. You will also receive a form of application for voter registration and declination form, help filling out the form, and written information on voting. You can submit your forms to the state or county board where you live or have the DOCCS submit it for you.”

I’ve long been frustrated by states who decided that a felony conviction permanently disenfranchised someone. Once someone has “paid their dues,” they should be given the rights of any citizen, if only so they can feel ownership in the society they are returning to.

Voting

In New York State, early voting starts on Saturday, October 29, and runs through Sunday, November 6. One must request an absentee ballot online or by mail by October 24 or in person by November 7. One must return the absentee ballot by November 8.

Poll workers are being sought in NYS for early voting, as well as on Election Day, November 8. And one gets paid! I worked for the general election in 2021.

But does it matter?

My great concern is that there are so many election deniers running for office across the country that the very fabric of our democracy is likely in peril. Their general narrative is “if I win, I won fairly, but if I lose, it was rigged.” This is particularly problematic when these are candidates for governor and secretary of state, who have a hand in certifying the state’s election results.

Other threats to democracy, such as gerrymandering and disinformation, are also problematic. I’ve read stories with the same basic facts; one says the candidate or official is “rattled” or “confused,” whereas another will make no such characterization.

In the NY governor’s race, Alan Singer notes that “MAGA lunacy is not just rampant in the Red States. Republican Party candidate Lee Zeldin is bringing his version” to the Empire State. True enough.

He’s running against the current governor, Kathy Hochul. Frank Robinson calls her the “Worst Candidate I’ll Have Ever Voted For,” and he’s not wrong. He concludes, “At least Hochul’s corruption is merely business-as-usual for New York, not as far down on the vileness scale.”

One of my US Senators, Chuck Schumer (D), is up for reelection. I’ve seen a couple of his warm-and-fuzzy ads. But I have NO IDEA who his Republican opponent is. (Who the heck is Joe Pinion?) There is also a LaRouche party candidate named Diane Sare.

Still, I vote. I ALWAYS vote.