[Voices singing "We Shall Overcome."]
Intro: At this time, I have the honor to present to you the moral leader of our nation. I have the pleasure to present to you Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
[Applause.]
Dr. King: I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Dr. King's Dream
Open Thread + Programming Note
Hosted by barrettes.
Since today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we're going to be taking the day off, and we'll resume regular programming tomorrow. See you then!
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
The Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by lube.
Recommended Reading:
Caitlin, Laura, and Sharita: [Content Note: Transphobia] Discrimination Against Transgender Women Seeking Access to Homeless Shelters
Jennifer and Vanisha: [CN: Racism] Black Twitter, White Tears
Ragen: [CN: Fat hatred; weight loss talk] They Want Fat People to Eat Poop Now
Victoria: Chicago Activist Becomes First (Openly) Transgender Bride to 'Say Yes to the Dress'
Angry Asian Man: [CN: Racism; appropriation] There Is a Food Truck Actually Called 'White Girl Asian Food'
George: [CN: Enlarged images of microscopic creepy-crawlies at link] Frozen Tardigrade Brought Back to Life After 30 Years
GSHT: Reasons Why Being a Nature Photographer Is the Best Job in the World
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Behold Your Roosting Chickens
[Content Note: Bigotry.]
Yet another article about "establishment Republicans" crying all the tears that decades of expressly cultivating a base that responds with enthusiasm to rank bigotry has yielded presidential candidates who campaign on rank bigotry.
With two weeks to go until the first contest of the 2016 presidential race, Republicans who fear their party has been hijacked by the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz found little to comfort them in the latest debate.Your party has not been "hijacked" and this rhetoric is nothing new. The only thing that's new is that it's being delivered via bullhorn instead of dogwhistle.
...Some Republicans worried that the time remaining to stop Trump or Cruz from seizing the inside track on the nomination was evaporating and that the establishment candidates were doing little to slow either man’s momentum.
"They are digging themselves a bit of a hole," said Fergus Cullen, the former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. "It's entirely possible the final two candidates will be Trump and Cruz, and people like me will be despondent."
Thomas Donohue, the CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, often viewed as the country's most powerful mainstream business lobby group, fretted in a speech in Washington on Thursday that the rhetoric in the Republican primary campaign was "damn serious and sometimes a little scary."
"What happened to my party?" wonder the elites of the Republican Party, shaking their heads gravely and publicly wringing their hands, before shuffling off to wash them of any responsibility.
The Most Compelling Argument for a Sanders Presidency
Care of Bill O'Reilly:
On Thursday's edition of The O'Reilly Factor, the Fox News host argued that Sanders wanted to "dismantle" Medicare and the Affordable Care Act "in the sense that it would be Berniecare and it would be much more than it is now."If he promises to take Rush Limbaugh with him, I will dedicate the next ten months of my life to doing everything I can to get Bernie Sanders elected.
"And you know, look, I'm fleeing," he warned. "If Bernie Sanders gets elected president, I'm fleeing. I'm going to Ireland. And they already know it."
Daily Dose of Cute
Sophie being maximum Sophs.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Accident] Oh dear: "Two marine helicopters have collided off the Hawaiian island of Oahu with a total of twelve people onboard, the US coast guard has said. ...Darkness and high surf, however, are complicating the search efforts, according to [Chief Petty Officer Sara Mooers of the coast guard], who said that a high surf advisory was in effect for waves 10 to 15 feet high building throughout the morning. ...Marine Captain Timothy Irish stated that the crash involved two Sikorsky CH-53E transport helicopters, also known as Super Stallions, from the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing from Marine Corps Base Hawaii, and that an active search and rescue was under way. ...There was no immediate word on what had caused the collision or if any survivors have been found." Here's hoping that some of the marines survived the crash and will be found soon.
[CN: War on agency; privacy violations] Goddammit: "A North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to submit an ultrasound to state officials for every abortion and induced miscarriage performed after the 16th week of pregnancy took effect on January 1. The law, signed by Governor Pat McCrory in June, demands all doctors performing abortions after 16 weeks to send the State Department of Health and Human Services an ultrasound of the fetus proving the measurements used to determine the fetus' 'probable gestational age.' ...As part of the new requirements, doctors performing abortions after 20-weeks must also submit to the state whatever evidence was used to determine that the abortion qualified as a medical emergency. Essentially, the law forces women to share their private medical information with state officials. 'State bureaucrats have no business coming between a woman and her doctor and collecting medical records that should be personal and private,' said Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic Executive Director Melissa L. Reed who has called the law 'medically unnecessary and purely politically driven.'" This is so fucking gross.
[CN: Clean water access] The water crisis in Flint is awful: "The National Guard arrived in Flint on Wednesday to help distribute bottled water and filters to some 30,000 households amid a mounting outcry against Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's response to a full-blown public health crisis. ...Snyder, having ignored the problem for months, declared a state of emergency on January 5, and called for reinforcements to help stem the spiraling crisis. By Friday an estimated 30 Guardsmen are expected to be assembled in the predominantly Black city of about 99,000 residents, where American Red Cross volunteers are poised to join the door-to-door distribution effort."
[CN: Homophobia] Just like Jesus would do: "The Anglican Church yesterday punished the U.S. Episcopal church for its inclusiveness of gay people and gay marriage by suspending it for three years from any committees or decision-making within the church." I would say that's unbelievable, but, of course, it's perfectly, terribly believable.
"Lindsey Graham endorses Jeb Bush for president." Aww.
[CN: Misogynoir] Akiba Solomon explains that "The Real Problem with the #BlackGirlMagic Backlash is That You're Missing the Point: That Elle.com—a site predominantly for White women—would run a takedown of 'Black girl magic' is why Black women won't stop saying 'Black girl magic.' This expression is not about us being saddled with martyrdom. It's us making our own light and love. You can't tell me that's not magic."
[CN: Sedition] LOLOLOL: "Gifts of sex toys, glitter, and nail polish are not what the armed protesters who seized a U.S. wildlife refuge in Oregon were expecting when they put out a public call for supplies to help get them through the winter. The occupiers, who took over buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 in the latest conflict over the U.S. government's control of land in the West, had been hoping for snacks, fuel, and warm clothes when they provided sympathizers with a local mailing address. Instead, as they angrily showed online, they received sex-related toys and food that would be of little use as they braced for a long standoff with federal law enforcement agents who have kept watch from a distance. 'It was really mind-blowing to me that people would actually spend their money...on all this hateful stuff to send out to us,' one of the occupiers, Jon Ritzheimer, said in a Facebook video this week in which he displayed items including a large sex toy and a bag of penis-shaped candies." Helpfully, a dude sent them "55 gallons of lube to go with those dildos." That was thoughtful!
[CN: Misogyny] Um: "A 16m-high (55ft) glass church in the shape of a high-heeled shoe has been built in Taiwan, apparently in a bid to attract more women. ...'There will be 100 female-oriented features in the church like maple leaves, chairs for lovers, biscuits and cakes,' government spokesman Zheng Rongfeng is quoted as saying in local media." All right then.
A Friends reunion is happening (YAY MORE ROSS GELLER I CAN'T GET ENOUGH ROSS GELLER PIVOT! PIVOT! PIVOT!) but Matthew Perry won't be there. Could that be any more of a bummer?
And finally! "Groundbreaking Study Shows Dogs Can Truly Understand Emotions." So can cats. They just don't GAF.
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Guns.]
"I hope to eliminate every gun-free zone I possibly can."—Republican Alabama State Representative Mack Butler, who has introduced a bill in the state legislature "designed to allow students at universities to carry guns at school. In Alabama the age requirement to purchase a handgun is 18, so Butler's bill would open up the possibility of freshmen walking to class armed."
Quoted in a Guardian piece about how state legislatures across the US are seeking to expand gun rights, while (and because) President Obama tries to even minimally reduce access to guns.
Forty-five states now allow open-carry. Only California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and South Carolina prohibit it—and, in Florida, state legislators will open their 2016 session by considering "two gun bills: one to allow 1.5 million Floridians with concealed-carry permits to carry their firearms openly. The other to allow guns on college campuses."
There will not be any space left for a no-gun culture, if the gun advocates have their way. In fact, that is their explicit objective.
On the Precipice
[Content Note: Financial insecurity.]
This is the sort of statistic I would like to see introduced in the presidential debates. What are you going to do, specifically, to address this?
In a recent survey, 56 percent of Americans said they have less than $1,000 in their checking and savings accounts combined, Forbes reports. Nearly a quarter (24.8 percent) have less than $100 to their name.Even the progressive candidates in the race don't have detailed policy prescriptions for meaningfully addressing this sort of endemic individual financial precariousness. Sure, go after Wall Street corruption, break up the banks, get the money out of politics. But what about how most people don't have any real savings? What about how healthcare run through insurance companies is garbage, especially when you can have an insurance policy with a deductible that's $1,000 (or more)? What about how a broken furnace can wipe out people's entire savings?
Meanwhile, 38 percent said they would pay less than their full credit card balance this month, and 11 percent said they would make the minimum payment—meaning they would likely be mired in debt for years and pay more in interest than they originally borrowed.
It paints a daunting picture of the average American coming out of the spend-heavy holiday season: steeped in credit card debt, living paycheck-to-paycheck, at serious risk of financial ruin if the slightest thing goes wrong.
What are you actually going to do that will urgently address that hundreds of millions of people in this country are living on the precipice, and there's no social safety net anymore to catch them if they fall?
Round Six Wrap-Up
Last night was the sixth Republican debate, which means I've now watched fully eleventy-seven hours of these jerks talking. The next time some bozo accuses me of not availing myself to opposing viewpoints, I will probably scream-laugh into their faces until they just slowly back away.
If you're interested, the Washington Post has a complete transcript of the debate, which contains the usual expected bigotries from Republican presidential candidates.
I live-tweeted the debate, with my usual blend of serious criticism buried in sarcasm, and I have Storified those tweets for anyone who wants to read them. If you want the short version, here was my executive summary of the debate:
![screen cap of a tweet authored by me reading: [poop emogi saying] I'm the worst! [poop emogi saying] No, I'm the worst! [poop emogi saying] Me! [poop emogi saying] I am! [poop emogi saying] No me! [poop emogi saying] Me me me! [poop emogi saying] Many people say I'm the worst! #GOPdebate](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/shakespeares_sister/apix/gopdebatetweet.jpg)
And that is why I am America's Most Trusted Political Commentator!
It was, truly, two hours and fifteen minutes of wall-to-wall garbage. And that is not the reflexive commentary of someone who just isn't listening. There was a time, long ago though it may have been, when I could listen to Republican candidates and occasionally think, "That proposal sounds reasonable." And then I would go and research the details of that proposal [insert '90s movie montage of microfiche research here] and usually find that, in fact, it only sounded reasonable, but would not be practical or decent in its implementation.
Even that doesn't happen anymore. There was not a single policy (and the debate was short on policy, anyway, to put it politely) that even approached the realm of the reasonable.
The parties do indeed operate in different universes. And I want no part of the universe described and inhabited by the Republican candidates on that stage last night.
Question of the Day
If you were able to ask one Republican presidential candidate one question in a televised forum, who would you ask and what would you ask them?
Round Six
Tonight is the sixth (insert heaving sigh of exasperation here) Republican presidential primary debate, which will be hosted by Fox Business at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina, a perfect venue for a bunch of unqualified clowns who are auditioning for the role of a lifetime.
Are you so excited for another presidential debate?! If you are so excited about another presidential debate that you can barely contain your enthusiasm, please check this box: □
This is the second-to-last debate before the Iowa caucuses, so you'll only have ONE MORE DEBATE AFTER THIS ONE before primary voting begins to decide who you're definitely not going to cast a vote for!
Tonight's debate will feature a mere seven candidates on the main stage: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump.
Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum aren't polling high enough to make the cut, so they'll be relegated to the also-rans pre-debate.
Presumably, Jim Gilmore will be shouting at the TV in his living room.
Am I going to watch the debate? Maybe! Am I going to live-tweet it? Maybe!
Irrespective of my debate decision-making, here is a space for discussion about the debate, before and during. Spoiler Alert: Donald Trump is going to say a lot of garbage words!
Birdman
Second-generation Republican presidential loser Rand Paul, who has been relegated to the undercard debate because his poll numbers are swirling in the bottom of the bowl, is pretty pissed that he won't be on the main stage at the next debate:
"To be artificially designated in some kind of lower, second tier sends a signal to the voter that you're not the same and don't have a chance," he said during an interview with ABC News Radio.Someone please explain democracy to Rand Paul. And math.
He wasn't done bitterly complaining, though!
Paul said his supporters agreed that the mainstream media had helped keep his campaign from gathering momentum, and the Kentucky senator said "99 percent" of his backers would like to extend their middle finger to the media.And 100% of him wanted to do the same!
[Photo via.]
He seems nice.
Throwback Thursdays
Senior Prom, 1992. Hoo boy. LOL.
At size 18 then, I couldn't find a prom dress in local stores within my budget that fit me, so I designed something in keeping with my gothy sensibilities, and a very nice local seamstress made that dress for me.
I also did my own hair and make-up (in case you couldn't tell!), since having your hair and make-up done professionally for prom wasn't a thing then. At least not with the crowd I ran with.
True Fact: Our prom was held in a giant barn on the County Fairgrounds.
[Please share your own throwback pix in comments. Just make sure the pix are just of you and/or you have consent to post from other living people in the pic. And please note that they don't have to be pictures from childhood, especially since childhood pix might be difficult for people who come from abusive backgrounds or have transitioned or lots of other reasons. It can be a picture from last week, if that's what works for you. And of course no one should feel obliged to share a picture at all! Only if it's fun!]
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
[Content Note: There is jerky editing in this video.]
Talking Heads: "Once in a Lifetime"
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Christian Supremacy.]
"Last month, [President Obama] started mocking Republicans, saying that we were scared of orphans and widows. Well, people in the tradition know what that word means, right? That's one of Jesus— He commands 'take care of those in prisons, widows, and orphans.' Again, commands. But he's using the Christian tradition, and he's trying to bring about compassion by bonking Republicans over the head with the Bible. So I mean, that's— It's almost a comedy routine on what compassion and love is. He's mocking his enemies in order to compel a larger federal state using the tradition of love. And so our side, the conservative side, needs to reeducate its people that we own the entire tradition."—Sitting Republican Congressman from Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, during an interview with American Family Radio host Sandy Rios earlier this week.
Got that? The Republicans own the Christian tradition. But don't try to hold them to the standards of it! Because that's just mean. Unlike turning your back on refugees.
[Note: Please remember that name mockery is not welcome in this space.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Matilda survived Sophie's ambush, in case anyone was worried, lol.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
