hay rick
hay rick's Journal2
Wordle 1,632 2/6
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 STEAL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 FLUTE
I guessed FLUTE because it was relevant to an old story I shared in a text chain yesterday. The text chain was started by a suggestion that the local Democratic Party should thank the sheriff's office for detaining a person who was carrying a gun and wearing body armor at the local Christmas parade- we were participants and had a float. The sheriff's office and local paper noted that they were concerned because our local MAGA congressman was also in the parade. Language for a press release thanking law enforcement was discussed.
I told the story of an incident from 2017- before many of the people in current leadership were involved. In that incident, one of our volunteers was arrested and held in custody for months on a charge of threatening the same congressman and his family. What actually happened was he called the congressman's Washington office to complain about kids in cages- I think as part of the 5 Calls or a similar program. In his call he asked rhetorically how the congressman would like it if it was his family in cages. The call was handled by an intern who misrepresented the conversation and the congressman's office got the FBI involved. Larry was arrested that night by a local FBI agent and a detective from the sheriff's department.
The misrepresented story was carried in local media. Larry was doxxed by the paper! We had threatening incidents at our office and had to adopt security measures. The venue for the trial was moved to Miami where the charge was dismissed with prejudice.
The flute in the story- Larry was a retired professional flute player. Coda: the young man who was detained at the Christmas parade was let go with no charges.
The corrupt Roberts Court.
Sadly, to the surprise of nobody, SCOTUS upheld a lower court stay on the decision to overturn Texas' gerrymandered map drawn in response to the public request of a felonious president. We have transitioned from surprised outrage to sadly recognizing new decisions as "more of the same" from a corrupt institution.
Another picture from Kristi and Kash's joyride in Las Vegas.
photo credit: AP
Kristi and Kash pose for a photo op in a life-sized pink Cadillac constructed from Legos. Members of the team charged with the weighty task of building and supporting an army of American occupation get a much-needed break from their dreary tasks.
Missing from the picture:
Pete Hegseth- too busy blowing up fishing boats in the Caribbean.
Donald Trump- sucking his thumb.
Pam Bondi- sucking his other thumb.
Mike Johnson- sucking his other thumb.
Our next scheduled feel-good picture: Ghislaine and her puppy.
Two FAU faculty members return to work after Charlie Kirk comments found to be protected speech.
Source: Sun Sentinel
Karen Leader, an associate professor of art history, and Rebel Cole, an eminent scholar in the College of Business, have resumed their full duties after two months of administrative leave, according to an FAU spokesperson.
The two faculty members, along with a third, English professor Kate Polak, had been placed on administrative leave with pay in September while the university hired an outside attorney to investigate complaints about their remarks on social media following Kirk’s assassination. While Leader and Polak were investigated over comments they made aimed at Kirk himself, Cole was investigated over comments he made regarding Kirk’s opponents.
Over the last two months, the suspensions have drawn criticism from FAU faculty members and other members of the community who raised concerns about infringements on the employees’ free speech. In October, FAU’s Faculty Senate and union published a joint resolution voicing concerns about the investigations. Last week, Cole filed a lawsuit against FAU, requesting his reinstatement and accusing the university of causing him emotional distress and violating his First Amendment rights.
FAU had hired Alan Lawson, a former Florida Supreme Court justice, to investigate the three faculty members. In his report, Lawson concluded that Leader’s and Cole’s speech was constitutionally protected. The investigation into Polak’s comments is ongoing.
Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/11/19/two-fau-faculty-members-return-to-work-after-charlie-kirk-comments-found-to-be-protected-speech/
The three cases are quite different.
Rebel Cole is a scholar at FAU's business school. His comments, made on personal social media, addressed Charlie Kirk's critics and included the line: "“we are going to hunt you down. We are going to identify you. Then we are going to make you radioactive to polite society. And we will make you both unemployed and unemployable.” In Florida, this kind of threatening hate speech is being criticized as " inconsistent with the decorum encouraged by University policy.”
Karen Leader, who was suspended two days earlier than Cole, but has also been reinstated, appears to mainly have shared posts critical of Kirk on X and added comments such as "This is Charlie Kirk."
Kate Polak is still under investigation. Polak's posts on Threads included one in which she wrote "“Delighting in the death of someone who wished death on us isn’t sick. It’s self-defense.” It sounds like this was a down-thread comment responding to a Kirk poster accusing unnamed persons of celebrating Kirk's murder. I saw many such posts at the time. Responding to such specious claims was a fool's errand, but Polak went there.
I think Cole's over-the-top malice and incitement dwarfs the sin of Polak's blabber if the standard is appropriate behavior for university faculty. I also do not think " behavior standards" outside of work should be used to muzzle First Amendment rights.
No Kings and the Democratic Party need to be allies within the larger, inclusive Resistance.
The coalition needs to be Non-traitors. Whenever I hear the question of "what should Democrats be doing to stop Trump" I want to throw my shoe at the TV. The better question is "what should AMERICANS be doing to stop Trump?"
I try not to scream or vomit when local groups say they can't join rallies because they are nonpartisan or bipartisan. Nonpartisan and bipartisan are dead. The only real choice is patriotic or NONPATRIOTIC.
I'm active in my local Democratic Party, concerning which I recently wrote: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220727184)
We are past the point of haggling over the Democratic Party's "message." Any message we offer gets diluted and misrepresented through the agency of billionaire-controlled mainstream and social media. We are fighting for the continued existence of a recognizable form of democracy. Our important choices now are tactical.
It's a bird, it's a plane...
Raising the level of political discourse. As we used to say in third grade, "He started it..."
Conversation with the Chair.
My county party had a meeting scheduled for "strategic planning" yesterday. The meeting time was changed at the last minute and I couldn't attend in person, so I called our chairperson and we exchanged some very general thoughts.
Ordinarily, strategic planning is just a discussion about the most effective way to support our candidates and get out the vote. It's why our local party was formed, it's what we do every election cycle, and normally it's our only job.
This time is different. A second, more immediately important task has been thrust on us. We must also be a leading force in the resistance to the authoritarian takeover of American democracy. Our role in the resistance is not defined by our by-laws or by the state party that certifies us. It can not be formed by referring to what we did in the past - this is a new challenge. Nonetheless, much of what we can do and must do is obvious.
When I called our chair, she was at the office with others making preparations for a local tabling event (normal political stuff) but also for our local No Kings rally. We chose the time and location and are hosting the rally. We are in contact with the police. We will provide signs and water. We have organized a safety/de-escalation team. We are advertising the event on social media and in our newsletters. We believe we have no choice.
A local teacher, who also happens to be the head of the teacher's union, was suspended for a Charlie Kirk post on his mom's Facebook page. Our Moms-for-Liberty-infested School Board suspended him without pay and wants to fire him at a meeting next week. We put out a press release. Our members line up to speak on his behalf at board meetings during public comment. This is a down and dirty free speech and union-busting issue in our front yard. It is our fight.
ICE has two facilities in our small county. They have been preying on the local Hispanic and Haitian communities. Our leadership volunteered themselves and recruited others to provide legal services for immigrant families. We coordinate with churches and other local groups. We stand with the people. Their humanity is our humanity.
The Republicans prevail by following a leader and have discarded most of our core American values along the way. Watching that obscene spectacle has turned the last decade into a seemingly endless and debilitating horror show.
I am an unapologetically partisan member of the Democratic Party, but I believe Democrats (big D and small d) can prevail only by forming coalitions based on shared loyalty to the spirit of the constitution (not the constitution as it has been bastardized by partisan court decisions) and a shared sense of decency. We need to be leaders one day and followers of our allies the next. We need to join forces with people whose only apparent redeeming quality is that they are non-traitors in the battle between democratic freedom and authoritarian rule.
If we can muster sufficient humility, courage and determination, we can prevail.
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Member since: Thu Jan 31, 2008, 10:08 PMNumber of posts: 9,476