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Pinback
Pinback's Journal
Pinback's Journal
March 16, 2021
I've retired my old user name, klook. I adopted that handle when I joined DU 19 years ago, as a tribute to the great jazz drummer Kenny Clarke. His nickname was the onomatopoeic "Klook," referring to Clarke's signature "klook-mop" sound on the drums.
I joined DU in the wee hours of the morning following George W. Bush's David Frum-authored "Axis of Evil" speech at the 2002 State of the Union. The details are lost in the mists of time, but I assume I was battling insomnia (again) as the nightmare of the W years continued to unfold. Something I entered into a search engine led me here — maybe "WMD lies," "voting paper trail," "Cheney heart attacks," or "fried chicken with corn flakes" — and after scanning a few threads I knew this was a community I wanted to join.
Many of you are doubtless aware of me only dimly if at all, given my sporadic posting history and generally low profile here. Mostly I lurk, relying on DU as a progressive information portal as well as emotional support network for perpetually nerve-wracked Democrats. Still, over the years I've poked my head up now and then and enjoyed many interactions with you folks — and with others no longer among us. Occasionally tempers flare, but in the big picture we all know we're on the same side of the biggest issues that we care about.
All that is a round-about way of saying I'm grateful to be a DUer, and I find your contributions sustaining and often inspiring. It's great to feel at home with kindred spirits and to learn new things every time I visit this community.
Special thanks to the indefatigable EarlG and Elad (and Skinner, if you're still reading DU posts) for keeping this site going strong for so many years. You've made a positive difference in the lives of many people, and I hope you keep up the good work for a long, long time.
Now, about my new username, which I can't believe wasn't already taken!
Sergeant Pinback is the inadvertent spacecraft stowaway played by Dan O'Bannon in the 1974 movie Dark Star. Five years after Dark Star's release, O'Bannon would haunt us all forever with his screenplay for Alien. If you haven't seen the hilarious and imaginative Dark Star yet — which started as a USC student project by O'Bannon and John Carpenter — check it out. You're in for a treat.
Dan O'Bannon as Sgt. Pinback
The character Pinback has always appealed to me — he's kind of an earnest bumbler, out of step with his shipmates and the mission that's been forced on him. I have to say, I've often felt a bit like that in my life. Maybe you can identify, too.
-- FYI, Pinback is (was?) also the name of an indie rock band. I'm not familiar with their music, but according to Wikipedia they used audio samples from Dark Star in some of their early recordings, so I'll have to check them out.
Before settling on "Pinback," I did consider quite a few other possibilities. If you're still with me, here's a rundown of the top contenders:
Joke names:
Names I might have snagged if somebody else hadn't beaten me to the punch:
OK, that's it for my milestone post! Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. See you soon!
- Pinback
For my 10,000th post
TL;DR: 1) New username; 2) Thanks, y'all.I've retired my old user name, klook. I adopted that handle when I joined DU 19 years ago, as a tribute to the great jazz drummer Kenny Clarke. His nickname was the onomatopoeic "Klook," referring to Clarke's signature "klook-mop" sound on the drums.
I joined DU in the wee hours of the morning following George W. Bush's David Frum-authored "Axis of Evil" speech at the 2002 State of the Union. The details are lost in the mists of time, but I assume I was battling insomnia (again) as the nightmare of the W years continued to unfold. Something I entered into a search engine led me here — maybe "WMD lies," "voting paper trail," "Cheney heart attacks," or "fried chicken with corn flakes" — and after scanning a few threads I knew this was a community I wanted to join.
Many of you are doubtless aware of me only dimly if at all, given my sporadic posting history and generally low profile here. Mostly I lurk, relying on DU as a progressive information portal as well as emotional support network for perpetually nerve-wracked Democrats. Still, over the years I've poked my head up now and then and enjoyed many interactions with you folks — and with others no longer among us. Occasionally tempers flare, but in the big picture we all know we're on the same side of the biggest issues that we care about.
All that is a round-about way of saying I'm grateful to be a DUer, and I find your contributions sustaining and often inspiring. It's great to feel at home with kindred spirits and to learn new things every time I visit this community.
Special thanks to the indefatigable EarlG and Elad (and Skinner, if you're still reading DU posts) for keeping this site going strong for so many years. You've made a positive difference in the lives of many people, and I hope you keep up the good work for a long, long time.
Now, about my new username, which I can't believe wasn't already taken!
Sergeant Pinback is the inadvertent spacecraft stowaway played by Dan O'Bannon in the 1974 movie Dark Star. Five years after Dark Star's release, O'Bannon would haunt us all forever with his screenplay for Alien. If you haven't seen the hilarious and imaginative Dark Star yet — which started as a USC student project by O'Bannon and John Carpenter — check it out. You're in for a treat.
Dan O'Bannon as Sgt. Pinback
The character Pinback has always appealed to me — he's kind of an earnest bumbler, out of step with his shipmates and the mission that's been forced on him. I have to say, I've often felt a bit like that in my life. Maybe you can identify, too.
-- FYI, Pinback is (was?) also the name of an indie rock band. I'm not familiar with their music, but according to Wikipedia they used audio samples from Dark Star in some of their early recordings, so I'll have to check them out.
Before settling on "Pinback," I did consider quite a few other possibilities. If you're still with me, here's a rundown of the top contenders:
- Joe Chip - protagonist of Philip K. Dick's novel Ubik. The scene early in the novel where Chip is disassembling his apartment door so he can leave without paying the exorbitant late fees he owes his creditors is a great example of Dick's dark humor.
- Other Joe Chips: Boxer in early 20th century (http://www.harrygreb.com/joechipbiopage.html), and a YouTube gaming & technology reviewer - Ragle Gumm - protagonist of the novel Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
- Leppo - the Fifth Rutle (styled after early Beatle Stu Sutcliffe, the name "Leppo" referencing Zeppo Marx). In the classic comedy movie All You Need Is Cash, Leppo is seen only in a still photograph.
- Howard Moon - the jazz-loving zookeeper played by Julian Barratt in the surreal sketch comedy series The Mighty Boosh
- Kukla -- kind of a refraction of Klook, and a main character in the classic '50s puppet TV show Kukla, Fran & Ollie
- Pontichos Provechi, real name of the character nicknamed "Mouse" — protagonist of Samuel R. Delany's novel Nova — who plays the unusual instrument called the sensory syrynx. (I had the good fortune of meeting Delany once and told him when the sensory syrynx is invented, I'll be among the first to buy one. He looked up, smiled, and said, "Me too." )
- Ged - main character in the Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Plumpick - Military pigeon wrangler played by Alan Bates in the movie King of Hearts
- Dr. Pipt - "The Crooked Magician," creator of the Patchwork Girl of Oz in the L. Frank Baum novel (https://oz.fandom.com/wiki/Dr._Pipt)
- Unc Nunkie - laconic character in Baum's The Patchwork Girl of Oz and Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz (https://oz.fandom.com/wiki/Unc_Nunkie)
- P.K. Dubey - manic wedding planner in the brilliant and beautiful Mira Nair movie Monsoon Wedding
- McWhinney - main character in the whimsical children's book McWhinney's Jaunt by Robert Lawson (better known as the illustrator for Munro Leaf's Ferdinand)
- (Harry) Buttle - character wrongfully arrested in the beginning of the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam
- Booker - reference to musician Booker T. Jones, one of my heroes. Also related more obliquely to bibliophile (of which I are one) and to the idea of "booking" criminals, à la "Book 'em, Danno" (for you old-timers who remember Hawaii Five-O). Of course, there's also Cory Booker, whom I like very much but don't necessarily want to reference in my username.
- Major Ozone - star of Major Ozone's Fresh Air Crusade, an early comic by George Herriman, before Krazy Kat. As described by Don Markstein on toonopedia.com: The elderly major was a lover of all things natural and healthy — especially fresh air — almost to the point of pathology. His quest for the very freshest air that could possibly be breathed led him to travel to exotic climes, ascend to the stratosphere in hot-air ballons, scale tall mountains, and go to other extreme lengths — tho sometimes a simple walk in the country would send him into raptures. And he was relentlessly cheerful about it, even when it led to disastrous consequences (which it usually did).
- Giocoso - lively, humorous — used chiefly as a direction in music, and an attitude to which I aspire
- Bagatelle - Used as the title of a short light-hearted piece of music; employed most notably by Beethoven in a series of such compositions for piano
Joke names:
- Lawrence Ferlinhusky -- mashup of poet/publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti and country & western singer Ferlin Husky (who I'm guessing never met, although if they did it would have been legendary!)
- Ace Emetric - pun on asymmetric
- Simply Red Sovine - mashup of pop-rock band Simply Red and Red Sovine, singer of many classic truck-drivin' songs
- Natalie Attired - Bob & Ray reference, but now the name of a women's clothing subscription business -- so much for that one!
Names I might have snagged if somebody else hadn't beaten me to the punch:
- Merkin - after the character Merkin Muffley, the U.S. President in Dr. Strangelove (played by Peter Sellers in the Stanley Kubrick movie). Triple meaning, since a merkin is also a pubic wig, and -- thirdly -- it's a homonym for "'murcan," a frequently used DU term of art referring to pseudo-patriotic freedumb-loving conservatives.
- Ignatz - cartoon mouse who is the frenemy of George Herriman's Krazy Kat
OK, that's it for my milestone post! Thanks for reading, if you made it this far. See you soon!
- Pinback
February 7, 2021
I've reviewed a few Keyboard Maestro tutorials and spent some time looking through the user forum, and it looks like I've only scratched the surface of what this powerful app can do. The jury is still out on whether I'll really make it a part of my daily routine. For simple keyboard shortcuts, most apps have a few (or a lot), and of course you can create your own via Apple Menu > System Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts.
But for anything requiring multiple steps or variables, Keyboard Maestro is certainly more robust and easier to use than Automator. And I'm never going to spend a lot of time writing Applescripts or doing anything else that technical. So there's a good chance I'll find KM worth the effort, and potentially worth the cost of a license.
I'm also trying Alfred, which doesn't do everything Keyboard Maestro does, but is easier in some respects and pretty strong in its own right. The ability to quickly access 1Password entries was enough to make me spring for a license. I'm also enjoying the enhanced file search capabilities, and options for storing reusable text snippets, viewing clipboard history, etc. Alfred workflows seem promising, but I know nothing about those yet.
Other indispensable utilities I use include:
1. Default Folder X. I use this multiple times a day, although as I get more accustomed to Alfred I may change my habits. I use Default Folder X to quickly search in a list of Favorite folders (a customizable list), quickly see lists of recent folders and files, see all drives at a glance, see open Finder windows, and more. You can do a lot more with Default Folder X, but I’m just using it at a basic level.
2. BBEdit. I was a Text Wrangler user for a long time until BareBones phased it out. BBEdit, from the same developer, is among my most frequently used apps. For me, a plain text editor is essential. I use it to quickly strip formatting from text before pasting it into emails or online posts, save text snippets for temporary use, count characters or words in a paragraph (for sites with a limit on a form field), change the case of a text string, compose emails and posts without worrying about losing the drafts, paste the URLs of links to review them before clicking, do search & replace operations, etc. I don’t write code, so I don’t need the automatic color coding and formatting features, but for those who do, BBEdit would be even more useful.
3. BlackHole virtual audio driver. This replaces Soundflower, which was great up until MacOS 10.10 rendered it useless. It comes in handy for routing audio between apps without latency.
4. Cookie. This is another must-have, as far as I’m concerned. Cookie lets you manage web cookies and databases. Until I started using it, I had no idea the alarming amount of tracking websites were doing (even after “removing all cookies” in my browsers). You can keep ('whitelist') the cookies and databases that are benign and/or necessary and delete the ones that spy on you.
5. 1Password. One of my most important apps. A good password manager is probably the first thing I would recommend to anybody. and this one has done the job for me for years. Not only does it generate and store thousands of unique passwords for different sites and purposes, it also stores secure notes, router & network information, software licenses and invoice numbers, credit card details, and much much more. 1Password also shows me at a glance which passwords need to be updated either because they’re old, because they’re not strong enough, I’ve used them on multiple websites, or because they’ve been potentially compromised in a data breach. I’m sure other password managers do a great job, but I haven’t found one that makes me want to abandon 1Password.
6. SpamSieve. Helpful adjunct to MacMail (or other IMAP clients such as Outlook, et al.) for identifying and eliminating spam.
7. Mountain. Makes it easy to mount and unmount volumes and drives, which is nice if you have a bunch of them like I do. And there are shortcuts to unmount all drives and sleep (a sort of “Goodnight” switch), remount volumes, and quickly bring up a volume in the Finder.
8. Carbon Copy Cloner. I use Time Machine to do frequent backups of key volumes/drives/folders, but CCC goes a lot deeper and helps me make scheduled backups of every directory and file on my system and all attached drives, either to network-attached storage or to removable drives. And the backups are in their original format and state (unencrypted and uncompressed), so it’s easy to restore one or more items from backup and get back up and running right away.
9. Drive Genius. Important addition to the maintenance arsenal that provides tools beyond those found in MacOS’s built-in Disk Utility app.
10. TunnelBear. A VPN is an essential part of my online life, and TunnelBear is reasonably priced and effective.
11. Cheat Sheet. Simple, free utility that displays all shortcut keys in the active app when you hold down the Command key for longer than a couple of seconds. I start this app only as needed rather than launching it at login, because I so frequently page through open apps using Command-Tab that it gets annoying to get an unneeded list of shortcuts when I sit on the Command key. Most apps have a few custom keyboard shortcuts (or a lot), and of course you can create your own via Apple Menu > System Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts. But when I want to use it, it’s very handy -- especially in apps with a lot of weird shortcut keys that I can never remember.
12. Magnet. I’ve just started using this, but it’s convenient for organizing and positioning windows, including making them “stick” to one of the four sides of the display.
13. Mosaic. Similar to Magnet, but I find it easier to use. I can quickly arrange windows in any of several schemes, and easily do static screen captures (with an option to copy or save the screen cap image).
14. Unclutter. This is one of those simple, high-impact apps that could become an integral part of my daily habits once I get used to it. With Files, Clipboard, and Notes panes that are accessed with a keyboard shortcut when I scroll to the top of the screen, this lets me move miscellaneous files off my desktop, take and save quick notes, and see recently copied or cut items in my clipboard. You can save anything in each section as a Favorite.
15. CleanMyMac. I don’t use this on a regular basis, but once in a while it’s helpful to do some basic disk cleanup. Maybe it’s crazy, but I feel a little paranoid about giving free reign to an app developed in Ukraine. I’m sure the developers are great folks, but I can’t help having a nagging worry about their proximity to Putin. So I use this one on a limited basis.
I’m sure there are more apps I’m forgetting -- I tend to install a lot of them! In the past I’ve tried other utilities and productivity tools, such as Quicksilver, DragThing, Yojimbo, EverNote, etc. but I ended up abandoning them for various reasons. Either I found them cumbersome, not worth the cost of a license, a potential security risk, or just not my cup of tea.
And of course, going down the rabbit-hole of helper apps can start as a productivity booster but become a huge time suck if you let it. So, despite my app-hoarding tendencies, I’ve tried to focus more on what I actually want to accomplish with the computer than on tinkering around under the hood. Still, for what it’s worth, these are a few of the add-ons I’ve found useful, to one degree or another.
Playground for masochists (updated with links)
Just kidding! (Sort of...)
TL;DR -- Thanks for the Keyboard Maestro recommendation! I've been trying it out for a week or so, with mixed results. There are several other utilities and tools I use or have tried, listed below.
Now, for the gritty details...
Some macros I've created with KM work great when I'm testing them and then bomb when I trigger them in the course of my normal activities. Some of this, of course, is due to the tool's steep learning curve, and some is the result of my struggle to think like a developer.
To really get the most out of Keyboard Maestro, it appears you need a lot of time and patience, and the ability to approach things very methodically. The app, like the computer itself, is dumb and knows only what you tell it. That's what I mean by "thinking like a developer."
But I have managed to create some triggers and workflows that I think will be useful:
- Change audio settings for Zoom (and back). This one still needs work, but I think with some more tweaking it will work as intended. It involves switching from the audio interface I use regularly to using the Macbook's built-in microphone and speakers, and then going back to my usual settings when the call is over.
- Open a group of related URLs in the default browser. I envision being able to bring up different groups of related websites, opened in adjacent tabs. One set can be for sites for paying bills online, another might be favorite news sites, or learning/training sites, etc. This is pretty straightforward. I think I'll beef it up by checking to be sure my VPN is running before launching any money-related sites. Some also work better in Safari than in Firefox or Brave, so I can get them to open appropriately.
- Create a new forwarding email address. This one is a work in progress, but the intent is to have it bring up Spamex and/or my domain host's site, where I can then continue the steps to create a new address that forwards to my real email address. I use (and delete) these constantly so I can keep a lid on spam.
I've reviewed a few Keyboard Maestro tutorials and spent some time looking through the user forum, and it looks like I've only scratched the surface of what this powerful app can do. The jury is still out on whether I'll really make it a part of my daily routine. For simple keyboard shortcuts, most apps have a few (or a lot), and of course you can create your own via Apple Menu > System Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts.
But for anything requiring multiple steps or variables, Keyboard Maestro is certainly more robust and easier to use than Automator. And I'm never going to spend a lot of time writing Applescripts or doing anything else that technical. So there's a good chance I'll find KM worth the effort, and potentially worth the cost of a license.
I'm also trying Alfred, which doesn't do everything Keyboard Maestro does, but is easier in some respects and pretty strong in its own right. The ability to quickly access 1Password entries was enough to make me spring for a license. I'm also enjoying the enhanced file search capabilities, and options for storing reusable text snippets, viewing clipboard history, etc. Alfred workflows seem promising, but I know nothing about those yet.
Other indispensable utilities I use include:
1. Default Folder X. I use this multiple times a day, although as I get more accustomed to Alfred I may change my habits. I use Default Folder X to quickly search in a list of Favorite folders (a customizable list), quickly see lists of recent folders and files, see all drives at a glance, see open Finder windows, and more. You can do a lot more with Default Folder X, but I’m just using it at a basic level.
2. BBEdit. I was a Text Wrangler user for a long time until BareBones phased it out. BBEdit, from the same developer, is among my most frequently used apps. For me, a plain text editor is essential. I use it to quickly strip formatting from text before pasting it into emails or online posts, save text snippets for temporary use, count characters or words in a paragraph (for sites with a limit on a form field), change the case of a text string, compose emails and posts without worrying about losing the drafts, paste the URLs of links to review them before clicking, do search & replace operations, etc. I don’t write code, so I don’t need the automatic color coding and formatting features, but for those who do, BBEdit would be even more useful.
3. BlackHole virtual audio driver. This replaces Soundflower, which was great up until MacOS 10.10 rendered it useless. It comes in handy for routing audio between apps without latency.
4. Cookie. This is another must-have, as far as I’m concerned. Cookie lets you manage web cookies and databases. Until I started using it, I had no idea the alarming amount of tracking websites were doing (even after “removing all cookies” in my browsers). You can keep ('whitelist') the cookies and databases that are benign and/or necessary and delete the ones that spy on you.
5. 1Password. One of my most important apps. A good password manager is probably the first thing I would recommend to anybody. and this one has done the job for me for years. Not only does it generate and store thousands of unique passwords for different sites and purposes, it also stores secure notes, router & network information, software licenses and invoice numbers, credit card details, and much much more. 1Password also shows me at a glance which passwords need to be updated either because they’re old, because they’re not strong enough, I’ve used them on multiple websites, or because they’ve been potentially compromised in a data breach. I’m sure other password managers do a great job, but I haven’t found one that makes me want to abandon 1Password.
6. SpamSieve. Helpful adjunct to MacMail (or other IMAP clients such as Outlook, et al.) for identifying and eliminating spam.
7. Mountain. Makes it easy to mount and unmount volumes and drives, which is nice if you have a bunch of them like I do. And there are shortcuts to unmount all drives and sleep (a sort of “Goodnight” switch), remount volumes, and quickly bring up a volume in the Finder.
8. Carbon Copy Cloner. I use Time Machine to do frequent backups of key volumes/drives/folders, but CCC goes a lot deeper and helps me make scheduled backups of every directory and file on my system and all attached drives, either to network-attached storage or to removable drives. And the backups are in their original format and state (unencrypted and uncompressed), so it’s easy to restore one or more items from backup and get back up and running right away.
9. Drive Genius. Important addition to the maintenance arsenal that provides tools beyond those found in MacOS’s built-in Disk Utility app.
10. TunnelBear. A VPN is an essential part of my online life, and TunnelBear is reasonably priced and effective.
11. Cheat Sheet. Simple, free utility that displays all shortcut keys in the active app when you hold down the Command key for longer than a couple of seconds. I start this app only as needed rather than launching it at login, because I so frequently page through open apps using Command-Tab that it gets annoying to get an unneeded list of shortcuts when I sit on the Command key. Most apps have a few custom keyboard shortcuts (or a lot), and of course you can create your own via Apple Menu > System Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts. But when I want to use it, it’s very handy -- especially in apps with a lot of weird shortcut keys that I can never remember.
12. Magnet. I’ve just started using this, but it’s convenient for organizing and positioning windows, including making them “stick” to one of the four sides of the display.
13. Mosaic. Similar to Magnet, but I find it easier to use. I can quickly arrange windows in any of several schemes, and easily do static screen captures (with an option to copy or save the screen cap image).
14. Unclutter. This is one of those simple, high-impact apps that could become an integral part of my daily habits once I get used to it. With Files, Clipboard, and Notes panes that are accessed with a keyboard shortcut when I scroll to the top of the screen, this lets me move miscellaneous files off my desktop, take and save quick notes, and see recently copied or cut items in my clipboard. You can save anything in each section as a Favorite.
15. CleanMyMac. I don’t use this on a regular basis, but once in a while it’s helpful to do some basic disk cleanup. Maybe it’s crazy, but I feel a little paranoid about giving free reign to an app developed in Ukraine. I’m sure the developers are great folks, but I can’t help having a nagging worry about their proximity to Putin. So I use this one on a limited basis.
I’m sure there are more apps I’m forgetting -- I tend to install a lot of them! In the past I’ve tried other utilities and productivity tools, such as Quicksilver, DragThing, Yojimbo, EverNote, etc. but I ended up abandoning them for various reasons. Either I found them cumbersome, not worth the cost of a license, a potential security risk, or just not my cup of tea.
And of course, going down the rabbit-hole of helper apps can start as a productivity booster but become a huge time suck if you let it. So, despite my app-hoarding tendencies, I’ve tried to focus more on what I actually want to accomplish with the computer than on tinkering around under the hood. Still, for what it’s worth, these are a few of the add-ons I’ve found useful, to one degree or another.
January 19, 2021
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2020/justice-reform-biden-trump-candidate-policy-positions/
Trump Just Bragged About Criminal Justice Reform. Look Closer at How His Administration Is Undoing It. - Mother Jones, 2/4/2020
Oh, yes, this too: Trump administration has executed more Americans than all states combined, report finds - The Guardian, 12/16/2020
The Trump administration ultimately executed 13 prisoners, most recently Dustin Higgs.
Reality check - "Biden vs. Trump: Who's the Actual Criminal Justice Reformer?"
Welcome to DU! I don't mean to pick on a newcomer, but I feel it's important to point out that The First Step Act -- and the Trump Administration's criminal justice policies -- are at best an extremely mixed bag.
Biden vs. Trump: Who’s the Actual Criminal Justice Reformer? - Politico, 4/23/2020
Despite a bipartisan push to reduce the United States’ highest-in-the-world incarceration rate, the prison population decreased only slightly in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available. It was the last year in a slow but steady decade-long decline to the current population of 1.5 million.
- much more at link:
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2020/justice-reform-biden-trump-candidate-policy-positions/
Trump Just Bragged About Criminal Justice Reform. Look Closer at How His Administration Is Undoing It. - Mother Jones, 2/4/2020
During his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump praised himself for his work on criminal justice reform. “Our roaring economy has for the first time ever given many former prisoners the ability to get a great job and a fresh start,” he said. “This second chance at life is made possible because we passed landmark criminal justice reform into law. Everybody said that criminal justice reform couldn’t be done, but I got it done and the people in this room got it done.”
Yes, it’s true that Trump—the same man who recommended heavier enforcement of stop and frisk policing, and whose administration brought back the federal death penalty and fueled the expansion of private prisons—signed a much-heralded bill in 2018 to reform the federal criminal justice system, with broad bipartisan support. The First Step Act made changes that have reduced the federal prison population, and it was the first criminal justice reform bill to pass Congress in a generation. So far, the law has shortened the prison stays of about 2,500 people who were serving disproportionately long sentences for crack cocaine offenses, most of them African American. It has also let more than 3,000 people go home early because of their good behavior during incarceration. And it could lead to improvements in prison conditions.
But as Trump claims credit for freeing people from prison, there’s one very big problem that he’s not mentioning: His Justice Department is actively pushing to send some of these same people back behind bars, and to prevent others from reducing their sentences—which greatly limits who can benefit from the law that Trump has touted as one of his signature achievements.
- more at link: https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/02/trump-just-bragged-about-criminal-justice-reform-look-closer-at-how-his-administration-is-undoing-it/
Yes, it’s true that Trump—the same man who recommended heavier enforcement of stop and frisk policing, and whose administration brought back the federal death penalty and fueled the expansion of private prisons—signed a much-heralded bill in 2018 to reform the federal criminal justice system, with broad bipartisan support. The First Step Act made changes that have reduced the federal prison population, and it was the first criminal justice reform bill to pass Congress in a generation. So far, the law has shortened the prison stays of about 2,500 people who were serving disproportionately long sentences for crack cocaine offenses, most of them African American. It has also let more than 3,000 people go home early because of their good behavior during incarceration. And it could lead to improvements in prison conditions.
But as Trump claims credit for freeing people from prison, there’s one very big problem that he’s not mentioning: His Justice Department is actively pushing to send some of these same people back behind bars, and to prevent others from reducing their sentences—which greatly limits who can benefit from the law that Trump has touted as one of his signature achievements.
Oh, yes, this too: Trump administration has executed more Americans than all states combined, report finds - The Guardian, 12/16/2020
The Trump administration ultimately executed 13 prisoners, most recently Dustin Higgs.
January 19, 2021
I'm familiar with that deer-in-the-headlights look
When I've tried to explain to conservatives that Trump's reduction of the "death tax" does nothing for the average person, I've gotten blank stares. Before Trump's windfall for the 1%, the estate tax exemption was about 5 1/2 million bucks per person, or around $11 million per couple. I dunno about you, but that certainly was never even close to being an issue in my family. (And if it had been, what a nice problem to have, eh?)
Now the estate tax exemption is a little more than double what it was before the Treasury looters came into power. So Trump, Ryan, and McConnell's scam provides unnecessary "relief" for the top-hat-and-furs crowd but does absolutely nothing for 99% of Americans.
January 6, 2021
Greetings from Georgia's Blue Wall
I live in DeKalb County, Georgia, where the highest percentage of voters went for Warnock and Ossoff in this runoff election (83+ % at this point in the count). My wife and I went to bed being very cautiously optimistic, half-resigned to ultimate defeat. We're so used to losing here that even after 2018 and 2020, we're reluctant to allow ourselves hope.
I was hoping to be awakened by fireworks at 3 a.m. when both races were called for the Democrats, but no such luck. Then I awoke this morning to news of Warnock's victory.
You already know this, but it's stunning, I have to tell you.
Senator Warnock. The first Black U.S. senator in this state's history. Wow.
Recent Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate include Michele Nunn (Sen. Sam Nunn's daughter), who would have been fine but didn't sufficiently inspire the Dem electorate, and that idiot Vernon Jones who was recently seen crowd surfing at a Trump rally. Somewhere in the past decade or two we had a white centrist candidate who admitted having used crack. Winning combination! But I digress.
And now Ossoff is on the cusp of victory it seems. Most of the uncounted votes should only enlarge his current 16,000-vote lead. I'm not ready to put the champagne on ice yet, but it's not looking bad. There will be recounts and demonstrations, of course, and all kinds of bullshit from the Republicans. But it's looking like we just might pull this off.
From being "represented" in the Senate a sleazeball dollar-store magnate and a trophy-wife whose "career" is based entirely on her husband's wealth, we're now going to have one of the nation's greatest voices from the modern Black church and a young progressive Jew.
This is Georgia, 2021. We still have Republicans in control at the state level, and it will take continued hard fighting to hold on to these Senate seats and the Congressional seats we've flipped in the last two election cycles. But we have a fight we can win. And we have a lot of new, excited young, Black, Brown, Asian, and progressive voters of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages who are fired up to keep on fighting.
This is Georgia, 2021. From DeKalb County: Thank you, and you're welcome.
January 5, 2021
continued...
The segment is well worth 7 minutes of your time: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/953073942
From her 2019 bio on shethepeople:
This video from 2016 gives you some idea of the New Georgia Project's attitude and energy:
https://newgeorgiaproject.org/
As a long-time Georgia resident, I'm accustomed to preparing to swallow the periodic bitter pill at election time. And I'm certainly not over confident this time. But we have a fighting chance, a good chance. And the great work and positive spirit of Nse Ufot and her organization are among the big factors.
How about some love for Nse Ufot?
Don't get me wrong. I love Stacey Abrams. After all, I changed my avatar to her photo a couple of months ago. But in all the well-deserved praise for Ms. Abrams, sometimes we overlook the many thousands of other hard-working Georgians who are changing this state. Another of the inspiring women who've stepped up to help harness the power of Georgia's emerging Democratic majority is Nse Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project.
Here she is in an NPR segment from a couple of days ago:
CEO Of New Georgia Project On 'Aggressive' Voter Participation Efforts
So we've run essentially our traditional campaign, but on an aggressively truncated timeline, right? So in the immediate aftermath of the November 5 general election, we immediately went into what we call ballot curing, right? So there are tons of people with provisional ballots and mail-in ballots that were on the verge of being rejected for a number of reasons. And we would knock on their door and say, hey, we have reason to believe that your ballot is going to be rejected if you don't take your ID down to the county office, if you don't fill out this affidavit, if you don't go there and find your envelope, et cetera.
And then, immediately after ballot curing, we went into voter registration and registered about 7,000 young people and people of color across the state. And then after the voter registration deadline on December 7, we immediately went into sort of get-out-the-vote mode because early voting started December 14. And as it has been reported now across the country, we have blown through all kinds of turnout records for participation in runoff elections in Georgia. So we've been a little busy...
(LAUGHTER)
UFOT: ...Trying to make sure that as many people as possible show up again to vote in these runoffs.
And then, immediately after ballot curing, we went into voter registration and registered about 7,000 young people and people of color across the state. And then after the voter registration deadline on December 7, we immediately went into sort of get-out-the-vote mode because early voting started December 14. And as it has been reported now across the country, we have blown through all kinds of turnout records for participation in runoff elections in Georgia. So we've been a little busy...
(LAUGHTER)
UFOT: ...Trying to make sure that as many people as possible show up again to vote in these runoffs.
continued...
We are looking at something like - we've cracked the 30% threshold for Black voters. Over 30% of the people who've shown up to vote early are African American voters. I would also add that we are looking at 115,000 people who voted in the runoff who did not vote in the 2020 general election. And over half of them are people of color. And about half of them are voters under the age of 40 - so between the ages of 18 and 39. So those are folks who did not vote in November.
The segment is well worth 7 minutes of your time: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/953073942
From her 2019 bio on shethepeople:
Powerhouse lawyer turned top voter engagement strategist, Nse has been the force behind changing the political landscape in Georgia and she does it with such pizazz -- art shows, video game competitions. She makes voting fun -- all the cool kids are doing it. That’s why she’s on a mission to reshape the political landscape of Georgia, one voter at a time. In her role as the executive director of the New Georgia Project, she leads an ambitious effort to register 800,000 new voters of color and young people while cultivating civic engagement among through an innovative blend of technology, art and culture. In November (2019), the organization hosted Game Jam, a 72-hour video game contest focused on voter protection and engagement. By combining gaming and voting, they hope to increase black and brown youth participation in the civic and electoral process.
Nse’s experience as an immigrant from Nigeria has prepared her to fight for the American Dream to become a reality for everyone. She wants to know what Georgians care about, their hopes and aspirations and what keeps them up at night. Staying focused on people and their communities is the focus of New Georgia Project’s work in 2020. They plan to register 100,000 people of color to vote, help Georgia flip the State House from red to blue and make sure there is a full and accurate census count in the state so that hard to count populations have their needs met.
Nse’s experience as an immigrant from Nigeria has prepared her to fight for the American Dream to become a reality for everyone. She wants to know what Georgians care about, their hopes and aspirations and what keeps them up at night. Staying focused on people and their communities is the focus of New Georgia Project’s work in 2020. They plan to register 100,000 people of color to vote, help Georgia flip the State House from red to blue and make sure there is a full and accurate census count in the state so that hard to count populations have their needs met.
This video from 2016 gives you some idea of the New Georgia Project's attitude and energy:
https://newgeorgiaproject.org/
As a long-time Georgia resident, I'm accustomed to preparing to swallow the periodic bitter pill at election time. And I'm certainly not over confident this time. But we have a fighting chance, a good chance. And the great work and positive spirit of Nse Ufot and her organization are among the big factors.
December 7, 2020
As of noon today, there were more than 30,000 Georgia voters to be "adopted" for Vote Forward's GOTV letter writing campaign for the 1/5/2021 U.S. Senate runoff election. This evening, they've all been claimed.
My 60 letters are done -- signed, sealed, stamped -- and will be mailed tomorrow. I sent 150 for the general election and another 50 for the first wave of the Senate runoff campaign. 260 seems like a lot to me, but there are a lot of participants who've done way more! Well, we all do what we can.
It was fun being part of these efforts this year. In a post-pandemic world, I'll probably do more volunteering that involves interacting with other people close up. But for 2020, this was the perfect activity for me.
If you're interested in learning more about Vote Forward, check them out here:
https://votefwd.org/
https://twitter.com/votefwd
https://www.instagram.com/votefwd/
https://fb.me/votefwd
Donate to Vote Forward: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/vote-forward-c4
:
Vote Forward: All Georgia Senate GOTV addresses adopted!
https://twitter.com/votefwd/status/1335766244906029056Tweet from Vote Forward, 9:01 pm today: "You did it! All of our get out the vote letters for Georgia have been adopted. We have one more night to get them written and prepped for our big send day tomorrow (Dec. 7th). Thank you all so much!"
As of noon today, there were more than 30,000 Georgia voters to be "adopted" for Vote Forward's GOTV letter writing campaign for the 1/5/2021 U.S. Senate runoff election. This evening, they've all been claimed.
My 60 letters are done -- signed, sealed, stamped -- and will be mailed tomorrow. I sent 150 for the general election and another 50 for the first wave of the Senate runoff campaign. 260 seems like a lot to me, but there are a lot of participants who've done way more! Well, we all do what we can.
It was fun being part of these efforts this year. In a post-pandemic world, I'll probably do more volunteering that involves interacting with other people close up. But for 2020, this was the perfect activity for me.
If you're interested in learning more about Vote Forward, check them out here:
https://votefwd.org/
https://twitter.com/votefwd
https://www.instagram.com/votefwd/
https://fb.me/votefwd
Donate to Vote Forward: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/vote-forward-c4
:
December 6, 2020
Jon Ossoff debates empty podium
Since David Perdue was too chicken to show up for the debate, Ossoff is taking questions from journalists and Perdue is represented by an empty podium. The moderator made this clear at the outset.
https://www.gpb.org/events/news/2020/12/06/us-senate-runoff-debate-perdue-incumbent
December 3, 2020
More at link: https://www.wabe.org/atlanta-exceeds-goal-to-help-save-beloved-manuels-tavern/
Donors Exceed Goal To Help Save Beloved Manuel's Tavern In Less Than A Day (Atlanta)
No doubt many if not most Atlanta-area DUers are familiar with Manuel's Tavern, the iconic watering hole and progressive-friendly oasis at the corner of North and Highland, where portraits of John F. Kennedy and FDR hang on the wall. Faced with oblivion due to the stresses of COVID-19, the bar appears to have been rescued by an influx of cash from habitues and fans.
WABE Radio, Atlanta, 12/3/2020 - On Wednesday, when news broke that the much-loved Atlanta bar and meetup spot Manuel’s Tavern was in danger of closing its doors due to the pandemic, Atlanta residents said “not so fast.”
A GoFundMe, set up by Manuel’s regular Angelo Fuster, exceeded its $75,000 goal on Thursday after being active for less than 24 hours.
More than 1,000 people have donated thus far and commenting things like, “That bar is sacred ground. Hang in there, Manny’s,” and, “I plan to celebrate election night 2022 at Manuel’s.”
According to the Saporta Report, the tavern, which has been an Atlanta institution and meet-up spot for everyone from blue-collar workers and policemen to politicians and the press for over 64 years, has seen business drop an average of 62% and is losing $25,000 a month despite pivoting their business model to take-away options.
The report went on to say that Manuel’s has been able to keep its doors open in part due to funds received from the Paycheck Protect Program, but that the aid was running out.
A GoFundMe, set up by Manuel’s regular Angelo Fuster, exceeded its $75,000 goal on Thursday after being active for less than 24 hours.
More than 1,000 people have donated thus far and commenting things like, “That bar is sacred ground. Hang in there, Manny’s,” and, “I plan to celebrate election night 2022 at Manuel’s.”
According to the Saporta Report, the tavern, which has been an Atlanta institution and meet-up spot for everyone from blue-collar workers and policemen to politicians and the press for over 64 years, has seen business drop an average of 62% and is losing $25,000 a month despite pivoting their business model to take-away options.
The report went on to say that Manuel’s has been able to keep its doors open in part due to funds received from the Paycheck Protect Program, but that the aid was running out.
More at link: https://www.wabe.org/atlanta-exceeds-goal-to-help-save-beloved-manuels-tavern/
November 28, 2020
That's the legendary Willie Dixon on bass and the dynamic Hubert Sumlin on lead guitar. I'm not sure, but I think the drummer is probably Sam Lay, who played with Wolf at the time. Maybe somebody else has that information.
Howlin' Wolf - mesmerizing live performance, 1964
Here's the great Howlin' Wolf in concert in London, performing "Smokestack Lightnin'" and "Don't Laugh At Me":
That's the legendary Willie Dixon on bass and the dynamic Hubert Sumlin on lead guitar. I'm not sure, but I think the drummer is probably Sam Lay, who played with Wolf at the time. Maybe somebody else has that information.
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