For Constitution Day, please watch 13th

from 300,000 inmates in 1970 to over 2 million today

13th amendmentMy daughter has watched the documentary 13th (2016) about a half dozen times. She compelled me to watch it recently as well, and now I commend it to you.

13th refers to the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

The problem is that section that is italicized section effectively meant that people, specifically black people, would be arrested on minor charges such as vagrancy or loitering, and ended up being leased out to industry. It was Slavery by Another Name.

This was followed by Jim Crow segregation and lynching, enhanced in no small part by D. W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation (1915). The modern civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s arose from the death of Emmett Till. But it was stifled by the mass incarceration efforts of Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Clinton, which affected blacks disproportionately.

Even Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, noted in the film that the much greater sentencing for crack, more often used by blacks, than for powder cocaine preferred by white people.

The country went from having about 300,000 inmates in 1970 to over 2 million today, about 40% black because of various sentencing guidelines. The US has 25% of the incarcerated in the world, though it has but 5% of the world’s population.

13th was directed and co-written by Ava DuVernay, who had directed Selma (2014). Participants include Michelle Alexander, Cory Booker, Angela Davis, Henry Louis Gates, Van Jones, Grover Norquist, Charles Rangel, Bryan Stevenson, and several others. Plus archival footage of Lee Atwater, and every President after JFK.

Watch 13th HERE (96 minutes). See the preview HERE.

Listen to:

Letter To The Free – Common ft. Bilal
Work Song – Nina Simone
Human – Rag’n’Bone Man

May rambling #2: Not to be used to bribe politicians

Muppet Rawk III: Revolver by Karin Madan

Not to be used to bribe politicians

How Long Does It Take To Figure Out If a Ten-Dollar Bill Is Real?

Historically, Income Inequality Is Known As A Destroyer Of Civilizations

Mass incarceration: An American problem

His last foray into international negotiations doesn’t bode well for his Kim meeting

There’s no cost to white people who call 911 about black people. There should be

Yes, He Is Making White People More Hateful

Congressman: Rocks tumbling into ocean causing sea level rise

Why did it take so long to find the Golden State Killer suspect?

Big Pay Gaps Are Bad for Business

Outlines of a Reading Project on the Class Divide

Seven Maps to Better Understand the World

All hail the mighty balloon lobby

A SON SPEAKS OUT By Moses Farrow

Why Be a Congregation?

Stores & Brands Offering Senior Discounts

Alan Bean, 4th Person to Walk on the Moon, Dies at 86

Toobin: What you need to know about Tom Wolfe

Memorial video for Comedy Store creator Mitzi Shore

An Open Letter to Wikipedia by Philip Roth (September 2012)

The cast of The Big Bang Theory gave their own tribute to fan Stephen Hawking

Have Your Heard Adulting is Way Hard?

According to a local official in the know, plannerding is “a thing.” “Nerding” is the act of being a nerd. Planning is obvious. Being a nerd, while planning (typically involving mapping and or data analysis) = plannerding

Alexa, Stop Spying on Me

Here’s to the Losers

Now I Know: The Solution to an Unanswerable Question and The Problem with Chinese GPS and How Strawberries with Sugar Ravaged Portugal and The Restaurant With A Rotating Grandma On The Menu

Hotel Duckmaster

We Made a Tool So You Can Hear Both Yanny and Laurel

MUSIC

Jaquandor and his bride have been married 21 years

Symphony No. 2 by Howard Hanson, the “Romantic”, in memory of Dr. Janice Wade of Waverly, IA

AFRICA – Peter Bence (Piano Cover of Toto song)

Coverville 1217: The Steve Winwood Cover Story II – my request! and Coverville 1218: Covering the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Stand By Me Father – The Soul Stirrers

Higher Love – Lilly Winwood with Steve Winwood

The Flying Sequence from the score to Superman, by John Williams

Medley of Junk – Continental Co-Ets, surf/garage band from Fulda, Minnesota

Here’s to the losers

The Seeker – Fish

THE NATURE OF SOUND – Symphony of Science

Alright – Jain

The Song of Summer 2018

Why Stradivarius violins are worth millions

Burton Silverman’s Famous Painting

I’ll Never Hear Every Song

October #1 rambling: recovery mode

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will commission 36 playwrights to translate all of Shakespeare’s plays into modern English.

wrong reenactment
Still on the mend, wearing this band around my waist, until at least November 9. I will write about this eventually.

I’ve managed to watch more baseball in the past week and a half than I saw the entire regular season. Great to see former Met Rusty Staub after his heart attack. Rooting for the Mets, or if they get eliminated, the Cubs. Just realized that the World Series Game 5 would be November. If it’s the Dodgers in the Series, I’m rooting for the American League team.

ALSO, my office is moving this week. Note to self: do NOT pick up anything over 20 pounds.

Understanding Mass Incarceration and Bringing It Down: An Interview With James Kilgore.

John Oliver: rips GOP candidates for blaming gun violence on mental illness in absence of a plan, and Migrants and Refugees.

Color film was made for white people.

The War on Science, even in Canada.

Seth Meyers explains that ridiculous Congressional hearing over Planned Parenthood and Planned Parenthood’s “Government Funding”: The Same Kind Your Doctor Receives.

What the Speakership Battle is About.

Pope Francis met with an openly gay couple — and unlike Kim Davis, who ambushed him, he did so intentionally, and Was Pope Francis Actually Swindled into Meeting Kim Davis?

If we gotta honor a Christopher…

“Sick of hearing about the damn emails.”

Analysis Ranks Presidential Candidates By Their Supporters’ Grammar.

It costs you $43 every time you wait for the doctor.

What Happens When There’s No Internet. Presented By BuzzFeed & Hyundai – is it real?

Sweden is shifting to a 6-hour work day.

Shakespeare in Modern English? “The Oregon Shakespeare Festival… recently announced that over the next three years, it will commission 36 playwrights to translate all of Shakespeare’s plays into modern English.”

Chaz Ebert reviews the play BlackWhite Love, about Roger and Chaz Ebert.

How to Make a Sandwich. It only took 6 months and cost $1500.

K-Chuck Radio’s Sunshine Pop includes rare music from Mary Hopkin and Victor Garber.

New 2015 remix and video of Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson’s 1983 international smash hit single ‘Say Say Say’.

Van Morrison and the Thirty-One Songs about Nothing But a Bad Contract.

Mark Evanier continues to list the twenty top voice actors in American animated cartoons between 1928 and 1968, including Hans Conried (Snidely Whiplash), Don Messick (Scooby-Doo) Alan Reed (Fred Flintstone), Jack Mercer (Popeye), and Gary Owens (Space Ghost, Roger Ramjet).

GOOGLE ALERT (me)

It’s so very nice that Eddie the Renaissance Geek wished me well after my surgery, given the fact that he’s had much more serious health issues of his own.

Albany High hosts tours in advance of vote on improvements.

What’s the last comic book or graphic novel you picked up at a comic book store? Also, The Big Event effect.

SamuraiFrog: Ant-Man and the Book Light Lady.

Donna’s quote resonated.

GOOGLE ALERT (not me)

New national role for Biscovey head teacher. “Roger Green is one of 70 heads across the country…”

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