Reading this again reinforces 1) the urgent need for term limits and 2) the legislative overruling of Marbury vs. Madison (where SCOTUS did the overreach to say it has the final say).
I am no legal scholar so pass no judgement Just make note that I think Marshall based Marbury v Madisonon Art III, section 2 "The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;"
A SCOTUS empowered to determine whether or not a law of the congress is constitutional or not is a double edged sword, it can work for us as well as against us, it depends on the ideological makeup of SCOTUS.
Texas and other states are requiring Christian brainwashing in schools. That does not violate the 1st Amendment because it is not congress that are making the laws
And the same with speech,including books. States, corporations, companies, universities, people can do anything they want as regards speech, assembly religion
The constitution has holes large enough to drive a tank though, and I don't know of any remedy, especially not a constitutional convention, for the simple reason that the theocratic, racist, authoritarian states outnumber the liberty loving states.
Yes, true freedom or liberty requires a great deal of knowledge about whatever issues are at stake. Given that "The constitution has holes large enough to drive a tank though," we can only depend on intensive scholarship and clear explanations interpreting the resulting meanings.
The configuration of the U.S. Federal system is interesting because it was born against a backdrop of a minimalistic and fragmented common law system in the U.K. and infused with plenty of ideas that would appear in the French Civil Code within a few decades. The French Civil Code is the basis of most of Europe's legal systems.
The clause you cite would only be fully effective for the matters of original jurisdiction. It is also limited to "judicial power." Such power does not extend to the enforcement of judgments. How that may take place depends on the actions of the Executive and Congress in enforcement and funding.
Also, Congress can decide that the jurisdiction (and venue) of the lower courts and appellate jurisdiction of SCOTUS under Article III, § 2, cl. 2, which provides that all jurisdiction not original is to be appellate, “with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”
A useful reform would be to restrict the venue of any case challenging the constitutionality of a statute to the D.C. District and Circuit. Congress could also restrict the scope of the jurisdiction to be binding for the parties of a case and only persuasive for any other case.
Countries like Germany deal with issues of unconstitutional statutes more through the legislative process. If the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) finds that a law violates the German Constitution, the ball lands back with the Bundestag, which needs to revise or repeal the law. This makes the elected representatives accountable and at the forefront rather than deferring to unelected courts.
It appears that those who remade Germany after its defeat, had learned from the mistakes and deficiencies in America. and created a better system.
IIRC, Germany did screw up and some laws that were enacted in the past,including under the NAZI regime have been left on the books. An American example is the Comstock Law
Absolutely, the only chance we HAD, was an Interstate Compact, but we have lost that chance, On Jan 21 a tyrant will take office and he promised that if they voted for him they would never have to vote again, with Steve Bannon out of jail, and sitting at his right hand and Project 2025 as his guide, control of Congress and the Judiciary, the constitution will be a dead issue.
Maybe, but at this point it's still TBD. What is clear is that the plutocrats have taken control of everything. They are successfully distorting the Constitution, though.
Unfortunately, no amount of scholarship will succeed against the naked power grab facilitated by the Scalia-Roberts SC faction in their many wrong-headed precedents. It will take a miracle for the newly re-elected President to be denied the opportunity to further corrupt the Court.
I await the darkness about to befall us differently than most of you because I was a teacher and I knew our schools weren’t just lost. Power mongers hijacked our teachers and their unions decades ago and the media totally missed this. Our presidents have missed this.
The person leading this Substack has missed this.
Most people think it’s impossible to reform our schools. The truth is those holding the power over all of our heads have made sure reform doesn’t work because our schools are their deep state - their personal treasure chests.
I’ve been trying to expose this since 1995, aware that schools are democracy’s foundation and in time we’d lose our democracy. I decided each day, at least once, I’d ask people to go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and listen to five whistleblowing teachers so they’d understand how Trump happened to us, aware our only way back to democracy is freeing our teachers and their unions from these mobsters who’ve stolen our democracy.
If people understood what happened to our schools, they would get on school boards on a save democracy platform and at least we’d have our island to ride out this storm. However, this hijacking caused most of you to lose faith in teachers. You’re judging our inability to educate citizens as our fault when we’ve been kidnapped, banished or muzzled. You’re angry at teachers because we were the people who were to hold up democracy but couldn’t because no one in power listens to us.
I keep asking people to go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and listen to the few teachers not afraid to speak out. I get a few likes. Not one celebrity spokesman has reached out to me. You can’t really care about democracy if you don’t care about the teachers. The bad guys successfully made most everyone not care about teachers so you’d have to welcome democracy’s end.
On occasion I get a response such as: but what kind of school could work? - as if good schools are the problem.
Good teachers know what to do to create solid citizens. We were born with that gift. Democracy broke because we’re powerless. Until you understand this you’re helping the thugs and criminals who hijacked your teachers so they could thrive.
You will now live in the darkness that authentic teachers have lived in for decades now until you awaken to this: democracy’s foundation is our schools and teachers are the public servants. A society that devalues its teachers cannot remain a democracy anymore than a society that devalues its doctors could remain healthy or a society that devalues its scientists could keep the planet live-able.
We’re at a turning point where celebrity has replaced substance - one that good teachers could have prevented. First they came for the teachers and now they have it all. Their coming for the teachers and making us, the people with the job of holding up a democracy seem incompetent, made saving democracy impossible. They got you not to listen to us.
The only antidote to that is to keep trying to educate you about how they were able to end democracy. That’s what I’ll do until democracy lovers become woke to how we lost it and how we can save it.
I know you're correct, Karen. I tried to report to the local newspaper about what was happening in our school district while my children were in school and after they were out of school, and I served two terms on the school board. I will put what happened on my substack soon. But right now, we must babysit for my four-year-old five days a week and two nights on weekends. It is unavailable even if parents can afford childcare in this community, so I need more writing time.
Also, I do not wish to miss spending time with my grandchildren at their impressionable age. Some of my grandchildren are adults, and I wish I could have spent more time with them, but they lived over five hours away.
The loss of investigative journalism and even simply the loss of local reporters has much to do with the decline of our educational and healthcare systems. Due to the lack of reporting, politicians have had a free-for-all for the past forty years. This decline in local journalism has led to a lack of transparency and accountability in our communities, allowing for unchecked political actions and a decrease in the quality of our public services. Maybe the substacks can fill in some of the gaps in reporting.
I have learned it’s more about no one respecting teachers than anything else. I documented our local newspaper’s participation in White Chalk Crime. Administrators controlled the local news, the local university , the school board. The system was one about loyalty just like what’s being put in place now in government.
I agree Substack is promising. It attracts the thinking people. I’m just learning about it and figuring it out. Today I posted the prologue of my audiobook on it. Think I did it correctly. Pretty cool what we can do and who we meet. Definitely a light in this darkness closing in on us. Enjoy your children and grandchildren. If not for them I’d be thinking much less about saving democracy. Less and less people deserve it!
I get your point but there’s a podcast with five teachers explaining this there. Too valuable to miss when for decades no one has considered this. Honestly the believability gap is huge. Thanks for caring!
I agree with most of what you have written here, but I am not mad at teachers, and I doubt that most people are. Nor do I believe that people don't care about teachers. I view teachers as victims of the plutocracy along with the rest of us, the plutocracy aided by puritanism and Christian nationalism.
Citizens United may be based on lies and flawed legal reasoning, but at the same time it confirms what has been true for many, many decades: The U.S. government, and the governments of most if not all states, dance to Big Money's tune. And calling it out gets you labeled un-American, because as we're all supposed to know, democracy and capitalism are joined at the hip.
The link is to Timothy Snyder's video, episode 3 on oligarchs. In it, Snyder speaks (starting at 9:15) about the Supreme Court's decision on Citizens United and what it will mean. This video was made in 2017 and is more relevant today.
As for how the law works in practice, I couldn't afford a lawyer when my children were removed from my custody in 1986 because while I was at work in intensive care, my new husband ordered my 16-year-old son to put on his winter coat on a 95-degree day and sit outside by the dog because he failed to give the dog water which was his assigned task. My son wasn't harmed, although my husband used poor judgment. My son called the police, and they took my five children into foster care. My children were returned after six weeks, but my husband was court-ordered away from our home for 18 months.
I was desperate to get my children returned. I tried to write a proper motion and filed it with the court using the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which stated that my children were taken without due process and in violation of some amendments, including the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection law. The attorney, Guardian ad Litem for my children lied and told me the 14th Amendment only applies to African Americans. Now, I have found out that it applies to corporations as well. What a slap in the face. Also, I was told my children only have rights under an ASPCA ruling, another lie.
At the time, case law was such that if a woman left her children with a person who abused them, she would lose custody forever. That was case law for about the next fifteen years in the U.S. I was told how fortunate I was to have my children returned at six weeks, let alone ever. Our community was devastated by worker layoffs, which also affected the lawyer class, and they were using DCFS to extort parents. I know of a family who sold their home to pay an attorney to get their children returned. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me, and I'll never think of our country and our legal system the same way because I know how it really works and who is in charge.
That isn't the only travesty of justice our community endured due to the loss of jobs. People's homes were taken by "Special Assessment." But that's another story.
Thank you, Thom Hartmann, for explaining the lies and evil forces that led to the Citizens United coup.
I doubt you would have prevailed if you hired an attorney, if you did you would have to take out a second mortgage and wind up with the same results.
Attorneys are officers of the court, meaning that work for the system., judges are also representatives of the system, and the only way to even attempt a fair outcome is via a Jury trial., and those rack up billable hours for the attorney's. And even with a jury trial, the Judge puts his thumb on the scale, by recognizing or failing to recognize objections, and by the instructions he gives the jury. If the Jury doesn't follow instructions he can throw out the verdict.
I was called to Jury duty in Santa Cruz, CA and voire dired. The prosecution asked me a question and I answered by quoting Justice Marshall, I went home straight forth.
There are no jury trials in juvenile court. It is the most antidemocratic system you can imagine, and it places children who had been safe with their parents into unsafe homes. The dumbest thing about it is that the reason most children are taken is "neglect." For example, parents who can't afford a dentist are called negligent. So, the system takes the kids from the parents and places them with strangers to whom they give the money to care for the children properly. Why not help the parents to begin with? But then all those patronage jobs, Gardian ad litems, judges, and parasitic lawyers wouldn't be needed.
There is so much more I want to say on this topic, but I have just stopped trembling from the most hurtful memories of a lifetime, and I want to stay calm for the rest of the day.
Oh, I need to say that someone I told about this awful thing that happened to me said that there are worse things that happen in our "justice system," like the parents whose children died in a disaster like a fire and were in jail or executed like the father in Texas who was proven innocent by forensics soon after the execution. The Innocent Project has proven how faulty our justice system is. And look at what Trump is getting away with.
My children told me how horribly they were treated during the six weeks they were separated from each other and placed in foster care. It's a stark reality that in our system, you can't sue the State due to Sovereign Immunity. This means that we only have the rights we can afford or are allowed to have by the local authorities. The financial barriers to justice are a clear indication of the inequality in our system, where justice is a privilege, not a right.
I am sorry that I dredged up such painful memories. The closest I came is that Mom, separated from Dad, lived with her sister and husband. Hubbie didn't appreciate all of the people disturbing his life, Mom was pregnant, so Mom put sis and I up for adoption.
A nice lady, she had already adopted a boy (Rusty) wanted a daughter and my sister was a cute little blonde. But the deal was I came with, because they wouldn't split us up, so I was a tag along after thought, still she treated us nice but after my sis was born, some lifted my mothers wallet on the subway, and she went to the police, told her story, and told her she should try to get in public housing.
She tried, but one child wasn't enough, so she clawed back Sis and I, which upset the nice lady we lived with,as she was promised she could adopt us.
Next stop a housing project where I learned the realities of life. And actually as I survived, I am grateful I learned so much more there than I would have in Beavers household
You are correct about Juvenile, injustice system, I skirted it. I would hide on Friday nights because a cop from the 21st Precinct would scoop me up and keep in jail, overnight "for my protection", but that is another story. .
That's terrible, William. This country has enough resources for families to be secure in basic necessities. No mother should fear not having what she needs for her children. It sounds like you have at least one story that needs telling.
Don't take this wrong. This was a different time, and all the resources we have now, did not exist, and there was no such thing as child protection services, and I am glad.
I have no regrets or druthers about anything. I like who I am, and where I am in life now, and everything that has gone before, everything that has happened to me, good and bad, are a stepping stone, and had it not been for the stones and my steps I wouldn't be where I am.
Now I can't say the same for the events of the last eight years., well the preceding four of the eight was an interregnum. I see a the ship of state sailing into a shitstorm.
I have flashbacks that cause me to tremble and pace the floor when something triggers memories. I'm usually fine, content, and enjoying my family and life. Writing and sharing help me, and I try to help others when the opportunity presents itself.
'In God we trust' it says on the dollar bills, and the dollar is God. Therefore corporations are closer to God because they have more money. How come so many don't get it!
We know they have been lying for a long long time … maybe now is the time to start building the case to break the lys down by truth and regain the territory .. money is not free speech as I don’t have enough to fight against the bigs .. therefore I am being discriminated against .. and if corporations are people why doesn’t the f_ing corporation answer their phones .. oh wait .. people do .. hmmmm
Karen, post the podcast. You have to understand rhat I and people like me read 5 or more substack letters, review the commentary and post replies. There is only so much time in the day. The link Crime chalk does not help.
Reading this again reinforces 1) the urgent need for term limits and 2) the legislative overruling of Marbury vs. Madison (where SCOTUS did the overreach to say it has the final say).
I am no legal scholar so pass no judgement Just make note that I think Marshall based Marbury v Madisonon Art III, section 2 "The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;"
A SCOTUS empowered to determine whether or not a law of the congress is constitutional or not is a double edged sword, it can work for us as well as against us, it depends on the ideological makeup of SCOTUS.
Texas and other states are requiring Christian brainwashing in schools. That does not violate the 1st Amendment because it is not congress that are making the laws
And the same with speech,including books. States, corporations, companies, universities, people can do anything they want as regards speech, assembly religion
The constitution has holes large enough to drive a tank though, and I don't know of any remedy, especially not a constitutional convention, for the simple reason that the theocratic, racist, authoritarian states outnumber the liberty loving states.
Yes, true freedom or liberty requires a great deal of knowledge about whatever issues are at stake. Given that "The constitution has holes large enough to drive a tank though," we can only depend on intensive scholarship and clear explanations interpreting the resulting meanings.
The configuration of the U.S. Federal system is interesting because it was born against a backdrop of a minimalistic and fragmented common law system in the U.K. and infused with plenty of ideas that would appear in the French Civil Code within a few decades. The French Civil Code is the basis of most of Europe's legal systems.
The clause you cite would only be fully effective for the matters of original jurisdiction. It is also limited to "judicial power." Such power does not extend to the enforcement of judgments. How that may take place depends on the actions of the Executive and Congress in enforcement and funding.
Also, Congress can decide that the jurisdiction (and venue) of the lower courts and appellate jurisdiction of SCOTUS under Article III, § 2, cl. 2, which provides that all jurisdiction not original is to be appellate, “with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”
A useful reform would be to restrict the venue of any case challenging the constitutionality of a statute to the D.C. District and Circuit. Congress could also restrict the scope of the jurisdiction to be binding for the parties of a case and only persuasive for any other case.
Countries like Germany deal with issues of unconstitutional statutes more through the legislative process. If the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) finds that a law violates the German Constitution, the ball lands back with the Bundestag, which needs to revise or repeal the law. This makes the elected representatives accountable and at the forefront rather than deferring to unelected courts.
It appears that those who remade Germany after its defeat, had learned from the mistakes and deficiencies in America. and created a better system.
IIRC, Germany did screw up and some laws that were enacted in the past,including under the NAZI regime have been left on the books. An American example is the Comstock Law
And a convention would surely be completely dominated by Big Money.
Absolutely, the only chance we HAD, was an Interstate Compact, but we have lost that chance, On Jan 21 a tyrant will take office and he promised that if they voted for him they would never have to vote again, with Steve Bannon out of jail, and sitting at his right hand and Project 2025 as his guide, control of Congress and the Judiciary, the constitution will be a dead issue.
Maybe, but at this point it's still TBD. What is clear is that the plutocrats have taken control of everything. They are successfully distorting the Constitution, though.
Unfortunately, no amount of scholarship will succeed against the naked power grab facilitated by the Scalia-Roberts SC faction in their many wrong-headed precedents. It will take a miracle for the newly re-elected President to be denied the opportunity to further corrupt the Court.
I await the darkness about to befall us differently than most of you because I was a teacher and I knew our schools weren’t just lost. Power mongers hijacked our teachers and their unions decades ago and the media totally missed this. Our presidents have missed this.
The person leading this Substack has missed this.
Most people think it’s impossible to reform our schools. The truth is those holding the power over all of our heads have made sure reform doesn’t work because our schools are their deep state - their personal treasure chests.
I’ve been trying to expose this since 1995, aware that schools are democracy’s foundation and in time we’d lose our democracy. I decided each day, at least once, I’d ask people to go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and listen to five whistleblowing teachers so they’d understand how Trump happened to us, aware our only way back to democracy is freeing our teachers and their unions from these mobsters who’ve stolen our democracy.
If people understood what happened to our schools, they would get on school boards on a save democracy platform and at least we’d have our island to ride out this storm. However, this hijacking caused most of you to lose faith in teachers. You’re judging our inability to educate citizens as our fault when we’ve been kidnapped, banished or muzzled. You’re angry at teachers because we were the people who were to hold up democracy but couldn’t because no one in power listens to us.
I keep asking people to go to WhiteChalkCrime.com and listen to the few teachers not afraid to speak out. I get a few likes. Not one celebrity spokesman has reached out to me. You can’t really care about democracy if you don’t care about the teachers. The bad guys successfully made most everyone not care about teachers so you’d have to welcome democracy’s end.
On occasion I get a response such as: but what kind of school could work? - as if good schools are the problem.
Good teachers know what to do to create solid citizens. We were born with that gift. Democracy broke because we’re powerless. Until you understand this you’re helping the thugs and criminals who hijacked your teachers so they could thrive.
You will now live in the darkness that authentic teachers have lived in for decades now until you awaken to this: democracy’s foundation is our schools and teachers are the public servants. A society that devalues its teachers cannot remain a democracy anymore than a society that devalues its doctors could remain healthy or a society that devalues its scientists could keep the planet live-able.
We’re at a turning point where celebrity has replaced substance - one that good teachers could have prevented. First they came for the teachers and now they have it all. Their coming for the teachers and making us, the people with the job of holding up a democracy seem incompetent, made saving democracy impossible. They got you not to listen to us.
The only antidote to that is to keep trying to educate you about how they were able to end democracy. That’s what I’ll do until democracy lovers become woke to how we lost it and how we can save it.
I know you're correct, Karen. I tried to report to the local newspaper about what was happening in our school district while my children were in school and after they were out of school, and I served two terms on the school board. I will put what happened on my substack soon. But right now, we must babysit for my four-year-old five days a week and two nights on weekends. It is unavailable even if parents can afford childcare in this community, so I need more writing time.
Also, I do not wish to miss spending time with my grandchildren at their impressionable age. Some of my grandchildren are adults, and I wish I could have spent more time with them, but they lived over five hours away.
The loss of investigative journalism and even simply the loss of local reporters has much to do with the decline of our educational and healthcare systems. Due to the lack of reporting, politicians have had a free-for-all for the past forty years. This decline in local journalism has led to a lack of transparency and accountability in our communities, allowing for unchecked political actions and a decrease in the quality of our public services. Maybe the substacks can fill in some of the gaps in reporting.
I have learned it’s more about no one respecting teachers than anything else. I documented our local newspaper’s participation in White Chalk Crime. Administrators controlled the local news, the local university , the school board. The system was one about loyalty just like what’s being put in place now in government.
I agree Substack is promising. It attracts the thinking people. I’m just learning about it and figuring it out. Today I posted the prologue of my audiobook on it. Think I did it correctly. Pretty cool what we can do and who we meet. Definitely a light in this darkness closing in on us. Enjoy your children and grandchildren. If not for them I’d be thinking much less about saving democracy. Less and less people deserve it!
Karen, I agree with you, but you need to support your arguments without asking readers to go to White Chalk. A few major examples will due.
I get your point but there’s a podcast with five teachers explaining this there. Too valuable to miss when for decades no one has considered this. Honestly the believability gap is huge. Thanks for caring!
I agree with most of what you have written here, but I am not mad at teachers, and I doubt that most people are. Nor do I believe that people don't care about teachers. I view teachers as victims of the plutocracy along with the rest of us, the plutocracy aided by puritanism and Christian nationalism.
https://karenhorwitz.substack.com/p/the-prologue-of-a-graver-danger
I’m so proud of myself. I figured out how to post part of my audiobook on Substack!
Citizens United may be based on lies and flawed legal reasoning, but at the same time it confirms what has been true for many, many decades: The U.S. government, and the governments of most if not all states, dance to Big Money's tune. And calling it out gets you labeled un-American, because as we're all supposed to know, democracy and capitalism are joined at the hip.
Thank you, Captain my Captain and with all that No, corporations are not a person people whatever, No. not corporations. Thom!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZVrh821RA
The link is to Timothy Snyder's video, episode 3 on oligarchs. In it, Snyder speaks (starting at 9:15) about the Supreme Court's decision on Citizens United and what it will mean. This video was made in 2017 and is more relevant today.
As for how the law works in practice, I couldn't afford a lawyer when my children were removed from my custody in 1986 because while I was at work in intensive care, my new husband ordered my 16-year-old son to put on his winter coat on a 95-degree day and sit outside by the dog because he failed to give the dog water which was his assigned task. My son wasn't harmed, although my husband used poor judgment. My son called the police, and they took my five children into foster care. My children were returned after six weeks, but my husband was court-ordered away from our home for 18 months.
I was desperate to get my children returned. I tried to write a proper motion and filed it with the court using the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which stated that my children were taken without due process and in violation of some amendments, including the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection law. The attorney, Guardian ad Litem for my children lied and told me the 14th Amendment only applies to African Americans. Now, I have found out that it applies to corporations as well. What a slap in the face. Also, I was told my children only have rights under an ASPCA ruling, another lie.
At the time, case law was such that if a woman left her children with a person who abused them, she would lose custody forever. That was case law for about the next fifteen years in the U.S. I was told how fortunate I was to have my children returned at six weeks, let alone ever. Our community was devastated by worker layoffs, which also affected the lawyer class, and they were using DCFS to extort parents. I know of a family who sold their home to pay an attorney to get their children returned. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me, and I'll never think of our country and our legal system the same way because I know how it really works and who is in charge.
That isn't the only travesty of justice our community endured due to the loss of jobs. People's homes were taken by "Special Assessment." But that's another story.
Thank you, Thom Hartmann, for explaining the lies and evil forces that led to the Citizens United coup.
I doubt you would have prevailed if you hired an attorney, if you did you would have to take out a second mortgage and wind up with the same results.
Attorneys are officers of the court, meaning that work for the system., judges are also representatives of the system, and the only way to even attempt a fair outcome is via a Jury trial., and those rack up billable hours for the attorney's. And even with a jury trial, the Judge puts his thumb on the scale, by recognizing or failing to recognize objections, and by the instructions he gives the jury. If the Jury doesn't follow instructions he can throw out the verdict.
I was called to Jury duty in Santa Cruz, CA and voire dired. The prosecution asked me a question and I answered by quoting Justice Marshall, I went home straight forth.
There are no jury trials in juvenile court. It is the most antidemocratic system you can imagine, and it places children who had been safe with their parents into unsafe homes. The dumbest thing about it is that the reason most children are taken is "neglect." For example, parents who can't afford a dentist are called negligent. So, the system takes the kids from the parents and places them with strangers to whom they give the money to care for the children properly. Why not help the parents to begin with? But then all those patronage jobs, Gardian ad litems, judges, and parasitic lawyers wouldn't be needed.
There is so much more I want to say on this topic, but I have just stopped trembling from the most hurtful memories of a lifetime, and I want to stay calm for the rest of the day.
Oh, I need to say that someone I told about this awful thing that happened to me said that there are worse things that happen in our "justice system," like the parents whose children died in a disaster like a fire and were in jail or executed like the father in Texas who was proven innocent by forensics soon after the execution. The Innocent Project has proven how faulty our justice system is. And look at what Trump is getting away with.
My children told me how horribly they were treated during the six weeks they were separated from each other and placed in foster care. It's a stark reality that in our system, you can't sue the State due to Sovereign Immunity. This means that we only have the rights we can afford or are allowed to have by the local authorities. The financial barriers to justice are a clear indication of the inequality in our system, where justice is a privilege, not a right.
I am sorry that I dredged up such painful memories. The closest I came is that Mom, separated from Dad, lived with her sister and husband. Hubbie didn't appreciate all of the people disturbing his life, Mom was pregnant, so Mom put sis and I up for adoption.
A nice lady, she had already adopted a boy (Rusty) wanted a daughter and my sister was a cute little blonde. But the deal was I came with, because they wouldn't split us up, so I was a tag along after thought, still she treated us nice but after my sis was born, some lifted my mothers wallet on the subway, and she went to the police, told her story, and told her she should try to get in public housing.
She tried, but one child wasn't enough, so she clawed back Sis and I, which upset the nice lady we lived with,as she was promised she could adopt us.
Next stop a housing project where I learned the realities of life. And actually as I survived, I am grateful I learned so much more there than I would have in Beavers household
You are correct about Juvenile, injustice system, I skirted it. I would hide on Friday nights because a cop from the 21st Precinct would scoop me up and keep in jail, overnight "for my protection", but that is another story. .
That's terrible, William. This country has enough resources for families to be secure in basic necessities. No mother should fear not having what she needs for her children. It sounds like you have at least one story that needs telling.
Don't take this wrong. This was a different time, and all the resources we have now, did not exist, and there was no such thing as child protection services, and I am glad.
I have no regrets or druthers about anything. I like who I am, and where I am in life now, and everything that has gone before, everything that has happened to me, good and bad, are a stepping stone, and had it not been for the stones and my steps I wouldn't be where I am.
Now I can't say the same for the events of the last eight years., well the preceding four of the eight was an interregnum. I see a the ship of state sailing into a shitstorm.
I admire your passion. Keep reconnecting with your inner wisdom and strength. Children all over the world need advocates.
OMG Gloria.. what a horrendous and stressful struggle for you to go through. Glad you survived it. Are you okay?
I have flashbacks that cause me to tremble and pace the floor when something triggers memories. I'm usually fine, content, and enjoying my family and life. Writing and sharing help me, and I try to help others when the opportunity presents itself.
Reminds me of the overused OLC memo.
Incredible, well researched article. When will common sense prevail?
'In God we trust' it says on the dollar bills, and the dollar is God. Therefore corporations are closer to God because they have more money. How come so many don't get it!
And the U.S. flag was a derivative of the British East India Company’s flag. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/short-history-united-states-flag#:~:text=It%20was%20the%20same%20design,flew%20the%20flag%20until%201777.
We know they have been lying for a long long time … maybe now is the time to start building the case to break the lys down by truth and regain the territory .. money is not free speech as I don’t have enough to fight against the bigs .. therefore I am being discriminated against .. and if corporations are people why doesn’t the f_ing corporation answer their phones .. oh wait .. people do .. hmmmm
Karen, post the podcast. You have to understand rhat I and people like me read 5 or more substack letters, review the commentary and post replies. There is only so much time in the day. The link Crime chalk does not help.