Super Bowl Sunday!

     It's Super Bowl Sunday I guess. Something tells me the Vikings aren't playing. I'm so glad that I'm not allowed to watch football. While the game is on I have perfect alternative, basketball!

   The University Of Minnesota Women's basketball team is on a roll. They are tied for 5th place in the Big Ten Conference. Last week they beat Iowa in Iowa for the first time after ten losses there. This morning, I was otherwise occupied, they beat Rutgers for their 6th straight conference win.

  While football is being played I'll watch the replay of the Minnesota/Rutgers game. Replays are sweet. No anxiety because the outcome is assured...yes, I'm overly invested. There's fast forward through time-outs, quarter breaks and halftime, so there are NO commercials! Want to review that action? Instant replays are at the touch of a button. Sure beats football!

Takk for alt,

Al

They are all camera shy!

Will Farmers gain political sense?

    Heather Cox-Richardson comments on the situation in agriculture.

"On Tuesday, February 3, a bipartisan group of 27 former Agriculture Department officials and leaders from farm and commodity groups wrote to the leaders of the agriculture committees of both chambers with a dire warning about “the damage that is being done to American farmers.”

Linda Qiu of the New York Times highlighted the letter, which noted that “just a few years ago,” farm export surpluses and farm incomes were at record highs. This year, “[f]armer bankruptcies have doubled, barely half of all farms will be profitable this year, and the U.S. is running a historic agriculture trade deficit.” The authors blamed this crisis on the fact that “the current Administration’s actions, along with Congressional inaction, have increased costs for farm inputs, disrupted overseas and domestic markets, denied agriculture its reliable labor pool, and defunded critical ag[ricultural] research and staffing.”

They warned of “a widespread collapse of American agriculture and our rural communities.” They noted that administration cuts to healthcare will add to the decimation of rural communities, wiping out a way of life. Rural voters tend to be an important part of Trump’s base."

This poem is from Lars' college friend.

Takk for alt,

Al

Heather Cox-Richardson again!

 These would be very helpful changes!

"Also last night, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) sent Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SC) and House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a letter outlining demands Democrats want incorporated into a measure that will appropriate more funds for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS is the department that contains Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. Democrats insisted on stripping DHS funding out of the bills to fund the government for 2026 after ICE and Border Patrol agents began to inflict terror on the country.

Those demands are pretty straightforward, but if written into law as required for the release of funds, they would change behavior. The Democrats want federal agents to enter private homes only with a judicial warrant (as was policy until the administration produced a secret memo saying that DHS officials themselves could sign off on raids). They want agents to stop wearing masks and to have their names, agencies, and unique ID numbers visible on their uniforms, as law enforcement officers do. They want an end to racial profiling—that is, agents detaining individuals on the basis of their skin color, place of employment, or language—and to raids of so-called sensitive sites: medical facilities, schools, childcare facilities, churches, polling places, and courts.

They want agents to be required to have a reasonable use of force policy and to be removed during an investigation if they violate it. They want federal agents to coordinate with local and state governments, and for those governments to have jurisdiction over federal agents who break the law. They want DHS detention facilities to have the same standards of any detention facility and for detainees to have access to their lawyers. They want states to be able to sue if those conditions are not met, and they want Congress members to have unscheduled access to the centers to oversee them.

They want body cameras to be used for accountability but prohibited for gathering and storing information about protesters. And they want federal agents to have standardized uniforms like those of regular law enforcement, not paramilitaries.

As Schumer and Jeffries wrote, these are commonsense measures that protect Americans’ constitutional rights and ensure responsible law enforcement, and should apply to all federal activity even without Democrats demanding them."  Heather Cox-Richardson

Takk for alt,

Al

Book Report!

    Well into this book I wondered why I kept reading? It was mildly engaging and perhaps part of its allure was its setting in Penang, Malaysia, which I once visited. (A little Penang excurses here. My visit there came at a time when it was first possible to reserve hotel rooms online. On my previous travels I'd find housing upon arrival. So, making an online reservation in Penang, the hotel site gave two prices for rooms. The basic price was $10.00 a night but $20.00 if you wanted a private room. Being a big spender I opted for private.😁) The author wrote two previous books, both of which I enjoyed. His constant use of vocabulary, common to the area's English speakers, Malaysia was an English Colony until 1957, piqued my interest...frequently looking up the meaning of words, this, too, kept me reading. An example, warehouses lining the harbor are called "godowns."

   Persistence was rewarded as it became very interesting. The book is The House of Doors, Tan Twan Eng, and his previous books were The Gift Of Rain, and The Garden Of Evening Mists. It could be classed an historical novel. Two famous people, who spend time in Penang feature prominently in the story. W. Somerset Maugham, the English author, visited Penang in the 1920s. Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese revolutionary was there raising money when revolution broke out in China. Both are feature in Twan's story. While Penang is the main focus of the tale the protagonists move to South Africa for health reasons. This mirrors the author's life as he divides his time between those locales.

   Lesley, the main charcter is imagined in relationship with both Maugham and Yat-sen. In Saigon we stayed at the Oriental Hotel where Maugham has stayed previously. Another historical detail is the trial, conviction and pardon by the Sultan of an English woman convicted of murder. 

  It's good story, well told in excellent prose. It's garnered very positive reviews.

Takk for alt,

Al

What is Sun Yat-sen known for?

As the paramount leader of the 1911 Revolution, Sun is credited with overthrowing the Qing dynasty and served as the first president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912) and as the inaugural premier of the Kuomintang.

Heather Cox-Richardson again.

 Cox-Richardson commented on a judges ruling that barnyard barbie, also known as Noem, could not unilaterally end Haitian Temporarily Protected Status

“There is an old adage among lawyers,” Reyes wrote as she decided against the Trump administration. “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither, pound the table. Secretary Noem, the record to-date shows, does not have the facts on her side—or at least has ignored them. Does not have the law on her side—or at least has ignored it. Having neither…, she pounds X ([formerly known as] Twitter). Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants. Secretary Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the [Administrative Procedure Act] to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program. The record to-date shows she has yet to do that.”

In today's post from Cox-Richardson she also wrote this.

"Republicans are trying to regain support by seeming to back off their extremism, although they are not backing far: not a single Republican showed up for a public forum held today in Washington, D.C., by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) and other Democrats on ICE violence. At the hearing, Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen shot five times by federal agents, told her story; so did Aliya Rahman, another U.S. citizen detained by ICE; and so did the brothers of U.S. citizen Renee Good, killed by federal agents.

Representative Garcia showed a picture of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who is a key instigator of the ICE attacks, and said: “There’s probably no single person in this government [who] has done more damage…and more harm to people across this country, immigrants and U.S. citizens…than this man right here, and it’s our job…to hold him responsible for the crimes that are happening to United States citizens.” A new Data For Progress poll shows that 51% of American voters think Miller should be removed, while only 33% think he should not."

Takk for alt,

Al

Banal!

      Being an old, white, male in an old folks home insulates me from the trauma of our streets. Given the heart rendering dramas being played out with the barbaric siege of the city my life sees banal by comparison.

     There is significant resistance to ICE emanating from the OFH. There is a new ISAIAH Core Team that's active. The OFH Social Justice Committee has been active all the while I've been here. At the last nationwide protest Friday inmates of the OFH gathered in vigil on the skyway.(See photo below) Much of the energy for the resistance work comes from the "other" building. That is all independent living apartments and they tend to be younger than the denizens of this building.  

    Apparently many of the entertainers who were awarded prizes at the Grammy's last night spoke out against ICE and orange man. Minnesota is garnering a lot of attention. We'd be happy to pass on that if the barbarians would leave.

Takk for alt,

Al

PS

BREAKING: Federal judge SMACKS DOWN “ICE Barbie” — uses Kristi Noem’s own ugly rant to stop her deportation crusade.

In a delicious case of poetic justice, a federal judge just took Kristi Noem’s own words, wrapped them in constitutional law, and slammed them right back in her face.

Noem’s plan to rip legal protections away from 350,000 Haitian immigrants was frozen this week by Judge Ana C. Reyes, who issued a blistering 83-page ruling that made one thing crystal clear: screaming on X is not governing.

Back in December, Noem proudly posted that she was recommending “a full travel ban on every damn country,” sending “killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies” to the U.S., punctuating it with the chilling MAGA mantra: “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.” Haiti was squarely in her sights just days earlier, when she moved to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians who have lived and worked legally in the U.S. since the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Judge Reyes was not amused.

“Noem does not have the facts on her side,” Reyes wrote. “She does not have the law on her side. So instead, she pounds X.”

Ouch.

The judge reminded Noem that while she’s free as a private citizen to spew insults, as homeland security secretary, she is bound by the Constitution and federal law. TPS, Reyes explained, isn’t charity — it’s a lawful program that allows disaster survivors to live and work here, generating $5.2 billion a year in taxes.

And then came the mic drop.

Reyes directly quoted Noem’s own “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.” line to prove Haitians have every reason to fear rapid deportation. In other words: Noem’s own bigotry became Exhibit A against her.

The plaintiffs Noem tried to erase? A neuroscientist. A software engineer. A registered nurse. A lab assistant. An economics student. Not “leeches.” Not “killers.” Just people with lives, careers, and roots in America.

The judge also pointed out the obvious hypocrisy: the U.S. State Department still warns Americans not to travel to Haiti for any reason, completely undercutting Noem’s claim that the country is suddenly “safe.”

The ruling blocks Noem — and Donald Trump — from ending Haiti’s TPS nationwide while the case proceeds.

Noem’s response? A tantrum about “activist judges” and promises to appeal. But for now, ICE Barbie’s cosplay tough talk has collided with reality — and the law won.

To be brown in Minneapolis....

    Here's an example of the danger of being brown in Minneapolis with the Federal Government's ongoing invasion.

"t's a video many saw on social media soon after it happened: Officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, dragging a woman out of her car and forcing her to the ground.

The woman in the video is Aliya Rahman, a Bangladeshi American and a U.S. citizen. The day she was arrested, Rahman was on her way to the doctor when she came across an ICE operation and a group of people protesting. She said the ICE officers told her to move her car, but the scene was chaotic and she received multiple instructions at once.

The Department of Homeland Security said in an earlier statement they arrested Rahman because she "ignored multiple commands." But Rahman, who is autistic and also recovering from a traumatic brain injury, says it sometimes takes her a moment to understand auditory commands. Before she knew it, the officers were carrying her away by her limbs."

How long? how long? how long?????????????

Takk for alt,

Al