Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Emil Bove, who had been nominated to be the US Atty for DC, today faced senate questions instead to be appointed to be a federal judgeship instead

First, who is Emil BovĂ© III? The Wikipedia article cites more than three dozen news articles about him, including this one by Erica Ogden in Politico on February 23, 2025.

Video of his questioning by senators include these three posted to YouTube today:



Today also, Joyce Vance, who writes the Civil Discourse substack posted:
Speaking of folks who needed help refreshing their recollection, Bove struggled today in his confirmation hearing under questioning by California Senator Adam Schiff. Schiff asked him about the detail we discussed last night, the allegation in Whistleblower Erez Reuveni’s complaint about Bove’s dismissive comments about the courts. That would be the courts he now hopes to be confirmed to serve on.

SCHIFF: Did you suggest telling the courts 'fuck you' in any manner?

BOVE: I don't recall.

SCHIFF: You just don't remember that.
The exchange between Bove and Schiff is also in the last video above.

If you're so inclined, you may find your US Senators. You may phone the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

I called my two earlier today, asking politely, yet assertively for each of them to vote AGAINST Bove in his quest to become a federal district judge.

Monday, June 16, 2025

Ken Burns film, American Revolution, will be broadcast on PBS beginning November 16, 2025

 

Ken Burns' documentary series "The American Revolution" will premiere on PBS on November 16, 2025. It explores the war for independence, featuring various historical figures and examining the impact of the revolution on civil liberties and democratic movements worldwide. (AI search engine generated text about Burns' project)

Recently, Burns' team sat for a panel discussion in Concord, Mass to discuss the project. You can view the YT video (here) at 1.75x speed and understand it quite well.


Please plan to view the project when PBS broadcasts it.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Charles Sumner: The brutal caning of Sen. Charles Sumner in 1856 shows the difference between courage and concession.



Charles Sumner is mainly known as the abolitionist statesman who suffered a brutal caning on the Senate floor by the proslavery congressman Preston Brooks in 1856. This violent episode has obscured Sumner's status as the most passionate champion of equal rights and multiracial democracy of his time. A friend of Alexis de Tocqueville, an ally of Frederick Douglass, and an adviser to Abraham Lincoln, Sumner helped the Union win the Civil War and ordain the Emancipation Proclamation, the Thirteenth Amendment, the Freedmen's Bureau, and the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

Zaakir Tameez, (pictured above) is author of a Charles Sumner biography to be published on Tuesday, June 3rd by Henry Holt & Co. On June 9th, Tameez appeared at Politics and Prose bookstore in DC.

   

Washington Post today published an op-ed by Tameez headlined: What we can learn from the senator who nearly died for democracy. The embedded link in this paragraph is to a "gift article" in WaPo so readers can read the op-ed for no charge. It begins:
On May 13, a man who made death threats against Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) for her foreign policy views was sentenced to nearly four years in prison. Last month, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was “afraid” of using her voice to speak about political controversies. A month before that, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) released audio recordings of death threats he received while he was considering how to vote on Pete Hegseth’s nomination as defense secretary.

From News & Observer: 
Threats to lawmakers are nothing new and happens on both sides of the aisle.
Capitol Police reported 9,625 threats against members of Congress in 2021, a record high. That number dropped to 7,501 in 2022, but began to climb again with 8,008 threats in 2023 and 9,474 in 2024. And those are the threats that have been reported.