Talking It Out

Another week. The GOP wants to take our healthcare away. Again... Anyway, some news items you may or may not have seen... A cancer patient desperately needs a stem-cell transplant to save her life. Luckily, her sister is a 100% match and is willing to donate. The bad news: the U.S. won't grant her sister a visa to come here (from Vietnam) to undergo the procedure . This is long but worth the read:  My White Friend Asked Me on Facebook to Explain White Privilege. I Decided to Be Honest. And in a similar vein:  A Black Physician Pulled a 26-hour Shift Helping People and Saving Lives. But On His Way To His Car This Happened. How to combat this institutionalized racism? How about a Facebook group that'll respond for people of color?  (I love the name: White Nonsense Roundup. You can follow them on Facebook or Twitter .) Apparently, the push to "reform" healthcare is motivated by $400 million . Naturally. Mueller seems to be treating 45 like a mob boss . Seems...

Another week. More links. Slate  did a fun quiz. Is the headline from Breitbart  or a 1920s KKK newspaper? This one was tricky. I managed a 12/16, but many of those were lucky guesses. (Let me know how you did in the comments.) Most people in a new survey said the best response to Donald Trump’s actions while president would be to impeach him or otherwise remove him from office.  (via Newsweek ) Crops are rotting in the fields in California due to a shortage of migrant workers to harvest them. We were warned about this. Did we listen? Why are some Democrats opposed to the Medicare-for-all bill? Money.  "Election integrity" commission. Snort.  Someone forgot to say the proper things after Mexico's earthquake. (Are we really surprised?) So, Mexico withdrew it's pledge for aid.  A reminder in light of @sarahhuckabee 's Un-American "firing offense" remark: Donald Trump IS a White Supremacist pic.twitter.com/fk6S3LtcR2 — Keith Olbermann (@...

Oy! Is it impeach-o'clock yet? I mean seriously? What's it going to take? What's that final straw? Some news you may or may not have seen this week... The New Yorker found Jared Kushner's Harvard admissions essay . (Not really...) "The thing that happened to Davino Watson, American citizen, when he was locked up in prison for 1,273 days awaiting deportation amounts to an 'entirely common state of affairs,' according to two United States Court of Appeals judges riding the Second Circuit." The closest analogy to today's antifa isn't Eastern European history, but British anti-fascist right before and after WWII.. . (via a tweet from @JackSmithIV. The whole tweet thread is worth a read .) What happens when a red state needs to ask for federal money? (via The Washington Post ) Quite right, Abby. pic.twitter.com/PsiiuRzt3C — Luke (@Randombob18) September 3, 2017 And finally, I know Keith Olbermann is a rather polarizing figure, bu...

A couple videos provided without comment. First, from Newsroom ... And second, from The West Wing ... These clips were the topic of a conversation a while ago, and as I just now got around to watching them, I felt they belonged in a slightly bigger conversation. I'm sure you've seen them before. Enjoy.

In lieu of the Friday news links, I'm going to share with you a Twitter thread that went viral the other day: 1. I can always appreciate a genuine inquiry regarding #NotAllWhitePeople & #NotAllMen ; join me as I take a more creative route to explain. https://t.co/fxzZJTrn6U — Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017 2. Imaging 13 kids (weird number, I know, but it'll make sense soon enough): 10 of them wear white t-shirts; 3 of them, brown tees. — Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017 3. Everyday, the "white tee" kids get to leave class early to attend lunch ahead of everyone else; the "brown tee" kids follow afterwards. — Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017 4. Unfortunately, like clockwork, the 3 brown tee kids are bullied by 6 of the 10 white tee kids waiting for them & steal their lunch money. — Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017 5. So, naturally, the brown tee ...

He's a local guy, born in the Bronx to a German Jewish immigrant father who fled the Nazis for a better life in America, and an American Jewish mother whose family hailed from England.  He was raised here on Long Island, in Hicksville.    He's been quite successful in his professional life, but he never forgot where he comes from. For awhile he used the name William Martin, but you might know him better as Billy Joel. Anyone who knows me knows that i have been a Billy Joel fan since at least 1977 -- The Stranger dominated the charts during my junior year in high school -- but what has earned my declaration of undying love? This:   Billly Joel Dons Jewish Star Against Neo-Nazis . Yes, Billy Joel, apolitical Billy Joel, made a simple but very profound statement during his Madison Square Garden concert on August 21, 2017. Jews throughout Nazi-occupied Europe were compelled to wear yellow stars to signify their faith and culture during the Holocaust. ...

You know what everyone's been talking about this week. A few takes you might not have seen: When bad things happen, you can either complain or do something. And sometimes doing something can be giving back to organizations that do good. After Charlottesville, someone on Twitter did a thread about organizations doing good there. Here's a link to a blog post with that same information . The Washington Post  did a piece on how all this might look if this were being reported in another country . Chilling. There was a president who knew how to tweet about the weekend's events . Not the current one, of course... A blog post from someone who is fed up . (Aren't we all? Give it a read. It's worth your time.) This was a great tweet thread that went viral (in case you haven't already seen it). Something to think about if these people are marching in your town: Nazis coming to town? Here's a positive and creative response. #Resist pic.twitter.com/gcrHa...