Civil Discourse Now

Where the far left and far right overlap for fun and enlightenment

Mark Small's Blog – July 2021 Archive (11)

Privatized prisons: 7/27 at 7 p.m. on civildiscoursenow

If we are the “land of the free,” we should not have 25% of the World’s prison inmate population with only 5% of the World’s total population. The notion of providing incentives to corporations to warehouse more people in prisons is bizarre.



Tonight, July 27, at 7 p.m. Indiana time (about 1958 on others’ calendars), Indianapolis attorney Andrew Maternowski will join me on Civil Discourse Now civildiscoursenow.com to discuss privatized prisons. So many people talk about crime, maybe…

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Added by Mark Small on July 27, 2021 at 5:47pm — No Comments

Texas demonstrates racism is alive

Texas has demonstrated the racism is alive. In June its governor signed into law a prohibition against Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), a view that racism “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.”

Of course our Nation’s history is steeped in racism. Slavery was protected by The Constitution. Only in 1954 did the Supreme Court rule that “separate” was inherently “unequal.” The Texas Senate has passed S.B. 3 that drops some requirements for school…

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Added by Mark Small on July 20, 2021 at 4:14pm — No Comments

Gitmo release of a man held 19 years without formal charges...

Abdul Latif Nasser was released from captivity after 19 years. He never was charged with a crime. He never was given the basic right of a trial. The “Great Writ” is habeas corpus, Latin for “you have the body.” Black’s, 10th ed., and means the government has to justify detention.

Even former (temporary) Hoosier Chuck Manson was given due process after the 1969 murders for which Manson was infamous. To hold a person without charges indefinitely is unconscionable. We neither won “hearts…

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Added by Mark Small on July 19, 2021 at 8:06pm — No Comments

Demo Texas members walk out? Tactic used by GOP, too

Democratic members of Texas’s legislature have absented themselves for votes on voting rights to deprive the body of a quorum (“smallest number of people who must be present at a meeting so that official decisions can be made.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 10th ed., 2014, p. 1446).

Texas GOP politicians were just as miffed as Democratic members of Oregon’s legislature when GOP members there walked out earlier this year. The GOP was angry in 2011 in Indiana when Democratic members... There…

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Added by Mark Small on July 15, 2021 at 8:20pm — No Comments

1954 to present: only glimpses of greatness

Tonight at 9 p.m., on “Mouthwash,” John Schmitz’s FB podcast, the topic: Critical Race Theory (“CRT”). Florida’s education regs say it is a view that racism “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.”

After the Civil War, the Party that pushed for equality was the Republican. The Democratic Party came to rely upon the “Solid South” for votes of electors and Congress. When President Truman ordered the military be integrated, the Democratic Party…

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Added by Mark Small on July 13, 2021 at 1:27pm — 1 Comment

1865-1954: Civil War did not end institutionalized racism

On Tues, July 13, 9 p.m., on “Mouthwash,” John Schmitz’s FB podcast, the topic: Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), i.e., a view that racism “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.” From 1789 to 1865 the racism in our system was clear.

A second period of institutionalized racism began in 1865 and ran to 1954. Amendment XIII, §1, ratified on 12/18/1865, abolished slavery, but it did not abolish “racism embedded in our society and legal systems to…

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Added by Mark Small on July 12, 2021 at 1:50pm — No Comments

1789-1865: foundation of this country was slavery and racist

Racism: our schools should teach kids about it. Tues, July 13, 9 p.m., on “Mouthwash,” John Schmitz’s FB podcast, the topic: Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), i.e., a view that racism “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.”

Three periods reflect ways our “legal systems uphold supremacy of white persons.” From 1789 to 1865, racism was built into the Constitution (“three fifths of all other persons” (Art. I, § 2); “Importation of such Persons”…

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Added by Mark Small on July 11, 2021 at 4:44pm — 1 Comment

Southern secessionists used n- and s-words, not mere euphemisms

Next Tuesday at 9 p.m. the topic for “Mouthwash,” the FB podcast hosted by John Scmitz, will be Critical Race Theory (“CRT”). Florida says CRT teaches racism is not a product of prejudice, but “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.”

If not accurate as a description of CRT, it is accurate as a description of the USA’s history. Only euphemisms describe slavery in The Constitution (“three fifths of all other persons” (Art. I, § 2);…

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Added by Mark Small on July 7, 2021 at 9:05pm — No Comments

Parade for "medical liberty" this weekend: values shifting & stay upwind

A “Medical Liberty Parade” is being staged this Sunday in Indianapolis. People who oppose vaccinations place a greater value on the right of an individual to make a decision regarding the individual’s health care than on others’ safety and lives.

There are few things more invasive than people, acting under color and title of law, reaching into the bodies to decide for those others what is best for them. The notice, on Facebook, for the parade has red-white-and blue piping, of…

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Added by Mark Small on July 6, 2021 at 12:40pm — No Comments

Beckwith's "God and country": the USA doesn't have a footnote in either testament

“God and Country” is the title of gatherings staged by Micah Beckwith, a right-wing minister who believes no separation of church and State exists under The Constitution. (Hint: many of The Framers were deists who believed in a natural “god.”)

If a person chooses to believe one entity created everything, even galaxies billions of light years away, it is absurd to yolk that belief to control of a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” i.e., bootstrap to power…

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Added by Mark Small on July 5, 2021 at 8:59pm — No Comments

Paul Ogden is wrong (in part) about the proper focus on voting rights:

Aside from matters related to baseball (e.g., that the DH sucks), I don’t often agree with my conservative friend, Paul Ogden. I disagree, in part, with his recent blog (Ogden on Politics) on the Justice Department’s Legal Challenge to Georgia’s Election Law.

He wrote: “The worst thing about the lawsuit is that it contributes to the Democratic delusion of focusing on the casting of votes when the Democrats should be focused on the counting of those votes.” Mr Ogden is correct when he…

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Added by Mark Small on July 3, 2021 at 7:59pm — No Comments

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