Comments Elsewhere

“When I was on grand jury duty we were told again and again that we were not to think about the consequences. When people asked what the possible punishment could be – because they clearly did not think the person should go to prison – the prosecutors would refuse to answer. When people had questions about the legality of searches, the prosecutors would tell us that the defense attorney would worry about that. When people asked questions about the flimsy evidence, the prosecutors told them that those matters would get settled at trial – knowing full well the case would never go to trial. . . . Without compartmentalization, the whole system would fail. As obedient as the people in that grand jury room were, had they had the opportunity to determine the actual consequences, I believe many of them would have refused to send people to prison. And I say that knowing that they were almost completely unaware of what happens in those places.” -Melanie S. Pinkert

“what doctors recommend should be law because they are smarter than you…” – Max Bryant A hell of a drug, I tell you, a hell of a drug.*

Public health fascism is a hell of a drug.

lol, read McWhorter.*

Hey all: Progress update. I’m happy to announce that two more volumes — 104 new issues — of THE LIBERATOR have been added to the online archive. As of this morning, all the issues of Vols. XII-XIII (Jan. 1842-Dec. 1843) are now available in full as PDFs, bringing the archive up to 14 years’ worth of THE LIBERATOR. The early 1840s were an especially heady and often controversial time for Garrison, THE LIBERATOR, and his fellow radicals. Vol. XI (1841) is available in full at: http://ift.tt/1jaOjMC Vol. XII (1842) is available in full at: http://ift.tt/1m7yXhB For more details on what’s been added: http://ift.tt/1jaOjMG I should be adding about 2-4 volumes of THE LIBERATOR each week from here on out, which should keep us on track to finish around the end of July or the start of August 2014! I’ve also added a “Thank You” credits roll at the bottom of the archive pages, acknowledging all y’all who have made this archive possible through your generous donations. (If you’ve donated but your name isn’t listed yet, and you’d like it to be, contact me to let me know the name or name(s) you’d like to be listed under. I’d like to list everyone, but donations remain private, as part of the “N other contributors…” until I hear back from the donor that they are O.K. with their name appearing.) Thanks to some donations through Bitcoin, we have reached $351 of our goal of $2,000, from 11 donors. Thank you all for your support! If you know anyone else who might be interested in supporting this project, please spread the word far and wide! -C

By-products of THE LIBERATOR scanning project: just went through all of Howard Fast’s novel _Spartacus_ (the major source for the Kirk Douglas film and all subsequent versions). Pretty sure the Douglas film is better, possibly a lot better, but Fast’s novel is structurally kind of fascinating, if you can get around the digressive Marxist speechifying and the obsessive homophobia. Anyway, now leading me on to one of Fast’s major sources, C. Osborne Ward’s THE ANCIENT LOWLY, which is kind of the source of 90% of the things imagined about Spartacus in 20th/21st century depictions.

– – – forwarded from Mujer Fiera – – – “Friends, I just donated a second time to make sure that this film production happens because I want all of us to have the honor and education that it offers us. There are amazing feminists, artists of color, and queers that are responsible for bringing this production to fruition. We must donate today by midnight!! “This film and story is being offered and guided by one of my most amazing friends, supporters, and San Antonio south side homegurls, Adelina Anthony. She has been my peer and fellow muxerista activist for over 15 years now. At UCLA, year after year, she came out to perform and support Raza Womyn events, conference, and poetry readings, always supporting muxerista space creating and activism. Later, she mentored one of my favorite Vegas feministas, our little Neza. She took him in to the LA art scene and helped him write his stories. Since then, she has visited us in Vegas, bringing the lusciousness of Tragic Bitches to ‘sin city.’ Again, again she has showed me and my community and students love. Now it’s time for us to do the same. Please support this project. The time is now! Please donate $1, $5, $10, $50, or more. I know many people in our community are struggling financially, but together we can make it happen.”