Jeffries on Kash Patel: "We have to stop putting all the blame on the people who nominated this incompetent, toxic, malignant individual. What about the people who confirmed him? It's extraordinary to me that Senate Republican confirmed people like Noem, Bondi, Hegseth, RFK Jr, and Patel."
At this point, Republicans in tight races might be asking themselves, "Does Trump WANT us to lose?"
My latest at Public Notice, on how difficult he's making life for his party:
www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-midt...
Jeffries: "Republicans have spent tens of million trying to convince the people of Virginia that President Obama and Gov. Spanberger are urging a 'no' vote. That's a stone cold lie. The 'no' vote position is Donald Trump's position, as is being evidenced tonight. He's been trying to hide it."
and they have the gall to call the democrats out of touch
Gas prices are at their highest level since the pandemic.
Inflation is surging.
Grocery prices are near record highs.
Housing costs are through the roof.
Does that sound like a golden age to you?
Well, that's definitely a sound bite you run over photos of gas prices in Cincinnati.
just a banger campaign ad for Sherrod Brown.
CNN put together a montage of Trump saying as far back as March 9 that his war against Iran "is going to be finished pretty quickly," then him saying that same thing over and over for the past six weeks
Rachel Maddow just played this video of Jon Ossoff talking about Trump crime family grifter Jared Kushner. Ossoff is Maddow's guest tonight. 🙌💪👏✊️👇
Deep Water Horizon
Oilfield disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010
The same company with less safety measures goes deeper in more dangerous waters
Approved by 47
Anything to make money & endorse fossil fuels
Also fascinating (via wikipedia) - while teaching in Brooklyn, James Baldwin was one of Meeropol's students.
Side note 2: Abel Meeropol used the pen name Lewis Allan in memory of his two stillborn children. In addition to “Strange Fruit,” he wrote “The House I Live In,” a patriotic song recorded by Frank Sinatra that advocated for religious and racial tolerance. I will write a thread on him in the future.
![Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit" Live 1959 [Reelin' In The Years Archives]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kb3hzw3g5abobjm6ulbwjduc/bafkreigmchv5i6dugygxkbyvukuzzxcdwonmz3lugih46onkvuk2mppgme)
Side note:
Here is the 1959 footage of Holiday singing “Strange Fruit.” The raw emotion is palpable.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGY...
Billie Holiday at a recording session in 1939. The film “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” chronicles the government’s efforts to suppress the song “Strange Fruit.” She never stopped performing it despite the relentless harassment. Photo Credit: Charles Peterson / Hulton Archive / Getty Images.
“Strange Fruit” was one of the first musical assaults on racism. It served as a declaration of war on injustice and a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. The recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978 and selected for preservation in the Library of Congress in 2002. /end
Billie Holiday (center) with her pianist, Bobby Tucker, and her road manager, James Asendio on May 20, 1947. She had been arrested at the U.S. Commissioner's office in Philadelphia for heroin possession. This incident was part of a long struggle with substance abuse and legal harassment she faced throughout her life. She was handcuffed to her hospital bed while dying of cirrhosis of the liver at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City in 1959.
Holiday faced severe threats, surveillance and government harassment for singing “Strange Fruit.” Federal Bureau of Narcotics commissioner Harry Anslinger used her known addition to initiate a campaign of persecution that involved stalking and multiple arrests and persisted until her death. /7
Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit."
Holiday re-recorded the track for her album Lady Sings the Blues. Haunting live footage exists from 1959, the year of her death. Her performances were intentionally harrowing. She would often sing it in darkness, with one spotlight on her, and no encore, leaving audiences shocked into silence. /6
Billie Holiday's recording of "Strange Fruit" on the Commodore Records label.
Holiday’s primary label, Columbia, refused to record the song due to its controversial nature, but allowed her a one-session release on the independent Commodore label. A powerful live version was captured at Philharmonic Hall in Los Angeles during a “Jazz at the Philharmonic” set. /5
"Strange Fruit" (1960) by Valerie Maynard.
The “strange and bitter crop” hanging from “poplar trees” refers to the bodies of lynched Black people, shocking the audience with descriptions of “bulging eyes” and “twisted mouth.” The song highlights “blood on the leaves and blood at the root,” emphasizing the deep-seated nature of racism. /4
Cover of a video about "Strange Fruit." Many images illustrating the song show lynching more explicitly.
Originally titled “Bitter Fruit,” the poem confronts Southern racial violence and lynchings, which were common during that era. It juxtaposes the beauty of nature with the brutality inflicted on African Americans, contrasting the “scent of magnolias” with the horrific “smell of burning flesh.” /3
Abel Meeropol was the son of Jewish immigrants who fled Russian pogroms. He taught high school English in the Bronx neighborhood where he was born, and wrote "Strange Fruit" as an expression of his strong anti-racist views.
The song was originally a poem written in 1937 by Jewish teacher Abel Meeropol under the pseudonym Lewis Allan. Meeropol, who was a high school teacher from the Bronx, was deeply disturbed by a 1930 photograph showing the lynching of two Black men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, in Marion, Ind. /2
Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" in 1947. The song became one of her biggest hits. Photo credit: Library of Congress.
#ResistanceRoots
Today in history, 1939: Billie Holiday first records “Strange Fruit” for the independent label Commodore Records. The song, which protests the lynching of Black Americans, became her biggest-selling record and a definitive anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. /1
Billy Bob Thornton, Mark Cuban in nostalgic Deep Ellum documentary www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
'It's a bummer': Economist gobsmacked watching Trump throw soaring economy in the toilet
www.rawstory.com/trump-iran-2...
BREAKING: Donald Trump just boosted Democrats’ chances of taking the House.
He said the quiet part out loud, “fair elections” means he loses power.
That’s not a warning, that’s a confession.
Lightning, a running robot developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor, finished a 21-kilometer (13 mile) run in Beijing in a stunning 50 minutes and 26 seconds, beating the human world record by more than six minutes. https://cnn.it/4mLRxQ8
Federal Judge Vacates Kennedy Declaration, Permanently Blocks Trump's Trans Youth Care Hospital Threats • The judgment overturns the Kennedy Declaration which has been used to force 40 hospitals to drop trans youth care.
Right-wing justice's 'doozy' of a remark called out by Supreme Court reporter
www.rawstory.com/alito-suprem...
'Hit the big red panic button': Trump's top aide summons GOP insiders for urgent talks
www.rawstory.com/hit-the-big-...
Interesting that the information was "supplied to DOJ and WH officials"--the paper trail for these allegations is surely deep and Patel's a fool to sue.
