From Where I Sit

(9/18/2020) — As reported in the   Raleigh  News and Observer , nonpartisan voting rights nonprofit Democracy North Carolina and several other North Carolina-based organizations were targeted this summer for an attempted infiltration. Democracy North Carolina discovered the effort when it received a donation from someone purporting to support the organization’s work and learned that the donation was connected to an out-of-state LLC whose registered agent is a political consultant. Once identified, the organization ceased contact with the consultant and referred the matter to local authorities for investigation. In response to Friday’s report on the incident, Democracy North Carolina Executive Director Tomas Lopez released the following statement: “A new  News and Observer  article details attempts by bad actors to run a fake donor “sting operation” against Democracy North Carolina and other organizations, similar to efforts happening in other states. As this reportin...

A letter from the 8th Center for Justice . A hopeful message in these trying times: “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”  St. Augustine. 8th Day Center for Justice would like to thank its many partners who have written inspiring, grounded, and passionate words in the aftermath of last week’s elections. We honor and echo calls for action and witness and offer our deepest thanks to the many that continuously organize, struggle, and build. Daily we are blessed with the brave and clarion actions for change which so many communities and individuals engage year round. On Tuesday November 8th many Americans, in particular white Americans, elected a man who explicitly proclaims values of dominance and white supremacy. There are many reasons why people may have voted for Donald Trump: exclusion by establishment politicians, concerns over...

Today I ripped out fifteen pages of ads for medication and/or drugs from the latest issue of Family Circle magazine! This is a practice that I've become quite used to doing every time I open a magazine--any magazine. I ask you, since when is it OK for somebody  without the appropriate professional training and expertise  to determine the type of medication needed for a specific illness or condition? Why are drug companies allowed to unabatedly push their products to the general populace who is generally ignorant in these matters? I believe the law should prohibit this practice, particularly since these ads are being shown indiscriminately in publications, television and other public media to people who are likely to become impressed by the promises of well-being and health ( but who are not likely to read the fine print and to realize how dangerous a drug can be if not taken properly, or in combination with other medications ). After the constant onslaught of these TV a...

From his campaign launch email, April 30, 1915: "… Let's be clear. This campaign is not about Bernie Sanders. It's about a grassroots movement of Americans standing up and saying: "Enough is enough. This country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. I run not to oppose any man or woman, but to propose new and far-reaching policies to deal with the crises of our times. And I run because I know we must change course now, or risk losing the future for so many to the interests of so few. A successful national campaign is a massive undertaking, especially when we will be heavily outspent. It will require the active participation of millions of Americans in every community in our country. In fact, it will require nothing less than a political revolution which combats the demoralization and alienation of so many of our people from the political process. Let me be very honest. It may be too late to stop the billionaire class from tryi...

Federico Garcia Lorca to the citizens of Fuente Vaqueros (Granada, Spain), September 1931.  Transcript  and translation : "When somebody goes to the theater, attends a concert, or goes to a party , if the party  is pleasing to him, he immediately thinks of and regrets that the people whom he loves are not  present . 'My sister, my father, would really enjoy this,' he may think , and he  enjoys the event albeit through a veil of melancholy. This is the melancholy that I  feel  today , not for my family , which would be small and selfish on my part, but for all those who ,  due to  lack of resources  lack  the means to enjoy life's beauty, serenity and passion.   "That  i s why I do not own any books,  because I give them away as soon as I buy them ,  because they are infinite . A nd that  i s why I am here, honored and happy to inaugurate this  library, probably the first one in the entire p...