I Didn't Say It ...

Chris Van Hollen, US Senator from Maryland, blasting Secretary of State Little Marco Rubio to his face in a floor speech:

“We didn’t always agree, but I believe we shared some common values: a belief in defending democracy and human rights abroad, and honoring the Constitution at home. That’s why I voted to confirm you. I believed you would stand up for those principles. You haven’t. You’ve done the opposite … I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for Secretary of State.”

I think Little Marco thought his appointment as Secretary of State would be a stepping stone to the presidency but his goose-stepping along with a fascist regime—much like his parents escaped from when they fled Cuba—has sealed his fate.

This is as far as Little Marco goes.

Good.

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Bryan Cranston, actor, on The Felon’s mental health:

“I’ve stopped worrying about the president’s sanity. He’s not sane. And the realization of his illness doesn’t fill me with anger, but with profound sadness. What I now worry about is the sanity of anyone who can support this deeply troubled man to lead our country.”

Sadly, I think the insanity of those in the GOP and the cultists will never go away because ignorance is bliss.

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Ketanji Brown Jackson, Supreme Court Justice, on Birthright Citizenship:

"Your arguments seem to turn our justice system—in my view at least—into a ‘catch me if you can’ regime from the standpoint of the executive; where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people’s rights. Let’s assume for the purpose of this that you are wrong about the merits. That the government is not allowed to do this under the Constitution. Yet, it seems to me that your argument is, ‘We get to keep on doing it until everyone who is potentially harmed by it figures out how to file a lawsuit and hire a lawyer.’ I don’t understand how that ir remotely consistent with the law.”

It's really simple: if you are born in this country you are a citizen and granted all the rights and privileges of citizenship, regardless of the color of your skin, or where your parents came from, or the language you may speak.

It’s that simple, but this racist regime wants to change that Constitutional right.

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Avigail Abarbanel, former Israel Defense Forces [IDF] soldier on why she now stands with the Palestinians:

“I’m not denying at all that Jews were victims throughout history. This would be stupid to deny. My grandparents are Holocaust survivors. [But] I also realized that having been victims doesn’t give us the right to then commit home invasion, to get somebody else kicked off their land and take their land, destroy them and kill them—try to erase their entire civilization.”

I don’t blame the Jewish people, I blame Netanyahu and Israel for the murder and torture of children, for starving people to death in order to steal their land.

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Jon Stewart, comedian and talk show host, on media personalities giving up their Freedom of Speech to a fascist:

“What you’re seeing now is all must pay tribute to the king and the price of peace is different. ABC had to pay $15 million. Bezos had to pay $40 million for a documentary on [Melanie]. The reason why the guy from Sixty Minutes and the reason why the head of CBS News left—it’s not even about the money … Part of the deal is they have to apologize. And in that moment, these people who have built careers on their excellence and their integrity, have to look and go, alright, I hope I have done well enough that I can weather this, but there is no fucking way that I am going to apologize for doing my job the way it’s supposed to be done just because this one guy is offended by it.”

If Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press go, then everything else will follow. Demand more and better from the media; turn off the goose-steppers—and I’m looking at you Jake—who are too afraid to speak up.

Champion journalists like Scott Pelley and Megan Cassella, and a few others, and avoid those that bow down to bullies and little dick-tators.

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Stuart Milk, Harvey Milk’s nephew and Executive Chair of Harvey Milk Foundation, on the report that the Pentagon may rename the USN Ship Harvey Milk:

“We are heartbroken to hear that there is a recommendation at the Pentagon to remove my uncle’s name from the USNS Harvey Milk. I recently had the honor of spending three days and nights aboard the ship with the men and women who serve our country, and I was there as the ship replenished, while underway at sea, the Destroyer Squadron accompanying the USS Gerald Ford in the Atlantic Ocean. The pride that all the men and women on those ships—gay, straight, black, white, Hispanic, commissioned officers and enlisted personnel—all of them, without exception, expressed and relayed to me, was a testament to the American spirit of patriotism and respect for our nation's collective history of growth. Uncle Harvey did not set out to have a US Naval Ship, or anything else, named after him. He did not set out in pursuit of glory or fame. Rather, guided by passion, commitment, and hard work, he did set out to be a messenger of hope for all who had been marginalized and even criminalized, just for being who they authentically were. Harvey Milk was an uncle, a public servant, a son, a veteran, a brother, a teacher, a decorated Naval instructor, and a historic elected official. In the prime of his public service career, he was silenced by another who ultimately tried to erase him. His legacy since that brutal assassination has sustained a message of hope, hope unashamed, hope unafraid, hope that will not be silenced, and hope that simply cannot be erased. My uncle's life story, his service in the Navy, as a teacher, as a Broadway producer, in local government, and in leading a statewide equality campaign, has continued to stir the hope and aspirations of millions across the globe. His legacy has stood as a proud and bright light for the men and women who serve in our nation's military—including those who have served on the USNS Harvey Milk—and a reminder that no barriers of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or physical infirmity will restrain their human spirit. Harvey Milk's legacy is certainly enhanced and celebrated by a US Naval Ship, however his legacy will not be silenced or diminished by the renaming of that Naval ship. Rather such an action would only serve to prove that Harvey Milk style hope will continue to endure and inspire across the globe, and that neither bullets nor name stripping can stop Harvey's overriding message to us all—when he prophetically anticipated making the ultimate sacrifice: ‘Let the bullets that enter my brain, destroy every closet door’.”

Harvey also famously said, ‘You gotta give 'em hope.’

And he did, paving the way for every one of us who came out after to stand up and be out and proud, and to have our own homophobic and transphobic military leaders decide his service, to both the military and the We The People, isn’t worthy of being honored, is sickening.

I did read someone who said you can look at this from the other side: after all these years, Harve’s name, and his work, and his struggle, and his legacy, is front and center again.

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