3 things: 1) ‘No More Kings’ 2) America 3) The World

1) I love SchoolHouse Rock songs (I was born in Santa Clara, California, USA). I thought everyone knew SchoolHouse Rock at first, but then I realized that it was only from 1973 to 1985, and 1993 to 1996:

(Wikipedia) “Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, music videos) which aired during the Saturday morning children’s programming block on the U.S. television network ABC. The themes covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. The series’ original run lasted from 1973 to 1985; it was later revived from 1993 to 1996 …”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Rock!

I’m not sure if Elon Musk had SchoolHouse Rock songs in Pretoria, South Africa, but he is basically the same age as me (well is birthday is June 28, 1971; and my birthday is March 22, 1967).

So, (on ‘Twitter’ — yes I still call it ‘Twitter’ not ‘x’):

[Elon Musk]: “Consistent with President

@realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.

Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

Maureen Twomey (@Maureen_2me) :

“Since I don’t work for the federal government, instead did you forget the song ‘No More Kings’ ?🤨

🎵 🎤 👏 🙌 👍 (1975) :

More SchoolHouse Rock songs here …

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=schoolhouse+rock

2) I have always been a democrat. In 1983, when I was 16 years old, I became a Christian.

Some people thought, ‘So are you now a republican?’

(Me) ‘If President Jimmy Carter (who is a Christian) becomes a republican, I will maybe consider that then …”

(Still a Christian/Catholic now. And still a democrat.)

BUT …

The first time I voted was in 1988, I didn’t vote for President George H. Bush, and I didn’t vote for Bob Dole, President George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney but they are all good decent people I think.

However, Donald Trump? Well,

‘In case there are those who still don’t get it.’

Here’s Robert Reich’s take on it,

“Is Donald Trump a Fascist?” by Robert Reich :

:-l

3) Dear World:

❣️❣️❣️

I have only been outside of America once. In September, 1999, I when to Europe Through the Back Door, Sep. 8 – 28. (Rick Steves’ Europe tour: https://www.ricksteves.com ) I LOVED it!

Swiss Alpine: (Singing) “Climb every mountain! … Till you fine your dream!!!”

or you can sing “The Sound of Music – Climb Ev’ry Mountain” here:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=climb+every+mountain+sound+of+music+lyrics 🎤🎵 🙂

—————————

P.S.: Totally other topic: I always do creative holiday cards every year (since 1993; well two times I just bought cards. In 1999 was too busy to think of a witty card. And in 2000, I had a huge stroke (d’oh!).

Anyway, here’s my Dec. 2024 holiday card:

Jan. 20, 2025 when Joe Biden was still President, the open Dow Jones was $43,528. etc.

Now, March 13, 2025, Donald Trump is President, and the Dow Jones is $40,813.57…

This is last years holiday card. Maybe I should just send this holiday card again, in Dec. 2025? Hmm …

“Jonathan Livingston Seagull” lunch box

I was reading Goodreads:

“Take a peek at your friends’ bookshelves.”

When I saw a friend wanted to read this book:

https://www.goodreads.com

I said, ‘Hey Kris! I have not read the book “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”,

but in fourth grade, my dad gave me a lunch box of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”.

So everyday in fourth grade I took my “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” lunch box to class.

I should really READ “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” now … or next year?’

😉

… Anyway, I didn’t keep it, but this is the lunch box:

Oh and I think I had this mug too:

No, I didn’t have this one:

If you want to see more “Jonathan Livingston Seagull lunch box” (70s)

(I don’t know why you would, but) Google:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7081971867?rto=friend_update_daily_us&ref_=pe_41735960_1166608650_review

Back to the story, Dad thought I would love Jonathan Livingston Seagull lunch box.

It was nice I guess, but I said, “I love the Peanuts lunch box. Can I have that one instead?”

Dad said, ’You already have this wonderful Jonathan Livingston Seagull lunch box NOW.’

In fifth grade, YOU can pick your lunch box, okay?’

“Uhhh 😐 … Okay,” I said.

One year later, fifth grade I got this one:

(YEAH!)

Note: I lost my Peanuts lunch box after fifth grade was finished.
If you have it, please let me know.

😉

Establish Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument

“At a time when there are those who seek to ban books and bury history, I’ll be clear: Darkness and denialism can hide much, but they erase nothing. We should learn everything: the good, bad, and truth of who we are. That’s what great nations do, and we are a great nation.”

— President Biden

President Biden Signs Proclamation to Establish Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument

This Day In History:

1955 — Emmett Till is murdered

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till

“On August 28, 1955, while visiting family in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, is brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier.

His assailants—the white woman’s husband and his brother—made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head and then threw his body, tied to the cotton gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.

Who Was Emmett Till?

Till grew up in a working-class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, and though he had attended a segregated elementary school, he was not prepared for the level of segregation he encountered in Mississippi. His mother warned him to take care because of his race, but Emmett enjoyed pulling pranks.

On August 24, while standing with his cousins and some friends outside a country store in Money, Emmett bragged that his girlfriend back home was white. Emmett’s African American companions, disbelieving him, dared Emmett to ask the white woman sitting behind the store counter for a date.

He went in, bought some candy, and on the way out was heard saying, “Bye, baby” to the woman. There were no witnesses in the store, but Carolyn Bryant—the woman behind the counter—later claimed that he grabbed her, made lewd advances and wolf-whistled at her as he sauntered out.

Emmett Till Murder

Roy Bryant, the proprietor of the store and the woman’s husband, returned from a business trip a few days later and heard how Emmett had allegedly spoken to his wife. Enraged, he went to the home of Till’s great uncle, Mose Wright, with his half-brother J.W. Milam in the early morning hours of August 28.

The pair demanded to see the boy. Despite pleas from Wright, they forced Emmett into their car. After driving around in the night, and perhaps beating Till in a toolhouse behind Milam’s residence, they drove him down to the Tallahatchie River.

Three days later, his corpse was recovered but was so disfigured that Mose Wright could only identify it by an initialed ring. Authorities wanted to bury the body quickly, but Till’s mother, Mamie Bradley, requested it be sent back to Chicago.

Open-Casket Funeral

After seeing the mutilated remains, she decided to have an open-casket funeral so that all the world could see what racist murderers had done to her only son. Jet, an African American weekly magazine, published a photo of Emmett’s corpse, and soon the mainstream media picked up on the story.

Less than two weeks after Emmett’s body was buried, Milam and Bryant went on trial in a segregated courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi. There were few witnesses besides Mose Wright, who positively identified the defendants as Emmett’s killers.

On September 23, the all-white jury deliberated for less than an hour before issuing a verdict of “not guilty,” explaining that they believed the state had failed to prove the identity of the body. Many people around the country were outraged by the decision and also by the state’s decision not to indict Milam and Bryant on the separate charge of kidnapping.

Carolyn Bryant Confesses

The Emmett Till murder trial brought to light the brutality of Jim Crow segregation in the South and was an early impetus of the civil rights movement.

In 2017, Tim Tyson, author of the book The Blood of Emmett Till, revealed that Carolyn Bryant (later known as Carolyn Bryant Donham) recanted her testimony, admitting that Till had never touched, threatened or harassed her. “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him,” she said. In 2022, a grand jury in Mississippi declined to indict Bryant for her role in the crime nearly 70 years earlier. Bryant died in 2023.

In March of 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Actinto law, making lynching a federal hate crime.”

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till

“Thank You to America’s Librarians for Protecting Our Freedom to Read”

by Barack Obama

“I wrote a letter thanking librarians across the country for everything they’re doing to protect our freedom to read.

“To the dedicated and hardworking librarians of America:

In any democracy, the free exchange of ideas is an important part of making sure that citizens are informed, engaged and feel like their perspectives matter.

It’s so important, in fact, that here in America, the First Amendment of our Constitution states that freedom begins with our capacity to share and access ideas — even, and maybe especially, the ones we disagree with.

More often than not, someone decides to write those ideas down in a book.

Books have always shaped how I experience the world. Writers like Mark Twain and Toni Morrison, Walt Whitman and James Baldwin taught me something essential about our country’s character. Reading about people whose lives were very different from mine showed me how to step into someone else’s shoes. And the simple act of writing helped me develop my own identity — all of which would prove vital as a citizen, as a community organizer, and as president.

Today, some of the books that shaped my life — and the lives of so many others — are being challenged by people who disagree with certain ideas or perspectives. It’s no coincidence that these “banned books” are often written by or feature people of color, indigenous people, and members of the LGBTQ+ community — though there have also been unfortunate instances in which books by conservative authors or books containing “triggering” words or scenes have been targets for removal. Either way, the impulse seems to be to silence, rather than engage, rebut, learn from or seek to understand views that don’t fit our own.

I believe such an approach is profoundly misguided, and contrary to what has made this country great. As I’ve said before, not only is it important for young people from all walks of life to see themselves represented in the pages of books, but it’s also important for all of us to engage with different ideas and points of view.

It’s also important to understand that the world is watching. If America — a nation built on freedom of expression — allows certain voices and ideas to be silenced, why should other countries go out of their way to protect them? Ironically, it is Christian and other religious texts — the sacred texts that some calling for book bannings in this country claim to want to defend — that have often been the first target of censorship and book banning efforts in authoritarian countries.

Nobody understands that more than you, our nation’s librarians. In a very real sense, you’re on the front lines — fighting every day to make the widest possible range of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas available to everyone. Your dedication and professional expertise allow us to freely read and consider information and ideas, and decide for ourselves which ones we agree with.

That’s why I want to take a moment to thank all of you for the work you do every day — work that is helping us understand each other and embrace our shared humanity.

And it’s not just about books. You also provide spaces where people can come together, share ideas, participate in community programs, and access essential civic and educational resources. Together, you help people become informed and active citizens, capable of making this country what they want it to be.

And you do it all in a harsh political climate where, all too often, you’re attacked by people who either cannot or will not understand the vital — and uniquely American — role you play in the life of our nation.

So whether you just started working at a school or public library, or you’ve been there your entire career, Michelle and I want to thank you for your unwavering commitment to the freedom to read. All of us owe you a debt of gratitude for making sure readers across the country have access to a wide range of books, and all the ideas they contain.

Finally, to every citizen reading this, I hope you’ll join me in reminding anyone who will listen — and even some people you think might not — that the free, robust exchange of ideas has always been at the heart of American democracy. Together, we can make that true for generations to come.

With gratitude,

Barack

https://barackobama.medium.com/thank-you-to-americas-librarians-for-protecting-our-freedom-to-read-80ce373608b3

Dear Tucker Carlson

patrickjkearney

Dear Tucker Carlson,

Hey Tuck, I just got done watching a segment of your show. You know, the one where you suggest that there should be a camera in every classroom in order to root out…let me get this accurate…”civilization ending poison.” https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1412566208763895810

I’m going to zig where you thought most teachers would zag. I welcome your Orwellian cameras in my classroom. Frankly, I don’t know many teachers who would object to having people watch what we do. As a matter of fact, I hate to tell you this Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson, but most of us spent the last year having video cameras in our classrooms.

See, I think you believe that your suggestion that people see what happens in our classrooms will somehow scare teachers. The truth of it is that we have been begging for years to have people, such as yourself, come into our classrooms. I…

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