Yossarian's Roost Resuscitated

Rodney Ellis
is at Houston, Texas.

Today, I celebrate the life of my friend, mentor, and big brother, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, on what would have been his 85th birthday.
I have known Rev. Jackson for more than 30+ years, dating back to my days working with the late Congressman Mickey Leland. Over those decades, our relationship grew far beyond politics and public service. Rev. was a mentor, a trusted friend, and like a big brother to me.
I have also been blessed to know and love his family—Mrs. Jackson and their children—and to share so many moments with them over the years.
Rev. Jackson taught generations of us to fight for justice, stand with working people, protect voting rights, and never lose faith in the possibility of a better America.
While we deeply miss him since his passing on February 17, I am grateful for the friendship, wisdom, laughter, and lessons he gave us.
Happy 85th Birthday, Rev. Jackson. I will always be grateful to call you my friend, mentor, and brother. Your legacy lives on

Orwell Day
OrwellDay
Flock cameras were used to violate a Houston man's rights when police searched his car based on "suspicious" driving patterns.

The ongoing court case discovered that Police were stopping 20 cars a day and searching 10 without cause, but police have refused to admit any wrongdoing.

They also used dogs who may have been trained to give false alerts.

The officer admitted that most stops found nothing.

U.S. Democratic Socialists
Donald Trump is being urged by a convicted election clerk to have his administration seize ballots across the country and hand count them, and one of his former Justice Department officials says the president is taking the idea seriously.
Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk convicted in 2024 of multiple felonies tied to a security breach of her own office’s voting equipment, met with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday. The visit was disclosed by Ed Martin, who left the Justice Department this year to do election legal work, during an appearance on the right-wing network Real America’s Voice. ABC News confirmed the meeting through an unnamed source. The White House refused to comment.
The plan Peters is pushing, according to her attorney Peter Ticktin, is for the federal government to take control of ballots nationwide and conduct a hand recount. Ticktin called it a good plan and predicted something like it will probably happen.
Peters walked out of prison in June after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis shortened her sentence, a move 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark said was entirely predictable in hindsight. Polis’s clemency letter notably skipped the standard language saying the inmate had taken accountability and shown remorse.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called Peters and Trump election deniers who have repeatedly lied to Americans, and vowed to fight any attempt to interfere with Colorado’s elections.
States run elections. Not the White House. Not a convicted clerk. Not a lawyer daydreaming about civil war. Every voter, every election official, and every Democrat in Congress needs to treat this as the five alarm fire it is

Cenk Uygur
cenkuygur
·
What happens when all of America realizes politics is theater? Are the people on TV going to keep pretending? Are they going to keep up the act that politicians are debating things? And that the donors aren’t making the decisions?

How long are they going to ignore the fact that money is obviously buying the politicians’ votes? That we’re not in charge of our own government, the donors are?

Media Bandhu
·
🚨 BREAKING: CHINA WARNS ISRAEL — A NUCLEAR STRIKE ON IRAN COULD MEAN THE END OF ISRAEL
China has reportedly issued one of its strongest warnings yet, with Chinese commentator Victor Gao warning that a nuclear strike against Iran could have catastrophic consequences for Israel itself.
The warning comes as the Iran conflict continues to escalate, with Iranian military officials reportedly suggesting that a prolonged confrontation could eventually draw in major global powers—including Russia, China, Europe and others.
⚠️ Behind closed doors, nuclear scenarios are reportedly being discussed—something that would have seemed unthinkable just months ago.
At the same time, reports of heavy missile expenditure have raised questions about the long-term readiness of the US military in the event of a major confrontation with China.
The economic consequences are also spreading.
🌍 Global markets are under pressure.
📉 Major companies are reportedly suffering heavy losses.
💰 Investors are facing unprecedented uncertainty.
What began as a regional confrontation is increasingly becoming a dangerous test of global power.
The United States, China, Russia, Israel and Iran are all watching each other's next move.
⚠️ One miscalculation could turn a regional war into a global crisis.

Trisha Tahmasb ·
California Governor Gavin Newsom called in favors with CTA, the Firefighters, Planned Parenthood and others to come up with nonsensical reasons to block a billionaire wealth tax.
Now Newsom is throwing his weight behind Proposition 42, a ballot measure designed to block the proposed Proposition 40 Billionaire Tax and constitutionally ban future wealth taxes in the state of California.
We not only have to pass Proposition 40 passes, we have to ensure Propositions 41 and 42 fail!
Newsom is trying to protect his billionaire donor base with Tech Titans he intends to tap for his Presidential race, and it stinks. It's full blown pay-to-play corruption.
Make sure folks in your circles know: It's YES on Prop 40, and NO on Props 41 and 42.
Yet another reason why it's #NeverNewsom in 2028.

According to Wikileaks, The Epstein Files are the tip of an iceberg spanning the globe. According to them there is an uncounted number of such rings. Their article today on X tells of doctors for young girls, who, after clients are through with them, make sure they die and their organs are harvested.

Feminist News ·
This is a 12-alarm fire. Every Democrat needs to act like it.
DHS investigators reportedly raided Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home in an investigation involving decades-old immigration paperwork filed by her now-deceased father. Documents from when she was a CHILD.
Let that sink in: The federal government is searching a sitting member of Congress’s home over paperwork from her childhood, while the administration has publicly attacked her and promoted allegations it has not substantiated. Omar denies wrongdoing.
This is what fascism looks like: turning the machinery of government against political opponents, then expecting everyone else to shrug because the target is someone the president has taught them to hate.
And no, “let’s wait and see” is not an adequate Democratic response. Neither is a politely worded statement expressing “concern.”
Demand the legal justification. Demand the evidence. Demand immediate oversight and accountability. Defend her due-process rights without hesitation. Make the administration answer for every decision behind this raid.
You do not have to agree with Ilhan Omar on a single policy to recognize the stakes. Equal protection and freedom from political retaliation are not rewards for being popular. They are supposed to belong to EVERYONE.
If Democrats cannot mount universal, full-throttle, peaceful opposition when federal agents come for a member of their own caucus, what exactly are they waiting for?
Stop treating the defense of democracy like a messaging exercise.
Treat it like the emergency it i

Good for a start. But eating something as intelligent as an octopus ought to carry the same penalty as poaching elephants. - cmturner

Fur, Feathers, & Fins

Lobsters, crabs, and octopuses have joined the ranks of animals recognized for their ability to feel pain in the UK. This acknowledgment marks a significant step in animal welfare, focusing on more humane treatment and banning live boiling. Scientific understanding of these creatures has evolved, highlighting their capacity for suffering.
In England, efforts are underway to ensure these animals are protected under new regulations. It's a reminder that every creature, regardless of appearance, deserves compassion.
Recognizing sentience isn't merely about definitions—it's about transforming how we treat all living beings.

When Texans see ads saying VOTE THEM OUT, consider this:
Bail decisions in Texas are made by magistrates and trial judges, not appellate judges
The judges who do set bail are:
County criminal court judges
District criminal court judges
Magistrates
These are not the judges being targeted by the ads.

Progressives for a Democratic Republic - PDR
·
First they searched her home. Now they've taken Ilhan Omar's phone and are subpoenaing her family.
The Associated Press reports that federal authorities have seized Omar's phone and issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives, according to a person briefed on the investigation.
This comes two days after Homeland Security agents searched Omar's Washington home on Monday, three weeks before an election in which she's on the ballot.
The scope of the investigation is still unclear. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has suggested it involves her family's immigration paperwork, from when Omar was a child who fled Somalia's civil war.
Trump told reporters he had "nothing to do with it." In the same breath, he said investigators were "looking at her very carefully."
This is the same president who told Omar to "go back" to where she came from. Now his administration is going through her phone and dragging her relatives in front of a grand jury, weeks before the midterms.
When the government targets a sitting member of Congress, her family, and her phone right before an election, it isn't enforcing the law. It's sending a message to every critic: you could be next.
Sources: Associated Press, NBC News

UyiosaEL
·
“IF AFRICA IS SO ‘INFERIOR,’ WHY IS THE WHOLE WORLD STILL FIGHTING TO FEED ON HER?” That is the deceit of power in one sentence. They mock the continent as backward while their industries hunger for our cobalt, copper, gold, uranium, oil, gas, diamonds, lithium and countless other resources buried beneath African soil. They lecture us about incompetence while their corporations negotiate extraction contracts, their governments compete for access, their financiers chase concessions, their militaries protect strategic interests, and their economies depend on supply chains that begin in the very continent they ridicule. Africa is somehow “useless” until a mine is discovered, “primitive” until a new oil field opens, “incapable” until somebody needs the minerals powering batteries, aircraft, electronics, weapons and modern industry. Then suddenly everybody knows the road to Africa. That is the fraud: despise the people, covet the land; insult the continent, depend on its wealth; blame Africans for poverty while fighting viciously over what lies beneath their feet. If Africa truly had nothing of value, global powers would not keep circling her like hungry men around a full table. The problem was never that Africa had nothing. The problem is that too many powerful interests learned how to take enormously from Africa while convincing the world that Africans themselves had produced the emptiness left behind.

Architecture
A study by Stockholm University and ETH Zurich scientists found that all rainwater on Earth is unsafe to drink due to the levels of PFAS, or toxic chemicals.
These PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’ are becoming a part of a future reality that humans must, unfortunately, learn to live with.
Forever chemicals or PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are aptly named due to their extremely slow disintegration. PFAS were first found in shampoo, packaging, and even makeup but have begun to spread into our earth.
A professor at Stockholm University and lead author of the study, Ian Cousins noted, “There is nowhere on Earth where the rain would be safe to drink, according to the measurements that we have taken.

CNN
·
Mississippi's attorney general says a Senatobia police officer was justified in the June shooting death of a 1-year-old boy while responding to a shoplifting call. The conclusion of the state's investigation follows months of mourning and calls for justice. https://cnn.it/4dOqikz

REVOLT

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said he would rather see Republicans keep control of the House by five seats than watch Democrats win the chamber by the same margin, warning that a “nightmare” razor-thin majority would leave party leaders “hostage to the DSA.”
Speaking on the Bulwark on Sunday podcast, the comments continue a months-long campaign by Carville against Democratic Socialists and other candidates on the party’s left flank.
Source: Mediaite

Already seeing reports of voting machines switching votes to the other candidate. I've advocated for a return to paper ballots for years.

David Sirota ·
Weeks before the midterms, Dems are frantically trying to find ways to stop surging demands for Medicare For All. Why?
Because party elites see the public as a bewildered herd and see themselves as brave "pragmatists" who must always say "no" on behalf of their paymasters

If they do this, the powers that be will likely find a way to block us from reading it. CC Turner

John F Kennedy Jr Q
Q17WWG
·

🚨 The United States and Israel should be in a state of high alert.

The notorious hacker group Anonymous has just announced that they are preparing to release the entire archive of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — and according to their statement, every name connected to this network will be exposed one by one.

If this is true, it could cause unprecedented global shockwaves.

Politicians. Billionaires. Intelligence figures. Celebrities. It seems no one is exempt.

Anonymous claims this is just the beginning.