Saturday, March 26th, 2022

March 26, 2022

From historian Michael Beschloss:

FDR gave “Four Freedoms” speech to Congress on eve of US entry in World War II, 1941–here are his changes on the fifth draft: 

Eleanor Roosevelt:

‘At all times, day by day, we have to continue fighting for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom from want—for these are the things that must be gained in peace as well as in war.’

April 15, 1943 My Day ❀

From her 1963 book, Tomorrow is Now:

‘In a sense, nearly all great civilizations that perished did so because they had crystallized, because they were incapable of adapting themselves to new conditions, new methods, new points of view. It is as though people would literally rather die than change.’

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History will no doubt consider this to be his finest speech at a moment it was needed most. -dayle

President Biden:

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”

“Their brave resistance is part of a larger fight for essential democratic principles that unite all free people. We stand with you. Period.”

Posted by Michael Marquardt, appointed by President Biden to the US Comm. Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad:

‘Take it from this Berliner who was there when the Iron Curtain started falling in 1989, this is one of the most consequential speeches from an American president in decades. Thank you.’

Indeed.

Garry Kasparov, Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation:

‘No free world leader should hesitate to state plainly that the world would be a far better place if Putin were no longer in power in Russia. A good way to make that come about is to say exactly that. Russia will be a pariah until Putin is gone.

As I Worte today, Putin’s war in Ukraine and against the world order will not end as long as he is in power. Either the war criminal is isolated or he isn’t. No more half-measures.’

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Humanity with all its fears,

with all its hopes of future years, 

is hanging breathless on thy fate.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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‘I don’t mean to ruin the ending for you, sweet child, but life is one long headwind. To make any kind of impact requires self-will bordering on madness. The world will be hostile, it will be suspicious of your intent, it will misinterpret you, it will inject you with doubt, it will flatter you into self-sabotage. My god, I’m making it sound so glamorous and personal! What the world is, more than anything? It’s indifferent.’

-Maria Semple, Today Will Be Different, p. 96

The Constitutional clock is ticking.

February 17, 2019

‘From today forward we are living in Constitutional time. Which news organizations will rise to the moment?’
-Jay Rosen, NYU

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#CitizenJournalism
[A basis of democracy that encourages citizens to actively participate in social processes.]

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‘Democracies rarely collapse suddenly, with tanks rolling through the streets out of a blue sky. It’s a slow death of a thousand cuts to rights, norms, the rule of law.

The groundwork is to turn the people & leaders against institutions of democracy: the free press, political opposition, independent judiciary & law enforcement, the truth. The infallible leader is the substitute for all of it.’

Garry Kasparov
Human Rights Foundation

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25th Amendment