You're Probably Gonna Hate This But.....

My five days in Palm Springs were fabulous. The weather was not as great as it could've been, but it didn't stop me from seeing friends, shopping in truly interesting shops, eating really good food, and seeing the David Hockney exhibit at the Palm Springs Art Museum. I even squeezed in some mah jongg; I even managed to win a few games  for a change. And knowing I dodged a blizzard back on the tundra, I sure laughed a lot on Friday morning when I woke up to snow on the mountains. 

I wrote a haiku to mark the occasion:

Snow on mountain tops

just in case I felt homesick

Not bloody likely.

I definitely coulda stayed longer. Maybe next year.

Lilies
iPhone printed
on paper - Oct. 2009

I had planned to write a bit about the David Hockney exhibit and his use of his iPad and Iphone to create his latest works. A new medium, I suppose, but I had a bit of difficulty equating something drawn on an iphone with something considered great art. But that's my problem, not the artist's. I supposed the same conversations were held about photography and whether or not a machine captured image could be classified as art. The short answer to those two questions is a resounding YES, even I don't always grok the reasoning. 

Since the Senior Son is a graphic artist and knows about this stuff, I sent him some pictures and will have an in-depth conversation about this. This is one of those moments I wish Ziggy was still around. He was a huge Hockney fan and he would have a lot to say about using iPhones and iPads for creating art. No idea what that would be, but it woulda been a fun debate.

Mahmoud Khalil

What isn't a fun debate is the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian protest leader at Columbia University. In the US legally, he has his own valid green card, and is married to a US citizen. At this writing, he has not been charged with a crime, something that might suspend the green card. But that is not the case. New York Magazine did a pretty thorough profile of the situation and every American should be concerned.

If he was American born, would he have been arrested? Would he have been detained by ICE or shipped off to a prison in Louisiana? Of course not! His right to free speech is guaranteed by the Constitution, and to be accurate, he has those protections as a green card holder. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union called the arrest an affront to his right of free speech. 

The Trump administration’s detention of Mahmoud Khalil — a green card holder studying in this country legally — is targeted, retaliatory, and an extreme attack on his First Amendment rights. 

Although I'm not her biggest fan, kudos to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for posting this on social media: 

If the federal government can disappear a legal US permanent resident without reason or warrant, then they can disappear US citizens too. Anyone - left, right, or center - who has highlighted the importance of constitutional rights + free speech should be sounding the alarm now.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I remember when the Nazis wanted to have a parade in Skokie, Illinois, a very Jewish suburb, and after being denied a permit to assemble, took the case all the way to SCOTUS who then sent it back to the Illinois Supreme Court. There were two parallel cases involved, but the decision in both rested on the right of free speech as guaranteed in the first amendment. Go read about it and you'll see why I was reminded of that case. What's important was that ultimately the Nazis had the right to assemble. No one was arrested. No one was grabbed by the INS. And life went on. 

No way am I implying I agree with Mr. Khalil and anything/everything he stands for. I don't. I think his positions are abhorrent, but he has a right to talk about them. Should Columbia University have taken punitive action...like expelling him? If he broke their rules, sure. But that's their decision, not a police or political action. 

This is yet one more move toward an authoritarian government. Just one of many in recent weeks. But this one just flies in the face of the Constitution. We are a nation of laws guided by the Constitution. To be sure, there have been laws ultimately deemed unconstitutional, but until the Constitution is suspended, our rights as laid out in the Bill of Rights and in Amendment 14 cannot be infringed upon. And Habeas Corpus is not one of them. Except... 

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

Do you know what a Writ of Habeas Corpus is? Probably in some amorphous way you do. But this is how the US Marshal Service defines it:

A writ of habeas corpus orders the custodian of an individual in custody to produce the individual before the court to make an inquiry concerning his or her detention, to appear for prosecution (ad prosequendum) or to appear to testify (ad testificandum). State courts may issue such writs to prisoner custodians to produce federal prisoners.

Habeas Corpus literally means, "you have a body," and in practice it challenges the holding of a person. The person must be brought into court by the "holders." and then prove why their detention is legal. The question in the case of Mr. Khalil is whether a crime or an opinion has been committed. If it's an opinion, they have no grounds to hold him. Can his opinion be a crime? That's another story. And therein lies the rub. 

I am sure President Felon's minions can come up with something; they're so creative. There is a slippery slope thickening beneath our feet. IF they keep him without cause, who will they snatch next? ICE threatened his pregnant wife even though she is a citizen. Sound more like Los Desaparecidos, The Disappeared Ones of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Uruguay and Venezuela, no? Use your imagination.

Again, I DO NOT agree with what Mr. Khalil says, or his politics, or his tactics, but I do have to stand up for his right to protest. NOT the right of protesters to harass or attack or browbeat or beat up people who object to their protest. Chanting is not illegal, but physicality and violence are; those is arrestable, detainable, and punishable by jail time. 

Once upon a time, I was one of those college protester types. I waved signs, chanted slogans, and vociferously protested a war...the Vietnam one. We were mostly peaceful...we were the peace movement, after all... but we had encampments, handed out flowers, dealt with cops (aka the pigs,) the national guard, were hosed, rounded up, got arrested on occasion, and four were killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State. Still, at no time did our belief in our right to free speech ever waver. It couldn't. We were fighting for that as much as we were fighting for the other stuff. We were, first and foremost,  Americans. We had rights.

I can despise with my entire being what these pro-Palestinians are advocating....the destruction of Israel and death to all Jews... but as sick as it makes me, they have the right to make their views known in the public square. And I have a responsibility to advocate for that right. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week...an oldie but a goodie

 Aaron Sorkin wrote it better than anyone

and Michael Douglas's delivery was masterful

America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say: You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.