#no recourse to public funds

[lexlawuk]

Home Office Yields in Latest Challenge to 'No Recourse to Public Funds' Rule

The Home Office has recently yielded to another in a series of ongoing challenges to the no recourse to public funds policy. This particular challenge involved the removal of the no recourse condition for an individual with section 3C leave as a student dependent. The case in question is PA & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 2476…

[inkskinned]

it is totally okay to be hurt and tired and fed up with the american schooling system but i need you to understand that we need to be better about loudly and routinely defending public education.

yes, many teachers suck, many schools utterly suck. i also got bullied and was absolutely not given the right support for my needs. i am not defending public education because it was kind to me. i am defending it because it needs to exist.

right-wing republicans do not want an educated population. they want kids to be homeschooled or in private school. there is a huge religious undertone to this.

the most common argument is that despite high costs, the "result" is not "good" enough. they point to failing schools as proof that public education is just never going to work out. there will be arguments made here that you actually agree with: that teachers can be bullies, that we taught online for 2 years and still charged the same amount of tuition, that we have no recourse for students to actually have agency or a voice, and that schools are now unsafe for kids due to risk of illness and gun violence.

these are all placing the blame in a fraudulent way, one intended to get your parents to homeschool you. the less kids in a school, the less federally-awarded funding for that school, the less any school succeeds. they will not mention the fact it is their legislation that takes away important funding opportunities, that teachers are living at or below the poverty line, that buildings are not kept up to code, that administration is overpaid and forces specific curriculums, that corporations like (my personal enemy) Pearson Education control certain classroom goals because teachers can't afford other options. they pretend to be ignorant of the gun violence and say "oh just get a gun" - but these are the same people who will be sending their child to a private school with a bulletproof backpack. they don't care if your kid dies, though. they "don't believe" in covid, but they did get their kid vaccinated, because of course they did.

it is a closed loop. conservative parents hear the fearmongering and remove children from the system. frequently these parents are also deeply religious. the kids are raised without access to other media & learn to parrot their parents. you have now created a new generation of conservatives. additionally, one of the parents/caregivers must stay home and homeschool the children, usually for free. i will give you 1 guess which parent tends to stay home to homeschool the children. these parents are encouraged to have many, many children. those children are most likely not getting access to safe sex ed.

we might laugh at fox news suggesting teachers are forcing children to use kitty litter but: first of all, there is kitty litter in the classroom. it's part of an emergency kit in case children are locked in due to a shooter. so that's fucking dystopian, and the fact they've completely reimagined the scenario to somehow make the teachers look bad when it's instead a fucking huge symbol of our failure as a country to protect our children.... it feels a little intentional.

secondly: don't just dismiss the situation. because, yeah, obviously, no teacher is encouraging kids to be a catboy. but the actual undertone that fox news is trying to sew is an outright distrust of teachers and of public education. they rely on the dehumanization of trans people as a common touchstone to hide the fact they're pushing two agendas at once. (which is ironic. because the thing they accuse teachers of. is pushing. an agenda.)

whenever someone tells you they want you to read less, you should be suspicious of that. when someone tries to separate you and your education, you should be suspicious of that. i don't even like incel rhetoric nor would i want my kids exposed to it - but i would not take away my child's (age-appropriate) access to the internet. i would just provide more educational materials, not less. the difference here is that i believe we can resolve ignorance with knowledge; whereas conservatives believe that ignorance is bliss.

they misappropriate funding and demonize teachers. they pull the same trick each time - the same thing we are seeing with anti-trans rhetoric. they do not want you to have access to safe sex ed, so they act horrified, claim sex ed teaches you how to thrust deep, claim that we have no idea what "age-appropriate" means. since the mid-nineties, the united states has spent at least 2 billion dollars on abstinence-only education, even though to quote the above link: "a preponderance of studies has found no effect of abstinence education at reducing adolescent pregnancy". conservatives want you to think less of any person struggling with addiction so they can continue their racist "war on drugs", so they spend up to $750 million dollars a year on the DARE program which has absolutely no effect. acting like teachers "must" be "grooming" children is just the same thing - so they can demand that funding either goes to their causes or the funding doesn't "exist" ("i'm not paying for our kids to learn that thing!")

and they want you to feel uncaring about this. they are aware that you will hate some parts of your school experience. pretty much everyone does. they want to lean into the parts that you hate so that you don't put up a fight about it when they take it away for not being "good enough."

i know i maybe sound like a conspiracy theorist. but truly. truly. it is beneficial for conservatives to reduce your faith in the american public schooling system.

one of the explicitly stated campaign promises of the conservative party: to axe the Department of Education in 2024.

i know we are all tired and burnt out and there is so much else wrong with their entire platform. but maybe just - pay attention to this one.

[decolonize-the-everything]

Is anyone still watching Florida? Did y'all see this? It's from may 2024 and it's straight up Nazi nonsense.

Today, Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation to further strengthen Florida’s protections for consumers, teachers, and employees from being forced to adopt ideologies or reflect a preferred political behavior. With today’s actions, Governor DeSantis is bolstering protections for: • Consumers, by providing recourse for individuals who believe they have been de-banked for political reasons; • Teachers, by ensuring they are not subjected to trainings that teach an ideology of hate, but instead focus on achieving mastery of academic content; and • Employees, by taking steps to prevent ideological discrimination or harassment in the workplace.

Governor DeSantis signed HB 989 and HB 1291 into law. HB 989 does the following: • Increases protection for customers of financial institutions operating in Florida from unwarranted account cancellations and restrictions through a coordinated complaint and investigatory process within the Office of Financial Regulation. • Removes Florida’s exclusive preference of holding public funds with banks, particularly with out-of-state big banks, by allowing community-based credit unions to hold public funds. • Permits the Chief Financial Officer to have a dedicated consumer-liaison for assistance dealing with the Federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

HB 1291 does the following: • Prohibits teacher preparation programs from indoctrinating prospective teachers by teaching distorted versions of significant historical events; and • Prevents the infusion of identity politics in teaching methods and prohibits instructing that theories such as systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in America’s institutions.

Governor DeSantis is also working with the Attorney General’s office to bolster Florida’s protections from ideological discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Companies do not have a right to create a hostile work environment by forcing an employee to sit through trainings that tell that employee he or she is inherently racist or sexist. This includes efforts to mandate trainings meant to guilt employees or think less of themselves because of racial, religious, or social upbringing. “We reject a global elite trying to force their ideology on us by capturing major institutions,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “We are not going to allow big banks to discriminate based on someone’s political or religious beliefs, and we will continue to fight back against indoctrination in education and the workplace.” “For too long, credit unions were barred from participating in Florida’s Qualified Depositor program, which didn’t make sense,” said Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis. “Government entities should have more tools in their toolbox for maximizing taxpayer returns, and by opening it up to credit unions, we’ll not only bolster competition, but give banks more incentive to drop the woke-nonsense and focus on returns. Thanks to Governor DeSantis, Florida is where woke goes to die, and we were proud to partner with him and his team in getting this important legislation over the finish line.

🙃🙃🙃

That's systemic antisemitism, right, like this is what this bill is? These laws are to stop the "global elite" who control "big banks" from making Desantis do sensitivity training is antisemitic.

That's literally a dog whistle.

While many people might hear “international banks” quite literally, or maybe as an allusion to Clinton’s ties to foreign financial interests in general, anti-Semites hear something very different. After all, the supposed existence of a cabal of international Jewish bankers working to undermine US democracy is a recurring theme in American anti-Semitism, from Henry Ford’s The International Jew to Reddit troll-conventions. Trump’s choice of language serves as a signal that he is one of them.

•

Hitler described Jews as “international elements” that “conduct their business everywhere,” thus harming and undermining good people who are “bound to their soil, to the Fatherland

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Since we're heading into winter...

The Supreme Court of Texas narrowly decided Friday that sovereign immunity, which largely shields government agencies from civil lawsuits, also protects the operator of the Texas electric grid.

The 5-4 opinion will likely free the nonprofit corporation from lawsuits filed by thousands of Texans for deaths, injuries and damages following the deadly 2021 winter storm, unless lawyers find another way forward.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the power supply for most of Texas, qualifies for immunity because it “provides an essential governmental service,” Chief Justice Nathan Hecht wrote in the majority opinion. State law intended for ERCOT to have the power of an “arm of the State government,” Hecht wrote. If anyone is going to hold ERCOT accountable for its actions, Hecht wrote, it should be state regulators or the Legislature, not the courts.

Freezing temperatures gripped the state during the 2021 winter storm, straining the power supply so much that ERCOT called for cutting power to millions of homes and businesses to prevent the grid’s collapse. More than 200 people died. Experts estimated afterward that financial losses totaled between $80 billion and $130 billion, including physical damage and missed economic opportunity.

Thousands of residents accused ERCOT, power companies and distribution companies of failing to prepare for the freezing weather.

Lawyers expect the high court’s decision will allow ERCOT to be dismissed from the litigation, although it does not shield other defendants.

Attorney Mia Lorick, who represents some of those plaintiffs, said she sees only a slim possibility that lawyers could keep claims against ERCOT alive by arguing that their cases have differences that somehow skirt the sovereign immunity finding.

Majed Nachawati, whose firm is representing other plaintiffs in the related cases said, “The Texas Supreme Court’s decision is disappointing to say the least. People lost their lives and the only recourse to the citizens of Texas is to be able to go through the judicial process, and the judicial system, to try to remedy or right the wrong that occurred in this case. And if you can’t count on our judiciary to protect its citizens, I think we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Justices Jeff Boyd and John Devine, along with two others, disagreed that ERCOT has sovereign immunity. Purely private entities are clearly not sovereign, and making them so undermines the public trust, they wrote. The justices argued that “no statute designates ERCOT as a part of the government” and that courts should not be barred from hearing claims against it.

The ruling sprang from two cases filed against ERCOT. San Antonio’s municipally owned utility, CPS Energy, alleged that ERCOT mishandled the soaring price of power during the 2021 winter storm. And private equity investors at Panda Power Funds alleged that 10 years earlier ERCOT issued reports that misled them about how much power the grid needed.

ERCOT spokespersons issued a statement saying that the organization was pleased with the decision. CPS Energy said in a statement that it was disappointed but thankful that four justices agreed with the utility as it sought relief for customers. The utility said the litigation still led to “critical discussions at the highest levels that are necessary to improve our power grid and energy market.”

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Dear MagISoWo,

Hello! I really appreciate all of the good work you do for our community! My three-year-old daughter just started this year at our town's public preschool program and is the only faun in her school. She does qualify for the free school breakfast and lunch program and it's been a godsend for me as a single dad on a delivery driver's wage, you know? Anyway, you might or might not know that fauns need significantly more of certain minerals such as sodium as compared to humans. Most of us, if we're eating human-style food, add a supplemental mineral mix -- salt mixed with granular forms of the other minerals we need. Given my daughter's young age, I arranged with her teachers to have her minerals added to her food when they give it her, and as of the time she enrolled none of them indicated that this might be a problem. However, the other day she came home from school with a stomachache and mentioned that her substitute teacher had told her that she wasn't allowed to have her minerals. I went to the principal hoping to get this cleared up, and apparently this was the first he'd heard of our arrangement, and he stated that the substitute had acted correctly in his view, and that her regular classroom teachers would also no longer be allowed to serve her the food with the mineral mix now that he'd been made aware. Apparently their nutritional guidelines forbid serving food with added sodium because of the health risks for human children, and they would be at risk of losing their federal food program funding. They told me that if I want to have more control over what my daughter eats at school I'm always welcome to send packed lunches from home, but grocery money is tight as it is and it would be a financial challenge to pull her out of the free meals program. Do I have any recourse here? Are there protections for magical children in situations like this?

Thank you

Hello,

We're very sorry to hear that you ran into trouble at your child's school. The School Meals program is meant to make life easier, not more stressful and it is definitely not meant to exclude non-human students. Providing this kind of service on a national schale is relatively new, however, and a lot of schools still have some trouble with the practical implementation. We hope your principal has simply misunderstood the regulations of the program, because there is definitely room to adapt meals according to a child's personal dietary needs.

Sadly there is not one clear statement in the program's terms we can point to for an immediate solution, because different solutions are suggested for different situations. Some children require very different food than their fellow students. (Such as uncooked meat, blood, coal, raw honey, etc.) And schools cannot be expected to provide meals suitable for every single diet.

Some children, like your daughter, only need small changes to a meal. Like eliminating a certain ingredient or adding a supplement. The School Meals program encourages schools to accomodate these students by having the parent or guardian of the child to provide an explicit instruction on how their child's meal is to be changed, and to sign this document to give the school permission to do so. We will enclose the link to the government page on the School Meals program where this suggestion is explained. If you provide such a document, plus the supplements your child needs, we expect the school will comply.

However, schools do have the option to refuse adding supplements or medications to children's meals, if they deem it too difficult a procedure to carry responsiblity for. It does not sound like this applies in your case, but if they choose to go this route you can always apply for Grocery Cards instead. These are also provided by the School Meals program, and function as coupons that can be used in most super markets, bakeries and farmers markets. They are mean especially for everyone who wants to ensure their children eat well, but cannot easily make use of the meals provided at their school. We will enclose a flyer on how to apply for them, should you want to look into that option. Considering your current situation, you should already qualify.

Best of luck and please don't hesitate to come to one of our local after school activities if you could use a hand with anything else!

~ the MagiSoWo Team

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Perhaps the most damning statements came from Omar and Tlaib, who share the privilege of being America's first Muslim women elected to Congress. Tlaib, who is of Palestinian heritage, said Sunday that a peaceful solution "must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance."

Anti-Israel "activists" and militants alike often use the term "resistance" to describe violent activity aimed at their perceived oppressors, from throwing stones to targeting civilians in suicide bombings.

"The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer," Tlaib wrote, pushing a theory that Israeli civilians invited the atrocities experienced on Oct. 7.

In a lengthy social media thread, Omar declared, "Palestinians have few recourses for justice and accountability," suggesting that the massacre of innocents was an acceptable course of action. She pointed to "lifelong psychological and physical trauma" experienced by Palestinians," whom she claimed live under "occupation and systemic apartheid."

Although Israel maintains external control of Gaza, the military occupation ended in 2005. The following year, Palestinians elected Hamas, a hardline terrorist government that fired thousands of rockets at Israeli population centers and launched countless terrorist attacks in Jewish towns and cities.

Along with her colleagues, Omar warned against perpetuating "a cycle of violence," an offensive cliche that implies Saturday's intentional attack on innocent civilians was a morally equivalent answer to past Israeli military operations, equal in scale to the ferocious savagery exhibited by Hamas.

In reality, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) take great pains to avoid civilian casualties, following strict rules of engagement and punishing negligence. Conversely, Hamas uses human shields, fires rockets from launch sites in schoolyards and hospitals, and tunnels underneath residential neighborhoods.

Omar, Tlaib, and Bush each called for ending vital U.S. military aid to Israel at a time when it needs the funding more than ever. Since Israel's founding, the U.S. has provided more than $270 billion in assistance so that its closest Middle Eastern ally maintains a military advantage over its Arab neighbors, which have collectively invaded Israel multiple times in recent history.

[flatbstanley]

Sunday, 6:47 pm

Liam: Your church sounds based, Mr. Alan. When we go to church the priest barely even says anything. One time his entire sermon was, "God bless and go San Myshuno Suns."

Jackson: You’re just saying the same stupid stuff about church as that weird guy you like on SimTube. I liked that sermon 'cause it was short.

Katie (sighing): Jax, Liam, get the dishes, okay? Then you can be excused. Mr. Alan has something he wants to show your dad and me.

Will: So what exactly am I looking at here?

Alan: Last will and testament of Raymond Nichols, from our church. His son is a poker buddy of mine.

Will: Looks like he willed $25,000 to St. Petronella's, to be used for a scholarship fund. Generous guy.

Alan: Problem is, that money never ended up in our scholarship fund. But right around the time Ray's estate was settled, our priest got a nice new set of vestments. And a new chalice, and communion plate, and candlesticks, and who knows what else.

Will: You think he took the money and used it for his own ends.

Alan: I'm practically sure of it. So do I have any legal recourse here?

Will: You personally? Probably not. The guy’s family? Depends on a lot of factors. You’d need to track down an impressive paper trail in order to prove anything, though. Katie-cat, you’re the canon law expert here. Anything on that end?

Katie: People do have the right to stipulate what’s done with their money when they donate to a pious cause. Theoretically, the bishop would take action here. In practice…it could be hard to determine exactly where the money went. And buying new liturgical items isn’t exactly going to be a bad thing in the bishop’s eyes.

Alan: So I don’t have much recourse there, either.

Katie: Sorry, Alan.

Alan: Well, if the civil courts and the Church’s courts won’t help me, I might have to rely on the court of public opinion. Taking money from needy children is never a good look.

Katie: You’re not wrong about that. Just be careful, okay? I don’t like some of the things I see coming out of your diocese right now.

Alan: I don’t either. That’s why I have to do something about it.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Molly Sprayregen at LGBTQ Nation:

Four Southern states have joined together with four conservative organizations to sue the Biden administration over a recently issued rule banning anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in education.

[...]

The idea is that it’s impossible to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity without taking sex into account, a legal argument that the Supreme Court has already used in its 2020 Bostock v. Clayton Co. ruling with respect to job discrimination.

With the new rule, any school that receives federal funding will no longer be able to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students. This could affect states and school districts with policies to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents or ban trans students from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender. The new rules could also give students who face discrimination recourse in federal courts. Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia allege in the lawsuit that the Biden administration does not have the authority to make this rule and also that it goes beyond the original intentions of Title IX, according to CBS News. The states are joined in the lawsuit by the Independent Women’s Network, Parents Defending Education, Speech First, and the Independent Women’s Law Center.

“The role of Cabinet agencies is to interpret laws as written by Congress – not to redefine the meaning of words to suit a fringe group of activists,” said Parents Defending Education president Nicole Neily in a statement, which went on to claim the rule proves “the Biden administration’s contempt for families, trumping state laws which reiterate parents’ right to access information and make decisions about issues related to their children’s gender identity in schools.” “By lowering the standard of ‘harassment’ to little more than a one-off expression of humor, satire, or parody,” Neily continued, “the free speech rights of every young learner in America has become subordinate to how the most sensitive student might interpret a phrase. This Title IX rule is both unconstitutional and immoral, and we look forward to vindicating our members’ rights in court.”

“We will fight very strongly against this rule,” added Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), “just to ensure this does what Congress intended it to do, and that is provide opportunities to everyone and especially protect the security and fairness for our biological females.” Moody also claimed the new rule “is really a radical departure from what Title IX was originally meant to do.” The lawsuit alleges that the rule “conflicts with many of the state plaintiffs’ laws that govern public institutions of higher education and primary and secondary education, including laws involving harassment, bathrooms, sports, parental rights, and more.” It continues, “The rule thus impedes the state plaintiffs’ sovereign authority to enforce and administer their laws and creates pressure on the state plaintiffs to change their laws and practices.” The new rules, however, do not discuss transgender student-athletes and which teams they can play on. The DOE is reportedly planning to issue a separate rule regarding what Title IX means for sports participation.

4 Southern states are suing the Biden Administration for the right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ children over the LGBTQ+-friendly Title IX changes.

[captainjonnitkessler]

It's SO fucking insane how the supreme court wil revoke human right after human right in the name of christofascism and people on Tumblr will still just be like "psh... those smug atheists are just the worst... amirite guys" like this is not the fucking time!!!

It sucks so fucking bad because the Supreme Court situation is one of the things I'm genuinely scared about. I'm generally pretty optimistic but the recent SC decisions have already impacted millions of people and will continue to ruin lives for decades with little recourse.

And not only have they already ruled that the government must fund private religious schools and set a precedent for allowing prayer in schools under certain circumstances, but at least one state has set up trigger laws to put prayer back in public schools, presumably in anticipation of the Supreme Court overturning Engel v. Vitale. That decision only predates Roe by a decade - it's very, very much in danger if it makes its way up with the current composition of the SC.

I think a lot of people genuinely don't realize how hard we had to fight to gain even a veneer of secularism in this country, just how recent a lot of what we take for granted is, and how easy it would be to lose that right now. And like most forms of bigotry, it's going to hit hardest in extremely rural or insulated areas where it's much harder for people to have options or form communities. We need to be hitting back at the religious right as hard as we can and on as many fields as we can, and if "edgy internet atheists" are the only people willing to do that then fuck, I guess I'll be an edgy internet atheist!

[azspot]

In 2017 the Arizona Legislature pass a law that expanded and lossened school vouchers, moving them from a postition of helping parents and special needs students to permiting a free for all of funding for any school and homeschooling. In 2018 a grass roots referendum was placed on the ballot as Proposition 305, this referendum placed before the public for popular vote rolled back school vouchers to their previous scope and increased accountability for how the public funds were used, also insuring accountability for good stewardship of public tax dollars. This measur passed by a margin of 65% to 35%. Inspite of such overwhleming opposition, the Arizona Legislature with strong pressure from special inerests groups went against the proclaimed will of Arizona voters and negated Proposition 305 and expanded school vouchers as well as removing accountabiity for how the funds are used or applied. Think for a moment; Arizonans are taxed by schoold district but the funds are arbitrarily taken from the districts and local schools to fund for profit schools or buy a computer or pay for a 'educational' trip for a home schooler. There is no recourse, no accounting, no elected voice to oversee the use of your tax dollars. This is taxation without representation. This removes $10,000 - 15,000 from the local school for each student. Yet the local school still has the same costs and standards to uphold. In roughly 2 years, this action by the Arizona Legislature has moved the state budget from a surplus to a debt of $ 1,000,000,000. In its first 6 months it added over $400,000,000 in debt.

David Hopper

[somuchyoudontknow]

Okay, here is my final part!

PART 4

Claim #7: They are in contact with sources close to Chris. That one particular blog has always claimed that they have sources in Massachusetts or Boston that are close to Chris and his circle. Now, that may be accurate, because anyone can know anyone. But they have never been clear about how these sources have been communicating with them.

First, they said it was via text (based on posts from months ago) – and when an anon asked yesterday why they couldn’t publish all the receipts since they’ve been communicating with sources for months, they say that they don’t have a paper trail, and it has been mostly phone calls.

Convenient much? Not once have they ever been able to prove anything with solid receipts, and when questioned, anons are often name-called, verbally abused and called crazy. Also, they’ve never said that they have sources inside Chris’s team, only sources close to the team. Now, you may say that this can be used to back up the fact that sometimes when things come to light, they seem to have known beforehand.

But let me also shed a little perspective here: Often, when they say something is coming, or something is about to happen, they never provide you with any context. Then, when something does happen, they say they knew all along. Again, convenient much?

At the end of the day, I think we have seen enough to safely say that Chris and Alba are in a PR arrangement. Therefore, photo dumps, fake articles and social media posts are to be expected. It's easy to post cryptic nonsense – you can always say later that your post was not connected to the PR drama, or it was because you knew all along what was coming out. Not to mention that so many in the fandom put crazy theories into their ask boxes anonymously. All these blogs have to do is fan the flames, and when something happens – as it logically would in a PR arrangement – they now can say they knew it all. See how easy it is?

Claim #8: Chris’s money and funds are all frozen by CAA I am open to being corrected by anyone with real-life legal expertise here. However, from my own knowledge and experience, putting your money and properties in a trust – where a third party is a caretaker and executor – is typically something you do when those things are going out as an inheritance for someone else. It isn’t something you do when you are still alive, unless there are dire circumstances that require it and a third party provides evidence to get the courts involved to do it. You can use Britney’s conservatorship here as an example. The reason a third party (her father) was entrusted with her funds and her assets was that she was declared mentally unable to care for herself and her money. When she proved her money was being withheld and she was being held against her will, the courts released her from it.

And if they want to claim Chris was losing his mind (like they said about Britney), they would need to submit plenty of evidence to gain control of his money – none of these has ever been brought to light, mind you. There aren’t no media articles or whispers anywhere that Chris's mental health issues are severe enough to warrant his money and property needing to be placed under third-party monitoring. What is public is only his own struggle with anxiety, which he has spoken about openly in the past. Now, let's assume Chris put his current house, and all his money now into CAA’s control through his own free will. CAA refusing to release these funds would be, in fact, illegal, and he would have legal recourse to get it back. Any lawyer worth their salt will be able to handle this. And if CAA is legally withholding his money, what legal precedent is being used to cite this case against him? The fact that they are saying Chris can’t do that smells fishy. Why can’t he do that? What evidence is there that CAA is holding his money and all his assets hostage?

Oh yes, their answer is that CAA is blackmailing him and that someone is out to ruin him at all costs. Again, what they are blackmailing him about remains unclear, but these blogs often say that “it won’t be a big deal to the general public if it’s released.” In fact, we might even applaud him for it if he came clean, but he is scared. These blog mods said their sources were close to Chris’s circle. And now they say they’ve asked Chris to ask his HW friends for forgiveness. But what is he asking for forgiveness about? And you’d think Hollywood friends would know the kind of shady business that goes on in their own industry, so again, my question is, why has everyone deserted him? Of course, these blog mods "cannot tell you." Now they are also asking you for $23,000 to pay his legal fees. And still, they cannot provide any evidence Chris is bankrupt or broke or has zero money. He has no money to spend on his own legal fees, but somehow has money to spend on renovating a random house for years, has money for private jets, and enough money to not work on so many projects in a year – he has said himself in recent interviews, cons and podcasts that he doesn't want to work on so many projects in a year. Do you guys see where I'm going with this? I liken all this nonsense to the time someone collected money from fans to put up a billboard to support Warrior Nun (remember those happy days?). It is a waste of time and money, and you should not believe it or give any money to these mods. Also, who is Chris paying with this $23,000? His lawyers? If it's going to be a messy and protracted legal affair, then $23,000 is just the start. It certainly won't cover the rest of the money needed, which will depend on how long the legal battle drags out, who wins the court case, who has to pay the other party's legal fees or whatever restitution is due to the winning party in order to get his funds.

Claim #9: Chris lied to immigration about the PR contract For this, I can only ask you to please take a breather. First of all, have you ever seen the spousal immigration interview requirements for America or any other country in the world? Have you seen how brutal American immigration is in real life? Have you seen any of the questions on those documents – or the sheer amount of paperwork – that spouses must answer and provide before even being considered for legal documents? They are highly invasive, and Alba has to do more than just answer a few questions to get legal long-term entry. Also, if he is supposedly marrying her to get her into America to do porn, then this is a fallacy as well. Porn industries don’t just thrive here in America. Europe has plenty. And if this was the case, then I’m sure there is a work visa for that. The porn industry in America is legit, and she doesn’t need a sham PR marriage to get her into the country to get any kind of work.

Now, if we say the claim above is false, then why would there be any need to force Chris to have a fake marriage?

If they wanted to put out rumours that Chris is married to Alba, all they have to do is release more news articles through reputable sources, stage a few wedding photos, pap walks and more socials, before releasing an article or announcement a year later that Chris and Alba have separated. Megan can certainly release a media plan that's good enough for this. After all, she owns Narrative PR, and her clientele consists of so many of Hollywood's best, many of whom are not CAA clients.

Why in the name of all the gods would CAA go through so much legal trouble to fake a marriage when that can be easily done with a few lies, fake social posts and media articles?

People who are doing shady things do not willingly engage with the authorities to get things done for mid-level artists. Do you all really think they will spend money on all this just to ruin Chris Evans? What secret could Chris possibly have about CAA that would’ve put him in their crosshairs? If these blogs' own words are to be believed, they’ve said that Chris doesn’t have as much clout as we think, and he doesn’t have as much pull as other Hollywood A-listers. So what is CAA’s motivation here that they want to destroy someone who only loves dogs and only has a big Marvel project on his resume?

Please, learn to question things being discussed on Tumblr. These claims float around without any question, and when confronted, these blogs cannot give you any specific answer because “it is confidential” and they cannot share.

And yet, they seem to have no issue dropping cryptic posts, hints and answers to anons when it is convenient for them. Sure. Let's go with that. Also, let’s face it. Since CAA is trying to force their way and make people believe it’s real, and if Chris and his team are allowing these kinds of information to be leaked, don’t you think CAA would’ve found the leak and plugged it by now? CAA is super shady, but in this instance, they are choosing to close an eye to one party's team to leak info to external sources, and these sources freely leak that info to other Tumblr blogs that are not linked to the situation? Come now, my lovelies! I urge you all to always question what is being put out here on Tumblr. Use logic, use your own intuition and always use Google for your research. It’s a free tool. Use it wisely.

If everything I’ve written does not give you a clue into what kind of people these blog mods are, then you must ask yourself what is blinding you from seeing their true colours. ♥️StarStruck💫

I guess part 4 is a typo :) Thanks again! Great to have you here!

[woundedgoddess3]

Hey, my name is Victoria and I'm fundraising this for my very close friend out of state. I can't help physically so I wanna help in a way that I could from a far. I'm asking all who can, to help me fundraise money for a down-payment on a car for my friend. I know money is tight for everyone and I truly get it, we're all broke. To be honest, anything helps. To see them driving in a car and experiencing freedom would make me the happiest soul on earth to know that by the good grace of strangers, family and friends, made this happen, made it so that someone I love has the ability to have independence. I think we all have been through a point in life where we had to rely on others and failed public transportation for work, events, emergencies and its so hard, draining and just plain out exhausting. They've been through so much in life and really need this and if I had the money myself, I'd give it all to make them happy. My friend went and bought a new car "sold as is" was lied to and basically spent a down payment on a car that's undriveable. No recourse and unfortunately only worth scrapping which we all know gives barely anything. I REALLY need all the help I can get to make this happen for them. Idealy getting the car before winter would be best so the goal would be fundraising enough on a car so they're set for the winter to come. All the funds will be given as a down payment on a car from dealership where they'd never have to deal with a person lying and selling a unreliable and unsafe car. The love in my heart is so strong for this person that I have resorted to an online fundraising site hoping that by God's grace I can help someone in need of one good thing, one good miracle I hope we all can make this happen for such a special person. Thank you all ♥️

[coochiequeens]

Maybe now that the people with the money to buy babies are being scammed even IVF proponents will admit that there needs to be regulations in the Buy a Baby Business

Dominique Side, the owner of Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, poses in 2023 at Vegan Fashion Week in Los Angeles.

(Gilbert Flores / WWD via Getty Images)

By Matt Hamilton Staff Writer June 30, 2024 

They scrimped, and they saved. Some asked family and friends to pitch in. Others took out loans for tens of thousands of dollars.

Their goal was twofold: To raise the small fortune necessary to pay for a surrogate mother. And to realize a dream previously impossible — having a child of their own.

Hundreds of people across California, the U.S. and around the globe put their money, sometimes $50,000 or more, into the hands of a Texas-based escrow company so the funds could be held in trust and doled out to a surrogate for healthcare costs, insurance and compensation.

But this month, expectant parents and their surrogates learned the money they had set aside at Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, or SEAM, is inaccessible and likely gone.

“We want answers,” said Chris Kettmann of Fair Oaks, Calif., a suburb of Sacramento. “Is there recourse to get the money back? If not, what can we do?”

Chris Kettmann and his wife with their ultrasound in an undated photo. (Chris Kettmann)

Kettmann, 33, said he and his wife had about $45,000 in their escrow account, money owed to their surrogate mother, who is pregnant with their baby boy and due in October. “We don’t know enough to say what happened,” he said. “We just know there’s something crazy going on.”

Police in Houston have opened a wide-reaching investigation. Christina Garza, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Houston field office, confirmed last week that the agency also is investigating SEAM. The FBI has developed a public portal for SEAM clients to report their account information and how much money they believe they are owed. Garza, however, cautioned that the inquiry was in its early stages and said, “We’re trying to compile as much information as possible.”

A married same-sex couple in Washington, D.C., says they are out $55,000. A Los Feliz couple said they demanded their $40,111 be returned and believe it is gone. Arielle Mitton, an L.A. native who recently moved to Bellingham, Wash., can recite the amount that she and her husband are missing down to the cent: $37,721.44.

“I assumed naively that an escrow account was a safe thing,” said Mitton, whose surrogate mother in Indiana is pregnant with their daughter and is due to deliver on Christmas Eve.

Mitton has joined hundreds of affected parents and surrogates in a private Facebook group that has become a forum for venting, grieving, exchanging information and trying to answer the overriding questions: What happened here? And where did all their money go?

Scrutiny has centered on the sole owner of SEAM, Dominique Side, who has told customers that she had once been a surrogate. The 44-year-old billed herself as an entrepreneur of multimillion dollar businesses in the Houston area, including a vegan grocery store, a nonprofit school, a vegan music studio, and the surrogacy escrow outfit. She walked the red carpet in L.A. for vegan fashion events and ran a concierge service for those seeking a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

“One common thread runs through all my businesses: each is based firmly on a foundation of compassion — for others, for myself and for the planet,” she told a Houston publication in 2022.

Side did not respond to calls or written questions. Emails to Side triggered an auto-response that doubled as a press statement. Citing the “active investigation by federal authorities,” Side wrote in the email, “Under the advice of counsel, I am not permitted to respond to any inquiries regarding the investigation.”

On Thursday, Side and SEAM were hit by a lawsuit from a merchant cash-advance lender, the third such lawsuit this year. Merchant cash advance lenders provide small businesses with quick infusions of money at high fees akin to interest rates of 50% to 100%.

A judge in Texas also froze all of the company’s accounts along with Side’s other businesses after a SEAM client, Marieke Slik, sued over her “vanished” $28,000.

Calling herself a “victim of a scam,” Slik alleged that Side and her company had lured her and others “into a fiduciary relationship in order to steal their escrow funds,” according to her lawsuit, which was filed in Texas. “The Defendants have left hundreds of surrogates throughout the country — who are pregnant with a child that does not belong to them — with no way to pay for necessary prenatal care.”

Sides’ actions, according to the lawsuit, “are nothing short of evil.”

Struggling parents

Many surrogacies often involve LGBTQ+ couples who want children, or older couples for whom childbearing is no longer a viable possibility.

For others, the road to surrogacy is one of heartbreak and tragedy.

The married woman in Los Feliz said she had had multiple miscarriages. She was recently pregnant but gave birth in the second trimester. The newborn died at Cedars-Sinai in his parents’ arms.

The couple turned to surrogacy after exhausting all other options. They selected a surrogate mother, completed the necessary contract — which often requires using an escrow firm — and put more than $40,000 into the account, a portion of the overall cost. But their embryo had yet to be transferred into the surrogate mother.

“Nothing is clear,” she said, explaining that she and her husband demanded their funds weeks ago. “Obviously that fell on deaf ears — we didn’t get our money back,” she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because their extended family remains unaware of their attempt at using a surrogate.

“I’d love to carry this child,” she said, and “not spend any money on a surrogate. There’s a level of that, where you feel so terribly sad. You feel sad about the money, but you feel sad about the situation.”

���Something really bad has happened’

For intended parents and surrogates, trouble emerged around late May, when surrogates did not receive their usual payments.

Arielle Mitton gives surrogate mother Tena Doan’s belly a kiss. Doan is carrying Mitton’s baby.  (Arielle Mitton)

In early June, Tena Doan — a 42-year-old surrogate mother in Indiana — said she noticed her bank account balance was lower than expected and realized her monthly payment and allowance had not come through. Her surrogacy agency told her that banking issues at SEAM had delayed the arrival of the money.

“I said, ‘No problem, they’ll get it fixed,’” Doan recalled, figuring that banking issues happen. When she logged into SEAM’s portal, she saw that the money listed as due her was still there.

Then came a June 12 email from Side claiming that fraudulent charges had prompted Capitol One to freeze SEAM’s account.

“Some payments were able to go through before the accounts were frozen,” Side wrote in the email. She stated that new bank accounts were established and promised service would be restored.

Two days later, however, Side sent another email indicating that “all operations have been placed on hold” due to legal action.

Doan said that the email stopped her in her tracks.

“That’s when we were like, ‘Oh s—, this is not good. Something really bad has happened,’” Doan recalled. “From there, it’s been a whirlwind.”

Mitton — the mother of the child that Doan is carrying — was at home more than 2,000 miles west.

“The first few days, I barely slept, I was nauseous from all the emotional aspects and had vertigo,” Mitton remembered.

She contacted the FBI, Houston police, the Texas attorney general. Mitton even emailed the CEO of Capital One, questioning how the money could apparently vanish.

Tena Doan, left, and Arielle Mitton. (Arielle Mitton)

Both Doan and Mitton joined the Facebook group and realized they were part of a club they never wanted membership in: those affected by SEAM’s financial collapse.

An informal poll among members suggested that about $10 million was unaccounted for. Parents and surrogates from across the country and around the world have traded information in the Facebook group about current police investigations and become sleuths themselves.

They’ve pored over Side’s various businesses — the Vgn Bae Music Studio, and Nikki Green, a luxury vegan fashion line. They’ve also mined her social media accounts.

A recent post on Side’s Instagram page VgnBaeDom, which has since been deleted, recounted her birthday week in June: Side said she flew to L.A., enjoyed a vegan dinner at the upscale Culver City vegan restaurant Shojin, dined at Crossroads Kitchen and Craig’s — both frequent celebrity hotspots — enjoyed a “full day of spa and cabana” at the Four Seasons, before doing fittings at Celine, the luxury French fashion house.

“The week this was going down was also her birthday week,” said Mitton, who recalled thinking, “She’s probably spending our escrow money there.”

Signs of financial difficulty SEAM was first registered in Texas in 2014. Testimonials from 2017 onward show glowing reviews, and one parent told The Times he had used SEAM for their first child without issue.

Lawsuits from cash advance lenders filed against SEAM and Side in New York this year indicate mounting financial trouble in recent months.

So-called merchant cash-advance lenders send sums of money to distressed businesses, often with a rapid turnaround, and, in exchange, a business lets the lender withdraw a portion of future receipts directly from the business’ bank account to pay off the debt. Cash-advance lenders often insist they aren’t lenders and that cash advances against future revenue aren’t technically loans — but New York’s former attorney general had lambasted the industry for predatory debt-collection practices.

In January, Side received an unspecified sum from Pearl Delta Funding and agreed to pay back $69,500. But she defaulted the next month, prompting the lender to sue her in New York in March. (Pearl Delta’s attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment.)

On May 6, Side secured $650,000 from Dynasty Capital and agreed to pay $975,000, or 150% of the amount borrowed, according to court records.

Under the agreement, the lender was allowed to debit $12,500 per day from SEAM’s account until the full amount was paid back. On May 31, Dynasty Capital said in court papers, SEAM “breached the agreement” and either failed to put revenue into the business account or diverted it elsewhere, leaving Dynasty unable to recoup its money.

Dynasty Capital sued Side, SEAM and her various businesses on June 18. Dynasty’s lawyer declined to comment.

On May 29, Side obtained $100,000 from Arsenal Funding and agreed to allow Arsenal to deduct 1.25% of SEAM’s daily revenue from its business bank account until $149,000 was paid off.

Arsenal sued Side and SEAM last week after Side stopped making payments on June 21 and defaulted, according to the lawsuit filed in New York, which demands about $190,000 to cover the outstanding debt and fees.

To secure the loan from Arsenal, Side had to disclose her largest revenue sources. She listed three companies, all in Southern California: US Harvest Babies Surrogacy in the City of Industry; Mle & Mlang International Surrogacy in L.A.; and a Shady Grove Fertility office in Solana Beach.

But there is reason to doubt the accuracy of what Side told the lender. In a statement, Shady Grove said it had no financial relationship with Side or SEAM and did not refer patients to the company, explaining that “some patients may have independently engaged with SEAM.”

Further, the name that Side had listed as her contact has never been an employee of Shady Grove, according to a person familiar with the company’s operations. And the address she listed for Shady Grove is a small branch in the San Diego area that’s been open for only a few months; Shady Grove is headquartered in Maryland and has 49 locations nationwide.

Neither Harvest Babies or Mlan responded to requests for comment.

Side told Arsenal that she was the 100% owner of SEAM and projected an average monthly revenue of $2.78 million, according to a copy of the financial agreement that Arsenal included with its lawsuit.

Lori Hood, a Houston-based attorney who is representing Slik — the client who sued Side this month in Texas — said she was confounded by SEAM’s financial practices. She said the lawsuit from Dynasty Capital indicated that escrow money was used to secure the $650,000 cash payment.

“How do you put up escrow funds as collateral?” said Hood. “That’s my first indication that something’s desperately wrong. You don’t recognize escrow funds as revenue.”

Second, Hood said, SEAM’s tax records that she’s reviewed also showed revenue of “millions of dollars.”

“Did her company make millions of dollars, or is she putting into the tax returns that the escrow money was her revenue?” Hood asked.

To press their client’s lawsuit against SEAM, Hood and her law partner, Marianne Robak, petitioned a judge to freeze all of SEAM’s accounts at Capital One along with other accounts owned or controlled by Side.

“The evidence shows that SEAM’s escrow account with Capital One ... has no funds available,” notes the request for a restraining order to freeze all accounts. “SEAM is insolvent.”

In the filing, Hood also accused SEAM of diverting money into accounts in the name of Life Escrow LLC, a company registered last year to Side’s business partner, Anthony Hall, who is also a defendant in the suit filed by Slik.

Side’s “actions appear to be to avoid having to face the clients she defrauded. It appears she had absconded,” states the restraining order, which a Harris County, Texas, judge signed off on June 21.

Reached by phone on Thursday, Hall said he “had no connection with SEAM,” adding, “I wish I had answers.” Hall said he was a business partner of Side in the vegan music studio, Vgn Bae Studios, adding, “Everything was great until it wasn’t.”

Hall said he did not know if Side had an attorney and said that he was speaking only for himself.

“She’s not gonna respond,” he said of Side. “I’m defending myself. I don’t know what they have going on.”

Pregnancies don’t wait

For Hood and hundreds of surrogate mothers and parents, questions mount.

“I won’t cast blame on any of the parents. They did everything they were supposed to do,” Hood said.

Time is short, however, for ongoing pregnancies and those couples who hope to have a surrogate receive an embryo soon.

Kettmann, from the Sacramento area, said their surrogate mother is 22 weeks pregnant. Of the $57,000 they put into SEAM, he said, $45,000 is missing. The rest had already been distributed to the surrogate.

“It’s a scramble,” he said. He and his wife had some money saved for additional expenses, which they’ve used to cover the June payment that never arrived from SEAM. He’s now fundraising from family and friends.

“We told her we’ll do everything we can to keep her up to date on payments,” he said, “but [we’re] asking her to be patient.”

Mitton and her surrogate mother, Doan, have started collecting donations through GoFundMe and plan to extend the payment terms two years, rather than having all the money sent to Doan shortly after delivery.

“I’m growing a healthy baby girl for them,” Doan said, “and that’s all that matters.”

[fundgruber]

The notion of museums as popular spaces open to all has contributed to their identification as sites for political struggle. Yet it is perhaps an unsurprising irony that as arts institutions increasingly represented themselves as democratic, political, and civic spaces, they came to rely more and more upon funding from the private sector. Faced with proving their value as they competed for scraps of government money and for private donors looking to maximize their philanthropic impact, museums justified their existence by affirming their public mandate and social utility, advancing the narrative that art institutions are privileged spaces for political discourse. Individual grants, gifts, and bequests fund the diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion initiatives that open the museum to broader publics, and fuel the exhibitions, acquisitions, and rehangs that foreground artists and traditions beyond the Western canon.  But despite the tantalizing whiff of democracy they seem to exude, museums are not democratic institutions, and never have been. That today’s protesters see the museum as a suitable point of access through which our ruling class may be addressed speaks to the almost complete depletion of real recourse elsewhere; the almost total lack of strategic pressure points from which to attack an ironclad and unimpeachable oligarchy. In particular, the global scope of the demands associated with museum protest reflects the difficulty of meaningful engagement in international politics from the metropole. Because the points of contact between the layperson and the multinational corporation are so limited, museum donors and board members — and the museum itself by extension — have been framed as targets in the fight against imperialism.

Rachel Hunter Himes: Museum Pessimism. To what extent is it possible to apply pressure to the capitalist class through museums? In: n+1 Issue 43 : Unreal. Summer 2022

"During the late ’60s and early ’70s, accreditation was awarded to museums on the basis of their capacity to manage their collections and maintain their facilities. But in the ’90s, a new mandate emerged. Museums, faced with depleted public funding, emergent global tourism, and the birth of the experience economy, began their transformation into what have been called “visitor-centered” institutions."

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

R.Pitt ::

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

December 21, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

DEC 22, 2023

The Washington Post editorial board today wrote that “the battle for democracy will be fought—and won” by “explaining to the world why freedom matters to everyone, every day.” So, on an evening when our power has finally been restored, but too late for me to do a deep dive on anything, let’s see what that might look like from today’s news: 

For years now, the U.S. right wing has admired Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, who has overturned his nation’s democracy. Orbán claims that democracy weakens a nation because it allows immigration—which he calls “a poison” to a nation and says “poses a public security and terror risk”—and requires equal rights for women and LGBTQ+ individuals. The U.S. right wing claims to admire Orbán for what they see as a defense of traditional society.

But the logical evolution of Orbán’s “illiberal” society became clear last week, when the Hungarian parliament approved a new law designed to punish Hungarians who oppose the government. A new “sovereignty protection office” will intimidate and punish those who do not share the views of the ruling party, claiming that they are working for western governments and entities. The U.S. ambassador in Budapest, David Pressman, explained: “This new state body has unfettered powers to interrogate Hungarians, demand their private documents, and utilize the services of Hungary’s intelligence apparatus—all without any judicial oversight or judicial recourse for its targets.”

The U.S. State Department said yesterday: “This new law is inconsistent with our shared values of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law.”

Also today, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has said that immigration is such a national crisis that House Republicans will not pass a bill providing supplemental funding for Ukraine to help it fight off Russia’s invasion without significant changes to the nation’s border policy, wrote a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to make those changes himself through executive action.

Biden has asked Congress for new legislation to address migration at the border since his first week in office, but Trump and his loyalists have demanded extreme measures that Democrats have, in the past, refused. With Republican refusal to fund Ukraine, Biden has said he is eager enough to get funding to Ukraine that he is willing to negotiate, but Johnson sent the House home until January 9 without a deal. 

Now it seems Republicans don’t want their own names on any such deal, likely recognizing that such an outcome would take away an issue they hope to exploit  in 2024. They want Biden’s name alone on any new policies or, failing that, to be able to blame him for not taking unilateral action.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre today reminded reporters that the White House has been negotiating with senators to come up with a bipartisan deal despite the absence of House members, and that Biden has been negotiating with the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to address the border situation. 

In the next few days, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall will all travel to Mexico to meet with President López Obrador to discuss border challenges, all in the spirit of the 2022 Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection, an agreement between 21 Caribbean and Latin American nations, including the United States, to strengthen international frameworks to make migration safe, orderly, and humane. 

Also today, Craig Mauger of The Detroit News reported that on November 17, 2020, on a phone call with Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, Trump personally pressured two Republican members of the Wayne County, Michigan, Board of Canvassers not to sign the papers certifying the 2020 presidential election in order to overturn the election’s lawful results.

Trump told Monica Palmer and William Hartmann that they would look “terrible” if they signed the documents. “We've got to fight for our country,” Trump said. “We can't let these people take our country away from us.” McDaniel, too, urged the pair not to sign and promised, “We will get you attorneys.” 

Palmer and Hartmann did not sign the papers, and the next day they tried to take back their votes in favor of certifying, filing legal affidavits saying “intense bullying and coercion” had led them to vote as they did. 

Lawyer Chris Thomas, Michigan’s elections director for more than 30 years, told Mauger it was unfortunate that Republican leaders offered to give the two legal protection for not doing their jobs. "Offering something of value to a public official to not perform a required duty may raise legal issues for a person doing so," Thomas noted. Legal analyst Joyce White Vance pointed out that “[o]ffering an official something of value (services of a lawyer) in exchange for withholding official action (certifying the Wayne County vote) sounds like a classic case of bribery under Michigan State law.”

Trump is currently facing four criminal counts for his attempt to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election. His attempts to stop Michigan from certifying Biden’s victory are part of those charges. 

After the story dropped, Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, wrote that for her, “the absolute lowest moment in the post election battle we endured to protect Michigan’s accurate and legitimate election results in 2020 was not when armed protestors stormed my home. It was the night of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting.” 

Benson said the board knew about the pressure not to certify and were prepared to fight in the courts, but also knew that such a delay would “create enough doubt and uncertainty to enable the Trump campaign to push Pennsylvania, which was certifying the next week, to delay as well. And we knew other dominos would fall after that. How could we overcome the pressure of the then–President of the United States on local and state officials? Were the facts and law not enough?”

“Well,” she wrote, “then something I’ll never forget happened.

“Hundreds—hundreds (!)—of citizens showed up to the meeting of the Wayne County Canvassing Board to remind them of their duty under the law to ensure their votes counted. Their voices mattered. Their votes mattered.

“In my view that turned the tide. Citizens and election officials in Wayne County and statewide didn’t flinch, stood firm, and demanded their votes be certified as required under the law.

“And in the end, the Wayne County Canvassing board fulfilled their legal duty, followed the law and certified the election.

“What started as the lowest moment of the post election melee became the most inspiring. 

“The voters won. Facts and the rule of law carried the day. 

“Democracy prevailed.” 

Finally, tonight, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy less than a week after a jury awarded election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss more than $145 million for defaming them by accusing them of election fraud as part of his attempt to overthrow the country’s democratic system.

The Washington Post’s editorial board wrote that “the world’s democracies should create a system to fight back that can speak plainly and consistently about the inherent advantages of democratic systems, while admitting the imperfections, and use creative ways to illuminate the flaws and depredations of authoritarian regimes.”

To be honest, it doesn’t seem that hard. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[fettesans]

Left, screen capture posted by loneberry (Jackie Wang) of a printed text by Fred Moten posted by vanishingny. Right, photograph by Adam Rzepecki, Brick, 1981. Via.

IT CANNOT BE DENIED THAT THE UNIVERSITY IS A PLACE OF REFUGE, AND IT CANNOT BE ACCEPTED THAT THE UNIVERSITY IS A PLACE OF ENLIGHTENMENT. IN THE FACE OF THESE CONDITIONS ONE CAN ONLY SNEAK INTO THE UNIVERSITY AND STEAL WHAT ONE CAN. TO ABUSE ITS HOSPITALITY, TO SPITE ITS MISSION. TO BE IN BUT NOT OF - THIS IS THE PATH OF THE SUBVERSIVE INTELLECTUAL IN THE MODERN UNIVERSITY.

--

The notion of museums as popular spaces open to all has contributed to their identification as sites for political struggle. Yet it is perhaps an unsurprising irony that as arts institutions increasingly represented themselves as democratic, political, and civic spaces, they came to rely more and more upon funding from the private sector. Faced with proving their value as they competed for scraps of government money and for private donors looking to maximize their philanthropic impact, museums justified their existence by affirming their public mandate and social utility, advancing the narrative that art institutions are privileged spaces for political discourse. Individual grants, gifts, and bequests fund the diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion initiatives that open the museum to broader publics, and fuel the exhibitions, acquisitions, and rehangs that foreground artists and traditions beyond the Western canon.  But despite the tantalizing whiff of democracy they seem to exude, museums are not democratic institutions, and never have been. That today’s protesters see the museum as a suitable point of access through which our ruling class may be addressed speaks to the almost complete depletion of real recourse elsewhere; the almost total lack of strategic pressure points from which to attack an ironclad and unimpeachable oligarchy. In particular, the global scope of the demands associated with museum protest reflects the difficulty of meaningful engagement in international politics from the metropole. Because the points of contact between the layperson and the multinational corporation are so limited, museum donors and board members — and the museum itself by extension — have been framed as targets in the fight against imperialism.

Rachel Hunter Himes, from Museum Pessimism. To what extent is it possible to apply pressure to the capitalist class through museums, for n+1 Issue 43 : Unreal, Summer 2022. Via.