Things for Immigrants are Just Getting Worse…

From the New York Times…

For more than 15 years, jails that hold immigrants facing deportation have had to follow a growing list of requirements:

Notify immigration officials if a detainee spends two weeks or longer in solitary confinement. Check on suicidal inmates every 15 minutes, and evaluate their mental health every day. Inform detainees, in languages they can understand, how to obtain medical care. In disciplinary hearings, provide a staff member who can advocate in English on the detainee’s behalf.

But as the Trump administration seeks to quickly find jail space for its crackdown on illegal immigration, it is moving to curtail these rules as a way to entice more sheriffs and local officials to make their correctional facilities available.

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Self Care – Recipe: Matzah and Cheese

I did promise a couple Passover recipes.

This is one Mom found and then slightly modified. The original idea was a macaroni and cheese, but for Passover. Because matzah farfel (basically crushed matzah) is used, it turned into a very dairy casserole. And it is delicious… assuming you aren’t vegan or lactose intolerant. If you’re either or both of those things… you might want to skip this one…

Heh…

So…

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Sorry for Today’s Silence

I kind of accidentally chose today as a day to do absolutely nothing. The increase in pollen has my allergies on high alert, which means I’ve been through two boxes of tissues already today, and I didn’t get to bed until 4:30am this morning, and had to be up at 9am. So I’m exhausted and sneezing.

Today’s my lazy day. I’ve got a recipe going up tomorrow, and I’ll get back to the regularly scheduled Astronomy Picture of the Week next Wednesday.

Self Care – A Few Pics from Passover

(Quick note… this is the last of the overly religious posts for now, my fellow atheists. I just enjoy this holiday and want to share it with y’all.)

The first night of Passover ended on Monday, April 10. Well… okay… it actually ended today, March 11th, just after midnight. And it was a lot of fun… well… it would have been, but I’ll get to that…

First things first…

Of course there was a lot of religiosity, here. It’s a Jewish holiday, after all, which means services, prayers, and all that jazz. I don’t mind it, personally, because I grew up with it, and it’s not boring. Since my atheism isn’t exactly a secret, I got to make little asides and jokes last night that my family largely found funny because they know where I’m coming from. I have to be more careful tonight, because tonight’s seder is with some of Dad’s congregants, and they don’t know. But I’m okay with that, since I’ll probably be more focused on my fingers which… again… I’ll get to that…

We actually shortened things up nicely last night, so we got to the meal quicker than we have in the past, which was great. And the meal, of course, was delicious!

But I’m getting ahead of myself (largely to pad out this intro before the fold… 😛 )…

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Passover Starts Tonight

(Quick note: all but one of the links in the paragraph about music go to YouTube videos.)

So… sundown tonight starts the eight-day Jewish holiday of Passover. I largely enjoy the holiday. The seders on the first and second night are quite a bit of fun, and the food is amazing. Wine, horseradish (my brother and I are making the horseradish sauce from scratch this year!), homemade haroset, brisket (So. Much. Brisket.), surprisingly amazing desserts (surprising because of the Kashrut restrictions for Passover) and more… the food is wonderful.

I’d be lying if I said that the food at the seders isn’t what makes it for me. It’s a bit of a joke that most Jewish holidays (with the exception of Yom Kippur, since it’s a fasting holiday) basically just exist as an excuse for massive feasts, but there’s some truth to that. Jews really know how to eat, and Passover seders are just one really good example of that.

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Self Care – Great Guitar Solos: Sister Rosetta Tharpe Plays “Didn’t it Rain”

Far too many people credit Elvis Presley with “inventing” Rock n’ Roll. Now, we can talk about the merits of his music (I’m not a fan, personally), but if you still think this is true, then you really don’t know Rock n’ Roll, and you perhaps need a course in how, just like with everything, white people stole music from black people.

But it’s not that simple, see, because people who think they do know will then point to Chuck Berry. I mean… better, but you still need to make your way back. You see, it actually wasn’t a man who invented Rock n’ Roll at all. Because before Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Elvis, there was…

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

As far as I and many others are concerned, the moment the Blues transformed into Rock was the moment this woman, a gospel singer, picked up the guitar.

Never heard of Sister Rosetta Tharpe?

Well… let me (and the Daily Beast) introduce you…

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Sorry… Forgot Posts Today…

Sorry I forgot the Self Care post today. My brother got into town last night, so I stayed up getting kinda drunk on really expensive scotch with him and Dad, and then I woke up at 12pm today and had work at 3pm. So… apologies.

As for news about the Circus Peanut administration… it’s been kinda light in terms of stuff worth highlighting, to be honest… although that’s partly because I decided, what with Passover coming up and my vacation the week after, to take a break… my anxiety’s been spiking horribly again, to the point where 10mg of Lexapro a night is doing fuck all for me. Although I’m sure that’s been obvious considering how my posts have been pretty much since Agent Orange was elected (nothing but anger, cynicism, and hatred).

I need some laughter and happiness.

But anyways… that ableism post has been coming along, and in fact I’m going to focus on it for a bit, so I can put that and my commenting policy up before I start my vacation in Georgia next week.

I’ll see y’all with Great Guitar Solos on Monday at 12pm.

Republicans Are Forcing Gorsuch Through…

From the Washington Post…

Republicans on Thursday cleared the way for Judge Neil Gorsuch to be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, overcoming a historic Democratic blockade by changing the rules of the U.S. Senate — a move that highlighted the fierce partisanship that has seized Congress.

The long-anticipated rules change now means that all presidential nominees for executive branch positions and the federal courts need only a simple-majority vote to be confirmed by senators.

At this point, we can all expect to say Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Fuck.

Goodbye Progress. It Was Nice Knowing You.

Neil Gorsuch is now on the Supreme Court.

By a 54–45 vote, the Senate confirmed Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court on Friday.

The vote effectively returns control of the judicial branch — and with it, the U.S. Constitution — to Republicans. Once Gorsuch is sworn in, Republicans will enjoy a 5–4 majority on the Supreme Court.

Lisa Simpson saying "well, I guess that's it." in defeat.

Lisa Simpson saying “well, I guess that’s it.” in defeat.