On Trump's civil investigation, and Alabama Coach Nick Saban wades into Federal voting rights waters
The Hump Day Hot Topics!
Nobody asked me but....
*** Yes, I saw the "Breaking News" that NY Attorney General Letitia James has noted myriad misstatements and ommissions in Trump organization documents turned over as part of an investigation into possible civil wrongdoing by the former President or his business assigns prior to his term of office. To be honest, this play by General James is rather odd, as I cannot recall ever observing such statements by an attorney general or prosecutor absent formal court proceedings.
While I shan't speculate as to "why" this information was disseminated in this rare manner, I do know that Trump media handlers have doubled down on the “this is a witch-hunt" rhetoric that the former president popularized while in office.
Now, it is important to note that Ms. James’s investigation is civil; a parallel criminal investigation is being conducted by Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's District Attorney, and mum’s the word from his office.
Still, the question that begs asking, "will Donald Trump get locked up," still renders Ol' Hobbs a skeptic because, if I know nothing else after nearly 50 years of living, it’s that political differences have rarely prevented the "Good Ol' Boys" from protecting one of their own from prosecution—no matter how strong the evidence is in favor of prosecuting.
Stay tuned...
***Kudos to Florida State Sen. Lauren Book for her near annual Sisyphean labor of filing legislation to eliminate Confederate state holidays in the Sunshine State.
As a Florida native, I have ALWAYS side-eyed those who boldly (and incorrectly) state that they "don't see Florida like the rest of the South).” Such remarks ignore the fact that in 1860, vast segments of Florida, including Tallahassee (the state's capital), had more enslaved Blacks on Census rolls than whites. Or that later, Jim Crow segregation was alive and deadly in Florida from the 1880s to the early 1970s, with the brutal lynchings of Claude Neal, Willie Howard, the Groveland Four, and the Rosewood Massacre all serving as reminders that many Florida whites were just as wickedly evil as their White Citizens Council and Ku Klux Klan kinsmen in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.
To my dismay, today, January 19th, the State of Florida is celebrating Confederate General Robert E. Lee's birthday and will celebrate Confederate Memorial Day on April 26th—and Confederate President Jefferson Davis's birthday on June 3rd. 😠
It's important to note that these "holidays" were enacted as a push-back to the civil rights movement. That fact alone, not to mention the traitorous acts that these men perpetrated against the United States are reason enough to remove them from the place of public honor via a state holiday.
But again, like the mythical Sisyphus who was doomed by the gods to roll a boulder uphill—only to see it roll back down to start the labor anew, Sen. Book gets credit in my book for reminding us all that those dishonorable Rebel bastards should be studied, but deserve no "honor" in the modern public square.
***Count me among those mildly surprised when I read the headlines yesterday that legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban, a West Virginia native, had lent his signature to an open letter from a number of sports world luminaries calling for West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) to push for Federal voting rights protections.
My surprise stemmed from the fact that while the Alabama Crimson Tide football team is dominated by Black athletes, the University of Alabama is, well, Alabama—the flagship University of a Red State that’s filled with Republicans who support the voter suppression mechanisms that pending Federal legislation would usurp.
My gut thought was that Saban, knowing that his winning is dependent more on Bakari the baller than Bubba the Tide fan, was showing support to his players and their families that are disproportionately impacted by Republican suppression measures.
Through the past decade, when it comes to Power Five FBS schools, Nick Saban has been more inclined to the concerns of his Black players and their families than many of his white coaching brethren.
But after seeing several social media posts about how Coach Saban was pushing hard for Black voting rights protection, such piqued my interest and compelled me to read a little deeper and, upon so doing, I learned that Saban, before signing the group letter, demanded that a footnote get added that reminds that he "does not support ending the filibuster." Alas, this footnote is the cause of my concern because ending the filibuster seems to be THE only way to get voting rights legislation passed in a divided Senate and, without it, the group letter—and Saban's supposed support, ring rather ineffective.
Read more at the following link!
In Memoriam
The Hobbservation Point extends condolences to the family of the late Andre Leon Talley, an alumnus of North Carolina Central University and former editor of Vogue Magazine, who passed away yesterday at the age of 73.
A quote from Talley that provides a fitting epitaph: “I scorched the earth with my talent and I let my light shine.”
Indeed; find rest, sir!
Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point—have a wonderful Wednesday!
That Florida has those holidays on the books. Wow. Good for Book.
Well damn Nick.