Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets

Please note I have a new phone number...

512-517-2708

Alan Maki

Alan Maki
Doing research at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

It's time to claim our Peace Dividend

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

We need to beat swords into plowshares.

A program for real change...

http://peaceandsocialjustice.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-progressive-program-for-real-change.html


What we need is a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" which would make it a mandatory requirement that the president and Congress attain and maintain full employment.


"Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens"

- Ben Franklin

Let's talk...

Let's talk...

Friday, November 8, 2019

A conversation with Roger Hickey, Democratic Party hack.

My response to Roger Hickey of the Campaign for America’s Future who claims the New Democratic Governor of Kentucky is going to deliver health care reform:


Roger Hickey


You are some defender of health care reform... your legacy is that you helped kill the single-payer movement and you have never had the courage to address the need for real health care reform:
A National Public Health Care System...


Publicly funded.


Publicly administered.


Publicly delivered.


Based on the model of public education.


You and your cabal of foundation-funded outfits fronting for the Democratic Party helped kill single-payer in order to support Obamacare....


The “Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010.”


Now here you come saying Beshear owes working people... well, so did your candidate Barack Obama; and what did we get from Obama but a kick in the head that ended up delivering us into the hands of this two-bit half-assed racist fascist bastard Donald Trump who goes around the country holding his hate rallies sowing divisions.


Your goal is the same as the Wallace Foundation funding you... to keep people trapped in the Democratic Party.


I wonder what Dumb Donkey you intend to hitch your cart to in 2020? Please give us a hint.

A concerned citizen/activist organizing package to help build the movement to free Rodney Reed

Everyone is asking me:

“What is with this Texas Governor Greg Abbott that he refuses to recognize the overwhelming evidence that Rodney Reed is innocent and is proceeding to allow his execution while the real murderer of Stacy Stites, Jimmy Fennell, is allowed to go free?”


Quite literally, everyone is asking this question.


Well, it’s the same thing that has driven this case, this frame-up, of Rodney Reed from the very beginning:


RACISM.


Racist hate drove Jimmy Fennell to carry out this premeditated heinous brutal murder of Stacey Stites.


Racist hate, combined with corruption and a long legacy of historical, institutional, cultural and political racism is what is blinding Texas Governor Greg Abbott to the real facts involved in this case to the point where he has no respect for Rodney Reed’s right-to-life.


This movement for justice for Rodney Reed now involves millions of people, all across the country and here in Texas as it spreads across the globe... everyone is looking on in horror and in disbelief that the Governor of the State of Texas is allowing the execution of Rodney Reed to move forward in spite of overwhelming testimony from witnesses together with real medical and scientific evidence that Rodney Reed is innocent and everyone, except Governor Greg Abbott, can see that Rodney Reed is innocent recognizing that Rodney Reed should be exonerated without further delay and this execution halted.


With time running out as the scheduled day of Rodney Reed’s execution approaches, Governor Greg Abbott’s refusal time act in accordance with what human decency and justice demands can only be considered to be mean and spiteful with his actions intended to feed his small and dwindling racist base of support.


No doubt, at one time, Texas Governor Greg Abbott was thinking that with so few people concerned about the plight of Rodney Reed, because no one knew what was being passed off in the name of justice here in Texas, he could get away with executing Rodney Reed and that would be the end of the matter.


But, now, with a growing population having been informed and educated as to all the facts in this case, Texas Governor Abbott is having a great deal of difficulty carrying out his original plans, not because he has a conscience, but because he has been caught as a participant in this hideous racist frame-up of Rodney Reed.


The final decision of whether or not to execute Rodney Reed is not going to be a decision Texas Governor Greg Abbott makes on his own... the determination will be made in the ultimate court... the court of public opinion.


Can we build and organize the kind of massive and overwhelming movement in the short time left to force Texas Governor Greg Abbott to do what is right and just: stop this execution and exonerate Rodney Reed.


Texas Governor Greg Abbott comes looking for votes but he doesn’t want to hear from the people when it comes to what is right and what is wrong and what basic human decency requires.


Texas Governor Greg Abbott turns his back in indifference to millions of people now on record calling on him to do what is ethically and morally right in this case... only more people raising their voices is going to convince Texas Governor Greg Abbott to turn around and face the people and do what is right.


This is no time to give up... we must intensify and bring many more people into this struggle for justice for Rodney Reed.


We can not allow the execution of this innocent man to take place in our name.


Talk to everyone you know; get on the phone and talk to everyone- friends, neighbors, politicians, journalists, clergy, community leaders and grassroots activists.


We must ask, where are the voices from the labor unions? Rank-and-file workers are speaking out but we have yet to hear from union leaders. We are talking about the life of an innocent black worker, the victim of a racist frame-up. Organized labor must add its voice to this struggle for justice.


Take this plea for justice into every union hall for action.


Time is running out.


Look around you; do you know someone who hasn’t spoken up but who will speak up if they are educated to the facts in this case... talk to these people... don’t procrastinate.


Sign the petition and pass it along to others:

Stop the Execution of Rodney Reed!
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-execution-of-rodney-reed



Here is some good basic information on the case for you to use to educate people...


Dr. Phil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEphVV4LbrY

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7mk087


Democracy Now... this is excellent:
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/6/rodney_reed_calls_to_stop_execution?fbclid=IwAR3iPOYXr4X2i8qr1lodITdx1L5xwrAdr_xUwJmvVragzBkGs0mtEKnodBU


The Intercept:
https://theintercept.com/2019/11/08/rodney-reed-death-row-texas/?fbclid=IwAR1qq2aevrdhoNtTM_KEDHm-bSV3fZ7rIJDfpDvfgejh_6_TFFiAdQu-470


Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/11/06/texas-plans-execute-man-this-month-murder-his-lawyers-say-someone-else-confessed-crime/?fbclid=IwAR3GfwL1Vf0Z4xCTXgZGlbg6GzQjW8T5EaH7hIb9huCYYKJMcbUImBMK2A4


Bishop Joe Vasquez speaks out (includes video)
https://austindiocese.org/bishop-pleads-for-rodney-reeds-life?fbclid=IwAR0tT4L2jccidJg1TpwdeoHa_oq0_h8aY1QHBP3xp6CA_bwctk0NCwFUE48


Bastrop County Democratic Party resolution:
https://bastropdemocrats.org/resolved-to-achieve-exoneration-of-rodney-reed/?fbclid=IwAR0b0xeXdi1sO1l3UuOo3Ycg8iOBqn8H6gz_jq5id-hy2o40pIoCWYWSF8I


Polk County Republicans:
https://www.facebook.com/maki.alan/posts/2737127873034463


Austin-American Statesman
https://www.statesman.com/opinion/20191106/editorial-donrsquot-execute-rodney-reed-while-doubts-remain


Oprah Winfrey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCfDLaEN0rk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3TEKJ2iEb0OZ2Pmxz53GIEPTBYO5U2s71ccgUGkStITp_BP888g53y0P8


New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/rodney-reed-death-row-texas.html


History of racism and the criminal justice system from the New York Times "1619 Project:"
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/prison-industrial-complex-slavery-racism.html?fbclid=IwAR2veEKhDnDEZUWsHjFZyNFE4h6DfsEq67agLjbg5mKCima2FvpdzwO6e9E&mtrref=www.facebook.com&gwh=515BF6EC60792FA4D0F6E71A217C2AE7&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWALL


Letter from Texas State Senator Kirk Watson to Governor Abbott:
http://www.kirkwatson.com/featured-posts/request-for-reprieve-for-rodney-reed/


Letter from Texas State Representative Vikki Goodwin to Governor Abbott:
https://twitter.com/VikkiGoodwinTX/status/1190003004906364928



Letter from bi-partisan group of Texas State Legislators to Governor Abbott:
https://files.constantcontact.com/ad1cddb9001/edecbf75-f862-4b6a-a4da-a6d3e434bd61.pdf


If you need more info and people to contact let me know.


Here is the contact information for Texas Governor Greg Abbott... write, call, visit his office:

(512) 463-2000 - Office of the Governor Main Switchboard
(office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST)
Call 711 for Relay Texas - Citizen's Assistance Telecommunications Device, if you are using a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD)


Mailing Address
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428


Just a note as to how this struggle for justice to save Rodney Reed is shaping up:


Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his cabal of racist bigots are gearing up for a battle over Rodney Reed as they turn to some of the most vicious and vile racism not seen so openly in Texas in many years:


**********************
CNN reports today:
In a now deleted tweet highlighting the growing divide in the case, the Texas District & County Attorneys Association posted: "Not sure how Reed's supporters have turned him into the most popular serial rapist since Michael Jackson."
***********************


This is just the beginning.


These arrogant racist bigots who hold all levers of state power in Texas are intent on executing Rodney Reed as a way to opportunistically and sadistically mobilize their racist base.


Greg Abbott and his cabal of racist bigots can’t figure out how to get themselves out of this racist mess they created for themselves and they are now turning to this vile racism as their last bastion of defense.


This is sick!

A comment:

Alone our individual voices are like one little raindrop, we don't amount to much; but, let it pour... working together we become a powerful flood like a dry stream-bed overflowing its banks.
You can find a lot of other information by doing a Google search: "Rodney Reed"
Please share the link to this blog post.

Yours in the struggle to save Rodney Reed,
Alan Maki
512-517-2708

Democracy at stake

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has warned that the United States Supreme Court is doing “extraordinary favors” for President Donald Trump.


If this doesn’t serve as a warning of what is to come I don’t know what would.


It can’t happen here? Think again.

Polk County Republicans in Texas say: Free Rodney Reed!

POLK GOP


Resolution Supporting Clemency For Rodney Reed


Whereas, Rodney Reed, of Bastrop, Texas, has been on death row in Polk County, Texas, since 1998 for the 1996 murder of 19-year old Stacey Stites, and is set to be executed on November 20th; and


Whereas, the all white jury that convicted Rodney were not privy to the mountains of overwhelming evidence that would have exonerated him; and


Whereas, independent crime experts say the actual evidence points to Stacey's own fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, then a Giddings police officer, as her killer, who lived with Stites, initially was a suspect, who failed two polygraph exams, and was recently released from prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman while on duty as a Georgetown police officer not long after the time that Rodney was wrongly imprisoned; and


Whereas, the only evidence linking Rodney to Stacey was DNA evidence not inconsistent with that which would be typical found of a consensual sexual relationship; and


Whereas, during the trial, no individuals from Rodney's witness list were ever called to testify, which included those prepared to testify on Rodney's whereabouts the night of the murder, and those prepared to testify that Rodney knew Stacey and was romantically involved with her; and


Whereas, three of the actual expert witnesses that testified during the trial have since recanted their testimony, admitted that the time of death would have been hours prior to that what which they originally states during trial, thus meaning Stacey had died to the time that she left her and Fennell's apartment to go work; and


Whereas, several world renowned forensic pathologists have concluded that Rodney's attorney's requests to have the murder weapon tested for DNA; and


Whereas, this body believes Rodney is innocent.


Whereas, killing Rodney without certainty his guilt will erode public trust, not only in the death penalty, but in the entire justice system; and


Therefore Be It Resolved, that the Polk County Republican Party hereby requests that Governor Greg Abbott stay Rodney Reed's execution; and


Be It Further Resolved, that this body calls on members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to review all of the overwhelming evidence that exonerates Mr. Reed, and eventually grant clemency with a pardon based on innocence; and


Be It Further Resolved, that this body calls on Bastrop County District Attorney Bryan Goertz to cancel the November 20 execution date, test all the evidence, and initiate a new trial; and


Be It Further Resolved, that the Polk County Republican Party asks citizens of Polk County and throughout Texas to contact the above and respectfully request the same.

Racism runs rampant in Texas

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his cabal of racist bigots are gearing up for a battle over Rodney Reed as they turn to some of the most vicious and vile racism not seen so openly in Texas in many years:


**********************
CNN reports today:
In a now deleted tweet highlighting the growing divide in the case, the Texas District & County Attorneys Association posted: "Not sure how Reed's supporters have turned him into the most popular serial rapist since Michael Jackson."
***********************


This is just the beginning.


These arrogant racist bigots who hold all levers of state power in Texas are intent on executing Rodney Reed as a way to opportunistically and sadistically mobilize their racist base.


Greg Abbott and his cabal of racist bigots can’t figure out how to get themselves out of this mess they created for themselves and they are now turning to this vile racism as their last bastion of defense.


This is sick!