Small acts of resistance by Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks were grains of sand that changed the angle of repose of segregation in the Jim Crow South. Their actions toppled three generations of laws, rules, and "customs" piled on the shoulders of Black citizens denied liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.
So, too, with the small demonstration in the well of the Tennessee assembly last week by Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson. Their acts of resistance have set in motion grains of sand that dislodge others nearby, which in turn dislodge others . . . .
The chain reaction has begun. The movements will be imperceptible at first but—once started—are unstoppable. One small act of resistance by a single person is all that is necessary to overcome the angle of repose of decades of discrimination and injustice. Justin Pearson. Justin Jones. Gloria Johnson. You.
We are watching history unfold and repeat itself as news leaders arise to lead the next generation. Our hearts should be glad and filled with hope!
Finlandia Trophy (Espoo, Finland) Oct 4-8, 2023 (Adrian Diaz for IAMO)
Carreira/Ponomarenko 🥈2nd place (2nd RD, 3rd FD)
Hensen/Lickers 8th place (8th RD, 8th FD)
Skate Ontario Sectional Series October (Barrie, ON) Oct 14-15, 2023 (Justin Trojek for IAMO)
Anderson/Anderson (1st RD, WD FD)
Cornell/Emery 5th place (5th PD1, 4th PD2, 5th FD)
Mezzaluna Cup Ice Dance 2023 (Mentana, Italy) Oct 20-22, 2023 (Adrian Diaz for IAMO)
Dozzi/Papetti 7th place (9th RD, 7th FD)
Ritter/Brykalov 18th place (19th RD, 17th FD)
Grand Prix France (Angers, France) Nov 3-5, 2023 (Madi Hubbell for IAMO)
Carreira/Ponomarenko 4th place (4th RD, 4th FD)
2024 Skate Ontario Sectional Series November & Jr/Sr Sectional Championships (Richmond Hill, ON) Nov 4-5, 2023 (Alma Moir, Sheri Moir, Carol Moir, Cara Moir for IAMO)
Sales/Wamsteeker 1st place by score but they skate for the BC section (1st RD, 1st FD)
Hensen/Lickers 2nd place by score, 1st place for Ontario (2nd RD, 2nd FD)
Robinson/Portz 3rd place by score, but they skate for the Calgary section (3rd RD, 3rd FD)
Anderson/Anderson 4th place by score, 2nd place for Ontario (4th RD, 4th FD)
Veillon/Brandys 🥇1st place jr (1st RD, 1st FD)
Corneil/Emery 🥇1st place (3rd PD1, 2nd PD2, 1st FD)
(Lewis/McMillan bye)
Grand Prix Espoo (Espoo, Finland) Nov 17-19, 2023
Carreira/Ponomarenko 4th place (4th RD, 4th FD)
Skate Canada Challenge (Winnipeg) Nov 30-Dec 1, 2023 (Alma Moir and Cara Moir for IAMO)
Sales/Wamsteeker 🥉3rd place (3rd RD, 4th FD)
Hensen/Lickers 6th place (7th RD, 6th FD)
Anderson/Anderson 8th place (8th RD, 8th FD)
Veillon/Brandys 🥈2nd place (2nd RD, 2nd FD)
Bosphorus Cup (Istanbul, Turkey) Dec 1 - 2, 2023 (Adrian Diaz for IAMO)
Dozzi/Papetti 6th place (5th RD, 6th FD)
Nette/Westwood 17th place (18th RD, 17th FD)
Golden Spin of Zagreb (Sisak, Croatia) December 6-9, 2023 (Pascal Denis for IAM/O?)
Nette/Westwood 17th place (18th RD, 17th FD)
Ritter/Brykalov WD
2024 Novice Sectional Championships (Huntsville, ON) Dec 8-10, 2023 (Madison Hubbell, Adrian Diaz for IAMO)
Corneil/Emery 🥈2nd place (2nd PD1, 3rd PD2, 2nd FD)
Italian Figure Skating Championships (Pinerolo, Italy) Dec 22-23, 2023 (Madison Hubbell, Adrian Diaz for IAMO)
Dozzi/Papetti 🥉3rd place (3rd RD, 3rd FD)
Canadian National Figure Skating Championships (Calgary) Jan 8-14, 2024 (Scott Moir, Cara Moir, Sheri Moir)
Anderson/Anderson 11th place(11th RD, 11th FD)
Hensen/Lickers 4th place (7th RD, 4th FD)
Sales/Wamsteeker 8th place (8th RD, 7th FD)
Robinson/Portz 9th place (10th RD, 9th FD)
Veillon/Brandys 🥇1st place juniors (2nd RD, 1st FD)
European Figure Skating Championships (Kaunas, Lithuania) Jan 8-14, 2024 (Adrian Diaz for IAMO)
Dozzi/Papetti (22nd RD)
US Figure Skating Championships (Columbus OH) Jan 22-28, 2024
Carreira/Ponomarenko 🥈 2nd place (2nd RD, 1st FD!!!!)
Four Continents Championships (Shanghai) Jan 30-Feb 4, 2024
Carreira/Ponomarenko 🥉3rd place (3rd RD, 5th FD)
Nette/Westwood 15th place (14th RD, 16th FD)
Skate Canada Novice Challenge (Oakville) Feb 1-4, 2024 (Alma Moir for IAMO)
Corneil/Emery 6th place (9th place, Starlight Waltz, 2nd place Paso Doble, 5th FD)
Egna Dance Trophy (Egna, Italy) Feb 8-11, 2024 (Justin Trojek for IAMO)
Dozzi/Papetti 4th place (5th RD, 3rd FD)
2024 Novice Canadian Championships (Waterloo, ON) Feb 21-25, 2024 (Cara Moir for IAMO)
Justin C. Carlin, founder of The Carlin Law Firm, PLLC, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a state and federal business, real estate, and civil trial attorney. Justin is rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell—the highest rating available. In each of the past five years, he has also been named a “Florida Rising Star” by Super Lawyers® magazine—an honor limited to no more than 2.5% of Florida attorneys. In 2016, he became a fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) National Trial College at Harvard Law School.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of USA skate in the Ice Dance Rhythm Dance Team Event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Capital Indoor Stadium on February 04, 2022 in Beijing, China.
“Thank you for existing, you are loved! Send this to ten people, who in your opinion deserves such a sweet message in their inbox. Nothing bad will happen if you don’t, but imagine the smiles.” (hi!! You're a delight!!!!)
Bruh I wanted to do it but I couldn’t find people’s ? Ask box ? Sorry -also I don’t really like doing chain things for some reason idk
Thanks a lot ❤️ you’re so sweet I love you it’s such a great thing to wake up to
Uuuuh I’m just going to @ people I wanted to send it to @catastic-river @useless-fangirl-does-fan-art @borinquenaqueer @lourokanmuri @justinhubbell @ignorantdreamsofaneongravestone (I love your username btw) and that’s the best I can do
I’m not gonna tag popular artists I’ve never talked to because it’s embarrassing. Not that I’ve talked directly to all of you but we’ve reblogged each other’s stuff i think so I consider that communication. Justin Hubbell is what I’d consider a popular artist but also it’s okay because even if we haven’t talked they’re kind and soft and what they do makes me feel better :)
You don’t have to keep the chain going if you don’t feel like it ! Please don’t feel pressured to do so I’m sorry if you feel it
Tonight, I offer a reflection on last week—and a suggestion about how we must respond. We went into last week expecting the news to be dominated by Trump's arraignment. It was—until the GOP-controlled legislature in Tennessee expelled two young Black Representatives for protesting briefly in the well of the assembly. We then received the report of Pro Publica outlining the manifest corruption of Justice Thomas by Texas millionaire and Hitler memorabilia collector Harlan Crow. And then Judge Kacsmaryk issued a thinly disguised religious fiat banning mifepristone for women across America.
Each of the above events demonstrates the GOP’s efforts to achieve its goals by breaking the democracy that guarantees their liberties in the first instance. But we must now add to the sad litany a new item—Governor Greg Abbott’s pre-emptive announcement that he will pardon a Texas man convicted of murder after a jury trial. At trial, the defendant was able to present his argument that he acted in self-defense. The jury rejected that claim and voted unanimously to convict him of murder.
Why does Abbott believe that he is justified in pardoning the murderer even before appeals have been heard? Abbott is, after all, substituting his judgment for that of the jurors who heard the evidence first-hand. Abbot believes the defendant is innocent of murder because he killed a “BLM” protester.
That’s right: Governor Abbott has established a new rule that laws do not apply equally to people protesting police killings and right-wing extremists who are upset by the protests. In a single act, Abbott has altered the law in Texas, demoted protestors demanding justice to second-class status, and told Texas jurors that their voices do not matter when MAGA extremists are on trial. In short, “self-defense” is a MAGA “get out of jail free” card under Greg Abbott’s reign in Texas.
Together, these four instances illustrate a strategy the GOP learned from Trump: If the democratic system does not produce the result you want, then break democracy to obtain a different result. That is what the Tennessee legislators did to Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, that is what religious zealots did to all Americans, that is what monied interests did in bending the Supreme Court to do the bidding of the privileged and elite, and that is what Greg Abbott has done in summarily overturning a jury verdict that flies in the face of the facts.
We have been confronting this asymmetry from the very moment Trump announced his bid in 2016, and it has worsened over time. As Democrats toil within the system to forge compromises over competing policies, Republicans break the system to get their way. They simply ignore it (McConnell on Merrick Garland’s nomination), they deny it (outcomes of elections), they falsify it (fake electors), they rig the judicial system to guarantee assignment of cases to a sympathetic federal judge (Kacsmaryk), and they attempt to stop its operation through violence (J6).
There have been scattered calls for Democrats to employ similar tactics. Indeed, some are calling for the federal government to ignore Judge Kacsmaryk’s order if it is not stayed by the 5th Circuit or the Supreme Court. To state the obvious, to do so would amount to “breaking democracy” simply because we don’t like the result. We must not give in to the temptation to adopt the GOP’s anti-democratic tactics. We must fight our battle of resistance from within the walls and ramparts of democracy if we have any hope of saving it.
The truth is that the rule of law continues to exist in America today because one of America’s major political parties remains committed to upholding that rule—despite the efforts of the other party to destroy it. If both parties feel emboldened to ignore the rule of law, our democracy will be gone. All that will be left is a contest of brute force in which dark money will substitute for violence.
I do not believe we will reach that point. I have faith that Democrats will do the right thing despite legitimate feelings of anger, hurt, and despair. In each of the four situations described above, there is a democratic path forward to correct the result. It will not be easy, and we may not succeed entirely. But so long as we have a path forward, we should not set aside our great charter and the laws that give it life. It has endured for more than two centuries during equally trying times; we can make it through the present challenges, as well.
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[from comments]
Overall, MAGA Republicans are revealing who and what they are. During the mid-terms, Democrats pushed back against an anticipated red tsunami and vastly outperformed expectations. Perhaps the ongoing MAGA performances will convince even more voters to shut them down.
Jessica Craven's latest post in "Chop Wood, Carry Water," celebrates many recent victories. She also writes that the two Tennessee lawmakers who were expelled can run in the special elections for their seats, and if they win, they cannot be expelled again. As for the other ugly instances cited here, I can sympathize with the anguished plea, "what does it take?" that most of us uttered during the long years of the Trump regime. Read Jessica Craven's post from today to understand that there are reasons for optimism.
We are being forged by fire to get as tough as our opponents and as clever. We already outnumber them. We are inspired by the courage of Ukrainians in their fight for their democracy and their lives. We are inspired by the heroes of our own Civil Rights movement that is ongoing. We are inspired by the turnout of the Israeli populace and even its military members that caused the Netanyahu regime to blink. We are being called upon to dig deep, stay tough and committed and resist even though we are tired.
Tomorrow is another day. Let's get on with the work.
Justin C. Carlin, founder of The Carlin Law Firm, PLLC, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a state and federal business, real estate, and civil trial attorney. Justin is rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell—the highest rating available. In each of the past five years, he has also been named a “Florida Rising Star” by Super Lawyers® magazine—an honor limited to no more than 2.5% of Florida attorneys. In 2016, he became a fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) National Trial College at Harvard Law School.
The winners of the 2018 Prism awards will be announced Saturday July 21st SDCC, from 8-9pm in room 29AB
The nominees for the 2018 Prism Awards are:
Short Form Comics:
To Measure by Noella Whitney, 2017
Contact High by James F Wright and Josh Eckert, August 2017
Figurinha by Dante Luiz, May 2017
There s More Than One! by Justin Hubbell, June 2017
It Was 1973, and Tiffany Banks Was Totally Winning at Gender by Ajuan Mance, 2017
2017 Webcomics:
Cans of Beans, chapter 9 by Tamara Go, 2017
SuperButch Issue 1 by Becky Hawkins and Barry Deutsch, 2017
Monster Pop! by Maya Kern, (excerpt from 2017)
O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti, (excerpts from 2017)
Superpose by Ciaran and Han, (excerpt from August 2017-November 2017)
Small To Midsize Press Comics and Graphic Novels:
Steam Clean by Laura Ķeniņš, published by Retrofit Comics, May 2017
The Boys Who Became Hummingbirds by Daniel Heath Justice and Weshoyot Alvitre, published by Alternate History Comics Inc., June 2017
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, published by Fantagraphics, February 2017
Main Stream Comics and Graphic Novels:
Iceman by Sina Grace (writer), Alessandro Vitti (artist), Kevin Wada (artist), published by Marvel Comics, 2017
Heavy Vinyl by Carly Usdin (Writer), Nina Vakueva (Pencils), Irene Flores (Inker), Rebecca Nalty (Colorist), Jim Campbell (Letterer) published by Boom Studios, 2017
The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag, Scholastic Graphix, 2017
Anthologies:
Dates: An Anthology of Queer Historical Fiction Volume 2 edited by Zora Gilbert and Cat Parra, August 2017
Power & Magic: IMMORTAL SOULS edited by Joamette Gil, 2017
Oh Joy Sex Toy, Volume 4 edited by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, 2017
This is the talented judging panel:
AJ Real (Advanced Death Saves edited by Josh Trujillo)
Ajuan Mance (Gender Studies; Alphabet; We’re Still Here
Brian Andersen (Stripling Warrior; So Super Duper; The Advocate
e jackson (Flux; Drawing a Dialogue podcast)
Gillian Pascasio (The Kiss of the Demoness)
Gina Biggs (Love Not Found)
Hari Conner (Finding(Home)
Heidi MacDonald (The Beat, The News Blog of Comics Culture)
H-P Lehkonen (Life Outside the Circle
Jack Baur (Librarian, Berkeley Public Library)
Mey Valdivia Rude (Autostraddle)
Rob McMonigal (Panel Patter)
Scout Tran-Caffee (Villainette; Falling Sky)
Sfé R. Monster (Beyond: The Queer Sci Fi & Fantasy Comic Anthology, Vols. 1 and 2; webcomic Eths’ Skin)
William O. Tyler (WoT, Cinephilia)
The awards themselves will be held at San Diego Comic Con on Saturday, July 21st at 8pm in room 29AB. You must have a SDCC badge to attend the ceremony.