“Substance” — That’s a word with heft, isn’t it? It has meaning, weight.
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1.
of considerable importance, size, or worth.
Similar: considerable, real, material, weighty, meaningful, significant, important, notable, valuable, worthwhile, decent
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concerning the essentials of something.
"there was substantial agreement on changing policies"
adje
/ˈsəbstən(t)iv,səbˈstan(t)iv/
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1.
having a firm basis in reality and therefore important, meaningful, or considerable.
"there is no substantive evidence for the efficacy of these drugs"
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2.
having a separate and independent existence
Not something that happens overnight or fits on a bumper sticker. It takes time to become a human being of substance. It takes time, courage, empathy, and no little determination to become a black woman of substance in this society. And the more substance she has, the more substantial a black woman is, the more people large and small will set about erasing her.
It’s as if they can’t fathom the intelligence, creativity, hard work, caring, and, yes, courage, that it takes for a Black Woman to rise in a profession that is reserved for white men in a deeply sexist and racist society.
White privilege is a drug that comes with a willful blindness. A mental tick that can not or will not process that they are not the measure of all things. The substantial Black Woman is ignored while those with lesser qualities and qualifications are gushed over, their every move followed.
MSM is willfully addicted to doing just that. The constant framing of yet another white man as the next big thing, when they manifestly are not. And all while erasing from view a Black Woman of profound substance. It has been amazing to watch play out in real time. And no, I’m not the only one who is noticing. Far from it.
We see you.
We see you and we’re not going to stop. Kamala is not going to stop being her substantial self and working her heart out for people. She knows how to fight and she does not quit. As just one example of that among many, when Prosecutors and DA’s in the past had let repeated violent abuser Elbert Flowers walk, Kamala’s District Attorney’s office did not.
D.A. fights even when victims won't
Flowers was 27 and cocky. He had dealt with the San Francisco district attorney's office before, so he had good reason to believe he would get off easy. Five years earlier, he had threatened to kill a different girlfriend and burn down her house. Then, he stabbed her 12 times in the legs with a two- pronged knife. The case never went to trial. The original six felony counts — including torture and assault with a deadly weapon -- were plea-bargained down to one count of "assault by means of force."
He was sentenced to just two years in state prison, but even that was waived. He served his time in county jail, most of it while awaiting trial. And the violent attack didn't even earn him a strike under California's "three strike law”
But this week, in Department 27 of the San Francisco Hall of Justice, Flowers will become the poster boy for the changes in domestic violence prosecution Kamala Harris promised when she became D.A. a little more than a year ago.
On Thursday, Flowers is scheduled to be sentenced to 14 years in state prison for the 2003 attack with the clothes iron. It took 18 months of dogged, frustrating work by prosecutors, victims' advocates, D.A. investigators and police officers to get the case to trial. As preliminary motions began earlier this month, Flowers finally blinked. Rather than risk the judgment of a jury, he pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder and infliction of great bodily harm. The charges earn him not only 14 years behind bars but a strike, meaning, among other consequences, he must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence……..
A Great Prosecutor is one who fights for Justice where others have not. As California’s Attorney General she eliminated a backlog of over one thousand rape kits while reducing processing time. That’s over a thousand victims who had not had all the weight of justice brought to bear on their behalf until Kamala acted.
Kamala led the way so others could follow. They know that justice denied is no justice at all.
Kamala knows that down to her bones. Justice must be made real to have any meaning. Whether it is taking on the Big Banks or polluters or sex traffickers, Kamala’s creative intellect connects the dots, finding the way forward that others do not. She’s doing the same with the race for the Presidency. She’s had practice with this.
I’d hope that we’d all want a President of Substance, A President who has a long history of fighting for others. A President that puts us and our right to Justice first. Like this —
…...In all of the discussion about a miscarriage of justice, Kavanaugh’s credibility and the damage to the Supreme Court, we seem to have lost track of the actual women involved. They have been damaged, their reputations ruined and their claims not taken seriously. Taking them seriously would have required the FBI to question all of the witnesses whose names were provided to the FBI. The lesson the Senate, the FBI, the president and Kavanaugh sent to victims was: The male perpetrator can orchestrate, choreograph and curate the process to avoid accountability. No matter how late in the process, Ramirez and Ford deserve a complete investigation.
Harris suggested that if the Congress won’t act, a special prosecutor could be named. That raises the intriguing possibility that if Democrats win the White House, the president and her attorney general will have the chance to do just that.
This episode points to one of Harris’s underlying strengths, namely the ability to see policy from the point of view of the victim, the vulnerable and the powerless. The ability to personalize the debate is critical. You know, if we spend three years holding out for single-payer, there are a lot of people who will needlessly have gone without coverage. Frankly, when the choice is between the inconvenience to the gun owner and the trauma to children or to families, I’m going to side with children and families every time.
Voters want to feel as if they are being seen and listened to. Now and then, it’s a good idea to actually see policy from their eyes. We’ve got an empathy shortage in politics now, and the candidate who can fill that void will get credit from people who feel they have no voice, no power, no choices and no one who can relate to their struggles.”
What Kamala Harris gets about Brett Kavanaugh
Kamala puts us first. Not her ego. Not the powers that be. Us. We are who she fights for. We are why she is the one to take on the malevolent occupant of the White House. She is the one with the skill and determination to bring Trump and his enablers to Justice. She knows like no one else that if Justice fails, our democracy fails. There is no Freedom, no Liberty, without real Justice.
For California, Attorney General Insisted on Better Terms in Foreclosure Deal
LOS ANGELES — Kamala D. Harris, the attorney general of California, could have derailed a nationwide settlement with big banks over home foreclosure abuses when she walked out of talks last September.
Last week, though, she emerged with a prize and a little vindication. Ms. Harris, already a rising Democratic star and a potential candidate for governor, announced that California would receive by far the largest share of the benefits in the deal, which is expected to climb beyond the $26 billion in the initial announcement.
Along the way, Ms. Harris charted a lonely course, keeping her distance from potential allies and angering some of her peers in other states, who saw her as grandstanding. On one side, Ms. Harris, a close Obama ally, faced increasing pressure from the administration to return to the negotiating table. On the other, liberal groups mounted a concerted push to get her to wring more from the banks.
But Ms. Harris wagered that holding out until the end in the settlement talks would give her the most leverage. In the end, she walked away with far more than California was slated to receive in the early days of the talks and a little more than was on the table as recently as January. Beaming into the cameras last Thursday, she said California homeowners were guaranteed $12 billion in debt reduction, while most other states received only promises.
Not only did she get the guarantee, she said, but the “California commitment” includes special penalties if the banks do not fulfill their part of the deal. Furthermore, she maintains the right to pursue claims on behalf of the state’s pension fund…….
California’s Attorney General Steps Up Environmental Enforcement Efforts
California’s Attorney General has broader constitutional, statutory and common law powers than any other state A.G. And lately Harris has used those powers vigorously on a variety of environmental law and policy fronts. Some examples:
- Late last year, Harris intervened in a lawsuit brought under the California Environmental Quality Act against Riverside County, challenging the county’s approval of an industrial project near a low-income, minority neighborhood that’s already disproportionately affected by diesel exhaust and noise pollution that would be exacerbated by the project. The Attorney General’s complaint in intervention suggests that environmental justice will be one of her top environmental objectives, and that she will continue her office’s longstanding tradition of aggressive enforcement of CEQA. Both are most welcome developments.
- Harris has similarly signalled that she will aggressively enforce California’s landmark Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, better known as Proposition 65. Two weeks ago, her office announced the settlement of a Proposition 65 lawsuit the Attorney General brought against the manufacturer of popular “Brazilian Blowout” hair products. That settlement requires the company to warn consumers and hair stylists that the hair smoothing products involved emit hazardous formaldehyde gas. The settlement requires significant changes to the manufacturer’s website and payment to the state of $600,000 in fees, penalties and costs.
- Last month, Harris joined a lawsuit against the San Diego Association of Governments, challenging the environmental impact report the Association had prepared in connection with its recently-adopted Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy.
The Plan and Strategy, in turn, are key components of the San Diego region’s efforts to meet California’s overall greenhouse gas reduction targets. Under SB 375, state law requires improved integration of local land use and transportation policies, with the ultimate goal of reducing urban sprawl, lengthy commuting patterns and aggregate vehicle miles traveled–all in furtherance of reducing California GHG emissions. San Diego’s proposed Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy are the first to be promulgated under SB 375; as such, they’ll serve as an important precedent–for good or ill–as other regions of the state work to implement SB 375’s mandates. Attorney General Harris’ controversial lawsuit suggests she is serious about ensuring that California local governments take those responsibilities seriously.
While Harris is making quite an impact on California environmental policy through these independent litigation initiatives, perhaps her most important environmental role in 2012 will be in providing vigorous and effective legal representation to state environmental agencies like the California Air Resources Board, Coastal Commission and State Water Resources Control Board. Currently at the top of that list: the Attorney General’s pending appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from last December’s federal district court decision in Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Goldstene. That decision (on which I previously commented) invalidated the ARB’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard and certain other ARB initiatives implementing AB 32 (California’s Global Warming Solutions Act) as being unconstitutional under dormant Commerce Clause principles.
Attorney General Harris and her talented staff of career environmental litigators have a long and ambitious agenda. Their record to date is impressive, and my strong sense is that they’re up to the environmental law and policy challenges that lie ahead…...
That’s a woman of substance, a woman who knows how to get the job done. A woman whose depth of experience, thought, determination, and caring won’t fit in a sound bite or selfie. Kamala is rock steady and brilliant. The issues that matter to all of us are not new to her. She didn’t just discover Black Maternal Mortality Rates or Environmental Justice or the need for Gun Safety Laws.
And she still knows how to have fun. She is our Joyful Warrior! Love how hard she’s trying not to crack up at Jimmy.
‘Mamala Kamala’ Harris Becomes First Woman To ‘Slow Jam The News’ On ‘Tonight Show’
She SEES us. Each of us matters to her. Sandra Bland’s mom broke my heart. The way she held on to Kamala for dear life….So much pain…..so much trust…..both in one. And Kamala has been there for the shattered and grieving time and time again. I don’t know if I could do that. Could you?
That’s who I want in the White House. Someone with the toughness and tenderness to heal this country’s hurts. Kamala is who this country desperately needs. She is who the marginalized desperately need. She never, ever, forgets them. The LGBTQ community, women, people of color, the poor, the disabled, the struggling and vulnerable, children. She has always fought to protect them, to bring justice to those who prey upon them be they polluters, big banks, sex traffickers, or unfair laws.
Kamala is the mirror opposite of Trump and who we need to finally bring justice to all his corruption and cruelty. She is someone who has always fought to make justice real. Someone who does not take the easy way.
Kamala is someone who leads. Together we can make justice real, restore honor to our Nation, and create a safe place for us all to land. Let’s get it done
Upcoming Events —
Kamala is heading back to Iowa!
And South Carolina -
Please remember to visit our community group page Kamala2020 and give us a follow! That way all our group efforts will appear in your stream; this makes it easy for everyone to keep up with our latest posts. As always, any who would like to join our group please leave us a comment and we’ll get your invitation right out to you!
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Please volunteer! Come share your story about why you support Kamala!
Upcoming schedule:
Monday — September 16th — Dfh1
Thursday — September 19th — onomastic
Saturday — September 21st — Denise Oliver Velez
Monday — September 23rd — Dfh1
Thursday — September 25th —
Saturday — September 27th —
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Group Guidelines
The Kamala2020 community group has been created to positively support Senator Kamala Harris, and not to engage in negativity towards other Democrats running in the 2020 primaries.
All should be made to feel welcomed here. What’s not welcomed here is petty bickering over any of our preferred candidates, or personal attacks on fellow Democrats. We’re not responsible for the actions of others who may offend, insult or attempt to sow discord and disunity — that’s on them.
What we are responsible for are our own words and actions — that’s 100% on us.
I’d like to ask all group members, as well as those dropping by who support or are interested in Kamala’s bid for the nomination, that we not respond to negativity from other campaign’s supporters with even more negativity. Let’s do better than our best and respond with respect, humor or try to hold our peace. Recipes and cat pics work, too 😃
Doing no harm costs us nothing... pie-fights will cost us everything.
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