Posted with great sadness
h/t Jackie
The dog in the sidebar has his eyes covered. We can’t cover ours.
Independence Day
by WaterGirl| 90 Comments
This post is in: Breathtaking Criminality and Lawlessness, Grieving for Our Country, Open Threads
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.
Innocent people do not delay justice.
If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.
Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.
Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.
You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?
… gradually, and then suddenly.
Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.
The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.
Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.
We will not go back.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.
Everything is totally normal and fine!!!
“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”
It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.
“Alexa, change the president.”
An almost top 10,000 blog!
I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.
Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?
“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”
If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.
You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.
Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.
The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.
SW
As bad as things are, the past was worse.
Deputinize America
On the good side, Falangist/Fascist governments in the West have historically seemed to make massive shifts once the Maximum Leaders die. Hopefully, this results in disgust at the groveling underlings. I pray I live long enough to see it.
New Deal democrat
The state of the American Republic on July 4, 2025
From the Declaration of Independence:
In the past year, the Supreme Court has declared:
That the President is a de facto King, above the law.
That the President’s abolition of birthright citizenship can stand unrestrained.
That the President may arrest and deport people to any third country willing to take them, without any due process.
pat
@New Deal democrat:
Wow. trump has the Declaration of Independence on the wall as a to-do list. Looks like he’s accomplishing a lot…
WTFGhost
Don’t get sad. Get angry, and get even. You don’t fight evil with weeping.
Wanna know how I live? Well, sometimes, like Banner says, “I’m always angry,” because that’s the only way to keep the energy flowing, is, adrenaline. “Come on you maggot! You call that a response letter? BETTER SHORTER FASTER! COME ON!”
“You clean up the dishes in that sink this instant, you hear me?” I scream, and if I were a child being screamed at, I’d probably throw a tantrum, because I’m so tired I just want to do that anyway, but, there’s no grown-up who will clean that disgusting sink out, so, I have to, tantrum free.
“Don’t you DARE FORGET that the REPUBLICANS WILL KILL PEOPLE HAPPILY! They will HIGH FIVE each other, while *killing* people, in some of the worst ways possible! NEVER forget those smug, sanctimonious MURDERERS, and don’t let them leave this life without justice!”
Understanding when you can put your anger “in gear” and let it drive your actions, now, that’s tricky. That’s how you had some old Type A personalities. “Type A” means “ANGRY” – they bark out orders, never thank subordinates, scream when something is what they *asked* for, but isn’t *right*, etc.. And, sometimes, those angry people get better results in the short term, though in most cases, you can find better ways to get those same results without all the performative anger. (And if it’s not performative, wow, that’s not very popular-making behavior, screaming at subordinates, staying angry and cussing out the wait-staff, etc..)
But you don’t need to do that. Sometimes, you can say “EVIL people did this, and I will not grieve, until the battle is won!” and let your anger rise, and turn into rage (stored up anger that doesn’t explode out at subordinates, etc.). Let your anger settle, and remember it… deep down inside, remember that white hot spark, right in the center, and remind yourself, “Oh, I’ll be *good* and mad when I need to be,”
Then mourn.
That’s effective for people who tend to mope their depression out, because better to be angry than sad, despairing, horror-struck, etc., and let that mood take over instead of anger.
WTFGhost
@New Deal democrat: Ah ah ah!
He can only deport them, WHILE THE COURTS DECIDE IF IT’S ILLEGAL TO DO SO!!!
Then, and only then, if they decide it’s legal, will they… uh… yeah. I mean, sure, there’s no *effective* difference, but, but they didn’t say it was OKAY, they just said he could do it, there was no threat of HARM done, but real threats of harm done if he *couldn’t*, so, sure, he can keep breaking the law, violating the constitution on the side, while they figure out if it’s legal or not.
columbusqueen
I try not to give in to complete despair, but damn it’s hard. So many are not just failing to keep our republic they’re willfully throwing it away.
trollhattan
What fresh hell is this? Blast email purportedly from SSA.
Real? Did Dear Leader demand they send out a headpat cooing “nothing to see here, it’s all going to be even better” as they juggle a bunch of pinless Republican grenades?
It’s all too much.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
rikyrah
Happy July 4th🎆🇺🇸
rikyrah
@New Deal democrat:
Worst Court since Taney
NotMax
Tuneage for today (courtesy of the good Vladimir).
;)
Scout211
@trollhattan: That letter has been mentioned in threads downstairs and I will repost my comment from downstairs:
Re: the SSA political newsletter everyone is talking about here
My husband and I did not receive the political email via the SSA newsletter. We both have our email subscriptions set for important information about our accounts only and we are unsubscribed from the fluffy newsletter.
I might suggest that others do that during this period of time since the fluffy email has now turned blatantly political.
WTFGhost
I think Digbysblog.net speaks a bit for me:
https://digbysblog.net/2025/07/04/no-retreat-no-surrender/
Putting Twisted Sister first was nice – we had to have “we’re not gonna take it,” but let’s face it, the lyrics are a bit repetitive. I can’t speak for the other songs, though. For Bruce, I’d have done his live version of “How can a poor man stand such times and live?”
trollhattan
@Scout211:
So it’s real? Not gaudy spam?
trnc
@SW: So far. Let’s see how things are going in two years.
ETA: I don’t mean that literally, but things will def get worse.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Discussion about this downstairs last evening. Consensus was it is spam.
Professor Bigfoot
The way I know you guys are white (and I love ya, never doubt it!) is that you think this is new.
Go listen to Frederick Douglass on the subject of July 4 and know that this is most certainly not new— what’s new is that white people will suffer the same things that Black people have known since before the Founding.
prostratedragon
Heather Cox Richardson:
Scout211
@trollhattan: Yes. It’s real. But also too, gaudy spam, propaganda and maybe even gaslighting. But in a newsletter email from Social Security.
At least it isn’t in the official email about our social security accounts, just in the newsletter.
ETA: Here is the official press release on the SSA website that many SS recipients received in their inbox.
Professor Bigfoot
@rikyrah: Conservatives would say “BEST court since Taney,” since they don’t really believe Dred Scott was wrong.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
The descendents of Frederick Douglass retell his famous speech:
What does the 4th of July mean to the slave?
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZP8h8Cev5/
Jackie
Sad reminder:
For some reason the link won’t paste, but this is the opening from Greg Olear’s substack Prevail article: Ramble On: How Are You?
It’s a long read, but worthy of the time IMHO.
prostratedragon
@NotMax:
As arranged by Igor Stravinsky, citizen:
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Since David posted the Gettysburg Address downstairs another Lincoln speech that applies is the Lyceum address. Welcome to the die by suicide part.
trollhattan
@Scout211: Sigh. Thanks.
Bracing reminder “Everything Trump touches, dies.”
Feel SO independent.
Mark
@trollhattan: I haven’t seen the legislation itself, but my understanding of what is going on, is that seniors 65+ will have an additional $6000 for a single filer, and $12000 for a married couple added to their standard deduction. This legislation expires in 2029.
This will reduce the adjusted gross income, no matter the source of the income, thus lowering the tax burden for said seniors. Many of them don’t pay any income tax currently, their adjusted gross income is to low.
MagdaInBlack
@Professor Bigfoot: @rikyrah: Thank you.
Steve LaBonne
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: “Challenge accepted!”- MAGA
Steve LaBonne
@Mark: Not only is it meaningless to seniors trying to survive on SS alone, the 2029 expiration is a particularly cynical touch. Just gross.
Mark
Full retirement age is nearly 67 years of age.
Raoul Paste
@prostratedragon: Fascinating. Thanks for contributing Stravinsky‘s version
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@rikyrah:
p.a.
Here’s Atrios on a complicit American “giant”
Eugenics Daily
by [email protected] (Atrios)
Eschaton / 2025-07-04 09:55
Columbia University’s applicant data was hacked by people trying to “prove” that Columbia has been admitting too many black people. The New York Times has an obsessive anti-trans health reporter who got the “scoop” – he called it a scoop, he was very proud – that Mamdani checked both Asian (he is) and African-American (he is) and furthered clarified Ugandan (he is) on his application, the “scoop” being, for racists, that he attempted to “cheat” his way into Columbia by claiming to be black. He did not get into Columbia.
The NYT granted the source of this hacked information anonymity, despite his name being well-known, to cover up the fact that they used a Nazi eugenicist freak as a source of hacked information. The anonymity (pseudonymity, precisely) was not to protect the source, but to try to protect the rep of the Times.
They even tried to determine whether Mamdani’s family ever intermarried with indigenous Ugandans, which somehow was important to this story of how a 17-year-old correctly checked the boxes on his form.
There are 3 bylines on this story.
Steve LaBonne
@p.a.: Whenever we think FTFNYT has hit bottom, it somehow finds a new low.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I had a rueful chuckle yesterday when I got an email from Talking Points Memo, in which Josh Marshall quoted President Thomas J. Whitmore. Marshall stated that the line “we will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight” resonated a great deal with him, making a great rallying cry for a proper newsroom.
brantl
@Professor Bigfoot: sometimes you’re an idiot; we don’t think this is new. We think it’s wider spread than it used to be. You really are high on your own supply.
don’t you understand that condescension drives people away?
Another Scott
@Mark:
Full retirement age is
nearly67 years of age.It’s 67 for those born in 1960 and later.
HTH!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Steve LaBonne
@brantl: As they say down South, a hit dog will howl. White liberals with sensitive feefees who can so easily be “driven away” never really supported justice in the first place.
Deputinize America
@rikyrah:
I’d argue that’s it’s worse than Taney’s court, because they had a verifiable example of how not to blow everything up.
prostratedragon
Arranged by Bela Bartok, citizen, as part of a project at Columbia University:
brantl
@Steve LaBonne: Yep, but you’d think that the howling would die down, after a while!
He’s constantly dragging his allies.
Steve LaBonne
@brantl: No, you’re still here. And evidently not bright enough to see yourself clearly.
brantl
@Steve LaBonne: back atcha, bub.
Pied.
Sure Lurkalot
@Mark: The temporary, extra deduction is in lieu of Trump’s campaign “promise” to eliminate tax on SS benefits. If your AGI is over $75K, no extra deduction for you.
At least 15% of SS income is not subject to tax currently no matter how much money you make, the less you make, the less is subject to federal income tax. And it’s true that many SS recipients living primarily off SS alone pay no tax. Some states exclude SS benefits from state income tax as well.
So the email is an inaccurate piece of trash but too many rubes will buy into the “promises made, promises kept” bullshit that our legacy media will probably promote.
Maccheerful
Much of the year I live about 30 kilometers from that mural. I have forwarded the post to some French friends.
I don’t think enough Americans realize that although there is anti Americanism in France and the rest of the world, the great belief of the majority had been that America was a place of liberty and hope, and how comprehensivily this valuable American resource is being squandered. Like inheritees casually tossing antique furniture of the house they inherited into the trash.
Steve LaBonne
@brantl: He is dragging people who pretend to be allies but desert as soon as something makes them “uncomfortable”. I left my previous UU congregation because I was sick of dealing with such people. Their “allyship” isn’t worth a bucket of warm piss.
rikyrah
There are some things that can be placed at the feet of the professional malpractice of those so-called journalists.
Who did not say, everytime a story about the abomination of that bill…
To those people that have MEDICAID called something else in their State…
” MEDICAID IS CALLED THIS IN OUR STATE. IF YOU GET YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE UNDER (INSERT THE NAME), YOU ARE ON MEDICAID ”
THeir unwillingness to make this clear to their viewing public, thus truly bringing it home to the low information voters…
Phuck Them😠😠😠
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZP8h8Mdvv/
Jesse
What surprises me about the SSA spam mail is it highlights something I didn’t know was in the bill. Of course I’d heard about it cutting taxes for the wealthy, being fiscally irresponsible, but not this detail. The closest I’d heard was “this is a massive transfer of wealth from the young to the old”. But again, no one spelled out what that meant. And I follow a fair amount of political news.
Sure Lurkalot
@Jackie: To Russia with Love. Best legislators money
can buybought.Mark
The little woman and I are both collecting SS. Our AGI is well above the $75K threshold. I’m still working full time. This issue about SS got me to thinking.
Trump promised no income tax on OT. Is that going to be subject to income limits also? Is there anything about no income tax for OT in the BBB?
Inquiring minds want to know.
New Deal democrat
@p.a.: And as you probably already know, Jamelle Bouie apparently had his job threatened for posting notes on Bluesky critical of the article, so he had to delete them.
But in the meantime, someone took screenshots. Here is a link to Bouie’s now-deleted posts:
https://bsky.app/profile/purplechrain.bsky.social/post/3lt4b37qhtc2a
Steve LaBonne
@New Deal democrat: He needs to follow Krugman out the door.
WTFGhost
@brantl: While I sometimes find Prof Bigfoot a bit abrasive, I don’t know that I’ve seen him as condescending.
Today, reading his comment, I had a bit of a flashback to a skit about people who were reacting to Trump’s 2016 win, saying things (in the presence of two Black people) like “electing Trump is the most shameful thing America has ever done!” Well… no, actually, we’ve done a lot more that’s more shameful.
And listen: a lot of people who aren’t racist just don’t understand how *toxic* racism is, and how there are some people who believe in the Dred Scott decision, including “And then Cain found the people of Nob (or whatever dumbass name they invented for the legend) and had non-human descendants, so it’s okay to grab one, rape her to death, eat her, then sew her skins into your clothes, if you felt like it, and paid for her, and the slaver would say with a wink, “and you doesn’t have to do it in that order, you know!”
There are people who seriously think “wow, if slavery were legal, I might own a couple!” as if slavery weren’t constant terroristic violence that would stain your soul just for considering the matter.
And sometimes, those people help pass legislation, thinking of millions of people as “waste, fraud, and abuse.” If we think “they’ll do the right thing, if informed,” we’re wrong. They need to be forced.
I feel the prof is doing his reminding in an occasionally awkward and embarrassing (to my sensibilities) manner, but I find him more prodding, than condescending. (And yes, he sometimes prods a sore spot on *me* too! Hence, I call him hard, hard enough to be abrasive, but again… that’s not a bad thing, it’s just “a” thing.)
Baud
@p.a.:
I can’t believe the Clinton Cash/ButHerEmails/BidenIsOld newspaper would do that.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: That’s disgusting.
NotMax
@Jackie
Can avoid jet lag now by traveling to Mar-a-Moscow.
//
WaterGirl
@Mark:
They say it will help 90% of seniors.
So let me guess, the 10% of the people who won’t benefit from that change are the ones who it might actually help – the ones that are actually earning more money.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Sure Lurkalot:
Just ask Hick and his crypto backers.
On second thought, you said “best legislators” and that term and “John Hickenlooper” don’t typically occur in the same sentence.
I’ll come in again.
Steve LaBonne
@WTFGhost: When we discover a spot that’s sore when prodded, that’s exactly the spot we need to work on.
Professor Bigfoot
@brantl: May I invite you to go fuck yourself, white man?
Thank you.
Professor Bigfoot
@Steve LaBonne: Another example of the Bigfoot Dictum:
”There is no horseshoe. There is only white people who are at best uncomfortable with any power being held in Black hands. Those white people are at all points of the ‘left-right’ spectrum.”
Even down to the power of a Black man to speak his fucking mind on a blog.
WTFGhost
@New Deal democrat:
Well, and: is he violating immigration law? Yes, so, check.
He hasn’t refused assent to laws, but he’s refused to *obey* the law, nor to force his allies to do so. Check.
He’s not quartering soldiers, but he’s sending our swarms to harass our people.
“Hi, California, we’re nationalizing your National Guard unit! Also, bringing in the Marines!”
Tariffs, the most beautiful word in the English language
If you’re a migrant, you’re S-O-L.
He doesn’t do *that*. He just sends them to be imprisoned, sans trial.
Just sayin’.
WTFGhost
@Steve LaBonne: Yes, and sometimes, you need some abrasive to scrape off some callus to feel things.
Jesse
As I was thinking over this SSA thing (which I think was a campaign promise of Trump’s?) I was startled when the thought occurred to me that maybe the SSA is lying. If your tax bill next year doesn’t go down, you can chalk it up to that 10% who aren’t affected by the change. Or rationalize it sone other way (e.g., I guess they’re behind, maybe the law didn’t go into effect yet, etc.).
Professor Bigfoot
@Steve LaBonne: Part of why I love this place and all the cr-words here is that I too, get a prod sometimes.
Like learning the actual way white families interact and understanding that the racists, when confronted by their families, simply go underground but never change their attitudes.
I was like, “well, damn… THAT sucks,” and have put that particular soapbox away. 😉
I haven’t been denounced for being sexist recently so I have to hope I’m being successful in being a true ally (‘cause it ain’t for me to judge, it’s for the women in my world to judge).
lowtechcyclist
@brantl: 🙄🙄🙄🙄
And more
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
lowtechcyclist
@brantl:
It’s always amusing when the bozos pie the worthwhile commenters. 😄
Matt McIrvin
@brantl: He’s more right than wrong. The one point I wonder about is his consistent characterization of the Democratic Party-skeptic left as a white-supremacist phenomenon, while elsewhere I’m reading Black leftists describing liberal party loyalty as a white-supremacist phenomenon.
I suspect the deal is, it’s actually more generational and by pure statistics the plurality of people on both sides are white, and of course that conditions everything–you can characterize it both ways with some justification. Intersectionality, as they say, is hard.
New Deal democrat
@WTFGhost:
I was thinking of DOGE with that one.
WTFGhost
@New Deal democrat: Point!
Thor Heyerdahl
I keep thinking of this scene from “The Death of Stalin” of what the Whitehouse inner circle may look like when Trump dies.
Ruckus
@SW:
Exactly why rethuglicans only have one gear, reverse. They want to go back to a time when supposedly a few had everything and everyone else had jack and s_ _ _.
I know I am getting down to the crude side, but I am describing current day republicans – “If I can’t have it all then no one else can have anything!” Current day monarchies do better. Hell, some current day dictators do better.
RevRick
@rikyrah: Through much of its history the Supreme Court has sucked. Let’s not forget Plessy or Lockner.
Chetan Murthy
@Professor Bigfoot: @rikyrah: I take your interventions seriously, and recognize their importance and relevance. But …. I feel like this country has become a thing it was not before. Maybe because I was the child of a doctor, and because I had a high-status career, I was just insulated from the reality. But it sure feels like something important has changed.
I can fully understand the response that you might make, which is that Black people have always seen America this way, even the first Black billionaire can be treated like chopped liver on the plate (as I remember happened to Bob Johnson https://www.newsweek.com/bob-johnson-accuses-hotel-racial-profiling-after-billionaire-refused-access-1104006 ). In the South, I felt the kind of fear that today I feel even here in San Francisco. And it’s new, here in SF. I was talking with my sister a few days ago, and she reminded me that she’d lived in Philly, NYC, Boston, DC, and SF, and until she got to SF, she’d never felt safety. And I have to say, I had the same experience: it was only after about 5yr here, that I realized, one day, that I felt safe, and safe in my skin here.
And that’s gone now. I cannot get Mr. Abrego Garcia’s experience out of my head, and I literally read two sentences about it — I avoided reading any long-form article, b/c I don’t need that sort of porn floating around in head: it’s bad enough already.
Again, I know that Black Americans have had to live with this for centuries, that they pass down the knowledge of this oppression and the things one must do to try to minimize it, from parent to child. I know this. But it doesn’t help.
In my heart, I feel like America is telling me “we don’t want you here”. And honestly, given that they’re backing it up with ICE and CECOT, I’m not inclined to dispute them.
Last year I donated a ton of money to political causes — about the same as I spend on living expenses (rent, insurance, food, everything) for the year. But now, I feel like, I have no desire to engage with America, with America’s political system, until after I’ve left. Until I’m no longer within reach of ICE and CECOT.
In November, right after the election, I was distraught. I had scheduled doctor’s appointments for that week, b/c I knew that the election would be decided, and I could thus make decisions. I’d decided that if the election went south, I would emigrate. I went to see my doctor, and he was so concerned at how distraught I was, that he insisted I return a month later; I suspect he was worried about self-harm. I ended up not having, b/c I wasn’t thru with the grieving. I guess I’m not thru even now, but in the ensuing eight months, what was grief and distress at leaving, as turned into regret that I didn’t leave in January.
I don’t know why I’m writing all this down. I can’t get what happened to Mr. Abrego Garcia out of my mind.
NotMax
@Professor Bigfoot
You might find this entertaining. Jean Shepherd’s perspective about the 1963 March on Washington.
Professor Bigfoot
Black leftists like Oliver Willis?
Anyway, what I see, and plainly we travel in different circles, that it seems to consistently be white men complaining about the “fecklessness” and “uselessness” of the Democratic Party; and that the leadership of said party is largely Black or Jewish or female and often combinations thereof.
One must draw ones own conclusions, of course but those are facts.
Professor Bigfoot
@Thor Heyerdahl: Thank you.
I just guffawed so hard I started coughing, and the people on the neighbor’s porch turned to see if I was about to die.
Bwahahahahaaa!
Professor Bigfoot
@Chetan Murthy: My man, I say this with all love— get the fuck out of here.
We’ve all discussed more than once how they’ve used Nazi rhetoric, created Nazi policies, and threatened Nazi violence.
America, having elected Nazis, is on its way to doing Nazi shit.
Me, I got nowhere else to go; I can only trace my family to the people who owned my great grandfather, so I’m resolved to dying here.
Get the fuck outta here, and survive the storm that’s coming.
jame
Geez, how many fingers does that Lady Liberty have?
I think we all got the SSA email.
I missed the Fourth of July parade here this morning; it was moved up to 9 AM and I had ducks to treat for bumblefoot (funny name, but serious problem).
Matt McIrvin
@Deputinize America: I keep thinking of North Korea, where they managed to parlay it into a effective monarchic dynasty, with the founder persisting as a mythic figure (“Eternal President”) long after his death. Can they manage that? The DPRK manages it in part because China is propping them up to put off the deluge that happens on their doorstep when it all falls in.
Chetan Murthy
@Professor Bigfoot: I hear you, and I take your exhortation in the spirit with which it is given. Be well, and thank you.
Matt McIrvin
(The current Chinese leadership, meanwhile, realizes that you can keep hardcore authoritarianism going indefinitely if you seem broadly competent at maintaining the general welfare and don’t immiserate too many of the people. These aren’t the types running the US.)
Steve LaBonne
@Chetan Murthy: Good luck with whatever course you take, and be well and safe. I am slightly less white than a ghost but if I were younger I would be tempted to fuck off to Ireland (where two of my grandparents were born). But I’m too old and tired to start over so I will die here. Luckily I am still young enough to be virtually sure to outlive Trump so at least I’ll have that pleasure.
Steve LaBonne
@Matt McIrvin: And the US has erected a big flashing red sign that says “Democracy Is A Scam”.
Matt McIrvin
@Professor Bigfoot: Well, or in the worst cases, the non-racists go underground, because they’re hopelessly outnumbered. Or there’s just a schism followed by non-communication.
Matt McIrvin
@Steve LaBonne: Yes, well, the Soviet Union got maximum mileage out of Jim Crow government exposing American liberal democracy as a lie. There’s precedent here.
dnfree
@WaterGirl: About 50% of seniors already don’t pay income tax on their social security. So this new program can’t possibly help 90%. Also the very lowest-income don’t even pay income tax.
brantl
@Steve LaBonne: Nope, he’s constantly coming across as holier than thou, and coming up with interpretations of behavior that suit his own prejudices about other people, that if other people were to do that to him, he would have genuine reason to complain of prejudice, or privilege.