The dramatic events in Nashville last week, when Republican legislators expelled state representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two young Black men, for speaking out of turn when they joined protesters calling for gun safety, highlighted a demographic problem facing the Republican Party.
It is about time Jordan is finally getting some push back. I sure hope when Jack Smith indicts people on J6 for seditious conspiracy Jordan is on that list. I think he was in the conspiracy to overthrow the last election and he is using the gov right now to try and get the upper hand to exonerate his own guilt.
Always truth, simple, no conjecture, no opinion, just the facts. Bless you, Heather. Here’s hoping the MAGA cult of right wing extremism goes down in flames 🔥 my most fervent wish.
So much to absorb, but the one thing that jumped out at me was “Later this week, Republican leaders will speak at the NRA’s annual convention in Indianapolis, where firearms, as well as backpacks, glass containers, signs, and umbrellas, are prohibited.” The irony of banning guns from a gun defending group. Insane.
All you report here, Heather, is so important. However, what I consider major important news - the Colorado River's water shortage - I fear will be relegated to the back pages of our media, though I have confidence that Vox will cover it. Thank you for putting this story on your radar.
The most important people in American politics are young people getting involved directly, either as organizers (such as Victor Shi), or elected officials (such as the two Tenessee Justins). The second most important group are those Americans of older generations (such as the Justins' compatriot Gloria Johnson) who have correctly recognized the youth vote and youth energy as a growing but still much-untapped source for good in America. This isn't a "get out of the way, old people" moment we are living through, this is an "all hands on deck" moment we are living through. Their allyship is welcome and invaluable.
As someone right on the borderline of the Millenial-Gen Z divide, I really feel it my patriotic duty to keep harping on this. The healthiest way to get us through America's current minefield is to increase participation in democracy through voting and volunteering, and the quickest and most efficient manner in which that can be achieved is by engaging as many younger citizens as possible. It astonishes me the gourmet pretzels my older liberal compatriots will still twist themselves in making up excuses and rationalizations for why their neighbors could vote tfg ("we need to try and understand!"), ditto the energy they will expend handwringing about which direction in the wind the elusive "suburban moderates" will decide to blow next time... Yet I still sense so much knee-jerk judgement as to why younger people do not vote more often, as if we have not had multiple cycles of historically high turnout.
People use the word apathy to describe our younger yet-to-participate citizens. This frustrates me. Apathy indicates people have checked out of the process of using their power because they can't be bothered to care. As someone in the thick of things, that is not what I see most often. A better word is discouragement. So many of my fellow younger citizens DO accurately see what is going on, and DO care. Yet for too many, the basics of political participation seem at a remove, like an old club they are not part of. In my view, the bigger and more damaging cultural perception among my cohort is not that "both sides" are "all the same," but the perception that the two sides are split between the malicious and the ineffective. It is not that people don't see or care about the threats to democracy, but that they are mistakenly unconvinced that available alternatives will deliver enough to merit their participation.
The best way to engage? Simply have open conversations with the younger people in your life, or those you encounter. Instead of browbeating with the severity of the threats we face, offer examples of positive change/results that the good actors in our political system have accomplished. Make voting sound easy, positive, communal, a no-brainer gimmie. Don't shame people for having not boarded the train yet. Sell them a ticket instead, by painting a picture of a better destination. I promise you that you will be shocked by how receptive an audience you will find. People in general, especially younger people, WANT to believe in a better future for themselves. They WANT to believe they can make a difference. They just need the nudge.
Look at those Wisconsin campus numbers. Please be the nudge.
Arizona is mismanaging water and it must be investigated. There is a Saudi company in the Butler Valley that is pumping millions of gallons of groundwater for pennies a day in order to have 4 seasons of growing alfalfa. (We raised horses with one growing season in upstate NY... )But they aren’t the only ones. There is an Australian company that is determined to mine on Apache land, threatening to pollute and reduce resources. There are other mining companies that are lurking over the land.They promise the moon to the environments and neglect the land once they raid it. Why do people keep allowing this? No amount of money can replace clean water or limited water, once it is ransacked.
There have been years and hundreds of warnings, but somehow, foreign money is allowed to raid our resources. It is insanity.
Meanwhile, in the “show me” state, the Missouri House Republicans voted to defund all of the state’s public libraries, in a proposed $45.6 billion state budget that will soon move to a vote in the GOP-controlled state Senate.
The media have been gushing approval of Tennessee Governor Lee’s call for some vague form of a red flag law and his executive order allegedly tightening some background checks. We all approve of any movement forward but it is apparent that these weak measures do not come anywhere close to meaningful legislation. It is an old trick to get the heat off a very hot issue. Please do not be fooled by this maneuver and please continue to support real reform.
Another side step by other Republican politicians is to call for more police presence all day in front of all schools “like banks” they say. Doesn’t work and it’s the guns in the hands of the wrong people who are killing our kids and so many others! I believe that England put in stringent controls years ago and they haven’t had a single mass school shooting since. Is that correct?
The answer resides in our ballot boxes and 2024 is when GenZ shows its cards as it just did remarkably well in Wisconsin-overwhelmingly! If you want to be part of the solution-- really and truly part of reforming American politics as to gun violence, protecting reproductive rights, stepping way up on the battlefield of climate change, preserving public libraries in every state and reforming gerrymandering at the state level, please help a spectacular group of Harvard students working to register high school and college students and young women by the hundreds of thousands and more NONPARTISAN in 2,700 schools plus on all social media by going to www.turnup.us to contribute and then pass it along to your friends and family by email. Thank you! It’s time....if we make good use of it to save our Democracy! You can play a role in that effort now and going forward. We really appreciate your support.
What a letter! Each of today’s stories shows something some citizens, voters, politicians attempt to ignore when making and breaking policies, regulations, laws, promises. Consequences. Start with Water Wars in California in the 1920s. Today everyone in California and other states pay for the broken promises and lies creating a system that couldn’t work in the long run. Consequences. Instead of thinking about the future, even when it’s clearly in front of them, they react or purposely lie or break the law, knowing that there is a possibility they will get away with their crime, which they often delude themselves they are doing for a good cause or the chances of getting caught are low or they are so used to slipping under the law without punishment or detection they don’t think at all. Tfg is the best example of a serial liar and crook. But he is surrounded by liars. He has not acted alone in trying to steal the presidential election. More than one presidential election. The legislators who expelled the Tennessee Three had no problem in trying to wipe out these representatives’ careers even though they had been voted into office. Gun laws: who needs them when the states and courts allow open carry and sales of military assault weapons. The misinterpretation of second amendment. And again the courts. Abortion rights, even essential drugs that suddenly will not be available. Citizens United. Voting Rights. If even some justices are corrupt then what will an appeal do. January 6, a perfect example of getting away with murder. How many participants out of the thousands will pay for their crimes, including the planners and liars who never stepped onto the scene of the Insurrection. Or the Ultimate Criminal who believes if he runs for president again and by some obscure law will be protected from prosecution. TFG and the repubs are on Fifth Avenue NOW. Stop the traffic and arrest them all. The crooks are threatening our Democracy. The party of Fascism is out in the open in America.
Until last week, Anthony Comstock had been largely been forgotten. But then he was resurrected by Texas federal judge grasping for a justification to limit women's reproductive rights.
"Comstock Resurrected" shows what his contemporaries thought of him.
Read Judd Legum’s newsletter, provided by HRC, which touches on the fact that that weasel of a speaker of the Tenn. House, may not, in fact, live in the district he is supposed to be serving in. So many bad actors everywhere, it makes me ill. Speaking of weasels, there’s no match when if comes to Jim Jordan. The man does not have a lick of knowledge about the judicial system. So glad Bragg filed a lawsuit against him! Hope it sticks.
Wow! WowWowWow!! Sledgehammer today has me singing... https://youtu.be/ln7Vn_WKkWU Stuck In the Middle With You cause of 'clowns to the left of me jokers to the right of me'.
With this latest episode in Nashville and the anti-abortion legislation that the states are promoting, the Republicans - who are so vocal about "grooming" - are grooming an entire generation of young potential voters to vote Democrat or Independent. They also managed to push the two young TN Justins into national prominence. It's going to be quite a while until they win the popular vote in Presidential elections again.
I've heard/read from a number off sources that Congressional Republicans are actively coordinating with TFG's legal defense team in their campaign of intimidation and harrassment of New York DA Alvin Bragg and his staff.
If true, is this not obstruction of justice along with conspiracy to obstruct justice on the part of Jim Jordan et al, TFG's legal defense team, and TFG himself as well?
The Republican Party has been completely captured by the Unreconstructed Confederacy, following Nixon inviting them in and Reagan welcoming them. Now they are the New Confederacy, and thus are The Enemy. When we get through with them this time, they don't get to keep their sidearms and their horses for the spring planting.
"Later this week, Republican leaders will speak at the NRA’s annual convention in Indianapolis, where firearms, as well as backpacks, glass containers, signs, and umbrellas, are prohibited. Those speakers will include former president Trump and former vice president Mike Pence." While I don't mean to advocate violence, I wonder what would happen if an insanely huge number of protesters would show up at the doors of that convention, depositing huge numbers of backpacks, glass containers, signs and umbrellas ... all peaceful everyday items...
It is about time Jordan is finally getting some push back. I sure hope when Jack Smith indicts people on J6 for seditious conspiracy Jordan is on that list. I think he was in the conspiracy to overthrow the last election and he is using the gov right now to try and get the upper hand to exonerate his own guilt.
Always truth, simple, no conjecture, no opinion, just the facts. Bless you, Heather. Here’s hoping the MAGA cult of right wing extremism goes down in flames 🔥 my most fervent wish.
So much to absorb, but the one thing that jumped out at me was “Later this week, Republican leaders will speak at the NRA’s annual convention in Indianapolis, where firearms, as well as backpacks, glass containers, signs, and umbrellas, are prohibited.” The irony of banning guns from a gun defending group. Insane.
All you report here, Heather, is so important. However, what I consider major important news - the Colorado River's water shortage - I fear will be relegated to the back pages of our media, though I have confidence that Vox will cover it. Thank you for putting this story on your radar.
The most important people in American politics are young people getting involved directly, either as organizers (such as Victor Shi), or elected officials (such as the two Tenessee Justins). The second most important group are those Americans of older generations (such as the Justins' compatriot Gloria Johnson) who have correctly recognized the youth vote and youth energy as a growing but still much-untapped source for good in America. This isn't a "get out of the way, old people" moment we are living through, this is an "all hands on deck" moment we are living through. Their allyship is welcome and invaluable.
As someone right on the borderline of the Millenial-Gen Z divide, I really feel it my patriotic duty to keep harping on this. The healthiest way to get us through America's current minefield is to increase participation in democracy through voting and volunteering, and the quickest and most efficient manner in which that can be achieved is by engaging as many younger citizens as possible. It astonishes me the gourmet pretzels my older liberal compatriots will still twist themselves in making up excuses and rationalizations for why their neighbors could vote tfg ("we need to try and understand!"), ditto the energy they will expend handwringing about which direction in the wind the elusive "suburban moderates" will decide to blow next time... Yet I still sense so much knee-jerk judgement as to why younger people do not vote more often, as if we have not had multiple cycles of historically high turnout.
People use the word apathy to describe our younger yet-to-participate citizens. This frustrates me. Apathy indicates people have checked out of the process of using their power because they can't be bothered to care. As someone in the thick of things, that is not what I see most often. A better word is discouragement. So many of my fellow younger citizens DO accurately see what is going on, and DO care. Yet for too many, the basics of political participation seem at a remove, like an old club they are not part of. In my view, the bigger and more damaging cultural perception among my cohort is not that "both sides" are "all the same," but the perception that the two sides are split between the malicious and the ineffective. It is not that people don't see or care about the threats to democracy, but that they are mistakenly unconvinced that available alternatives will deliver enough to merit their participation.
The best way to engage? Simply have open conversations with the younger people in your life, or those you encounter. Instead of browbeating with the severity of the threats we face, offer examples of positive change/results that the good actors in our political system have accomplished. Make voting sound easy, positive, communal, a no-brainer gimmie. Don't shame people for having not boarded the train yet. Sell them a ticket instead, by painting a picture of a better destination. I promise you that you will be shocked by how receptive an audience you will find. People in general, especially younger people, WANT to believe in a better future for themselves. They WANT to believe they can make a difference. They just need the nudge.
Look at those Wisconsin campus numbers. Please be the nudge.
Arizona is mismanaging water and it must be investigated. There is a Saudi company in the Butler Valley that is pumping millions of gallons of groundwater for pennies a day in order to have 4 seasons of growing alfalfa. (We raised horses with one growing season in upstate NY... )But they aren’t the only ones. There is an Australian company that is determined to mine on Apache land, threatening to pollute and reduce resources. There are other mining companies that are lurking over the land.They promise the moon to the environments and neglect the land once they raid it. Why do people keep allowing this? No amount of money can replace clean water or limited water, once it is ransacked.
There have been years and hundreds of warnings, but somehow, foreign money is allowed to raid our resources. It is insanity.
Meanwhile, in the “show me” state, the Missouri House Republicans voted to defund all of the state’s public libraries, in a proposed $45.6 billion state budget that will soon move to a vote in the GOP-controlled state Senate.
The media have been gushing approval of Tennessee Governor Lee’s call for some vague form of a red flag law and his executive order allegedly tightening some background checks. We all approve of any movement forward but it is apparent that these weak measures do not come anywhere close to meaningful legislation. It is an old trick to get the heat off a very hot issue. Please do not be fooled by this maneuver and please continue to support real reform.
Another side step by other Republican politicians is to call for more police presence all day in front of all schools “like banks” they say. Doesn’t work and it’s the guns in the hands of the wrong people who are killing our kids and so many others! I believe that England put in stringent controls years ago and they haven’t had a single mass school shooting since. Is that correct?
The answer resides in our ballot boxes and 2024 is when GenZ shows its cards as it just did remarkably well in Wisconsin-overwhelmingly! If you want to be part of the solution-- really and truly part of reforming American politics as to gun violence, protecting reproductive rights, stepping way up on the battlefield of climate change, preserving public libraries in every state and reforming gerrymandering at the state level, please help a spectacular group of Harvard students working to register high school and college students and young women by the hundreds of thousands and more NONPARTISAN in 2,700 schools plus on all social media by going to www.turnup.us to contribute and then pass it along to your friends and family by email. Thank you! It’s time....if we make good use of it to save our Democracy! You can play a role in that effort now and going forward. We really appreciate your support.
What a letter! Each of today’s stories shows something some citizens, voters, politicians attempt to ignore when making and breaking policies, regulations, laws, promises. Consequences. Start with Water Wars in California in the 1920s. Today everyone in California and other states pay for the broken promises and lies creating a system that couldn’t work in the long run. Consequences. Instead of thinking about the future, even when it’s clearly in front of them, they react or purposely lie or break the law, knowing that there is a possibility they will get away with their crime, which they often delude themselves they are doing for a good cause or the chances of getting caught are low or they are so used to slipping under the law without punishment or detection they don’t think at all. Tfg is the best example of a serial liar and crook. But he is surrounded by liars. He has not acted alone in trying to steal the presidential election. More than one presidential election. The legislators who expelled the Tennessee Three had no problem in trying to wipe out these representatives’ careers even though they had been voted into office. Gun laws: who needs them when the states and courts allow open carry and sales of military assault weapons. The misinterpretation of second amendment. And again the courts. Abortion rights, even essential drugs that suddenly will not be available. Citizens United. Voting Rights. If even some justices are corrupt then what will an appeal do. January 6, a perfect example of getting away with murder. How many participants out of the thousands will pay for their crimes, including the planners and liars who never stepped onto the scene of the Insurrection. Or the Ultimate Criminal who believes if he runs for president again and by some obscure law will be protected from prosecution. TFG and the repubs are on Fifth Avenue NOW. Stop the traffic and arrest them all. The crooks are threatening our Democracy. The party of Fascism is out in the open in America.
Until last week, Anthony Comstock had been largely been forgotten. But then he was resurrected by Texas federal judge grasping for a justification to limit women's reproductive rights.
"Comstock Resurrected" shows what his contemporaries thought of him.
https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/comstock-resurrected-1873
Read Judd Legum’s newsletter, provided by HRC, which touches on the fact that that weasel of a speaker of the Tenn. House, may not, in fact, live in the district he is supposed to be serving in. So many bad actors everywhere, it makes me ill. Speaking of weasels, there’s no match when if comes to Jim Jordan. The man does not have a lick of knowledge about the judicial system. So glad Bragg filed a lawsuit against him! Hope it sticks.
Wow! WowWowWow!! Sledgehammer today has me singing... https://youtu.be/ln7Vn_WKkWU Stuck In the Middle With You cause of 'clowns to the left of me jokers to the right of me'.
With this latest episode in Nashville and the anti-abortion legislation that the states are promoting, the Republicans - who are so vocal about "grooming" - are grooming an entire generation of young potential voters to vote Democrat or Independent. They also managed to push the two young TN Justins into national prominence. It's going to be quite a while until they win the popular vote in Presidential elections again.
I've heard/read from a number off sources that Congressional Republicans are actively coordinating with TFG's legal defense team in their campaign of intimidation and harrassment of New York DA Alvin Bragg and his staff.
If true, is this not obstruction of justice along with conspiracy to obstruct justice on the part of Jim Jordan et al, TFG's legal defense team, and TFG himself as well?
DA Alvin Bragg might have to hire more staff.
The Republican Party has been completely captured by the Unreconstructed Confederacy, following Nixon inviting them in and Reagan welcoming them. Now they are the New Confederacy, and thus are The Enemy. When we get through with them this time, they don't get to keep their sidearms and their horses for the spring planting.
"Later this week, Republican leaders will speak at the NRA’s annual convention in Indianapolis, where firearms, as well as backpacks, glass containers, signs, and umbrellas, are prohibited. Those speakers will include former president Trump and former vice president Mike Pence." While I don't mean to advocate violence, I wonder what would happen if an insanely huge number of protesters would show up at the doors of that convention, depositing huge numbers of backpacks, glass containers, signs and umbrellas ... all peaceful everyday items...