Trump and "Republicans" in all branches of government posit that their own presumed supremacy trumps any law. Trump himself is find that a bit more complicated.
Sorry, won't let me edit the last sentence. Trump is just a run of the mill narcissist who has never stopped at a stop sign, bullied his way on with conned money greasing the way. He will never stop unless Jack can do it.
The Congressional Black Caucus and Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) filed a brief in the Alabama redistricting case asking the court to take over map drawing, arguing that Republicans' new congressional map directly defies the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Milligan.
They only problem is that would largely impact the people in AL most dependent on those federal funds. Certainly not the legislators or their wealthy benefactors.
When enough lazy Republicans feel the fallout from their representatives secessionist behavior the more likely they are to quit supporting them. These state representatives are doing what they're allowed to do by the citizens, the courts and the federal government even if that was simply a lack of action towards consequences.
I once had occasion to have a really intense conversation with a prominent medical professor at Harvard. We were talking over a number of questions I had for him, when he went off on a tangent. "Do you know what the hardest part of teaching surgeons is?" I said I didn't. He continued, "It's this: You have to let them make mistakes in the operating room -- you watch carefully, and only intervene at the last moment, when you're sure the next thing they do will kill the patient on the table. You calmly move their hands away from the patient, and tell them why. It's a dramatic lesson for both the surgeon and the teacher. You need strong nerves to stand by and watch as a patient's life hangs in the balance."
While I agree that it's the needy people in AL who depend on federal funding, rather than the legislators or the wealthy benefactors and special interest groups, it is the "needy people" who elect those uncaring, greedy legislators into office, against their own best interests, based on ill-founded belief that the legislators will work for them.
Maybe we need to let them lie on the table a little bit longer, and perhaps feel some pain, before intervening to protect them.
Mlbrowne, It appears that the medical professor's story, which you applied to voting was not appropriate.
'Poorer Americans have much lower voting rates in national elections than the nonpoor, a study finds.'
'People with low incomes who are eligible to vote are much less likely to do so in national elections than those with higher incomes, and are more often constrained from casting ballots by transportation issues, illness or other problems out of their control, according to a study released Tuesday by the Poor People’s Campaign.'
'The study, by a Columbia University researcher, found that only 46 percent of potential voters with family incomes less than twice the federal poverty line voted in the 2016 presidential election, compared with 68 percent of those with family incomes above twice the poverty line.'
'Notwithstanding the practical hurdles lower-income voters face, the reasons voters across the economic spectrum most often cited for staying home were the same: disillusionment with the candidates, campaign issues and the political process writ large.'
“They’re saying that they’re not voting because people are not speaking to their issues and that they’re just not interested in those candidates,” said the researcher, Robert Paul Hartley, an assistant professor of social work. “But it’s not that they couldn’t be.”
'Though poor and low-income people turned out in large numbers in recent some state and local elections like the 2019 Kentucky governor’s race, the Rev. William J. Barber II, co-chairman of the Poor People’s Campaign, a nonpartisan coalition advocating to increase the power of the poor, said that the over 40 percent of Americans with lower incomes remained a largely untapped political force.'
“The only way you can expand the electorate in this country is to expand among poor and low-wealth people,” he said. (NYTimes) See link below. Sorry, that the gifting option not possible for me.
I think it would be appropriate to find out if there are reliable statistics about the poor voting in local and state elections. This is the general, overall picture for voting in 2022, which were the mid-terms, statewide elections:
'Native-born citizen voter turnout was 53.4%, greater than the 41.4% turnout of naturalized citizens. The South had the nation's lowest voter turnout (48.9%), while turnout in the West (54.7%), Midwest (54.1%) and Northeast (53.8%) were not significantly different from each other. May 2, 2023 ' (US Census Bureau)
Fern, I like what you wrote, and you're correct, I hadn't read the statisticl analysis of lower voting rates in national elections among poorer citizens. I do, however, believe that there is still a significant portion of voters who are actively voting against their own best interest, and in those cases, the medical training analogy certainly still holds. Every day, we are bombarded with images and interviews of middle-Americans, mostly white, older, largely Christianist, and devotedly Trumpist, who are absolutely convinced that the world will turn upside down if the government isn't handed over to Republicans. Even if it means the end of social welfare programs that actively prop them up (affordable healthcare, caps on drug costs, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, disability coverage, disaster relief, unemployment benefits, farm subsidies, and so on).
I'm not in favor of actually hurting people; but I think that more energy needs to be invested in following them to the brink of disaster (and this includes being very public about who is actually legislating in harmful ways -- naming names, so to speak), and then guiding them in a different direction before too much damage is done.
It's very effectively gerrymandered, unfortunately (though I know perfectly well what you mean). Perhaps the defiant refusal to obey the court decision will awaken more Alabamians to take action to correct the gerrymandering.
That's a fascinating story. But those people won't improve with time. Remember that man who ran for president- course I can't remember his name! but eventually threw all his votes to Clinton, and Clinton won? Well when he was campaigning he rented tv time, I guess and he gave a presentation to the country with cardboard and marker and he showed how much debt we had. It was an awesome amount! (it didn't matter). But it was cool anyway. And I always wonder-- why can't we get out of this trouble of disinformation by taking 30 minutes of tv and have 4 or 5 charts and some plain paragraphs from Biden or someone more neutral-- some Tom Hanks guy-- to explain to the needy people in AL, those things they should know. And the taxes rich people don't pay, and their money vs our money. Etc. Why can't we do that?
mlbrowne, perhaps the "needy people" (Alabama is 35% disfranchised non-White) didn't elect the rascals now in office. In the 2020 Senate race, Alabama had the highest wacko factor in their official vote totals, as mentioned on this thread:
The whole point is that the voting districts are set up to ensure Republican (white) majorities. Hard to elect other legislators when - as even the Supreme Court of the United States ruled - the district map is illegal as it violates the Voting Rights Act. The Alabama AG didn’t even try to deny that. Reread the article!
Don't get insulting. I read the article. I thoroughly understand gerrymandering. The point the commenter was making was that perhaps slashing government funding would have an effect. Yes, it would hurt the people but perhaps, just perhaps, it would wake up some of them.
Actually, that already happened because the Supreme Court addressed it. So now the question is, who will enforce the Supreme Court ruling against AL? AL seems to be wanting to leave the Union: look at Tuberville who is trashing the US Military? Is this behavior indicative of support of the union of the US?
Yes . . . Alabama (FL, LA, TX and other states) Congresspersons were voted in by the majority white occupants of illegally created - that is gerrymandered - congressional districts!
In the first month of Governor Kemp's "waiver program" they approved 265 people for enrollment after launching it July 1st. Don't overexert yourself there, Guv! Those signups represent just a small step toward Kemp’s goal of enrolling 90,000 Georgians once the initiative is at full speed.
Those residents are among an estimated 370,000 Georgia adults who don’t have jobs that offer insurance as a benefit and earn too little money to qualify for subsidized plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. If the state had opted for full Medicaid expansion, all of those men and women would be eligible for coverage.
Kemp’s plan, known as "Pathways to Coverage", mandates participants meet certain eligibility requirements, such as working, volunteering or attending school. I'm on Medicaid, thankfully, and it does make a difference!
It does trouble me how states like AL, Texas and Fl (to name a few) have their hand out for federal money (otherwise perceived as my federal tax dollars) while flipping the bird with the other. I would like to see a system where these Republican controlled defiant states are graded on their performance and if they don’t comply with the federal rules then they get less money.
Yes, I’m talking about a Performance Improvement Plan or PIP for short. The performance review would include a recommendation of all the dark money benefactors the State Legislature is collecting with a recommendation if you want Federal dollars you need to improve by these benchmarks or seek assistance from your dark money benefactors to make up the gap. Of course this review would be made public with a copy mailed to every resident in that state. These are elected officials and there should be transparency.
Next is the resident piece of the PIP. Those who reside in that state would receive an additional notification saying because your state failed to follow federal regulations, so we are going to take those allocated funds and directly deposit them into your account. Just like they did with the Covid relief funds. This approach will bypass the state government and directly send the money to the people who need it.
I like your plan but I wonder about the last part. If funds go directly to residents, what incentive do they have to vote out non-compliant legislators?
The letter enclosing the payment advice must explain that the sum being given directly (amount of small sum) is paltry in comparison to the amount of the benefit that would be available (add some munificient figure reflecting reality) if the state followed federal regulations, and that the way to obtain the additional federal funds is to hold the current legislators accountable for their failure AND in the next election to vote for candidates who promise to comply with the regulations and get those funds directly to the people in the communities who need them - for medical care, improved roads, upgraded firetrucks, whatever. Might work, with those recipients who can both read and reason, and are not too entrenched in maggotism.
I laugh when I read how they whine that they are being cheated out of the space Force contracts calling it political. Either you follow federal laws or you don't get federal moneys or contracts. It seems to me to be an act of secession as well as blatant racism and anti democratic behavior.
This is the R mantra. Complain as much as possible and stand in the way of any solutions and then first in line for federal or state help when things don't go well.
Overall, I'm understanding Blacks represent abt 25% of the adult voting population. I do understand that packing the 7th congressional district into a 55% black majority and leaving black minorities in all other districts. That's one big fight going on right now since Republicans have refused to acknowledge the recent Supreme Court ruling. Are state voting districts gerrymandered?
The reason all these people support Trump is because he not only allows, but encourages corruption. The US Treasury is there to be looted by anyone who has access to it. Many states have had that for over a century. Bribery is also expected. It’s the path to the destruction of a society.
Who's going to write the book about the Black man who grew up very poor, wound up being a Supreme Court Justice and was taken care of by a circle White billionaires, some of whom or was it most or all of whom had had dealings with the Court?
Mark Twain, this would be quite a match with Huckleberry Finn. Do you think those White guys shortchanged him?
And let’s not forget he’s and a sexual predator and deviant. Recall Anita Hill at time of his confirmation. It was disgusting what he did to her. He has no conscience and does not care because nothing will change. To my knowledge, not one Repug stood up against his behavior. I previously worked for the FED government. Long time ago, about 30 of us were invited to an off-site training event by a private firm where snacks, sandwiches, and beverages were laid out for lunch. Later my boss required each to chip in $10.00 which was sent back to the host to cover the cost of food. The idea was to not show bias later if that firm bid on a government contract.
Perhaps cowardice is the root cause. I would not be surprised.
But, Thomas accuser was also black. He was not being accused by a white woman.
I remember one segment of Anita Hill's testimony that made the news (and only one) from that time......that I read in the newspaper when I knew the accusations were true.
Anita Hill mentioned Thomas was looking at some issue of Penthouse that had a specific image in it. Turns out that was a famous image that had been passed all around men's (and possibly women's) college dorms at the time........including my old barracks dorm. I had glanced at the image and been substantially repelled at the time.
But, I knew Anita Hill was telling the truth. The timing was right and the image she referred to was well known to men's dorm residents all over the USA. Sadly.
But, it is very likely Biden knew she was telling the truth as well.
And let’s also not forget this took place 32 years ago.
Which of you here has not grown, have different views/ perceptions, and gained greater wisdom than you held in 1991 (the year Thomas was seated on the SCOTUS)? If we’re criticizing and constraining our view(s) of who Biden is now based on who he was and/ or what he did in 1991 then we have a very limited a view him. And in so doing we not only limit him but ourselves as well.
I seriously doubt any of us here have not grown, not developed deeper understandings, not gained wisdom that was not a part of each of our lives 32 years ago. I suspect we have all grown, have deeper understands, and wisdom; and no doubt Biden has as well.
Somehow I think he was thinking more about replacing Thurgood Marshall and it was Bush’s nominee. My take on Joe Biden is that he comes from such a close-knit loving family that he didn’t “read” Thomas very well.
All I can think of when I hear his name is a coffee table bobblehead created for white billionaires entertainment, 25 levels below the old statue of a black groomsman where horses were tied. Disrespectful of a SCJ I know, some days I cross that line.
Clarence Thomas doesn't respect his own office, nor does he--I suspect--respect himself. Thirty-eight vacations paid for by benefactors, none of which were reported??? There is NO "accidently left off the form" aspect to this...he has to know that he long ago crossed the line into corruption. How shameless does one have to be for something like this to simply roll off one's back with a shrug???
Where is the limit on shamelessness? I certainly do not know. But he has to know he owned, in the same manner a slave or junkie is owned. And his sleasy wife does not improve his "look" in my eyes. Two high-level crooks. Not Jared- or Ivanka- level though, at least not yet.
How many of those benefactors (whom Thomas calls "family friends") would even pretend to know him if he wasn't a SCOTUS Associate Justice (who has displayed how open he is to brib--uh, excuse me..."favors and gifts").
Undoubtedly. You don't get to the level of a billionaire without knowing where a person's weaknesses are, and judging from the number of emoluments CT has accepted, they have a good hold on him.
I thought it was interesting what the reporter from Slate said last night on the PBS Newshour that Thomas was more middle class and went to private school:
'Thomas was born in Pin Point, Georgia. After his father abandoned the family, he was raised by his grandfather in a poor Gullah community near Savannah. Growing up as a devout Catholic, Thomas originally intended to be a priest in the Catholic Church but was frustrated over the church's insufficient attempts to combat racism. He abandoned his aspiration of becoming a clergyman to attend the College of the Holy Cross and, later, Yale Law School, where he was influenced by a number of conservative authors, notably Thomas Sowell. Upon graduating, he was appointed as an assistant attorney general in Missouri and later entered private practice there. He became a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator John Danforth in 1979, and was made Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education in 1981. President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas as Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) the next year.' (Wikipedia)
Oh my goodness, does anybody here has a direct a tete-a-tete chat with Clarence Thomas? I am badly in need of that vacation even to one of his destinations.
And surely, it must be really good being a Republican. You get treated with 38+-in-a lifetime adventurous vacations, alongside a lavish culinary regimen replete with opulent ingredients and sumptuous delicacies. Who would refuse such a treatment?
But, before you become a Republican, you first need to talk like this: "Let’s make it clear, we elect a Legislature to reflect the values of the people that they represent, and I don’t think anybody in this room wanted this Legislature to adopt two districts that were going to guarantee that two Democrats would be elected." First, you act like you have the interests of the people at heart, but the opulence squandering of the public resources characterizes them. Secondly, you must always speak against Democrats even in issues that require bipartisan approach.
In summary, Republican slogan sounds like as long as the shepherd has eaten to the brim, the flock can take care of themselves.
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The confederate/Republicans use culture war, wedge issues to get people to vote against their self interest. Meanwhile, they are plundering and bribing and behaving like corrupt oligarchs.
His clerks do the work. He reminds me of the slaves who were co-opted by slave owners to manage other slaves. Or the Jews put in charge of the ghettos by the Nazis. He’s being exploited by the oligarchs. With Ginni controlling him he’s the Manchurian justice.
Well said, Edwin. Your style reminds me of one of my favorite political commentators masquerading as a writer of exquisite humorous prose: name of Samuel Clements, aka Mark Twain.
This reminds me of a scene where Augustus asks if there is anyone in Rome who has not slept with his daughter. A laughable moment, but the Thomas bribery is nauseating. Once again he should have never have passed the Senate committee and then end up on the Court. His ethics reeked then and the smell has only gotten stronger.
"Good Lord, Who Among Us Hasn’t Paid For A Clarence Thomas Vacation?”
Well the answer is clear: Clarence Thomas
I guess Thomas was quiet on the Court for so long because he was too busy taking those luxurious vacations.
As for Alabama legislature, is anyone suing them?
Thomas was likely patiently waiting for instruction from his benefactors.
Would it do any good. Our laws mean nothing to them or the SC
Trump and "Republicans" in all branches of government posit that their own presumed supremacy trumps any law. Trump himself is find that a bit more complicated.
Sorry, won't let me edit the last sentence. Trump is just a run of the mill narcissist who has never stopped at a stop sign, bullied his way on with conned money greasing the way. He will never stop unless Jack can do it.
Yes, their “presumed supremacy” triumphs “individual freedom” which to them is freedom from all laws and rules…kind of like 2 year old toddlers.
A Democracy Docket update from Monday 08/072023:
The Congressional Black Caucus and Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) filed a brief in the Alabama redistricting case asking the court to take over map drawing, arguing that Republicans' new congressional map directly defies the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Milligan.
Thank you, Leeclare.
They only problem is that would largely impact the people in AL most dependent on those federal funds. Certainly not the legislators or their wealthy benefactors.
When enough lazy Republicans feel the fallout from their representatives secessionist behavior the more likely they are to quit supporting them. These state representatives are doing what they're allowed to do by the citizens, the courts and the federal government even if that was simply a lack of action towards consequences.
Highway funds. Military NASA there is a lot to hold up.
I once had occasion to have a really intense conversation with a prominent medical professor at Harvard. We were talking over a number of questions I had for him, when he went off on a tangent. "Do you know what the hardest part of teaching surgeons is?" I said I didn't. He continued, "It's this: You have to let them make mistakes in the operating room -- you watch carefully, and only intervene at the last moment, when you're sure the next thing they do will kill the patient on the table. You calmly move their hands away from the patient, and tell them why. It's a dramatic lesson for both the surgeon and the teacher. You need strong nerves to stand by and watch as a patient's life hangs in the balance."
While I agree that it's the needy people in AL who depend on federal funding, rather than the legislators or the wealthy benefactors and special interest groups, it is the "needy people" who elect those uncaring, greedy legislators into office, against their own best interests, based on ill-founded belief that the legislators will work for them.
Maybe we need to let them lie on the table a little bit longer, and perhaps feel some pain, before intervening to protect them.
Mlbrowne, It appears that the medical professor's story, which you applied to voting was not appropriate.
'Poorer Americans have much lower voting rates in national elections than the nonpoor, a study finds.'
'People with low incomes who are eligible to vote are much less likely to do so in national elections than those with higher incomes, and are more often constrained from casting ballots by transportation issues, illness or other problems out of their control, according to a study released Tuesday by the Poor People’s Campaign.'
'The study, by a Columbia University researcher, found that only 46 percent of potential voters with family incomes less than twice the federal poverty line voted in the 2016 presidential election, compared with 68 percent of those with family incomes above twice the poverty line.'
'Notwithstanding the practical hurdles lower-income voters face, the reasons voters across the economic spectrum most often cited for staying home were the same: disillusionment with the candidates, campaign issues and the political process writ large.'
“They’re saying that they’re not voting because people are not speaking to their issues and that they’re just not interested in those candidates,” said the researcher, Robert Paul Hartley, an assistant professor of social work. “But it’s not that they couldn’t be.”
'Though poor and low-income people turned out in large numbers in recent some state and local elections like the 2019 Kentucky governor’s race, the Rev. William J. Barber II, co-chairman of the Poor People’s Campaign, a nonpartisan coalition advocating to increase the power of the poor, said that the over 40 percent of Americans with lower incomes remained a largely untapped political force.'
“The only way you can expand the electorate in this country is to expand among poor and low-wealth people,” he said. (NYTimes) See link below. Sorry, that the gifting option not possible for me.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/us/politics/poorer-americans-have-much-lower-voting-rates-in-national-elections-than-the-nonpoor-a-study-finds.html?searchResultPosition=1
I think it would be appropriate to find out if there are reliable statistics about the poor voting in local and state elections. This is the general, overall picture for voting in 2022, which were the mid-terms, statewide elections:
'Native-born citizen voter turnout was 53.4%, greater than the 41.4% turnout of naturalized citizens. The South had the nation's lowest voter turnout (48.9%), while turnout in the West (54.7%), Midwest (54.1%) and Northeast (53.8%) were not significantly different from each other. May 2, 2023 ' (US Census Bureau)
Fern, I like what you wrote, and you're correct, I hadn't read the statisticl analysis of lower voting rates in national elections among poorer citizens. I do, however, believe that there is still a significant portion of voters who are actively voting against their own best interest, and in those cases, the medical training analogy certainly still holds. Every day, we are bombarded with images and interviews of middle-Americans, mostly white, older, largely Christianist, and devotedly Trumpist, who are absolutely convinced that the world will turn upside down if the government isn't handed over to Republicans. Even if it means the end of social welfare programs that actively prop them up (affordable healthcare, caps on drug costs, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, disability coverage, disaster relief, unemployment benefits, farm subsidies, and so on).
I'm not in favor of actually hurting people; but I think that more energy needs to be invested in following them to the brink of disaster (and this includes being very public about who is actually legislating in harmful ways -- naming names, so to speak), and then guiding them in a different direction before too much damage is done.
Badly gerrymandered.
It's very effectively gerrymandered, unfortunately (though I know perfectly well what you mean). Perhaps the defiant refusal to obey the court decision will awaken more Alabamians to take action to correct the gerrymandering.
That's a fascinating story. But those people won't improve with time. Remember that man who ran for president- course I can't remember his name! but eventually threw all his votes to Clinton, and Clinton won? Well when he was campaigning he rented tv time, I guess and he gave a presentation to the country with cardboard and marker and he showed how much debt we had. It was an awesome amount! (it didn't matter). But it was cool anyway. And I always wonder-- why can't we get out of this trouble of disinformation by taking 30 minutes of tv and have 4 or 5 charts and some plain paragraphs from Biden or someone more neutral-- some Tom Hanks guy-- to explain to the needy people in AL, those things they should know. And the taxes rich people don't pay, and their money vs our money. Etc. Why can't we do that?
mlbrowne, perhaps the "needy people" (Alabama is 35% disfranchised non-White) didn't elect the rascals now in office. In the 2020 Senate race, Alabama had the highest wacko factor in their official vote totals, as mentioned on this thread:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-10-2023/comment/22195359#comment-22195523?utm_source=activity_item
Perhaps it would wake up some of them and get them to vote for decent legislators.
The whole point is that the voting districts are set up to ensure Republican (white) majorities. Hard to elect other legislators when - as even the Supreme Court of the United States ruled - the district map is illegal as it violates the Voting Rights Act. The Alabama AG didn’t even try to deny that. Reread the article!
Don't get insulting. I read the article. I thoroughly understand gerrymandering. The point the commenter was making was that perhaps slashing government funding would have an effect. Yes, it would hurt the people but perhaps, just perhaps, it would wake up some of them.
Iis there anyone in Alabama who can show harm that could get together and get legal representation to sue the State?
Actually, that already happened because the Supreme Court addressed it. So now the question is, who will enforce the Supreme Court ruling against AL? AL seems to be wanting to leave the Union: look at Tuberville who is trashing the US Military? Is this behavior indicative of support of the union of the US?
Interesting report that Tuberville actually lives in the Florida panhandle. Republicans are such swindlers!
Who elects those legislatures?
Citizens in highly gerrymandered districts
As few people of color as possible.
Tennessee too
Florida too.
SOMEbody hadda vote for those rascals...
Yes . . . Alabama (FL, LA, TX and other states) Congresspersons were voted in by the majority white occupants of illegally created - that is gerrymandered - congressional districts!
Bern:
I was thinking of a different name for them other than rascals.
Georgia, too.
In the first month of Governor Kemp's "waiver program" they approved 265 people for enrollment after launching it July 1st. Don't overexert yourself there, Guv! Those signups represent just a small step toward Kemp’s goal of enrolling 90,000 Georgians once the initiative is at full speed.
Those residents are among an estimated 370,000 Georgia adults who don’t have jobs that offer insurance as a benefit and earn too little money to qualify for subsidized plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. If the state had opted for full Medicaid expansion, all of those men and women would be eligible for coverage.
Kemp’s plan, known as "Pathways to Coverage", mandates participants meet certain eligibility requirements, such as working, volunteering or attending school. I'm on Medicaid, thankfully, and it does make a difference!
It does trouble me how states like AL, Texas and Fl (to name a few) have their hand out for federal money (otherwise perceived as my federal tax dollars) while flipping the bird with the other. I would like to see a system where these Republican controlled defiant states are graded on their performance and if they don’t comply with the federal rules then they get less money.
Yes, I’m talking about a Performance Improvement Plan or PIP for short. The performance review would include a recommendation of all the dark money benefactors the State Legislature is collecting with a recommendation if you want Federal dollars you need to improve by these benchmarks or seek assistance from your dark money benefactors to make up the gap. Of course this review would be made public with a copy mailed to every resident in that state. These are elected officials and there should be transparency.
Next is the resident piece of the PIP. Those who reside in that state would receive an additional notification saying because your state failed to follow federal regulations, so we are going to take those allocated funds and directly deposit them into your account. Just like they did with the Covid relief funds. This approach will bypass the state government and directly send the money to the people who need it.
Comments from this peanut gallery!
I like your plan but I wonder about the last part. If funds go directly to residents, what incentive do they have to vote out non-compliant legislators?
The letter enclosing the payment advice must explain that the sum being given directly (amount of small sum) is paltry in comparison to the amount of the benefit that would be available (add some munificient figure reflecting reality) if the state followed federal regulations, and that the way to obtain the additional federal funds is to hold the current legislators accountable for their failure AND in the next election to vote for candidates who promise to comply with the regulations and get those funds directly to the people in the communities who need them - for medical care, improved roads, upgraded firetrucks, whatever. Might work, with those recipients who can both read and reason, and are not too entrenched in maggotism.
It might get them more polling places!
I laugh when I read how they whine that they are being cheated out of the space Force contracts calling it political. Either you follow federal laws or you don't get federal moneys or contracts. It seems to me to be an act of secession as well as blatant racism and anti democratic behavior.
Yes, the states that complain the most about Federal regulation are typically the ones receiving the most Federal aid eg Kentucky and Alabama et al.
This is the R mantra. Complain as much as possible and stand in the way of any solutions and then first in line for federal or state help when things don't go well.
You might think those most in need would support Medicaid, etc, so how does the voting go in Alabama?
Fraudulently, apparently.
Or scarcely
With a majority non-white, whites control the legislature.
Overall, I'm understanding Blacks represent abt 25% of the adult voting population. I do understand that packing the 7th congressional district into a 55% black majority and leaving black minorities in all other districts. That's one big fight going on right now since Republicans have refused to acknowledge the recent Supreme Court ruling. Are state voting districts gerrymandered?
Well, Frank, you’ve hit upon the reason for the gerrymandering. The cruelty is the point.
The reason all these people support Trump is because he not only allows, but encourages corruption. The US Treasury is there to be looted by anyone who has access to it. Many states have had that for over a century. Bribery is also expected. It’s the path to the destruction of a society.
Amen!
Who's going to write the book about the Black man who grew up very poor, wound up being a Supreme Court Justice and was taken care of by a circle White billionaires, some of whom or was it most or all of whom had had dealings with the Court?
Mark Twain, this would be quite a match with Huckleberry Finn. Do you think those White guys shortchanged him?
A Black man who seems to have sulked his way through his childhood. And probably never had a normal conversation with a girl.
And let’s not forget he’s and a sexual predator and deviant. Recall Anita Hill at time of his confirmation. It was disgusting what he did to her. He has no conscience and does not care because nothing will change. To my knowledge, not one Repug stood up against his behavior. I previously worked for the FED government. Long time ago, about 30 of us were invited to an off-site training event by a private firm where snacks, sandwiches, and beverages were laid out for lunch. Later my boss required each to chip in $10.00 which was sent back to the host to cover the cost of food. The idea was to not show bias later if that firm bid on a government contract.
Linda,
Don't forget, Joe Biden, who presided over the confirmation of Clarence Thomas, ignored all of Anita Hill's (valid) claims.
Clarence Thomas would not have been confirmed without that blind oversight role ably led by Biden.
Even my own ignorant self, back then, knew Thomas was a deviant odd ball.
Joe Biden did not mind though.
The white senators and HW were too terrified of looking like racists to do anything.
Perhaps cowardice is the root cause. I would not be surprised.
But, Thomas accuser was also black. He was not being accused by a white woman.
I remember one segment of Anita Hill's testimony that made the news (and only one) from that time......that I read in the newspaper when I knew the accusations were true.
Anita Hill mentioned Thomas was looking at some issue of Penthouse that had a specific image in it. Turns out that was a famous image that had been passed all around men's (and possibly women's) college dorms at the time........including my old barracks dorm. I had glanced at the image and been substantially repelled at the time.
But, I knew Anita Hill was telling the truth. The timing was right and the image she referred to was well known to men's dorm residents all over the USA. Sadly.
But, it is very likely Biden knew she was telling the truth as well.
Yes. This was a stain on Biden.
And let’s also not forget this took place 32 years ago.
Which of you here has not grown, have different views/ perceptions, and gained greater wisdom than you held in 1991 (the year Thomas was seated on the SCOTUS)? If we’re criticizing and constraining our view(s) of who Biden is now based on who he was and/ or what he did in 1991 then we have a very limited a view him. And in so doing we not only limit him but ourselves as well.
I seriously doubt any of us here have not grown, not developed deeper understandings, not gained wisdom that was not a part of each of our lives 32 years ago. I suspect we have all grown, have deeper understands, and wisdom; and no doubt Biden has as well.
Somehow I think he was thinking more about replacing Thurgood Marshall and it was Bush’s nominee. My take on Joe Biden is that he comes from such a close-knit loving family that he didn’t “read” Thomas very well.
Not quite finished but I’m sure you all know this anyway.
All I can think of when I hear his name is a coffee table bobblehead created for white billionaires entertainment, 25 levels below the old statue of a black groomsman where horses were tied. Disrespectful of a SCJ I know, some days I cross that line.
Clarence Thomas doesn't respect his own office, nor does he--I suspect--respect himself. Thirty-eight vacations paid for by benefactors, none of which were reported??? There is NO "accidently left off the form" aspect to this...he has to know that he long ago crossed the line into corruption. How shameless does one have to be for something like this to simply roll off one's back with a shrug???
Where is the limit on shamelessness? I certainly do not know. But he has to know he owned, in the same manner a slave or junkie is owned. And his sleasy wife does not improve his "look" in my eyes. Two high-level crooks. Not Jared- or Ivanka- level though, at least not yet.
Perhaps his "benefactors" view him as just that. Wouldn't surprise me in the least
How many of those benefactors (whom Thomas calls "family friends") would even pretend to know him if he wasn't a SCOTUS Associate Justice (who has displayed how open he is to brib--uh, excuse me..."favors and gifts").
I bet we all know the answer to that question.
Undoubtedly. You don't get to the level of a billionaire without knowing where a person's weaknesses are, and judging from the number of emoluments CT has accepted, they have a good hold on him.
Impossible to write about Thomas without Anita Hill’s testimony before Congress.
I thought it was interesting what the reporter from Slate said last night on the PBS Newshour that Thomas was more middle class and went to private school:
https://www.pbs.org/video/high-court-ethics-1691698550/
'Thomas was born in Pin Point, Georgia. After his father abandoned the family, he was raised by his grandfather in a poor Gullah community near Savannah. Growing up as a devout Catholic, Thomas originally intended to be a priest in the Catholic Church but was frustrated over the church's insufficient attempts to combat racism. He abandoned his aspiration of becoming a clergyman to attend the College of the Holy Cross and, later, Yale Law School, where he was influenced by a number of conservative authors, notably Thomas Sowell. Upon graduating, he was appointed as an assistant attorney general in Missouri and later entered private practice there. He became a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator John Danforth in 1979, and was made Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education in 1981. President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas as Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) the next year.' (Wikipedia)
Thank you Fern, for researching Justice Thomas’ background.
Helped out by all the wrong people.
Thank you for posting this. I missed the interview last night.
What would “Jim” say?
Oh my goodness, does anybody here has a direct a tete-a-tete chat with Clarence Thomas? I am badly in need of that vacation even to one of his destinations.
And surely, it must be really good being a Republican. You get treated with 38+-in-a lifetime adventurous vacations, alongside a lavish culinary regimen replete with opulent ingredients and sumptuous delicacies. Who would refuse such a treatment?
But, before you become a Republican, you first need to talk like this: "Let’s make it clear, we elect a Legislature to reflect the values of the people that they represent, and I don’t think anybody in this room wanted this Legislature to adopt two districts that were going to guarantee that two Democrats would be elected." First, you act like you have the interests of the people at heart, but the opulence squandering of the public resources characterizes them. Secondly, you must always speak against Democrats even in issues that require bipartisan approach.
In summary, Republican slogan sounds like as long as the shepherd has eaten to the brim, the flock can take care of themselves.
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The confederate/Republicans use culture war, wedge issues to get people to vote against their self interest. Meanwhile, they are plundering and bribing and behaving like corrupt oligarchs.
That’s because they are corrupt oligarchs. We’re just beginning to peel the onion.
Thomas was seated in 1991. That is more than 1 lavish trip per year. When does he find time to 'work'?
His clerks do the work. He reminds me of the slaves who were co-opted by slave owners to manage other slaves. Or the Jews put in charge of the ghettos by the Nazis. He’s being exploited by the oligarchs. With Ginni controlling him he’s the Manchurian justice.
Probably like Jan stated - it was why he was quiet for so many years.
Well said, Edwin. Your style reminds me of one of my favorite political commentators masquerading as a writer of exquisite humorous prose: name of Samuel Clements, aka Mark Twain.
This reminds me of a scene where Augustus asks if there is anyone in Rome who has not slept with his daughter. A laughable moment, but the Thomas bribery is nauseating. Once again he should have never have passed the Senate committee and then end up on the Court. His ethics reeked then and the smell has only gotten stronger.
Well done
LOL
Jajajajajajaj! Just choked on my coffee. Thank you!
🤣