I read your letters like attending your class. As I recall my UM days, classed began without music. How about your simple greeting like, "Good morning, Good afternoon. How are you doing? Have you read my yesterday's letter, etc."
Those as frustrated as I am by all of this can look into Hopium, run by Simon Rosenberg. It's a group that targets specific campaigns to facilitate post carding, donations, etc. Rosenberg's take is very positive on the Dems chances this year. They were very involved in the Suozzi campaign. Their slogan is "Do more. Worry less".
The only thing that keeps me sane is writing postcards to get more Dems to the poles. Hand wringing doesn’t work for me anymore. Clever memes on Facebook don’t distract me anymore. There seems to be no bottom to the Trump-Johnson evil. VOTE BLUE! 🗳️💙🇺🇸
I agree! I let my brother, a staunch Republican, whom I have placated by not speaking about politics with him for years, know that this year is different. No longer am I going silently about my politics! This year I am working for my local Democratic headquarters to do all I can for the Blue team! I am writing postcards rather than spending sleepless nights fretting. I am voting a straight ticket, and being vocal about it, for the first time in my entire life.
This is not a business as usual year. This year the vote is not between candidates, rather it will determine the very future of the World!
Republicans from their crazy, lying, cheating leader right through their spineless, do-nothing Congress, down to my own state’s (Florida!) Governor and legislators to my county’s (Sarasota) supervisors and even school board and hospital board members, have soiled and muddied every possible office with their prejudiced, anti-american, let’s be dictators attitudes and actions. I for one am no longer willing to sit by as they destroy everything good in hopes of having sane discussions about policy and politics. Too long I have quietly gone about my business of working for the poor and downtrodden waiting for the sane among the Republicans to take back the thoughtful processes they once represented as members of the GOP. There is absolutely nothing “grand” about it any more.
I am well past dumbfounded by their outright lawlessness and am taking up arms against them in the only way I know how — not with guns and violence, but with words and deeds for the side of freedom and democracy! I literally can no longer rest as these felons continue to burn down my house! Please join the fight in the name of all that is good and decent! Get out the vote to end this reign of terror!
I believe that we need to do more than just vote. I believe that large demonstrations have powerful effects. Organization and demonstration is what needs to happen and I believe that those in both parties would participate. Where do we start?
The Speaker of the House just sent the House home, despite the readiness of many Republicans and all Democrats to act on aid for Ukraine and the southern border. Johnson is obstructing the ability of the House to act and doing the bidding of the man who tried all his insane brain could think of to steal the 2020 election. You are entitled to your opinion, but you are uninformed.
Don't feed the troll. His questions are disingenuous as anyone who truly believes in facts already knows. "Trans of kids?" Seriously, just another hate monger. Ignore him.
Obstructing? The whole democratic system was built for obstruction - its what the founders wanted. Are you a child? What did the Democrats do for four years under Trump? Give him everything he wants. Hell no. That's their right. The voters get to decide if they like it.
As for the election - lets see, did the Democrats and media lie about Hunter Biden's laptop?
That alone could have swung the election. How about fours years of a phony Russian collusion investigation? Did that alter the election?
What's coming to light now about the CIA targeting 26 Trump campaign officials in 2016
in a bump campaign IS CHILLING. Its illegal and immoral. There is a binder floating around that should make Democrats very nervous.
And what about the "LAWFARE" meant to alter the election.
Despite the obstructionist agenda if the repuglitans, maybe you can recall these bills that biden managed to pass? This means they were bipartisan, which translates to mean he actually is governing.
1. American Rescue Plan
2. Infrastructure law
3. Chips and science act
4. Respect for marriage act
5. Safer Communities act
6. Toxic exposed veterans pact act
7. Inflation reduction act.
All while repugltan hate groups banned abortion and books.
James, you seem to think coming here with your pithy comment will change some minds here.
Newsflash, we here don't operate like you do. We operate on TRUTH, something magas are allergic to. I only wish the block button worked, so I wouldn't have to even see your garbage comment.
I could careless whether I change minds. Heather can't be allowed lie or omit unchallenged.
Why did not make a single mention of the special counsel report on Biden willfully taking and disclosing highly classified documents? At the same time he directed his FBI to go after Trump for the same Trump for the same charges.
Nothing about Fani Willis? She is accused of taking kick backs from her boyfriend?
Her boyfriend paid for 5 luxury vacations and she claimed that she reimbursed in cash?
No paper trail? No receipts? Nada?
Nothing about the CIA targeting 26 Trump associates in 2016 in a bump campaign?
"M" "S" "M" kinda sums it up for me. Hahahaaa.., but, I've got another gattdammned axe to grind. I'm beating this out on my Mac, which has Apple News..so that's where I go majority of the time for my NEWS fix. Only trouble is I quit subscribing to AppleNews because it seemed like just ANOTHER leaking faucet on my PayPal account. Trouble is..., every friggen gottdammned thing (news bit) thatI'd really like to know more about is RESTRICTED to Apple News subscribers.. Like WTF (really applies here). I'm 80 gottdammned years old (young!!!) and really don't have fooken time to fook around allover the internet for news. Sorry. It just kinda pisses me off.
You have a very strange notion of 'truth,' James. Who won the 2020 presidential election? Is climate change real? Should the government be in charge of women's health decisions? Has corporate tax reduction ever led to more jobs or less deficit? Is horse medicine an effective treatment or preventative for Covid? Should we care for the repercussions of burn pits so many veterans experience?
The right's standard answers to those questions get halfway 'round the world while the truth is still lacing up its boots.
Simon's too confident, too much enamored of the Dem campaign status quo.
He really thinks -- he's written it -- that Republicans are simply "imploding," as if we can all just knock on doors, write post cards, make phone calls, and all that evil will pass.
Those comfortable with Dem campaign status quo have no idea of the extent of malignancy behind all that dark money that's set up the billionaire classes since the Powell memo first set out to grow the wealth gap in America -- to offshore the millions of working-class jobs, to privilege the social media hate algorithms, dehumanize the schools, push their Handmaid's Tale unto American women, arm all the nut jobs for Trump's stochastic terrorism, and ally with mass murderer Putin.
Many Dem elites, like dear Simon, have zero contact with any humanities, and so cocoon in their over-confident status quo.
Maybe. But what you’re describing is not something that most is us can tackle other than changing the political class election be election. You eat an elephant bite by bite.
Upping humane literacy helps us better stay in touch with -- and help -- people.
By that I mean the exact opposite of what the billionaire classes did first to enable them to get away with offshoring those millions of jobs.
And, first, through the then-new Heritage Foundation, an enlarged Hoover Institution, and a new ALEC, the billionaires and commercial predator classes killed humanities, both K-12 and "higher." America had -- still has -- the novels, films, songs, and other arts in touch with how Americans hurt, and where they hurt. Our rich wanted all that out of the public vocabulary. Wanted us all anesthetized (as our elites are today). No humanities.
It's not just having a few names to drop, either Bonny. More, it's the will and skill to make apt connections, to analogize. Abilities to do this require learning, effort, modeling by our betters. Zapping humanities forecloses on this.
America faces huge effort by Republicans to make America into the serfdom Putin, his bejeweled priests, and oligarchs got in Russia. Trump, his ideologue, theocratic speaker of the House, Gaetz, Boebert, Gosar, Jordan, Stefanik, and various white trash aim to reduce the U.S. similarly.
Humanities aren't just dressing, Bonny, aren't just consumer pleasures. They can keep us vitally vigilant, aware of each other as individuals in monstrosities our monsters otherwise pursue.
I we are to really self-govern, then we have to run the county. We hire alleged professionals to act as our agents and take actions on our behalf, but the overall direction of the Ship of State is is supposed to be in our hands. Maybe Ike was the last Republican president who gave a #### about Constitutional Preamble stuff. Cared more about the common good than capturing absolute power.
Don't get me started... his one memorable quote about government being here to help undid all the progress that FDR and others made - and started this whole ugly mess from which we are just starting to recover.
And how did his senility in office compare to Biden's? Was the Contra-Iran deal classic corruption or not? From his vantage point on the shining hill what would he think of the cesspool Trump calls our nation?
I'll give you points for chutzpah holding RWR up as a symbol or the rightness of the right.
Eisenhower's farewell address calling out the Military-Industrial complex is proof of his concern and caring about the common good over party or absolute power.
As I think you know, JL Graham, there is much more to this than Republican malfeasance and anti-American behavior. There has been an ongoing attempt to overthrow a democratically formed Republic and establish an authoritarian regime. This has been going on for decades and it has been carefully coordinated and implemented. There has been billions and billions of dollars spent within politics and beyond. Again, I'm suggesting that there is a greater and more powerful center of power to this endeavor to create an authoritarian regime.
The turf battles may revolve around religion, white supremacy and xenophobia, but I think it is clear (at least to me) who is behind this and who stands to gain from the establishment of an oppressive plutocracy. I think the end game is the establishment of huge fiefdoms under the control of extraordinarily wealthy, greedy, and self-serving mega-billionaires who hope to economically ensnare 99% of the world's inhabitants, in serving their insatiable greed. Those who don't willingly comply will be eliminated.
Even a cursory look at politics and elections in the US reveals that the name of the game is money and lots of it. Our system of electing the people's representatives is for sale to the highest bidder. And the highest bidders provide a vast network of supplemental and supporting actors, including the media, PACS and so-called policy institutes.
In recent years, government officials, appointees and agencies have come under the influence of the wealthy. The Supreme Court and every lower court has been methodically compromised by right-wing sympathizers who basically have been hired to upend the legal system and thwart the basic tenets of the Constitution. The Justice Department and its network of agencies, including the FBI and the Secret Service have been infiltrated by anti-American sympathizers.
It is appropriate to look back on history, but the fact remains, more money in fewer hands, combined with the nearly infinite multiplier of social media and you have the makings of the most lethal weapon to democratically formed governments ever seen in history.
Start working on GetOutTheVote Blue Wave 2024 right now. Contact your local Democratic committee, individual campaigns, progressive initiatives. Be part of the ground game. Sweat-equity democracy.
Share these “Letters” with family members - immediate and extended - friends and acquaintances - but do it cautiously - moderation in many, if not most or all areas of life, can be both wise and smart … There is strength in numbers!!!
It’s said that ‘cream rises to the top or surface’ … that oftentimes can be extended to truth, right and good as opposed to lies, wrong or bad!!!
Tragic, as I am finishing this I hear the sad news that Alexei Navalny has died …
Blessings on his memory. May his death embolden those of us who witnessed his strength, and may those who knew him personally and loved him be comforted by his courage.
Is it reasonable to charge elected MAGA reps with intent to deceive Americans in deliberately repeating the same fabricated lies regarding the 2020 election now proven baseless in so many courts? Freedom of speech should not be an exploited privilege of elected leaders when abused to manipulate their constituents. IMHO.
Just realized that I misread this response. Agonizing doesn’t solve anything either, nonetheless, the remainder of my original response is the same. Peace
We Dems have been asleep at the wheel for a looooong time. So it will take us a loooong time to fix this. We've been trying to play nice while first the republicans (thanks, Newt) and now the even more vile trumpers spit in our faces.
So we have to get off our butts and vote blue.... for a loooong time. The only way they will change is through pain. And that pain needs to be inflicted in the form of lost elections. No committee assignments for any election deniers. Etc, etc.
I agree pain will help cause change and there's plenty of the former (pain) right now. For total transparency, I am a staunch Independent. I don't think any one political party is going to fix the current mess we've allowed to develop. (I also don't think a 2-party system serves us well). We have to hold those currently in office accountable, full stop. It feels like the Senate is doing it's job, but the House is not, and I really don't think it's strictly because the senate majority is D and the house (slim) majority is R. I think it's because the "collective we" aren't making ourselves heard by the people we put in office (even if they aren't the ones we individually vote for). Now, a word to the part of the "collective we" who chose the route of not voting..... look where that's gotten us and the US (of A). Register and VOTE. Do NOT follow the current House of Rep.'s example. Frankly, it's unAmerican! Do (always) hold those currently in office accountable.
Agreed on this thoughtful post. I do not mean to hold the Dems blameless. They have kowtowed to big money as well.
Term limits. Much stricter rules on trading stocks. Public office is NOT the place to get rich. If you don't like that, tough spit. Don't run. So we have a lot of work to do and in the end it is indeed our fault for electing all of these people.
Yes, Kimberley, but let's not leave out his murder of Alexei Navalny.
Let's not leave out, either, his alliance with all the long-jewelry-accessorized, long-skirted, bearded Russian Orthodox priests who aim for the same subjugation of women, gays, teachers, and others as the current speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and all its too many virulent, illiterate white trash.
It’s time for a complete purge of republicans in Congress. They have consistently proven that they are incapable of governing. Every day that MAGA Mike is allowed to sit in the Speaker’s chair is one more day of disfunction.
Almost my whole family are/were Republicans and some are MAGAts. I lived it. Corrupt, racist, disloyal, untrustworthy, vindictive, mean, liars. I saw it in the '70's.
I was raised in Nebraska where we had Tom Osborne, Chuck Hagel, Mike Johanns, Doug Bereuter and Kate Orr as some of our Republican elected officials. They were all public servants and not political hacks like Trump and most of the Republicans in the House.
They have been replaced with mean spirited MAGAs whose only goal is to keep Republicans in power. The new crop of Republicans don't give a fuck about their constituents unless they give them money. In other words, power hungry greedy bastards.
I was raised in 33 different homes in probably as many countries. We had Ping, Brandt, DeGaul, Dutschke, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Trudeau, Franco, Pinochet, etc. None of those seemed Republicans to me, and I was not part of them. My first Republicans were when I married into a deep South family (USA) and I tried to belong there, because they were "soooo nice". But, I never did and my opinions were tolerated, at best, or laughed at when they "Racesplained" to me about "our Southern Blacks". Why did I not "get it". And, quite frankly I didn't need to belong, because I had a strong sense of self, of being something very different, even alien to these folks. The years after Academia, and moving around another 30 times, across the world helping people solve problems, only confirmed my understanding that others needed someone who had insight into the broader picture, and how change could be tolerated. It was midway through this second period (so to speak) that the true face of Republicanism as it grew more openly and systematically racist, and unkind to those that didn't want the cool aid, that my "family" also changed, pulled together and rejected me, my openness to learning, authenticity and appreciating the beauty of difference. So, at 70 I was somewhat rewarded by having 24 friends from all over the world join me in a celebration of friendship. They are like I am, outsiders to categorization, discrimination, indoctrination. This all, so you might be more aware of why I detest the Mango Muffins and MAGAts. They, like so many of my "family" have sought refuge and belonging with a maniacal cult, and have lost any connection with the beauty of our Universe or the need to learn real things.
What a wonderful blessing to have 24 truly like-minded souls from around the world to celebrate your turning 70! I have not lived in so many places as you, Bruce, but I have experienced the difference between living in the north and living in the south. And I have struggled with living among very nice people who clearly have "lost any connection with the beauty of our Universe or the need to learn real things" or "appreciate the beauty of difference" as you so aptly phrased it. I applaud you for courageously standing in your truth, something I am trying to do more openly myself. Your comment has inspired me to be more vocal about my beliefs, as these times and the decisions we all make this year are indeed crucial to the future of our world.
Thank you, Bruce for sharing your journey with us. I have lived in New England, the West Coast, NC, Taiwan and Mexico - not as extensive as you of course but many different cultures and attitudes. Exposure to more of the world and it's cultures can open minds and hearts - both of which are sorely needed in the USA, in the world.
Too many friends and a few family turn a blind eye, ignoring the years of infiltration by machine-like politics grabbing position in as many elected and appointed positions as they can ALEC style. They concentrate on opposition to everything the opposition can get any credit for (even if it is exactly what they would do if they were the ones getting the credit.
They will try to claim credit for the obvious benefits of things they never will vote for, as in infrastructure, and are now seeming to back total destruction of public education as they try to "piratize" everything.
The last thing their leaders want is anything near equal rights for everyone, as they use what ever fabricated reasons they can to manipulate and silence most opposition (other than to use just enough chosen angry outcries to fuel over the top responses they want to "justify."
They really do remind me most of the tactics Mussolini and Hitler used to provoke large portions of the population to subjugate or eliminate what ever targets they could derive the most power from abusing.
HCR is also not honest. Once again she recycles the absurd talking point about the "rules-based international order" that the United States has violated at will while shoving it down the throats of other countries.
We have free speech in this country, we get to say what we want civilly and move forward by hashing it out. Unfortunately, HCR blocked me on facebook because I’m voting for RFKJR and talking about him to this crowd. That hurts.
When someone listens to RFKJr and takes his anti-vax insanity seriously, children die. This Kennedy has been shunned by his own family for the BS he spreads. He is certifiably nuts. He lies as much as Trump.
And John, since we don't have ranked choice voting - your vote for RFKJr is a truly, clearly a vote for Donald Trump. Any vote other than voting for the Democratic ticket is a vote for Trump and FASCISM. Not voting Blue is a vote for Project 2025. I assume your next post will be featuring the beautiful elements of that "document".
John, I believe that responses to those who vote different from us should be respected. Unless it is #45 who is an exception. If we aren’t respectful the divide becomes deeper. I happen to believe that RFKJR would not represent all people if he were voted in. You can believe that though.
I have a very dear friend who supports RFK Jr, and I'll say to you what I said to her last July:
I just watched the video in which RFK Jr. said (I'm paraphrasing)"...there's an argument that Corona virus was bio-engineered to attack whites and blacks while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese." because I wanted to hear and see exactly what came out of his mouth rather than go by any partisan interpretation. https://nypost.com/2023/07/15/rfk-jr-says-covid-was-ethnically-targeted-to-spare-jews/
He didn't say the argument persuaded him, but he did go on in the video to talk about the bio engineering and Chinese financing of the lab work in a way that made it clear he thinks it's possible.
So at the House hearing today he was asked the simple binary question whether he believes that Jews and Chinese have some special immunity, and he wouldn't say yes or no. He said he was citing some study, and the questioner asked again if he believed it, and he went into a song and dance about being slandered without ever saying what he believes. That's some evasive bullshit right there.
Fortunately this is something we can know: I am 100% Ashkenazi Jew, and I got Covid at least once, maybe twice. Whoever posited this theory in the first place, it is cockamamie bunk. If RFK Jr. doesn't believe it, it's super disingenuous for him to go spreading it around as if it were credible; if he does believe it, he's an idiot.
What a sick tool you seem, some want real progress while you try to spawn antipathy to all who are trying to keep building a more honest and trustworthy structure and implementation of a government imagined in our Declaration of Independence.
We try to fix our past mistakes while others try to bury them, and hide the worst of what they do. How are you trying to fix anything?
One of the cardinal points of the post-WWII international order is the principle of non-interference and respect for national sovereignty, which the United States famously and routinely violates, meddling in the internal affairs of other countries all over the world.
Clay Higgins didn't even graduate from high school. He was a rouge cop that was fired from his jobs numerous times because he crossed the line. He beat the shit out of people. He made terroristic threats to a judge last week. Fuckwad Johnson believes he's Moses. With a mindset like that what could go wrong.
I love it that Laura 'dipshit' Trump will be in charge of the RNC. Fox in charge of the hen house. Agent Orange is going to hell. But, not without taking the entire Republican Party with him. There is plenty of time to destroy what's left of it before November. King Shitpants is holding the blowtorch and MAGAQ's has the gas cans.
Actually, bruce, Republicans are incredibly competent at taking over the government. Their full strategy was outlined in the Powell Memo in 1971, and they set tactics to accomplish each part of that strategy, while Democrats complained, and dithered, and were disdainful of the tactics.
You are right about Republican party Powell memo long term strategizing to take power. (Which is now pushed by Leonard Leo's The Teneo Network.) But you are wrong about Democrats 'dithering.' While Republicans sought to *take* power for unmitigated capitalist, racist, and religious extremist interests. Democrats thought they could *win* power by protecting Americans' civil rights and providing them essential and emergency services. The majority of Democrats continue this. The Democratic Party's
tragic error was in embracing the Clintons' neoliberalism and nepotism, and misreading an element of the Left wing of the electorate. Many nominal progressives abandoned the 'united we stand' tactics of the labor movement and civil rights movement. And instead sold generations of potential Democratic voters on purity tests, pipe dreams, and Pied Pipers. Helping elect Trump in 2016 and spawning the MAGA Left who deride Democratic reform and believe that electing Donald Trump will accelerate a socialist revolution. That the wreckage is an acceptable price for the phoenix of a workers paradise.
*Powell Memo
"Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations."
The Powell Memo lives on in Leonard Leo's The Teneo Network which he describes as "a Federalist Society for everything that's messed up in America." By which he means equality before the law, equal representation, caring for the general welfare - and all the constitutional obligations and institutions of government.
Does it have to be Clinton’s against the Dems? (They) did pretty good with the power they had. And Gore would have done even better if the cheating hadn’t reached the zenith in 2000.
100% agreement!!! The Democratic leadership Council has MUCH to answer for in pulling the Dems out of alignment with their traditional base (Unions, progressives, etc., and even worse, creating the circumstances that has caused so many people who used to be democrats to go Independent or even lean further rightwards.)
I am so confused. First is said ‘it’s’ the Republicans , tax breaks and alt right, stacking the courts and slowly putting Republican control into gov and state hands. Then it’s the Dems with usual stances of helping out the marginalized , unionization, progressiveness. Some further insinuated a black man put into presidency caused the backlash which doubled downed the racism and subsequent MAGA movement . The latter is FAULT? I beg to differ !
Is this NOT the necessary ongoing struggle to push back Republican’s balance focus? Which still promotes slave labor, keep the poor/disenfranchised /neglected in place all the while the money going to the top who are the richest controlling their imbalanced interest ?
‘Their ‘track record vs the Dems…..hmmmmm🤔..the fact the Dems have had to and SUCCESSFULLY I add clean up the mess rendered by every previous Republican tenure as the last four years exemplifies….
I’m pretty sure where I stand. I’m pretty sure the cracks revealed are self evident that this “all men are created equal “ has NOT a been settled yet….
Further more…I want to tell you about Wayne and Obie.Wayne is now retired closing in on his middle 90’s and still a wealth of knowledge having layed ..laid?…block in our rural tradesmen rich neighborhood …all his life . He did our first foundation at 71 , our second several years later and our last at a nimble 85.Obie discovered us in his 75th year, a sawyer all his life and rather adopted us teaching woods a ship and how to render lumber which built the three houses atop aforementioned foundations from our woods . The two sawmills stlll produce . Obie passed away at 92 we still miss his expertise .
So stop the ‘old age’ inadequacy/problem further giving extension to the blather Republicans plant (and place).
Let’s get this job done . 1) lift our fellow man out of repression 2) give our sisters BACK their needed health care , 3) children quality food 4) good accurate education, 5) supply adequate oversight for housing that meets too long neglected 6) environmental protection now a major factor resulting in our 7) world’s climate changes by 8) taxing the rich a fair share …and 9)
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
(#10 is mental health recognition ,red flag laws, to stop sick and demented people from ranting, shootings ( off their mouth with lies, conspiracy, or con games ) included .
There have always been Democrats who 'kept the faith' and honored the party's progressive drive. Among the electorate (Nominating Obama rather Hillary and Biden instead of Bloomberg.) And this is reflected in Congress - from James Clyburn to Jamie Raskin.
I don't buy into DNC missteps 'causing' people to decide to leave the party - rather than reform it. Petulance rather than Politics. That's on them. Racist right wing religious extremists remade the GOP in their own image. By becoming the GOP base. They made the smart choice.
DLC is (or was) a completely different critter than the DNC. DLC was promoting neoliberalism, which was not a friend to the traditional bases of the Democrat
Bruce- How would we know whether they are competent or not since they don't do anything but whine and lie and race home for weeks at a time with their tails between their legs.
They've elected two speakers each one is as you say, incompetent and totally beholden to Trump.
Run the country? Republicans apparently only know how to run roughshod over the Constitution and the country.
We need to get the votes out, and end this national nightmare. Michael Johnson, with his pointy ears and evil grin, looks like a goblin, sent to do Satan's bidding.
A couple of years ago, elected state house representatives in Oregon refused to execute the requirements of their job as representatives by taking off to Idaho. They left the state of Oregon and were gone for 10 plus days solely in order to prevent holding up the business of governing Oregon because they didn't like what they were being asked to do.
The following year, a measure was on our ballot that would prevent ANY state elected senator/representative who had 10 unexcused absences from qualifying to run for re-election and it passed with flying colors. Those same representatives pulled the same stunt.
Fast forward to just last month when that law had been enforced when those "members" of the Oregon State house" tried for file for re-election and the Secretary of State denied their submission to run for re-election.
Like Rumplestiltskin, they huffed and puffed, jumped up and down and sued the Secretary of the State of Oregon annnnnnndddd LOST.
From where I sit, the GOP is doing exactly the same thing. They may be there in body, but they're doing EVERY THING short of brandishing weapons to get their way and subvert our Democracy by trying to strong arm their colleagues and in so doing they obstructing the Country's governing.
Each and everyone of them should be impeached for not upholding their oath of office and indicted for interfering with the governing of the country (if possible)
The House GOP isn't even "there in body" because their pattern now seems to be to call a recess every time they are in a tight corner or caught in a lie.
Oregon is a shining example of voters demanding service for their tax dollars. I wish California would do the same. I also wish there were a legal way to refuse to pay those Legislators who have done nothing since they were sworn in to UPHOLD the Constitution.
Yes, how?? I’m done with “elected officials” getting paid by some of my tax $$ and NOT doing the job for which they were elected. It seems that those of us on this thread are of the same opinion, even if we identify with different political parties. There must be something more that we can do besides reaffirming our collective disbelief and outrage.
1. e-mail your Representative and Senators monthly - you can use the same message every month, get everyone you know to do the same thing
2. Start a petition, or better yet get Professor Reich to start a petition.
3. Get people to demonstrate in front of their offices with large colorful signs saying "I only get paid when I work - why shouldn't it be the same for you" "You want my vote? Work for it"
1.) I did send "my" representative an email this morning, and I sent a copy to the white house, and to all my friends in the same districts (with a link for emailing Representative Harris). My Senators are doing their jobs, but should I send it to them too anyway? BTW, I have often emailed this Rep. even though I didn't vote for him, I do feel obligated to try to hold him accountable. So far my Senators are doing what I expect them to, but I email them too occasionally, often to reaffirm their actions and my support.
Now I'll put a tickler in my tasks list to send an email every month, updated if/when needed.
2.). I'm embarrassed, but who is Professor Reich?
3.). Love the suggestion. Maybe this is the message I should email to all 435 members of the House of Representatives, but they don't really care about my vote as only one of them is on my ballot. Instead, I think I'll askj Maryland to pass a bill like the one passed in Oregon. 10 random absences (unexcused as are the ones the House is now taking) immediately disqualified a current member for running for reelection!
Good for you, Lonnise. Professor Robert Reich was the Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. He retired last year from UC Berkley. He has a great Substack column written daily. Maryland is a good State, they will probably consider following Oregon's lead.
Yes! I've said the exact same things. I carry it farther down the road by saying we need to organize and find competent leaders to demonstrate in large numbers. I'm with you and willing to do whatever to help us accomplish stability again.
As a fellow Oregonian, Terrie, I commend your post about the horrible Rs we have in the legislature. I especially like the huffed and puffed part....because several of the usual suspects were indeed doing exactly that. And yes, they did lose as we, the voters, understood exactly what the measure said in terms of punishing them for their stunts. Our senator, I think, was out sick and so he had an excuse although he is a poor excuse for a legislator (Girod). I do with we could see them all impeached because it is a small number who are keeping the House from functioning including the so-called Christian Johnson...may he burn in hell.
The faux-Christian nationalists pretend that Trump is an upstanding person who has Never told a lie. They don't take the time to see that he has broken all 10 commandments including "Thou shalt not kill." Like Putin he sent military personnel to their deaths for which he would receive Presidential immunity. And he did this his first week in office. His administration lied that there would be an investigation. What a fucking joke that was.
I live in ME which has the oldest population in the US and one of the whitest. And yet, the Republicans have been held at bay for the most part. Oh, and ME also has the lowest church attendance rate in the country -- a fact of which I am very proud.
Excellent post. I am a Californian with family in the Portland area, so I know a little bit, not a lot, about Oregon politics. I heard vaguely about the developments you mentioned but did not put it all together until I read your post.
Is it me, or does it seem like another lifetime ago when the great State of Oregon was represented in the US Senate for a while by Senators Mark Hatfield and Robert Packwood. Both Republicans, both fairly moderate although Hatfield a bit more conservative, and neither would countenance the likes of the Seditionist Sociopath, it seems to me.
Of course, Bob Packwood had a few personal problems, to say the least. If misty memory serves, it was none other than Mitch McConnell leading the Senate Ethics Committee who recommended Packwood's ouster from the Senate. Boy, what a difference thirty years makes!
Glad you brought up Packwood and Hatfield (or Hatwood and Packfield in my dyslexic brain) and that David brought up Tom McCall, our Republican Governor.
I also remember how Ron Wyden (D) and Gordon Smith (R) walked into the Senate side by side every day, and really did work together.
You are correct about being represented by Packwood (yes indeed, a few personal problems) and Hatfield. Now it's Merkeley and Wyden who both do a good job. Our rep is new, Salinas, but she is a D., now being challenged by the same jerk who ran against her the last time and bringing up an item from the last campaign where she had an ad which turned out to be inaccurate partly because of the info that was available. He is still the same guy who paid for an abortion for his then girlfriend.
I have to throw in a local political jab. State House District 44 had a representative (Peg Jolin) who got caught using campaign funds to (IIRC) pay for vehicle damage that took place when she said she was distributing yard signs) and had to resign. The joke was: "Why is Packwood going to leave the senate? Peg Jolin's seat is up for grabs."
We’ve been witness to R’s obstructionism for so long, decades. It seems to me, as the Lawmakers in Oregon have shown, we should have a tool box ready to deal with obstructionists in Congress.
I must say that deliberate absenteeism has been used, IMHO, for good. I am thinking of a group of Democratic legislators from, I think, Wisconsin who used that measure to try to keep a bill from passing that would have been very destructive. So long ago my 81-year-old brain can’t supply more detail, but I know they were considered heroes by many, including me.
They are doing exactly what Putin ordered them to do. When Biden says "[f]ailure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten", it sound as if he thinks that there is still an inkling of morality or conscience found in the MAGAts. There isn't. They sold their soul to Putin, and will do everything in their power to help him win in Ukraine - for a handsome reward, of course.
The MAGAts have Biden, and in extension also the rest of us, by the balls. Hate to say it, but I think the MAGAts, or better said: Putin won this game, and is riding it out now.
I agree, each and every one should be punished for the traitors they are. But as we have seen with orange man, the wheels of justice move so slowly. I’d like to know how much money we taxpayers have paid for his delaying tactics? Our Rep in the House is one of these traitors yet he gets re-elected. Makes me sick!! But we will continue to fight to oust him somehow!!
I do believe the ‘brandishing of weapons’ has been done over and over, they just put their sword in someone else’s hand, weaponize exactly what their pointed fingers blame the others for or out n out create such distraction the actual demon deeds go unnoticed…come on VOTE 💙 folks keep the Dems winning , inflation going down , women and voting rights back, funding Ukraine, keep the presidency in ‘24, and rid them of their seat forever! The Dems have a sizeable good stock of leaders in the wing coming along WELL! Get’em Maxwell, Jeffries, Raskin. The TRUTH !
Sometimes reality is hard to reconcile even though it's as clear as a winter-blue sky. Johnson and Republicans of his ilk, all supporters of the insurrection, are actively working to hurt the country they represent and help our enemy, Russia.
The media seems hell-bent to blame party chaos, an inexperienced speaker, and anything but the truth. The MAGAs in Congress answer to Trump who answers to Putin. And Trump is openly vowing not to abide by NATO treaties if elected president, a violation of the Constitution.
Add in the economic travails they want to inflict and an unwillingness to work with Democrats on border issues and what do we have? Elected officials conspiring to cripple the federal government.
How much “funding” for his business ventures (many of which ended in bankruptcy - talk about not paying your bills…. Mr Trump take a look in the mirror!) did Trump get from Russia? Are there any records of this debt? Trump seems not only smitten by but also beholden to Putin and owing his country hundreds of millions of dollars may be why. It could also be what he had planned for all the documents he had without authorization - use them to pay off debt and curry favor? Alas, none of this helps hold accountable those currently in office as public servants. And I am quite sure Trump has and will never see himself as a public servant. The only being he has/will ever “serve” is himself.
I always laugh when Trump (correctly) calls the NY State case ELECTION INTERFERENCE. It is, indeed, but about the 2016 election. He doesn't get the bald irony of his knee-jerk accusation against himself.
I am outraged that one half of our legislative branch is siding with Russia and Putin.We knowing people need to keep up our postcarding, calling,letter writing and basically making”good trouble “. I am in!!
Virginia Witmer, thank you. Tho’ I live in Virginia I have also sent postcards to voters in other states. As Joyce Vance says, we are in this together.
Thank you. Tom Suozzi thanked postcard writers on Tuesday night. It was a good moment. Postcards is what I can do and shall continue until the middle of next October. Reliving WWII in my second childhood.
My wife votes in Suozzi's district. She received probably 5 handwritten podtcards, either for Suozzi or non-partisan 'be a voter' cards. None for his opponent. Nice job Virginia, et. al.!
Thank you, Daniel. Being the child of a third generation “German Pole” as my father called himself, remembering December7,1941 and what followed, having three uncles in military service, one of whom was a radar “pioneer,” with submarine experience, and add to that a fierce, challenging teacher of history and civics who told us that if we did not vote in every election we were entitled to vote in she would come back to haunt us, at 89, no squares for soldiers’ afghans required, what else can I do? I do not expect to stop writing before mid-October. Meanwhile I must play piano often to be certain that I can continue to play and print!
Maybe you can teach me how to deal with all those Franz Liszt chords too! I always enjoy reading your posts and hearing of your good work, Virginia. And I know I'm only one of many
No, it's not one half of our legislative branch that is traitorous. It's just one half, and probably less than a quarter, actually, if you were to do the counting, of the House. Leaving aside Ukraine and the border and Secretary Mayorkas and a host of other issues, the House will not have enough time when they get back from their Presidents' Day (oh, the irony) vacation to fund the government. Traitors to their oath to the Constitution and traitors to the American people. You recall, I'm guessing, what Trump said we should do with traitors.
Yes, that’s right. A few obstructionists are driving the bus, but roughly half of the electorate, including a majority of white voters, support them. Those voters are the crux of the problem.
I'm guessing that they didn't pay Johnson anything. What an honor it is to be the Speaker and serve the Leader!
And remember, Trump, with his history of not paying his bills, isn't big on parting with his money. If what I've read is true, several of his current attorneys have demanded to be paid up front.
Do these monstrous MAGA Republicans have ALL the power to adjourn Congress at such a critical juncture? With such a SMALL “majority” of their party in the House, and no members of their party with the spine to resist the MAGAts, can they dictate their destructive agenda to the whole country this way, and there’s NO course of action to get Congress back to work on budgets, the border, and Ukraine {not to mention Israel/Gaza and Taiwan}????
I’m gobsmacked that we have to sit and let them do this!! Just gobsmacked that there’s no procedural piece available to Democrats to put a stop to this. The Republicans press procedure to the extremes to do what they want, and Democrats have NO recourse?
There is a maneuver that Hakeem Jeffries says he will use if the House doesn’t take up the bill, but I believe it will take at least a month of in session days. Also, the bill may be a problem for some Dems, who don’t want funding for Israel included on the bill. I’m wondering if Biden will give Ukraine frozen assets from Russia. Anyway we can work around these MAGA fools.
We have to find a way for a rational decent world.
Some want to say “supporting war” is bad, but if the US does NOT support Ukraine, that does not take away Putin’s ability to keep fighting. Hamstringing Ukraine is not “ending the war.” It is handing Putin what he has been after and it encourages him {and anyone who thinks superior might makes them right} to do it again.
I am anti-war — VERY anti-war — but I am not a pacifist. If I’m attacked with murderous force, I WILL fight back! If a friend is attacked with murderous force, I will fight for that friend. We cannot physically go there and fight without expanding the war, but we can support Ukraine’s struggle to throw off an attack. I think we should. With aid, as we have been doing.
Tucker Carlson just gave Vladimir a couple of hours to blather on and “justify” what he’s doing over there, and nothing Vlad said did the job — it is not justified, It is blatant empire building. And monstrous devastation.
Days and weeks and months — Ukraine doesn’t have that time.
Pat, I truly believe that, if Ukraine falls, we will have boots on the ground in a NATO country. If 45 wins, but we have both the House and the Senate, we can impeach and convict for breaking our treaty.
That all takes time. Time is not on our side or Ukraine’s side [or, if something were to happen with Taiwan … bite my tongue…].
Every time they pull one of these procedural betrayals — wasting time negotiating bills that they won’t vote for … recessing Congress to forestall Democrats forcing a vote … Aaaaaaahhh!!]. And we have no recourse,
Be assured, I am not advocating taking to the streets in anger, and I am definitely not advocating leaving the course of respect for law and process … that WOULD just feed into the MAGAt desire to bring down the government,
I guess I’m just lamenting that our system needs fixing and they are exploiting all the cracks …
PBO, I love that: "If I am attacked with murderous force, I WILL fight back. If a friend is attacked with murderous force, I will fight for that friend." I am thinking there are many ways those who are against war can aid in the resistance effort without actually fighting. Leave that part to those of us who have been given the makeup to fight, and support us in that effort.
Within the world that we want to protect and maintain — I am always seeking the way that will make us stronger, and not leave us prey to even worse … Recognizing those differences in response … aye, there’s the rub. {I think our current president has been trying to walk that line … I disagree with SOME of his cautions regarding Ukraine, but not most.}
I might be wrong on this, but I thought I read that in order for them to get around the Speaker's refusal to bring the bill for a vote it takes something like 300 representatives to be in favor of doing that. If enough Republicans and most of the Democrats voted for doing that, they could get it done. That might be a long shot, though, since so many of the GOP members in House have now capitulated to T***p. Infuriating. This is NOT democracy in any way, shape, or form.
I’d love to see that happen, but it would not bring them back. They don’t live check-to-check like so many other Americans. And going into recess is apparently legal, so on what grounds would their pay be withheld….?
I’m looking for a procedural option, but there apparently isn’t one.
I may have been too quick to ridicule Turner for pre-empting the Intelligence Committee meeting, calling attention to the possible danger. The danger: our own GOP HR marching to the whims of their cult. Where is bipartisanism in the HR - about 4 GOP may represent that political action when it comes to actual votes on the floor. Expand the postcard efforts, our Republic has a democracy crisis, send postcards to all House and Senate representatives in you state.
What the obstructionist Republicans don't understand is that a lot of the money "for Ukraine" will stay in the US to pay for production of the armaments and ammunition to replace what was already sent to Ukraine.
Yes, Pat, because of House rules NOT LAW. If we, Democrats, take back the House next year and increase our presence in the Senate we, the people must insist on permanent changes to these rules. At the time these rules were set there were intelligent honorable Legislators in both Houses of Congress. The rules were intended for expediency. The Speakers in both Houses handed Legislature to be debated to the appropriate Committee. This made sense because thousands of pieces of legislature are written each year, so, it makes sense to debate in committee before passing to the floor.
I don't know how the power of the Speaker was increased to the point a SINGLE person has more power than the President of the United States. McConnell, McCarthy, and Johnson held that power to simply table legislation they or their party disapproved. How on earth the Senate and House of Representatives gave their right to write and approve legislation to a single person I do not know.
The other thing that has to go is the filibuster in the Senate.
YES, those rules must be changed. But now is when people are suffering and dying. Now is when Ukraine is in danger of falling to Russia. Now is when they are fomenting more chaos at the border, and even border agents are begging the House to pass this new bill voted up by the Senate.
Letting Johnson just close down all action — that cannot be OK.
I totally agree. It might be done, on a 2/3 agreement of the House of Representatives - 291 votes. I'm not sure how many of the controlling Republicans are MAGAts vs, Republican. I think we stand at 214 to 219 with two seats vacant. We'd have to pick up 74 votes.
We, citizens, might be able to threaten the paychecks of the Legislators, but I'm not even sure of that. We, again the citizens, have to do something to convince the Legislative branch that we are unwilling to continue paying them $274,000 in salary plus a great benefit package AND full expenses (office, personnel, travel, supplies, etc.) to say nothing of those who are on the take from lobbyists, but we can get an inkling of that from Clarence Thomas, take.
The problem is the time it takes to make changes happen.
How sad is it that the MAGAt Republicans {and Mitch McConnell even BEFORE them, when he stiffed Obama’s Supreme Court nomination — and then in MAGA mode fast tracked Trump’s} have been using the system as it is to pervert that very system!
And they get to do this because is it OSTENSIBLY legal? So we have no recourse but to let these bozos treat our government this way?
I don’t want to break the rule of law, and I don’t want to foment {more} disorder. That’s what they want — to break down the system from the inside and remake it the way they want it — in favor of oligarchs and autocrats. Disorder serves their purposes, in breaking down the government, but also in getting the loyalty of some on the Right who are reacting emotionally. [We’re all reacting emotionally, but some of us are TRYING to think, too.]
But I find it hard to swallow that THEY have all the power to twist our system and we have NO power to pull it back together without long and arduous debates and proposals and court cases.
There are issues in our world that need attention NOW, but MAGAts don’t want to give them that attention. The more dire the circumstances of the world, the more likely some people will respond in “crisis” mode and follow an established leader who promises a relief from the stress of the crisis.
[Apparently, if my reading of Haidt is accurate, when we are in group-and-crisis mode, we lean toward reducing stress for our own group. At other times, we may lean toward decency for the entire world, but in crisis mode, we have a strong group identification and that is where our sense of “helping” focuses, on US. So, if we’re afraid the world is spinning out of control, we’re going to lean toward someone who tells us they can save our group….
I don’t know if this is a group dynamic that is at work, but it feels like it with MAGAts. ]
So, I get wanting to make sure the U.S. comes through these crises we’re facing — it’s MY country, too, and I want that, too! But I see a bigger picture for making our country more secure and safe, and that means being integrated into a more secure and safe WORLD. [Hell, if we don’t think that’s true, we can’t ever solve the CLIMATE crisis, can we?!!]
What I see the MAGAts doing is a New Isolationism, and with it a new fascism, and it’s scary as hell..
Can’t Democrats and the Left do anything more functional to STOP this insanity?
I don't think it is as much the "rule of law" as it is "established procedure" which is completely different. I do think that this particular time is particularly tenuous because (based upon what I read from my off the deep end friends) what they "believe" is that essentially, everything that "you say about us we say about you" and that their information sources are as valid as mine. Pure, unadulterated bovine scato, but there you have it.
Yeah, there is that attitude. Ally. That “bounces off me and goes back to you” kindergarten kid attitude.
Sometimes, I worry about it, and I check my facts. I try to even check the conservative information-sphere, but it’s hard to slog through it, I admit. Still, if we don’t do it, we have no excuse when they don’t believe our side. …
BUT, a great deal of what I talk about is stuff I LIVED through [I’m middling-old at age 77, but I talked a lot to my mother, too, and she just passed away at 99] — I watched the stuff I talk about happen, and I talked to my news-and-history-addicted mother about what SHE saw happen; I’m not just reading about it in someone’s Left or Right history lesson. So, there is that. …
And, you’re right, we’re not only dealing with actual passed LAWS, we’re coping with a rules-based system, too. And they ARE stretching those rules out of all recognitioon, as well {I mean, seriously, McConnell made up a “principle” that Obama was up for re-election in nearly a year, so his administration didn’t have the will of the people behind his putting someone on the Supreme Court? Because he didn’t control the two houses of Congress? But Trump had the people’s proxy less than a week before he was voted out of office!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!}
I worry about encouraging the Left to let go of any sense of process and orderly functioning, but I also can’t stand that the Right finds these twisted loopholes and they are making a mockery of our whole government and country.
Good point. I hear the blather about MAGA not being “true conservatives”,by other Republicans who call themselves “true conservatives”. Where are you in this fight? If you can’t straighten out your party, then the term “true conservative” is not worthy of any label other than “sycophantic ineptitude.”
David, interesting question and much more mature answer than mine.
I just wish that the ELECTED Representatives that are not a part of the "Freedumb Kawkus" would engage their spine and govern rather than capitulate and demonstrate for all to see their sycophantic ineptitude.
BUMMER. Being a radical Republican used to be a good thing. 😢 I suspect my passive political trajectory is far from unique. I tilted liberal as a Democrat and then got mugged by reality. 😳 Then I tilted conservative as a Republican until I got mugged by unreality. 😵💫Now I am a mere Independent bingeing on Netflix. 😉
Patty, I totally agree with you. The founding fathers (and mothers) believed in and fought for our Republic, our democracy, and our country. They stated that they did not want a king, an autocrat, or a ruler.
That is clearly not what the majority of today’s Republicans want.
At least that enough of them would be. A just republic requires that the great majority of citizens will negotiate in good faith. Without that commitment, no system is clever enough to make it right. There are no unalienable rights in a society where there are no uncrossable boundaries to behavior, and no accountability for those who breach them.
He wants to destroy democracy, and the people who believe in democracy in Ukraine, exactly as much as he wants to substitute his own ideological, theocratic set of abstractions over democracy in the U.S.
This Howdy Doody Speaker of the U.S. House has shown his contempt for our rule of law, most recently by working for an impeachment against an administration official without a shred of evidence as to the things the Constitution enumerates as constituting impeachable offenses.
The Constitution be damned, ditto the rule of law, ditto democracy. All these turned over to the cult of authoritarianism hate the diversity and decency of good American people. Their hatred goes from the Supreme Court coercing their theocracy on American women, to the social media billionaires pushing their algorithms for hate, to Republicans scheming for dark money and Aryan nation.
One of my favorite books -- all-time -- "The Earl of Louisiana." A. J. Liebling explains how all the crazy details fit together (wonderfully for the rest of us who don't have to live there).
Maddow talks about Huey Long in ‘Prequel.’ Very weird, weirder than I remembered from Kennedy’s also excellent much earlier ’Freedom From Fear’ . . . or so much longer ago, for me, the novel ‘All the King’s Men.’
James Carville back then was, as a little boy, just beginning to amass his L.S.U. regalia.
Thank you for mentioning the David M. Kennedy history (which I've regrettably not yet read) and the Robert Penn Warren novel (which I have -- great superb).
Having these names, let's not be amiss and leave out Walker Percy. So many good things by him. Perhaps best, given the times in which we live, may be "The Thanatos Syndrome," it posing not so far-fetched an explanation for our mass psychosis today, 40 years after he wrote it.
Johnson won the election. In 2018, Johnson won a second House term, defeating Democratic nominee Ryan Trundle, 139,307 votes (64%) to 72,923 votes (34%). In 2020, Johnson won a third House term with 185,265 votes (60%) to Democratic nominee Kenny Houston's 78,157 votes (25%). In 2022, Johnson won reelection unopposed.
Perhaps Mike Johnson gets the apocalypse in exchange for supporting the orange traitor. Perhaps Christian nationalists get Gilead. Perhaps white nationalists get their white country (no Jews, LGBTQ, blacks, Asians, Muslims allowed). Perhaps Putin gets a chance to realize his fevered dream. What did transactional Trump promise in return for making him king?
We all need not exactly fantasy, Don, but stories -- the more human the better.
Artists know how to fit the human to its communities, complexities. But we're all in much worse shape now to apply human stories, because our schools have so seriously become bereft of humanities.
Goons have taken over. Believers in The Rapture. Believers in racial superiority. Believers in my tribe over your tribe (as if only tribes existed, and all are but units therein).
While they spew their arrogance for their respective cultures, you'll never see any of them apply any novel, poem, memoir, work of history, film, or song from any of their cultures. All fall instead to abstractions. Nothing humanly nuanced. Blunderbusses. Dogmatic shills. All cowering under demagoguery.
Might teachers be permitted real humanities again in our schools, the schools of the world?
I'm hoping some enterprising reporter will find Mikey ("He likes it!") in the corner of the rotunda, gesticulating and speaking sotto voce with nobody around. Upon approaching, the reporter can hear him saying, "Wh-Wh-Whyyy, Harvey, wha-wha-what's wrong with helping those peo-peo-people in Ukraine?!?
Don, if you're talking about the imaginary sky pilot who created the world so man and dinosaurs could rule together, I so totally get what you're saying. Sadly, I believe his listening with all his stony heart to the sky pilot of the faiths that are looking for the second coming and revelation, where all the good guys go get wings and harps and the rest of us are sent to the hot place with accordions and bagpipes.
I figured out today why the Republicans wanted to/are impeaching Mayorkas. He was very helpful in supplying important information from DHS to the January 6th Select Committee. Their excuse is nothing but a red herring.
If you read about someone screaming in the manhattan courtroom something nasty at Donald Trump and you don’t see me posting anymore, you will know who did it. Nah, just joking. Then again who knows. Someone would need to feed my cats while I was incarcerated. Are there any volunteers?
Bill, wish I could but mine are not welcoming to other felines. The word must have gotten out about livin' their best lives in my home, as strays like to visit and peer in the windows.
However, if you land in jail, just start the gofundme and we'll get you out!
I know about strays. One was born in m driveway in December not long ago with mama nowhere to be found and fortunately I heard is cries at the end of his new life. That’s Babe you see in my photo. The other 6 cats adopted him and I had no choice to do likewise.
Bill, my mother was not an animal person. I had a dog for 4 years When I married my husband, his cat came with. When we lost him in surgery, we adopted 2 sibs from a small pet store (HUGE MISTAKE. Not the cats, but the pet store) Lost them both to feline leukemia. Then, a stray found US, took her in and adopted a friend for her. By the time we lost them both, we had 3 kids. Went to the shelter, each kid picked a cat (no more kittens though!) and funny, the cats each decided who their person would be (not who chose them!) They lived a good long time. A year after the last passed, I was ready and asked my husband "so how many do we get?" and he said 4. I wasn't sure he was serious, but we did NOT leave the shelter until we chose 4. (one actually chose us--smart kitty! They are quite spoiled).
I frequently comment to my husband while we are watching television "this house is 1600 sq ft, why are three of them sitting on his loveseat with (usually ON) us? )
I have never had an aloof cat. I have two who we refer to as the WalMart greeters, they welcome everyone to our house.
They are more addictive than heroin. I have written a manuscript on the topic and with some diligence, get it to book form soon. Three of my cats are semi feral. But two of them sneak up to my room in the middle of the night so I can’t be all bad.
I forgot to add that I occasionally write about cats on y blog BillKatz.substack.com and I will soon explain the recipe for making cat food. It’s not my recipe it’s one designed by Dr Lisa Pierson. But I have a few extra things to add. I make my own food because it’s more nutritious than factory food and it’s far cheaper than the cheapest garbage out there in the marketplace. Tune in.
Maybe. Let's assume that this is simply an accounting question and not something like Reagan had Ollie North do, which was to use funds that belonged to the US treasury for something that was not authorized by Congress. If a reasonable argument that the funds actually belong to Ukraine because they represent wealth (i.e. stored work) that was generated by the people of Ukraine, then yes a simple adjusting journal entry that moves the value of the equity from one or more Russian accounts to one or more Ukrainian accounts would be legit. For example, let's say that there is an actual equity (credit) balance that Ukraine has, that is more than just the promise of defense by the west, that resulted from the transfer of their nuclear arsenal to Russia at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Then one might assign some estimated arm's length value to that credit, and make it so. One might do something similar for things like aircraft built by Antonov, or ships built in Crimean shipyards. The thing to do would be to propose the journal entries and then get an opinion on them from the IASB in London. By the way, some of those valuations might be for assets in occupied territories that were simply seized by the Russians.
I think there is also a legitimate legal process that would be available to arbitrate the Russian objections once an IASB opinion is in hand. THE WTO has an arbitration court that can be used when a dispute about government interventions in international trade occur. It's usually used for things like challenging subsidies to a business that a competitor believes has put them at an unfair disadvantage. But I don't see why they couldn't take on an equity ownership case. They are both really just accounting fairness questions. If they were to do this, that court could become a place to take other torts, sort of like the missing half of the International Criminal Courts, which doesn't involve itself in such things, or at least I don't think they ever have. Torts are just as important in international law as they are within the boundaries of nations.
This is where Russian assets are being heldhttps://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-where-are-russias-300-billion-reserves-frozen-west-2023-12-28/#:~:text=Russia's%20central%20bank%20said%20these,reserves%20were%20held%20in%20Russia.
I think it's time to address the elephant in Joe Biden's living room; the MAGA followers of the world desperately want to avoid having a (gasp!) Woman of (gasp!) Color as POTUS if Biden becomes incapable of filling his duties. If this should happen, I suspect Ms. Harris will have a very tough row-to-hoe. It is my hope that the nation can elect a supportive Congress - both House and Senate.
The enemy press can't render the President incapable of filling his duties. The enemy press can render its readers incapable of distinguishing the truth from falsehood.
I recall that LBJ called or threatened to call the Congress into special session and to keep them there until they passed the Civil Rights Bill. Is this correct? Could Biden use the power to call Congress into special session until these security objectives are met?
I believe Congress was not in session when LBJ called a special session. Congress has not, today, adjourned, just recessed. Since the House will not reopen until February 28, perhaps Biden can do whatever he feels is right, with the clowns out of the way. OF course they would try to impeach him. They would fail to get him out of office, he has to act in an emergency. It would be the same thing as if 216 members of the House were severely burned in a fire, somebody has to govern.
I watched a live feed today of the evidentiary hearing in Fulton County Georgia. It was supposed to present evidence of a conflict of interest involving Fani T Willis and her associate attorney. It was a disgraceful display of salacious accusations on the personal affairs of Ms. Willis.
When your client , the former president , is in an indefensible position, put the prosecutor on trial! I am thankful for the work of Fani Willis , and the people of Georgia should be proud of her strong stand today.
I suspect that Speaker Johnson called a recess because he understands that -- the way things are going -- a discharge petition on the Ukraine/Israel/Taiwan bill will have enough votes to succeed, and he desperately needs time to remove the spines a few Republicans have suddenly grown. I also suspect that Johnson's days as Speaker may be numbered.
He is running away, but eventually, he will be run to ground. My advice to Democrats is to keep gathering signatures, and keep on pushing. It can be done.
Forgot to mention that these letters are now available on audio, for free, at:
Substack: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../letters-from.../id1730358737
Happily they are also available via Overcast, my favorite source of podcasts.
Direct Link: Letters from an American https://overcast.fm/+BGyw087xtY
Now showing up in Pocket Casts, too :-)
I read your letters like attending your class. As I recall my UM days, classed began without music. How about your simple greeting like, "Good morning, Good afternoon. How are you doing? Have you read my yesterday's letter, etc."
Newly elected Rep. Suozzi of New York, speaking at his celebration Tuesday night, summed it up:
"They should stop running after Trump and start running the country."
Those as frustrated as I am by all of this can look into Hopium, run by Simon Rosenberg. It's a group that targets specific campaigns to facilitate post carding, donations, etc. Rosenberg's take is very positive on the Dems chances this year. They were very involved in the Suozzi campaign. Their slogan is "Do more. Worry less".
The only thing that keeps me sane is writing postcards to get more Dems to the poles. Hand wringing doesn’t work for me anymore. Clever memes on Facebook don’t distract me anymore. There seems to be no bottom to the Trump-Johnson evil. VOTE BLUE! 🗳️💙🇺🇸
I agree! I let my brother, a staunch Republican, whom I have placated by not speaking about politics with him for years, know that this year is different. No longer am I going silently about my politics! This year I am working for my local Democratic headquarters to do all I can for the Blue team! I am writing postcards rather than spending sleepless nights fretting. I am voting a straight ticket, and being vocal about it, for the first time in my entire life.
This is not a business as usual year. This year the vote is not between candidates, rather it will determine the very future of the World!
Republicans from their crazy, lying, cheating leader right through their spineless, do-nothing Congress, down to my own state’s (Florida!) Governor and legislators to my county’s (Sarasota) supervisors and even school board and hospital board members, have soiled and muddied every possible office with their prejudiced, anti-american, let’s be dictators attitudes and actions. I for one am no longer willing to sit by as they destroy everything good in hopes of having sane discussions about policy and politics. Too long I have quietly gone about my business of working for the poor and downtrodden waiting for the sane among the Republicans to take back the thoughtful processes they once represented as members of the GOP. There is absolutely nothing “grand” about it any more.
I am well past dumbfounded by their outright lawlessness and am taking up arms against them in the only way I know how — not with guns and violence, but with words and deeds for the side of freedom and democracy! I literally can no longer rest as these felons continue to burn down my house! Please join the fight in the name of all that is good and decent! Get out the vote to end this reign of terror!
"...well past dumbfounded..."
So descriptive! I cannot believe what my cohort says and thinks about the coming election. They are completely gone...
May all Trump’s MAGA Republicans rot in hell. Soon.
I was hoping Covid would have whittled the numbers down a bit. I'm bad.
Yes. Do more. Worry less!
I believe that we need to do more than just vote. I believe that large demonstrations have powerful effects. Organization and demonstration is what needs to happen and I believe that those in both parties would participate. Where do we start?
Stay silent? What should brag about? Inflation? The border? crime? trans of kids? foreign policy after foreign policy FUBARS?
Enlighten all of us?
Is there a reason why BIDEN's approval rating is a 37% and sinking?
The Speaker of the House just sent the House home, despite the readiness of many Republicans and all Democrats to act on aid for Ukraine and the southern border. Johnson is obstructing the ability of the House to act and doing the bidding of the man who tried all his insane brain could think of to steal the 2020 election. You are entitled to your opinion, but you are uninformed.
Don't feed the troll. His questions are disingenuous as anyone who truly believes in facts already knows. "Trans of kids?" Seriously, just another hate monger. Ignore him.
Obstructing? The whole democratic system was built for obstruction - its what the founders wanted. Are you a child? What did the Democrats do for four years under Trump? Give him everything he wants. Hell no. That's their right. The voters get to decide if they like it.
As for the election - lets see, did the Democrats and media lie about Hunter Biden's laptop?
That alone could have swung the election. How about fours years of a phony Russian collusion investigation? Did that alter the election?
What's coming to light now about the CIA targeting 26 Trump campaign officials in 2016
in a bump campaign IS CHILLING. Its illegal and immoral. There is a binder floating around that should make Democrats very nervous.
And what about the "LAWFARE" meant to alter the election.
Despite the obstructionist agenda if the repuglitans, maybe you can recall these bills that biden managed to pass? This means they were bipartisan, which translates to mean he actually is governing.
1. American Rescue Plan
2. Infrastructure law
3. Chips and science act
4. Respect for marriage act
5. Safer Communities act
6. Toxic exposed veterans pact act
7. Inflation reduction act.
All while repugltan hate groups banned abortion and books.
James, you seem to think coming here with your pithy comment will change some minds here.
Newsflash, we here don't operate like you do. We operate on TRUTH, something magas are allergic to. I only wish the block button worked, so I wouldn't have to even see your garbage comment.
I could careless whether I change minds. Heather can't be allowed lie or omit unchallenged.
Why did not make a single mention of the special counsel report on Biden willfully taking and disclosing highly classified documents? At the same time he directed his FBI to go after Trump for the same Trump for the same charges.
Nothing about Fani Willis? She is accused of taking kick backs from her boyfriend?
Her boyfriend paid for 5 luxury vacations and she claimed that she reimbursed in cash?
No paper trail? No receipts? Nada?
Nothing about the CIA targeting 26 Trump associates in 2016 in a bump campaign?
Just bitching about Republicans.
American Rescue Plan
2. Infrastructure law
3. Chips and science act
4. Respect for marriage act
5. Safer Communities act
6. Toxic exposed veterans pact act
Please use facts on this site.
"M" "S" "M" kinda sums it up for me. Hahahaaa.., but, I've got another gattdammned axe to grind. I'm beating this out on my Mac, which has Apple News..so that's where I go majority of the time for my NEWS fix. Only trouble is I quit subscribing to AppleNews because it seemed like just ANOTHER leaking faucet on my PayPal account. Trouble is..., every friggen gottdammned thing (news bit) thatI'd really like to know more about is RESTRICTED to Apple News subscribers.. Like WTF (really applies here). I'm 80 gottdammned years old (young!!!) and really don't have fooken time to fook around allover the internet for news. Sorry. It just kinda pisses me off.
Be sure to get your friends involved in a movement to make change for future generations! My mom is 97 and I have her talking about it...
Awesome resolve! Thank you, Carol Ann!
Thank you
Evil? Is this joke? Sending money to fund a war that cannot be won - leading to the deaths
of thousand of men, woman, and children in Ukraine - so you can feel virtuous IS EVIL.
Troll alert. Nothing better to do than spread despair and hate.
Ignore
In other words spreading truth
There is nothing leftists hate more than the truth
If I was a leftist the truth would cause me a lot of despair. Especially for my snowflake ears.
You have a very strange notion of 'truth,' James. Who won the 2020 presidential election? Is climate change real? Should the government be in charge of women's health decisions? Has corporate tax reduction ever led to more jobs or less deficit? Is horse medicine an effective treatment or preventative for Covid? Should we care for the repercussions of burn pits so many veterans experience?
The right's standard answers to those questions get halfway 'round the world while the truth is still lacing up its boots.
Dear Gawd James, you wouldn't know truth if it slapped you upside your head.
Bucha...
Thank you
Simon's too confident, too much enamored of the Dem campaign status quo.
He really thinks -- he's written it -- that Republicans are simply "imploding," as if we can all just knock on doors, write post cards, make phone calls, and all that evil will pass.
Those comfortable with Dem campaign status quo have no idea of the extent of malignancy behind all that dark money that's set up the billionaire classes since the Powell memo first set out to grow the wealth gap in America -- to offshore the millions of working-class jobs, to privilege the social media hate algorithms, dehumanize the schools, push their Handmaid's Tale unto American women, arm all the nut jobs for Trump's stochastic terrorism, and ally with mass murderer Putin.
Many Dem elites, like dear Simon, have zero contact with any humanities, and so cocoon in their over-confident status quo.
Maybe. But what you’re describing is not something that most is us can tackle other than changing the political class election be election. You eat an elephant bite by bite.
Upping humane literacy helps us better stay in touch with -- and help -- people.
By that I mean the exact opposite of what the billionaire classes did first to enable them to get away with offshoring those millions of jobs.
And, first, through the then-new Heritage Foundation, an enlarged Hoover Institution, and a new ALEC, the billionaires and commercial predator classes killed humanities, both K-12 and "higher." America had -- still has -- the novels, films, songs, and other arts in touch with how Americans hurt, and where they hurt. Our rich wanted all that out of the public vocabulary. Wanted us all anesthetized (as our elites are today). No humanities.
It's not just having a few names to drop, either Bonny. More, it's the will and skill to make apt connections, to analogize. Abilities to do this require learning, effort, modeling by our betters. Zapping humanities forecloses on this.
America faces huge effort by Republicans to make America into the serfdom Putin, his bejeweled priests, and oligarchs got in Russia. Trump, his ideologue, theocratic speaker of the House, Gaetz, Boebert, Gosar, Jordan, Stefanik, and various white trash aim to reduce the U.S. similarly.
Humanities aren't just dressing, Bonny, aren't just consumer pleasures. They can keep us vitally vigilant, aware of each other as individuals in monstrosities our monsters otherwise pursue.
Ann...they don't know how to do either!!
Republicans run the country? Surely you jest. They cannot.
I we are to really self-govern, then we have to run the county. We hire alleged professionals to act as our agents and take actions on our behalf, but the overall direction of the Ship of State is is supposed to be in our hands. Maybe Ike was the last Republican president who gave a #### about Constitutional Preamble stuff. Cared more about the common good than capturing absolute power.
Amen to that. I'll say it again: Dwight David Eisenhower was the last Republican occupant worthy of the Oval Office. That is an indisputable fact.
He was the last honestly elected Republican. It's too bad he fell for The Red Scare and the Dulles brothers' very bad ideas.
It was a different time. He was a fundamenlly decent man. You cannot say that about any of the MAGgots
Ronald Wilson Reagan won 49 out of 50 states for reelection.
Don't get me started... his one memorable quote about government being here to help undid all the progress that FDR and others made - and started this whole ugly mess from which we are just starting to recover.
And how did his senility in office compare to Biden's? Was the Contra-Iran deal classic corruption or not? From his vantage point on the shining hill what would he think of the cesspool Trump calls our nation?
I'll give you points for chutzpah holding RWR up as a symbol or the rightness of the right.
Eisenhower's farewell address calling out the Military-Industrial complex is proof of his concern and caring about the common good over party or absolute power.
As I think you know, JL Graham, there is much more to this than Republican malfeasance and anti-American behavior. There has been an ongoing attempt to overthrow a democratically formed Republic and establish an authoritarian regime. This has been going on for decades and it has been carefully coordinated and implemented. There has been billions and billions of dollars spent within politics and beyond. Again, I'm suggesting that there is a greater and more powerful center of power to this endeavor to create an authoritarian regime.
The turf battles may revolve around religion, white supremacy and xenophobia, but I think it is clear (at least to me) who is behind this and who stands to gain from the establishment of an oppressive plutocracy. I think the end game is the establishment of huge fiefdoms under the control of extraordinarily wealthy, greedy, and self-serving mega-billionaires who hope to economically ensnare 99% of the world's inhabitants, in serving their insatiable greed. Those who don't willingly comply will be eliminated.
Even a cursory look at politics and elections in the US reveals that the name of the game is money and lots of it. Our system of electing the people's representatives is for sale to the highest bidder. And the highest bidders provide a vast network of supplemental and supporting actors, including the media, PACS and so-called policy institutes.
In recent years, government officials, appointees and agencies have come under the influence of the wealthy. The Supreme Court and every lower court has been methodically compromised by right-wing sympathizers who basically have been hired to upend the legal system and thwart the basic tenets of the Constitution. The Justice Department and its network of agencies, including the FBI and the Secret Service have been infiltrated by anti-American sympathizers.
It is appropriate to look back on history, but the fact remains, more money in fewer hands, combined with the nearly infinite multiplier of social media and you have the makings of the most lethal weapon to democratically formed governments ever seen in history.
Yup. The MAGA vision of our future is a return to medieval fiefdoms, complete with overlords and starving serfs.
They don’t. They recess at the most critical moment and get paid to do so. What is wrong with this picture/action or lack there of!
I certainly don't think they should get paid. Even when in session, they shouldn't be getting paid for doing nothing.
Republicans are running the country.
Ruining…not running.
Nice Julie. I too thought it was a typo. Many other did as well.
Julie you are correct. How are we going to impeach Johnson/spineless?
Into hell. I am not willing to get on that train. How do the majority of Americans stop this disaster? There must be something that can be done
Don't agonize. Organize.
Start working on GetOutTheVote Blue Wave 2024 right now. Contact your local Democratic committee, individual campaigns, progressive initiatives. Be part of the ground game. Sweat-equity democracy.
Share these “Letters” with family members - immediate and extended - friends and acquaintances - but do it cautiously - moderation in many, if not most or all areas of life, can be both wise and smart … There is strength in numbers!!!
It’s said that ‘cream rises to the top or surface’ … that oftentimes can be extended to truth, right and good as opposed to lies, wrong or bad!!!
Tragic, as I am finishing this I hear the sad news that Alexei Navalny has died …
Blessings on his memory. May his death embolden those of us who witnessed his strength, and may those who knew him personally and loved him be comforted by his courage.
😭 such sad news about Alexei
Oh no!
That is very sad indeed.
Is it reasonable to charge elected MAGA reps with intent to deceive Americans in deliberately repeating the same fabricated lies regarding the 2020 election now proven baseless in so many courts? Freedom of speech should not be an exploited privilege of elected leaders when abused to manipulate their constituents. IMHO.
I agree Berry
Just realized that I misread this response. Agonizing doesn’t solve anything either, nonetheless, the remainder of my original response is the same. Peace
Right on!!
We Dems have been asleep at the wheel for a looooong time. So it will take us a loooong time to fix this. We've been trying to play nice while first the republicans (thanks, Newt) and now the even more vile trumpers spit in our faces.
So we have to get off our butts and vote blue.... for a loooong time. The only way they will change is through pain. And that pain needs to be inflicted in the form of lost elections. No committee assignments for any election deniers. Etc, etc.
I agree pain will help cause change and there's plenty of the former (pain) right now. For total transparency, I am a staunch Independent. I don't think any one political party is going to fix the current mess we've allowed to develop. (I also don't think a 2-party system serves us well). We have to hold those currently in office accountable, full stop. It feels like the Senate is doing it's job, but the House is not, and I really don't think it's strictly because the senate majority is D and the house (slim) majority is R. I think it's because the "collective we" aren't making ourselves heard by the people we put in office (even if they aren't the ones we individually vote for). Now, a word to the part of the "collective we" who chose the route of not voting..... look where that's gotten us and the US (of A). Register and VOTE. Do NOT follow the current House of Rep.'s example. Frankly, it's unAmerican! Do (always) hold those currently in office accountable.
Agreed on this thoughtful post. I do not mean to hold the Dems blameless. They have kowtowed to big money as well.
Term limits. Much stricter rules on trading stocks. Public office is NOT the place to get rich. If you don't like that, tough spit. Don't run. So we have a lot of work to do and in the end it is indeed our fault for electing all of these people.
What happened to all the Republicans who for decades were staunch anti-communists and not they support a murderer dictator?
Putin isn't a communist. He's an the autocratic head of an oligarchy.
Yes, Kimberley, but let's not leave out his murder of Alexei Navalny.
Let's not leave out, either, his alliance with all the long-jewelry-accessorized, long-skirted, bearded Russian Orthodox priests who aim for the same subjugation of women, gays, teachers, and others as the current speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and all its too many virulent, illiterate white trash.
It’s time for a complete purge of republicans in Congress. They have consistently proven that they are incapable of governing. Every day that MAGA Mike is allowed to sit in the Speaker’s chair is one more day of disfunction.
Amen!
Exactly Mike!
Over a hill
Did you mean ruining ?
Right into the ground!
TFFG is running the country with his lies!
If they were, we were be running elsewhere
Republicans Not Competent
Republicans are not honest. Most of those of the last few decades have been corrupt as hell, and the few with any scruples tossed out.
Almost my whole family are/were Republicans and some are MAGAts. I lived it. Corrupt, racist, disloyal, untrustworthy, vindictive, mean, liars. I saw it in the '70's.
I was raised in Nebraska where we had Tom Osborne, Chuck Hagel, Mike Johanns, Doug Bereuter and Kate Orr as some of our Republican elected officials. They were all public servants and not political hacks like Trump and most of the Republicans in the House.
They have been replaced with mean spirited MAGAs whose only goal is to keep Republicans in power. The new crop of Republicans don't give a fuck about their constituents unless they give them money. In other words, power hungry greedy bastards.
I was raised in 33 different homes in probably as many countries. We had Ping, Brandt, DeGaul, Dutschke, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Trudeau, Franco, Pinochet, etc. None of those seemed Republicans to me, and I was not part of them. My first Republicans were when I married into a deep South family (USA) and I tried to belong there, because they were "soooo nice". But, I never did and my opinions were tolerated, at best, or laughed at when they "Racesplained" to me about "our Southern Blacks". Why did I not "get it". And, quite frankly I didn't need to belong, because I had a strong sense of self, of being something very different, even alien to these folks. The years after Academia, and moving around another 30 times, across the world helping people solve problems, only confirmed my understanding that others needed someone who had insight into the broader picture, and how change could be tolerated. It was midway through this second period (so to speak) that the true face of Republicanism as it grew more openly and systematically racist, and unkind to those that didn't want the cool aid, that my "family" also changed, pulled together and rejected me, my openness to learning, authenticity and appreciating the beauty of difference. So, at 70 I was somewhat rewarded by having 24 friends from all over the world join me in a celebration of friendship. They are like I am, outsiders to categorization, discrimination, indoctrination. This all, so you might be more aware of why I detest the Mango Muffins and MAGAts. They, like so many of my "family" have sought refuge and belonging with a maniacal cult, and have lost any connection with the beauty of our Universe or the need to learn real things.
What a wonderful blessing to have 24 truly like-minded souls from around the world to celebrate your turning 70! I have not lived in so many places as you, Bruce, but I have experienced the difference between living in the north and living in the south. And I have struggled with living among very nice people who clearly have "lost any connection with the beauty of our Universe or the need to learn real things" or "appreciate the beauty of difference" as you so aptly phrased it. I applaud you for courageously standing in your truth, something I am trying to do more openly myself. Your comment has inspired me to be more vocal about my beliefs, as these times and the decisions we all make this year are indeed crucial to the future of our world.
bruce, you can consider many of us in the forum as friends as well.
Wow. Bruce You have had quite the journey and experiences.
Thank you, Bruce for sharing your journey with us. I have lived in New England, the West Coast, NC, Taiwan and Mexico - not as extensive as you of course but many different cultures and attitudes. Exposure to more of the world and it's cultures can open minds and hearts - both of which are sorely needed in the USA, in the world.
Same in Michigan. Our Republican Governor Milliken was terrific. Now it's about oil and greed.
Yikes
Too many friends and a few family turn a blind eye, ignoring the years of infiltration by machine-like politics grabbing position in as many elected and appointed positions as they can ALEC style. They concentrate on opposition to everything the opposition can get any credit for (even if it is exactly what they would do if they were the ones getting the credit.
They will try to claim credit for the obvious benefits of things they never will vote for, as in infrastructure, and are now seeming to back total destruction of public education as they try to "piratize" everything.
The last thing their leaders want is anything near equal rights for everyone, as they use what ever fabricated reasons they can to manipulate and silence most opposition (other than to use just enough chosen angry outcries to fuel over the top responses they want to "justify."
They really do remind me most of the tactics Mussolini and Hitler used to provoke large portions of the population to subjugate or eliminate what ever targets they could derive the most power from abusing.
I am reading the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich now. The parallels to MAGA are terrifying.
Dan. Scarier than Sh__
As companion to that, Dan, Rachel Maddow's "Prequel."
HCR is also not honest. Once again she recycles the absurd talking point about the "rules-based international order" that the United States has violated at will while shoving it down the throats of other countries.
You again? Go away.
Please do not feed the troll
We have free speech in this country, we get to say what we want civilly and move forward by hashing it out. Unfortunately, HCR blocked me on facebook because I’m voting for RFKJR and talking about him to this crowd. That hurts.
When someone listens to RFKJr and takes his anti-vax insanity seriously, children die. This Kennedy has been shunned by his own family for the BS he spreads. He is certifiably nuts. He lies as much as Trump.
And John, since we don't have ranked choice voting - your vote for RFKJr is a truly, clearly a vote for Donald Trump. Any vote other than voting for the Democratic ticket is a vote for Trump and FASCISM. Not voting Blue is a vote for Project 2025. I assume your next post will be featuring the beautiful elements of that "document".
My free speech says you are full of crap.
John, I believe that responses to those who vote different from us should be respected. Unless it is #45 who is an exception. If we aren’t respectful the divide becomes deeper. I happen to believe that RFKJR would not represent all people if he were voted in. You can believe that though.
Only a non smart person goes where he is not wanted.
I have a very dear friend who supports RFK Jr, and I'll say to you what I said to her last July:
I just watched the video in which RFK Jr. said (I'm paraphrasing)"...there's an argument that Corona virus was bio-engineered to attack whites and blacks while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese." because I wanted to hear and see exactly what came out of his mouth rather than go by any partisan interpretation. https://nypost.com/2023/07/15/rfk-jr-says-covid-was-ethnically-targeted-to-spare-jews/
He didn't say the argument persuaded him, but he did go on in the video to talk about the bio engineering and Chinese financing of the lab work in a way that made it clear he thinks it's possible.
So at the House hearing today he was asked the simple binary question whether he believes that Jews and Chinese have some special immunity, and he wouldn't say yes or no. He said he was citing some study, and the questioner asked again if he believed it, and he went into a song and dance about being slandered without ever saying what he believes. That's some evasive bullshit right there.
Fortunately this is something we can know: I am 100% Ashkenazi Jew, and I got Covid at least once, maybe twice. Whoever posited this theory in the first place, it is cockamamie bunk. If RFK Jr. doesn't believe it, it's super disingenuous for him to go spreading it around as if it were credible; if he does believe it, he's an idiot.
What did you say about RFK?
Many of us here have been blocked on various sites. C'est la vie or perhaps it's C'est la Gare.
LOOK‼️
It’s John “I know nothing about everything” Schmeeckle.
Please do not feed the troll
I blocked Schmeeckle on this site, so why am I still seeing his posts? Anything more I can do?
I’ve not had any luck with blocking on this site.
Fortunately there are plenty of reasonable voices on this site to drown out “the schmeeckles.”
Blocking doesn't seem to do much here on Substack. I've blocked several trolls, including Schmeeckie, and I still see their stuff.
I did the same, numerous times. I also contacted Substack and never got a response. (twice)
So I am replying in kind to him: I find him a useless waste of space, so I respond with a useless waste of space.
Your comment is rude
Just callin’ ‘em as I see ‘em John.
What a sick tool you seem, some want real progress while you try to spawn antipathy to all who are trying to keep building a more honest and trustworthy structure and implementation of a government imagined in our Declaration of Independence.
We try to fix our past mistakes while others try to bury them, and hide the worst of what they do. How are you trying to fix anything?
"What should we do?"
https://earthwarning.org/index.php/what-should-we-do/
Hahahahahahahaha
Please do not feed the troll.
I'm not feeding the troll, I'm laughing at it.
One of the cardinal points of the post-WWII international order is the principle of non-interference and respect for national sovereignty, which the United States famously and routinely violates, meddling in the internal affairs of other countries all over the world.
.
.
.
Clay Higgins didn't even graduate from high school. He was a rouge cop that was fired from his jobs numerous times because he crossed the line. He beat the shit out of people. He made terroristic threats to a judge last week. Fuckwad Johnson believes he's Moses. With a mindset like that what could go wrong.
I love it that Laura 'dipshit' Trump will be in charge of the RNC. Fox in charge of the hen house. Agent Orange is going to hell. But, not without taking the entire Republican Party with him. There is plenty of time to destroy what's left of it before November. King Shitpants is holding the blowtorch and MAGAQ's has the gas cans.
Let’s give them a fantastic “send off” this November!
Good one Lisa! Accuracy, love it 🫶
Actually, bruce, Republicans are incredibly competent at taking over the government. Their full strategy was outlined in the Powell Memo in 1971, and they set tactics to accomplish each part of that strategy, while Democrats complained, and dithered, and were disdainful of the tactics.
You are right about Republican party Powell memo long term strategizing to take power. (Which is now pushed by Leonard Leo's The Teneo Network.) But you are wrong about Democrats 'dithering.' While Republicans sought to *take* power for unmitigated capitalist, racist, and religious extremist interests. Democrats thought they could *win* power by protecting Americans' civil rights and providing them essential and emergency services. The majority of Democrats continue this. The Democratic Party's
tragic error was in embracing the Clintons' neoliberalism and nepotism, and misreading an element of the Left wing of the electorate. Many nominal progressives abandoned the 'united we stand' tactics of the labor movement and civil rights movement. And instead sold generations of potential Democratic voters on purity tests, pipe dreams, and Pied Pipers. Helping elect Trump in 2016 and spawning the MAGA Left who deride Democratic reform and believe that electing Donald Trump will accelerate a socialist revolution. That the wreckage is an acceptable price for the phoenix of a workers paradise.
*Powell Memo
"Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations."
The Powell Memo lives on in Leonard Leo's The Teneo Network which he describes as "a Federalist Society for everything that's messed up in America." By which he means equality before the law, equal representation, caring for the general welfare - and all the constitutional obligations and institutions of government.
https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents
https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-leo-supreme-court-supermajority
One of the best critiques of Leo's drive for clerical fascism comes from the independent Catholic Reporter. Self identified
as "Throughout its history, NCR has been a voice for the marginalized, including women, LGBTQ communities, refugees and immigrants."
https://www.ncronline.org/news/leonard-leo-architect-conservative-supreme-court-takes-wider-culture
Does it have to be Clinton’s against the Dems? (They) did pretty good with the power they had. And Gore would have done even better if the cheating hadn’t reached the zenith in 2000.
100% agreement!!! The Democratic leadership Council has MUCH to answer for in pulling the Dems out of alignment with their traditional base (Unions, progressives, etc., and even worse, creating the circumstances that has caused so many people who used to be democrats to go Independent or even lean further rightwards.)
I am so confused. First is said ‘it’s’ the Republicans , tax breaks and alt right, stacking the courts and slowly putting Republican control into gov and state hands. Then it’s the Dems with usual stances of helping out the marginalized , unionization, progressiveness. Some further insinuated a black man put into presidency caused the backlash which doubled downed the racism and subsequent MAGA movement . The latter is FAULT? I beg to differ !
Is this NOT the necessary ongoing struggle to push back Republican’s balance focus? Which still promotes slave labor, keep the poor/disenfranchised /neglected in place all the while the money going to the top who are the richest controlling their imbalanced interest ?
‘Their ‘track record vs the Dems…..hmmmmm🤔..the fact the Dems have had to and SUCCESSFULLY I add clean up the mess rendered by every previous Republican tenure as the last four years exemplifies….
I’m pretty sure where I stand. I’m pretty sure the cracks revealed are self evident that this “all men are created equal “ has NOT a been settled yet….
Further more…I want to tell you about Wayne and Obie.Wayne is now retired closing in on his middle 90’s and still a wealth of knowledge having layed ..laid?…block in our rural tradesmen rich neighborhood …all his life . He did our first foundation at 71 , our second several years later and our last at a nimble 85.Obie discovered us in his 75th year, a sawyer all his life and rather adopted us teaching woods a ship and how to render lumber which built the three houses atop aforementioned foundations from our woods . The two sawmills stlll produce . Obie passed away at 92 we still miss his expertise .
So stop the ‘old age’ inadequacy/problem further giving extension to the blather Republicans plant (and place).
Let’s get this job done . 1) lift our fellow man out of repression 2) give our sisters BACK their needed health care , 3) children quality food 4) good accurate education, 5) supply adequate oversight for housing that meets too long neglected 6) environmental protection now a major factor resulting in our 7) world’s climate changes by 8) taxing the rich a fair share …and 9)
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
(#10 is mental health recognition ,red flag laws, to stop sick and demented people from ranting, shootings ( off their mouth with lies, conspiracy, or con games ) included .
You got my vote!
There have always been Democrats who 'kept the faith' and honored the party's progressive drive. Among the electorate (Nominating Obama rather Hillary and Biden instead of Bloomberg.) And this is reflected in Congress - from James Clyburn to Jamie Raskin.
I don't buy into DNC missteps 'causing' people to decide to leave the party - rather than reform it. Petulance rather than Politics. That's on them. Racist right wing religious extremists remade the GOP in their own image. By becoming the GOP base. They made the smart choice.
Dems shouldn’t have dissed Bloomberg so cruelly. Big tents include a lot. Just ask repubs, who welcome the devil in a blue dress or no dress at all.
DLC is (or was) a completely different critter than the DNC. DLC was promoting neoliberalism, which was not a friend to the traditional bases of the Democrat
Wow! This long article is well worth reading. I had no idea about Leo's power.
Oh my proof read , Pat 🙄🤦♀️ thanks for your patience folks🫶
Bruce- How would we know whether they are competent or not since they don't do anything but whine and lie and race home for weeks at a time with their tails between their legs.
They've elected two speakers each one is as you say, incompetent and totally beholden to Trump.
Incompetence can destroy as well as evil intent. They have both.
Beholden to …should be an automatic OUST! 💙VOTE FOLKS💙
Run the country? Republicans apparently only know how to run roughshod over the Constitution and the country.
We need to get the votes out, and end this national nightmare. Michael Johnson, with his pointy ears and evil grin, looks like a goblin, sent to do Satan's bidding.
Like they care one bit about the country?
A couple of years ago, elected state house representatives in Oregon refused to execute the requirements of their job as representatives by taking off to Idaho. They left the state of Oregon and were gone for 10 plus days solely in order to prevent holding up the business of governing Oregon because they didn't like what they were being asked to do.
The following year, a measure was on our ballot that would prevent ANY state elected senator/representative who had 10 unexcused absences from qualifying to run for re-election and it passed with flying colors. Those same representatives pulled the same stunt.
Fast forward to just last month when that law had been enforced when those "members" of the Oregon State house" tried for file for re-election and the Secretary of State denied their submission to run for re-election.
Like Rumplestiltskin, they huffed and puffed, jumped up and down and sued the Secretary of the State of Oregon annnnnnndddd LOST.
From where I sit, the GOP is doing exactly the same thing. They may be there in body, but they're doing EVERY THING short of brandishing weapons to get their way and subvert our Democracy by trying to strong arm their colleagues and in so doing they obstructing the Country's governing.
Each and everyone of them should be impeached for not upholding their oath of office and indicted for interfering with the governing of the country (if possible)
Terrie;
Yes, my state held up the rule of law and now I want my damn country to hold up the rule of law. Enough!
Our state, David and Terrie. Eugene checking in.
Ally House (Oregon);
Right on!
The House GOP isn't even "there in body" because their pattern now seems to be to call a recess every time they are in a tight corner or caught in a lie.
This pack of ninnies make toddlers look reasonable.
Toddlers are innocents. They are not.
Oregon is a shining example of voters demanding service for their tax dollars. I wish California would do the same. I also wish there were a legal way to refuse to pay those Legislators who have done nothing since they were sworn in to UPHOLD the Constitution.
Yes, how?? I’m done with “elected officials” getting paid by some of my tax $$ and NOT doing the job for which they were elected. It seems that those of us on this thread are of the same opinion, even if we identify with different political parties. There must be something more that we can do besides reaffirming our collective disbelief and outrage.
1. e-mail your Representative and Senators monthly - you can use the same message every month, get everyone you know to do the same thing
2. Start a petition, or better yet get Professor Reich to start a petition.
3. Get people to demonstrate in front of their offices with large colorful signs saying "I only get paid when I work - why shouldn't it be the same for you" "You want my vote? Work for it"
1.) I did send "my" representative an email this morning, and I sent a copy to the white house, and to all my friends in the same districts (with a link for emailing Representative Harris). My Senators are doing their jobs, but should I send it to them too anyway? BTW, I have often emailed this Rep. even though I didn't vote for him, I do feel obligated to try to hold him accountable. So far my Senators are doing what I expect them to, but I email them too occasionally, often to reaffirm their actions and my support.
Now I'll put a tickler in my tasks list to send an email every month, updated if/when needed.
2.). I'm embarrassed, but who is Professor Reich?
3.). Love the suggestion. Maybe this is the message I should email to all 435 members of the House of Representatives, but they don't really care about my vote as only one of them is on my ballot. Instead, I think I'll askj Maryland to pass a bill like the one passed in Oregon. 10 random absences (unexcused as are the ones the House is now taking) immediately disqualified a current member for running for reelection!
Thanks
Good for you, Lonnise. Professor Robert Reich was the Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. He retired last year from UC Berkley. He has a great Substack column written daily. Maryland is a good State, they will probably consider following Oregon's lead.
Yes! I've said the exact same things. I carry it farther down the road by saying we need to organize and find competent leaders to demonstrate in large numbers. I'm with you and willing to do whatever to help us accomplish stability again.
Could we put our tax $ in eskrow accounts, payable when meaniful work for the people occurs?
As a fellow Oregonian, Terrie, I commend your post about the horrible Rs we have in the legislature. I especially like the huffed and puffed part....because several of the usual suspects were indeed doing exactly that. And yes, they did lose as we, the voters, understood exactly what the measure said in terms of punishing them for their stunts. Our senator, I think, was out sick and so he had an excuse although he is a poor excuse for a legislator (Girod). I do with we could see them all impeached because it is a small number who are keeping the House from functioning including the so-called Christian Johnson...may he burn in hell.
The faux-Christian nationalists pretend that Trump is an upstanding person who has Never told a lie. They don't take the time to see that he has broken all 10 commandments including "Thou shalt not kill." Like Putin he sent military personnel to their deaths for which he would receive Presidential immunity. And he did this his first week in office. His administration lied that there would be an investigation. What a fucking joke that was.
I live in ME which has the oldest population in the US and one of the whitest. And yet, the Republicans have been held at bay for the most part. Oh, and ME also has the lowest church attendance rate in the country -- a fact of which I am very proud.
Maybe the new Moses will receive a new set of commandments from the orange god. Just sayin’.
My sentiments exactly.
Well said, my friend.
Also arrested for insurrection (failing to vote to recognize the Electoral college results in 2020) and treason for following Putin's Punk.
He shall forever be known as Defendant Don/Putin's Punk!
DDPP!!!
Lots and lots to work with there: Dirty Diapers PeePee.
Hi Terrie!
Excellent post. I am a Californian with family in the Portland area, so I know a little bit, not a lot, about Oregon politics. I heard vaguely about the developments you mentioned but did not put it all together until I read your post.
Is it me, or does it seem like another lifetime ago when the great State of Oregon was represented in the US Senate for a while by Senators Mark Hatfield and Robert Packwood. Both Republicans, both fairly moderate although Hatfield a bit more conservative, and neither would countenance the likes of the Seditionist Sociopath, it seems to me.
Of course, Bob Packwood had a few personal problems, to say the least. If misty memory serves, it was none other than Mitch McConnell leading the Senate Ethics Committee who recommended Packwood's ouster from the Senate. Boy, what a difference thirty years makes!
Daniel;
Don’t forget our legendary Republican Oregon Governor Tom McCall. He was a towering figure.
In Washington State we also had legendary governor Dan Evans - a Republican but oh-so-different from Republicans these days.
Not even the same breed any more.
Glad you brought up Packwood and Hatfield (or Hatwood and Packfield in my dyslexic brain) and that David brought up Tom McCall, our Republican Governor.
I also remember how Ron Wyden (D) and Gordon Smith (R) walked into the Senate side by side every day, and really did work together.
You are correct about being represented by Packwood (yes indeed, a few personal problems) and Hatfield. Now it's Merkeley and Wyden who both do a good job. Our rep is new, Salinas, but she is a D., now being challenged by the same jerk who ran against her the last time and bringing up an item from the last campaign where she had an ad which turned out to be inaccurate partly because of the info that was available. He is still the same guy who paid for an abortion for his then girlfriend.
I have to throw in a local political jab. State House District 44 had a representative (Peg Jolin) who got caught using campaign funds to (IIRC) pay for vehicle damage that took place when she said she was distributing yard signs) and had to resign. The joke was: "Why is Packwood going to leave the senate? Peg Jolin's seat is up for grabs."
LOL. I was involved in a local law suit and one of the our attorneys was the attorney for the Packwood women.
Obstructionism is a violation of oath. Absenteeism is also a violation of oath. like how you framed that. Could we codify that into Congress? Hmmmm.
We’ve been witness to R’s obstructionism for so long, decades. It seems to me, as the Lawmakers in Oregon have shown, we should have a tool box ready to deal with obstructionists in Congress.
I must say that deliberate absenteeism has been used, IMHO, for good. I am thinking of a group of Democratic legislators from, I think, Wisconsin who used that measure to try to keep a bill from passing that would have been very destructive. So long ago my 81-year-old brain can’t supply more detail, but I know they were considered heroes by many, including me.
but unlike the Oregon situation, our Wisconsin Democrats didn't use it every other day.
They are doing exactly what Putin ordered them to do. When Biden says "[f]ailure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten", it sound as if he thinks that there is still an inkling of morality or conscience found in the MAGAts. There isn't. They sold their soul to Putin, and will do everything in their power to help him win in Ukraine - for a handsome reward, of course.
The MAGAts have Biden, and in extension also the rest of us, by the balls. Hate to say it, but I think the MAGAts, or better said: Putin won this game, and is riding it out now.
Agreed. Doing what they've been told.
So it is...
I agree, each and every one should be punished for the traitors they are. But as we have seen with orange man, the wheels of justice move so slowly. I’d like to know how much money we taxpayers have paid for his delaying tactics? Our Rep in the House is one of these traitors yet he gets re-elected. Makes me sick!! But we will continue to fight to oust him somehow!!
I do believe the ‘brandishing of weapons’ has been done over and over, they just put their sword in someone else’s hand, weaponize exactly what their pointed fingers blame the others for or out n out create such distraction the actual demon deeds go unnoticed…come on VOTE 💙 folks keep the Dems winning , inflation going down , women and voting rights back, funding Ukraine, keep the presidency in ‘24, and rid them of their seat forever! The Dems have a sizeable good stock of leaders in the wing coming along WELL! Get’em Maxwell, Jeffries, Raskin. The TRUTH !
Yes, how do we make this happen? More importantly, how do we get the aid bill voted on, I.e. passed!
Sometimes reality is hard to reconcile even though it's as clear as a winter-blue sky. Johnson and Republicans of his ilk, all supporters of the insurrection, are actively working to hurt the country they represent and help our enemy, Russia.
The media seems hell-bent to blame party chaos, an inexperienced speaker, and anything but the truth. The MAGAs in Congress answer to Trump who answers to Putin. And Trump is openly vowing not to abide by NATO treaties if elected president, a violation of the Constitution.
Add in the economic travails they want to inflict and an unwillingness to work with Democrats on border issues and what do we have? Elected officials conspiring to cripple the federal government.
As I just wrote, let's call them by their real name: traitors.
Not only is it time to call them traitors. It’s past time.
I have said frequently here that the current Rs are the party of death led by the festering cancer death star.
Yes.And let’s just call them. Inundate them with our calls and our outrage
How much “funding” for his business ventures (many of which ended in bankruptcy - talk about not paying your bills…. Mr Trump take a look in the mirror!) did Trump get from Russia? Are there any records of this debt? Trump seems not only smitten by but also beholden to Putin and owing his country hundreds of millions of dollars may be why. It could also be what he had planned for all the documents he had without authorization - use them to pay off debt and curry favor? Alas, none of this helps hold accountable those currently in office as public servants. And I am quite sure Trump has and will never see himself as a public servant. The only being he has/will ever “serve” is himself.
Trumputin.
Thank you for referring to the legal case as a criminal election interference case (rather than the media’s use of the incorrect term hush money).
I always laugh when Trump (correctly) calls the NY State case ELECTION INTERFERENCE. It is, indeed, but about the 2016 election. He doesn't get the bald irony of his knee-jerk accusation against himself.
Every Trump accusation is a confession.
Absolutely.
Irony? Trump? I wonder if he's ever heard of it.
Heh, irony is something I think TFFG assumes his staff does to his dress shirts!
I saw a T-shirt: "Irony, as opposed to wrinkly."
🤣
Or his trousers in situ.
Nah
“Irony” is something that Trump uses to hit a golf ball. Then lies about his score.
😂
Yes, so many crimes as a result of “hushing” her; liked the judge’s comment, “see you on March 25th”!
I am outraged that one half of our legislative branch is siding with Russia and Putin.We knowing people need to keep up our postcarding, calling,letter writing and basically making”good trouble “. I am in!!
Just mailed another 25 to AZ. 150 down, 100 to go. Onward and upward!
Virginia Witmer, thank you. Tho’ I live in Virginia I have also sent postcards to voters in other states. As Joyce Vance says, we are in this together.
Another Virginia postcard writer here, Sara. I consider it a privilege to help my fellow citizens in other states!
Yes, we are in this together and with Navalny’s death, we must redouble our efforts. The Putin-Trump connection must be defeated.
I am writing cards also. It gives me the sense that I am doing something albeit small to help.
That counts
You are doing something to help and it is big!
Way to go!!
Thank you. Tom Suozzi thanked postcard writers on Tuesday night. It was a good moment. Postcards is what I can do and shall continue until the middle of next October. Reliving WWII in my second childhood.
My wife votes in Suozzi's district. She received probably 5 handwritten podtcards, either for Suozzi or non-partisan 'be a voter' cards. None for his opponent. Nice job Virginia, et. al.!
Thank you, Matthew. All appreciations appreciated!
You are an impressive citizen, Virginia Witmer!
Don't stop now!!
Thank you, Daniel. Being the child of a third generation “German Pole” as my father called himself, remembering December7,1941 and what followed, having three uncles in military service, one of whom was a radar “pioneer,” with submarine experience, and add to that a fierce, challenging teacher of history and civics who told us that if we did not vote in every election we were entitled to vote in she would come back to haunt us, at 89, no squares for soldiers’ afghans required, what else can I do? I do not expect to stop writing before mid-October. Meanwhile I must play piano often to be certain that I can continue to play and print!
Wonderful!
Maybe you can teach me how to deal with all those Franz Liszt chords too! I always enjoy reading your posts and hearing of your good work, Virginia. And I know I'm only one of many
No, it's not one half of our legislative branch that is traitorous. It's just one half, and probably less than a quarter, actually, if you were to do the counting, of the House. Leaving aside Ukraine and the border and Secretary Mayorkas and a host of other issues, the House will not have enough time when they get back from their Presidents' Day (oh, the irony) vacation to fund the government. Traitors to their oath to the Constitution and traitors to the American people. You recall, I'm guessing, what Trump said we should do with traitors.
Yes, that’s right. A few obstructionists are driving the bus, but roughly half of the electorate, including a majority of white voters, support them. Those voters are the crux of the problem.
But the rest are cowards. Cowards support traitors. Period
Actually, it is Johnson calling the shots after tffg tells him what to do. I wonder how much they paid him to do the work for them!
I'm guessing that they didn't pay Johnson anything. What an honor it is to be the Speaker and serve the Leader!
And remember, Trump, with his history of not paying his bills, isn't big on parting with his money. If what I've read is true, several of his current attorneys have demanded to be paid up front.
So am I. Sent postcards last week.
Do these monstrous MAGA Republicans have ALL the power to adjourn Congress at such a critical juncture? With such a SMALL “majority” of their party in the House, and no members of their party with the spine to resist the MAGAts, can they dictate their destructive agenda to the whole country this way, and there’s NO course of action to get Congress back to work on budgets, the border, and Ukraine {not to mention Israel/Gaza and Taiwan}????
I’m gobsmacked that we have to sit and let them do this!! Just gobsmacked that there’s no procedural piece available to Democrats to put a stop to this. The Republicans press procedure to the extremes to do what they want, and Democrats have NO recourse?
Gad!!!
There is a maneuver that Hakeem Jeffries says he will use if the House doesn’t take up the bill, but I believe it will take at least a month of in session days. Also, the bill may be a problem for some Dems, who don’t want funding for Israel included on the bill. I’m wondering if Biden will give Ukraine frozen assets from Russia. Anyway we can work around these MAGA fools.
We have to find a way for a rational decent world.
Some want to say “supporting war” is bad, but if the US does NOT support Ukraine, that does not take away Putin’s ability to keep fighting. Hamstringing Ukraine is not “ending the war.” It is handing Putin what he has been after and it encourages him {and anyone who thinks superior might makes them right} to do it again.
I am anti-war — VERY anti-war — but I am not a pacifist. If I’m attacked with murderous force, I WILL fight back! If a friend is attacked with murderous force, I will fight for that friend. We cannot physically go there and fight without expanding the war, but we can support Ukraine’s struggle to throw off an attack. I think we should. With aid, as we have been doing.
Tucker Carlson just gave Vladimir a couple of hours to blather on and “justify” what he’s doing over there, and nothing Vlad said did the job — it is not justified, It is blatant empire building. And monstrous devastation.
Days and weeks and months — Ukraine doesn’t have that time.
Pat, I truly believe that, if Ukraine falls, we will have boots on the ground in a NATO country. If 45 wins, but we have both the House and the Senate, we can impeach and convict for breaking our treaty.
That all takes time. Time is not on our side or Ukraine’s side [or, if something were to happen with Taiwan … bite my tongue…].
Every time they pull one of these procedural betrayals — wasting time negotiating bills that they won’t vote for … recessing Congress to forestall Democrats forcing a vote … Aaaaaaahhh!!]. And we have no recourse,
Be assured, I am not advocating taking to the streets in anger, and I am definitely not advocating leaving the course of respect for law and process … that WOULD just feed into the MAGAt desire to bring down the government,
I guess I’m just lamenting that our system needs fixing and they are exploiting all the cracks …
Impeach, but the convict part will take guts. Sorely missing, still
PBO, I love that: "If I am attacked with murderous force, I WILL fight back. If a friend is attacked with murderous force, I will fight for that friend." I am thinking there are many ways those who are against war can aid in the resistance effort without actually fighting. Leave that part to those of us who have been given the makeup to fight, and support us in that effort.
Within the world that we want to protect and maintain — I am always seeking the way that will make us stronger, and not leave us prey to even worse … Recognizing those differences in response … aye, there’s the rub. {I think our current president has been trying to walk that line … I disagree with SOME of his cautions regarding Ukraine, but not most.}
I might be wrong on this, but I thought I read that in order for them to get around the Speaker's refusal to bring the bill for a vote it takes something like 300 representatives to be in favor of doing that. If enough Republicans and most of the Democrats voted for doing that, they could get it done. That might be a long shot, though, since so many of the GOP members in House have now capitulated to T***p. Infuriating. This is NOT democracy in any way, shape, or form.
We absolutely have to find a way to do that. Can we demand as citizens that the government dock their pay for two weeks?
I would like to see their pay withheld, also.
Dick their their pay? I’d prefer them in the dock!
I’d love to see that happen, but it would not bring them back. They don’t live check-to-check like so many other Americans. And going into recess is apparently legal, so on what grounds would their pay be withheld….?
I’m looking for a procedural option, but there apparently isn’t one.
You might think an executive order on funding could be made after a declaration of a National Emergency....
I may have been too quick to ridicule Turner for pre-empting the Intelligence Committee meeting, calling attention to the possible danger. The danger: our own GOP HR marching to the whims of their cult. Where is bipartisanism in the HR - about 4 GOP may represent that political action when it comes to actual votes on the floor. Expand the postcard efforts, our Republic has a democracy crisis, send postcards to all House and Senate representatives in you state.
What the obstructionist Republicans don't understand is that a lot of the money "for Ukraine" will stay in the US to pay for production of the armaments and ammunition to replace what was already sent to Ukraine.
Yes, Pat, because of House rules NOT LAW. If we, Democrats, take back the House next year and increase our presence in the Senate we, the people must insist on permanent changes to these rules. At the time these rules were set there were intelligent honorable Legislators in both Houses of Congress. The rules were intended for expediency. The Speakers in both Houses handed Legislature to be debated to the appropriate Committee. This made sense because thousands of pieces of legislature are written each year, so, it makes sense to debate in committee before passing to the floor.
I don't know how the power of the Speaker was increased to the point a SINGLE person has more power than the President of the United States. McConnell, McCarthy, and Johnson held that power to simply table legislation they or their party disapproved. How on earth the Senate and House of Representatives gave their right to write and approve legislation to a single person I do not know.
The other thing that has to go is the filibuster in the Senate.
YES, those rules must be changed. But now is when people are suffering and dying. Now is when Ukraine is in danger of falling to Russia. Now is when they are fomenting more chaos at the border, and even border agents are begging the House to pass this new bill voted up by the Senate.
Letting Johnson just close down all action — that cannot be OK.
I totally agree. It might be done, on a 2/3 agreement of the House of Representatives - 291 votes. I'm not sure how many of the controlling Republicans are MAGAts vs, Republican. I think we stand at 214 to 219 with two seats vacant. We'd have to pick up 74 votes.
We, citizens, might be able to threaten the paychecks of the Legislators, but I'm not even sure of that. We, again the citizens, have to do something to convince the Legislative branch that we are unwilling to continue paying them $274,000 in salary plus a great benefit package AND full expenses (office, personnel, travel, supplies, etc.) to say nothing of those who are on the take from lobbyists, but we can get an inkling of that from Clarence Thomas, take.
The problem is the time it takes to make changes happen.
How sad is it that the MAGAt Republicans {and Mitch McConnell even BEFORE them, when he stiffed Obama’s Supreme Court nomination — and then in MAGA mode fast tracked Trump’s} have been using the system as it is to pervert that very system!
And they get to do this because is it OSTENSIBLY legal? So we have no recourse but to let these bozos treat our government this way?
I don’t want to break the rule of law, and I don’t want to foment {more} disorder. That’s what they want — to break down the system from the inside and remake it the way they want it — in favor of oligarchs and autocrats. Disorder serves their purposes, in breaking down the government, but also in getting the loyalty of some on the Right who are reacting emotionally. [We’re all reacting emotionally, but some of us are TRYING to think, too.]
But I find it hard to swallow that THEY have all the power to twist our system and we have NO power to pull it back together without long and arduous debates and proposals and court cases.
There are issues in our world that need attention NOW, but MAGAts don’t want to give them that attention. The more dire the circumstances of the world, the more likely some people will respond in “crisis” mode and follow an established leader who promises a relief from the stress of the crisis.
[Apparently, if my reading of Haidt is accurate, when we are in group-and-crisis mode, we lean toward reducing stress for our own group. At other times, we may lean toward decency for the entire world, but in crisis mode, we have a strong group identification and that is where our sense of “helping” focuses, on US. So, if we’re afraid the world is spinning out of control, we’re going to lean toward someone who tells us they can save our group….
I don’t know if this is a group dynamic that is at work, but it feels like it with MAGAts. ]
So, I get wanting to make sure the U.S. comes through these crises we’re facing — it’s MY country, too, and I want that, too! But I see a bigger picture for making our country more secure and safe, and that means being integrated into a more secure and safe WORLD. [Hell, if we don’t think that’s true, we can’t ever solve the CLIMATE crisis, can we?!!]
What I see the MAGAts doing is a New Isolationism, and with it a new fascism, and it’s scary as hell..
Can’t Democrats and the Left do anything more functional to STOP this insanity?
I don't think it is as much the "rule of law" as it is "established procedure" which is completely different. I do think that this particular time is particularly tenuous because (based upon what I read from my off the deep end friends) what they "believe" is that essentially, everything that "you say about us we say about you" and that their information sources are as valid as mine. Pure, unadulterated bovine scato, but there you have it.
Yeah, there is that attitude. Ally. That “bounces off me and goes back to you” kindergarten kid attitude.
Sometimes, I worry about it, and I check my facts. I try to even check the conservative information-sphere, but it’s hard to slog through it, I admit. Still, if we don’t do it, we have no excuse when they don’t believe our side. …
BUT, a great deal of what I talk about is stuff I LIVED through [I’m middling-old at age 77, but I talked a lot to my mother, too, and she just passed away at 99] — I watched the stuff I talk about happen, and I talked to my news-and-history-addicted mother about what SHE saw happen; I’m not just reading about it in someone’s Left or Right history lesson. So, there is that. …
And, you’re right, we’re not only dealing with actual passed LAWS, we’re coping with a rules-based system, too. And they ARE stretching those rules out of all recognitioon, as well {I mean, seriously, McConnell made up a “principle” that Obama was up for re-election in nearly a year, so his administration didn’t have the will of the people behind his putting someone on the Supreme Court? Because he didn’t control the two houses of Congress? But Trump had the people’s proxy less than a week before he was voted out of office!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!}
I worry about encouraging the Left to let go of any sense of process and orderly functioning, but I also can’t stand that the Right finds these twisted loopholes and they are making a mockery of our whole government and country.
Damn.
Not all repubs are MAGAts???? Then prove it because good men doing nothing is what allows evil to rule. Good men become cowards and accomplices
Jeri ;
Good point. I hear the blather about MAGA not being “true conservatives”,by other Republicans who call themselves “true conservatives”. Where are you in this fight? If you can’t straighten out your party, then the term “true conservative” is not worthy of any label other than “sycophantic ineptitude.”
Prove it “good conservatives.” They have slandered you more than anyone. Kick their arses to the curb if you mean it. Buckley would have…
David, interesting question and much more mature answer than mine.
I just wish that the ELECTED Representatives that are not a part of the "Freedumb Kawkus" would engage their spine and govern rather than capitulate and demonstrate for all to see their sycophantic ineptitude.
BUMMER. Being a radical Republican used to be a good thing. 😢 I suspect my passive political trajectory is far from unique. I tilted liberal as a Democrat and then got mugged by reality. 😳 Then I tilted conservative as a Republican until I got mugged by unreality. 😵💫Now I am a mere Independent bingeing on Netflix. 😉
The house republicans don’t deserve a break because they haven’t done a damn thing! Do we have no recourse??
It seems absurd that the Speaker has this much control to chokehold the House and Congress. There’s something wrong with the whole set up
Personally, I think that the problem is that it was set up assuming that the participants would be honorable.
Patty, I totally agree with you. The founding fathers (and mothers) believed in and fought for our Republic, our democracy, and our country. They stated that they did not want a king, an autocrat, or a ruler.
That is clearly not what the majority of today’s Republicans want.
Traitors!
That exact sentiment may appear in theh Federalist Paper - may even include, a president elected by the people and not above the law...
At least that enough of them would be. A just republic requires that the great majority of citizens will negotiate in good faith. Without that commitment, no system is clever enough to make it right. There are no unalienable rights in a society where there are no uncrossable boundaries to behavior, and no accountability for those who breach them.
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Mike Johnson is a Nazi.
He wants to destroy democracy, and the people who believe in democracy in Ukraine, exactly as much as he wants to substitute his own ideological, theocratic set of abstractions over democracy in the U.S.
This Howdy Doody Speaker of the U.S. House has shown his contempt for our rule of law, most recently by working for an impeachment against an administration official without a shred of evidence as to the things the Constitution enumerates as constituting impeachable offenses.
The Constitution be damned, ditto the rule of law, ditto democracy. All these turned over to the cult of authoritarianism hate the diversity and decency of good American people. Their hatred goes from the Supreme Court coercing their theocracy on American women, to the social media billionaires pushing their algorithms for hate, to Republicans scheming for dark money and Aryan nation.
Johnson is an evangelical religious fanatic who already thinks America is doomed for its many sins, and of course, is beholden to Trump.
Succinct, accurate.
Johnson was not elected. He filed, no one else filed, he was proclaimed.
It's Louisiana, brad.
One of my favorite books -- all-time -- "The Earl of Louisiana." A. J. Liebling explains how all the crazy details fit together (wonderfully for the rest of us who don't have to live there).
Where was Carville?!
Maddow talks about Huey Long in ‘Prequel.’ Very weird, weirder than I remembered from Kennedy’s also excellent much earlier ’Freedom From Fear’ . . . or so much longer ago, for me, the novel ‘All the King’s Men.’
James Carville back then was, as a little boy, just beginning to amass his L.S.U. regalia.
Thank you for mentioning the David M. Kennedy history (which I've regrettably not yet read) and the Robert Penn Warren novel (which I have -- great superb).
Having these names, let's not be amiss and leave out Walker Percy. So many good things by him. Perhaps best, given the times in which we live, may be "The Thanatos Syndrome," it posing not so far-fetched an explanation for our mass psychosis today, 40 years after he wrote it.
I am currently reading Prequel and I highly recommend it to the LFAA bookclub!
An online search will bring you to Rachel and Ken Burns, Miselle -- super good.
Johnson won the election. In 2018, Johnson won a second House term, defeating Democratic nominee Ryan Trundle, 139,307 votes (64%) to 72,923 votes (34%). In 2020, Johnson won a third House term with 185,265 votes (60%) to Democratic nominee Kenny Houston's 78,157 votes (25%). In 2022, Johnson won reelection unopposed.
Perhaps Mike Johnson gets the apocalypse in exchange for supporting the orange traitor. Perhaps Christian nationalists get Gilead. Perhaps white nationalists get their white country (no Jews, LGBTQ, blacks, Asians, Muslims allowed). Perhaps Putin gets a chance to realize his fevered dream. What did transactional Trump promise in return for making him king?
But wait, doesn't Johnson take advice from his imaginary friends? Perhaps he isn't listening.
We all need not exactly fantasy, Don, but stories -- the more human the better.
Artists know how to fit the human to its communities, complexities. But we're all in much worse shape now to apply human stories, because our schools have so seriously become bereft of humanities.
Goons have taken over. Believers in The Rapture. Believers in racial superiority. Believers in my tribe over your tribe (as if only tribes existed, and all are but units therein).
While they spew their arrogance for their respective cultures, you'll never see any of them apply any novel, poem, memoir, work of history, film, or song from any of their cultures. All fall instead to abstractions. Nothing humanly nuanced. Blunderbusses. Dogmatic shills. All cowering under demagoguery.
Might teachers be permitted real humanities again in our schools, the schools of the world?
What, Phil? You don't consider "Kiss my Ass!" culture?🤢🍸 Cheers, Hick...hick
Imaginary friends?!?
I'm hoping some enterprising reporter will find Mikey ("He likes it!") in the corner of the rotunda, gesticulating and speaking sotto voce with nobody around. Upon approaching, the reporter can hear him saying, "Wh-Wh-Whyyy, Harvey, wha-wha-what's wrong with helping those peo-peo-people in Ukraine?!?
Don, if you're talking about the imaginary sky pilot who created the world so man and dinosaurs could rule together, I so totally get what you're saying. Sadly, I believe his listening with all his stony heart to the sky pilot of the faiths that are looking for the second coming and revelation, where all the good guys go get wings and harps and the rest of us are sent to the hot place with accordions and bagpipes.
Ally, I'm sure you're right. As a reprobate who won't waste space in a cemetery, I play the accordion- would learn the pipes if I had another life!
Pipes are on my list when I can’t carry the tuba anymore.
If you run out of breath, the uilleann pipes are quieter & easier to carry.
Their hatred goes from the Repub interpretation of the Bible
I figured out today why the Republicans wanted to/are impeaching Mayorkas. He was very helpful in supplying important information from DHS to the January 6th Select Committee. Their excuse is nothing but a red herring.
If you read about someone screaming in the manhattan courtroom something nasty at Donald Trump and you don’t see me posting anymore, you will know who did it. Nah, just joking. Then again who knows. Someone would need to feed my cats while I was incarcerated. Are there any volunteers?
Bill, we’ll feed your feline family.
And break you out of jail too.
I could help with no more than 100 cats.
Some cats will bite the hand that feeds them but it only hurts for a moment.
Cats are scared of the unknown, so am I.
Meow… Me-Ouch
Bill, wish I could but mine are not welcoming to other felines. The word must have gotten out about livin' their best lives in my home, as strays like to visit and peer in the windows.
However, if you land in jail, just start the gofundme and we'll get you out!
:) :) :)
I know about strays. One was born in m driveway in December not long ago with mama nowhere to be found and fortunately I heard is cries at the end of his new life. That’s Babe you see in my photo. The other 6 cats adopted him and I had no choice to do likewise.
Bill, my mother was not an animal person. I had a dog for 4 years When I married my husband, his cat came with. When we lost him in surgery, we adopted 2 sibs from a small pet store (HUGE MISTAKE. Not the cats, but the pet store) Lost them both to feline leukemia. Then, a stray found US, took her in and adopted a friend for her. By the time we lost them both, we had 3 kids. Went to the shelter, each kid picked a cat (no more kittens though!) and funny, the cats each decided who their person would be (not who chose them!) They lived a good long time. A year after the last passed, I was ready and asked my husband "so how many do we get?" and he said 4. I wasn't sure he was serious, but we did NOT leave the shelter until we chose 4. (one actually chose us--smart kitty! They are quite spoiled).
I frequently comment to my husband while we are watching television "this house is 1600 sq ft, why are three of them sitting on his loveseat with (usually ON) us? )
I have never had an aloof cat. I have two who we refer to as the WalMart greeters, they welcome everyone to our house.
Fun to listen to your cat tales. I live in Mexico and my two - MaMa and Sammy (Davis, Jr.) - are rescued street cats. I can relate.
They are more addictive than heroin. I have written a manuscript on the topic and with some diligence, get it to book form soon. Three of my cats are semi feral. But two of them sneak up to my room in the middle of the night so I can’t be all bad.
I forgot to add that I occasionally write about cats on y blog BillKatz.substack.com and I will soon explain the recipe for making cat food. It’s not my recipe it’s one designed by Dr Lisa Pierson. But I have a few extra things to add. I make my own food because it’s more nutritious than factory food and it’s far cheaper than the cheapest garbage out there in the marketplace. Tune in.
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Frozen Russian assets should immediately be used for Ukraine.
Some have already been used from what I understand.
Yes.
Any reason, umm, legally that Russian assets can’t be used to aid Ukraine?
Maybe. Let's assume that this is simply an accounting question and not something like Reagan had Ollie North do, which was to use funds that belonged to the US treasury for something that was not authorized by Congress. If a reasonable argument that the funds actually belong to Ukraine because they represent wealth (i.e. stored work) that was generated by the people of Ukraine, then yes a simple adjusting journal entry that moves the value of the equity from one or more Russian accounts to one or more Ukrainian accounts would be legit. For example, let's say that there is an actual equity (credit) balance that Ukraine has, that is more than just the promise of defense by the west, that resulted from the transfer of their nuclear arsenal to Russia at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Then one might assign some estimated arm's length value to that credit, and make it so. One might do something similar for things like aircraft built by Antonov, or ships built in Crimean shipyards. The thing to do would be to propose the journal entries and then get an opinion on them from the IASB in London. By the way, some of those valuations might be for assets in occupied territories that were simply seized by the Russians.
Putin apparently today or yesterday warned the West about seizing those assets and said we'd live to regret it.. Hit a raw nerve there, Vlad??
He sure does, Bruce!
Vlad the Impounder?!?
My cousin, Repo Manchuk from Donylsk stands ready with bilingual stickers.
Ha!
I think there is also a legitimate legal process that would be available to arbitrate the Russian objections once an IASB opinion is in hand. THE WTO has an arbitration court that can be used when a dispute about government interventions in international trade occur. It's usually used for things like challenging subsidies to a business that a competitor believes has put them at an unfair disadvantage. But I don't see why they couldn't take on an equity ownership case. They are both really just accounting fairness questions. If they were to do this, that court could become a place to take other torts, sort of like the missing half of the International Criminal Courts, which doesn't involve itself in such things, or at least I don't think they ever have. Torts are just as important in international law as they are within the boundaries of nations.
This is where Russian assets are being heldhttps://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-where-are-russias-300-billion-reserves-frozen-west-2023-12-28/#:~:text=Russia's%20central%20bank%20said%20these,reserves%20were%20held%20in%20Russia.
How would that happen?
I think it's time to address the elephant in Joe Biden's living room; the MAGA followers of the world desperately want to avoid having a (gasp!) Woman of (gasp!) Color as POTUS if Biden becomes incapable of filling his duties. If this should happen, I suspect Ms. Harris will have a very tough row-to-hoe. It is my hope that the nation can elect a supportive Congress - both House and Senate.
The enemy press can't render the President incapable of filling his duties. The enemy press can render its readers incapable of distinguishing the truth from falsehood.
I recall that LBJ called or threatened to call the Congress into special session and to keep them there until they passed the Civil Rights Bill. Is this correct? Could Biden use the power to call Congress into special session until these security objectives are met?
I believe Congress was not in session when LBJ called a special session. Congress has not, today, adjourned, just recessed. Since the House will not reopen until February 28, perhaps Biden can do whatever he feels is right, with the clowns out of the way. OF course they would try to impeach him. They would fail to get him out of office, he has to act in an emergency. It would be the same thing as if 216 members of the House were severely burned in a fire, somebody has to govern.
LBJ could be really tough. And he was a big man.
In many ways, his strength prevailed when it counted. Until McNamara…
I watched a live feed today of the evidentiary hearing in Fulton County Georgia. It was supposed to present evidence of a conflict of interest involving Fani T Willis and her associate attorney. It was a disgraceful display of salacious accusations on the personal affairs of Ms. Willis.
When your client , the former president , is in an indefensible position, put the prosecutor on trial! I am thankful for the work of Fani Willis , and the people of Georgia should be proud of her strong stand today.
I suspect that Speaker Johnson called a recess because he understands that -- the way things are going -- a discharge petition on the Ukraine/Israel/Taiwan bill will have enough votes to succeed, and he desperately needs time to remove the spines a few Republicans have suddenly grown. I also suspect that Johnson's days as Speaker may be numbered.
He is running away, but eventually, he will be run to ground. My advice to Democrats is to keep gathering signatures, and keep on pushing. It can be done.
I agree. Point me to a petition.😊🙏