Republican control of the House of Representatives has fed a changing dynamic. After decades of playing defense, the Democrats are going on offense. Today, President Joe Biden visited Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he talked about protecting Medicare and Medicaid. He was careful—as he always is—to differentiate between “an awful lot of really good Republicans” and the “MAGA Republicans.” “There’s kind of like, in my view, sort of two Republican Parties.”
Kudos to Jamie Raskin for pointing out the misuse of the noun "Democrat" as an adjective. -- This has irked me for years, and while I doubt it will stop Republicans for continuing this implied pejorative terminology, it is important to call out the misuse and ask for grammatically correct and respectful language as a common courtesy and an important first step toward bipartisanship.
Make no mistake, making sure no nice things ever happen to anyone (at least, anyone not rich) is precisely what these Banana Republicans are there for, in every branch of government, and on every level. They are there to make every attempt to make any tiny improvement to the average citizen's well-being as lengthy a maze as possible, to put as many dead-end sky-high brick walls in that maze as possible. As God is their witness, as few people will get as little help, in the fewest ways, for the shortest time, with the maximum strain, as possible.
And you know what? It really isn't all about the money. No, really. Don't get me wrong, they're stingy all right. Yet that isn't really the base issue here. The base issue here is that we have a swath of fellow citizens who operate under the overarching philosophy that helping people is actually *bad* for them. And they truly believe it. They truly believe that to offer help to someone makes them weaker, lazier, more reliant on future "handouts". The worst thing you can do is give someone a break, because granting mercy to them takes from them their millionth opportunity to learn to fight and claw for survival, which is a necessity in a merciless world. (The fact the world is merciless precisely because of this attitude is lost on them. They don't DO irony.) The mass internalization of this mentality perfectly explains the worship of unrestricted capitalism by those who are the least served by it: that system is the apotheosis of treating dog-eat-dog as a virtue, and being part of it a point of pride for many.
Every branch of the twisted vine that forms their philosophy is fed from the roots of denial - of both the self and others. In a world where help is hindrance, every man must be an island. Since every man is an island, the idea of any systemic injustice is a sham, every reason you could give for any failure to succeed is a self-pitying excuse, and to lend a sympathetic ear to what ails another is to indulge that self-regard. Buried under loans? Shouldn't have gone to college. Can't make ends meet? Get another job. Got pneumonia? Work anyway. Can't feed your kids? Shouldn't have had them. Couldn't access that abortion? Shouldn't have had sex. Actually, you were raped? Shouldn't have worn that dress. Wait, the kids just got shot while we were talking? Guess they didn't duck fast enough. Let this be a lesson to you.
Their outlook is one of severity, their constant urge is to punish, and in the idea of a kinder society they forsee nothing but the guaranteed dissolution of that society. Why, if we all took care of each other we might get soft and vulnerable to attack from those who haven't yet learned how not to claw and steal! Better to not make the switch.
And don't pretend religion plays no role. If this whole life is merely a test regarding refusal of temptation and conformity to The Word, what could be better for someone than to provide them as many tests as possible? It's not like being safe and happy during our time on Earth matters that much, like the heretics keep suggesting. We will have plenty of that when we reach the holy land!
When I became a history professor in 1992 the great majority of American history text books focused on the white male story of the evolution of the United States.
This was evidenced in the Constitution, which fudged the issue of slavery and did not acknowledge that women were equal citizens.
I was delighted in the modern-day teaching of American history with the increasing acknowledgement of initial discrimination and the gradual process in which racism, gender discrimination, and the uneven treatment of immigration were highlighted.
One of my most popular courses was: THE WHAT vs. THE WHO: SOCIETAL DISCRIMINATION FROM PATRIARCHY TO THE PRESENT.
Sadly, this would be banned in DeSantis’s Florida.
DeSantis was a regular history major at Yale. This was considered a ‘gut program’ as contrasted to the far more rigorous ‘intensive history’ Yale major that I completed in 1955.
I wish that DeSantis had chosen the far more demanding ‘intensive history’ program.
The self-righteous blather and outright lies with a heinous purpose should nauseate any one in earshot. Jamie and company must take anti-nausea meds to tolerate being in the House. I can no longer tolerate a sound or a picture of these cretins. Soon tv will be replaced by music…
Let us not forget that we did have a balanced budget, indeed, a budget surplus, when Bill Clinton was president. As soon as an R got into the White House, he put an end to that, and the budget has been in deficit ever since. Whether you hate deficits or accept them, this is another example of R budgetary hypocrisy.
It's easy to play to your base and keep making absurd claims when you're in the minority. All you have to do is lob grenades and be incendiary...it's much harder when you have a slim majority and folks on the fringe of the right feel empowered to keep making those claims and being bombastic...and then when you have someone as bright and talented as Jamie Raskin, who will call you out, all day, every day, then you have a problem because the spotlight is on you. Your bombast and snake oil show still works for the true believers, but many other folks may still watch the show, because folks love a train wreck...unless it's polluting their air and water...but they will stop buying your product when it doesn't work for them. And then there's this brilliant lawsuit from Dominion which is showing the world who and what Murdock and his Fox really are (if there was any doubt) and he will try and protect his empire...over saving DJT and his minions. This is much better than any written for prime time TV series.
“Republican control of the House of Representatives has fed a changing dynamic. After decades of playing defense, the Democrats are going on offense.” Necessary, and long overdue. Thank you Heather.
I enjoyed the latest political chat and better understand some of my friends who have disengaged from the overwhelming “firehose of information, which exhausts us.’
President Biden is correct in specifying the 2 Republican Party's we have. He should continue to do so.
I think we all knew that the Affordable Care Act will be where the GOP will go to make cuts. It's low hanging fruit for them. They can be the heros that take away from the "unsightly ". Unsightly = poor and old.
Glad to see Democrats finding their voices to call out the Republican crap. It would be a lot better if the stories got carried more widely in the media. "Rep. Matt Gaetz introduces Chinese propaganda in House Committee hearing" should be newsworthy. So should "The gift that keeps on giving. Republican's failed tax plan is adding XXX to the federal deficit this year in lost tax revenue and added interest costs"
Two things must happen in this county--the faux news organizations have to be bankrupted to cut down on the lies and Democrats have to learn how to listen to and talk to the people of both parties about what really matters to them. Much as I admire Jamie Raskin's smarts and grit, it isn't going to be about nouns vs adjectives. It's going to be increasingly about basic pocketbook issues--great that I am employed, no so great that I can't afford $18/lb fish for dinner for my family.
"After decades of playing defense, the Democrats are going on offense…."
Indeed, it is radical to change direction from a course that emphasizes, as a primary duty of government, the regulating of drag queen entertainment to: "… invest in America, lower health costs, and protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare while cutting the deficit more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years.”
I look forward to a time when acceptance of the kinds of goals expressed in Biden's budget are expected practices without a need to deal with crazy distractions from the business of governing.
Because I relished reading, “After decades of playing defense, the Democrats are going on offense,” I write, in plain English, to pile on.
As someone, last January, who anxiously watched and waited while Freedom Caucus extremists were extracting concession after concession from Kevin McCarthy, as he desperately attempted to get enough votes to become Speaker, I rightly feared that far-right extremists would be setting the agenda for the next 2 years. Now, nearly 2 months later, I contend that responsibility rests with Democrats to ensure, in 24, that all House Republicans are held politically accountable for every single concession adopted, for everything that appeared in the rules they voted for, and for the constant drumbeat of Republican extremism that invariably will ensue with McCarthy as Speaker.
"Vought’s proposal promises to balance the budget in ten years, but it also predicts the number of working people in the U.S. will increase by 14.5 million more people than the Congressional Budget Office says will enter....But where the people will come from is a mystery."
Empty G knows, after all, according to her miscalculation, 6 billion people crossed the U.S. border last 2 years. Now let's say she's wrong by half, nah, let's just call it what it is - she's completely incompetent and should be removed from Congress for acts of sedition, promoting secession.
Kudos to Jamie Raskin for pointing out the misuse of the noun "Democrat" as an adjective. -- This has irked me for years, and while I doubt it will stop Republicans for continuing this implied pejorative terminology, it is important to call out the misuse and ask for grammatically correct and respectful language as a common courtesy and an important first step toward bipartisanship.
Make no mistake, making sure no nice things ever happen to anyone (at least, anyone not rich) is precisely what these Banana Republicans are there for, in every branch of government, and on every level. They are there to make every attempt to make any tiny improvement to the average citizen's well-being as lengthy a maze as possible, to put as many dead-end sky-high brick walls in that maze as possible. As God is their witness, as few people will get as little help, in the fewest ways, for the shortest time, with the maximum strain, as possible.
And you know what? It really isn't all about the money. No, really. Don't get me wrong, they're stingy all right. Yet that isn't really the base issue here. The base issue here is that we have a swath of fellow citizens who operate under the overarching philosophy that helping people is actually *bad* for them. And they truly believe it. They truly believe that to offer help to someone makes them weaker, lazier, more reliant on future "handouts". The worst thing you can do is give someone a break, because granting mercy to them takes from them their millionth opportunity to learn to fight and claw for survival, which is a necessity in a merciless world. (The fact the world is merciless precisely because of this attitude is lost on them. They don't DO irony.) The mass internalization of this mentality perfectly explains the worship of unrestricted capitalism by those who are the least served by it: that system is the apotheosis of treating dog-eat-dog as a virtue, and being part of it a point of pride for many.
Every branch of the twisted vine that forms their philosophy is fed from the roots of denial - of both the self and others. In a world where help is hindrance, every man must be an island. Since every man is an island, the idea of any systemic injustice is a sham, every reason you could give for any failure to succeed is a self-pitying excuse, and to lend a sympathetic ear to what ails another is to indulge that self-regard. Buried under loans? Shouldn't have gone to college. Can't make ends meet? Get another job. Got pneumonia? Work anyway. Can't feed your kids? Shouldn't have had them. Couldn't access that abortion? Shouldn't have had sex. Actually, you were raped? Shouldn't have worn that dress. Wait, the kids just got shot while we were talking? Guess they didn't duck fast enough. Let this be a lesson to you.
Their outlook is one of severity, their constant urge is to punish, and in the idea of a kinder society they forsee nothing but the guaranteed dissolution of that society. Why, if we all took care of each other we might get soft and vulnerable to attack from those who haven't yet learned how not to claw and steal! Better to not make the switch.
And don't pretend religion plays no role. If this whole life is merely a test regarding refusal of temptation and conformity to The Word, what could be better for someone than to provide them as many tests as possible? It's not like being safe and happy during our time on Earth matters that much, like the heretics keep suggesting. We will have plenty of that when we reach the holy land!
Shhh! It's all for your own good.
Our Democratic members of government are fighting forward to stop the MAGA Machine. More power and a big shout out to them. ❤️🇺🇸🕊️
(The term “banana republic” refers to a country that is corrupt and badly governed*.)
* by a US fruit corporation.
When I became a history professor in 1992 the great majority of American history text books focused on the white male story of the evolution of the United States.
This was evidenced in the Constitution, which fudged the issue of slavery and did not acknowledge that women were equal citizens.
I was delighted in the modern-day teaching of American history with the increasing acknowledgement of initial discrimination and the gradual process in which racism, gender discrimination, and the uneven treatment of immigration were highlighted.
One of my most popular courses was: THE WHAT vs. THE WHO: SOCIETAL DISCRIMINATION FROM PATRIARCHY TO THE PRESENT.
Sadly, this would be banned in DeSantis’s Florida.
DeSantis was a regular history major at Yale. This was considered a ‘gut program’ as contrasted to the far more rigorous ‘intensive history’ Yale major that I completed in 1955.
I wish that DeSantis had chosen the far more demanding ‘intensive history’ program.
The self-righteous blather and outright lies with a heinous purpose should nauseate any one in earshot. Jamie and company must take anti-nausea meds to tolerate being in the House. I can no longer tolerate a sound or a picture of these cretins. Soon tv will be replaced by music…
Let us not forget that we did have a balanced budget, indeed, a budget surplus, when Bill Clinton was president. As soon as an R got into the White House, he put an end to that, and the budget has been in deficit ever since. Whether you hate deficits or accept them, this is another example of R budgetary hypocrisy.
It's easy to play to your base and keep making absurd claims when you're in the minority. All you have to do is lob grenades and be incendiary...it's much harder when you have a slim majority and folks on the fringe of the right feel empowered to keep making those claims and being bombastic...and then when you have someone as bright and talented as Jamie Raskin, who will call you out, all day, every day, then you have a problem because the spotlight is on you. Your bombast and snake oil show still works for the true believers, but many other folks may still watch the show, because folks love a train wreck...unless it's polluting their air and water...but they will stop buying your product when it doesn't work for them. And then there's this brilliant lawsuit from Dominion which is showing the world who and what Murdock and his Fox really are (if there was any doubt) and he will try and protect his empire...over saving DJT and his minions. This is much better than any written for prime time TV series.
Ahhh, DemocratIC Reps trolling their Republican counterparts. Today was a good day for a laugh. I look forward to many more.
“Republican control of the House of Representatives has fed a changing dynamic. After decades of playing defense, the Democrats are going on offense.” Necessary, and long overdue. Thank you Heather.
I enjoyed the latest political chat and better understand some of my friends who have disengaged from the overwhelming “firehose of information, which exhausts us.’
Thank you Heather.
President Biden is correct in specifying the 2 Republican Party's we have. He should continue to do so.
I think we all knew that the Affordable Care Act will be where the GOP will go to make cuts. It's low hanging fruit for them. They can be the heros that take away from the "unsightly ". Unsightly = poor and old.
Well, that's the American way, right?
Be safe. Be well.
Glad to see Democrats finding their voices to call out the Republican crap. It would be a lot better if the stories got carried more widely in the media. "Rep. Matt Gaetz introduces Chinese propaganda in House Committee hearing" should be newsworthy. So should "The gift that keeps on giving. Republican's failed tax plan is adding XXX to the federal deficit this year in lost tax revenue and added interest costs"
Two things must happen in this county--the faux news organizations have to be bankrupted to cut down on the lies and Democrats have to learn how to listen to and talk to the people of both parties about what really matters to them. Much as I admire Jamie Raskin's smarts and grit, it isn't going to be about nouns vs adjectives. It's going to be increasingly about basic pocketbook issues--great that I am employed, no so great that I can't afford $18/lb fish for dinner for my family.
"After decades of playing defense, the Democrats are going on offense…."
Indeed, it is radical to change direction from a course that emphasizes, as a primary duty of government, the regulating of drag queen entertainment to: "… invest in America, lower health costs, and protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare while cutting the deficit more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years.”
I look forward to a time when acceptance of the kinds of goals expressed in Biden's budget are expected practices without a need to deal with crazy distractions from the business of governing.
Because I relished reading, “After decades of playing defense, the Democrats are going on offense,” I write, in plain English, to pile on.
As someone, last January, who anxiously watched and waited while Freedom Caucus extremists were extracting concession after concession from Kevin McCarthy, as he desperately attempted to get enough votes to become Speaker, I rightly feared that far-right extremists would be setting the agenda for the next 2 years. Now, nearly 2 months later, I contend that responsibility rests with Democrats to ensure, in 24, that all House Republicans are held politically accountable for every single concession adopted, for everything that appeared in the rules they voted for, and for the constant drumbeat of Republican extremism that invariably will ensue with McCarthy as Speaker.
"Vought’s proposal promises to balance the budget in ten years, but it also predicts the number of working people in the U.S. will increase by 14.5 million more people than the Congressional Budget Office says will enter....But where the people will come from is a mystery."
Empty G knows, after all, according to her miscalculation, 6 billion people crossed the U.S. border last 2 years. Now let's say she's wrong by half, nah, let's just call it what it is - she's completely incompetent and should be removed from Congress for acts of sedition, promoting secession.
Delighted to read Heather's LFAA tonight. What's not to like?
As to this "woke" thing, on May 20, 1962 (yes, 1962!) William Melvin Kelley wrote and published "If You're Woke You Dig It."
Hopefully, this is a direct PDF link. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/05/20/140720532.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
But if that doesn't work, try this: Clicking on the "View on TimesMachine" link should get you there. Then click on "Continue Reading: PDF."
https://nyti.ms/3XQzGcD (Gifted)