Just before midnight last night, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office has “uncovered significant evidence indicating that the Trump Organization used fraudulent and misleading asset valuations on multiple properties to obtain economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions for years” and is taking legal action “to force Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump to comply with our investigation.” She concluded: “No one is above the law.”
Yesterday was big for many reasons. The fight against authoritarianism by people who believe in democracy was at the heart of it all. Democracy can’t lose in the long run because people who feel the sting of authoritarianism will always look to democracy to right their wrongs. The Supreme Court said trump isn’t privileged enough to be able to block the committee; his records pertaining to the 1/6 mob insurrection incited by him will now get handed over. Putin hesitates to play his hand against the Ukrainians because of what it might cost him and his oligarch buddies, personally; their billions are mostly in the west. The looming sanctions scare them and the oligarchs are thinking that Vlad has overplayed his pair of 8s; Russia doesn’t have much real power anymore that’s why Putin wants to invade their neighbor like some bully trying to grab a classmate’s lunch money. He’s starting to think again before his paltry pair of 8s turn into something even less valuable. NATO is standing firm and should he proceed Russia will further isolate itself and …yes, at a big financial cost to the prime antagonist and his closest friends in Russia. Hey, they could all get so ticked off by the sanctions that they decide to throw in with Navalny and replace Putin. Meanwhile old trump is facing the inevitable consequences of his lifetime of cheating and lying overplay….he’s destined for a Lear like finish on the heath of lost golf courses, hotels and office buildings. No way he gets back into politics. The mendacity of Manchin and Senema has finished them, too. The American people really hate villains like them; it’s very deep in our guiding mythology. The image of Sinema’s Tik Tok worthy betrayal….shaking hands with the gloating R senators ….will be as permanent as Lady MacBeth’s indelible spot, in the minds of the majority of American voters. Rest assured Schumer and Pelosi won’t give in on voting rights and Joe Biden won’t stop until the best elements of both BBB and the Voting Rights legislation are signed into law. 78 year old Joe is a real gamer. How about his 2 hr news conference yesterday? The fight goes forward against the foreign and domestic antagonists of democracy. It’s an endless one so if you’re tired of it at the moment rest awhile… the fight will be there waiting for you whenever you’re ready to begin again.
Hear, hear. Your lips to God’s ear. I so hope that everything you have written comes to fruition. And, might I add, I am so tired of hearing that Biden’s is a failed presidency. Of course I’m from Delaware, but…
The so-called "liberal" mainstream media has been absolutely relentless in their finger pointing and shouting "fail" at every point...despite the Biden Administration's relentless efforts at trying to corral and alleviate the pandemic (with active efforts to sabotage mask mandates and vaccinations by the right wingers and constant criticism by--mostly vaccinated--GQP politicians), passing a major financial bill and other positive moves. NONE of the positive accomplishments and ALL of the negative set-backs are shouted from the media rooftops.
Personally I am sick to death of it. I have cancelled my subscription to both the Times and the Post with letters stating why. It's so obvious that the broadcasting of bad news is meant to make another election campaign into a titanic struggle (drama is a best seller!) and is clearly motivated by greed alone: gloom and doom fattens the bottom line....bluebirds and daisies plainly do not. Grrrr.
I am sick and tired of both the media’s and the ‘progressive’ Democrats’ sustained attacks, while President Biden is engaged in a four-year marathon. He won a election with an 8 million vote majority which only provided a slim edge in the House and a a 50/50 Senate
Biden inherited a real mess, domestically and globally. He and his professional team have addressed these with competence, despite three virus hurricanes and such distractions as Putin’s hissy fits.
Biden has steered a careening ship of state back on to a positive course. He has addressed our pandemic problems better than most other countries.He has initiated essential legislation, some of which has so far been stymied by Republicans and two recalcitrant Democratic senators. The economy is significantly better than naysayers had predicted.
Today President Biden is commencing his second year in office. I would hope that the fact-based media would acknowledge Biden’s substantial achievements and that a Democratic team would coalesce behind President Biden for the long-term good of a vast majority of the American people.
This is another media issue including the more liberal media. The first thing they report is that Biden has failed in his efforts to require vaccinations for companies over 100 people. They next mention that the Biden efforts to require vaccinations of health care workers were successful and upheld by the Supreme Court. I would’ve said President Biden was successful before the US Supreme Court with respect to requiring vaccinations of healthcare workers. The Supreme Court held that the requirement of all companies of 100 or more was too broad so such a requirement might be upheld for companies more directly affected by healthcare concerns.
TLMills I was so disgusted by the endless stream of "gotcha" questions from the MSM reps at the Biden news conference that I wanted to reach into the screen and strange a few of the questioners. You expect the Faux News guy to be a jerk and he didn't disappoint. But when everyone prefaces their question with the same litany of Joe's failures, setbacks, and disappointments, you lose credibility. This applies to almost all the MSM people there. I guess they think if they are trying to make the Biden agenda/administration look bad, they look bad. There were a few questioners, particularly two women, who just went on and on. There needs to be a time limit on the whole affair, and a limit of one question and a single follow up one. I read the NYT and Wapo, am disgusted with both, but I am not canceling as there are writers who I value their opinion. And as I am retired, I need things to do some days. I missed the guy from Faux who asked something about Biden being senile. That was stupid, and stupid is as stupid does. But the more respectable outlets and their White House correspondents struggles to rise about the ignorance of the Faux jerk. I recommend The Bulwark, Heather Cox Richardson, and Jon Chait on NYMag as worth my time. Joe Biden was great! He is authentic, suffers fools way better than I do, and when D. Sanger from NYT wanted to talk international relations, you could see the depth of knowledge and experience our President has in that area. Go Joe!
Those ridiculous questions were, in my opinion, evidence not of "journalism" but of immature people in a "press corps" who are trying to make a name for themselves. If they think that insulting a president is the way to do that, they are sadly mistaken. Biden should only call on those who demonstrate respect, both in demeanor and in the nature of the question itself. He should just ignore the wannabe reality show players...because, seriously, they have all been watching too much "Apprentice President" for the past four years and have forgotten their manners, assuming they ever even had such.
Actually, I think Biden acquitted himself well. He deliberately called on questioners/commentators across the board, was polite, but cut them off at the knees when they embarrassed themselves - not him. If anything, Biden proved his mental fitness by standing for almost two hours, facing down a shocking number of "gotcha" questions. The aggressively negative "journalists" proved that they have an agenda that is not merely impolite, but designed to offend, and for no good reason.
Bill how much I agree with your assessment of these "reporters" I just keep thinking "what is the matter with them?" I wish i could just be in that mosh pit and ask "Mr President, how do you do it?" You have acknowledged the virus for what it is and taken charge as quickly as you could to right the ship, brought all these jobs to the economy, embraced our traditional allies,worked behind the scenes to deal with the Ukraine crisis, dealt with such traitorous behavior from your own party when you are simply trying to do what the majority of this country needs (BBBetter) ...what is your workout routine?
Prez mentioned Peloton, although he said Jill often beats him to the early morning bike.
But don’t mention that to Marco Rubio as he will go on a rant about all the Peloton riding,caramel macchiato drinking, NYT reading, quinoa bowl eating liberals.
Would love to see a debate between him and Val Demmings!
I feel less pain about having ditched WaPo's good writers because Heather always tells us in two words what they said. The rest was literally driving me mad. And yes, they ask why you're cancelling, so I told them.
I agree, there are some writers from the Times and the Post who are worth reading and I may renew my subscription after this upcoming campaign season.
I read Dr. Richardson everyday and try to catch as many of her live "posts" (Tuesdays and Thursdays) as I can. I also listen to news on NPR (although disliking the turn to corporate sponsorship that they felt compelled to make). I miss TRMS and will look for The Bulwark and there are a couple of others that seem unbiased (BBC, Reuters) as well. Thanks.
Uh what savvy? they are allying themselves with negativity, not knowledge. We just had 4 years with a tyrannical imbecile and they and their carping critical questions cannot distinguish a working president from a buffoon. This is so destructive
Agreed. The guy that went on about Joe’s mental competence was incredibly rude and ought to be uninvited to future press conferences. Joe did well to to ignore him and move on.
We live in a ‘what have you done for me Today’ culture!! The policies passed in 2021 which provided support for the families and single adults who needed it is Old news!
The fact that McConnell does not understand that African Americans ARE Americans is appalling and belies his ignorance!
As noted in a recent HCR ‘epistle’, the legislatures in the red states are have enacted laws that beget Election Fraud, yes you can vote, but the state will decide whose vote counts!!
Imagine some state’s legislature affirms Scalia’s version of the second amendment, but that state passes a law as to how many weapons and ammunition can be manufactured in the state per year!!
I picked up on McConnell's ignorant statement - hope it comes back to bite him where it hurts - in the voting booth! Not necessarily the vote against HIM, but against a few of these Repubs who are sitting quietly like little mice, afraid to differ from Mcc's orders.
McConnell's statement, though maybe a slip of the tongue, seems nevertheless a slip of the Freudian nature. It won't matter because his base in Kentucky obviously believe the same way. I don't expect he'll get any flak for it.
That one did jump out at me too. I wouldn't be surprised if he issues a clarification as I am sure many Black voters in KY vote for Mitch, and he can't afford to lose them.
“We live in a ‘what have you done for me Today’ culture!! The policies passed in 2021 which provided support for the families and single adults who needed it is Old news!”
And therein lies the problem.
Come midterms, just what great reasons to vote for them will the Democratic candidates have to bring to the voters?
Simply saying that Republicans would be even worse just won’t cut it.
Simply saying “Well, we beat up on Trump “ just won’t cut it.
Simply saying “Well, what about January 6?” just won’t cut it.
Liberals will vote for liberals and conservatives for conservatives; those minds are made up and unchangeable. The election will be decided by the middle based on issues that impact them on a daily basis.
What counter argument can Democrats make about inflation and gas prices between now and midterms? What recent positive accomplishments can the Democrat present to the voters?
What “recent positive accomplishments” can Republicans present to voters? We pay them to govern-all they do is obstruct. They won’t even debate the issues never mind helping to resolve our problems.
President Biden has come out and openly admitted his missteps.And I and others have written DNC to work better at talking more about what he has got done. Poor guy, it’s been “Wack-A-Mole from day one.I’m beginning to wonder if this is what the Belarus thing is about ? Donnie doesn’t do the Bullying in that match up with Putin. But recall the ‘R’s’ did the same game with Obama. Biden is getting paid back for President O making Big Baby Donnie getting laughed at the Press Corp. dinner over the Birther thing. In Lion King when Simba is born he is held up for all to see. So Pres. O played that and said” We finally have proof of My birth “. Now at this dinner they all make fun of each other . Well Big Baby Poo-Pooed cuz Ppl were dying LOL ! He was crammed in the audience.No where to run ! It really was hilarious.TFG is a very sick puppy.
See below from Christy, ditto for me. Trump started off on the wrong foot on the escalator ride, and never recovered. I know those who worship at the feet of Donnie Lardo think Biden deserves to be attacked since Dems attacked Trump. I know this is hard to accept, but to compare a pathological liar to a decent human being is not an apples to apples comparison. I am sure after '22 Biden will be impeached. I predict he will not be removed from office by the Senate for lack of enough votes to convict, and his ratings will go up just like they did for the last stupid impeachment of one Wm. J. Clinton.
I dont open head lines in the Washington Post emails. If one looks interesting, i Google the story. There are usually several other media outlets for the same story that don’t require cookies and are often more interesting.
I am too tired of hearing Biden is a failed presidency. It is the Republicans that are a failed party. I would describe the voting rights act demise for the present as follows. The Republicans are successful again in blocking voting rights for all Americans.
Keith: Thank you for your response. I find most of even well-meaning efforts to 'wake us up to the realities' of the present moment have either a condescending or defeatist undertone that actually encourages people to stick their heads in the sand further or to choose indifference. Some of the efforts are so grounded in fear that you feel helpless to do much of anything but doom scroll. Your response, to me, is grounded hope---you acknowledge the realities before us, but point out the sweet spots. I really can't thank you enough.
Glad to do so…there is plenty of reason to be hopeful. Democracy wins the long game but the way forward is not without challenges that remind us how precious our democracy truly remains.
Beautifully said: "The American people really hate villains like them; it’s very deep in our guiding mythology. The image of Sinema’s Tik Tok worthy betrayal….shaking hands with the gloating R senators ….will be as permanent as Lady MacBeth’s indelible spot, in the minds of the majority of American voters."
What the Senate GOP did last night was put a period to the end of their party. As you said, they gave themselves a "V" on their foreheads of "villain" and there will be no erasing that telltale sign for the rest of their sorry lives.
Thanks, Ellen. However, I shall never be at peace until we all hear these words from #45's mouth "A horse, a hose, my kingdom for a horse." Shakespeare nailed with Richard the Third's dying battlefield speech.
Hey Keith - In the “long run” we’ll all be dead. Look I appreciate your analysis, including the condemnation of the traitor “Cinema”.
Unfortunately we are now in the firm grasp not of authoritarian rule BUT Fascist rule. The authoritarian label forgoes the blatant racism, Christo-Fascism, misogyny, homophobia and other dark aspects of what is not a minority, but a bedrock view.
This is why we Democrats and America go apoplectic and clutch our collective pearls over much needed Socialist reform policies and instead hold onto the impotent Centrist Democrats and the sacrosanct policy of BS meritocracy. A policy that protects the wealth of 9% of the population.
I’d like to think that eventually (after I’m long dead) that the mass of Americans locked into modern serfdom will rise up against the Billlionaire fascist loving right, but if Brazil, Hungary, Russian and China are any form of indicator; it will likely never happen.
I might point out that the realm of Feudalism reigned for well over 1,000 years.
A reign of over 1,000 years, where have I heard that one before?
After republicans have suppressed voting rights to the point that a democrat will never be elected, it will take decades, possibly forever, to reverse minority rule.
Thank you for recommending this. Jessica just commented about Emmett Till, and because I just engaged with my middle schoolers about Till, this will be a great follow-up discussion. Thank you again!
Best part of the Press Conference was when Joe was asked about the 47% of Americans who think he has a mental disorder, according to a pompous Newsmax journalist: "What do you think they mean?" JB: "I have no idea." (next journalist).
Keith, I like your response, but I need to say something about your bully comment. Our bully country has stolen Afghanistan's lunch money by keeping the $millions that are owed to that country locked up in a U.S. bank. Meanwhile, millions of citizens of Afghanistan are starving.
Biden - "a real gamer?" Hardly, that is if he's cunning in the service of the people, not Fat Money. Were he passionate about Build Back Better and the voting bill passing, he'd have laid a ton of presidential power on Ms Sinema and Mr. Yacht Man-chin til they started wiggling "oh, please please release me oh my presidente"..."I'll lie and cheat in any direction you please. I can swing where ever you want me to, just free me from thy chains!" "Oh, Lordy." There's absolutely no point in listing the myriad of broken presidential promises of his.He is tidy;his teeth are bright white.But - since this earth is our only home and it's burning down it is needful to note that his passion to mediate climate change is not as deep as his desire to please the oil barons - witness, his dispersal of more leases for drilling in the Gulf than the licentious, sly, sociopathic, meglomaniac crook who is his predecessor. As for authoritarianism. Once it's installed it's like crab grass and bamboo. "Pakistan, Thailand, Chile, Haiti, Greece, the Baltic republics, Republican Spain, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Iran, the Congo, Meiji Japan . . . no, there are too many. Democracy is one of the most fragile and unstable forms of government there is."quora.com.
The overarching problem is that Biden, like most of his political contemporaries, has uncritically embraced the idea that unlimited growth is, and should be one of the main goals of society - even if it means compromising the environment that sustains that society.
A rather backward view, wouldn't you say? Like believing in bi-partisanship today where one of the "bi"s is not "bi" at all but unrelentingly unilateral.
Did they ever ask the Cyber Ninjas if they worked on any of Trump Fam. devices ? Doubt they will find anything. I’m hoping for at best the New York property scam.
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) assured reporters that concerns about Black voting were misplaced because: ‘African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.’ “
O. M. G. Mitch the Merciless once again invokes that nasty old belief that Black people AREN’T AMERICANS. I could just spit fire.
In the recent book "The Dawn Of Everything - A New History of Humanity" authors Graeber and Wenrow refer to "the Americans" when speaking of First Nations people whose cultural roots were/are deep in this land in contrast to Europeans who imposed colonial domination, calling it the 'Law of the Land' ... the audacity - the presumption that so called white people are the only true Americans ... speaks volumes ... a select breed calling for isolation and containment.
100%. Nice catch SL. I’d take it a step further that Mitch knows and wants to suppress voting by all groups in America. Obstructionism is just that. The apathy it creates toward government, is also a form of voter suppression of the middle class. Distrust in the process of governing first, then Apathy in the process is harnessed to suppress more voting. Where did this strategy of obstruction really start? Who’s political idea was it originally? Was is something borrowed from another country, Rome, or Greece? How’d it work out there and then?
Governent is not the problem. Obstructionism is the problem. Largest Donor interest is the problem. Donor $ is concentrated in red states is the problem. The QOP senate is ‘faithless’ in their oath of office and duties.
Right there with you on spitting fire at not only “Mitch the Merciless,” but all the Repubs, Manchin and Sinema. Absolutely despicable display of autocracy and racism on the Senate floor yesterday.
Speaking as a former journalist -- unfortunately, reporters are just into playing "gotcha" with Biden while Republicans, and the two so-called "moderate" Democrats undercut voting rights. Reporters pretend to be objective, but they are really just parrots, and they're giving Republicans free reign to destroy democracy.
At one time there was a distinction between a reporter and a columnist! Perhaps it’s the person who writes the article headline who is treating a bias!
The media created Trump and the media seems to want him back!
Um…Did eric trump check with his father prior to invoking the fifth five hundred times? ‘Cause, last I understood his father smirked at those who use the fifth.
That family can’t keep its logic and the stories they concoct straight long enough to pull off the innocence project ala trump.
Innocence and trump do not marry well in a sentence.
Oh, and yea. Thank you Manchin for doubling down on Sinema’s insult to our President regarding voting rights by opening your yap during the press conference to claim jump audience.
Donating to every agency against you both. You don’t deserve my vote if mine doesn’t count enough for you to vote for it.
Pj, your last sentence made me sit up and almost jump out of my chair. With your permission, I’d like to use it. If I use it on the internet (very doubtful) I will cite you, but with friends and in dialectical situations it is the most lucid and coherent way of expressing what all of us here are thinking. Whether we have a senator in that party or not.
With Dr. Richardson’s outstanding Letter and your grief so well put, I feel full of what I needed. I’m going to bed to grieve a little bit and sleep. I was really looking for two Republican senators to break the rest of them. Democracy sometimes has a way of helping those who love it and fight to preserve it!
Tomorrow is another day, and we live to continue the struggle. Many thanks, PJ, and Professor — condolences to all....
At least 2 out of the 16 who voted for previous voting rights legislation and who are STILL in the Senate. And Romney, Collins, Murkowski, and others who give lip service to justice failed us again. Do they really want the former president back in office???
You thought Senator Collins from Maine would--or even might--stand against the rest of the Repubs??? You have a lot more faith than most Maine Dems, I'll admit.
We in Maine have good reason to know she is a spineless cipher who follows the leader every time and her leader is Moscow Mitch. She is worthless and how she got voted in for her fifth freaking term should be a matter of shame and embarrassment to every female Democrat in Maine.
I too had hoped that just two Republicans might peel away from their insufferable, deplorable party, wouldn’t that have been a surprise to the two that called themselves Democrats. Living here in GA we are going to see first hand the abject failure of 52 individuals to stand up for our nation yesterday. Today’s dawn has brought no joy, literally and figuratively, only tears from heaven.
Dick, just think of it: just 52 people -- if my math is right 52 ÷ 332,000,000 x 100 = .00001566 percent of us sold the country out. The rain began here in Jackson County shortly after the senate adjourned, and continued through the night. We Georgians sent our best people to the senate (and possibly worst to the House) but it wasn't enough.
Ukraine and its sovereignty is a political, philosophical and moral dilemma at the moment - for the U.S., and for the world. The U.S. is still the world’s super power. Thanks to 45, by the merest squeak. We don’t engender the fear we used to or Putkin would have toddled off to play checkers.
James Carville spoke after President Biden's tremendous Press Briefing yesterday. Carville had a two fold message. First. Biden through his lengthy and rigorous Briefing planted an oak tree yesterday. He called the Republicans out for their "believe in nothing" stance. Biden allayed any doubt at all about his abilities and how he feels about his agenda.
Second. Carville also stated that it's time to move on. He stated there are 3 years left in this Presidency and we stand a good chance of ending up with 53 seats in the Senate after 2022 and also keeping the House. He said we should focus on that. He dismissed Manchin and Sinema. (the Carville interview was with Ari Melber yesterday).
Carville suggested we quit acting like this Presidency is over.
My personal opinion is:
The New York case against the trumps is 3 years old. TFG was always going to run.
The Republicans will remain recalcitrant. TFG guy will remain an authoritarian. The SCOTUS is biased. Manchin and Sinema are not trustworthy. The media is greedy and biased.
These are absolutes at this time. Can we quit obsessing over them?
My personal opinion is that it is time to stop the handwringing and wound licking. We have work to do and a President to support.
Agree 1000%, Barbara. I see the wave of light just got bigger after yesterday. I envision it enveloping Sen McConnell’s ignorant statement about all Americans and further rooting out darkness. Justice Thomas’s vote (well…include the wife in that one whose name will prob appear in a document now going to the Committee) also in the path of the Wave of “We the People, All of Us This Time”.
See my most recent comment. I agree 200% with you and Carville. Support as many candidates as you can with as much as you can afford and we have to march in masses for what we believe in. I'm not convinced marches work to move Congress unless they are scared by its size but they sure make me feel better.
Of course you have faced the dilemma: it is announced, they all smirk and rise. If they are ultra, they remove their hats and look ecstatic; then they look at you. What shall you do? Noblesse oblige; you cannot be boorish, or ungracious; and too, after all it is your country and you do love its ideals if not all of its realities. Now, then, I have thought of a way out: Arise, gracefully remove your hat, and tilt your head. Then sing as follows, powerfully and with deep unction. They’ll hardly note the little changes and their feelings and your conscience will thus be saved:
My country tis of thee,
Late land of slavery,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my father’s pride
Slept where my mother died,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring!
My native country thee
Land of the slave set free,
Thy fame I love.
I love thy rocks and rills
And o’er thy hate which chills,
My heart with purpose thrills,
To rise above.
Let laments swell the breeze
And wring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song.
Let laggard tongues awake,
Let all who hear partake,
Let Southern silence quake,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God to thee
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing
Soon may our land be bright,
With Freedom’s happy light
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.
W. E. B. Du Bois, “My Country ’Tis of Thee” from Creative Writings by W. E. B Du Bois (KrausThomson Organization Limited, 1985). Reprinted with the permission of the Estate of W. E. B. Du Bois.
Source: Creative Writings by W. E. B. Du Bois (KrausThomson Organization Limited, 1985)
In Dubois's My Country Tis of Thee he uses familiarity to invoke change. By using a recognizable tune, the audience takes the words more to heart than they would otherwise. In addition, the irony of addressing such deep flaws in America as a nation through a patriotic tune really drives the point home.
In some ways the topic of slavery has become taboo in modern American culture. It is seen as distasteful to dwell on the gross errors and atrocities our “great” country has committed. Americans have a propensity to overlook their own faults while focusing on others'. As a nation we are incredibly ethnocentric, as demonstrated in The School Days of an Indian Girl by Zitkala-Sa. The "American Pride" that caused our nation to seek independence from Britain in the 1700's is now contributing to a mindset of denial and smoothing things over while not really solving the problem. Dubois makes the point that the freedom that some enjoy is the same "freedom" that kept others enslaved. He took a well-known patriotic song and revised it to a more realistic, albeit harsh, version. In the last verse however, Dubois adopts a more hopeful tone.
This work is relevant to American society today in that there is still much inequality. All of the works chosen to discuss in class from the Harlem Renaissance carry a very similar theme of overcoming racial tensions and longing for a place of equality. These topics are applicable to modern struggles for equality such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion. The music of the Harlem Renaissance helped to keep the energy levels high and motivate perseverance in the activists for social change. Today ideas are circulated over the internet rather than a turntable, but the message remains the same. (The Harlem Renaissance)
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" -Sermon On the Mount.
Thanks Fern for DuBois' arresting version of "My Country Tis of Thee". What makes America great is our ability to keep on improving, keep on growing, keep on striving for a perfect ideal. Today we shrank as a nation, as we have done so often in the past. Those who would thwart us from striving toward a more perfect union are in trouble. Today I will mourn. Tomorrow I will organize.
Thanks Fern. The quote from Dubois is especially apt in light of McConnell's comment that Americans of color are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans. It will be unfortunate if no one in the legacy media asks him to explain what he meant because it almost sounds like he doesn't consider black Americans to be real citizens.
I know, but anything can be "explained", "walked back", or "spun" these days in the political world. The rest of us have to live with reality and hopefully this one will bite him squarely on the ass.
Not much doubt about that. Racism like any other deep seated quality, will out eventually. One hopes that a challenger will be able to take advantage of it if he runs again.
If Moscow Mitch's comment (plus the "Tik-Tok-worthy picture of gloating Senate Republicans lining up to shake Sistema's hand) isn't used by every Democrat campaigning for office this year and in 2024, then they are fools and deserve to lose. Use every weapon possible!!! Taking the "high road" is lovely and gracious and a fine thing if everybody else remains gracious and honorable, too. However, the R's are fighting from the sewers and ditches and they are not only very dirty fighters, but desperate as well.
I’m not even a fan of his. But I think he meant to say “As white Americans “. But with that pass to him it is also the “ Problem “ that they see is what’s costing them to be “ Loser’s ! “ ( morally they are also ) so to fix that “ Problem “ the only thing they can do is go back to the Jim Crow era and make it harder for POC to Vote.
Yes-if 60% of white people vote R and POC’s votes are not considered legit (e.g targeting specific counties to throw out votes) then 40% of white people who vote D can never win. To Mitch’s point the % of Black folks voting means nothing if you’re not going to count them. Why are people voting R?
Well, some say less Gov. Regulation. I can agree that somethings are “ over kill “. Cutting Tax’s. They always cut Tax’s. When Reagan did it in his first 4. He spent the 2ed 4 raising them. But if Ur making 3 Trillion $ during a pandemic I really think you can afford more than someone making $60,000 a yr.I saw the Pie chart a few yrs back. Most of our Tax $ go to Defense and Homeland Security, which HLS was enacted after 9/11. The tiny slivers left of this pie goes for everything else.They want so bad to do away with Medicare and S.S. and SSD. I hold my breath every month when Rebups. are in Office. You will not retire in good health or bad health on just 401K and SS. We are living longer.On avg.1/4 of the Pop. has about $ 2,000 saved and 50-60% of us carry Debt. I will tell you straight up who won’t help you if you do fall.R’s. They think somehow if we help even the working poor, sick, any of it there will be less for them.Why?, because Tax’s will go up. They should be fair, to have clean water, roads , bridges, ect we got to pay for it. But Bezo’s should be paying more, all the Members of the Millionaire/ Billionaire Club should. So Repubs get in office, they slash/cut and now all your infrastructure is falling apart. And by the way, we never needed a Wall, nor did we get one. I have no problem paying Police/Firemen/ EMT so many deserving that should have higher Wages for what they do. But them and us need good infrastructure to do it with.And if this Voting Rights Act doesn’t get through some of them Repubs just might be a victim of it also. Lots of Repubs jumped Ship in 2020. There’s an old saying “ When you’er already in a hole, stop digging ! “
46 mentioned that last night. We all know that everyone of them in every State and position is afraid of losing their jobs. And it is going on everywhere. School Boards right up to Congress. One Party, by one Con is holding us “ All Unconstitutionally, as Political Ploy Hostages ! “ Voting in the year 2022, I think after 245 yrs and President X who could campaign from his bedroom on Twitter, that Voting in Elections should be as easy, accessible and comfortable as they can at campaigning !
A wonderfully educational post and reading Fern. Thank you.
Also, I would add to your list: "These topics are applicable to modern struggles for equality such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion."
Another vastly important modern struggle for equality is finding good jobs for qualified minorities, then, once they are in good jobs, finding paths to promotion for performance.
America is still, very much, a white man's game where high paid jobs, that require education, that come with promotion opportunities are relevant. Algorithms have bias built in that rejects minority resumes, and, when this is found out, the company claims it was all a big accident. Those biases are also built into the (almost universally white managers) who are doing the hiring.
The fact that a Juan Jimenez with a 3.8 GPA in Mechanical engineering and three internships is routinely rejected, as a newly minted engineer, from the applicant pool in today's world? A travesty.
OR, in a phone interview, a young man with a slight hint of an accent from the Black community? Bingo, rejected.
These educated, eager minorities are Corporate America's best bet for high performance and they are routinely rejected before even having a chance to show their stuff.
Then, when they DO get hired, they find out about all of the "leadership development programs" that are populated by tall, white guys with poor grades but having parents who either know someone in the company or work in the company.
The fact that highly qualified minorities are having trouble getting jobs and getting promoted is a big problem Fern. It is a lack of equality that is hidden from view but is hugely impactful.
We expected defeat to alter the filibuster, but, Mike, that doesn't cushion the way I feel today. This ancient struggle never fails to deepen the wound.
The problem I noted serves to dash the hopes of those who have managed to navigate a system designed to hold them down and then, when they graduate, with great optimism, they are crushed. These are the people would would stand for Democracy.....
...IF Democracy ever showed any sign of standing for them.
Our song, yesterday, today and tomorrow. May it change someday; sooner rather than later. With Climate Catastrophe, we don't have another century to make it be.
Fern, I’m on a roll ! I wanted to post to you something I had read . I wasn’t sure if the Senator who said it was named ? So I headed to Google. I’m scrolling and I come across this nytimes.com article titled: America wasn’t a Democracy until Black Americans made it one.Written by: Nikole Hannah-Jones.8/14/2019. I’m 100% positive nothing I learned in all the yrs I had History classes in School came even close to her very event detailed history. In essence during Reconstruction there were 17 Black Senators that were the ones that got The 13th., 14th.,and 15th., Amendments passed.The Militia was ordered to the South to protect Black Americans.Due to problems with The R.B. Hayes election being questioned they made a “Deal “ , if he would call off the Militia they could fix his problem. So they did. And the end result was pure “Terror “ upon Black Americans. So the end result was the Black man lifted the poor White man up to a better life with the Right To Vote, own property, ect. Reconstruction benefited them !And I know you know the rest of the story. It’s a long read, well worth it. I don’t Subscribe to the “ NY Times .” But someone needs to post it.History is repeating itself. What I set out to look for was a Senator who made the comment “ They had a Black President for 8 yr’s how can you say there is discrimination any more . “ My eyeballs are screaming “ Let us out you crazy lady !” Later 😂
"It is the province of the historian to find out, not what was, but what is" -Henry David Thoreau.
I appreciate the glimpses of history that HCR shares with us because history helps us to understand not just the past, but the present and even possibilities for the future.
The racism woven into the fabric of our society over centuries is the main thread that must be unraveled if we are to "make America great"-not again-but once and for all. We'll never make progress toward "a more perfect union" with Mitch McConnell, the Republicans and dare I say some of the Democrats, who are all just reflecting the attitude, approaches and actions of their forefathers. It's always been profitable and expedient to deny and disregard the rights of Black people. This is the American way and it's worked for centuries. Racism is why we even have a filibuster and a Republican Party with 90% white people (according to Gallup) along with media personalities today who are fighting to support TFG and Putin.
It's unfortunate that people who want to teach the true history of America are being demonized and cast out. We can learn much from history to inform our actions and propel us forward. If only more people would wake up and clearly see the myths, lies and malice that we are confronted with on a daily basis. My experience is that people of goodwill-no matter their skin color-will join together when they accept the truth about systemic racism in America and work to eliminate the people and policies that are leading us to the demise of democracy.
Gina I agree. I found a really good NY Times article today and asked Fern to post . She did. It’s a long read. But as I told Fern “It was everything I didn’t learn about history “. The woman that wrote it won a Pulitzer Prize for it. Funny, I was looking for something and just happen to see it. My mind was Blown as to how we became so privileged .We the People below the elites we never intended to be. It was the Black Americans that gave the mostly all poor White Americans the “ hand Up !” Really good read. So between Heather, Fern, all the good comments on here and finding that” My Cup Runneth Over “ today. I honestly don’t believe all ‘R’s ‘ are approving of the to make the Voting process harder. Ppl really are afraid to speak up. The nut jobs go after them.Good Post.So many on here.
Nikole Hannah-Jones is a domestic correspondent for The New York Times Magazine focusing on racial injustice. In 2020, she won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her essay in The 1619 Project, which traces the central role black Americans have played in the nation, including its vast material success and democracy itself. Link to magazine article about 1619 Project.
The relief & joy I felt when Biden/Harris were inaugurated are fading, replaced by sadness & disappointment. Disbelief. I thought we would be free of Trump & his dark madness. I truly do not understand what the Republicans believe in. Is it an America that once was? I know I sound naive & I keep trying to understand but I just can’t. Self-righteous? Maybe. Yes. I will continue to do what I can. But it gets harder each day. Thanks everyone for your passion & dedication. And to you Dr. Richardson.
Hope is the Lighthouse that Guides Me Through the Dark
It's easy to get derailed. If you listen too long it will weaken you... and you'll find yourself diverted... No worries... Putting the wheels back on the rails is a doable task. I'm an old hand at it! ;)
When you get up in the morning do you read the news? Do you turn on the TV or the radio only to see brutality and cruelty that seems to be swelling like a cancer and leaves you stunned? Everywhere you look in the world there seems to be insanity that has an uneasy knot squirming in your gut?
It's not only in Syria, Croatia, Asia, a half dozen African countries, Mexico... Everywhere you look in our own land it seems you see a sickness of the soul and a blackness of the heart that has man turning on neighbor.
It would seem the world is gone mad and depravity has conquered civilization.
But... hasn't it always been so? Didn't the conquistador rain genocide on the Mayan and Aztec? Didn't the British Kings slaughter Scots in the Highlands, manipulate famine in Ireland? The Muslims have fought Christians since the first Muslim and Christian were born.
Cheyenne fought the Blackfoot. Both fought the white man. Tribe has fought Tribe in Afghanistan since the beginning of time, and will till the end of time. One Afghan nation is a western concoction... for which they hate and fight us.
Our leadership teaches us to revile each other and judge according to income and creed. They split us by race and gender, city and farm, conservative and liberal.
Man has raped and cheated; murdered and pillaged since the genesis of the species. It is an old story. There is nothing new.
The only thing that's changed is the speed of the messenger. It twists the mind so it seems as if perversion has run wild; and yet, that is only another deceit. The world itself has not changed, not for better or for worse... nor the people in it.
Times are good for many. Times are brutally hard for others. The strong prey upon the weak. It has always been so.
But people! Take Heart! Listen to the whispers. Those tiny lil' voices in the back of your mind. That soft whispering from your heart.
There is a power that stands up to and defeats the world of sorrow and misery. There is a force that soothes the fear and the sorrow. There is a voice that shines a light in your life.
There is a belief, that if you hold it close enough in your heart, your strength shall never fail. Its strength flows back on itself and grows with irresistible power.
It is a belief that whether you realize it or not, you possess it. You own it.
That special gift, that strength... that shining star that is my lighthouse... Its name is Hope. Many will call it faith. Some will call it a simple toughness. I call it Hope.
When you stand alone... and those you held most dear and precious lay broken and torn around you, and you are left alone, all you have is Hope. When you feel your heart will burst with the pain as you scream your agony at the sky... Fall to your knees and in their memory... grasp the Hope that they hung to with their last breath.
Raise up your eyes, lift yourself from the ground and with the Hope they passed to you, continue. For them, in their honor if not yourself, live on.
Sure, we have been betrayed. It's not the first time nor will it be the last. Those cowardly few who swore to stand up for those who could not; those malicious frauds who promised to defend and protect have proven their deceit.
They are unworthy of our thought or consideration. It is no surprise. Deep down we knew it would be, we expected it. Our hearts knew their true character, even as our eyes were deceived... but we Hoped. The fraud of their word is not our shame but theirs.
We retained hope. It is our Glory. It is the fuel of our soul and the lifeblood in our hearts. Hope.
As the sun rises each morning... the dawn after our last failure... we shall pick up our tools, we shall stand in the morning breeze and we shall say; It is a fine day. I Hope others are as fortunate as I, for I am still warmed by Hope.
It is the purpose and the goal of all life. Though your dreams may fall to dust, your heart be broken and torn, you only fail if you surrender Hope.
It is not the man who easily rises without strife, standing on the success of others to claim the pinnacle, that is the champion and my moral compass. The one I revere is he who tries... she who strives without ever relenting, and never achieving their dreams; yet they never surrender, they refuse to yield. They live on with Hope.
Don't just look out the window and dream... break out the glass... crawl on through and seize that life you see...
It is that person who tastes the sweetest breath of Life. It is that glorious soul that fully appreciates the friendships and the losses.
With their final breath they reach out to take yet another step and point; "It is there... just over there..."
You look and see nothing. You turn back to them and ask; "What? What do you see?"
Their eyes gaze upon you... bewildered. To them it is as clear as the sun. With glittering eyes they cry; "There! How can you not see her? It is Hope!
Retain your Hope... and you prevail. You shine a light that beats back the darkness.
"The world itself has not changed". I agree with all the above except this sentence. Corporations raping and poisoning our earth is worth fighting against.
Exactly, Jeri. In one of the quotes on a wall in the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (aka the Lynching Museum) in Montgomery, Alabama, is this line: "Hopelessness is the enemy of justice." I try to remember that whenever the bad news accelerates, which is constant these days.
Carol-You are not being self-righteous. The Repuglicans made it clear they have no agenda, as demonstrated by their refusal to put for ANY policy ideas forward as part of their 2020 campaign. In addition, their only idea is to obstruct, obstruct,obstruct. They've proven time and again they do NOT believe in democracy.
...And yet, they allowed TFG's documents to be released. It's rare that they do something good for the country (perhaps they're weighing the consequences of what they've been doing,i.e. going too far. I still don't trust those 6.
I don't think they believe in an America that once was. I think they believe in a society similar to Russia's, or some other autocracy, where the oligarchs run the government and the lives of the citizens, and the citizens are powerless and can't do anything about it.
Ah, I think.you hit the nail on the head, never heard it expressed before, but that makes perfect sense. Chump went to Russia, enjoyed himself, putin enlisted his dumb ass self to further putin's own endless ambition.
Takeaways from last night’s Presidential Press Conference:
First, was Biden’s announcement that he would be going out among the citizenry delivering his message in person.
Second, was his mention of the advisors he listens to and the fact that he will continue, and expand, the practice of listening to a broad range of voices for guidance.
In this context, President Biden specifically mentioned historians and I could not help but reflect on a comment historian Doris Kearns Goodwin made during a discussion she and historian Jon Meacham had with the Librarian of Congress on January 6, 2022, in Washington, DC.
In a discussion centered on the similarities between the events surrounding the Insurrection of January 6th and the 1850s, Goodwin mentioned the attack on the Senate floor of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner by South Carolina Senator Preston Brooks. This attack and the reaction it engendered was, according to Goodwin, one of the events that brought Lincoln to the national political arena. She also discussed the alternate political realities that emerged at that time, eventually leading the Civil War.
She continued with a story about the turn of the 19th century, when industrialization, immigration, and technological innovation, ushered in another fundamental shift in perceptions of reality. President Theodore Roosevelt, determined to correct for the emerging excesses of that time, and counter the alternate reality that was seizing the mind of the body politic, embarked upon a train-stop tour of the country to deliver his vision of the values we share as Americans.
Most of this is not news to those who follow Professor Richardson’s Letters (and apologies for any inaccuracies herein) but it was noteworthy that President Biden seems to be listening to the historians advising him, and most importantly, taking that advice to heart and putting it into action.
I disagree that cynicism rules the day or won, but I do agree that it is nihilistic disengagement. The progressive Democratic pursuit of government by consent of the governed and principles of fairness had a setback with the loss of today's voting protection bill. The reactionary and seditionist Republicans and the two Democrats who voted against the voting bill/filibuster change were not cynical. To the contrary, they actively engage with dark moneyed interests. The differing goals of the two parties is becoming increasingly polarized.
If American Democracy is to continue flourishing then the only immediate focus for righteous American patriots is to vote and provide support in the most effective way possible.
It would seem then here is the focus of all that positive energy and resources:
Here's a site that shows you who and where Senators are up for re-election this year.
Republicans are defending two Senate seats in states Joe Biden (D) won in the 2020 presidential election:
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Democratic incumbents are not defending any Senate seats in states Donald Trump (R) won in 2020.
How about a National Agreement among concerned educated informed Democrats to focus all nonessential get-out-to-vote energy & resources to the 14 D's successful defense of their continued incumbency, and
To wisely choose some of the 20 R's who are in their weakest re-election opportunity as the focused targets of every possible effort by Democrats to defeat overwhelmingly the chosen few, Eh!?
99.5% of what you wrote details the footwork ahead of us. We have work to (1) not have Republicans run unopposed, (2) fight voter suppression, and (3) fight election subversion. Rally on!
here is one example of continuous supporting by a grouped of concerned Americans multiplied exponentially:
DCCC
Thank you for your generous gift to protect and expand our Democratic Majority! With your help, we protected Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House Majority, flipped the Senate, and made history by electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. But the fight to defeat Republicans’ radical agenda is far from over -- and your contribution couldn’t come at a more critical time for our Democrats. Republican Leaders Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and their Republicans are already hard at work to defeat our Democrats. Your contribution will help us make early investments in the fight to defend our Majority and defeat Congressional Republicans for good. We’re so grateful to have you on our team, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on how we are working to fortify our Majority for years to come. In the meantime, if you’d like to stay up-to-date with regular DCCC news, text DONOR to 43700 to receive our periodic updates.* Thank you for your continued membership on our team. -All of us at the DCCC *Text to receive recurring updates from DCCC by automated text message. Standard message and data rates may apply.
The DCCC has a reputation of not listening to the boots on the ground organizers, in particular really red states. I live in NC and Cal was the ‘chosen one’ to beat Tillis, even though there were three, more qualified, candidates. Local democrats didn’t like him, but he fit the educated white male profile. At the time, I was a county chair in Davie and Cal would not even come to give a speech because our county is solid red. The arguments that the DCCC spouted off were that Cal didn’t need to and I quote, “waste his campaign time and money campaigning in a solid red county.” So please, just take the DCCC with a grain of salt. I have witnessed first hand what the DCCC can destroy.
These are desperate times for American Democracy to survive and flourish successfully against the moneyed elite authoritarianism scheme!
You forgot to help identify who to support financially that IS effectively overcoming the R's weaknesses while successfully achieving Democratic victories consistently.
We somehow need to work together in the most powerful way possible to defeat the R's threat of destroying American Democracy, Eh!?
I like your point Ellie but if dark money isn't cynical, what is? Honest support is also open and courageous advocacy; one hides only what one can't afford to have seen.
My point is that dark money is insidious, but "cynical" is the wrong word because dark money is extremely purposeful in its behind-the-scenes pulling the strings of power.
What's the status now of the "messages between the Houses" version of the voting rights bills? [Heather's Letters January 12, 2022] Is it the next strategy? Is it history?
I am cynical, but not disengaged. Maybe just crazy after all these years as an optimistic Democrat. But the echos in our echo chamber are loud and disquieting. Cynicism is not a safe position for me, since I have a big mouth in a red hell. I am too old to March and protest, but I can still write and donate for some who can.
“African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans," says McConnell. Clearly African Americans are not in the same category as "Americans" in his thinking...
That turned my stomach too. During the Kavanaugh nomination hearings McConnell also said something like women were basically useful as secretaries but nothing else.
I was going to point out this too, Rosalind! Clearly, Mitch thinks African Americans are not Americans. PRECISELY WHY VOTING RIGHTS BILLS NEED TO BE PASSED IN THIS COUNTRY!
"No one is above the law," except apparently the people who make the laws. Today's events in the Swamp demonstrate how dishonorable, venal politicians create loopholes in the fabric of Justice, manipulate the rules to suit themselves and the monied interests that support them, and arrogantly betray their responsibility to the Constitution they took an oath to protect and defend. Instead of serving the highest aspirations of the American people, these weasels blatantly cater to the demands of the corporations who financed their elections. From this day forward the names Manchin and Sinema will live in infamy as the leading culprits who helped extinguish the dying embers of democracy. No surprise there. But in addition to committing the moral crime of restricting our freedoms by taking away significant voting rights, these so-called representatives of the people have accomplished something else of even greater importance. They have made it clear what We, the people must now do to reignite the spark of American democracy from the ashes of political corruption: Revolt non-violently at the grassroots level through boycotts, work stoppages and mass protests. America is now held in the grip of a radical evil that will not be released through violent reactivity. We must act peacefully as one unified force for Justice and the inalienable rights bequeathed to us by the nation's founders. We must Resist! Organize! Strike! And above all, we must ensure that our actions demonstrate the power of love that still informs the "better angels of our natures" also inspiring us, as the great poet Wendell Berry said, to "practice resurrection" in all our affairs.
Here in Georgia, I'm still waiting, impatiently, for the Fulton County DA to bring charges against Trump for trying to coerce the Secretary of State to "find the votes" in order to illegally overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. If that isn't sedition, I don't know what is.
I’m here with you waiting for the same thing. WTF is taking so long, it’s been over a year now and that preening imbecile has been acting like nothing can touch him and that he’s the most innocent of all beings. The corruption that oozes out of every one of his pore’s is a stench that nothing can clear, our only hope is to put the bastard in prison for the rest of his insufferable life, shut the door and try to erase him from our history just like the Germans have done with the cancer that was Hitler.
ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor investigating possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 general election by former President Donald Trump and others has asked for a special grand jury to aid the investigation.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday sent a letter to Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher asking him to impanel a special grand jury. She wrote in the letter that her office “has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.”
Willis’ office has tried to interview multiple witnesses and gather evidence, and some witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate without a subpoena, she wrote. A special grand jury would have the power to subpoena witnesses.”
I hope so, especially Arizona. My sister lives there, and while she’s not what I’d call a far left progressive, she is appalled at Sinema. Not who she thought she was sending to the Senate.
I can't believe that such an experienced pol as Joe didn't know at some level, that not only were the R's not negotiating in good faith, but that the rogue backstabber D's weren't either.
They need to be called out. Every single time republicans obstruct democrats with some unethical or unfair maneuver, it needs to be pointed out to the American public. The public needs to be told exactly what the repubs did, what the result was, and why it was plain wrong. It needs to be spelled out because, evidently, even the press doesn't know.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) assured reporters that concerns about Black voting were misplaced because: “African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”…..what does this even mean, Mitch ….
Hat tip to every single person who called, texted, or wrote to their elected representatives or donated money to grassroots organizations to support voting rights legislation over the past year. We have honed our skills, upped our game, marshalled our resources. We are stronger than ever in our civic engagement. We continue the battle for democracy and fairness. We continue to fight reactionary state legislatures and nefarious corporate interests. We go on.
It is sickening and frightening. It is hard to take in that any senator would oppose the right of all citizens to vote....I wonder what, for example, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski or Susan Collins are thinking/calculating. I can't believe they are against the intent of the bills so are they making some kind of Faustian bargain?
And.... Liz Cheney & the 5 Republicans who are retiring. Their silence is deafening & I cannot comprehend the pressures at play influencing their votes. The voting rights bills are popular with their constituants & yet they vote no? They really have nothing to lose. Or do they? I thought lobbying them would have more potential than SinnaMan, but all was super quiet on their lobbying front. I wonder what is really at play behind the curtain? It must be complicated & dark which presents us with a massive problem unless we can hold accountable those who commit treason & election fraud regardless of their political power.
The handful of adult Republicans you listed cannot be comfortable with the popular turn that has come with Trump, but has been growing since the anti-black President Tea-Party resistance. Have you noticed the openly insulting tone of disrespect used by younger Republicans trying to curry favor with their elders: Jordan, Gaetz, Paul, Greene, Bobart Hawley. They obviously believe they have been given permission to dis persons of the opposition party and publicly denigrate them in order to cancel them as human beings worthy of serious and civilized consideration. In the English Parliament the majority party refers to their political opponents as the "loyal opposition" an expression which carries with it a presumption of expected civility however sarcastic debates can become. The fashionable moral and verbal violence demonstrated by our future Republican leaders formed for a political future on the wrestling mat and flipping burgers is intended to cause injury and leave indelible marks. Moral injury is difficult, and often impossible to ever forgive. In Parliament, intentional slights of the sort we see expressed on a daily basis would earn a serious drubbing from elder states-persons of any party devoted to civic seriousness. Democracy requires developed skills of civil debate and empathy, and a showing of respect for mutual understanding in arbitrating differences of point of view on the way to consensus and consent. I don't think most educated, hopeful young voters coming up into an expanding world of global opportunity and responsibility are taken in by their frat-boy (person) unprincipled wrecker daddy pleasers.
The continuing breakdown of the Republican Party is explainable, ordinary composting, the progress of rot. Most of my white, Northeastern ancestors have been Republicans by reflex, in order to not be associated with the unwashed and the fearsome Other. My struggle against Vietnam for Civil Rights in the 60's earned me some serious frowns and eye-rolling. But, democratic debate needs a two party structure, since the conceptual gap between speaker-meaning and listener-understanding always threatens the negotiation of healthy opinion formation, well captured by Hegel in the form thesis, antithesis, synthesis (with any luck). Shared power depends upon a sea-like mass of opinion constantly assaulted by new, yet unrationalized experience and always being arbitrated. What most people don't seem to get about a healthy two-party scheme is that "two-party" is really about two tents made up of many differences that represents a multitude of differences of experience, vision and (often half-baked) conviction. Differences inside the two tents undergo family-like give and take so as to speak (speaker-meaning)with one voice. The receiving listeners in the other tent will see well enough the cracks in the presented picture that represent intelligent compromise open to being challenged. As regards your "disloyal opposition" in the UK, I'm not up-to-date enough about what's going on there to spar with you. We could probably agree that political signaling in recent times has given a lot of space to hair. There might have been some wisdom worth considering in the practice of wearing awful powdered wigs. Thanks for your response to my diatribe.
Forgiving offenders is easy compared to ever trusting them again which most times seems truly impossible. Forgiveness begins the healing process essential for strengthening American Democracy.
Personally, I find there is never an acceptable rationale for acting to damage or offend another person's dignity and humanity. I will not respond with turn-about's-fair-play, however. I revised the turn-the-other-cheek strategy. Suppose I'm slapped. I don't just turn my head to take the second slap. I turn my head with the force of a karate chop, so fast it dislocates an arm, or sends my attacker orbiting into a brick wall. Don't accuse me of NOT turning the other cheek. And, if once doesn't fix the problem, give me another go. And, don't raise your baseball bat until you can see the whites of your opponents eyes—with the flame-light of his ticki-torch. They will not disgrace us.
Is 'moral injury' more difficult to overcome than violating your 'oath of office?' Those retiring will leave their office knowing what they did. I guess there is no good solution, but I wish they took a chance on 'moral character' which will provide more 'peace of mind' when they leave this world.
It should be said that members of Congress represent their constituents for voting purposes, but they are not "mandated" to carry out the voters' orders, or follow a shopping list. The Constitution specifically establishes a representative, rather than a mandate system because congresspersons were supposed to search consensus and try to produce the consent of the people, the whole nation unite as delegates from our diverse population; congresspersons are supposed to be guided by conscience and serve state and national communities as valid moral individuals. A good many people who speed-read the Constitution do not appreciate what it means to swear to govern for the common good of all moral individuals.
No doubt, but it seems like the retiring Republicans are supporting a 'shopping list' (following TFG's orders) rather than their personal conscience or 'voter consensus' I.e. voting rights. I can't comprehend the moral/personal reason for voting against voting rights. That is what I find difficult to understand.
I take it you're not really in the dark about the utility of choosing voters who will elect you and keep the other kind away from the polls. Bring your own water. Republicans themselves admit they are aging off the stage and out of the market of credible new generation members who fail to understand the beauty of living in an increasingly receding past which seems to have incrementally less to do with them as the years go by. Republicans, with the help of game-theory operators like Karl Rove, have done their level best to shut down the federal level of national governance and moved national authority to the states where corrupting private money has come to rule. The Republicans have openly admitted they would not be able to win the presidency again without the Electoral College reducing the voter power in the populous states. Now, they see that further attrition of the Republican voter population can no longer count on protection from the Electoral College to skew the vote their way, which is why they are resorting to state-by-state voter suppression. Political death follows a different time-line than plain old bodily death: it involves a lot of thrashing about, hearing imaginary voices, swatting at non-existent hornet swarms flying in tight formation around frightened dyed white-hair heads. It makes for good selfie-cinema, but we the Meek (who have been promised the Earth)end up the unwilling victims. But, all that being said, a Conservative party of some stripe will emerge to collect persons psychologically predisposed, by choice ("inclination" is not the right word) to want change to stop the camera with them, to avoid facing a future in which they might possibly be forgettable. Fear of death is not most importantly biological if one compares it with social death, political death, historical death, and slow death from avoidable lack of imagination. I don't consider myself to be immune, mea culpa. I'm not just making this all up. Suicidal Nazism made a case for death-wish heroism as a respectable way to play a starring, authoring role in a reality reconfigured (Hegel) as B-grade cinema made for general audiences. Popcorn provided. "Authoring" and "authoritarian" are cognates, if that needs saying. So, the present laughable Red-state insurgency is bound to fail because it depends increasingly upon welfare help from Blue-state taxes. Fighting the present "red-tide" rot is important none the less because ambulant future corpses don't care about the poor and most vulnerable among us. I do care.
Elaborate, please. I am likely naive, but I don't understand why retiring Republicans can't honour their oath to defend the Constitution and express the will of their constituents. Do they really fear character assassination over 'peace of mind/truth?'
It’s my understanding they plan to break the bill down piece by piece to vote on the parts individually. Forcing the autocrats to go on record for each piece of it. I would like to see this happen.
Unfortunately, betrayal has long been part of the human community. Today we were all betrayed by those we entrusted to do the people's will. That it comes as no surprise does not soften the blow. Today I will mourn our republic. Tomorrow I will help to prove to those who would destroy our republic that THEY are the ones in trouble, not us.
"CNN’s Jim Sciutto pointed out Trump seems to think that so long as he is running for office, he can persuade people that investigations are all political."
Looking at the news both here (Jerusalem, Israel) and in the US, sometimes one gets the feeling that Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu are reading from the same playbook. Bibi Netanyahu threw Israel into 3 years of political turmoil, which included 4 elections, in order to be able to claim that, as long as he was either Prime Minister or the Likud Party's leading candidate, progress in his trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust was politically motivated. And it worked.
Now, less than a year after formation of a broad coalition which succeeded in ousting Mr. Netanyahu from power, his lawyers are hammering out a plea bargain which promises to bring a confession to crimes hopefully serious enough to exclude the former Prime Minister from political office for many years to come.
All this to say that, given the current state of American politics, Mr. Trump's strategy ("so long as he is running for office, he can persuade people that investigations are all political") has a fair chance of succeeding. Bad news.
Emperors under the grace of the lord; not under the law. You can be a criminal as long as you have, or intend to get power over others! How did we ever come to believe that the world had at least to some extent come a bit further than that?
Yesterday was big for many reasons. The fight against authoritarianism by people who believe in democracy was at the heart of it all. Democracy can’t lose in the long run because people who feel the sting of authoritarianism will always look to democracy to right their wrongs. The Supreme Court said trump isn’t privileged enough to be able to block the committee; his records pertaining to the 1/6 mob insurrection incited by him will now get handed over. Putin hesitates to play his hand against the Ukrainians because of what it might cost him and his oligarch buddies, personally; their billions are mostly in the west. The looming sanctions scare them and the oligarchs are thinking that Vlad has overplayed his pair of 8s; Russia doesn’t have much real power anymore that’s why Putin wants to invade their neighbor like some bully trying to grab a classmate’s lunch money. He’s starting to think again before his paltry pair of 8s turn into something even less valuable. NATO is standing firm and should he proceed Russia will further isolate itself and …yes, at a big financial cost to the prime antagonist and his closest friends in Russia. Hey, they could all get so ticked off by the sanctions that they decide to throw in with Navalny and replace Putin. Meanwhile old trump is facing the inevitable consequences of his lifetime of cheating and lying overplay….he’s destined for a Lear like finish on the heath of lost golf courses, hotels and office buildings. No way he gets back into politics. The mendacity of Manchin and Senema has finished them, too. The American people really hate villains like them; it’s very deep in our guiding mythology. The image of Sinema’s Tik Tok worthy betrayal….shaking hands with the gloating R senators ….will be as permanent as Lady MacBeth’s indelible spot, in the minds of the majority of American voters. Rest assured Schumer and Pelosi won’t give in on voting rights and Joe Biden won’t stop until the best elements of both BBB and the Voting Rights legislation are signed into law. 78 year old Joe is a real gamer. How about his 2 hr news conference yesterday? The fight goes forward against the foreign and domestic antagonists of democracy. It’s an endless one so if you’re tired of it at the moment rest awhile… the fight will be there waiting for you whenever you’re ready to begin again.
Hear, hear. Your lips to God’s ear. I so hope that everything you have written comes to fruition. And, might I add, I am so tired of hearing that Biden’s is a failed presidency. Of course I’m from Delaware, but…
The so-called "liberal" mainstream media has been absolutely relentless in their finger pointing and shouting "fail" at every point...despite the Biden Administration's relentless efforts at trying to corral and alleviate the pandemic (with active efforts to sabotage mask mandates and vaccinations by the right wingers and constant criticism by--mostly vaccinated--GQP politicians), passing a major financial bill and other positive moves. NONE of the positive accomplishments and ALL of the negative set-backs are shouted from the media rooftops.
Personally I am sick to death of it. I have cancelled my subscription to both the Times and the Post with letters stating why. It's so obvious that the broadcasting of bad news is meant to make another election campaign into a titanic struggle (drama is a best seller!) and is clearly motivated by greed alone: gloom and doom fattens the bottom line....bluebirds and daisies plainly do not. Grrrr.
I am sick and tired of both the media’s and the ‘progressive’ Democrats’ sustained attacks, while President Biden is engaged in a four-year marathon. He won a election with an 8 million vote majority which only provided a slim edge in the House and a a 50/50 Senate
Biden inherited a real mess, domestically and globally. He and his professional team have addressed these with competence, despite three virus hurricanes and such distractions as Putin’s hissy fits.
Biden has steered a careening ship of state back on to a positive course. He has addressed our pandemic problems better than most other countries.He has initiated essential legislation, some of which has so far been stymied by Republicans and two recalcitrant Democratic senators. The economy is significantly better than naysayers had predicted.
Today President Biden is commencing his second year in office. I would hope that the fact-based media would acknowledge Biden’s substantial achievements and that a Democratic team would coalesce behind President Biden for the long-term good of a vast majority of the American people.
This is another media issue including the more liberal media. The first thing they report is that Biden has failed in his efforts to require vaccinations for companies over 100 people. They next mention that the Biden efforts to require vaccinations of health care workers were successful and upheld by the Supreme Court. I would’ve said President Biden was successful before the US Supreme Court with respect to requiring vaccinations of healthcare workers. The Supreme Court held that the requirement of all companies of 100 or more was too broad so such a requirement might be upheld for companies more directly affected by healthcare concerns.
The reasoning was suspect, at best, driven by the Federalist hacks' distaste for government regulation of corporate misdeeds.
TLMills I was so disgusted by the endless stream of "gotcha" questions from the MSM reps at the Biden news conference that I wanted to reach into the screen and strange a few of the questioners. You expect the Faux News guy to be a jerk and he didn't disappoint. But when everyone prefaces their question with the same litany of Joe's failures, setbacks, and disappointments, you lose credibility. This applies to almost all the MSM people there. I guess they think if they are trying to make the Biden agenda/administration look bad, they look bad. There were a few questioners, particularly two women, who just went on and on. There needs to be a time limit on the whole affair, and a limit of one question and a single follow up one. I read the NYT and Wapo, am disgusted with both, but I am not canceling as there are writers who I value their opinion. And as I am retired, I need things to do some days. I missed the guy from Faux who asked something about Biden being senile. That was stupid, and stupid is as stupid does. But the more respectable outlets and their White House correspondents struggles to rise about the ignorance of the Faux jerk. I recommend The Bulwark, Heather Cox Richardson, and Jon Chait on NYMag as worth my time. Joe Biden was great! He is authentic, suffers fools way better than I do, and when D. Sanger from NYT wanted to talk international relations, you could see the depth of knowledge and experience our President has in that area. Go Joe!
Those ridiculous questions were, in my opinion, evidence not of "journalism" but of immature people in a "press corps" who are trying to make a name for themselves. If they think that insulting a president is the way to do that, they are sadly mistaken. Biden should only call on those who demonstrate respect, both in demeanor and in the nature of the question itself. He should just ignore the wannabe reality show players...because, seriously, they have all been watching too much "Apprentice President" for the past four years and have forgotten their manners, assuming they ever even had such.
Actually, I think Biden acquitted himself well. He deliberately called on questioners/commentators across the board, was polite, but cut them off at the knees when they embarrassed themselves - not him. If anything, Biden proved his mental fitness by standing for almost two hours, facing down a shocking number of "gotcha" questions. The aggressively negative "journalists" proved that they have an agenda that is not merely impolite, but designed to offend, and for no good reason.
I completely agree with you!
Bill how much I agree with your assessment of these "reporters" I just keep thinking "what is the matter with them?" I wish i could just be in that mosh pit and ask "Mr President, how do you do it?" You have acknowledged the virus for what it is and taken charge as quickly as you could to right the ship, brought all these jobs to the economy, embraced our traditional allies,worked behind the scenes to deal with the Ukraine crisis, dealt with such traitorous behavior from your own party when you are simply trying to do what the majority of this country needs (BBBetter) ...what is your workout routine?
Time to start The Joe Biden Fan Club!!
Yes He is remarkable
“What is your workout routine”?
Prez mentioned Peloton, although he said Jill often beats him to the early morning bike.
But don’t mention that to Marco Rubio as he will go on a rant about all the Peloton riding,caramel macchiato drinking, NYT reading, quinoa bowl eating liberals.
Would love to see a debate between him and Val Demmings!
Anyone not familiar ? https://valdemings.com/home/
Val can do this! “ Never Tire”
Full disclosure: My husband rides a Peloton, I read the NYT, but we have never had a caramel macchiato nor a quinoa bowl..😂
THAT, Joan, is the PERFECT question: what is your workout routine!!!!
One good question to ask these doom sayers is: if Afghanistan was such a disaster, how many of the 124000 do you think tRUMP would have brought out?
I feel less pain about having ditched WaPo's good writers because Heather always tells us in two words what they said. The rest was literally driving me mad. And yes, they ask why you're cancelling, so I told them.
I agree, there are some writers from the Times and the Post who are worth reading and I may renew my subscription after this upcoming campaign season.
I read Dr. Richardson everyday and try to catch as many of her live "posts" (Tuesdays and Thursdays) as I can. I also listen to news on NPR (although disliking the turn to corporate sponsorship that they felt compelled to make). I miss TRMS and will look for The Bulwark and there are a couple of others that seem unbiased (BBC, Reuters) as well. Thanks.
They're showing off for the other political reporters. The answers to those questions don't matter because simply asking the questions shows their "savvy". Jay Rosen calls it out. https://pressthink.org/2022/01/the-savvy-turn-in-political-journalism/
Uh what savvy? they are allying themselves with negativity, not knowledge. We just had 4 years with a tyrannical imbecile and they and their carping critical questions cannot distinguish a working president from a buffoon. This is so destructive
Agreed. The guy that went on about Joe’s mental competence was incredibly rude and ought to be uninvited to future press conferences. Joe did well to to ignore him and move on.
Makes you wonder is it gaul on their part or are THEY the ones with the mental impairment
We live in a ‘what have you done for me Today’ culture!! The policies passed in 2021 which provided support for the families and single adults who needed it is Old news!
The fact that McConnell does not understand that African Americans ARE Americans is appalling and belies his ignorance!
As noted in a recent HCR ‘epistle’, the legislatures in the red states are have enacted laws that beget Election Fraud, yes you can vote, but the state will decide whose vote counts!!
Imagine some state’s legislature affirms Scalia’s version of the second amendment, but that state passes a law as to how many weapons and ammunition can be manufactured in the state per year!!
I picked up on McConnell's ignorant statement - hope it comes back to bite him where it hurts - in the voting booth! Not necessarily the vote against HIM, but against a few of these Repubs who are sitting quietly like little mice, afraid to differ from Mcc's orders.
Profiles in EXTREME Cowardice ( there are no profiles in courage anymore)
Raskin is a Profile in Courage!
Trending AGAIN today on Twitter is #MoscowMitch. He's getting it in spades today and it is WELL deserved.
McConnell's statement, though maybe a slip of the tongue, seems nevertheless a slip of the Freudian nature. It won't matter because his base in Kentucky obviously believe the same way. I don't expect he'll get any flak for it.
Maybe not from them, but he's getting it from everyone else. Me, for one.
That one did jump out at me too. I wouldn't be surprised if he issues a clarification as I am sure many Black voters in KY vote for Mitch, and he can't afford to lose them.
Wouldnt you think (or wish) that a Dem or two would bring up that statement in front of microphone? I really doubt Mcc's voters watch C-span, right?
“We live in a ‘what have you done for me Today’ culture!! The policies passed in 2021 which provided support for the families and single adults who needed it is Old news!”
And therein lies the problem.
Come midterms, just what great reasons to vote for them will the Democratic candidates have to bring to the voters?
Simply saying that Republicans would be even worse just won’t cut it.
Simply saying “Well, we beat up on Trump “ just won’t cut it.
Simply saying “Well, what about January 6?” just won’t cut it.
Liberals will vote for liberals and conservatives for conservatives; those minds are made up and unchangeable. The election will be decided by the middle based on issues that impact them on a daily basis.
What counter argument can Democrats make about inflation and gas prices between now and midterms? What recent positive accomplishments can the Democrat present to the voters?
What “recent positive accomplishments” can Republicans present to voters? We pay them to govern-all they do is obstruct. They won’t even debate the issues never mind helping to resolve our problems.
They have no ideas of their own. The ultimate role of evil in The Big Picture is to tear down the accomplishments of others.
President Biden has come out and openly admitted his missteps.And I and others have written DNC to work better at talking more about what he has got done. Poor guy, it’s been “Wack-A-Mole from day one.I’m beginning to wonder if this is what the Belarus thing is about ? Donnie doesn’t do the Bullying in that match up with Putin. But recall the ‘R’s’ did the same game with Obama. Biden is getting paid back for President O making Big Baby Donnie getting laughed at the Press Corp. dinner over the Birther thing. In Lion King when Simba is born he is held up for all to see. So Pres. O played that and said” We finally have proof of My birth “. Now at this dinner they all make fun of each other . Well Big Baby Poo-Pooed cuz Ppl were dying LOL ! He was crammed in the audience.No where to run ! It really was hilarious.TFG is a very sick puppy.
And Trump had the identical complaint about the lamestream media. No matter what he did, the criticism never stopped. Not for a minute.
Seems to be the nature of the beast.
??? No mattter what he did? What thing did he “do” that wasn’t deserving of criticism?
I would make a list of everything Biden deserves praise for but if you really don’t know then I’m not willing to play that game.
See below from Christy, ditto for me. Trump started off on the wrong foot on the escalator ride, and never recovered. I know those who worship at the feet of Donnie Lardo think Biden deserves to be attacked since Dems attacked Trump. I know this is hard to accept, but to compare a pathological liar to a decent human being is not an apples to apples comparison. I am sure after '22 Biden will be impeached. I predict he will not be removed from office by the Senate for lack of enough votes to convict, and his ratings will go up just like they did for the last stupid impeachment of one Wm. J. Clinton.
I dont open head lines in the Washington Post emails. If one looks interesting, i Google the story. There are usually several other media outlets for the same story that don’t require cookies and are often more interesting.
I am too tired of hearing Biden is a failed presidency. It is the Republicans that are a failed party. I would describe the voting rights act demise for the present as follows. The Republicans are successful again in blocking voting rights for all Americans.
Me too, and we turned off the national news yesterday because we are so tired of hearing that.
Keith: Thank you for your response. I find most of even well-meaning efforts to 'wake us up to the realities' of the present moment have either a condescending or defeatist undertone that actually encourages people to stick their heads in the sand further or to choose indifference. Some of the efforts are so grounded in fear that you feel helpless to do much of anything but doom scroll. Your response, to me, is grounded hope---you acknowledge the realities before us, but point out the sweet spots. I really can't thank you enough.
Glad to do so…there is plenty of reason to be hopeful. Democracy wins the long game but the way forward is not without challenges that remind us how precious our democracy truly remains.
Denise, you might find Robert Hubbell’s letters here on substack helpful, if you aren’t already familiar. He calls it Today’s Edition Newsletter
Beautifully said: "The American people really hate villains like them; it’s very deep in our guiding mythology. The image of Sinema’s Tik Tok worthy betrayal….shaking hands with the gloating R senators ….will be as permanent as Lady MacBeth’s indelible spot, in the minds of the majority of American voters."
What the Senate GOP did last night was put a period to the end of their party. As you said, they gave themselves a "V" on their foreheads of "villain" and there will be no erasing that telltale sign for the rest of their sorry lives.
Thanks, Ellen. However, I shall never be at peace until we all hear these words from #45's mouth "A horse, a hose, my kingdom for a horse." Shakespeare nailed with Richard the Third's dying battlefield speech.
Hey Keith - In the “long run” we’ll all be dead. Look I appreciate your analysis, including the condemnation of the traitor “Cinema”.
Unfortunately we are now in the firm grasp not of authoritarian rule BUT Fascist rule. The authoritarian label forgoes the blatant racism, Christo-Fascism, misogyny, homophobia and other dark aspects of what is not a minority, but a bedrock view.
This is why we Democrats and America go apoplectic and clutch our collective pearls over much needed Socialist reform policies and instead hold onto the impotent Centrist Democrats and the sacrosanct policy of BS meritocracy. A policy that protects the wealth of 9% of the population.
I’d like to think that eventually (after I’m long dead) that the mass of Americans locked into modern serfdom will rise up against the Billlionaire fascist loving right, but if Brazil, Hungary, Russian and China are any form of indicator; it will likely never happen.
I might point out that the realm of Feudalism reigned for well over 1,000 years.
A reign of over 1,000 years, where have I heard that one before?
After republicans have suppressed voting rights to the point that a democrat will never be elected, it will take decades, possibly forever, to reverse minority rule.
I’ll tell my daughter and granddaughters
I hope your serious, because it’s a lot worse than they can possibly imagine.
They have a clue, son-in-law doesn't
💯💯💯Thank you for saying it all so well! ❤️🙏
Agree, agree, agree. Morning Keith.
Jessica Craven makes our work clear and easy to engage:
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/chop-wood-carry-water-120
Thank you for recommending this. Jessica just commented about Emmett Till, and because I just engaged with my middle schoolers about Till, this will be a great follow-up discussion. Thank you again!
Thanks for this.
Best part of the Press Conference was when Joe was asked about the 47% of Americans who think he has a mental disorder, according to a pompous Newsmax journalist: "What do you think they mean?" JB: "I have no idea." (next journalist).
75% of America really does think TFG does. They didn’t need to ask him. He proved it.
Keith, with these words, I will sleep tonight and fight again tomorrow! Thank you!
Keith, I like your response, but I need to say something about your bully comment. Our bully country has stolen Afghanistan's lunch money by keeping the $millions that are owed to that country locked up in a U.S. bank. Meanwhile, millions of citizens of Afghanistan are starving.
Agree. Let's stay positive.
Biden - "a real gamer?" Hardly, that is if he's cunning in the service of the people, not Fat Money. Were he passionate about Build Back Better and the voting bill passing, he'd have laid a ton of presidential power on Ms Sinema and Mr. Yacht Man-chin til they started wiggling "oh, please please release me oh my presidente"..."I'll lie and cheat in any direction you please. I can swing where ever you want me to, just free me from thy chains!" "Oh, Lordy." There's absolutely no point in listing the myriad of broken presidential promises of his.He is tidy;his teeth are bright white.But - since this earth is our only home and it's burning down it is needful to note that his passion to mediate climate change is not as deep as his desire to please the oil barons - witness, his dispersal of more leases for drilling in the Gulf than the licentious, sly, sociopathic, meglomaniac crook who is his predecessor. As for authoritarianism. Once it's installed it's like crab grass and bamboo. "Pakistan, Thailand, Chile, Haiti, Greece, the Baltic republics, Republican Spain, Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Iran, the Congo, Meiji Japan . . . no, there are too many. Democracy is one of the most fragile and unstable forms of government there is."quora.com.
The overarching problem is that Biden, like most of his political contemporaries, has uncritically embraced the idea that unlimited growth is, and should be one of the main goals of society - even if it means compromising the environment that sustains that society.
A rather backward view, wouldn't you say? Like believing in bi-partisanship today where one of the "bi"s is not "bi" at all but unrelentingly unilateral.
Did they ever ask the Cyber Ninjas if they worked on any of Trump Fam. devices ? Doubt they will find anything. I’m hoping for at best the New York property scam.
Oh! that was a way better thriller than State of Terror, with a promising outcome, as long as we stay vigilant and active.
Don't ever use phrases like "Democracy can't lose if...". It can, and it might unless people like you fight to save it.
A real pick-me-up, Keith Kulper. I salute you!
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) assured reporters that concerns about Black voting were misplaced because: ‘African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.’ “
O. M. G. Mitch the Merciless once again invokes that nasty old belief that Black people AREN’T AMERICANS. I could just spit fire.
In the recent book "The Dawn Of Everything - A New History of Humanity" authors Graeber and Wenrow refer to "the Americans" when speaking of First Nations people whose cultural roots were/are deep in this land in contrast to Europeans who imposed colonial domination, calling it the 'Law of the Land' ... the audacity - the presumption that so called white people are the only true Americans ... speaks volumes ... a select breed calling for isolation and containment.
Excellent comment and insight...Thanks!!
100%. Nice catch SL. I’d take it a step further that Mitch knows and wants to suppress voting by all groups in America. Obstructionism is just that. The apathy it creates toward government, is also a form of voter suppression of the middle class. Distrust in the process of governing first, then Apathy in the process is harnessed to suppress more voting. Where did this strategy of obstruction really start? Who’s political idea was it originally? Was is something borrowed from another country, Rome, or Greece? How’d it work out there and then?
Governent is not the problem. Obstructionism is the problem. Largest Donor interest is the problem. Donor $ is concentrated in red states is the problem. The QOP senate is ‘faithless’ in their oath of office and duties.
Right there with you on spitting fire at not only “Mitch the Merciless,” but all the Repubs, Manchin and Sinema. Absolutely despicable display of autocracy and racism on the Senate floor yesterday.
Manchin and Sinema are Republicans in sheep's clothing...argh!!
That was my first thought as well 😡
A Freudian slip of sorts.
Freudian, my ass!!! He's just a loathesome soul.
That caught my attention (and ire) as well...
Yeah he REALLY needs to make a statement retracting THAT comment.
Speaking as a former journalist -- unfortunately, reporters are just into playing "gotcha" with Biden while Republicans, and the two so-called "moderate" Democrats undercut voting rights. Reporters pretend to be objective, but they are really just parrots, and they're giving Republicans free reign to destroy democracy.
At one time there was a distinction between a reporter and a columnist! Perhaps it’s the person who writes the article headline who is treating a bias!
The media created Trump and the media seems to want him back!
Um…Did eric trump check with his father prior to invoking the fifth five hundred times? ‘Cause, last I understood his father smirked at those who use the fifth.
That family can’t keep its logic and the stories they concoct straight long enough to pull off the innocence project ala trump.
Innocence and trump do not marry well in a sentence.
Oh, and yea. Thank you Manchin for doubling down on Sinema’s insult to our President regarding voting rights by opening your yap during the press conference to claim jump audience.
Donating to every agency against you both. You don’t deserve my vote if mine doesn’t count enough for you to vote for it.
Pj, your last sentence made me sit up and almost jump out of my chair. With your permission, I’d like to use it. If I use it on the internet (very doubtful) I will cite you, but with friends and in dialectical situations it is the most lucid and coherent way of expressing what all of us here are thinking. Whether we have a senator in that party or not.
With Dr. Richardson’s outstanding Letter and your grief so well put, I feel full of what I needed. I’m going to bed to grieve a little bit and sleep. I was really looking for two Republican senators to break the rest of them. Democracy sometimes has a way of helping those who love it and fight to preserve it!
Tomorrow is another day, and we live to continue the struggle. Many thanks, PJ, and Professor — condolences to all....
At least 2 out of the 16 who voted for previous voting rights legislation and who are STILL in the Senate. And Romney, Collins, Murkowski, and others who give lip service to justice failed us again. Do they really want the former president back in office???
You thought Senator Collins from Maine would--or even might--stand against the rest of the Repubs??? You have a lot more faith than most Maine Dems, I'll admit.
We in Maine have good reason to know she is a spineless cipher who follows the leader every time and her leader is Moscow Mitch. She is worthless and how she got voted in for her fifth freaking term should be a matter of shame and embarrassment to every female Democrat in Maine.
I too had hoped that just two Republicans might peel away from their insufferable, deplorable party, wouldn’t that have been a surprise to the two that called themselves Democrats. Living here in GA we are going to see first hand the abject failure of 52 individuals to stand up for our nation yesterday. Today’s dawn has brought no joy, literally and figuratively, only tears from heaven.
Dick, just think of it: just 52 people -- if my math is right 52 ÷ 332,000,000 x 100 = .00001566 percent of us sold the country out. The rain began here in Jackson County shortly after the senate adjourned, and continued through the night. We Georgians sent our best people to the senate (and possibly worst to the House) but it wasn't enough.
I just told Pj that I feel like a Ukrainian
Gus Koch - Absolutely! Share! Let’s get these Letters out! Happy to share and do my part.
Thanks, Pj. Couldn't sleep, but it is a New Day. I dug out a Cuban espresso blend for the day.
"Time to make the donuts."
Gus. Don’t forget to rest. 😊 It’s a long fight. We’re not even to the middle yet, it seems.
Pj, trying to rest and meditate. I agree about the fight. I feel like a Ukrainian right now!
Ukraine and its sovereignty is a political, philosophical and moral dilemma at the moment - for the U.S., and for the world. The U.S. is still the world’s super power. Thanks to 45, by the merest squeak. We don’t engender the fear we used to or Putkin would have toddled off to play checkers.
James Carville spoke after President Biden's tremendous Press Briefing yesterday. Carville had a two fold message. First. Biden through his lengthy and rigorous Briefing planted an oak tree yesterday. He called the Republicans out for their "believe in nothing" stance. Biden allayed any doubt at all about his abilities and how he feels about his agenda.
Second. Carville also stated that it's time to move on. He stated there are 3 years left in this Presidency and we stand a good chance of ending up with 53 seats in the Senate after 2022 and also keeping the House. He said we should focus on that. He dismissed Manchin and Sinema. (the Carville interview was with Ari Melber yesterday).
Carville suggested we quit acting like this Presidency is over.
My personal opinion is:
The New York case against the trumps is 3 years old. TFG was always going to run.
The Republicans will remain recalcitrant. TFG guy will remain an authoritarian. The SCOTUS is biased. Manchin and Sinema are not trustworthy. The media is greedy and biased.
These are absolutes at this time. Can we quit obsessing over them?
My personal opinion is that it is time to stop the handwringing and wound licking. We have work to do and a President to support.
Agree 1000%, Barbara. I see the wave of light just got bigger after yesterday. I envision it enveloping Sen McConnell’s ignorant statement about all Americans and further rooting out darkness. Justice Thomas’s vote (well…include the wife in that one whose name will prob appear in a document now going to the Committee) also in the path of the Wave of “We the People, All of Us This Time”.
Yeah, I thought Carville’s comments were excellent.
See my most recent comment. I agree 200% with you and Carville. Support as many candidates as you can with as much as you can afford and we have to march in masses for what we believe in. I'm not convinced marches work to move Congress unless they are scared by its size but they sure make me feel better.
Excuse me BUT the Republicans do believe in one thing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Oooooooh, Barbara, I'm printing out your comment and hanging it on my fridge.
This!!
Good one!! Thanks.
Amen, Barbara. Amen.
Truth from James.
THANK YOU FOR THIS, BARBARA! Now I'm going to go watch Carville!
My Country ’Tis of Thee
BY W. E. B. DU BOIS
Of course you have faced the dilemma: it is announced, they all smirk and rise. If they are ultra, they remove their hats and look ecstatic; then they look at you. What shall you do? Noblesse oblige; you cannot be boorish, or ungracious; and too, after all it is your country and you do love its ideals if not all of its realities. Now, then, I have thought of a way out: Arise, gracefully remove your hat, and tilt your head. Then sing as follows, powerfully and with deep unction. They’ll hardly note the little changes and their feelings and your conscience will thus be saved:
My country tis of thee,
Late land of slavery,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my father’s pride
Slept where my mother died,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring!
My native country thee
Land of the slave set free,
Thy fame I love.
I love thy rocks and rills
And o’er thy hate which chills,
My heart with purpose thrills,
To rise above.
Let laments swell the breeze
And wring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song.
Let laggard tongues awake,
Let all who hear partake,
Let Southern silence quake,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God to thee
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing
Soon may our land be bright,
With Freedom’s happy light
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.
W. E. B. Du Bois, “My Country ’Tis of Thee” from Creative Writings by W. E. B Du Bois (KrausThomson Organization Limited, 1985). Reprinted with the permission of the Estate of W. E. B. Du Bois.
Source: Creative Writings by W. E. B. Du Bois (KrausThomson Organization Limited, 1985)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43026/my-country-tis-of-thee
In Dubois's My Country Tis of Thee he uses familiarity to invoke change. By using a recognizable tune, the audience takes the words more to heart than they would otherwise. In addition, the irony of addressing such deep flaws in America as a nation through a patriotic tune really drives the point home.
In some ways the topic of slavery has become taboo in modern American culture. It is seen as distasteful to dwell on the gross errors and atrocities our “great” country has committed. Americans have a propensity to overlook their own faults while focusing on others'. As a nation we are incredibly ethnocentric, as demonstrated in The School Days of an Indian Girl by Zitkala-Sa. The "American Pride" that caused our nation to seek independence from Britain in the 1700's is now contributing to a mindset of denial and smoothing things over while not really solving the problem. Dubois makes the point that the freedom that some enjoy is the same "freedom" that kept others enslaved. He took a well-known patriotic song and revised it to a more realistic, albeit harsh, version. In the last verse however, Dubois adopts a more hopeful tone.
This work is relevant to American society today in that there is still much inequality. All of the works chosen to discuss in class from the Harlem Renaissance carry a very similar theme of overcoming racial tensions and longing for a place of equality. These topics are applicable to modern struggles for equality such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion. The music of the Harlem Renaissance helped to keep the energy levels high and motivate perseverance in the activists for social change. Today ideas are circulated over the internet rather than a turntable, but the message remains the same. (The Harlem Renaissance)
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" -Sermon On the Mount.
Thanks Fern for DuBois' arresting version of "My Country Tis of Thee". What makes America great is our ability to keep on improving, keep on growing, keep on striving for a perfect ideal. Today we shrank as a nation, as we have done so often in the past. Those who would thwart us from striving toward a more perfect union are in trouble. Today I will mourn. Tomorrow I will organize.
Steve, So glad you are here, to read your words and feel your spirit. HALLELUJAH!
Jennifer Hudson sings Hallelujah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgMCm5NWtII&list=RDLgMCm5NWtII&start_radio=1&rv=LgMCm5NWtII
Fern - what Steve said. Thank You.
Thanks Fern. The quote from Dubois is especially apt in light of McConnell's comment that Americans of color are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans. It will be unfortunate if no one in the legacy media asks him to explain what he meant because it almost sounds like he doesn't consider black Americans to be real citizens.
Not “almost”. - he said it
I know, but anything can be "explained", "walked back", or "spun" these days in the political world. The rest of us have to live with reality and hopefully this one will bite him squarely on the ass.
Rupert is a spinning top like none other, and he has an evil crew of lying spinners
Dave, Perhaps, '...what McConnell meant was that he doesn't consider black Americans to be legitimate citizens.'
Not much doubt about that. Racism like any other deep seated quality, will out eventually. One hopes that a challenger will be able to take advantage of it if he runs again.
Dave, McConnell will be there until he dies.
May that be imminent!
You're probably right but one can hope.
That also.But he’s like TFG, speaks before he thinks. Not his first nonsensical comment.
What does TFG mean?
It's a Biden invention...he came up with it once, very early. Only of course he didn't say "TFG", he used the words, with a little smile.
The Former Guy. Who was Fired out of Office by the American Voters.
Thanks! 🤣 (and, thank goodness he was fired!🤬)
If Moscow Mitch's comment (plus the "Tik-Tok-worthy picture of gloating Senate Republicans lining up to shake Sistema's hand) isn't used by every Democrat campaigning for office this year and in 2024, then they are fools and deserve to lose. Use every weapon possible!!! Taking the "high road" is lovely and gracious and a fine thing if everybody else remains gracious and honorable, too. However, the R's are fighting from the sewers and ditches and they are not only very dirty fighters, but desperate as well.
👍
Grabbing an easy win like updating the ECA and passing a stand-alone CTC tomorrow would be helpful too.
I’m not even a fan of his. But I think he meant to say “As white Americans “. But with that pass to him it is also the “ Problem “ that they see is what’s costing them to be “ Loser’s ! “ ( morally they are also ) so to fix that “ Problem “ the only thing they can do is go back to the Jim Crow era and make it harder for POC to Vote.
Yes-if 60% of white people vote R and POC’s votes are not considered legit (e.g targeting specific counties to throw out votes) then 40% of white people who vote D can never win. To Mitch’s point the % of Black folks voting means nothing if you’re not going to count them. Why are people voting R?
Well, some say less Gov. Regulation. I can agree that somethings are “ over kill “. Cutting Tax’s. They always cut Tax’s. When Reagan did it in his first 4. He spent the 2ed 4 raising them. But if Ur making 3 Trillion $ during a pandemic I really think you can afford more than someone making $60,000 a yr.I saw the Pie chart a few yrs back. Most of our Tax $ go to Defense and Homeland Security, which HLS was enacted after 9/11. The tiny slivers left of this pie goes for everything else.They want so bad to do away with Medicare and S.S. and SSD. I hold my breath every month when Rebups. are in Office. You will not retire in good health or bad health on just 401K and SS. We are living longer.On avg.1/4 of the Pop. has about $ 2,000 saved and 50-60% of us carry Debt. I will tell you straight up who won’t help you if you do fall.R’s. They think somehow if we help even the working poor, sick, any of it there will be less for them.Why?, because Tax’s will go up. They should be fair, to have clean water, roads , bridges, ect we got to pay for it. But Bezo’s should be paying more, all the Members of the Millionaire/ Billionaire Club should. So Repubs get in office, they slash/cut and now all your infrastructure is falling apart. And by the way, we never needed a Wall, nor did we get one. I have no problem paying Police/Firemen/ EMT so many deserving that should have higher Wages for what they do. But them and us need good infrastructure to do it with.And if this Voting Rights Act doesn’t get through some of them Repubs just might be a victim of it also. Lots of Repubs jumped Ship in 2020. There’s an old saying “ When you’er already in a hole, stop digging ! “
And pander to those who fear them. I'll not cut him the slack you gave him, it's more likely a Freudian slip revealing his true feelings.
46 mentioned that last night. We all know that everyone of them in every State and position is afraid of losing their jobs. And it is going on everywhere. School Boards right up to Congress. One Party, by one Con is holding us “ All Unconstitutionally, as Political Ploy Hostages ! “ Voting in the year 2022, I think after 245 yrs and President X who could campaign from his bedroom on Twitter, that Voting in Elections should be as easy, accessible and comfortable as they can at campaigning !
A wonderfully educational post and reading Fern. Thank you.
Also, I would add to your list: "These topics are applicable to modern struggles for equality such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion."
Another vastly important modern struggle for equality is finding good jobs for qualified minorities, then, once they are in good jobs, finding paths to promotion for performance.
America is still, very much, a white man's game where high paid jobs, that require education, that come with promotion opportunities are relevant. Algorithms have bias built in that rejects minority resumes, and, when this is found out, the company claims it was all a big accident. Those biases are also built into the (almost universally white managers) who are doing the hiring.
The fact that a Juan Jimenez with a 3.8 GPA in Mechanical engineering and three internships is routinely rejected, as a newly minted engineer, from the applicant pool in today's world? A travesty.
OR, in a phone interview, a young man with a slight hint of an accent from the Black community? Bingo, rejected.
These educated, eager minorities are Corporate America's best bet for high performance and they are routinely rejected before even having a chance to show their stuff.
Then, when they DO get hired, they find out about all of the "leadership development programs" that are populated by tall, white guys with poor grades but having parents who either know someone in the company or work in the company.
The fact that highly qualified minorities are having trouble getting jobs and getting promoted is a big problem Fern. It is a lack of equality that is hidden from view but is hugely impactful.
We expected defeat to alter the filibuster, but, Mike, that doesn't cushion the way I feel today. This ancient struggle never fails to deepen the wound.
The problem I noted serves to dash the hopes of those who have managed to navigate a system designed to hold them down and then, when they graduate, with great optimism, they are crushed. These are the people would would stand for Democracy.....
...IF Democracy ever showed any sign of standing for them.
I'd like to see this posted in Dubois Park in San Francisco.
Thank You Fern. Powerful.
It pulled me right in.With that said my feelings have not been saved. It was wrong then and it still is.Powerful .
Our song, yesterday, today and tomorrow. May it change someday; sooner rather than later. With Climate Catastrophe, we don't have another century to make it be.
Contrary to Jeff's and Elon's thinking, there is no Planet B.
Fern, I’m on a roll ! I wanted to post to you something I had read . I wasn’t sure if the Senator who said it was named ? So I headed to Google. I’m scrolling and I come across this nytimes.com article titled: America wasn’t a Democracy until Black Americans made it one.Written by: Nikole Hannah-Jones.8/14/2019. I’m 100% positive nothing I learned in all the yrs I had History classes in School came even close to her very event detailed history. In essence during Reconstruction there were 17 Black Senators that were the ones that got The 13th., 14th.,and 15th., Amendments passed.The Militia was ordered to the South to protect Black Americans.Due to problems with The R.B. Hayes election being questioned they made a “Deal “ , if he would call off the Militia they could fix his problem. So they did. And the end result was pure “Terror “ upon Black Americans. So the end result was the Black man lifted the poor White man up to a better life with the Right To Vote, own property, ect. Reconstruction benefited them !And I know you know the rest of the story. It’s a long read, well worth it. I don’t Subscribe to the “ NY Times .” But someone needs to post it.History is repeating itself. What I set out to look for was a Senator who made the comment “ They had a Black President for 8 yr’s how can you say there is discrimination any more . “ My eyeballs are screaming “ Let us out you crazy lady !” Later 😂
"It is the province of the historian to find out, not what was, but what is" -Henry David Thoreau.
I appreciate the glimpses of history that HCR shares with us because history helps us to understand not just the past, but the present and even possibilities for the future.
The racism woven into the fabric of our society over centuries is the main thread that must be unraveled if we are to "make America great"-not again-but once and for all. We'll never make progress toward "a more perfect union" with Mitch McConnell, the Republicans and dare I say some of the Democrats, who are all just reflecting the attitude, approaches and actions of their forefathers. It's always been profitable and expedient to deny and disregard the rights of Black people. This is the American way and it's worked for centuries. Racism is why we even have a filibuster and a Republican Party with 90% white people (according to Gallup) along with media personalities today who are fighting to support TFG and Putin.
It's unfortunate that people who want to teach the true history of America are being demonized and cast out. We can learn much from history to inform our actions and propel us forward. If only more people would wake up and clearly see the myths, lies and malice that we are confronted with on a daily basis. My experience is that people of goodwill-no matter their skin color-will join together when they accept the truth about systemic racism in America and work to eliminate the people and policies that are leading us to the demise of democracy.
Gina I agree. I found a really good NY Times article today and asked Fern to post . She did. It’s a long read. But as I told Fern “It was everything I didn’t learn about history “. The woman that wrote it won a Pulitzer Prize for it. Funny, I was looking for something and just happen to see it. My mind was Blown as to how we became so privileged .We the People below the elites we never intended to be. It was the Black Americans that gave the mostly all poor White Americans the “ hand Up !” Really good read. So between Heather, Fern, all the good comments on here and finding that” My Cup Runneth Over “ today. I honestly don’t believe all ‘R’s ‘ are approving of the to make the Voting process harder. Ppl really are afraid to speak up. The nut jobs go after them.Good Post.So many on here.
Nikole Hannah-Jones is a domestic correspondent for The New York Times Magazine focusing on racial injustice. In 2020, she won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her essay in The 1619 Project, which traces the central role black Americans have played in the nation, including its vast material success and democracy itself. Link to magazine article about 1619 Project.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html?searchResultPosition=45
You get an “Atta Girl ! And 🦋❤️ ! Thank you. Mind Blown !
Thank you Fern. I had not heard this before but will share it widely today.
The relief & joy I felt when Biden/Harris were inaugurated are fading, replaced by sadness & disappointment. Disbelief. I thought we would be free of Trump & his dark madness. I truly do not understand what the Republicans believe in. Is it an America that once was? I know I sound naive & I keep trying to understand but I just can’t. Self-righteous? Maybe. Yes. I will continue to do what I can. But it gets harder each day. Thanks everyone for your passion & dedication. And to you Dr. Richardson.
My all time favorite blog post.
Hope is the Lighthouse that Guides Me Through the Dark
It's easy to get derailed. If you listen too long it will weaken you... and you'll find yourself diverted... No worries... Putting the wheels back on the rails is a doable task. I'm an old hand at it! ;)
When you get up in the morning do you read the news? Do you turn on the TV or the radio only to see brutality and cruelty that seems to be swelling like a cancer and leaves you stunned? Everywhere you look in the world there seems to be insanity that has an uneasy knot squirming in your gut?
It's not only in Syria, Croatia, Asia, a half dozen African countries, Mexico... Everywhere you look in our own land it seems you see a sickness of the soul and a blackness of the heart that has man turning on neighbor.
It would seem the world is gone mad and depravity has conquered civilization.
But... hasn't it always been so? Didn't the conquistador rain genocide on the Mayan and Aztec? Didn't the British Kings slaughter Scots in the Highlands, manipulate famine in Ireland? The Muslims have fought Christians since the first Muslim and Christian were born.
Cheyenne fought the Blackfoot. Both fought the white man. Tribe has fought Tribe in Afghanistan since the beginning of time, and will till the end of time. One Afghan nation is a western concoction... for which they hate and fight us.
Our leadership teaches us to revile each other and judge according to income and creed. They split us by race and gender, city and farm, conservative and liberal.
Man has raped and cheated; murdered and pillaged since the genesis of the species. It is an old story. There is nothing new.
The only thing that's changed is the speed of the messenger. It twists the mind so it seems as if perversion has run wild; and yet, that is only another deceit. The world itself has not changed, not for better or for worse... nor the people in it.
Times are good for many. Times are brutally hard for others. The strong prey upon the weak. It has always been so.
But people! Take Heart! Listen to the whispers. Those tiny lil' voices in the back of your mind. That soft whispering from your heart.
There is a power that stands up to and defeats the world of sorrow and misery. There is a force that soothes the fear and the sorrow. There is a voice that shines a light in your life.
There is a belief, that if you hold it close enough in your heart, your strength shall never fail. Its strength flows back on itself and grows with irresistible power.
It is a belief that whether you realize it or not, you possess it. You own it.
That special gift, that strength... that shining star that is my lighthouse... Its name is Hope. Many will call it faith. Some will call it a simple toughness. I call it Hope.
When you stand alone... and those you held most dear and precious lay broken and torn around you, and you are left alone, all you have is Hope. When you feel your heart will burst with the pain as you scream your agony at the sky... Fall to your knees and in their memory... grasp the Hope that they hung to with their last breath.
Raise up your eyes, lift yourself from the ground and with the Hope they passed to you, continue. For them, in their honor if not yourself, live on.
Sure, we have been betrayed. It's not the first time nor will it be the last. Those cowardly few who swore to stand up for those who could not; those malicious frauds who promised to defend and protect have proven their deceit.
They are unworthy of our thought or consideration. It is no surprise. Deep down we knew it would be, we expected it. Our hearts knew their true character, even as our eyes were deceived... but we Hoped. The fraud of their word is not our shame but theirs.
We retained hope. It is our Glory. It is the fuel of our soul and the lifeblood in our hearts. Hope.
As the sun rises each morning... the dawn after our last failure... we shall pick up our tools, we shall stand in the morning breeze and we shall say; It is a fine day. I Hope others are as fortunate as I, for I am still warmed by Hope.
It is the purpose and the goal of all life. Though your dreams may fall to dust, your heart be broken and torn, you only fail if you surrender Hope.
It is not the man who easily rises without strife, standing on the success of others to claim the pinnacle, that is the champion and my moral compass. The one I revere is he who tries... she who strives without ever relenting, and never achieving their dreams; yet they never surrender, they refuse to yield. They live on with Hope.
Don't just look out the window and dream... break out the glass... crawl on through and seize that life you see...
It is that person who tastes the sweetest breath of Life. It is that glorious soul that fully appreciates the friendships and the losses.
With their final breath they reach out to take yet another step and point; "It is there... just over there..."
You look and see nothing. You turn back to them and ask; "What? What do you see?"
Their eyes gaze upon you... bewildered. To them it is as clear as the sun. With glittering eyes they cry; "There! How can you not see her? It is Hope!
Retain your Hope... and you prevail. You shine a light that beats back the darkness.
http://daily-blog.rv-boondocking-the-good-life.com/2013/03/hope-is-lighthouse-that-guides-me.html
"The world itself has not changed". I agree with all the above except this sentence. Corporations raping and poisoning our earth is worth fighting against.
The “raping and poisoning “ began many years ago with the Industrial Revolution. The world itself has not changed.
Yes, then we cleaned up our act with the EPA, Then we deregulated.
Article in the Guardian today says Blackrock (!) only interested in green solutions for FINANCIAL reasons not "woke" reasons
Words are important, but hope can keep us from looking at brutal reality.
Exactly, Jeri. In one of the quotes on a wall in the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (aka the Lynching Museum) in Montgomery, Alabama, is this line: "Hopelessness is the enemy of justice." I try to remember that whenever the bad news accelerates, which is constant these days.
the virtual visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL:
https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/memorial
Wanted to go there before age bared down on me, sadly didn't make it.
I think we need to look at and accept brutal reality to move on.
Carol-You are not being self-righteous. The Repuglicans made it clear they have no agenda, as demonstrated by their refusal to put for ANY policy ideas forward as part of their 2020 campaign. In addition, their only idea is to obstruct, obstruct,obstruct. They've proven time and again they do NOT believe in democracy.
And that includes Liz and Adam. Face that fact
Right there with you Carol. What a sad roller coaster we are on. The last hope is our justice department, and that is fading fast.
I’m holding on to that hope with my heart and soul. My fear is not in the DOJ but it is in the Supreme Court.
...And yet, they allowed TFG's documents to be released. It's rare that they do something good for the country (perhaps they're weighing the consequences of what they've been doing,i.e. going too far. I still don't trust those 6.
Last sentence rules
I don't think they believe in an America that once was. I think they believe in a society similar to Russia's, or some other autocracy, where the oligarchs run the government and the lives of the citizens, and the citizens are powerless and can't do anything about it.
Ah, I think.you hit the nail on the head, never heard it expressed before, but that makes perfect sense. Chump went to Russia, enjoyed himself, putin enlisted his dumb ass self to further putin's own endless ambition.
My joy lasted about a week, tops
I get it!!! Maybe best to adopt a mantra such as "I stand strong" ~
Takeaways from last night’s Presidential Press Conference:
First, was Biden’s announcement that he would be going out among the citizenry delivering his message in person.
Second, was his mention of the advisors he listens to and the fact that he will continue, and expand, the practice of listening to a broad range of voices for guidance.
In this context, President Biden specifically mentioned historians and I could not help but reflect on a comment historian Doris Kearns Goodwin made during a discussion she and historian Jon Meacham had with the Librarian of Congress on January 6, 2022, in Washington, DC.
In a discussion centered on the similarities between the events surrounding the Insurrection of January 6th and the 1850s, Goodwin mentioned the attack on the Senate floor of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner by South Carolina Senator Preston Brooks. This attack and the reaction it engendered was, according to Goodwin, one of the events that brought Lincoln to the national political arena. She also discussed the alternate political realities that emerged at that time, eventually leading the Civil War.
She continued with a story about the turn of the 19th century, when industrialization, immigration, and technological innovation, ushered in another fundamental shift in perceptions of reality. President Theodore Roosevelt, determined to correct for the emerging excesses of that time, and counter the alternate reality that was seizing the mind of the body politic, embarked upon a train-stop tour of the country to deliver his vision of the values we share as Americans.
Most of this is not news to those who follow Professor Richardson’s Letters (and apologies for any inaccuracies herein) but it was noteworthy that President Biden seems to be listening to the historians advising him, and most importantly, taking that advice to heart and putting it into action.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?517011-1/historians-jon-meacham-doris-kearns-goodwin-discuss-january-6
Yea for Joe going to the people. If only Rupert were not spewing chump’s lies at 90 decibels 24/7. Who will get the most attention.
Yes-and it's interesting that Marjorie Taylor Greene represent's Brooks County named after Preston Brooks. He was a strong supporter of states rights.
Thanks for posting this link! I look forward to learning more about this discussion.
Cynicism rules the day. Cynicism, it wins again.
I found this quote, from Ken Burns:
“I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what we’re led to is a life not fully lived.”
“Cynicism is fear, and it’s worse than fear - it’s active disengagement.”
I disagree that cynicism rules the day or won, but I do agree that it is nihilistic disengagement. The progressive Democratic pursuit of government by consent of the governed and principles of fairness had a setback with the loss of today's voting protection bill. The reactionary and seditionist Republicans and the two Democrats who voted against the voting bill/filibuster change were not cynical. To the contrary, they actively engage with dark moneyed interests. The differing goals of the two parties is becoming increasingly polarized.
November 2022 is now upon us!!!
If American Democracy is to continue flourishing then the only immediate focus for righteous American patriots is to vote and provide support in the most effective way possible.
It would seem then here is the focus of all that positive energy and resources:
Here's a site that shows you who and where Senators are up for re-election this year.
https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections,_2022
There are 14 Dems and 20 Rs up for re-election.
Republicans are defending two Senate seats in states Joe Biden (D) won in the 2020 presidential election:
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Democratic incumbents are not defending any Senate seats in states Donald Trump (R) won in 2020.
How about a National Agreement among concerned educated informed Democrats to focus all nonessential get-out-to-vote energy & resources to the 14 D's successful defense of their continued incumbency, and
To wisely choose some of the 20 R's who are in their weakest re-election opportunity as the focused targets of every possible effort by Democrats to defeat overwhelmingly the chosen few, Eh!?
Praying!
99.5% of what you wrote details the footwork ahead of us. We have work to (1) not have Republicans run unopposed, (2) fight voter suppression, and (3) fight election subversion. Rally on!
Especially in our own towns! Local level needs engagement to oppose authoritarianism. The Koch’s have sent their minions out to control School Boards!
here is one example of continuous supporting by a grouped of concerned Americans multiplied exponentially:
DCCC
Thank you for your generous gift to protect and expand our Democratic Majority! With your help, we protected Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House Majority, flipped the Senate, and made history by electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. But the fight to defeat Republicans’ radical agenda is far from over -- and your contribution couldn’t come at a more critical time for our Democrats. Republican Leaders Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy and their Republicans are already hard at work to defeat our Democrats. Your contribution will help us make early investments in the fight to defend our Majority and defeat Congressional Republicans for good. We’re so grateful to have you on our team, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on how we are working to fortify our Majority for years to come. In the meantime, if you’d like to stay up-to-date with regular DCCC news, text DONOR to 43700 to receive our periodic updates.* Thank you for your continued membership on our team. -All of us at the DCCC *Text to receive recurring updates from DCCC by automated text message. Standard message and data rates may apply.
https://dccc.org/
The DCCC has a reputation of not listening to the boots on the ground organizers, in particular really red states. I live in NC and Cal was the ‘chosen one’ to beat Tillis, even though there were three, more qualified, candidates. Local democrats didn’t like him, but he fit the educated white male profile. At the time, I was a county chair in Davie and Cal would not even come to give a speech because our county is solid red. The arguments that the DCCC spouted off were that Cal didn’t need to and I quote, “waste his campaign time and money campaigning in a solid red county.” So please, just take the DCCC with a grain of salt. I have witnessed first hand what the DCCC can destroy.
I agree
O. K.
You say that DCCC is not the magic bullet.
These are desperate times for American Democracy to survive and flourish successfully against the moneyed elite authoritarianism scheme!
You forgot to help identify who to support financially that IS effectively overcoming the R's weaknesses while successfully achieving Democratic victories consistently.
We somehow need to work together in the most powerful way possible to defeat the R's threat of destroying American Democracy, Eh!?
Act Blue https://secure.actblue.com/
Thank you. Need this
I like your point Ellie but if dark money isn't cynical, what is? Honest support is also open and courageous advocacy; one hides only what one can't afford to have seen.
My point is that dark money is insidious, but "cynical" is the wrong word because dark money is extremely purposeful in its behind-the-scenes pulling the strings of power.
We're agreed on that, I'll think about the words.
Ellie Kona - Agree. Thank you for your words. There’s so much that happened yesterday, I felt as if my head exploded. Just before my heart did…
What's the status now of the "messages between the Houses" version of the voting rights bills? [Heather's Letters January 12, 2022] Is it the next strategy? Is it history?
I am cynical, but not disengaged. Maybe just crazy after all these years as an optimistic Democrat. But the echos in our echo chamber are loud and disquieting. Cynicism is not a safe position for me, since I have a big mouth in a red hell. I am too old to March and protest, but I can still write and donate for some who can.
Thanks for this reminder, Scott.
“African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans," says McConnell. Clearly African Americans are not in the same category as "Americans" in his thinking...
That turned my stomach too. During the Kavanaugh nomination hearings McConnell also said something like women were basically useful as secretaries but nothing else.
I was going to point out this too, Rosalind! Clearly, Mitch thinks African Americans are not Americans. PRECISELY WHY VOTING RIGHTS BILLS NEED TO BE PASSED IN THIS COUNTRY!
It's not a mistake. Conservatives have also referred to "liberals" and "Americans" separately. It's to let us know who the "real Americans" are.
No, it is definitely not a mistake. It is a message to his people.
Good catch! That needs to be used in future campaign ads.
Grrrr. McConnell. He’s a yellow jacket in a bee’s nest.
"No one is above the law," except apparently the people who make the laws. Today's events in the Swamp demonstrate how dishonorable, venal politicians create loopholes in the fabric of Justice, manipulate the rules to suit themselves and the monied interests that support them, and arrogantly betray their responsibility to the Constitution they took an oath to protect and defend. Instead of serving the highest aspirations of the American people, these weasels blatantly cater to the demands of the corporations who financed their elections. From this day forward the names Manchin and Sinema will live in infamy as the leading culprits who helped extinguish the dying embers of democracy. No surprise there. But in addition to committing the moral crime of restricting our freedoms by taking away significant voting rights, these so-called representatives of the people have accomplished something else of even greater importance. They have made it clear what We, the people must now do to reignite the spark of American democracy from the ashes of political corruption: Revolt non-violently at the grassroots level through boycotts, work stoppages and mass protests. America is now held in the grip of a radical evil that will not be released through violent reactivity. We must act peacefully as one unified force for Justice and the inalienable rights bequeathed to us by the nation's founders. We must Resist! Organize! Strike! And above all, we must ensure that our actions demonstrate the power of love that still informs the "better angels of our natures" also inspiring us, as the great poet Wendell Berry said, to "practice resurrection" in all our affairs.
Here in Georgia, I'm still waiting, impatiently, for the Fulton County DA to bring charges against Trump for trying to coerce the Secretary of State to "find the votes" in order to illegally overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. If that isn't sedition, I don't know what is.
I’m here with you waiting for the same thing. WTF is taking so long, it’s been over a year now and that preening imbecile has been acting like nothing can touch him and that he’s the most innocent of all beings. The corruption that oozes out of every one of his pore’s is a stench that nothing can clear, our only hope is to put the bastard in prison for the rest of his insufferable life, shut the door and try to erase him from our history just like the Germans have done with the cancer that was Hitler.
The Germans owned their history, we haven't
Yes, and we will never be able to shake away the weight of the sticky, clinging web of our own terrible history until we, too, own it.
Ask, and it shall be given:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/20/georgia-da-seeks-special-grand-jury-trump/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert&wpmk=1&wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNWUyYWU1MmVhZGU0ZTI2Y2I5NmI1MjBkIiwidGFnIjoid3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vcG9saXRpY3MvMjAyMi8wMS8yMC9nZW9yZ2lhLWRhLXNlZWtzLXNwZWNpYWwtZ3JhbmQtanVyeS10cnVtcC8_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1hbGVydCZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj13cF9uZXdzX2FsZXJ0X3JldmVyZSZsb2NhdGlvbj1hbGVydCZ3cG1rPTEmd3Bpc3JjPWFsX25ld3NfX2FsZXJ0LXBvbGl0aWNzLS1hbGVydC1uYXRpb25hbCJ9.i78LAZAgR4eDwNGhbIKGOPLRDvjmBZLYVo5eqWR9GSQ
And from the AP (posted on here a bit earlier):
ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor investigating possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 general election by former President Donald Trump and others has asked for a special grand jury to aid the investigation.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday sent a letter to Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher asking him to impanel a special grand jury. She wrote in the letter that her office “has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.”
Willis’ office has tried to interview multiple witnesses and gather evidence, and some witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate without a subpoena, she wrote. A special grand jury would have the power to subpoena witnesses.”
Yea!!!!! Go Lady!
Bruce sellers, Georgia 👊👊👊♥️
Is anybody surprised that the two Trojan Horses did what Trojan Horses do???
Republicans in Democrats’ clothing.
Democrats should be grooming real democrats in Kentucky and Az to replace them.
I hope so, especially Arizona. My sister lives there, and while she’s not what I’d call a far left progressive, she is appalled at Sinema. Not who she thought she was sending to the Senate.
I can't believe that such an experienced pol as Joe didn't know at some level, that not only were the R's not negotiating in good faith, but that the rogue backstabber D's weren't either.
He probably did know. But he had to try, anyway.
Went on way too long, call them out for disingenuous dawdling on the doomsday clock
They need to be called out. Every single time republicans obstruct democrats with some unethical or unfair maneuver, it needs to be pointed out to the American public. The public needs to be told exactly what the repubs did, what the result was, and why it was plain wrong. It needs to be spelled out because, evidently, even the press doesn't know.
Just somebody shut down Rupert, otherwise die, because MSM and most repubs buy the propaganda
It's time to break up the news monopoly.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) assured reporters that concerns about Black voting were misplaced because: “African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”…..what does this even mean, Mitch ….
Mitch had the proverbial nip slip there. He said it all. There are African Americans and there are Americans and they are not the same. Appalling.
Really Mitch, what a telling statement…. But we already knew your name
We know what he means, and he does, too. It's a way of racist thinking that pervades too much of this country.
Like dopey don, mitch is not aware of the sounds emanating from his mouth!
Regina62
Ouch.
I am so embarrased for that individual. What a blight to our Republic.
Hat tip to every single person who called, texted, or wrote to their elected representatives or donated money to grassroots organizations to support voting rights legislation over the past year. We have honed our skills, upped our game, marshalled our resources. We are stronger than ever in our civic engagement. We continue the battle for democracy and fairness. We continue to fight reactionary state legislatures and nefarious corporate interests. We go on.
And many thanks to you, Ellie, for spurring us on with your excellent resources and clear directions!
It is sickening and frightening. It is hard to take in that any senator would oppose the right of all citizens to vote....I wonder what, for example, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski or Susan Collins are thinking/calculating. I can't believe they are against the intent of the bills so are they making some kind of Faustian bargain?
And.... Liz Cheney & the 5 Republicans who are retiring. Their silence is deafening & I cannot comprehend the pressures at play influencing their votes. The voting rights bills are popular with their constituants & yet they vote no? They really have nothing to lose. Or do they? I thought lobbying them would have more potential than SinnaMan, but all was super quiet on their lobbying front. I wonder what is really at play behind the curtain? It must be complicated & dark which presents us with a massive problem unless we can hold accountable those who commit treason & election fraud regardless of their political power.
Well, given that Liz Cheney is Representative, not a Senator, means that she doesn't get to vote on Senate bills. . . .
Goodness... thank you! Clearly, 'not on top of things,' but trying. Learned something important.
The handful of adult Republicans you listed cannot be comfortable with the popular turn that has come with Trump, but has been growing since the anti-black President Tea-Party resistance. Have you noticed the openly insulting tone of disrespect used by younger Republicans trying to curry favor with their elders: Jordan, Gaetz, Paul, Greene, Bobart Hawley. They obviously believe they have been given permission to dis persons of the opposition party and publicly denigrate them in order to cancel them as human beings worthy of serious and civilized consideration. In the English Parliament the majority party refers to their political opponents as the "loyal opposition" an expression which carries with it a presumption of expected civility however sarcastic debates can become. The fashionable moral and verbal violence demonstrated by our future Republican leaders formed for a political future on the wrestling mat and flipping burgers is intended to cause injury and leave indelible marks. Moral injury is difficult, and often impossible to ever forgive. In Parliament, intentional slights of the sort we see expressed on a daily basis would earn a serious drubbing from elder states-persons of any party devoted to civic seriousness. Democracy requires developed skills of civil debate and empathy, and a showing of respect for mutual understanding in arbitrating differences of point of view on the way to consensus and consent. I don't think most educated, hopeful young voters coming up into an expanding world of global opportunity and responsibility are taken in by their frat-boy (person) unprincipled wrecker daddy pleasers.
We have a disloyal opposition.
The continuing breakdown of the Republican Party is explainable, ordinary composting, the progress of rot. Most of my white, Northeastern ancestors have been Republicans by reflex, in order to not be associated with the unwashed and the fearsome Other. My struggle against Vietnam for Civil Rights in the 60's earned me some serious frowns and eye-rolling. But, democratic debate needs a two party structure, since the conceptual gap between speaker-meaning and listener-understanding always threatens the negotiation of healthy opinion formation, well captured by Hegel in the form thesis, antithesis, synthesis (with any luck). Shared power depends upon a sea-like mass of opinion constantly assaulted by new, yet unrationalized experience and always being arbitrated. What most people don't seem to get about a healthy two-party scheme is that "two-party" is really about two tents made up of many differences that represents a multitude of differences of experience, vision and (often half-baked) conviction. Differences inside the two tents undergo family-like give and take so as to speak (speaker-meaning)with one voice. The receiving listeners in the other tent will see well enough the cracks in the presented picture that represent intelligent compromise open to being challenged. As regards your "disloyal opposition" in the UK, I'm not up-to-date enough about what's going on there to spar with you. We could probably agree that political signaling in recent times has given a lot of space to hair. There might have been some wisdom worth considering in the practice of wearing awful powdered wigs. Thanks for your response to my diatribe.
Hmmmm...
Perhaps even a collection of inhomogeneous disparities, Eh!?
Watch yesterday's Questions & Answers on BBC. The Speaker is having a harder and harder time controlling the group.
Forgiving offenders is easy compared to ever trusting them again which most times seems truly impossible. Forgiveness begins the healing process essential for strengthening American Democracy.
Personally, I find there is never an acceptable rationale for acting to damage or offend another person's dignity and humanity. I will not respond with turn-about's-fair-play, however. I revised the turn-the-other-cheek strategy. Suppose I'm slapped. I don't just turn my head to take the second slap. I turn my head with the force of a karate chop, so fast it dislocates an arm, or sends my attacker orbiting into a brick wall. Don't accuse me of NOT turning the other cheek. And, if once doesn't fix the problem, give me another go. And, don't raise your baseball bat until you can see the whites of your opponents eyes—with the flame-light of his ticki-torch. They will not disgrace us.
??????
With the last question mark (#6), it seems to me you've crossed the line from hyperbole into frank exaggeration. Maybe a typo?
Is 'moral injury' more difficult to overcome than violating your 'oath of office?' Those retiring will leave their office knowing what they did. I guess there is no good solution, but I wish they took a chance on 'moral character' which will provide more 'peace of mind' when they leave this world.
It should be said that members of Congress represent their constituents for voting purposes, but they are not "mandated" to carry out the voters' orders, or follow a shopping list. The Constitution specifically establishes a representative, rather than a mandate system because congresspersons were supposed to search consensus and try to produce the consent of the people, the whole nation unite as delegates from our diverse population; congresspersons are supposed to be guided by conscience and serve state and national communities as valid moral individuals. A good many people who speed-read the Constitution do not appreciate what it means to swear to govern for the common good of all moral individuals.
No doubt, but it seems like the retiring Republicans are supporting a 'shopping list' (following TFG's orders) rather than their personal conscience or 'voter consensus' I.e. voting rights. I can't comprehend the moral/personal reason for voting against voting rights. That is what I find difficult to understand.
I take it you're not really in the dark about the utility of choosing voters who will elect you and keep the other kind away from the polls. Bring your own water. Republicans themselves admit they are aging off the stage and out of the market of credible new generation members who fail to understand the beauty of living in an increasingly receding past which seems to have incrementally less to do with them as the years go by. Republicans, with the help of game-theory operators like Karl Rove, have done their level best to shut down the federal level of national governance and moved national authority to the states where corrupting private money has come to rule. The Republicans have openly admitted they would not be able to win the presidency again without the Electoral College reducing the voter power in the populous states. Now, they see that further attrition of the Republican voter population can no longer count on protection from the Electoral College to skew the vote their way, which is why they are resorting to state-by-state voter suppression. Political death follows a different time-line than plain old bodily death: it involves a lot of thrashing about, hearing imaginary voices, swatting at non-existent hornet swarms flying in tight formation around frightened dyed white-hair heads. It makes for good selfie-cinema, but we the Meek (who have been promised the Earth)end up the unwilling victims. But, all that being said, a Conservative party of some stripe will emerge to collect persons psychologically predisposed, by choice ("inclination" is not the right word) to want change to stop the camera with them, to avoid facing a future in which they might possibly be forgettable. Fear of death is not most importantly biological if one compares it with social death, political death, historical death, and slow death from avoidable lack of imagination. I don't consider myself to be immune, mea culpa. I'm not just making this all up. Suicidal Nazism made a case for death-wish heroism as a respectable way to play a starring, authoring role in a reality reconfigured (Hegel) as B-grade cinema made for general audiences. Popcorn provided. "Authoring" and "authoritarian" are cognates, if that needs saying. So, the present laughable Red-state insurgency is bound to fail because it depends increasingly upon welfare help from Blue-state taxes. Fighting the present "red-tide" rot is important none the less because ambulant future corpses don't care about the poor and most vulnerable among us. I do care.
What are they thinking??? I have known for at least a decade. Duh
Elaborate, please. I am likely naive, but I don't understand why retiring Republicans can't honour their oath to defend the Constitution and express the will of their constituents. Do they really fear character assassination over 'peace of mind/truth?'
Lucia, they see the writing on the wall.
Apparently it's not going to happen this time. Forget about it! Concentrate on getting out the vote in '22 and putting progressives in office!
It’s my understanding they plan to break the bill down piece by piece to vote on the parts individually. Forcing the autocrats to go on record for each piece of it. I would like to see this happen.
Unfortunately, betrayal has long been part of the human community. Today we were all betrayed by those we entrusted to do the people's will. That it comes as no surprise does not soften the blow. Today I will mourn our republic. Tomorrow I will help to prove to those who would destroy our republic that THEY are the ones in trouble, not us.
"Does not soften the blow"
"CNN’s Jim Sciutto pointed out Trump seems to think that so long as he is running for office, he can persuade people that investigations are all political."
Looking at the news both here (Jerusalem, Israel) and in the US, sometimes one gets the feeling that Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu are reading from the same playbook. Bibi Netanyahu threw Israel into 3 years of political turmoil, which included 4 elections, in order to be able to claim that, as long as he was either Prime Minister or the Likud Party's leading candidate, progress in his trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust was politically motivated. And it worked.
Now, less than a year after formation of a broad coalition which succeeded in ousting Mr. Netanyahu from power, his lawyers are hammering out a plea bargain which promises to bring a confession to crimes hopefully serious enough to exclude the former Prime Minister from political office for many years to come.
All this to say that, given the current state of American politics, Mr. Trump's strategy ("so long as he is running for office, he can persuade people that investigations are all political") has a fair chance of succeeding. Bad news.
(Sweden)
Emperors under the grace of the lord; not under the law. You can be a criminal as long as you have, or intend to get power over others! How did we ever come to believe that the world had at least to some extent come a bit further than that?
Olof, take a minute and read this poem of Robinson Jeffers: Beaks of Eagles
An eagle's nest on the head of an old redwood on one of the
precipice-footed ridges
Above Ventana Creek, that jagged country which nothing but a
falling meteor will ever plow; no horseman
Will ever ride there, no hunter cross this ridge but the winged
ones, no one will steal the eggs from this fortress.
The she-eagle is old, her mate was shot long ago, she is now mated
with a son of hers.
When lightning blasted her nest she built it again on the same
tree, in the splinters of the thunderbolt.
The she-eagle is older than I; she was here when the fires of
eighty-five raged on these ridges,
She was lately fledged and dared not hunt ahead of them but ate
scorched meat. The world has changed in her time;
Humanity has multiplied, but not here; men's hopes and thoughts
and customs have changed, their powers are enlarged,
Their powers and their follies have become fantastic,
The unstable animal never has been changed so rapidly. The
motor and the plane and the great war have gone over him,
And Lenin has lived and Jehovah died: while the mother-eagle
Hunts her same hills, crying the same beautiful and lonely cry and
is never tired; dreams the same dreams,
And hears at night the rock-slides rattle and thunder in the throats
of these living mountains.
It is good for man
To try all changes, progress and corruption, powers, peace and
anguish, not to go down the dinosaur's way
Until all his capacities have been explored: and it is good for him
To know that his needs and nature are no more changed in fact
in ten thousand years than the beaks of eagles.
Thank you Rosalind!