“Are you on the side of truth or lies; fact or fiction; justice or injustice; democracy or autocracy?” In a speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia today, President Joe Biden asked his audience to take a stand as he called defending the right to vote in America, “a test of our time.”
What we needed was for him to call out the filibuster, to say what Clyburn suggested this weekend. Michael Steele's review of the speech tonight on 11th Hour was exactly right about how not to play the game. I have to agree with Steve Schmidt's analysis of Shumer as not being "the leader for this time." The Democrats are playing tiddly-winks while the Republicans are planning a blitzkrieg. If they don't get things together, they're going to be about as useful as the Maginot Line when the Blitzkrieg comes calling next year. Do a carve-out from the filibuster for constitutional/voting issues, give West Virginia $500 million in infrastructure, and point out to that Green-moron-pretending-to-be-a-"Democrat" Sinema that if she likes being a Senator she'd better do something to protect herself come re-election time. Whatever it takes. Then get a few more Democrats into the Senate and expel those two.
What irks me is that we hippies and campus radicals already saw this American brand of fascism coming down the pike in 1968 with the election of Richard Nixon, and we said so, vociferously.
Almost no one in media or politics believed us at the time, of course.
Our message back then -- that democracy might die in the US -- has been hanging in the air for more than 50 years, but the people who need to hear it still have their ears closed.
“Are you on the side of truth or lies; fact or fiction; justice or injustice; democracy or autocracy?” Of course you are on the side of truth, fact, justice, and democracy.
In Heather’s video chat today (7/13/2021), she discussed the threats to our democratic process and noted that people ask her, “What can we do?”
Heather’s answer: “Make our voices heard…call your representatives…protesting in a nonviolent way…change the public conversation, like on Facebook, with your neighbor, in the newspapers…to change the way people think…step up, run for office.”
If you think you can stay kicked back in your comfy chair and pontificate about how evil the Repubs are and how the Dems should be doing this and that, then you are the proverbial frog in slowly boiling water. Stop being just a spectator. Sit up and do 2 things:
1. Reclaim the name PATRIOT!
2. Click on one of these links. It is really easy to DO SOMETHING TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD! If you have questions, just post it and we will help you!
Still think, “Oh, someone else will.” Well, Heather has over 20,000 subscribers to Letters From An American. Watch how many “likes” or comments follow, calculate the percentage, and you will conclude that more people have to step up!
This is our nation's second Civil War. I am most astounded by our US Supreme Court, regardless of or because it is a conservative majority, should be protecting our civil/voting rights as the core purpose of our US Constitution. Instead, they are giving space and opportunity for the "Big Lie" and every lie to flourish.
Once upon a time, when I was a Republican, the Republican Party advocated against passing new laws, claiming that we had enough laws, that they just had to be enforced. Today Republicans believe that we do not and cannot have enough laws to suit their purposes. Those and every law that they have advocated within recent time have been aimed at "others" while they as Donald Trump proposed "can shoot someone on 5th Avenue in broad daylight" and get away with it.
Arguing against mask wearing and refusing civid19 vaccines based on lies sure looks and smells like premeditated murder or at the very least manslaughter. Lying about the 2020 election sure looks like the greatest election fraud ever carried out in broad daylight.
Last summer, people throughout our nation protested systemic racism following the murder of George Floyd - along with several other awful and unjust killings. This summer, perhaps it’s time to protest corrupt and anti-democratic civil servants.
It is very important that Biden spoke about how the R’s are grasping at all of their good ole Jim Crow “laws”. I wish, however, he would have addressed the need to pass the John Lewis Act. I personally want to give Mitch the big finger and abolish the filibuster. If only the Texas Dems can continue meeting with Manchin and put further pressure on him to change his mind. Can you imagine him doing that? That would blow the R’s right up but most importantly, stop Mitch dead in his little turtle tracks.
While Texas Gov. Abbott is a disgusting Repugnant Party fascist politician trying to destroy democracy, don’t forget our own racist piece of work, Gov. DeSantis who seems to be in a race to the bottom with Abbott. He also meddled with our voting laws here in Florida and I have yet to find out if I am going to have to stand in line at my polling place for the first time in decades.
I have been voting by mail-in ballot for years. I find it convenient and not rushed especially on those long 5-page or more ballots with many issues. Also, at 76, I have balance and back problems that make standing for a long time an uncomfortable & painful experience. The last time I went to my polling place was November 2018 to hold a sign campaigning against Ron DeSantis.
Also, this week we are seeing the racist implications of the “Anti-Riot” Law that the Repugnants made and DeSantis signed in April this year because of the Black Lives Matter Protests in 2020 (After George Floyd was murdered by the police) where the protestors angrily blocked an expressway here. Yesterday Cuban protestors blocked major expressways here and the new law calls for their arrest for “aggravated rioting” if they obstruct traffic, which they did for hours. The police did NADA. Fascists are not obliged to observe EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW. This selective non-enforcement looks a little racist and a lot hypocritical, which is the domain of the Repugnant Party.
"It’s time,” Frum said, “to start using the F-word.” The word he meant is “fascism.”
It's long past time. In today's Washington Post there is a fairly lengthy article about Tucker Carlson and his almost lifelong devotion promoting racism and division. As his influence grows his rhetoric becomes more hateful, inflammatory and alarming. The tactics Carlson uses are the same ones Trump used/uses to light the fires of discontent while fanning the flames day after day. Right now, Carlson is one of the right's most valuable assets; he comes off as polished, educated, and in the know so that he appeals to the moneyed conservative while his vulgar, base aspect appeals to a less articulate crowd. He is the total racist, fascist package. He knows it. Fox knows it. They'll support Carlson and his poison, regardless of his impact on our country, as long as the money continues to flow their way. All at our peril.
At last attention is turning towards the counting of the voting accessibility, voting process, vote counting and the certification in Republican States which can render null any "Abrams" effect.
As I read your word I’m also realizing today is July 14th and I’m thinking of my French friends celebrating their version of revolution celebration. Theirs was so much bloodier in my mind at least. However as I ponder our situation as a country and if we think about all of the mass shootings we’ve had over the last 20 years…the future is grim. And I’m an optimist. We have to protect our voting rights and defeat these repugs and do whatever we can to support Biden’s efforts. Prayers will go a long way too.
It is time, passed time, to get rid of the filibuster. It was created to empower slave-holders, and it continues to empower those who, rightly, see fair, honest, open elections as a threat to their political goals of sending us back to the plantation and the company town, all run by white Christian males.
Republican state efforts to suppress the Democratic vote must be snuffed by new federal regulations before the 2022 election. The filibuster must be gone for that to happen.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your work. You are one of so few brave enough to voice truth to power, and have resurrected the importance of history, so long denigrated by many. Sigh. I worry about you. I worry that you will <or have> become a target. Please keep safe!
Supporters of democracy in the United States are in a position where we cannot lose. And yet we might. I don't like the odds of that happening, and I am finding that I must think about what would be next, non-violent steps after an autocratic takeover. The Republican Party is dominated by its autocratic wing that will rule if it regains the presidency and will totally obstruct if it flips the Senate or the House. Already Republicans are succeeding in enforcing a Senate stalemate. Despite much study, I don't understand what motivates Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema to withhold their power to save the country by ending or carving out the filibuster with a voting rights exception. What then? President Biden is directing the Department of Justice to fight a tidal wave of Republican state legislation to subvert free and fair elections. Such efforts will land on the steps of an originalist-stacked Supreme Court. I don't know what would be next other than reaching out to my conservative neighbors to explore each others' views and allegiances and challenge the autocratic wing.
Unfortunately, Stuart Scott (the producer) is dying of cancer - so there's a bit of an apologia for his input at the start). I strongly recommend everyone to watch this - it sets out the sad reality of what we are facing, and the other sad reality, that despite Biden's Roosevelt-ian ambitions, he is still a cold war warrior. Maybe it's a case of not letting the perfect get in the way of the good, but we have to realise that all is not wonderful in Camelot.
Well, the Dems have just announced agreement on 3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. I'm thinking there is a lot of negotiating and talking going on. I anticipate congresscritter actions soon.
What we needed was for him to call out the filibuster, to say what Clyburn suggested this weekend. Michael Steele's review of the speech tonight on 11th Hour was exactly right about how not to play the game. I have to agree with Steve Schmidt's analysis of Shumer as not being "the leader for this time." The Democrats are playing tiddly-winks while the Republicans are planning a blitzkrieg. If they don't get things together, they're going to be about as useful as the Maginot Line when the Blitzkrieg comes calling next year. Do a carve-out from the filibuster for constitutional/voting issues, give West Virginia $500 million in infrastructure, and point out to that Green-moron-pretending-to-be-a-"Democrat" Sinema that if she likes being a Senator she'd better do something to protect herself come re-election time. Whatever it takes. Then get a few more Democrats into the Senate and expel those two.
What irks me is that we hippies and campus radicals already saw this American brand of fascism coming down the pike in 1968 with the election of Richard Nixon, and we said so, vociferously.
Almost no one in media or politics believed us at the time, of course.
Our message back then -- that democracy might die in the US -- has been hanging in the air for more than 50 years, but the people who need to hear it still have their ears closed.
“Are you on the side of truth or lies; fact or fiction; justice or injustice; democracy or autocracy?” Of course you are on the side of truth, fact, justice, and democracy.
In Heather’s video chat today (7/13/2021), she discussed the threats to our democratic process and noted that people ask her, “What can we do?”
Heather’s answer: “Make our voices heard…call your representatives…protesting in a nonviolent way…change the public conversation, like on Facebook, with your neighbor, in the newspapers…to change the way people think…step up, run for office.”
If you think you can stay kicked back in your comfy chair and pontificate about how evil the Repubs are and how the Dems should be doing this and that, then you are the proverbial frog in slowly boiling water. Stop being just a spectator. Sit up and do 2 things:
1. Reclaim the name PATRIOT!
2. Click on one of these links. It is really easy to DO SOMETHING TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD! If you have questions, just post it and we will help you!
https://americansofconscience.com/
www.commoncause.org
https://deadlinefordemocracy.org/
https://www.mobilize.us/
https://resist.bot/
https://5calls.org/
Other patriotic HCR Substackers can add to this list and offer tips.
Can donate money? Go for it!
https://blueprint.swingleft.org/
https://changetherules.org/
Still think, “Oh, someone else will.” Well, Heather has over 20,000 subscribers to Letters From An American. Watch how many “likes” or comments follow, calculate the percentage, and you will conclude that more people have to step up!
This is our nation's second Civil War. I am most astounded by our US Supreme Court, regardless of or because it is a conservative majority, should be protecting our civil/voting rights as the core purpose of our US Constitution. Instead, they are giving space and opportunity for the "Big Lie" and every lie to flourish.
Once upon a time, when I was a Republican, the Republican Party advocated against passing new laws, claiming that we had enough laws, that they just had to be enforced. Today Republicans believe that we do not and cannot have enough laws to suit their purposes. Those and every law that they have advocated within recent time have been aimed at "others" while they as Donald Trump proposed "can shoot someone on 5th Avenue in broad daylight" and get away with it.
Arguing against mask wearing and refusing civid19 vaccines based on lies sure looks and smells like premeditated murder or at the very least manslaughter. Lying about the 2020 election sure looks like the greatest election fraud ever carried out in broad daylight.
Last summer, people throughout our nation protested systemic racism following the murder of George Floyd - along with several other awful and unjust killings. This summer, perhaps it’s time to protest corrupt and anti-democratic civil servants.
It is very important that Biden spoke about how the R’s are grasping at all of their good ole Jim Crow “laws”. I wish, however, he would have addressed the need to pass the John Lewis Act. I personally want to give Mitch the big finger and abolish the filibuster. If only the Texas Dems can continue meeting with Manchin and put further pressure on him to change his mind. Can you imagine him doing that? That would blow the R’s right up but most importantly, stop Mitch dead in his little turtle tracks.
While Texas Gov. Abbott is a disgusting Repugnant Party fascist politician trying to destroy democracy, don’t forget our own racist piece of work, Gov. DeSantis who seems to be in a race to the bottom with Abbott. He also meddled with our voting laws here in Florida and I have yet to find out if I am going to have to stand in line at my polling place for the first time in decades.
I have been voting by mail-in ballot for years. I find it convenient and not rushed especially on those long 5-page or more ballots with many issues. Also, at 76, I have balance and back problems that make standing for a long time an uncomfortable & painful experience. The last time I went to my polling place was November 2018 to hold a sign campaigning against Ron DeSantis.
Also, this week we are seeing the racist implications of the “Anti-Riot” Law that the Repugnants made and DeSantis signed in April this year because of the Black Lives Matter Protests in 2020 (After George Floyd was murdered by the police) where the protestors angrily blocked an expressway here. Yesterday Cuban protestors blocked major expressways here and the new law calls for their arrest for “aggravated rioting” if they obstruct traffic, which they did for hours. The police did NADA. Fascists are not obliged to observe EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW. This selective non-enforcement looks a little racist and a lot hypocritical, which is the domain of the Repugnant Party.
"It’s time,” Frum said, “to start using the F-word.” The word he meant is “fascism.”
It's long past time. In today's Washington Post there is a fairly lengthy article about Tucker Carlson and his almost lifelong devotion promoting racism and division. As his influence grows his rhetoric becomes more hateful, inflammatory and alarming. The tactics Carlson uses are the same ones Trump used/uses to light the fires of discontent while fanning the flames day after day. Right now, Carlson is one of the right's most valuable assets; he comes off as polished, educated, and in the know so that he appeals to the moneyed conservative while his vulgar, base aspect appeals to a less articulate crowd. He is the total racist, fascist package. He knows it. Fox knows it. They'll support Carlson and his poison, regardless of his impact on our country, as long as the money continues to flow their way. All at our peril.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tucker-carlson/2021/07/13/398fa720-dd9f-11eb-a501-0e69b5d012e5_story.html
At last attention is turning towards the counting of the voting accessibility, voting process, vote counting and the certification in Republican States which can render null any "Abrams" effect.
As I read your word I’m also realizing today is July 14th and I’m thinking of my French friends celebrating their version of revolution celebration. Theirs was so much bloodier in my mind at least. However as I ponder our situation as a country and if we think about all of the mass shootings we’ve had over the last 20 years…the future is grim. And I’m an optimist. We have to protect our voting rights and defeat these repugs and do whatever we can to support Biden’s efforts. Prayers will go a long way too.
We must stop appeasing slave-holders.
It is time, passed time, to get rid of the filibuster. It was created to empower slave-holders, and it continues to empower those who, rightly, see fair, honest, open elections as a threat to their political goals of sending us back to the plantation and the company town, all run by white Christian males.
Republican state efforts to suppress the Democratic vote must be snuffed by new federal regulations before the 2022 election. The filibuster must be gone for that to happen.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your work. You are one of so few brave enough to voice truth to power, and have resurrected the importance of history, so long denigrated by many. Sigh. I worry about you. I worry that you will <or have> become a target. Please keep safe!
Supporters of democracy in the United States are in a position where we cannot lose. And yet we might. I don't like the odds of that happening, and I am finding that I must think about what would be next, non-violent steps after an autocratic takeover. The Republican Party is dominated by its autocratic wing that will rule if it regains the presidency and will totally obstruct if it flips the Senate or the House. Already Republicans are succeeding in enforcing a Senate stalemate. Despite much study, I don't understand what motivates Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema to withhold their power to save the country by ending or carving out the filibuster with a voting rights exception. What then? President Biden is directing the Department of Justice to fight a tidal wave of Republican state legislation to subvert free and fair elections. Such efforts will land on the steps of an originalist-stacked Supreme Court. I don't know what would be next other than reaching out to my conservative neighbors to explore each others' views and allegiances and challenge the autocratic wing.
I'm not a coffee drinker, but I sure do like me a cup'o'Joe.
A sad but very perceptive commentary about where the USA is headed (and if they go this way, so are a lot of countries).
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/12/a-world-of-total-illusion-and-fantasy-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky/. (28 min video as well)
The video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8gXe6fejew&t=2s
Unfortunately, Stuart Scott (the producer) is dying of cancer - so there's a bit of an apologia for his input at the start). I strongly recommend everyone to watch this - it sets out the sad reality of what we are facing, and the other sad reality, that despite Biden's Roosevelt-ian ambitions, he is still a cold war warrior. Maybe it's a case of not letting the perfect get in the way of the good, but we have to realise that all is not wonderful in Camelot.
Well, the Dems have just announced agreement on 3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. I'm thinking there is a lot of negotiating and talking going on. I anticipate congresscritter actions soon.