Yesterday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, made good on his threat to defund the legislature after Democrats walked out on May 30 in order to deny the Republicans the number of people they needed to hold a vote on a bill that dramatically reworked Texas elections.
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” - JFK 1/20/1961
In defining who we are, let’s start with gumption, with initiative, as in do your part, do something to get the outcome you want. The outcome we want. Do something now. The Senate takes up S1 For The People Act on Tuesday, June 22!
The message is clear and simple:
Support filibuster reform to support For The People Act.
Thank you for this exhaustive list Ellie. Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight is working impressively right now to pass S1; now a vote is expected on Tuesday so that leaves only a couple days. Hot Call Summer is a calling and texting initiative to educate potential voters. Her website has a great list of ways to volunteer.
She wrote recently:
We need federal action now. The most important thing you can do to help protect your freedom to vote—no matter whether you’re a New Yorker, Michigander, or Virginian, —is to contact your U.S. Senators and let them know that YOU want them to pass the For the People Act, also known as S 1/HR 1. We need volunteers calling their Senators at 888-453-3211 every single day...
Thanks Ellie, I was just thinking I must compile a list to send to all my friends when I came to your post. I too copied and pasted for easy access. You are a valuable asset to this group.
Mine is Ron Johnson! Yes, I call his office. I've never spoken to a human, but I leave messages. And I've emailed him. They have to note your opinion, even if he ignores it. So it is on record - small comfort, but he doesn't get a 100% approval rating if I have anything to say about it! (He was boo'ed at a Juneteenth event Sat in Milw area)
Yes, contact him. The point is that he’s not representing all his constituents or respecting his oath of office. He’s playing on a team that has to cheat, lie and bully in order to win.
Yes, your voice as a constituent voter is the one that matters! Like MaryPat advises, your brief message will be counted the same as a lengthier message.
Judy I hear you: I have a great congressman (Emmanuel Cleaver) but my senators are the egregious hank-of-hair Josh Hawley and the dopey Roy Blunt. I write to them but I admit I ignore their responses because they are always idiotic.
Thank you for these profound words: “In 2021, once again, Congress will be voting on a measure that will define who we are.”
My wife and I toured the aircraft carrier USS Midway on a recent trip to San Diego. The tour commenced with a brief history of the battle of midway and the pilots who “gave their last full measure of devotion” that you and I might live free.
We are once again at the crossroads described by Lincoln: “The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.”
When you visit the Midway, down on the hangar deck there's a little Cessna O-1 Birddog hanging from the overhead that landed on the ship on April 30, 1975, carrying VNAF Major Buang, his wife and five children ages 6 months to 13 years. When he took off from Con Son Island and headed out to sea he had no idea what he would find, and then 100 miles out, there she was, the Midway and freedom.
I googled the Major and found the Naval Historical Foundation story. Moving. The comments move me greatly---Capt. (Now Admiral) Chambers Did The Right Thing and let Buang land. Heroics all around. We need to hear more of this sort of thing these daya--- TCinLA, what did you fly? Thank you for what you did.
Chambers ordered $10 million (in 1970s dollars) worth of Huey helicopters that had landed aboard put over the side to clear the deck, thinking to himself as he gave the order that he had just sunk his career along with the helicopters. And he likely would have, had not footage of Major Buang's landing made all three network news broadcasts back home the next day - the one piece of "good news" that day.
I can’t stand Abbott! My daughter said he passed legislation that would prevent someone injured, as he was, from suing for damages in the amount he received that made him so rich. Kind of an I got mine but I don’t want anybody else to have it move. He’s all about hiding the truth and being a jerk! Ercot, wow! A group of people receiving enormous amounts of money to ruin us!
At the Juneteenth celebration, Opal Lee gave an inspiring speech on the steps at the Tarrant Co Courthouse here in Ft Worth. It was at the end of her annual 2.5 mile march . At 94, with many friends and family and the crowd is growing. It was peaceful and happy. The celebration went on all day. So glad a friend in my Democrat women’s group called me up to go! We hand a banner for our group and spread the word there are organized Democrats in Tarrant Co. Biggest message was get involved, vote, march, be seen, be heard. In short, take up oxygen! Definitely a historic moment.
Yes, when Abbott was Texas AG he pushed through tort reform which has immeasurably hurt Texans. My mother in law was killed by medical negligence - and we had no recourse to punish the perpetrators. I even had it in writing! "Sorry we screwed up and killed Kim, but we'll try to do better next time." That's what the rehab hospital essentially said in a letter to us!
We took that to 3 attorneys in San Antonio, and they all said No - there's no money in it!
That’s horrible! Giving big money the right to do whatever it wants including killing someone and just walk away from it.
And now controlling women even more with the heartbeat law. We already have worse numbers than third world countries on maternal and infant mortality at birth. And people keep voting against their best interests. And the new gun laws to have a concealed handgun without a permit. Abbott just trying to pander to one demographic and distracting us from real issues.
Personally I am looking for a way to get out of Texas.
I still advocate for women forced to carry a child to term against their wishes to name a white Male politician as the father. I'm also looking for the increased budget for foster care or orphanages....just my fantasies....
He is only one of many others with the same skewed view of life. Having grown up in Texas, that there’s something in the water. Every letter I read here makes me realize how lucky I am to have escaped to a progressive state.
I wish I could be optimistic, but looking at the last several years of the Republicans behavior that does not come easy. They know they are in the minority and the only way they can win is by choosing their voters instead of voters choosing them. They do not have a platform, or ideas and solutions to run on. They have become the party of Trump and conspiracy theories. I believe there are some that would come around and may still have some integrity and would uphold the constitution. But they have to choose between what’s right, and a fear not just for their re election but for the lives of themselves and their families. According to Liz Cheney, many won’t speak the truth as they have been threatened by Trump supporters or other right wing crazies. And for some big money has taken them to a comfortable place where oligarchy and autocracy is much more to their liking than democracy.
“[T]he only way they can win is by choosing their voters instead of voters choosing them.” This one sentence sums up reasons for all of the “voter integrity” legislation now in state legislatures.
You mean, the only way Republicans can win is to cheat and to bully?
Nixon, Reagan, Bush the son "shrub," and Trump all cheated (or had others cheat on their behalf) to gain the presidency. Imagine how different the country would be now if even one of these men had not been president.
I do not understand Senator McConnell's strategy. As ever, he is playing a long game, but to what end? If he succeeds in replacing our democracy with a Trumpian oligarchy, will he be part of it? Probably, but not for long. The tools he is used to using/abusing to maintain his position will be gone. What good are conservative judges if the Judiciary is no longer a co-equal branch of government? What good is being Senate Majority leader if the legislative branch is simply a rubber stamp for the executive branch? To me, McConnell's vision is long, but exceedingly narrow. All things carry in them the seeds of their own destruction, I pray the current madness gripping this country is the crucible for forging a stronger, broader democracy, not the end of it.
Great points. I suspect gratification in the now superscedes long term vision for Mitch. He’s not a young guy and I wonder if he has children? Or maybe is so ugly and ornery he just lives to hold power for the sheer pleasure of being “the man.” What I don’t understand is how he got there and how does he keep everyone in line. Are they all sheep with no spines? Does he have dossiers on all Republican senators? It does baffle me a bit that he has such an iron grip on power.
At least on of his daughters campaigned against him in Kentucky. and the mother of his daughters is working on a memoir that has been called "tell-all."
He holds the strings to the biggest purses for now. His problem is how he's going to extricate himself from his current predicament with all is marbles and ill-gotten gains when either the Dems pass the right voting laws and the Republicans are dead or when they don't pass the laws and the Dems are dead. Either way he ends up being possibly in jail or dead....corruption and obstruction on the one hand and unwanted and considered dangerous by the trumpites on the other. Nobody would need him for anything or regret his passing....he would be "collateral damage". The only hope that he has is that he can prolong the current state in which both parties are in an impasse.
Stuart Attewell---I wonder from time to time what really holds all the Republicans together---fear and money seem to be the best possibility, with money dominating but fear real. Who is paying them off (I mean it)? Clearly, if they vote wrongly they lose the possibility of think tank income after their time in Congress. What else? This is a strange loyalty. We do have to consider that true believers of all stripes and 'denominations' are immune to counter arguments, but...... Your thoughts on McConnell point nicely to his murky dilemma. Thanks
What a great article!! Thank you for sharing. I feel that finally speaking the real truth about our history is imperative if we are ever to right the wrongs of slavery. There used the be a show on TV that told “the rest of the story” about major events. I loved it because it gave more information and context to an event. This is what I feel Critical Race Theory would accomplish.
It’s high time everyone learned “the rest of the story”.
That is what Critical Race Theory has accomplished. In its 40 yrs of existence, it has influenced other fields of study such as humanities , social sciences, teacher training.
This is a “Rest of the Story” when Paul Harvey spoke of JFK’s assasination and what it meant to country. Please note his final thoughts at end of this broadcast. Could not be more true of what we discuss every day recently and today especially in this forum.
It’s at the 4min mark in the first broadcast in this clip.
My grandmother, Ruby Inez, aka 'Miss Ruby' would put a quilt on the floor and turn on the radio and she would take a rest listening to Paul Harvey and I would (mercifully, for her) take a nap. And was there not something about the page numbers? He was superb for radio. Always wondered if he was used for propaganda.
This is an important clarification for those of us who didn’t know the whole story. And in retrospect, it’s so obvious that slave holders had to be forced to comply by armed soldiers. Thank you.
This is such an important point, that what happened in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 was not the reading from a piece of paper, but a show of force to the Texan slaveholders by armed military. It makes sense that both enslaved and slaveholders would have already heard of the Emancipation Proclamation over the course of 2 1/2 years of word of mouth from people trading and traveling.
Maybe it was in one of Heather’s chats, but she has mentioned that the soldiers were more getting the slave holders to get in line with the law. If the slaves didn’t know, it’s because their owners kept it from them. Don’t know how many people understand that.
Baffled. It doesn't surprise me that some folks decided to clean up this story a bit to make it more palatable to white people. But it was no secret. This is a story I've known since I was a kid. Now I am wondering why some people think somehow it is a revised version of the story. I figured that some people just never knew the story at all and got it wrong, because, you know, white people are supposed to be the ones who freed the slaves. Black people always knew better. So did a lot of white people who were allies. So how is this a "different" take?
I don't think you are understanding how I am seeing it. I see this as the more believable explanation for what happened, rather than irrational behavior based on some unbelievable ignorance of the situation. Why attack someone who agrees with you?
Sue, I am not disagreeing with you, and no place in my post did I attack you. Simply pointing out that this has been known for a long time. And that a lot of people really do still believe that black people had no hand in the events that got them out of slavery and that black people didn't know they were free until some white guy came and told them. (A guy said this the other Sunday in a meeting. No one else batted an eyelash.) Yes, they knew, and so did their (former) owners. They were waiting. The slaves out of caution, and the owners, thinking they could get away with it. If this is an argument, I'm not part of it. I'm not even sure what it is.
Ok thanks for clarifying what you meant. I am one of this people who had never heard of Juneteenth until a few years ago, so perhaps was being a little defensive about my own ignorance... this piece of the background (the delayed liberation aspect) never made much sense to me, so I found this article to be helpful.
Thank you, Sue. The explanation of sending soldiers to prevent violence against former slaves and force slaveholders' hands makes perfect sense. And all of the "lies" continue.
Thank you HCR. Stan Stahl just said it well: "Profound words". The Republic is under full attack and the attackers are from within not without. One can hope that at some point, honest and moral Republican politicians (are there any left?? Perhaps a handful.) will provide swing votes. The Republican party continues to show itself a group of liars, grifters, racists, and other varieties of low-life that Trump embodies (I write this with full knowledge that there are individual Republicans who do have honesty and good morals---but they are pretty much invisible in the machinery the party and in the responses to polls--) Balanced on a knife edge, so to speak, is this nation. The Democrats need quickly to find and eloquent, forceful, and fiery spokesperson! To be sure, Biden has managed take us a long way back to something more "normal' but someone has to counter the fire from the other side with eloquence. Waiting.........
Morning G.Zinn. An unfortunate is that the media gives us the names every day of all the bad Repub cowpokes. There are many good ones. I just want them to quit peeping around the corners and get that can of whoop ass ready to serve on their colleagues.
G. Zinn, my husband states your last 3 sentences 5 or 6 times a week! So true! Beto plus Tim Ryan plus intellectual input from Pete B. Triple team them!!!
It seems inconceivable to me that the majority of Texans will not blame Gov. Abbutt (sic)for the power grid problems. If we can get people out to vote despite the barriers to voting we have a purple if not blue state. The control of the Texas Republican Party is being fought over. One state senator and a retired district court judge, both Republicans (sane ones), have told me they feel if the Republicans stick with the crazies the Republican Party is dead. Hang on; it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Republicans cannot govern and can only hang on to their miserable exercise of leadership with hatred and divisiveness. Abbott is surely wracking his brain to discover how the Democrats destroyed their electric grid.
I have enjoyed about a 30% perusal of today’s comments following reading LFAA. I am again traveling and cannot comment without logging in every time (phone settings, I suspect).
I find that Texas as a model of government does reflect its history (as I know it) and their governor seems to be distilled from this ingredients.
Thanks, as always, for this letter and community. I’m now off to have breakfast with my father in law who is a racist jerk…and our last parent standing. We are gifting him “How the South Won the Civil War (well known author) and Rachel Maddow’s Bagman.
“What is on the table this week is a bill that carries outsized weight for its role in our democracy….
In 2021, … Congress will be voting on a measure that will define who we are.”
Dear Prof. HCR,
Thank you for these “weighty” and penetrating words of wisdom. I wish I had complete faith in the integrity of the individuals who populate that once venerable institution, particularly, those who respond to being labeled members of the GOP. Their leaders (McConnell and 45, in particular) and those with the loudest bullhorns stand staunchly against any form of bipartisanship.
Unless … no! Until their language and gestures rediscover the power of compromise, handshakes, and the acceptance of all peoples, our democracy is doomed to failure. Instead of confronting injustice, deflecting all vilification, all invective, welcoming the “other”, their stubborn adulation of authority, sovereignty, and supreme power has transformed them into enemies of their very own compatriots, particularly, those of color. Their election “reforms” have taken our voting districts into dark chasms -- into hatred and othering. Conflict is more than rivalry now: it is social annihilation, segregation, displacement, the destruction of justice, the diminishment of BIPOC and LGBTQIA citizenry … in short, the distortion of citizenship.
“In 2021, … Congress will be voting on a measure that will define who we are.” I am afraid to ask: Who will we be?
If you can't keep the power on in a frigid winter and sweltering summer, how in the hell do you stay in office? Besides his terrible leadership, Abbott's smugness has to rub a growing number of Texans the wrong way. I don't claim to understand the politics there, but there's no doubt it's a glaring example of a state government working against the best interests of its people.
Texas state government has ALWAYS worked against the best interests of the people. the place was stolen by cashiered army officers, failed politicians, wanted murderers, back alley assassins, bank robbers, cattle rustlers, bushwhackers and enslavers. And so far as the government is concerned, nothing has changed, personnel-wise.
I wish I could say anything that Abbott does surprises me. He is likely one of the most despicable people living today. At what point does the will of the people supersede what back door money represents.
I wish I had a good feeling about the upcoming vote to stop voter suppression plus more. I do not.
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” - JFK 1/20/1961
In defining who we are, let’s start with gumption, with initiative, as in do your part, do something to get the outcome you want. The outcome we want. Do something now. The Senate takes up S1 For The People Act on Tuesday, June 22!
The message is clear and simple:
Support filibuster reform to support For The People Act.
We The People, All of Us This Time!
Write, call, and/or text:
5 Calls
https://5calls.org/
Common Cause
https://www.commoncause.org/
Deadline for Democracy
https://deadlinefordemocracy.org/
Fair Fight Action
https://fairfight.com/
For West Virginia's Future
https://www.fwvf.org/about
League of Women Voters
https://www.lwv.org/
Progress Arizona
https://www.progressarizona.org/
RepresentUs
https://represent.us/
Resistbot
https://resist.bot/
Which is your favorite?
Thank you Ellie. You are a champion amongst champions.
I support the LWV locally. Common Cause fantastic. 5 Calls and Resist bot quickly make you feel you are accomplishing something—fast.
Let’s hit the streets and whichever airwave you can access.
Thank you for this exhaustive list Ellie. Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight is working impressively right now to pass S1; now a vote is expected on Tuesday so that leaves only a couple days. Hot Call Summer is a calling and texting initiative to educate potential voters. Her website has a great list of ways to volunteer.
She wrote recently:
We need federal action now. The most important thing you can do to help protect your freedom to vote—no matter whether you’re a New Yorker, Michigander, or Virginian, —is to contact your U.S. Senators and let them know that YOU want them to pass the For the People Act, also known as S 1/HR 1. We need volunteers calling their Senators at 888-453-3211 every single day...
Thanks Ellie! I have copied and pasted your list into a Word file for easy access.
I stole your idea ;)
Morning, Ellie. They're all great. I'm in with Common Cause!
Thanks Lynel, from Linda Okinawa 6/25
Thanks Ellie, I was just thinking I must compile a list to send to all my friends when I came to your post. I too copied and pasted for easy access. You are a valuable asset to this group.
I am most familiar with Common Cause and have made a monthly donation since before The Calamity.
Ellie is valuable, indeed, Daphne.
yes!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKoKeHceakQ&t=62s
Yes - thank you Ellie!
Is there any point to calling your congressman if he's an insurrectionist? Mine is Andy Harris.
Mine is Ron Johnson! Yes, I call his office. I've never spoken to a human, but I leave messages. And I've emailed him. They have to note your opinion, even if he ignores it. So it is on record - small comfort, but he doesn't get a 100% approval rating if I have anything to say about it! (He was boo'ed at a Juneteenth event Sat in Milw area)
Yes. Be brief. They keep track of ayes and nays. Then send $$ to his/her opponent.
Yes, contact him. The point is that he’s not representing all his constituents or respecting his oath of office. He’s playing on a team that has to cheat, lie and bully in order to win.
Yes, your voice as a constituent voter is the one that matters! Like MaryPat advises, your brief message will be counted the same as a lengthier message.
Judy I hear you: I have a great congressman (Emmanuel Cleaver) but my senators are the egregious hank-of-hair Josh Hawley and the dopey Roy Blunt. I write to them but I admit I ignore their responses because they are always idiotic.
thanks for the list, Ellie
5 calls
Thank you Ellie!
FairFight & LWV! Thanks Ellie!
Thank you for these profound words: “In 2021, once again, Congress will be voting on a measure that will define who we are.”
My wife and I toured the aircraft carrier USS Midway on a recent trip to San Diego. The tour commenced with a brief history of the battle of midway and the pilots who “gave their last full measure of devotion” that you and I might live free.
We are once again at the crossroads described by Lincoln: “The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.”
When you visit the Midway, down on the hangar deck there's a little Cessna O-1 Birddog hanging from the overhead that landed on the ship on April 30, 1975, carrying VNAF Major Buang, his wife and five children ages 6 months to 13 years. When he took off from Con Son Island and headed out to sea he had no idea what he would find, and then 100 miles out, there she was, the Midway and freedom.
And you know you're old when the only aircraft carrier you ever landed on (in 1964) is a museum. :-)
Wonderful story! What courage...
Morning, TC!! And thank you. Your posts always give me pause. So grateful for the breadth of your knowledge.
Morning Lynell and TC! That breadth of knowledge helps me to exhale sometimes in this forum.
Really?! That sounds like a fascinating story.
"The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club: Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War" comes out October 11 - with that story among many others.
Your latest book TC?
It's the next book. The latest is "Under The Southern Cross: the South Pacific Air Campaign Against Rabaul," published last month and available here:
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Southern-Cross-Pacific-Campaign/dp/147283822X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QX3VEUJUMB21&dchild=1&keywords=under+the+southern+cross&qid=1624217411&s=books&sprefix=Under+The+Southern+Cross%2Caps%2C771&sr=1-1
Thanks for this great story TC. I look forward to exploring your books.
Please do! :-)
WOW!
I googled the Major and found the Naval Historical Foundation story. Moving. The comments move me greatly---Capt. (Now Admiral) Chambers Did The Right Thing and let Buang land. Heroics all around. We need to hear more of this sort of thing these daya--- TCinLA, what did you fly? Thank you for what you did.
Chambers ordered $10 million (in 1970s dollars) worth of Huey helicopters that had landed aboard put over the side to clear the deck, thinking to himself as he gave the order that he had just sunk his career along with the helicopters. And he likely would have, had not footage of Major Buang's landing made all three network news broadcasts back home the next day - the one piece of "good news" that day.
Amazing!
I was a passenger on a C-2 Greyhound COD as an "enlisted aide" to our Admiral when he went out to Midway for a TF 77 conference.
I can’t stand Abbott! My daughter said he passed legislation that would prevent someone injured, as he was, from suing for damages in the amount he received that made him so rich. Kind of an I got mine but I don’t want anybody else to have it move. He’s all about hiding the truth and being a jerk! Ercot, wow! A group of people receiving enormous amounts of money to ruin us!
At the Juneteenth celebration, Opal Lee gave an inspiring speech on the steps at the Tarrant Co Courthouse here in Ft Worth. It was at the end of her annual 2.5 mile march . At 94, with many friends and family and the crowd is growing. It was peaceful and happy. The celebration went on all day. So glad a friend in my Democrat women’s group called me up to go! We hand a banner for our group and spread the word there are organized Democrats in Tarrant Co. Biggest message was get involved, vote, march, be seen, be heard. In short, take up oxygen! Definitely a historic moment.
Heather Smacks Down Abbott.
There should be a headline.
I loved how plainly she drilled him.
Yes, when Abbott was Texas AG he pushed through tort reform which has immeasurably hurt Texans. My mother in law was killed by medical negligence - and we had no recourse to punish the perpetrators. I even had it in writing! "Sorry we screwed up and killed Kim, but we'll try to do better next time." That's what the rehab hospital essentially said in a letter to us!
We took that to 3 attorneys in San Antonio, and they all said No - there's no money in it!
That’s horrible! Giving big money the right to do whatever it wants including killing someone and just walk away from it.
And now controlling women even more with the heartbeat law. We already have worse numbers than third world countries on maternal and infant mortality at birth. And people keep voting against their best interests. And the new gun laws to have a concealed handgun without a permit. Abbott just trying to pander to one demographic and distracting us from real issues.
Personally I am looking for a way to get out of Texas.
I still advocate for women forced to carry a child to term against their wishes to name a white Male politician as the father. I'm also looking for the increased budget for foster care or orphanages....just my fantasies....
He is only one of many others with the same skewed view of life. Having grown up in Texas, that there’s something in the water. Every letter I read here makes me realize how lucky I am to have escaped to a progressive state.
So fabulous you were there Denise!!! Wow!!
I wish I could be optimistic, but looking at the last several years of the Republicans behavior that does not come easy. They know they are in the minority and the only way they can win is by choosing their voters instead of voters choosing them. They do not have a platform, or ideas and solutions to run on. They have become the party of Trump and conspiracy theories. I believe there are some that would come around and may still have some integrity and would uphold the constitution. But they have to choose between what’s right, and a fear not just for their re election but for the lives of themselves and their families. According to Liz Cheney, many won’t speak the truth as they have been threatened by Trump supporters or other right wing crazies. And for some big money has taken them to a comfortable place where oligarchy and autocracy is much more to their liking than democracy.
Isn't there a threat of being asassinated in FL if you challenge a certain Republican?
And there is a threat of being assassinated in MI if you are a certain governor.
And there was a threat of being assassinated in DC if you were a certain VP and Speaker of the House.
Morning, Ellie, again!! Can you give me a hint about the threat in DC?
Lynell, January 6th.
Morning, Linda!! I'm so embarrassed. What a colossal senior memory moment. Thanks for snapping me out of it!
I just love this group. It does indeed take a village.
Don't worry. I get them too. Fellow brains help!
Oh, Lynell. Hahahaha. It’s called a necessary brain fart occasionally to keep our dang composure intact.
Good morning Lynell. No worries. Have a great day, my friend.
Haha, I would't blame you for trying to forget it!:)
That threat was by a fellow Republican!
“[T]he only way they can win is by choosing their voters instead of voters choosing them.” This one sentence sums up reasons for all of the “voter integrity” legislation now in state legislatures.
You mean, the only way Republicans can win is to cheat and to bully?
Nixon, Reagan, Bush the son "shrub," and Trump all cheated (or had others cheat on their behalf) to gain the presidency. Imagine how different the country would be now if even one of these men had not been president.
I do not understand Senator McConnell's strategy. As ever, he is playing a long game, but to what end? If he succeeds in replacing our democracy with a Trumpian oligarchy, will he be part of it? Probably, but not for long. The tools he is used to using/abusing to maintain his position will be gone. What good are conservative judges if the Judiciary is no longer a co-equal branch of government? What good is being Senate Majority leader if the legislative branch is simply a rubber stamp for the executive branch? To me, McConnell's vision is long, but exceedingly narrow. All things carry in them the seeds of their own destruction, I pray the current madness gripping this country is the crucible for forging a stronger, broader democracy, not the end of it.
Great points. I suspect gratification in the now superscedes long term vision for Mitch. He’s not a young guy and I wonder if he has children? Or maybe is so ugly and ornery he just lives to hold power for the sheer pleasure of being “the man.” What I don’t understand is how he got there and how does he keep everyone in line. Are they all sheep with no spines? Does he have dossiers on all Republican senators? It does baffle me a bit that he has such an iron grip on power.
Yes, he has children with his first wife. Three daughters, I think. I believe they are estranged but I’m not rue of this part.
At least one of his daughters has actively campaigned against him.
On Moscow Mitch, 2 things:
https://www.dcreport.org/2019/07/12/the-ugly-secret-in-mitch-mcconnells-family-history/
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/12/1936744/-KY-Sen-Even-Moscow-Mitch-s-Daughters-Have-Turned-On-Him-For-Becoming-Trump-s-Enabler-In-Chief
Thank you, Kim. Interesting indeed. I wish the women from his former life would be more public.
At least on of his daughters campaigned against him in Kentucky. and the mother of his daughters is working on a memoir that has been called "tell-all."
He holds the strings to the biggest purses for now. His problem is how he's going to extricate himself from his current predicament with all is marbles and ill-gotten gains when either the Dems pass the right voting laws and the Republicans are dead or when they don't pass the laws and the Dems are dead. Either way he ends up being possibly in jail or dead....corruption and obstruction on the one hand and unwanted and considered dangerous by the trumpites on the other. Nobody would need him for anything or regret his passing....he would be "collateral damage". The only hope that he has is that he can prolong the current state in which both parties are in an impasse.
Stuart Attewell---I wonder from time to time what really holds all the Republicans together---fear and money seem to be the best possibility, with money dominating but fear real. Who is paying them off (I mean it)? Clearly, if they vote wrongly they lose the possibility of think tank income after their time in Congress. What else? This is a strange loyalty. We do have to consider that true believers of all stripes and 'denominations' are immune to counter arguments, but...... Your thoughts on McConnell point nicely to his murky dilemma. Thanks
3 daughters and a former wife...one daughter actively campaigns against him; the former wife is reportedly writing a "tell-all book."
Now THAT I would be interested in reading!! Bet theres lots to tell.
Maybe he’s afraid of going to jail
As to children question - I read here earlier that he has three (3) ESTRANGED daughters! Telling, isnt it?
Follow his money.
Power and money, baby!
When we find out who were are, I sincerely hope we can like ourselves.
Love this remark.
…and each other.
Sums it up John! Good morning!
Not sure how to bring this up for Heather to weigh in on if she likes, but here is a different take on Juneteenth https://forward.com/opinion/471597/juneteenth-what-really-happened/
What a great article!! Thank you for sharing. I feel that finally speaking the real truth about our history is imperative if we are ever to right the wrongs of slavery. There used the be a show on TV that told “the rest of the story” about major events. I loved it because it gave more information and context to an event. This is what I feel Critical Race Theory would accomplish.
It’s high time everyone learned “the rest of the story”.
That is what Critical Race Theory has accomplished. In its 40 yrs of existence, it has influenced other fields of study such as humanities , social sciences, teacher training.
This is a “Rest of the Story” when Paul Harvey spoke of JFK’s assasination and what it meant to country. Please note his final thoughts at end of this broadcast. Could not be more true of what we discuss every day recently and today especially in this forum.
It’s at the 4min mark in the first broadcast in this clip.
https://youtu.be/ng11P1J4iYM
"the greed, the fear, the hate" that will destroy America
EDIT: “The Rest of the Story” was a radio program hosted by Paul Harvey
My grandmother, Ruby Inez, aka 'Miss Ruby' would put a quilt on the floor and turn on the radio and she would take a rest listening to Paul Harvey and I would (mercifully, for her) take a nap. And was there not something about the page numbers? He was superb for radio. Always wondered if he was used for propaganda.
This is an important clarification for those of us who didn’t know the whole story. And in retrospect, it’s so obvious that slave holders had to be forced to comply by armed soldiers. Thank you.
Yep, that song and dance of ignorance was/is used to obscure the vicious greed and diabolical practices of the people who 'owned' people.
This is such an important point, that what happened in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 was not the reading from a piece of paper, but a show of force to the Texan slaveholders by armed military. It makes sense that both enslaved and slaveholders would have already heard of the Emancipation Proclamation over the course of 2 1/2 years of word of mouth from people trading and traveling.
Maybe it was in one of Heather’s chats, but she has mentioned that the soldiers were more getting the slave holders to get in line with the law. If the slaves didn’t know, it’s because their owners kept it from them. Don’t know how many people understand that.
Thanks Sue P, I knew there had to be The Rest of the Story on Juneteenth. Copied to share with friends and family.
Baffled. It doesn't surprise me that some folks decided to clean up this story a bit to make it more palatable to white people. But it was no secret. This is a story I've known since I was a kid. Now I am wondering why some people think somehow it is a revised version of the story. I figured that some people just never knew the story at all and got it wrong, because, you know, white people are supposed to be the ones who freed the slaves. Black people always knew better. So did a lot of white people who were allies. So how is this a "different" take?
I don't think you are understanding how I am seeing it. I see this as the more believable explanation for what happened, rather than irrational behavior based on some unbelievable ignorance of the situation. Why attack someone who agrees with you?
Sue, I am not disagreeing with you, and no place in my post did I attack you. Simply pointing out that this has been known for a long time. And that a lot of people really do still believe that black people had no hand in the events that got them out of slavery and that black people didn't know they were free until some white guy came and told them. (A guy said this the other Sunday in a meeting. No one else batted an eyelash.) Yes, they knew, and so did their (former) owners. They were waiting. The slaves out of caution, and the owners, thinking they could get away with it. If this is an argument, I'm not part of it. I'm not even sure what it is.
Ok thanks for clarifying what you meant. I am one of this people who had never heard of Juneteenth until a few years ago, so perhaps was being a little defensive about my own ignorance... this piece of the background (the delayed liberation aspect) never made much sense to me, so I found this article to be helpful.
Thank you, Sue. The explanation of sending soldiers to prevent violence against former slaves and force slaveholders' hands makes perfect sense. And all of the "lies" continue.
Thanks so much for sharing this article, Sue. It makes perfect sense. It'd be great if Heather could weigh in on it.
Thanks for link. I read with interest. Gave me pause.
Thank you HCR. Stan Stahl just said it well: "Profound words". The Republic is under full attack and the attackers are from within not without. One can hope that at some point, honest and moral Republican politicians (are there any left?? Perhaps a handful.) will provide swing votes. The Republican party continues to show itself a group of liars, grifters, racists, and other varieties of low-life that Trump embodies (I write this with full knowledge that there are individual Republicans who do have honesty and good morals---but they are pretty much invisible in the machinery the party and in the responses to polls--) Balanced on a knife edge, so to speak, is this nation. The Democrats need quickly to find and eloquent, forceful, and fiery spokesperson! To be sure, Biden has managed take us a long way back to something more "normal' but someone has to counter the fire from the other side with eloquence. Waiting.........
Honest and moral Republican officeholders are more extinct than the American camel.
Omg TC. Hahahahahahaha
Like that!!
Morning G.Zinn. An unfortunate is that the media gives us the names every day of all the bad Repub cowpokes. There are many good ones. I just want them to quit peeping around the corners and get that can of whoop ass ready to serve on their colleagues.
They have. It’s called Republicans against Trump.
Yes, they are good; but they will be "better" and "best" when they recover from their malady and return to a sense of truth and goodness.
G. Zinn, my husband states your last 3 sentences 5 or 6 times a week! So true! Beto plus Tim Ryan plus intellectual input from Pete B. Triple team them!!!
"To every action, there is an equal reaction."
HCR, you are a national treasure and a blessing.
Abbott is an abomination.
It seems the wheel is turning. Wavering Repugnants. Manchin getting lessons from the body politic. The deliberate Schumer and Biden, in process.
We do need a fiery voice, inspirational and true.
Who are we, how far will we let this go?
Happy Juneteenth! Happy Summer solstice.
May the Universe unfold as she will.
If I dare, may the Universe unfold as we provide excellent suggestions while walking our talk with necessary footwork in support of democracy!
Indeed, we have responsibilities to move toward greater harmony, and that means calling, writing, texting, talking, walking...
YES!!
Mercury retrograde retreating Tuesday. Good timing for the vote.
It seems inconceivable to me that the majority of Texans will not blame Gov. Abbutt (sic)for the power grid problems. If we can get people out to vote despite the barriers to voting we have a purple if not blue state. The control of the Texas Republican Party is being fought over. One state senator and a retired district court judge, both Republicans (sane ones), have told me they feel if the Republicans stick with the crazies the Republican Party is dead. Hang on; it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Republicans cannot govern and can only hang on to their miserable exercise of leadership with hatred and divisiveness. Abbott is surely wracking his brain to discover how the Democrats destroyed their electric grid.
You give Abbott too much credit as being fact-based. They can just make up a story and people who want to believe it, will believe it.
Thank you Cathy. Always wait for you to weigh in. I like the scale of your comment today.
I have enjoyed about a 30% perusal of today’s comments following reading LFAA. I am again traveling and cannot comment without logging in every time (phone settings, I suspect).
I find that Texas as a model of government does reflect its history (as I know it) and their governor seems to be distilled from this ingredients.
Thanks, as always, for this letter and community. I’m now off to have breakfast with my father in law who is a racist jerk…and our last parent standing. We are gifting him “How the South Won the Civil War (well known author) and Rachel Maddow’s Bagman.
Turning up the wattage, Ally. Love it!
Way too fabulous choices for gifts! you girlz GO!!
Would love to be a fly on the wall when he gets those books!
They were pretty well received, which surprised me. We had given him HCR's book on Wounded Knee for Christmas, and he had enjoyed it.
Well, there you go!
“What is on the table this week is a bill that carries outsized weight for its role in our democracy….
In 2021, … Congress will be voting on a measure that will define who we are.”
Dear Prof. HCR,
Thank you for these “weighty” and penetrating words of wisdom. I wish I had complete faith in the integrity of the individuals who populate that once venerable institution, particularly, those who respond to being labeled members of the GOP. Their leaders (McConnell and 45, in particular) and those with the loudest bullhorns stand staunchly against any form of bipartisanship.
Unless … no! Until their language and gestures rediscover the power of compromise, handshakes, and the acceptance of all peoples, our democracy is doomed to failure. Instead of confronting injustice, deflecting all vilification, all invective, welcoming the “other”, their stubborn adulation of authority, sovereignty, and supreme power has transformed them into enemies of their very own compatriots, particularly, those of color. Their election “reforms” have taken our voting districts into dark chasms -- into hatred and othering. Conflict is more than rivalry now: it is social annihilation, segregation, displacement, the destruction of justice, the diminishment of BIPOC and LGBTQIA citizenry … in short, the distortion of citizenship.
“In 2021, … Congress will be voting on a measure that will define who we are.” I am afraid to ask: Who will we be?
Good morning Rowshan! As John said earlier, I hope you caught it…
“When we find out who we are, I sincerely hope we like ourselves.”
Keep the faith!
I'm trying, Christine.
If you can't keep the power on in a frigid winter and sweltering summer, how in the hell do you stay in office? Besides his terrible leadership, Abbott's smugness has to rub a growing number of Texans the wrong way. I don't claim to understand the politics there, but there's no doubt it's a glaring example of a state government working against the best interests of its people.
Texas state government has ALWAYS worked against the best interests of the people. the place was stolen by cashiered army officers, failed politicians, wanted murderers, back alley assassins, bank robbers, cattle rustlers, bushwhackers and enslavers. And so far as the government is concerned, nothing has changed, personnel-wise.
Exactly like DeSantis. FL getting extremely edgy also. His smugness is a very weak, blustery strategy, IMHO.
The attack on our democracy is indeed from within.
Instigated by Vladimir Putin when elected Republicans repeat Russian talking points.
And a Russian repeats Republican talking points.
The senate will come through. Fadeaway is what Mitch will do, after some tantrums
From your lips to the deity's ears.
But I'm not holding my breath.
I hope so! Thank you for some encouragement!
Oh my goodness I so want you to be right!
Holding you to that, Cathy...Morning!!
Morning! I was wearing my Juneteenth T-shirt when I wrote that. Many thought that would never happen. Hope!
I'm with you Cathy. Sen. Schumer was not born yesterday. This is war, and we, the people, ALL of US this time, will win.
Too much to wish for.....especially McTurtleneck fading away.
Thank you Heather.
I wish I could say anything that Abbott does surprises me. He is likely one of the most despicable people living today. At what point does the will of the people supersede what back door money represents.
I wish I had a good feeling about the upcoming vote to stop voter suppression plus more. I do not.
Be safe, be well.
Along with a host of bad actors and liars...starting with the "gentleman" from KY.