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This time, this court, this person: This is a perfect constellation.

Judge Katanji Brown Jackson’s ascension to the Supreme Court may well be a high point – if not the high point – in an administration that endeavors to set things right.

I can well imagine there were many, many Americans who wept with Judge Jackson when Senator Booker proclaimed that he would not let anyone steal his joy at this moment: I was one of them.

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Me too. Couldn’t help it. Booker’s spontaneous, incredible words of affirmation got my eyes sweaty, and the judge, who so obviously needed to hear Booker after the insanity of a trial by fire that no white man could endure with her poise and restraint, sat there quietly weeping — and my eyes began leaking quite badly. That was a sacred moment. That was sheer love, saying to the Republicans, “Is that all you got?”

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Senator Booker and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson are creating the light we all need right now to see our way out of the dark ❤️❤️🤩

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“There is light if you’re brave enough to see it, if you’re brave enough to be it!” Amanda Gorman

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Thank you very much Denise. Amanda’s words couldn’t be a more perfect fit. ❤️❤️ So good to hear from you. ❤️

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No kavanaugh, um, crocodile "tears" from KBJ, instead she stoically endured abusive attacks from certain men, who should be careful about 'throwing stones, while in a glass house"

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Thank you Anna. Yes, KBJ's very presence in that room was a powerfully revealing contrast to their "Me, me ME!" cowardice.

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She surely showed them what it means to be the grown up in the room while they threw their crayons and spilled their milk.

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Thank you for that perfectly wonderful vision!

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The republicans always have evil on their side

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Because despite their successful messaging, they really have nothing to offer but fear and hate.

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And it plays to their base!

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That is exactly what Democrats should yell when going to the polls later this year, despite state voter suppression laws. Is that all you got?!

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Is that all you got? That is the perfect response to so many Republican positions on every issues. Sensible people: Climate change is deadly serious. Republicans: We want laws to keep transgender girls out of girls’ sports. (Which translates to “Our fossil fuel donors will have their assets protected.”)

Pitiful, pitiful.

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Biden must begin using that "Slogan" as part of his retort against the R's constant cry-baby-whining...

"IS-THAT-ALL-YOU-GOT!"

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So well put, Gus.

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Thanks Gus. Alas, I didn't get to see this, but your account brings me close. And I'm grateful to Biden for his excellent choice.

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I think Senator Booker's comment will be remember in our history! It was very touching and wonderful to hear!

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“a sacred moment”. Yes.

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Gus…..”Is that all you got?”

Absolutely perfect. Let’s use the phrase all the way to victory for democracy in 2022 elections.

Thank you. United!

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Christine, United!

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R Dooley…Senator Booker seized the moment from those that bullied instead of questioned, badgered instead of listened, grandstanded instead of served. I appreciated that in both of his time frames, he gave Judge Jackson a few minutes to reset her sensibility and verve.

Most of all…another voice at the front, as Professor Richardson’s voice is to me, reminding us of the America that we strive for, not the America being used by some for a damn soundbite.

Thank you for highlighting our joy at being witness to Judge Jackson’s sure steps in making good history in America.

United!

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As one or two people have mentioned... We, the people, all of us this time.

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😎 Amen. All of us!

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I also appreciated Chris Coons, who I think is quite intelligent, who gave her a chance to answer the questions that they wouldn't let her answer, in the way she wanted to answer, which means that she was educating the public (and some of the haters) about what goes into making those decisions.

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Thanks Christine. I was unable to watch or listen at that time, but you and Gus have brought me close.

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Senator Booker is my hero of the moment.

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I loved it when he was making jokes with her to lift her mood. I missed the part you refer to. Not being able to fight back at the bullies, when clearly she could wipe the floor with them must be the absolute pits.

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Yes, and Senator Alex Padilla.

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indeed

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Yes!

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Senator Booker saved the horror of the whole day. I wept along with Judge Jackson and America. To see the absolute racist abuse towards Judge Jackson was a blight on the Republican Party. (Not that they care.)

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In the garden, when I find a plant suffering from some form of blight or disease that is resistant to treatment, I dig it up and throw it away because it cannot be saved and will spread disease throughout my landscape. All careful gardeners know this. Republican Party fits into this metaphor.

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Right! The allegory continues: Pulling out the diseased plants, if you can get them all, is better than spraying a herbicide which would kill good plants as well. Hope there aren't too many seeds from the diseased plant already spread in your garden.

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Our County Extension Service representatives call that "roguing out" diseased/ blighted vegetation so it does not spread its disease to healthy plants. Sounds like Congress could use a good "rouging out!"

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Thanks, Fred. 'Roguing Out' is a perfect name for ridding the government of anti-democracy, racist, corrupt 'elected' representatives -- local, state and federal. They are self-servants working against the health and welfare of the American people.

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The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it.

Matthew 13......

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Good one, Jenn.

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🪴❤️🌿

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Oh they care. Except they do not see it as a blight.

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And therein lies the problem. They are convinced that their folly is righteous. They are convinced that smearing, slandering, and insulting a black woman to oppose her placement on the Supreme Court is putting them on the right side of history, on the right side of Christianity, on the right side of morality. Denial. Massive denial. Colossal ignorance.

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The R's ARE THE BLIGHT upon America and we can use the vaccine of our intelligent voting to inoculate us against it's spread forever!

Vote Intelligently!

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I wept, as well. I hope she's confirmed soon, and out of the reach of what Repub Senator Sasse had the decency to call the jackassery of Cruz, Hawley, Graham et al.

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Senator Sasse can also be remembered for what he said about those neo-nazis and white supremists at the Charlottesville gathering. He called them out for what they are while the president remarked that they were fine people.

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The hearings could not have better showcased wisdom versus ignorance--from Marsha Blackburn believing she was quoting from the Constitution to Ted Cruz relieving Ketanji Brown Jackson from any fears that she would be questioned about her teenage dating habits. Honestly, as if she was ever accused of raping anyone! Today's newsletter is a quilt of contrasts between the depths of destruction the ego is capable of and the highest potential of the human spirit--goodness, dignity, and justice....

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The journal "Frontiers in Psychology" found men tend to overestimate their intelligence quotient (IQ) scores more often than women, the pattern seems to be related to how masculine a person acts, and not just their assigned sex at birth.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/men-overestimate-intelligence?ref=thefuturist

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Then they default to mansplaining one of the things that has peeved me all my life. Also kudos to Senator Booker. i can't watch hearings like this, but I did see a bit of his speech. And Senator Blackburn demonstrated once again how ignorant she is. I see also that the book that Cruz waved around is selling very well.

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Actually, men think everything they have is "bigger".....

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Ted Cruz, with a Revulsion Quotient of 160 and a moral I.Q. in the teens, surely views himself the other way around.

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I live in Texas. I know there are enough morons in Texas to keep voting for this asinine jerk wad, who very clearly cares only about himself, not his constituents, election after election. Sad, but true. Now we are hoping against hope that democrat Beto O'Rourke can somehow pull off a monumental upset and defeat another Texas republican jerk wad, Greg Abbot, for governor of Texas.

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Today's hearings demonstrate that Democrats must get active to protect our democratic republic from the threat of White "Christian" Nationalism. Don't trust me read "The Flag + The Cross" by Phil Gorski & "American Fascists" by Chris Hedges. For extra credit, read "The Power Worshippers" by Katherine Stewart.

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The unChristians get scarier by the day....

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Sophia, we who are reading this newsletter and commenting here are more Christian than the self-identified hypocrites on that stage. Beauty of spirit and purity of character are the standard, certainly not racist abuse of a beautiful human being, a SC nominee. Judge Brown, Cory Booker, Dick Durbin are a few of the most beautiful and shining *Christians* in this public spectacle.

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Creatures that shun the light. They are so afraid of her.

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I doubt Blackburn knows the difference between the two documents. And consider what it says about the nation that Republicans like her created their abhorrent spectacle because it pleases their supporters back home.

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Beautifully said Sophia!

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Grateful to be pointed to Booker’s proud and joyful words— and so very good:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VjjvNLMyNS4

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This is a Must Watch speech by Booker. A masterpiece.

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I watched again and it was still just amazing to listen to the 2nd time! Thank you, Senator Booker! I hope that someday you become President of the USA!

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When they go low, we go high.

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We also hold all the good cards. Let's start playing them. (A few years back, after decades of voting Democratic, I finally registered as a Dem and got involved with my local Dem group. My rationale: While there are some mediocre Democrats, *all* the really stellar elected and appointed officials are Democrats. Frustrating as the Democratic Party can be, it's worth fighting for.)

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Susanna, yes! Frustrating, but worth fighting for.

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Yes. And we don’t even have to go there. We are already on higher moral ground.

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OK, but isn't that a pretty low bar?

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Senator Booker was great!

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Yes, yes, yes.

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Me too. I needed my tissues more than once. I was crying at the emotional support that Senator Booker showed for Judge Jackson and for the sadness I feel seeing the awful hatred and bigotry clearly expressed, and supported by, so many Republicans.

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The thinking of these White, GOP, conservative evangelical men is best described in "Jesus & John Wayne", a timely book. It will be interesting to see how Tim Scott & the female GOP Senators vote on this confirmation. Do they have the courage to follow Christ (read "Christians Against Christianity", or choose to be political?

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Yesterday was like a self-righteous sanctimony contest on who can be the most undignified...and I can't pick the worst--would you say it was Cruz's racist babies or Graham asking KJB where on a scale from 1-10 would she rate her faith. Sheesh....

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It certainly seemed as if they were competing with each other to see which one of them could get her to devolve to Kavanaugh’s state of deplorability

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Christy, I think you have something there....

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Would Graham ever ask that question of Trump? The scale would have to include negative numbers.

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Sophia, Blackburn was her usual worst. I wanted KBJ to ask her to define CRT for her, so she could respectfully answer the question. I don’t think Blackburn knows what CRT is! (She just feels like it’s bad for the ‘churrings’).

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Oh, MaryPat, you did it to me and for me. I could watch Cory Booker speak the best 20 minute affirmation I have ever witnessed, while refuting and revealing the Republicans for what they are. And my eyes got leaky all over again. Thank you for the link! Now everyone here can see it for themselves....

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So glad! I cried all 5 times I watched it! Glory Be! Joy to Our World!

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Mar 24, 2022
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I could not watch more than a minute or two, it hurt to see such venom directed at an innocent. Sort of like I feel when some idiot accuses me of eating babies, maybe. We all need Cory on our side. I wish we had Al as well.

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Jeri, yes, do you mean Franken? — Al knows what it feels like! And he never even faced a confirmation hearing to my knowledge....but he could really support and affirm people.

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Me too. I'm with you, R Dooley. Thank you, Heather, for giving so much space to Cory Booker's beautiful words about Judge Katanji Brown Jackson. These words say so much about the differences between the lives of people of color and whites. Bravo Senator for showing us what joy looks like, brava Judge for being such an exemplary human being with a willingness to serve our country.

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It was the joy moment.

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Grabbed at my heart strings of uncontrollable joy...

it has been two very long years..

And it felt soooooooo very goooood!

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Just for context, notice how much the quality of news has changed in just a few years. Only a few years ago, the interview with Mike Braun might’ve been overlooked, glossed over, or just plain dismissed. We have come a long way.

Braun is clearly advocating making interracial marriage illegal again, and advocating rolling back other rights, and that is exactly how it has been reported everywhere. Clear and clean. Transparent.

In addition, the damage control that his staff attempted afterwards is being condemned as exactly that: disingenuous bullshit.

The media’s quality of reporting, as often as it is terrible and flaky and misleading and alarmist and slanted to be clickworthy to promote sales, has also improved dramatically. They call a lie “a lie,” which they never ever did only a few years ago, until about the fourth year of the Trump administration. Now, due to George Floyd, the media and everyone else is immediately suspicious if a non-white person dies in police custody, an abuse being committed for generations with scant attention and with impunity. Incidents of civil rights violations and misogynistic/harassment misconduct make it into the news almost every day. I’ll never forget the Central Park story of the birdwatcher and the white bubblehead who refused to leash her dog to protect the birds. That story would never have been a headline only a few short years ago: it never would’ve made it past the police report.

We have to be grateful that our attention, and our ability to see the truth of social misconduct, is improving dramatically, and is being reported more consistently and more accurately.

I have been making this argument about voter suppression in particular, a subject that would never be on the front page of any news source even as recently as the Obama administration; but now, in every state, every little obscure law that suppresses the black vote or limits abortions or rolls back rights gains makes national headlines.

It’s getting harder and harder to get away with being racist and sexist and gender-identity-ist. That is one thing I love about 2022. If you indicate that you are taking society backwards, your shameful words will be thrown back in your face by millions of people, and often in minutes.

Sure, we can wring our hands about all the nasty racist and sexist people out there, but keep this in mind:

This information is coming out due to increased transparency. The transparency level is at an all-time high.

And for this I am deeply grateful. It’s harder to be a slime and keep it secret from the rest of us.

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Roland, YES! Your words. This is the year: “That is one thing I love about 2022. If you indicate that you are taking society backwards, your shameful words will be thrown back in your face by millions of people, and often in minutes.”

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Nothing like modern technology!!

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Amen!

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Roland, Though I mostly concur with your observations and, furthermore, grant that the coverage of voter suppression—my principal concern—is unprecedented, I would submit that the same cannot be said of the increasingly mounting and more egregious election subversion measures that are changing state election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how they’re certified. Contrary to voter suppression measures wherein activists can help get people registered and can turbo-charge turnout initiatives, no amount of organizing can get us around measures that nullify votes. Though amplification of this factor is widespread among grassroots organizers, I rarely encounter it in the mainstream.

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" I rarely encounter it in the mainstream." Barbara -Mainstream media confounds me.

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Thank you for this perspective. We whine about various news outlets. But the truth is often uncovered and broadcast by hard working journalists. Blaming the "media" for everything is like blaming the air for being polluted. Good post!

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We also need to remember that there is a huge decline in independent print newspapers and a huge monopoly in broadcast news (as different, in this case, from cable news outlets) as ownership of local stations is now distilled into (predominantly) conservative Sinclair stations.

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Fight back--boycott TV (broadcast and cable) news and read independent writers like HCRs substance. Yes?

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Intel on what the enemy is doing is always good to have. Intel and information are two different things...

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Kim, Yes! There are several right here on Substack, and HCR is the best.

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