Today the Texas House voted to impeach Texas attorney general Ken Paxton on 20 counts of corruption and bribery, removing him from office temporarily while the Senate prepares to try him. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) sided with Paxton, saying “No attorney general has battled the abuses of the Biden admin more ferociously—and more effectively—than has Paxton.” Former president Trump also backed Paxton, calling the Republican speaker of the Texas House “barely a Republican at all,” and threatened to target any Republican who voted for impeachment.
The vibe is the crazies will win and the country will lose. Biden handled this Republican terrorist time bomb masterfully. Yes he had to give up things that aren't fair. But he gained the high ground. Whatever bad happens will be squarely on the GOP shoulders in the minds of the majority of voters. But will the economic fallout here and around the world overwhelm whatever narrative advantage Democrats have achieved?
One thing is beyond dispute: the insurrectionists failed on Jan. 6, but their champions in Congress may be poised to deliver economic chaos that Trump wants in hopes it will somehow save him.
Michael, Because I mostly agree with your comment, I write simply to underscore two points. First, along with Biden, his highly experienced and formidable Counselor and chief negotiator in the debt ceiling talks Steve Ricchetti deserves immeasurable credit. Second, in my view, this is the moment to prevail upon establishment Democrats and Republicans to give their votes to the compromise agreement to ensure it advances, absent toxic amendments, through the House and the Senate.
Barbara Jo, I agree with you. Jo Biden (along with Steve Richetti) is the negotiator we need to make progress with the country. We need to get out (after all, as HCR says so often, we’re the majority), win back the house with a good majority and produce a good majority in the Senate so that Biden can truly cement his legacy as another FDR.
It’s not easy, but, if you quit, they win. If we get enough democrats in the state house and senate, we will be able to pass legislation that calls for an independent body drawing the maps. We might even get it in the constitution.
This is the time to get the Rs in the House in swing districts to do the right thing and please it's all Ds. The phrase establishment Ds helped death star to win in 2016. I realize that Ds fall along a continuum, but let's not split them because the far left has much to atone for in that election. I want all Ds to recognize what Biden has accomplished and drive that home.
Yes, of course this is an easy solution! However, will House Speaker McCarthy face down the threat to ride out of town having thrown gasoline on the blaze of Maga mania?
The whole world is watching. But I prefer the spring flowers ...
Barbara: our appeal to support the President must be to ALL DEMOCRATS including all progressives! This is a litmus test of democratic political cohesion as well as Party loyalty! If some of the Democratic Members refuse to support the President, I suggest that they be opposed in primaries in safe CDs. This vote to approve the settlement is what being a member of a political party is all about!. Let’s reinforce that sensible view.
His staff have indicated 14th A is off the table. Whether true or not, it was foolish for them to even say this during negotiations.
Biden should use emergency powers. Let the Repubs try to stop it after the fact. That's what Repubs do. It is harder to stop something already in motion than to prevent action before it starts.
Why is it even a question whether it will pass the House? Genuine question.
Let’s assume 40 Democrats rise in revolt against Biden, with whom, to be clear, I am not terribly pleased at the moment). That leaves 173 votes for.
My understanding of the Republicans in the House is that there is a core group of a dozen or so nihilists who will vote against McCarthy’s “giveaways” for the clicks and microphones. That leaves [checks notes] 211 wandering at large. This would mean that McCarthy would have to marshal just 45 members of his caucus to reach the magic number of 218.
Are we to assume that McCarthy might not be able to get 1/5 of his caucus to support him? I know he is not exactly McConnellian in his control of his gang, but this seems ridiculous to me.
Seat apportionment is even closer in the Senate. My understanding is that a simple majority only is necessary there as well. I won’t go all number-y on you here, but it looks to me like a certain pass.
Now the Republicans could choose now to send McCarthy packing, I suppose. Or it could be held up procedurally in a fit of petulance in either House.
But I just don’t see it not passing at the moment. Am I missing something?
Michael, Biden didn't handle this terrorist bomb masterfully. He wasted months saying he would not negotiate, when he should have invoked the Constitution, then he gave away important things like the auditors for the IRS to audit the tax returns of the wealthy and corporate America, something that would have brought in trillions of dollars in unpaid taxes and fines over the next decade. He gave up other things too, like Medicaid for the disabled unable to work or unemployable because of their disability. And probably for nothing. Those same crazies you mentioned will demand more cuts and still not vote for the bill. Instead of gaining the high ground, President Biden has given mc carthy and his gang of MAGAts a sort of win, at least that's the way they'll see it. I will still support and vote for Biden, but I am greatly disappointed.
Fay I feel your frustration. But the deal is not done yet, and IMO the way Biden has given McCarthy enough rope to hang himself, without actually committing to any of the carrots he's extended to the radical Republicans, has been a joy to watch
I think Katie Porter masterfully explained the debt ceiling in terms of personal credit card debt and an arbitrary spending limit. These "freedom" caucus nitwits have always been about destruction and performing for the Fox cameras. I would not give them one inch. If the situation were reversed, they would not compromise in any way. Stop trying to work with them. Giving them an inch will result in them trying to take miles. These people are Confederate traitors.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also did a masterful job of eviscertating the MAGA Republicans regarding the national debt - it was a debt run up during the Trump administration. This is simply the case of paying for past debts incurred. We need to deal with the fact that we are literally at war and that the enemies of our democracy are inside the gate and some are holding positions of power and influence. It's a cancer that simply must be excised.
Tragically, maga heads cannot process well reasoned, logical arguments regarding the debt ceiling! They want every day to be Jan6 while President Biden is in Office!
The Democrats have failed miserably to deliver an effective message that condemns the Republicans and expose them for what they are - exploiters of the vast majority of Americans. The Republicans have been masters at using wedge issues (abortion, immigration, women and gay rights, etc.) to divide and conquer. Thomas Frank in his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" addresses these issues. We simply can no longer afford to "go high when they go low." Let's expose them for what they really are. If we don't, we lose.
The very first thing that Democrats need to recognize is why people are voting against their own best social and economic interests. Then the attacks in the media need to be aimed at what it is costing them in terms of benefits and services, that the two are not mutually exclusive. It's a propaganda war that the Democrats have conceded to the Republicans. It's time to fight back with fire, particularly given the slight opening with the problems that Fox News (sic) has encountered.
But...They are really cutting off their nose to spite their face. How are they so unable to see that these policies are damaging to all, them included. When the environment you live in becomes polluted (water and air) and when there is no money for FEMA to come to the rescue, when banks are unregulated,what kind of place will this be? Even animals know not to shit where they eat. These people are just plain stupid, and yet they are in a position, wielding power, to screw us all. The ones who are the WORST are the Republicans who know all this very well...as I have written earlier.
We cannot emphasize the necessity for the new IRS auditors enough. Some of those tax returns are thousands of pages long. Can you even count the number of shape shifting name changing Leonard Leo shell corporations through which billions of dollars have been funneled ?
Insurrectionist fist bumper and insurrection Bambi Josh Hawley is a chief champion of the GOP apocalypse now agenda - and has been groomed/touted a Commander in Chief material. He is also part of Leonard Leo's Teneo group seeking to do for racist right wing religious extremist culture wars what the Federalist Society did for court capture. With well over $1.6 billion to work with. Scratch any antidemocratic initiative and find a connection to one of Leo's network of shell corporations promoting clerical fascism. The culture war issues are center stage but deregulation and inequitable taxes are the primary goal.
Thank you, have heard no one, save Greg Olear mention the 1.6 billion “gift” to Leonard Leo. It is a bombshell in my eyes. Funding in perpetuity for hate and hypocrisy.
Scary. And disappointing to see (in the ProPublica report) that David Brooks was a speaker at a Teneo event. I thought he was a reasonable more or less conservative (in the legitimate sense of the word, hard to retrieve these days), but now it seems that "more or less" should apply to "reasonable" rather than "conservative". Emphasis on "less".
Apparently what Teneo is doing, under the tutelage of LL, is legal -- infiltrating the courts and different sectors of the economy and society. It is vile in that it is done in secrecy (nondisclosure of who is putting up the dough). Liberals/progressives should be doing the same. Somehow this notion of infiltrating the "levers" of society never made it into anything I ever studied in school or have read about in history. Maybe I just didn't read or study the right things. On the other hand, the existence of reports like the ProPublica, with its aura of surprise at these developments, leads one to believe that it's a recent phenomenon, at least as recent as the metastasis of the Federalist Society.
Oh yeah, no to David Brooks. I have always found him to want to try to be a balanced journalist but he’s just not. He’s like the rest of the R party where they dangle the carrot in front of your face, then they snatch it away.
If Biden can get Republicans to agree by negotiation to raise debt limit, he will be telling the watching world that he is in control of America and not the extremists. In other words, Republicans were manipulated into willingly releasing their “hostage” rather than forcing Biden “steal their hostage”. This perception is very important. I’m sure Biden will invoke the Constitution if there is no other choice though but it will definitely cost America by reducing our strength and reliability to other countries.
per HCR: "McCarthy continues to appeal to the extremists by attacking Biden, saying inaccurately that the president “wasted time and refused to negotiate for months” when, in fact, it was the Republicans who could not agree on what to bring to the table until April 26." - wondering if you actually read HCR or are just here to disrupt...
I'm not sure if this comment was directed at me, or John Kelly. But I assure you I avidly read every day, and am subscribed to Dr, Richardson's column. In my response to Michael Bales. I was referring to my disappointment with the President and the Democrats. I consider McCarthy to be a slimy little worm who will do and say anything to stay in 'power'. I have a strong love and belief in the Constitution, and much as I admire President Biden, I believe he should have stuck to his word and not negotiated on the unconstitutional 'debt ceiling'. I do not think I have to agree with everything my heroes say and write, anymore than I think I am always right.
The negotiating that is happening is over the budget. It has to happen one way or the other, regardless. It remains the MAGAS who say they will not vote to lift the debt ceiling unless they get what they want in the budget. Unless Biden and the Dems have a majority in both Houses, some negotiation will be necessary to get a budget passed. Biden is finessing this as only he can because of # 1, his good will to humanity, and #2 he paid attention to how to get things done all these years in politics.
Well done. A lot of folks here (and elsewhere) still have not grasped this critical distinction between budget and debt ceiling. We keep going in circles because of that. Your last sentence captures our current situation perfectly. And still people argue without an understanding of what the discussion is really about.
Thank you lamestreet media billionaires conglomerates for no definitions and analysis of the current situation. Lamestreet media leaves us pretty much with no clear understanding.
If you read Fay's own letter she distributes, you will find the same sentiment there. Fay knows what she writes about, and I for one totally support her. I think your use of the word "disruptive" is in itself disruptive; this colony of HCR followers gets along rather well. We do not push each other around, we share our views with no blades drawn. Have a nice day.
Thank you Ed; we should be focusung on the "fissures" in the Texas impeachment Vote which took Paxton off the field immediately. I understand the vote was bipartisan: '121 to impeach Paxton & only 23 against. ProPaxton forces say: "this means war" in the next GOP primary per the NYT after battle report.
By a 6 to 1 margin. Texans don't want to sink aboard the Paxton ship after taking a torpedo midship.
And the support from Raffie the Mayor of Cancun must have a big dog in the fight to so quickly come to Paxton's support. I have absolutely no respect for these blatant disregarders of us, the the people who elect them, and the privileges they acquire through their own machinations. They are dirty b-tards in my book. We have a barnyard term for the lowest of the low, but I won't release that crudity here on a Sunday morning.
Emotionally, I am with you. Emotionally, I didn't want the President to negotiate at all. It's a stupid law.
Practically speaking, I think Biden is a lot smarter than any of the Republicans and certainly more experienced than me and the millions of my fellow arm chair politicians.
Let's remember that anything agreed to now can be reversed in January 2025. Let's keep our eyes on the prize. A Blue Tsunami. Then we can dump this arcane law and get to work fixing the Supreme Court.
It is a hostage situation. Biden held steady jn light of Obama’s quick fold, giving away the store when negotiations had not begun. The people who know better on the Republican side are a disgrace beyond words. Profiles in cowardice and greed. What a craven lot collecting salary on our dime and availing themselves of best healthcare. Just fisgusting.
Those of us who opposed negotiations and wanted Biden to point out that the ceiling is a myth paid too little attention to the reality that If he had done that, Republicans just have refused to talk about the budget. Joe was smarter than we were. Again.
This is what I wonder. There are already rumblings from the hard right, they want to make trouble, and McCarthy is so weak, it is almost guaranteed to create more chaos and uncertainty. Biden seems to have played out just enough rope for the Republicans to hang themselves with...still, I agree with Fay, I wish Biden felt he was in a strong enough position he could execute on the 14th Amendment--and pack SCOTUS so we can rebalance. And it will be hard on those who would suffer with the cuts if they did go through.
If that is the case, why bother with farce, it only prolongs the pain. I still think (opinion) he should have invoked the Constitution in February (or when ever the mewling infants first threatened the 'debt ceiling') If it went to court, so what? We had time then. Now? Who knows?
I wanted him to try the 14th Amendment route, but increasingly it looked very risky. If he hadn't finally agreed to negotiate, he would have lost support in many quarters. The cuts will be restored IF the Democrat take control of Congress in 2024.
I think I agree, but I wasn't a fly on the walls of the room where the negotiations took place, or where the president and his team discussed their strategy. I'm not sure why they thought it was a good idea to negotiate at all. Might it have been more effective to just pay the bills and use the 14th amendment to justify it? Would the toddlers in the House have taken them to court? Would the SCOTUS have supported the country going into default? What looks like is happening is that as long as this all takes, just gives the Repubs more time to lie to the MAGAs about it. I'm not sure it's a good idea to try to negotiate with bullies. There's usually not a good outcome with that.
Insurrectionist fist bumper and insurrection Bambi Josh Hawley is a chief champion of the GOP apocalypse now agenda - and has been groomed/touted a Commander in Chief material. He is also part of Leonard Leo's Teneo group seeking to do for racist right wing religious extremist culture wars what the Federalist Society did for court capture. With well over $1.6 billion to work with. Scratch any antidemocratic initiative and find a connection to one of Leo's network of shell corporations promoting clerical fascism.
Really good point! The Republican House is mostly made up of chess pieces and we are only now realizing what is behind the curtain. I would like to see the Citizens United and Hobby Lobby influences deleted, and watch the fabric start to unravel. I would then donate my empty soda bottles to MTG's campaign, though I would cut my voting arm off before voting for the likes of her. Dark Money is the bane of our democratic republican existence.
Biden appears to have negotiated in good faith on the budget. He doesn’t have a majority in the House, so it appears that some negotiation would be necessary. But now can the Republicans get enough Dems to vote for this regressive piece of work when we all know the MAGATS never had any intention of voting for anything McCarthy could negotiate. They tried to blow up our government/constitution violently. They sure as heck won’t vote to keep it going. I’ll be shocked if the House has the votes.
This is far from a done deal. At least all House Dems have signed the petition.
My nightmare is that Boebert and Gaetz call for a "motion to vacate" to strip MCcarthy of his Speakership for not refusing anything less than the bill passed in the House on the debt ceiling. They do this as soon as the House comes back into session. Everything stops until there is a new Speaker. The X-day passes and we move into default.
If McCarthy holds his seat through a vacate vote with ANY entirely pragmatic Democratic support ( to get through the debt ceiling vote) he will be politically dead and there will be a rotating series of challenges by the ultra-right wing. The House will cease to function as a legislative body. No continuing resolution on the budget will be passed and there will eventually be a government shutdown.
I doubt MTG would do that to Kevin. I have seen how she looks at him! I think if the truth were know they are a couple! Gut feeling! Now Boebert.... is another thing! I have never seen her give Kevin that look!
So, I've been reading a bit of Thom Hartmann, who also has a substack. He is looking deeply into the causes and corruption that precede oligarchy and fascism. What is happening now is exactly the blueprint. Texas and Florida are up to their ears, especially.
Winnow the "chaff" then tighten the circle of loyalists and yes men and a few women. Lie and confound, and control the media. Make a public example of your religion, the only religion. Soon the vestiges of democracy are gone and the power lies in authoritarianism. The needs of the people are ignored for the sake of riches and power in the hands of a few. Then comes the crushing of all dissent.
Now I understand why Republicans who speak against the behavior and lies of the party are dismissed and made redundant. Liz Cheney is an example.
Thank you, Hope, I also read Thom Hartman. He is describing the Fascist playbook and we must pay attention. They know the outcome they want and they are actively working to get there.
I was very hesitant about making a deal. I saw a story that claimed Democrats were worried that Biden was being rolled. But with Qevin on board—and assuming that very few Democrats defect—any blame from now on will fall on the Republicans. And so the party’s death spiral tightens.
It is crazy insane! To be a fascist, one can have no empathy for others. It's all about how much money they can get and how much power they can wield on the people they will take from. How anyone can vote this evil in is blind to what's right in their face. MAGA supporters are angry, stupid people who have no idea what they're wishing for. I'm hoping they never get their wish.
Michael, The saddest part is that intelligent, well read , and curious thinkers are being caught up in this insanity by even putting up with it.
We have power not to read about it, not to look at the media outlets, and not to clam up our very own arteries by responding to it.These very sick animals live on attention. Let’s suffocate them. IGNORE them. Take their oxygen away.
Then we work very hard “underground and silently” to get the TRUTh out .
Who all will know that Biden handled the republicans and took the high ground. Our lamestreet media billionaire conglomerate are a H U G E part of the problem. Nothing is certain with all the lies and liars knowing they can get away with domestic terrorism. 50 years of no accountability and look where we are>
Republicans caused this. Democrats are being the adults in the room. Again. And again and again.
Stop whining. Pull up our collective socks and re-elect Biden, take back the House, and increase the margin in the Senate.
If the good people of Santos’ districted had sussed him out and elected a democrat, McCarthy’s bill would not have passed. If just one of those new red districts in NY or Florida had gone blue, McCarthy’s bill would have failed. If just a 547 voters in Colorado had voted for Democrat Adam Frisch, McCarthy’s bill would have failed. If there had been just one more sane normal Republican vote, McCarthy’s bill would have failed.
Once that bill passed, it took away much of the leverage the democrats might have had.
So, what do you want Biden to do? He is not dealing with normal sane people. He is dealing with people who want him and the Dems to fail and they see defaulting as a way to make that happen. The Unfreedom caucus is on record as saying that. As is the twice impeached, sex assaulter, criminal defendant, insurrectionist, former guy.
The alternative stealth bill that would “only require 5 sane Republican votes” isn’t going to happen. There aren’t those votes to be had.
Invoking the 14th amendment to pay the bills will be tied up in court, undermining the credibility of the USA. Would you lend money to the government under those circumstances?
Stop complaining about Biden. There is no young, handsome, charismatic, articulate, electable White Knight waiting in the wings to ride to the rescue. Biden cares about this country and it’s citizens.
When it is apparent that Congress is screwing around and will not agree to what Biden and McCarthy have agreed to Joe must invoke the constitution and move on from this right wing treasonous debacle.
I will let you know. Late night here. No I will look at it until tomorrow.
Blessed Memorial Day to you all.
My family always remembers my uncle, whom none of us now living ever knew. He was my dad’s brother, a marine who died Pacific theater in March 1945. Just a few months before the Japanese surrendered.
Who else on this forum has ever tried talking to these maganuts? I remember Heather labeling a "bat-shit crazy" neighbor of hers, I have had several encounters here in the home of the proud boys, one HAS to back slowly away...
Good job Biden, WE need to to throw the crazies out up and down the ballots.
Yesterday we went to an annual Memorial Day party hosted by the guy who renovated our house. Pretty sure that of the 100+ partygoers we were the only liberals there. Some MAGA and Second Amendment t-shirts and bumper stickers, but no one discussed politics. We talked about kids and schools and work and the weather. A lot of fun and good feelings. These people are not crazy. They are apolitical. They have been fed lies, and they believe them. We need to find a way to get them the truth, and we won't do that by calling them evil or crazy. Sure, some of them are batshit crazy, and some of them are dangerous, but of the 74 million, most are just apolitical and misinformed. We need to inform them without anger or hostility. Maybe printing out HRCs letters for our neighbors is a place to start!
I do print out letters, i do share, AND i do, now, "talk politics". Silence is now complicity imho.
This is why i can also now distinguish between the folks who are "apolitical, and proud of it" vs the the few, loud, vocal, bat shit crazies, of which, i slowly back away.
I agree. I talk politics, but when the moment is fertile. Questioning a guy's politics at his own party wasn't one of those moments, but I do talk to him 1-on-1, and I call out misinformation.
By apolitical I just mean they don't follow politics or the news closely at all, don't seek out varied sources, don't question what they hear, and don't do much more than vote, if that.
I agree. The people you mention are misled, not crazy. Perhaps they can be made to see why they should not vote for the bat shit crazy Jim Jordans and Chip Roys and Tommy Tuberbills and George Santoses, to name but a few.
Dems: find some clear, understandable, honest messaging and get it out there consistently!
I’m one who continues to try and talk with folks on the “other side”. These are people that I worked with, served our community with, and (with some of them) faced life-threatening danger with. They are, by and large, good people who have been fed a package of goods that they take as gospel, because it feeds their psyche. You can argue that this means they are not “good” people, but I think it reveals more about the propaganda than the person.
One of them summed up this divide thusly: “Remember that we think of you the same way you think of us”. There is no real talking to them. Their sky is a different color than ours.
To my mind, this underscores the fragility of the whole system - incredibly important issues hinge on one or 2 votes!! - what might be driving this shift to the right? An inchoate dread of a quite unimaginable future - "I wanna go back to my grandpa's time" - and it affects all of us. CHAT GPT probably taking away jobs, the weather ain't what it used to be , most of my new neighbours are dark skinned.. and the list goes on. Is there a solution??
Ok, what is driving this shift to the right is a 40 year campaign, well funded by wealthy individuals like the Kochs and like-minded wealthy people who have the fantasy the the robber baron unregulated world pre World War One, to game the democratic system of governance in this country until the control it, don’t you think? The Federalist Society exists to get intellectually challenged and emotionally stunted individuals like John Roberts into the Supreme Court. The Citizen’s United decision, allowing anonymous corporate “persons” to contribute to politician’s campaigns was probably the decision that was the death knell for our democratic republic, because voting only works if everyone has a vote they gets counted and respected.
Thank you for helping people understand the reality of this coup against our country and people's intelligence. An intentional dumbing down our our educaitonal systems and a deliberate use of propaganda tools which is brainwashing and neurolinguistic programming done on a 24 hour, daily dose of lies, anger and fear. Draped in the flag and religion. It is intentional and insidious. And I know intelligent people who watched fox constantly. I watched their critical thinking skills fade away where now they appear to be artificial intelligence from Kellyanne's frightening alternate reality.
This is damned scary people— we are the targets and need to protect ourselves and our country from this kind of fascist mind control. Hitler was able to get humans to commit the most atrocious crimes against humanity. Take heed to what Meredith says above. If you have tried to talk to those who are brainwashed, you will mostly find you can not reach them. A slow, deprogramming process has to take place. the same with all cult members. They must be isolated from the mob rallies and destructive programming. Trump & Co. are making sure they are not able to critically think. J6 was the perfect example of the cult behavior willing to risk their own lives and careers and reputations by becoming terrorists against American and harming our police, our Capital, and attempted murder of our VP and Speaker of the House. third in line for the presidency. Wake up America.
Being Woke is a good thing. THE DEFINITION OF WOKE IS BEING AWARE OF AND ACTIVELY ATTENTIVE TO IMPORTANT SOCIETAL FACTS AND ISSUES (ESPECIALLY ISSUES OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE). This is why desantis is banning books and controlling history. He does not want you to think. I am not sure what his orders are from the Federalist or Heritage societies, but I guarantee the orders are not good for people who are NOT white supremacists wearing flags, carrying bibles and weapons of mass destruction and guns whilst they steal all your rights.
I agree with everything you have said. I have watched sadly and desperately as many of my relatives and close friends have succumbed to Fox and MAGA or just tuned out since Trump was elected.
Has that ever been any different? Not in my lifetime. Seems there’s always been a crisis albeit varied , nonetheless critical. The dream house requires constant care, the grass cut regularly, the driveway resurfaced, and eventually even owners change. ‘The fight of our lives’ thought the Indians, The Jews, and now ..us.
Sky, your advice is correct; my only problem with it is that the next presidential election is too far away to toss out the vandals in the House. Who knows what mayhem will occur before then? Trump still has the power, the Freedom Caucus is gaining traction, and the summer riot and secession activities are still on call. The sentences meted out to ringleaders will incent others to fill those leadership gaps, as we saw in Iraq when Hussein was eliminated. Power abhors a vacuum.
SKY 777 very well said and for what it’s worth I see it that way as well. Is it extremely unfortunate- to put it mildly- that this situation was concocted by the extremists? Yes! But when we take back the house, etc in 2024, after the 2 year delay, there is the great possibility of righting this wrong.
I’d add to that Sky777... there’s plenty of blame for them to reserve some for the mistakes made in general which ,no doubt , WE’VE had some hand in too.
Is there not many amongst us who believe the lesson p(s) in a/the folly? And further ..is it not peeking through the din? I’d stand on the growing evidence of these wonderfully woke votes provoked, hear hear🙌
I dare not predict what 11/ 2024 will provide in a dazzling display of blue ...no , but I can sure hope ... students , rev your engines 😉
All I can think of when the far right speaks up in support of someone like Paxton, is that old maxim, "You know a man by the company he keeps." This 3rd year is almost half over. People who should be in jail are not in jail. Instead, they are in positions of power. The unease is enough to cause heart failure. And I mean that in every sense of the word, while people are scrambling just to stay afloat. Look what happened to the EPA. This does not bode well for the future of our democracy.
Truly. Making a general comment for the media without being tasked with explaining/defining it by example - is what whining Repubs seem to get away with all the time. It's just rhetoric, without substance. Call them out to give examples of what they're whining about.
I blame the daily incessant angst, anger, frustration, despair, loss of the Trump years for my breast cancer. All that shit has an effect on the immune system. I am working to stay involved and informed but somehow not let it get to me physiologically. Not yet successful with that. Will let you know if/when I figure it out. These past weeks with the Sword of Default hanging over our heads has been a set back for my program. But I will persevere.
As an aside, ladies get your mammograms. The options and life expectancy are sooooo much better with an early diagnosis.
Let me get this straight--Cruz, Trump, et al don't deny Paxton's wrongdoing, they just threaten "consequences" for those with a conscience and standards? It reminds me of the scene in A Man For All Seasons, where the Duke of Norfolk is asking Sir Thomas More to just do what everyone else is doing and "Come along with us, for Fellowship." More replies, "And when we both have died, and you go to heaven for following your conscience and I am condemned to hell for not following mine, will you come along with me, for Fellowship?" And on the more consequential matter of the day, the hardliners and the debt ceiling--I wonder what McCarthy can say to get through to them. Certainly not Fellowship. That's almost as wry as MTG calling for decorum in the House chambers...
I think Robert Bolt would be proud! <G>. Just an aside, A Man for All Seasons was the "textbook" used in my undergrad Ethics class. Every philosophic approach is there, from the pragmatists through the loyalist and on to the conformist and more. It's a great read.
Thanks. I will check it out. As in literally check it out from the library. I love my local library and the folks that work there. So lucky I don’t live in the bare shelf book banning christofascist state of Florida.
"The Supreme Court threw out the case, saying that Texas did not have standing to sue, but not before it attracted the support of 17 state attorneys general and at least 126 members of Congress, including Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)."
Rule of law? At least SCOTUS wouldn't play along, but the extent to the corruption is epic, at least in my lifetime. About an hour ago, my wife showed me a video of Cory Booker, speaking of the arrest of US Grant for speeding (of which even a horse-drawn conveyance is capable) Grant greeted critics of his arrest with admission of his guilt, and praised the policeman, who was black, for evenly enforcing the law as written.
As my thoughts percolate though the day, I am thinking that Cory Booker's example of Grant is a potentially powerful real world anchor to the notion of equal justice under law. We have been drifting toward a regressive standard of "The President Can Do No Wrong". It gets complicated and grapples with the conundrum of who watches the watchers, but ultimate the buck stops with us. That said, accountability must accompany fiduciary duties, or we invite tyranny. It does not seem likely Nixon would have successfully been held accountable for corruption in the current zeitgeist.
Disruptive. Trumped-up charges are the other side of official immunity, but there should also be meaningful accountability for that sort of ploy. It's very troubling when large corporations, such as Dominion Voting Systems, are able to obtain a level of accountability from political actors that the public, it seems, is denied.
Happy Memorial Day. Would be nice if the GOP paused their partisan games long enough to reflect on the fact that Americans have died to preserve our opportunity to maintain our status in the world, not diminish it. To all who have family who have people close to them who made the ultimate sacrifice; I honor your loved ones and will always fight to try to be the patriot(s) they were in their service to all of us. God bless and keep them, as we do, in our hearts.🙏🏼
The vote against Paxton was 121-23. So, I’m curious - are there really only 23 Texas state reps who are currently successfully blackmailed? Or 23 who needed his help? Or 23 who will lose their investments in Paxton? Or 23 who are really that dumb? Or 23 who enjoy a good public spanking? Or 23 who suck up to Cruz, who still sucks up to TFG? So many possibilities, it’s difficult to say!
It truly is a puzzle, from the outside, isn’t it? What could Paxton have done to earn this level of ire from people who have tolerated his misconduct for decades?
Helluva good question. Either the Texas Republicans know something deeply disturbing about Paxton (perhaps having to do with his long delayed securities fraud matter, or more likely the straw that broke the corrupt camel's back of seeking $3Million of taxpayers' money for his employment law violations) and want to put him out to pasture before the next election, or he holds some J. Edgar Hoover-esque "Trump" card on them.
Living in Texas with a Birds Eye view...... Much has been happening QUIETLY between the repubs........ in fighting..... No love between Abbott and his Lt. Governor Dan Patrick
( which both are crazy in my opinion) they are both elected individually. One side wants to go all out crazy and the other side keeps trying to push their chances of climbing up the political crazy ladder of politics in Texas. Worthless Cruz is always trying to get his name out there ..
My baseless opinion on fellow Republicans impeaching him is they think he corruptly took too big a bite out of the pie and they want their "fair" share of it now!
It behoves Democrats fully to back this compromise in the House, showing the world that a pack of crazed extremists on the right don’t have the power they so desperately and despicably crave. Jeffries, tho a progressive minority speaker, needs to bring this home for Biden and the country and the world. Democracy works. Let the MTG’s howl. It will only make them appear more grotesque as they insist on robbing the poor to please the rich. Bring a strong bipartisan bill to the Senate and it will pass. We have well over a year to build on this success and begin to send those crazies back to their states and private lives as the losers they truly are.
"We have well over a year to send those crazies back" -- AND they have given us many quotes and videos to use in strategically placed ads in the months to come. This is another example of Biden's (and other Democrats') wisdom in not engaging with the press during this standoff. Biden has not given them anything to use in negative ads for next year. Still, we will have to deal with gerrymandered districts and vote suppression. We still have a lot of hard work ahead. And the Republicans have given us much to campaign on.
Boebert won by only 546 votes. The McCarthy DOA bill passed by one vote.
Voter turn out matters.
We are all so weary of this, I know.
But. We must persevere.
And there are even more young people available to add to the voting population. In many ways, this is their fight because they have a long time to live with the consequences.
Welcome to the repub circus. Ever since McCarthy traded his soul for the gavel, government business has been stalled and derailed by the repubs. “Tonight, President Biden and McCarthy announced they have agreed to a budget deal in principle, opening the way for the House to pass a measure to raise the debt ceiling. Now the key question is: do they have the votes to pass such a measure?” Thank you, Professor for this key question. And if they don’t, then what? One way or another, derailing the Biden Administration is the repub goal. Can we hope for an end to this chaos or will this be a continuing struggle between government working for the people and repubs working against the people?
It’s quite obvious with the Paxton thing in Texas, as well as with the debt ceiling crisis in Washington, that the Republicans will, and are, screwing the pooch, again. They’re throwing gasoline on a fire that doesn’t need any.
Paxton calling and threatening Republican senators should be a violation of law. That, yo me, is the same as TFG calling Georgia and demanding they find 11,000+ votes to give him the state for the election.
McCarthy and his GOP rug-rats have wasted an enormous amount of time with these negotiations. There’s no excuse in this because President Biden came out with his budget proposal long ago. Plus, the president that raised the debt ceiling exponentially was TFG! THEIR fearless leader! And now, this batch of Trumpublicans have the nerve to come off with mess like Biden isn’t telling them anything, Biden isn’t doing this, Biden isn’t doing that.
The ones actually NOT doing anything are this group of House Republicans! They haven’t done one thing except show all of us just how dysfunctional they are, and will be, until we can vote them all out of office in 2024!!!
Thank you, Heather. And the insurrection goes on and on and on. Paxton has no shame calling and threatening his “colleagues” who vote for impeachment. Karma is comin’ for you, Treasonous Trash Paxton.
I’d have preferred letting McCarthy hang and using the discharge petition or 14th amendment to raise the debt limit, then watch the GOP implode entirely over its inability to form a budget. They deserve to eat their fractious selves for lunch. Negotiate and bipartisan are words deeply embedded in Biden’s psyche. We’ll be fine with some spending constraints but the he GOP doesn’t deserve a win here, dirty pig headed b****rds that they are. I want them to roast on the bonfire they lit.
That is a great idea, '' I want to roast them on the bonfire they lit,'' i go along with that all the way. The Fascist/GQP are dirty, rotten, lying, corrupt, human garbage, These criminals should be in prison instead of our Congress, All of them convicted and sentenced to, '' Life in prison without the possibility of parole'' they could all rot in prison as far as i am concerned, i thoroughly despise these cretins.
We’re in a sad and a bit frightening place in our Nation’s historic timeline and what, from my perspective, democrats and similar or like-minded thinkers are not doing is playing hardball. This not nor was it intended to be a minority rule country! We have so many teachable moments and the goal should be to motivate a significant portion of the non-voting registered voters in our country that they need to educate themselves and start participating in helping to keep this country - their and our country - on the correct path of a free democracy!!! Start by learning the historical differences between the two major political parties in this country ...
A Democrat-sponsored group, similar to the Lincoln Project, needs to create and post high-quality well-written segments explaining to and educating non-political folks about such 'teachable moments.'
Is that not what successful social movements do? Civil Rights, women's rights, worker's rights, gay rights, environmental responsibility, etc., etc. ? Such messages alone may not turn the tide, but I think they are essential. The problem with top-down mass media is that it defines democratic citizens as spectators, with at best, a pre-printed menu of choices to choose from. It's as if we are seated on a moving train watching events flash by a window; but before we can respond to the most recent image; a new one has replaced it; and yet it's all the same world. We need more nuance and recognition of the larger patterns. It's time we stop, hey what's that sound, everybody look what's going down.
Science, art, and good-faith conversion included our choices helps us to actually get to where we want to be.
I’m glad to hear the hope they are teachable. Part of the plan , the gaslighting ( actually used way before it was given credence) was to convince them they were not, take away their hope, substitute the lie - far more complex than thought. This collectively was a long term approach and remains so. So should ours be. Education is the key. Nutrition is needed. Clean water . Equality. All possible ...for We The People
But ‘they’ will always be there, lurking, waiting for weak people , and moments.
Is McCarthy the leader of House Republicans or is he the one being manipulated by the radical MAGA Handful? Does a bagman/watercarrier have standing to negotiate even a lunchtime sandwich order?
There’s no deal on the debt limit until the votes are counted.
Paxton is being impeached for everyday, garden variety, state-level political corruption, the kind that’s been going on in Texas, and elsewhere, since…well…forever. Something else is going on. What line did Paxton cross? Whose toes got stepped on? Whose palm didn’t get greased?
A major, tectonic, political rift will start as a hairline crack. Maybe…
RE: the debt ceiling -- the polyanna in me still believes that 5 Republicans in swing districts will vote for the discharge petition at the 11.99th hour.
If they don't, I fully expect Biden to invoke the 14th or mint a coin at the 12th hour
What I DON'T expect is for Biden to cave to the Asshole Conference's demands. If there is a "deal" announced it will be one where Dark Brandon can put on his dark glasses and say "suckas!" and one that costs McCarthy his speakership. And Republicans in the House will be in chaos trying to elect a new Speaker well into the 2024 election cycle.
These Freedom Caucus dumb fucks are the dumbest fucks to ever fuck themselves in the history of our republic.
The last sentence in your comment is EXACTLY what i think about these criminally insane scumbag low life dumb fucks are. Words cannot describe how much i hate and despise the Freedumb cactus and all of the Fascist GQP. They are rotten inside and out.
what scares me is who will be Speaker pro tempore and who will appoint this person. I can't find anywhere that addresses this in the case of the Speaker being removed. Do you know?
The vibe is the crazies will win and the country will lose. Biden handled this Republican terrorist time bomb masterfully. Yes he had to give up things that aren't fair. But he gained the high ground. Whatever bad happens will be squarely on the GOP shoulders in the minds of the majority of voters. But will the economic fallout here and around the world overwhelm whatever narrative advantage Democrats have achieved?
One thing is beyond dispute: the insurrectionists failed on Jan. 6, but their champions in Congress may be poised to deliver economic chaos that Trump wants in hopes it will somehow save him.
It's all so insane.
Michael, Because I mostly agree with your comment, I write simply to underscore two points. First, along with Biden, his highly experienced and formidable Counselor and chief negotiator in the debt ceiling talks Steve Ricchetti deserves immeasurable credit. Second, in my view, this is the moment to prevail upon establishment Democrats and Republicans to give their votes to the compromise agreement to ensure it advances, absent toxic amendments, through the House and the Senate.
Barbara Jo, I agree with you. Jo Biden (along with Steve Richetti) is the negotiator we need to make progress with the country. We need to get out (after all, as HCR says so often, we’re the majority), win back the house with a good majority and produce a good majority in the Senate so that Biden can truly cement his legacy as another FDR.
But how do we win with the gerrymandering, such as we have in TX? And with so many Republicans determined to display hate and destroy our democracy?!
There is no fast fix. We Dems have been alseep at the wheel while the republicans played the long game. Making progress one step at a time.
So we must just keep voting blue, every time. Winning every single race we can.
Stack the courts, including the Supremes, and play hardball. Like the now trumpers are doing.
It’s not easy, but, if you quit, they win. If we get enough democrats in the state house and senate, we will be able to pass legislation that calls for an independent body drawing the maps. We might even get it in the constitution.
👍👍👍
Biden deserves props for choosing such an excellent chief negotiator. We are lucky to have this president in these crazy times.
Ricchetti certainly deserves props for his superb skills.
This is the time to get the Rs in the House in swing districts to do the right thing and please it's all Ds. The phrase establishment Ds helped death star to win in 2016. I realize that Ds fall along a continuum, but let's not split them because the far left has much to atone for in that election. I want all Ds to recognize what Biden has accomplished and drive that home.
Absolutely agree! Dems show courage! Support President Biden!
Yes, of course this is an easy solution! However, will House Speaker McCarthy face down the threat to ride out of town having thrown gasoline on the blaze of Maga mania?
The whole world is watching. But I prefer the spring flowers ...
I feel like we should be sending fiddles to McCarthy. Nero come to mind strongly right now.
Barbara: our appeal to support the President must be to ALL DEMOCRATS including all progressives! This is a litmus test of democratic political cohesion as well as Party loyalty! If some of the Democratic Members refuse to support the President, I suggest that they be opposed in primaries in safe CDs. This vote to approve the settlement is what being a member of a political party is all about!. Let’s reinforce that sensible view.
Absolutely, Ira! “One for all and all for one” must be Dems slogan.
Sounds disturbingly like "Where we go one, we go all", but more grammatically correct. /s
Thank you Lani: this is really important !
I wonder if Biden is still considering using Section 4 of the 14th Amendment? And if not, why not? And what about Presidential emergency powers?
His staff have indicated 14th A is off the table. Whether true or not, it was foolish for them to even say this during negotiations.
Biden should use emergency powers. Let the Repubs try to stop it after the fact. That's what Repubs do. It is harder to stop something already in motion than to prevent action before it starts.
I totally agree. Biden is still stuck in the 80s, when Republicans were not inclined to burn it all down to win.
We do not have the luxury of anything like balanced negotiations. Loooooong past time for us to stop negotiating with terrorists.
Just do it. We Dems are always on our heels, backing up from the bullies. We need to punch them in the mouth.
"absent toxic amendments".... doesn't look like it, but we'll have to see more detail
Why is it even a question whether it will pass the House? Genuine question.
Let’s assume 40 Democrats rise in revolt against Biden, with whom, to be clear, I am not terribly pleased at the moment). That leaves 173 votes for.
My understanding of the Republicans in the House is that there is a core group of a dozen or so nihilists who will vote against McCarthy’s “giveaways” for the clicks and microphones. That leaves [checks notes] 211 wandering at large. This would mean that McCarthy would have to marshal just 45 members of his caucus to reach the magic number of 218.
Are we to assume that McCarthy might not be able to get 1/5 of his caucus to support him? I know he is not exactly McConnellian in his control of his gang, but this seems ridiculous to me.
Seat apportionment is even closer in the Senate. My understanding is that a simple majority only is necessary there as well. I won’t go all number-y on you here, but it looks to me like a certain pass.
Now the Republicans could choose now to send McCarthy packing, I suppose. Or it could be held up procedurally in a fit of petulance in either House.
But I just don’t see it not passing at the moment. Am I missing something?
Michael, Biden didn't handle this terrorist bomb masterfully. He wasted months saying he would not negotiate, when he should have invoked the Constitution, then he gave away important things like the auditors for the IRS to audit the tax returns of the wealthy and corporate America, something that would have brought in trillions of dollars in unpaid taxes and fines over the next decade. He gave up other things too, like Medicaid for the disabled unable to work or unemployable because of their disability. And probably for nothing. Those same crazies you mentioned will demand more cuts and still not vote for the bill. Instead of gaining the high ground, President Biden has given mc carthy and his gang of MAGAts a sort of win, at least that's the way they'll see it. I will still support and vote for Biden, but I am greatly disappointed.
Fay I feel your frustration. But the deal is not done yet, and IMO the way Biden has given McCarthy enough rope to hang himself, without actually committing to any of the carrots he's extended to the radical Republicans, has been a joy to watch
I think Katie Porter masterfully explained the debt ceiling in terms of personal credit card debt and an arbitrary spending limit. These "freedom" caucus nitwits have always been about destruction and performing for the Fox cameras. I would not give them one inch. If the situation were reversed, they would not compromise in any way. Stop trying to work with them. Giving them an inch will result in them trying to take miles. These people are Confederate traitors.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also did a masterful job of eviscertating the MAGA Republicans regarding the national debt - it was a debt run up during the Trump administration. This is simply the case of paying for past debts incurred. We need to deal with the fact that we are literally at war and that the enemies of our democracy are inside the gate and some are holding positions of power and influence. It's a cancer that simply must be excised.
Tragically, maga heads cannot process well reasoned, logical arguments regarding the debt ceiling! They want every day to be Jan6 while President Biden is in Office!
The Democrats have failed miserably to deliver an effective message that condemns the Republicans and expose them for what they are - exploiters of the vast majority of Americans. The Republicans have been masters at using wedge issues (abortion, immigration, women and gay rights, etc.) to divide and conquer. Thomas Frank in his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" addresses these issues. We simply can no longer afford to "go high when they go low." Let's expose them for what they really are. If we don't, we lose.
HOW???
Yes how, repubs have used cheating to the extreme to make elections a joke in some places, the places most likely to count.
The very first thing that Democrats need to recognize is why people are voting against their own best social and economic interests. Then the attacks in the media need to be aimed at what it is costing them in terms of benefits and services, that the two are not mutually exclusive. It's a propaganda war that the Democrats have conceded to the Republicans. It's time to fight back with fire, particularly given the slight opening with the problems that Fox News (sic) has encountered.
EXACTLY my question, Mr. Baum: HOW???
So if McCarthy gets voted out from his leadership position, what happens? No vote until Republicans can decide in a new leader?
Scary scenario because they are so stupid
Just burning the barn down, like they promised
But...They are really cutting off their nose to spite their face. How are they so unable to see that these policies are damaging to all, them included. When the environment you live in becomes polluted (water and air) and when there is no money for FEMA to come to the rescue, when banks are unregulated,what kind of place will this be? Even animals know not to shit where they eat. These people are just plain stupid, and yet they are in a position, wielding power, to screw us all. The ones who are the WORST are the Republicans who know all this very well...as I have written earlier.
We cannot emphasize the necessity for the new IRS auditors enough. Some of those tax returns are thousands of pages long. Can you even count the number of shape shifting name changing Leonard Leo shell corporations through which billions of dollars have been funneled ?
Insurrectionist fist bumper and insurrection Bambi Josh Hawley is a chief champion of the GOP apocalypse now agenda - and has been groomed/touted a Commander in Chief material. He is also part of Leonard Leo's Teneo group seeking to do for racist right wing religious extremist culture wars what the Federalist Society did for court capture. With well over $1.6 billion to work with. Scratch any antidemocratic initiative and find a connection to one of Leo's network of shell corporations promoting clerical fascism. The culture war issues are center stage but deregulation and inequitable taxes are the primary goal.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?527699-1/irs-commissioner-testifies-agency-accountability-oversight#
https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents
Thank you for the link. Leo Leo is diabolical at heart, a characteristic found in all too many of those who emit so called religious fervor!
Leonard Leo is not diabolical -- he is methodical and effective. That's what makes him so dangerous to our society.
Well then, he is both, in my opinion.
Thank you, have heard no one, save Greg Olear mention the 1.6 billion “gift” to Leonard Leo. It is a bombshell in my eyes. Funding in perpetuity for hate and hypocrisy.
Oh good, my first smile of the am, calling Hawley Bambi.
Scary. And disappointing to see (in the ProPublica report) that David Brooks was a speaker at a Teneo event. I thought he was a reasonable more or less conservative (in the legitimate sense of the word, hard to retrieve these days), but now it seems that "more or less" should apply to "reasonable" rather than "conservative". Emphasis on "less".
Apparently what Teneo is doing, under the tutelage of LL, is legal -- infiltrating the courts and different sectors of the economy and society. It is vile in that it is done in secrecy (nondisclosure of who is putting up the dough). Liberals/progressives should be doing the same. Somehow this notion of infiltrating the "levers" of society never made it into anything I ever studied in school or have read about in history. Maybe I just didn't read or study the right things. On the other hand, the existence of reports like the ProPublica, with its aura of surprise at these developments, leads one to believe that it's a recent phenomenon, at least as recent as the metastasis of the Federalist Society.
Oh yeah, no to David Brooks. I have always found him to want to try to be a balanced journalist but he’s just not. He’s like the rest of the R party where they dangle the carrot in front of your face, then they snatch it away.
Yeah, but....Biden just gave away what is probably a large portion of the resources the IRS needs to improve its service and audit capabilities.
It didn't have to happen. The Dems could've raised the debt ceiling during the lame duck session.
He did not “give away” anything. He merely lowered the price tag like a Spring sale...for the time being. He played Qevin like a fiddle.
If Biden can get Republicans to agree by negotiation to raise debt limit, he will be telling the watching world that he is in control of America and not the extremists. In other words, Republicans were manipulated into willingly releasing their “hostage” rather than forcing Biden “steal their hostage”. This perception is very important. I’m sure Biden will invoke the Constitution if there is no other choice though but it will definitely cost America by reducing our strength and reliability to other countries.
My hope is about as empty as my purse, but I dream on
per HCR: "McCarthy continues to appeal to the extremists by attacking Biden, saying inaccurately that the president “wasted time and refused to negotiate for months” when, in fact, it was the Republicans who could not agree on what to bring to the table until April 26." - wondering if you actually read HCR or are just here to disrupt...
I'm not sure if this comment was directed at me, or John Kelly. But I assure you I avidly read every day, and am subscribed to Dr, Richardson's column. In my response to Michael Bales. I was referring to my disappointment with the President and the Democrats. I consider McCarthy to be a slimy little worm who will do and say anything to stay in 'power'. I have a strong love and belief in the Constitution, and much as I admire President Biden, I believe he should have stuck to his word and not negotiated on the unconstitutional 'debt ceiling'. I do not think I have to agree with everything my heroes say and write, anymore than I think I am always right.
The negotiating that is happening is over the budget. It has to happen one way or the other, regardless. It remains the MAGAS who say they will not vote to lift the debt ceiling unless they get what they want in the budget. Unless Biden and the Dems have a majority in both Houses, some negotiation will be necessary to get a budget passed. Biden is finessing this as only he can because of # 1, his good will to humanity, and #2 he paid attention to how to get things done all these years in politics.
You just distilled this entire discussion into its core elements. Well done!
Well done. A lot of folks here (and elsewhere) still have not grasped this critical distinction between budget and debt ceiling. We keep going in circles because of that. Your last sentence captures our current situation perfectly. And still people argue without an understanding of what the discussion is really about.
I can understand why folks are confused. So much misinformation and talking points abound in the media to intentionally mislead.
Thank you lamestreet media billionaires conglomerates for no definitions and analysis of the current situation. Lamestreet media leaves us pretty much with no clear understanding.
If you read Fay's own letter she distributes, you will find the same sentiment there. Fay knows what she writes about, and I for one totally support her. I think your use of the word "disruptive" is in itself disruptive; this colony of HCR followers gets along rather well. We do not push each other around, we share our views with no blades drawn. Have a nice day.
Thank you Ed; we should be focusung on the "fissures" in the Texas impeachment Vote which took Paxton off the field immediately. I understand the vote was bipartisan: '121 to impeach Paxton & only 23 against. ProPaxton forces say: "this means war" in the next GOP primary per the NYT after battle report.
By a 6 to 1 margin. Texans don't want to sink aboard the Paxton ship after taking a torpedo midship.
And the support from Raffie the Mayor of Cancun must have a big dog in the fight to so quickly come to Paxton's support. I have absolutely no respect for these blatant disregarders of us, the the people who elect them, and the privileges they acquire through their own machinations. They are dirty b-tards in my book. We have a barnyard term for the lowest of the low, but I won't release that crudity here on a Sunday morning.
Oh go ahead, we can take it! :)
I agree.
Emotionally, I am with you. Emotionally, I didn't want the President to negotiate at all. It's a stupid law.
Practically speaking, I think Biden is a lot smarter than any of the Republicans and certainly more experienced than me and the millions of my fellow arm chair politicians.
Let's remember that anything agreed to now can be reversed in January 2025. Let's keep our eyes on the prize. A Blue Tsunami. Then we can dump this arcane law and get to work fixing the Supreme Court.
YES!
It is a hostage situation. Biden held steady jn light of Obama’s quick fold, giving away the store when negotiations had not begun. The people who know better on the Republican side are a disgrace beyond words. Profiles in cowardice and greed. What a craven lot collecting salary on our dime and availing themselves of best healthcare. Just fisgusting.
Those of us who opposed negotiations and wanted Biden to point out that the ceiling is a myth paid too little attention to the reality that If he had done that, Republicans just have refused to talk about the budget. Joe was smarter than we were. Again.
Disappointed, but me thinks that he will undo the damage after the 2024 debacle for the repubs. Yes, I dream…
Maybe he gave them up knowing it would never pass?
This is what I wonder. There are already rumblings from the hard right, they want to make trouble, and McCarthy is so weak, it is almost guaranteed to create more chaos and uncertainty. Biden seems to have played out just enough rope for the Republicans to hang themselves with...still, I agree with Fay, I wish Biden felt he was in a strong enough position he could execute on the 14th Amendment--and pack SCOTUS so we can rebalance. And it will be hard on those who would suffer with the cuts if they did go through.
If that is the case, why bother with farce, it only prolongs the pain. I still think (opinion) he should have invoked the Constitution in February (or when ever the mewling infants first threatened the 'debt ceiling') If it went to court, so what? We had time then. Now? Who knows?
I wanted him to try the 14th Amendment route, but increasingly it looked very risky. If he hadn't finally agreed to negotiate, he would have lost support in many quarters. The cuts will be restored IF the Democrat take control of Congress in 2024.
I think I agree, but I wasn't a fly on the walls of the room where the negotiations took place, or where the president and his team discussed their strategy. I'm not sure why they thought it was a good idea to negotiate at all. Might it have been more effective to just pay the bills and use the 14th amendment to justify it? Would the toddlers in the House have taken them to court? Would the SCOTUS have supported the country going into default? What looks like is happening is that as long as this all takes, just gives the Repubs more time to lie to the MAGAs about it. I'm not sure it's a good idea to try to negotiate with bullies. There's usually not a good outcome with that.
We know that there are many no votes no matter how a Democratic leader tries to sweeten the deal.
We don't have all the details yet, but it's beginning to look grim...
It is all so corrupt.
Insurrectionist fist bumper and insurrection Bambi Josh Hawley is a chief champion of the GOP apocalypse now agenda - and has been groomed/touted a Commander in Chief material. He is also part of Leonard Leo's Teneo group seeking to do for racist right wing religious extremist culture wars what the Federalist Society did for court capture. With well over $1.6 billion to work with. Scratch any antidemocratic initiative and find a connection to one of Leo's network of shell corporations promoting clerical fascism.
https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents
Really good point! The Republican House is mostly made up of chess pieces and we are only now realizing what is behind the curtain. I would like to see the Citizens United and Hobby Lobby influences deleted, and watch the fabric start to unravel. I would then donate my empty soda bottles to MTG's campaign, though I would cut my voting arm off before voting for the likes of her. Dark Money is the bane of our democratic republican existence.
Hawley is the poster boy for the politician slobbering at the dark money trough! Follow the money in action!
Oh that’s graphic Louis, had me ROTF! 👏
Biden appears to have negotiated in good faith on the budget. He doesn’t have a majority in the House, so it appears that some negotiation would be necessary. But now can the Republicans get enough Dems to vote for this regressive piece of work when we all know the MAGATS never had any intention of voting for anything McCarthy could negotiate. They tried to blow up our government/constitution violently. They sure as heck won’t vote to keep it going. I’ll be shocked if the House has the votes.
This is far from a done deal. At least all House Dems have signed the petition.
My nightmare is that Boebert and Gaetz call for a "motion to vacate" to strip MCcarthy of his Speakership for not refusing anything less than the bill passed in the House on the debt ceiling. They do this as soon as the House comes back into session. Everything stops until there is a new Speaker. The X-day passes and we move into default.
If McCarthy holds his seat through a vacate vote with ANY entirely pragmatic Democratic support ( to get through the debt ceiling vote) he will be politically dead and there will be a rotating series of challenges by the ultra-right wing. The House will cease to function as a legislative body. No continuing resolution on the budget will be passed and there will eventually be a government shutdown.
I doubt MTG would do that to Kevin. I have seen how she looks at him! I think if the truth were know they are a couple! Gut feeling! Now Boebert.... is another thing! I have never seen her give Kevin that look!
So, I've been reading a bit of Thom Hartmann, who also has a substack. He is looking deeply into the causes and corruption that precede oligarchy and fascism. What is happening now is exactly the blueprint. Texas and Florida are up to their ears, especially.
Winnow the "chaff" then tighten the circle of loyalists and yes men and a few women. Lie and confound, and control the media. Make a public example of your religion, the only religion. Soon the vestiges of democracy are gone and the power lies in authoritarianism. The needs of the people are ignored for the sake of riches and power in the hands of a few. Then comes the crushing of all dissent.
Now I understand why Republicans who speak against the behavior and lies of the party are dismissed and made redundant. Liz Cheney is an example.
Thank you, Hope, I also read Thom Hartman. He is describing the Fascist playbook and we must pay attention. They know the outcome they want and they are actively working to get there.
I was very hesitant about making a deal. I saw a story that claimed Democrats were worried that Biden was being rolled. But with Qevin on board—and assuming that very few Democrats defect—any blame from now on will fall on the Republicans. And so the party’s death spiral tightens.
Totally.
It is crazy insane! To be a fascist, one can have no empathy for others. It's all about how much money they can get and how much power they can wield on the people they will take from. How anyone can vote this evil in is blind to what's right in their face. MAGA supporters are angry, stupid people who have no idea what they're wishing for. I'm hoping they never get their wish.
Michael, The saddest part is that intelligent, well read , and curious thinkers are being caught up in this insanity by even putting up with it.
We have power not to read about it, not to look at the media outlets, and not to clam up our very own arteries by responding to it.These very sick animals live on attention. Let’s suffocate them. IGNORE them. Take their oxygen away.
Then we work very hard “underground and silently” to get the TRUTh out .
Could not disagree more. Biden painted himself in a corner on this fiasco. Even the NYT pointed that out several weeks ago.
Who all will know that Biden handled the republicans and took the high ground. Our lamestreet media billionaire conglomerate are a H U G E part of the problem. Nothing is certain with all the lies and liars knowing they can get away with domestic terrorism. 50 years of no accountability and look where we are>
Republicans caused this. Democrats are being the adults in the room. Again. And again and again.
Stop whining. Pull up our collective socks and re-elect Biden, take back the House, and increase the margin in the Senate.
If the good people of Santos’ districted had sussed him out and elected a democrat, McCarthy’s bill would not have passed. If just one of those new red districts in NY or Florida had gone blue, McCarthy’s bill would have failed. If just a 547 voters in Colorado had voted for Democrat Adam Frisch, McCarthy’s bill would have failed. If there had been just one more sane normal Republican vote, McCarthy’s bill would have failed.
Once that bill passed, it took away much of the leverage the democrats might have had.
So, what do you want Biden to do? He is not dealing with normal sane people. He is dealing with people who want him and the Dems to fail and they see defaulting as a way to make that happen. The Unfreedom caucus is on record as saying that. As is the twice impeached, sex assaulter, criminal defendant, insurrectionist, former guy.
The alternative stealth bill that would “only require 5 sane Republican votes” isn’t going to happen. There aren’t those votes to be had.
Invoking the 14th amendment to pay the bills will be tied up in court, undermining the credibility of the USA. Would you lend money to the government under those circumstances?
Stop complaining about Biden. There is no young, handsome, charismatic, articulate, electable White Knight waiting in the wings to ride to the rescue. Biden cares about this country and it’s citizens.
Sky 777--Do listen to Tom Hanks' address at the Harvard Commencement ceremony. He deals with the White Knight mentality pretty well.
Just listened.
Best speech I have ever heard.
KEM, thank you for introducing us to this speech and providing a link!
Link please
His speech starts at about 6:20 into this video. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg9PbLvxlSY
Oh my word, thank you for sharing. That was humbling and beautiful. 💜💙💜
That's a wonderful speech. I watched it from start to finish. No stone unturned.
These are the diamonds I seek daily (laced by the ads I so detest but suffer through as someone has to pay the piper).
Thanks
Thank you, KEM!
Thanks for the link!
Tom Hanks is a national treasure and his words should provide encouragement to us all.
Thanks very much for the link, KEM.
Let me recommend that you all watch Tom Hanks' touching new film, "A Man Called Otto."
Yes. A Man Called Otto based on the wonderful book A Man Named Ove.
Thank you! Excellent presentation!
Thank you for the link! A great way to start the day - and the rest of our lives.
Thank you
Awesome, thank you!
A/o 5/29/23 @ 11:53 p.m., this video is no longer available, due to a Harvard University copyright claim.
IOW, Harvard did not take his words to heart. How very sad.
How can they copyright words authored by Tom Hanks? This one still seems to work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkPo5nfEk1w
Yes! Thank you!
When it is apparent that Congress is screwing around and will not agree to what Biden and McCarthy have agreed to Joe must invoke the constitution and move on from this right wing treasonous debacle.
Thanks!
Thank you. I have shared link with friends and family.
And how have they responded?
I will let you know. Late night here. No I will look at it until tomorrow.
Blessed Memorial Day to you all.
My family always remembers my uncle, whom none of us now living ever knew. He was my dad’s brother, a marine who died Pacific theater in March 1945. Just a few months before the Japanese surrendered.
"He is not dealing with normal sane people".
Who else on this forum has ever tried talking to these maganuts? I remember Heather labeling a "bat-shit crazy" neighbor of hers, I have had several encounters here in the home of the proud boys, one HAS to back slowly away...
Good job Biden, WE need to to throw the crazies out up and down the ballots.
Yesterday we went to an annual Memorial Day party hosted by the guy who renovated our house. Pretty sure that of the 100+ partygoers we were the only liberals there. Some MAGA and Second Amendment t-shirts and bumper stickers, but no one discussed politics. We talked about kids and schools and work and the weather. A lot of fun and good feelings. These people are not crazy. They are apolitical. They have been fed lies, and they believe them. We need to find a way to get them the truth, and we won't do that by calling them evil or crazy. Sure, some of them are batshit crazy, and some of them are dangerous, but of the 74 million, most are just apolitical and misinformed. We need to inform them without anger or hostility. Maybe printing out HRCs letters for our neighbors is a place to start!
I do print out letters, i do share, AND i do, now, "talk politics". Silence is now complicity imho.
This is why i can also now distinguish between the folks who are "apolitical, and proud of it" vs the the few, loud, vocal, bat shit crazies, of which, i slowly back away.
I agree. I talk politics, but when the moment is fertile. Questioning a guy's politics at his own party wasn't one of those moments, but I do talk to him 1-on-1, and I call out misinformation.
Also, the apolitical people I encounter don't know they are apolitical, so they aren't boasting about it. They believe they are informed.
By apolitical I just mean they don't follow politics or the news closely at all, don't seek out varied sources, don't question what they hear, and don't do much more than vote, if that.
I agree. The people you mention are misled, not crazy. Perhaps they can be made to see why they should not vote for the bat shit crazy Jim Jordans and Chip Roys and Tommy Tuberbills and George Santoses, to name but a few.
Dems: find some clear, understandable, honest messaging and get it out there consistently!
I’m one who continues to try and talk with folks on the “other side”. These are people that I worked with, served our community with, and (with some of them) faced life-threatening danger with. They are, by and large, good people who have been fed a package of goods that they take as gospel, because it feeds their psyche. You can argue that this means they are not “good” people, but I think it reveals more about the propaganda than the person.
One of them summed up this divide thusly: “Remember that we think of you the same way you think of us”. There is no real talking to them. Their sky is a different color than ours.
Sad
My thoughts Lynn. I doubt the maganuts have ever done without or been told no and they may have never done real work in a day!
To my mind, this underscores the fragility of the whole system - incredibly important issues hinge on one or 2 votes!! - what might be driving this shift to the right? An inchoate dread of a quite unimaginable future - "I wanna go back to my grandpa's time" - and it affects all of us. CHAT GPT probably taking away jobs, the weather ain't what it used to be , most of my new neighbours are dark skinned.. and the list goes on. Is there a solution??
Ok, what is driving this shift to the right is a 40 year campaign, well funded by wealthy individuals like the Kochs and like-minded wealthy people who have the fantasy the the robber baron unregulated world pre World War One, to game the democratic system of governance in this country until the control it, don’t you think? The Federalist Society exists to get intellectually challenged and emotionally stunted individuals like John Roberts into the Supreme Court. The Citizen’s United decision, allowing anonymous corporate “persons” to contribute to politician’s campaigns was probably the decision that was the death knell for our democratic republic, because voting only works if everyone has a vote they gets counted and respected.
Thank you for helping people understand the reality of this coup against our country and people's intelligence. An intentional dumbing down our our educaitonal systems and a deliberate use of propaganda tools which is brainwashing and neurolinguistic programming done on a 24 hour, daily dose of lies, anger and fear. Draped in the flag and religion. It is intentional and insidious. And I know intelligent people who watched fox constantly. I watched their critical thinking skills fade away where now they appear to be artificial intelligence from Kellyanne's frightening alternate reality.
This is damned scary people— we are the targets and need to protect ourselves and our country from this kind of fascist mind control. Hitler was able to get humans to commit the most atrocious crimes against humanity. Take heed to what Meredith says above. If you have tried to talk to those who are brainwashed, you will mostly find you can not reach them. A slow, deprogramming process has to take place. the same with all cult members. They must be isolated from the mob rallies and destructive programming. Trump & Co. are making sure they are not able to critically think. J6 was the perfect example of the cult behavior willing to risk their own lives and careers and reputations by becoming terrorists against American and harming our police, our Capital, and attempted murder of our VP and Speaker of the House. third in line for the presidency. Wake up America.
Being Woke is a good thing. THE DEFINITION OF WOKE IS BEING AWARE OF AND ACTIVELY ATTENTIVE TO IMPORTANT SOCIETAL FACTS AND ISSUES (ESPECIALLY ISSUES OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE). This is why desantis is banning books and controlling history. He does not want you to think. I am not sure what his orders are from the Federalist or Heritage societies, but I guarantee the orders are not good for people who are NOT white supremacists wearing flags, carrying bibles and weapons of mass destruction and guns whilst they steal all your rights.
Rant over.
I agree with everything you have said. I have watched sadly and desperately as many of my relatives and close friends have succumbed to Fox and MAGA or just tuned out since Trump was elected.
Great rant, Pensa. You describe it much better tan I do.
Bribery works. Pols become millionaires.
Has that ever been any different? Not in my lifetime. Seems there’s always been a crisis albeit varied , nonetheless critical. The dream house requires constant care, the grass cut regularly, the driveway resurfaced, and eventually even owners change. ‘The fight of our lives’ thought the Indians, The Jews, and now ..us.
💙VOTE💙
Sky, your advice is correct; my only problem with it is that the next presidential election is too far away to toss out the vandals in the House. Who knows what mayhem will occur before then? Trump still has the power, the Freedom Caucus is gaining traction, and the summer riot and secession activities are still on call. The sentences meted out to ringleaders will incent others to fill those leadership gaps, as we saw in Iraq when Hussein was eliminated. Power abhors a vacuum.
SKY 777 very well said and for what it’s worth I see it that way as well. Is it extremely unfortunate- to put it mildly- that this situation was concocted by the extremists? Yes! But when we take back the house, etc in 2024, after the 2 year delay, there is the great possibility of righting this wrong.
I’d add to that Sky777... there’s plenty of blame for them to reserve some for the mistakes made in general which ,no doubt , WE’VE had some hand in too.
Is there not many amongst us who believe the lesson p(s) in a/the folly? And further ..is it not peeking through the din? I’d stand on the growing evidence of these wonderfully woke votes provoked, hear hear🙌
I dare not predict what 11/ 2024 will provide in a dazzling display of blue ...no , but I can sure hope ... students , rev your engines 😉
All I can think of when the far right speaks up in support of someone like Paxton, is that old maxim, "You know a man by the company he keeps." This 3rd year is almost half over. People who should be in jail are not in jail. Instead, they are in positions of power. The unease is enough to cause heart failure. And I mean that in every sense of the word, while people are scrambling just to stay afloat. Look what happened to the EPA. This does not bode well for the future of our democracy.
It’s unbelievable. Cruz whining that Paxton should not be impeached because he has “….battled the abuses of the Biden admin…”.
And these folks call us liberals “snowflakes”…..
Very few things on earth are as complex and beautiful as snowflakes.
And, to poorly paraphrase George Takei, a whole bunch of us snowflakes makes an avalanche.
I would like Cruz to say what these abuses are. Use of general statements have gained the far right lots of followers.
Truly. Making a general comment for the media without being tasked with explaining/defining it by example - is what whining Repubs seem to get away with all the time. It's just rhetoric, without substance. Call them out to give examples of what they're whining about.
I know. I just can’t stand it!
I blame the daily incessant angst, anger, frustration, despair, loss of the Trump years for my breast cancer. All that shit has an effect on the immune system. I am working to stay involved and informed but somehow not let it get to me physiologically. Not yet successful with that. Will let you know if/when I figure it out. These past weeks with the Sword of Default hanging over our heads has been a set back for my program. But I will persevere.
As an aside, ladies get your mammograms. The options and life expectancy are sooooo much better with an early diagnosis.
Onward, through the fog.
So true
Let me get this straight--Cruz, Trump, et al don't deny Paxton's wrongdoing, they just threaten "consequences" for those with a conscience and standards? It reminds me of the scene in A Man For All Seasons, where the Duke of Norfolk is asking Sir Thomas More to just do what everyone else is doing and "Come along with us, for Fellowship." More replies, "And when we both have died, and you go to heaven for following your conscience and I am condemned to hell for not following mine, will you come along with me, for Fellowship?" And on the more consequential matter of the day, the hardliners and the debt ceiling--I wonder what McCarthy can say to get through to them. Certainly not Fellowship. That's almost as wry as MTG calling for decorum in the House chambers...
Ha! I like it, KEM. A Robert Bolt reference on the eve of Memorial Day is most delightful!
Love this! So apt. Would like to use it in conversation with friends this holiday weekend. Would you mind?
I think Robert Bolt would be proud! <G>. Just an aside, A Man for All Seasons was the "textbook" used in my undergrad Ethics class. Every philosophic approach is there, from the pragmatists through the loyalist and on to the conformist and more. It's a great read.
That made me look up when I took Ethics...1959, too early to have had that play as text. Would have enjoyed it thoroughly.
Thanks. I will check it out. As in literally check it out from the library. I love my local library and the folks that work there. So lucky I don’t live in the bare shelf book banning christofascist state of Florida.
"The Supreme Court threw out the case, saying that Texas did not have standing to sue, but not before it attracted the support of 17 state attorneys general and at least 126 members of Congress, including Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)."
Rule of law? At least SCOTUS wouldn't play along, but the extent to the corruption is epic, at least in my lifetime. About an hour ago, my wife showed me a video of Cory Booker, speaking of the arrest of US Grant for speeding (of which even a horse-drawn conveyance is capable) Grant greeted critics of his arrest with admission of his guilt, and praised the policeman, who was black, for evenly enforcing the law as written.
What a concept.
J L, thank you - and your wife- for that great story!
I found a URL of it: https://www.tiktok.com/@therealdoubledeemuva/video/7213369907231132974
The part about the critics might be my faulty memory or else additional commentary.
Nice! Thanks!
As my thoughts percolate though the day, I am thinking that Cory Booker's example of Grant is a potentially powerful real world anchor to the notion of equal justice under law. We have been drifting toward a regressive standard of "The President Can Do No Wrong". It gets complicated and grapples with the conundrum of who watches the watchers, but ultimate the buck stops with us. That said, accountability must accompany fiduciary duties, or we invite tyranny. It does not seem likely Nixon would have successfully been held accountable for corruption in the current zeitgeist.
Disruptive. Trumped-up charges are the other side of official immunity, but there should also be meaningful accountability for that sort of ploy. It's very troubling when large corporations, such as Dominion Voting Systems, are able to obtain a level of accountability from political actors that the public, it seems, is denied.
Happy Memorial Day. Would be nice if the GOP paused their partisan games long enough to reflect on the fact that Americans have died to preserve our opportunity to maintain our status in the world, not diminish it. To all who have family who have people close to them who made the ultimate sacrifice; I honor your loved ones and will always fight to try to be the patriot(s) they were in their service to all of us. God bless and keep them, as we do, in our hearts.🙏🏼
Thank you.
Well said, H. Alan. I would like to join you in this reflection.
The vote against Paxton was 121-23. So, I’m curious - are there really only 23 Texas state reps who are currently successfully blackmailed? Or 23 who needed his help? Or 23 who will lose their investments in Paxton? Or 23 who are really that dumb? Or 23 who enjoy a good public spanking? Or 23 who suck up to Cruz, who still sucks up to TFG? So many possibilities, it’s difficult to say!
It truly is a puzzle, from the outside, isn’t it? What could Paxton have done to earn this level of ire from people who have tolerated his misconduct for decades?
Helluva good question. Either the Texas Republicans know something deeply disturbing about Paxton (perhaps having to do with his long delayed securities fraud matter, or more likely the straw that broke the corrupt camel's back of seeking $3Million of taxpayers' money for his employment law violations) and want to put him out to pasture before the next election, or he holds some J. Edgar Hoover-esque "Trump" card on them.
You can be damn sure it wasn’t out of concern for the taxpayers’ 3M anything, except for not getting a piece of it.
He's certainly done something. Daggers drawn, grenades at the ready. And all our favourite comic-book villains shoulder to shoulder.
Living in Texas with a Birds Eye view...... Much has been happening QUIETLY between the repubs........ in fighting..... No love between Abbott and his Lt. Governor Dan Patrick
( which both are crazy in my opinion) they are both elected individually. One side wants to go all out crazy and the other side keeps trying to push their chances of climbing up the political crazy ladder of politics in Texas. Worthless Cruz is always trying to get his name out there ..
I suspect a mix of "all of the above"
But at the very least I believe there are 23 whose actions in office probably deserve the same level of investigative scrutiny that Paxton got
Oh Please!!! Let Cruz's support of Paxton come back and bite him in the ass!!!
BTW, I really don't understand why TEXAN republicans are impeaching someone that lives up to the same principals as they do.
My baseless opinion on fellow Republicans impeaching him is they think he corruptly took too big a bite out of the pie and they want their "fair" share of it now!
Money.
He crossed someone with money.
coz "it's deep in the heart of Texas"
It behoves Democrats fully to back this compromise in the House, showing the world that a pack of crazed extremists on the right don’t have the power they so desperately and despicably crave. Jeffries, tho a progressive minority speaker, needs to bring this home for Biden and the country and the world. Democracy works. Let the MTG’s howl. It will only make them appear more grotesque as they insist on robbing the poor to please the rich. Bring a strong bipartisan bill to the Senate and it will pass. We have well over a year to build on this success and begin to send those crazies back to their states and private lives as the losers they truly are.
"We have well over a year to send those crazies back" -- AND they have given us many quotes and videos to use in strategically placed ads in the months to come. This is another example of Biden's (and other Democrats') wisdom in not engaging with the press during this standoff. Biden has not given them anything to use in negative ads for next year. Still, we will have to deal with gerrymandered districts and vote suppression. We still have a lot of hard work ahead. And the Republicans have given us much to campaign on.
Take it to them! VOTE SMART!
I believe Jefferies can do it, and will.
Yes! Very well said.
We must get out the blue vote.
Boebert won by only 546 votes. The McCarthy DOA bill passed by one vote.
Voter turn out matters.
We are all so weary of this, I know.
But. We must persevere.
And there are even more young people available to add to the voting population. In many ways, this is their fight because they have a long time to live with the consequences.
Hoping that we’re not foregoing too much!?!
Welcome to the repub circus. Ever since McCarthy traded his soul for the gavel, government business has been stalled and derailed by the repubs. “Tonight, President Biden and McCarthy announced they have agreed to a budget deal in principle, opening the way for the House to pass a measure to raise the debt ceiling. Now the key question is: do they have the votes to pass such a measure?” Thank you, Professor for this key question. And if they don’t, then what? One way or another, derailing the Biden Administration is the repub goal. Can we hope for an end to this chaos or will this be a continuing struggle between government working for the people and repubs working against the people?
It’s quite obvious with the Paxton thing in Texas, as well as with the debt ceiling crisis in Washington, that the Republicans will, and are, screwing the pooch, again. They’re throwing gasoline on a fire that doesn’t need any.
Paxton calling and threatening Republican senators should be a violation of law. That, yo me, is the same as TFG calling Georgia and demanding they find 11,000+ votes to give him the state for the election.
McCarthy and his GOP rug-rats have wasted an enormous amount of time with these negotiations. There’s no excuse in this because President Biden came out with his budget proposal long ago. Plus, the president that raised the debt ceiling exponentially was TFG! THEIR fearless leader! And now, this batch of Trumpublicans have the nerve to come off with mess like Biden isn’t telling them anything, Biden isn’t doing this, Biden isn’t doing that.
The ones actually NOT doing anything are this group of House Republicans! They haven’t done one thing except show all of us just how dysfunctional they are, and will be, until we can vote them all out of office in 2024!!!
Correct analysis on all.
Excellent assessment of today’s RepubliQan party!
Thank you, Heather. And the insurrection goes on and on and on. Paxton has no shame calling and threatening his “colleagues” who vote for impeachment. Karma is comin’ for you, Treasonous Trash Paxton.
I’d have preferred letting McCarthy hang and using the discharge petition or 14th amendment to raise the debt limit, then watch the GOP implode entirely over its inability to form a budget. They deserve to eat their fractious selves for lunch. Negotiate and bipartisan are words deeply embedded in Biden’s psyche. We’ll be fine with some spending constraints but the he GOP doesn’t deserve a win here, dirty pig headed b****rds that they are. I want them to roast on the bonfire they lit.
That is a great idea, '' I want to roast them on the bonfire they lit,'' i go along with that all the way. The Fascist/GQP are dirty, rotten, lying, corrupt, human garbage, These criminals should be in prison instead of our Congress, All of them convicted and sentenced to, '' Life in prison without the possibility of parole'' they could all rot in prison as far as i am concerned, i thoroughly despise these cretins.
I do believe that they still have to have a vote …
We’re in a sad and a bit frightening place in our Nation’s historic timeline and what, from my perspective, democrats and similar or like-minded thinkers are not doing is playing hardball. This not nor was it intended to be a minority rule country! We have so many teachable moments and the goal should be to motivate a significant portion of the non-voting registered voters in our country that they need to educate themselves and start participating in helping to keep this country - their and our country - on the correct path of a free democracy!!! Start by learning the historical differences between the two major political parties in this country ...
Pity they have to start learning now - the hour is late.
Better late than never.
True. But not if you've missed the bus.
Unfortunately yes. Last call for passengers to a bearable climate future.
A Democrat-sponsored group, similar to the Lincoln Project, needs to create and post high-quality well-written segments explaining to and educating non-political folks about such 'teachable moments.'
Absolutely.
Is that not what successful social movements do? Civil Rights, women's rights, worker's rights, gay rights, environmental responsibility, etc., etc. ? Such messages alone may not turn the tide, but I think they are essential. The problem with top-down mass media is that it defines democratic citizens as spectators, with at best, a pre-printed menu of choices to choose from. It's as if we are seated on a moving train watching events flash by a window; but before we can respond to the most recent image; a new one has replaced it; and yet it's all the same world. We need more nuance and recognition of the larger patterns. It's time we stop, hey what's that sound, everybody look what's going down.
Science, art, and good-faith conversion included our choices helps us to actually get to where we want to be.
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. ". - Pericles
I’m glad to hear the hope they are teachable. Part of the plan , the gaslighting ( actually used way before it was given credence) was to convince them they were not, take away their hope, substitute the lie - far more complex than thought. This collectively was a long term approach and remains so. So should ours be. Education is the key. Nutrition is needed. Clean water . Equality. All possible ...for We The People
But ‘they’ will always be there, lurking, waiting for weak people , and moments.
Is McCarthy the leader of House Republicans or is he the one being manipulated by the radical MAGA Handful? Does a bagman/watercarrier have standing to negotiate even a lunchtime sandwich order?
There’s no deal on the debt limit until the votes are counted.
Paxton is being impeached for everyday, garden variety, state-level political corruption, the kind that’s been going on in Texas, and elsewhere, since…well…forever. Something else is going on. What line did Paxton cross? Whose toes got stepped on? Whose palm didn’t get greased?
A major, tectonic, political rift will start as a hairline crack. Maybe…
Paxton must have crossed a real powerbroker down there. One of the Johns that owns a few of the representatives in TX
As Heather pointed out a long time ago, McCarthy is the one who took Russian money from Lev Parnas. ( now out of prison , on home confinement)
Excellent questions, Ralph! Hoping that hairline crack becomes a grand canyon…
RE: the debt ceiling -- the polyanna in me still believes that 5 Republicans in swing districts will vote for the discharge petition at the 11.99th hour.
If they don't, I fully expect Biden to invoke the 14th or mint a coin at the 12th hour
What I DON'T expect is for Biden to cave to the Asshole Conference's demands. If there is a "deal" announced it will be one where Dark Brandon can put on his dark glasses and say "suckas!" and one that costs McCarthy his speakership. And Republicans in the House will be in chaos trying to elect a new Speaker well into the 2024 election cycle.
These Freedom Caucus dumb fucks are the dumbest fucks to ever fuck themselves in the history of our republic.
The last sentence in your comment is EXACTLY what i think about these criminally insane scumbag low life dumb fucks are. Words cannot describe how much i hate and despise the Freedumb cactus and all of the Fascist GQP. They are rotten inside and out.
That's three "fucks" in one sentence, John.
Very Mamet-esque of you!🤣
Honestly I think I could have worked in at least two more, maybe even four or five. But I'm running extremely low on fucks to give. Need to conserve
what scares me is who will be Speaker pro tempore and who will appoint this person. I can't find anywhere that addresses this in the case of the Speaker being removed. Do you know?