So I called my Republican senator and went Heather Cox Richardson on the woman who answered. I talked about voting rights, the 14th amendment, the parallels between the Confederacy and the current stance of the Republican Party. After 20 minutes I said, "i hope this makes sense," and she replied, "yes it does and I'm writing it down as fast as I can, my hand actually hurts!" :)
Thank you, Dr. Richardson, for not losing heart. Its hard and scary but there is always hope.
Good for you. Let's pass the message: "Go Heather Cox Richardson" on them all. Just think about what it would be like if the inboxes of every Republican senator and representative were flooded with this. I live in NH where all my reps/senators are Democrats, but I'll be sending one to Senator Collins of Maine.
"Just think about what it would be like if the inboxes of every Republican senator and representative were flooded with this. " Arthur - good thought. However coming from a deep red state like I do (TN) I can tell you that minority voters flooding their inboxes will not move the needle one micron. Do you really think a Marsha Blackburn would change her stance on anything? And that is the problem - in a democratic government like ours, truth and honesty are vital for good decision making. We have a political party that has ranked power before truth and honesty, and is gaming the system to hold onto or retake power. They care not one iota for what you and I think. I fear constitutionally we do not have the tools to fight it.
I live in Tennessee, and my experience with contacting Tennessee legislators (all Republicans) has been followed by a deluge of political emails, essays about the wonderful things being done in Tennessee. HOGWASH!
I asked my brother in Nashville was there someone I could donate to. His response was to save my money unless he found someone who had a chance. If you have a recommendation for a state level person elsewhere in my natal state, let me know! Nashville he'll share. It's pretty blue anyway.
Either you stand up and make yourself heard or get lost in the muck as it overwhelms all of us. I'm from the USVI, think Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett so no Republicans to contact. Many will only take emails, etc from their constituents so please give it a try. Thank You.
Jay Wheaton - I think your comments are spot on and IMO your last sentence is why so many who are trying to fight the good fight feel they are flinging themselves against a brick wall. Domestically, democrats are "bringing knives to a gunfight". Internationally, Europe and other countries are looking on in disbelief as republicans make a mockery of their own government which, among so many other things, diminishes our ability to negotiate or generate much respect.
The internal attempts to grab power and the displays of outrageous behavior has a long history and of course even a civil war (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) However, in prior centuries the U.S. was not the economic or military power of today. Unfortunately, the game the republicans have been and continue to engage in has the potential for devastating consequences on a global scale.
Thanks. My pet issue is climate change. This power grab, if successful, will again halt the US efforts to play our part in climate mitigation. Already it was hobbled by Manchin/Sinema. But the world will look on with horror if in 2024 the Republicans take back the presidency and the US backs out of all our commitments.
I doubt that they even read my emails. I suspect that someone is assigned to send a pre-written response to all incoming emails from state citizens that do not support their shenanigans.
The good news today is that Fair Maps Texas Action Committee with a coalition of civil rights groups including Common Cause, Clean Elections Texas, League of Women Voters of Texas, Our Vote Texas, Texans Against Gerrymandering. and ACLU Texas filed a federal lawsuit against the State of Texas challenging the unconstitutional district maps that give Republicans autocratic power for the next decade at least. The redistricting which added two new Congressional Districts to Texas will give white Republicans a large advantage even though 95% of the population growth in Texas came from people of color. Unless the courts remedy this, Texas is no longer a democracy. It is now an autocracy. Don't Texas the rest of the states! Read David Pepper's new book on "Laboratories of Autocracy".
Great book recommendation. I urge everyone to consider moving Laboratories of Autocracy to the top of your reading list. We must act now to save our democracy and this easy to read book explains how it’s all about the state houses - local elections! One section describes how politicians climb the rungs of the election ladder and end up in Congress with little to no real campaign experience - because they were appointed or they ran unopposed all the way. A quick review of my last sample election ballot proves that is the case. Republican candidates for local offices were running unopposed in so many districts my heart sank. NY state may look like Democrats are in the majority, but the local districts paint a very different picture of who is making the laws.
I went over NC’s new voting maps and several districts have R’s running unopposed. Heartbreaking! The R’s have all kinds of evil planned if they win majorities in Congress.
Are people afraid to run against them? Does anyone understand what is going on here or how we can solve this? Are there truly no sane folks in these districts?
I think sane folks are in the minority. The districts have been rigged to a fare-thee-well. My district now includes a county that is very rural and votes Republican. That county was also home to R voting fraud regarding absentee ballot harvesting. The current reality is the latest in a long line of efforts to suppress the votes of progressive voters. I use the term “progressive” to mean those who care about ordinary people. NC is a purple state about evenly divided. The R legislature has voted in maps to give themselves a 71%-78% advantage in the number of congressional seats. I feel like l live in a John Grisham novel.
Ditto here in Ohio. Although here, the Ds are fairly concentrated in the cities, especially Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, while the rural areas are very R. Still, for statewide votes like president and senator, we are fairly purple. We have voted twice that we want nonpartisan districts. And look where we are - the most gerrymandered state in the country.
I know whereof you speak, Kathy. I lived in northwest Ohio for 17, most recently Perrysburg, outside of Toledo. Perrysburg is in Wood County, which is rural farm country, pretty conservative.
I did not engage in political conversations with ANYONE. Is Ohio more gerrymandered than NC which previously had its terrible maps thrown out because they targeted minorities with surgical precision?Now the R legislature has given themselves 71%-78 of the 14 congressional seat. NC is a purple state, evenly divided.
Ugh. I am originally from a little Southern Baptist town in NC. Born and raised there by Holocaust victims from Poland and Germany. The minute I graduated from high school, I high-tailed it out of there. I have one very close friend who is still there and two others in Raleigh/Durham area. These gerrymandering tactics are being used here in CA too although the majority of the state are Democrats. Sickening but fight fight FIGHT!
Are you referring to local jurisdictions? California has an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission that for 2020 is composed of 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans and 4 No Party Preference for the required 14 members. Redistricting for state and federal elective positions is extremely interactive; same is true for what is happening in the City of San Diego.
"In 2008, California voters passed the Voters First Act, authorizing the creation of the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw new State Senate, State Assembly, and State Board of Equalization district lines. In 2010, the Voters First Act for Congress gave the Commission the responsibility of drawing new Congressional districts following every census." https://voiceofoc.org/2021/11/2020-california-citizens-redistricting-commission-releases-draft-maps-ahead-of-deadline/
"The 14-member 2020 Citizens Redistricting Commission is fully formed. As required by law, the first eight members of the 2020 Citizens Redistricting Commission were randomly selected on July 2, 2020 from a list of remaining applicants delivered by the Legislature on June 26, 2020. These first eight members chose the final six members from the applicants that remained in the applicant pool on August 7, 2020." https://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/index/
I’m also in NC. Back in the 80s the company for which my husband worked moved to NC because it was a non-union state. At the time I thought that was a sick reason to move and I still do. The so-called purpling of this state has been effectively undone by the gerrymandering of recent years. We live on the perimeter of the very progressive college where I taught, but for the past few years we’ve been redistricted into a very red area. The blue district where we used to vote was cut into two very heavily red districts.
The R legislature drew the maps so that they created a district for Tim Price to run for Congress. How about that? It just makes me want to slap them silly!
I don’t think people are afraid to run against the Republicans. I think the state is so gerrymandered that it is a lost cause because these districts will never vote for a Democrat or an Independent.
True. It’s a long game. We’re making progress in my area. Not close enough to pass the majority mark yet, but getting closer each election - provided there is an actual democratic candidate on the ballot! Running unopposed is giving it away.
I am too! Actually, frustrated that people simply do not educate themselves about their world. Quite a few I have spoken to refuse to watch the news, which I understand but there are other resources than mainstream media.
David's book is incredible. I also urge all of you to read it. And, please follow him on Twitter (if you are on Twitter) as his posts have so much information, almost in real time. Here is one to watch :https://twitter.com/DavidPepper/status/1458461663846440961
Reading Laboratories of Autocracy. Pepper is very complimentary of the League of Women Voters - an organization that I need to join here in NY. Legislative corruption at the state level is very familiar to us in NYS, and we recently saw the failure of propositions that would have strengthened voting in our supposed blue state. Autocracy is in the process of playing out -creeping along- here in NY just as Pepper outlines in Laboratories of Democracy. (We Democrats had not much support to understand the props. Not even yard signs; whereas, the ReThuglicans had those basics covered.) 5-Alarm Fire. This is not a drill. ❤️🤍💙
You are so right! And it's even worse in red states. Florida's legislature proposed maps that totally go against the fair districting laws and when questioned about it by a civil rights attorney who is leading the charge for the League of Women Voters against these maps, their response was something along the lines of "because we don't have to".
I just downloaded “Laboratories of Autocracy” to my Kindle this week. Positively riveting! Not to mention insightful and full of action ideas we can all engage in to protect our fragile democracy.
With luck and hard work, maybe my neighbors and I can prevent Minnesota from going ‘Texas.’ And maybe pave the way for future generations to live in a full on democratic Republic like we have.
The bad news is that America needs this good news.
Gerrymandering executed by people with a vested interest in the outcome has the effect of burying a giant but silent FAIL button in the vital organs of democracy.
And now in this age of analytics and big data it becomes child’s play to snap your fingers and order up a way to “win” your state.
Looking at maps of gerrymandered states would be Onion-esque if the consequences weren’t so deadly.
American politics always takes every opportunity to go the edge of the abyss and peer down into the blackness. It’s the hubris of power, but from afar it looks like a death wish.
Many afar know our death spiral was started by the greed and hubris of a few maniacal American billionaires who despise the Common Good. Authoritarianism requires cash and the political power it buys.
“Immediately following his censure, Gosar retweeted the video.” WTF??!? No only is he ‘unhinged’ but so, apparently, are 211 of the GOP House Conference. Party of Law & Order my a$$.
I don't know how expulsion happens but when a Representative is censured for an act and immediately afterwards commits the same act over again, there seems little point in a second censure. He was reprimanded and given the chance to behave himself but his choice was to offend again. The 2nd offense was begging expulsion. Let's not disappoint him.
Someone posted 2/3 vote is needed for expelling. Hard to see where that would come from given the vote they just took. The GOP members who might want somewhere deep in there soul to be a decent person are just digging themselves deeper and deeper into an abyss of turpitude.
My father saw this happen in his country. First, politicians support evil out of greed, peer pressure and stupidity. Then they do it out of growing fear. Then out of terror. Then a gun, knife, noose or ope
When there are few consequences and the violent rhetoric and actions are treated with a velvet glove they will not only continue but will get worse.
This is not Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon in order to let the Country heal. This a slow rolling coup d'état. I appreciate Biden and Merrick not wanting to appear that they are hauling in their political enemies. But I sure wish they would wage a more firm fight against the forces tearing down Democracy in this Country.
President Biden please get off the Infrastructure Bill victory tour and come back to the White House and defend voting rights and punish people who have earned that punishment.
Biden MUST do the "infrastucture victory tour" else the Republicans will confidently claim it as their own. Many Repugnants who did not vote for it already are.
The long-gamed brainwashing is now so advanced, and the tactics of Roy Cohn as practiced by DJT are too embedded in the Republican Party to avoid a horrible outcome. At this point defensive measures will feed the monster and delight evil.
Biden isn't speaking to those who are seeking to destroy Democracy in the country. He's speaking to those who support him and those who fall betwixt and between. It's the DOJ and AG Garland who are taking action and imposing consequences on those determined to destroy our country; we're seeing some results already with more to come. Both men have important roles and need to be supported in their decisions about how to proceed in the fight.
Then and there he should have been expelled. Period. There is no excuse for this behavior, from anyone. And apparently there are very few current Republicans who are willing to stand up for this democracy, or what's left of it, and demand that we treat it as a democracy. Liz Cheney should be given a Medal of Honor.
Liz Cheney is about the only one showing any common sense, and when you get right down to it, she is no angel, and her dad really left a bit to be desired……..
The Insurrectionist Party will probably be replaced by a Trump new Nazional Patriot Party. Can't wait to see how they stylize the "T" on their flags and armbands.
Republicans standing with Gosar effectively retweeted the anime themselves in the name of their millions of voters. The condition of our Democracy is much worse than most Americans and journalists can emotionally and pragmatically handle. We still have many opportunities to protect and save what so many before us have risen and risked for. I personally suffer terrible consequences of what Nazi Germany physically and mentally did to my parents. My German grandfather was murdered belatedly fighting them politically and socially. My father bled and suffered lifelong PTSD to defeat them. What will our fates be?
I have already contacted my representative, Andy Barr of Kentucky condemning his vote not to censure. Ironically, he spoke on the floor of the House earlier asking for a moment of silence for a former representative from Kentucky, Larry Hopkins, who recently died. Although I did not agree with Mr. Hopkins on many issues, I also felt he was a man of integrity. Today he would probably be called a RINO.
On another note, you may recall the news stories about the Spotsylvania Virginia school board who a few days ago voted to ban "sexually explicit" books from the school libraries and even had two member speak of book burning. At their last meeting on Monday night, it is reported that students and parents and others in the community showed up to protest this vote and the comments. 68 people signed up to speak to the board to condemn the vote and the comments compared to the two who had made the original compliant. One member who made the book burning comment has apologized. The other stated she did not remember making such a comment (the meeting is taped). They are backing down on their original vote. As Dr. Richardson has said in the past, we have to be louder than the loudest voices in the room. Forgive any grammer or spelling mistakes. It is early.
Maybe a burning of books would've been a good idea. Especially a public and well publicized book burning covered by every media outlet with close-up identifiable video of the book burners. Of course some would applaud, but I believe the vast majority of viewers would be repulsed by the images. Possibly, upon seeing themselves, a few book burners might say "What am I doing?"
You may be right. Bob. However, humans can be easily convinced of nasty things. If you get a chance and can find audio/video's of Hitler speaking to a crowd of many thousands, I urge you to watch and listen. You might not here a translation in English, but that's not really important to understand how these crowds reacted to his screaming.
As a retired “alleged” journalist, I have to say that if there were any errors in
English form in your contribution, they were completely erased by the content of your comment. I had no trouble understanding your report and greatly appreciated your sharing this important information. I look forward to your contributions in the future.
An anime is the lowest of budgets for film. Blood and lust are the cheapest of political candy. No anime has ever solved any great problem or crisis. Tearing things down is so much easier than building things of lasting value and significance. No one can claim this is the best country in the world, while simultaneously behaving like the worst, and still not even realizing that’s what they are doing. Gosar is an embarrassing failure to his family, Arizona, and the country. Lacking any political talent, intellect, or leadership charisma, he’s relying on pure demagoguery.
To build meaningful things takes years or decades of reading, study, diligent practice, good faith collaboration, and time. So what is the opposite of Gosar’s anime? I’m not sure any anime could ever convey the supremacy of love, respect, and kindness that is prerequisite to to leadership in our democracy. I felt a real sense of shame and fear for democracy today as only 2 Republicans could muster enough moral courage and vote for decency over demagoguery. I felt a sense of pride as Representative Cortez spoke about all this today, so eloquently describing why it’s wrong to defend someone promoting violence against women and men, other human beings that we share “only a short moment” that is life. There is no defending those that seek to make political adversaries political enemies for the sole purpose to dominate. that thinking and behavior only breeds more violence, which sews the seeds of war and injustice.
The failure to vote for decency and respect today will go down in history as a major inflection point: Democracy as we know it is officially on notice from the Republican Party.
Thank-you Ted, "I’m not sure any anime could ever convey the supremacy of love, respect, and kindness that is prerequisite to to leadership in our democracy." That line pretty much sums up my thoughts about how political and all other forms of leadership should operate. Well said.
As a big anime lover, what he did with the video goes against every anime I have watched for years.
My favorite is Naruto which always has a moral story to tell. And usually it's about how good always triumphs over evil. And while it might take time for that triumph, it does eventually come.
I find it interesting that the people in the freedumb party doesnt seem to care how they will be looked upon when history is written. Because they seem to forget that their actions will also be a part of their kids and grandkids legacy.
I don't know where this all is headed, I just hope that come 2022 we dont see our advantage gone.
I truly wish I could do more, but I am helping my young helper learn that she has more power than she thinks and she can help shape her future. And my grandsons.
Pages 164 and 165 of “Adventurers of a Bystander” by Peter Drucker explain Goser very well. Made my blood run cold. “Don’t you understand that I want power and money and to be somebody? That’s why I joined the Nazis early on, four or five years ago when they first got rolling. And now I have a party membership card with a low membership card and I’m going to be somebody. The Clever, the well-born, well-connected people will be too fastidious, or not flexible enough, or not willing to do the dirty work. That’s when I’ll come into my own. Mark my word. You’ll hear about me now…..And I did not hear from or about “the monster” until twelve years later when I read of his end in what had been his parents house,”. After Ike had “deprogrammed” the cult in Germany…
If Big Money wasn't pressuring and paying the GOP to do this, this would not be happening. Megalomaniacal enemies of our Republic like Charles Koch have been relentlessly investing and directing massive amounts resources for decades to destroy the aspiring egalitarianism, benevolence and protections at the foundation of our Republic. The closer they have gotten to succeeding, the more intolerant they've become of election results, elected officials, judges, news organizations and public sentiment frustrating their plans. They will stop at nothing now.
"Immediately following his censure, Gosar retweeted the video."
The man is beyond "unhinged," he is a despicable archetype of malevolence and obscenity incarnate. Why he is allowed to remain a member of Congress is beyond me!
He’ll never be expelled because a 2/3 majority is needed to vote him out. And Cheney and Kinzinger were the only two Rs to vote to censure him - the highest penalty available with a simple majority vote.
The other night, our family watched “I Am Not Your Negro.“
What I take away from James Baldwin:
Everything in Heather’s piece tonight supports the premise I’ve been speaking about for over a year now: the old whites-superior and males-superior (and straights-millionaires-Christians-superior) cultural paradigm is being replaced, and has already lost the fight for hegemony in our society. The dominant culture for so many years, the European Invasion culture, is getting replaced. If you look at all their rants and complaints, like Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head going gender neutral, the bathroom door signage wars, trump versus Biden & Harris, and everything in Heather‘s piece, it’s all about maintaining the old antiquated society of yesterday.
What is violence? Paul Gosar producing a cartoon? Puh-lease. Violence is “strange fruit.“ Black corpses hanging from trees. Violence is entire towns of whites descending on a Native American encampment and butchering it in its entirety. Violence is white settlers coming up with the idea of scalps so they can collect money, bounties, from the US government for killing Indians without having to tote around an entire body. Yes, it was whites that invented scalps, and as usual, the whites then blamed the Indians for their own racist mortal sins.
Does that sound familiar? Have we seen anybody blaming another group for their own sins?
The violence we are seeing is that lethal racist culture now acting like the cornered animal that it has been for awhile now. The animal catcher is snaring the cornered animal and putting it in a cage, at long last. It has terrorized the neighborhood long enough. I don’t have any sympathy for the animal anymore. Maybe it’s time for euthanizing it. Like a tiger that has lived for decades near an Indian village (the Asian India) and killed people from the village over decades, it’s about time for us to stop showing mercy. This animal is lethal. Tulsa, lynchings by the KKK of blacks and Native Americans and Asians, George Floyd, Wounded Knee, are just the tip of the iceberg. As a nation, we need to relegate that animal, that cultural paradigm, now embodied in the Republican Party, to endangered species status, just like in California, where the Republican Party is now toothless, except for McCarthy who has some power because of his seniority.
Family. “Family” is code for Christian Hallmark Channel 1950s-and-before society of yesteryear, the society that takes ships down to Africa and just brutally kidnaps people at random and brings them back to work on cotton and tobacco plantations, so the whites who own those plantations can get rich. That is the same culture which killed every Native American that got in the way of the whites stealing whatever property they could find in the New World, property that rightfully belongs to the people who were here when the whites arrived.
You could say that James Baldwin and Malcolm X are speaking through me tonight. There might be a little of MLK Jr. in there too, I have a lot of love in me, but while we love individual people, we certainly cannot love or condone their atrocities committed as a group, as a sadistic self-serving culture of whites first and men first, and everyone else under threat of brutal treatment if they don’t comply.
And now, that crowd is attacking the other whites who oppose their atrocities. Joe Biden. Nancy Pelosi. Gabby Giffords. And of course they continue to attack non-whites, women, and non-straights, like they always have.
Is it just a cartoon? No, of course not, just like Gabby Giffords’s face in the crosshairs of a rifle scope had consequences. I’m just writing this post to remind us of the precise and explicit horrors, historically, being a target of the antiquated white European-tradition society truly entails.
I am so glad to see you back, Roland. I have missed your comments the past few months. What you write here is pure gold.
I watched TRMS last night (we've been limiting our intake of "news" (as a global term for "current events" and as such are limiting these activities to once or twice a week) based upon stress levels. Her lede was with the Netflix documentary on Malcom X's assassination and the "prosecution" of the three assailants. It turns out that they have recovered information that the two co-defendants were not guilty of the crime for which they were incarcerated that was developed by the FBI and other investigative agencies and not turned over to the prosecutor's office. (The physical description of one of the assailants was as different from the man who was convicted as my appearance is from Barbara Streisand.)
When something like this happens (Malcom X showing up in my radar twice within 24 hours) it is time for me to pay attention.
Thank you for this and your reply to my question elsewhere. What I keep thinking is that no one has asked "what about Ahmaud Arbery's right to stand HIS ground???" My distinct memory of IANYN, is how Baldwin is tired and resigned, all the while being so eloquent. HE doesn't resort to violence. HE does't act like an entitled brat. HE doesn't use foul language and ugly expressions. He is the epitome of grace. And I would not blame him for a moment if he wasn't. But when you have a legitimate grievance and you are black, you are judged with a different rulebook by those who don't and aren't.
Precisely. That’s a brilliant description of Baldwin. His point is exactly what you are saying: Arbery is a victim of being killed for jogging while black. Racism killed Arbery. A bunch of Georgia racists see a black man out for a jog, and in their morally and mentally defective brains, anything other than white people in their neighborhood is cause for suspicion, because God forbid that a white person should ever have to share social space and social power with a black person. Or a Latino or Latina. Or a native person. Or a woman who isn’t meek and defers to men. Or anybody who isn’t exactly like me, because anybody who isn’t exactly like me makes me uncomfortable and I have to kill them. This is what a Republican thinks. This is what a moral degenerate goes through in their mind.
One thing I would like to correct slightly if I may...
You said "the society that takes ships down to Africa and just brutally kidnaps people at random and brings them back to work on cotton and tobacco plantations"
When in actuality, the slave ships that went to Africa purchased slaves from coastal tribal leaders who did the actual kidnapping. This is not to absolve them in the slightest, more just to set the record straight. The Black African tribes that kidnapped and sold humans to the slave ships were just as much to blame as the White slavers themselves.
This applies to the export slave trade. Don't forget the heinous massive use and abused of African slaves within Africa by European nations greedy for Africa's natural resources.
Exactly - this is a carefully forgotten (and uncomfortable) fact. In fact the cultures of the African east coast have been slave traders for probably a thousand years - they even raided England, Ireland and other coastal nations for slaves, and probably supplied the Greeks and Romans with their slaves.
I had always wondered why impeachment was for "high crimes and misdemeanors". High? Misdemeanor? It turns out under British law government officials were held to a higher standard for crimes and misdemeanors because of their larger impact on the people. Our Congress also needs to be held to a higher standard where even the misdemeanor threat of violence is not tolerated.
Yes, and Republicans feel emboldened as though they are wolves are circling the hen house. And I don't think Democrats understand the gravity of the situation and what's required to stop it. I don't think we're prepared for what comes next. We have to face that the Gosars of our world are prepared to spill blood. That is what they've been primed to believe is acceptable. That is what they want. And that's what needs to be stopped. This isn't just about AOC or Biden. The Republicans today showed that they are ready to kill us. This is not hyperbole. They must be stopped.
There is no way to reason with unreasonable people. To on the one had defend the violent surrection at the Capitol with one had and to defend the actions of Representative Gosar (Reptile, Arizona) with the other shows their lack of reason.
Whenever progress is made, there is a violent backlash. The R party thinks it will be able to control its violent fringe. What if it can’t? What if the politics of resentment leads to resentment of the GOP and people who think it is not ok to burn the neighborhood down decide to burn the country down, thinking it will rise like a phoenix bird, pure and stronger than ever? And what sort of resistance would be effective? A state Capitol can be as red as a candied apple, but that doesn’t mean that state is so red. The same goes for the House in d.c. Can more than half the country ignore the state and national governments, the Supreme Court? We might be in a situation we can’t wait out. We could count the days til the end of the trump presidency, but a true takeover? Meanwhile, “Pray for the Joint Chiefs”.
We have to do everything we can to turn this around. It's is very important to raise the alarm as far, wide, and often as we can so it will sink in and provide some time for more people to join together and devise strategies to combat it. Little time is left though. I agree that 2022 could be the end.
Republicans showed us who they were with their No votes on the censure, and we need to believe them. We can't sit back and say that some were just quiet cowards who wanted to vote Yes. They chose as side here, one that is going to cost lives. We've saw a prelude to this on Jan 6th, but the Republicans and their allies have been building to this point on many fronts for decades now.
I watched some of the Gosar censure yesterday. When McCarthy arrogantly rattled off a list of everything he thought Biden had done wrong, I wanted to punch him in the face. I was amazed at AOC’s eloquence. Nancy Pelosi was so strong. The censure vote went the exact way it should have gone. The 1/06 invader with the horns got 3.5 years behind bars. The FBI is going after the people who threaten people on school boards. Good things are happening.
👏🏻👏🏻AOC just does a great job of messaging at every level of her position. I especially appreciate her long “chats” with her social media followers in which she takes us behind the scenes and talks about whatever is happening-The Attempted Coup, the big votes, etc. And, who can forget (no matter her flaws) how Nancy Pelosi stood up to the Bully in Chief back when he was throwing daily tantrums? Go, Ladies! Maxine Waters, too! ❤️🤍💙
(no matter her flaws') Pelosi, are you referring to her accomplishments? Are you counting the ways? In an imperfect world of imperfect humans, I make my point of respect for the Madam Speaker, gildedtwig. Cheers!
I share your respect for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, in a better world (hopefully coming soon to a country near us), she'd have a long and distinguished career ahead. Her learning curve in her initial term was impressive and it is to be hoped that the Democrats in her district won't succumb to jealousy and run someone against her. I reserve comment on Mrs. Pelosi for a less contentious time because for the last 5 years she has definitely been on the side of the angels.
'As Pelosi raised her children, she volunteered for the Democratic Party and served on the San Francisco Library Commission. In 1987, she won a special election to represent the city of San Francisco in the House of Representatives.'
'Pelosi’s colleagues elected her House Democratic Whip in 2001 and House Democratic Leader in 2002, making her the first woman to hold both positions. Finally breaking the marble ceiling of the Capitol, Pelosi was elected by her colleagues to serve as the first woman Speaker of the House from 2007 to 2011.'
'As Speaker, Pelosi spearheaded passage of the historic Affordable Care Act in the House and led the Congress in passing strong Wall Street reforms. A powerful voice for women’s rights, she was instrumental in passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore the ability of women and all workers to fight pay discrimination. Her legislative accomplishments also include the passage of historic investments in college aid, clean energy and innovation, and initiatives to help small businesses and veterans. Under Pelosi’s leadership, the 111th Congress was heralded as “one of the most productive Congresses in history” by Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein.' (Women's Hall of Fame) See link below.
I don't dispute her accomplishments at all Fern and have a healthy respect for her abilities as a political manager. My reservations apply to politicians as a segment of society and don't prevent me from supporting the good ones. Your brief history of her progress through the system is most impressive. One immediate reservation is her apparent failure to groom a successor in light of the unavoidable fact that, at some point, all of us must move on to another level of life.
I can, and because one day one of them will be if it's not stopped now, I don't understand their reluctance. I try to avoid slippery slope theorizing but there is history for this and very good reasons why firearms aren't permitted on the floor of the house. There is an impressive list of items that aren't allowed in the House and Senate chambers, most of them a result of some previous usage along the lines of the anime.
The Republicans are playing the long game. Keeping the drip drip drip of eroding the mores of Democracy at every turn.
The gosar moment is one of many since 2016 when tfg guy won. It does appear that the political violence is more, well, violent and more often. By this I mean violent rhetoric. At this point.
They are definitely pushing the limits to see how much they can get away with. Biden's and Merrick's conservatism in hauling more people in (including himself in Florida) is puzzling and frightening. Why isn't trump behind bars?
The GOP should reassess what they consider the "long game". Most of these tactics have been tried before, here and elsewhere, and it has never ended well for the instigators which is the only ray of hope I see right now. I share your puzzlement at the continued freedom of a known insurrectionist and his cohorts; hopefully Bannon's coming conviction and imprisonment are a sign that the worm has turned.
What I'm getting at is that hate-filled tyranny is the ultimate consequence of ultra-competition, "the survival of the fittest", expressed at its most extreme potency.
"Winner" takes all.
Loser... is NOTHING and forfeits any rights previously enjoyed.
Such is the outlook of these would-be winners-at-all-costs: freedom, their private monopoly, hell for all others.
I quite agree Peter and that is the justification and underlying value of rule of law. Once a society moves away from that principle there are no limits to the abuse that whoever has power can visit on those who don't.
America's culture has made such a fetish of competition—competition for its own sake—that man ends up living to work instead of working to support life... and worse, far worse, with the end—“WINNING”—justifying any and every means, so that lying, cheating, the physical elimination of the “Other”, the “loser”, becomes not only licit but normal. The same amorality grounded in the pseudo-science of eugenics as underpinned Hitler's Third Reich. A state, a household, in which the dominant inhabitants may designate entire segments of society as vermin and treat those segments accordingly.
Liz says, “I wanted to punch [McCarthy] in the face.”
Go team 👊
And exactly now I’m in that POS’s district, taking a break in a rest area on the freeway. I have the great good fortune of driving in nearly all the Republican House districts of California for my work schedule every week. Next up: Devin Nunes’s district.
Once again, the Republiscum continue to demonstrate that Harry Truman was right 73 years ago when he observed that "the only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies." And that was the Republican Party that - today - we look back on as being a good party, despite at the time they were creating the Red Scare with the HUAC hearings into the Hollywood Ten and Richard Nixon was getting ready to become famous with the HUAC hearings he led with the testimony of Whittaker Chambers and "the pumpkin papers" (so called because Chambers claimed he had hidden them in a hollowed-out pumpkin). And a first-term senator from Wisconsin who had so far achieved nothing wondered whether he should base his 1952 re-election campaign on a call for new financing of housing, or would it be better to play "this commie game" as he termed it in a conversation with a friend.
Let's recall how Richard Hofstadter described them 67 years ago in 1954:
It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative — I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates — because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions. They have little in common with the temperate and compromising spirit of true conservatism in the classical sense of the word, and they are far from pleased with the dominant practical conservatism of the moment as it is represented by the Eisenhower Administration. Their political reactions express rather a profound if largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways — a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence.
From clinical interviews and thematic apperception tests, Adorno and his co-workers found that their pseudo-conservative subjects, although given to a form of political expression that combines a curious mixture of largely conservative with occasional radical notions, succeed in concealing from themselves impulsive tendencies that, if released in action, would be very far from conservative. The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows “conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness” in his conscious thinking and “violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere. . . . The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
And they have only gotten worse since. As demonstrated today with their threats to "cancel" Democrats when they return to power next year.
Thanks, TC, for these important historical insights on pseudo-conservatives. Yes, we MUST keep these barbarians from the gates. Any insights on methods for disarming the authoritarian personality and reinforcing our gates? Because I fear the one that worked with Joe McCarthy may have no success today:
"In 1954, after accusing the army, including war heroes, Senator Joseph McCarthy lost credibility in the eyes of the American public. He was formally censured by his colleagues in Congress and the hearings led by McCarthy came to a close.[29] After the Senate formally censured McCarthy, his political standing and power were significantly diminished, and much of the tension surrounding the idea of a possible communist takeover died down." [Wickipedia]
I receive more information about gerrymandering of American elections from a newspaper published in England than I receive from my own regional American newspapers.
It is small wonder when politicians can pick their voters, rather than voters picking their politicians, why federal politicians now have so little in common with their constituents and so little interest in addressing constituents' needs.
And as The Guardian is one of our newspapers here in the U.K. ...NOT... owned by big business, it has its own voice.
I fear for the U.S. given the current state of politics after the appalling scenes of 1/6. which is when I started following HCR. Sending positive thoughts to you all.
When I logged on and opened LFAA this morning with my first cup of coffee, there were 195 comments. As I write this, there are now 268 and I have just taken the last swallow of cup number three. Todays comments do not disappoint and are reflective of the depth of knowledge and experience that our community here reflects.
Even though I have come to expect the worst from today's Republiscum/Repugnant party, I was still dumbfounded by the fact that 2 brave and 4 cowardly members avoided a strict party line vote. I recall the brouhaha over Al Franken some years back. Really???? I was not expecting the blatant "fuck you" that Gosar did in re-tweeting that same video, but am also not surprised by it. The playground bullyesque response of Kevin McCarthy (Reptile, CA) crying that it was an "abuse of power" with the implied notion of "just you wait until its OUR turn".
For me, this paragraph sums up where we are today very well:
"Republicans have made it clear that they are comfortable with violence, and they are rigging elections to gain power. Unless Congress chooses to protect our votes with the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Republican performance in the House today will become our norm. "
Violence and rigging elections to gain/maintain power should be "so 19th century". It isn't. Our racist, violent history is cycling back again.
Footnotes:
1: I intentionally used a vulgarity. I put it in quotes.
Ally, I've drafted and trashed 4 posts since I read this LFAA last night. You have, as usual, articulated the issues very well. I still haven't begun to think clearly since Gosar's repost of his photo-shopped POS meme yesterday which neatly dovetails with Tucker Carlson's incendiary 3 part part series on Fox Nation, "Patriot Purge" and Charlie Kirk's vague yet inflammatory response to the question, "When do we get to use the guns? [...] How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?"* All of this is geared to ignite anger, fear, and mistrust toward anyone who does not echo the rhetoric being pushed by the far right. And it's working. The right wing echo chambers are electric and vibrating with violent energy.
Anne Applebaum's 2 November column in the Atlantic clearly articulates my concerns and fears about how the right wing media has systematically and successfully manipulated their consumers to a point where they believe they are being robbed of their freedoms and liberties, that their vote has been and will be stolen. They repeat the same message day after day after day.
IMHO, here's the problem (again): From the White House down, no one is grabbing the bull by the horns and addressing the issue legally by shutting down speech that advocates violence. Should the President file lawsuits? No. But he can damned sure stand up and speak aggressively against it. And what of the Congressional hearings, aren't they turning out to be nothing more than political theater? When contempt of Congress results in nothing more than paying a fine out of petty cash is Congress really able to address the issues head on? Republicans refusing to admonish or censure fellow Republicans for incendiary behavior goes beyond absurd, it's downright dangerous. Half of our legislators are saying, "Have at it".
The right has spent decades dismantling law and order in this country. They have promoted easy access to firearms, done away with the presentation of balanced reporting and opinion, turned public health upside down and made K-12 education a battlefield over a curriculum which does not exist within that realm. And, here goes - we keep telling ourselves that if we talk nice to family, friends and neighbors we can change their minds. It's not going to happen that way. Our dignified, quiet approach to politics has failed. We are in serious danger.
* Please see Charlie Kirk's response in Heather's notes
Ally, I read this before I went to bed which was not a good idea. I did go to sleep, but I think I was lucky. When I read it, there were three comments, but I knew that by this am there would be many. I posted it to my Facebook page with the comment, "This is chilling." It is very chilling and something that is in the back of my mind always. First, I think of the brownshirts; then the Nazis killing all the intellectuals and pols in Poland that they thought would form resistance movements. I think about the people I know who support death star donny, including the one who said she was glad not to be as educated as me because she disagrees with me politically. I do not think they support murder, but I am sure they are ok with voter suppression. I read somewhere that here in Salem on the 20th we are going to have the usual suspects at the capitol building. I am my first and only cup of coffee. It's way too early for a single malt neat.
The reason that Republicans are unwilling to censure Gosar is that he's not an outlier. Yes, it's true that Gosar is unhinged, as his family keeps telling us. He's totally unfit for office - a rabid, racist psychopath. The problem for McCarthy and Republican leaders is that their party is full of unhinged fanatics who are unfit for office. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Matt Gaetz. Lauren Boebert. Jim Jordan. Trump. Gohmert. Mo Brooks. Madison Cawthorn. And on and on...
If McCarthy starts applying the "unhinged and unfit for office" filter on his members, he'll have to censure dozens of Republicans at the national and state level. Here's the real problem. Despite his family paying for political ads out of their own pocket to tell Arizona voters that Gosar is a horrible human being and unfit for office, Gosar won with 69% of the vote in the last election. Republican voters love unhinged, unfit candidates. McCarthy, spineless and craven as he is, would never take a principled stance that goes against the deplorable GOP base. The entire party is unhinged, and unfit for office.
"The reason that Republicans are unwilling to censure Gosar is that he's not an outlier." --JR
"[T]hat would require his fellow Republicans to acknowledge that there is something seriously wrong with a colleague who would post an anime video of himself killing a congresswoman and threatening the president.
That, apparently, is asking too much of the once-Grand Old Party."
one of the big arguments Republicans seem to enjoy saying over and over again is something like: "if you lose the house, we'll start censuring YOU." but as far as I know (and if I'm wrong, I'm glad to be enlightened), this kind of completely unhinged behavior is something you don't see much from Democrats, who tend to get in trouble in ways that seem a lot more "mainstream" to me than the clearly lunatic Gosar's post. the one thing about all this that feels like it's good for an appropriate chuckle is Gosar's pathetic effort to "walk it back" by denying that he "created" it (very possibly true, but irrelevant) or didn't see it before it was posted, etc. his retweet, needless to say, gives the lie to ALL of that bullshit.
No you are correct; you don't see it from Democrats at all. And Democratic leadership thoroughly denounces violence on all sides.
They mean they'll censure Democrats and remove them from committees for whatever they feel like. Drinking coffee. Revenge for prosecuting TFG for impeachment.
Does anyone else hear an ironic echo caused by the collision of Republicans being offended with Goser’s loss of Committee assignments and Republicans taking away Committee assignments from Liz Cheney?
The Republicans are becoming increasingly unhinged. It's like watching a kind of malignant dementia take hold of the whole group. What happens next? Are the Republicans going to claim that the expectation that they wear clothes in Congress is "tyranny" and needs to be defied?
It isn't just the nutcases, like Gosar and Greene. It's that 207 Republican members of congress did not vote to censure Gosar over a public act that, at BEST -- under tons of cosmetics buffed to a fine polish -- can be characterized as an impotent act of puerile rage in extreme bad taste. Imagine -- just imagine -- that there really was some kind of tyranny going on, and that the core of the "revolution" against it was pulling this kind of toilet-papering stunt and banding together to "support" it as a valid, necessary patriotic act: dear God, what an embarrassment.
True. If these people can't even deal with the likes of Paul Gosar, how will they fare against people like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, or even Jair Bolsonaro?
I've tried to imagine a political figure from, say, Czech Republic, posted an anime of themselves beheading a Republican Representative ---McConnell, Cruz, McCarty, Stefanik, Ernst---the Republicans would be up in arms! They would produce scathing rebuttals about it for weeks. OpEds, editorials, rallys. The Rs are disgustingly transparent.
I think they just don't want their vote against Gosar to be held against them when running in the 2022 primary, which, in many Rep-leaning districts, is really the general election. Cowards.
So I called my Republican senator and went Heather Cox Richardson on the woman who answered. I talked about voting rights, the 14th amendment, the parallels between the Confederacy and the current stance of the Republican Party. After 20 minutes I said, "i hope this makes sense," and she replied, "yes it does and I'm writing it down as fast as I can, my hand actually hurts!" :)
Thank you, Dr. Richardson, for not losing heart. Its hard and scary but there is always hope.
“… went Heather Cox Richardson on…”
Now *there* is a phrase that deserves to enter common parlance.
Good for you. Let's pass the message: "Go Heather Cox Richardson" on them all. Just think about what it would be like if the inboxes of every Republican senator and representative were flooded with this. I live in NH where all my reps/senators are Democrats, but I'll be sending one to Senator Collins of Maine.
"Just think about what it would be like if the inboxes of every Republican senator and representative were flooded with this. " Arthur - good thought. However coming from a deep red state like I do (TN) I can tell you that minority voters flooding their inboxes will not move the needle one micron. Do you really think a Marsha Blackburn would change her stance on anything? And that is the problem - in a democratic government like ours, truth and honesty are vital for good decision making. We have a political party that has ranked power before truth and honesty, and is gaming the system to hold onto or retake power. They care not one iota for what you and I think. I fear constitutionally we do not have the tools to fight it.
I live in Tennessee, and my experience with contacting Tennessee legislators (all Republicans) has been followed by a deluge of political emails, essays about the wonderful things being done in Tennessee. HOGWASH!
Sorry to hear that. Please don't give up.
Same in my corner, Andrea!
Ashley, I am in East Tennessee. You?
I asked my brother in Nashville was there someone I could donate to. His response was to save my money unless he found someone who had a chance. If you have a recommendation for a state level person elsewhere in my natal state, let me know! Nashville he'll share. It's pretty blue anyway.
Either you stand up and make yourself heard or get lost in the muck as it overwhelms all of us. I'm from the USVI, think Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett so no Republicans to contact. Many will only take emails, etc from their constituents so please give it a try. Thank You.
Jay Wheaton - I think your comments are spot on and IMO your last sentence is why so many who are trying to fight the good fight feel they are flinging themselves against a brick wall. Domestically, democrats are "bringing knives to a gunfight". Internationally, Europe and other countries are looking on in disbelief as republicans make a mockery of their own government which, among so many other things, diminishes our ability to negotiate or generate much respect.
The internal attempts to grab power and the displays of outrageous behavior has a long history and of course even a civil war (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) However, in prior centuries the U.S. was not the economic or military power of today. Unfortunately, the game the republicans have been and continue to engage in has the potential for devastating consequences on a global scale.
Thanks. My pet issue is climate change. This power grab, if successful, will again halt the US efforts to play our part in climate mitigation. Already it was hobbled by Manchin/Sinema. But the world will look on with horror if in 2024 the Republicans take back the presidency and the US backs out of all our commitments.
I think those of us in Democratic states need to urge our Senators and Representatives to pass the voting rights bills--ASAP!
I have contacted all 3 of my U.S. Congressional members about this and other things.
Rational, fact based arguments against the abhorrent actions of the GOP would go right over their heads, I’m afraid.
I doubt that they even read my emails. I suspect that someone is assigned to send a pre-written response to all incoming emails from state citizens that do not support their shenanigans.
Broke my heart when she got re-elected.
Hi Arthur! I live in NH too. This Repub led gov't is doing as much as they can to prevent fair redistricting maps and so much else-GRRR!
Er, or is that *the* common parlance?
Wow! Wonderful!
🎉🎉
Good on you, S!!
Good for you! I will call my Congressman’s office today and do the same. Thank you!!
well done!
What a great way to put it: to go "Heather Cox Richardson" ! I love it!
Bravo/a!!
The good news today is that Fair Maps Texas Action Committee with a coalition of civil rights groups including Common Cause, Clean Elections Texas, League of Women Voters of Texas, Our Vote Texas, Texans Against Gerrymandering. and ACLU Texas filed a federal lawsuit against the State of Texas challenging the unconstitutional district maps that give Republicans autocratic power for the next decade at least. The redistricting which added two new Congressional Districts to Texas will give white Republicans a large advantage even though 95% of the population growth in Texas came from people of color. Unless the courts remedy this, Texas is no longer a democracy. It is now an autocracy. Don't Texas the rest of the states! Read David Pepper's new book on "Laboratories of Autocracy".
Great book recommendation. I urge everyone to consider moving Laboratories of Autocracy to the top of your reading list. We must act now to save our democracy and this easy to read book explains how it’s all about the state houses - local elections! One section describes how politicians climb the rungs of the election ladder and end up in Congress with little to no real campaign experience - because they were appointed or they ran unopposed all the way. A quick review of my last sample election ballot proves that is the case. Republican candidates for local offices were running unopposed in so many districts my heart sank. NY state may look like Democrats are in the majority, but the local districts paint a very different picture of who is making the laws.
I went over NC’s new voting maps and several districts have R’s running unopposed. Heartbreaking! The R’s have all kinds of evil planned if they win majorities in Congress.
Are people afraid to run against them? Does anyone understand what is going on here or how we can solve this? Are there truly no sane folks in these districts?
I think sane folks are in the minority. The districts have been rigged to a fare-thee-well. My district now includes a county that is very rural and votes Republican. That county was also home to R voting fraud regarding absentee ballot harvesting. The current reality is the latest in a long line of efforts to suppress the votes of progressive voters. I use the term “progressive” to mean those who care about ordinary people. NC is a purple state about evenly divided. The R legislature has voted in maps to give themselves a 71%-78% advantage in the number of congressional seats. I feel like l live in a John Grisham novel.
Ditto here in Ohio. Although here, the Ds are fairly concentrated in the cities, especially Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, while the rural areas are very R. Still, for statewide votes like president and senator, we are fairly purple. We have voted twice that we want nonpartisan districts. And look where we are - the most gerrymandered state in the country.
I know whereof you speak, Kathy. I lived in northwest Ohio for 17, most recently Perrysburg, outside of Toledo. Perrysburg is in Wood County, which is rural farm country, pretty conservative.
I did not engage in political conversations with ANYONE. Is Ohio more gerrymandered than NC which previously had its terrible maps thrown out because they targeted minorities with surgical precision?Now the R legislature has given themselves 71%-78 of the 14 congressional seat. NC is a purple state, evenly divided.
Ugh. I am originally from a little Southern Baptist town in NC. Born and raised there by Holocaust victims from Poland and Germany. The minute I graduated from high school, I high-tailed it out of there. I have one very close friend who is still there and two others in Raleigh/Durham area. These gerrymandering tactics are being used here in CA too although the majority of the state are Democrats. Sickening but fight fight FIGHT!
Are you referring to local jurisdictions? California has an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission that for 2020 is composed of 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans and 4 No Party Preference for the required 14 members. Redistricting for state and federal elective positions is extremely interactive; same is true for what is happening in the City of San Diego.
"In 2008, California voters passed the Voters First Act, authorizing the creation of the independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw new State Senate, State Assembly, and State Board of Equalization district lines. In 2010, the Voters First Act for Congress gave the Commission the responsibility of drawing new Congressional districts following every census." https://voiceofoc.org/2021/11/2020-california-citizens-redistricting-commission-releases-draft-maps-ahead-of-deadline/
"The 14-member 2020 Citizens Redistricting Commission is fully formed. As required by law, the first eight members of the 2020 Citizens Redistricting Commission were randomly selected on July 2, 2020 from a list of remaining applicants delivered by the Legislature on June 26, 2020. These first eight members chose the final six members from the applicants that remained in the applicant pool on August 7, 2020." https://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/index/
If Joe Manchin screws Dems chance to getting voting rights passed, I will be obsessed with seeing him gone before I die.
I’m also in NC. Back in the 80s the company for which my husband worked moved to NC because it was a non-union state. At the time I thought that was a sick reason to move and I still do. The so-called purpling of this state has been effectively undone by the gerrymandering of recent years. We live on the perimeter of the very progressive college where I taught, but for the past few years we’ve been redistricted into a very red area. The blue district where we used to vote was cut into two very heavily red districts.
The R legislature drew the maps so that they created a district for Tim Price to run for Congress. How about that? It just makes me want to slap them silly!
Mitch planned well and states learned evil from the master
No, Mein Kompf
I don’t think people are afraid to run against the Republicans. I think the state is so gerrymandered that it is a lost cause because these districts will never vote for a Democrat or an Independent.
Well they never will if people don’t try.
True. It’s a long game. We’re making progress in my area. Not close enough to pass the majority mark yet, but getting closer each election - provided there is an actual democratic candidate on the ballot! Running unopposed is giving it away.
I am shocked at the number of people who have no clue
I am too! Actually, frustrated that people simply do not educate themselves about their world. Quite a few I have spoken to refuse to watch the news, which I understand but there are other resources than mainstream media.
Never have we been in such dire shape, cults never rule for the people. Ignore at your children’s peril, ostriches
Tragic in NC run by McConnell clone Boss Berger, and the doughboy Moore!
They are the Despicable Duo.
David's book is incredible. I also urge all of you to read it. And, please follow him on Twitter (if you are on Twitter) as his posts have so much information, almost in real time. Here is one to watch :https://twitter.com/DavidPepper/status/1458461663846440961
Yes!!! I was stunned to see those unopposed seats in the county next to mine which isn’t that far from NYC, but still purple-turning-red. ❤️🤍💙
Reading Laboratories of Autocracy. Pepper is very complimentary of the League of Women Voters - an organization that I need to join here in NY. Legislative corruption at the state level is very familiar to us in NYS, and we recently saw the failure of propositions that would have strengthened voting in our supposed blue state. Autocracy is in the process of playing out -creeping along- here in NY just as Pepper outlines in Laboratories of Democracy. (We Democrats had not much support to understand the props. Not even yard signs; whereas, the ReThuglicans had those basics covered.) 5-Alarm Fire. This is not a drill. ❤️🤍💙
You are so right! And it's even worse in red states. Florida's legislature proposed maps that totally go against the fair districting laws and when questioned about it by a civil rights attorney who is leading the charge for the League of Women Voters against these maps, their response was something along the lines of "because we don't have to".
I just downloaded “Laboratories of Autocracy” to my Kindle this week. Positively riveting! Not to mention insightful and full of action ideas we can all engage in to protect our fragile democracy.
With luck and hard work, maybe my neighbors and I can prevent Minnesota from going ‘Texas.’ And maybe pave the way for future generations to live in a full on democratic Republic like we have.
Nothing is certain in life but death and Texas.
But, Beto...
The bad news is that America needs this good news.
Gerrymandering executed by people with a vested interest in the outcome has the effect of burying a giant but silent FAIL button in the vital organs of democracy.
And now in this age of analytics and big data it becomes child’s play to snap your fingers and order up a way to “win” your state.
Looking at maps of gerrymandered states would be Onion-esque if the consequences weren’t so deadly.
American politics always takes every opportunity to go the edge of the abyss and peer down into the blackness. It’s the hubris of power, but from afar it looks like a death wish.
Many afar know our death spiral was started by the greed and hubris of a few maniacal American billionaires who despise the Common Good. Authoritarianism requires cash and the political power it buys.
“Immediately following his censure, Gosar retweeted the video.” WTF??!? No only is he ‘unhinged’ but so, apparently, are 211 of the GOP House Conference. Party of Law & Order my a$$.
I don't know how expulsion happens but when a Representative is censured for an act and immediately afterwards commits the same act over again, there seems little point in a second censure. He was reprimanded and given the chance to behave himself but his choice was to offend again. The 2nd offense was begging expulsion. Let's not disappoint him.
Someone posted 2/3 vote is needed for expelling. Hard to see where that would come from given the vote they just took. The GOP members who might want somewhere deep in there soul to be a decent person are just digging themselves deeper and deeper into an abyss of turpitude.
My father saw this happen in his country. First, politicians support evil out of greed, peer pressure and stupidity. Then they do it out of growing fear. Then out of terror. Then a gun, knife, noose or ope
When there are few consequences and the violent rhetoric and actions are treated with a velvet glove they will not only continue but will get worse.
This is not Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon in order to let the Country heal. This a slow rolling coup d'état. I appreciate Biden and Merrick not wanting to appear that they are hauling in their political enemies. But I sure wish they would wage a more firm fight against the forces tearing down Democracy in this Country.
President Biden please get off the Infrastructure Bill victory tour and come back to the White House and defend voting rights and punish people who have earned that punishment.
Biden MUST do the "infrastucture victory tour" else the Republicans will confidently claim it as their own. Many Repugnants who did not vote for it already are.
MaryPat one such repugnant Repub already took credit!!
Yup.
No one who is looking to destroy Democracy in this Country is listening to Joe Biden talk about a new bridge in some town.
What people will absolutely listen to are strong consequences for those seeking and advocating the dismantling of Democracy through their efforts.
President Biden and Attorney General Garland your Country needs you to defend it.
The long-gamed brainwashing is now so advanced, and the tactics of Roy Cohn as practiced by DJT are too embedded in the Republican Party to avoid a horrible outcome. At this point defensive measures will feed the monster and delight evil.
Not if we elevate the rule of law and diminish the rhetoric (the exact opposite of the Kenosha trial).
Biden isn't speaking to those who are seeking to destroy Democracy in the country. He's speaking to those who support him and those who fall betwixt and between. It's the DOJ and AG Garland who are taking action and imposing consequences on those determined to destroy our country; we're seeing some results already with more to come. Both men have important roles and need to be supported in their decisions about how to proceed in the fight.
It won't save us, but still worth it. Sometimes a rebound only occurs after hitting rock-bottom.
"I appreciate Biden and Merrick not wanting to appear that they are hauling in their political enemies."
I don't.
Daniel!
Do good to “see” you here with us. You’ve been missed 💙.
Thank you for being so kind.
Thank YOU for being such an impactful voice here.
Then and there he should have been expelled. Period. There is no excuse for this behavior, from anyone. And apparently there are very few current Republicans who are willing to stand up for this democracy, or what's left of it, and demand that we treat it as a democracy. Liz Cheney should be given a Medal of Honor.
Liz Cheney is about the only one showing any common sense, and when you get right down to it, she is no angel, and her dad really left a bit to be desired……..
Of course she's attached to her father. But if she'd been born at a certain time in Germany, she'd be among those saving Jews from the Nazis.
I wish I were as confident. To date, she has voted against voter protection legislation each time it’s been brought to the floor.
have these votes been before or after the insurrection? Or both?
True…her attachment to her dad always leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. She and Kinzinger are the outliers of the Insurrectionist Party.
The Insurrectionist Party will probably be replaced by a Trump new Nazional Patriot Party. Can't wait to see how they stylize the "T" on their flags and armbands.
Sadly, it takes 2/3rds to kick him out.
Yes, Gosar should be expelled but there's not a snowball's chance that the required 2/3 vote to do would ever happen.
Where is Twitter in all of this?
Good question.
What’s wrong with twitter??? I would think Gosar would have been banned,
excellent point! I'll see if I can get that trending
Republicans standing with Gosar effectively retweeted the anime themselves in the name of their millions of voters. The condition of our Democracy is much worse than most Americans and journalists can emotionally and pragmatically handle. We still have many opportunities to protect and save what so many before us have risen and risked for. I personally suffer terrible consequences of what Nazi Germany physically and mentally did to my parents. My German grandfather was murdered belatedly fighting them politically and socially. My father bled and suffered lifelong PTSD to defeat them. What will our fates be?
I have already contacted my representative, Andy Barr of Kentucky condemning his vote not to censure. Ironically, he spoke on the floor of the House earlier asking for a moment of silence for a former representative from Kentucky, Larry Hopkins, who recently died. Although I did not agree with Mr. Hopkins on many issues, I also felt he was a man of integrity. Today he would probably be called a RINO.
On another note, you may recall the news stories about the Spotsylvania Virginia school board who a few days ago voted to ban "sexually explicit" books from the school libraries and even had two member speak of book burning. At their last meeting on Monday night, it is reported that students and parents and others in the community showed up to protest this vote and the comments. 68 people signed up to speak to the board to condemn the vote and the comments compared to the two who had made the original compliant. One member who made the book burning comment has apologized. The other stated she did not remember making such a comment (the meeting is taped). They are backing down on their original vote. As Dr. Richardson has said in the past, we have to be louder than the loudest voices in the room. Forgive any grammer or spelling mistakes. It is early.
Maybe a burning of books would've been a good idea. Especially a public and well publicized book burning covered by every media outlet with close-up identifiable video of the book burners. Of course some would applaud, but I believe the vast majority of viewers would be repulsed by the images. Possibly, upon seeing themselves, a few book burners might say "What am I doing?"
You may be right. Bob. However, humans can be easily convinced of nasty things. If you get a chance and can find audio/video's of Hitler speaking to a crowd of many thousands, I urge you to watch and listen. You might not here a translation in English, but that's not really important to understand how these crowds reacted to his screaming.
This is what I fear, believe me. Daughter of Holocaust victims here.
As a retired “alleged” journalist, I have to say that if there were any errors in
English form in your contribution, they were completely erased by the content of your comment. I had no trouble understanding your report and greatly appreciated your sharing this important information. I look forward to your contributions in the future.
Thank you, Bill. My first degree was in journalism believe or not. My second degree was in nursing that I pursued until I retired.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
And that is what it takes - to be louder than the loudest voices!! Why isnt that happening more often?
An anime is the lowest of budgets for film. Blood and lust are the cheapest of political candy. No anime has ever solved any great problem or crisis. Tearing things down is so much easier than building things of lasting value and significance. No one can claim this is the best country in the world, while simultaneously behaving like the worst, and still not even realizing that’s what they are doing. Gosar is an embarrassing failure to his family, Arizona, and the country. Lacking any political talent, intellect, or leadership charisma, he’s relying on pure demagoguery.
To build meaningful things takes years or decades of reading, study, diligent practice, good faith collaboration, and time. So what is the opposite of Gosar’s anime? I’m not sure any anime could ever convey the supremacy of love, respect, and kindness that is prerequisite to to leadership in our democracy. I felt a real sense of shame and fear for democracy today as only 2 Republicans could muster enough moral courage and vote for decency over demagoguery. I felt a sense of pride as Representative Cortez spoke about all this today, so eloquently describing why it’s wrong to defend someone promoting violence against women and men, other human beings that we share “only a short moment” that is life. There is no defending those that seek to make political adversaries political enemies for the sole purpose to dominate. that thinking and behavior only breeds more violence, which sews the seeds of war and injustice.
The failure to vote for decency and respect today will go down in history as a major inflection point: Democracy as we know it is officially on notice from the Republican Party.
Well said, Ted. It is overwhelmingly sad and terrifying.
Thank-you Ted, "I’m not sure any anime could ever convey the supremacy of love, respect, and kindness that is prerequisite to to leadership in our democracy." That line pretty much sums up my thoughts about how political and all other forms of leadership should operate. Well said.
As a big anime lover, what he did with the video goes against every anime I have watched for years.
My favorite is Naruto which always has a moral story to tell. And usually it's about how good always triumphs over evil. And while it might take time for that triumph, it does eventually come.
I find it interesting that the people in the freedumb party doesnt seem to care how they will be looked upon when history is written. Because they seem to forget that their actions will also be a part of their kids and grandkids legacy.
I don't know where this all is headed, I just hope that come 2022 we dont see our advantage gone.
I truly wish I could do more, but I am helping my young helper learn that she has more power than she thinks and she can help shape her future. And my grandsons.
“freedumb party” 😂😂😂
Mitch plans to rewrite history, he has said as much. Rupert already does
History?They are religious bigots and nihilists through and through.
This: “Tearing things down is so much easier than building things of lasting value and significance.”
Another version: "𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘶𝘱, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘚𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴?"
always
Pages 164 and 165 of “Adventurers of a Bystander” by Peter Drucker explain Goser very well. Made my blood run cold. “Don’t you understand that I want power and money and to be somebody? That’s why I joined the Nazis early on, four or five years ago when they first got rolling. And now I have a party membership card with a low membership card and I’m going to be somebody. The Clever, the well-born, well-connected people will be too fastidious, or not flexible enough, or not willing to do the dirty work. That’s when I’ll come into my own. Mark my word. You’ll hear about me now…..And I did not hear from or about “the monster” until twelve years later when I read of his end in what had been his parents house,”. After Ike had “deprogrammed” the cult in Germany…
"The [Democrats and their Progressives are] too fastidious, or not flexible enough, or not willing to do the dirty work.
If Big Money wasn't pressuring and paying the GOP to do this, this would not be happening. Megalomaniacal enemies of our Republic like Charles Koch have been relentlessly investing and directing massive amounts resources for decades to destroy the aspiring egalitarianism, benevolence and protections at the foundation of our Republic. The closer they have gotten to succeeding, the more intolerant they've become of election results, elected officials, judges, news organizations and public sentiment frustrating their plans. They will stop at nothing now.
Been watching it for decades, they smell success and will ramp up the evil…
'....we share “only a short moment” that is life.' Thank you, Ted. There is so much it that 'short moment'.
Well articulated, sir. Your last line; I may steal it and offer it (with retribution) in a coming political argument that I am sure is on the horizon.
"Immediately following his censure, Gosar retweeted the video."
The man is beyond "unhinged," he is a despicable archetype of malevolence and obscenity incarnate. Why he is allowed to remain a member of Congress is beyond me!
He’ll never be expelled because a 2/3 majority is needed to vote him out. And Cheney and Kinzinger were the only two Rs to vote to censure him - the highest penalty available with a simple majority vote.
Cult, call it what it is
The other night, our family watched “I Am Not Your Negro.“
What I take away from James Baldwin:
Everything in Heather’s piece tonight supports the premise I’ve been speaking about for over a year now: the old whites-superior and males-superior (and straights-millionaires-Christians-superior) cultural paradigm is being replaced, and has already lost the fight for hegemony in our society. The dominant culture for so many years, the European Invasion culture, is getting replaced. If you look at all their rants and complaints, like Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head going gender neutral, the bathroom door signage wars, trump versus Biden & Harris, and everything in Heather‘s piece, it’s all about maintaining the old antiquated society of yesterday.
What is violence? Paul Gosar producing a cartoon? Puh-lease. Violence is “strange fruit.“ Black corpses hanging from trees. Violence is entire towns of whites descending on a Native American encampment and butchering it in its entirety. Violence is white settlers coming up with the idea of scalps so they can collect money, bounties, from the US government for killing Indians without having to tote around an entire body. Yes, it was whites that invented scalps, and as usual, the whites then blamed the Indians for their own racist mortal sins.
Does that sound familiar? Have we seen anybody blaming another group for their own sins?
The violence we are seeing is that lethal racist culture now acting like the cornered animal that it has been for awhile now. The animal catcher is snaring the cornered animal and putting it in a cage, at long last. It has terrorized the neighborhood long enough. I don’t have any sympathy for the animal anymore. Maybe it’s time for euthanizing it. Like a tiger that has lived for decades near an Indian village (the Asian India) and killed people from the village over decades, it’s about time for us to stop showing mercy. This animal is lethal. Tulsa, lynchings by the KKK of blacks and Native Americans and Asians, George Floyd, Wounded Knee, are just the tip of the iceberg. As a nation, we need to relegate that animal, that cultural paradigm, now embodied in the Republican Party, to endangered species status, just like in California, where the Republican Party is now toothless, except for McCarthy who has some power because of his seniority.
Family. “Family” is code for Christian Hallmark Channel 1950s-and-before society of yesteryear, the society that takes ships down to Africa and just brutally kidnaps people at random and brings them back to work on cotton and tobacco plantations, so the whites who own those plantations can get rich. That is the same culture which killed every Native American that got in the way of the whites stealing whatever property they could find in the New World, property that rightfully belongs to the people who were here when the whites arrived.
You could say that James Baldwin and Malcolm X are speaking through me tonight. There might be a little of MLK Jr. in there too, I have a lot of love in me, but while we love individual people, we certainly cannot love or condone their atrocities committed as a group, as a sadistic self-serving culture of whites first and men first, and everyone else under threat of brutal treatment if they don’t comply.
And now, that crowd is attacking the other whites who oppose their atrocities. Joe Biden. Nancy Pelosi. Gabby Giffords. And of course they continue to attack non-whites, women, and non-straights, like they always have.
Is it just a cartoon? No, of course not, just like Gabby Giffords’s face in the crosshairs of a rifle scope had consequences. I’m just writing this post to remind us of the precise and explicit horrors, historically, being a target of the antiquated white European-tradition society truly entails.
I am so glad to see you back, Roland. I have missed your comments the past few months. What you write here is pure gold.
I watched TRMS last night (we've been limiting our intake of "news" (as a global term for "current events" and as such are limiting these activities to once or twice a week) based upon stress levels. Her lede was with the Netflix documentary on Malcom X's assassination and the "prosecution" of the three assailants. It turns out that they have recovered information that the two co-defendants were not guilty of the crime for which they were incarcerated that was developed by the FBI and other investigative agencies and not turned over to the prosecutor's office. (The physical description of one of the assailants was as different from the man who was convicted as my appearance is from Barbara Streisand.)
When something like this happens (Malcom X showing up in my radar twice within 24 hours) it is time for me to pay attention.
You are very kind, Ally, thank you 🙏❤️
I echo Ally — Roland, it’s soothing having you back here with us, standing stronger together for We The People, All of Us This Time 💙!
Thank you for this and your reply to my question elsewhere. What I keep thinking is that no one has asked "what about Ahmaud Arbery's right to stand HIS ground???" My distinct memory of IANYN, is how Baldwin is tired and resigned, all the while being so eloquent. HE doesn't resort to violence. HE does't act like an entitled brat. HE doesn't use foul language and ugly expressions. He is the epitome of grace. And I would not blame him for a moment if he wasn't. But when you have a legitimate grievance and you are black, you are judged with a different rulebook by those who don't and aren't.
Precisely. That’s a brilliant description of Baldwin. His point is exactly what you are saying: Arbery is a victim of being killed for jogging while black. Racism killed Arbery. A bunch of Georgia racists see a black man out for a jog, and in their morally and mentally defective brains, anything other than white people in their neighborhood is cause for suspicion, because God forbid that a white person should ever have to share social space and social power with a black person. Or a Latino or Latina. Or a native person. Or a woman who isn’t meek and defers to men. Or anybody who isn’t exactly like me, because anybody who isn’t exactly like me makes me uncomfortable and I have to kill them. This is what a Republican thinks. This is what a moral degenerate goes through in their mind.
Right as rain, Roland.
Roland, you speak many truths. Thank you.
🙏
We really do need to remember Gabby Gifford at this perilous time. Thank you for the reminder and for your well stated post.
Roland, thank your for your eloquence.
One thing I would like to correct slightly if I may...
You said "the society that takes ships down to Africa and just brutally kidnaps people at random and brings them back to work on cotton and tobacco plantations"
When in actuality, the slave ships that went to Africa purchased slaves from coastal tribal leaders who did the actual kidnapping. This is not to absolve them in the slightest, more just to set the record straight. The Black African tribes that kidnapped and sold humans to the slave ships were just as much to blame as the White slavers themselves.
This applies to the export slave trade. Don't forget the heinous massive use and abused of African slaves within Africa by European nations greedy for Africa's natural resources.
Exactly - this is a carefully forgotten (and uncomfortable) fact. In fact the cultures of the African east coast have been slave traders for probably a thousand years - they even raided England, Ireland and other coastal nations for slaves, and probably supplied the Greeks and Romans with their slaves.
Thank you Stephen
Glad to hear your voice here
Thank you Roland.
Morning, Roland.
Hello Christine. A pleasure to see you, as always. 💕
I had always wondered why impeachment was for "high crimes and misdemeanors". High? Misdemeanor? It turns out under British law government officials were held to a higher standard for crimes and misdemeanors because of their larger impact on the people. Our Congress also needs to be held to a higher standard where even the misdemeanor threat of violence is not tolerated.
Reading this chronicle of the Republicans "slow-moving coup" is akin to sitting on a hill and watching an unavoidable train wreck.
Yes, and Republicans feel emboldened as though they are wolves are circling the hen house. And I don't think Democrats understand the gravity of the situation and what's required to stop it. I don't think we're prepared for what comes next. We have to face that the Gosars of our world are prepared to spill blood. That is what they've been primed to believe is acceptable. That is what they want. And that's what needs to be stopped. This isn't just about AOC or Biden. The Republicans today showed that they are ready to kill us. This is not hyperbole. They must be stopped.
Duke, as much as I want you to be over-reacting with hyperbolic fear, I can’t find a good way — ANY way — to disagree. Because you are correct.
We now have less than a year to stop them.
I agree. Someone has to sit them down and talk some sense into their heads, because otherwise they will kill
the goose that laid the golden eggs that made their supporting oligarchy so rich. And they will destroy the nest for the rest of us in the process.
There is no way to reason with unreasonable people. To on the one had defend the violent surrection at the Capitol with one had and to defend the actions of Representative Gosar (Reptile, Arizona) with the other shows their lack of reason.
Whenever progress is made, there is a violent backlash. The R party thinks it will be able to control its violent fringe. What if it can’t? What if the politics of resentment leads to resentment of the GOP and people who think it is not ok to burn the neighborhood down decide to burn the country down, thinking it will rise like a phoenix bird, pure and stronger than ever? And what sort of resistance would be effective? A state Capitol can be as red as a candied apple, but that doesn’t mean that state is so red. The same goes for the House in d.c. Can more than half the country ignore the state and national governments, the Supreme Court? We might be in a situation we can’t wait out. We could count the days til the end of the trump presidency, but a true takeover? Meanwhile, “Pray for the Joint Chiefs”.
We have to do everything we can to turn this around. It's is very important to raise the alarm as far, wide, and often as we can so it will sink in and provide some time for more people to join together and devise strategies to combat it. Little time is left though. I agree that 2022 could be the end.
Republicans showed us who they were with their No votes on the censure, and we need to believe them. We can't sit back and say that some were just quiet cowards who wanted to vote Yes. They chose as side here, one that is going to cost lives. We've saw a prelude to this on Jan 6th, but the Republicans and their allies have been building to this point on many fronts for decades now.
only a tad more sickening and a lot more than a tad terrifying.
And we're all going to be injured.
Or, sitting on a hill and watching an oncoming landslide, ready to engulf us.
Except this train wreck could be avoided.
Could but won't be. And we are not watching it, we are all, one way or another, on that train
Actually all the warnings are just a play by play of the voyage of the Titanic.
https://youtu.be/G5le92UmPmU
I watched some of the Gosar censure yesterday. When McCarthy arrogantly rattled off a list of everything he thought Biden had done wrong, I wanted to punch him in the face. I was amazed at AOC’s eloquence. Nancy Pelosi was so strong. The censure vote went the exact way it should have gone. The 1/06 invader with the horns got 3.5 years behind bars. The FBI is going after the people who threaten people on school boards. Good things are happening.
👏🏻👏🏻AOC just does a great job of messaging at every level of her position. I especially appreciate her long “chats” with her social media followers in which she takes us behind the scenes and talks about whatever is happening-The Attempted Coup, the big votes, etc. And, who can forget (no matter her flaws) how Nancy Pelosi stood up to the Bully in Chief back when he was throwing daily tantrums? Go, Ladies! Maxine Waters, too! ❤️🤍💙
(no matter her flaws') Pelosi, are you referring to her accomplishments? Are you counting the ways? In an imperfect world of imperfect humans, I make my point of respect for the Madam Speaker, gildedtwig. Cheers!
I share your respect for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, in a better world (hopefully coming soon to a country near us), she'd have a long and distinguished career ahead. Her learning curve in her initial term was impressive and it is to be hoped that the Democrats in her district won't succumb to jealousy and run someone against her. I reserve comment on Mrs. Pelosi for a less contentious time because for the last 5 years she has definitely been on the side of the angels.
Please be less reticent, Dave.
'As Pelosi raised her children, she volunteered for the Democratic Party and served on the San Francisco Library Commission. In 1987, she won a special election to represent the city of San Francisco in the House of Representatives.'
'Pelosi’s colleagues elected her House Democratic Whip in 2001 and House Democratic Leader in 2002, making her the first woman to hold both positions. Finally breaking the marble ceiling of the Capitol, Pelosi was elected by her colleagues to serve as the first woman Speaker of the House from 2007 to 2011.'
'As Speaker, Pelosi spearheaded passage of the historic Affordable Care Act in the House and led the Congress in passing strong Wall Street reforms. A powerful voice for women’s rights, she was instrumental in passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore the ability of women and all workers to fight pay discrimination. Her legislative accomplishments also include the passage of historic investments in college aid, clean energy and innovation, and initiatives to help small businesses and veterans. Under Pelosi’s leadership, the 111th Congress was heralded as “one of the most productive Congresses in history” by Congressional scholar Norman Ornstein.' (Women's Hall of Fame) See link below.
https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/nancy-pelosi/
I don't dispute her accomplishments at all Fern and have a healthy respect for her abilities as a political manager. My reservations apply to politicians as a segment of society and don't prevent me from supporting the good ones. Your brief history of her progress through the system is most impressive. One immediate reservation is her apparent failure to groom a successor in light of the unavoidable fact that, at some point, all of us must move on to another level of life.
I don't know that she hasn't or that there are several she supports who have been preparing for that time.
She may well have and there are excellent tactical and strategic reasons for keeping it well wrapped until the time of transition arrives.
I watched AOC speak without sound due to a computer problem and was surprised to find that I could lipread her quite well.
I differ only in the belief that the censure vote should have been 434-1. I don't even see what Republicans think they gain by standing with Gosar.
Can you imagine what the GOP outcry would be if it were one of THEM that had been the target of a murder animé?
I can, and because one day one of them will be if it's not stopped now, I don't understand their reluctance. I try to avoid slippery slope theorizing but there is history for this and very good reasons why firearms aren't permitted on the floor of the house. There is an impressive list of items that aren't allowed in the House and Senate chambers, most of them a result of some previous usage along the lines of the anime.
The operative word is”think”. Something the Rs can’t do.
Cynical, but so apt. If able, they are choosing to refrain from thought.
They could, they've chosen not to, probably because of what they saw the last time any of them did.
The Republicans are playing the long game. Keeping the drip drip drip of eroding the mores of Democracy at every turn.
The gosar moment is one of many since 2016 when tfg guy won. It does appear that the political violence is more, well, violent and more often. By this I mean violent rhetoric. At this point.
They are definitely pushing the limits to see how much they can get away with. Biden's and Merrick's conservatism in hauling more people in (including himself in Florida) is puzzling and frightening. Why isn't trump behind bars?
The GOP should reassess what they consider the "long game". Most of these tactics have been tried before, here and elsewhere, and it has never ended well for the instigators which is the only ray of hope I see right now. I share your puzzlement at the continued freedom of a known insurrectionist and his cohorts; hopefully Bannon's coming conviction and imprisonment are a sign that the worm has turned.
What I'm getting at is that hate-filled tyranny is the ultimate consequence of ultra-competition, "the survival of the fittest", expressed at its most extreme potency.
"Winner" takes all.
Loser... is NOTHING and forfeits any rights previously enjoyed.
Such is the outlook of these would-be winners-at-all-costs: freedom, their private monopoly, hell for all others.
The world's unsafe for as long as they walk free.
I quite agree Peter and that is the justification and underlying value of rule of law. Once a society moves away from that principle there are no limits to the abuse that whoever has power can visit on those who don't.
America's culture has made such a fetish of competition—competition for its own sake—that man ends up living to work instead of working to support life... and worse, far worse, with the end—“WINNING”—justifying any and every means, so that lying, cheating, the physical elimination of the “Other”, the “loser”, becomes not only licit but normal. The same amorality grounded in the pseudo-science of eugenics as underpinned Hitler's Third Reich. A state, a household, in which the dominant inhabitants may designate entire segments of society as vermin and treat those segments accordingly.
And I totally agree with you but hey we won.
I wish we would hear more about the good things.
I love this thread. FERN says
“Please be less reticent, Dave”.
Liz says, “I wanted to punch [McCarthy] in the face.”
Go team 👊
And exactly now I’m in that POS’s district, taking a break in a rest area on the freeway. I have the great good fortune of driving in nearly all the Republican House districts of California for my work schedule every week. Next up: Devin Nunes’s district.
Once again, the Republiscum continue to demonstrate that Harry Truman was right 73 years ago when he observed that "the only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies." And that was the Republican Party that - today - we look back on as being a good party, despite at the time they were creating the Red Scare with the HUAC hearings into the Hollywood Ten and Richard Nixon was getting ready to become famous with the HUAC hearings he led with the testimony of Whittaker Chambers and "the pumpkin papers" (so called because Chambers claimed he had hidden them in a hollowed-out pumpkin). And a first-term senator from Wisconsin who had so far achieved nothing wondered whether he should base his 1952 re-election campaign on a call for new financing of housing, or would it be better to play "this commie game" as he termed it in a conversation with a friend.
Let's recall how Richard Hofstadter described them 67 years ago in 1954:
It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative — I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates — because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions. They have little in common with the temperate and compromising spirit of true conservatism in the classical sense of the word, and they are far from pleased with the dominant practical conservatism of the moment as it is represented by the Eisenhower Administration. Their political reactions express rather a profound if largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways — a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence.
From clinical interviews and thematic apperception tests, Adorno and his co-workers found that their pseudo-conservative subjects, although given to a form of political expression that combines a curious mixture of largely conservative with occasional radical notions, succeed in concealing from themselves impulsive tendencies that, if released in action, would be very far from conservative. The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows “conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness” in his conscious thinking and “violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere. . . . The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
And they have only gotten worse since. As demonstrated today with their threats to "cancel" Democrats when they return to power next year.
We have to keep these barbarians from the gates.
It seem to me that these pseudo conservative Republicans have more in common with the Taliban than they do with the party of Eisenhower.
Thanks, TC, for these important historical insights on pseudo-conservatives. Yes, we MUST keep these barbarians from the gates. Any insights on methods for disarming the authoritarian personality and reinforcing our gates? Because I fear the one that worked with Joe McCarthy may have no success today:
"In 1954, after accusing the army, including war heroes, Senator Joseph McCarthy lost credibility in the eyes of the American public. He was formally censured by his colleagues in Congress and the hearings led by McCarthy came to a close.[29] After the Senate formally censured McCarthy, his political standing and power were significantly diminished, and much of the tension surrounding the idea of a possible communist takeover died down." [Wickipedia]
I receive more information about gerrymandering of American elections from a newspaper published in England than I receive from my own regional American newspapers.
It is small wonder when politicians can pick their voters, rather than voters picking their politicians, why federal politicians now have so little in common with their constituents and so little interest in addressing constituents' needs.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/17/republican-gerrymandering-worse-than-you-realize
And as The Guardian is one of our newspapers here in the U.K. ...NOT... owned by big business, it has its own voice.
I fear for the U.S. given the current state of politics after the appalling scenes of 1/6. which is when I started following HCR. Sending positive thoughts to you all.
Thank you Rosieposy that’s very kind of you
When I logged on and opened LFAA this morning with my first cup of coffee, there were 195 comments. As I write this, there are now 268 and I have just taken the last swallow of cup number three. Todays comments do not disappoint and are reflective of the depth of knowledge and experience that our community here reflects.
Even though I have come to expect the worst from today's Republiscum/Repugnant party, I was still dumbfounded by the fact that 2 brave and 4 cowardly members avoided a strict party line vote. I recall the brouhaha over Al Franken some years back. Really???? I was not expecting the blatant "fuck you" that Gosar did in re-tweeting that same video, but am also not surprised by it. The playground bullyesque response of Kevin McCarthy (Reptile, CA) crying that it was an "abuse of power" with the implied notion of "just you wait until its OUR turn".
For me, this paragraph sums up where we are today very well:
"Republicans have made it clear that they are comfortable with violence, and they are rigging elections to gain power. Unless Congress chooses to protect our votes with the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Republican performance in the House today will become our norm. "
Violence and rigging elections to gain/maintain power should be "so 19th century". It isn't. Our racist, violent history is cycling back again.
Footnotes:
1: I intentionally used a vulgarity. I put it in quotes.
2: We are up to 275 comments just as I hit "post"
3: I am debating a 4th cup of coffee
Ally, I've drafted and trashed 4 posts since I read this LFAA last night. You have, as usual, articulated the issues very well. I still haven't begun to think clearly since Gosar's repost of his photo-shopped POS meme yesterday which neatly dovetails with Tucker Carlson's incendiary 3 part part series on Fox Nation, "Patriot Purge" and Charlie Kirk's vague yet inflammatory response to the question, "When do we get to use the guns? [...] How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?"* All of this is geared to ignite anger, fear, and mistrust toward anyone who does not echo the rhetoric being pushed by the far right. And it's working. The right wing echo chambers are electric and vibrating with violent energy.
Anne Applebaum's 2 November column in the Atlantic clearly articulates my concerns and fears about how the right wing media has systematically and successfully manipulated their consumers to a point where they believe they are being robbed of their freedoms and liberties, that their vote has been and will be stolen. They repeat the same message day after day after day.
IMHO, here's the problem (again): From the White House down, no one is grabbing the bull by the horns and addressing the issue legally by shutting down speech that advocates violence. Should the President file lawsuits? No. But he can damned sure stand up and speak aggressively against it. And what of the Congressional hearings, aren't they turning out to be nothing more than political theater? When contempt of Congress results in nothing more than paying a fine out of petty cash is Congress really able to address the issues head on? Republicans refusing to admonish or censure fellow Republicans for incendiary behavior goes beyond absurd, it's downright dangerous. Half of our legislators are saying, "Have at it".
The right has spent decades dismantling law and order in this country. They have promoted easy access to firearms, done away with the presentation of balanced reporting and opinion, turned public health upside down and made K-12 education a battlefield over a curriculum which does not exist within that realm. And, here goes - we keep telling ourselves that if we talk nice to family, friends and neighbors we can change their minds. It's not going to happen that way. Our dignified, quiet approach to politics has failed. We are in serious danger.
* Please see Charlie Kirk's response in Heather's notes
https://www.anneapplebaum.com/2021/11/02/tucker-carlsons-sinister-new-documentary/
Amen, Sister!!
Ally, I read this before I went to bed which was not a good idea. I did go to sleep, but I think I was lucky. When I read it, there were three comments, but I knew that by this am there would be many. I posted it to my Facebook page with the comment, "This is chilling." It is very chilling and something that is in the back of my mind always. First, I think of the brownshirts; then the Nazis killing all the intellectuals and pols in Poland that they thought would form resistance movements. I think about the people I know who support death star donny, including the one who said she was glad not to be as educated as me because she disagrees with me politically. I do not think they support murder, but I am sure they are ok with voter suppression. I read somewhere that here in Salem on the 20th we are going to have the usual suspects at the capitol building. I am my first and only cup of coffee. It's way too early for a single malt neat.
Aye, way too early for that.
The sun has yet to rise. I say go for a fourth cup.
I did!!!
Great post.
The reason that Republicans are unwilling to censure Gosar is that he's not an outlier. Yes, it's true that Gosar is unhinged, as his family keeps telling us. He's totally unfit for office - a rabid, racist psychopath. The problem for McCarthy and Republican leaders is that their party is full of unhinged fanatics who are unfit for office. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Matt Gaetz. Lauren Boebert. Jim Jordan. Trump. Gohmert. Mo Brooks. Madison Cawthorn. And on and on...
If McCarthy starts applying the "unhinged and unfit for office" filter on his members, he'll have to censure dozens of Republicans at the national and state level. Here's the real problem. Despite his family paying for political ads out of their own pocket to tell Arizona voters that Gosar is a horrible human being and unfit for office, Gosar won with 69% of the vote in the last election. Republican voters love unhinged, unfit candidates. McCarthy, spineless and craven as he is, would never take a principled stance that goes against the deplorable GOP base. The entire party is unhinged, and unfit for office.
"The reason that Republicans are unwilling to censure Gosar is that he's not an outlier." --JR
"[T]hat would require his fellow Republicans to acknowledge that there is something seriously wrong with a colleague who would post an anime video of himself killing a congresswoman and threatening the president.
That, apparently, is asking too much of the once-Grand Old Party."
https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2021/11/17/republican-defense-rep-paul-gosar-censure-vote-sickening/8658489002/
Good to see such an Opinion in the regional newspaper. Thank you, Ron.
I absolutely agree.
one of the big arguments Republicans seem to enjoy saying over and over again is something like: "if you lose the house, we'll start censuring YOU." but as far as I know (and if I'm wrong, I'm glad to be enlightened), this kind of completely unhinged behavior is something you don't see much from Democrats, who tend to get in trouble in ways that seem a lot more "mainstream" to me than the clearly lunatic Gosar's post. the one thing about all this that feels like it's good for an appropriate chuckle is Gosar's pathetic effort to "walk it back" by denying that he "created" it (very possibly true, but irrelevant) or didn't see it before it was posted, etc. his retweet, needless to say, gives the lie to ALL of that bullshit.
No you are correct; you don't see it from Democrats at all. And Democratic leadership thoroughly denounces violence on all sides.
They mean they'll censure Democrats and remove them from committees for whatever they feel like. Drinking coffee. Revenge for prosecuting TFG for impeachment.
Does anyone else hear an ironic echo caused by the collision of Republicans being offended with Goser’s loss of Committee assignments and Republicans taking away Committee assignments from Liz Cheney?
The Republicans are becoming increasingly unhinged. It's like watching a kind of malignant dementia take hold of the whole group. What happens next? Are the Republicans going to claim that the expectation that they wear clothes in Congress is "tyranny" and needs to be defied?
It isn't just the nutcases, like Gosar and Greene. It's that 207 Republican members of congress did not vote to censure Gosar over a public act that, at BEST -- under tons of cosmetics buffed to a fine polish -- can be characterized as an impotent act of puerile rage in extreme bad taste. Imagine -- just imagine -- that there really was some kind of tyranny going on, and that the core of the "revolution" against it was pulling this kind of toilet-papering stunt and banding together to "support" it as a valid, necessary patriotic act: dear God, what an embarrassment.
True. If these people can't even deal with the likes of Paul Gosar, how will they fare against people like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, or even Jair Bolsonaro?
I've tried to imagine a political figure from, say, Czech Republic, posted an anime of themselves beheading a Republican Representative ---McConnell, Cruz, McCarty, Stefanik, Ernst---the Republicans would be up in arms! They would produce scathing rebuttals about it for weeks. OpEds, editorials, rallys. The Rs are disgustingly transparent.
They won't. They'll cozy up to them the way the former president did.
I think they just don't want their vote against Gosar to be held against them when running in the 2022 primary, which, in many Rep-leaning districts, is really the general election. Cowards.