Today, after an eight-week trial and three days of deliberations, a jury of five women and seven men found Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, 57, the founder and leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers gang, and Kelly Meggs, 53, who led the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers, guilty of seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S.
This verdict is well timed. With only days to go before Congress recesses, much is left to do. The establishment of a conspiracy breathes life into the Jan. 6 investigation so that even when McCarthy (presumably speaker) tries to eclipse the significance of this finding, he will be hard pressed to justify doing so. May justice be served, may justice prevail.
The next 34 days on the House floor could be quite eventful. I signed up early this am for Steny Hoyer's floor Updates.Right now, the House is scheduled to be in session for about 1/2 of those upcoming days. Buckle Up.
This is why I am not as concerned about the Midterm results - some of the Republican congressmen are just as guilty and at the least should not be serving!
And so it shall...Time and again false conspiracy mongers have said that the authoritarians among us who plotted and perpetrated the crimes involving the attack on the Capitol would somehow manage to skirt justice and that our democracy wouldn’t prevail. Their lack of faith in our strong and resilient democracy was misguided and wrong. Americans love freedom as much as we respect the rule of law which operates effectively to protect us from lawless chaos. I want to express my thanks to the members of the jury who sat for 7 long weeks hearing the arguments of the lawyers for the prosecution and defense and reviewing the evidence presented against the defendants. They did their duty quietly and well. They kept the faith. The importance of their verdicts is loud and clear to the American people who have been demanding that justice be done: the attack against Congress was an attack against all Americans and our way of life. There will be many more convictions to come and the perpetrators will pay the price for their crimes. In order to do the more important work ahead we must always be willing to do what we must to protect and preserve the foundational values embodied in the Constitution and its supporting laws. This takes faith, determination and sacrifice which is something the American people understand instinctively. “Don’t Tread on Me” is a rallying cry of the patriots who declared our independence in 1776. It is not a slogan that can be adopted by a gang of criminal thugs seeking power and gain for themselves.
Jan. 6 is looking more and more like the subprime crisis that nearly threw the world into the second Great Depression. Yet after years of investigations on its cause, NOT ONE bank executive was put behind bars. The foot soldiers take the heat and as the leaders shower, fix their ties and run for re-election.
I am hoping they had to declare a 'seditious conspiracy' took place on 6 Jan before they can go after tfg. Precedence has now been set. I think they climb the ladder of justice up to the big guy. One can hope...
Exactly Randy. I hate Trump with a passion - I will admit. It emotional to me and probably clouds my sense of justice; I want him to pay and pay dearly. I have doubts still, even with this important verdict. If he doesn't get what I think is his just due, I am going to be all ears as to why. DOJ will have lots of explaining to do if they let him off with a slap on the wrists - the precedent that would set is just unthinkable.
I have no problem admitting how much I despise death star. I usually do not waste energy on hatred, but he is so loathsome that I have run out of words which express exactly the depth of what I feel. I do think he will be indicted and I understand why it has taken so long as prosecutors do not want him to be able to weasel out of any charges. His insane mutterings tell us how worried he is even thought he found time for the infamous dinner.
The present day criminals do have a way of coopting certain symbols like this and including the US flag. This angers me no end because in no way are these thugs and criminals patriots.
Yeah - it's a victory but how big remains to be seen. I don't know if the House has any influence on the DOJ machinations going forward. I hope not. But you can rest assured, any kind of peripheral influence that can be conjured up, McCarthy will do it. He and his fellow insurrectionist boot lickers will beat the drums loud and continually, spinning truth into lies, trying to sway the public in favor of his orange god.
McCarthy seems to be having troubles finding the votes to be Speaker. But we can be assured that the House for the next two years will be a dumpster fire with all the investigations these unfit for public office types are lining up. My only hope is that their razor thin margin might and I emphasize might, mitigate things. One thing is certain. They will do nothing to help ordinary Americans and actually govern.
Yes Michele - you're right on the money. It looks like McCarthy is going to get it, but will have to make some pretty sick promises to get it. We will watch the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a profoundly unfit lawmaker (activates my gag reflex to even say "lawmaker") and Matt Gaetz and Gozar, etc, be given outsized influence in our national politics. It boggles the mind. BTW - that is why I never jumped on the victory bandwagon for the mid-term results. I mean, total disaster was averted - that I will acknowledge - but loss of the House, even a slim loss, is a big loss indeed. It's going to be two more years of paralysis unless the administration can wave some magic wands. The climate - my number one issue - just cannot continue to wait out inaction or insufficient action by the most prominent nation on earth. You can rest assured the climate will not be on the republican agenda.
I believe these despicable people and their platform of revenge, hate and obstruction will make it clear how harmful the present day Republican Party is. People across the country will be witnessing and benefitting from the many pieces of legislation Biden and the Democrats were able to pass, all while watching the idiots in the House and their performative nonsense. Unfortunately this colossal waste of time will hurt all Americans and continue the march toward a climate disaster. Anyone who continues to support them is complicit in the harm they are causing our country and the world.
They are in total denial about the climate despite a lot of their rural adherents suffering from water problems among other things. I was just reading an article about what small animals do for forests and other habitats, but we are busy ruining the habitats and killing animals right and left. I can feel myself getting sick. Yes, the House is going to be a true s....show. I may abandon the news for a long while.
MtG is no lawmaker. She is law-less and will be the master mistress of the Pro-Rape Party’s House unless, of course, Jack Smith comes up with any revealing evidence on her. 🤞🏼
That would be just delicious! I try but cannot "un-see" the sinister smile on her face in the safe room on Jan 6, proudly declining an offer by Rep Rochester to wear a mask. I suspect however she is clean on this particular thing though. Somebody inside helped out the mob if not her. The perp can be narrowed down to about half a dozen persons, a couple of whom were just elected to Congress the prior November.....
Michael Moore's podcast today reminds us that with the razor thin House margin, odds are not unreasonable that enough turnover could give House back to Dems before 2024 election.
Are the guilty verdicts for seditious conspiracy keeping bigger fish awake tonight? Will Roger Stone, Mike Flynn and others in their circle face consequences? An equally important question, will those in Congress and working in the Trump administration who played a role in the events of Jan. 6 be held accountable?
I'm in the camp that justice will finally find Trump, both with federal and state crimes. But what about his enablers? All of them must pay a heavy price for the damage they have wrought.
"I'm in the camp that justice will finally find Trump, both with federal and state crimes."
I think I will join the historical record camp then. In the historical record of the United States, rich White Men have so very rarely gone to jail, for obvious and proven crimes, that one can hardly find reference to such events in any history book anywhere. One can, of course, find rich white men committing crimes all day, every day, without any consequences. Starting on day 1 of arrival in the Americas.
And, as a long time mathematics fan, I can say, linear extrapolation is the best way to extrapolate existing, past data.
So, if I extrapolate the past into the future, which, is the best way to predict the future, I am forced to conclude that Trump's most likely outcomes are:
1. Become President for a second term and move the US into full on fascism.
2. Run for President but lose to some other Fascist and move back to Mara Lago to rant on Twitter for the rest of his miserable life.
3. After losing the Presidency a second time, Trump will stage a coup that is not organized by incompetents like Michael Flynn and Roger Stone and will have half of Congress killed and be installed as President by his now well trained para military group, which, includes half of the US Military the second time around.
4. Trump will use another run for President to "fund raise" off his base thereby continuing his long time pick pocketing of all the poor souls who love Trump more than their own families, and, after losing, put an addition on Mara Lago for some of his girlfriends to stay in when he moves back.
I am feeling a bit more optimistic. How about this for
#5. Trump will be dismissed as a 3 time loser. A liability for the GQP. He will ultimately perform a perp walk twice. In Georgia and then when Smith recommends his arrest to Garland.
Nikki Haley will survive the primary and become the GQP nominee for President. If Biden runs he may lose by a tiny number of votes or because a swing state betrays him in the stupid Electoral College. If Biden (who I love and respect) wisely decides to pass the baton to someone who might attract Gen Y and Z, we win by a significant margin. And we also get the House back, because the shit show led by the likes of MJT and Co, is viewed by most as just stupid and boring political theater.
I agree — and have long thought that Haley is a force (albeit shallow and dishonest) to be reckoned with. DeSantis has less charisma than my muddy boots. Media scrutiny will help him fade. He won't be able to take the heat.
While I admire Biden's many accomplishments under challenging circumstances, I don't believe he's the type of candidate needed for 2024. I'm intrigued by Gretchen Whitmer. I also very much like Pete Buttigieg but worry about his electability.
I can't stand Haley. And as for DeSatan. The thought of him makes me sick. He can get sucked up by a Florida sinkhole. I do see, as you do, some younger possibilities. I like Pete (I was born and raised in Elkhart, next door to South Bend), but share your concerns. We do have a new governor in Oregon who is open about her sexuality and has a wife. I also see her as quite capable, being both aware and compassionate about the problems, knowing how the legislature works, and being tough as nails when she has to be. Right now she is putting out positive messages and plans to visit first those places who voted for her opponent.
I also hope Biden does not run and not because I do not like him, but because like the Ds in the House, it is time to pass the baton. I have no idea who the Rs will nominate. Most of them who are likely to run are not fit to pick up dung in a parade.
Not willing to go there yet. Nope! I am a kinesthetic learner and wish not to future “trip”. I just can’t and am unwilling to listen to scenarios about the what “ifs”. We have to use our energy to untangle the web of lies and deceit that Trump, his ilk, and the Pro-Rape Party (PRP) have done, first and foremost!
Our history speaks volumes, our population is subject to propaganda which puts all of America at risk. Rupert is trying to change to a more competent fascist wannabe, can he do it after creating the most successful Frankenstein ever?
Best short sentences describing the "judicial" system I have seen!
It helps to remember that our system of laws are designed to protect property and that our law enforcement agencies were created with that foundational basis: protect property. No "duty to serve" or "protect the public".
From that article.... Justice Scalia said, "a well-established tradition of police discretion has long coexisted with apparently mandatory arrest statutes." With all due respect to you and your former occupation, isn't that often the problem? In the final paragraph, Justice Breyer writes of judges needing "a degree of discretion." So, if discretion is to be necessary for enforcement of laws, are we indeed a nation of laws and not men?
Interesting question, because application of the laws as they are written would be so incredibly cumbersome as to hopelessly clog the system. Discretion is huge in law enforcement; do you cite every traffic violation you see, or is a warning sometimes sufficient? Does every theft of a candy bar require an arrest?
With respect to discretion, the only "mandatory" arrest statute in Oregon is under the Abuse Prevention Act, which requires law enforcement at the scene of a dispute where Assault (injury), Menacing (threats of serious physical injury) or Sexual Abuse (non-consensual sexual intercourse, deviant sexual intercourse*) has taken place to arrest the primary aggressor. This law evolved out of its original (between spouses, former spouses, adult persons related by blood or marriage, parents of a minor child, adult family members, and "adult persons of opposite sexes who reside together or formerly resided together) to then include same-sex couples. In the "before times", there were far, far fewer domestic violence arrests.
*Oregon defines deviant sexual intercourse as sexual non-vaginal genital contact, be it oral or anal.
Discretion is absolutely necessary for law enforcement. Law is a written text, but it is not inerrant scripture: the whole of the judiciary, from county to state to federal, is a long historical endeavor to interpret that written law in light of past interpretations and judgments, as well as taking into account ongoing changes in (legal, social, and even political) circumstances both within whatever jurisdiction a judgment is required as well as in surrounding jurisdictions and larger, containing ones.
Because law *is* men, to use those words. Or: we who use language to write the laws to govern ourselves must also figure out how best to apply them in situations where what is written will offer some clarity on what should be done, but often, less than perfect clarity.
Our system of law has more than a little in common with Jewish law, where past interpretation of the Torah determines future interpretation of the law. I'm not a scholar of law by any means, so I cannot say exactly how much of this process derives also from English Common Law, but I have been told that at least some does.
To me, the necessity of interpretation is a feature (not a bug!) of language. The multiple rubs come when trying to find a way to interpret law without personal interests interfering, which is next to impossible. Which is at least one good reason to have courts of appeal: so more experienced jurists can review cases in light of their own knowledge.
This unavoidable interpretation is also why the far right Supreme Court justices' "originalism" is a sham. There is no way to discern what, precisely, the writers of the Constitution originally "intended" in the first place; all we have are these written words, and it is an act of interpretation even to take them as literally as one can make out, because there simply is no way to get to a word's meaning immediately, without one's own biases and judgments intervening.
It's an imperfect system from any angle, but it is what we have, and why vigilance over legal power is so, so necessary.
Erik, you may not (in your words) be a scholar of law, but you’re a teacher who has helped deepen my understanding of it with your words.
You said, “Because law *is* men, to use those words. Or: we who use language to write the laws to govern ourselves must also figure out how best to apply them in situations where what is written will offer some clarity on what should be done, but often, less than perfect clarity.”
I’m glad I kept reading this morning. Thank you. Thanks to Ally too.
Yeah Mike - your #2 seems to have good odds IMO. Not so much the others. I think, at this point, an indictment will come, perhaps more than one. It will not be very soon, and then everything that results, the lawsuits, the stalling, the trial preparations, jury selection, etc, will draw out so long that it will extend beyond 2024 such that he will still run, making a total mockery of our country's system of law and order. He will not get the nomination; another equally fetid candidate will instead. Like DeSantis. Should he win (I actually think he would not), he would pardon Trump, thus legally ending the sordid affair. Who knows what Trump's health will be by then - he may be deceased by then. What we want - to see him behind bars - I think is very unlikely. And it bugs the sh_t out of me.
You're right, of course, Mike. But there is a small difference. If you look back into European history, you'll find that the one time rich white men tended to lose their heads was in cases of sedition, treason, and attempted assassination of the king. In other words, Steal from the Peasants, Steal from the Other Rich, but if you mess with the Throne, you'd better win, or catch a boat for Scotland.
Mr. Orange Bloat messed with the Throne, and he lost. I think his prospects are not as good as you say.
And if (and that's a pretty big "if") Smith is able to catch some of those big fish currently sitting in Congress, what will that do to the numbers? If a few of the co-conspirators just happen to be sitting on the red side of the aisle(s), what then?
It would further rile up the already demented MAGA base. But so what at this point? I believe the majority of voters, including independents, wants accountability.
Yes, I totally agree with you. How are these members of Congress who refused to certify the election legitimately representing their constituents when they believe that Biden is not the rightful POTUS?I don’t get it.
Dr. Richardson, I was really touched by the conclusion on your essay this evening, a harbinger of a political world no longer madly spinning! :
“And,” Pelosi added, “it is hope that we celebrate each holiday season—that through the cold and dark winter, spring will someday come.” Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who defended the Capitol against the Oath Keepers on January 6, heard the jury’s verdict, then watched the tree lighting."
Thank you, Professor for including this story at the closing of today's Letter.
It encapsulates that quality of our political life that will be missed as Speaker Pelosi surrenders the gavel - always one to remain vigilant through the cold dark night.
Professor Richardson has that unique quality of ending her letters with a single short paragraph or sentence that captures the essence of emotion a reader is bound to feel. I call them “barnburners” of an ending. This one I’ll label a “barnbuilder” of an ending.
It was beautiful and symbolic for HCR to end this Letter on the last day of November with the scene of ‘…lighting the Capitol Christmas tree with fourth-grader Catcuce Micco Tiger’, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) and has ancestry from the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. (Letter)
Tiger won the role of youth tree lighter with an essay sharing the Cherokee origin story for evergreen trees. We went back to The Capitol to imagine the lighting of the tree and to learn about origin of evergreen trees through the Cherokee people. The Cherokees call themselves Ani-Yunwiya, the "Principal People."
My thoughts about the railroad legislation are complicated. My thoughts about the Marriage bill are not. If you want a personal perspective as to why, yes, this matters:
I am bisexual. It is absolutely hilarious to me how many otherwise open-minded, sensible people still think this is some kind of fringe thing, or personality quirk, or fashionable phase. They can't wrap their brains around it. It's a simple concept: I can be - and am - attracted romantically and otherwise to either a woman or a man, and would be happy pursuing a relationship if reciprocated. Somehow, this breaks many folk's brains. Still! I have come to realize they can accept gay people, because "the poor things, their brains were put in upside down, they can't help it." But BI? Now you are just making things up to be fancy, you greedy gus! I've realized a key thing to explain is that bi means not BOTH, but EITHER; my brain sees gender markers as just another characteristic, so whatever someone has under their shirt affects whether I get a crush on them as much as if they are short or tall or have blue or brown eyes. All are beautiful on the right person. I can control who I am attracted to as much as you can: zero percent. However, if I am dating the right person, I'm about as likely to feel I'm "missing out" on the other gender as I am missing out on blondes/brunettes: also zero percent, because I'm not shallow.
Anyway, almost every bi person I have heard from has this same experience of a delay in realizing our identity relative to others in the LGBT family. Long story short, during those teen years you are already attracted to the opposite sex, and you don't know bi is an option, so you just misattribute the other feelings you have. It took me a while to jump from "If I was a girl, I would date him..." to "I, personally, would date him and enjoy that thought." Often there is a random moment where it just clicks. (Thanks, guy with the swept-back black hair and button-up shirts in statistics class! You saved me a year or two!)
Myself, this initial process was freeing because I had a supportive environment. But you know what came shockingly quickly after that? The sudden realization that, after a life growing up assuming you struck it lucky as a white male, you are now - literally as soon as you open your mouth to admit a part of your personality to anyone anywhere - part of a discriminated group. There is now the knowledge that, even if I was to live a Rockwellian life with a female partner and 2.5 kids, there are vast areas of my own country where people think they should be able to deny me a job or an apartment or a cake or basic politeness because once upon a time I DID have a crush on Kyle from stats class, and subsequently committed the dangerous subversion of being okay with that.
And they would make it the law if they could. Right now. They would make me a second-class citizen not because of any action I took, but because of my personality. They would choose to take my safety and dignity because of thoughts in my head that I expressed to friends.
There is nothing less American.
So while I agree with many others in my LGBT family (and all our allies) that this bill is far, far from the full Equality Act we need and will get once the Senate is filibuster-free, I am beyond grateful for it. It is not only a necessary backstop against the ravages of a wayward Supreme Court, but a confirmation that most Americans are accepting, see love as love, see the bedrock value of freedom of choice as more valuable than imposing a personal prediliction, and we need to MOVE ON TO ACTUAL ISSUES.
Thank you Senator Baldwin, Feinstein, and Schumer. Tonight I sleep a little easier with more options open for my future.
Thank you for sharing, Will. As an out lesbian for almost 50 years now, I do know and fully comprehend the discrimination. I have refused to be in the closet because there is NOTHING I need to hide - for me or anyone else. My friends who are Bi have explained that they fall in love with PEOPLE or a person, not a gender. Makes perfect sense to me. Love is love. I agree this bill leaves way too many caveats for the “Christian” right to drive a truck through, as well as the current SCOTUS. I have no doubt the extreme right is not done screwing with my rights because they don’t fit their mold. Screw them. They don’t get to define my relationship with God. Where’s the religious freedom for me in that? Anyway, I do feel a bit better that my wife and I maybe won’t have to worry about SCOTUS overturning our marriage in the years we have left. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. I’ve always been confused how Republicans can argue for smaller government, yet they want to get in my bedroom. Doesn’t compute. I will leave you with a quote on a shirt I have that I really like - “Equal rights for others doesn’t mean fewer rights for you - it’s not pie.”
Thanks, Dianna. I'm just a couple years behind you in the "out lesbian" category. When I retired, we made certain decisions regarding my retirement benefits and social security options based on the fact that we were married. It would have been dicey to see what could have happened (and, frankly, still could).
I know there are an increasing number of people out there who think marriage is just a piece of paper. They usually say so in the context of declaring that they don't need that piece of paper for their relationship to be committed and legitimate. I agree.
But in terms of very important legal ramifications that have very real effects on your ability to follow through with your commitment to that person, and have it be regarded as legitimate, it is an awfully important piece of paper. And denying it to someone or threatening to take it away at first opportunity just because of the names of the folks on the paper are Billie and Bobbie instead of Billy and Bobbie is unconscionable.
I couldn't care less about the rude homophobes. Rude people are a problem as old as the hills and a dime a dozen. But, "you don't look like my idea of what you should look like, so I am going to teach you a lesson by taking away your hard-earned retirement" is a whole other bucket of un-American nope.
I wish we could post photos as proof here because I have that exact same shirt. It sits in my wide open closet right in between RBG as Queen-from-a-deck-of-cards and "Jesus Was a Socialist Jew from the Middle East." Because, yeah, I am that person. This is America. The bigots are loud and proud. We have no excuse not being louder and prouder. As far as I see it, it is my solemn responsibility. And you have been bringing the goods for 40 years longer than me, so thank you for your service!
Gotta say, though, I don't find these Christianist conservatives' need to police people's bedrooms (and bathrooms, and living rooms, and doctors offices, and...) in the name of smaller government to be all that confusing. It becomes pretty clear once you accept that they are still peddling the same schtick as the Mayflower folks. They're fiscally conservative, but socially authoritarian. Sure, they talk a big game about freedom, and how they moved away from the land where they were persecuted. But they used the escape from being disallowed to live as they wished to create their own fiefdom where they did the same to others. Conservative utopia isn't acceptance, it's the absence of having to accept anything different. They see themselves, and only themselves, as the natural owners of this country, and therefore the big bad government and it's annoying, messy Civil Rights crusade is the imposition they wish to be free of. Hundreds of years later, and here they are, persecuted again. Is there nowhere safe anymore for them to live free from being forced to see two girls holding hands?
Maybe if they hadn't pushed the freedom mantra so hard, other people - like you and me - wouldn't have started taking it so seriously. And everyday that passes there are more of us. They were lying, but we want it for real. Oops.
I, a heterosexual female, am celebrating with you, Will! Also, THANK YOU for your beautifully worded description of the BI experience; it should be required reading in what should be a mandatory sex education class in public high school.
Aww, thank you for the support. Like I said, allies could not be more important.
Regarding sex ed: I honestly think that the omnipresence of the internet has taken some of the edge off the negative effects of poor sex ed in this country. I'm no advocate for hedonism, but nothing is more damaging than repression and ignorance. Yes, there are all sorts of terrible messages available to kids now, especially through the easier access to pornography, and we shouldn't shrug that off. But there is also easier access to knowledge regarding both physical health as well as healthy attitudes that kids can look up in private, when before they would have only heard questionable stuff from friends. Research and reportage is showing that the youngest categories of Americans are notably *less* sexually risky than their parents. Believe it or not, being more accepting of sexual freedom does not necessitate an orgiastic free-for-all of a society (eyeroll), what it does mean is the sex you do have is safer and healthier. And yes, that includes the mental health that comes with being in a respectful relationship, which in turn stems from being respectful and honest with yourself and what your desires are.
I have seen videos and forum posts of middle school kids coming out as bi to their parents, or parents asking for advice after their 12-year old did so. Shamefully, my initial thought the first few times was "Oh, how can they know that at 12?" But... of course they can! That's when people hit puberty, and now these kids have the info available to accurately identify what it is they are feeling, and the confidence to express it to trusted friends and family. That wasn't available before. Success.
Will, thank you for your perspective, Bi and Trans folk are pretty often vilified in the Gay and Lesbian community, no matter how inclusive they (we) pretend to be. I remember listening to Holly Near one time in concert. She was one of the first really big name "women's recording artists" and was in a relationship with a woman at that time. They subsequently split, and she entered a relationship with a man, which really severed her "link" if you will, to the lesbian separatist faction of the women's community (although they welcomed her back, some years later, when she again was in a relationship with a woman...)
My take: It is absolutely none of my business who you're attracted to (unless its me, my wife, or underage kids), or what pronouns you wish to use.
I have been called “confused” by gay male friends and “in denial” by acquaintances who judged me by their limited perspective. I can understand bigoted str8 ppl who have no idea of expanded sexuality, but gay ppl who have endured discrimination should know better. One of my foto montages, that I have on T-shirts worn at Gay Pride events have a pic of me and Jim and one of me and Brenda with the caption “Don’t Tell Me Whom to Love.”
Jim and I could not have been married in the 1970s. And had Brenda and I met before 1967, we could not have been married in Florida as we did in 1983.
Yes we should. Sadly, we don't. You want to see a brou-ha-ha in the making, look into the arguments regarding trans-excluding radical feminists (TERFs). There seems to be a dearth of common sense in people that, IMO, should freaking know better.
The "confused" comment is the one that gets me. There is more projection going on in that one word than in all the years of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. No, I'm not confused. I'm very clear on what I am. The person who this concept is confusing is y'all.
Yes, you would think some of our gay male cohorts would be more enlightened, but on second thought, why? They're just people, and people are notoriously hypocritical. Why would they be more enlightened than all those anti-abortion mothers, for instance? I don't know about you, but I feel like any gay man who wouldn't want to date me simply for my orientation would be doing so for the same reason as any straight woman: their own insecurity, formed by their own poor experiences colliding with the same tired stereotypes, nothing more.
A fun game to play with the hide-behind-grammar "I just can't use 'they' to describe a single person" people. Remind them that not only is this a tiny number of people in question, but you can guarantee that they have already done that at least 432,000 times in their life. Example: "Wow, someone left their backpack on the subway. How careless! I hope *they* come back and get it!"
Pretty much, referring to people as they wish to be referred to is basic politeness. If someone's name is Moishe, I'm not going to call them Steve because I think that's better. That would be rude. So if someone's pronouns are Zigzag and Polkadot, I guess I'm going to be introducing you to my new friend Moishe. You'll love zigzag, because polkadot has a great sense of humor.
Also, the number of musicians I love that I found out way later are bi is pretty hilariously lengthy. Something something signaling to like minds through the radio waves I guess. Most of these are ladies, so the phrase "women's recording artist" tickles my younger ears pink. Thanks for sharing.
This. I was teaching freshman composition in the late 90s and telling my students then that English usage was ushering in "they" as the neutral third-person pronoun. I encouraged them to use it to avoid gender-biased language in their essays: much easier than keeping track of whether you used "he" or "she" two pages ago.
But I also told them they should ask other professors what they would accept before using it in other classes, because some are old-fashioned. :)
Thank you for sharing your perspective here with depth and honesty. This seems like one forum where we can share different perspectives and explore issues.
I am not sleeping well tonight. I am terrified that the bill will be seen as an invitation by Clarence Thomas and his fellow SCOTUS compatriots to overturn Obergefell and be used to set a precedent that will have a cascade of consequences involving states rights and codifying patchwork discrimination.
If Obergefell goes, so does Loving as they were decided on the same basis.
Someone needs to bring that legal challenge, however,which Democrats will be too scared to do due to its unpopularity. Whereas several faith traditions only too happy to challenge Obergefell.
Agreed. I think interracial relationships are more integrated into society at this point--a lot through the arts and advertising media. The societal understanding of the spectrum of gender and sexuality and the complexity of those relationships is not as advanced. It's heartbreaking that "Love is love" is not understood by so many in our society.
Thank you, Will, for your post. I am celebrating as well for my gay and lesbian loved ones, for the opportunities for everyone to feel free to identify whom they love, and for the ways in which this law will help to improve the mental health of anyone who struggles with social rejection of their true selves. As someone who is, in many ways, thoroughly genderqueer but has chosen, at this stage of my life, simply not to engage with anyone romantically (it is, frankly, too much trouble) I applaud anyone who is out and proud and trying to find the kinds of love and companionship they deserve. And yes: now on to other stuff.
Will, from Cal, you pretty much described my progression on the sexuality continuum. IDK your age, but I was raised heterosexual in a time when homosexuality was considered a perversion and illegal in most places. Then in the late 1960s I fell in with the counter-culture in New Orleans and enjoyed the free-luv with most girls I met and eventually with some of my gay male friends, eventually hooking up with a male "roommate" for 5 years (in 4 different cities and traveling the world together). Ppl knew, but denial worked in our favor. When I later hooked up with my "black woman" my mom reacted badly in a screed and listed Homosexuality & Drugs along with my other attacks on her propriety. But, looking back I have always been attracted to men and brown skin. I was in love with my best friend in high school, but didn't know that at the time. (we even innocently shared a bed in a sleepover, which kids did in those days).
Rob, you may not be famous but you are a trailblazer. It sounds like you are about the same age as my Dad, who went to UC Berkeley during the years when the hippie movement and Civil Rights were so central there. You all sadly weren't the whole country, but you really exploded open the amount ways to look at the world.
Dad has told me stories of a summer where he and his friends had hair like Jesus and were almost driven off the road hitchhiking cross-country. At one stop, the folks who ran a diner sat them in a corner and refused to serve them. It took them a while to figure out what was happening. While they were discussing whether to leave (they did), an older black man who was seated behind them also got up to leave, and while passing by said - without a hint of anger, just sadness - "well, now you all know how it feels."
The people who still see LGBT behavior as some sort of deviancy simply have no imagination, or - ironically - ability to get their mind out of the gutter. Because they are forever hung up on the supposed impurity of sex in general, and need rules from a magic book to keep them clean, they seem to always focus on the sexual aspect of the whole shebang. They see gay love or queer expression as a statistical deviation from the norm, therefore it is merely a series of deviant acts. They don't think first of the sweetness that comes from two caring people finding each other in a special way. They are willing to kill that to fulfill the order that makes them comfortable, for they are not allowed that sweetness or freedom in their own life. They don't get that Pride is about being proud of living honestly when so much of the world tells you you can't or shouldn't. How sad for them. How good for us that more folks are finally moving on.
Yes, I have those stories, being stopped by the cops on “suspicion” & made to empty my pockets on the patrol car when I had shoulder length hair in 1973. Got arrested in SF in 1970 on suspicion but cut loose in a few hours as they had no case. I have written many published letters & articles for magazines & newspapers on gay & interracial issues. The best was on the 30th anniversary of the Loving v. Va decision where I tied in the laws against interracial marriage with those against gay marriage in July 12, 1997 The editor of The Miami Herald asked for and put a portrait of me and my black wife Brenda with the article.
Will - Thank you for explaining the thoughts that many of us, often from older generations, are not privy to. I appreciate your sharing of your personal feelings, thoughts and views. May (more) freedom ring.
As a long time (big) fan of women, especially my long time female wife, (I am a long time guy), I fully support any choice anyone would like to make that enables them to live a happy life as long as it does not infringe on the rights of any other person.
Thank you for this, I am old and never even contemplated a bi relationship. Glad to see it from another prospective. Humans, and animals of all stripes, are complicated beings. (Learned about bird love from a doc. About bower birds, blew my mind.).
Yup. I look like a white dude. I don't have a clue whether I look straight or not; I grew up as a girl who realized she was a dyke shortly after leaving high school, so I have been used to being one kind of queer or another nearly all of my life. I transitioned in my mid-thirties to a more masculine appearance, and although at the time I thought i was going to become a "man", I never got to a place that felt unequivocally male. For me, there was simply no there there, but I do like the hybrid body I have been able to fashion with the help of medical technology. Transitioning to.. wherever I am was one of the best things I have ever done for myself.
I could theorize my gender to hell and back (where my folks are afraid I am headed; I'm less concerned..), but the practical result has been that I don't have a particular gender and I don't quite understand why so much fuss is made about the Big Two. I'm also pansexual, insofar as I am attracted to people when I am attracted to them; sometimes they are men, sometimes women, sometimes both, neither, etc. Gender is at once a non-issue for me but also this thing that I need a paragraph-long name tag to explain to others. So much fuss about.. so little.
Why do the pious rage?
Anyway, I am still as white as can be, but I've lived the subaltern life in numerous other ways since day one. The fear of sin and impurity that my mother harbors is so far from my experience that I no longer comprehend it. I do have some compassion for her; she had an awful childhood.
But.
Why? Do she and all these other frightened people have to impose their nightmares on the rest of us?
To be honest I never expected gay marriage to be a thing in my lifetime. That the backlash is fierce is unsurprising, but I am pleasantly surprised by the growing numbers of straight cis folk who understand that there are nearly an infinite number of ways to be, and that the main question should always be concerned with how we keep suffering to a minimum instead of ramping it up.
Will, from Cal, that is a a wonderfully written piece and the most thorough description/explanation of bisexuality I have ever read. Thank you!
With your permission I would like to share it with some of my friends who I think might appreciate it as much as I do. I would certainly attribute it to you as “Will, from Cal” or any other way you would like. Thank you for considering my request.
Thank you for writing about these important events. Maybe, justice will be served for the attempt to block the legitimate transfer of power. Now, get the "big guns" who instigated it all!
What is being done by Biden-Pelosi-Schumer regarding the strike is exactly how I would proceed were I in their role, in a situation with no good options.
I am unapologetically pro-union, pro-worker, pro-strike, the works. If ALL the unions were against the deal together my feelings would most likely be different. But it is beyond telling that 2/3 already accepted the government-brokered deal. Allowing only 1/3 of the union chapters of one industry to paralyze the world's largest economy for an indefinite period is flatly unacceptable.
What these workers are being denied boils my blood. But it is not much different than the myriad of similar blood-boiling denials faced by many undervalued American workers in many industries.
The solution is generous paid leave for all Americans, mandated federally. The window for that, if we play our cards right (and we better), blows wide open in two years. To those using words like "betrayal" to characterize the president choosing the health of the nation as a whole rather than just his preferred constituency, kindly step out of the circular firing squad and train your fire at those who deny paid leave, rather than the man who advocated for it for a year straight, and is prepared to do so again.
Will, I agree with most of your reasoning, with one exception: the comment that 1/4 of unions are controlling the process is misleading to me because those 4 unions represent a large number of members, maybe a majority. membership numbers are difficult to ascertain. So my thought process is that if those 4 unions have a majority of members, the dividing line shifts the "minority" line. It would be like arguing that 10 states (that have the highest population by 53%) outweigh the remaining 40. Two other factors that matter to me are the narrowness of the ratification numbers, and the fact that pay does not ease the scheduling problem. Yes, I am/was a union member, and an officer. If the various unions don't agree, who decides the outcome? A pack of multimillionaires in Congress who are lobbied by the businesses?
To your point - "There are 140,000 miles of rail in the United States, which are operated by about 115,000 rail workers......And a majority of workers at four of the 12 unions rejected the deal. The unions that voted against the deal represent 60,000 rail workers, including the largest rail union, SMART Transportation Division. And the 12 unions have agreed to honor each other's picket lines." So, yes, four unions represent a bit more than half the workers.
I think, though, that Bernie Sanders is all over this, so we might 😣 get a bit more out of the legislation.....
Once again, I agree with you, Will. I am a union member and was a union steward for several years. We RARELY get everything at the bargaining table the first time. Management and the board room don’t work that way. Incremental steps is the best we can hope for. That’s one reason unions have to negotiate every couple of years - because management doesn’t give a crap about workers, they want profits. They see far too many of us as dispensable cogs in a wheel. If they break us, they replace us. That said, I have known several RR workers who loved their jobs. I lived in a city that had a hub, so several neighbors were RR workers and friends parents. Yes, they complained about the long hours and the lack of time off for their families. But most felt the trade-off for a well paying job with security was almost worth it. However, it’s just inhumane to expect people to work without sick leave or emergency family leave. So I do hope that gets fixed at the next bargaining round. Maybe at some point Congress will open an investigation into all these ridiculous profits earned by these companies over the pandemic years. Seems there is a law somewhere on the books that prevents price gouging, monopolies, etc. But it’s too early in the morning for me to think about it.
I, too, am union, but from a career that has a built in "no strike" clause. (Research the "blue flu" for an explanation) The county ALWAYS wanted us to do more with less, from equipment to benefits to money.
Well said. Thank You. Once again President Biden is making the hard choices that define the difference between being a politician or a leader. President Biden is adept at leading. Call him old, spacey and just plain goofy but I feel safe with him in Office.
Barbara--Biden is indeed in a hard spot. He is a long-time union supporter but definitely needs to avoid any backsliding in the overall economy. It is unclear what the Senate will do with the House supporting the September agreement but also adding a separate measure mandating seven days paid sick leave. Given his statements--and if nothing changes on the negotiation front in the interim--I assume Biden will sign it.
But, Biden can also be very public and very direct in criticizing the corporate greed inherent in the deal. He can say that in the current climate, he reluctantly has to back a settlement. He can site the massive profits the RR corporations accrued in recent years, anathemize the revolting executive salaries "earned" by the efforts of the RR workers, call out the sleazy mechanism of variable PSP work schedules (a trend in everything from RR to manufacturing, to fast food restaurants), and threaten (promise?) to back legislation to curtail at least the worst of these evils--basically to continue efforts to flesh out a country that grows from the middle out.
It's not great, but he has done pretty well in making the best of a bad economic situation and political resistance over the last year, and I think it could engender some public support.
Yes to Biden to stepping up to curbing the corporate greed for power and profits of RRs. IF he would honestly just do that, he'd truly support the HUMAN workers who are not asking for the moon! Just to be treated decently. Geez! We could all feel safer.
Thank you, well said. Joe advocating for the country, not his favored ones, wish it meant both, but repubs won’t allow it. Joe knows the decisions as president are different, however, go Bernie…
It would appear that even HCR (and you?) has accepted the misleading distortion of numbers by reporting that 4 of 12 (actually 1/3) of unions voted down the agreement when in fact those 4 unions represent 60,000 of the 115,000 members (a majority) of all the union members affected by the decision, the 60,000 front-line members who actually operate the trains and repair the infrastructure when it breaks; those whom we hailed as heroes through the height of the Covid pandemic. With their erratic schedules of long stints away from home they deserve sick days in addition to their vacation days, not INSTEAD of vacation days.
I think that's been covered already. We agree, but we also recognize that there is such a thing as throwing the baby out with the bath water. In the 50s, my dad was a union man and president of a large chapter of a woodworkers union striking for safer working conditions, rational hours, and pay increase. They negotiated for months, and got an offer that included most of what they were after, but strung out the pay increases. The union had given a lot to the effort, and some were not willing to settle for less than they wanted.
My dad warned them that the companies had big bucks behind them (the industry basically owned Oregon at that time), that there were people willing to work as scabs (mostly out of necessity), and that a strike would almost certainly end up breaking the union. Union hotheads stirred up the membership. When they voted, they chose to strike. My dad was threatened from both sides. To protect his family, he resigned as union president.
He was right: the companies locked down the mills and the logging, then started hiring "replacement workers", freelancers and people from out of state. It nearly broke the economy of our region, too. The union, 70 years later, is beginning to rebuild membership and regain the stature they had before that strike. The economy by necessity and foresight, diversified, and that has helped the community thrive financially.
I wouldn't go back there to live, though, even if my situation and finances allowed it. The kind of shortsighted thinking that brought on the strike back then still has too much influence in how things are done, at all levels. And I often think back: had the union members voted to accept the deal, they would have gotten most of what they needed, and retained the power and influence to get the rest. The needed economic diversification would still have occurred, but without edging the working class out of the stable lives they had. I think there would have been more of a tendency to retain the character of the community and less of a tendency to allow rampant development that closed off the diversity of land use that made the valley a beautiful place.
John, I apologize for my typos (I have corrected 1/4 to 1/3 for posterity). I also wish to acknowledge that merely focusing on the number of union chapters rather than membership numbers is reductive. But I stand by my position.
I'll go one farther than you: I think the railroad workers not only deserve sick and vacation days, but they deserve more of each, AND an even higher pay raise than they are getting. Screw that, they should be paid more apiece than the stupid, greedy mofos who run the damn racket. They ARE the essential personnel. But considering the truly calamitous effects this particular strike would have on the entire country of 330 million+ people at this time, whether 40% or 60% of a 115k workforce voted "no" on this deal does not markedly change the calculus here. My emotions and sympathies are with the rail workers entirely: their schedules are an especially egregious example of our broken system of taking workers for granted. But they are not alone in being taken for a cog by industry, or denied paid leave. Were I the President, tasked with representing the safety and prosperity of all 330 million citizens, many of them union folks desperately trying to make a normal Christmas happen, and with our economy and democracy hanging by a thread, forcing the deal is - pragmatically - a no-brainer. Especially when it looks like most workers voted yes.
Oh, my goodness! So much of today’s Letter caused my throat to catch! Everything that Heather wrote tonight is absolute vindication of all the travesty and horror we as a nation have had to endure since the presidential election in 2020. What our country has had to put up with, the vile lies, awful, disgusting behavior of Trump and his toadies, and the efforts to delay, obfuscate and distort the trials of the people responsible for all of that is finally being punished by the laws of our country - laws that these same people have denied being subject to and have sought to not be held responsible for violating. There is justice after all!
Then, the end of the letter spoke eloquently of the beauty of life and our faith in something greater than ourselves and the lives we live here on Earth. That itself was enough for me today and brought tears to my eyes. But to have all the rest happen on top of the Grace we had at the tree lighting restores much of my trust that good will triumph over evil!
Let us indeed live in hope!
What a magnificent start to this holiday season!!!
"the end of the letter spoke eloquently of the beauty of life and our faith in something greater than ourselves and the lives we live here on Earth. That itself was enough for me today"
Me too. A better summary than the above sentence fragment could not be written.
There was much of hope in today’s letter and much elucidation (thank you, Will.) Today I finished decorating our Christmas tree for my husband of 60 years who is now physically so limited and in pain. The tree, filled with memories of family and friends, is really symbolic to us of the endurance of life during good and bad times. These last six years have been so difficult on so many levels, but now beauty is in our house, and there is hope in our country. Yesterday’s letter and some of your responses were upsetting, but today’s were not. Thank you for that. May you all enjoy this season in your own ways that bring you joy.
Every morning, we 54 years, share my reading aloud LFAA and several other sites including R. Hubbell reading his weekday comments. Our journey is IPF. I will hang our seasonal decorations from a beam in deference to our two youthful cats. Love and respect to you.
Thank you, Heather Cox Richardson, for a letter filled with hope. Possibility. Hope that we are seeing and will continue to see some of our government do their jobs: holding insurrectionists accountable with prison sentences for their parts in planning to disrupt the counting of electoral votes and attempts to destroy our Democracy; that a judge ruled against presidential immunity for TFG’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election (what a crazy argument!!!); the Senate passing the Respect for Marriage Act and 12 repubs joined the Democrats to pass it. And to get ahead of SCOTUS who may invalidate marriage equality. And that the rail workers might return to work with a possible plan to add sick leave to their contracts; that we honor the many cultures of our nation, especially the First People, through their stories and customs: the winning essay by Youth Tree Lighter Catuce Micco Tiger, a citizen of Eastern Band of Cherokees, “The trees that stayed awake were rewarded with the ability to keep their leaves yearlong and with special healing powers. It is a story of faith and gratitude—of hope enduring through the dark night.”
So much good news all at once, I can barely take it all in. What a change from the disheartening events of Jan 2021.  My faith in the justice system and the rule of law is redeemed. It’s clear the seditionists were fully convinced that they were on the side of right and totally committed destroying democracy. I truly hope they come to see that what they did was treason, not patriotism.
I doubt they will ever see their actions and anything else they say or do as unjustified and treasonous. It makes no difference to one way or another. What does make a difference, though, is they are wrong, they have been declared wrong by a legal tribunal who’s authority is accepted as right and true, and now the people who committed the crimes against our country and all the citizens of our country are going to suffer the legal consequences of their illegal actions.
Please keep in mind that many came to rethink what they believed and what they were drawn at times into doing. Some have spoken about their recognition, with courage, and many of those people made it possible for us to have the kind of insight we now have about how this all came about. I think there are many more who haven't spoken up, out of embarrassment or fear of judgement (so many of us are eager to pass judgement without considering the underlying conditions). I very much agree that those who were ultimately responsible both for setting the tone for what happened and for using these people for their own ends must be pursued and prosecuted. That is what has been happening, and it grows closer and closer to the core. I think we need to give credit to those who had the grace and humility to admit they made a mistake, and were willing to step forward in the investigation, or who simply wanted to set the record straight. Not all of them had to. But they did anyway.
Beautifully tied up dear historian and teacher, Prof Richardson! And the smiling picture of the capitol police at the end of the citations is a special pleasure at the end of another truly historic day. Hope you’re asleep right now!
I’m not celebrating until the jail cell door clangs shut behind Rhodes. Then, hopefully, the same bell ringing behind Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, et al, and finally, triumphantly, behind the seditious conspiracy commander-in-chief himself.
"Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who defended the Capitol against the Oath Keepers on January 6, heard the jury’s verdict, then watched the tree lighting." God bless these Capitol Police officers, and the DC Law Enforcement (thinking Michael Falcone). These men and women need to be honored. I hope that Pres.Biden does something to acknowledge them.
Betrayed thrice, by their countrymen who beat them and treated them like hated enemies, by their "president" who treated them as "disposables" and repeatedly by their congressmen who disrespected and denied the service these officers rendered on that day and the aftermath they suffered publicly and privately, while these "congressmen" climbed on the "election denial" gravy train for political gain. It is such a relief to see any and all attempts to restore recognition and respect and gratitude for these men and women.
Yesterday, 11/29/22, was Giving Tuesday. I’m about to tap on “Give gift” to formally and joyfully thank Heather, patriot extraordinaire, for her daily, priceless gift to us all….. Letters from an American!
Bernie had a detailed comment to Chris Hayes tonight that the vote on health care f or the railroad unions may not die under a Republican filibuster. He seemed quite confident, though he didn't declare it "done."
For those bashing Biden for not supporting the railroad workers, there is a larger issue at stake--with much of the Missippi River unnaviagable because of drought if rail transportation is also halted because of strikes then all that will be left are truckers to move freight. There currently are not enough truckers and they also work under inhumane conditions that compromise their own and others safety for low wages and few benefits.
No movement of goods and the economy does come to a halt and huge number of people will be out of work and inflation will run rampant because of shortages. The country is at an extremely precarious point economically.
The only way this gets fixed for the long term is through legislation to codify worker protections and conditions of employment for ALL workers. Pelosi is putting a bandaid on it for the current crisis with the companion paid leave legislation, while also forcing the Republicans to to show how anti-worker they are.
My fear is that SCOTUS is moving towards gutting the powers of government agencies to make and enforce regulations and McCarthy will gut the funding for the agencies to hamstring them further if he becomes Speaker.
No, the only way to prevent a devastating strike is for Biden and Pelosi to put pressure on the railroad bosses to give the workers the few days of paid sick leave they are quite properly demanding, and the right to a weekend. I am sick and tired of living in a country still stuck in 19th century capitalism and politicians wringing their hands over the sad necessity of bowing to the corporations that pay for their campaigns.
This verdict is well timed. With only days to go before Congress recesses, much is left to do. The establishment of a conspiracy breathes life into the Jan. 6 investigation so that even when McCarthy (presumably speaker) tries to eclipse the significance of this finding, he will be hard pressed to justify doing so. May justice be served, may justice prevail.
And one more thing—May justice reach into congress, to those repubs who helped him (looking at you, Scott Perry).
The next 34 days on the House floor could be quite eventful. I signed up early this am for Steny Hoyer's floor Updates.Right now, the House is scheduled to be in session for about 1/2 of those upcoming days. Buckle Up.
This is why I am not as concerned about the Midterm results - some of the Republican congressmen are just as guilty and at the least should not be serving!
and women... MTG & L Boebert (among others)
CRUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ... you traitor
And so it shall...Time and again false conspiracy mongers have said that the authoritarians among us who plotted and perpetrated the crimes involving the attack on the Capitol would somehow manage to skirt justice and that our democracy wouldn’t prevail. Their lack of faith in our strong and resilient democracy was misguided and wrong. Americans love freedom as much as we respect the rule of law which operates effectively to protect us from lawless chaos. I want to express my thanks to the members of the jury who sat for 7 long weeks hearing the arguments of the lawyers for the prosecution and defense and reviewing the evidence presented against the defendants. They did their duty quietly and well. They kept the faith. The importance of their verdicts is loud and clear to the American people who have been demanding that justice be done: the attack against Congress was an attack against all Americans and our way of life. There will be many more convictions to come and the perpetrators will pay the price for their crimes. In order to do the more important work ahead we must always be willing to do what we must to protect and preserve the foundational values embodied in the Constitution and its supporting laws. This takes faith, determination and sacrifice which is something the American people understand instinctively. “Don’t Tread on Me” is a rallying cry of the patriots who declared our independence in 1776. It is not a slogan that can be adopted by a gang of criminal thugs seeking power and gain for themselves.
Jan. 6 is looking more and more like the subprime crisis that nearly threw the world into the second Great Depression. Yet after years of investigations on its cause, NOT ONE bank executive was put behind bars. The foot soldiers take the heat and as the leaders shower, fix their ties and run for re-election.
I am hoping they had to declare a 'seditious conspiracy' took place on 6 Jan before they can go after tfg. Precedence has now been set. I think they climb the ladder of justice up to the big guy. One can hope...
Exactly Randy. I hate Trump with a passion - I will admit. It emotional to me and probably clouds my sense of justice; I want him to pay and pay dearly. I have doubts still, even with this important verdict. If he doesn't get what I think is his just due, I am going to be all ears as to why. DOJ will have lots of explaining to do if they let him off with a slap on the wrists - the precedent that would set is just unthinkable.
I have no problem admitting how much I despise death star. I usually do not waste energy on hatred, but he is so loathsome that I have run out of words which express exactly the depth of what I feel. I do think he will be indicted and I understand why it has taken so long as prosecutors do not want him to be able to weasel out of any charges. His insane mutterings tell us how worried he is even thought he found time for the infamous dinner.
Need more info here, not sure what this is alluding to?
Wall Street was bailed out, and Main Street shat upon.
zackly
The present day criminals do have a way of coopting certain symbols like this and including the US flag. This angers me no end because in no way are these thugs and criminals patriots.
And may Trump be indicted.
Yeah - it's a victory but how big remains to be seen. I don't know if the House has any influence on the DOJ machinations going forward. I hope not. But you can rest assured, any kind of peripheral influence that can be conjured up, McCarthy will do it. He and his fellow insurrectionist boot lickers will beat the drums loud and continually, spinning truth into lies, trying to sway the public in favor of his orange god.
McCarthy seems to be having troubles finding the votes to be Speaker. But we can be assured that the House for the next two years will be a dumpster fire with all the investigations these unfit for public office types are lining up. My only hope is that their razor thin margin might and I emphasize might, mitigate things. One thing is certain. They will do nothing to help ordinary Americans and actually govern.
Yes Michele - you're right on the money. It looks like McCarthy is going to get it, but will have to make some pretty sick promises to get it. We will watch the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a profoundly unfit lawmaker (activates my gag reflex to even say "lawmaker") and Matt Gaetz and Gozar, etc, be given outsized influence in our national politics. It boggles the mind. BTW - that is why I never jumped on the victory bandwagon for the mid-term results. I mean, total disaster was averted - that I will acknowledge - but loss of the House, even a slim loss, is a big loss indeed. It's going to be two more years of paralysis unless the administration can wave some magic wands. The climate - my number one issue - just cannot continue to wait out inaction or insufficient action by the most prominent nation on earth. You can rest assured the climate will not be on the republican agenda.
I believe these despicable people and their platform of revenge, hate and obstruction will make it clear how harmful the present day Republican Party is. People across the country will be witnessing and benefitting from the many pieces of legislation Biden and the Democrats were able to pass, all while watching the idiots in the House and their performative nonsense. Unfortunately this colossal waste of time will hurt all Americans and continue the march toward a climate disaster. Anyone who continues to support them is complicit in the harm they are causing our country and the world.
They are in total denial about the climate despite a lot of their rural adherents suffering from water problems among other things. I was just reading an article about what small animals do for forests and other habitats, but we are busy ruining the habitats and killing animals right and left. I can feel myself getting sick. Yes, the House is going to be a true s....show. I may abandon the news for a long while.
Yes, it will be, Michele. I will mute Gym Jordan if his face and loudmouth appears on my tv screen.
he is way beyond disgusting
MtG is no lawmaker. She is law-less and will be the master mistress of the Pro-Rape Party’s House unless, of course, Jack Smith comes up with any revealing evidence on her. 🤞🏼
That would be just delicious! I try but cannot "un-see" the sinister smile on her face in the safe room on Jan 6, proudly declining an offer by Rep Rochester to wear a mask. I suspect however she is clean on this particular thing though. Somebody inside helped out the mob if not her. The perp can be narrowed down to about half a dozen persons, a couple of whom were just elected to Congress the prior November.....
Michael Moore's podcast today reminds us that with the razor thin House margin, odds are not unreasonable that enough turnover could give House back to Dems before 2024 election.
I’ll have to look at Michael Moore’s podcast.
My fear, exactly.
Are the guilty verdicts for seditious conspiracy keeping bigger fish awake tonight? Will Roger Stone, Mike Flynn and others in their circle face consequences? An equally important question, will those in Congress and working in the Trump administration who played a role in the events of Jan. 6 be held accountable?
I'm in the camp that justice will finally find Trump, both with federal and state crimes. But what about his enablers? All of them must pay a heavy price for the damage they have wrought.
All those enablers who were at the early January Williard Hotel meetings to plan Sedition.
Plus good ole Ginni T too!
along with her deeply compromised hubby... who 'knew nothing'
"I'm in the camp that justice will finally find Trump, both with federal and state crimes."
I think I will join the historical record camp then. In the historical record of the United States, rich White Men have so very rarely gone to jail, for obvious and proven crimes, that one can hardly find reference to such events in any history book anywhere. One can, of course, find rich white men committing crimes all day, every day, without any consequences. Starting on day 1 of arrival in the Americas.
And, as a long time mathematics fan, I can say, linear extrapolation is the best way to extrapolate existing, past data.
So, if I extrapolate the past into the future, which, is the best way to predict the future, I am forced to conclude that Trump's most likely outcomes are:
1. Become President for a second term and move the US into full on fascism.
2. Run for President but lose to some other Fascist and move back to Mara Lago to rant on Twitter for the rest of his miserable life.
3. After losing the Presidency a second time, Trump will stage a coup that is not organized by incompetents like Michael Flynn and Roger Stone and will have half of Congress killed and be installed as President by his now well trained para military group, which, includes half of the US Military the second time around.
4. Trump will use another run for President to "fund raise" off his base thereby continuing his long time pick pocketing of all the poor souls who love Trump more than their own families, and, after losing, put an addition on Mara Lago for some of his girlfriends to stay in when he moves back.
Hi Mike,
I am feeling a bit more optimistic. How about this for
#5. Trump will be dismissed as a 3 time loser. A liability for the GQP. He will ultimately perform a perp walk twice. In Georgia and then when Smith recommends his arrest to Garland.
Nikki Haley will survive the primary and become the GQP nominee for President. If Biden runs he may lose by a tiny number of votes or because a swing state betrays him in the stupid Electoral College. If Biden (who I love and respect) wisely decides to pass the baton to someone who might attract Gen Y and Z, we win by a significant margin. And we also get the House back, because the shit show led by the likes of MJT and Co, is viewed by most as just stupid and boring political theater.
What do you think?
I agree — and have long thought that Haley is a force (albeit shallow and dishonest) to be reckoned with. DeSantis has less charisma than my muddy boots. Media scrutiny will help him fade. He won't be able to take the heat.
While I admire Biden's many accomplishments under challenging circumstances, I don't believe he's the type of candidate needed for 2024. I'm intrigued by Gretchen Whitmer. I also very much like Pete Buttigieg but worry about his electability.
I can't stand Haley. And as for DeSatan. The thought of him makes me sick. He can get sucked up by a Florida sinkhole. I do see, as you do, some younger possibilities. I like Pete (I was born and raised in Elkhart, next door to South Bend), but share your concerns. We do have a new governor in Oregon who is open about her sexuality and has a wife. I also see her as quite capable, being both aware and compassionate about the problems, knowing how the legislature works, and being tough as nails when she has to be. Right now she is putting out positive messages and plans to visit first those places who voted for her opponent.
Agree totally with your thoughts. Pete would govern better than anyone else I can imagine. But the electability risk is real.
I also hope Biden does not run and not because I do not like him, but because like the Ds in the House, it is time to pass the baton. I have no idea who the Rs will nominate. Most of them who are likely to run are not fit to pick up dung in a parade.
Not willing to go there yet. Nope! I am a kinesthetic learner and wish not to future “trip”. I just can’t and am unwilling to listen to scenarios about the what “ifs”. We have to use our energy to untangle the web of lies and deceit that Trump, his ilk, and the Pro-Rape Party (PRP) have done, first and foremost!
Do not ignore the power of incumbency. I personally think Biden shouldn’t run; but we got Trump on the last jump ball in 2016.
If only.
Our history speaks volumes, our population is subject to propaganda which puts all of America at risk. Rupert is trying to change to a more competent fascist wannabe, can he do it after creating the most successful Frankenstein ever?
White collar crime doesn't count in our judicial system. It's not "dangerous."
Best short sentences describing the "judicial" system I have seen!
It helps to remember that our system of laws are designed to protect property and that our law enforcement agencies were created with that foundational basis: protect property. No "duty to serve" or "protect the public".
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/justices-rule-police-do-not-have-a-constitutional-duty-to-protect.html?unlocked_article_code=TNyPfr9uVERzKSqgl6rhkdpIgvjlERi8drtw1P8DNSt85iYkrzkTZN31Rvhss2kuyjpR4Y7Hd4sPXm6ESk6YlyRszQ6AVUYXvT9A-M3wyjMbHp8OQ6CEbcR3byxVKcJbmnO2iyQ_0img2VgzAosw88rHnXcbX1IJf2eiP2P1eJlgJDCMC37DdDj3VLOWUCaupMxRsfRmu907i6WjyRUFTTethy7Gu_W4-IlOTAggQqiCpt8RiFD4nJjxHkmDUSGgYcS2dThcfIXrtQvS7HYB2xOLjbPwB6eLQFcAsR9XODruk0KUDLX6ETClQyXWosXY0y6pMlP9Y6JbYiTGaZC22XIZE8aF48JDjXvNCfIaGiAb-xp5xNbKXNkZ-3OzoXyW3sWLaEgzaFbtHpf9&smid=share-url
From that article.... Justice Scalia said, "a well-established tradition of police discretion has long coexisted with apparently mandatory arrest statutes." With all due respect to you and your former occupation, isn't that often the problem? In the final paragraph, Justice Breyer writes of judges needing "a degree of discretion." So, if discretion is to be necessary for enforcement of laws, are we indeed a nation of laws and not men?
Interesting question, because application of the laws as they are written would be so incredibly cumbersome as to hopelessly clog the system. Discretion is huge in law enforcement; do you cite every traffic violation you see, or is a warning sometimes sufficient? Does every theft of a candy bar require an arrest?
With respect to discretion, the only "mandatory" arrest statute in Oregon is under the Abuse Prevention Act, which requires law enforcement at the scene of a dispute where Assault (injury), Menacing (threats of serious physical injury) or Sexual Abuse (non-consensual sexual intercourse, deviant sexual intercourse*) has taken place to arrest the primary aggressor. This law evolved out of its original (between spouses, former spouses, adult persons related by blood or marriage, parents of a minor child, adult family members, and "adult persons of opposite sexes who reside together or formerly resided together) to then include same-sex couples. In the "before times", there were far, far fewer domestic violence arrests.
*Oregon defines deviant sexual intercourse as sexual non-vaginal genital contact, be it oral or anal.
Yes. Ally and Erik, thank you. I’m glad I followed this thread.
Ally and Erik, thank you very much for this discussion.
Discretion is absolutely necessary for law enforcement. Law is a written text, but it is not inerrant scripture: the whole of the judiciary, from county to state to federal, is a long historical endeavor to interpret that written law in light of past interpretations and judgments, as well as taking into account ongoing changes in (legal, social, and even political) circumstances both within whatever jurisdiction a judgment is required as well as in surrounding jurisdictions and larger, containing ones.
Because law *is* men, to use those words. Or: we who use language to write the laws to govern ourselves must also figure out how best to apply them in situations where what is written will offer some clarity on what should be done, but often, less than perfect clarity.
Our system of law has more than a little in common with Jewish law, where past interpretation of the Torah determines future interpretation of the law. I'm not a scholar of law by any means, so I cannot say exactly how much of this process derives also from English Common Law, but I have been told that at least some does.
To me, the necessity of interpretation is a feature (not a bug!) of language. The multiple rubs come when trying to find a way to interpret law without personal interests interfering, which is next to impossible. Which is at least one good reason to have courts of appeal: so more experienced jurists can review cases in light of their own knowledge.
This unavoidable interpretation is also why the far right Supreme Court justices' "originalism" is a sham. There is no way to discern what, precisely, the writers of the Constitution originally "intended" in the first place; all we have are these written words, and it is an act of interpretation even to take them as literally as one can make out, because there simply is no way to get to a word's meaning immediately, without one's own biases and judgments intervening.
It's an imperfect system from any angle, but it is what we have, and why vigilance over legal power is so, so necessary.
Erik, you may not (in your words) be a scholar of law, but you’re a teacher who has helped deepen my understanding of it with your words.
You said, “Because law *is* men, to use those words. Or: we who use language to write the laws to govern ourselves must also figure out how best to apply them in situations where what is written will offer some clarity on what should be done, but often, less than perfect clarity.”
I’m glad I kept reading this morning. Thank you. Thanks to Ally too.
Oh Mike!
Think I'll go out and smell what flowers survived Ian.
Nature is resilient Lynn, as I found after Irma. Sending positive vibes to all of you impacted by such a horrendous event. ❤️
Excellent idea!! I fully support beautiful flowers and their fragrance!
And, landing zones for pollination.
Yeah Mike - your #2 seems to have good odds IMO. Not so much the others. I think, at this point, an indictment will come, perhaps more than one. It will not be very soon, and then everything that results, the lawsuits, the stalling, the trial preparations, jury selection, etc, will draw out so long that it will extend beyond 2024 such that he will still run, making a total mockery of our country's system of law and order. He will not get the nomination; another equally fetid candidate will instead. Like DeSantis. Should he win (I actually think he would not), he would pardon Trump, thus legally ending the sordid affair. Who knows what Trump's health will be by then - he may be deceased by then. What we want - to see him behind bars - I think is very unlikely. And it bugs the sh_t out of me.
I hope you are right James!!
You're right, of course, Mike. But there is a small difference. If you look back into European history, you'll find that the one time rich white men tended to lose their heads was in cases of sedition, treason, and attempted assassination of the king. In other words, Steal from the Peasants, Steal from the Other Rich, but if you mess with the Throne, you'd better win, or catch a boat for Scotland.
Mr. Orange Bloat messed with the Throne, and he lost. I think his prospects are not as good as you say.
(Whistling in the dark on this one.)
Suz-an,
I just completed reading the 1619 Book Project, which, has left me in quite the state of mind.
To say that my eyes have been opened would be an understatement.
Enablers? More like puppet masters, here and abroad.
I can dream, if only our populace understood the consequences of sedition run amok, especially among the govt representatives
I agree, Michael, but I worry that they will all escape to Saudi Arabia Idi Amin-style before we get to have their day in court.
I have wondered if there is extradition when this happens?
Marj, I just googled it. It appears there is no extradition treaty between the US and Saudi Arabia. Not surprising.
And if (and that's a pretty big "if") Smith is able to catch some of those big fish currently sitting in Congress, what will that do to the numbers? If a few of the co-conspirators just happen to be sitting on the red side of the aisle(s), what then?
It would further rile up the already demented MAGA base. But so what at this point? I believe the majority of voters, including independents, wants accountability.
Failing this, surely, would be the disgrace of our generation forevermore.
Failure would serious weaken our already weakened republic.
Correct.
and THAT to me is the big issue.
Yes, I totally agree with you. How are these members of Congress who refused to certify the election legitimately representing their constituents when they believe that Biden is not the rightful POTUS?I don’t get it.
1. They are white.
2. They have money or people who have money are backing them.
That's all it takes to stay out of jail folks.
See my other comment today.
Their constituents reelected them?
...and this is the piece that keeps me up at night.
An uncomfortable thought, but true.
Elected and re-elected
They signed an oath to support the constitution. Why is that not leveraged?
excellent question!!!!
I totally agree!
Dr. Richardson, I was really touched by the conclusion on your essay this evening, a harbinger of a political world no longer madly spinning! :
“And,” Pelosi added, “it is hope that we celebrate each holiday season—that through the cold and dark winter, spring will someday come.” Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who defended the Capitol against the Oath Keepers on January 6, heard the jury’s verdict, then watched the tree lighting."
Thank you, Professor for including this story at the closing of today's Letter.
It encapsulates that quality of our political life that will be missed as Speaker Pelosi surrenders the gavel - always one to remain vigilant through the cold dark night.
Professor Richardson has that unique quality of ending her letters with a single short paragraph or sentence that captures the essence of emotion a reader is bound to feel. I call them “barnburners” of an ending. This one I’ll label a “barnbuilder” of an ending.
Salud, Russell!
🗽
It was beautiful and symbolic for HCR to end this Letter on the last day of November with the scene of ‘…lighting the Capitol Christmas tree with fourth-grader Catcuce Micco Tiger’, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) and has ancestry from the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. (Letter)
Tiger won the role of youth tree lighter with an essay sharing the Cherokee origin story for evergreen trees. We went back to The Capitol to imagine the lighting of the tree and to learn about origin of evergreen trees through the Cherokee people. The Cherokees call themselves Ani-Yunwiya, the "Principal People."
Agreed. This story is what drew me to respond today. We need hope, and there is hope.
Completely agree!
My thoughts about the railroad legislation are complicated. My thoughts about the Marriage bill are not. If you want a personal perspective as to why, yes, this matters:
I am bisexual. It is absolutely hilarious to me how many otherwise open-minded, sensible people still think this is some kind of fringe thing, or personality quirk, or fashionable phase. They can't wrap their brains around it. It's a simple concept: I can be - and am - attracted romantically and otherwise to either a woman or a man, and would be happy pursuing a relationship if reciprocated. Somehow, this breaks many folk's brains. Still! I have come to realize they can accept gay people, because "the poor things, their brains were put in upside down, they can't help it." But BI? Now you are just making things up to be fancy, you greedy gus! I've realized a key thing to explain is that bi means not BOTH, but EITHER; my brain sees gender markers as just another characteristic, so whatever someone has under their shirt affects whether I get a crush on them as much as if they are short or tall or have blue or brown eyes. All are beautiful on the right person. I can control who I am attracted to as much as you can: zero percent. However, if I am dating the right person, I'm about as likely to feel I'm "missing out" on the other gender as I am missing out on blondes/brunettes: also zero percent, because I'm not shallow.
Anyway, almost every bi person I have heard from has this same experience of a delay in realizing our identity relative to others in the LGBT family. Long story short, during those teen years you are already attracted to the opposite sex, and you don't know bi is an option, so you just misattribute the other feelings you have. It took me a while to jump from "If I was a girl, I would date him..." to "I, personally, would date him and enjoy that thought." Often there is a random moment where it just clicks. (Thanks, guy with the swept-back black hair and button-up shirts in statistics class! You saved me a year or two!)
Myself, this initial process was freeing because I had a supportive environment. But you know what came shockingly quickly after that? The sudden realization that, after a life growing up assuming you struck it lucky as a white male, you are now - literally as soon as you open your mouth to admit a part of your personality to anyone anywhere - part of a discriminated group. There is now the knowledge that, even if I was to live a Rockwellian life with a female partner and 2.5 kids, there are vast areas of my own country where people think they should be able to deny me a job or an apartment or a cake or basic politeness because once upon a time I DID have a crush on Kyle from stats class, and subsequently committed the dangerous subversion of being okay with that.
And they would make it the law if they could. Right now. They would make me a second-class citizen not because of any action I took, but because of my personality. They would choose to take my safety and dignity because of thoughts in my head that I expressed to friends.
There is nothing less American.
So while I agree with many others in my LGBT family (and all our allies) that this bill is far, far from the full Equality Act we need and will get once the Senate is filibuster-free, I am beyond grateful for it. It is not only a necessary backstop against the ravages of a wayward Supreme Court, but a confirmation that most Americans are accepting, see love as love, see the bedrock value of freedom of choice as more valuable than imposing a personal prediliction, and we need to MOVE ON TO ACTUAL ISSUES.
Thank you Senator Baldwin, Feinstein, and Schumer. Tonight I sleep a little easier with more options open for my future.
Thank you for sharing, Will. As an out lesbian for almost 50 years now, I do know and fully comprehend the discrimination. I have refused to be in the closet because there is NOTHING I need to hide - for me or anyone else. My friends who are Bi have explained that they fall in love with PEOPLE or a person, not a gender. Makes perfect sense to me. Love is love. I agree this bill leaves way too many caveats for the “Christian” right to drive a truck through, as well as the current SCOTUS. I have no doubt the extreme right is not done screwing with my rights because they don’t fit their mold. Screw them. They don’t get to define my relationship with God. Where’s the religious freedom for me in that? Anyway, I do feel a bit better that my wife and I maybe won’t have to worry about SCOTUS overturning our marriage in the years we have left. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. I’ve always been confused how Republicans can argue for smaller government, yet they want to get in my bedroom. Doesn’t compute. I will leave you with a quote on a shirt I have that I really like - “Equal rights for others doesn’t mean fewer rights for you - it’s not pie.”
Thanks, Dianna. I'm just a couple years behind you in the "out lesbian" category. When I retired, we made certain decisions regarding my retirement benefits and social security options based on the fact that we were married. It would have been dicey to see what could have happened (and, frankly, still could).
I know there are an increasing number of people out there who think marriage is just a piece of paper. They usually say so in the context of declaring that they don't need that piece of paper for their relationship to be committed and legitimate. I agree.
But in terms of very important legal ramifications that have very real effects on your ability to follow through with your commitment to that person, and have it be regarded as legitimate, it is an awfully important piece of paper. And denying it to someone or threatening to take it away at first opportunity just because of the names of the folks on the paper are Billie and Bobbie instead of Billy and Bobbie is unconscionable.
I couldn't care less about the rude homophobes. Rude people are a problem as old as the hills and a dime a dozen. But, "you don't look like my idea of what you should look like, so I am going to teach you a lesson by taking away your hard-earned retirement" is a whole other bucket of un-American nope.
One day in the future people will look back at our sexual prejudice just as we look on witch-pointing in Salem. We're a pretty slow lot.
Really, really, reeeeaaaallllyyyy slow: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/last-unpardoned-salem-witch-cleared-329-years-later-rcna30801 (And it took actual children taking time out of their playtime to get it done. Seems about right.)
They think it’s pie and are scared of no dessert, like punishment of some sort. Not what it is, freedom to be…
I wish we could post photos as proof here because I have that exact same shirt. It sits in my wide open closet right in between RBG as Queen-from-a-deck-of-cards and "Jesus Was a Socialist Jew from the Middle East." Because, yeah, I am that person. This is America. The bigots are loud and proud. We have no excuse not being louder and prouder. As far as I see it, it is my solemn responsibility. And you have been bringing the goods for 40 years longer than me, so thank you for your service!
Gotta say, though, I don't find these Christianist conservatives' need to police people's bedrooms (and bathrooms, and living rooms, and doctors offices, and...) in the name of smaller government to be all that confusing. It becomes pretty clear once you accept that they are still peddling the same schtick as the Mayflower folks. They're fiscally conservative, but socially authoritarian. Sure, they talk a big game about freedom, and how they moved away from the land where they were persecuted. But they used the escape from being disallowed to live as they wished to create their own fiefdom where they did the same to others. Conservative utopia isn't acceptance, it's the absence of having to accept anything different. They see themselves, and only themselves, as the natural owners of this country, and therefore the big bad government and it's annoying, messy Civil Rights crusade is the imposition they wish to be free of. Hundreds of years later, and here they are, persecuted again. Is there nowhere safe anymore for them to live free from being forced to see two girls holding hands?
Maybe if they hadn't pushed the freedom mantra so hard, other people - like you and me - wouldn't have started taking it so seriously. And everyday that passes there are more of us. They were lying, but we want it for real. Oops.
I, a heterosexual female, am celebrating with you, Will! Also, THANK YOU for your beautifully worded description of the BI experience; it should be required reading in what should be a mandatory sex education class in public high school.
Amen! I was thinking exactly the same thing!
The Abbots and DiSantis of the world say NEVER. Be like me or shut up. God forbid.
Aww, thank you for the support. Like I said, allies could not be more important.
Regarding sex ed: I honestly think that the omnipresence of the internet has taken some of the edge off the negative effects of poor sex ed in this country. I'm no advocate for hedonism, but nothing is more damaging than repression and ignorance. Yes, there are all sorts of terrible messages available to kids now, especially through the easier access to pornography, and we shouldn't shrug that off. But there is also easier access to knowledge regarding both physical health as well as healthy attitudes that kids can look up in private, when before they would have only heard questionable stuff from friends. Research and reportage is showing that the youngest categories of Americans are notably *less* sexually risky than their parents. Believe it or not, being more accepting of sexual freedom does not necessitate an orgiastic free-for-all of a society (eyeroll), what it does mean is the sex you do have is safer and healthier. And yes, that includes the mental health that comes with being in a respectful relationship, which in turn stems from being respectful and honest with yourself and what your desires are.
I have seen videos and forum posts of middle school kids coming out as bi to their parents, or parents asking for advice after their 12-year old did so. Shamefully, my initial thought the first few times was "Oh, how can they know that at 12?" But... of course they can! That's when people hit puberty, and now these kids have the info available to accurately identify what it is they are feeling, and the confidence to express it to trusted friends and family. That wasn't available before. Success.
Will, thank you for your perspective, Bi and Trans folk are pretty often vilified in the Gay and Lesbian community, no matter how inclusive they (we) pretend to be. I remember listening to Holly Near one time in concert. She was one of the first really big name "women's recording artists" and was in a relationship with a woman at that time. They subsequently split, and she entered a relationship with a man, which really severed her "link" if you will, to the lesbian separatist faction of the women's community (although they welcomed her back, some years later, when she again was in a relationship with a woman...)
My take: It is absolutely none of my business who you're attracted to (unless its me, my wife, or underage kids), or what pronouns you wish to use.
I have been called “confused” by gay male friends and “in denial” by acquaintances who judged me by their limited perspective. I can understand bigoted str8 ppl who have no idea of expanded sexuality, but gay ppl who have endured discrimination should know better. One of my foto montages, that I have on T-shirts worn at Gay Pride events have a pic of me and Jim and one of me and Brenda with the caption “Don’t Tell Me Whom to Love.”
Jim and I could not have been married in the 1970s. And had Brenda and I met before 1967, we could not have been married in Florida as we did in 1983.
Yes we should. Sadly, we don't. You want to see a brou-ha-ha in the making, look into the arguments regarding trans-excluding radical feminists (TERFs). There seems to be a dearth of common sense in people that, IMO, should freaking know better.
The "confused" comment is the one that gets me. There is more projection going on in that one word than in all the years of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. No, I'm not confused. I'm very clear on what I am. The person who this concept is confusing is y'all.
Yes, you would think some of our gay male cohorts would be more enlightened, but on second thought, why? They're just people, and people are notoriously hypocritical. Why would they be more enlightened than all those anti-abortion mothers, for instance? I don't know about you, but I feel like any gay man who wouldn't want to date me simply for my orientation would be doing so for the same reason as any straight woman: their own insecurity, formed by their own poor experiences colliding with the same tired stereotypes, nothing more.
A fun game to play with the hide-behind-grammar "I just can't use 'they' to describe a single person" people. Remind them that not only is this a tiny number of people in question, but you can guarantee that they have already done that at least 432,000 times in their life. Example: "Wow, someone left their backpack on the subway. How careless! I hope *they* come back and get it!"
Pretty much, referring to people as they wish to be referred to is basic politeness. If someone's name is Moishe, I'm not going to call them Steve because I think that's better. That would be rude. So if someone's pronouns are Zigzag and Polkadot, I guess I'm going to be introducing you to my new friend Moishe. You'll love zigzag, because polkadot has a great sense of humor.
Also, the number of musicians I love that I found out way later are bi is pretty hilariously lengthy. Something something signaling to like minds through the radio waves I guess. Most of these are ladies, so the phrase "women's recording artist" tickles my younger ears pink. Thanks for sharing.
This. I was teaching freshman composition in the late 90s and telling my students then that English usage was ushering in "they" as the neutral third-person pronoun. I encouraged them to use it to avoid gender-biased language in their essays: much easier than keeping track of whether you used "he" or "she" two pages ago.
But I also told them they should ask other professors what they would accept before using it in other classes, because some are old-fashioned. :)
Thank you for sharing your perspective here with depth and honesty. This seems like one forum where we can share different perspectives and explore issues.
I am not sleeping well tonight. I am terrified that the bill will be seen as an invitation by Clarence Thomas and his fellow SCOTUS compatriots to overturn Obergefell and be used to set a precedent that will have a cascade of consequences involving states rights and codifying patchwork discrimination.
If Obergefell goes, so does Loving as they were decided on the same basis.
Someone needs to bring that legal challenge, however,which Democrats will be too scared to do due to its unpopularity. Whereas several faith traditions only too happy to challenge Obergefell.
Agreed. I think interracial relationships are more integrated into society at this point--a lot through the arts and advertising media. The societal understanding of the spectrum of gender and sexuality and the complexity of those relationships is not as advanced. It's heartbreaking that "Love is love" is not understood by so many in our society.
Thank you, Will, for your post. I am celebrating as well for my gay and lesbian loved ones, for the opportunities for everyone to feel free to identify whom they love, and for the ways in which this law will help to improve the mental health of anyone who struggles with social rejection of their true selves. As someone who is, in many ways, thoroughly genderqueer but has chosen, at this stage of my life, simply not to engage with anyone romantically (it is, frankly, too much trouble) I applaud anyone who is out and proud and trying to find the kinds of love and companionship they deserve. And yes: now on to other stuff.
Will, from Cal, you pretty much described my progression on the sexuality continuum. IDK your age, but I was raised heterosexual in a time when homosexuality was considered a perversion and illegal in most places. Then in the late 1960s I fell in with the counter-culture in New Orleans and enjoyed the free-luv with most girls I met and eventually with some of my gay male friends, eventually hooking up with a male "roommate" for 5 years (in 4 different cities and traveling the world together). Ppl knew, but denial worked in our favor. When I later hooked up with my "black woman" my mom reacted badly in a screed and listed Homosexuality & Drugs along with my other attacks on her propriety. But, looking back I have always been attracted to men and brown skin. I was in love with my best friend in high school, but didn't know that at the time. (we even innocently shared a bed in a sleepover, which kids did in those days).
Rob, you may not be famous but you are a trailblazer. It sounds like you are about the same age as my Dad, who went to UC Berkeley during the years when the hippie movement and Civil Rights were so central there. You all sadly weren't the whole country, but you really exploded open the amount ways to look at the world.
Dad has told me stories of a summer where he and his friends had hair like Jesus and were almost driven off the road hitchhiking cross-country. At one stop, the folks who ran a diner sat them in a corner and refused to serve them. It took them a while to figure out what was happening. While they were discussing whether to leave (they did), an older black man who was seated behind them also got up to leave, and while passing by said - without a hint of anger, just sadness - "well, now you all know how it feels."
The people who still see LGBT behavior as some sort of deviancy simply have no imagination, or - ironically - ability to get their mind out of the gutter. Because they are forever hung up on the supposed impurity of sex in general, and need rules from a magic book to keep them clean, they seem to always focus on the sexual aspect of the whole shebang. They see gay love or queer expression as a statistical deviation from the norm, therefore it is merely a series of deviant acts. They don't think first of the sweetness that comes from two caring people finding each other in a special way. They are willing to kill that to fulfill the order that makes them comfortable, for they are not allowed that sweetness or freedom in their own life. They don't get that Pride is about being proud of living honestly when so much of the world tells you you can't or shouldn't. How sad for them. How good for us that more folks are finally moving on.
Yes, I have those stories, being stopped by the cops on “suspicion” & made to empty my pockets on the patrol car when I had shoulder length hair in 1973. Got arrested in SF in 1970 on suspicion but cut loose in a few hours as they had no case. I have written many published letters & articles for magazines & newspapers on gay & interracial issues. The best was on the 30th anniversary of the Loving v. Va decision where I tied in the laws against interracial marriage with those against gay marriage in July 12, 1997 The editor of The Miami Herald asked for and put a portrait of me and my black wife Brenda with the article.
Will is in his late 20's I believe.
Will - Thank you for explaining the thoughts that many of us, often from older generations, are not privy to. I appreciate your sharing of your personal feelings, thoughts and views. May (more) freedom ring.
Will,
As a long time (big) fan of women, especially my long time female wife, (I am a long time guy), I fully support any choice anyone would like to make that enables them to live a happy life as long as it does not infringe on the rights of any other person.
Will, I love that you spoke this, and spoke it so well. Child of the 60's, I feel that love is love is love all the way down to my bones. Period.
Thank you for this, I am old and never even contemplated a bi relationship. Glad to see it from another prospective. Humans, and animals of all stripes, are complicated beings. (Learned about bird love from a doc. About bower birds, blew my mind.).
Yup. I look like a white dude. I don't have a clue whether I look straight or not; I grew up as a girl who realized she was a dyke shortly after leaving high school, so I have been used to being one kind of queer or another nearly all of my life. I transitioned in my mid-thirties to a more masculine appearance, and although at the time I thought i was going to become a "man", I never got to a place that felt unequivocally male. For me, there was simply no there there, but I do like the hybrid body I have been able to fashion with the help of medical technology. Transitioning to.. wherever I am was one of the best things I have ever done for myself.
I could theorize my gender to hell and back (where my folks are afraid I am headed; I'm less concerned..), but the practical result has been that I don't have a particular gender and I don't quite understand why so much fuss is made about the Big Two. I'm also pansexual, insofar as I am attracted to people when I am attracted to them; sometimes they are men, sometimes women, sometimes both, neither, etc. Gender is at once a non-issue for me but also this thing that I need a paragraph-long name tag to explain to others. So much fuss about.. so little.
Why do the pious rage?
Anyway, I am still as white as can be, but I've lived the subaltern life in numerous other ways since day one. The fear of sin and impurity that my mother harbors is so far from my experience that I no longer comprehend it. I do have some compassion for her; she had an awful childhood.
But.
Why? Do she and all these other frightened people have to impose their nightmares on the rest of us?
To be honest I never expected gay marriage to be a thing in my lifetime. That the backlash is fierce is unsurprising, but I am pleasantly surprised by the growing numbers of straight cis folk who understand that there are nearly an infinite number of ways to be, and that the main question should always be concerned with how we keep suffering to a minimum instead of ramping it up.
Erik, thank you for sharing. I continue to be educated and appreciate your openness immensely.
Will, from Cal, that is a a wonderfully written piece and the most thorough description/explanation of bisexuality I have ever read. Thank you!
With your permission I would like to share it with some of my friends who I think might appreciate it as much as I do. I would certainly attribute it to you as “Will, from Cal” or any other way you would like. Thank you for considering my request.
Thank you for writing about these important events. Maybe, justice will be served for the attempt to block the legitimate transfer of power. Now, get the "big guns" who instigated it all!
What I was thinking, exactly!
Not The Big Guy - yet
The term "Big Guy" has already been reserved.
By whom Gandalf
What is being done by Biden-Pelosi-Schumer regarding the strike is exactly how I would proceed were I in their role, in a situation with no good options.
I am unapologetically pro-union, pro-worker, pro-strike, the works. If ALL the unions were against the deal together my feelings would most likely be different. But it is beyond telling that 2/3 already accepted the government-brokered deal. Allowing only 1/3 of the union chapters of one industry to paralyze the world's largest economy for an indefinite period is flatly unacceptable.
What these workers are being denied boils my blood. But it is not much different than the myriad of similar blood-boiling denials faced by many undervalued American workers in many industries.
The solution is generous paid leave for all Americans, mandated federally. The window for that, if we play our cards right (and we better), blows wide open in two years. To those using words like "betrayal" to characterize the president choosing the health of the nation as a whole rather than just his preferred constituency, kindly step out of the circular firing squad and train your fire at those who deny paid leave, rather than the man who advocated for it for a year straight, and is prepared to do so again.
Will, I agree with most of your reasoning, with one exception: the comment that 1/4 of unions are controlling the process is misleading to me because those 4 unions represent a large number of members, maybe a majority. membership numbers are difficult to ascertain. So my thought process is that if those 4 unions have a majority of members, the dividing line shifts the "minority" line. It would be like arguing that 10 states (that have the highest population by 53%) outweigh the remaining 40. Two other factors that matter to me are the narrowness of the ratification numbers, and the fact that pay does not ease the scheduling problem. Yes, I am/was a union member, and an officer. If the various unions don't agree, who decides the outcome? A pack of multimillionaires in Congress who are lobbied by the businesses?
I see the railroads sorta like air traffic. Members of PATCO were fired by Reagan when they struck. Biden is following a different route for sure.
https://popular.info/p/railroading-workers This article was an eye-opening gut punch for me.
To your point - "There are 140,000 miles of rail in the United States, which are operated by about 115,000 rail workers......And a majority of workers at four of the 12 unions rejected the deal. The unions that voted against the deal represent 60,000 rail workers, including the largest rail union, SMART Transportation Division. And the 12 unions have agreed to honor each other's picket lines." So, yes, four unions represent a bit more than half the workers.
I think, though, that Bernie Sanders is all over this, so we might 😣 get a bit more out of the legislation.....
Details and fact complete the picture. Total votes, versus ratio of groups. Little (or big?) like the mess with Electoral College?
Once again, I agree with you, Will. I am a union member and was a union steward for several years. We RARELY get everything at the bargaining table the first time. Management and the board room don’t work that way. Incremental steps is the best we can hope for. That’s one reason unions have to negotiate every couple of years - because management doesn’t give a crap about workers, they want profits. They see far too many of us as dispensable cogs in a wheel. If they break us, they replace us. That said, I have known several RR workers who loved their jobs. I lived in a city that had a hub, so several neighbors were RR workers and friends parents. Yes, they complained about the long hours and the lack of time off for their families. But most felt the trade-off for a well paying job with security was almost worth it. However, it’s just inhumane to expect people to work without sick leave or emergency family leave. So I do hope that gets fixed at the next bargaining round. Maybe at some point Congress will open an investigation into all these ridiculous profits earned by these companies over the pandemic years. Seems there is a law somewhere on the books that prevents price gouging, monopolies, etc. But it’s too early in the morning for me to think about it.
I, too, am union, but from a career that has a built in "no strike" clause. (Research the "blue flu" for an explanation) The county ALWAYS wanted us to do more with less, from equipment to benefits to money.
Well said. Thank You. Once again President Biden is making the hard choices that define the difference between being a politician or a leader. President Biden is adept at leading. Call him old, spacey and just plain goofy but I feel safe with him in Office.
Hard choices, chump’s choices were always, what is good for me. And ME alone. What a diff…
Barbara--Biden is indeed in a hard spot. He is a long-time union supporter but definitely needs to avoid any backsliding in the overall economy. It is unclear what the Senate will do with the House supporting the September agreement but also adding a separate measure mandating seven days paid sick leave. Given his statements--and if nothing changes on the negotiation front in the interim--I assume Biden will sign it.
But, Biden can also be very public and very direct in criticizing the corporate greed inherent in the deal. He can say that in the current climate, he reluctantly has to back a settlement. He can site the massive profits the RR corporations accrued in recent years, anathemize the revolting executive salaries "earned" by the efforts of the RR workers, call out the sleazy mechanism of variable PSP work schedules (a trend in everything from RR to manufacturing, to fast food restaurants), and threaten (promise?) to back legislation to curtail at least the worst of these evils--basically to continue efforts to flesh out a country that grows from the middle out.
It's not great, but he has done pretty well in making the best of a bad economic situation and political resistance over the last year, and I think it could engender some public support.
Yes to Biden to stepping up to curbing the corporate greed for power and profits of RRs. IF he would honestly just do that, he'd truly support the HUMAN workers who are not asking for the moon! Just to be treated decently. Geez! We could all feel safer.
Excellent comments, Will. You're on a roll. Thank you.
Thank you, well said. Joe advocating for the country, not his favored ones, wish it meant both, but repubs won’t allow it. Joe knows the decisions as president are different, however, go Bernie…
It would appear that even HCR (and you?) has accepted the misleading distortion of numbers by reporting that 4 of 12 (actually 1/3) of unions voted down the agreement when in fact those 4 unions represent 60,000 of the 115,000 members (a majority) of all the union members affected by the decision, the 60,000 front-line members who actually operate the trains and repair the infrastructure when it breaks; those whom we hailed as heroes through the height of the Covid pandemic. With their erratic schedules of long stints away from home they deserve sick days in addition to their vacation days, not INSTEAD of vacation days.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/28/rail-strike-biden-congress/ https://popular.info/p/railroading-workers
I think that's been covered already. We agree, but we also recognize that there is such a thing as throwing the baby out with the bath water. In the 50s, my dad was a union man and president of a large chapter of a woodworkers union striking for safer working conditions, rational hours, and pay increase. They negotiated for months, and got an offer that included most of what they were after, but strung out the pay increases. The union had given a lot to the effort, and some were not willing to settle for less than they wanted.
My dad warned them that the companies had big bucks behind them (the industry basically owned Oregon at that time), that there were people willing to work as scabs (mostly out of necessity), and that a strike would almost certainly end up breaking the union. Union hotheads stirred up the membership. When they voted, they chose to strike. My dad was threatened from both sides. To protect his family, he resigned as union president.
He was right: the companies locked down the mills and the logging, then started hiring "replacement workers", freelancers and people from out of state. It nearly broke the economy of our region, too. The union, 70 years later, is beginning to rebuild membership and regain the stature they had before that strike. The economy by necessity and foresight, diversified, and that has helped the community thrive financially.
I wouldn't go back there to live, though, even if my situation and finances allowed it. The kind of shortsighted thinking that brought on the strike back then still has too much influence in how things are done, at all levels. And I often think back: had the union members voted to accept the deal, they would have gotten most of what they needed, and retained the power and influence to get the rest. The needed economic diversification would still have occurred, but without edging the working class out of the stable lives they had. I think there would have been more of a tendency to retain the character of the community and less of a tendency to allow rampant development that closed off the diversity of land use that made the valley a beautiful place.
Excellent. Thanks.
John, I apologize for my typos (I have corrected 1/4 to 1/3 for posterity). I also wish to acknowledge that merely focusing on the number of union chapters rather than membership numbers is reductive. But I stand by my position.
I'll go one farther than you: I think the railroad workers not only deserve sick and vacation days, but they deserve more of each, AND an even higher pay raise than they are getting. Screw that, they should be paid more apiece than the stupid, greedy mofos who run the damn racket. They ARE the essential personnel. But considering the truly calamitous effects this particular strike would have on the entire country of 330 million+ people at this time, whether 40% or 60% of a 115k workforce voted "no" on this deal does not markedly change the calculus here. My emotions and sympathies are with the rail workers entirely: their schedules are an especially egregious example of our broken system of taking workers for granted. But they are not alone in being taken for a cog by industry, or denied paid leave. Were I the President, tasked with representing the safety and prosperity of all 330 million citizens, many of them union folks desperately trying to make a normal Christmas happen, and with our economy and democracy hanging by a thread, forcing the deal is - pragmatically - a no-brainer. Especially when it looks like most workers voted yes.
Oh, my goodness! So much of today’s Letter caused my throat to catch! Everything that Heather wrote tonight is absolute vindication of all the travesty and horror we as a nation have had to endure since the presidential election in 2020. What our country has had to put up with, the vile lies, awful, disgusting behavior of Trump and his toadies, and the efforts to delay, obfuscate and distort the trials of the people responsible for all of that is finally being punished by the laws of our country - laws that these same people have denied being subject to and have sought to not be held responsible for violating. There is justice after all!
Then, the end of the letter spoke eloquently of the beauty of life and our faith in something greater than ourselves and the lives we live here on Earth. That itself was enough for me today and brought tears to my eyes. But to have all the rest happen on top of the Grace we had at the tree lighting restores much of my trust that good will triumph over evil!
Let us indeed live in hope!
What a magnificent start to this holiday season!!!
"the end of the letter spoke eloquently of the beauty of life and our faith in something greater than ourselves and the lives we live here on Earth. That itself was enough for me today"
Me too. A better summary than the above sentence fragment could not be written.
Thank you.
There was much of hope in today’s letter and much elucidation (thank you, Will.) Today I finished decorating our Christmas tree for my husband of 60 years who is now physically so limited and in pain. The tree, filled with memories of family and friends, is really symbolic to us of the endurance of life during good and bad times. These last six years have been so difficult on so many levels, but now beauty is in our house, and there is hope in our country. Yesterday’s letter and some of your responses were upsetting, but today’s were not. Thank you for that. May you all enjoy this season in your own ways that bring you joy.
Every morning, we 54 years, share my reading aloud LFAA and several other sites including R. Hubbell reading his weekday comments. Our journey is IPF. I will hang our seasonal decorations from a beam in deference to our two youthful cats. Love and respect to you.
I wish you and your husband the same, Sue!💐
Magnificent start indeed.
Thank you, Heather Cox Richardson, for a letter filled with hope. Possibility. Hope that we are seeing and will continue to see some of our government do their jobs: holding insurrectionists accountable with prison sentences for their parts in planning to disrupt the counting of electoral votes and attempts to destroy our Democracy; that a judge ruled against presidential immunity for TFG’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election (what a crazy argument!!!); the Senate passing the Respect for Marriage Act and 12 repubs joined the Democrats to pass it. And to get ahead of SCOTUS who may invalidate marriage equality. And that the rail workers might return to work with a possible plan to add sick leave to their contracts; that we honor the many cultures of our nation, especially the First People, through their stories and customs: the winning essay by Youth Tree Lighter Catuce Micco Tiger, a citizen of Eastern Band of Cherokees, “The trees that stayed awake were rewarded with the ability to keep their leaves yearlong and with special healing powers. It is a story of faith and gratitude—of hope enduring through the dark night.”
You just articulated my thoughts exactly. Especially the Cherokee story of evergreens.
Yes, that was certainly lovely and poignant.
So much good news all at once, I can barely take it all in. What a change from the disheartening events of Jan 2021.  My faith in the justice system and the rule of law is redeemed. It’s clear the seditionists were fully convinced that they were on the side of right and totally committed destroying democracy. I truly hope they come to see that what they did was treason, not patriotism.
I doubt they will ever see their actions and anything else they say or do as unjustified and treasonous. It makes no difference to one way or another. What does make a difference, though, is they are wrong, they have been declared wrong by a legal tribunal who’s authority is accepted as right and true, and now the people who committed the crimes against our country and all the citizens of our country are going to suffer the legal consequences of their illegal actions.
Yes, it is now a matter of record that their acts were seditious. It will go down in history as such.
Please keep in mind that many came to rethink what they believed and what they were drawn at times into doing. Some have spoken about their recognition, with courage, and many of those people made it possible for us to have the kind of insight we now have about how this all came about. I think there are many more who haven't spoken up, out of embarrassment or fear of judgement (so many of us are eager to pass judgement without considering the underlying conditions). I very much agree that those who were ultimately responsible both for setting the tone for what happened and for using these people for their own ends must be pursued and prosecuted. That is what has been happening, and it grows closer and closer to the core. I think we need to give credit to those who had the grace and humility to admit they made a mistake, and were willing to step forward in the investigation, or who simply wanted to set the record straight. Not all of them had to. But they did anyway.
Annie, well said!
Wrong, wrong, wrong, by any measure
Beautifully tied up dear historian and teacher, Prof Richardson! And the smiling picture of the capitol police at the end of the citations is a special pleasure at the end of another truly historic day. Hope you’re asleep right now!
I’m not celebrating until the jail cell door clangs shut behind Rhodes. Then, hopefully, the same bell ringing behind Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, et al, and finally, triumphantly, behind the seditious conspiracy commander-in-chief himself.
CLANG!
“…and justice for all.”
"Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who defended the Capitol against the Oath Keepers on January 6, heard the jury’s verdict, then watched the tree lighting." God bless these Capitol Police officers, and the DC Law Enforcement (thinking Michael Falcone). These men and women need to be honored. I hope that Pres.Biden does something to acknowledge them.
Harry Dunn is a true hero.
They were all awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Biden. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/capitol-police-congressional-gold-medal/2021/08/03/d78ece1e-f470-11eb-9068-bf463c8c74de_story.html
Thanks, Gail
Betrayed thrice, by their countrymen who beat them and treated them like hated enemies, by their "president" who treated them as "disposables" and repeatedly by their congressmen who disrespected and denied the service these officers rendered on that day and the aftermath they suffered publicly and privately, while these "congressmen" climbed on the "election denial" gravy train for political gain. It is such a relief to see any and all attempts to restore recognition and respect and gratitude for these men and women.
thank you, K Barnes! needed saying and you did it so beautifully.
Small steps!! Important steps!!
Yesterday, 11/29/22, was Giving Tuesday. I’m about to tap on “Give gift” to formally and joyfully thank Heather, patriot extraordinaire, for her daily, priceless gift to us all….. Letters from an American!
xoxo ❤️🇺🇸❤️,
Penny
Bernie had a detailed comment to Chris Hayes tonight that the vote on health care f or the railroad unions may not die under a Republican filibuster. He seemed quite confident, though he didn't declare it "done."
Yes, I was surprised and glad to see that! Had to rewind, though, to make sure.
And this morning Ro Khanna said that he had a conversation with Marco Rubio and thinks the medical leave provision will make it through the Senate.
For those bashing Biden for not supporting the railroad workers, there is a larger issue at stake--with much of the Missippi River unnaviagable because of drought if rail transportation is also halted because of strikes then all that will be left are truckers to move freight. There currently are not enough truckers and they also work under inhumane conditions that compromise their own and others safety for low wages and few benefits.
No movement of goods and the economy does come to a halt and huge number of people will be out of work and inflation will run rampant because of shortages. The country is at an extremely precarious point economically.
The only way this gets fixed for the long term is through legislation to codify worker protections and conditions of employment for ALL workers. Pelosi is putting a bandaid on it for the current crisis with the companion paid leave legislation, while also forcing the Republicans to to show how anti-worker they are.
My fear is that SCOTUS is moving towards gutting the powers of government agencies to make and enforce regulations and McCarthy will gut the funding for the agencies to hamstring them further if he becomes Speaker.
No, the only way to prevent a devastating strike is for Biden and Pelosi to put pressure on the railroad bosses to give the workers the few days of paid sick leave they are quite properly demanding, and the right to a weekend. I am sick and tired of living in a country still stuck in 19th century capitalism and politicians wringing their hands over the sad necessity of bowing to the corporations that pay for their campaigns.
Totally agree with your valid points, Georgia. Amazing how fast some bills CAN move thru the process. THIS should happen ASAP...
"The only way this gets fixed for the long term is through legislation to codify worker protections and conditions of employment for ALL workers."