182 Comments

Tranquility, so healing in turbulent times.

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Thank you, Buddy, for the beauty of the sky, shore, and dimly revealed boats on the glimmering water. Thank you, Heather Cox Richardson, for your steady mind through the anguish here in the US; the survival of Ukraine as a democracy; the pain and terror in Israel, along with deaths (many of them children), bloodshed and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The demands for a keen mind and for moral clarity could hardly be more difficult.

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My heart aches as the number of children killed in Gaza nears 2000. What a senseless waste of the next generation. In the newsclips, I watch as refugee children play pick-up games in the streets, trying to find some normalcy...

Humans need to dedicate serious resources to conflict resolution. Certainly terrorists must be tried and held accountable. But we should all be thinking of ways to foster community, to help advance kindness, compassion. Living in hatred is truly living in Hell. There is sincere joy in seeing others thrive -- not just "our" side! Respect and generosity can are wonderful values to teach; if we humans fail to do so, Nature might just step in to remind us...

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Joeth, I share your heartache for those who are in harm's way, in the Middle East, where women are treated like beasts of burden, in the Gaza strip where people are huddled together like beasts of burden, in Ukraine where a megalomaniac is wreaking havoc and death on innocent people. We need to be careful here at home, too. With the world population continuing to explode while resources dwindle, the future looks bleak. I sense that my two daughters feel likewise: one was 38 before having a daughter and the one who is now 39 is childless, one with an MBA and the other a J.D.

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I’m not sure what you mean about women being treated like beats of burden in the Middle East. My women friends and acquaintances from Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Syria are professors, doctors, writers, engineers, and journalists. One was an actor but died young of cancer.

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True, there are exceptions, but look at what is going on in Iran right now as well as Afghanistan where females are being denied an education. In my mind, there is no question but that Muslim females are second- and third-class citizens. There are exceptions. I am speaking about the generality.

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I didn’t mention Afghanistan, which isn’t in the Middle East, or Iran, because I’ve never been there and have no friends in or from that country. I wouldn’t want to live in either one, but from reports of friends who have been to Iran there is a real middle class there and women professionals and politicians. Afghanistan under the Taliban is a different and terrible story, but not in the Middle East.

Most women (and for that matter men) in the US and Europe aren’t professionals either. But big generalizations are often based on assumptions drawn from news stories and common sense rather than experience or research. (One thing I’ve learned over my longish life is not to trust “common sense”!)

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You are are certainly right about population, Richard. Frankly, we have way too many people to provide them with a life of the basics, never mind, all the consumer goods, tech, etc. Food, clean water, shelter and freedom from constant warfare and violence. We have no children in part because we saw early on that there are too many people. I think about this often and it is only going to get worse with climate change and parts of the world convulsed in violence. This is one of the reasons we see so many people at our southern border and Europe sees their migrant problem. I confess that I don't see much chance for change.

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Thank you. The UN warned us in the 1970’s. I am encouraging adoption of orphans in the hope that more young people who want children will opt for that so that we don’t have to count on war, disease, and starvation to reduce population.

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Michele, I was a senior in high school when at noon time a classmate, Gwen McCracken, mentioned to me the concept of Zero Population Growth. It was a concern of mine then and it has only gotten worse. Along the way we destroyed the habitat of many of the other creatures that share this planet with us. It's as though we are a wildfire, out of control, destroying the landscape that is essential to life.

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Excellent description. I confess I don't care if we die out, but it fries me that we will take so much other life. I am amazed on how fast we have accomplished much of this on this continent. The apple guy at the Saturday Market told us he had seen no bats and fewer swallows this year, both essential to insect control.

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It is depressing, Michele. On a good note, I live in central Florida and at night here I do see bats harvesting the skies outside my home. I have a screened-in area where I can sit and watch their amazing skills at work.

On another dismal note, the question is whether Democratic institutions can survive what appears to be the inevitable clash of the Titans: religions, ethnicities, political systems, demography degradation and more.

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Richard, I learned from a sociology professor when I was 18, first year in nursing school, about the out of control population growth. And it stuck with me. I was stunned and that was 1965 so no one was talking about climate change and refugees from affected nations and islands. I never had children but that was mostly raised by a narcissistic mother and

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Didn’t want to continue that possibility. But what thst professor taught us stuck with me. And now that all our protections are AGAIN being controlled by men. The Supremes, courts, unknown people in courtrooms and Congress. I’ve done my part…

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Maybe if there were journalistic standards, something far more erudite than the Fairness Doctrine ever was. We need to demand of our legislators the civilized use of our public airwaves, in particular. (Also, more rigorous University curriculum, (including History, higher math and Economics,) and training for all who that get their paychecks in the electronic media.)

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Alas, there will always be some of that hate and anger in our beautiful world.

Good vs Evil exists. It is up to those of us who can help to do so. And that can mean even the tiniest acts of kindness and respect.

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Very well said Joeth.

Kindness is under rated.

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I agree with your assessment, Fern. A keen mind and moral clarity, indeed.

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I make infrequent comments, but I want to speak my appreciation of the goodwill I experience, and have come to trust will be there, reading comments in the HCR community. That, and HCR’s words herself, tap my Hope spigot. Thanks to all for the beautiful and shared spirit.

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Immersed in the Audible version of your new book. Thank. You. 🙏

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Me too

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Peacefully beautiful 😊

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Our moment of zen

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Can you please remind me of the name of the pollster that you follow for more accurate numbers?

I need to stay away from all of the current doom and gloom polls. Thank you.

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For those of you who need a break from the crazy skip this post.

Nine nominal Republicans are vying for the title of Speaker Designee in a beauty pageant in the conference of the FRG (Former Republican Party). Based on where they are on the VoteView ideological spectrum, six of them are clustered to the left of Jim Jordan but are still to the right of the median conservative in the conference. Meuser (PA 9) sits right on the median line. Two, Emmer (MN 6) and Bergman (MI 1) are to the left of the median. Emmer is the current Majority Whip. The other contestant with some conference leadership experience is Mike Johnson (LA 4), who is Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference. The conference’s function is to communicate the party's message to its members.

The others in the beauty contest appear to be vanity candidates trying to get some national exposure. If they were trying to reach a consensus, they had plenty of time to talk amongst themselves and choose one of them to represent their right of the center of the FRP viewpoint.

Politico reports that Trump surrogates are spreading the word that he does not support Tom Emmer. Given that the secret vote to boot Jim Jordan from the Speaker Designeeship was 86-112 with 23 unaccounted for, it looks like Trump is losing his cache in the Conference, at least temporarily. Emmer would be the most likely choice to be acceptable to Democrats since he has deep experience with how the legislative process is supposed to work, is not in the MAGA acolyte wing, and did not vote against the certification of Biden’s election. The other ideological possibles, Meuser and Bergman, did vote against certification.

The pageant will take place on Monday. The hope is that on Tuesday at 9 am the Conference will make its choice. I’ve written extensively that the best and fastest way for the speaker issue to be resolved would be to have ranked-choice voting both for the Republican Speaker Designee and within the House for the whole Speaker vote. But if the FRP does not go that route, we may be in for a long wait for the outcome.

To truly appreciate the level of dysfunction in the conference, the Hill reported that former Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Fox News, “There’s a very real danger that [the House will] elect somebody, and three or four or five weeks from now, you’re going to have a group of people blow up and decide to go back into the same mess,” “So they need to pick somebody to get stability.” That’s just in time for the November 17 deadline for appropriations, and if history repeats itself, another Speaker would be immolated for getting another CR passed.

Gingrich’s hopes for party cohesion are simultaneously extremely ambitious and very modest. “Bring food in and stay there. Again, very simple test — can you get the 217 votes? They shouldn’t bring anybody out until they have 217. And second, that 217 has to be committed not just to elect a Speaker, but to stick together for the next five or six months.” That date is right before the primary season and the current DC trial date for Trump’s J6 trial in front of Judge Chutkin, so expect a change in leadership heading into the elections.

To try to make Gingrich’s warning about the House vote moot, there is a move afoot for Republicans to sign a “unity pledge” to support whoever is the Speaker Designee on the House Floor. As of 9:30 last night, Emmer and Donalds had not yet signed the pledge. And if you haven’t already guessed, the Freedom Caucus is against it. They surely will not give up their chance at more time in the media limelight.

Note that no member of the FRG is putting forward a pledge to remove the motion to vacate rule to moot the second part of Gingrich’s warning. That unsettles me because it engenders thoughts that this whole circus is a purposeful ploy to stall for time and dysfunction, and that leads down the road to thoughts of who would benefit. And that is a place that is very dark.

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First, it really hackles me that Newt is advising on anything, considering that he is carrying considerable baggage relating to the disfunction of the Republican Party. However, I guess he is as close to normal as one can find, but not a good sign.

Roger Williams (Tx) is as close to cult vermin as you can get. He was the fund raiser for W and has gone all in for chump. Pete Sessions is no better.

Your last paragraph is my nightmare, because stalling and dysfunction is what they are all about. How I hope there is a tad of sanity left.

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Georgia, referencing the Speaker’s selection as a “beauty pageant”, my thoughts jumped to getting some popcorn to watch the swimsuit portion of the show…yeah, I know…..ewwww.

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I jumped to the thought of popcorn too, but then I got a sick feeling that we are watching the destruction of our government in slo mo and that the antics of the clowns in the circus are the bright and shiny objects meant to distract us from the threat. I keep circling back to the idea that this is the creating the ideal talking points for Putin and Orban and all of the authoritarians out there. And given how many of the FRG love Orban...

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I believe they need democratic help to get a speaker elected and are parading names to see if anyone sticks that we are willing to help here. So, Georgia, with your depth of the candidates, what would be your top three that the Dems can throw some Strategic votes towards? We have two wars, a border, and a budget that we have to deal with.

JB

Take care,

JB

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I don't have 3 of this group. Only Emmer is not totally abhorrent to Democrats because he voted for certification of the election results. Other wise he gets an F from the Republican Accountability website.

Brian Fitzpatrick , the co-head of the Problem Solvers Caucus (PSC), is the mot centrist inclined Republican. He voted to certify all the states electoral college votes.

There is a tool at the Republican Accountability website that rates Republicans on the following 6 criteria:

Did he or she sign on to the amicus brief filed along with Texas’ lawsuit to the Supreme Court that sought to nullify votes cast in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia? More Info

Did he or she object to the certification of Electoral College votes from at least one state? More Info

Did he or she make public statements that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election? More Info

Did he or she vote to hold Trump accountable via impeachment or conviction? More Info

Did he or she vote to create an independent commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection. More Info

Did he or she vote to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress. More Info

https://accountability.gop/profile/rep-brian-fitzpatrick/

https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/members

There are 63 members of the PSC, 32 Dems and 31 (29 voting) Republicans, so you would think that that would be enough Rs to get a reasonable Speaker across the finish line.

Here's the list of the Republican Members of the PSC for those who are interested and their ratings on that site. The ones without ratings are freshmen members of the House.

Don Bacon of Nebraska B-

Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon

Juan Ciscomani of Arizona

Ben Cline of Virginia

John Curtis of Utah B-

Anthony D'Esposito of New York

Chuck Edwards of North Carolina

Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania B-

Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin C-

Andrew Garbarino of New York D

Tony Gonzales of Texas D

Jenniffer Gonzalez of Puerto Rico[b][c]

John James of Michigan

Bill Johnson of Ohio F

Dusty Johnson of South Dakota B-

David Joyce of Ohio C-

Thomas Kean Jr. of New Jersey

Young Kim of California

Nick LaLota of New York

Mike Lawler of New York

Nancy Mace of South Carolina C

Nicole Malliotakis of New York F

Daniel Meuser of Pennsylvania F

Marc Molinaro of New York

Blake Moore of Utah F

James Moylan of Guam[c]

Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida D-

Chris Smith of New Jersey C-

Bryan Steil of Wisconsin D-

David Valadao of California A-

Brandon Williams of New York

Another way to look at the info on the accountability site is to see how many Republicans had an A or B rating so they would be amenable to a bipartisan candidate. The accountability list looks at those who were in the House in the 117th Congress and so voted on certification. I've noted who is no longer there.

Don Bacon NE 2 B-

John Curtis UT 3 B-

Brian Fitzpatrick B-

Anthony Gonzalez OH 16 A no longer in the House

Jaime Herrera Beutler WA 3 A no longer in the House

Dusty Johnson SD B-

John Katko NY 24 Ano longer in the House

Adam Kinzinger IL 16 A no longer in the House

Peter Meijer MI 3 A no longer in the House

Dan Newhouse WA 4 A-

Tim Rice SC 7 B- no longer in the House

Fred Upton MI 6 A no longer in the House

David Valadao CA 21 A-

Steve Womack AR 3 B-

If your representative is on the Republican accountability survivors list think about giving them a call Monday to tell them what you want them to do in regards to the Speakership.

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Wow!

I guess my point is we should be reaching across the isle for the lesser of the evils, and Jim Jordon is evil. Those votes showed that the republicans are tired of Trump. Sounds

Compicated to select someone that holds the votes on the Republican side but not the MAGA team. 8 to 12 votes to vote in a conservative speaker.

Then we take back the house, put in Jeffries, and hopefully see a non-Trump candidate run to put that dangerous person to bed.

Again, wow Georgia!

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It is daunting. The more I research the more difficult becomes to try to see a path that will work, especially if the rule to vacate is not changed.

For a a graphical view of the voting in each of the removal of McCarthy and three Jordan votes see Michelle' Cottles opinion piece using what looks like the same voteview.com database I am using.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/opinion/house-speaker-republicans.html

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Thank you for the analysis, Georgia.

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WOW! Was just signing off of a long day at the home office and this gift came to help me into a peaceful rest. Gorgeous! Thank you.

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Peace and the world is on fire. Wishing peace to the innocent souls trapped in Gaza tonight.

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Spending my childhood on Long Island, with its south shore facing the Atlantic Ocean, I always felt this sense of being on the edge of the world... that there was us (U.S.), the ocean, and then the rest of the world... I wonder what goes through Buddy's mind when he looks out on the water? Is there a singular impression that simply expresses itself differently each time? If so, what would that be?

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Thank you, Heather. Buddy was exactly what I had in mind!

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Morning, Lynell. I'm so glad to awaken to a Buddy photo this morning. More of what the world needs. And so glad the Professor is taking some time away.

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Morning, Ally! I selfishly welcomed a Buddy photo as opposed to more news!

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Indeed! I do enjoy reading the comments but even that has been difficult as of late.

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For sure, Miselle...morning!

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Short and sweet does the trick and saves your noodle.

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I love the hues of blue and grey. Great shot !

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That gleam through the trees. The lighting is astonishing.

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This calm and peacefulness is a meditation in itself. Thank you!

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Republicans Are Breaking America’s Ancient Constitution

Parliaments have mechanisms for resolving the impasse in the House of Representatives. The U.S. does not.

The two-party duopoly doesn’t erase the kind of ideological differences that create multiple parties in other countries, of course. Instead, it means that both American parties are unwieldy coalitions.

"The wheeling and dealing of parliamentary negotiation can be quite grubby, but it also tends to create a less polarized political culture."

https://prospect.org/politics/2023-10-20-republicans-breaking-americas-ancient-constitution/

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