Today, the fight over the debt ceiling continued. As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that breaching the debt ceiling would delay Social Security payments and military paychecks, as well as jeopardizing the status of the U.S. dollar as the international reserve currency, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) offered Senate Republicans “a way out” from having to participate in raising the ceiling, despite the fact that the Republicans had added $7.8 trillion to the now-$28 trillion debt during Trump’s term. Schumer asked for unanimous consent to pass a debt ceiling increase with a simple majority that the Democrats could provide alone.
How DARE that seditious weasel Josh Hawley impugn the honor and integrity of General Milley!!! Hawley has never served in the military. (I am the mom of a 20 year retired soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.) Hawley has NO concept of public service; he is only out to advance himself. He is a hateful weasel who ought to be arrested, indicted, tried and convicted of sedition.
A Call to Action: A few days ago I read a long opinion piece in the Washington Post by Robert Kagan. It’s titled “Our Constitutional Crisis is Already Here” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/23/robert-kagan-constitutional-crisis/. It's grim; it's very grim. But at the end he offers what he believes could avert the complete disaster that is coming at us fast, and that is the formation of a coalition by the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection, a coalition formed for "the sole purpose of saving the republic," a coalition that would join with Democrats to pass into law the Freedom to Vote Act (Manchin's compromise voting act) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Robert Kagan is a scholar who, in May 2016, wrote another opinion piece in the Post about Trump's campaign called, "This is How Fascism Comes to America."
I am calling on the tens of thousands of us who read Heather's letters, along with anyone else we can inspire, to call or write posted letters -- snail mail, as email is not effective -- to each of these seven senators. Not the time to argue who is sincere, who has integrity. These are who we've got. Below is a list of their Washington addresses and phone numbers.
Please remember that all of these people have suffered greatly for their vote on that day. My suggestion is to appeal to their love of country, not to criticize them, to tell them their country needs them to prevent radical Trumpists from destroying this nation, to prevent the possibility of Trump winning a second term, to prevent one-party rule -- etc., and that we need them to step up now as the 2022 elections could otherwise mark our descent into autocracy.
Josh Hawley (R-MO) seems to be the poster boy for the new Republican Party, now shamefully known as the party of Trump rather than nobly, as the party of Lincoln. In its present diminished incarnation, it is the party of lies and cheap shots, like the ones Hawley and the rest of his rude company deployed against General Milley, an honest, honorable and stalwart leader of integrity the United States is fortunate to have as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To his credit, General Milley calmly faced the barrage of insults from the uncouth Republican jackals allied against him, and in his dignified testimony upheld his oath to protect and defend the Constitution, which is more than can be said for Hawley, as his seditious behavior on January 6 demonstrates. It is Hawley, not General Milley, who should resign and subsequently face the consequences of his failure to uphold the sacred oath he took when elected to congress.
It seems just moments ago that people of my generation were repeating a phrase "Don't trust anyone over 30." It was not moments ago, I am now approaching 80. My reaction to the issue of trust in institutions was to serve as a school superintendent (for 25 years, it turned out) and, in one small corner, to work hard to gain public trust in a worthy institution.
In recent years Republicans have degraded trust in such institutions as the CIA, the FBI, the US military, and democracy itself. Republicans (Trumpists, I might say, since most Republicans accept him as leader of the party) seek to avoid losing supporters of those institutions by attacking Democrats as socialists.
I don't know what strategy is best for passing the Freedom to Vote Act and other voting rights bills. Persuade 10 Republican Senators to kill a filibuster? Persuade Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to support Manchin's bill with an anti-filibuster carve out? In exchange, reduce the reconciliation package? Take the steps you believe are right.
At this point, though, I think our battle is in the hands of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer. We need them to recognize that preserving democracy is more important than ...... infrastructure (hard or soft), keeping the government open, or even paying bits of our national debt immediately when due. We can fight about blame later. If the votes of people who are likely to support the preservation of democracy are suppressed or gerrymandered into meaninglessness, we will lose all of the battles in the future.
Regarding Becky Philips post, I just returned home from a meeting with a man who was our taxi driver when we had our two vaccinations. He speaks English because he was a camera operator for ESPN when he lived in NYC. I wanted to meet with him because I'm hoping to create a documentary about the artists here in Basque Country in the 60´s whose art defied Franco. Mikel is amazing. his father was in prison for 3 years under Franco. He shared that the arts were how the people here spoke out against the fascists. Also, most don't know, but the danger in the U.S. is worldwide. Brexit was orchestrated by Cambridge Analytica. This group is doing the same in all European countries. Also huge connections with the Rump. Everyone must do something to speak out against the Rumplicans and their agenda. Make homemade videos with facts that you can post on social media. Create public forums with facts. Create art projects for your area galleries and public spaces. Create soapbox speeches in public places. Create music for area musicians to sing at their local pubs, bars, wineries. Do something.
Absolutely infuriating, that one person, McConnell, wields so much power for evil. My head wants to explode whenever I see a new quoted remark of his. Apparently there is no legal recourse to remove him from office, and his constituents continue to re-elect him year after year.
I just cannot understand how any of these Republicans seem to have no moral compass and no sense of duty to the American people or to upholding the Constitution. It is so frustrating, but I thank Dr. Heather for laying it all out so clearly so that we can make the choice to take action, and to get the word out to others who are not as informed as the rest of us here on this forum.
Finally, Autumn's refreshing chill was in the air in VT yesterday, but in the Senate, Winter's bitter cold was reenacted by icy blasts from the inhuman, self-centered, evil -- yes, aberrant and abhorrent evil -- Republicans.
"Nonetheless, Republicans berated [Gen. Millet], often not permitting him to respond. They seemed to be following the pattern established at hearings during the Trump administration of creating sound bites for later right-wing media stories. In this case, though, there is a deeper story: they are continuing the right-wing media’s undermining of the military officers who defended our Constitution."
Is this the way, US citizens behave for all the world to witness? What kind of example do these ill-mannered, uncouth, so-called human beings set for our youth and innocent immigrants who risk their lives to be allowed entrance to our "sacred" country? For shame! What makes us better than the beautiful Haitians or Guatemalans who have been refused entry? No wonder nothing is solved these days -- no wonder our peace of mind has dissipated into eddies of turmoil. I am aghast at their outrageous incivility they are the ones who should be deported.
I was fortunate to catch part of what Anne Applebaum was saying in an interview with Ammanpour on PBS, as she referenced the recent German election and compared it to the where the US is now. We are much more at risk of an authoritarian government. 40 percent of US voters are Republicans whose party has been taken over by the extreme right, and I believe she said the extreme right in Germany had capped and was losing percents, and maybe was at 12 percent. She also had an article, maybe in the Atlantic, describing the cancel culture wars and the affront to Constitutional rights, in particular the way people who don't say or do or promote the right thing are suddenly shunned, lose jobs, not read anymore. She refers to the authoritarian parameters being put around freedom of speech, much like in Nazi Germany.
A number of Senate encounters seem tribal, as various senators play their stylized roles. It seems almost like the dance of the storks, which is a male mating dance. The big difference now is that Bad Stork McConnell has absolutely no intention of mating with his Democratic counterparts for the sake of our country. As he declared about President Obama and now about President Biden, his sole objective was to make them both one-term presidents. Thus, his overriding task is to disable the normal wheels of government.
Clearly Bad Stork McConnell has two sets of rules: one when he is Majority Leader and another when Minority Leader. He was boxed in by the physical infrastructure bill which, over years, will provide about $500 billion in new money to put patches on our crumbling physical infrastructure. He is absolutely opposed to Democratic initiatives that, in my opinion, are essential to improve our country and the opportunities for a large majority of Americans. He opposes the John Lewis voting bill, since it would establish federal voting safeguards, which Republicans in two dozen states are seeking to cripple. He is opposed to the ‘$3.5 trillion’ [much less in net expenditures and over 10 years] human infrastructure bill because it would improve the opportunities for a large percentage of Americans and charge corporations and very wealthy Americans a bit more in taxes to fund this essential investment in America.
Bad Stork McConnell considers the Senate Rules Book his Bible. Moreover, whenever it doesn’t suits his wishes, he invents Bad Stork amendments (like his refusal to consider President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court for over a year and then reversing this Bad Stork Amendment to rush Bennett to the SC after Trump lost in 2020).
His current game on funding the government and debt is simple. He could eventually acquiesce on a short-term budget as the new fiscal year commences, but he will not permit Republican senators to follow the traditional bipartisan approval of raising the debt limit to pay for already Congressionally-approved expenditures. Stated simply: APPROVE THE GUN, BUT NOT THE BULLETS. All this is an endeavor to place responsibility for a possible debt default and a government shutdown squarely on the Democrats. Bad Stork seems to be betting that the Democrats, as a last resort, will raise the debt limit through some sort of Senate reconciliation bill.
I don’t know how this will spin out in the days ahead. Bad Stork Mitchell has no intention of dancing to some reasonable mating resolution. I believe that, as Newt Gingrich, he, and Trump discovered in the past, such shabby blackmail hasn’t worked in the past with the American public and is unlikely to work with those who are not wrapped up in the Big Lie.
While Bad Stork Mitchell is flapping his unpatriotic wings, , some of his cohorts have sought to sully the wings of a true American hero—General Miley.
What Hawley did & said is unconscionable & almost unforgivable. Why was he allowed to question anyone? He's going to be subpoenaed anyway right? Milley should go down as a hero.
Are the 'rules of engagement' in the Committees being observed? It sounds as though what should be questions are being used as speeches and no response is permitted. Should the chair of the Committee not be intervening and calling all of these out, and if not the chair, cannot members object to these abuses?
Perhaps, Democratic leaders need to convince Today Show host and University of Arizona cum laude graduate Savannah Guthrie, Esq. to primary unhinged Sen. Kyrsten Lea Sinema (?D-AZ). The extremely well-known, bright, knowledgeable and likeable former Presidential debate monitor Guthrie also holds a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University, where she graduated magna cum laude. Just an idea.
This is all terrible but the R efforts to destroy Milley are the most worrisome to me in that their continued and raucous post-truth behavior will clearly lead to fascism if they win in 2022 and 2024.
Of course, McConnell’s proclaiming that any attempt to lessen the wealth at the top to make government work for EVERYONE is socialism, is also a pre-Fascist meme.
We are so much closer than I realized.
I can only hope that the Ds become more vocal about what is happening to this country.
I have greatly respected Biden’s efforts to ignore the trumpsters but at some point—and hopefully soon—he and others in power will start to call them out.
I kept thinking that Trump would start to fade. Even if he does (and for some reason I don’t think he will run in 2024), it really doesn’t matter anymore. The fascists are winning.
Please understand, I do not use this term lightly. I used to teach about fascism and have resisted using this term to explain our country. I realize now that it really “can happen here”. Our institutions are not strong enough to stop madness.
The supreme importance of voting rights at this moment just crystalized for me. I have been wondering about the best way to quickly inform those who don't pay too much attention to politics, and I remembered the power of art: songs, slogans, political cartoons, etc. What about flash mobs acting out a catchy, easily-understood script that promotes voting and voting rights? Just an idea.
How DARE that seditious weasel Josh Hawley impugn the honor and integrity of General Milley!!! Hawley has never served in the military. (I am the mom of a 20 year retired soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.) Hawley has NO concept of public service; he is only out to advance himself. He is a hateful weasel who ought to be arrested, indicted, tried and convicted of sedition.
A Call to Action: A few days ago I read a long opinion piece in the Washington Post by Robert Kagan. It’s titled “Our Constitutional Crisis is Already Here” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/23/robert-kagan-constitutional-crisis/. It's grim; it's very grim. But at the end he offers what he believes could avert the complete disaster that is coming at us fast, and that is the formation of a coalition by the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection, a coalition formed for "the sole purpose of saving the republic," a coalition that would join with Democrats to pass into law the Freedom to Vote Act (Manchin's compromise voting act) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Robert Kagan is a scholar who, in May 2016, wrote another opinion piece in the Post about Trump's campaign called, "This is How Fascism Comes to America."
I am calling on the tens of thousands of us who read Heather's letters, along with anyone else we can inspire, to call or write posted letters -- snail mail, as email is not effective -- to each of these seven senators. Not the time to argue who is sincere, who has integrity. These are who we've got. Below is a list of their Washington addresses and phone numbers.
Please remember that all of these people have suffered greatly for their vote on that day. My suggestion is to appeal to their love of country, not to criticize them, to tell them their country needs them to prevent radical Trumpists from destroying this nation, to prevent the possibility of Trump winning a second term, to prevent one-party rule -- etc., and that we need them to step up now as the 2022 elections could otherwise mark our descent into autocracy.
Thank you.
Richard Burr, NC (retiring)
217 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3153
Bill Cassidy, LA
520 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5824
Lisa Murkowski, AK
522 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-6665
Mitt Romney, UT
354 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-228-0836
Ben Sasse, NE
139 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-4224
Patrick J. Toomey, PA (retiring)
248 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-4254
Susan Collins, ME
413 Dirksen Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
Josh Hawley (R-MO) seems to be the poster boy for the new Republican Party, now shamefully known as the party of Trump rather than nobly, as the party of Lincoln. In its present diminished incarnation, it is the party of lies and cheap shots, like the ones Hawley and the rest of his rude company deployed against General Milley, an honest, honorable and stalwart leader of integrity the United States is fortunate to have as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To his credit, General Milley calmly faced the barrage of insults from the uncouth Republican jackals allied against him, and in his dignified testimony upheld his oath to protect and defend the Constitution, which is more than can be said for Hawley, as his seditious behavior on January 6 demonstrates. It is Hawley, not General Milley, who should resign and subsequently face the consequences of his failure to uphold the sacred oath he took when elected to congress.
It seems just moments ago that people of my generation were repeating a phrase "Don't trust anyone over 30." It was not moments ago, I am now approaching 80. My reaction to the issue of trust in institutions was to serve as a school superintendent (for 25 years, it turned out) and, in one small corner, to work hard to gain public trust in a worthy institution.
In recent years Republicans have degraded trust in such institutions as the CIA, the FBI, the US military, and democracy itself. Republicans (Trumpists, I might say, since most Republicans accept him as leader of the party) seek to avoid losing supporters of those institutions by attacking Democrats as socialists.
I don't know what strategy is best for passing the Freedom to Vote Act and other voting rights bills. Persuade 10 Republican Senators to kill a filibuster? Persuade Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to support Manchin's bill with an anti-filibuster carve out? In exchange, reduce the reconciliation package? Take the steps you believe are right.
At this point, though, I think our battle is in the hands of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer. We need them to recognize that preserving democracy is more important than ...... infrastructure (hard or soft), keeping the government open, or even paying bits of our national debt immediately when due. We can fight about blame later. If the votes of people who are likely to support the preservation of democracy are suppressed or gerrymandered into meaninglessness, we will lose all of the battles in the future.
Regarding Becky Philips post, I just returned home from a meeting with a man who was our taxi driver when we had our two vaccinations. He speaks English because he was a camera operator for ESPN when he lived in NYC. I wanted to meet with him because I'm hoping to create a documentary about the artists here in Basque Country in the 60´s whose art defied Franco. Mikel is amazing. his father was in prison for 3 years under Franco. He shared that the arts were how the people here spoke out against the fascists. Also, most don't know, but the danger in the U.S. is worldwide. Brexit was orchestrated by Cambridge Analytica. This group is doing the same in all European countries. Also huge connections with the Rump. Everyone must do something to speak out against the Rumplicans and their agenda. Make homemade videos with facts that you can post on social media. Create public forums with facts. Create art projects for your area galleries and public spaces. Create soapbox speeches in public places. Create music for area musicians to sing at their local pubs, bars, wineries. Do something.
Absolutely infuriating, that one person, McConnell, wields so much power for evil. My head wants to explode whenever I see a new quoted remark of his. Apparently there is no legal recourse to remove him from office, and his constituents continue to re-elect him year after year.
I just cannot understand how any of these Republicans seem to have no moral compass and no sense of duty to the American people or to upholding the Constitution. It is so frustrating, but I thank Dr. Heather for laying it all out so clearly so that we can make the choice to take action, and to get the word out to others who are not as informed as the rest of us here on this forum.
Dear Prof. HCR,
Finally, Autumn's refreshing chill was in the air in VT yesterday, but in the Senate, Winter's bitter cold was reenacted by icy blasts from the inhuman, self-centered, evil -- yes, aberrant and abhorrent evil -- Republicans.
"Nonetheless, Republicans berated [Gen. Millet], often not permitting him to respond. They seemed to be following the pattern established at hearings during the Trump administration of creating sound bites for later right-wing media stories. In this case, though, there is a deeper story: they are continuing the right-wing media’s undermining of the military officers who defended our Constitution."
Is this the way, US citizens behave for all the world to witness? What kind of example do these ill-mannered, uncouth, so-called human beings set for our youth and innocent immigrants who risk their lives to be allowed entrance to our "sacred" country? For shame! What makes us better than the beautiful Haitians or Guatemalans who have been refused entry? No wonder nothing is solved these days -- no wonder our peace of mind has dissipated into eddies of turmoil. I am aghast at their outrageous incivility they are the ones who should be deported.
Give that general another star, can we kick hawley to the curb, no wait, how about to jail?
There is no place in hell hot enough or harsh enough for Mitch McConnell and his nation hating thugs.
I was fortunate to catch part of what Anne Applebaum was saying in an interview with Ammanpour on PBS, as she referenced the recent German election and compared it to the where the US is now. We are much more at risk of an authoritarian government. 40 percent of US voters are Republicans whose party has been taken over by the extreme right, and I believe she said the extreme right in Germany had capped and was losing percents, and maybe was at 12 percent. She also had an article, maybe in the Atlantic, describing the cancel culture wars and the affront to Constitutional rights, in particular the way people who don't say or do or promote the right thing are suddenly shunned, lose jobs, not read anymore. She refers to the authoritarian parameters being put around freedom of speech, much like in Nazi Germany.
A number of Senate encounters seem tribal, as various senators play their stylized roles. It seems almost like the dance of the storks, which is a male mating dance. The big difference now is that Bad Stork McConnell has absolutely no intention of mating with his Democratic counterparts for the sake of our country. As he declared about President Obama and now about President Biden, his sole objective was to make them both one-term presidents. Thus, his overriding task is to disable the normal wheels of government.
Clearly Bad Stork McConnell has two sets of rules: one when he is Majority Leader and another when Minority Leader. He was boxed in by the physical infrastructure bill which, over years, will provide about $500 billion in new money to put patches on our crumbling physical infrastructure. He is absolutely opposed to Democratic initiatives that, in my opinion, are essential to improve our country and the opportunities for a large majority of Americans. He opposes the John Lewis voting bill, since it would establish federal voting safeguards, which Republicans in two dozen states are seeking to cripple. He is opposed to the ‘$3.5 trillion’ [much less in net expenditures and over 10 years] human infrastructure bill because it would improve the opportunities for a large percentage of Americans and charge corporations and very wealthy Americans a bit more in taxes to fund this essential investment in America.
Bad Stork McConnell considers the Senate Rules Book his Bible. Moreover, whenever it doesn’t suits his wishes, he invents Bad Stork amendments (like his refusal to consider President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court for over a year and then reversing this Bad Stork Amendment to rush Bennett to the SC after Trump lost in 2020).
His current game on funding the government and debt is simple. He could eventually acquiesce on a short-term budget as the new fiscal year commences, but he will not permit Republican senators to follow the traditional bipartisan approval of raising the debt limit to pay for already Congressionally-approved expenditures. Stated simply: APPROVE THE GUN, BUT NOT THE BULLETS. All this is an endeavor to place responsibility for a possible debt default and a government shutdown squarely on the Democrats. Bad Stork seems to be betting that the Democrats, as a last resort, will raise the debt limit through some sort of Senate reconciliation bill.
I don’t know how this will spin out in the days ahead. Bad Stork Mitchell has no intention of dancing to some reasonable mating resolution. I believe that, as Newt Gingrich, he, and Trump discovered in the past, such shabby blackmail hasn’t worked in the past with the American public and is unlikely to work with those who are not wrapped up in the Big Lie.
While Bad Stork Mitchell is flapping his unpatriotic wings, , some of his cohorts have sought to sully the wings of a true American hero—General Miley.
What Hawley did & said is unconscionable & almost unforgivable. Why was he allowed to question anyone? He's going to be subpoenaed anyway right? Milley should go down as a hero.
Are the 'rules of engagement' in the Committees being observed? It sounds as though what should be questions are being used as speeches and no response is permitted. Should the chair of the Committee not be intervening and calling all of these out, and if not the chair, cannot members object to these abuses?
Perhaps, Democratic leaders need to convince Today Show host and University of Arizona cum laude graduate Savannah Guthrie, Esq. to primary unhinged Sen. Kyrsten Lea Sinema (?D-AZ). The extremely well-known, bright, knowledgeable and likeable former Presidential debate monitor Guthrie also holds a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University, where she graduated magna cum laude. Just an idea.
This is all terrible but the R efforts to destroy Milley are the most worrisome to me in that their continued and raucous post-truth behavior will clearly lead to fascism if they win in 2022 and 2024.
Of course, McConnell’s proclaiming that any attempt to lessen the wealth at the top to make government work for EVERYONE is socialism, is also a pre-Fascist meme.
We are so much closer than I realized.
I can only hope that the Ds become more vocal about what is happening to this country.
I have greatly respected Biden’s efforts to ignore the trumpsters but at some point—and hopefully soon—he and others in power will start to call them out.
I kept thinking that Trump would start to fade. Even if he does (and for some reason I don’t think he will run in 2024), it really doesn’t matter anymore. The fascists are winning.
Please understand, I do not use this term lightly. I used to teach about fascism and have resisted using this term to explain our country. I realize now that it really “can happen here”. Our institutions are not strong enough to stop madness.
The supreme importance of voting rights at this moment just crystalized for me. I have been wondering about the best way to quickly inform those who don't pay too much attention to politics, and I remembered the power of art: songs, slogans, political cartoons, etc. What about flash mobs acting out a catchy, easily-understood script that promotes voting and voting rights? Just an idea.