Can you believe Republicans in the Senate blocked the Freedom to Vote Act today? Of course you can. It happened. It’s all over the news. If you turn your television to CNN or MSNBC, you can’t miss it. But it’s still hard to believe we have actually arrived at the place where Republicans in the upper house of the Congress have voted against a bill seeking to make it easier for citizens of the United States to exercise their most precious right, the right to vote.
Kill the filibuster and go so far left that Che, Fred Williamson, and Joe Hill rise from their graves to applaud. Take no prisoners. Pass every damned thing that it will take to make this country whole.
The Dems don't want to get rid of the filibuster because they know they may need it at whatever time the GOP regains control and tries to undo every. single. good. thing. the Dems have ever done.
The GOP is pure, unadulterated EVIL. They have not even one good idea, not one proposal that will help anyone other than the 1%. They love causing anguish and suffering; they enjoy making people suffer, taking things away from people, denying people their most basic rights (voting and women's control of their own bodies); humiliating people, kicking those who are already down, destroying people's lives. They are a bunch of psychotic sadists.
Sorry, that's an excuse, not a reason. If the Dems don't ditch the filibuster, they're increasing the chances that they'll be thrown out of office at the next opportunity -- and with good reason. Personally I suspect that the Democratic caucus harbors a few closet white supremacists who are taking cover behind the blatant white supremacists of the GOP. Call them "centrists" or whatever you like. They're OK with the filibuster because it serves their interests. But we do not have to enable them.
It's a reason I don't agree with, but I still see it as a reason. It's rather like "MAD"-- Mutually Assured Destruction-- with regard to nuclear weapons.
My firm belief is that McConnell will gin up another of his new rules as soon as he's the majority Leader again to end the filibuster THEN. So no, I don't believe the Dems are being very smart to rely on that to save us once they are no longer in control (whatever "control" means these days; the GOP seems to have this invisible iron-clad veto power camouflaged as a "filibuster") of the Senate.
Surely the Dems are wise to Moscow Mitch by now! Are they so cowardly they're afraid to act? Is the life of a Senator so seductive, they cannot use their brains? WHAT is really behind this ridiculous defense of an antiquated racist "rule" that isn't even constitutional? Call me suspicious, because I am.
"The Dems" are not monolithic by any measure. Not all of them have read Adam Jentleson. Not all of them understand the filibuster the way you or I do -- and gods know what their constituents think of it. Some of them really do think it's a grand tradition that they shouldn't mess with. And some of them, as I've suggested elsewhere, aren't all that wild about making it easier for people of color to vote. They can't help having noticed what happened to their House colleagues, Messrs. Capuano and Crowley.
In 1952 the Republicans won the House Senate and Presidency. In 1953 they wanted to gut Social Security and the minimum wage as well as public assistance. President Eisenhower refused to gut the New Deal;. Despite McCarthy fearmongering, in 1954 the country gave the house to the Democrats and they held it for 40 years (1994) In 1956 after a vicious campaign against Adlai Stevenson, the country reelected Eisenhower but took the senate away and the Democrats had it until 1980. In 1960 the country rejected Nixon rants about communists and voted for Kennedy. You may recall that in 1884 Republicans warned about 'Rum Romanism, and Rebellion', and the Democrats won as they did again in 1892. Resort to extremism and the great mass of voters will give you the boot. Rig the election in 2022 and millions of ordinary Republicans will vote Democrat in 2024.People fear extremism, look at how much of Europe is turning against hard right parties. Extremist can win, for a while, but eventually people get fed up. Mitch McConnell has no self control. He gloated today and thinks the future is his. Maybe for a few years, but be certain the wheel keeps turning, he has already angered millions of people. He will push it too far and like Joseph McCarthy will get the boot. Chief Justice John Roberts is not a fool, he will go just so far, count on it.
I applaud your historical awareness, and appreciate your optimism, but I am afraid I'm a lot more cynical and sanguine about our prospects. I don't think old patterns of US elections or political waves hold true any more. I think a dam has broken, and we're about to undergo one of those revolutionary sea changes that all nations endure. And we'll change course in one way or another, irrevocably.
I certainly hope you are correct. Dare we hope this latest finger in our collective American eye will be the galvanizing force that re-rights our ship of state? Dare we hope for a massive backlash in 2022 and 2024? Dare we hope that such a backlash will be sufficient to Tsunami the many voter suppression and voter nullification laws?
Of course I believe it. I'm not even surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. What happened between 2006 and 2021? Barack Obama got elected *twice*. The GOP realized that without restricting the franchise it might happen again: another black person might be elected president, and worse, it might be a take-no-prisoners black *woman* or other woman of color. Dark money poured into the GOP (Jane Mayer's book is good on this), and in 2010 the Tea Party came to power and has pretty much dictated the GOP trajectory ever since. George Wallace and Strom Thurmond would be thrilled.
The fact that these Republicans are so adamant against certain people (and we know who they are, like every one who isn't white) voting, perhaps we should make sure these Republicans never have the right to vote in the Senate again.
Vote against each and every one of them. It's shameful that in this day and age, there are still people who think that slavery should have been kept as a way of keeping others from attaining any form of citizenship.
Also-have they noticed that they're voting against their own best interests? Or do they really care?
Susan Collins has become a mockery of her state. She will be defeated next time. I can guarantee it.
But I can't help but also notice that there are a majority of Republicans who are 75+ years old, which makes them out of touch with the American people.
They should be removed as the ancient relics of bigotry and racism they are.
She was a mockery before she was re-elected in 2020. True, Sara Gideon wasn't the ideal candidate, but I'm curious why you "guarantee" she'll be defeated in 2026.
Because she's out lived her usefulness. She panders to the GOP and a lot of people in Maine have gotten tired of her. She's voted against every single plan Biden has come up with, and this state voted for Biden. In short, her history is done. Too many mistakes, lies and misjudgements to keep her in office.
Here's hoping, but I heard pretty much all the same stuff (minus the reference to Biden) two years ago. I suspect a lot of people in Maine aren't in touch with what a lot of other people in Maine are thinking -- not surprising, because that's pretty much true everywhere as well. :-( This is still the state that elected Paul LePage twice -- and yes, I know the whys and wherefores on that one.
Despite the fact that I swore off reading any more books about The Fat Fuck, I found myself reading Michael Wolff's "Too Famous." I didn't think it was possible to be more shocked than I had been prior to reading it, but I am. In all of Wolff's conversations with the people around TFF (Bannon, Priebus, Kelly, even Kushner, who's an especially scary piece of work), every single one of them loathed him, knew he was incompetent and "cognitively impaired" (dumb as shit, anyone?) and in no way took him seriously. Yet, they behaved as we know they've behaved (we don't need no stinkin' laundry lists) and are continuing to behave. Overwhelming cynicism. So yeah, "evil" is the best word. My own capacity to still be shocked by all this continues to surprise me....
It;'s as if some evil wizard or demon was casting a control spell over peoples' will -- or at the least, removing their previous inhibitions that kept those folks from stepping beyond agreed societal boundaries. There is no longer any restraint from the trumpanzees, they are in full throttle and will not be constrained. Not by any "normal" restraints, anyway.
And for what? In service to one of the worst creatures to ever walk this continent. It's pathetic. We don't even rate a semi-competent or gifted dictator like Augustus or Napoleon!
Exactly! Completely devoid of any interest in and of himself, but a sort of fascinating opportunity to glimpse all sorts of things it's very, very unpleasant to contemplate. Thirty-five years ago, I seriously contemplated expatriation. At that time, it felt like (and doubtless on many levels WAS) more or less a lifestyle choice (as opposed to a survival strategy). If I'd known then....
Indeed. And now, Americans who look into emigration are going to discover how difficult it really is for ordinary people, without connections, job offers, "right of return" luck, or huge piles of money salted away to wave at a prospective visa host.
How low can we go? More than mind boggling, it is migraine producing. But our history is that of white privilege so can we expect to ever really have a democratic republic. I think not.
I don't think we are at the bottom yet. I have made this observation before, but will do so again: I am willing to bet that if a sociologist did a survey/investigation of the religious affiliation of GOP politicians, ranging from local alderman and school board members all the way up through mayors and state legislators to US Senators, they would find that the vast majority are evangelical Christians contemptuous of democracy and bent on replacing it with a white-run, fundamentalist Christian theocracy. Killing the voting rights of minorities, who mostly vote for Dems, is near the top of their list. They no longer even try to hide that goal.
Manchin is about coal. PERIOD. He’s from a state that elects the same people to higher office who are responsible for the deaths of miners. It doesn’t get any more backwards or callous than that.
Kill the filibuster and go so far left that Che, Fred Williamson, and Joe Hill rise from their graves to applaud. Take no prisoners. Pass every damned thing that it will take to make this country whole.
The Dems don't want to get rid of the filibuster because they know they may need it at whatever time the GOP regains control and tries to undo every. single. good. thing. the Dems have ever done.
The GOP is pure, unadulterated EVIL. They have not even one good idea, not one proposal that will help anyone other than the 1%. They love causing anguish and suffering; they enjoy making people suffer, taking things away from people, denying people their most basic rights (voting and women's control of their own bodies); humiliating people, kicking those who are already down, destroying people's lives. They are a bunch of psychotic sadists.
Sorry, that's an excuse, not a reason. If the Dems don't ditch the filibuster, they're increasing the chances that they'll be thrown out of office at the next opportunity -- and with good reason. Personally I suspect that the Democratic caucus harbors a few closet white supremacists who are taking cover behind the blatant white supremacists of the GOP. Call them "centrists" or whatever you like. They're OK with the filibuster because it serves their interests. But we do not have to enable them.
Yes, we need a full broadside right into the stern of this pirate ship called the reptilian party.
It's a reason I don't agree with, but I still see it as a reason. It's rather like "MAD"-- Mutually Assured Destruction-- with regard to nuclear weapons.
At some point, in a very measured way you need to bloody someone's nose to, at the very least let them know there is a line.
Admire the fighting spirit!
My firm belief is that McConnell will gin up another of his new rules as soon as he's the majority Leader again to end the filibuster THEN. So no, I don't believe the Dems are being very smart to rely on that to save us once they are no longer in control (whatever "control" means these days; the GOP seems to have this invisible iron-clad veto power camouflaged as a "filibuster") of the Senate.
Amen!
McConnell will smile and say 'Elections have consequences," or words to that effect, and the Dems will be powerless onlookers again.
Surely the Dems are wise to Moscow Mitch by now! Are they so cowardly they're afraid to act? Is the life of a Senator so seductive, they cannot use their brains? WHAT is really behind this ridiculous defense of an antiquated racist "rule" that isn't even constitutional? Call me suspicious, because I am.
"The Dems" are not monolithic by any measure. Not all of them have read Adam Jentleson. Not all of them understand the filibuster the way you or I do -- and gods know what their constituents think of it. Some of them really do think it's a grand tradition that they shouldn't mess with. And some of them, as I've suggested elsewhere, aren't all that wild about making it easier for people of color to vote. They can't help having noticed what happened to their House colleagues, Messrs. Capuano and Crowley.
We need a seance or something to make Fighting Bob La Follette rise from the dead! For starters.
Sequential action. That also needs to happen. Pee with the wind so it blows on the GOP standing behind you.
Plus, the Dems know they will need the filibuster the minute the GOP resumes control.
Which is exactly when the Republicans will do away with it.
In 1952 the Republicans won the House Senate and Presidency. In 1953 they wanted to gut Social Security and the minimum wage as well as public assistance. President Eisenhower refused to gut the New Deal;. Despite McCarthy fearmongering, in 1954 the country gave the house to the Democrats and they held it for 40 years (1994) In 1956 after a vicious campaign against Adlai Stevenson, the country reelected Eisenhower but took the senate away and the Democrats had it until 1980. In 1960 the country rejected Nixon rants about communists and voted for Kennedy. You may recall that in 1884 Republicans warned about 'Rum Romanism, and Rebellion', and the Democrats won as they did again in 1892. Resort to extremism and the great mass of voters will give you the boot. Rig the election in 2022 and millions of ordinary Republicans will vote Democrat in 2024.People fear extremism, look at how much of Europe is turning against hard right parties. Extremist can win, for a while, but eventually people get fed up. Mitch McConnell has no self control. He gloated today and thinks the future is his. Maybe for a few years, but be certain the wheel keeps turning, he has already angered millions of people. He will push it too far and like Joseph McCarthy will get the boot. Chief Justice John Roberts is not a fool, he will go just so far, count on it.
I applaud your historical awareness, and appreciate your optimism, but I am afraid I'm a lot more cynical and sanguine about our prospects. I don't think old patterns of US elections or political waves hold true any more. I think a dam has broken, and we're about to undergo one of those revolutionary sea changes that all nations endure. And we'll change course in one way or another, irrevocably.
I certainly hope you are correct. Dare we hope this latest finger in our collective American eye will be the galvanizing force that re-rights our ship of state? Dare we hope for a massive backlash in 2022 and 2024? Dare we hope that such a backlash will be sufficient to Tsunami the many voter suppression and voter nullification laws?
Of course I believe it. I'm not even surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. What happened between 2006 and 2021? Barack Obama got elected *twice*. The GOP realized that without restricting the franchise it might happen again: another black person might be elected president, and worse, it might be a take-no-prisoners black *woman* or other woman of color. Dark money poured into the GOP (Jane Mayer's book is good on this), and in 2010 the Tea Party came to power and has pretty much dictated the GOP trajectory ever since. George Wallace and Strom Thurmond would be thrilled.
And, btw, where in hell is Obama?? Where is the Democratic leadership?
What do you think Obama should be doing? Besides supporting McAuliffe and the other Dems in Virginia?
I don't understand why the Democrats are de facto handing over the reins of government ultimately to the Republicans.
The fact that these Republicans are so adamant against certain people (and we know who they are, like every one who isn't white) voting, perhaps we should make sure these Republicans never have the right to vote in the Senate again.
Vote against each and every one of them. It's shameful that in this day and age, there are still people who think that slavery should have been kept as a way of keeping others from attaining any form of citizenship.
Also-have they noticed that they're voting against their own best interests? Or do they really care?
Susan Collins has become a mockery of her state. She will be defeated next time. I can guarantee it.
But I can't help but also notice that there are a majority of Republicans who are 75+ years old, which makes them out of touch with the American people.
They should be removed as the ancient relics of bigotry and racism they are.
She was a mockery before she was re-elected in 2020. True, Sara Gideon wasn't the ideal candidate, but I'm curious why you "guarantee" she'll be defeated in 2026.
Because she's out lived her usefulness. She panders to the GOP and a lot of people in Maine have gotten tired of her. She's voted against every single plan Biden has come up with, and this state voted for Biden. In short, her history is done. Too many mistakes, lies and misjudgements to keep her in office.
Here's hoping, but I heard pretty much all the same stuff (minus the reference to Biden) two years ago. I suspect a lot of people in Maine aren't in touch with what a lot of other people in Maine are thinking -- not surprising, because that's pretty much true everywhere as well. :-( This is still the state that elected Paul LePage twice -- and yes, I know the whys and wherefores on that one.
Despite the fact that I swore off reading any more books about The Fat Fuck, I found myself reading Michael Wolff's "Too Famous." I didn't think it was possible to be more shocked than I had been prior to reading it, but I am. In all of Wolff's conversations with the people around TFF (Bannon, Priebus, Kelly, even Kushner, who's an especially scary piece of work), every single one of them loathed him, knew he was incompetent and "cognitively impaired" (dumb as shit, anyone?) and in no way took him seriously. Yet, they behaved as we know they've behaved (we don't need no stinkin' laundry lists) and are continuing to behave. Overwhelming cynicism. So yeah, "evil" is the best word. My own capacity to still be shocked by all this continues to surprise me....
It;'s as if some evil wizard or demon was casting a control spell over peoples' will -- or at the least, removing their previous inhibitions that kept those folks from stepping beyond agreed societal boundaries. There is no longer any restraint from the trumpanzees, they are in full throttle and will not be constrained. Not by any "normal" restraints, anyway.
And for what? In service to one of the worst creatures to ever walk this continent. It's pathetic. We don't even rate a semi-competent or gifted dictator like Augustus or Napoleon!
Exactly! Completely devoid of any interest in and of himself, but a sort of fascinating opportunity to glimpse all sorts of things it's very, very unpleasant to contemplate. Thirty-five years ago, I seriously contemplated expatriation. At that time, it felt like (and doubtless on many levels WAS) more or less a lifestyle choice (as opposed to a survival strategy). If I'd known then....
Indeed. And now, Americans who look into emigration are going to discover how difficult it really is for ordinary people, without connections, job offers, "right of return" luck, or huge piles of money salted away to wave at a prospective visa host.
We are marching toward fascism and where is the outrage???? Repugs might as well wear their KKK gear to their Capitol offices.
AGREE
Have the Republicans hit bottom? Not by a long shot. This was just a drive by, and a pit stop. Sad.
How low can we go? More than mind boggling, it is migraine producing. But our history is that of white privilege so can we expect to ever really have a democratic republic. I think not.
I don't think we are at the bottom yet. I have made this observation before, but will do so again: I am willing to bet that if a sociologist did a survey/investigation of the religious affiliation of GOP politicians, ranging from local alderman and school board members all the way up through mayors and state legislators to US Senators, they would find that the vast majority are evangelical Christians contemptuous of democracy and bent on replacing it with a white-run, fundamentalist Christian theocracy. Killing the voting rights of minorities, who mostly vote for Dems, is near the top of their list. They no longer even try to hide that goal.
This was a sad day for America. Scary and sad.
The Republican COWARDS bow to Trump...are we jealous of that character defect?
Thanks, Lucian.
Has anyone read the bill that failed? Probably not. It's about election integrity. For those who of you that support "packing ballot boxes," you lost.
Huh?
Manchin is about coal. PERIOD. He’s from a state that elects the same people to higher office who are responsible for the deaths of miners. It doesn’t get any more backwards or callous than that.