Since Garland seems to have no guts, even with an open/shut case over the document theft, we should all thank the resolute Fani Willis in Georgia. And Trumpski the Putin traitor won't be able to pardon himself for that conviction.
As to the Republican "victory" in the House, it's a 3 vote margin, Quiverin' Qevin isn't going to get 218 from the reprobates in the back seat of the clown car who are busy throwing their feces out the windows at passers-by. If they have a Speaker by March it will be amazing. Remember, your IQ has to be lower than ambient room temperature to be one of these clucks.
And for two years we get to point at the monkey show and remind voters "this is why you can't have nice things." And while that's going on - as several observers have noted - the Inflation Reduction Act will be kicking in starting in January, so voters will be seeing in their bank accounts the benefits of lower prescription drug costs and such, while the president, vice president and rest of the cabinet fly around the country to ribbon-cutting ceremonies on the start of all kinds of projects bringing union-wage jobs all over the country, not to mention the factories being constructed as a result of the Chips Act.
As Al Franken noted, let them spend two years showing the country what they are.
Too bad we can't strip Murdoch of his US citizenship and send him back to Australia, maybe the airplane taking him there could go "missing" in a storm mid-Pacific. (A boy can dream)
TC, Overall, your perspective on a host of issues is spot on; I especially appreciate you underscoring the impact of the various Inflation Reduction Act measures scheduled to launch early next year.
Still, though I’m no Garland apologist, I do take issue with your pejorative portrayal relative to the stolen documents case. We all need to consider, before Garland can indict, DOJ must succeed in court to remove Special Master Dearie, which I understand should happen before the end of the year. I, further, understand we can expect indictments to be issued shortly thereafter.
Lynell, I also would note, due to DOJ’s fortitude, the Court reverted control of the government’s classified documents to the Justice Department, thus enabling it to resume its investigative work, while also blocking Trump’s efforts to obstruct the investigation. The final hurdle is removal of the Special Master.
John, I would advise that no one in this case categorize my explanation as an excuse. Given DOJ cannot proceed with indictments unless the court agrees to remove Dearie as Special Master, speaking for myself, I am grateful DOJ’s argument for removal has been portrayed as ironclad. If by early next year, Dearie has not been removed and indictments have not been issued, I will be out front, galvanizing all my resources and raising hell.
Meanwhile, I suppose I also should make clear that Dearie was appointed at Trump’s request by Trump appointed Judge Aileen M. Cannon. DOJ had opposed the move.
Your off base my friend. You and I and the media have no idea what the DOJ is doing; thinking and planning to do. There are threads between J6th; Georgia, the Eastman trial and the OathKeepers trials and testimony that tie a lot of these facts required to indict Trump together. Add possible testimony from Meadows; Graham and others and you have a complete picture. Also add into the equation all the delaying tactics that Trump has employed and add that Garland is a stickler for details and you come to the conclusion he is building a bulletproof case.
We know that garland did not convene a grand jury until 2022. Every subpoena obtained by the press from the two grand juries has a 2022 case number prefix.
Can you please address that point?why was it appropriate to wait a year to convene a grand jury ?
Robert, Because you have addressed this question specifically to Stephen, I won’t comment except to say I would relish you posing this question to the group.
To gain some historical perspective on why Garland's meticulous caution my be a virtue, I highly recommend Rachel Maddow's new podcast, Ultra, for a look into a pre-and during-WW II case about a substantial effort by America First and other pro-Nazi groups, spies, and individuals - including members of Congress - to overthrow the US government. The parallels with our present political climate are eerily similar. However, as you'll learn, Garland would not want a repeat of DOJ's prosecutorial fiasco in that case - one I suspect he knows about. I sure didn't! This podcast is new, and has one final episode yet to drop. So far, there are 7 installments: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra
I have been sitting on the edge of my seat listening to the podcast! My parents were Holocaust victims and had been in America maybe one or 2 years when all of these activities were taking place. They never said a word about it to my sister nor me.
And as Carlos Curbelo pointed out yesterday, the 10 new Republicans who represent districts Biden won in 2020 and will win again in 2024 are not going to march in lockstep with the Kooky Krazy Kawcuss. That means the Republicans don't have 218 votes to impeach anybody, because those people are not interested in committing political suicide.
In respect of Murdoch, why can't we? Isn't supporting an insurrection sufficient cause? I think it's a great idea and hope it's not just a dream.
In respect of the House, is there any non-political reason why the united Democrats couldn't find 4 reasonable Republicans to support Mrs. Pelosi in one last stint as Speaker to get us through the clown show?
Or maybe (wait for it 🥴🙈) all Dems plus ten vote for Liz Cheney? Perhaps the investigations could continue. Not that I’m much of a fan in terms of policy but she does honor the institution.
I'd be good with that. Like you, I don't agree with her a lot on policy but there's no doubt about her respect for the institution of both Congress and the government and she seems to have some idea of what integrity means as well.
Alas, a dream. I think that she's doing the right thing for the right reasons, both for her and her husband, and for the House. She will still be part of the House, mentoring young people and helping them move into positions with potential. She is a remarkable woman and politician, and I suspect that by staying on as her district's Congresswoman without the responsibilities of being Speaker, she not only has the transition time to solidify her considerable legacy, but will be able to spend time with her husband. In one ugly night, her circumstances changed, and we need to respect her decisions. The good news is that in 2 years I believe we WILL regain the house, and her legacy will be all that much more important, because she has not only set a high standard, she will have passed it on to the next two (or three) generations.
Just a reminder that the word "corporation" does not appear anywhere in the Constitution, yet the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are individual persons entitled to Constitutional rights.
If they're legal individuals, they should be held to the same standard as other individuals and not accorded special status due to their corporate legal nature. Equal status under the law is one of the presumptive defining characteristics of the American system of governance and law.
Legal individuals can't be held to the same standard as human individuals. The Constitution was written for human persons not capital aggregated into legal entities.
In addition to ensuring that the press not be fooled by a false narrative about polling shifts in 2024, we need to begin now identifying the vulnerable Republican Members of the next Congress and illuminating their votes and actions so they are less attractive to their constituencies. Who, among the returning Members of Congress, for instance, voted against the protection of same sex marriage and interracial marriage? Let's inform their constituents.
I bet their constituents are fully aware of how their Congress critters voted on those issues. In many cases, those for whom it matters have had their votes gerrymandered out of consideration.
We have so much to celebrate in this election cycle. Congratulations also to Karen Bass, who is now Mayor of Los Angeles, after she beat fake Democrat Rick Caruso who outspent her 11 to 1. She is the first woman and second Black Angeleno elected to lead the city in its 241-year history. This is proof that those who vote have the power over tremendous sums of money that are trying to subvert our democracy.
The mid term election solidified several truism's for me. We can’t trust the polls and pollsters if Republicans can successfully flood the zone and infiltrate the polling models. Rich prominent Republican donors abandoning Trump in favor of DeSantis are just picking the same breed of horse with a different name they can control. Between a Republican majority in the House and the noise from the crazies like Majorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan to the ridiculous lies and comments from candidate Trump the Democratic Party has to have a strategic plan beginning in January on how to combat and defeat these attacks. I find it interesting that on the same day of Trump’s unhinged campaign announcement President Biden was calmly leading a fact based assessment of what happened in the Poland incident and without jumping to conclusions ( which the media did) found the truth and facts while working together with the NATO countries and demonstrating real leadership. This is what a President is suppose to do. The comparison is stark between these two men and voters have to see and acknowledge these differences. We all need to remind voters of these differences or they will be lost in the noise. .
Yep. I keep saying over an over again that one thing we must stop doing is letting the opposition set our agenda. Call them out and then move on. The more we hammer on what Trump is doing, the more we appear to be legitimizing him. Repetition, especially in language that frames issues in terms of voters' own stories, is very powerful. But everytime we do it in terms of Trump vs Biden, we fall into the trap of letting T set the agenda. Which is just about the only thing he's got left.
Stephen, I find your analyses and proposals not only thoughtful but also useful. Still, on the matter of the Polish incident, I am bothered that Zelenskyy doesn’t concur with the findings of the group, a factor that leads me to question whether this group has “found the truth” or whether the facts at hand are helping the group to get increasingly closer to the verifiable truth.
Is it that Zelenskyy does not wish to admit one of his country's anti-missile missiles misfired or was not programmed correctly? Or does he have and is keeping to himself other information?
The thing that we know cost us enough seats to make a difference in the house is the combination of red states that simply ignored court orders and used illegal maps (Ohio and I think FL), and the 3 states where a court order to draw an additional seat that could be won by Black voters (AL, LA and GA) was stayed by SCOTUS via the shadow docket. Robert or other lawyers, please correct any terminology I have gotten wrong here.
I heard 4, but the point is the same. I wonder, though, if anyone is looking at whether those seats, even drawn legally, would have gone blue. There was a big red shift in FL. But the point is, it isn't democracy if the voters can't decide whether to keep or change the party in charge.
Florida 13 had been held by Charlie Crist. It had large portions of St. Petersburg, a notably blue district. Redrawn, it took out most of the St. Pete folks and moved the lines north into the "suburbs". So, yes, at least this seat for sure would have stayed in our column.
And let's see if the RW majority of SCOTUS, which has already expressed interest in Moore v. Harper and is taking up that case this session, will decide that ONLY the State legislatures can decide regarding election outcomes. And that the governors, Secretaries of State and Courts may NOT "interfere". In other words, it may allow the state legislators , NOT the voters, decide who wins.
I have a couple of questions that perhaps someone here can answer. I donated more $ this election cycle than I ever have before. I donated all of it via Act Blue, & much of it went to Tim Ryan & Val Demings. Since the election I've heard & read that the national Democratic Party didn't support either Ryan or Demings monetarily because they thought their campaigns were not winnable.
My questions are
1) If the Democratic Party didn't think Ryan & Demings could win, why did they send me emails every
day telling me that both candidates were almost tied with Vance & Rubio & "Please send more $"?
2) Was there a better place to send my $ than Act Blue?
Dems don't have dark money like the Republicans. The National Committee has to set priorities and focus on those most winnable races. It sucks, but that's the way it is. But, as human beings, they sometimes miss. And in these cases, the two Dem candidates edged closer and closer as election day neared. They had a chance, and their state and local committees went all out to help them, as did many Dem orgs. I donated to both. They lost but it was tight. I have no regrets about having donated my little bit. Next time, especially in the wake of a few Republican disasters, they (or another dem) will be in a much sounder position to challenge the seat. We have to play the long game in order to create a government at all levels that will work for Us, the people, instead of for corporations or for somebody's ego,
Speaking of non- existent mea culpas/apologies/serious introspection, its not just pollsters who blew it and are completely ignoring their actions, but of course main stream media as well. Please- we need action - write letters to the editors, unsubscribe. We need them to hear us.
I wonder about something related to the erroneous coverage of the red wave that wasn’t- how do we know it cost us House seats, maybe a Senate seat? Possibly it spurred more Democrats to vote? Is there a convincing way to know?
For sure Elon Musk cost votes with his day before election tweet to vote Republican. Down with Twitter! Can’t come fast enough.
We need to be careful with the deception that all we have to do is defeat Trumpism now that we've "defeated" Trump. No, it goes much, much deeper than that! DJT has always been just a symptom of what is wrong with America. DJT is being thrown away because he is no longer the useful idiot for the greedy and arrogant. The greed and arrogance of the over-privileged is still very much with us and has hold of the GOP and beyond. Some would say it started with Newt Gingrich in the 1990's. We must go back much further to the failure of the Reconstruction after the Civil War to treat people as full citizens with all the rights of the Constitution. We can go back to the flaws in the Constitution itself that created compromise in support of slavery in order to have the southern states join the Union. We can go back to the feudalism of the Middle Ages. We can go back to the rise of patriarchy many millenia ago. We have made a lot of progress in the past two hundred years to eliminate slavery, recognize women as full citizens as two major examples. However, we still have a long way to go. When we finally measure ourselves not by how many toys we die with but by something closer to the Native American philosophy that wealth is measured by one's generosity to others, we will begin to realize the maturity of the human race. We have a lot of work to do. We must get money out of politics. Get the money out of the free press/media. We must get the arrogance of the narcissistic theocrats off of the Supreme Court. We must educate each other on ethics and values and the fundamental tenets our country, the first country to be formed based on an ideal that all people are created equal. We must measure ourselves on the Well Being of all. Martin Luther had a dream. I have a dream. I believe Generation Z has a dream and gives me hope. Let's all make this dream a reality -- NOW. We, the People, all of us this time in a mature civilization of Well Being for all.
Brilliant. 'an assist' from the DOJ. I remember my young son playing hockey, and my dad saying to me, tell him to just go up the middle. My dad watched hockey (with me on Sat nights) since I was a kid so I knew this was good advice.
My kid did this, scored a goal, and I remember thinking, it pays to watch the game!
Robert - thank you again for highlighting anything that pulls DeSantis’ covers. He is creepier than the former president in that he can speak in complete sentences. We need to listen closely to his complete sentences and look closely at the policies he and his cronies have codified in Florida. If this is the vision he has for our country he must be exposed for who he really is.
I will tell you I am already sick of looking at the headlines in the Tampa Bay Times every day for a week now, touting the coronation of Ron De Saggypants. Today’s headline was “Don vs. Ron”. With a picture of both. Makes it hard to eat my breakfast.
What are your thoughts about Mike Pense? His failure to condemn the attempts to overthrow the election of Jan. 6. I think he is a coward and is hiding behind a christian defense not speaking evil of the former president. But, he has failed to speak out when called upon.
Lord, I could cry reading tonight’s post. “Belly flop of epic proportions,” makes my heart sing. And the skewering of Rupert Murdoch is so long overdue that it might seem anti-Climatic, but it’s needed like our next breath. He did indeed create the monster, which the MSM gladly portrayed as Dorian Gray. Now that his path to be the power behind the throne has changed, Will our MSM follow him blindly as they have for years in order to rake in the dough? As you warn, the purchasing of the presidency is in full swing, just as Roberts and republican evil have planned. Voters have been hamstrung, just as money has sprouted wings. So Dems, good start, but don’t sit on your laurels, get off your arses and tell people what is at stake. Describe what “losing democracy” looks like to the average Joe. Abstract flies right over many heads, it needs to tweak their emotion since logic can’t be counted on to penetrate skulls. Republicans know this
Since Garland seems to have no guts, even with an open/shut case over the document theft, we should all thank the resolute Fani Willis in Georgia. And Trumpski the Putin traitor won't be able to pardon himself for that conviction.
As to the Republican "victory" in the House, it's a 3 vote margin, Quiverin' Qevin isn't going to get 218 from the reprobates in the back seat of the clown car who are busy throwing their feces out the windows at passers-by. If they have a Speaker by March it will be amazing. Remember, your IQ has to be lower than ambient room temperature to be one of these clucks.
And for two years we get to point at the monkey show and remind voters "this is why you can't have nice things." And while that's going on - as several observers have noted - the Inflation Reduction Act will be kicking in starting in January, so voters will be seeing in their bank accounts the benefits of lower prescription drug costs and such, while the president, vice president and rest of the cabinet fly around the country to ribbon-cutting ceremonies on the start of all kinds of projects bringing union-wage jobs all over the country, not to mention the factories being constructed as a result of the Chips Act.
As Al Franken noted, let them spend two years showing the country what they are.
Too bad we can't strip Murdoch of his US citizenship and send him back to Australia, maybe the airplane taking him there could go "missing" in a storm mid-Pacific. (A boy can dream)
TC, Overall, your perspective on a host of issues is spot on; I especially appreciate you underscoring the impact of the various Inflation Reduction Act measures scheduled to launch early next year.
Still, though I’m no Garland apologist, I do take issue with your pejorative portrayal relative to the stolen documents case. We all need to consider, before Garland can indict, DOJ must succeed in court to remove Special Master Dearie, which I understand should happen before the end of the year. I, further, understand we can expect indictments to be issued shortly thereafter.
This one lapse notwithstanding, well done.
Thanks, Barbara, for this explanation about the special master. I was not aware his removal is required before DOJ can proceed.
Lynell, I also would note, due to DOJ’s fortitude, the Court reverted control of the government’s classified documents to the Justice Department, thus enabling it to resume its investigative work, while also blocking Trump’s efforts to obstruct the investigation. The final hurdle is removal of the Special Master.
There will always be some excuse as to why Garland can't indict Trump and his cronies. It's pathetic.
John, I would advise that no one in this case categorize my explanation as an excuse. Given DOJ cannot proceed with indictments unless the court agrees to remove Dearie as Special Master, speaking for myself, I am grateful DOJ’s argument for removal has been portrayed as ironclad. If by early next year, Dearie has not been removed and indictments have not been issued, I will be out front, galvanizing all my resources and raising hell.
Meanwhile, I suppose I also should make clear that Dearie was appointed at Trump’s request by Trump appointed Judge Aileen M. Cannon. DOJ had opposed the move.
It’s good for people to be reminded of that little tidbit, Barbara. Can’t give up the ship.
Your off base my friend. You and I and the media have no idea what the DOJ is doing; thinking and planning to do. There are threads between J6th; Georgia, the Eastman trial and the OathKeepers trials and testimony that tie a lot of these facts required to indict Trump together. Add possible testimony from Meadows; Graham and others and you have a complete picture. Also add into the equation all the delaying tactics that Trump has employed and add that Garland is a stickler for details and you come to the conclusion he is building a bulletproof case.
We know that garland did not convene a grand jury until 2022. Every subpoena obtained by the press from the two grand juries has a 2022 case number prefix.
Can you please address that point?why was it appropriate to wait a year to convene a grand jury ?
Robert, Because you have addressed this question specifically to Stephen, I won’t comment except to say I would relish you posing this question to the group.
To gain some historical perspective on why Garland's meticulous caution my be a virtue, I highly recommend Rachel Maddow's new podcast, Ultra, for a look into a pre-and during-WW II case about a substantial effort by America First and other pro-Nazi groups, spies, and individuals - including members of Congress - to overthrow the US government. The parallels with our present political climate are eerily similar. However, as you'll learn, Garland would not want a repeat of DOJ's prosecutorial fiasco in that case - one I suspect he knows about. I sure didn't! This podcast is new, and has one final episode yet to drop. So far, there are 7 installments: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra
Thanks for the link.
I too recommend Ultra. It is fascinating and captivating history. I am recommending it to all my friends.
I have been sitting on the edge of my seat listening to the podcast! My parents were Holocaust victims and had been in America maybe one or 2 years when all of these activities were taking place. They never said a word about it to my sister nor me.
Australia doesn’t want him back, sad to say. But we need to send the traitor packing.
Got any suggestions about how to accomplish that (legally)?
Who are we sending packing?
Murdoch.
And as Carlos Curbelo pointed out yesterday, the 10 new Republicans who represent districts Biden won in 2020 and will win again in 2024 are not going to march in lockstep with the Kooky Krazy Kawcuss. That means the Republicans don't have 218 votes to impeach anybody, because those people are not interested in committing political suicide.
In respect of Murdoch, why can't we? Isn't supporting an insurrection sufficient cause? I think it's a great idea and hope it's not just a dream.
In respect of the House, is there any non-political reason why the united Democrats couldn't find 4 reasonable Republicans to support Mrs. Pelosi in one last stint as Speaker to get us through the clown show?
Or maybe (wait for it 🥴🙈) all Dems plus ten vote for Liz Cheney? Perhaps the investigations could continue. Not that I’m much of a fan in terms of policy but she does honor the institution.
I'd be good with that. Like you, I don't agree with her a lot on policy but there's no doubt about her respect for the institution of both Congress and the government and she seems to have some idea of what integrity means as well.
Alas, a dream. I think that she's doing the right thing for the right reasons, both for her and her husband, and for the House. She will still be part of the House, mentoring young people and helping them move into positions with potential. She is a remarkable woman and politician, and I suspect that by staying on as her district's Congresswoman without the responsibilities of being Speaker, she not only has the transition time to solidify her considerable legacy, but will be able to spend time with her husband. In one ugly night, her circumstances changed, and we need to respect her decisions. The good news is that in 2 years I believe we WILL regain the house, and her legacy will be all that much more important, because she has not only set a high standard, she will have passed it on to the next two (or three) generations.
And that is as much as any of us can ask when we move along.
Gotta chuckle!
Just a reminder that the word "corporation" does not appear anywhere in the Constitution, yet the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are individual persons entitled to Constitutional rights.
If they're legal individuals, they should be held to the same standard as other individuals and not accorded special status due to their corporate legal nature. Equal status under the law is one of the presumptive defining characteristics of the American system of governance and law.
<Pondering the logistics of putting a corporation into prison....>
Interesting concept; imprisoning the named executive officers and the Board of Directors might have to suffice.
Legal individuals can't be held to the same standard as human individuals. The Constitution was written for human persons not capital aggregated into legal entities.
Good one John!
In addition to ensuring that the press not be fooled by a false narrative about polling shifts in 2024, we need to begin now identifying the vulnerable Republican Members of the next Congress and illuminating their votes and actions so they are less attractive to their constituencies. Who, among the returning Members of Congress, for instance, voted against the protection of same sex marriage and interracial marriage? Let's inform their constituents.
I bet their constituents are fully aware of how their Congress critters voted on those issues. In many cases, those for whom it matters have had their votes gerrymandered out of consideration.
We have so much to celebrate in this election cycle. Congratulations also to Karen Bass, who is now Mayor of Los Angeles, after she beat fake Democrat Rick Caruso who outspent her 11 to 1. She is the first woman and second Black Angeleno elected to lead the city in its 241-year history. This is proof that those who vote have the power over tremendous sums of money that are trying to subvert our democracy.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-16/2022-california-election-bass-wins-los-angeles-mayor-caruso
The mid term election solidified several truism's for me. We can’t trust the polls and pollsters if Republicans can successfully flood the zone and infiltrate the polling models. Rich prominent Republican donors abandoning Trump in favor of DeSantis are just picking the same breed of horse with a different name they can control. Between a Republican majority in the House and the noise from the crazies like Majorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan to the ridiculous lies and comments from candidate Trump the Democratic Party has to have a strategic plan beginning in January on how to combat and defeat these attacks. I find it interesting that on the same day of Trump’s unhinged campaign announcement President Biden was calmly leading a fact based assessment of what happened in the Poland incident and without jumping to conclusions ( which the media did) found the truth and facts while working together with the NATO countries and demonstrating real leadership. This is what a President is suppose to do. The comparison is stark between these two men and voters have to see and acknowledge these differences. We all need to remind voters of these differences or they will be lost in the noise. .
Yep. I keep saying over an over again that one thing we must stop doing is letting the opposition set our agenda. Call them out and then move on. The more we hammer on what Trump is doing, the more we appear to be legitimizing him. Repetition, especially in language that frames issues in terms of voters' own stories, is very powerful. But everytime we do it in terms of Trump vs Biden, we fall into the trap of letting T set the agenda. Which is just about the only thing he's got left.
Stephen, I find your analyses and proposals not only thoughtful but also useful. Still, on the matter of the Polish incident, I am bothered that Zelenskyy doesn’t concur with the findings of the group, a factor that leads me to question whether this group has “found the truth” or whether the facts at hand are helping the group to get increasingly closer to the verifiable truth.
Is it that Zelenskyy does not wish to admit one of his country's anti-missile missiles misfired or was not programmed correctly? Or does he have and is keeping to himself other information?
Mim, I don’t have an answer except to suggest that we not discount Zelenskyy’s dissent.
It does give us food for thought, doesn't it?
Indeed. It’s possible we might never get a full accounting.
The thing that we know cost us enough seats to make a difference in the house is the combination of red states that simply ignored court orders and used illegal maps (Ohio and I think FL), and the 3 states where a court order to draw an additional seat that could be won by Black voters (AL, LA and GA) was stayed by SCOTUS via the shadow docket. Robert or other lawyers, please correct any terminology I have gotten wrong here.
Five seats in Florida alone.
I heard 4, but the point is the same. I wonder, though, if anyone is looking at whether those seats, even drawn legally, would have gone blue. There was a big red shift in FL. But the point is, it isn't democracy if the voters can't decide whether to keep or change the party in charge.
Florida 13 had been held by Charlie Crist. It had large portions of St. Petersburg, a notably blue district. Redrawn, it took out most of the St. Pete folks and moved the lines north into the "suburbs". So, yes, at least this seat for sure would have stayed in our column.
And let's see if the RW majority of SCOTUS, which has already expressed interest in Moore v. Harper and is taking up that case this session, will decide that ONLY the State legislatures can decide regarding election outcomes. And that the governors, Secretaries of State and Courts may NOT "interfere". In other words, it may allow the state legislators , NOT the voters, decide who wins.
Just speaking for myself, but I am not giving up on Garland yet. He has been criticized and doubted before but he has, so far, always come through.
I have a couple of questions that perhaps someone here can answer. I donated more $ this election cycle than I ever have before. I donated all of it via Act Blue, & much of it went to Tim Ryan & Val Demings. Since the election I've heard & read that the national Democratic Party didn't support either Ryan or Demings monetarily because they thought their campaigns were not winnable.
My questions are
1) If the Democratic Party didn't think Ryan & Demings could win, why did they send me emails every
day telling me that both candidates were almost tied with Vance & Rubio & "Please send more $"?
2) Was there a better place to send my $ than Act Blue?
Good question
Dems don't have dark money like the Republicans. The National Committee has to set priorities and focus on those most winnable races. It sucks, but that's the way it is. But, as human beings, they sometimes miss. And in these cases, the two Dem candidates edged closer and closer as election day neared. They had a chance, and their state and local committees went all out to help them, as did many Dem orgs. I donated to both. They lost but it was tight. I have no regrets about having donated my little bit. Next time, especially in the wake of a few Republican disasters, they (or another dem) will be in a much sounder position to challenge the seat. We have to play the long game in order to create a government at all levels that will work for Us, the people, instead of for corporations or for somebody's ego,
Who sent you the emails. Many groups use Act Blue.
The venality of the mega donors is inevitable: End Citizens United!
Do we know the status on Schiff’s 2022 amendment on this?
Not yet, I think.
Speaking of non- existent mea culpas/apologies/serious introspection, its not just pollsters who blew it and are completely ignoring their actions, but of course main stream media as well. Please- we need action - write letters to the editors, unsubscribe. We need them to hear us.
I wonder about something related to the erroneous coverage of the red wave that wasn’t- how do we know it cost us House seats, maybe a Senate seat? Possibly it spurred more Democrats to vote? Is there a convincing way to know?
For sure Elon Musk cost votes with his day before election tweet to vote Republican. Down with Twitter! Can’t come fast enough.
We need to be careful with the deception that all we have to do is defeat Trumpism now that we've "defeated" Trump. No, it goes much, much deeper than that! DJT has always been just a symptom of what is wrong with America. DJT is being thrown away because he is no longer the useful idiot for the greedy and arrogant. The greed and arrogance of the over-privileged is still very much with us and has hold of the GOP and beyond. Some would say it started with Newt Gingrich in the 1990's. We must go back much further to the failure of the Reconstruction after the Civil War to treat people as full citizens with all the rights of the Constitution. We can go back to the flaws in the Constitution itself that created compromise in support of slavery in order to have the southern states join the Union. We can go back to the feudalism of the Middle Ages. We can go back to the rise of patriarchy many millenia ago. We have made a lot of progress in the past two hundred years to eliminate slavery, recognize women as full citizens as two major examples. However, we still have a long way to go. When we finally measure ourselves not by how many toys we die with but by something closer to the Native American philosophy that wealth is measured by one's generosity to others, we will begin to realize the maturity of the human race. We have a lot of work to do. We must get money out of politics. Get the money out of the free press/media. We must get the arrogance of the narcissistic theocrats off of the Supreme Court. We must educate each other on ethics and values and the fundamental tenets our country, the first country to be formed based on an ideal that all people are created equal. We must measure ourselves on the Well Being of all. Martin Luther had a dream. I have a dream. I believe Generation Z has a dream and gives me hope. Let's all make this dream a reality -- NOW. We, the People, all of us this time in a mature civilization of Well Being for all.
Yay, Cathy! <fist pump>
Brilliant. 'an assist' from the DOJ. I remember my young son playing hockey, and my dad saying to me, tell him to just go up the middle. My dad watched hockey (with me on Sat nights) since I was a kid so I knew this was good advice.
My kid did this, scored a goal, and I remember thinking, it pays to watch the game!
Robert - thank you again for highlighting anything that pulls DeSantis’ covers. He is creepier than the former president in that he can speak in complete sentences. We need to listen closely to his complete sentences and look closely at the policies he and his cronies have codified in Florida. If this is the vision he has for our country he must be exposed for who he really is.
I will tell you I am already sick of looking at the headlines in the Tampa Bay Times every day for a week now, touting the coronation of Ron De Saggypants. Today’s headline was “Don vs. Ron”. With a picture of both. Makes it hard to eat my breakfast.
Ron De Saggypants - like that one! Good to find a kindred spirit. We have to keep letting people who he is behind that Harvard polished veneer.
The visual 🤣
I make a point of not listening, watching, or listening to ANYTHING on news while eating. My life is calmer and my mental health sounder that way.
What are your thoughts about Mike Pense? His failure to condemn the attempts to overthrow the election of Jan. 6. I think he is a coward and is hiding behind a christian defense not speaking evil of the former president. But, he has failed to speak out when called upon.
Garland it has already been TOO LONG. You have the evidence without concern to indict Trump. H is atrocities CANNOT be igno
Oh, foo.
Lord, I could cry reading tonight’s post. “Belly flop of epic proportions,” makes my heart sing. And the skewering of Rupert Murdoch is so long overdue that it might seem anti-Climatic, but it’s needed like our next breath. He did indeed create the monster, which the MSM gladly portrayed as Dorian Gray. Now that his path to be the power behind the throne has changed, Will our MSM follow him blindly as they have for years in order to rake in the dough? As you warn, the purchasing of the presidency is in full swing, just as Roberts and republican evil have planned. Voters have been hamstrung, just as money has sprouted wings. So Dems, good start, but don’t sit on your laurels, get off your arses and tell people what is at stake. Describe what “losing democracy” looks like to the average Joe. Abstract flies right over many heads, it needs to tweak their emotion since logic can’t be counted on to penetrate skulls. Republicans know this