Just so you know, it was the postcard I sent to Speaker Johnson over a week ago that changed his mind about bringing Ukraine aid to the House Floor. You're welcome😉!
It may seem a bit curmudgeonly of me to not join all the media cheering for Speaker Johnson’s having “done the right thing”. Yes, it's good that he finally acted. But the entire package now being passed in the House is pretty much the same as HR 815, which Mr. Johnson could have brought to the floor back in February, or in March, or last week.
The difference is that now, instead of going directly to President Biden to be signed into law, the aid package of must go back to the Senate for another vote. After two months of pointless delay, the measure will wait yet another ten days or more for the Senate to reconvene and take it up. And all the while, the war grinds on.
In fact, Mr. Johnson utterly failed to decisively confront the radical MAGA faction when he had every opportunity to do so. Only after House Minority Leader Jeffries and President Biden effectively immunized him from their threats did he facilitate passage of this crucial piece of legislation. His is no profile in courage.
How short sighted of the people who criticize Biden for not using the word "abortion" in the State of the Union address. The name Roe v. Wade says it all without the harsher term of abortion. He wants to defeat Trump and get re-elected. People for whom women's bodily autonomy is a crucial issue should want him to be elected, too.
Here's something BIG that President Biden is doing~
In Syracuse NY, we have seen little growth and manufacturing has disappeared through recent decades. Syracuse has the second-highest child poverty rate (45.8%) among larger cities in the US. Now, since President Biden passed the Chips and Science Act, we actually have something HUGE being developed in our community. A Micron semiconductor plant is being developed with pipelines for jobs stemming from high schools and Onondaga Community College. This will transform Syracuse to place where kids stay in their home town and have excellent employment. This is real, this is actually happening for our community. Micron will be infusing a lot of money into this community as a result of the development of this project.
The President came into our little airport in Oct 2022 on Air Force One to announce that Micron selected Central New York as the site of a planned $100 billion mega-complex of four computer chip plants. He did not go to Syracuse University (his alma mater) or some big corporation presser, he came to Onondaga Community College to announce that Micron’s facilities will be built with UNION jobs!!!
Our President is returning to Syracuse next week and is expected to formally announce a deal with Micron, in which the federal government will provide $6.1 billion of money from the CHIPS and Science Act. This is big, very big- not only for Syracuse, but for the whole United States.
Agree about TCinLA piece. Perhaps the wind has changed. Look at the Speaker. He has changed. Look at the past referendums on abortion. And the ones coming in November. They are novelties no longer. Look at the Senate races. There are almost as many competitive races for Republican held seats. (Though I am worried about Maryland). One more thing. There are four state Supreme Court retention elections worth paying attention to. Two justices in Florida and two in Arizona who voted against the legality of abortion. All four can and should be voted off their Court.
Thanks. We need help in Florida, especially in Miami Dade county. Despite a slight registration advantage we have three MAGATS representing us in the House. We've had Democrats cut from voter rolls, voter preclusion, voter intimidation.
I've been following People Power United: America's Progressive Voice & Actions, Laurie Woodward Garcia, who has a segment, "conceding Florida." The Democratic Party is just now getting organized, so Laurie has taken it upon herself to do it for them. https://www.peoplepowerunited.org/meet-laurie
I'm also working on a Florida division of FT6. We have the capacity to add perhaps a million new Democrats to the Florida voting rolls. Register new Democrats -- save the world. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Emergency Hospitals in which states are ignoring EMTALA laws and denying pregnant women healthcare? Which states have the worst prenatal care? Guess what? Three of the worst are Texas, Florida and North Carolina. All states with important Senate races! Compare the candidates' positions on abortion rights by swiping right / left on this interactive map.
Robert - Thank you for sharing "TCinLA’s essay as a good way to ease into the weekend. TCinLA, The Wind Has Changed. Read it; you will be glad you did! Link above in Robert's writing. I fervently hope TCinLA has correctly called the wind-shift. Seeing JD Vance and MTG and Matt Gaetz finally get their comeuppance (and get sold down the river by Trump) would be a cause we could all celebrate.
1. That story on ER coverage refusal for pregnant patients is on the top of the FRONT page of this morning’s DALLAS MORNING NEWS, a historically conservative-leaning paper. That is a big deal.
2. I think that President Biden personally struggles with abortion due to his religious beliefs actually makes his position and support for reproductive rights MORE effective. That’s what we want—the ability to separate “church and state.”
President Biden’s stance on abortion is exactly the right one. He supports everyone’s right to make their own decisions and doesn’t enforce his religious beliefs on anyone.
Pro-choice groups that criticize President Biden are exhibiting the worst kind of tunnel vision. As I have noted repeatedly out here, and elsewhere, the issue is about much more than abortion. It is human rights. If a woman does not have the right to control her own body, no rights are safe. Not freedom of speech and assembly, not religion, nothing. If we make that clear, many people who have not thought a lot about the issues, or think it does not apply to them (looking at you, guys) will come on board. So it’s not just right in theory, it’s good politics to do that.
Johnson’s Christian faith requires a believer to do the right thing even if it involves personal sacrifice. This is following the example of Jesus himself. We know that Johnson has favored aid to Ukraine. Perhaps the intelligence briefings led him to more clarity that it is the right thing for the security interests of the country he is sworn to protect.
There is no doubt that this new position gives him a more complete view of other things including the disgraceful performance of the Freedom Caucus. Wonder if he was further enlightened by the observations of Republican committee chairs about Russian propaganda.
I think he may have had, literally, what is, usually metaphorically, called a “Come to Jesus” moment.
He’s not the first who, finding himself in a new position (perhaps rather unexpectedly), has taken a bit of experience before finding the way of righteousness.
My theory of why Mike Johnson (after six months of letting Ukraine twist slowly in the wind) suddenly decided to do the right thing and stand up to Marjorie Traitor Greene, is that a number of Republicans (probably those who’ve recently spoken out about the growing cancer of Russian propaganda in the House, and maybe others) privately told him they would sign the discharge petition if he did not promptly bring the Ukraine aid bill to the floor.
Just so you know, it was the postcard I sent to Speaker Johnson over a week ago that changed his mind about bringing Ukraine aid to the House Floor. You're welcome😉!
It may seem a bit curmudgeonly of me to not join all the media cheering for Speaker Johnson’s having “done the right thing”. Yes, it's good that he finally acted. But the entire package now being passed in the House is pretty much the same as HR 815, which Mr. Johnson could have brought to the floor back in February, or in March, or last week.
The difference is that now, instead of going directly to President Biden to be signed into law, the aid package of must go back to the Senate for another vote. After two months of pointless delay, the measure will wait yet another ten days or more for the Senate to reconvene and take it up. And all the while, the war grinds on.
In fact, Mr. Johnson utterly failed to decisively confront the radical MAGA faction when he had every opportunity to do so. Only after House Minority Leader Jeffries and President Biden effectively immunized him from their threats did he facilitate passage of this crucial piece of legislation. His is no profile in courage.
.
How short sighted of the people who criticize Biden for not using the word "abortion" in the State of the Union address. The name Roe v. Wade says it all without the harsher term of abortion. He wants to defeat Trump and get re-elected. People for whom women's bodily autonomy is a crucial issue should want him to be elected, too.
Here's something BIG that President Biden is doing~
In Syracuse NY, we have seen little growth and manufacturing has disappeared through recent decades. Syracuse has the second-highest child poverty rate (45.8%) among larger cities in the US. Now, since President Biden passed the Chips and Science Act, we actually have something HUGE being developed in our community. A Micron semiconductor plant is being developed with pipelines for jobs stemming from high schools and Onondaga Community College. This will transform Syracuse to place where kids stay in their home town and have excellent employment. This is real, this is actually happening for our community. Micron will be infusing a lot of money into this community as a result of the development of this project.
The President came into our little airport in Oct 2022 on Air Force One to announce that Micron selected Central New York as the site of a planned $100 billion mega-complex of four computer chip plants. He did not go to Syracuse University (his alma mater) or some big corporation presser, he came to Onondaga Community College to announce that Micron’s facilities will be built with UNION jobs!!!
Our President is returning to Syracuse next week and is expected to formally announce a deal with Micron, in which the federal government will provide $6.1 billion of money from the CHIPS and Science Act. This is big, very big- not only for Syracuse, but for the whole United States.
https://www.localsyr.com/news/micron-comes-to-clay/president-joe-biden-to-visit-central-new-york-next-week-to-formally-announce-federal-governments-6-1-billion-award-to-micron/
Agree about TCinLA piece. Perhaps the wind has changed. Look at the Speaker. He has changed. Look at the past referendums on abortion. And the ones coming in November. They are novelties no longer. Look at the Senate races. There are almost as many competitive races for Republican held seats. (Though I am worried about Maryland). One more thing. There are four state Supreme Court retention elections worth paying attention to. Two justices in Florida and two in Arizona who voted against the legality of abortion. All four can and should be voted off their Court.
Thanks. We need help in Florida, especially in Miami Dade county. Despite a slight registration advantage we have three MAGATS representing us in the House. We've had Democrats cut from voter rolls, voter preclusion, voter intimidation.
I've been following People Power United: America's Progressive Voice & Actions, Laurie Woodward Garcia, who has a segment, "conceding Florida." The Democratic Party is just now getting organized, so Laurie has taken it upon herself to do it for them. https://www.peoplepowerunited.org/meet-laurie
Laurie has a Substack. https://substack.com/@peoplepowerunited
The DNC should speak to Laurie. Maybe to me.
I'm also working on a Florida division of FT6. We have the capacity to add perhaps a million new Democrats to the Florida voting rolls. Register new Democrats -- save the world. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Emergency Hospitals in which states are ignoring EMTALA laws and denying pregnant women healthcare? Which states have the worst prenatal care? Guess what? Three of the worst are Texas, Florida and North Carolina. All states with important Senate races! Compare the candidates' positions on abortion rights by swiping right / left on this interactive map.
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/04/19/pregnant-women-denied-emergency-care-mapping-the-toll-of-maga-abortion-bans/
Robert - Thank you for sharing "TCinLA’s essay as a good way to ease into the weekend. TCinLA, The Wind Has Changed. Read it; you will be glad you did! Link above in Robert's writing. I fervently hope TCinLA has correctly called the wind-shift. Seeing JD Vance and MTG and Matt Gaetz finally get their comeuppance (and get sold down the river by Trump) would be a cause we could all celebrate.
Two comments on the abortion coverage.
1. That story on ER coverage refusal for pregnant patients is on the top of the FRONT page of this morning’s DALLAS MORNING NEWS, a historically conservative-leaning paper. That is a big deal.
2. I think that President Biden personally struggles with abortion due to his religious beliefs actually makes his position and support for reproductive rights MORE effective. That’s what we want—the ability to separate “church and state.”
Another wind changing: VW workers in Tennessee join UAW!
Don is Nod spelled backwards. I thought you all should know this.
President Biden’s stance on abortion is exactly the right one. He supports everyone’s right to make their own decisions and doesn’t enforce his religious beliefs on anyone.
Pro-choice groups that criticize President Biden are exhibiting the worst kind of tunnel vision. As I have noted repeatedly out here, and elsewhere, the issue is about much more than abortion. It is human rights. If a woman does not have the right to control her own body, no rights are safe. Not freedom of speech and assembly, not religion, nothing. If we make that clear, many people who have not thought a lot about the issues, or think it does not apply to them (looking at you, guys) will come on board. So it’s not just right in theory, it’s good politics to do that.
Johnson’s Christian faith requires a believer to do the right thing even if it involves personal sacrifice. This is following the example of Jesus himself. We know that Johnson has favored aid to Ukraine. Perhaps the intelligence briefings led him to more clarity that it is the right thing for the security interests of the country he is sworn to protect.
There is no doubt that this new position gives him a more complete view of other things including the disgraceful performance of the Freedom Caucus. Wonder if he was further enlightened by the observations of Republican committee chairs about Russian propaganda.
I think he may have had, literally, what is, usually metaphorically, called a “Come to Jesus” moment.
He’s not the first who, finding himself in a new position (perhaps rather unexpectedly), has taken a bit of experience before finding the way of righteousness.
This might get interesting.
My theory of why Mike Johnson (after six months of letting Ukraine twist slowly in the wind) suddenly decided to do the right thing and stand up to Marjorie Traitor Greene, is that a number of Republicans (probably those who’ve recently spoken out about the growing cancer of Russian propaganda in the House, and maybe others) privately told him they would sign the discharge petition if he did not promptly bring the Ukraine aid bill to the floor.
I just read The Wind has Changed by TCinLA and you are right, it is uplifting! Thank you for recommending it and I’m now a subscriber.