"Buckle your seat belts" indeed! I have to say I'm exhausted by the stress and continual speculation of what might happen. But I have to believe that whatever happens, we will all come out the other side of it and continue to fight for democracy. Soon all this waiting and guesswork will be in the rear view mirror, and like receiving a disease diagnosis, we'll deal with whatever we have to do.
And I'm definitely with the Mouse! Loving the subtle, and non-subtle, way that they're resisting DeSantis' terrorism.
I want to start by thanking Robert for his wonderful comments on my forthcoming novel.,TRIAL. I am also grateful to my fellow readers of his newsletter, who are already exploring the installments of the novel I posted on richardnorthpatterson.substack.com.
As with the wonderful work Robert does every day, in which so many of you share, I wrote this book out of passion to make this country better. My chosen vehicle is fiction - trying to tell an emotional and exciting story rooted in realities and challenges of our democracy. As my late friend Pat Conroy said:" Fiction is where I go to tell the truth ."
It is a pleasure to be part of the remarkable community Robert and all of you have built = a commitment to communal activism in defense of our democracy.
Today’s tasks: 1) Sign up for Ric’s SubStack. DONE. 2) Donate to NC Over the Top. DONE. 3) Sign up for Raskin/Craven Zoom. DONE. And it’s only 4 AM. Nothing like a first cup of coffee with Hubble to get a productive day off to a good start. My dog isn’t even up yet.
Thanks for your overview of the current debt ceiling battle. Uncle Joe and the Dems will win this scermish launched by the MAGA "mini-mes" whether McCarthy gets effective compromise out of his caucus (unlikely) or Dems have to go constitutional to move forward paying our bills.
Imagine if anyone of us who may have a home mortgage or a commercial loan simply informed our loan officer we weren't paying the loan, not because we couldn't pay the loan, but because we thought our total indebtedness caused by the loan might exceed what we could afford in the future!! 🤯..
In this deranged scenario, the lendor would have to call the loan(s) and our future credit as a borrower would be down the drain.
In our case, the US, as the nation state leading the free world's economy, would be down that drain.
This is the "bomb" the MAGA bums, who couldn't steal the presidency via Jan 6, want to try now. Whichever path the Dems take to win, compromise or constitutional, our job in the trenches is to throw all the MAGA bums out in 2024..
Here’s my fantasy. Biden is playing the House Republicans as he did during the State if the Union address, letting Maga play out their game and escalate their demands. He then does a national address in which he refuses to go along with massive cuts to popular social programs, including veteran’s benefits, and takes unilateral action in defense of the Constitution, governmental responsibility and the nation’s and families’ economic well-being. He crushes MAGA, reasserts his leadership and federal authority and saves the democratic day. What are the odds?
Dear Mr. Hubbell, Thanks for the overview and perspective analysis. You caused me to widen my own consideration of where thinking people are today in comparison to where we were in 2017 after the 2016 election. Things looked really grim in 2017, but as you pointed out, I would much rather be a Democrat today than any of my Republican friends. Where now they are pissed off and want to tear things apart and whine with "what aboutisms," we see progress and advances towards progressive goals. We have organized and slowly won elections at federal, state and local levels, and they have lost numerous elections and are becoming more frustrated and angry. Foolish men like DeSantis have opened up battles with their largest state employers, and those employers are showing him and his supporters that Disney can stop expanding in their repressive state and go elsewhere with their $1B and the future jobs that money would have created. DeSantis came to a business gun fight with a knife. Yes, I feel very good about what we’re going to do during the time remaining before the ‘24 election, and the conservatives are feeling increasingly that they are losing control of the voters, the Congress, the business environment and the whole country. Those old white men are being left behind, and the women, the younger voters and their progressive and wiser guides are going forward together.
Professor Hockett is brilliant. He’s been making the debt ceiling argument since January. He also has incredibly innovative ideas on other economic issues. Below are links to his Substack and my take on the Hill article:
I wrote to President Biden yesterday encouraging him to invoke the 14th Amendment. Speaker McCarthy is not going to get concessions from the MAGA extremists. The 14th amendment is the best -- perhaps only -- solution to the debt-ceiling crisis. Certainly it is the simplest and most face saving. The debt-ceiling law should be declared unconstitutional because it clearly is. Sounds like the opinion is coalescing around using the 14th amendment.
President Biden has conceded enough and accommodated enough of the Repugnican machinations over the debt ceiling. I think if a deal is not reached by the time he returns Sunday, his promised press conference should be a no holds barred takedown of McQarthy and the Repugnicans for their thinly veiled attempts to destroy our democracy by any and all means.
He should declare himself a defender of the Constitution and democracy, and cite the many scholars (especially Hockett and Tribe) who rightly claim the debt ceiling to be an unconstitutional relic that means nothing when a federal budget is approved. Let the Repugnicans sue to stop him from saving the global economy.
I don't understand why any Democrats would want McQarthy to remain SOTH, unless he somehow found the wherewithal to extricate his head from his nether region and decide to play nice. Unless a less scrupulous invertebrate was to replace him, I see no value in keeping him in power, with the Raucous Caucus pulling his strings.
My husband and I are heading to DC tomorrow. Taking the train in from Richmond . Our main purpose for going is to see #Sistersinlaw on Sunday , but we will catch the Van Gogh show, a Nationals game if the weather holds out and enjoy the wonderful sights of our Capital.
One wonders if Professors Tribe and Hockett are prepared to argue their case in front of the Supreme Court. It made sense to me as with so many others, perhaps that's why Congressional Republicans are having a hard time with it.
I agree that we need to eliminate the debt ceiling. My husband commented this morning that it was just this kind of insane in-fighting in the Roman government that contributed heavily to the downfall of the Roman empire. Scary times. I e-mailed President Biden again yesterday to tell him not to give into these crazy economic terrorists, invoking the 14th amendment if he has to. https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
"In Wisconsin, as in the nation, none of the austerity measures pushed by Republicans are necessary. The economy is strong, unemployment is low, tax collections are up.
For no good reason, Milwaukee, which will host the Republican National Convention next summer, is facing bankruptcy because of a manufactured crisis. And our whole country is on the brink of default because Republicans in Congress are holding up what should be a routine pass-through procedure to try to extract punishing conditions.
The shared revenue debate is a microcosm of the political crisis gripping our whole country as Republicans struggle to hold onto minority rule by suppressing the votes of young urbanites and people of color while driving disaffected white voters to the polls by stirring up racism and resentment. Wisconsin Republicans have been obsessed for years with punishing Milwaukee — the most diverse city in the state. Keeping turnout low among Black and Hispanic voters in Milwaukee was an explicit political strategy in the 2022 election."
Thanks for the entire Edition today but especially for the section about Richard North Patterson, some of whose books I enjoyed many years ago. I look forward to reading the serialized version of his newest one. What a generous gesture from him to make it free! I also just subscribed to his Substack.
Hockett believes even this Court will rule against the Debt ceiling. I think they have a reactionary agenda, but they don’t need this to carry it out. It may impede it.
"Buckle your seat belts" indeed! I have to say I'm exhausted by the stress and continual speculation of what might happen. But I have to believe that whatever happens, we will all come out the other side of it and continue to fight for democracy. Soon all this waiting and guesswork will be in the rear view mirror, and like receiving a disease diagnosis, we'll deal with whatever we have to do.
And I'm definitely with the Mouse! Loving the subtle, and non-subtle, way that they're resisting DeSantis' terrorism.
Dear Robert and everyone,
I want to start by thanking Robert for his wonderful comments on my forthcoming novel.,TRIAL. I am also grateful to my fellow readers of his newsletter, who are already exploring the installments of the novel I posted on richardnorthpatterson.substack.com.
As with the wonderful work Robert does every day, in which so many of you share, I wrote this book out of passion to make this country better. My chosen vehicle is fiction - trying to tell an emotional and exciting story rooted in realities and challenges of our democracy. As my late friend Pat Conroy said:" Fiction is where I go to tell the truth ."
It is a pleasure to be part of the remarkable community Robert and all of you have built = a commitment to communal activism in defense of our democracy.
With deep appreciation,
Richard North Patterson
Today’s tasks: 1) Sign up for Ric’s SubStack. DONE. 2) Donate to NC Over the Top. DONE. 3) Sign up for Raskin/Craven Zoom. DONE. And it’s only 4 AM. Nothing like a first cup of coffee with Hubble to get a productive day off to a good start. My dog isn’t even up yet.
Robert
Thanks for your overview of the current debt ceiling battle. Uncle Joe and the Dems will win this scermish launched by the MAGA "mini-mes" whether McCarthy gets effective compromise out of his caucus (unlikely) or Dems have to go constitutional to move forward paying our bills.
Imagine if anyone of us who may have a home mortgage or a commercial loan simply informed our loan officer we weren't paying the loan, not because we couldn't pay the loan, but because we thought our total indebtedness caused by the loan might exceed what we could afford in the future!! 🤯..
In this deranged scenario, the lendor would have to call the loan(s) and our future credit as a borrower would be down the drain.
In our case, the US, as the nation state leading the free world's economy, would be down that drain.
This is the "bomb" the MAGA bums, who couldn't steal the presidency via Jan 6, want to try now. Whichever path the Dems take to win, compromise or constitutional, our job in the trenches is to throw all the MAGA bums out in 2024..
Here’s my fantasy. Biden is playing the House Republicans as he did during the State if the Union address, letting Maga play out their game and escalate their demands. He then does a national address in which he refuses to go along with massive cuts to popular social programs, including veteran’s benefits, and takes unilateral action in defense of the Constitution, governmental responsibility and the nation’s and families’ economic well-being. He crushes MAGA, reasserts his leadership and federal authority and saves the democratic day. What are the odds?
Dear Mr. Hubbell, Thanks for the overview and perspective analysis. You caused me to widen my own consideration of where thinking people are today in comparison to where we were in 2017 after the 2016 election. Things looked really grim in 2017, but as you pointed out, I would much rather be a Democrat today than any of my Republican friends. Where now they are pissed off and want to tear things apart and whine with "what aboutisms," we see progress and advances towards progressive goals. We have organized and slowly won elections at federal, state and local levels, and they have lost numerous elections and are becoming more frustrated and angry. Foolish men like DeSantis have opened up battles with their largest state employers, and those employers are showing him and his supporters that Disney can stop expanding in their repressive state and go elsewhere with their $1B and the future jobs that money would have created. DeSantis came to a business gun fight with a knife. Yes, I feel very good about what we’re going to do during the time remaining before the ‘24 election, and the conservatives are feeling increasingly that they are losing control of the voters, the Congress, the business environment and the whole country. Those old white men are being left behind, and the women, the younger voters and their progressive and wiser guides are going forward together.
Professor Hockett is brilliant. He’s been making the debt ceiling argument since January. He also has incredibly innovative ideas on other economic issues. Below are links to his Substack and my take on the Hill article:
https://open.substack.com/pub/roberthockett/p/financial-republican-suicide?r=1mm69&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/18/2170072/-Professors-Tribe-and-Hockett-expose-GOP-s-debt-suicide-attempt
I wrote to President Biden yesterday encouraging him to invoke the 14th Amendment. Speaker McCarthy is not going to get concessions from the MAGA extremists. The 14th amendment is the best -- perhaps only -- solution to the debt-ceiling crisis. Certainly it is the simplest and most face saving. The debt-ceiling law should be declared unconstitutional because it clearly is. Sounds like the opinion is coalescing around using the 14th amendment.
President Biden has conceded enough and accommodated enough of the Repugnican machinations over the debt ceiling. I think if a deal is not reached by the time he returns Sunday, his promised press conference should be a no holds barred takedown of McQarthy and the Repugnicans for their thinly veiled attempts to destroy our democracy by any and all means.
He should declare himself a defender of the Constitution and democracy, and cite the many scholars (especially Hockett and Tribe) who rightly claim the debt ceiling to be an unconstitutional relic that means nothing when a federal budget is approved. Let the Repugnicans sue to stop him from saving the global economy.
I don't understand why any Democrats would want McQarthy to remain SOTH, unless he somehow found the wherewithal to extricate his head from his nether region and decide to play nice. Unless a less scrupulous invertebrate was to replace him, I see no value in keeping him in power, with the Raucous Caucus pulling his strings.
My husband and I are heading to DC tomorrow. Taking the train in from Richmond . Our main purpose for going is to see #Sistersinlaw on Sunday , but we will catch the Van Gogh show, a Nationals game if the weather holds out and enjoy the wonderful sights of our Capital.
One wonders if Professors Tribe and Hockett are prepared to argue their case in front of the Supreme Court. It made sense to me as with so many others, perhaps that's why Congressional Republicans are having a hard time with it.
I agree that we need to eliminate the debt ceiling. My husband commented this morning that it was just this kind of insane in-fighting in the Roman government that contributed heavily to the downfall of the Roman empire. Scary times. I e-mailed President Biden again yesterday to tell him not to give into these crazy economic terrorists, invoking the 14th amendment if he has to. https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Today in Hopium Chronicles, Simon Rosenberg writes about the “virtuous cycle of participation” and how early participation greatly empowers a campaign. https://open.substack.com/pub/simonwdc/p/last-few-weeks-have-been-good-ones?r=536qh&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Ruth Conniff in today's Examiner: https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/05/19/republicans-play-chicken-with-the-economy-at-both-the-state-and-national-levels/
"In Wisconsin, as in the nation, none of the austerity measures pushed by Republicans are necessary. The economy is strong, unemployment is low, tax collections are up.
For no good reason, Milwaukee, which will host the Republican National Convention next summer, is facing bankruptcy because of a manufactured crisis. And our whole country is on the brink of default because Republicans in Congress are holding up what should be a routine pass-through procedure to try to extract punishing conditions.
The shared revenue debate is a microcosm of the political crisis gripping our whole country as Republicans struggle to hold onto minority rule by suppressing the votes of young urbanites and people of color while driving disaffected white voters to the polls by stirring up racism and resentment. Wisconsin Republicans have been obsessed for years with punishing Milwaukee — the most diverse city in the state. Keeping turnout low among Black and Hispanic voters in Milwaukee was an explicit political strategy in the 2022 election."
Happy birthday to your daughter!
Thanks for the entire Edition today but especially for the section about Richard North Patterson, some of whose books I enjoyed many years ago. I look forward to reading the serialized version of his newest one. What a generous gesture from him to make it free! I also just subscribed to his Substack.
Hockett believes even this Court will rule against the Debt ceiling. I think they have a reactionary agenda, but they don’t need this to carry it out. It may impede it.