Regarding the Georgia Senate bill, a reader noted that the House version was significantly different. Here is his comment:
’m not an attorney nor do I play one on TV, and we have to run out so I don’t have much time.
Yes, this legislation may not directly impact the current Fani Willis investigation (or it might, depending on what happens with the disparate dates in the legislation).
First, as far as I understand, the Senate and House bills are different, and so a “conference committee,” or whatever it’s called in Georgia would have to develop a bill acceptable to both houses. I’m not sure but the House bill may be HB231 (https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB231/2023).
Second, Section 1(3D) provides that: “The hearing panel shall be responsible for… Issuing standards on its own initiative or on the recommendation of the investigative panel. Any such standards shall elaborate, define, or provide context for the grounds for discipline as set forth in subsection (h) of this Code section.”
So, as I read it, how this legislation could be weaponized is that the hearing panel issues a “standard” on their own initiative, the discipline for the violation of which is removal from office.
The Senate bill, provides that “all members’ (of the hearing panel) initial terms shall begin on April 1, 2024.” However, the House bill provides that: “all members (of the hearing panel) shall be appointed by October 1, 2023.” If there are indictments, that could easily be in the middle of the case. But again, we don’t know what the final bill will say.
Thank you for today's post. It helps put things in a bit of perspective. Walk the Walk USA is working hard on the Wisconsin April 4 election to prevent the GA thing from happening there. Our grass root partners are focusing on State Senate District 8 - a nested race to impact the WI Supreme Court and WI State Senate. See WalktheWalkUSA.org. Blessings to you Robert Hubbell and managing editor.
I am going to share what I had posted on Heather's newsletter here also because I am just so tired of doing more than calling my Rep or Senator. This morning I read a tweet that said Democrats are shying away from the word Woke, and we shouldn't. I agree. I am going to create a video which you can be part of. Very simple. If you are involved with a group or organization that does good stuff, use your phone with the group saying ´We´re Woke.´ You can send me the video with the name of the group. If you are a hiker or swimmer or coach your kids or grandkids, do the same, or anything else that demonstrates being kind, caring, good, inclusive. I will put this together as a video everyone can share with family, friends, community. It doesn't take much to make your voice heard. Let me know if you want to be involved, and I will send you a link to my Google Drive to upload your phone video.
Passantino got dumped by his law firm the day Cassidy Hutchinson testified truthfully on TV last June. he's another Trump lawyer who's now roadkill. I love watching those scum repeatedly bite the dust in the most embarrassing and permanent manner.
Trump's lawyers, of course, aren't the only ones who have turned their backs on the Constitution. At least 147 members of Congress, along with their staffs and constituents, half the justices on the Supreme Court, and the twice-impeached former president also belong in that category. Add to that the millions of voters who took the bait offered by the Demagogue-In-Chief, and you have an all-star cast for really bad movie about how a rabble of fascists overthrew an established democratic government in order to suit the personal whims of a narcissistic megalomaniac.
What's really tragic about his depressing scenario is the fact that America already fought a World War in order to make it clear that we didn't like the model of government the dictator Adolf Hitler tried to impose on the world, preferring a democratic government based on the consent of the governed and the rule of law. Sadly, here we are today with a cabal of GOP screenwriters drafting a rerun of the movie made in Germany over 80 years ago. This is an "all-hands-on-deck moment again, and we must now heed Hubbell's call to arms to "work in common cause with like-minded people" to ensure that the GOP's version never gets to play in theaters. As John D. Cooper wrote in his reply to my post yesterday, "We will only see the undoing of the Trump Republican Party as long as we march arm and arm together to the polls."
Excellent letter. I want to add a comment that would have been more appropriate yesterday. I find Trump’s CPAC speech truly frightening. I did a bit of Google research to compare it to Hitler’s early speeches as he began his rise to power. Some people reject the Trump-Hitler comparisons because Trump isn’t a murderer. True. But he is a fascist - a word often thrown around loosely and linked incorrectly to murder. Trump’s CPAC speech is right out of Hitler’s playbook. The “I alone can fix it.” “I am your savior and your warrior.” Doesn’t this scare you? It does me. If he were standing on a soap box on a street corner we would shrug him off as a nut. But he said it to a cheering crowd of MAGA supporters. Time to wake up to this fascism.
Thank you for another wonderful newsletter! Just a teeny comment from a horsewoman. Horses are prey animals, they don’t ‘stalk.’ Perhaps a stalking lion . . . 🐴
I agree the Democrats are fighting back in many subtle ways but the onslaught of right wing false and misinformation is overwhelming. As recommended by Robert I read the Phillip Bump article about how big the MAGA Trump supporting voting bloc really is and it confirmed my suspicions that it was not as big as the media has made it out to be. Yesterday Israel uncovered a vast operation producing fake Twitter accounts promoting false information to Americans voters about the size and strength of the MAGA support of Trump. Recent articles has ascertained that many hardcore MAGA supporters know Trump and company are lying but it’s their liar and he has their back and that is the message he delivered at CPAC over the weekend. I don’t think the tide will change unless there is more judicial accountability and the fear of breaking the law become a deterrent and new younger Republican leadership has the taken over the party and knowingly decided to change the culture of the party.
The morning sun streams through my window as I read this and thank you Robert for bringing light to so many issues each morning. If I were an artist I would do a series of portraits of republicans like McCarthy, Jordan , Kushner, Trump, DeSantis all of them in Nazi uniforms, like you see in the older black and white photos. You would not be able to tell the difference between now and then. That uniform universally symbolizes evil intents. How in our education systems did half the country lose its ability for critical thinking and how so many Christian organizations follow a path directly opposite of Jesus. That amount of conspirators throughout the country and in congress who were part of January 6 are staggering and how much the country needs the DOJ and the attorneys in New York and Georgia to push forward with saving our democracy. As Robert points out the grass roots efforts are just as important.
Sounds like good news for the good party of all the American people 👍 😀
Thanks for keeping us updated on the latest developments against the seditious activities of the radicals of the GOP insurrectionist witch hunts!!
May the Dems always be as well prepared to cut the truth twisters down in their tracks, especially with the misuse of the J6 tapes already happening on Faux news!
Let us hope that Jack Smith and DOJ look unfavorably upon these obstructions of justice for accountability of J6 by the selective twisting and presentation of the real events as a whole, not bits and pieces handpicked by Tucker and company!!
Mar 7, 2023·edited Mar 7, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Robert writes:
"One final point: Isolation can make the current political environment unbearable. Community is the answer. Indivisible provides community (as do many other grassroots organizations). If you are suffering in silence, seek out your local Indivisible chapter (or any of the organizations regularly highlighted in this newsletter)."
If you don't see the value here, I recommend reading Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, by Sebastian Junger. It's a fascinating, fun two hour read (you'll be sorry to get to the end). But skip the introduction (which should have been an "Afterword") until you finish the book). As I read the introduction, I was wondering what all the hype about this book was about.
But Tribe is probably the most important book I've read, for the understanding of people and how we need each other that it gave me. Of note, in what I consider one of the best examples of what Junger was writing about, I read Alfred Lansing's Endurance, about how Shackleton and his 27 men made it back to civilization after Antarctic ice chewed up an spat out their boat, leaving them with three life boats, which they had to haul across 10 miles of ice before they could sail them--through the worst waters on the planet. It took them somewhere on the order of 15 months, but none of the men died, not even the one who had the heart attack.
Somewhere in the last couple of years, Peter Sagal referred to Shackleton as a failure, because he never made it to the South Pole. On one of his expeditions, Shackleton got within 100 miles of the pole, but turned around because he knew that if he went all the way to the pole he was going to lose men on the way back. Some climbers of Everest would have done well to follow that example. Contrary to Peter Sagal, Shackleton's getting all of his men back to Civilization after Antarctic ice chewed up and spat out his boat was one of the biggest successes the world has ever seen.
Read Tribe, and you'll understand the importance of community.
Hats off, bouquets, multiple kudos (maybe a well-deserved raise) to Democratic staffers! God bless 'em. And a bunch of DADs fighting back? Who knew? Go, LDAD! It's reassuring to know there's a phalanx of (anonymous) dedicated folks shoring up the fortress of democracy from the whiplash of MAGAts. I truly hope they realize how much their work is appreciated and admired...hopefully picked up and built upon by the rest of us.
Thank you, as always, Robert. My morning habit is to read HRC (whose knowledge, wisdom, and commitment to truth and understanding current events in the context of history is so brilliant and trustworthy) first - my reaction is often 😱; then I read your brilliant newsletter, which brings things in to balance - not totally 😊, but you offer specific information that is encouraging, as well as possible ways to take action and go forward 🔜 with confidence. Thank you!🙏🏽
Ugh. I embedded an old interview between Rachel Maddow and Ezra Levin. Here is the correct link:
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/activists-set-sights-on-house-republicans-in-biden-won-districts-164609605557
Regarding the Georgia Senate bill, a reader noted that the House version was significantly different. Here is his comment:
’m not an attorney nor do I play one on TV, and we have to run out so I don’t have much time.
Yes, this legislation may not directly impact the current Fani Willis investigation (or it might, depending on what happens with the disparate dates in the legislation).
First, as far as I understand, the Senate and House bills are different, and so a “conference committee,” or whatever it’s called in Georgia would have to develop a bill acceptable to both houses. I’m not sure but the House bill may be HB231 (https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB231/2023).
Second, Section 1(3D) provides that: “The hearing panel shall be responsible for… Issuing standards on its own initiative or on the recommendation of the investigative panel. Any such standards shall elaborate, define, or provide context for the grounds for discipline as set forth in subsection (h) of this Code section.”
So, as I read it, how this legislation could be weaponized is that the hearing panel issues a “standard” on their own initiative, the discipline for the violation of which is removal from office.
The Senate bill, provides that “all members’ (of the hearing panel) initial terms shall begin on April 1, 2024.” However, the House bill provides that: “all members (of the hearing panel) shall be appointed by October 1, 2023.” If there are indictments, that could easily be in the middle of the case. But again, we don’t know what the final bill will say.
Thank you for today's post. It helps put things in a bit of perspective. Walk the Walk USA is working hard on the Wisconsin April 4 election to prevent the GA thing from happening there. Our grass root partners are focusing on State Senate District 8 - a nested race to impact the WI Supreme Court and WI State Senate. See WalktheWalkUSA.org. Blessings to you Robert Hubbell and managing editor.
I am going to share what I had posted on Heather's newsletter here also because I am just so tired of doing more than calling my Rep or Senator. This morning I read a tweet that said Democrats are shying away from the word Woke, and we shouldn't. I agree. I am going to create a video which you can be part of. Very simple. If you are involved with a group or organization that does good stuff, use your phone with the group saying ´We´re Woke.´ You can send me the video with the name of the group. If you are a hiker or swimmer or coach your kids or grandkids, do the same, or anything else that demonstrates being kind, caring, good, inclusive. I will put this together as a video everyone can share with family, friends, community. It doesn't take much to make your voice heard. Let me know if you want to be involved, and I will send you a link to my Google Drive to upload your phone video.
Also, fantabulous video by Don Winslow on Twitter. A must watch must share. You don't have to be on Twitter to watch. https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1632849737379622912?s=20
I'm just too tired of doing nothing more than writing opinions back and forth on these substacks.
Passantino got dumped by his law firm the day Cassidy Hutchinson testified truthfully on TV last June. he's another Trump lawyer who's now roadkill. I love watching those scum repeatedly bite the dust in the most embarrassing and permanent manner.
Trump's lawyers, of course, aren't the only ones who have turned their backs on the Constitution. At least 147 members of Congress, along with their staffs and constituents, half the justices on the Supreme Court, and the twice-impeached former president also belong in that category. Add to that the millions of voters who took the bait offered by the Demagogue-In-Chief, and you have an all-star cast for really bad movie about how a rabble of fascists overthrew an established democratic government in order to suit the personal whims of a narcissistic megalomaniac.
What's really tragic about his depressing scenario is the fact that America already fought a World War in order to make it clear that we didn't like the model of government the dictator Adolf Hitler tried to impose on the world, preferring a democratic government based on the consent of the governed and the rule of law. Sadly, here we are today with a cabal of GOP screenwriters drafting a rerun of the movie made in Germany over 80 years ago. This is an "all-hands-on-deck moment again, and we must now heed Hubbell's call to arms to "work in common cause with like-minded people" to ensure that the GOP's version never gets to play in theaters. As John D. Cooper wrote in his reply to my post yesterday, "We will only see the undoing of the Trump Republican Party as long as we march arm and arm together to the polls."
Excellent letter. I want to add a comment that would have been more appropriate yesterday. I find Trump’s CPAC speech truly frightening. I did a bit of Google research to compare it to Hitler’s early speeches as he began his rise to power. Some people reject the Trump-Hitler comparisons because Trump isn’t a murderer. True. But he is a fascist - a word often thrown around loosely and linked incorrectly to murder. Trump’s CPAC speech is right out of Hitler’s playbook. The “I alone can fix it.” “I am your savior and your warrior.” Doesn’t this scare you? It does me. If he were standing on a soap box on a street corner we would shrug him off as a nut. But he said it to a cheering crowd of MAGA supporters. Time to wake up to this fascism.
Jess Craven has a quick click-to-send “ Extra Credit” action to email Walgreen’s executives:
https://open.substack.com/pub/chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions/p/chop-wood-carry-water-36?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Thank you for another wonderful newsletter! Just a teeny comment from a horsewoman. Horses are prey animals, they don’t ‘stalk.’ Perhaps a stalking lion . . . 🐴
I will boycott Walgreens.
I agree the Democrats are fighting back in many subtle ways but the onslaught of right wing false and misinformation is overwhelming. As recommended by Robert I read the Phillip Bump article about how big the MAGA Trump supporting voting bloc really is and it confirmed my suspicions that it was not as big as the media has made it out to be. Yesterday Israel uncovered a vast operation producing fake Twitter accounts promoting false information to Americans voters about the size and strength of the MAGA support of Trump. Recent articles has ascertained that many hardcore MAGA supporters know Trump and company are lying but it’s their liar and he has their back and that is the message he delivered at CPAC over the weekend. I don’t think the tide will change unless there is more judicial accountability and the fear of breaking the law become a deterrent and new younger Republican leadership has the taken over the party and knowingly decided to change the culture of the party.
The morning sun streams through my window as I read this and thank you Robert for bringing light to so many issues each morning. If I were an artist I would do a series of portraits of republicans like McCarthy, Jordan , Kushner, Trump, DeSantis all of them in Nazi uniforms, like you see in the older black and white photos. You would not be able to tell the difference between now and then. That uniform universally symbolizes evil intents. How in our education systems did half the country lose its ability for critical thinking and how so many Christian organizations follow a path directly opposite of Jesus. That amount of conspirators throughout the country and in congress who were part of January 6 are staggering and how much the country needs the DOJ and the attorneys in New York and Georgia to push forward with saving our democracy. As Robert points out the grass roots efforts are just as important.
Sounds like good news for the good party of all the American people 👍 😀
Thanks for keeping us updated on the latest developments against the seditious activities of the radicals of the GOP insurrectionist witch hunts!!
May the Dems always be as well prepared to cut the truth twisters down in their tracks, especially with the misuse of the J6 tapes already happening on Faux news!
Let us hope that Jack Smith and DOJ look unfavorably upon these obstructions of justice for accountability of J6 by the selective twisting and presentation of the real events as a whole, not bits and pieces handpicked by Tucker and company!!
Robert writes:
"One final point: Isolation can make the current political environment unbearable. Community is the answer. Indivisible provides community (as do many other grassroots organizations). If you are suffering in silence, seek out your local Indivisible chapter (or any of the organizations regularly highlighted in this newsletter)."
If you don't see the value here, I recommend reading Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, by Sebastian Junger. It's a fascinating, fun two hour read (you'll be sorry to get to the end). But skip the introduction (which should have been an "Afterword") until you finish the book). As I read the introduction, I was wondering what all the hype about this book was about.
But Tribe is probably the most important book I've read, for the understanding of people and how we need each other that it gave me. Of note, in what I consider one of the best examples of what Junger was writing about, I read Alfred Lansing's Endurance, about how Shackleton and his 27 men made it back to civilization after Antarctic ice chewed up an spat out their boat, leaving them with three life boats, which they had to haul across 10 miles of ice before they could sail them--through the worst waters on the planet. It took them somewhere on the order of 15 months, but none of the men died, not even the one who had the heart attack.
Somewhere in the last couple of years, Peter Sagal referred to Shackleton as a failure, because he never made it to the South Pole. On one of his expeditions, Shackleton got within 100 miles of the pole, but turned around because he knew that if he went all the way to the pole he was going to lose men on the way back. Some climbers of Everest would have done well to follow that example. Contrary to Peter Sagal, Shackleton's getting all of his men back to Civilization after Antarctic ice chewed up and spat out his boat was one of the biggest successes the world has ever seen.
Read Tribe, and you'll understand the importance of community.
Hats off, bouquets, multiple kudos (maybe a well-deserved raise) to Democratic staffers! God bless 'em. And a bunch of DADs fighting back? Who knew? Go, LDAD! It's reassuring to know there's a phalanx of (anonymous) dedicated folks shoring up the fortress of democracy from the whiplash of MAGAts. I truly hope they realize how much their work is appreciated and admired...hopefully picked up and built upon by the rest of us.
Thank you, as always, Robert. My morning habit is to read HRC (whose knowledge, wisdom, and commitment to truth and understanding current events in the context of history is so brilliant and trustworthy) first - my reaction is often 😱; then I read your brilliant newsletter, which brings things in to balance - not totally 😊, but you offer specific information that is encouraging, as well as possible ways to take action and go forward 🔜 with confidence. Thank you!🙏🏽