UPDATE: Well, Quiverin’ Qevin did it. He passed his “bill” 217-215, losing only 4 of the 5 he could afford, and benefiting from the absence of some Democrats that lowered the necessary number for his “victory.”
But what did he”win”? He had to give back the tax breaks on ethanol to get the midwestern votes; he had to make the onerous “work requirements” that would require people on Social Security to work not 20 but 30 hours a week to qualify for food assistance under SNAP, to keep the votes of the Taliban 20. He “won” at passign a bill that is DOA in the Senate and even has Republican opponents there. He “won” at a PR event making the GOP even more the crazy, evil, shitheads the public sees them as. He managed to wrap that “crazy evil shitheads” designation around the “Biden 18”, all of whom have targets on their backs and as a result of this vote are more likely to be single-term congressional representatives than the odds said they were yesterday before the vote.
Does he really think this “victory” gives him something to “negotiate” with President Biden? Such a negotiation would depend on Quiverin’ Qevin possessing a “credible threat.” What made Obama negotiate to his detriment in 2011 was that the House and Senate Republicans were united, and really could have fucked things up royally.
Qevin possesses a “bill” that has no future. It is a “threat” that has no ability to threaten. If Qevin is stupid enough to think this piece of toilet paper is something of value, and manages to let the nutballs push us into default, it will take about a week for him to lose power in the House in the aftermath of the default, and for a debt limit to be passed; one that includes killing the need to ever do this vote again. The country will experience real financial pain, and guess who will be blamed for it? Kevin and his merry band of traitors.
The last time the country was mad enough at Republicans to smack them as hard as they will be smacked for having done this - if it happens - was 1932. And it took 20 years for them to recover sufficiently to elect a popular war hero they weren’t actually sure was one of them as president - and Eisenhower was the only “Republican” who could have won. It took another 30 years after that for the memory of their culpability in creating the Great Depression to fade sufficiently that they could compete head-to-head on ideas and win.
Quiverin’ Qevin won’t be thinking this is such a victory when the economic cataclysm he is playing with gets wrapped around his neck by a politician much smarter than he is, and he and his party are strangled with it.
If we default (we don't have to) Fox viewers and all the other MAGA haters will blame Biden and the Democrats. Only about 25% of Americans are registered as Republicons. Roughly 25% Democrats.
That leaves half the country. If people start seeing their portfolios and 401ks collapsing, most of the nation will blame McCarthy and his 216 fools.
Short term pain could equal long term gain. I am proud of Biden.
I think you may be overestimating how many GOP members will ever hold their party accountable. Additionally, there are a lot of "Moderates" who believe that the Democrats should always be the ones to compromise especially when it makes their personal life inconvenient.
IMO, there are no "moderates" left. There are patriots who support democracy and there are Republicans. But you are right about " inconvenience". I take that as "I like my money and I want to keep it, screw everyone else".
The markets fall, the markets rise. For those who have unwisely placed immediate need money in harms way, there will be pain. Others will buy the dip. Meh.
The real damage will be to our credibilty as a nation. And that damages more than portfolios. It dings our national security.
Selfish haters may blame Biden, but history will record the GQP as the party of anarchy.
There was no win here and Republicans know it and a telling fact is there were no details about proposed cuts to the budget. They have lost the “ trust me” factor many years ago.
Agreed, there was no win here. They only "passed" something so that they could go do the media circuit and have their outlets claim that they were the ones being responsible while Biden and Dems are the ones at fault. It was a bad faith move, and as usual only done for their own audience, not actually for the good of the country.
Well, I don't think I would characterize McCarthy as a "prisoner/hostage/victim of the MAGA extremists in the House." That's much too empathic and does not fully capture his role. I prefer "collaborator," as the French described those French citizens who cooperated with the Nazi regime on French soil. He deserves no less. They're all traitors.
Hey, Eric. For some reason your link works a lot better than mine. Thanks!
Agree wholeheartedly that Zephyr's speech was brilliant and courageous. All I can say is we sure could've used these folks' "decorum" speeches down at the U.S. Capitol after Jan 6!
Also, MTG and Boebert's behavior at Biden's State of the Union Addresses.
You covered a lot of ground, as usual, Robert. E. Jean Carroll should win this lawsuit handily if Trump cannot control what he says or writes about. His hole is getting deeper and deeper. Mind you, I’m not complaining. Eric, the wayward son, is getting his dad into trouble too. I love it!
Carroll might win but does it matter because in the court of public opinion he is guilty but will it make a difference in his core MAGA support.? No woman in the US can support Trump on multiple levels if they are honest with themselves.
As Robert stated, nothing will ever shake loose “the base”, but this trial, no matter the outcome, should influence Independents and suburban women. I’m so tired of this. I long for the days when governance was boring but things were accomplished.
Here’s some messaging for those persuadable Independents.🇺🇸
“The Department of Veterans Affairs projected the bill would reduce its budget by 22% and immediately rescind $2 billion in funding to support veterans. Some lawmakers said Wednesday that the proposal will result in 30 million fewer veteran outpatient visits and significantly increase the backlog for benefit claims.”
I agree with your comments this Thursday morning, except “negotiating tactic threatening the global economy because McCarthy is a prisoner/hostage/victim of the MAGA extremists in the House.”
McCarthy is not being held hostage by MAGA extremists, he is one. He may not wear an ULTRAMAGA T-shirt around DC, but he was enabled that group, appointed ULTRAMAGAS to important committee seats, and given them a voice totally disproportionate to the electorate they represent.
I would say that he is a willing participant in their shenanigans and not a prisoner/victim/hostage as such. He made his cause to lie with them, and he is a willing participant even if he doesn't "wear the hat."
Thank you for writing about what is happening g in Montana and anti-trans legislation and how voices against the legislation are being silenced within the government. This is eerily similar to what happened in Tennessee. Elected officials are punished and silenced for speaking up about life and death issues. It is so hard to keep up with all that is happening so I really appreciate your efforts to keep so many of us informed. As a mother of a non-binary masculine presenting daughter these issues cut close to my heart. There are more and more states where I feel my daughter is not safe to travel to. Happily we live in NYC! We need to bolster the voices of those lawmakers who are taking such risks to speak out.
"Better to demonstrate to Republicans that managing the debt limit is not a partisan exercise but a constitutional duty." Wise words from an intelligent American lawyer with common sense and a love of democracy, and who always bases his observations on evidence and the enduring spirit of the rule of law. In other words, unfortunately, "a voice in the wilderness" within the context of a GOP run House of Representatives with TCinLA's "Quivering' Qevin" at the helm of a sinking ship of apathy and corporate control attempting to pirate the structures of democratic governance. Qevin and his crew of marauders will apparently do anything to please Trump and their corporate masters and have made it clear that want nothing to do with the concept of "duty." Their interests are those of the Big Banks, the arms manufacturers, the fossil-fuel industry and a wide array of neofascist organizations with agendas that take precedence over the needs of the American people.
It's unlikely that the MAGA extremists will ever answer the Constitutional call of duty, as they swore an oath to do when they were elected. Well, "so much for democracy," it's tempting to say, but it's imperative to keep Hubbell's "better" scenario in focus and continue to work for its realization, despite the forces now assembled against it. A better government is possible, but not when a minority faction of what Hubbell calls "domestic terrorists" impose their fascist protocols on the rest of the population. As Hubbell says, "You can't negotiate with terrorists." Well, that leaves us with only one option: rise up in solidarity and sweep these aberrant jackals into the dust bin of history!
Perhaps someone can help me with this. Congress controls the "national wallet". That obviously means that Congress appropriates funds for the government to spend. But is there anything in the Constitution that suggests that one House of Congress can unilaterally unfund, defund the government? McCarthy and Company can pass all the bills they want, but if the Senate won't vote on it and the President vows a veto, isn't it possible for the government to simply march on by declaring the "debt ceiling law" unconstitutional? Let it go to the Supreme Court when the black mailers sue. I think five of nine would vote to keep the US of A afloat. No?
Would it not make sense for the White House to get out in front of this and direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make a statement that America will honor its debts as the Constitution directs and requires?
I don't understand why people are not invoking the 14th Amendment, which instructs that our debts are to be honored. Why is that not an "End of discussion"?
Because it is not really about the debt ceiling. It is about the current budget and getting to agreement so that next fiscal yr has funds allocated. The debt ceiling is being used as a distraction and tool by radical right to keep Rs in line so they won't vote on a rational budget. They won't even work on creating one for purposes of negotiation. McCarthy's proposal is something he put together with the folks he caved in to in order to get the speakership for starting negotiation. It is not being taken seriously because it isn't worth it.
Where the debt ceiling comes in is that if we don't pass a rational budget, we won't have money for a functioning government, let alone meeting our already existing obligations which we have already approved funding. Like people who buy a house, then lose their jobs, we can run on savings or debt for only so long. But our credit rating goes down, we can't borrow money, and the interest rates when we can borrow are higher. Kids go hungry, we can't afford the dr, etc, etc. And when we default, that's the equivalent of losing your home and control over your life. The right-wingers are drunk on power right now, and seem unable or unwilling to recognize the potential consequences of what they are doing.
McCarthy is desperately trying to stave off what he set in motion with his desperate deals to maintain his ambition for the speakership, but just keeps digging himself in deeper. The best thing he could do to salvage the situation is to back out of his faustian deal with the devil, resign the speakership, and let a moderate R take over the speakership, someone with the the guts to stand up to the reactionaries now in control. Or, if we got really lucky, maybe the moderate Republicans would vote in Jeffries. Not holding my breath on that one.
In this scenario, the mud is so deep that the people involved are way outside thinking in terms of the Constitution. We have some major problems here.
Biden has proposed a rational budget. This ploy by the radical right is a power play that is unconscionable and incomprehensible to me. To what aim? To crash the world (and U.S.) economy just to prove they can? Is there still a moderate R?
This morning while I was watching Good Morning America, the chryon across the bottom of the screen said something like “business leaders call for Biden to negotiate on the debt ceiling”. This is the kind of BS that influences people to think this is a legitimate effort. The business community especially should be educating the people on what this actually is and forcing McCarthy to drop this ridiculous charade.
I am really struggling with what is going on in the GOP led legislatures expelling or diminishing the voices of other elected representatives who share different views, ie TN and MT. This will spread to the other states. We really are living through a time I think most of us never thought we would see in our country. This clip did, however, give me some (and much needed) hope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct_OiUukV8c
Yesterday I called and twice emailed the Montana Speaker of the House to tell him to let Representative Zephyr speak. If you want to take similar action, there are details below my signature.
Note: Yesterday afternoon, as you probably heard, the Republican supermajority voted to punish Representative Zephyr. Still, it's good to communicate our outrage.
The video above is really, really good. These are your peers.
For older people who can see clearly, your generation is bringing forth a better world.
Love,
Dad/Eric
__
From Jess Craven's Chop Wood, Carry Water today, here are ways to take action:
This is a people issue. It seems like a lot of legislators in my state do not have open minds. They believe the lies and hate spewed by the likes of Tucker Carlson and the late, not so great Rush Limbaugh. How people can tune in to the 24 hour news cycle of negativity is beyond me.
I live in Montana. My local state Representative is R, and she voted to expel Zooey. Our governor's own son identifies with the LGBTQ community, and felt the urge to go public that he formally requested an appointment with his own dad to lobby for not being cruel. I am waiting to find out if Gianforte (the jackass who punched a reporter for asking him a question) is willingly dehumanizing and cruel to his own family as well as Montanans. My guess is the man who believes the Earth to be 6,000 years old will be.
I wrote an email to my local House Rep for all the good it will do. I want to share it because I assume it will fall on deaf ears with her. I kept it short and to the point: I am disappointed to know you support cruelty in our state by wanting to take away medical decisions from some people and their own bodies. I assume you will dismiss my opinion just like you have dismissed those speaking up. You do have blood on your hands, and I am embarrassed that you represent me.
I am grateful for this place to vent to people who understand.
Re the debt limit scrum - I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:
Democrats (probably the Senate) should introduce and pass a bill that ENTIRELY ABOLISHES THE DEB LIMIT.
Flush out the Republicans. Give the debt limit issue the importance it deserves by having spokespeople explain, graphically, *in plain English* (not the half-academic jargon Biden Administration spokespeople keep using), what a default would mean, and why it’s past time to excise debt limit struggles from our yearly politics.
I think it's just the U.S. and Denmark that have this system. It's a very stupid remnant of fiscal finance related to WWI. Just like our health insurance system is a consequence of wage structures from WWII.
Politicians and right wing broadcasters engage in alleged illegal and questionable behaviors and knowingly make unsubstantiated false statements and nothing happens until someone takes them to court. Unfortunately it takes deep pockets to engage in these law suits and the “ little people” who have been attacked get no redress and their lives ruined. It’s so important that the facts in these law suits be not only made public but get the same amount of coverage and attention of the original lies and attacks. We need to make those individuals attacking people maliciously and unsubstantiated pay a price for their behavior. Words matter.
Nancy Mace (SC 1). So deeply disappointed in her as she had seemed to successfully resist the deep suction of the MAGA crowd heretofore. Now she's finally joined Kevin McCarthy's sham budget with her blinders fully functioning and her integrity teetering. Oh how the mighty have fallen under the MAGA smog.
I posted this at TAFM about the feckless Qevin:
UPDATE: Well, Quiverin’ Qevin did it. He passed his “bill” 217-215, losing only 4 of the 5 he could afford, and benefiting from the absence of some Democrats that lowered the necessary number for his “victory.”
But what did he”win”? He had to give back the tax breaks on ethanol to get the midwestern votes; he had to make the onerous “work requirements” that would require people on Social Security to work not 20 but 30 hours a week to qualify for food assistance under SNAP, to keep the votes of the Taliban 20. He “won” at passign a bill that is DOA in the Senate and even has Republican opponents there. He “won” at a PR event making the GOP even more the crazy, evil, shitheads the public sees them as. He managed to wrap that “crazy evil shitheads” designation around the “Biden 18”, all of whom have targets on their backs and as a result of this vote are more likely to be single-term congressional representatives than the odds said they were yesterday before the vote.
Does he really think this “victory” gives him something to “negotiate” with President Biden? Such a negotiation would depend on Quiverin’ Qevin possessing a “credible threat.” What made Obama negotiate to his detriment in 2011 was that the House and Senate Republicans were united, and really could have fucked things up royally.
Qevin possesses a “bill” that has no future. It is a “threat” that has no ability to threaten. If Qevin is stupid enough to think this piece of toilet paper is something of value, and manages to let the nutballs push us into default, it will take about a week for him to lose power in the House in the aftermath of the default, and for a debt limit to be passed; one that includes killing the need to ever do this vote again. The country will experience real financial pain, and guess who will be blamed for it? Kevin and his merry band of traitors.
The last time the country was mad enough at Republicans to smack them as hard as they will be smacked for having done this - if it happens - was 1932. And it took 20 years for them to recover sufficiently to elect a popular war hero they weren’t actually sure was one of them as president - and Eisenhower was the only “Republican” who could have won. It took another 30 years after that for the memory of their culpability in creating the Great Depression to fade sufficiently that they could compete head-to-head on ideas and win.
Quiverin’ Qevin won’t be thinking this is such a victory when the economic cataclysm he is playing with gets wrapped around his neck by a politician much smarter than he is, and he and his party are strangled with it.
Careful what you ask for, Qevin.
If we default (we don't have to) Fox viewers and all the other MAGA haters will blame Biden and the Democrats. Only about 25% of Americans are registered as Republicons. Roughly 25% Democrats.
That leaves half the country. If people start seeing their portfolios and 401ks collapsing, most of the nation will blame McCarthy and his 216 fools.
Short term pain could equal long term gain. I am proud of Biden.
I think you may be overestimating how many GOP members will ever hold their party accountable. Additionally, there are a lot of "Moderates" who believe that the Democrats should always be the ones to compromise especially when it makes their personal life inconvenient.
IMO, there are no "moderates" left. There are patriots who support democracy and there are Republicans. But you are right about " inconvenience". I take that as "I like my money and I want to keep it, screw everyone else".
The markets fall, the markets rise. For those who have unwisely placed immediate need money in harms way, there will be pain. Others will buy the dip. Meh.
The real damage will be to our credibilty as a nation. And that damages more than portfolios. It dings our national security.
Selfish haters may blame Biden, but history will record the GQP as the party of anarchy.
Respectfully disagree: If people start to see their portfolios collapsing the President of the party in power gets the blame, in this case Joe Biden.
There was no win here and Republicans know it and a telling fact is there were no details about proposed cuts to the budget. They have lost the “ trust me” factor many years ago.
Agreed, there was no win here. They only "passed" something so that they could go do the media circuit and have their outlets claim that they were the ones being responsible while Biden and Dems are the ones at fault. It was a bad faith move, and as usual only done for their own audience, not actually for the good of the country.
That and they don't have the skill to actually do a budget.
https://youtu.be/hdIA6Q6vzyA
Worth watching. A three minute summary by Senator Whitehouse clearly describing all that is wrong with the Republicans’ Default On America bill.
Well, I don't think I would characterize McCarthy as a "prisoner/hostage/victim of the MAGA extremists in the House." That's much too empathic and does not fully capture his role. I prefer "collaborator," as the French described those French citizens who cooperated with the Nazi regime on French soil. He deserves no less. They're all traitors.
Montana Representative Zephyr's brilliant and courageous speech today, 4/26/23, starts at 13:28:55 in this video posted by the legislature:
https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00309/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20230427/-1/49784
(If you can stand it, to hear the fascist gaslighting of the GOP rep introducing the motion to punish Representative Zephyr, start at 13:25:45.)
Hey, Eric. For some reason your link works a lot better than mine. Thanks!
Agree wholeheartedly that Zephyr's speech was brilliant and courageous. All I can say is we sure could've used these folks' "decorum" speeches down at the U.S. Capitol after Jan 6!
Also, MTG and Boebert's behavior at Biden's State of the Union Addresses.
You covered a lot of ground, as usual, Robert. E. Jean Carroll should win this lawsuit handily if Trump cannot control what he says or writes about. His hole is getting deeper and deeper. Mind you, I’m not complaining. Eric, the wayward son, is getting his dad into trouble too. I love it!
Carroll might win but does it matter because in the court of public opinion he is guilty but will it make a difference in his core MAGA support.? No woman in the US can support Trump on multiple levels if they are honest with themselves.
As Robert stated, nothing will ever shake loose “the base”, but this trial, no matter the outcome, should influence Independents and suburban women. I’m so tired of this. I long for the days when governance was boring but things were accomplished.
Yes and yes and yes.
I don't care about those idiots, they've rented more than enough space in people's heads. What I do care about is no one is above the law.
Here’s some messaging for those persuadable Independents.🇺🇸
“The Department of Veterans Affairs projected the bill would reduce its budget by 22% and immediately rescind $2 billion in funding to support veterans. Some lawmakers said Wednesday that the proposal will result in 30 million fewer veteran outpatient visits and significantly increase the backlog for benefit claims.”
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2023-04-26/veterans-debt-ceiling-spending-cuts-9930863.html
That's so weird, I thought they cared about veterans so much? /s
Yes they act like they care for the vets but they truly will when their kids get drafted.
Their kids don't get drafted.
I agree with your comments this Thursday morning, except “negotiating tactic threatening the global economy because McCarthy is a prisoner/hostage/victim of the MAGA extremists in the House.”
McCarthy is not being held hostage by MAGA extremists, he is one. He may not wear an ULTRAMAGA T-shirt around DC, but he was enabled that group, appointed ULTRAMAGAS to important committee seats, and given them a voice totally disproportionate to the electorate they represent.
I would say that he is a willing participant in their shenanigans and not a prisoner/victim/hostage as such. He made his cause to lie with them, and he is a willing participant even if he doesn't "wear the hat."
Thank you for writing about what is happening g in Montana and anti-trans legislation and how voices against the legislation are being silenced within the government. This is eerily similar to what happened in Tennessee. Elected officials are punished and silenced for speaking up about life and death issues. It is so hard to keep up with all that is happening so I really appreciate your efforts to keep so many of us informed. As a mother of a non-binary masculine presenting daughter these issues cut close to my heart. There are more and more states where I feel my daughter is not safe to travel to. Happily we live in NYC! We need to bolster the voices of those lawmakers who are taking such risks to speak out.
I live in Missoula. Missoula is liberal.
However, there are people not just in Montana, but everywhere that do not see the soul or the human in another person.
Zooey is certainly brave and handled herself with dignity.
"Better to demonstrate to Republicans that managing the debt limit is not a partisan exercise but a constitutional duty." Wise words from an intelligent American lawyer with common sense and a love of democracy, and who always bases his observations on evidence and the enduring spirit of the rule of law. In other words, unfortunately, "a voice in the wilderness" within the context of a GOP run House of Representatives with TCinLA's "Quivering' Qevin" at the helm of a sinking ship of apathy and corporate control attempting to pirate the structures of democratic governance. Qevin and his crew of marauders will apparently do anything to please Trump and their corporate masters and have made it clear that want nothing to do with the concept of "duty." Their interests are those of the Big Banks, the arms manufacturers, the fossil-fuel industry and a wide array of neofascist organizations with agendas that take precedence over the needs of the American people.
It's unlikely that the MAGA extremists will ever answer the Constitutional call of duty, as they swore an oath to do when they were elected. Well, "so much for democracy," it's tempting to say, but it's imperative to keep Hubbell's "better" scenario in focus and continue to work for its realization, despite the forces now assembled against it. A better government is possible, but not when a minority faction of what Hubbell calls "domestic terrorists" impose their fascist protocols on the rest of the population. As Hubbell says, "You can't negotiate with terrorists." Well, that leaves us with only one option: rise up in solidarity and sweep these aberrant jackals into the dust bin of history!
I love this, TC! Qevin’s quickly done, haphazard budget will and should backfire on him. I am hoping he will, indeed, be ousted. He’s such an SOB.
Perhaps someone can help me with this. Congress controls the "national wallet". That obviously means that Congress appropriates funds for the government to spend. But is there anything in the Constitution that suggests that one House of Congress can unilaterally unfund, defund the government? McCarthy and Company can pass all the bills they want, but if the Senate won't vote on it and the President vows a veto, isn't it possible for the government to simply march on by declaring the "debt ceiling law" unconstitutional? Let it go to the Supreme Court when the black mailers sue. I think five of nine would vote to keep the US of A afloat. No?
Would it not make sense for the White House to get out in front of this and direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make a statement that America will honor its debts as the Constitution directs and requires?
I don't understand why people are not invoking the 14th Amendment, which instructs that our debts are to be honored. Why is that not an "End of discussion"?
Because it is not really about the debt ceiling. It is about the current budget and getting to agreement so that next fiscal yr has funds allocated. The debt ceiling is being used as a distraction and tool by radical right to keep Rs in line so they won't vote on a rational budget. They won't even work on creating one for purposes of negotiation. McCarthy's proposal is something he put together with the folks he caved in to in order to get the speakership for starting negotiation. It is not being taken seriously because it isn't worth it.
Where the debt ceiling comes in is that if we don't pass a rational budget, we won't have money for a functioning government, let alone meeting our already existing obligations which we have already approved funding. Like people who buy a house, then lose their jobs, we can run on savings or debt for only so long. But our credit rating goes down, we can't borrow money, and the interest rates when we can borrow are higher. Kids go hungry, we can't afford the dr, etc, etc. And when we default, that's the equivalent of losing your home and control over your life. The right-wingers are drunk on power right now, and seem unable or unwilling to recognize the potential consequences of what they are doing.
McCarthy is desperately trying to stave off what he set in motion with his desperate deals to maintain his ambition for the speakership, but just keeps digging himself in deeper. The best thing he could do to salvage the situation is to back out of his faustian deal with the devil, resign the speakership, and let a moderate R take over the speakership, someone with the the guts to stand up to the reactionaries now in control. Or, if we got really lucky, maybe the moderate Republicans would vote in Jeffries. Not holding my breath on that one.
In this scenario, the mud is so deep that the people involved are way outside thinking in terms of the Constitution. We have some major problems here.
Biden has proposed a rational budget. This ploy by the radical right is a power play that is unconscionable and incomprehensible to me. To what aim? To crash the world (and U.S.) economy just to prove they can? Is there still a moderate R?
This morning while I was watching Good Morning America, the chryon across the bottom of the screen said something like “business leaders call for Biden to negotiate on the debt ceiling”. This is the kind of BS that influences people to think this is a legitimate effort. The business community especially should be educating the people on what this actually is and forcing McCarthy to drop this ridiculous charade.
I am really struggling with what is going on in the GOP led legislatures expelling or diminishing the voices of other elected representatives who share different views, ie TN and MT. This will spread to the other states. We really are living through a time I think most of us never thought we would see in our country. This clip did, however, give me some (and much needed) hope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct_OiUukV8c
I watched this and then wrote to my 25 and 23 YO children:
https://youtu.be/Ct_OiUukV8c
Dear A and B,
Yesterday I called and twice emailed the Montana Speaker of the House to tell him to let Representative Zephyr speak. If you want to take similar action, there are details below my signature.
Note: Yesterday afternoon, as you probably heard, the Republican supermajority voted to punish Representative Zephyr. Still, it's good to communicate our outrage.
The video above is really, really good. These are your peers.
For older people who can see clearly, your generation is bringing forth a better world.
Love,
Dad/Eric
__
From Jess Craven's Chop Wood, Carry Water today, here are ways to take action:
https://substack.com/redirect/90d6b1dc-380f-4c1c-9daf-4e9d6bc5b050?j=eyJ1Ijoia3R0NjMifQ.goll4govB0CvwH7DstEK0hXt5J46HCgZVQ-Yar31gIs
This is a people issue. It seems like a lot of legislators in my state do not have open minds. They believe the lies and hate spewed by the likes of Tucker Carlson and the late, not so great Rush Limbaugh. How people can tune in to the 24 hour news cycle of negativity is beyond me.
Thanks for sharing this. I watched with such admiration and hope last night and it was even better a second time. Must-watch TV.
I live in Montana. My local state Representative is R, and she voted to expel Zooey. Our governor's own son identifies with the LGBTQ community, and felt the urge to go public that he formally requested an appointment with his own dad to lobby for not being cruel. I am waiting to find out if Gianforte (the jackass who punched a reporter for asking him a question) is willingly dehumanizing and cruel to his own family as well as Montanans. My guess is the man who believes the Earth to be 6,000 years old will be.
I wrote an email to my local House Rep for all the good it will do. I want to share it because I assume it will fall on deaf ears with her. I kept it short and to the point: I am disappointed to know you support cruelty in our state by wanting to take away medical decisions from some people and their own bodies. I assume you will dismiss my opinion just like you have dismissed those speaking up. You do have blood on your hands, and I am embarrassed that you represent me.
I am grateful for this place to vent to people who understand.
Powerful letter, Wendy! Thanks for sharing.
Re the debt limit scrum - I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:
Democrats (probably the Senate) should introduce and pass a bill that ENTIRELY ABOLISHES THE DEB LIMIT.
Flush out the Republicans. Give the debt limit issue the importance it deserves by having spokespeople explain, graphically, *in plain English* (not the half-academic jargon Biden Administration spokespeople keep using), what a default would mean, and why it’s past time to excise debt limit struggles from our yearly politics.
I think it's just the U.S. and Denmark that have this system. It's a very stupid remnant of fiscal finance related to WWI. Just like our health insurance system is a consequence of wage structures from WWII.
Politicians and right wing broadcasters engage in alleged illegal and questionable behaviors and knowingly make unsubstantiated false statements and nothing happens until someone takes them to court. Unfortunately it takes deep pockets to engage in these law suits and the “ little people” who have been attacked get no redress and their lives ruined. It’s so important that the facts in these law suits be not only made public but get the same amount of coverage and attention of the original lies and attacks. We need to make those individuals attacking people maliciously and unsubstantiated pay a price for their behavior. Words matter.
Nancy Mace (SC 1). So deeply disappointed in her as she had seemed to successfully resist the deep suction of the MAGA crowd heretofore. Now she's finally joined Kevin McCarthy's sham budget with her blinders fully functioning and her integrity teetering. Oh how the mighty have fallen under the MAGA smog.