Jan 4, 2023·edited Jan 4, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
There will be a special election on February 21, 2023 for Virginia's 4th District seat in the U.S. Congress, vacated by the untimely death of Rep Donald McEachin just a few weeks after he was re-elected. Democrat Jennifer McClellan won the primary a few weeks ago, and will be facing off against Republican Leon Benjamin.
State Senator McClellan lost her primary bid for governor in last year's election that ultimately led to Glenn Youngkin being elected. Where one door closes, another one opens?
I do not reside in the 4th District, but see that it is a Democratic stronghold, so she may easily win without outside support, but thought I'd put it out there for your consideration, Robert. During her bid for governor, I had listened to some of her speeches, and read about her accomplishments. I was impressed.
How can George Santos be seated in Congress when he wasn't elected? No-one voted for an uneducated liar! They voted for the fiction that he promoted, creating his false identity of being a part of each group he looked to for support: LGBT, Jews, financial and real estate worlds, educated professionals , etc. His background was a lie; his sexual preference in question, his home address unreliable and his increased income unexplained. The fact that Congress can't proceed without a speaker of the house is a gift of time to stop Santos from being seated!
1.. The Constitution does not require the House Speaker be elected by a majority. According to the Washington Post, there were times in the 1850s when the Speaker was chosen by a plurality.
2. Biden v DeSantis? Despite being nearly twice his age, Joe Biden just might be more dynamic than Ron DeSantis.
3. Thank you for your comments about my Political Notes and, in particular, the Note about Wisconsin's Judge Protasiewicz.
Just a word of caution about those tax returns. I am a tax lawyer and together with my colleagues we have taken a look at them (I would not go so far as to say we have "examined" them --- the individual returns alone are about 500 to 600 pages each). I see nuggets there, mysteries, items worthy of follow up -- but smoking guns, not so much. Yes, he claimed zero in charitable deducs in 2020 and yes he earned a fair amount of money in India and China yet seems to have paid no taxes there (very odd, especially in India), and yes he showed lots of tax losses (real estate is heavily favored in the Code; it is common for investors to earn a handsome living while showing negative numbers on their returns). I have yet to see a persuasive rationale for all the media hyperventilating about these returns. The real issue is the abject failure of the Internal Revenue Service to perform a serious and sustained audit. And no, I don't believe that can be justified by the persistent underfunding of the agency. IRS is indeed underfunded but it couldn't manage a timely audit of the President of the United States -- please, give me a break.
Your list of the fruits of "six years of political terrorism" on the part of the Trump Republicans is indeed a frightening assessment of the chaos that "threatens the stability of the federal government and the well-being of every American." What's going on is way beyond the usual turmoil of partisan politics. These jackasses have declared war on the American people and we should recognize that fact in framing our response to the Republican Party's continuous assaults on the Constitution and the sanctity of the Rule of Law.
I'm appalled that no one has taken steps to remove McCarthy and his personal effects from the Speaker's office. His arrogant move to occupy that space despite his failure to win election to the post speaks volumes about the depraved character of the man and his demented cronies. After reading your excellent analysis of the caucus circus, it's hard not too agree with Robert Reich's conclusion in The Guardian, January 3, 2023, that fueled by the hate, racism, and intolerance of its anti-democracy base, the Republican Party "no longer has a legitimate role to play in our system of self-government. It is over."
Thank you Robert. So many balls in the air. Love ¨...the hellscape known as Twitter¨ How many more senseless deaths this year for and by anti-vaxxers? I still mourn those lost because of -rump's lies. It seems that so many in the U.S. have short attention spans when it comes to the travesties created by the GOP. Perhaps it's because each day brings a new one. The Christmas holidays over here in Spain don't end on December 25th. Tomorrow is the Kings Day and the Maji come to talk with the children, followed by an incredible parade that goes right past our door. The magic of this helps with the angst of the daily GOP circus back home. Felicidades a ti y a todos los aquí presentes 🌟
Hi Robert--how about Jeffries gets his Dem House colleagues to choose the sanest R House member and vote en bloc for that person to be Speaker? The Dems would just need a handful of Rs to go along. And a 'moderate' R as Speaker could defang the R extremists holding the House hostage. And, with luck, shut them up and out.
1. DeSantis, Abbott, and their accomplices for their human trafficking stunts?
2. Trump and the many accomplices and people who funded the Jan 6 insurrection? The January 6 Committee provided DOJ with their evidence and recommendations. Why is all of this taking so long?
3. I know the IRS is badly understaffed with very antiquated systems. Should the IRS Commissioner under trump be investigated.
I live in Ohio. Half of our population are Democrats and half are female. We feel hopeless. Our state is overrun by the GOP. Our state Supreme Court is similar to Wisconsins. Our state is so gerrymandered that Dems have very little chance. Please excuse any poor grammer or spelling errors. What are we to do?
Hamlin’s heart failure likely resulted from the impact to his chest at just the wrong millisecond, with catastrophic effects to the functioning of his heart, according to Sanjay Gupta’s analysis on CNN. Prayers the young man can recover.
One big reason for the anomalous Latino election results in FL is the masterful job the GOP did on Spanish language radio, hitting Democrats for being Socialists. Since most of those non-Cuban and non-Puerto Rican Latinos were fleeing exactly that (hi, Venezuela), and haven't been here long enough to be sophisticated about American political messaging, they recoiled and voted GOP.
"The slant in the article in The Hill is deft. The author can claim she kinda-sorta-tried to be fair—but she wasn’t. The author wanted to write a story about Biden being old—and accomplished that goal."
Very important critique, which invites the question, How did we lose the House of Representatives and how can we regain it? Was it Garland's failure to indict? Was it Manchinema's stalling of the anti=poverty legislation within Build Back Better? How did we fail to have national messaging about the mess that we knew would unfold under seditionists? Why was Katy Porter--of all people--talking about inflation (other than that voters were told it was the biggest issue)? Why wasn't climate collapse front and center in a national strategy about saving the House? Was it because none of those who failed to certify the election and hold House seats were held legally acccountable?
Heather Cox Richardson posted this quote today which I believes captures exactly where the Republican Party is today. “ John Boehner said of the extreme faction: “What they’re really interested in is chaos.… They want to throw sand in the gears of the hated federal government until it fails and they’ve finally proved that it’s beyond saving.” And they are tied tightly to right-wing media: “Every time they vote down a bill, they get another invitation to go on Fox News or talk radio,” this for me is a true statement. I guess all Americans need to ask themselves if they are willing to let representatives Jim Jordan, Majorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert manage the House of Representatives
I have great hope for my granddaughter's future who at the age of only 2 1/2 can already count to 218. It seems that qualifies her as being smarter than the presently leading Republican candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Reading the article cited herein, I feel we must push back to support the separation of church and state. The comments throughout the article seem to highlight the conflicts between church communities with some holding to the notion of preaching about the religious teaching while others are eager to label their preaching as inherently political.
Perhaps they should be identified as PACs when indoctrinating parishioners with political views. Or, perhaps they should pay taxes. Well, that would probably get them more engaged. Never mind.
There will be a special election on February 21, 2023 for Virginia's 4th District seat in the U.S. Congress, vacated by the untimely death of Rep Donald McEachin just a few weeks after he was re-elected. Democrat Jennifer McClellan won the primary a few weeks ago, and will be facing off against Republican Leon Benjamin.
State Senator McClellan lost her primary bid for governor in last year's election that ultimately led to Glenn Youngkin being elected. Where one door closes, another one opens?
I do not reside in the 4th District, but see that it is a Democratic stronghold, so she may easily win without outside support, but thought I'd put it out there for your consideration, Robert. During her bid for governor, I had listened to some of her speeches, and read about her accomplishments. I was impressed.
Here are some links about her. Hope they help!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_McClellan
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/virginia-track-send-first-black-woman-congress-rcna62185
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jennifer-mcclellan-wins-virginia-democratic-primary-for-congress/ar-AA15ziSB
How can George Santos be seated in Congress when he wasn't elected? No-one voted for an uneducated liar! They voted for the fiction that he promoted, creating his false identity of being a part of each group he looked to for support: LGBT, Jews, financial and real estate worlds, educated professionals , etc. His background was a lie; his sexual preference in question, his home address unreliable and his increased income unexplained. The fact that Congress can't proceed without a speaker of the house is a gift of time to stop Santos from being seated!
1.. The Constitution does not require the House Speaker be elected by a majority. According to the Washington Post, there were times in the 1850s when the Speaker was chosen by a plurality.
2. Biden v DeSantis? Despite being nearly twice his age, Joe Biden just might be more dynamic than Ron DeSantis.
3. Thank you for your comments about my Political Notes and, in particular, the Note about Wisconsin's Judge Protasiewicz.
Just a word of caution about those tax returns. I am a tax lawyer and together with my colleagues we have taken a look at them (I would not go so far as to say we have "examined" them --- the individual returns alone are about 500 to 600 pages each). I see nuggets there, mysteries, items worthy of follow up -- but smoking guns, not so much. Yes, he claimed zero in charitable deducs in 2020 and yes he earned a fair amount of money in India and China yet seems to have paid no taxes there (very odd, especially in India), and yes he showed lots of tax losses (real estate is heavily favored in the Code; it is common for investors to earn a handsome living while showing negative numbers on their returns). I have yet to see a persuasive rationale for all the media hyperventilating about these returns. The real issue is the abject failure of the Internal Revenue Service to perform a serious and sustained audit. And no, I don't believe that can be justified by the persistent underfunding of the agency. IRS is indeed underfunded but it couldn't manage a timely audit of the President of the United States -- please, give me a break.
Your list of the fruits of "six years of political terrorism" on the part of the Trump Republicans is indeed a frightening assessment of the chaos that "threatens the stability of the federal government and the well-being of every American." What's going on is way beyond the usual turmoil of partisan politics. These jackasses have declared war on the American people and we should recognize that fact in framing our response to the Republican Party's continuous assaults on the Constitution and the sanctity of the Rule of Law.
I'm appalled that no one has taken steps to remove McCarthy and his personal effects from the Speaker's office. His arrogant move to occupy that space despite his failure to win election to the post speaks volumes about the depraved character of the man and his demented cronies. After reading your excellent analysis of the caucus circus, it's hard not too agree with Robert Reich's conclusion in The Guardian, January 3, 2023, that fueled by the hate, racism, and intolerance of its anti-democracy base, the Republican Party "no longer has a legitimate role to play in our system of self-government. It is over."
Thank you Robert. So many balls in the air. Love ¨...the hellscape known as Twitter¨ How many more senseless deaths this year for and by anti-vaxxers? I still mourn those lost because of -rump's lies. It seems that so many in the U.S. have short attention spans when it comes to the travesties created by the GOP. Perhaps it's because each day brings a new one. The Christmas holidays over here in Spain don't end on December 25th. Tomorrow is the Kings Day and the Maji come to talk with the children, followed by an incredible parade that goes right past our door. The magic of this helps with the angst of the daily GOP circus back home. Felicidades a ti y a todos los aquí presentes 🌟
Hi Robert--how about Jeffries gets his Dem House colleagues to choose the sanest R House member and vote en bloc for that person to be Speaker? The Dems would just need a handful of Rs to go along. And a 'moderate' R as Speaker could defang the R extremists holding the House hostage. And, with luck, shut them up and out.
Why haven’t there been indictments and arrests:
1. DeSantis, Abbott, and their accomplices for their human trafficking stunts?
2. Trump and the many accomplices and people who funded the Jan 6 insurrection? The January 6 Committee provided DOJ with their evidence and recommendations. Why is all of this taking so long?
3. I know the IRS is badly understaffed with very antiquated systems. Should the IRS Commissioner under trump be investigated.
Thank you.
I live in Ohio. Half of our population are Democrats and half are female. We feel hopeless. Our state is overrun by the GOP. Our state Supreme Court is similar to Wisconsins. Our state is so gerrymandered that Dems have very little chance. Please excuse any poor grammer or spelling errors. What are we to do?
Hamlin’s heart failure likely resulted from the impact to his chest at just the wrong millisecond, with catastrophic effects to the functioning of his heart, according to Sanjay Gupta’s analysis on CNN. Prayers the young man can recover.
One big reason for the anomalous Latino election results in FL is the masterful job the GOP did on Spanish language radio, hitting Democrats for being Socialists. Since most of those non-Cuban and non-Puerto Rican Latinos were fleeing exactly that (hi, Venezuela), and haven't been here long enough to be sophisticated about American political messaging, they recoiled and voted GOP.
"The slant in the article in The Hill is deft. The author can claim she kinda-sorta-tried to be fair—but she wasn’t. The author wanted to write a story about Biden being old—and accomplished that goal."
Very important critique, which invites the question, How did we lose the House of Representatives and how can we regain it? Was it Garland's failure to indict? Was it Manchinema's stalling of the anti=poverty legislation within Build Back Better? How did we fail to have national messaging about the mess that we knew would unfold under seditionists? Why was Katy Porter--of all people--talking about inflation (other than that voters were told it was the biggest issue)? Why wasn't climate collapse front and center in a national strategy about saving the House? Was it because none of those who failed to certify the election and hold House seats were held legally acccountable?
Heather Cox Richardson posted this quote today which I believes captures exactly where the Republican Party is today. “ John Boehner said of the extreme faction: “What they’re really interested in is chaos.… They want to throw sand in the gears of the hated federal government until it fails and they’ve finally proved that it’s beyond saving.” And they are tied tightly to right-wing media: “Every time they vote down a bill, they get another invitation to go on Fox News or talk radio,” this for me is a true statement. I guess all Americans need to ask themselves if they are willing to let representatives Jim Jordan, Majorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert manage the House of Representatives
Robert, you and Len convinced me! Donated to Janet Protasiewicz just now. I figure I’ll be writing postcards come March!
I have great hope for my granddaughter's future who at the age of only 2 1/2 can already count to 218. It seems that qualifies her as being smarter than the presently leading Republican candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Reading the article cited herein, I feel we must push back to support the separation of church and state. The comments throughout the article seem to highlight the conflicts between church communities with some holding to the notion of preaching about the religious teaching while others are eager to label their preaching as inherently political.
Perhaps they should be identified as PACs when indoctrinating parishioners with political views. Or, perhaps they should pay taxes. Well, that would probably get them more engaged. Never mind.
To follow up on your Axios observations. Here, you can find a NY Times piece by Jennifer Medina regarding DeSantis and Florida’s Hispanic Evangelicals: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/03/us/politics/trump-desantis-hispanic-evangelicals.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare