The reputation of which DOJ is Merrick Garland safeguarding? The DOJ of John Mitchell, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions, or John Ashcroft? As Attorneys General, these men themselves undercut/violated the rule of law. Garland could have protected and enhanced his DOJ's reputation by vigorously investigating and prosecuting the traitorous actions of the coup-plotters, not just their gullible followers. As Robert has been saying, Garland is the wrong man for the job.
I find it extremely sad and inexplicable that people who claim to be Democrats can argue that BBB would be bad for America. Isn't what makes all of us better, healthier, better educated etc. good for us all?
Rob, thank you as always, for clearly stating your support of the trans community. It breaks my heart to see this vulnerable and valuable group of people vilified and targeted with so much hate.. my non-binary kids, who married last year, are now on their way to Philadelphia where one will work as a Special Ed teacher and the other, my very own, will prepare for physician assistant school while working as a Gender-Affirming Patient Care Coordinator with PP. I'm so proud of them, but also, so worried. I also think of the youngest child of my niece, who is intersex, and also the namesake of my father. They are about two years old, and are loved and cared for at home, but live in TN. What will the future look like for this precious child... ? Thank you for being a devoted ally.
Jul 19, 2022·edited Jul 19, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
I write this morning mostly to provide some context that recounts the origins of Biden’s legislative agenda, all of which has advanced through the Democratically-controlled House, but remains stalled in the Senate.
In late Spring 2020, after Joe Biden had become the Party’s presumptive Presidential nominee, he and Bernie Sanders created 6 policy task forces which, according to Sanders, “had some of the most knowledgeable people in the country coming together” to deal with education, climate change, healthcare, the economy, criminal justice, and immigration reform. Sanders had concluded, that if the compromises they had achieved were implemented, life would improve for “tens and tens of millions” of working people.
Because Senate Republicans refused to allow regular order ( bringing bills to the floor for debate and a vote), Democrats had to cram the President’s entire social and climate legislative agenda into one bill that only could be passed through the procedural maneuver we know as budget reconciliation. Despite certain pieces disallowed by the Senate Parliamentarian into the plan, the legislation (BBB), nonetheless, would have helped to remedy much of the country’s grotesque inequalities of wealth and income, not to mention environmental injustice.
When the reconciliation package, this past January, failed to pass by 2 votes (Manchin & Sinema), Democrats, rightly, understood that, nationwide, the country needed an Educator-in-Chief to educate people about what they’re losing every time the President’s legislative agenda is stalled. Still, despite our disappointment and frustration over leadership’s failure to deliver, I would note, because in late Spring 2020 there had been serious discussions with serious people engaged in an honest effort to arrive at a compromise Sanders had said, if implemented, would have made Biden “the most progressive President since FDR,” the work must continue.
Jul 19, 2022·edited Jul 19, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Garland’s appointment as AG was the consolation prize for not getting onto the Supreme Court. I’m almost glad he didn’t as he might have likewise been a disappointment there. Thanks for saying he’s got to go. I haven’t seen any groups calling for that but I’m ready to sign on when they do.
Though I suspect A.G. Garland has concluded that there is sufficient factual predication to indict the entire 1/6 command structure up to and including Trump, the A.G. might be less certain as to whether the arguments invariably will lead to conclusions that can be nailed to the post with confirming evidence. Still, I would submit that the only thing worse than indicting and failing to convict is not to indict. In my view, not indicting sends the message that free and fair elections don’t matter, nor do our founding principals that everyone is accountable and no one is above the law. I need someone from Main Justice to explain how we possibly can defend against a fatal weakening of our civic institutions if their key mechanisms are not upheld.
Yes! Merrick Garland should be fired ASAP. He is beyond disappointing and a total embarrassment for all the reasons you and others have made abundantly clear.
Re: Merrick Garland: The Catholic bishops who shielded pedophile priests from consequences for their actions thought they were protecting the reputation of the Catholic Church. That hasn't worked out so well for the reputation of the Catholic Church.
Maybe it's time we start referring to Joe Manchin as "Lucy." He's yanked the football out of so many negotiations with Democrats that I'm surprised they even bother trying to reason with him anymore.
Jul 19, 2022·edited Jul 19, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
I would like to contribute a plethora of sound and logical arguments in support of women’s reproductive healthcare, respect for the rights of our LGBTQ population, young children, those burdened with crushing student debt, addressing the existential threats of climate change, and expanding economic equality and opportunity. I have a long list of points in support of all of those. However, when I stop to consider the most important and impactful to statements to open that discussion I always return to the simple fact that kindness is better than cruelty or indifference. Whenever one is asked about their position on any issue, I feel the simplest way to decide what they should support is to examine their values and choose the path of kindness. It works for every issue. Those who choose cruelty or indifference are simply on the wrong side of every issue. Those who choose kindness are on the right side. It really needs no more complexity than choosing kindness every time on every issue. If one is torn between which political party, candidate, or none to support, choose kindness. It works everytime. Think about it.
Jul 19, 2022·edited Jul 19, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Thank you for speaking out to tell the President to exercise his power and take control of the Justice Department before it is too late. This isn't political: this is taking responsibility for our democracy.
Is the Federalist Society today's Kraken? Have their sponsored appointees to the Supreme Court and many lower Courts tilted the table in favor of authoritarianism? The GOP has shifted right in concert. Deliberately: follow the money. I hope Liz Cheney wins robustly in Wyoming. She may be hard right, but she doesn't feel corrupted like so many others.
"Fire Merrick Garland now. His slow (or non-existent) response to a constitutional crisis is a grave dereliction of duty."
That's the best reflection yet through the "lens of hope," Mr. Hubbell. Bad faith and dishonorable behavior seem to be the order of the day for the denizens of the Swamp, executed with a sinister vengeance by Manchin, Sinema, Ted Cruz, Clarence Thomas, the entire GOP of Donald Trump, and even Merrick Garland, bad actors all cynically assisted by the nation's major media companies whose mission appears to be focused on misleading the American people and reinforcing corporate control. Hey, nothing new here; the crony capitalist values of disingenuousness and grift replaced equality, the rule of law and consent of governed as the guiding principles of American politics decades ago. Now Biden has an Abraham Lincoln moment, an opportunity to fire Garland and begin the process of bringing the ethos of representative governance back into alignment with the vision of democracy as established by the founders.
Biden should have appointed Sally Yates as Attorney General in the first place, not Merrick Garland. It's not too late. There's plenty of time for indictments after this fall's election and before September 2024, for a Justice Department that is organized to pursue justice.
It is indeed time to fire Garland and his chief deputy!!! Hopefully it is not too late But will this happen. People seem to forget what they are supposed to be doing which is protecting the people, the constitution and Democracy. This must be done now!!! How do we do it? Saundra
Thank you Robert for your outstanding and thoughtful remarks.I am enjoying reading them from Calpe, Spain, Costa Blanco, a seaside town in the south of Spain. Guess what? The temperatures are actually fine-- we expect great heat. Today I biked for two hours, 7:30- 9:30 in the shade and up and down mountains and was very comfortable. The temps were in the low 80s with very little humidity!
So come to Southern Spain for a respite from the heat!
The reputation of which DOJ is Merrick Garland safeguarding? The DOJ of John Mitchell, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions, or John Ashcroft? As Attorneys General, these men themselves undercut/violated the rule of law. Garland could have protected and enhanced his DOJ's reputation by vigorously investigating and prosecuting the traitorous actions of the coup-plotters, not just their gullible followers. As Robert has been saying, Garland is the wrong man for the job.
I find it extremely sad and inexplicable that people who claim to be Democrats can argue that BBB would be bad for America. Isn't what makes all of us better, healthier, better educated etc. good for us all?
Rob, thank you as always, for clearly stating your support of the trans community. It breaks my heart to see this vulnerable and valuable group of people vilified and targeted with so much hate.. my non-binary kids, who married last year, are now on their way to Philadelphia where one will work as a Special Ed teacher and the other, my very own, will prepare for physician assistant school while working as a Gender-Affirming Patient Care Coordinator with PP. I'm so proud of them, but also, so worried. I also think of the youngest child of my niece, who is intersex, and also the namesake of my father. They are about two years old, and are loved and cared for at home, but live in TN. What will the future look like for this precious child... ? Thank you for being a devoted ally.
I write this morning mostly to provide some context that recounts the origins of Biden’s legislative agenda, all of which has advanced through the Democratically-controlled House, but remains stalled in the Senate.
In late Spring 2020, after Joe Biden had become the Party’s presumptive Presidential nominee, he and Bernie Sanders created 6 policy task forces which, according to Sanders, “had some of the most knowledgeable people in the country coming together” to deal with education, climate change, healthcare, the economy, criminal justice, and immigration reform. Sanders had concluded, that if the compromises they had achieved were implemented, life would improve for “tens and tens of millions” of working people.
Because Senate Republicans refused to allow regular order ( bringing bills to the floor for debate and a vote), Democrats had to cram the President’s entire social and climate legislative agenda into one bill that only could be passed through the procedural maneuver we know as budget reconciliation. Despite certain pieces disallowed by the Senate Parliamentarian into the plan, the legislation (BBB), nonetheless, would have helped to remedy much of the country’s grotesque inequalities of wealth and income, not to mention environmental injustice.
When the reconciliation package, this past January, failed to pass by 2 votes (Manchin & Sinema), Democrats, rightly, understood that, nationwide, the country needed an Educator-in-Chief to educate people about what they’re losing every time the President’s legislative agenda is stalled. Still, despite our disappointment and frustration over leadership’s failure to deliver, I would note, because in late Spring 2020 there had been serious discussions with serious people engaged in an honest effort to arrive at a compromise Sanders had said, if implemented, would have made Biden “the most progressive President since FDR,” the work must continue.
Garland’s appointment as AG was the consolation prize for not getting onto the Supreme Court. I’m almost glad he didn’t as he might have likewise been a disappointment there. Thanks for saying he’s got to go. I haven’t seen any groups calling for that but I’m ready to sign on when they do.
Though I suspect A.G. Garland has concluded that there is sufficient factual predication to indict the entire 1/6 command structure up to and including Trump, the A.G. might be less certain as to whether the arguments invariably will lead to conclusions that can be nailed to the post with confirming evidence. Still, I would submit that the only thing worse than indicting and failing to convict is not to indict. In my view, not indicting sends the message that free and fair elections don’t matter, nor do our founding principals that everyone is accountable and no one is above the law. I need someone from Main Justice to explain how we possibly can defend against a fatal weakening of our civic institutions if their key mechanisms are not upheld.
Yes! Merrick Garland should be fired ASAP. He is beyond disappointing and a total embarrassment for all the reasons you and others have made abundantly clear.
Re: Merrick Garland: The Catholic bishops who shielded pedophile priests from consequences for their actions thought they were protecting the reputation of the Catholic Church. That hasn't worked out so well for the reputation of the Catholic Church.
Maybe it's time we start referring to Joe Manchin as "Lucy." He's yanked the football out of so many negotiations with Democrats that I'm surprised they even bother trying to reason with him anymore.
I would like to contribute a plethora of sound and logical arguments in support of women’s reproductive healthcare, respect for the rights of our LGBTQ population, young children, those burdened with crushing student debt, addressing the existential threats of climate change, and expanding economic equality and opportunity. I have a long list of points in support of all of those. However, when I stop to consider the most important and impactful to statements to open that discussion I always return to the simple fact that kindness is better than cruelty or indifference. Whenever one is asked about their position on any issue, I feel the simplest way to decide what they should support is to examine their values and choose the path of kindness. It works for every issue. Those who choose cruelty or indifference are simply on the wrong side of every issue. Those who choose kindness are on the right side. It really needs no more complexity than choosing kindness every time on every issue. If one is torn between which political party, candidate, or none to support, choose kindness. It works everytime. Think about it.
Thank you for speaking out to tell the President to exercise his power and take control of the Justice Department before it is too late. This isn't political: this is taking responsibility for our democracy.
Is the Federalist Society today's Kraken? Have their sponsored appointees to the Supreme Court and many lower Courts tilted the table in favor of authoritarianism? The GOP has shifted right in concert. Deliberately: follow the money. I hope Liz Cheney wins robustly in Wyoming. She may be hard right, but she doesn't feel corrupted like so many others.
"Fire Merrick Garland now. His slow (or non-existent) response to a constitutional crisis is a grave dereliction of duty."
That's the best reflection yet through the "lens of hope," Mr. Hubbell. Bad faith and dishonorable behavior seem to be the order of the day for the denizens of the Swamp, executed with a sinister vengeance by Manchin, Sinema, Ted Cruz, Clarence Thomas, the entire GOP of Donald Trump, and even Merrick Garland, bad actors all cynically assisted by the nation's major media companies whose mission appears to be focused on misleading the American people and reinforcing corporate control. Hey, nothing new here; the crony capitalist values of disingenuousness and grift replaced equality, the rule of law and consent of governed as the guiding principles of American politics decades ago. Now Biden has an Abraham Lincoln moment, an opportunity to fire Garland and begin the process of bringing the ethos of representative governance back into alignment with the vision of democracy as established by the founders.
Biden should have appointed Sally Yates as Attorney General in the first place, not Merrick Garland. It's not too late. There's plenty of time for indictments after this fall's election and before September 2024, for a Justice Department that is organized to pursue justice.
It is indeed time to fire Garland and his chief deputy!!! Hopefully it is not too late But will this happen. People seem to forget what they are supposed to be doing which is protecting the people, the constitution and Democracy. This must be done now!!! How do we do it? Saundra
Thank you Robert for your outstanding and thoughtful remarks.I am enjoying reading them from Calpe, Spain, Costa Blanco, a seaside town in the south of Spain. Guess what? The temperatures are actually fine-- we expect great heat. Today I biked for two hours, 7:30- 9:30 in the shade and up and down mountains and was very comfortable. The temps were in the low 80s with very little humidity!
So come to Southern Spain for a respite from the heat!