One sign of Democratic strength in Congressional races is the quality of candidates. Here are two deeply religious candidates who stepped up in January and can flip Republican seats. In MI 03 (Grand Rapids), Hillary Scholten has signed up to run again. A lawyer in Grand Rapids, she worked previously for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, for the Mel Trotter Ministries supporting the homeless, and the justice department during the Obama administration. She lost by 6 points to very wealthy candidate Peter Meijer in a district which was R+8. Redistricted, MI 03 is now D+3. She can flip this district. In Ohio 01 (Cincinnati), Steve Chabot seemed vulnerable in 2018 and 2020. He defeated Kate Schroder by 4 points in 2020 and Aftab Pureval (now Mayor of Cincinnati) by 4 in 2018. The proposed redistricting would reduce the district's Republican lean and include all of the city in the district. OH 01 becomes R+3. It won't become more Republican after the law suit is completed. City Councilman Greg Landsman, an amateur boxer with a theology degree from Harvard, is a local who has created anti-poverty charities and has a record of accomplishment in the City Council. He can flip the district.
Robert you fairly have been critical of Garland and the DOJ but recently read I read an opinion from a lawyer who is a federal prosecutor who made a valid point I did not think about. He said that in our history no President or former President has been tried and convicted of a crime and the bar to do that is very high and that the evidence and case must be air tight and beyond reproach. In other words the evidence must be overwhelming and not circumstantial and it must connect Trump directly to the alleged crimes. The January 6th Committee is beginning to connect the dots and more witnesses are coming forward and were in the room and heard Trump’s comments and observed what he said and did. Remember Trump never documented anything or sent emails etc but there are notes from people who attended the meetings now available. If this is accurate I now understand why the DOJ is sitting patiently waiting for this to play out and helped by Trump himself making speeches.
Robert, there's an easy way to let Garland know how we feel: Email the DOJ (AskDOJ@usdoj.gov) and simply say, ”AG Garland, indict Trump.” If enough people leave that message, maybe it will help light a fire under him.
Great job Robert of keeping us current on critical issues facing us and the nation. My question and possibly your own, is what can we left leaning activists do to to light a fire under DOJ and specifically Merrick Garland to begin proceedings against Trump? Do you think he’s waiting for the January 6th Commission to go public first to pave his way for indictments?
Thanks for all your efforts to keep us informed and our democracy safe.
'Antisemitic rallies were held near Orlando, Florida, on Saturday and Sunday, with some two dozen people in neo-Nazi gear waving swastikas, stomping on Israeli flags, and yelling antisemitic epithets at passersby.'
'While various officials in the state condemned the protest, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came under fire as his spokesperson expressed doubt over whether the demonstrators were actually antisemitic, and raised the possibility that they were in fact Democrats trying to make the governor look bad.'
'In videos and pictures shared on social media, the demonstrators can be seen waving Nazi flags and banners, calling someone filming them a “devil” and a “fucking kike” and making Nazi salutes.'
'A video of the Orlando rally that spread on social media on Monday showed protesters standing on a highway overpass in front of banners of swastikas. One audibly yells “Heil Hitler.”
Another video showed the demonstrators attacking a passerby in his car.
The rallies were held near the campus of Central Florida University, which has a large Jewish student body, and near Disney World.'
Thank you Robert for your great article and your daily efforts to help us to reclaim democracy.
Currently, I’m looking into how to support making Voting day and National holiday so more folks turn out as well as working on other actions. I know that I can not stay in this country if Trump (sociopath) is re-elected and am working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.
I wish someone would do a story entitled “What does Trump have on each Republican”. Has he had his thugs threaten their families, their lives, or paid them off. I think it would be helpful to have more being written on social media or in papers about what’s not being talk about. As a psychotherapist, it reminds me of a toxic family system not talking about the elephant in the living room. The dysfunctional ties that cements and binds the psychopathology. How can we expose that?
One of the most upsetting things about the coup attempt is Trump's trying to use the military (including Homeland Security) for domestic purposes, in contradiction to the Constitution.
I appreciate how you call it like it is without mincing words, yet avoid sophomoric name-calling and ugly put-downs. The truth is ugly enough as it is. Thanks, Robert.
Feb 2, 2022·edited Feb 2, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
It amazes and sometimes annoys me when Democrats react defensively to charges of partisanship. How can a party that evidently believes, and expects you to believe, without evidence, that no win by our party can possibly be legitimate, claim that they are sincere about bipartisanship? I haven’t counted but I’ll bet you can count on one hand the number of Democrats voting for suppressive measures in all the states where they’ve been enacted.
Feb 2, 2022·edited Feb 2, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Harry Moore was the first NAACP official killed in the civil rights struggle. He was an educator here in Brevard County, Fl who was killed in the 1951 Christmas bombing of his home. His wife Hartiette died days later.
70 years later a white school board member has been severely harassed and threatened by our (wealthy) Fl Republican Rep and his followers. He’s sponsoring a bill that would eliminate school board salaries( ~40k) in our large school district.
The road ahead of us is long and steep and obstacles keep being thrown in our path. Many of us in Florida have become involved with various voter registration efforts. You may not be aware of this trial that is going on now. While folks are familiar with some of the other voting suppression measures in Florida's bill, you may not know about the obstacle to actually registering voters in the first place. I will keep an eye on this trial and let you know what the outcome is. https://tampabaytimes-fl.newsmemory.com/?publink=3cb531232_134834d
Sinema’s duplicity is astounding—not sure how she justifies her cynicism or how she sleeps at night. The HBCU threats represent a new low. Thank you for calling out the perpetrators. I sure wish we had a law to make voting compulsory because it would render our current sources of voting rights anxiety redundant. I have faith in the process of law even if at times it seems irritatingly slow.
We so often bemoan the dangers Trumpism poses to democracy by its slide into autocracy while the judicial umpires wag their fingers in its direction but prosecutors continue to fail to bring the warranted criminal cases against its leaders. I wish to recognize that this causes me to worry more about its threat to the Rule of Law then its peril to democracy. Yes, I recognize the dangers posed by the autocratic nature and actions of Trump and his Republican enablers. However, the essential challenge is, given that danger, what should be done to safeguard democracy. This is where the Rule of Law should provide the necessary guardrails to protect democracy and it’s precious American experiment. However, it seems insufficient actions are being taken and justice is neither swift nor sure. This is not because we lack the necessary laws or statutes to prosecute the crimes that have been and continue to be committed. Nor do we lack the prosecutorial resources. Both the criminal statutes and prosecutorial resources exist. Is it the evidence beyond a shadow of doubt that the crimes were committed and who the evident guilty parties are? No, we even have the open public and recorded confessions of the perpetrators of the crimes. Why then are the forces of justice then not already moving and prosecutions progressing? I believe the answer is the timidity and lack of will of those charged with the responsibility of enforcement and prosecution. If this is indeed the problem, let those possessing the will and backbone provide the needed support to those more timid. The answer for us must be to push for the needed enforcement and prosecution. Yes, push and push much harder. If we fail to protect the Rule of Law, that failure is what dooms democracy more than those autocrats who threaten us. As we so often find with most perils, we have met the real enemy and it is us and our own timidity to defend ourselves.
I want to add to this thought: "Let’s call them by name: Coup plotters and insurrectionists; traitors and seditionists; white supremacists and thugs. Hawley. Cruz. Jordan. Gaetz. Taylor-Greene. Gosar. Gohmert." Let's also start calling them FASCISTS. See article at this link: https://jordan93016.medium.com/its-time-to-start-calling-them-fascists-d9c7bba7de06.
One sign of Democratic strength in Congressional races is the quality of candidates. Here are two deeply religious candidates who stepped up in January and can flip Republican seats. In MI 03 (Grand Rapids), Hillary Scholten has signed up to run again. A lawyer in Grand Rapids, she worked previously for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, for the Mel Trotter Ministries supporting the homeless, and the justice department during the Obama administration. She lost by 6 points to very wealthy candidate Peter Meijer in a district which was R+8. Redistricted, MI 03 is now D+3. She can flip this district. In Ohio 01 (Cincinnati), Steve Chabot seemed vulnerable in 2018 and 2020. He defeated Kate Schroder by 4 points in 2020 and Aftab Pureval (now Mayor of Cincinnati) by 4 in 2018. The proposed redistricting would reduce the district's Republican lean and include all of the city in the district. OH 01 becomes R+3. It won't become more Republican after the law suit is completed. City Councilman Greg Landsman, an amateur boxer with a theology degree from Harvard, is a local who has created anti-poverty charities and has a record of accomplishment in the City Council. He can flip the district.
Robert you fairly have been critical of Garland and the DOJ but recently read I read an opinion from a lawyer who is a federal prosecutor who made a valid point I did not think about. He said that in our history no President or former President has been tried and convicted of a crime and the bar to do that is very high and that the evidence and case must be air tight and beyond reproach. In other words the evidence must be overwhelming and not circumstantial and it must connect Trump directly to the alleged crimes. The January 6th Committee is beginning to connect the dots and more witnesses are coming forward and were in the room and heard Trump’s comments and observed what he said and did. Remember Trump never documented anything or sent emails etc but there are notes from people who attended the meetings now available. If this is accurate I now understand why the DOJ is sitting patiently waiting for this to play out and helped by Trump himself making speeches.
Robert, there's an easy way to let Garland know how we feel: Email the DOJ (AskDOJ@usdoj.gov) and simply say, ”AG Garland, indict Trump.” If enough people leave that message, maybe it will help light a fire under him.
Great job Robert of keeping us current on critical issues facing us and the nation. My question and possibly your own, is what can we left leaning activists do to to light a fire under DOJ and specifically Merrick Garland to begin proceedings against Trump? Do you think he’s waiting for the January 6th Commission to go public first to pave his way for indictments?
Thanks for all your efforts to keep us informed and our democracy safe.
As we celebrate Black History Month, February 1 - March 1, remember and teach it - teach all of American history, we face our fellow Americans:
'Fear, anxiety follow third wave of bomb threats targeting HBCUs'
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/01/hbcu-bomb-threats-campus-reactions/
'Antisemitic rallies were held near Orlando, Florida, on Saturday and Sunday, with some two dozen people in neo-Nazi gear waving swastikas, stomping on Israeli flags, and yelling antisemitic epithets at passersby.'
'While various officials in the state condemned the protest, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came under fire as his spokesperson expressed doubt over whether the demonstrators were actually antisemitic, and raised the possibility that they were in fact Democrats trying to make the governor look bad.'
'In videos and pictures shared on social media, the demonstrators can be seen waving Nazi flags and banners, calling someone filming them a “devil” and a “fucking kike” and making Nazi salutes.'
'A video of the Orlando rally that spread on social media on Monday showed protesters standing on a highway overpass in front of banners of swastikas. One audibly yells “Heil Hitler.”
Another video showed the demonstrators attacking a passerby in his car.
The rallies were held near the campus of Central Florida University, which has a large Jewish student body, and near Disney World.'
https://www.timesofisrael.com/florida-governor-desantis-under-fire-for-refusal-to-condemn-orlando-neo-nazi-rallies/
Thank you Robert for your great article and your daily efforts to help us to reclaim democracy.
Currently, I’m looking into how to support making Voting day and National holiday so more folks turn out as well as working on other actions. I know that I can not stay in this country if Trump (sociopath) is re-elected and am working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.
I wish someone would do a story entitled “What does Trump have on each Republican”. Has he had his thugs threaten their families, their lives, or paid them off. I think it would be helpful to have more being written on social media or in papers about what’s not being talk about. As a psychotherapist, it reminds me of a toxic family system not talking about the elephant in the living room. The dysfunctional ties that cements and binds the psychopathology. How can we expose that?
One of the most upsetting things about the coup attempt is Trump's trying to use the military (including Homeland Security) for domestic purposes, in contradiction to the Constitution.
I appreciate how you call it like it is without mincing words, yet avoid sophomoric name-calling and ugly put-downs. The truth is ugly enough as it is. Thanks, Robert.
It amazes and sometimes annoys me when Democrats react defensively to charges of partisanship. How can a party that evidently believes, and expects you to believe, without evidence, that no win by our party can possibly be legitimate, claim that they are sincere about bipartisanship? I haven’t counted but I’ll bet you can count on one hand the number of Democrats voting for suppressive measures in all the states where they’ve been enacted.
Bipartisan, my ass.
Trump “is a corrupt, racist egomaniac who is motivated by revenge and greed.” Yes. And those are his good points.
Harry Moore was the first NAACP official killed in the civil rights struggle. He was an educator here in Brevard County, Fl who was killed in the 1951 Christmas bombing of his home. His wife Hartiette died days later.
https://www.pbs.org/harrymoore/harry/mbio.html
70 years later a white school board member has been severely harassed and threatened by our (wealthy) Fl Republican Rep and his followers. He’s sponsoring a bill that would eliminate school board salaries( ~40k) in our large school district.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-school-board-member-who-supports-masks-classrooms-says-people
The road ahead of us is long and steep and obstacles keep being thrown in our path. Many of us in Florida have become involved with various voter registration efforts. You may not be aware of this trial that is going on now. While folks are familiar with some of the other voting suppression measures in Florida's bill, you may not know about the obstacle to actually registering voters in the first place. I will keep an eye on this trial and let you know what the outcome is. https://tampabaytimes-fl.newsmemory.com/?publink=3cb531232_134834d
Sinema’s duplicity is astounding—not sure how she justifies her cynicism or how she sleeps at night. The HBCU threats represent a new low. Thank you for calling out the perpetrators. I sure wish we had a law to make voting compulsory because it would render our current sources of voting rights anxiety redundant. I have faith in the process of law even if at times it seems irritatingly slow.
We so often bemoan the dangers Trumpism poses to democracy by its slide into autocracy while the judicial umpires wag their fingers in its direction but prosecutors continue to fail to bring the warranted criminal cases against its leaders. I wish to recognize that this causes me to worry more about its threat to the Rule of Law then its peril to democracy. Yes, I recognize the dangers posed by the autocratic nature and actions of Trump and his Republican enablers. However, the essential challenge is, given that danger, what should be done to safeguard democracy. This is where the Rule of Law should provide the necessary guardrails to protect democracy and it’s precious American experiment. However, it seems insufficient actions are being taken and justice is neither swift nor sure. This is not because we lack the necessary laws or statutes to prosecute the crimes that have been and continue to be committed. Nor do we lack the prosecutorial resources. Both the criminal statutes and prosecutorial resources exist. Is it the evidence beyond a shadow of doubt that the crimes were committed and who the evident guilty parties are? No, we even have the open public and recorded confessions of the perpetrators of the crimes. Why then are the forces of justice then not already moving and prosecutions progressing? I believe the answer is the timidity and lack of will of those charged with the responsibility of enforcement and prosecution. If this is indeed the problem, let those possessing the will and backbone provide the needed support to those more timid. The answer for us must be to push for the needed enforcement and prosecution. Yes, push and push much harder. If we fail to protect the Rule of Law, that failure is what dooms democracy more than those autocrats who threaten us. As we so often find with most perils, we have met the real enemy and it is us and our own timidity to defend ourselves.
I want to add to this thought: "Let’s call them by name: Coup plotters and insurrectionists; traitors and seditionists; white supremacists and thugs. Hawley. Cruz. Jordan. Gaetz. Taylor-Greene. Gosar. Gohmert." Let's also start calling them FASCISTS. See article at this link: https://jordan93016.medium.com/its-time-to-start-calling-them-fascists-d9c7bba7de06.
Isn’t that something?