Hear, Hear, Robert. Off topic, but maybe not, is this inspirational speech by Illinois' Governor Pritzker. It's 3 minutes long but IMO worth your time!
Brilliant! We need to Teach Our Children, and everyone else, that cruelty is evidence of a broken person and populace. It is untenable and will result in our individual and collective downfall, a.k.a. the Republican Party.
My friend who is a Presiding Judge in Texas who supervises and mentors all the District Court judges in a large part of the state calls the new judges "baby judges". As in all professions, it takes time to learn the job and extensive experience and knowledge to do it well. In corporations, each level of management demands new challenges. One is promoted to the next level of management because you are seen as having the potential to handle the larger responsibilities. When you step into the job you find you are about 50% ready to handle the job and it is good to be a quick learner and have some mentors at hand. So, why is a "toddler judge" with three years experience and only 14 days of presiding over criminal trials and next to no experience with espionage and classified documents going to be in charge of "one of the most significant stories of our lifetime". Shouldn't be more than geography and a random draw. I must admit I smell a rat in the random draw process. Did someone do random draws until it came up with perhaps the worse person for this trial (unless you're the defendant) including a very negative perception of her fairness and competence by the public? And with the rules that the judge has the power to acquit the defendant with no way to appeal her singular perhaps quite biased ruling. This leaves me with even less confidence in our judicial system than the shenanigans of the Alito/Thomas Court. My friend, the Presiding Judge, has a long view of the judicial system and has confidence the system will right itself over time like it has in the past. I hope he is right. However, it seems like there is a lot of room for reform to remedy some of these obvious problems with judicial ethics and in our time the bias of judges. This said, I do have confidence in Jack Smith who has considerable experience and acumen in dealing with rogue heads of state. We may yet have accountability and together we can influence the arch of justice toward fairness and accountability.
Hi, Cathy. I share your confidence in Jack Smith. Although i am not certain if this is true, a lawyer who practices in the SF of Florida say that Smith appropriately checked a box on an intake form saying the crimes occurred in the Palm Beach division of the Southern District. That limited the draw to four judges. One of those three already has a "full" calendar of complex cases, leaving three judges for the random choice.
Also heard this morning, that Jack Smith didn't charge the two conversations that happened at DT's New Jersey golf club. So, if the Florida case fails he could still indict in New Jersey on those two. Now, hopefully, I can just leave all this to Jack Smith and hope the media will quit giving DT all the oxygen. Much better to hear other real news like the Supreme Court positive decision on Native American Child Welfare Act.
We all would hope that in such a monumental and precedent setting case that the presiding judge would be one of the most experienced and have a record of rarely being overturned on appeal. Yet, now we have the former puppet of 45 in charge. Hmmm.
I can't begin to know why that happened. But I have extreme faith that Jack Smith knew it was a possibility before he even considered Florida as a venue. My coffee is filled with optimism today.
I think having Cannon oversee this case may be a gift. It completely wipes away the idea that the judge overseeing this highly charged case might be in the pocket of the prosecution. And she is under the microscope of the Appeals Court that has made it clear quite recently that she had better follow the letter of the law and not her "Dear Leader".
I see this as a "silver lining" moment. And I also share your confidence in Jack Smith. And now, I am joining Robert Hubbell in temporarily parking my Trump thoughts. So much to work on elsewhere. Thanks again for your view from Texas. Glad you are on the scene to balance the scales in a red state turning purple. But MA does miss you :)
Dear Robert, I loved today’s writing. I am so in favor of supporting the 18-35 year old voters and their colleagues to get them to vote. I follow Dash Dobrofsky on substack and am impressed by his energy and dedication to Gen Z. Please check him out when you have a moment. He is very responsive and comments on all his readers’ observations. I am relieved not to be reading about Dump. I do take breaks, though it is all so heart-stopping sometimes to see what is going on in the US and “hard to look away” like a car crash or train wreck. I agree with you that the repugnants are their own worst enemy and will turn so many people off, they will continue to lose. That is why they gerrymander the hell out of everywhere they can. I find your even tone and factual reporting so uplifting. You are on my daily reading schedule, with Heather, Dash, Joyce Vance, Kareem, Steve Schmidt. I love substack and rely on you all for my news. I look at the Times and WAPO, but you are the writers I turn to for the facts, M’am, nothing but the facts. Thank you, as always.
Sign up with the CIVICS CENTER ---- I've been writing postcards through them to high school and college REGISTERED voters to encourage them to get their friends to register and vote. Numbers suggest it has been high successful
Great analysis by Jennifer Rubin. "He is willing to get 3/4 of a loaf over and over and over again. And that's how you govern." She thinks he is the greatest president of our lifetime.
This morning, I'm choosing to bask in Jim Clyburn's words. And given the reliable sources we choose to read, present company included, seems we can even add, 'Joe Biden is making history.'
And while Jennifer Rubin's column comes into my inbox, I'm not on twitter. I appreciate the link that is well worth the 2 minute listen. Thanks for this too, Lynell.
Hope these two help to make your day, Jean. I subscribe to Jennifer Rubin's column as well. But I didn't see the Twitter comments she made in any recent column of hers. So, we both did good visiting her on Twitter!
Here’s something sunny from the Sunshine State ! 😎 Rep Anna Eskamani ( a thorn in DeSantis’s side 😉)is an amazing boots-on-the-ground community organizer and her non-profit, People Power For Florida, takes NO corporate donations. PPFF is doing amazing work throughout Florida. This is how it’s done !
Thank you for your example of Texas environmental coalition. My fear relates to the estimated 35+million 18-35 year olds, likely progressive voters , who won’t be voting in 2024. When will they understand that their saying “ doesn’t make a difference” resulted in Hillary losing and Trump winning in 2016. They want the USA to slide further into a racist, Christian theocracy controlled by corporations? Who, what, how do we break through their anti-political veneer? Don’t they care about: their rights, the climate, gun control, free speech, their rights to be LGBTQAI+ or not, their privacy, abortion rights, etc. We need to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R Lewis Act so that we have one person one vote and every vote counted, but unless voters vote, those 22 States who are putting up barriers to the ballot box will prevail and so will book-burning and much more.
Alice, actually Hillary “lost” to Dump by the electoral college count, not the popular vote (more than 3 million over Dump). Same with Gore, but the stacked Republican Florida Supreme Court handed the election to Gov Jeb Bush’es bro.
It was not the Florida Court that did this foul deed in 2000, but the five Republican-appointed justices on the United States Supreme Court who delivered GWB (and the Iraq war) to us.
I was shocked to hear today that Trumps play book for keeping the documents came from a right wind nut job by the name of Tom Fitton (not an attorney). Trump listened to him and not his Legal team. He has walked The Donald right into this mess. LOL. I almost feel like sending him flowers.
djt is always going to do what he wants, which means ignoring advice and experts and the law - up until Jack Smith came into his life. May his name (and brand) be equated with "loser" and infamy and every extreme of "bad" for future history to document.
Yes Robert, it was nice that you shifted to other topics rather than the former president. As a sales person over the years, we tried to never give the competition “free time“ by mentioning there name. Similar to the way that Stephen Colbert never mentions the former presidents name. And yes, young voters are the key. Finally, as a new subscriber, really enjoy your conversational style when you write your newsletter. Thank you.
Re the Blue-Red balance and the role of young new voters ... we need to highlight the threat of the "No Labels" third-party movement. The polls show that young people's sentiment for Biden is antsy, and is boosting the improbable RFKJr. But unfortunately the seductive pitch of "No Labels" targets exactly them, pushing a sensible, practical, mid-stream Positive Solutions third-party candidate. Surprise, they will take more votes from Biden than from Trump, and surprise, their funding is from dark money such as Justice Thomas's own Harlan Crow clearly having a motive. Just a tiny fraction in key states can be critical, as we saw with Jill Stein causing the defeat of Hillary. You can see the very misleading "No Labels" website https://www.nolabels.org , and NYT's stories on the threat perspectives, eg https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/us/politics/no-labels-president-manchin.html? or WaPo https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/14/biden-no-labels-opposition/.
Congrats on getting your letter published. It was effective, in part, because it was direct and short. For other readers, here it is, in full:
Re “The G.O.P. Field Faces a Choice: Law and Order or Loyalty” (Political Memo, June 12):
It is not just Republican candidates who must choose. The nature of the charges in Donald Trump’s indictment and the detailed facts set out there, coupled with the former president’s attacks on the special prosecutor and the Department of Justice, confront all of us with a choice.
The nation is now divided into two camps: those who believe in the rule of law, and those who oppose it. There is no third alternative.
Speaking of Ron DeSantis and Covid statistics and, in general, his Covid responses, we were senior citizens in our home in Sanibel , Florida when the first vaccines became available. Gov. DeSantis chose the local grocery chain, Publix , as the official distributor. In Florida there ate competing Walgreen’s and CVS on opposite corner every half mile or so all up and down every coastal and interior town. So that winter we rose at 5am, turned on our IPads, grabbed our cell phones and entered the lottery of the state appointment site. Twice in our case but we managed to get through and got appointments in Cape Coral which was close. My brother in law drove to Delray Beach for his 2 appointments from Ft. Myers ( totally across the state ) and a friend flew to Pensacola from Ft. Myers because she thought Pfizer was safer. Gov. DeSantis chose Publix because the Publix heiress had given a pot full of money to his campaign PAC. Those were the days !! If anyone today can remember those hectic days of vaccines only for first responders and senior citizens. No initial help for seniors who were not computer literate or persistent or even able to access a computer. Today Gov. DeSantis runs on a platform of Covid management that is duplicitous and heartbreaking. And he should be chastised for it but the majority of Republican Floridians celebrate his stand.
Hear, Hear, Robert. Off topic, but maybe not, is this inspirational speech by Illinois' Governor Pritzker. It's 3 minutes long but IMO worth your time!
https://twitter.com/GovPritzker/status/1668399578155024384?s=20
Wonderful speech by Pritzker. thanks for sharing!
Brilliant. Idiot detector-someone who is cruel, who hasn’t evolved past primal fears of the other.
Brilliant! We need to Teach Our Children, and everyone else, that cruelty is evidence of a broken person and populace. It is untenable and will result in our individual and collective downfall, a.k.a. the Republican Party.
The same goes for we grownups, too, Judith!
No kidding!!
I appreciated your shift in focus to more positive points. I am tired of reading the same Trump news all the time. Thank you, Robert.
My friend who is a Presiding Judge in Texas who supervises and mentors all the District Court judges in a large part of the state calls the new judges "baby judges". As in all professions, it takes time to learn the job and extensive experience and knowledge to do it well. In corporations, each level of management demands new challenges. One is promoted to the next level of management because you are seen as having the potential to handle the larger responsibilities. When you step into the job you find you are about 50% ready to handle the job and it is good to be a quick learner and have some mentors at hand. So, why is a "toddler judge" with three years experience and only 14 days of presiding over criminal trials and next to no experience with espionage and classified documents going to be in charge of "one of the most significant stories of our lifetime". Shouldn't be more than geography and a random draw. I must admit I smell a rat in the random draw process. Did someone do random draws until it came up with perhaps the worse person for this trial (unless you're the defendant) including a very negative perception of her fairness and competence by the public? And with the rules that the judge has the power to acquit the defendant with no way to appeal her singular perhaps quite biased ruling. This leaves me with even less confidence in our judicial system than the shenanigans of the Alito/Thomas Court. My friend, the Presiding Judge, has a long view of the judicial system and has confidence the system will right itself over time like it has in the past. I hope he is right. However, it seems like there is a lot of room for reform to remedy some of these obvious problems with judicial ethics and in our time the bias of judges. This said, I do have confidence in Jack Smith who has considerable experience and acumen in dealing with rogue heads of state. We may yet have accountability and together we can influence the arch of justice toward fairness and accountability.
Hi, Cathy. I share your confidence in Jack Smith. Although i am not certain if this is true, a lawyer who practices in the SF of Florida say that Smith appropriately checked a box on an intake form saying the crimes occurred in the Palm Beach division of the Southern District. That limited the draw to four judges. One of those three already has a "full" calendar of complex cases, leaving three judges for the random choice.
Also heard this morning, that Jack Smith didn't charge the two conversations that happened at DT's New Jersey golf club. So, if the Florida case fails he could still indict in New Jersey on those two. Now, hopefully, I can just leave all this to Jack Smith and hope the media will quit giving DT all the oxygen. Much better to hear other real news like the Supreme Court positive decision on Native American Child Welfare Act.
Cathy, I feel your concern.
We all would hope that in such a monumental and precedent setting case that the presiding judge would be one of the most experienced and have a record of rarely being overturned on appeal. Yet, now we have the former puppet of 45 in charge. Hmmm.
I can't begin to know why that happened. But I have extreme faith that Jack Smith knew it was a possibility before he even considered Florida as a venue. My coffee is filled with optimism today.
I think having Cannon oversee this case may be a gift. It completely wipes away the idea that the judge overseeing this highly charged case might be in the pocket of the prosecution. And she is under the microscope of the Appeals Court that has made it clear quite recently that she had better follow the letter of the law and not her "Dear Leader".
I see this as a "silver lining" moment. And I also share your confidence in Jack Smith. And now, I am joining Robert Hubbell in temporarily parking my Trump thoughts. So much to work on elsewhere. Thanks again for your view from Texas. Glad you are on the scene to balance the scales in a red state turning purple. But MA does miss you :)
Miss MA too although I do enjoy my life in Texas. It is a state turning purple. Oh, that's all the women and good men angry about Dobbs... LOL!
Dear Robert, I loved today’s writing. I am so in favor of supporting the 18-35 year old voters and their colleagues to get them to vote. I follow Dash Dobrofsky on substack and am impressed by his energy and dedication to Gen Z. Please check him out when you have a moment. He is very responsive and comments on all his readers’ observations. I am relieved not to be reading about Dump. I do take breaks, though it is all so heart-stopping sometimes to see what is going on in the US and “hard to look away” like a car crash or train wreck. I agree with you that the repugnants are their own worst enemy and will turn so many people off, they will continue to lose. That is why they gerrymander the hell out of everywhere they can. I find your even tone and factual reporting so uplifting. You are on my daily reading schedule, with Heather, Dash, Joyce Vance, Kareem, Steve Schmidt. I love substack and rely on you all for my news. I look at the Times and WAPO, but you are the writers I turn to for the facts, M’am, nothing but the facts. Thank you, as always.
Sign up with the CIVICS CENTER ---- I've been writing postcards through them to high school and college REGISTERED voters to encourage them to get their friends to register and vote. Numbers suggest it has been high successful
VoteRiders is wonderful too
Let's talk about Joe Biden. I repeat: "Let them make headlines. Joe Biden is making headway. ~Jim Clyburn, South Carolina.
Then there's this analysis by Jennifer Rubin about Joe Biden on Twitter - the 3/4 of a loaf man, again and again and again (2 minutes):
https://twitter.com/HC_Richardson/status/1668977759064936452?s=20
Great analysis by Jennifer Rubin. "He is willing to get 3/4 of a loaf over and over and over again. And that's how you govern." She thinks he is the greatest president of our lifetime.
This morning, I'm choosing to bask in Jim Clyburn's words. And given the reliable sources we choose to read, present company included, seems we can even add, 'Joe Biden is making history.'
And while Jennifer Rubin's column comes into my inbox, I'm not on twitter. I appreciate the link that is well worth the 2 minute listen. Thanks for this too, Lynell.
Hope these two help to make your day, Jean. I subscribe to Jennifer Rubin's column as well. But I didn't see the Twitter comments she made in any recent column of hers. So, we both did good visiting her on Twitter!
Jennifer Rubin is an unfailingly clear-headed, practical, insightful, and well-informed columnist.
Thank you for this Twitter clip. I wish every dissatisfied ‘progressive’ would see it and think about it.
Here’s something sunny from the Sunshine State ! 😎 Rep Anna Eskamani ( a thorn in DeSantis’s side 😉)is an amazing boots-on-the-ground community organizer and her non-profit, People Power For Florida, takes NO corporate donations. PPFF is doing amazing work throughout Florida. This is how it’s done !
https://www.peoplepowerforflorida.com/
Love Anna Eskamani!
She’s a mover and a shaker 👏🏼👏🏼
Thank you for your example of Texas environmental coalition. My fear relates to the estimated 35+million 18-35 year olds, likely progressive voters , who won’t be voting in 2024. When will they understand that their saying “ doesn’t make a difference” resulted in Hillary losing and Trump winning in 2016. They want the USA to slide further into a racist, Christian theocracy controlled by corporations? Who, what, how do we break through their anti-political veneer? Don’t they care about: their rights, the climate, gun control, free speech, their rights to be LGBTQAI+ or not, their privacy, abortion rights, etc. We need to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R Lewis Act so that we have one person one vote and every vote counted, but unless voters vote, those 22 States who are putting up barriers to the ballot box will prevail and so will book-burning and much more.
Alice, actually Hillary “lost” to Dump by the electoral college count, not the popular vote (more than 3 million over Dump). Same with Gore, but the stacked Republican Florida Supreme Court handed the election to Gov Jeb Bush’es bro.
It was not the Florida Court that did this foul deed in 2000, but the five Republican-appointed justices on the United States Supreme Court who delivered GWB (and the Iraq war) to us.
Ty for correcting my comment.
As far as the Iraq War is concerned: also blame the feckless, cowardly Democrats who let GWB stampede them into approving our attack on Iraq.
I was shocked to hear today that Trumps play book for keeping the documents came from a right wind nut job by the name of Tom Fitton (not an attorney). Trump listened to him and not his Legal team. He has walked The Donald right into this mess. LOL. I almost feel like sending him flowers.
Business Insider re Tom Fitton: https://www.businessinsider.com/tom-fitton-told-trump-white-house-documents-were-his-cnn-2022-8
Fitton = Dweeb
djt is always going to do what he wants, which means ignoring advice and experts and the law - up until Jack Smith came into his life. May his name (and brand) be equated with "loser" and infamy and every extreme of "bad" for future history to document.
Yes Robert, it was nice that you shifted to other topics rather than the former president. As a sales person over the years, we tried to never give the competition “free time“ by mentioning there name. Similar to the way that Stephen Colbert never mentions the former presidents name. And yes, young voters are the key. Finally, as a new subscriber, really enjoy your conversational style when you write your newsletter. Thank you.
thanks for the feedback on tone/style. I appreciate it.
and thank you for being a subscriber!
I like your advice about taking a break. I’m usually a news nut, but I took a break tonight. Just so much of Orangeman I can take.
Re the Blue-Red balance and the role of young new voters ... we need to highlight the threat of the "No Labels" third-party movement. The polls show that young people's sentiment for Biden is antsy, and is boosting the improbable RFKJr. But unfortunately the seductive pitch of "No Labels" targets exactly them, pushing a sensible, practical, mid-stream Positive Solutions third-party candidate. Surprise, they will take more votes from Biden than from Trump, and surprise, their funding is from dark money such as Justice Thomas's own Harlan Crow clearly having a motive. Just a tiny fraction in key states can be critical, as we saw with Jill Stein causing the defeat of Hillary. You can see the very misleading "No Labels" website https://www.nolabels.org , and NYT's stories on the threat perspectives, eg https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/19/us/politics/no-labels-president-manchin.html? or WaPo https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/14/biden-no-labels-opposition/.
Off-topic. For those who have read Robert's urgings to write letters to the editor and thought, "They'd never publish mine," I offer:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/opinion/letters/trump-indictment.html?smid=url-share
(You'll have to wade down past a group of letters about Trump's indictment.) Yes, that could be you.
Congrats on getting your letter published. It was effective, in part, because it was direct and short. For other readers, here it is, in full:
Re “The G.O.P. Field Faces a Choice: Law and Order or Loyalty” (Political Memo, June 12):
It is not just Republican candidates who must choose. The nature of the charges in Donald Trump’s indictment and the detailed facts set out there, coupled with the former president’s attacks on the special prosecutor and the Department of Justice, confront all of us with a choice.
The nation is now divided into two camps: those who believe in the rule of law, and those who oppose it. There is no third alternative.
Never take break from your words, Robert.
They are the oxygen that gets me up, keeps me going, and gives me hope. So grateful.
Michael Podhorzer is almost always one of the speakers at the Movement Briefing webinars. This Friday's webinar with Anat Shenkar-Osorio and the Research Coalition will have guests Rep. Jamie Raskin and EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler. Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TTF5PM7wQHmScGCGxUjzNQ?utm_campaign=Movement%20Briefing#/registration It is very well worth you time!
This link seems to be wrong. Can you try reposting?
Here you are Jon. I updated the link above as well. Thanks. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TTF5PM7wQHmScGCGxUjzNQ?utm_campaign=Movement%20Briefing#/registration
Thanks!
Speaking of Ron DeSantis and Covid statistics and, in general, his Covid responses, we were senior citizens in our home in Sanibel , Florida when the first vaccines became available. Gov. DeSantis chose the local grocery chain, Publix , as the official distributor. In Florida there ate competing Walgreen’s and CVS on opposite corner every half mile or so all up and down every coastal and interior town. So that winter we rose at 5am, turned on our IPads, grabbed our cell phones and entered the lottery of the state appointment site. Twice in our case but we managed to get through and got appointments in Cape Coral which was close. My brother in law drove to Delray Beach for his 2 appointments from Ft. Myers ( totally across the state ) and a friend flew to Pensacola from Ft. Myers because she thought Pfizer was safer. Gov. DeSantis chose Publix because the Publix heiress had given a pot full of money to his campaign PAC. Those were the days !! If anyone today can remember those hectic days of vaccines only for first responders and senior citizens. No initial help for seniors who were not computer literate or persistent or even able to access a computer. Today Gov. DeSantis runs on a platform of Covid management that is duplicitous and heartbreaking. And he should be chastised for it but the majority of Republican Floridians celebrate his stand.
Thanks for that background on DeSantis's corrupt distribution of the Covid vaccine in the early days of its availability.
Thank you, Robert. Your note makes me reflect on how Moses kept the spirits of the Israelites, as they wandered in the desert for 40 years. Onward!