;)
December 15, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "The House on Thursday passed a bill that would allow Puerto Ricans to decide their future governing status, a long-sought goal on the island territory. The vote was 233-to-191, with 16 Republicans breaking ranks and joining Democrats in backing the measure. The legislation would authorize a vote in Puerto Rico to chose whether to become a state, an independent nation, or a country 'in free association with the United States.' The island has been a territory since 1898, and residents there were granted citizenship in 1917. The White House signaled its strong support for the bill earlier Thursday, but the measure is unlikely to make it through the Senate, where 60 votes would be required for it to advance, by the end of the year. And prospects for passage in the House next year, with Republicans in control, are significantly diminished."
Kris Rhim of the New York Times: "The N.C.A.A., which has struggled to govern the shifting landscape of college sports amid rapid changes involving endorsement deals, large media contracts and conference realignment, on Thursday named Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts as the organization's next president. Baker, a Republican, has been the governor of Massachusetts since 2015, with his second term ending in January. He will take over as president of the N.C.A.A. in March 2023. Baker will replace Mark Emmert, who will serve as a consultant to the N.C.A.A. until June 2023. Baker has some familiarity with college sports. He played basketball at Harvard, including eight games for the varsity team in the 1977-78 season. His wife, Lauren, was a gymnast at Northwestern, and their two sons played Division III football."
Marie: I am really, really sad I had to be away all morning because -- oh nos! -- I missed Trump's Major Announcement! ~~~
Remember, Christmas is coming, and this makes a great Christmas gift. -- Donald Trump, in a video accompanying the Major Announcement ~~~
Pretty sure he meant "great Christmas grift." He's not that good at reading a teleprompter. -- Marie
~~~ Eileen Connelly of Yahoo! News: "The reveal Thursday morning came after Trump teased a 'major announcement' on his Truth Social platform Wednesday. The post had fans and critics speculating that he was going to announce a running mate for his third campaign for president or perhaps even drop out as he sags in early polls." But no! "... Trump on Thursday revealed a new foray into NFT [non-fungible token] sales, sharing a website that offers a series of what he called 'digital trading cards' for $99 each. On a website called CollectTrumpCards.com, the 45th president is selling a series of artworks featuring likenesses of himself depicted as a superhero with laser eyes, an astronaut, a John Wayne-like cowboy and a golfer -- along with, of course, a dark-suited Trump surrounded by gold bars.... Trump's launch comes at a time when the NFT market has stagnated, with prices dropping 97% since the start of the year." ~~~
~~~ Thanks to RAS & others for reminding me what a loser I am for not being right on top of Trump's exciting Major Announcement. I was surprised this Major Announcement wasn't the banner headline on the NYT. Maybe the Times reporters extended their one-day strike just to fix Trump.
Michigan. Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "Three men convicted of aiding a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan in 2020 were sentenced on Thursday to lengthy sentences that could put them in prison for at least seven years. The three men, Paul Bellar, 24, Joseph Morrison, 28, and Pete Musico, 45, were convicted in October of aiding a plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer, a Democrat, as part of a right-wing backlash over her role in the state's Covid restrictions. The men, all Michigan residents, were found guilty of providing material support for terrorist acts and illegal gang membership, as well as felony firearms charges. The trial was one in a series of cases that grew out of a sprawling domestic terrorism investigation into the kidnapping plot. Federal prosecutors have delivered mixed results, with some convictions and other acquittals. As a whole, the cases have been seen as underscoring the rising threat of political violence in America."
~~~~~~~~~~
Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Marking a decade since the Sandy Hook school massacre, President Joe Biden said Wednesday the United States must do more to tackle the nation's gun violence epidemic and people should have 'societal guilt' for taking too long to address it.... '... We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again,' he said. 'We owe it to the courageous, young survivors and to the families who lost part of their soul ten years ago to turn their pain into purpose.' The president touted the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that he signed into law in June, the most sweeping& legislation aimed at preventing gun violence in 30 years.... 'Still, we must do more,' Biden said. 'I am determined to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used at Sandy Hook and countless other mass shootings in America.'" ~~~
~~~ Lois Beckett of the Guardian: "In the 10 years since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school, the US gun safety movement has gained some political power, while the National Rifle Association has been weakened by internal disputes and legal battles. At the same time, overall gun ownership in the US appears to have grown. People who choose to own guns are still a minority of the US population, with about a third of Americans saying they personally own a gun, and fewer than half saying they live in a house with a gun, according to survey estimates.... Americans bought an estimated 150m guns in the past decade.... The leading cause of gun death is gun suicide...."
Peter Baker & Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "President Biden sought to revitalize America's listless relationship with Africa on Wednesday, promising a grab bag of economic initiatives to make up for a predecessor who had denigrated the continent and catch up with strategic competitors like China that have expanded their influence. Assembling most of Africa's leaders in Washington for the first time since 2014, Mr. Biden vowed to invest what aides calculated will be $55 billion on the continent over the next three years while supporting its ambitions for greater global leadership and bolstering efforts to transform it into a more prosperous, healthier and technologically advanced region."
Christopher Rugaber of the AP: "The Federal Reserve reinforced its inflation fight Wednesday by raising its key interest rate for the seventh time this year and signaling more hikes to come. But the Fed announced a smaller hike than it had in its past four meetings at a time when inflation is showing signs of easing. The Fed boosted its benchmark rate a half-point to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years.... The policymakers also forecast that their key short-term rate will reach a range of 5% to 5.25% by the end of 2023. That suggests that the Fed is poised to raise its benchmark rate by an additional three-quarters of a point and leave it there through next year." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.
Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "A generation of congressional leaders fought back tears on Wednesday as they unveiled the official portrait of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the first woman to hold the chamber's gavel, and the first to have her likeness immortalized in the Speaker's Lobby. In her remarks, Pelosi thanked her colleagues for helping her craft such a storied congressional career, noting that she made history as the first female House speaker only because her caucus 'had the courage to elect a woman.... I'm honored to be the first, but it will only be a good accomplishment if I'm not the last,' Pelosi said. Figures including former House speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) joined Pelosi in the Capitol's Statuary Hall to celebrate her portrait and speakership." ~~~
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Congress on Wednesday gave final approval to legislation to remove from the Capitol a statue of Roger Brooke Taney, the Supreme Court justice who wrote the racist Dred Scott decision, and replace it with a bust of Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights icon and the first Black man to serve as a justice on the nation's highest court. The legislation, sponsored by Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, passed the House by a voice vote after it passed the Senate last week without a recorded vote, a procedure used for bills to which nobody objects. It now advances to President Biden's desk for his signature. It was a significant victory for lawmakers who have tried for years to remove Confederate statues and other symbols of racism from the Capitol, and an example of how quickly legislation can move through Congress in a bipartisan manner during a so-called lame-duck session after the year's political campaigns have ended."
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday approved a weeklong spending bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend, as top lawmakers rushed to cement an emerging deal on a sprawling spending package to keep federal programs running into next fall. The measure, which passed 224 to 201 and largely on party lines, would buy time to finalize an agreed-upon outline announced late Tuesday by three senior lawmakers in both parties, backed by party leaders, for a longer-term package expected to total roughly $1.7 trillion.... Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader who hopes to become speaker and is toiling to win over far-right colleagues who oppose government spending, has instructed his members to vote against any such funding package.... Nine Republicans broke with their party to support the measure, most of whom are leaving Congress at the end of the year." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)
Olga Rodriguez & Stefanie Dazio of the AP: "The man accused of attacking the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ... he was looking to harm Pelosi because she is second in line for the presidency, a San Francisco police investigator testified Wednesday. The suspect, David DePape, broke into the couple's San Francisco home Oct. 28, seeking to kidnap the speaker -- who was out of town -- and instead beat her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, authorities said. The violence sent shockwaves through the political world. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy ruled that prosecutors had shown enough evidence during a preliminary hearing to move forward with a trial on the state charges, including attempted murder. DePape is due back in state court on Dec. 28." The Washington Post's story is here.
Josh Kovensky & Hunter Walker of TPM: "Within two hours of protesters breaking the first barricades at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, right-wing politicians and media figures were already texting President Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to lay blame on far-left 'antifa' agitators. The first message to mention the group came from Fox New host Laura Ingraham.... Members of Congress were key proponents of this conspiracy theory despite the fact they were present at the Capitol as Trump supporters brawled with police and smashed through the building. In the wake of a massive FBI investigation that is the largest in the bureau's history and has resulted in hundreds of arrests of people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, there has been no credible evidence of any widespread far-left presence.... Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) ... piped in as the attack unfolded with suggestions that 'antifa' were the real perpetrators."
2020's No. 1 Voter Fraudster. Hannah Sschoenbaum of the AP (Dec. 13): "The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said it has submitted to state prosecutors the findings of its voter fraud probe into Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff to ... Donald Trump, who was simultaneously registered to vote in North Carolina and two other states earlier this year.... Prosecutors with the attorney general's office will determine whether criminal charges are appropriate, the bureau said in a statement. Meadows, a former Republican North Carolina congressman..., had listed a mobile home Scaly Mountain, North Carolina, that he never owned as his physical address weeks before casting an absentee by-mail ballot in the state for the 2020 presidential election. Trump won the Southern swing state that year by just over 1 percentage point."
Andy Kroll of ProPublica, and Aditi Ramaswami of the Lever: "Flush with money after receiving the largest-known political advocacy donation in U.S. history, conservative activist Leonard Leo and his associates are spending millions of dollars to influence some of the Supreme Court's most consequential recent cases, newly released tax documents obtained by ProPublica and The Lever show. The documents detail how Leo, who helped build the Supreme Court's conservative majority as an adviser to ... Donald Trump, has used a sprawling network of opaque nonprofits to fund groups advocating for ending affirmative action, rolling back anti-discrimination protections and allowing state legislatures unreviewable oversight of federal elections. The records also show that the Leo-aligned nonprofits paid millions of dollars to for-profit entities connected to Leo.... The money flowed mostly through so-called dark money groups...." MB: And of course we can credit the confederate Supremes' ruling in favor of Citizens United for the proliferation of dark money. Funny how that worked out.
Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "Twitter owner Elon Musk's boosting of far-right memes and grievances has injected new energy into the jumbled set of conspiracy theories known as QAnon.... The billionaire has spread bogus theories about the violent attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband to his 120 million followers, and he called for the criminal prosecution of infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci. He has thrown around baseless accusations about adults sexualizing children.... And on Tuesday, he tweeted a message with an emoji that many ... QAnon believers saw ... as a wink to one of their foundational icons.... Among QAnon promoters..., the message was clear: Musk was speaking to them.... Musk has become so popular in QAnon circles that some regard him, not Trump, as the savior-like figure they had been waiting on to usher in 'the Storm,' a quasi-biblical moment in which the cabal that runs the American government, media, technology industry and education system would be vanquished through public executions."
Amanda Silberling of Tech Crunch: "The Twitter account @ElonJet, which uses publicly available data to track the whereabouts of Elon Musk’s private jet, has been permanently suspended from Twitter. 'My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,' Musk tweeted on November 6. Over the last month, it seems Musk changed his mind." Musk removed the account without explaining why, briefly reinstated it, then banned it again "to prohibit sharing live location information."
Drew Harwell & Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post report the back-and-forth and inconsistencies in Twitter's new "absolute free-speech policy" that has a very special carveout for Elon.
Adam Cancryn & David Lim of Politico: "The Biden administration plans to reopen a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service to mail free at-home Covid-19 tests to households that request them.... The revival of one of the government's most popular and widely used pandemic programs comes as the administration prepares for another potential winter surge. Biden officials paused the USPS program in early September over concerns that the high demand for free tests had put the administration on pace to deplete its stockpile before winter. They warned at the time the government could not afford to purchase more tests absent new funding from Congress, and needed to preserve the 'limited remaining supply' for future Covid-19 surges." ~~~
~~~ ** Update. Here's the link to the USPS page to order the home test kits. According to the page, orders will ship beginning December 19. Thanks to Forrest M. for the link.
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Laura Strickler & Rich Schapiro of NBC News: "A Florida pastor and his son were arrested Wednesday on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $8 million in federal Covid relief funds and attempting to use some of the money to buy a luxury home near Walt Disney World. Evan Edwards and his son, Josh, 30, were taken into custody five months after an NBC News report raised questions over why they hadn't been charged in the alleged scam, which federal prosecutors first identified in court papers in December 2020." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: When this pastor asked himself, "What Would Jesus Do?" the answer that came up was, "Get in your Mercedes, flee up I-75 with 'shredded documents in the vehicle, as well as suitcases full of financial records and ... electronic devices stuffed into so-called Faraday bags, which block radio frequencies to keep ... from being tracked.'"
Georgia. What if you are a segregationist & you don't want Black people to vote but you can no longer use the jelly-bean-count voter-rights method so you put in a system that makes it less likely for Black people to vote but the Black people keep on voting anyway and keep on electing their preferred candidates why even Black candidates? What to do? ~~~
~~~ Kate Brumback & Jeff Amy of the AP: "Georgia's top elections official urged lawmakers on Wednesday to end general election runoffs -- this month's bitter Senate contest was the latest example -- but offered no specific proposals, saying there is a 'wide range of options.' The push by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to discard the unusual format for general elections comes after high-profile Senate races went into overtime this year and in 2020, with Democrats winning each time.... Raffensperger said in a statement that Georgia is 'one of the only states that always seems to have a runoff' and that the legislature should 'consider reforms.' Georgia is one of four states that have runoffs in general elections, though only Georgia and Louisiana use them for all races. Nine states hold runoffs in primaries, though the rules vary." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.
New Hampshire & New Jersey. What Are My Neighbors Doing Today? Julianne MoShane of NBC News: "A New Hampshire man and a New Jersey man have been arrested and charged in connection with the smuggling of military equipment to Russia, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. Alexey Brayman, 35, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, and Vadim Yermolenko, 41, of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, could face up to 30 years in prison, according to the 16-count indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for Eastern New York, which names five other Russian nationals -- Yevgeniy Grinin, Aleksey Ippolitov, Boris Livshits, Svetlana Skvortsova and Vadim Konoshchenok -- as defendants.... The group is alleged to have 'unlawfully sourced, purchased and shipped millions of dollars' worth of electronic components used to develop nuclear and hypersonic weapons and for other military means on behalf of two Moscow-based machinery and equipment companies ... in violation of multiple federal laws, the indictment says." ~~~
~~~ Marie: According to an on-air report, Brayman & his wife had a small business selling novelty lamps at fairs & on Etsy. But, gosh, some of the stuff they were mailing out was not Superman night lights for kids in Peoria but electronic components to a guy in Estonia who was forwarding the merch on to Russia.
Way Beyond
The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Thursday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Thursday are here: "The United States plans to send Ukraine advanced 'smart bomb' equipment that would allow it to target Russian military positions with better accuracy, senior U.S. officials said, another significant step by Washington to help Ukraine fight off invading Russian forces. The Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, uses global positioning devices for precision and can be bolted to other weapons. The move comes as officials also said this week that the Pentagon was preparing to provide Ukraine with a Patriot missile system, the U.S. military's most sophisticated air defense weapon."
Victoria Bisset, et al., of the Washington Post: "A U.S. Air Force veteran captured by Russian forces in Ukraine this year has been released from occupied territory as part of a prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv, a senior Ukrainian official and the detainee's family said Wednesday. Suedi Murekezi, a native of Rwanda who has lived in Ukraine since 2018, was detained in June. He had been working in the technology industry and decided not to leave after Russia invaded, his family said. His captors accused him of taking part in pro-Ukrainian protests, and he is not believed to have been involved in the fighting, they said. Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, wrote on Twitter that Murekezi was released alongside 64 Ukrainian prisoners of war who had been fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. He described Murekezi as 'a U.S. citizen who helped our people.'"
Peru. Mitra Taj & Julie Turkewitz of the New York Times: "The government of Peru said on Wednesday that it would declare a nationwide state of emergency as it sought to control widespread violence resulting from the ouster of the country's elected president, an extraordinary measure even in a country accustomed to political upheaval and protest. The measure, which has not yet been published into law, would suspend the rights of assembly and freedom of transit, among other civil liberties, for 30 days, said Alberto Ótarola, the country's defense minister. The move is the most significant government response to a crisis that erupted last Wednesday when the president, Pedro Castillo, tried to dissolve Congress, which he had been feuding with since taking office last year. Within hours, Peru's Congress impeached him and Mr. Castillo was arrested, setting off waves of angry protests by supporters who believe his removal was illegitimate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Lede
CNN: "A severe weather system cutting through the South has left a trail of destruction in Louisiana, killing at least three people and injuring dozens of others as violent tornadoes touched down, collapsing homes, turning debris into projectiles and knocking out power. The deaths attributed to storm-related events include a 56-year-old woman who died after a tornado hit her home in the Killona area in St. Charles Parish, according to the Louisiana Department of Health."0000
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Reader Comments (13)
Had this thought yesterday, the tenth anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook, the event many confederates claim never happened.
The commemorations of that horrible day, the interviews with parents and survivors, must have really pissed off millions of wingers who are upset at the mere mention of gun violence, not because innocents were murdered, but because they see it as some kind of insidious plot to infringe on their beloved right to own enough weapons to invade Poland.
I’m sure yesterday they were upset that media outlets were wasting time on Sandy Hook and not providing the necessary blanket coverage for stuff that really matters.
Like Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Still trying to figure out what the five Supremes really had in mind when they loosed the flood of dark money into our politics, hence into the way we're (likely to) govern ourselves.
To back away from the root of all evil idiom (tho' associated as it properly is with the sin of greed it does apply), I liken money to guns, both a source of possible power and both often misused.
In the strictest sense, the gun proponent bumper sticker that says guns don't kill, people do is absolutely right. But it is also true that the more available guns are, the more of us are dead before out time. In fact, in our society, guns are most often the instrument of evil .
How different is that from the uses to which we put money, especially when it is applied to the way we govern ourselves?
Since money is most often deployed in its own interest, while there are exceptions, most of it directed at government operations by businesses and private individuals is blind to and in fact has no concern for general or long-term consequence. When government is confused with speech and its sources hidden from public view, government becomes a free for all open to the highest bidder that while open to all with the money to afford the entry fee comes at great cost to the democratic ideal.
In that sense, money alone doesn't kill democracy any more than guns alone kill people, but unregulated, and willingly placed in the hands of the immoral or unstable, both inevitably leave a pile of dead bodies in their wake.
How else could it turn out?
Again, what were those conservative justices thinking?
Bad day for the bigots…
The move to replace a bust of Roger Taney, author of the SCOTUS decision that deemed only white men to be citizens (Black families were just chattel) with the likeness of a Black man, Thurgood Marshall, must outrage the white supremacists. Likewise Biden’s meeting with African leaders and promising economic support for the continent is sure to cause consternation among the racist supporters of TFG who, like Taney in his day, deemed these people unworthy of consideration and their countries “shitholes”.
The fact is that US influence on the African continent offers economic and peace benefits to both sides. The IMF has suggested that combined African economies could generate a GDP of $29 trillion by 2050. Not to mention the fact that Africa is rich in natural resources.
Africa also, after centuries of brutal colonialism, is still finding its way politically. China is making serious inroads. And there are still actual and potential hotspots in Africa threatening violence that could overspill its borders. And for anyone who thinks foreign hotspots can’t affect the US, I give you Iraq and Afghanistan (thanks, Dubya). Better, safer, and far cheaper to create stable economic and political (democratic) environments now than have to deal with future calamities.
Republicans, especially of the Trump variety, are selfish, inner and backward looking. Democrats tend to be more outward and forward looking. One way is stupid and dangerous. The other isn’t.
But a bad day for the haters, that’s for sure.
Oh, and about that backward looking tendency and the debusting of Taney…Dred Scott has been called the worst self-inflicted wound to the Supreme Court. The current crop of backward looking traitors are giving ol’ Rog a run for his money in the court debasement department. The biggest difference is that today’s court seeks to inflict massive wounds far beyond the walls of their ever blackening ivory tower.
Watched an interview last night featuring Nancy Pelosi's youngest daughter Alexandra who is a film maker and has made a documentary about her mother –-"Pelosi in the House."
""While much of the film details her mother's professional life, there are glimpses of the personal: Pelosi doing a load of laundry while on a conference call with former Vice President Mike Pence, or yelling at the TV that she wants to "punch him out" while footage of Donald Trump is shown on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021."
I was much impressed with Alexandra, who is exuberant, feisty and straight forward. She mentions how hard it has been for her Dad after the assault–––that it is going to be a long haul before he's himself again. She tells us that from the time Nancy became speaker the family has been bombarded with evil doings–-someone once left a dead, bloody crow on their doorstep– with a-"you're next"tag. Alex says that social media has corrupted our system and has brought out the worst in humanity.
I'll drink to that!
Ken: "Again, what were those conservative justices thinking?" Obviously incorrectly? Not thought through? I'd venture to guess just plain stupid.
Ken,
Funny you should ask…
What were they thinking?
They were thinking “If we play this right, our side will never lose another election…we’ll get everything we’ve ever wanted!”
And that dark money?
Currently, the court is considering a scheme to chloroform democracy, Moore v Harper, a demand that legislatures (specifically those controlled by gerrymandered Republican bodies) be granted complete power over elections with no interference from government or legal oversight. A recent report points out that right wing groups dealing largely with dark money contributions are supporting the plaintiffs’ plea to kill democracy to the tune of $90 million…that we know about.
A network of far-right donors supporting extremist schemes corralled by Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo, is behind the flood of dark money to influence the court. Leo, you may recall, is personally responsible for all three Trump judges on the court. When the Fat Fascist was running for dictator in 2016, he needed the support of some of the traditional big guns in the GQP. Leo met with him and promised an endorsement by the Federalist Society, but only if Trump agreed that he, Leo, hand picked any SCOTUS candidates.
Those three judges owe their robes to Leonard Leo. And now he is working with dark money groups to promote a theory that will kill democracy and hand full control of future elections to him and his invisible donors:
“‘It's interesting to see that this man, who has all this power in influencing the court and the structure of the court, is also funding groups that are filing amicus briefs to try and influence that same court…A lot of these groups that Leo is funding are also engaging in advocacy work to place restrictions on ballot access and gerrymandering. So I think it's broader than just this legal theory. It's an all-out assault on our elections.’”
Yeah.
Subverting the will of the people. That’s what they were thinking.
https://www.salon.com/2022/12/10/dark-money-groups-pump-nearly-90-million-into-independent-state-legislature-case/
“I’m not political” is the new black?
Well, maybe not THAT new, but it’s certainly something I’m hearing more and more. “I’m an Independent, I’m not political.”
Really?
I’ve often inveighed against the idea of those chimerical “independents”. For one thing, can you seriously say, given the choices, that “I’m not really sure who I’d vote for?” You’re either for attempts at decency, inclusion, and democracy, or…you’re not. “Oh…Republicans, Democrats, there’s no difference…quick, where are my pearls?”
Are these people daft? It’s like saying, “Hmmm…a cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato on a toasted bun, or roadkill with a side of rat shit. What’s the difference?”
Okay, so there’s that. But now we have this bullshit: “I’m not political. I’m independent!” Yeah, because that makes sense. First, declaring independence IS political. How is it not? I guess if you’re a scheming little traitor like Sinema, you play this card, but today I read a piece about Megyn Kelly whining that because she’s independent, she’s “not political”.
Listen. Unless you were raised in a vacuum bottle, you were something at some point. Declaring one’s independent status is comforting for those tired of partisan bickering, or the imbeciles who say there’s no difference between the parties.
But removing yourself from the equation doesn’t diminish partisanship, it makes it worse. Independents, by their own admission, want to disengage from the political process (but not from voting, usually); researchers say that 3 out of 4 “Independents” still vote with the party they align most closely with. How is that “independent”?) but disengagement does create its own set of problems (from fivethirtyeight):
“In fact, we’ve already seen some of the consequences of this, as elected officials from the two parties are increasingly far apart ideologically, both in Congress and at the state level. The abandonment of voters openly identifying with one of the two parties has led to less political engagement, which means Americans are exerting less influence on what the parties look and sound like. That’s a real problem since the parties are still the fundamental building blocks that organize our politics. But with party building left to more stringent partisans, the parties’ bases have largely cultivated candidates who tend to be more ideologically extreme than the voters they seek to represent.”
So claiming to be an “Independent” is, in its essence, an overwhelmingly political act.
Jesus. Grow up, people. Or at least be honest about it. “I’m an Independent. I care what happens. I just don’t want anyone to think I’m responsible.”
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/few-americans-who-identify-as-independent-are-actually-independent-thats-really-bad-for-politics/amp/
Akhilleus,
Yeah, to all of that but with some of P.D.'s thought added to the mix and one more of my own.
I'll go with P. D.'s stupid. Conniving they were ( with Kennedy maybe more on the naive side because he genuinely believed that the sources of all that money would be open to public view), yes, but with very cloudy crystal balls in hand, hence as I said pretty much blind to consequence.
And we know advanced degrees from elite institutions don't necessarily keep stupidity at bay. Smart in some ways obviously allows plenty of room for stupidity in others.
I'd add that ideology, a common blinder, must also be taken into consideration. and that those schooled in the Federalist view of what America should be are particularly blind when it comes to the effects of money.
They believe that the country is first and foremost a commercial enterprise and have never noticed that the business of business (profit at any cost) often works directly against the earnest pleasings that Lincoln (the first Republican president) voiced about a government for and by the people.
As it stands, in part because of Citizens United and its step-children, it isn't.
Trump's big announcement is here and it's...$99 trading cards! Another grift just in time Christmas.
Fatty’s big announcement is about…trading cards? And not even real ones. They’re digital. How do you trade those? I’ll bet he has a built in line of code that prevents anyone stupid enough to pay $99 for a cartoon of this blowsy blowhard in tights from sending the file to anyone else. Of course the smarter idiots could do a screen grab and send that to other Trumpy morons.
He really is down to the level of selling carnations in the subway. Oh, but they’d be Trump Carnations! $50 each!
Each new grift is more embarrassing than the previous one.
Is that uncontrolled chortling I hear from the governor’s office in Florida?
So the big announcement was just another grift. Here I was expecting something like him becoming speaker of the house and it's just another money milking machine for the morons.
If he's going to strut in a uniform, let it be as The Orange Crush, with a looser fit orange jumpsuit and FEDERAL PRISONER on the back.
The R's (Rats) still at work in the bowels of government. Any problems they won't fix is their go-to cheese.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/15/dreamers-tillis-sinema-framework-dead-trump-immigration-gop/
The Real (and only) War on Christmas
Cons like connecting one’s grift to help pay legal expenses and line one’s pocket with what millions of Americans see as a sacrosanct religious holiday is the true War on Christmas. But so far I’ve not heard a single Evangelical voice raised against using Christmas to importune believers into send a vicious, lying, treasonous con man their hard earned shekels.
Just imagine the outrage were Biden to announce that Christmas was the perfect time to send money to help Hunter pay the upcoming legal bills connected to the myriad of expected GQP investigations.
“He’s disrespecting Jesus! Aieeeee! Clean the guns!!”
Will TuKKKer or Hannity be screaming about Fatty’s War on Christmas?
Ho-ho-ho!
Bobby Lee,
The position of Speaker requires work. Trump is a fat lazy pig. He hardly ever darkened the doors of the Oval Office before noon. Then he took a two hour break at one and was done by four.