;)
December 2, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Tony Romm & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "House and Senate leaders on Thursday announced they had reached a deal on a bill to fund the government into mid-February, opening the door for lawmakers to narrowly avoid a shutdown entering this weekend. The agreement on a new stopgap spending measure set the House on a path to vote before the end of the day, though swift action still seemed uncertain in the Senate, where some Republicans have threatened to grind the government to a halt as they protest President Biden's vaccine and testing mandates. Both chambers must pass identical bills by midnight on Friday to avert a shutdown. Lawmakers from both parties have warned that a failure to fund the government could be disruptive, especially at a time when the country is responding to a new, potentially more dangerous variant of the coronavirus." Politico's story is here.
Lauren Effron of ABC News: "Actor Alec Baldwin told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that he had 'no idea' how a live bullet got onto the set of his film, 'Rust,' but that he 'didn't pull the trigger' on the firearm that killed one person and wounded another." Sonia Rao of the Washington Post has more background, but no elaboration on Baldwin's new claim.
Frank Jordans of the AP: "Unvaccinated people across Germany will soon be excluded from nonessential stores, restaurants and sports and cultural venues, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Thursday, and parliament will consider a general vaccine mandate as part of efforts to curb coronavirus infections. Merkel announced the measures after a meeting with federal and state leaders, as the nation again topped 70,000 newly confirmed cases in a 24-hour period. She said the steps were necessary to address concerns that hospitals could become overloaded with patients suffering from COVID-19 infections, which are much more likely to be serious in people who have not been vaccinated."
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Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday signaled it is on the verge of a major shift in its abortion jurisprudence, and is likely to uphold a Mississippi law that mostly prohibits the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Whether that would mean overruling Roe v. Wade's finding that women have a fundamental right to end their pregnancies was unclear. But none of the six conservatives who make up the court's majority expressed support for maintaining its rule that states may not prohibit abortion before the point of fetal viability, which is generally estimated to be between 22 and 24 weeks. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., often the most moderate of the conservatives, said Mississippi's limit of 15 weeks was not a 'dramatic departure' from viability, and gave women enough time to make the choice to end their pregnancies." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Politico's analysis, by Alice Ollstein & Josh Gerstein, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times analysis, by Adam Liptak, is here.
Roberts Explores a Questionable Middle Ground. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Much of the discussion of a Mississippi law that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy has suggested that the Supreme Court faces a binary choice: it could strike down the law and fully reaffirm Roe v. Wade, as the law's challengers want, or it could gut the idea that the Constitution protects abortion rights at all, as Mississippi has urged. But during the Supreme Court's oral arguments on Wednesday in a lawsuit challenging the law, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. appeared to be exploring whether he could find something of a middle ground -- one that would allow the court to uphold the Mississippi law without also proclaiming that the Constitution offered no protection of any right to an abortion.... How Chief Justice Roberts handles the case could have outsized importance. Compared to some of the other five members of the court's conservative bloc, he is broadly seen as more likely to be concerned about the institutional impact on the court if it makes a wrenching and politically contentious change in the law. He also has the power to assign himself to write the opinion if he votes with the majority. Known for crafting narrow and incremental decisions, Chief Justice Roberts distinguished on Wednesday between an outright ban on abortion and a ban on the procedure that was stricter than the current standard. At one point, he remarked that he thought moving the cutoff line to 15 weeks -- nine weeks earlier than where it is now -- was 'not a dramatic departure from viability.'"
Why, It's Almost as if Bart O'Kavanaugh Is Mendacious & Untrustworthy. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh on Wednesday repeatedly indicated he would be open to overturning 'settled law,' including Roe v. Wade, citing a long list of past Supreme Court cases that had been ruled against precedent.... The question of how he would rule in a challenge to Roe v. Wade came up multiple times during his confirmation hearings, and at the time, Kavanaugh emphasized that Roe v. Wade was 'settled as precedent.'... Kavanaugh said he believed [Roe v. Wade] ... should be 'entitled the respect under principles of stare decisis,' the notion that precedents should not be overturned without strong reason. 'And one of the important things to keep in mind about Roe v. Wade is that it has been reaffirmed many times over the past 45 years, as you know, and most prominently, most importantly, reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992,' Kavanaugh said then.... [Sen. Susan] Collins [R-Maine] would go on to express her full confidence in several interviews that Kavanaugh would not overturn Roe v. Wade." ~~~
~~~ Not to Worry. Senator Susan Is Concerned. Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Sen. Susan Collins, the moderate Republican from Maine, favors passing legislation to enshrine the protections of Roe v. Wade into law, her office said Wednesday.... But Collins opposes the House-passed Women's Health Protection Act, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has promised will get a vote in the Senate." MB: Well, a little concerned. BTW, there's no way abortion rights will be codified as long as the filibuster stands.
Amy Phony Barrett, a very caring person who turns out to be concerned about women's rights, too, suggested during oral arguments that abortions were unnecessary because birth mothers could dump their unwanted neonates in special baby chutes. And somebody would adopt them. Maybe! Steve M. explains.
Justice Sotomayor: This Court Stinks. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "The six Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court left no doubt in oral argument Wednesday that they would end the constitutional right to abortion that American women have had for nearly half a century. The court will either overturn Roe v. Wade outright or cripple the landmark ruling by eliminating the 'fetal viability' standard at its core. Both would return us to a time before most people living ever knew, when state legislatures controlled women's reproductive decisions. Public opinion hasn't changed. The science hasn't fundamentally changed. No new legal theory has been promulgated. The only difference is the court now has a majority hellbent on settling scores in the culture wars. 'Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?' Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked her colleagues. 'I don't see how it is possible.'"
Marie: The Mississippi AG, when arguing before the Supremes, hit on the theme that abortion decisions should be left "to the people." I couldn't quite figure where that phrase came from till Ken W. explained it in a comment at the end of yesterday's thread: "... states' rights used to allow slavery. To me, the connection between then and now is clear." "Leaving it to the people" is the new way to say "state's right." Oh, we are all whistling Dixie now. Look away, look away. BTW, this is not a discussion we would be having if the exceptional U.S. of A. elected the president by popular vote -- you know, the way every other real democracy with a presidential form of government does. Because President Hillary.
AP: "President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses held a 'family' celebration of Hanukkah at the White House Wednesday, with the first Jewish spouse of a vice president, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, joining in lighting the menorah. Speaking to more than 150 guests, including Jewish community leaders, Cabine members, lawmakers and the new Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Herzog, Biden sought to draw parallels between his presidency and the eight-day commemoration of the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees. 'Whether it's in the temple of Jerusalem or the temple of our democracy, nothing broken or profaned is beyond repair, nothing,' Biden said. 'We can always build back better, perhaps build back brighter.'" MB: Whoever came up with the idea of likening Democrats retaking the White House to the Maccabees' retaking the Temple at Jerusalem is pretty clever.
Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "President Biden marked World AIDS Day on Wednesday by renewing support for the worldwide goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by the end of the decade and launching steps to reduce the spread of the disease. 'We can do this,' Biden said at a White House ceremony. 'We can eliminate HIV transmission. We can get the epidemic under control here in the United States, in countries around the world. We have the scientific understanding, we have treatments, and we have the tools we need.' More than 700,000 people have died of AIDS-related illnesses in the country since the epidemic began more than 40 years ago. The number globally tops 36 million people. About 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the United States. The number nears 38 million people worldwide." Video of Biden's remarks is here.
Peggy McGlone of the Washington Post: "Reinstating a long-standing tradition, President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend the Kennedy Center Honors Sunday night, when the nation's arts center celebrates the careers of actress Bette Midler, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, opera singer Justino Díaz, Motown producer Berry Gordy and 'Saturday Night Live' creator Lorne Michaels. A sitting president has not attended the celebration of the arts since 2016 because Donald and Melania Trump stayed away from the ceremonies.... In 2017, the Trumps announced in August that they wouldn't attend after several honorees, including television producer Norman Lear, were critical of him.... Vice President Harris and husband Douglas Emhoff will join the Bidens in the Opera House box alongside the honorees."
Nick Miroff & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration has reached a deal with the Mexican government to restart the Trump-era 'Remain in Mexico' program that requires asylum seekers to wait outside U.S. territory while their claims are processed, two U.S. officials and a Mexican government official said late Wednesday. The governments are planning to announce the agreement Thursday, according to two of the officials.... Implementation of the program, formerly known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), is expected to begin next week in San Diego and in the Texas cities of Brownsville, Laredo and El Paso, one official said.... The Trump administration used the MPP program to return more than 60,000 asylum seekers across the border to Mexico, where they were often preyed upon by criminal gangs, extortionists and kidnappers. President Biden denounced MPP as inhumane and quickly ended it after taking office, but Republican officials in Texas and Missouri sued the administration in federal court and won an injunction in August forcing the government to resurrect the program." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't understand how a U.S. court has the power to compel a foreign sovereign nation -- Mexico -- to do anything. And this order, even if theoretically directed at the U.S. executive branch, requires Mexico to accommodate migrants from third countries.
Rachel Shatto of the Advocate, republished by Yahoo! News: "... according to [Fox 'News']'s morning talk show, [the new omicron coronavirus variant] was created in order to help boost Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg into the presidency in 2024.... '[Buttigieg] has said we can't fix the supply chain problem until the pandemic is over, until COVID is over,' explained [cohost Rachel] Campos-Duffy. 'And now we see these new variants. So that's the answer: more lockdowns, more lockdowns, more fear and therefore he doesn't have to do his job of fixing the supply chain because "we'll keep this whole thing going."' Campos-Duffy's cohosts Pete Hegseth and Will Cain agreed. 'You can count on a variant about every October, every two years,' Hegseth added, insinuating that the new variant and any that follow would just be inventions by Democrats seeking an advantage in future elections." Thanks to a friend for the link. MB: Buttigieg is probably the smartest guy who has run for president in the past several cycles, but creating a scary new virus variant is just the most clever way to become president anyone has ever imagined. (The logic here is sort of lost on me, but, hey, good work, Pete!) (Also linked yesterday.)
Tony Romm, et al., of the Washington Post: "The U.S. government on Wednesday teetered one step closer to a potential weekend shutdown, as Republicans seized on a fast-approaching fiscal deadline to mount fresh opposition to President Biden's vaccine and testing mandates. Entering the week, Democrats and Republicans initially had hoped to fund the government before a current spending arrangement expires on Friday. Lawmakers aimed to finance federal agencies and initiatives at least into late January, buying themselves more time to craft a series of longer-term measures that could sustain Washington through the rest of the fiscal year.... House and Senate leaders had yet to settle on the exact duration of their short-term funding measure, delaying lawmakers from starting the time-sensitive votes. And some GOP lawmakers in both chambers newly promised to hold up the process...." An Axios item is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol voted unanimously Wednesday to hold former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark in criminal contempt for failing to cooperate with its inquiry. It is unclear when the full House could take up the contempt resolution, but if it is adopted, it would be up to the Justice Department to determine whether it wants to indict Clark for not complying with a congressional subpoena. Clark, however, has one more opportunity to appear in front of the committee on Saturday for a new deposition. Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said during the hearing that Clark informed the committee he 'now intends to claim Fifth Amendment protection,' and that the panel is 'willing to convene another deposition at which Clark can assert that privilege on a question-by-question basis.' Thompson called Clark's last-minute notice a 'last-ditch attempt to delay the Select Committee's proceedings.'"
American Exceptionalism, Ctd. Tik Root of the Washington Post: "The United States ranks as the world's leading contributor of plastic waste and needs a national strategy to combat the issue, according to a congressionally mandated report released Tuesday.... The United States ... [generates] about 287 pounds of plastics per person. Overall, the United States produced 42 million metric tons of plastic waste in 2016 -- almost twice as much as China, and more than the entire European Union combined." MB: I am not doing my part. I do use a lot of disposable plastic, but the amount I don't recycle is probably no more than a pound a year. Most American communities, even in the boondocks, make it possible -- and fairly easy -- to recycle most plastics. There's little excuse for this form of exceptionalism.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times's live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "President Biden will announce Thursday that the more than 150 million Americans with private health coverage will be able to get at-home coronavirus tests reimbursed by their insurers, and that international travelers must show proof of a negative coronavirus test taken the day before departing for the United States. The moves are part of a new winter strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic just as the worrisome new Omicron variant circles the globe." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here: "Intermountain Healthcare, which operates about two dozen hospitals, mainly in Utah, is 'temporarily pausing enforcement of the vaccine requirement for caregivers until there is clearer direction from the courts,' said spokesman Jess Gomez.... A federal judge in Louisiana who was appointed by ... Donald Trump blocked the vaccine mandate issued for health-care workers at facilities that receive funding from Medicare and Medicaid. District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty said the injunction -- which is subject to appeal -- was needed to protect the 'liberty interests of the unvaccinated.'" MB: None of this makes sense. I'd guess Intermountain is a private company so it can impose mandates if it wants to; a judge's injunction against the Biden administration doesn't impose a restriction on the company. As for the judge, what a tool! The 'liberty interests' of sick people who seek care in hospitals include being reasonably assured that they are 'free from' dying of a disease brought to them courtesy of their caregivers.
Dan Diamond, et al., of the Washington Post: "Within hours of the first confirmed infection from the new omicron variant in the United States, the Biden administration on Thursday announced an array of measures to protect Americans, including campaigns to increase vaccinations and booster shots, additional testing requirements for travelers arriving in the country and plans to make rapid at-home coronavirus testing free for more people. While some of the measures are new -- such as a plan to launch 'family mobile vaccination clinics,' where all eligible members of a family can simultaneously get first shots or boosters -- others build on existing tactics, such as President Biden's plan to urge businesses to institute mandatory vaccination-or-testing requirements for their workers." The AP's story is here.
The New York Times's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Bill Chappell of NPR: "The first case of the omicron variant of COVID-19 has been identified in the U.S., health officials said on Wednesday. The case was detected in a person in [San Francisco,] California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'The individual was a traveler who returned from South Africa on November 22,' the CDC said in a news release. 'The individual, who was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms that are improving, is self-quarantining and has been since testing positive. All close contacts have been contacted and have tested negative.'... The infected person is not believed to have had a booster shot, Dr. Anthony Fauci ... said as he announced the news at a White House briefing." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.
Adam Taylor & Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "... global leaders on Wednesday agreed to start negotiations to create an international agreement to prevent and deal with future pandemics -- which some have dubbed a 'pandemic treaty.' The special session of the World Health Assembly, only the second ever held by the WHO's governing body, pledged by consensus to begin work on an agreement, amid a round of applause, after three days of talks." (Also linked yesterday.)
Typhoid Donald, the One-man Super-spreader. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump claimed more than a dozen times that he was the most transparent president in history. But according to a top aide and ally, when he tested positive for the coronavirus for the first time in the fall of 2020, his White House did not disclose it, went forward with events including one with veterans and a debate [with Joe Biden], and then spent weeks refusing to confirm reporters' correct suspicions that it had hidden Trump's diagnosis.... Here's a look at the chronology." Related Guardian story, also linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump tested positive for coronavirus three days before his first debate with Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, two former administration officials said Wednesday. The White House did not announce the positive test at the time, and the president received a negative result shortly afterward and carried on with a campaign rally and the debate, the officials said. The account was first reported by The Guardian, which cited a forthcoming book by Mr. Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The two former officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity..., confirmed the timeline on Mr. Trump's test results contained in 'The Chief's Chief,' by Mr. Meadows...." The Washington Post story, by Ashley Parker & others, is here. ~~~
~~~ Tim Miller in the Bulwark: "Of all the insane moments from 2020, this one still stands out: The former president of the United States knowingly and intentionally exposed his opponent to a deadly virus and covered it up to protect his re-election campaign.... Or, to reframe the episode just slightly: One sick old man decided to risk getting his old man opponent sick, too, and lied in order to do it. Biden at age 77 was in the prime risk category for COVID-19, Trump spent an entire evening screaming and spitting in his general direction -- remember, this was that debate -- indoors, from a few feet away, without a mask." The title of the column is "Trump Tried to Kill Biden with COVID-19."
Beyond the Beltway
Georgia Governor's Race. Jeff Amy of the AP: "Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat and leading voting rights activist, said Wednesday that she will launch another campaign to become the nation's first Black woman governor. Without serious competition in a Democratic primary, the announcement could set up a rematch between Abrams and incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Their 2018 contest was one of the most narrowly decided races for governor that year and was dominated by allegations of voter suppression, which Kemp denied." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.
Massachusetts Gubernatorial Race. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, a moderate Republican who defied ... Donald J. Trump during his two terms, announced on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election next year. 'After several months of discussion with our families, we have decided not to seek re-election in 2022,' Mr. Baker and his lieutenant governor, Karyn Polito, wrote in a letter to supporters. Mr. Baker, 65, who is more popular in polling among Democrats and independent voters than he is among fellow Republicans, confronted a Trump-backed primary challenge and a general election in which he could have faced the state's popular attorney general, Maura Healey, a Democrat." The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Michigan. Lindsay Kalter, et al., of the Washington Post: "The 15-year-old boy accused of a shooting rampage that killed four of his classmates and injured seven others at a Michigan high school was charged as an adult on Wednesday with first-degree murder and terrorism, counts that could send him to prison for life. The charges were filed hours after authorities confirmed that the fourth victim, a 17-year-old boy, had died, and came amid mounting scrutiny of the suspect's actions in the days and hours leading up to the attack at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit. Police revealed Wednesday that school officials had met with the suspect, sophomore Ethan Crumbley, on Monday and had brought his parents into the building for a face-to-face meeting Tuesday morning -- shortly before the shooting -- to discuss 'concerning classroom behavior.' Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said ... investigators have a 'mountain of digital evidence' that shows the shooting was premeditated." ~~~
~~~ Griff Witte, et al., of the Washington Post: "The prosecutor overseeing the investigation into a mass killing at a Michigan high school this week strongly suggested Wednesday that she would charge the teenage suspect's parents, an unusual move but one that gun control advocates say is essential to combating the nation's scourge of shootings by minors. Officials have said that the father of the suspect, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, bought the semiautomatic handgun used in the killings last Friday. Just four days later, on Tuesday, Crumbley forged a path of terror at Oxford High School, killing four people and injuring seven others, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. While it is unclear how Crumbley may have obtained the gun from his father, McDonald said Wednesday that gun owners have a responsibility to secure their weapons -- particularly when young people are involved.... If children as young as 6 did not have access to guns, well more than half of the country's school shootings since 1999 would never have happened, according to an analysis by The Washington Post."
Oregon House Race. Tanya Snyder of Politico: Rep. Peter DeFazio, the Oregon firebrand who leads the House's transportation committee, will step down after 36 years in Congress, spelling more bad news for Democrats in 2022 and taking with him an encyclopedic amount of institutional and technical knowledge on infrastructure. DeFazio told Politico that he was retiring to 'focus on my health and well-being,' but his announcement comes on the heels of a frustrating few years in which DeFazio's dreams of an ambitious, environmentally focused overhaul of the nation's highway and transit program were sidelined for a major infrastructure bill that went only as far as Republicans in the Senate would agree to go." (Also linked yesterday.)
Pennsylvania Senate Race. Ian Ward of Politico: Dr. Oz, who lived in New Jersey till sometime last year, has announced he'll run as a Republican for an open Pennsylvania Senate seat. The last time Oz went to the Senate, it was at a witness in a subcommittee hearing about fraud in the diet industry. Oz thought he was slotted to complain about deceptive advertising, but "members of the subcommittee had cast him in a different role: not as the victim of scheming fraudsters but as the fraudster himself." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Holly Otterbeing & Natalie Allison of Politico: "Hedge fund CEO David McCormick is preparing a run for Senate in Pennsylvania, a move that would upend the Republican primary for the third time in as many weeks." MB: So a quack & a hedge-fund operator are what the GOP comes up with for Senate candidates. But at least these guys are not suspected of beating their wives (as far as I know!), as was Donald Trump's preferred candidate Sean Parnell, who dropped out of the race after a judge gave custody of Parnell's children to his ex-wife, who credibly accused Parnell of physically abusing her.
Way Beyond
Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "A bid by the new Taliban government in Afghanistan and the junta ruling Myanmar to gain international recognition suffered a blow on Wednesday when the United Nations put off a decision on the rightful representatives of both countries. The deferral by a powerful U.N. committee effectively denied, for now and possibly through much of 2022, attempts by the ruling authorities of Afghanistan and Myanmar, which are widely considered pariahs, to occupy seats at the United Nations. The nine-nation Credentials Committee of the General Assembly, which is responsible for approving the diplomatic representation of each U.N. member state, held a closed meeting on the applications by the Taliban and Myanmar junta to replace the ambassadors of the governments they had deposed."
China. Matthew Futterman of the New York Times: "The women's professional tennis tour announced Wednesday that it was immediately suspending all tournaments in China, including Hong Kong, in response to the disappearance from public life of the tennis star Peng Shuai after she accused a top Communist Party leader of sexual assault. With the move, the Women's Tennis Association became the only major sports organization to push back against China's increasingly authoritarian government. Women's tennis officials made the decision after they were unable to speak directly with Peng after she accused Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier of China, in social media posts that were quickly deleted." CNN's story is here.
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Reader Comments (15)
With the Supreme Court apparently abandoning "settled" law I'm sure there are many more instances dear to the hearts of conservatives out there to be looked at. How about direct election of senators for example?
Not only are these charlatans abandoning settled law, in overturning Roe, they are also being asked to completely negate the idea of privacy, one of the core underpinnings of Roe, and other cases (Obergefell, Loving, etc.).
The extreme right (pretty much everyone on that side today--and fuck that "moderate" bullshit. "Moderate" Susan Collins provided excellent cover for this takeover of the country by the Nazis) would love to get its hands on any cases having anything to do with privacy. This would enable them to outlaw same sex marriage, marriage between whites and blacks, and use of contraception, even for married couples.
We are at the beginning of a long toboggan ride. Ask Ethan Frome how that shit turns out.
I share the sense that our democracy is in bigger trouble every day.
The proof, lacking hard data, is the frequency with which certain minorities seem able to call the shots, while the wishes of the majority are ignored.
On abortion: While for many good reasons, abortion itself is not popular, the right to it is. but....
Voting rights should be protected and extended, but...
The minimum wage should be raised....
The wealthy should pay higher taxes......
We should have sane gun laws, but....
Vaccinations are good for you....and your vaccination is good for me, but...
Two sources of the problem, the first obvious:
Money has far more influence than people..and the more we allow in our politics, the less democratic it will be.
The second, less so, perhaps but just as destructive of democracy.
Because we're set up, as conservatives love to proclaim, as a constitutional republic, not a democracy, our institutions give a leg up to minority interests, and over the years, the Right has cobbled together a coalition of such, the economic elite, racists, gun nuts, anti-abortionists, both Evangelical and Catholic, none of them "popular" with the wider populace, but with the help of the Founder's short-sightedness and the fervor that often accompanies their band of hateful true believers, has managed to over-represent those interests in our government, most obviously in the Senate, and thanks to the McConnell Senate, on the SCOTUS as well.
As the country nears its 250th birthday, the people might have to resort to the torches and pitchforks some of the Founders feared.
Might I suggest we all take one giant step back. The SC is a done deal. What will the Democrats do in effective responses? Become more elitist like Hillary and Pete with a losing message for the entire interior of the country...or be more like Moscow Mitch and Fat Donny and focus only on winning? How good are 'feel good' politics when you keep on losing? The political world is filled with narcissians like Tom Foley and Eric Cantor, but can the whole Democratic party be so blind? The Democrats need more Ann Richards and Nancy Keenans and listen and act on what they say.
I am continually stunned at the incongruity of the possible loss of a woman's liberty while we have another school shooting. Not to do anything about gun control but trying once again to control the female body and at the same time witnessing the fury over government mandates to quell the virus is indeed another kind of stench that reeks across this land of ours.
And yesterday we learn that the past president–––of the United States!––deliberately exposed himself to others when he knew he tested positive for Covid. This act alone, if known at the time, would have prevented any BIG LIE and insurrection, wouldn't it? His obsessive singularity of purpose would have been quashed then and there?
It was supposed to rain today but the sun has just come out––is this a good sign or is this weather just as fickle as always and we just like to think it represents something we can count on.
I guess Trump did actually try to shoot people on 5th avenue. He missed Biden, fortunately, but hit Chris Christie and probably others that got sick from his super spreader events. And he hasn't lost any support because of it. Probably not even Christie's who ended up in the hospital. One of the few times Trump did the dirty work himself, but that is because it didn't require any extra effort.
The other day Akilleus and I mentioned the song from Camelot "How to Handle a Woman" and I said Richard Burton would have laughed at the sentiment but wished it was otherwise.. Here is the quote from him that I have saved whose message rings as true today as it was in his day:
"The more I read about man and his maniacal ruthlessness and his murdering envious scatological soul the more I realize that he will never change. Our stupidity is immortal, nothing will change it. The same mistakes, the same prejudices, the same injustice, the same lusts wheel endlessly around the parade-ground of the centuries. Immutable and ineluctable. I wish I couldbelieve in a God of some kind but I simply cannot. My intelligence is too muscular and my imagination stops at the horizon, and I have an idea that the last sound to be heard on this lovely planet will be a man screaming."
Silly me. I thought 'settled law' meant that's it. It's settled. It's the law
of the land (all 50 states) from now on.
Now it seems to mean 'we settled on this law', like, it was a
compromise because two sides couldn't agree what the law should be.
So now it's not forever and ever like I thought it was.
Look out, same sex marriage. You're probably next.
Some hard data for the turn back the clock Court to consider:
https://news.yahoo.com/poll-as-supreme-court-hears-mississippi-case-just-24-percent-of-americans-want-roe-v-wade-overturned-193250390.html
Tho have to say when it comes to guns and corporate power, they've been playing it forward.
Ken,
Polls don’t matter to the traitors. They know they are in the minority and getting more minor by the day. The R’s in the senate control that body because Manchin and Sinema allow it. This means that politicians who represent about 30% of the country get to tell the rest of us how to live. They decide who sits on the Supreme Court and on federal benches. They don’t care what the vast majority of Americans want. They never have. They care about power and money. Control of the courts along with obscene gerrymandering will help them enshrine their hatred, paranoia, and ignorance for decades to come. Yeah, Democrats should do something, but they should have been doing something for the last twenty years. Just like the traitors.
Yes to all the hatred, ignorance and paranoia, Akhilleus.
But don't forget the money, which has infected the D's, too, just not to the same extent. While not as radical as I would wish, the D's remain the party of reason and social justice party for good reasons.
Okay, we'll concede that the Democrats are terrible at messaging. They project elitism. They offer nothing to the flyover states. Their `feel good' politics fall flat. How to reach voters in the heartland who have turned away in favor of Republicans?
Take a close look at one Michigan voter who was always a Democrat until she had to make a tough choice in 2016. Elated when her candidate won, she wrote him a letter explaining her thought process. She posted her letter on a blog where the Daily Beast recently uncovered it.
Read the letter and then explain where Democrats went wrong in 2016, and how to reach this voter -- and the millions of her ilk -- in 2022-2024.
(Oh, and PS: She's making headlines now as the mother of the Michigan shooter.)
@Monoloco: Thanks for sharing. Republicans have been awfully good at selling this fiction that immigrants get all this "free stuff" and Good Hard Working Americans have to pay for it with their hard-earned tax dollars.
The interesting part of Mom's letter is that what she seems to be looking for is what I guess we'd call "authenticity," and she decided to apply it to Donald Trump, the biggest fake in the world. But Hillary has, as Killer's Mom correctly says, always presents as "inauthentic." I understand why. When she doesn't measure her words, the press goes batshit: "deplorables" was probably somebody's word-of-the-year.
On the other hand, no one comes across as more authentic than Joe Biden, and he won by only a small percentage more votes than Hillary got in 2016, a difference that could be attributed to a few things, including sex discrimination (against Hillary) and Trump's disastrous track record in office (by 2020). So it's really a crap shoot, but I think probably the most important characteristic a candidate can have is a dynamic, winning personality. In comparison to their opponents, JFK & Obama were lightweights, but they won because they seemed like fun, with-it guys. The same could be true of Bush over Gore, tho Gore won the popular vote, and even Clinton over Bush I.
I read the MI mom 2016 letter to Santa DiJiT also.
I was sort of impressed that someone so appallingly stupid had good grammar and spelling. Her parents were teachers, so good for them in the sense of having a daughter who is mechanically inclined, grammar wise.
This is no doubt a sign of my elite condescension. So be it.
Monoloco: Wow! that letter from the mother of Ethan Grumbley gives me chills––good for you to find this. She presents as a disgruntled, frustrated woman who couldn't discern that the man she thought would save the day was only interested in what made HIS day. The letter is pathetic in its plea and one can be sympathetic of her plight but knowing it was her son that went on the shooting spree, knowing that the school had met with both parents that same day about Ethan's behavior, it raises those red flags that obviously were flying around in that home for years–-it wasn't the first time the kid showed his anger whose mother harbored so much of it herself,