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Activist Tuesday: Oy vey
Posted on: September 25, 2018
Honestly guys, I can’t keep up. So, here’s some Randy Rainbow and a fresh thread.
Enjoy!
- In: 2018 Election | Feminism | Open Thread
- 32 Comments
What a difference a week makes, eh? The common wisdom on Brett Kavanaugh, just a little while ago, was that the fix was in. Or as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer put it, “The fix is on.”
The nomination to life appointment on the high court is being rushed through, by the same Senate Republicans who refused even to hold a hearing on President Obama’s 2016 nomination of fellow appellate judge Merrick Garland to the high court.
The Senate Republicans are using Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is using acquiescent members of his party.
The GOP gets to lock in a Supreme Court majority that will rule for its interests and uphold rule by the privileged.
With Kavanaugh’s confirmation, the politicized Roberts Court will have a solid majority to uphold gerrymandering of political boundaries and the rights of states to restrict voting rights. The lock-step majority will rule for business and further restrict legal rights of employees.
The person who wrote that was a man, by the way. Little did we know last week that there was a woman whose bravery in the face of unimaginable public scrutiny, much of it unhinged and hostile, would halt Republicans in their tracks. And now, stories like this are being written.
Unless Ford’s allegations are discredited, it seems virtually unthinkable that the two moderate Republican women who hold the balance of power in the chamber—Susan Collins, of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska—would vote to approve Kavanaugh. As Collins walked through the airport in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, a reporter asked her if she believed the accusations against Kavanaugh. “I don’t know enough to make a judgment at this point,” she replied. Later on Monday, Collins issued a statement that said, “Professor Ford and Judge Kavanaugh should both testify under oath before the Judiciary Committee.” Murkowski was less definitive. But, on Sunday night, she did say that the committee might have to consider delaying its vote.
Even the White House appears to have given up any hope of silencing Ford or dismissing her claims entirely. “This woman should not be insulted and she should not be ignored,” Kellyanne Conway, a counsellor to Trump, told Fox News. “I think the Senate is headed to a reasonable approach in that it seems to be allowing this woman to be heard in sworn testimony, allowing Judge Kavanaugh to be heard in sworn testimony.” Later on Monday, Donald Trump chimed in, saying, “I wish the Democrats could have done this a lot sooner. But, with all of that being said, we want to go through the process.” He also said that Kavanaugh was “somebody very special” who “never even had a little blemish on his record.”
Now, I’ve certainly had my share of incorrect predictions (some of which you’ve read here!), and I agree that at the time, it didn’t seem likely that any Republican Senator would find the courage to deny Drumpf his puppet judge. I completely understand the tendency to assume that the Kavanaugh train was unstoppable. But the problem with that tendency is that, taken too far, it leads to despair, and despair leads to inaction.
I am optimistic by nature, and feel that there are very few problems we humans can’t solve. Collectively, we have endless creativity, intelligence and energy, so really, is anything impossible? Sometimes my position is vindicated; sometimes my optimism gets me into trouble. 😉 A dear friend of mine at work once gave me this excellent piece of advice: “Just because you see a problem, doesn’t mean you have to fix it.” Wise words indeed, but hard for me to live by, especially in the time of #theResistance. I want to join everything, march every day, scream at the top of my lungs, rend my garments, tear my hair. Instead, I try to make my moves wisely. I march sometimes, I tweet, I blog, and I speak up.
What I really think this means is, we women are starting to flex our muscles in unprecedented ways. As DYB wrote last week, #MeToo is still cascading through our society, taking down the vilest and most powerful men in the world. And we’re not done yet! We don’t always know what to do with our new voices, and we are sometimes effective when we use them, and sometimes not. But no matter what, we won’t be silent. And in 2018, there are a lot of men on our side! (Thank you so much, o wonderful Widdershin men and the millions of other good men out there!)
So don’t despair. The conclusion is not foregone. If bad things seem likely to happen, find a small act of bravery to perform.
Who knows what will happen as a consequence?
This is an open thread.
- In: 2016 Election | 2018 Election | Current Events | Donald Trump | Future | Open Thread
- 72 Comments
Today is September 11, the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. that had such a devastating impact on our country and our world. (Of course our petty f*cktard-in-chief is going to Pennsylvania – because it’s the state that *allegedly* voted for him in 2016 – instead of New York or DC, because he is despised in both locations.) This day is always one of remembrance of those that were lost, sharing our personal stories, and talking about how our friends and families were affected by the tragedy.
But in 2018, there is never just one dramatic event in 24 hours. Today, we have a second-rate reality TeeVee star in the White House, and the thrills, chills and roars of outrage never stop. Today, besides the attacks by Al Qaeda on that fateful day, there is another disaster to consider: the possible co-opting of the Supreme Court by an illegitimate, traitorous President and his complicit Congressional enablers.
Based on his history and record, there is no doubt that Kavanaugh is in line with the typical racist, sexist Republican judicial appointee. In addition, the guy appears to be an operative from wayyyyyy back, in like Flynn with today’s high-profile right-wing politicians and pundits. As former wingnut David Brock wrote for NBC:
Call it Kavanaugh’s cabal: There was his colleague on the Starr investigation, Alex Azar, now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mark Paoletta is now chief counsel to Vice President Mike Pence; House anti-Clinton gumshoe Barbara Comstock is now a Republican member of Congress. Future Fox News personalities Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson were there with Ann Coulter, now a best-selling author, and internet provocateur Matt Drudge.
At one time or another, each of them partied at my Georgetown townhouse amid much booze and a thick air of cigar smoke.
This massive conflict of interest and obvious partisan agenda should immediately disqualify any jurist from ascension to the highest court in the land. (Remember conservative fauxrage about “activist judges”?) But what we have seen from this appalling travesty of a Republican government is a commitment to covering their asses at all costs. And Kavanaugh is just the guy to do it.
I agreed with DYB that it is very likely that Kavanaugh will be confirmed. That was, until Senator Cory Booker released just a few of the records George W. Bush and his partisan enablers were hiding from the American public. No help from Russia needed!
There are many ways in which the emails could be a problem for Kavanaugh. First of all, they confirm that dear soccer dad Brett is, in fact, in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade. (Sorry girls, Daddy doesn’t trust you to control your own body!) This means that Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, Republican Senators who take pro-choice positions to protect their credibility as moderates, cannot vote for him without that credibility. Will they take the hit, and if they do, why?
Kavanaugh’s racism is so virulent that it presents another, possibly even more urgent, quandary for Murkowski.
Alaska Natives were a key to Murkowski’s re-election, when she ran a successful write-in campaign against Joe Miller. There is little evidence that they encountered problems voting when they helped Murkowski become the first U.S. senator in more than 50 years to win an election with a write-in campaign. In fact, with Alaska’s absentee ballots, Permanent Fund automatic registration, and early voting locations, Alaska is a “no excuse” voting state.
Tlingit-Haida Central Council President Richard Peterson wrote to Murkowski and said that the 30,000 tribal members his organization represents would be endangered by Kavanaugh’s confirmation, “because of his erroneous views on indigenous rights and tribal sovereignty.
“We are concerned moving his nomination forward due to his unsound views and the potential injury that his misperceptions would wreak upon your Native Alaskan constituents, our Native Hawaiian friends and fellow indigenous peoples. I write to you, asking you to vote no, and oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination,” Peterson’s letter stated.
Who knows what motivates these ladies…they may still decide to vote yes. In particular, there is more to Collins, Kavanaugh and Russia than the media is reporting.
Even if all these red flags are ignored by the #complicit Republican Congress, the real reason the emails were hidden is the most damning: Kavanaugh participated in the theft of Democratic strategy emails when he worked for our last horrific illegitimate Rethug President, George W. Bush. Then, he lied about it. UNDER OATH. This may be beyond the pale even for today’s morally bankrupt GOP.
And with the latest poll numbers showing worse and worse news for Drumpf and his political influence, what is their motivation for sticking with him? Aren’t there any who are free from NRA Russian influence?
17 years after a devastating Al Qaeda attack on our country during a Republican administration, all we need is two Republican Senators to stop this devastating Russian attack on American democracy.
This is an open thread.
“The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake,” McCain said in a statement. “President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world.”
— Time Magazine, July 16, 2018
On August 25th, 2018, Senator John McCain passed away at the age of 81. Not only did he handle his fatal illness with characteristic bravery and flair, but he also survived long enough to ensure that his legacy was exactly what he wanted it to be. He helped save the ACA, along with Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, and as noted in the quote above, was quite vocal after the #TreasonSummit in Helsinki.
I have only voted for two Republicans in my life: Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. (I am sure you are all surprised that I voted for Giuliani…but you have no idea what a terrible mayor David Dinkins was, he had issues with Jewish people, and Giuliani was a lot more moderate back then. Sigh.) I regret my vote for one, but not for the other – I think McCain would have been a decent President, and Obama truly didn’t earn my vote in 2008, although he certainly got it in 2012 (after the 2010 wave swept all the moderates out of the GOP).
I do think that McCain is benefiting from a bit of wishful thinking in terms of his record. He did vote with Republicans quite a bit, supporting Drumpf about 83% of the time. However, the chart below shows that he truly was more independent than most.
While the nation mourns, we also wonder what will happen now with Arizona’s Senate seat. This article in FiveThirtyEight breaks the options down, and unfortunately, it looks like the Governor of Arizona is likely to pick someone a lot more Trumpy.
A new occupant of McCain’s seat is good news for McConnell, Trump and Republicans who want the party to largely follow the edicts of those two GOP leaders. McCain was largely absent from public life while he was receiving treatment for brain cancer, and during that time, the Senate was split 50-49 in favor of the GOP. That meant one Republican defection could kill any bill. With 51 active Republicans, one defection still left room for Vice President Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote in favor of McConnell and the president. With 50, Pence’s vote isn’t enough as long as one Republican sides with the opposition.
With the addition of a reliable McConnell ally, the Senate’s partisan breakdown returns to 51-49, giving Republican leadership some breathing room. Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a Trump critic who occasionally bucks party leadership, will have less power to stall Senate GOP initiatives. That could help the party get more federal judges appointed, a big priority for Trump and McConnell. (I don’t think the return to full strength in the Senate will mean much for other issues, because the Republicans aren’t really trying to push through major initiatives before the midterms.)
Ack, I really hate reading that…but, this of course assumes that Drumpf will keep being President till 2020. I think that is a rather risky assumption; like DYB, I believe something has changed, as so many of the Trump insiders are making plea deals and being convicted of felonies. I also refuse to assume the Rethugs will keep the Senate. Look at Doug Jones in Alabama…who expected that?! Who really knows how many people will vote blue in November? I think we have not yet begun to show our strength.
Whatever happens next, nothing can take away from the fact that Senator John McCain was a brave and honorable man, and he accomplished a great deal in his long life of public service. I thank you, Senator, for helping save ACA and being a strong voice against #TrumpRussia. My heart goes out to your family, friends and colleagues in the Senate…the Democratic ones, anyway.
This is an open thread.
Activist Tuesday: I. Can’t. Even.
Posted on: August 21, 2018
Folks, there is just too much. I’m going to link to a bunch of news stories and let you all talk about whatever you want.
Fighting planned voter suppression in Georgia
What will Manafort’s jury do? Remember that this is just the first trial…
Is 2018 the Year of the Woman? (Oh hells yeah)
Republicans are lying about Ohio voters again
The Queen of Soul and the Presidents of the United States
McTurtle’s summer recess plan fails
This is an open thread.
Hello Widdershins! Whew, what a week already. As Drumpf admits to treason on Twitter, Republicans think Better Red than Dem, Rick Gates admits to crimes on the stand, and social media outrage finally shitcans right-wing terrorist Alex Jones, believe it or not, there’s a special election today in Ohio. And this one is a doozy!
The candidates are 31-year-old moderate Democrat Danny O’Connor and Republican Troy Balderson, who has just beaten a Trump-aligned candidate in a tough primary fight. Balderson is fighting for his electoral life in yet another supposedly safe Republican district, which went 11% for the Mango Moron in 2016. These days, however, 11% ain’t much – especially in suburban districts where ex-Republican soccer moms have had enough of the misogyny, vulgarity and violence of today’s GOP. We’ve seen districts Drumpf won by 20% plus, go blue in 2018. And indeed, Balderson and O’Connor are neck-and-neck in the latest polls, even after the national Republican Party has thrown millions of dollars into the race.
The feces-throwing baboon currently squatting in the White House has also descended upon Ohio, pushing hard for a candidate who doesn’t like him much. Why? Well, for the Orange Crusher, it’s all about him…the thought of Democrats with impeachment and subpoena power makes him shiver in his rubber sheets. (You know he has them.) But for some Republican strategists, this is the special election that, if won, will finally make the die-hards admit: The Blue Wave is real…and it’s a tsunami.
In the minds of many Republicans, Tuesday’s contest has emerged as a critical test of whether they can win over Trump supporters while keeping moderates in the fold — and whether Democrats can succeed in the type of suburban districts they need to win the House.
“Up until now, these special elections have been highly overhyped. This special [election] is different, it’s truly an accurate reflection of where both parties’ bases are, as we leave the calm and head into the general election storm,” said Nick Everhart, an Ohio-based GOP strategist who is working on races across the country but is not involved in this one. “This election outcome is not overhyped, and it matters maybe more than the hype.”
It’s a bit sad that this is the hill some people are choosing to die on…because as Steve Kornacke pointed out on MSNBC last night, districts like OH-12 are supposed to be safe Republican districts. The really competitive ones are the many that FLIPPED to Our Girl in 2016…and we haven’t seen a single special election in those districts yet.
Take, for example, these 7 districts in CA. You’ll notice some names of prominent Trumpian Republicans who, uh, are not very popular these days, like Darrell Issa and Dana Rohrabacher, aka “Russia’s favorite Congressman.” If Hillary carried these districts in 2016, does anyone think Democrats will have trouble carrying them in 2018, after the two years of hell we’ve been put through at the hands of these #GOPTraitors?
The larger point here is that Democrats are finally running in every state, in every district, in the most diverse and exciting group ever. Women are coming forward as never before, as are LGBTQ. This forces the GOP to compete fiercely, to spend money in areas they never anticipated (Alabama, anyone?), and it stretches their organizational ground game to the limit. Meanwhile, the #Resistance is getting people online to volunteer in many creative ways. This activism is free, and it’s amazingly effective. So much for government by rich white straight Christian men, for rich white straight Christian men!
A brief digression: I’ve signed up to write postcards to voters before the general mid-term election. Here’s a sample for you: “Vote Blue or Die in A Nuclear Apocalypse Because Trump Will Kill Us All.” Waddaya think? Too subtle?
Anywho…if you would like to see a really good in-depth analysis of the House races to watch, take a look at this story from ABC News. Meanwhile, my teevee will be tuned to MSNBC tonight to see how Danny O’Connor fares. Let’s hope our winning streak continues!
This is an open thread.
Activist Tuesday: WWRD?
Posted on: July 17, 2018
Yup. It’s treason. It’s been treason. It’s ongoing treason. The Republicans know it. The Democrats know it. The 100-year-old hermit in the Himalayas knows it. Our allies and enemies know it.
Now what?
Well, we have to finally force the conversation that never should have been. Donald Trump should never have been the Republican candidate for President. The media should have destroyed his corrupt, treasonous ass in 2015. But alas, Hillary’s vagina dentata was more frightening than the prospect of a corrupt, treasonous foreign agent in the White House…and now we’re all paying the price.
We have to talk about things like, what is the next step if the Republicans decide that the only remedy we have for rogue Presidents, impeachment, is not going to happen?
We have to talk about the illegitimacy of the 2016 election, because the Republicans had the DNC’s analytics handed to them, by Russia; stole voter data from at least one state board of elections; and hacked into voter databases. They had a blueprint to sway impressionable voters, and if they didn’t sway enough, well, they’d just do the typical Republican thing and mess with the voting machines. It didn’t take much…just 70,000 people in three states, out of about 120 million eligible voters.
Allegedly.
We have to talk about the fact that we have a President who is more loyal to Vladimir Putin than to our Constitution.
These conversations are unimaginable because they have never happened before. The difficulty we’re having in imagining them, however, does not excuse us from the duty to have them. As Americans who love our country and revere the Constitution, this is a crisis beyond anything we ever thought possible. We must absolutely speak of these things and we must address them, quickly.
What will Republicans do? This is the most important question of our time.
If the Republicans will not impeach Trump for treason, then we must get in the streets until they are forced to do so. We cannot wait until November to fix this mess. The fish has rotted from the head, and we must get rid of every stinking trace of it before we can clear the stench.
This is an open thread.
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