Politics-What's on your mind?

[Orema]

Opinion: Biden is quietly erasing one of Trump’s cruelest legacies

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/4EEQJRTDIQI6ZG2ROEY7UGIMLY.jpg&w=916
President Biden on Dec. 22. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post)

It has been overshadowed by months of Democratic infighting and the searing national debate over Jan. 6, but the Biden administration is quietly erasing one of the cruelest legacies of Donald Trump’s presidency. This is a genuine achievement, in both symbolic and practical terms.

On Thursday, the administration rejected Georgia’s proposal to impose work requirements and premiums on Medicaid recipients. This was effectively the last nail in the coffin of Trump’s zombie attempt to make Medicaid more cumbersome and bureaucratic, in hopes of knocking as many people off health coverage as possible.

When Biden took office, nearly 20 mostly Republican-controlled states were in the process of crafting work requirements for Medicaid, on which 76 million Americans rely.

Now, Medicaid work requirements are all but dead in all those states.

That erases a legacy of the Trump administration, which had invited states to submit proposals to impose such requirements. Proposals were eventually approved for 12 states — all with Republican legislatures, governors or both — while a half-dozen others were pending when Trump left office.

In the most visible case, under Arkansas’s 2018 requirements, nearly 17,000 people lost health coverage. That wasn’t necessarily because they weren’t working. It was mainly because it was so difficult to satisfy all the reporting requirements.

Which is a feature, not a bug, of work requirements. By forcing recipients to prove they’re working and navigate a bureaucratic maze to stay in the program, the state gives itself an excuse to kick off those who make a paperwork mistake or miss a reporting deadline.

Biden’s reversal began just after he took office. In February, the administration informed states that it was preparing to withdraw approvals for work requirements granted under Trump.

One by one over the following months, those approvals were either rescinded by the administration, held up by court challenges, or delayed by state governments that expected the policy reversal (in Utah, officials suspended requirements due to the pandemic). Georgia was the last state where approval for this policy was still in force, though Republican states may still wage court battles.

Legacy of cruelty

Trump’s effort to impose Medicaid work requirements was part of a much larger campaign to undermine and roll back our country’s fitful advance toward universal health care. This constituted an even broader legacy of cruelty, and arguably outright betrayal.

That’s because Trump campaigned in 2016 as a corrective to Paul Ryan-style Republicans who had treated destroying the social safety net as a quasi-religious calling. Trump vowed that “everybody’s got to be covered,” and insisted no one would die on the street, uninsured.

But once in office, Trump embraced GOP anti-safety-net zealotry by going all in on the Republican effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act. Driven by hatred of Barack Obama, he endlessly raged that the ACA was a “disaster.”

That culminated in the 2017 repeal attempt, which fortunately failed. Stymied in that effort, which would have taken coverage away from millions on the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, Trump sought to weaken the safety net via other administrative means, such as these Medicaid work requirements.

And so, in erasing those requirements, Biden is also erasing a larger hangover of Trumpian cruelty.

The ACA is expanding

This legacy is being erased in another way. Under Biden, the same ACA that Trump tried to destroy is expanding and moving toward realizing its potential. A record number of more than 13 million people have signed up for 2022 coverage on the exchanges.

A key reason for this is that the covid-19 rescue plan that Biden signed in March expanded the number of people eligible for ACA subsidies and beefed up subsidies for those already eligible. As Margot Sanger-Katz details in the New York Times, this is a real achievement: It substantially reimagines and expands the ACA amid a pandemic, meaning the ACA is rising to an emergency occasion.

Still, this achievement is at risk. The ACA expansion in the rescue package expires at the end of next year, and while Democrats want to extend it in the Build Back Better bill, a certain West Virginia senator remains opposed. That would be a policy and political disaster for Democrats.

“If Democrats aren’t able to extend it, millions of people will get notice of huge premium increases right before the midterm election,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told us.

Making progress

In short, the pandemic has not dimmed the GOP desire to roll back that ACA expansion and undermine Medicaid, even as we face a new covid surge. But now, with the Georgia decision, work requirements are effectively dead — as long as a Democrat remains in the White House.

Biden has made serious mistakes with the pandemic, in particular the failure to secure enough covid tests when need has exploded. But he’s making progress in getting more Americans covered, replacing the Trumpian impulse to impose suffering for the sin of being poor with the principle that every American ought to have access to health care.

“Biden has quietly been moving us closer to universal coverage, picking up on a cause Democrats have been pursuing since the early 20th Century,” Jonathan Cohn, author of an excellent history of the ACA, told us. “A big part of that has been undoing the legacy of Trump.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/24/biden-medicaid-work-requirements-trump-policy/

[homoe]

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene rants against ‘fake religion’ Kwanzaa as Black holiday begins.

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has denounced Kwanzaa as a “fake religion” just as millions of Black people start to celebrate the weeklong holiday.

The far-right Georgia lawmaker berated the national College Republicans for “pandering and BS” after the GOP group tweeted a seemingly innocuous happy holiday message. “Stop. It’s a fake religion created by a psychopath,” Greene said. “People are tired of pandering and BS.” She was apparently deriding Kwanzaa founder Prof. Maulana Karenga, who was convicted of felony assault in the 1960′s in what he says was a politically motivated prosecution spurred by his involvement in Black nationalist politics.

Greene suggested that the College Republicans should avoid political correctness if it wants to galvanize the conservative base of the GOP. “You aren’t bringing in new voters, you are turning them away,” she added.

The College Republicans did not respond to Greene’s criticism about the tweet, which itself misspelled the name of the holiday as “Kwanza.”

Kwanzaaa, which lasts for seven days, is a holiday festival, not a religion as Greene claims. It was created in 1966 as a way to allow Black people worldwide to celebrate their common African roots.

Former President Trump tweeted a similar “Happy Kwanzaa” message during his stint in the White House, but Greene did not criticize her political hero for the greeting it should be noted!

[homoe]

S1RiNNwoBa8

What a difference a year makes...

[homoe]

Jacob Chansley, the convicted Jan. 6 rioter also known as the “QAnon Shaman,” now claims he was just trying to help during the insurrection.

“I actually tried to, on more than one occasion, calm the crowd,” he told “Inside Edition.” “But it just didn’t work.”

Chansley also said that he regrets not doing more to keep the peace as supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block the certification of the 2020 election results. However, multiple videos and images showed him howling and chanting his way through the Capitol and inside the Senate Chamber.

Prosecutors said he yelled, “Times up, motherfuckers,” and left a note on then-Vice President Mike Pence’s desk that said, “It’s only a matter of time. Justice is coming.”

Again what a difference a year makes! This loudmouth MotherF*^$er has turned into a sniffling little bitch!

[Orema]

Dick Cheney returned to the House and received a warm welcome . . . from Democrats. Including me. Who knew the day would come?

This has had me thinking of one of my favorite SNL openings ….

vF3dnVCTxBY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF3dnVCTxBY

[CherylNYC]

I didn’t anticipate the level of fury and aggression I would feel on Thursday's anniversary. I’m still spiraling through perseverating revenge fantasies.

Once I talked myself down off the ledge, however, I was able to enjoy this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_IxT2ei9gU

[homoe]

The list of what threatens to end the Democrats’ control of the Senate is familiar: History says the White House’s party usually loses seats in midterms. The president’s low approval ratings in battleground states — even lower than his weak national ratings — portend trouble. Voters now say they prefer Republican control of Congress. And in several states, Republicans have made it harder to vote and are placing partisans in control of the vote-counting.

But there’s another possibility that should also have the Democrats reaching for the Maalox: A random act of fate could turn the Senate over to the Republicans not next January, but next summer, or next month, or next week. An illness or death could well trigger a political earthquake — by almost instantly switching control of the nation’s top legislative body.

States have a range of laws about replacing a departed senator, but the large majority — 37 — call on the governor to pick a successor. Of those, only seven require the governor to pick someone in the same party. So there are 30 states where the governor can pick whatever new senator he or she wants.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/09/democrats-slim-control-senate-manchin-526755

[CherylNYC]

The list of what threatens to end the Democrats’ control of the Senate is familiar: History says the White House’s party usually loses seats in midterms. The president’s low approval ratings in battleground states — even lower than his weak national ratings — portend trouble. Voters now say they prefer Republican control of Congress. And in several states, Republicans have made it harder to vote and are placing partisans in control of the vote-counting.

But there’s another possibility that should also have the Democrats reaching for the Maalox: A random act of fate could turn the Senate over to the Republicans not next January, but next summer, or next month, or next week. An illness or death could well trigger a political earthquake — by almost instantly switching control of the nation’s top legislative body.

States have a range of laws about replacing a departed senator, but the large majority — 37 — call on the governor to pick a successor. Of those, only seven require the governor to pick someone in the same party. So there are 30 states where the governor can pick whatever new senator he or she wants.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/09/democrats-slim-control-senate-manchin-526755

While that's true, an illness or death of a Republican Senator could give Democrats the advantage.

[Kätzchen]

Several things have been on my mind:

A) Will Sen. Liz Cheney (R) become the front runner of the GOP bid for becoming the first woman president of the US (?);

B) Will the Jan. 6th commission draft laws and get these new guardrails into position so Cpt. Chaos and his followers cannot ruin our country ever again(?);

C) Will Sen. Manchin be held publicly accountable for his coal company profiting off legislative processes that enriches his pockets (?);

D) Will the GOP be held accountable for their gross efforts to undermine voting processes before it's too late? The 5-alarm fire on voting processes has been burning since before our late Senator John Lewis (D) passed, last year.

[Orema]

How NPR’s Steve Inskeep cracked the code for interviewing Trump

The veteran host used a ‘truth sandwich’ approach to counter the former president’s election lies

By Margaret Sullivan
Media columnist
January 14, 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/3C5AMVDNWYI6ZMPCAU45VD2EKE.jpg&w=916
Donald Trump speaks on the Ellipse in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. One year later, NPR’s Steve Inskeep deftly challenged the former president’s election lies in an interview Trump ended abruptly. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

How can journalists interview Donald Trump — or other politicians who consistently spread misinformation — without magnifying their lies? It’s been a challenge, and a problem, for years.

One answer arrived Wednesday when NPR aired its long-sought chat with the former president, conducted a day earlier by Steve Inskeep, a host of “Morning Edition.” The interview (https://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1072204478/donald-trump-npr-interview-presidential-election-lies-vaccines) has drawn plenty of attention because Trump abruptly ended the call after nine minutes, cutting short what was planned as a 15-minute chat.

“So Steve, thank you very much,” Trump said, mid-conversation and without warning, after attempting to deflect or ignore some of Inskeep’s questions. “I appreciate it.” With that, he hung up.

But to me, the interview was less notable for its sudden ending than for what it accomplished. Although noncombative in tone, it still managed to give listeners an accurate picture of the subject matter: Trump’s insistence on promoting an evidence-free and thoroughly debunked argument that the 2020 election was rigged and that he should have been granted a second term as the rightful winner.

Inskeep and NPR demonstrated that they were fully aware of how damaging such fabrications can be — and that they are unwilling to hand a big megaphone to that “big lie.”

Throughout the interview, Trump kept coming with his misleading rhetoric, offering one fleetingly plausible-sounding but utterly false idea after another about a supposedly fraud-ridden election.

But Inskeep kept coming, too, pushing back at each of these statements. “Your own lawyers had no evidence of fraud,” the host corrected Trump at one point. “They said in court they had no evidence of fraud, and the judges ruled against you every time on the merits.”

It was a great example of what I’ve been advocating for years: the “truth sandwich” approach to covering false claims, not a new problem but certainly a pervasive one in the Trump era. The idea is to avoid magnifying lies; and the technique is to surround false statements with established truths before and after, thus blunting the effect of what can amount to propaganda.

It helped, immensely, that NPR’s interview was taped. It meant that Inskeep was able to lead into his piece with almost five minutes of reporting, including archived interviews with election officials and others. So, when listeners heard Trump, they could keep in mind what they had heard just minutes before. After the conversation with Trump came yet another voice — that of Mara Liasson, an NPR national political correspondent, who talked with Inskeep for a minute or so to provide valuable perspective and another helping of truth.

“A master class in contextualization,” Richard Tofel, longtime president of ProPublica, called the interview. And, he added, a reminder of “why Trump and fellow Big Liars should be interviewed on tape rather than live.”

Inskeep said Thursday that a taped interview was always the plan and that Trump and his handlers had no objection when they agreed to the interview, NPR’s first with Trump since he became a presidential candidate in 2015. Inskeep has been requesting one regularly since then.

The host was not only well-prepared to counter, in real time, what Trump probably would say during the interview. He was also well aware of the possible pitfalls. “The whole genre of newsmaker-interviews is broken,” Inskeep told me.

Too many interviews make the newsmaker “the narrator of the story,” he explained — and particularly in these political times, “sometimes they are unreliable narrators.”

Presenting these conversations as raw Q&A’s means that the public is deprived of the necessary context. Deprived, too often, of truth. “You need extra voices, extra facts, extra context,” Inskeep said.

As the first snippets of the recorded interview were played for listeners just after 5 a.m. Wednesday, some essential context came in the form of an introductory dialogue between Inskeep and co-host Rachel Martin. At one point, Inskeep bluntly characterized his conversation with Trump with this straightforward observation: “He repeated his lies a lot.”

Crucially, NPR had chosen not to rush the long-awaited interview onto the airwaves, giving Inskeep and his team time to produce the segment smartly, with all the necessary background. “There’s almost no story that isn’t improved by holding it for a day,” Inskeep said. That isn’t always possible of course — sometimes the news won’t wait. But in this case, the extra time paid off.

Some observers challenged the entire premise of the interview: Why give Trump more attention, given the misinformation he spreads so relentlessly?
Even if Trump weren’t eyeing another run for president, the answer would be simple: The massive campaign to deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election is a crisis for our nation and undeniably newsworthy.

Trump is at the center of it all, given his dominance in American politics and his grip on the Republican Party. In thrall to him, Republican politicians and operatives are day after day finding ways to make it more difficult for Americans to vote and easier for partisans to overturn valid voting results. Democracy itself is on the line.

The role of mainstream journalists is significant, and, overall, their record has been far less than stellar. Too many, whether in a one-on-one interview or at larger sessions with a number of reporters, have failed to push back in a way that matters. Trump is such a facile talker — one who specializes in dazzling displays of distraction, ad hominem attacks and repetition — that challenging him effectively in real time can be almost impossible.

Those journalistic failures have not served the public.

As George Lakoff, a linguist and a proponent of the “truth sandwich,” told me in 2018: “Trump needs the media and the media help him by repeating what he says.”

With all-important midterm elections this year, and the 2024 presidential campaign ready to erupt soon after, journalists need to finally figure out how to cover Trump and his acolytes effectively.

They could do a lot worse than to follow NPR’s example.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/01/14/npr-inskeep-trump-interview/

[Orema]

An architect of critical race theory: ‘We cannot allow all of the lessons from the civil rights movement forward to be packed up and put away for storage’

By KK Ottesen
January 19, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EST

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YSGI6WTOLYI6ZKVIGXIYMWTJO4.jpg&w=916
Social rights advocate and race theory educator Kimberlé Crenshaw. (Ian Maddox/For The Washington Post)

Kimberlé Crenshaw, 62, is a legal scholar who developed the notions of critical race theory and intersectionality. She is a law professor at UCLA and Columbia, where she is co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies. She lives in New York and Los Angeles.

Recently, critical race theory burst onto the national scene in a way that probably is somewhat unrecognizable to those who have studied it. Having coined the term yourself, what has your experience been as you’ve seen it become this sort of intellectual boogeyman?

Well, one of the very first articles I wrote was “Race, Reform and Retrenchment.” The entire point was to anticipate that reform would inevitably reproduce retrenchment and backlash. That has been the history of progress around race in the United States: Modest reform creates tremendous backlash. And sometimes the backlash is more enduring than the reform.

Consider we had about a decade of Reconstruction. And we had about seven decades of white supremacy, racial tyranny, utter and complete exclusion. We had probably a good decade, maybe a decade and a half, of active civil rights reforms. And then three, four decades of conservative retrenchment, reactionary responses to these reforms that allow for people to say what they’re saying now, which is that anti-racism is racist, your civil rights violate my civil rights. These are very old and repetitive ideas. So the reform, retrenchment frame is now taking place in the midst of a tremendous resurgence of anti-democratic, anti-inclusionary politics. And, in the context of a new distribution channel that is 24 hours, amplified by completely unaccountable information sources in the Internet. There used to be that saying that a lie gets around the world three times before truth gets its boots on. I’d say now a lie gets around about a million times before truth wakes up and says, “What is happening?”

You watch definitions of work — and words — that you know what they mean be completely turned inside out by power. I mean, that’s what it is. The power to define what your words mean, the power to define what this area of study is. The power to define it in order to destroy it.

You’ve heard critical race theory called “divisive,” “state-sanctioned racism” — can you define what it is and what it isn’t for the lay person?

Critical race theory is a prism for understanding why decades after the end of segregation, over a century and a half after the end of slavery, after genocide has occurred, why racial inequalities are so enduring. Initially, critical race theory focused on law’s role in creating racial inequalities and continuously facilitating them. We were that second generation after the formal collapse of segregation to go into institutions to see the ways that these institutions — largely created during a time where most marginalized people of color were not part of them — function. What are the ways that those institutional structures continue to protect the interests that were created in slavery and that are its descendants?

The middle class was basically created through federal policy that was then distributed in a discriminatory way because of local control. A hundred and twenty billion dollars created the suburbs and did so in a racially discriminatory way. GI Bill created the middle class in a racially discriminatory way. So these are all critical ways of looking at our society.

What experiences as a young person helped inform your work? I know your parents were [politically] active?

When I was in fourth grade, off I go to this new Christian school — before we knew anything about the politics that motivated some of the Christian academies to come online — and find out that I’m one of two Black people in the school. Also, apparently my presence there is a surprise for some of the parents; we’d assumed they’d know Black people are Christians, too. But that wasn’t the point of the school. So there ensued a three-year confrontation with how Christianity and racism were not practices alien to each other in that school. It didn’t help that I was the kid who won the academic contest and went to represent the school in the region. I would always get a talk: “Remember, you’re representing us.” A lot of anxiety about that. My cheers that I brought to the school, because I was a cheerleader, like, “Um, we can’t do that. That’s a little too …” I know they were basically saying “too Black.” But it really came to a head in a class where one of the teachers read Revelations to apply to the civil right protests that were going on. She was literally teaching that the civil rights movement and then the Black Power movement, that we were in the final days and these Black activists were basically demons. And every day my hand was up: “My brother was one of those people.” And so I’m fighting back, and off to the office I go for intentional disobedience. It was the beginning of understanding how school can discipline us away from confronting the truths about our society and try to weaponize us, to be agents of some of these ridiculous ideas. And I was like, “Ma, you’ve got to get me out of this school.”

How did you have the courage to speak up then?

So my parents, they’re called race men and women of the 20th century. The motto of some of them was “lifting as we climb.” My grandmother was in a Black women’s club movement. My mother had integrated the local lunch counter and the local pool, partly because her father was the town physician for Black folks, so they were able to do some of that without having the backlash — you’d get fired for doing that. So I think that came from her background straight to me. And my father’s father was a minister, also given some degree of independence. So together their understanding was when we sit down at the dinner table, you need to have something to say about what you’ve seen in the world, what have you contributed to the world, what is your thinking. And so they would hear from me my efforts to put together what it meant in the world to be this little Black kid. [Laughs.] And so speaking my mind, at least to the world, was encouraged — they sometimes had a little issue when I said: Well, how come this particular unfairness is happening in the home? But the environment encouraged critical thinking and reflection and instilled a responsibility to address unfairness or address racism where I saw it. It just so happened it was in my classroom.

When you see all those parents out protesting at school board meetings about critical race theory being taught in the classrooms, what do you think?

I think that the Republican right-wing outrage machine is very, very powerful. I see the money behind it. I see the slick, high-production-value videos and booklets, and I see the common language and phrases, and I just know it’s a campaign. A campaign that is nicely framed as grass roots when, in fact, it is not. I see the fingerprints of the think tanks that for some time have been rooting around for something that would catch fire. And I see that parents, some of them, if you just follow some of the organizations — the Moms for Liberty — you see this is a regeneration of activists who have been in various formations. It plays well on TV, and it is a show. It’s like reality TV, which is not necessarily reality.

And I think: Where is the outrage about the things that really are putting children at risk? And there are things that are really putting children at risk, right? It is not critical race theory. And when I look at the list of topics now banned because they’re discriminatory, I can’t help but notice what’s not there: eugenics, “The Bell Curve,” things that if there really, really was concernabout teaching our children ideas that are divisive and that cause us not to share in our common heritage of Americans, it would be a whole different list.

It seems that critical race theory came into the [national] conversation as a backlash to progress made after the killing of George Floyd and a grappling with long-standing, systemic issues.

Absolutely. Think about it: The George Floyd situation was a generational moment. Right? It was huge. Every state in the union had a march. The majority of people out there were not of color. Language was being shared widely for the first time: “systemic racism,” “institutionalized patterns of marginality,” “racial power.” People were saying these words in a way that they hadn’t — ever! Yet, and this is where some of the problem is, it’s like those songs where everybody knows the chorus and they sing the chorus at the top of their lungs. And then [the rest of the song is]: Mmmuuhmm da da da da mmmmmmmerm — that’s kind of the situation we had. With no real literacy beyond that, with no capacity to actually say: Okay, so tell us what that means, what needs to be done. Tell us what the policies are that allow us to unravel the institutionalized forms of inequality that you are now talking about.

And if you don’t have the ability to do it, you’ve picked a fight with a giant, and you don’t have ammunition. You don’t have troops, you don’t have the war plan to respond to it. And you know the reasons why are that this is new for many people. This was produced by a singular moment, and that moment is increasingly looking like it may be singular if we’re not prepared in this moment to actually say: This really is what structural racism is. It’s not this stuff that these other people are talking about.

You saw [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis issued an “anti-woke” act?

Yes. And he actually used Martin Luther King to support the idea. What can be more a statement of racial power than to use a martyr who died for a particular cause, to use his name in order to say that he would support eliminating further discourse about the cause that he died for? I mean, what could be more an example of this sort of boundless capacity for contradiction for hypocrisy? He was a critical race theorist before there was a name for it. So that would be bad enough if they were just using Martin Luther King as a justification, but the fact that some of these folks are also saying we need to take Martin Luther King’s books, or a story of his March on Washington, out of the curriculum even as they’re using it to justify it.

We cannot allow all of the lessons from the civil rights movement forward to be packed up and put away for storage. Because if that happens, anything and everything that speaks of diversity and fairness and inclusion will always be vulnerable to: Well, that’s just critical race theory. And so you have to recognize that the effort to pack all this together is not just about critical race theory. It’s about the entire justice project.

So how do you think about reform in a way that doesn’t cause one step forward, seven steps back?

It’s my constant question. You know, one of the things that I think about — a lot — is if we were to go back and talk to, I don’t know, Frederick Douglass in 1874 or any of the Black congressmen who were elected to serve Congress or any of the senators or the lieutenant governors who were Black or the majority who in South Carolina actually ran their governments there before the great coups that ended that experiment in multiracial democracy — if we were to say, “Look, this is what happened.” [Laughs.] “What now would you do differently? What could have been done differently?” — what would they tell us? Did they have any idea that they would be wiped out of politics altogether? Did they have any idea that some of them would be killed? Did they have any idea that race riots would be political coups? And if they had that idea, what would they have done differently?

We have been kind of raised with the assumption that everything is always forward, with the assumption that democracy is just in our DNA, and certain things are just never going to happen. Moving forward, we have to acknowledge that being vigilant and productive about preventing this kind of thing from happening again is not simply a matter of singing “Kumbaya,” it’s not just a pat on the back, it’s really looking deeply into our institutions and into our culture to understand why these things keep happening.

So when we’re looking at something like this that makes no sense, it should tell us that there’s a deeper logic driving it. And that deeper logic goes all the way back to: We are a country that was grounded in a racial project. For the longest part, we were a White nation, and our laws said so and our Constitution was interpreted to reinforce that. That doesn’t go away just because we stopped saying it.

Is it better in your mind that critical race theory is out there being talked about, even if it’s being misused, rather than existing in its pure state but in a much smaller conversation?

That is the question of the moment, and I think we won’t know the final judgment on this until history writes this story. And that turns on who’s doing the writing. [Laughs.] Which is honestly what’s at stake right now. This is about what the future knows about this moment.

My thought, my hope, is that having put front and center in the American consciousness the importance of what histories we tell will bring constituents, parents, policymakers to the table in a way that they haven’t been in the past. To really understand that to think about race is not the problem. To be racist is the problem. And racism is not primarily a thought crime; it’s an action crime. It’s an institutional problem. So is it better that this has happened? I would say, if it turns out that it makes people who should have been conversant in these ideas realize that there is no democracy without grappling with these issues, that there’s no daylight between maintaining a multiracial democracy and being fully literate on anti-racism. If people recognize now what this has to do with January 6, if they recognize now what this has to do with the deterioration of our democracy, then it will have been a good thing. Because it’s a five-alarm situation.

KK Ottesen is a regular contributor to the WaPo magazine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/an-architect-of-critical-race-theory-we-cannot-allow-all-of-the-lessons-from-the-civil-rights-movement-forward-to-be-packed-up-and-put-away-for-storage/2022/01/14/24bb31de-627e-11ec-a7e8-3a8455b71fad_story.html

[Orema]

I love that it took some old ass hippies to shake up Spotify.

Boomers, indeed.

:bow:

[homoe]

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, said she supported the appointment of a Black woman to the US Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer.

"I would welcome the appointment of a Black female to the court," she said. "I believe that diversity benefits the Supreme Court, but the way that the president has handled this nomination has been clumsy at best."

3_0N9DKtAH8

Well Susan at least President Biden is a man of his word UNLIKE you! How many terms have you served??????

[homoe]

Susan Collins won't say whether she'd back Donald Trump in 2024. Why not?



https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/31/politics/susan-collins-trump-2024-election-support/index.html

[Orema]

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, said she supported the appointment of a Black woman to the US Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer.

"I would welcome the appointment of a Black female to the court," she said. "I believe that diversity benefits the Supreme Court, but the way that the president has handled this nomination has been clumsy at best."

3_0N9DKtAH8

Well Susan at least President Biden is a man of his word UNLIKE you! How many terms have you served??????

Yanno, the Senate backed Reagan after he promised to nominate a woman as a Supreme while campaigning. He nominated Sandra Day O'Connor. I think Bush#1 intentionally chose a Black conservative (Justice Thomas) to replace Thurgood Marshall. (I don't have any proof of this, hence the word "think.") I think Clinton chose RBG, in part, because she was a woman and Jewish. Bush#2 nominated Alito, who was not his first choice (Harriet Miers was his first choice), because Alito was more conservative than the person being replaced (O'Connor), but I think he also went with Alito because Alito was Italian and Catholic. Many of these decisions were made, I think, to create a diverse Supreme court. Biden is doing the same.

I have been hoping for the day when we nominate an American Indian as a Supreme (shame on us for never even considering one), but I have no beef with Biden nominating a Black woman. It's a promise he has to keep. Doesn't mean the Senate will make it easy for her, nor is there a guarantee that the person confirmed will be a woman, let alone a Black woman, but his promise was to nominate a Black woman and that's what he's doing.

Deals like the one Biden made with Rep. Clyburn are made all the time, but in secrecy. Biden put it all on the table—personally, I didn't think he had it in him to do this in the open, my bad.

I'm glad Biden is doing this in the daylight. I wish more politicians were open about the promises they make to get into office.

[homoe]

Maine Senator Susan Collins has a lot of friends. First elected to the Senate in 1996, she developed a reputation as a reasonable, moderate Republican willing to work across the aisle to get things done. These years of niceties and moderation, culminating in her party-breaching vote to convict Donald Trump in his post-Jan. 6 impeachment trial, have turned Collins into one Democrats’ last remaining hopes for making progress in a deadlocked Congress, and a potential saving grace should the Grand Old Party decided to wholeheartedly embrace Trumpism once again.

Or, that’s the narrative that Susan Collins likes to put forward. In reality, she has proved time and time again to be just as craven as the rest, and only interested in moderation or bipartisanship when it serves her agenda.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/susan-collins-prepares-silly-moderate-130052122.html

[homoe]

Ted Cruz says it's 'offensive' and an 'insult' that Biden pledged to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court.


Ya know what some might consider "offensive"? A Texas Senator who flew to Cancun, Mexico, amid a weather crisis last year around this time!


https://www.yahoo.com/news/ted-cruz-says-offensive-insult-220438275.html

[homoe]

Susan Collins Dismayed Supreme Court Justice Misled Her On Abortion.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) expressed disappointment Tuesday with the leaked Supreme Court draft that would overturn abortion rights ― saying that if it’s true, they were misled by certain justices during their confirmation hearings. “If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office,” Collins said in a statement.

Susan was your head so far up your arse that you didn't hear former member of the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens say that Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was not qualified to sit on the court?

Just to refresh your memory:

Justice Stevens said he came to the conclusion reluctantly, changing his mind about Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination after the second round of the judge’s confirmation hearings last week. Judge Kavanaugh’s statements at those hearings, Justice Stevens said, revealed prejudices that would make it impossible for him to do the court’s work, a point he said had been made by prominent commentators.

“They suggest that he has demonstrated a potential bias involving enough potential litigants before the court that he would not be able to perform his full responsibilities,” Justice Stevens said in remarks to retirees in Boca Raton, Fla. “And I think there is merit in that criticism and that the senators should really pay attention to it.”

[homoe]

Ocasio-Cortez Torches Collins And Murkowski: 'They Don't Get To Play Victim Now'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tore into Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Tuesday after they expressed dismay at the Supreme Court’s leaked draft majority opinion that would overturn landmark abortion rights decisions.

“Murkowski voted for Amy Coney Barrett when Trump himself proclaimed that he was appointing justices specifically to overturn Roe,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “She and Collins betrayed the nation’s reproductive rights when they were singularly capable of stopping the slide. They don’t get to play victim now.”

The senators, who both claim to support abortion rights, provided key support to justices appointed by former President Donald Trump who now appear poised to gut Roe. v. Wade. (Collins voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018; Murkowski voted to confirm Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020).

[JDeere]

All of this nonsense is done by rich, religious, immoral, individuals of all ethnic backgrounds, to gain more votes!

There is no longer separation of church and state, like it's supposed to be!

If you aren't rich, religious, immoral and are common man, it's obvious now that no parties in the government give 2 craps about any of us! They are doing this for their own egos and for mid terms.

I am so dismayed with this country and government!

[homoe]

mgzZ0Jg3-4c

[homoe]

Matt Gaetz is a model avatar for the Republican Party’s manic culture war. As a far-right reactionary currently under investigation for sex crimes, he checks several boxes of hypocrisy so often seen among the GOP’s moral crusaders. It makes sense, then, that he delivered the best encapsulation of the socially conservative right’s response to pro-choice protests now sweeping the country.

“How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?” Gaetz asked on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

Shaking my head!

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/matt-gaetz-lashes-over-educated-204017918.html

[homoe]

Matt Gaetz is a model avatar for the Republican Party’s manic culture war. As a far-right reactionary currently under investigation for sex crimes, he checks several boxes of hypocrisy so often seen among the GOP’s moral crusaders. It makes sense, then, that he delivered the best encapsulation of the socially conservative right’s response to pro-choice protests now sweeping the country.

“How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?” Gaetz asked on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

Shaking my head!

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/matt-gaetz-lashes-over-educated-204017918.html

“In response to the nationwide protests, this morning Gaetz tweeted, ‘How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?'”

After reading Gaetz’s gross take, Colbert quipped, “Now folks, if that statement sounds insane, remember, for Matt Gaetz ‘over-educated’ is any woman who’s already graduated high school.”

Gaetz is currently under federal investigation for sex crimes, specifically whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl for money in 2017 and whether he paid to transport women across state lines for sex. He is also being investigated for obstructing justice, per NBC News.

[homoe]

tkbeis3TV2I
Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders speaks at a campaign stop at a Dairy Queen in Little Rock, Ark., Monday, May 2, 2022. Sanders is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in the Arkansas primary.


Can I just say anyone who would vote for this lying sack of shit should have their head examined!

[cathexis]

“In response to the nationwide protests, this morning Gaetz tweeted, ‘How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?'”

After reading Gaetz’s gross take, Colbert quipped, “Now folks, if that statement sounds insane, remember, for Matt Gaetz ‘over-educated’ is any woman who’s already graduated high school.”

Gaetz is currently under federal investigation for sex crimes, specifically whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl for money in 2017 and whether he paid to transport women across state lines for sex. He is also being investigated for obstructing justice, per NBC News.

We've got to get something better on him and I'm sure there's a better scoop. Personally, I don't believe a young woman of 17 years is a child. I am not the only woman who started hooking at 15, started working the streets to get out of an emotionally abusive household. Worked until a little over 16 and was able to move to Chicago where I continued as it was the easiest way to make good money. Waiting tables was tedious and not nearly as lucrative.

No regrets. In fact, am active in a group trying to lower the age of consent to 16. Young women of 16 should have all the rights and responsibilities that pertain to adult women. I get disturbed when they call these sex-workers children.

Yes, Matt Gaetz is a Right-wing sleaze bag. There's got to be something else to pin on him...his closet has to be full of skeletons.

[cathexis]

mgzZ0Jg3-4c

She wasn't the only one shocked at the revelation. Consider myself a woman of the world and it shocked me. Who can you believe if a judge is testifying in Congress under oath?! It shook me as I couldn't believe that someone would lie under Congressional Oath. I would think that's the one place a person wouldn't lie. After that, I became very cynical (much more than usual) thinking about who can be believed. Came up with no one, and now I distrust my doctor and even my Partner. I'm sure it will blow over...eventually. I grew up a gullible Hoosier where truth-telling is a societal norm and lies are the exception to the rule!

Scotty, beam me back to that time and place.

[homoe]

Kellyanne Conway slams 'shrewd and calculating' Jared Kushner in memoir: 'There was no subject he considered beyond his expertise'.She called Kushner "shrewd and calculating" and criticized his sprawling portfolio.

I doubt I'll be buying her book Here's the Deal: A Memoir

IMHO the one thing that stands out in all these individuals book's written AFTER they left Trump's service, is that they were experts at lying and spin control!

[cathexis]

The book doesn't appeal to me either.

The fascists published after being complicit in Tru*p's regime reminds me of Albert Speer's (Hitler's architect) publishing a multitude of works after being convicted for Crimes against Humanity at Nurenberg. He was sentenced to twenty years after the Holocaust.

[cathexis]

Yanno, the Senate backed Reagan after he promised to nominate a woman as a Supreme while campaigning. He nominated Sandra Day O'Connor. I think Bush#1 intentionally chose a Black conservative (Justice Thomas) to replace Thurgood Marshall. (I don't have any proof of this, hence the word "think.") I think Clinton chose RBG, in part, because she was a woman and Jewish. Bush#2 nominated Alito, who was not his first choice (Harriet Miers was his first choice), because Alito was more conservative than the person being replaced (O'Connor), but I think he also went with Alito because Alito was Italian and Catholic. Many of these decisions were made, I think, to create a diverse Supreme court. Biden is doing the same.

I have been hoping for the day when we nominate an American Indian as a Supreme (shame on us for never even considering one), but I have no beef with Biden nominating a Black woman. It's a promise he has to keep. Doesn't mean the Senate will make it easy for her, nor is there a guarantee that the person confirmed will be a woman, let alone a Black woman, but his promise was to nominate a Black woman and that's what he's doing.

Deals like the one Biden made with Rep. Clyburn are made all the time, but in secrecy. Biden put it all on the table—personally, I didn't think he had it in him to do this in the open, my bad.

I'm glad Biden is doing this in the daylight. I wish more politicians were open about the promises they make to get into office.

Orema, perhaps you would answer a question that has been burning in my soul since Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed and have been too embarrassed until now to ask.

Here goes. Justice Thomas is one of the most conservative justices serving on the SCOTUS. How can someone who is of color (any BIPOC) align with conservative right-wingers given what the BIPOC community has endured from slavery or the Indigenous atrocities to the racism and Jim Crow seemingly resurging? I truly don't understand ignoring one's people's history. As a Jew, I have difficulty dealing with anti-Semitic people and choose not to associate with groups who have members of that ilk. As a Socialist, I choose not to deal with any right-wing ideologues. I steer clear of both of the above-mentioned groups feeling very uncomfortable in their presence.

[Orema]

Orema, perhaps you would answer a question that has been burning in my soul since Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed and have been too embarrassed until now to ask.

Here goes. Justice Thomas is one of the most conservative justices serving on the SCOTUS. How can someone who is of color (any BIPOC) align with conservative right-wingers given what the BIPOC community has endured from slavery or the Indigenous atrocities to the racism and Jim Crow seemingly resurging? I truly don't understand ignoring one's people's history. As a Jew, I have difficulty dealing with anti-Semitic people and choose not to associate with groups who have members of that ilk. As a Socialist, I choose not to deal with any right-wing ideologues. I steer clear of both of the above-mentioned groups feeling very uncomfortable in their presence.

WTF? You'll need to get this lesson from another.

Don't ask me to explain or help you understand shit like this. I'm not here for that.

I'm in pain. I wake up each morning to another horrible story about Black people being tackled, shot at, or killed and the last thing I want to do is explain shit like this.

[cathexis]

WTF? You'll need to get this lesson from another.

Don't ask me to explain or help you understand shit like this. I'm not here for that.

I'm in pain. I wake up each morning to another horrible story about Black people being tackled, shot at, or killed and the last thing I want to do is explain shit like this.

Sorry for hitting a raw nerve. I understand your pain. The Jewish Community, of which I belong. has had more than its share of pain. Why the "WTF" response, thought I approached the issue with due sensitivity and respect? As Jews, we (the Jewish Community)are also experiencing hate. Jews have been the object of hate since the Middle Ages. When hate is rampant in a community, anti-Semitism is also present. We have been blamed for everything from "blood libel" to current-era pedophilia.

We've had Orthodox school children run over upon exiting school buses and Rabbis killed in their homes while saying Kaddish (mourner's prayers (said daily for a year after family members with a minion of 12), Synagogues shot up killing worshippers, spat on, hit, yelled at, and I'm sure that's not the full extent of it. Who did the Nazis chant about at Charlottesville? It wasn't "you will not replace us." It was "Jews will not replace us!" All less than80 years from the Holocaust where 6,000,000 Jew lost their lives at the hand of Fascists like those white supremacists today who are indeed Fascists.

My community is suffering as is yours. Please do NOT treat me like some "woke" white person as that doesn't apply here.

Sorry, I brought this line of questioning to BFP. Guess I'll go to one of my other sites to ask this and risk rebuff and rejection there. Orema, I actually thought you would not give this response to my carefully and sensitively worded question or I would not have picked that scab.

[Orema]

Sorry for hitting a raw nerve. I understand your pain. The Jewish Community, of which I belong. has had more than its share of pain. Why the "WTF" response, thought I approached the issue with due sensitivity and respect? As Jews, we (the Jewish Community)are also experiencing hate. Jews have been the object of hate since the Middle Ages. When hate is rampant in a community, anti-Semitism is also present. We have been blamed for everything from "blood libel" to current-era pedophilia.

We've had Orthodox school children run over upon exiting school buses and Rabbis killed in their homes while saying Kaddish (mourner's prayers (said daily for a year after family members with a minion of 12), Synagogues shot up killing worshippers, spat on, hit, yelled at, and I'm sure that's not the full extent of it. Who did the Nazis chant about at Charlottesville? It wasn't "you will not replace us." It was "Jews will not replace us!" All less than80 years from the Holocaust where 6,000,000 Jew lost their lives at the hand of Fascists like those white supremacists today who are indeed Fascists.

My community is suffering as is yours. Please do NOT treat me like some "woke" white person as that doesn't apply here.

Sorry, I brought this line of questioning to BFP. Guess I'll go to one of my other sites to ask this and risk rebuff and rejection there. Orema, I actually thought you would not give this response to my carefully and sensitively worded question or I would not have picked that scab.

But you didn't bring your question to BFP, you brought them to me, specifically, and I suspect (and expect) you already know the answer based on your education and experience.

I'm not sure why you were initially embarrassed to ask the question but I would follow that lead when wanting to ask BIPOC or LGBTQ+ people (or almost anyone else) to explain their outliers.

[cathexis]

But you didn't bring your question to BFP, you brought them to me, specifically, and I suspect (and expect) you already know the answer based on your education and experience.

I'm not sure why you were initially embarrassed to ask the question but I would follow that lead when wanting to ask BIPOC or LGBTQ+ people (or almost anyone else) to explain their outliers.

It is not my intention to engage in a personal attack. Thought we had a better online friendship than most of the interactions I have here. All of my personal interactions have been online (except with my partner) for the past several years mostly due to the hate and disgust shown to transgender people and Jews in my area.

These are my personal issues, not a justification but perhaps an explanation for why I asked you. I realize that many people on this site dislike me, not sure why. No one has told me. Yes, I am educated but also obtuse at times. Perhaps, much of this is related to why I chose to ask you.

The embarrassment about asking anyone my question is more related to strained social interactions than the question itself, but again my issue.

[BullDog]

White people are never asked to be a spokesperson for white people to explain someone’s violent, bizarre or idiotic behavior or beliefs. Why did that white person do that, white person?

I have no clue why bat shit crazy Ginny Thomas is such a traitor to our country or why she supports a racist white nationalist party when she is married to a black man. I couldn’t tell you and no one expects me as a random white person to have the answers.

[Orema]

White people are never asked to be a spokesperson for white people to explain someone’s violent, bizarre or idiotic behavior or beliefs. Why did that white person do that, white person?

I have no clue why bat shit crazy Ginny Thomas is such a traitor to our country or why she supports a racist white nationalist party when she is married to a black man. I couldn’t tell you and no one expects me as a random white person to have the answers.

Thank you.

It is not my intention to engage in a personal attack. Thought we had a better online friendship than most of the interactions I have here. All of my personal interactions have been online (except with my partner) for the past several years mostly due to the hate and disgust shown to transgender people and Jews in my area.

These are my personal issues, not a justification but perhaps an explanation for why I asked you. I realize that many people on this site dislike me, not sure why. No one has told me. Yes, I am educated but also obtuse at times. Perhaps, much of this is related to why I chose to ask you.

The embarrassment about asking anyone my question is more related to strained social interactions than the question itself, but again my issue.

cathexis,

Bulldog explained it correctly.

l lashed out at you because of your inappropriate expectation of me and not for any other reasons.

Everything I mentioned (my pain, your education, etc) was not to challenge you in those areas, but to give you context on why I wasn't answering your question.

[FireSignFemme]

“Sorry, I brought this line of questioning to BFP. Guess I'll go to one of my other sites to ask this and risk rebuff and rejection there...”

Have fun. Careful with the door.

[cathexis]

White people are never asked to be a spokesperson for white people to explain someone's violent, bizarre or idiotic behavior or beliefs. Why did that white person do that, white person?

I have no clue why bat shit crazy Ginny Thomas is such a traitor to our country or why she supports a racist white nationalist party when she is married to a black man. I couldn't tell you and no one expects me as a random white person to have the answers.

Thank you.



cathexis,

Bulldog explained it correctly.

l lashed out at you because of your inappropriate expectation of me and not for any other reasons.

Everything I mentioned (my pain, your education, etc) was not to challenge you in those areas, but to give you context on why I wasn't answering your question.

Perhaps, what Bulldog wrote was something that applied to their situation.

I have been asked to explain the Holocaust to non-Jews because of not looking obviously Semitic.

How white supremacist militias can justify their existence.

Why did Dylann Roof feel so much hate as to go into a black majority church and murder nine little girls and injuring many other adults in South Carolina then wave the Confederate Battle Flag defiantly.

Additionally, why neo-Nazis wanted to march in predominately Jewish Skokie and why a Jewish ACLU attorney chose to defend them using the Constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech.

I answered these questions without negative attitudes towards the querent.

Orema, my reason for asking you was to gather your insight into why he might think and behave in that manner. The basis was intellectual curiosity.

Thank you for coming back with a response that was less emotion and more reason. I often miss the information when mixed with anger. My issue and not related to anything amiss from you.

[Orema]

Perhaps, what Bulldog wrote was something that applied to their situation.

I have been asked to explain the Holocaust to non-Jews because of not looking obviously Semitic.

How white supremacist militias can justify their existence.

Why did Dylann Roof feel so much hate as to go into a black majority church and murder nine little girls and injuring many other adults in South Carolina then wave the Confederate Battle Flag defiantly.

Additionally, why neo-Nazis wanted to march in predominately Jewish Skokie and why a Jewish ACLU attorney chose to defend them using the Constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech.

I answered these questions without negative attitudes towards the querent.

Orema, my reason for asking you was to gather your insight into why he might think and behave in that manner. The basis was intellectual curiosity.

Thank you for coming back with a response that was less emotion and more reason. I often miss the information when mixed with anger. My issue and not related to anything amiss from you.

Perhaps?

I’m stunned that you refuse to accept my reason and still feel entitled to an answer from me.

I will leave you to yourself.

[BullDog]

Perhaps, what Bulldog wrote was something that applied to their situation.

I have been asked to explain the Holocaust to non-Jews because of not looking obviously Semitic.

How white supremacist militias can justify their existence.

Why did Dylann Roof feel so much hate as to go into a black majority church and murder nine little girls and injuring many other adults in South Carolina then wave the Confederate Battle Flag defiantly.

Additionally, why neo-Nazis wanted to march in predominately Jewish Skokie and why a Jewish ACLU attorney chose to defend them using the Constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech.

I answered these questions without negative attitudes towards the querent.

Orema, my reason for asking you was to gather your insight into why he might think and behave in that manner. The basis was intellectual curiosity.

Thank you for coming back with a response that was less emotion and more reason. I often miss the information when mixed with anger. My issue and not related to anything amiss from you.

What an arrogant, ignorant response. Yes what I described absolutely applies to you and you’ve proven it with every comment you make. You are engaged in typical white person behavior and not listening to anything Orema is saying to you and taking it personally and making it all about you and feeling entitled. Typical white person behavior. Ugh.

[JDeere]

As a mixed person of other ethnic backgrounds, mainly Native American, I can not answer that question, as part of the white Eurpoean background either.

I can only speak for how I was raised and by whom I was raised, my personal experiences as well.

A white person has no say in a POC's personal experiences, even if the Jews, Native Americans, etc have all had bad experiences.

A POC can not speak for a white person

A Latino/a, Hispanic, Mexican, El Salvadorian, etc cant speak for white people

my whole point is, one race can NOT speak for another on certain personal bad experiences.

[cathexis]

What an arrogant, ignorant response. Yes, what I described absolutely applies to you and you’ve proven it with every comment you make. You are engaged in typical white person behavior and not listening to anything Orema is saying to you and taking it personally and making it all about you and feeling entitled. Typical white person behavior. Ugh.

You've got no idea about my background or what qualifications I have. Your behavior shows how little you know about people and their psychology. Your response disgusts me.

The response undoubtedly stems from online dialogues had in the past that included people not currently active on BFP. Ones in which Anya, you, and I engaged in contentious banter about earlier political elections. Ones that proved your political assertions incorrect.

Your attempts to belittle me are inconsistent with intelligent online discourse.

[BullDog]

You've got no idea about my background or what qualifications I have. Your behavior shows how little you know about people and their psychology. Your response disgusts me.

The response undoubtedly stems from online dialogues had in the past that included people not currently active on BFP. Ones in which Anya, you, and I engaged in contentious banter about earlier political elections. Ones that proved your political assertions incorrect.

Your attempts to belittle me are inconsistent with intelligent online discourse.

I’m not going by your background or behavior. I’m going by the actual words you have typed on the screen. If you want to continue to wallow in your white privilege and huge sense of entitlement and not learn anything that’s your choice.

I certainly remember Anya but don’t remember any past political conversations with you. What I have said in the past about the political state of affairs has been proven correct not incorrect.

Instead of looking at your own behavior and maybe trying to understand why what you did was inappropriate by listening to what Orema was saying to you - instead you type out this crap.

[JDeere]

Just.....I know this is the red zone but this has become alot lately.

Too much divide, shakes my head...resorting to name calling or hashing up old stuff. Saying someone is ignorant, is the same as name calling, telling someone about white priveledge without checking your own, is gross..calling someone out on other things, when asked another person, whether, POC,BIPOC, Native American, Mixed, etc about their feelings, and arguing is nonsense.

Sorry for typos I'm just in awe and disgust.

[BullDog]

Just.....I know this is the red zone but this has become alot lately.

Too much divide, shakes my head...resorting to name calling or hashing up old stuff. Saying someone is ignorant, is the same as name calling, telling someone about white priveledge without checking your own, is gross..calling someone out on other things, when asked another person, whether, POC,BIPOC, Native American, Mixed, etc about their feelings, and arguing is nonsense.

Sorry for typos I'm just in awe and disgust.


I am in the middle of moving so don’t have time for this complete nonsense but thanks for the good laugh. If you truly were serious about wanting everyone to get along you obviously would not have responded to me the way you did. In addition to white privilege being “checked” it can also be used to speak out and to support people of color when possible. That is what I am doing. The disrespect and lack of support by some of you is appalling.

[JDeere]

I was speaking in general, if I wanted to say something directly to you, I would quote you, I didn't so it was in general, for everyone!

So you assuming, makes you a you know what!

So my posts are general talk, if I want to say something directly to anyone, I will quote yall! Let's get it straight.

[BullDog]

I was speaking in general, if I wanted to say something directly to you, I would quote you, I didn't so it was in general, for everyone!

So you assuming, makes you a you know what!

So my posts are general talk, if I want to say something directly to anyone, I will quote yall! Let's get it straight.

Everything you mentioned was from my posts. Either way my post still stands. I consider the matter with both you and cathexis closed. I don’t have time for the nonsense.

[cathexis]

Perhaps?

I'm stunned that you refuse to accept my reason and still feel entitled to an answer from me.

I will leave you to yourself.

Going back through the dialogue to share with my partner, I feel it necessary for me to make a follow-up. It is not that I continued to insist on a different answer. I accepted the one you gave.

Reading through the whole argument, I was reacting to the anger. Felt like I was jumped rather than given an answer on your first response. Tell me instead of coming out with teeth and claws if you feel like a question is inappropriate. I don't understand why this whole political argument couldn't have been civil, which applies to everyone involved.

I received an answer to my original question elsewhere. We have an ongoing discussion on the topic, so I will bow out of this dialogue.

[Cin]

Going back through the dialogue to share with my partner, I feel it necessary for me to make a follow-up. It is not that I continued to insist on a different answer. I accepted the one you gave.

Reading through the whole argument, I was reacting to the anger. Felt like I was jumped rather than given an answer on your first response. Tell me instead of coming out with teeth and claws if you feel like a question is inappropriate. I don't understand why this whole political argument couldn't have been civil, which applies to everyone involved.

I received an answer to my original question elsewhere. We have an ongoing discussion on the topic, so I will bow out of this dialogue.


It's seems as though you really cannot understand what it was you did that was so triggering and so you continue to double and triple down on it. It is very alarming. It feels like it's just something that you can't see, like the air that you breathe for example. And there is nothing that has happened thus far in these interactions that would give me hope that it will become clear to you if it is just explained once more. But for reasons that are unclear to me, I still believe, despite years of evidence to the contrary garnered during many discussion about many issues in which I have failed miserably to explain successfully to another person reasons for which they should change their point of view on a particular subject, that perhaps this time it will be different. So I am compelled to try.

The issue is very simple. One should not ask a person to explain why others who are the same race, religion, gender or whatever do the things they do. Nobody should be made to feel responsible for explaining the actions of others of their group. Why would a person of color have a better answer for you regarding the behavior and choices of other POC? And more importantly why would it be their job to explain it to you? A white person is not expected to answer for all white people. Perhaps that is a good rule of thumb ... before you ask a person to answer for others, think about if you would seek out the only white person in the room and ask them to explain, oh, I don't know, for example maybe, why some white people cannot recognize their white privilege. Or why some white people confuse white privilege with other issues for which the white person might be oppressed. For example, you can be a privileged white person and be socio-economically oppressed. Apples and oranges. And understanding your white privilege does not negate your disadvantages in other areas. So it is always best not to try and compare them.

Also, white privilege is something that you cannot refuse as a white person. It is given to you and it is not earned and cannot be declined, all youcan do is recognize it and drag it out into the light at all opportunities. That and not ask a person of color to explain the motivations of other persons of color. Your posts thus far have given the impression that you don't agree and feel there is no harm in asking a person of color to explain the actions of another person of color as though they are all the same and understand each other's motivations perfectly and/or want to expend the energy to explain it to a white person. Also you seem to understand and allow for your response to what you perceive as anger or attacks, but can't seem to be capable of imagining how it makes Orema feel when you ask her questions like that. How it might bring up all kinds of crap for her. And how frustrating it might be to always have to be prepared for the unfeeling and insensitive interactions that can trigger all sorts of unsolicited, unwelcome and complicated emotions.

[Semantics]

Sorry for hitting a raw nerve. I understand your pain. The Jewish Community, of which I belong. has had more than its share of pain. Why the "WTF" response, thought I approached the issue with due sensitivity and respect? As Jews, we (the Jewish Community)are also experiencing hate. Jews have been the object of hate since the Middle Ages. When hate is rampant in a community, anti-Semitism is also present. We have been blamed for everything from "blood libel" to current-era pedophilia.

We've had Orthodox school children run over upon exiting school buses and Rabbis killed in their homes while saying Kaddish (mourner's prayers (said daily for a year after family members with a minion of 12), Synagogues shot up killing worshippers, spat on, hit, yelled at, and I'm sure that's not the full extent of it. Who did the Nazis chant about at Charlottesville? It wasn't "you will not replace us." It was "Jews will not replace us!" All less than80 years from the Holocaust where 6,000,000 Jew lost their lives at the hand of Fascists like those white supremacists today who are indeed Fascists.

My community is suffering as is yours. Please do NOT treat me like some "woke" white person as that doesn't apply here.

Sorry, I brought this line of questioning to BFP. Guess I'll go to one of my other sites to ask this and risk rebuff and rejection there. Orema, I actually thought you would not give this response to my carefully and sensitively worded question or I would not have picked that scab.



As a jew living in an increasingly fascist, right-wing state, sometimes I worry I'll eventually end up in a cattle car. Still, I'm white. I can walk through a department store without being followed by security, and I can take a drive in my car without worrying much about being pulled over and murdered by police. I get really irritated when white jews (and yeah, I know some jews don't claim to be white, and some aren't white, but most jews are white passing) compare their experiences to what POC go through.

You asked Orema to provide you with emotional labor and education, and POC are exhausted by that. Racial trauma is real.

Your response was lousy with white fragility. I hope you can work on that instead of being so defensive. The best that most white people can hope to be are "recovering racists" and it's a lifetime of work.

[cathexis]

It seems as though you really cannot understand what it was you did that was so triggering and so you continue to double and triple down on it. It is very alarming. It feels like it's just something that you can't see, like the air that you breathe for example. And there is nothing that has happened thus far in these interactions that would give me hope that it will become clear to you if it is just explained once more. But for reasons that are unclear to me, I still believe, despite years of evidence to the contrary garnered during many discussion about many issues in which I have failed miserably to explain successfully to another person reasons for which they should change their point of view on a particular subject, that perhaps this time it will be different. So I am compelled to try.

The issue is very simple. One should not ask a person to explain why others who are the same race, religion, gender or whatever do the things they do. Nobody should be made to feel responsible for explaining the actions of others of their group. Why would a person of color have a better answer for you regarding the behavior and choices of other POC? And more importantly why would it be their job to explain it to you? A white person is not expected to answer for all white people. Perhaps that is a good rule of thumb ... before you ask a person to answer for others, think about if you would seek out the only white person in the room and ask them to explain, oh, I don't know, for example maybe, why some white people cannot recognize their white privilege. Or why some white people confuse white privilege with other issues for which the white person might be oppressed. For example, you can be a privileged white person and be socio-economically oppressed. Apples and oranges. And understanding your white privilege does not negate your disadvantages in other areas. So it is always best not to try and compare them.

Also, white privilege is something that you cannot refuse as a white person. It is given to you and it is not earned and cannot be declined, all youcan do is recognize it and drag it out into the light at all opportunities. That and not ask a person of color to explain the motivations of other persons of color. Your posts thus far have given the impression that you don't agree and feel there is no harm in asking a person of color to explain the actions of another person of color as though they are all the same and understand each other's motivations perfectly and/or want to expend the energy to explain it to a white person. Also you seem to understand and allow for your response to what you perceive as anger or attacks, but can't seem to be capable of imagining how it makes Orema feel when you ask her questions like that. How it might bring up all kinds of crap for her. And how frustrating it might be to always have to be prepared for the unfeeling and insensitive interactions that can trigger all sorts of unsolicited, unwelcome and complicated emotions.

As a jew living in an increasingly fascist, right-wing state, sometimes I worry I'll eventually end up in a cattle car. Still, I'm white. I can walk through a department store without being followed by security, and I can take a drive in my car without worrying much about being pulled over and murdered by police. I get really irritated when white jews (and yeah, I know some jews don't claim to be white, and some aren't white, but most jews are white passing) compare their experiences to what POC go through.

You asked Orema to provide you with emotional labor and education, and POC are exhausted by that. Racial trauma is real.

Your response was lousy with white fragility. I hope you can work on that instead of being so defensive. The best that most white people can hope to be are "recovering racists" and it's a lifetime of work.

No more, no f*cking more, it's over and done. Perhaps as a person with Aspberger's, I fail in my communication skills. Neither of you seems to have read through the entire dialogue, and I think you read the Cliff Notes version. Believe that I have made an apology to Orema.

Genuinely sorry I even checked back to read any response. Yes, I acknowledge my white privilege. Next time, I will not engage a POC in a discussion regarding their opinion of ANY other person's action online here and not anywhere in person even as others ask me to explain people's actions. This pushes me further into the cave of my mind. I had been making strides in outside communication.

Thanks all for jumping me swiftly during progress so to make the retreat a bit easier.

[kittygrrl]

I think we should all calm down and learn from each other...if a person is mistaken or you don't agree maybe we could discreetly ask for clarification instead of assuming we know more or better or anything..i know there are those here who would say (and they would be dead right)..."that's rich coming from you as you were always quick to jump in when you didn't agree or thought someone's opinion very wrong" well i've learned and been humbled(& grateful for it) and realized i need to sit quietly sometimes and think before i rage...Let's be kind & realize we all need to be heard, & we are always learning something from each other hopefully, for the better, til our end...i hope we can all learn (from each other) from our own mis-steps. Perfection in thought ..is there such thing? No, at least I haven't found it. We are all on a journey together. Thank you all for your contributions to this thread...I have learned to treasure all your words.

[Orema]

I think we should all calm down and learn from each other...if a person is mistaken or you don't agree maybe we could discreetly ask for clarification instead of assuming we know more or better or anything..i know there are those here who would say (and they would be dead right)..."that's rich coming from you as you were always quick to jump in when you didn't agree or thought someone's opinion very wrong" well i've learned and been humbled(& grateful for it) and realized i need to sit quietly sometimes and think before i rage...Let's be kind & realize we all need to be heard, & we are always learning something from each other hopefully, for the better, til our end...i hope we can all learn (from each other) from our own mis-steps. Perfection in thought ..is there such thing? No, at least I haven't found it. We are all on a journey together. Thank you all for your contributions to this thread...I have learned to treasure all your words.

No.

cathexis was wrong to push me on this. Then cathexis lied by saying or implying that they apologized to me for their insistent behavior.

I had planned on moving on but only returned to this discussion when I saw the lies and nonsense in cathexis’s last post.

You can Kumbaya all you want, kittygrrl, but you can count me out.

[BullDog]

I think we should all calm down and learn from each other...if a person is mistaken or you don't agree maybe we could discreetly ask for clarification instead of assuming we know more or better or anything..i know there are those here who would say (and they would be dead right)..."that's rich coming from you as you were always quick to jump in when you didn't agree or thought someone's opinion very wrong" well i've learned and been humbled(& grateful for it) and realized i need to sit quietly sometimes and think before i rage...Let's be kind & realize we all need to be heard, & we are always learning something from each other hopefully, for the better, til our end...i hope we can all learn (from each other) from our own mis-steps. Perfection in thought ..is there such thing? No, at least I haven't found it. We are all on a journey together. Thank you all for your contributions to this thread...I have learned to treasure all your words.

When the person who started all the trouble to begin with shows no signs of being willing to learn from anyone and acts like they are the one who is being mistreated then this is impossible to do in any way that would be positive or productive. I’m not showing kindness towards such egregious behavior.

[kittygrrl]

When the person who started all the trouble to begin with shows no signs of being willing to learn from anyone and acts like they are the one who is being mistreated then this is impossible to do in any way that would be positive or productive. I’m not showing kindness towards such egregious behavior.

Bulldog, you have a great mind..very great..so i will not attempt to persuade you ...so what do you suggest we do with people who don't see it our way? kick all the people we don't agree with out? ostracize them?, lock them up?, make them behave? civilized people don't consider these options..we must find options that feed the soul..finding common ground, being as positive as you can be, not leaving the conversation, will go a long way ..is it easy..no, at least not for me, it's incredibly hard, but i find the biggest battle within my own mind..just my thoughts, thanks for listening

[BullDog]

Bulldog, you have a great mind..very great..so i will not attempt to persuade you ...so what do you suggest we do with people who don't see it our way? kick all the people we don't agree with out? ostracize them?, lock them up?, make them behave? civilized people don't consider these options..we must find options that feed the soul..finding common ground, being as positive as you can be, not leaving the conversation, will go a long way ..is it easy..no, at least not for me, it's incredibly hard, but i find the biggest battle within my own mind..just my thoughts, thanks for listening

I wish I had an answer to how to solve racism and white privilege. Unfortunately, I do not. In this situation, I feel people have shown great restraint and just been very straightforward with the person, yet he feels wronged. He tells Orema to not be so emotional (which is very rude and arrogant) when all of his posts are highly emotional and he's been very nasty to her, me, Cin, and Semantics - basically everyone who spoke out. What he did is not okay and showing kindness may sound nice but all that does is give him permission to think what he did was okay. Seems there is no solution other than to drop the matter and hope for the best that he doesn't do it again.

I am not the most patient person in the world and I am sure there are times when it would be a good idea to try to step back and see the situation from their point of view and show restraint. So I don't think your suggestions are without merit. However, in this situation, I don't think kindness is going to help at all. I think being very clear and straightforward is the best approach and I feel that is what people have done. In order for us all to learn from each other, everyone needs to be willing to learn. Probably best to go our separate ways.

[kittygrrl]

I wish I had an answer to how to solve racism and white privilege. Unfortunately, I do not. In this situation, I feel people have shown great restraint and just been very straightforward with the person, yet he feels wronged. He tells Orema to not be so emotional (which is very rude and arrogant) when all of his posts are highly emotional and he's been very nasty to her, me, Cin, and Semantics - basically everyone who spoke out. What he did is not okay and showing kindness may sound nice but all that does is give him permission to think what he did was okay. Seems there is no solution other than to drop the matter and hope for the best that he doesn't do it again.

I am not the most patient person in the world and I am sure there are times when it would be a good idea to try to step back and see the situation from their point of view and show restraint. So I don't think your suggestions are without merit. However, in this situation, I don't think kindness is going to help at all. I think being very clear and straightforward is the best approach and I feel that is what people have done. In order for us all to learn from each other, everyone needs to be willing to learn. Probably best to go our separate ways

Wellspoken...i appreciate your passion...it's not fair that people like me my mom my sisters etc have had to endure at certain times in our lives the knowing stares that say..you're different...but it is a fact of life i've learned to live with and made myself shrug off...i refuse to have a chip on my shoulder because of someone's lack of manners or willful or accidental ignorance regarding my ethnicity...i choose to be ok regardless...not everyone feels that way...as for white privilege..it exists and will be with us for a long time...humans need to feel special it's in our dna and unfortunately that may mean others have to be expendable or optional...but i can't think of that now..i smile at everyone i meet people where they are at and work to make a difference, plant a seed...the only other alternative is war.

[nhplowboi]

Sorry AOC but I think you are getting a little full of yourself. Instead of bashing Biden who has had the deck stacked against him from the beginning (by Trump lovers ie our major economy suppliers) name someone you think could step in and do the job. You know the old saying......to end the problem you need to be part of the solution.

[kittygrrl]

still thinking... of the chasms that exist between us (real or imaginery)...we have to figure out a way to leave our issues aside meet in a safe place and learn from/about & enlighten each other. We can do that.

[FireSignFemme]

Well if people can do that, and make it last, that will be a first since the beginning of time immemorial.

[nhplowboi]

A high five to Rusty Bowers! A true American who understands the meaning of his oath of office.

[homoe]

Shaye Moss, her mom, and gradmother and the violence, threats, and harassment they incurred all because of the Big Lie!

Thankfully there is a defamation lawsuit...


https://protectdemocracy.org/project/fighting-defamation-aimed-at-election-workers/

[clay]

Roe v Wade has been overturned, 5 to 4:confused:

What is next...OUR right to vote?

OUR choice to marry our same sex partner?

WTF??

[cathexis]

Wellspoken...i appreciate your passion...it's not fair that people like me my mom my sisters etc have had to endure at certain times in our lives the knowing stares that say..you're different...but it is a fact of life i've learned to live with and made myself shrug off...i refuse to have a chip on my shoulder because of someone's lack of manners or willful or accidental ignorance regarding my ethnicity...i choose to be ok regardless...not everyone feels that way...as for white privilege..it exists and will be with us for a long time...humans need to feel special it's in our dna and unfortunately that may mean others have to be expendable or optional...but i can't think of that now..i smile at everyone i meet people where they are at and work to make a difference, plant a seed...the only other alternative is war.



None of my views have changed about my ethnicity. It's just because many people think of Jewish people as privileged white people. Some are, and some aren't. We have ALWAYS been the initial group that the fascists target if one looks at the history of anti-Semitism. People have pursued Jewish people from at least the middle-ages, probably much earlier. There is much information across the web and in your local libraries and booksellers.

[cathexis]

Roe v Wade has been overturned, 5 to 4:confused:

What is next...OUR right to vote?

OUR choice to marry our same sex partner?

WTF??

Transgender rights of all sorts, even Loving v. Virginia, or we could go back even further to other SCOTUS rulings. There's no telling how far back they would go.

[homoe]

Roe v Wade has been overturned, 5 to 4:confused:

What is next...OUR right to vote?

OUR choice to marry our same sex partner?

WTF??

I think Thomas has made it clear! Gay Marriage

[cathexis]

I think Thomas has made it clear! Gay Marriage

He also murmured about contraception. Mentioned other rulings as well.

This Right-wing SCOTUS (I know they're supposed to be apolitical but this one IS not) will be on a roll basking in the feeling of newly released power.

[homoe]

mgzZ0Jg3-4c


Rarely in history has a United States senator been so blatantly beclowned as Susan Collins was on Friday.

Four years ago this summer, the Republican senator from Maine announced that President Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, had assured her that he believed the recognition of abortion rights in the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision was “settled law.”

The senator’s assurance that Kavanaugh would never overturn Roe was completely shredded on Friday by the justice’s own argument for doing just that.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/brett-kavanaugh-susan-collins/

[homoe]

Roe v Wade has been overturned, 5 to 4:confused:

What is next...OUR right to vote?

OUR choice to marry our same sex partner?

WTF??

Not only Gay Marriage, but Thomas has a whole list he's itching to overturn!

Sidebar: I had always believed Anita Hill during the Senate confirmation hearings for Thomas! How he's been able to keep his nose clean all this time is beyond me!

[homoe]

Rarely in history has a United States senator been so blatantly beclowned as Susan Collins was on Friday.

Four years ago this summer, the Republican senator from Maine announced that President Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, had assured her that he believed the recognition of abortion rights in the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision was “settled law.”

The senator’s assurance that Kavanaugh would never overturn Roe was completely shredded on Friday by the justice’s own argument for doing just that.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/brett-kavanaugh-susan-collins/

Following up on what Allahpundit wrote earlier, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s happening up in Maine. But plenty of Mainers are clearly hopping mad about the overturning of Roe v Wade and they’re not venting their anger at the Supreme Court, or at least not all of their anger. They are launching broadsides against Senator Susan Collins (who, curiously enough, is not an opponent of abortion). They are blaming her for putting Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch on the bench, enabling the final decision in Dobbs. Some are demanding an apology while others are calling for her resignation. (Associated Press)

https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/06/25/critics-blame-susan-collins-for-downfall-of-roe-n478740

[JDeere]

still thinking... of the chasms that exist between us (real or imaginery)...we have to figure out a way to leave our issues aside meet in a safe place and learn from/about & enlighten each other. We can do that.

That will be when hell freezes over for me. Ive tried many times and I get shit on!

Good luck, I see no way thats going to happen.

[firecat242]

If the argument is that it is "not mentioned in the Constitution" buckle up buttercup we are going back the Stone Age.

[homoe]

Not only Gay Marriage, but Thomas has a whole list he's itching to overturn!

Sidebar: I had always believed Anita Hill during the Senate confirmation hearings for Thomas! How he's been able to keep his nose clean all this time is beyond me!


Justice Thomas' wife asked Anita Hill to apologize in a voicemail if you remember some years back...

IMHO... it appears she's been off her rocker for some time.......

[homoe]

Justice Thomas' wife asked Anita Hill to apologize in a voicemail if you remember some years back...

IMHO... she's been off her rocker for some time.......

Virginia Thomas, has faced criticism recently for her actions following former President Donald Trump's defeat in the 2020 election. Among other things, Virginia Thomas exchanged messages with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows encouraging him to work to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory and urged Republican lawmakers in Arizona, where Biden won, to choose their own slate of electors.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol has asked her for an interview.

[homoe]

~~
What charges might Trump face for trying to overturn 2020 election?

IMHO, MIGHT is the key word!

I have a sicking feeling this SOB is going to walk away scott free while thumbing his nose at all!

[Soft*Silver]

~~
What charges might Trump face for trying to overturn 2020 election?

IMHO, MIGHT is the key word!

I have a sicking feeling this SOB is going to walk away scott free while thumbing his nose at all!

Me too! I don’t think he’s gonna face any substantial punishment for anything. I might concern is that he’s going to clear his way to run again. I just saw a poll that said he is way ahead of Biden of who people would vote for if the two of them ran against each other. I can’t take another four years of Trump in office especially with this SCOTUS!

[Soft*Silver]

The Supreme Court just announced that it’s going to take up LGBTQA+ rights up in the fall. For all those who are married now, be aware you might not be for much longer. Those who are insured through their employers, You could lose that insurance, as well as your partner could. For those who enter hospitals, your partners will no longer be allowed to follow you in the back. Kate crimes will not be prosecuted harshly if at all. We probably won’t even be allowed to do pride events and parades. They are coming for us and they just announced it!

[JDeere]

If the argument is that it is "not mentioned in the Constitution" buckle up buttercup we are going back the Stone Age.

We already are back in the Stone Age!

That started when they overturned Roe v Wade....

[homoe]

The Supreme Court just announced that it’s going to take up LGBTQA+ rights up in the fall. For all those who are married now, be aware you might not be for much longer. Those who are insured through their employers, You could lose that insurance, as well as your partner could. For those who enter hospitals, your partners will no longer be allowed to follow you in the back. Kate crimes will not be prosecuted harshly if at all. We probably won’t even be allowed to do pride events and parades. They are coming for us and they just announced it!

Could you please post the link to this? I've tried and tried finding the article but to no avail!

I know Thomas has suggested the court take a look at these, but I had not heard they definetly had decided to in fall.

[homoe]

Me too! I don’t think he’s gonna face any substantial punishment for anything. I might concern is that he’s going to clear his way to run again. I just saw a poll that said he is way ahead of Biden of who people would vote for if the two of them ran against each other. I can’t take another four years of Trump in office especially with this SCOTUS!

:goodpost:

[homoe]

Nearly 850,000 people signed a petition demanding that Justice Clarence Thomas should be booted from the Supreme Court following Roe v. Wade ruling.


Unfortunately I doubt if a Justice can be moved just for their voting stance.

And Justice Thomas’s failure to recuse himself may be wrong, but it’s not judicial misconduct.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/03/29/justice-thomass-failure-to-recuse-may-be-wrong-but-its-not-judicial-misconduct/

[cathexis]

If the argument is that it is "not mentioned in the Constitution" buckle up buttercup we are going back the Stone Age.

Well, the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are from a more fundamental document, The Declaration of Independence.

I know their argument is that it isn't specified.

[homoe]

Supreme Court sides with former Bremerton, Wash., high school football coach, ruling he has Constitutional right to pray on field.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with a football coach from Washington state (6-3) who sought to kneel and pray on the field after games.

The justices ruled that the coach's prayer was protected by the First Amendment.

Isn't refusing an abortion to women some sort of double standard then?

IMHO overturning Roe Vs Wade is just another way men are determined to govern what women can do with their bodies!

[cathexis]

Last week several important Right-wing 2nd Amendment decisions, SCOTUS struck down Gov. Hochel's (D-NY) light-weight state gun control legislation

SCOTUS wants to kick everything except gun control back to the states.

One good thing that came out of the District, Senator Chuck Schumer made loud verbal threats to the conservative Justices. He's really angry over Roe.

Senator Schumer's office is also circulating a petition to Federalize abortion access. Please sign this is you come across this.

[BullDog]

We already are back in the Stone Age!

That started when they overturned Roe v Wade....

Yes we are going back to the Stone Age thanks to the Republican Party and people like you who vote for them. Next up for the Supreme Court - taking away LGBTQ rights.

[Soft*Silver]

Could you please post the link to this? I've tried and tried finding the article but to no avail!

I know Thomas has suggested the court take a look at these, but I had not heard they definetly had decided to in fall.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-30/harvard-affirmative-action-gay-rights-next-up-at-supreme-court

[A. Spectre]

Yes we are going back to the Stone Age thanks to the Republican Party and people like you who vote for them. Next up for the Supreme Court - taking away LGBTQ rights.


Took the words right out of my mouth! Some of us have a memory longer than a gnat.

"....people like YOU....."

This country will be unrecognizable if these unelected (selected by the Kochs and The Federalist Society) SCOTUS have their way. Many parts of this country will be paralyzed by fear of being arrested for .... reading the wrong book?!

Rational folks had thoughts like this yet dismissed them as being paranoid and hyperbolic. Look around, this coming dystopian landscape (already here in Florida and elsewhere, coming soon to a republican state near you) brought to you by christo fascists who are getting off on the damage being done to women.

It will only get worse if we do not vote! They are gerrymandering the fuck out of certain areas where a Dem won't have a snowballs chance to win in decades. We can prevent more suffering if we vote! Do it before our votes will not matter, they are getting their way with submitting their own electors if an election does not bode well for them. Some have already taken up the "pussy-grabbers" playbook by not conceding and yelling "stolen!"

I and so many others are done playing, we are outraged and petrified of things done and will be done. No more "let's just be reasonable and talk this out."

[Soft*Silver]

This is my state. I am horrified! This child is close to the age of my granddaughter. Not only was this young girl raped, now she is being raped by the system and by politics.



https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3544588-10-year-old-girl-denied-abortion-in-ohio/amp/

[BullDog]

Took the words right out of my mouth! Some of us have a memory longer than a gnat.

"....people like YOU....."

This country will be unrecognizable if these unelected (selected by the Kochs and The Federalist Society) SCOTUS have their way. Many parts of this country will be paralyzed by fear of being arrested for .... reading the wrong book?!

Rational folks had thoughts like this yet dismissed them as being paranoid and hyperbolic. Look around, this coming dystopian landscape (already here in Florida and elsewhere, coming soon to a republican state near you) brought to you by christo fascists who are getting off on the damage being done to women.

It will only get worse if we do not vote! They are gerrymandering the fuck out of certain areas where a Dem won't have a snowballs chance to win in decades. We can prevent more suffering if we vote! Do it before our votes will not matter, they are getting their way with submitting their own electors if an election does not bode well for them. Some have already taken up the "pussy-grabbers" playbook by not conceding and yelling "stolen!"

I and so many others are done playing, we are outraged and petrified of things done and will be done. No more "let's just be reasonable and talk this out."

The fact that JDeere would come in here and act like overturning Roe was a bad thing after voting for the Republicans for many years - based on his own posts - is absolutely outrageous. Everyone on both sides has known for decades that overturning Roe was a top priority of the Republican Party and why it was so important to vote. There are absolutely no excuses for anyone who supports the Republican Party. They are anti-woman, anti-children, racist, anti-LBGTQ and more. Why would any LGBTQ person put their own rights at risk and those of their community. It has been very very clear that the Republican Party is an enemy of the LGBTQ community. Absolutely no doubt at all.

Yes we must vote. We have to fight harder than we ever have in our lives and being chummy with those who are trying to take us down is not part of a winning strategy. They are willing to go to every extreme length including overthrowing Democracy.

[Blade]

Agreed...this also applies to those who didn't vote for Hillary in 2016. I've had people tell me "I voted but voted independent or write in." If you don't vote Democrat then you are voting against us. Had people who didn't like Hillary but hated Trump voted for Hillary we wouldn't be in the situation we are now. Those Supreme Court judges would likely be Democrat.

They (Republicans, social media, and media such as FOX and some others) have made Biden look so bad I don't know if the Dems can hold on to the oval office. You have to vote with us because a vote in any other direction is against us.


The fact that JDeere would come in here and act like overturning Roe was a bad thing after voting for the Republicans for many years - based on his own posts - is absolutely outrageous. Everyone on both sides has known for decades that overturning Roe was a top priority of the Republican Party and why it was so important to vote. There are absolutely no excuses for anyone who supports the Republican Party. They are anti-woman, anti-children, racist, anti-LBGTQ and more. Why would any LGBTQ person put their own rights at risk and those of their community. It has been very very clear that the Republican Party is an enemy of the LGBTQ community. Absolutely no doubt at all.

Yes we must vote. We have to fight harder than we ever have in our lives and being chummy with those who are trying to take us down is not part of a winning strategy. They are willing to go to every extreme length including overthrowing Democracy.

[homoe]

The Federalist Society, the conservative legal group that pushed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's appointment, has been the biggest contributor to the re-election campaign of Sen. Susan Collins, the embattled Maine Republican, since she voted to confirm him, federal filings show.


https://www.salon.com/2020/07/10/is-the-federalist-society-rewarding-susan-collins-for-her-kavanaugh-vote-with-campaign-cash/

[homoe]

Collins ‘exasperated’ by backlash to Federalist Society fundraiser.

Sen. Susan Collins reportedly sounded ‘exasperated’ when asked about the backlash she has received since attending a private campaign fundraising event held in 2019 at the $4 million summer mansion of Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, the leading force in putting judges who oppose abortion rights on the federal bench.

“So I went to a 20-person fundraiser,” she said. “It’s just ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.”

To refresh our memories Collins voted to confirm Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh then tried to claim she was mislead by Kavanaugh!

[homoe]

3_0N9DKtAH8

Liar Liar Pants On Fire!



Sidebar: After that video, how could anyone believe anything that came out of her mouth!

[homoe]

The Federalist Society, the conservative legal group that pushed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's appointment, has been the biggest contributor to the re-election campaign of Sen. Susan Collins, the embattled Maine Republican, since she voted to confirm him, federal filings show.


https://www.salon.com/2020/07/10/is-the-federalist-society-rewarding-susan-collins-for-her-kavanaugh-vote-with-campaign-cash/

For someone claiming two terms were enough.....she SURE ran for re-election, grabbing donations from questionable sources, time after time after her two terms were up!

[homoe]

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh ducked out the back door of a steakhouse in Washington, D.C.last week, when a group of demonstrators gathered outside to protest his vote to jettison Roe v. Wade, Politico and activists reported.



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-roe-protesters-mortons-steakhouse_n_62c8926be4b0359fa47b6389

[homoe]

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh ducked out the back door of a steakhouse in Washington, D.C.last week, when a group of demonstrators gathered outside to protest his vote to jettison Roe v. Wade, Politico and activists reported.



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-roe-protesters-mortons-steakhouse_n_62c8926be4b0359fa47b6389

Likwise, as one of the gals on the View said, getting out my tiny violin ....

This SOB should be grilled and served as supper!

[homoe]

CBS News
Lawyers for Sen. Lindsey Graham are arguing that the South Carolina Republican cannot be forced to testify before a Fulton County grand jury about alleged election interference, claiming he has "absolute immunity" under the US Constitution for phone calls he placed to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.



A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily halted a subpoena demanding testimony from South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in a Georgia special grand jury investigation into former President Donald Trump's behavior after losing the 2020 election.

Graham filed a motion earlier Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in South Carolina in an effort to avoid testifying about Trump's efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results.

IMO...this judge must be a Republican.

[JDeere]

I'm still completely disillusioned with it ALL!!!

I don't ever remember, when I was younger, ever seeing this much divide, murder, etc regarding politics and or religion.

[homoe]

It was no shock that state Rep. Ron Hanks and Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters handily lost their recent Republican primaries in Colorado for U.S. Senate and secretary of state.

Hanks was outspent 14-to-1 by his rival. Peters, who was vying to become Colorado's top elections official, had been indicted on seven felony charges alleging she helped orchestrate a breach of her voting system's hard drive.

But this past week, both candidates formally requested recounts of their primary elections from June 28, suggesting widespread irregularities seen by no one other than their own campaigns and allies.

“I have reasons to believe extensive malfeasance occurred in the June 2022 primary,” Peters wrote in her recount request, “and that the apparent outcome of this election does not reflect the will of Colorado voters not only for myself but also for many other America First statewide and local primary candidates.”

America First is a coalition of conservative candidates and officeholders who, among other things, promote the falsehood that Democrat Joe Biden did not win the 2020 presidential election.

[homoe]

Senator Ted Cruz Says Supreme Court Was Wrong In Same-Sex Marriage Ruling.


Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Saturday said he believes the U.S. Supreme Court “was overreaching” and “clearly wrong” when it legalized same-sex marriage across the country in the 2015 landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-obergefell-decision-wrong-roe-wade_n_62d42765e4b0116f21bcf44c

[cathexis]

CBS News
Lawyers for Sen. Lindsey Graham are arguing that the South Carolina Republican cannot be forced to testify before a Fulton County grand jury about alleged election interference, claiming he has "absolute immunity" under the US Constitution for phone calls he placed to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.



A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily halted a subpoena demanding testimony from South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in a Georgia special grand jury investigation into former President Donald Trump's behavior after losing the 2020 election.

Graham filed a motion earlier Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in South Carolina in an effort to avoid testifying about Trump's efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results.

IMO...this judge must be a Republican.

It doesn't sound that hard to find out his party affiliation. Just get me the name and state the Federal judge worked. I live for research.

For many East of the Rockies, there was (not sure about any continuation) a judge might be shared by different jurisdictions. I know it is still in use on the Navajo Reservation.:hangloose:

[Orema]

2022 and 2224 is on my mind.

2022
Michigan primary voting is in a couple weeks and I'm voting Democrat right down the line. I'm not doing absentee voting this year. Will show up, stand in line, cast my vote.

2024
As usual, am commited to voting for the Democratic nominee—no matter whom it is nor how much I may have to hold my breath while voting. I don't like it when Non-Democratic politicians (Bernie Sanders comes to mind) get a chance at the Democratic nomination, but they too will get my vote if any of them become the nominee for the Democratic party.

I imagine the usual suspects will run again for the Democratic nomination (Bloomberg, Booker, Buttigieg, Gabbard, Gillibrand, Kerry, O'Rourke). I expect Newsome and others to join the crowd. I can't stand half these people, especially Bloomberg, but even he will get my vote if nominated.

And I would still vote for Clinton if she ran again. I still think she'd make a better president than Biden, Trump, or DeSantis (whom I expect will be the Republican nominee).

[Orema]

Was watching the hearings the other night and of course it was all about Trump. At the same time the local affiliate interrupted the hearings with commercials for Republican politicians who proudly claim to be endorsed by Trump (primary voting in my state is coming up on August 2 and we're being bombarded with political commercials). It had a surreal aspect to it, but more than anything I was left with the feeling that nothing will come of these hearings. A few people may be punished (Bannon comes to mind), but not Trump nor his family. And Trump will maintain power with Republicans.

I'll need another escape this political season. Horatio Cane and his team are still looking good (I know, I need to move on). Maybe I'll keep my subscription to Paramount Plus, but it will probably be cheaper to just purchase CSI: Miami on Prime or DVD. Or maybe I'll revisit The Wire (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/), Omar has a wonderful way of putting things in the right perspective.

[Orema]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/BJULGNX6EAI6ZM45OEYJC2ABJM.jpg&w=916
Michigan Republican candidates for governor, Ryan Kelley, Garrett Soldano, Tudor Dixon and Kevin Rinke at a debate in Grand Rapids, Mich. on July 6. (Michael Buck/AP)


Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) first term has been wracked by turmoil. She has dealt with a bitter backlash (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-michigan-governor/michigan-governor-whitmer-faces-mainstream-backlash-against-shutdown-idUSKBN22W2V0) over pandemic restrictions, been the subject of a kidnapping plot (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60999431) and sparred repeatedly with former president Donald Trump. She has even taken heat over a private plane flight (https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/05/27/gretchen-whitmer-florida-trip-father-jet/7464928002/) to visit her ailing father.

But, as the state’s Michigan’s GOP gubernatorial primary nears on Aug. 2, the Democratic governor seems to be sitting comfortably above the chaos among her potential Republican challengers.

Five of 10 Republican candidates were kicked off the ballot (https://www.npr.org/2022/06/05/1103144991/5-republicans-are-off-the-michigan-gubernatorial-ballot-after-signature-fraud) last month for submitting fraudulent petition signatures, prompting the best-known among the disqualified, former Detroit police chief James Craig (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/01/james-craig-whitmer-michigan-trump-views/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5), to run as a write-in candidate.

One of the surviving five, Ryan Kelley, was arrested by the FBI for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Kelley has pleaded not guilty, and an appeals court ruled (https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2022/07/21/michigan-court-rejects-suit-seeking-keep-ryan-kelley-off-ballot/10122085002/) he can stay on the ballot.

The putative front-runner, Tudor Dixon (https://www.michiganradio.org/politics-government/2022-05-24/devos-family-endorses-tudor-dixon-for-michigan-governor), is a Grand Rapids conservative commentator who in mid-July held a within-the-margin-of-error lead. She is backed by the wealthy and politically influential Dick and Betsy DeVos (education secretary in the Trump administration). Dixon has fervently courted Trump’s endorsement — so far, unsuccessfully — and embraced plenty of MAGA-friendly issues (https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/drag-queens-and-maga-tudor-dixon-fights-culture-wars-michigan-governor-bid). (She thinks Trump won Michigan in 2020, even though he trailed Joe Biden by 154,000 votes.)

All this has not exactly aided the GOP dream of unseating Whitmer. A recent Detroit News/WDIV poll (https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2022/07/13/poll-where-michigan-voters-stand-on-races-for-governor-secretary-of-state-attorney-general/) showed the governor comfortably ahead of all her challengers in head-to-head match ups, including leading Dixon, 50.7 percent to 40.3 percent.

How could a state once known for producing moderate Republicans get to this point? Michigan, after all, gave us former president Gerald Ford (https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/gerald-r-ford/), and governors George W. Romney (https://www.nga.org/governor/george-wilcken-romney/) and William G. Milliken (https://www.record-eagle.com/news/local_news/longtime-governor-and-traverse-city-son-william-milliken-dies-at-97/article_f1d739d2-f1de-11e9-9a0f-ab1693da31d8.html), who, between them, kept the governor’s mansion in GOP hands from 1963 to 1983.

You can partly blame demographics. Many of the old-school Republicans of my parents’ era are dying or are retired (some might say hiding) from active participation. For whatever reason, their courtliness has not survived, perhaps because the swerve at the national party’s top was toward nastiness.

My mother, a staunch Michigan Republican, started worrying about this more than two decades ago. In 2000, watching the Bush-Gore race, she worried that the mean turn politics had taken, as well as intense scrutiny of politicians’ personal lives, would drive good potential candidates away. She wondered, “Who are they going to get to run?”

Now, in the wild Michigan GOP primary and in too many Republican races across the country, instead of men and women of distinction, we get amateurs who cry victim at every opportunity. That includes, astonishingly, when they fail to follow a basic civic rite that earlier generations had little problem handling: collecting petition signatures to win a spot on the ballot.

My mother approached this task with a reverence that matched her activity in our Catholic church’s Madonna Guild. As a child, I remember seeing her big brown clipboard, holding a petition with neat rows of spaces for names, addresses and signatures. When she filled a page, she signed it and turned it into the local party office for verification.

Contrast the care she and other campaign volunteers back then took with the sloppy approach that the disqualified GOP five delegated this crucial task. Lacking the networks that seasoned party veterans could boast, they simply hired petition circulators.

Instead of rounding up real voters, these paid collectors turned in page after page of fake names (https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2022/07/13/poll-where-michigan-voters-stand-on-races-for-governor-secretary-of-state-attorney-general/), not just for governor but for other races. Eye-popping stories have emerged of petitions left sitting out on picnic tables for anyone to walk by and sign.

The irony of this mess is that people in Michigan are fired up to vote. The Detroit News/WDIV poll found that state residents scored 9.2 on a scale of one to 10 when it comes to being motivated to go to the polls. People who consider themselves “strong Democrats” ranked highest, with “strong Republicans” right behind them.

In other words, the ousted Republican candidates didn’t have to cheat: If they’d put the time in, they could have landed on the ballot, legally.

Now contrast the Republican petition debacle with the largely Democratic-supported ballot drive to codify abortion rights in the Michigan constitution this fall collected the most signatures (https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2022/07/11/michigan-abortion-rights-ballot-drive-submits-753k-signatures-for-november-election/) of any initiative in state history.

Although the flood of more than 750,000 signatures has yet to be verified, organizers of the Reproductive Freedom for All campaign are confident they easily met the threshold of 450,000 valid names required to make it onto the ballot.

The professionalism of that signature-collection campaign only underlined the cynical amateurishness of the GOP candidates’ petition effort.

If voters reelect Whitmer this fall, despite the tumult of her first term, it may be because she represents a calmer bet, compared with the alternative. For that, thanks in part will be due to the vanishing of Michigan’s moderate Republicans.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/26/michigan-republican-governor-primary-chaos/
________________________

Whitmer has my vote this year. Too bad she isn't running for POTUS in 2024 (I'm banking that she'll run in 2028— Gretchen for President :)). She'd get my vote for POTUS, if only in the primaries. I'd vote for her before voting for Newsome and I like him. I'd probably vote for Whitmer before VP Harris in the POTUS primaries if they ever run against each other.

[JDeere]

I read online that there is a new party..The Forward Party, a mix of dems and repubs and others who are not aligned with their parties ideals, etc.

I'm waiting to see how that pans out before making comments, just found it interesting.

[Soft*Silver]

I read online that there is a new party..The Forward Party, a mix of dems and repubs and others who are not aligned with their parties ideals, etc.

I'm waiting to see how that pans out before making comments, just found it interesting.

I saw that too! I’m wondering how that’s going to pan out and how it will affect voting. I don’t want to see what happened with Hillary and Bernie again. If the people who voted for those two had joined together and voted for one of them Trump would’ve never gotten into office. My fear is that a new forward party with divide votes again. But I guess change must start somewhere….

[nhplowboi]

Trump will be receiving a *tax-break* for Ivana’s golf course grave plot. Per NJ law, the property is now deemed a cemetery & is thus tax-exempt. I have read this a couple of times today. Wow..... could he go any lower?

[Orema]

Trump will be receiving a *tax-break* for Ivana’s golf course grave plot. Per NJ law, the property is now deemed a cemetery & is thus tax-exempt. I have read this a couple of times today. Wow..... could he go any lower?

Unfortunately, I think he can go lower, though I can't imagine how.

If nothing else, she was the former wife of a former President and she deserved more than this.

[Orema]

Newsom Asks Hollywood to Stop Filming in Conservative States

The California governor says film companies should “walk the walk” on abortion rights and L.G.B.T.Q. protections by leaving states such as Georgia and Oklahoma.

https://i.postimg.cc/T3dn12n2/03newsom-hollywood-1-super-Jumbo.jpg
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaking at a news conference in Sacramento in June. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

By Shawn Hubler for the New York Times

SACRAMENTO — Widening his attack on Republican states for their positions on guns, civil rights and abortion, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Wednesday called on Hollywood to “walk the walk” on liberal values by bringing back their film and television productions from states such as Georgia and Oklahoma.

Mr. Newsom issued the challenge through an ad in Variety (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZPrrgOUUAEev4c.jpg) that asked the state’s left-leaning creative community to “take stock of your values — and those of your employees — when doing business in those states.”

The Democratic governor on Wednesday simultaneously endorsed a legislative proposal that would provide a $1.65 billion, five-year extension of California’s film and television production tax credit program.

It marked the second time in recent weeks that Mr. Newsom has used California legislation as a cudgel to rip Republican leaders elsewhere. Last month, he signed a bill allowing residents to sue makers of illegal guns and took the opportunity (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/us/newsom-gun-bill-california.html) to rebuke Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas for previously enabling its residents to sue abortion providers.

Mr. Newsom’s statements on Wednesday underscored the pressure that intensifying culture wars have placed on U.S. corporations, particularly in states where the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade has severely constrained reproductive rights for women.

Some of the country’s biggest businesses, including the Walt Disney Company, Netflix and Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, have announced programs to help employees who need abortion access but cannot obtain it in their home states. Hundreds of entertainment figures also have denounced policies in Republican-led states that have weakened safeguards for L.G.B.T.Q. people. Last week, some 400 television creators and showrunners publicly demanded that production companies protect pregnant employees in states where abortion is outlawed.

But entertainment companies have not yet announced major plans to cancel expansions or relocate offices. “Tulsa King (https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/taylor-sheridans-tulsa-king-with-sylvester-stallone-sets-paramount-premiere-date-1235271075/),” Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming crime drama starring Sylvester Stallone, has been filming this summer for

In Georgia on Monday, Gov. Brian Kemp announced (https://gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2022-08-01/gov-kemp-georgia-made-film-tv-productions-generate-44b-state-yet-another) that film and television productions generated $4.4 billion in the state this fiscal year, a new record. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was filmed in the state, the governor noted, as was the fourth season of “Stranger Things.”

https://i.postimg.cc/X7wT3LgS/merlin-205580523-be2ccbea-f7d1-404f-a2ee-f810fc2e1d11-super-Jumbo.jpg
Supporters of Florida’s Republican-backed “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, demonstrating in Orlando, Fla., in April. Credit: Octavio Jones/Reuters

“I was happy to name Gavin Newsom Oklahoma’s Economic Developer of the Year Award in 2021 and I’m glad to see he’s making a run for two years in a row,” Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma joked in a statement on Wednesday. Mr. Stitt took a similar jab at the California governor last year in reference to the state’s pandemic shutdowns, which Mr. Stitt said drove business to his state.

The Motion Picture Association, the trade group representing major film studios and Netflix, declined to comment on Wednesday.

Moving a production can be exceptionally costly and logistically complex, and some of the entertainment industry’s biggest companies are deeply invested in states with conservative leaders. Disney, for example, has maintained extensive operations in Florida despite a bitter and expensive standoff between its employees and the state.

After Disney — pressured by its employees — opposed a Florida ban on L.G.B.T.Q.-related instruction, state legislators and Gov. Ron DeSantis stripped the company of the special authority it had over the swaths of land where Disney World and other company properties are located. Disney, meanwhile, has delayed a planned relocation of some 2,000 high-profile jobs from California to Florida.

Mr. Newsom has been in the thick of that power struggle (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/03/us/state-laws-republican-democrat-division.html) for months, trolling Mr. DeSantis on Twitter and inviting Disney to rethink its Florida investments (https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1502804793663713282). The Variety ad was the latest in a series of initiatives (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/us/politics/newsom-texas-abortion-law-guns.html) by Mr. Newsom to take his defense of “California values” onto a national stage.

A $105,000 spot (https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-07-03/join-us-in-california-newsom-to-air-ads-in-florida) that ran in Florida last month — attacking Mr. DeSantis and inviting Florida businesses to come to California — was the opening salvo in a national effort by Mr. Newsom that has included newspaper ads in Texas attacking Mr. Abbott on abortion restrictions and a highly publicized trip to Washington, D.C., to discuss, among other things, gun legislation.

https://i.postimg.cc/Pq4XxhzH/merlin-210086283-b7ffcd00-9367-4c23-9014-9601efc144d5-super-Jumbo.jpg
Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking about his policy plans and vision for the state in Palatka, Fla., in July. Credit: Lawren Simmons for The New York Times

In widening his attacks to include Oklahoma and Georgia, Mr. Newsom targeted not only two of California’s most aggressive rivals for film, television and other content production but two of the nation’s most conservative states on social issues.

Oklahoma, which aggressively ramped up film production (https://www.okcommerce.gov/doing-business/business-relocation-expansion/industry-sectors/film-music/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20Filmed%20in,work%20d one%20in%20the%20state).) incentives during the pandemic, has banned nearly all abortions (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/us/oklahoma-abortion-ban-law-governor.html) since the Roe v. Wade reversal. And Georgia, which has one of the nation’s most generous packages of film production incentives, has granted fetuses full legal recognition (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/20/us/georgia-abortion-ban.html). This week, a Georgia tax agency found that pregnant women could take a $3,000 personal tax exemption for any fetus (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgia-anti-abortion-law-allows-tax-deductions-fetuses-2022-08-02/) with a detectable heartbeat.

Mr. Newsom noted that California’s abortion rights are among the most secure in the nation. The state has also enacted some of the nation’s toughest laws on gun safety and civil liberties for L.G.B.T.Q. people.

California’s film tax credit — which the state created in 2009 after productions began decamping for Canada — has been of debatable value, even with an expansion and overhaul in 2014. The incentive allows filmmakers to recoup as much as 25 percent of their spending — up to the first $100 million — on crew salaries and other costs, excluding star salaries. But other states, including Georgia, offer more significant rebates.

Critics complain that the tax credit encourages bidding wars and rarely keeps productions in the state over the long term. A 2019 analysis by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found that one-third of the projects that received the subsidies probably would have been made in California regardless.

“While the credit probably caused some film and television projects to be made here, many other similar projects also were made here without receiving any financial incentive,” the report said.

But Newsom on Wednesday touted another study (https://laedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/LAEDC-Report_CA-Film-TV-Tax-Credit-Program-2.0_FINAL_2022.03.14.pdf), conducted this year for the Motion Picture Association by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., that concluded that California’s program had helped create more than 110,000 jobs and tens of billions of dollars in economic output. In recent years, the tax credit has also helped (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/us/film-production-tax-credits.html) bring shows such as “American Horror Story,” “Veep” and “Lucifer” back from other states and countries to California.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/us/newsom-hollywood-abortion-states.html

[nhplowboi]

There you go Donald....one more kill to notch on your belt. All those lies you spew on your various platforms caught up another gullible follower to go out and defend your honor. Fortunately no innocent bystanders or responding officers were killed by this poor dupe during the ensuing chain of events.

[Kätzchen]

Just got through reading about Liz Cheney and how she is the political lefts latest darling because of how she sugar coats nothing and calls out bad choices/behaviors by members of her former political party.

I like her process.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/13/opinions/liz-cheney-wyoming-primary-january-6-committee-enda/index.html

[BullDog]

Trump has committed so many serious crimes including attempting to overthrow the government that he should go to jail for. I do think the Committee has done a great job tying Trump to it but that’s a very complex case with tons of moving parts and might be difficult to nail trump on some of it.

Trump did us all a huge favor by taking all of those classified documents “home” with him and then refusing to return them all. That’s a much more clear cut case and if he is ever going to jail I think this is it. And the espionage act carries very long jail terms. There’s a good article at The Daily Beast explaining it:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-trump-indictment-over-mishandling-classified-documents-is-now-a-very-real-possibility

[Kätzchen]

Just read the news about the former CFO of T---p Tax Dodgers A$$ociation will *NOT* cooperate in the SDNY criminal charges against TP but will only do 90 days of time for his massive crimes.

Truly a WTF moment.

Nobody better let that terrible orange monster off the hook like they are letting the CFO off the hook.

Maybe, just maybe, because none of them can ever tell the truth that their lies will essentially be the hammer that nails them to legal conseqences that they cannot wiggle out of.

And, what about all those voters who keep voting in those expert manipulating liars to office?

Will people be so full of themselves (with a warped sense of pride) that they cannot see how they've been played by masterful manipulating liars?

Will Americans rise to say NO to this type of leadership, like Liz Cheney has done?

If the proverbial sea of voters bleeds red instead of blue is the biggest worry in my world, today.

So worried, scared and concerned for our country. (w)(w)(w)

:vigil::vigil::vigil:

[Orema]

Sports and politics are on my mind this morning.

If Trump was smart he would try to get Brittney freed. I think he could do it. He has enough connections and pull to make it happen. That would help Trump and Republicans in the eyes of voters in 2022 and 2024. If Rodman can pull it off, so could Trump. And Rodman just may be able to do it.

The Proud Boys, Storm Front and their followers wouldn’t hold it against Trump making this move. They’d recognize it for what it is—nothing more than a strategic move. But Trump NEVER plays the long game. He’s always after a few quick bucks and some press coverage.

And Tiger, who knew he’d be the most patriotic of all the ridiculously rich golfers? Not me. Guess I underestimated him. My bad.

[Orema]

Glad they cuffed Bannon and made him do the perp walk.

https://imgs.search.brave.com/Kbj3fytBZlCMUSmk67N25Ss1vaqlT85mrTio-W6StgI/rs:fit:600:300:1/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9jYW5h/ZGFmcmVlcHJlc3Mu/Y29tL2ltYWdlcy91/cGxvYWRzL3ZpZGVv/QmFubm9uMDkwOTIy/LmpwZw

[nhplowboi]

What is wrong with our country!? What Herschel Walker did in his private life (although seriously immoral by Evangelical standards) worries me less than how STUPID the man is. After coming off the Trump presidency, I am used to people being unable to speak an intelligent sentence but Herschel even supersedes that. God help us if this man is elected. Is your party really worth it?!

[Kätzchen]

What is wrong with our country!? What Herschel Walker did in his private life (although seriously immoral by Evangelical standards) worries me less than how STUPID the man is. After coming off the Trump presidency, I am used to people being unable to speak an intelligent sentence but Herschel even supersedes that. God help us if this man is elected. Is your party really worth it?!

What Mr. Perp-Walker has done and is doing still is not only deeply concerning but is seen as a primary example of what is terribly wrong in terms of violence against members of the female population and members of family abused by these types of violence loving abusers.

Once ppl like T---p, Perp-walker and the Weinstein's and Spacey's of American society are held accountable for the sick state of mind they operate from, we all will benefit socially when these types of offenders are seen and recognized and punished socially for what they do or have done and refuse to stop doing.

:vigil:

[Kätzchen]

It looks like the dead-beat, slum-lord, violence loving, dictator wanna-be former president is going to be facing serious consequences (hopefully, all his enablers will face serious consequences too).

Bob Woodward just released his audio taped interviews with you-know-who.


Here is the link to the news article over on CNN: The Trump Tapes (https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/18/politics/bob-woodward-trump-tapes-audiobook-recorded-interviews/index.html).

[Kätzchen]

'Brother' Clarence Thomas, the SCJ who victimized Anita Hill and still has not been held accountable for his treacherous deeds against Ms. Hill, has apparently blown his 'trumped up trumpet' by assisting an GOP South Carolina Senator escape accountability in Miss Fanni Willis' probe into election interference over in Georgia. When will the Clarence and Ginny Thomases be held accountable for their not-so-secret deeds, which impacts every citizen in our country?



It is disgusting and alarming, what we learn each day concerning people who would rather believe lies and trust those who would compromise the safety of Americans in their pursuit of ruining democracy.

:firetruck: :firetruck: :firetruck:

[nhplowboi]

I was just watching Morning Joe and they had the new govenor elect of Maryland, Wes Moore on. What an outstanding young man and we are going to see much more of Moore (sorry I couldn't resist) in the future.
Also a giant shout out to all the people who voted and kept our democracy alive!! It is clear most people are no longer falling for the BS of "has been" Trump. Of course there was the huge miscalculation concerning our country by Justice Alito, which really drove the vote. Yep, guess the Justice learned first hand, why politics and religion should not mix.

[Orema]

We did pretty goood in Michigan yesterday.


Gov. Whitmer was re-elected
AG Nessel was re-elected
Prop 1 passed shortening term limits and requiring politicians to disclose finances
Prop 2 passed amending the state constitution to expand voting rights
Prop 3 passed adding abortion rights into Michigans Constitution
Once all votes are in the Dems might control Michigan's Senate and House


And we kept the crazies (Tudor Dixon and John Gibbs) at bay, for awhile.

Could have been worse ... much worse.

Yay for us.

:bow:

[Kätzchen]

We did pretty goood in Michigan yesterday.


Gov. Whitmer was re-elected
AG Nessel was re-elected
Prop 1 passed shortening term limits and requiring politicians to disclose finances
Prop 2 passed amending the state constitution to expand voting rights
Prop 3 passed adding abortion rights into Michigans Constitution
Once all votes are in the Dems might control Michigan's Senate and House


And we kept the crazies (Tudor Dixon and John Gibbs) at bay, for awhile.

Could have been worse ... much worse.

Yay for us.

:bow:

That is excellent news, Orema.

They say it's too close to call but I don't see how they come up with that rationalization, but, Tina Kotek will hopefully be our governor.

I was thrilled to see decisive wins in Michigan and over in Pennsylvania (Fetterman).

I'm waiting to see the next chess moves provided by the Jan 6th Committee (Liz Cheney, et al). In my mind's eye, the nation cannot really move forward until we have a decisive win on stopping T---p. I want the committee to make sure our country never goes through this again.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Generalized and specific anxieties in Georgia, here.

1. Margarine Taylor Greene was re- elected. I bet she gets a committee appointment now.

2. Warnock vs. Walker - I can't believe we have to go to a runoff. Even if the Republicans want this to be a red state and get the Senate seat, Herschel Walker is dumber than dirt, which should be obvious to anyone. And I hate that we have to sit through another month of campaign ads for these two. Please, please, please Stacey Abrams, do your magic and get the votes for Rev. Warnock.

[Orema]

2024 is on my mind and who will get the Democratic nomination if Biden doesn't run again.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's (https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Gretchen_Whitmer) name is being mentioned a lot in Michigan as a potential candidate. I like her and just voted for her, but I'on't know when it comes to being the "leader of the free world."

I thought Hilary Clinton was perfect for the job having been a Senator, Secretary of State, a creator of a health-care initiative while First Lady, and I was impressed with her ability to move past that nasty 2008 election and work with Obama ... but that ship has sailed and even I don't think she should run again. Pity.

DeSantis will probably be the Republican nominee. He can be beaten, but by whom? Biden, Harris, someone more or less progressive? I don't think Whitmer can meet the challenge.

As usual, I'll vote for the Democratic nominee—whoever it is—but I hope I don't have to hold my breath while casting my vote.

[Kätzchen]

2024 is on my mind and who will get the Democratic nomination if Biden doesn't run again.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's (https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Gretchen_Whitmer) name is being mentioned a lot in Michigan as a potential candidate. I like her and just voted for her, but I'on't know when it comes to being the "leader of the free world."

I thought Hilary Clinton was perfect for the job having been a Senator, Secretary of State, a creator of a health-care initiative while First Lady, and I was impressed with her ability to move past that nasty 2008 election and work with Obama ... but that ship has sailed and even I don't think she should run again. Pity.

DeSantis will probably be the Republican nominee. He can be beaten, but by whom? Biden, Harris, someone more or less progressive? I don't think Whitmer can meet the challenge.

As usual, I'll vote for the Democratic nominee—whoever it is—but I hope I don't have to hold my breath while casting my vote.

We've already had a tiny clue ripple across trusted news media reports.... Did you once read, about a month ago or so, how media pundits thought California Governor Gavin Newsom would be the brightest star in the Democratic party to challenge Dr. Kill-Joy (The GOP Florida governor psycho-boy)?

Gavin Newsome came up with and passed laws in CA in opposition to DeSantis' warped agenda against the LGBTQ and Women's rights.

I am wondering if Newsome is the choice of the Democratic Party. Newsome, Whitmer Ticket for 2024?? Go Gretchen and Gavin.


Like you, I vote strictly Democratic, up and down the voting ticket. For other fill in the blank options on the vote, like for write-n candidates challenging incumbent judges? I always use Ruth Bader Ginsberg as my go-to choice. That way it is fucking clear that I'm wholly Democrat, through and through.:canadian:

PS/ did you know that our out-going Govenor Kate Brown is related to Gavin Newsome? Brown was Oregon's first elected official from the LGBTQ sector because she identifies as Bisexual. Last week we just elected Oregon's first out Lesbian as our next Governor. :)

[Orema]

We've already had a tiny clue ripple across trusted news media reports.... Did you once read, about a month ago or so, how media pundits thought California Governor Gavin Newsom would be the brightest star in the Democratic party to challenge Dr. Kill-Joy (The GOP Florida governor psycho-boy)?

Gavin Newsome came up with and passed laws in CA in opposition to DeSantis' warped agenda against the LGBTQ and Women's rights.

I am wondering if Newsome is the choice of the Democratic Party. Newsome, Whitmer Ticket for 2024?? Go Gretchen and Gavin.


Like you, I vote strictly Democratic, up and down the voting ticket. For other fill in the blank options on the vote, like for write-n candidates challenging incumbent judges? I always use Ruth Bader Ginsberg as my go-to choice. That way it is fucking clear that I'm wholly Democrat, through and through.:canadian:

PS/ did you know that our out-going Govenor Kate Brown is related to Gavin Newsome? Brown was Oregon's first elected official from the LGBTQ sector because she identifies as Bisexual. Last week we just elected Oregon's first out Lesbian as our next Governor. :)

Yes, I have heard Gavin's name mentioned for 2024. He'd get my vote but not my first choice, not that I have a first choice. And Gavin/Whitmer would make a good ticket, I think.

And congrats on electing Kotek! Seems she has a smart head on her shoulders.

[BullDog]

The logical choice, if Biden doesn't run, should be Vice President Harris, but sadly I don't know if she can get elected - a double whammy of Racism & Sexism. I'm not sure if a white woman can get elected as president either. Maybe.

We need someone who can bring out a big turnout with people of color - especially black voters and Latinos would be good too - as well as young voters. Yeah too bad Obama can't run again. We need to outnumber the clueless old white voters - at least some of us vote the right way!

[Orema]

The logical choice, if Biden doesn't run, should be Vice President Harris, but sadly I don't know if she can get elected - a double whammy of Racism & Sexism. I'm not sure if a white woman can get elected as president either. Maybe.

We need someone who can bring out a big turnout with people of color - especially black voters and Latinos would be good too - as well as young voters. Yeah too bad Obama can't run again. We need to outnumber the clueless old white voters - at least some of us vote the right way!

VP Harris is the logical choice, but I think Pence has a better chance at becoming POTUS than Harris for the reasons you stated and more.

I think the way to get Black, Latino, LGBTQ+, and young people at the polls is to remind voters that "rights" are diminished and erased under Republican leadership. That alone won't get them to the polls, but it will help.

I'd vote for O again, but too bad Michele ain't running. I'd stump for her with bad knees.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Yes, I have heard Gavin's name mentioned for 2024. He'd get my vote but not my first choice, not that I have a first choice. And Gavin/Whitmer would make a good ticket, I think.

And congrats on electing Kotek! Seems she has a smart head on her shoulders.

I noticed that neither of you mentioned Kamala Harris for 2024. Sadly, I don't think she's up for the job anyway. Maybe AOC would make a good choice, or running partner for Gavin Newsome. She's tough and I like her.

As you have both mentioned, I too will vote a straight Democratic ticket.

Later> Sorry, I just noticed that a couple of you did discuss VP Harris, and I agree with what was said.

[clay]

I agree with all of you posting here last several posts.

AND....AND.....Lauren Boebert got in AGAIN!

AND, DeCantSayGay is an misogynistic azzhole, talk about Narcissism at its worst! (He & RumplesTiltDown have a nasty fight going on!!)

Jim Jordan has a real hard ass vindictiveness against Biden because the Dems impeached him, TWICE! So Jordan is on the trail hot and heavy, so for sure, he wants to stop Biden from being able to run.

I would support Gavin/Gretchen all the way.

Kamala will be great, given a few more years up in the Big House!! I think she got a shitty deal from the get go, being charged with controlling a border that Rumples left to the wide azz open....she has some maturing to do BUT I think she is going to be our first President woman & of color.

Pence, for all the crap he had to endure with Rumples, really inpressed me, to this day even, a die hard "stand by your man" kind of person. That is kudos for sure. That shows me, that he stands commited & he endured, with tremendous pressure to do other wise, all while being hunted to be killed by Rumples's stooges. I think he would be fair, just, & committed, all in! AND! STAND HIS GROUND!

[Orema]

I noticed that neither of you mentioned Kamala Harris for 2024. Sadly, I don't think she's up for the job anyway. Maybe AOC would make a good choice, or running partner for Gavin Newsome. She's tough and I like her.

As you have both mentioned, I too will vote a straight Democratic ticket.

Later> Sorry, I just noticed that a couple of you did discuss VP Harris, and I agree with what was said.

I don’t think AOC has a chance running on anyone’s ticket as VP. She scares too many moderate Democrats. LOL. I like her too, but most moderate Democrats don’t, I think.

I agree with all of you posting here last several posts.

AND....AND.....Lauren Boebert got in AGAIN!

AND, DeCantSayGay is an misogynistic azzhole, talk about Narcissism at its worst! (He & RumplesTiltDown have a nasty fight going on!!)

Jim Jordan has a real hard ass vindictiveness against Biden because the Dems impeached him, TWICE! So Jordan is on the trail hot and heavy, so for sure, he wants to stop Biden from being able to run.

I would support Gavin/Gretchen all the way.

Kamala will be great, given a few more years up in the Big House!! I think she got a shitty deal from the get go, being charged with controlling a border that Rumples left to the wide azz open....she has some maturing to do BUT I think she is going to be our first President woman & of color.

Pence, for all the crap he had to endure with Rumples, really inpressed me, to this day even, a die hard "stand by your man" kind of person. That is kudos for sure. That shows me, that he stands commited & he endured, with tremendous pressure to do other wise, all while being hunted to be killed by Rumples's stooges. I think he would be fair, just, & committed, all in! AND! STAND HIS GROUND!



I was with you till you got to that wet towel-of strength Pence (though I think VP Harris is ready now—she just doesn’t have a chance). I find Pence a total putz. It was people like him who legitimized Trump. I don’t think he stood by Trump as much as standing with the Evangelicals who needed someone like Pence who could get Trump in the White House to appoint conservative judges.

I think Nikki Haley is going to be the first female/BIPOC POTUS if she runs on DeSantis’s ticket as VP. A DeSantis/Haley ticket would be hard for the Dems to beat. I think Haley will run for the Republican nomination, but I think DeSantis will get the nomination and she’ll join his ticket. And if that happens she’ll be a strong candidate for POTUS in 2028 or 2032.

And the only way the Dems can win is if we commit to voting for the nominee. I think that is a message we need to push when we get into the rumble-tumble 2024 primaries. We can fight all we want in the primaries but we need to stand as one once we have a nominee.

[clay]

I agree with you, maybe I am just a bit "jaded" now by all this damn bickering, hypocritical, misogynistic, crap.

I am reconsidering my "take" on Pence....I know very little about him, just bits & pieces. You have challenged my mind to reconsider (heavily) his ability/capability. I have always valued your opinions, esp in this forum. Thanks for making me think harder than just superficially, Orema!!!

I LOVE Kamala & would wildly welcome her in the 2024 races, and we surely have been "surprised" before....several times, (sadly)!!!! I have faith in an ALL women race (Dems) with a couple, few Repubs. Gabby Giffords is amazing. She would be an incredible candidate, and could surprise us. Time to remove those antiquated dinosaurs!! :).


I don’t think AOC has a chance running on anyone’s ticket as VP. She scares too many moderate Democrats. LOL. I like her too, but most moderate Democrats don’t, I think.



I was with you till you got to that wet towel-of strength Pence (though I think VP Harris is ready now—she just doesn’t have a chance). I find Pence a total putz. It was people like him who legitimized Trump. I don’t think he stood by Trump as much as standing with the Evangelicals who needed someone like Pence who could get Trump in the White House to appoint conservative judges.

I think Nikki Haley is going to be the first female/BIPOC POTUS if she runs on DeSantis’s ticket as VP. A DeSantis/Haley ticket would be hard for the Dems to beat. I think Haley will run for the Republican nomination, but I think DeSantis will get the nomination and she’ll join his ticket. And if that happens she’ll be a strong candidate for POTUS in 2028 or 2032.

And the only way the Dems can win is if we commit to voting for the nominee. I think that is a message we need to push when we get into the rumble-tumble 2024 primaries. We can fight all we want in the primaries but we need to stand as one once we have a nominee.

[Orema]

I agree with you, maybe I am just a bit "jaded" now by all this damn bickering, hypocritical, misogynistic, crap.

I am reconsidering my "take" on Pence....I know very little about him, just bits & pieces. You have challenged my mind to reconsider (heavily) his ability/capability. I have always valued your opinions, esp in this forum. Thanks for making me think harder than just superficially, Orema!!!

I LOVE Kamala & would wildly welcome her in the 2024 races, and we surely have been "surprised" before....several times, (sadly)!!!! I have faith in an ALL women race (Dems) with a couple, few Repubs. Gabby Giffords is amazing. She would be an incredible candidate, and could surprise us. Time to remove those antiquated dinosaurs!! :).

You're too kind, Clay. Thank you.

I like the idea of an all women ticket very much. My problem is that I compare everyone, men included, to Hilary and they all come up short when it comes to experience and accomplishments. I know, I've got to find a new measurement stick and not to compare them to her.

And I'm really worried about the Republicans since the moderate Republicans are turning against Trump.

[Kätzchen]

The logical choice, if Biden doesn't run, should be Vice President Harris, but sadly I don't know if she can get elected - a double whammy of Racism & Sexism. I'm not sure if a white woman can get elected as president either. Maybe.

We need someone who can bring out a big turnout with people of color - especially black voters and Latinos would be good too - as well as young voters. Yeah too bad Obama can't run again. We need to outnumber the clueless old white voters - at least some of us vote the right way!

What do you think, Bulldog, about Hakeem Jeffries? I know he just was appointed to lead the Democratic Caucus, following Nancy Pelosi's tenure as Speaker of the House. I think we will see how strong of a contender he can be, over the next two years.

Do you have an assessment concerning Hakeem Jeffries??

I am interested in hearing your take on who the Democratic party might recommend or choose as a candidate for POTUS.

[clay]

Awww, K! Thank you!. You are yourself!

WOMEN have GOT to do some major ballcrushing in order to TRULY......."Heal The Soul Of The Nation"!!! ALL of us need to get on this & fix this world as much as we can....(and now we are going to Mars....for what? To fuck up that planet? I am sick & tired of seeing women oppressed, suppressed, bullied, brow beat, UNDERPAID since time began, OVERWORKED. A woman's job, truly IS, never done. Men see to fucking the world up for us to make it all better for them. They earn quadruple what many ordinary citizens' earn. EQUAL PLAY< EQUAL PAY! PAY UP< FUCKERS!!! I am sick to death of politics, sick to death of being denied, sick to death of seeing $$ flow out the door to support war, crime, drugs, etc. LET"S TAKE A STAND...stop doing everyday job be it home or workplace. Really STOP doind ANYTHING...lt the men run it. You will uickly see a major ruudely awakening....ready? I am!!!!

Men have killed climate, pissed almost all the world off, stuck their business where it shouldn't be, created fascism, war, enemies, think it is ONLY THEIR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY!, refuse to look right here at home, at the poor, at little people who are minorities, desperately need HELP in all ways. Yet, many do not even know us. But by goddess, the fuckers can sure find your phone #'s, FB pages, & emails and hound the shit out of you to get YOUR ALL IMPORTANT hard earned, heavily taxed, unfair pay scale wages to line their OWN pockets. Funny how that IS a thing & IT WORKS to fulfill their ornery, stick in the mud hypocritical agendas....as they make 6 figures a month while we suffer!
I am STILL pissed at how Rumples quickly, (bullied) his way through expediency beyond belief as he filled the NOTORIOUS RBG's spot AGAINST her dying deathbed wish! His RINO's (Trumpugnicants) assisted him & bullied that SCN immediately. Funny that!
THEN, when Biden wanted to nominate someone....what a long, drawn out, sickening shit show ensued. Funny that, too. It is okay for trumpugnicants to do so, but nay, let's shoot the DEMS down.

ALL WOMEN can right this old world IF can get that stronghold.

HOW the hell does Rumkins even get away with majority of shit sandwiches he peddles. WTF does he have that everyone kisses it? Gold lined asshole?! HAHA HOW does he manage to "get rid" of everyone who impeached him...who did so TWICE!

Latest rift with DeSantis & Trump? DeSantis is the Harvard Grad with USN distinction who is the new Golden Boy (one who kept Florida FREE (MY azz). Ask him how many folks he "killed" forcing us to go against WHO Health Rules.

Well, NOW that table has turned. DeSantis more highly favored for 2024 & to BEAT Trumpethead. Since Trump is FUMING mad about that, (oopsie, did him lose him narcissitic path to build a pile of shit up into an UNpresidentcy? He sure did!!! SO, Trumpless is spewing vitriol at DeSantis like mad. He stood up on the ONLY show in town who will have him (and many local stations denied him coverage to feed his ego.....lmao....and swears that in 2018, HE (singlehandedly) controlled that race with Andrew Gillum (who was way ahead of DeSatan for quite a while) to boost RON up. Says he called in DOJ & CIA to investigate the false claims that Gillum lost by only 5000 votes, that x number is "missing"...sound familiar? Ought to. DeSantis is his product and HE made him who he is today.

He singlehandedly DESTROYED the Trust in honest, clean elections!

Okay, rant over, Hope it makes sense..I am so exhausted I can not think anymore....goodnight....:)


You're too kind, Clay. Thank you.

I like the idea of an all women ticket very much. My problem is that I compare everyone, men included, to Hilary and they all come up short when it comes to experience and accomplishments. I know, I've got to find a new measurement stick and not to compare them to her.

And I'm really worried about the Republicans since the moderate Republicans are turning against Trump.

[BullDog]

What do you think, Bulldog, about Hakeem Jeffries? I know he just was appointed to lead the Democratic Caucus, following Nancy Pelosi's tenure as Speaker of the House. I think we will see how strong of a contender he can be, over the next two years.

Do you have an assessment concerning Hakeem Jeffries??

I am interested in hearing your take on who the Democratic party might recommend or choose as a candidate for POTUS.

I like Hakeem Jeffries. He is very intelligent and has always impressed me. I honestly don't what kind of leader he would be although he seems to have the respect of his colleagues. He is a good choice.

To be honest, I am sad to see Nancy Pelosi step down. I know we need some young blood but she is one of the greatest Speakers and leaders of the Democratic party of all time. But it's great she will still be around instead of just retiring the minute the Democrats lost the House. I think that says a lot about her.

I seriously wonder if the Affordable Care Act would have passed without her leadership.

And no one stood up to Trump better and more often than Nancy Pelosi.

One of my favorite photos of all time:

https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/e8589c1dcb5d4a44ba850c17bcb725d0/1000.jpeg

[Gemme]

I like Hakeem Jeffries. He is very intelligent and has always impressed me. I honestly don't what kind of leader he would be although he seems to have the respect of his colleagues. He is a good choice.

To be honest, I am sad to see Nancy Pelosi step down. I know we need some young blood but she is one of the greatest Speakers and leaders of the Democratic party of all time. But it's great she will still be around instead of just retiring the minute the Democrats lost the House. I think that says a lot about her.

I seriously wonder if the Affordable Care Act would have passed without her leadership.

And no one stood up to Trump better and more often than Nancy Pelosi.

One of my favorite photos of all time:

https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/e8589c1dcb5d4a44ba850c17bcb725d0/1000.jpeg

I love how she said in her farewell speech that she enjoyed working with 3 presidents. She has a way of saying things without saying things.

[nhplowboi]

Poor Vicky Hartzler must be in hysterics tonight.

[Orema]

Q and A with Nikole Hannah-Jones on the 1619 Project.

09q49bzxJm8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09q49bzxJm8

[nhplowboi]

Newly elected NY Rep. George Santos. How is it possible he will still be installed when his whole campaign was nothing but lies about his life? When somthing this blatant happens there should be some sort of recourse. Top it off with the fact the GOP apparently knew and joked about his lies and then did nothing about it!

[CherylNYC]

Newly elected NY Rep. George Santos. How is it possible he will still be installed when his whole campaign was nothing but lies about his life? When somthing this blatant happens there should be some sort of recourse. Top it off with the fact the GOP apparently knew and joked about his lies and then did nothing about it!

The initial NY Times report was jaw dropping, but then more and more lies were revealed. I joked with my friends that the only thing he didn't lie about was being gay. I asked if we could perhaps 'in' him. I mean, people get outed often enough. Couldn't we put him back? We don't want him! Well, it didn't take long to find out that he had been very recently divorced from a woman. It isn't exactly what I hoped for, but it was an amusing and timely little moment of fun.

In all seriousness, the NY State Democratic Party is in terrible shape. I'm not talking about the electeds. The problem is within the organization itself. Several of the people who are supposed to be leaders are absent, malevolent or outright criminal. Democratic votes are being taken for granted. Had the party leadership done any due diligence Santos's lies would have been known and publicized during the campaign! He never would have won, or should have won, in that blue-leaning district.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Newly elected NY Rep. George Santos. How is it possible he will still be installed when his whole campaign was nothing but lies about his life? When somthing this blatant happens there should be some sort of recourse. Top it off with the fact the GOP apparently knew and joked about his lies and then did nothing about it!

Are you kidding? T---p proved that Americans will put up with any number of lies if they think the candidate will vote their way in office. As I recall, somebody wrote a book back near the beginning of his presidency and he told seven-hundred-and-something documented and disproved lies in his first 100 days. People running for offices have learned they can lie about anything.

[Kätzchen]

Don't know about what other's think but .... T---p gets a check because he's an ex prez.... he's living off the proverbial dime of every single tax payer in America. And will keep living off the people if no one has the fucking balls to stop letting T----p get away with all his crimes.

In other news: Thank heavens for Cassidy Hutchinson. At least she has a conscience and told the effin- truth.

:vigil:

[Kätzchen]

And now, after today, we find out that that horrible, lying, scheming sonofabitchshiteatingbastid had foreign accounts. While President.

Talk about rot. Rotten inside out and to the core.

If this is not slammer material, I don't know what is.

Makes you wonder how many foreign interests of his were laughing like hyena's while T---p showed the world how to cheat like a pro.

In my mind's eye, there is no Cheater's Anonymous meetings that will cure him of all his corrosive corruption.



:firetruck::firetruck::firetruck:

[nhplowboi]

I am pretty shocked at the classified documents debacle, concerning both Trump and Biden. How is it possible that the National Archive does not monitor these classified documents once they are removed from the facility?! Hell, a library book seems to have better security.

[ksrainbow]

I am pretty shocked at the classified documents debacle, concerning both Trump and Biden. How is it possible that the National Archive does not monitor these classified documents once they are removed from the facility?! Hell, a library book seems to have better security.

This is unacceptable on so many levels. I understand that there can and will be mistakes-overlooks-misplaced-shuffled documents etc. As much as I disdain the previous administration I will say: our eyes and ears have been alerted to the need for oversight in so many areas of our government. Our weakness is our tribalism-

We must and can be better educated citizens/voters keeping our democracy secure, safe, transparent. T's exploitation of all 3 is the road map for moving forward. It will not be easy for sure-

Ks-

[Orema]

I am pretty shocked at the classified documents debacle, concerning both Trump and Biden. How is it possible that the National Archive does not monitor these classified documents once they are removed from the facility?! Hell, a library book seems to have better security.

I'm shocked but Biden having the papers isn't as troubling for me as Trump. Biden has had some level of access to classified docs for 50 years—ever since he became a Senator in 1973. Trump has only had access for a fraction of that time. And Biden isn't known to cozy up to dictators like Trump. But there has to be better control over classified info.

This could really blow up IF the right journalists latch onto this or it could be swept under the carpet. Surely there are many members of Congress who have different levels of access to classified docs who are on Senate Committees and House Committees (https://www.congress.gov/committees). (Armes Services, Finance, Foreigh Relations, Homeland Security, Ethics, Intelligence, etc). And some of these Representatives and Senators take these docs home without permission.

But no one is going to admit this unless confronted. I don't expect much from journalists these days but this is something one of them may want to sink their teeth into. We'll see.

[Kätzchen]

I'm shocked but Biden having the papers isn't as troubling for me as Trump. Biden has had some level of access to classified docs for 50 years—ever since he became a Senator in 1973. Trump has only had access for a fraction of that time. And Biden isn't known to cozy up to dictators like Trump. But there has to be better control over classified info.

(...)



I like what you said, in the first paragraph of your post, Orema. That's the thing though: Biden has been in Congress and in Executive Government positions, which out-classes those whose access to such documents is restricted (for safety across the proverbial board). And I agree with your observation concerning T=-=-=p: He sure enough cozied up to authoritarian rulers across the globe. I would argue that T----p should sacrifice his US citizenship based on his Anti-American and Anti-democratic choices. Secondly, his citizenship should be revoked permanently based on jeopardizing the safety of Americans (...).



Anyhoooooo. Thanks for your post. :tea: :balloon:

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I would argue that T----p should sacrifice his US citizenship based on his Anti-American and Anti-democratic choices. Secondly, his citizenship should be revoked permanently based on jeopardizing the safety of Americans (...).


I can't imagine this will ever happen. How embarrassing would it be for the United States to have a former president in exile? Plus, the Republicans are pretty much in charge of everything right now. Plus, there's something to be said for keeping your friends close and your enemies closer - we don't need T---p gathering an army in exile like some banished younger princeling. Maybe one day it will happen though - I have to say, there's part of me that really likes this idea. Let him go live in Moscow with his friend Putin.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I heard on BBC and I think NPR also that the U.S. is sending heavier weapons to Ukraine. Some political commentator (I don't remember who, sorry) said that the goal of the U.S. so far has been to send Ukraine enough weapons that they don't lose the war, but that they don't win it either. I understand the U.S. doesn't want to antagonize Russia and get NATO even more involved in this war than it already is, but it shouldn't just keep dragging on forever. Some of the other NATO countries are starting to give Ukraine heavy equipment too, like tanks. I'm really hoping this ends it before we get to spring. Ukraine expects Russia to drop back for the rest of this winter (destroying infrastructure and civilians along the way), and then make a concerted effort in the spring. Russia needs to be completely defeated before spring gets here, in my opinion, or this thing will just keep going on, destroying lives and the infrastructure of Ukraine.

[nhplowboi]

Great job last night Mr. President!
Sarah Huckabee Sanders.....you are the exact reason church and state should not mix. You came across as an extreme rightwing religious nutcase.

[Kätzchen]

Same for me, I thought President Biden showed exemplary behavior and critical thinking skills.


……… ……… ………
“People don’t need religion: Religion needs people. They’re (religion, church) just a corporation that needs your money to thrive. Religion doesnt make you a better person. Intelligence and kindness makes you a better person. Religion doesn’t feed poor people. Good People with big hearts do that. Just remember that. — Don Freeman.

In other news …. This is exactly how I feel about religion.

If you ask me, religion is just another way for grifters to grift money off the members of society to pave their life experience in financial ways.

[Orema]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/debbie-wasserman-schultz-jonathan-turley_n_63e742b1e4b0255caaebf2a9

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Gives Fox News Analyst A Harsh Lesson On Opinion vs. Fact

By Ben Blanchet
Feb 11, 2023, 09:00 AM EST

The U.S. representative called out Jonathan Turley during a Congressional hearing for offering up "pure conjecture" about Twitter.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) grilled a Fox News legal analyst for sharing “pure conjecture” during a hearing for the House’s new Weaponization of the Federal Government committee.

Jonathan Turley, a GOP-called witnesses, spoke Thursday about the “Twitter Files,” or internal information about the platform that CEO Elon Musk provided to journalists — but Wasserman Schultz wasn’t buying that he had any “unique knowledge” about the social media giant.

“Do you have any formal relationship with the company?” she asked.

“No, I just have an account,” replied Turley, an attorney and George Washington University law professor who has offered various confusing takes on Fox News over the past year. He later added that his knowledge of Twitter did not go beyond the Twitter Files and what he’s read in the media.

“So essentially your responses to the questions here today were your own opinion and pure conjecture,” Wasserman Schultz said.

“You said that you don’t have any specific or unique knowledge of Twitter, but you spoke as if you did. ... And so this is only just your opinion, would you say, as a Twitter account user?”

“No, I come to give legal analysis based on facts that are in the public domain,” responded Turley.

“‘Legal analysis’ is another word for ‘opinion,’” Wasserman Schultz shot back.

Watch the exchange below.

VdxF7VuTHvU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdxF7VuTHvU

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been accepting free vacations, food, airplane trips and more for over 20 years. Most of this has come from his "friend" Harlan Crow, an uber-wealthy GOP donor. Crow has also provided access to Thomas from his GOP friends on these vacations.

Technically, Supreme Court justices don't have to report these kinds of gifts, seemlingly because we trust them to understand what's ethical and what's not. We don't trust members of Congress - they're required to report anything over $50.

But Clarence Thomas isn't ethical! Congress knew this when they approved his appointment, because of the Anita Hill situation. So I don't know why everyone is so surprised now.

In addition to the lavish vacations provided by Crow, it has now come to light that Justice Thomas sold some real estate to Crow for about $133,000. Thomas is required to report real estate sales of over $1000, but he did not report this.

Clarence Thomas should never have been nominated or approved to sit on the Supreme Court.

Sorry for the free flow of thoughts and badly written opinion if you have made it this far, but it's almost midnight and I can't get to sleep.

[Orema]

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been accepting free vacations, food, airplane trips and more for over 20 years. Most of this has come from his "friend" Harlan Crow, an uber-wealthy GOP donor. Crow has also provided access to Thomas from his GOP friends on these vacations.

Technically, Supreme Court justices don't have to report these kinds of gifts, seemlingly because we trust them to understand what's ethical and what's not. We don't trust members of Congress - they're required to report anything over $50.

But Clarence Thomas isn't ethical! Congress knew this when they approved his appointment, because of the Anita Hill situation. So I don't know why everyone is so surprised now.

In addition to the lavish vacations provided by Crow, it has now come to light that Justice Thomas sold some real estate to Crow for about $133,000. Thomas is required to report real estate sales of over $1000, but he did not report this.

Clarence Thomas should never have been nominated or approved to sit on the Supreme Court.

Sorry for the free flow of thoughts and badly written opinion if you have made it this far, but it's almost midnight and I can't get to sleep.

This morning the Washington Post is reporting (https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/04/16/clarence-thomas-ginger-financial-disclosure/) that Thomas has claimed income from a defunct real estate firm for years. And it’s a real estate firm that was owned by his wife and her family.

Sounds like money laundering to me.

Whatever the case, he and his wife are grifters.

[Orema]

Thank goodness for Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Ben Crump. They show up in more ways than one when there’s a problem in Black communities and they speak out. I’m very grateful for them.

Wish there were people who would consistently show up when LGBTQ+ people are attacked, have problems, or need representation. Maybe they’re out there and I just don’t know about them.

I think Rachel Maddow on MSNBC represents well and consistently, but as a journalist at MSNBC, she’s restrained on just how much she can speak out because she works at a news organization. I was hoping that Caitlyn Jenner would be a voice for us, but that ain’t happenin’.

It’s really disheartening for me not to have anyone speaking for us. Hopefully that will change soon.

[nhplowboi]

Montana's Republican Party is clearly just a bunch of good old boys making their state look backward and unappealing. I hate to tell you boys but silencing Rep. Zooey Zephyr for her comment about "blood on your hands" was wrong. That statement was not hate speech but a fact.

[nhplowboi]

Hey Montana....screw your methods of decorum. Zooey is RIGHT!

[Kätzchen]

You know, America was once a place that accepted people of all cultural backgrounds but apparently the Cancer of Racism, Greed, and unaddressed Criminal Behaviors of those who think they can get away with their hateful ways, has reached a serious tipping point today.

Will Americans let the fucked up GOP (Re-Puke-lians) wreck our economy and ruin what is left of our once dignified ways of living????


Will Americans let Trump and his ass lickers get away with all their horseshit???


Will Americans DEMAND that corrupt politicians be removed from office???

Will Americans stand by and let that asshole governor from Florida ruin the way people live by taking their rights away and locking up people for being who we are????


Guess what?


I won't back down and live in a closet or prison because some fucked asshole can't be kind and considerate or care about others who are not like them.


Please know that I am not proud of our country.

But I am proud of those who stand up with us and ride proudly.

GO TEAM LGBTQIA++ :vigil::vigil::vigil:

[kittygrrl]

if Trump manages to win i won't stay in U.S ..i am making plans (just in case)

[Orema]

HRC Press Release

https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/for-the-first-time-ever-human-rights-campaign-officially-declares-state-of-emergency-for-lgbtq-americans-issues-national-warning-and-guidebook-to-ensure-safety-for-lgbtq-residents-and-travelers

HRC’s First-Ever Emergency Declaration Comes After More Than 75 Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills Signed Into Law This Year (More Than Double The Number From Last Year), Creating an Imminent Threat to the Health and Safety of LGBTQ+ People and Families Nationwide

LGBTQ+ Americans are living in a state of emergency. The multiplying threats facing millions in our community are not just perceived — they are real, tangible and dangerous. In many cases they are resulting in violence against LGBTQ+ people, forcing families to uproot their lives and flee their homes in search of safer states, and triggering a tidal wave of increased homophobia and transphobia that puts the safety of each and every one of us at risk. As we kick off LGBTQ+ Pride Month, HRC will be working tirelessly to educate and arm the LGBTQ+ community with information and resources to ensure their safety — whether they’re planning summer travel through regions that are becoming increasingly hostile to LGBTQ+ people, or whether they already live in a state where legislative assaults and political extremism are continuing to put a target on our backs.

“There is an imminent threat to the health and safety of millions of LGBTQ+ people and families, who are living every day in uncertainty and fear. Our number one priority will always be ensuring that LGBTQ+ people are safe and have the tools they need to defend and protect themselves against acts of hostility, discrimination and — in the most extreme cases — violence. It’s also incumbent on our allies across the country to stand with us and make it clear that they won’t sit idly by while extremists attack and malign LGBTQ+ people and our families. We’ll fight tooth and nail to ensure the safety and dignity of every LGBTQ+ person is respected and protected — without exception.”
— Kelley Robinson, HRC President

More information on today’s announcement can be found on HRC’s website:

– New Report: LGBTQ+ Americans Under Attack (https://hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Anti-LGBTQ-Legislation-Impact-Report.pdf)(PDF)
– LGBTQ+ Guidebook for Action (https://hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/LGBTQ-Guidebook-for-Action.pdf) (PDF)
– HRC National Warning: Resources Page (http://hrc.im/warning) (Website)

[Kätzchen]

Feeling better that the king-pin of religious hate is not around anymore (Robertson).

So tired of all the people who follow his mindset blindly and keep perpetuating his brand of hate.

[nhplowboi]

Jack Smith you are my hero!!!

[Kätzchen]

Looks like Fulton County Courthouse has matching orange barriers up around the courthouse. And it looks like T——p employee #4 had a strong backbone and never deleted servers to cover up T——p’s crimes.


When will T——p fade from view???

Hopefully soon.

This way ppl like him will see that White Collar Crime is still a fucking crime.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Looks like Fulton County Courthouse has matching orange barriers up around the courthouse.

Yes, the Sheriff said that it's to prevent people from parking there during "high profile legal proceedings". The D.A. gave staff remote workdays in August.

The D.A.'s investigation centered around solicitation of election fraud (which we all knew about), making false statements to government bodies (which we also knew about), violation of an oath of office (ditto) and being involved in threats regarding the election (same). But, news to me, she is also investigating him for conspiracy and racketeering. Conspiracy is hard to prove, I understand, but wouldn't it be great to see Tp sent to prison on RICOH charges?

BTW, Tp is also trying to get the D.A. disqualified. He also wants to disallow the grand jury's report that contains the evidence for the D.A.'s charges. Fortunately, similar motions previously made by Tp's people have been denied by the Supreme Court of Georgia. He keeps trying the same tactics over and over, with slightly different wording. What is they say about people who keep repeating the same actions, trying to get a different result? LOL.

[nhplowboi]

How appropriate that Jack got his indictment of Trump on August 1st the start of the "once in a blue moon" month. Actually, the inditement is beyond a blue moon rarity, it is a first!!
Great job Jack!!!

[Kätzchen]

Not only is it “Once in a blue moon” but the document (indictment) itself is 45 pages long.

American Democracy is in grave danger if people don’t vote a straight up and down Democratic ticket. Back in 2016, votes cast for Third party detractor Jill Stein split the potency of the Democratic Party Vote — which is exactly how T—-p was elected.

Don’t fall for third party politics in the up coming presidential election.

I will be voting strictly Democratic ticket.

I can hardly believe Americans will vote for a convict.

That what T——p is to me, in my eyes. He is nothing more than a silk suit lying grifter who conned Americans and keeps conning Americans.



Hopefully, Georgia crimes will be prosecuted first. Alvin Bragg won’t mind letting this court case go first.

[Kätzchen]

Hey there, Orange POS, you can’t say you are not getting “fair” treatment.

You have jeopardized American lives in the most egregious ways. You have brought shame and distrust to our country.

You (orange pos), have hardly ever been fair in your entire life.

Your spoiled A$$ is in BIG TRUBBLE.

May Americans never condone your shit show crap,
… E V E R...

:firetruck: <<<~~~~~~ times 45 bazzillion. :|

[nhplowboi]

As if I don't find Ron Desantis disgusting enough, his statement about how he will be going into the deep state and start slitting throats on day one is damn sick rhetoric! What in hell is wrong with these people?!

[Kätzchen]

As if I don't find Ron Desantis disgusting enough, his statement about how he will be going into the deep state and start slitting throats on day one is damn sick rhetoric! What in hell is wrong with these people?!

Just read a news report on August 2nd about how mid- state Florida is a prime breeding ground for Leprosy.

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/01/health/leprosy-central-florida/index.html


Not sure what to think about the DeSatan effect. *lol*

I can hardly believe that people in Florida are just accepting what that person says and does as if it’s okay.

Nobody I know has plans to visit or move to live there.

Hopefully he is ousted from his stint as a governor. Can’t believe anybody would hire him at radio or a tv station . Well, most likely F-x would. You have to be deranged to tolerate working there, I suppose.

[Kätzchen]

I think one of the nagging things on my mind is the 'tone-deaf' smuggery by people under the microscope in the current WH administration. I mean come on, I don't buy that 'tone-deaf' crap for one second.

Here's what I think: I think there's gonna be a proverbial blood bath of epic proportions. You can't fuck over people, and not get caught or pay the price. And the price, I hope, will be a huge price because if it's not, then white collar crime will look easier and easier to commit, unless the biggo brakes are applied and remedies are doled out. Remedies like making tax evasion artists pay back all the million-billion's of dollars they've scammed from the US. Remedies like enforcing Anti-trust law and prosecuting big business and nameless corporate board and share holders for robbing the daylights out of everyone, when they should have been held accountable all this time.

I have a massive list of grievances a mile or two, or in some cases thousands of miles long; but I'll stop there tonight, because I am guessing lots of others have massive lists of grievances as well.

I'm sick to death of never hearing about how these types of criminal scam artists never get what they actually deserve, punitively.

The last big personality that was held accountable was Madoff; and you-know-who in the WH is eerily just like them (to me, in my mind).

I'm tired of the wretched 'rags to riches' crap that is foisted upon American public and touted as the ultimate goal anyone can achieve. That's a load of Bull-sh*t. I don't buy those long-held myths, or social scripts.

I will believe justice is truly served when the occupants of the WH and their cronies, members of the crooked GOP, are held accountable for every last horrible deed they've done over their lifetimes.



We don't need a proverbial 'Savior' or a 'Hero' or somesuch thing.

We Don't Need Another Hero (Tina Turner, from Mad Max of Thunderdome): That song has been stuck in my mind, for days now.

What we need are people who really care about the treachery being committed against the will of the people and for those people to band together and support the people who care and support the social causes that denounce this type of unpardonable behaviors which hurt not only us in America, but people in general around the world.


That's what has been on my mind lately.


**** Tick Tock, Tick Tock ****

On the evening of April 1st, 2029 @ 6:55 p.m., I wrote the above post. That was 4 years ago and I still hold the same sentiment and still the same deep concern for all of us. We’ve been, collectively, experiencing a non-stop barrage of smelly, stinky, shitty crap that is launched at us daily by a rabid, out-of-control lunatic who needs to be muzzled immediately and admitted to a facility for the criminally insane (orange menace type whackos of the same stripe as Maddoff or others who exhibit their brand of insanity).

2016-2024: Nearly 8 years under siege by T—-p & T—-p family members and acolytes who ‘worship’ the person who will ultimately sell everybody off into bondage and leprosy land.

All I want to say is America better wake the fuck up and vote out the members of their respective political party and make sure we get Democrats elected so we can save our country from complete ruin.

All Hail Every Single Judge and Elected Official Who Takes Steps To Save Our Country and Bring T——pTo Justice And Take that Terrible Person Off The Payroll. STAT.

[Kätzchen]

How about that former Lt Gov Geoff Duncan calling out his political party to end their association with T——p???

Way to go, Geoff.

And how about Hillary??? I’ve got mad respect for her.

And…. How about that brilliant prosecutor Georgia DA Fani Willis???



Go Hillary! Go Fani!

Most likely it’s gonna get uglier than it has been the past 8 years, But American voters will not let a convict be elected again.

14th amendment will hopefully be self-executing and constitutional legal scholars and others from this discipline will help set the tone for the tone-deaf party base that needs to be put on notice, stat.

[Kätzchen]

I wonder …

A) how long it takes to coordinate a take down (arrest) when you-know-who is deliberately committing crime in full view of the public?

B) once that person is detained, will it cause major problems for those incarcerated alongside that person?

C) if the aforementioned law breaker will be picked up secretly before Monday?

D) how many hits (views) concerning these terribly worrisome times are occurring over on major news outlets like CNN or MSNBC?

E) when will the terrible toddler, who remains a clear and present danger to our society in America, be finally paying the price for damaging our country?

(….)

[Kätzchen]

Remember when T---p and Giuliani spent years attacking people of color (an infamous example of their egregious behaviors ruined the lives of the Central Park 5)??? And I quote Joy Reid from her op-ed:

"I still remember when Donald Trump wanted five teenagers with mug shots dead. That was the Central Park Five case, and they were later exonerated.

I was a teenager living in New York at the time. And I despised Trump, because he to me signified the rich white guy in Manhattan who absolutely hated and despised me. Who hated and despised my cousins, my friends — everyone we knew.

People like Giuliani and Trump persecuted Black and brown people in New York. It's what they did for fun. It's what they did for pleasure. They enjoyed it. They enjoyed lording over people who had nothing, who had no million-dollar lawyers, who couldn't change lawyers at the drop of a hat, who couldn't go out and make their case on Fox News or Newsmax, who had nothing." LINK (https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/trump-mug-shot-fani-willis-georgia-rcna101734)


T---p, G----i, and the people who live like they do (racist hate filled cheating grifting tax-evading low-life's) have always done this stuff in public ways and have always gotten away with it.

But thanks to elected officials who take their oath of public service to heart and uphold the tenets expected of them. Especially Fani Willis.

Will the dirty GOP take strides to enforce their Jim Crow KKK law to remove the one person from office so the big orange cheating toddler will not be held accountable??? Will voters in Georgia let Kemp and others get away with their toxic plan???

Who else will do what is expected of them, besides Fani Willis and other prosecutors and judges holding T---p and their enablers accountable???

----------------------.


“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate,” ― Isaac Asimov

[A. Spectre]

seeing trumps' mugshot all over the place?

Its creepiness is growing on me. His departure from normal is so obvious. What worried me more than him are his gullible cult who will still be here after he is gone.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

seeing trumps' mugshot all over the place?

Its creepiness is growing on me. His departure from normal is so obvious. What worried me more than him are his gullible cult who will still be here after he is gone.

Margarine Taylor Greene made a fake Fulton County mugshot of herself and is using it for her website. She's encouraging all T---p followers to do the same.

"Cult" is exactly the right word!

[Kätzchen]

See, that is a critical piece to the Maga puzzle: all those people who support and defend racist, hateful agenda is what fuels the cancer among our entire country (in my mind).

Remember the forum thread post contributions made by BFP member Andrea (Is This What Makes America Great?)???

It is so fucking sad that people like this exist in a democratic society, such as America.

America is supposed to be the bulwark of democracy: a democracy built upon generations of people who support the free state of our brand of democracy that portends safety from all evil rather than the model brand of hate by the cancer stricken people who believe that racist KKK brand of hate fostered by the MAGA branch of the GOP is okay when it’s not okay (full stop).

———————————————.


Fingers crossed that our country and its SANE members of our society can enforce a code of expected behavior that exemplifies the best of our country and not the opposite (deranged members of the MAGA cult of t——p aka inmate number PO1135809).

[A. Spectre]

DeSantis tells Biden: Keep your IRA money
President Joe Biden is offering one of his White House challengers hundreds of millions of dollars to spend in his state. The only problem: that opponent is refusing to take it.

The Inflation Reduction Act makes Florida eligible for some $350 million in energy efficiency incentives. But Gov. Ron DeSantis has rejected the funding and other measures, creating the most prominent blockade by any Republican governor against Biden’s economic agenda.

And there’s nothing the White House can do besides hope he changes his mind.

The rejection has the potential to create significant ripple effects, politically and economically, in the coming months. As the president and his Cabinet members go around the country boasting about the IRA, rebates for energy-efficient purchases — the majority of the funding that DeSantis has refused — have played a particularly prominent role. That’s not just because they underpin the administration’s climate agenda but because they provide direct rebates to consumers.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/climate-clash-desantis-refuses-biden-083000996.html
17


Who suffers? Not DeSatan but Floridians.

[Kätzchen]

DeSantis tells Biden: Keep your IRA money
President Joe Biden is offering one of his White House challengers hundreds of millions of dollars to spend in his state. The only problem: that opponent is refusing to take it.

The Inflation Reduction Act makes Florida eligible for some $350 million in energy efficiency incentives. But Gov. Ron DeSantis has rejected the funding and other measures, creating the most prominent blockade by any Republican governor against Biden’s economic agenda.

And there’s nothing the White House can do besides hope he changes his mind.

The rejection has the potential to create significant ripple effects, politically and economically, in the coming months. As the president and his Cabinet members go around the country boasting about the IRA, rebates for energy-efficient purchases — the majority of the funding that DeSantis has refused — have played a particularly prominent role. That’s not just because they underpin the administration’s climate agenda but because they provide direct rebates to consumers.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/climate-clash-desantis-refuses-biden-083000996.html
17


Who suffers? Not DeSatan but Floridians.

Let’s be sure, now that certain people in the public sphere could care less how they conduct themselves privately or publicly, that cousin De Satan’s stunningly stupid agenda gets him booted from office.

I’m guessing George Conway or Chris Christie or Retired Conservative Judge Luttig and others like them have some blistering criticism concerning that particular official in Florida.

———————————————.

In other news: I personally hate it that this never ending shit show is dominating the last few good years of what’s left of my life.

We need a massive change of heart politically or life will cease to be enjoyable, if it can be at all.

😔

[Kätzchen]

Well ……… I just listened to the audio recording of S.C. senator Lindsey Graham offering his explanation to why he has yet to be indicted for his role in helping that horrible person who is ruining our country.

Here’s the buzz kill, for me: Graham stated he was doing what he did as a “requirement” of his version of his so-called duties.

Ummmm. No. It’s your DUTY to uphold the law and the US Constitution as an elected official. I hate it when sly weasels like Graham want to not take responsibility for their lapse in judgement. Not only does he not understand English but he doesn’t truly understand the danger he has put himself and others in by not doing what he is supposed to do. You take an oath to protect our country, not the other way around.

Same for J. Jordan. Thank heavens Georgia DA Fani Willis used painstaking clear language about how that asshole has no real knowledge or experience in executing or interpreting the LAW.

Hello. Like I said before, it’s going to get real ugly this damaging fiasco is going cost American citizens more than they realize.

We’re just getting started with the orange puppet. Wait until the whole truth and nothing but the truth comes out about Kushner and Trump blending their brand of deceit with the “royal” Saudi’s. People think Putin is bad… but really, those Saudi princes who murdered Kashoggi??? Those people are more dangerous than Lex Luther or other villains we’ve watched at the movies.

There is enough buzz kill to last more than a lifetime, with this horseshit the Trump “kingdom” has foisted upon us as a nation.

Mark my words, from here on out, invoking the name of the Orange menace will be one lesson everyone will regret in the end.

[Kätzchen]

Anybody hear the proverbial calm before the storm, lately???

Somebody told me today the an extraordinary amount of land in Arizona is owned by the Saudi’s and they grow water intensive crops (wheat, etc) in Arizona.

Let’s seeeeee:

Orange menace + Son-in-law Kushner + Kushner’s Saudi Billion $$$ hedge fund + acts between all three party’s = one big a$$ problem that will exact a punishing consequence upon what’s left of a tax burdened nation who is already paying consequences for the Orange party and their supporters who basically have zero emotional and intellectual intelligence.



So terrifying.

—————————.

In other news: I sign up for Medicare soon. That is another whole shitshow entirely.


<<<<<<<<<———————. Scared. Hope I don’t make a mistake when I apply for medical insurance.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Anybody hear the proverbial calm before the storm, lately???

Somebody told me today the an extraordinary amount of land in Arizona is owned by the Saudi’s and they grow water intensive crops (wheat, etc) in Arizona.

Let’s seeeeee:

Orange menace + Son-in-law Kushner + Kushner’s Saudi Billion $$$ hedge fund + acts between all three party’s = one big a$$ problem that will exact a punishing consequence upon what’s left of a tax burdened nation who is already paying consequences for the Orange party and their supporters who basically have zero emotional and intellectual intelligence.



So terrifying.



I heard a news story about this on NPR. The situation is even worse than it sounds. There are several other states who have put themselves in the same situation.

How it works: The Saudis buy the land for the water. Unfortunately, when it drains the water from the land, it lowers the water table for all of the land around it. So people with wells (and this happens in rural areas with lots of people who have wells) are running out of water. Their wells runs dry, and they have to dig deeper wells. Up to a certain point, this works, but as the personal wells get deeper and deeper, they become more expensive to drill. Eventually the homeowners are left with a home that has no value because they can't get water, and their retirement funds and other sources of income are depleted from drilling wells.

The people in the state who are doing the selling are the congress people and people who live in the cities. They have water systems, so the well situation doesn't affect (most) of them. They make a lot of money for the state with this arrangement, and most of the voting power in the state has no reason to make any changes.

In other news: I sign up for Medicare soon. That is another whole shitshow entirely.


<<<<<<<<<———————. Scared. Hope I don’t make a mistake when I apply for medical insurance.

My sister had to start handling this for our Mom when our Dad died. She said it was incredibly complicated. But apparently there is a free book you can get that is published by Medicare that helps a lot. https://www.medicare.gov/publications

[Soft*Silver]

My sister had to start handling this for our Mom when our Dad died. She said it was incredibly complicated. But apparently there is a free book you can get that is published by Medicare that helps a lot. https://www.medicare.gov/publications

I remember when I first got on Medicare. It was actually quite frightening and confusing. However, now that I work with the elderly and have had time to have personal experience with Medicare, I am familiar with the system and how it works. For anyone who is struggling with Medicare I would suggest that you see if your county has an area agency on aging or a counterpart to that, and call them. They should offer information on how to pick a Medicare provider and what if any supplements you might need

[ksrainbow]

Anybody hear the proverbial calm before the storm, lately???

Somebody told me today the an extraordinary amount of land in Arizona is owned by the Saudi’s and they grow water intensive crops (wheat, etc) in Arizona.

Let’s seeeeee:

Orange menace + Son-in-law Kushner + Kushner’s Saudi Billion $$$ hedge fund + acts between all three party’s = one big a$$ problem that will exact a punishing consequence upon what’s left of a tax burdened nation who is already paying consequences for the Orange party and their supporters who basically have zero emotional and intellectual intelligence.

https://kansasreflector.com/2023/09/27/foreign-ownership-of-u-s-farmland-probed-at-u-s-senate-hearing/

*Foreign ownership of U.S. farmland probed at U.S. Senate hearing
BY: SAMANTHA DIETEL - SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 6:36 PM

Kevin Kirby operates a tractor on Sept. 20, 2013, to begin the sweet potato harvest process by plowing them up from the field on Kirby Farms in Mechanicsville, Virginia
Kevin Kirby operates a tractor on Sept. 20, 2013, to begin the sweet potato harvest process by plowing them up from the field on Kirby Farms in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Kirby is a fourth-generation farmer. A U.S. Senate hearing on Sept. 27, 2023, examined foreign ownership of U.S. farmland. (Lance Cheung/USDA)

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators said during a Wednesday hearing that foreign ownership of U.S. farmland is a national security threat that should be further examined.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry discussed foreign ownership of the nation’s agricultural lands, with testimony from experts and Senate colleagues who have been taking the lead on the issue.

“Food security is national security,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, who told the committee about his work to limit foreign ownership of farmland.

Tester said foreign adversaries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea should not be allowed any claim to U.S. soil.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that foreign investors held about 40 million acres of U.S. agricultural land. This is about 3% of the total amount.

“That’s more than the entire state of Iowa,” Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, said.

The USDA also reported Canada as the largest foreign investor in 2021 with 12.8 million acres, or 31% of foreign-held acres. The Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany, the other top foreign investors, collectively had 12.4 million acres, according to the report.

China had approximately 383,935 acres, or under 1% of foreign-held land in the U.S., according to the USDA report.

Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land has increased by 66% since 2010, Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, said.



State restrictions on foreign ownership
Earlier this year there was growing bipartisan support in Congress for limiting foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land, but there are currently no federal restrictions. The issue is also widely discussed at the state level.

Foreign ownership of U.S. land is currently restricted in 24 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Eleven of these states enacted foreign ownership laws during the 2023 legislative session, according to the National Agricultural Law Center. Those states include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.

Harrison Pittman, the National Agricultural Law Center director at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said there are “really not very many states left that haven’t had at least one or more proposals at the state level” to restrict foreign land ownership.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., joined Tester to speak about their efforts to improve farmland security when it comes to foreign investors.

In July, the Senate passed Rounds’ amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets defense policy. If enacted, his amendment would ban China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from purchasing U.S. farmland and agricultural businesses.



National security threat seen
In his testimony, Rounds referenced recent examples of China’s land ownership near military bases. In 2020, a Chinese company planned to build a wind energy farm project two miles from Laughlin Air Force base in Del Rio, Texas, Rounds said.

Rounds and other senators said they were concerned about the attempt of a Chinese company to build a corn milling plant on farmland near an Air Force base outside of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Senators also cited the purchase of Smithfield Foods by a Chinese company as a point of concern.

“Who controls our farmland is really important and honestly, my concern is also with who controls many other parts of our food system, including our seeds, meat processing and grocery stores,” said Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat. “This is all part of our national security.”

Stabenow said U.S. national security “depends on a food system that is safe, secure, affordable, abundant and resilient.”

“As foreign entities continue their acquisitions of U.S. food and agricultural assets, American farmers and families deserve to know that these transactions receive proper scrutiny,” Stabenow said.



Data gaps
David Ortega, as associate professor of agricultural, food and resource economics at Michigan State University, said foreign ownership of agricultural land potentially could increase land prices and push farmers out of the market.

However, Ortega said there is “no clear evidence” that foreign ownership is making U.S. farmland prices rise.

Baldwin said that foreign investors holding U.S. farmland can put domestic food supply and local communities at risk.

“And right now, we don’t know the full extent of the risk at hand,” Baldwin said.

She said outdated reporting systems and a lack of auditing at both state and federal levels need to be addressed.

Last year, Baldwin worked with Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and member of the Agriculture panel, to pass the Farmland Security Act of 2022 as part of the fiscal 2023 omnibus appropriations bill.

This law requires the USDA to update its paper report system for filing foreign investments in agricultural land to an online, public database.

The USDA must also report to Congress on the impacts of foreign ownership of agricultural land on family farms, rural communities and the domestic food supply, Baldwin said.

Gloria Montaño Greene, USDA’s deputy under secretary for farm production and conservation, told senators that while Congress did direct the USDA to modernize its foreign investment reporting system within three years, the USDA “was not provided funding to implement these requirements.”

Instead, the USDA posted Excel data spreadsheets in June for each year from 2011 to 2021, Greene said.

Ernst said the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, which became law in 1978, must be modernized to “increase reporting, strengthen oversight and send a strong message to our adversaries that American farms are not their playground.”

“Enforcement of reporting requirements has been inconsistent and at times lax,” Ortega said. This is attributed to low staffing at the agency level, he said.

“While passing our legislation was a step in the right direction, Congress can and must do more,” Baldwin said.



Lack of progress on the farm bill
Baldwin and Grassley are teaming up again to pass a new version of their proposal, the Farmland Security Act of 2023, which Baldwin said “will go even further in addressing foreign activity in our domestic agriculture marketplace.”

Baldwin urged the committee to include this legislation in the next farm bill.

Ernst said she was frustrated that there has not been “meaningful progress” on the farm bill.

The current farm bill is set to expire at the end of the week.

“I really think this is a shame,” Ernst said.

She said she hears from farmers and ag leaders that there needs to be more “farm” in the farm bill, and that they are concerned about the increase in foreign investment in American farmland.



Possible consequences
Ortega said that implementing restrictions on U.S. agricultural land ownership could result in retaliation by other countries.

Trade relations could be affected, Ortega said, and used China as an example. He said China is the largest export market for the U.S. when it comes to agricultural and food products.

Specifically, China imports soybeans, corn and grains from the U.S., Ortega said, as well as other consumer-oriented products.

“In my view, it would be far easier for China to find new sources of these products than it would be for American farmers to find new export markets,” Ortega said. “So I think it’s important to also be aware of potential trade impacts.”*

On a personal note: my brother recently purchased a 1300 acre ranch in rural Oklahoma. Self contained property that he at the age of 70, can claim as his own. From those acres are massive hay fields that he donates 80% to local non-profit organizations. No less than 6 months from his first donation, he was approached by 2 men with cash in hand to purchase his 1300 acres. He now has a gait and alarm system to his home and hay fields. He does not live in fear, but does fear those who are predators-

Ks-

[Kätzchen]

Anybody hear the proverbial calm before the storm, lately???

Somebody told me today the an extraordinary amount of land in Arizona is owned by the Saudi’s and they grow water intensive crops (wheat, etc) in Arizona.

Let’s seeeeee:

Orange menace + Son-in-law Kushner + Kushner’s Saudi Billion $$$ hedge fund + acts between all three party’s = one big a$$ problem that will exact a punishing consequence upon what’s left of a tax burdened nation who is already paying consequences for the Orange party and their supporters who basically have zero emotional and intellectual intelligence.



https://kansasreflector.com/2023/09/27/foreign-ownership-of-u-s-farmland-probed-at-u-s-senate-hearing/

*Foreign ownership of U.S. farmland probed at U.S. Senate hearing
BY: SAMANTHA DIETEL - SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 6:36 PM

Kevin Kirby operates a tractor on Sept. 20, 2013, to begin the sweet potato harvest process by plowing them up from the field on Kirby Farms in Mechanicsville, Virginia
Kevin Kirby operates a tractor on Sept. 20, 2013, to begin the sweet potato harvest process by plowing them up from the field on Kirby Farms in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Kirby is a fourth-generation farmer. A U.S. Senate hearing on Sept. 27, 2023, examined foreign ownership of U.S. farmland. (Lance Cheung/USDA)

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators said during a Wednesday hearing that foreign ownership of U.S. farmland is a national security threat that should be further examined.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry discussed foreign ownership of the nation’s agricultural lands, with testimony from experts and Senate colleagues who have been taking the lead on the issue.

“Food security is national security,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, who told the committee about his work to limit foreign ownership of farmland.

Tester said foreign adversaries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea should not be allowed any claim to U.S. soil.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that foreign investors held about 40 million acres of U.S. agricultural land. This is about 3% of the total amount.

“That’s more than the entire state of Iowa,” Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, said.

The USDA also reported Canada as the largest foreign investor in 2021 with 12.8 million acres, or 31% of foreign-held acres. The Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany, the other top foreign investors, collectively had 12.4 million acres, according to the report.

China had approximately 383,935 acres, or under 1% of foreign-held land in the U.S., according to the USDA report.

Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land has increased by 66% since 2010, Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, said.



State restrictions on foreign ownership
Earlier this year there was growing bipartisan support in Congress for limiting foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land, but there are currently no federal restrictions. The issue is also widely discussed at the state level.

Foreign ownership of U.S. land is currently restricted in 24 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Eleven of these states enacted foreign ownership laws during the 2023 legislative session, according to the National Agricultural Law Center. Those states include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.

Harrison Pittman, the National Agricultural Law Center director at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said there are “really not very many states left that haven’t had at least one or more proposals at the state level” to restrict foreign land ownership.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., joined Tester to speak about their efforts to improve farmland security when it comes to foreign investors.

In July, the Senate passed Rounds’ amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets defense policy. If enacted, his amendment would ban China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from purchasing U.S. farmland and agricultural businesses.



National security threat seen
In his testimony, Rounds referenced recent examples of China’s land ownership near military bases. In 2020, a Chinese company planned to build a wind energy farm project two miles from Laughlin Air Force base in Del Rio, Texas, Rounds said.

Rounds and other senators said they were concerned about the attempt of a Chinese company to build a corn milling plant on farmland near an Air Force base outside of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Senators also cited the purchase of Smithfield Foods by a Chinese company as a point of concern.

“Who controls our farmland is really important and honestly, my concern is also with who controls many other parts of our food system, including our seeds, meat processing and grocery stores,” said Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat. “This is all part of our national security.”

Stabenow said U.S. national security “depends on a food system that is safe, secure, affordable, abundant and resilient.”

“As foreign entities continue their acquisitions of U.S. food and agricultural assets, American farmers and families deserve to know that these transactions receive proper scrutiny,” Stabenow said.



Data gaps
David Ortega, as associate professor of agricultural, food and resource economics at Michigan State University, said foreign ownership of agricultural land potentially could increase land prices and push farmers out of the market.

However, Ortega said there is “no clear evidence” that foreign ownership is making U.S. farmland prices rise.

Baldwin said that foreign investors holding U.S. farmland can put domestic food supply and local communities at risk.

“And right now, we don’t know the full extent of the risk at hand,” Baldwin said.

She said outdated reporting systems and a lack of auditing at both state and federal levels need to be addressed.

Last year, Baldwin worked with Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and member of the Agriculture panel, to pass the Farmland Security Act of 2022 as part of the fiscal 2023 omnibus appropriations bill.

This law requires the USDA to update its paper report system for filing foreign investments in agricultural land to an online, public database.

The USDA must also report to Congress on the impacts of foreign ownership of agricultural land on family farms, rural communities and the domestic food supply, Baldwin said.

Gloria Montaño Greene, USDA’s deputy under secretary for farm production and conservation, told senators that while Congress did direct the USDA to modernize its foreign investment reporting system within three years, the USDA “was not provided funding to implement these requirements.”

Instead, the USDA posted Excel data spreadsheets in June for each year from 2011 to 2021, Greene said.

Ernst said the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, which became law in 1978, must be modernized to “increase reporting, strengthen oversight and send a strong message to our adversaries that American farms are not their playground.”

“Enforcement of reporting requirements has been inconsistent and at times lax,” Ortega said. This is attributed to low staffing at the agency level, he said.

“While passing our legislation was a step in the right direction, Congress can and must do more,” Baldwin said.



Lack of progress on the farm bill
Baldwin and Grassley are teaming up again to pass a new version of their proposal, the Farmland Security Act of 2023, which Baldwin said “will go even further in addressing foreign activity in our domestic agriculture marketplace.”

Baldwin urged the committee to include this legislation in the next farm bill.

Ernst said she was frustrated that there has not been “meaningful progress” on the farm bill.

The current farm bill is set to expire at the end of the week.

“I really think this is a shame,” Ernst said.

She said she hears from farmers and ag leaders that there needs to be more “farm” in the farm bill, and that they are concerned about the increase in foreign investment in American farmland.



Possible consequences
Ortega said that implementing restrictions on U.S. agricultural land ownership could result in retaliation by other countries.

Trade relations could be affected, Ortega said, and used China as an example. He said China is the largest export market for the U.S. when it comes to agricultural and food products.

Specifically, China imports soybeans, corn and grains from the U.S., Ortega said, as well as other consumer-oriented products.

“In my view, it would be far easier for China to find new sources of these products than it would be for American farmers to find new export markets,” Ortega said. “So I think it’s important to also be aware of potential trade impacts.”*

On a personal note: my brother recently purchased a 1300 acre ranch in rural Oklahoma. Self contained property that he at the age of 70, can claim as his own. From those acres are massive hay fields that he donates 80% to local non-profit organizations. No less than 6 months from his first donation, he was approached by 2 men with cash in hand to purchase his 1300 acres. He now has a gait and alarm system to his home and hay fields. He does not live in fear, but does fear those who are predators-

Ks-

Hey and Hi KansasRainbow,

That is an interesting news article from your local news agency. And thanks for sharing about your brother who purchased property then was approached by two suspect buyers with cash in hand.

Here is the buzzkill for me, concerning this issue: Republican senators (Grassley is the best example and men like him) serving on the agricultural committee is deeply concerning. Why? Republican's like to hand out dis- and mis- information as positively the whole entire 'truth'; when what they do and say is the most convoluted pack of lies, they foist upon American voters today.

I don't trust anything a Republican senator says because they've proven to me, over the vast part of my adult life, that they only care about how they line their own pockets with cash -- and they don't care who it comes from, as long as they look out for themselves. The GOP Republican Party of current day is NOT the same as it was back in the days of Dwight D
Eisenhower. Even Reagan, or Bush no.1, is not worthy of Identifying as the standard bearer of traditional Republican politics.

What is at stake? Water and Land rights being owned by Foreign Interests -- of which the worst foreign ownership country is the Saudi's and other foreign interests whose countries are being depleted by greedy Authoritarian Dictators who only want to enrich themselves, just the Orange Menace.


It's the Republican Party (and being dominated by authoritarian personalities from within their own ranks), that is the scariest obstacle that will be the ruination of our democracy. Stopping the GOP is of utmost importance.

Again, thanks for your article of news. I sure hope people are paying attention to the way the GOP is causing the most damage to our country.

[Kätzchen]

I was just thinking to myself the other day about Liz Cheney…. And she finally surfaces to spill the goods on Jacka$$ Jordan.


I don’t agree with some of her politics, but she’s got it exactly right about the Orange snake and his followers. Thank heavens she has a conscience.

Thanks for setting the record straight about people who keep jeopardizing our democracy. Super proud of you, Mz. Cheney.

[Kätzchen]

Well … I find it interesting that there are some members of the Republican Party who have not let Jacka$$ Jordan assume speakership. Thank heavens because, literally, there is nobody on their side of the political spectrum that deserves to be speaker. I keep hoping that Hakeem Jeffries will be speaker one day as he seems to be cut from the same cloth as House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.


I also think it is simply amazing that Judge Chutkan & Judge Engoron are staying the course and are not intimidated by the charlatan known as the trumpedo who keep right on torpedoing himself with his cataclysmic arsenal of lies and criminal behavior.

Looks like the winter holidays might remain untarnished by the giant orange narcissist. Hopefully, by spring, no more will this person dominate news feeds. Can hardly wait until he is stripped of every stripe that has hurt every person since his porn shop dad thought he could cleverly reinvent the “rules” of how to be rich and never pay taxes.

———————————————.

Looking forward to hearing news of any type which talks about people helping people and not people at war with other people. :rrose::blueheels::bunchflowers::cherry:

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Looking forward to hearing news of any type which talks about people helping people and not people at war with other people. :rrose::blueheels::bunchflowers::cherry:


From the BBC podcast "Happy News", Oct. 16, 2023

Several women won the Nobel Prize this year. In Economics, it was the first time a woman alone won the prize; Claudia Goldin of Harvard University studied the gender pay gap around the world. She has also studied the effects of contraception on women in the labor force. Katalin Kariko shared the prize for Physiology and Medicine for developments with the Covid vaccine. Anne L'Huillier shared the prize in Physics. The Nobel Peace Prize was won by a Muslim woman, Narges Mohammadi, who has fought for equality for women in Iran.

* * *

Bill Gates stays optimistic in the face of tough circumstances. Although he has seen first hand the results of climate change, he says, "The human condition has improved a lot. We started the century with over 10 million children dying under the age of 5 every year. Now we have that below 5 million. And so that kind of progress, where it's better now than it was back in the year 2000, that's going to continue." He sees this kind of progress as similar to what's going on with climate solutions. Tech solutions have produced drought-resistant seeds, cement that doesn't contribute to climate change, and AI that better predicts climate change fueled weather.

[A. Spectre]

Mike blames mass shootings on 60's revolution. He blames mass shootings on feminism, no fault divorce and schools embracing evolution.

And worse....

trumpism is here. Please vote, for your best interest.

[Kätzchen]

Mike blames mass shootings on 60's revolution. He blames mass shootings on feminism, no fault divorce and schools embracing evolution.

And worse....

trumpism is here. Please vote, for your best interest.

I sure do enjoy your perspective, my friend.

I totally agree with your assessment concerning the new GOP House Speaker.

— nobody in the GOP, well — most all of them, do not care or cherish the presiding notion that it is because of our devotion to Democracy that affords people in our country to **choose** peaceful relations with others, rather than blowing up the world and killing innocent people over the incessant need to dominate and control others as if they’re expendable.

We have literally got to oust people from congress and other governing agencies who don’t care about doing what is best for our country.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate you.

[Kätzchen]

Thank heavens for former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Did ya see how he incinerated his GOP debaters??? LMAO, or not, I’m glad he is putting up a good fight against the biggest liar of all time (well, outside the purview of Lucifer aka Satan) — the person who probably never paid for his orange spray painted tan, like ever.

Thank heavens for Liz Cheney exposing the current speaker of the house.

—————————.

I don’t know about anybody else but I’m super proud of our POTUS and his vice president. Joe Biden has been in the halls of Congress longer than most. He’s honest. He doesn’t lie. He has scrupulous behaviors and makes the best choice, each time a choice can be made. People might state perjorative bullshit ideas about executive democrat elected officials but their ill formed ideas and opinions don’t make what they say, true.

We are on an extended, borrowed time both personally and collectively — both the planet and human beings.

Let’s make it count.

<<<<<—— Voting strictly an up and down ballot as a Democrat for Democrats. For the People , by the People. Not for kings or queens: we don’t have time for those types of terrifying choices.

[nhplowboi]

Really Nickie Haley????!!!!! You'll pardon Trump if he is convicted and you manage to get elected???!!! You're disgusting as you try and play all the angles!!

[Orema]

All three of the top GOP candidates (Trump, DeSantis, Haley) have created divisions on race, history, and/or gender. They intentionally distort the facts. I expect this of at least one candidate from either party, but not from everyone on the top (of either major party). Haven’t seen this before now.

Trump quoting Hitler is Stephen Miller whispering in his ear. Miller is a smart cookie. He helps pulls the strings behind the curtain but is careful to never take credit. Something else, is Holocaust denial far behind? After all, it’s what the morons they bow down to want to hear.

I still think Haley is aiming for the VP spot. She knows the GOP won’t nominate her as POTUS in 2024, but she’ll have a good chance at POTUS in 2028 if she can just get on the ticket as VP in 2024.

And ain’t it just the height of irony that Republicans (who represent management!) have somehow convinced working people that laws and policies that benefit the richest are somehow designed to bestow happiness and prosperity on the rest of us?

I’ll vote for the Democratic nominee and whomever I like in the Primary, but I’m checking out. I no longer watch political news stories and may stop reading them for a while.

Here’s hoping 2024 isn’t as bad as I expect it will be.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I’ll vote for the Democratic nominee and whomever I like in the Primary, but I’m checking out. I no longer watch political news stories and may stop reading them for a while.

Here’s hoping 2024 isn’t as bad as I expect it will be.

I still remember how worn out I was by all the politicking the last time the election rolled around. I think checking out from the news might be the way to go this time. I can't think of anything that would change me voting Democratic, and I don't need to suffer through all the agita that comes along with the election.

[Kätzchen]

…. T——p presidency. They are trying to Trump-proof their governments and policies due to how so many voters in our country are sucked down the rabbit hole of the cult leadership offered by a dangerous person who leads the GOP.

It’s distressing how people think this person is going to make our country better. How is it better to cheat and defraud for personal gain? How is this person better when just uttering that name will be the biggest longest lasting mistake that cannot be undone once they get their way by voting for a criminal with a long criminal history in cheating others and profiting from the suffering they inflict on others???

Here is the CNN article that speaks about European countries doing what they can before the cult of T——p destroys what is left of our country and our country’s ally’s across the globe.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/14/world/europe-leaders-trump-concerns-intl-cmd/index.html

[Kätzchen]

I had an interesting set of thoughts come to me concerning the voters in Iowa: could it be that all the aging Phelps, Tammy Faye & Jimmy Baker, and Pat Robertson 700 haters club members migrated to Iowa and retire there as gasping Republican control freaks to solidify their terrible racist, hate filled “religious” agenda and make sure nobody disobeys their generational toxic hold on Americans who will never be like them in a heart beat???

I am voting for President Joe Biden or any democrat who will kick butt and stop the farcical power grab of the toxic party ruining America’s reputation for democratic norms that have anchored our country for more than 200 years. I believe we have what it takes as voters to make a difference and show the world that D.T.’s brand of Amerikan fascism and authoritarian style of leadership is NOT what voters want.

Please please help stop the GOP from destroying our country.

Vote Blue.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Ron DeSatan dropped out of GOP race! Don't know what this will do for Nicky Haley and T---p, and I don't really care. But the small threat of Ron DeSatan ending up as president is finally off my mind. The bad news - DeSatan will still probably be governor of Florida until 2028.

[clay]

[QUOTE=GeorgiaMa'am;1295812].......snipped...The bad news - DeSatan will still probably be governor of Florida until 2028........
Exactly....that azzhat MADE SURE he could, by passing a bill as such, saying if he lost his bid for President, he WOULD still be Governor! Ugggghhhhhh...sucks for Fla....

[GeorgiaMa'am]

[QUOTE=GeorgiaMa'am;1295812].......snipped...The bad news - DeSatan will still probably be governor of Florida until 2028........
Exactly....that azzhat MADE SURE he could, by passing a bill as such, saying if he lost his bid for President, he WOULD still be Governor! Ugggghhhhhh...sucks for Fla....

Without a vote in Florida? Isn't that like, skipping over the voters?

[nhplowboi]

It's voting day in NH. In this day and age, I hope my fellow New Hampshirites realize the sacredness of this democratic duty! Please participate!!!

[clay]

[QUOTE=clay;1295828]

Without a vote in Florida? Isn't that like, skipping over the voters?

Exactly! He even created his own maps for redistricting, and was allowed to keep those redistictings! What it did was break up predominantly black precincts, I think it was Arizona who did the same, BUT their maps were made to go back to originals (whichever state it was!)

He is a BULLY, misogynistic, homophobic, racist pig. He has banned DEI teachings/classes in educational institutions, really "damaged" libraries in banned books, and a lot more. He is a piece of work. He is real short, wears elevator heels in his shoes so he "looks" taller..LOL

I can NOT stand him and DID NOT vote for him and never will!

[Kätzchen]

I can hardly believe that there will be anybody left to stop the terrifying person who is upending our country. Those people who stormed the capital on January 6th got out of jail yesterday. It’s so terrifying to even try to stay informed about what will happen next.


The day they arrest Captain Lucifer, can’t come quick enough.

ETA: Does anybody know if Bob Woodward is protected by a pardon from Biden in case the Orange jackass tries to do him harm???

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Stephen Miller is the wizard behind the curtain for T***p. He fixes T***p's strategic mistakes. It was Miller's idea to "flood" the playing field with so many resolutions during the first week of T***p's second presidency that no sizeable group would be able to organize against any single idea.

You may recall Stephen Miller as the racist little twerp who made national news for himself in high school when he protested that students should not have to pick up their own trash, because janitors were paid to do that for them. He's come a long way since then - a long, scary way. I suggest that he is more evil and smarter than T***p. And now he is T***p's Deputy Chief of Staff.

You can hear about Miller and his climb to power on the Monday, January 27, 2025 episode of The Daily. by the New York Times. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

[easygoingfemme]

The federal funding freeze. At work, our housing funds were frozen this morning. This is funding to house women (trans inclusive) and children who are homeless due to domestic violence, human trafficking, and severe mental health disabilities. It's frozen. We have a message that it will be made available "shortly" but I don't know what "shortly" is, or if that's true.

[easygoingfemme]

As an update, there are no more messages about the funding being available shortly. The platform we use to draw funds from is gone. This is a combination of HUD, the office for prevention of domestic violence, and the office of crime victims. Gone.

[Kätzchen]

As an update, there are no more messages about the funding being available shortly. The platform we use to draw funds from is gone. This is a combination of HUD, the office for prevention of domestic violence, and the office of crime victims. Gone.

Thanks for keeping us posted about deeply concerning news affecting non-profits, housing and DV agencies. Hopefully this merits a speedy lawsuit with speedy repercussions for those who upend lives of those who have no where else to go. :(

[GeorgiaMa'am]

As an update, there are no more messages about the funding being available shortly. The platform we use to draw funds from is gone. This is a combination of HUD, the office for prevention of domestic violence, and the office of crime victims. Gone.

Scary. Very scary.

If I had to make a guess, I'd guess "shortly" is 90 days, since that's the amount of time T***p's resolutions delayed a lot of other programs while he supposedly figures out if they're in line with his overall plans. Who does that? Nobody can just go into a new job and say "I'm halting all operations for 90 days while I decide what to do and get up to speed on everything."

I'm really angry on your behalf, and on the behalf of all your clients.

[easygoingfemme]

Tonight a temporary ban on the freeze was put in for "some programming". I don't know what programs will get their funding back tomorrow.

If this goes past two weeks I have to start laying off staff. We literally won't be able to cover payroll. Let alone how to handle landlords waiting for us to pay rent and utility companies waiting for their pay.

Thankfully with tenant rights laws in New York it would take months to sometimes years for an eviction to go through so we should be able to keep everyone currently housed in their homes.

[easygoingfemme]

There is a temporary ban on the freeze, or lift. We were able to draw HUD funds today but not funds from grants. It takes three days for the funds to arrive though so we're not taking a deep breath yet. cheeto already put out a statement that this was a revocation of the memo, not the freeze. We're not out of the water by a long shot.

ICE has been patrolling our food banks. I've been immersed in ICE response trainings all day and our directing team starts training the agency on Friday.

My kiddo works in HIV care and we've been back and forth all day regarding policy development. It's so ominous.

[easygoingfemme]

We learned yesterday that the large secure database we use to document and track domestic violence incidents, services, and sheltering has eliminated the word "gender" and only offers ways to document services to individuals with a sex of "male" or "female".

So we won't be able to track incidents of domestic violence for the trans community nor will we be able to provide statistics that justify funding and grants for trans-inclusive services and safe shelters.