#get fucked lisa murkowski

[wilwheaton]

This fucking asshole.

Who voted against conviction in Trump's first impeachment.

Who confirmed Brett Kavanaugh and gaslighted the nation about it.

Who expects us all to believe that she is shocked -- shocked -- to just learn now, in the far off future year of 2023, that she's been enabling, protecting, and promoting Fascism.

Get fucked, you piece of shit. You did this. You own this.

[mariacallous]

Sinema huh?

I mean... I don't get how you rise so high only to fuck up so bad? I mean I don't think AZ Democrats needed or wanted her to be like... Elizabeth Warren or anything, but she so totally alienated them that she was surely headed for a primary crash, what I don't get is does she see herself as a Lisa Murkowski? able to sail to victory over a Republican and Democrat? (insane since she's unpopular with everyone) or is it a last minute hostage taking where she's pulling a gun on Ruben Gallego and telling him to back off or she'll be a spoiler and flip the seat

also an aside, while I hate her, the twitter reaction has been what I'd expect, the Young Democrats already tweeted a cartoon mocking how she dresses and saying "how do I make it all about me?" and then a different one mockingly calling her "girl boss" and I just feel like every time she acted shitty the reaction always included an attack on her clothes, looks, or the fact she was a woman and like was that a factor in this, that the criticism was always so personal

I think she would see herself as a spoiler, and also maybe that she could get enough Democrats, Republicans, and independent voters to support her if she ran? I also think that, on some level, she just doesn't care anymore and is doing whatever she can and maybe try to position herself post-Senate.

And yeah, that criticism gets old because it's irrelevant to what she's doing and helps obscure any legitimate criticisms (of which there are plenty) and allows for her (and others) to make the complaints and reactions just about the fact that she's a woman.

[maturemenoftvandfilms]

The Senator from Montana

CHAPTER SIX: The Bipartisan Deal 

Featuring Sen. Jon Tester and Sen. Mitt Romney

After weeks of negotiations with the White House and a bipartisan group of nine other Senators, Senator Jon Tester had secured a deal on historic infrastructure legislation. The group includes Republicans Sen. Mitt Romney, Sen. Bill Cassidy, Sen. Rob Portman, Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, along with Democrats Sen. Joe Manchin, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Sen. Mark Warner. Two or three of the male senators I could fuck, none more than Sen. Rommey. Lets just say, I other things are on my mind besides the negotiations running in and out of that conference room.

So I was horny and with the deal completed, I was hoping Sen. Tester and I could do some after hours celebrating as its been weeks since we last hooked up. But I had a hitch in my plans as I opened conference room door. Jon was sitting facing the door alone with Sen. Romney.

"Ah, there you are. You've meet Sen. Rommey haven't you?" Jon said as he wave me over.

“Yes, Sir.” I said as I walked over to the table.

Sen. Romney eyed me as I approached. With an ageless sheen, at 73 the senator was handsome with his trademark plastic grin and his perfectly sculpted head of suspiciously dark hair.

“Hello, son.” He said as he offered his hand to shake.

“Nice to meet you, Sen. Romney.” I answered quickly shaking his hand.

“Call me Mitt, son. Jon’s been telling me all about you.” He said.

"Has he now."

“Yea, I told him your a great cock sucker.” Jon added.

“That he did. Why don’t you sit down with us?” Sen. Romney asked as he pulled out the chair next to him.

I glanced over at Jon.

“Come and join us. Like I said, we’ve been talking about you.” Jon said.

“Jon said we could have a little fun with you.” Sen. Romney said.

I glanced over at Jon again. He laughed and said, “Hell what’s the matter. You not in the mood for sex? Got yourself a headache?”

That's when Sen. Romney stood up, unbuckled his belt and jerked his pants down. Suddenly I found myself looking at nice size uncut cock. It wasn't as thick as Jon's, but is was a third longer. And he also had nice hanging set of balls. Then pulling his foreskin back, exposing a big mushroom-shaped dick head, Sen. Romney turned to Jon and asked, “Jon, mind if I let your assistant suck me off?”

“Hell, no! Lucas, suck him.” Jon ordered as he stood up beside Sen. Romney and added, “Come on. Let me see you suck him.”

Apparently, Jon has been reading my mind as I quickly dropped to my knees in front of Sen. Romney. His dick was still hanging limp, but it was beginning to swell up as I closed my mouth around the foreskin draped head of his dick. Sen. Romney let out a sigh as I sucked gently on his foreskin-covered dick head. Then as I slowly pulled back his foreskin and started tonguing his naked dick head, Sen. Romney throw his head back and said, “Damn! That feels good.”

“Didn’t I tell you he was a born cocksucker?” Jon said as he too dropped his pants and started jacking his own dick as he stared down at me. I looked up at Jon. At 64, he was a handsome man with his $12 flattop haircut and scuffed black cowboy boots, looking least like a senator and more like a retired football lineman. But still a Congressional male lust-object in the world’s most exclusive club.

“Go ahead, take all his cock down your throat. I know you can do it.” Jon said as he stared straight at me.

Staring up into Jon’s blue eyes, I started swallowing Sen. Romney’s dick. I could tell he was enjoying watching me suck Romney’s dick. So, I took more dick down my throat than I had ever done before. I swallow inch after long inch of Romney’s dick. I thought I would never be able to swallow all of it, but looking up and seeing Jon staring down at me while he feverishly jacked his dick, urged me to a supreme effort. Finally my lips were pressed against Sen. Romney’s pubic hairs. Jon suddenly flashes a big grin and without missing a beat hollers, “See. I told you he could swallow your dick.”

I started sucking his cock wildly, giving him fast and strong suction around his beautiful thick shaft.

“Damn! It feels wonderful.” Sen. Romney said as he reached down and grabbed me behind the head. He started fucking my mouth with his long dick as Jon watched in glee.

“Yea! Fuck him with that horse dick!” Jon cried out as I watched him pumping his dick faster and faster.

I was in heaven as I felt Tony thrusting his hips into my mouth to make me his personal fuck. I loved it. I love Jon watching me sucking Sen. Romney. I loved that he was forcing his dick down my throat. Suddenly Jon had his gorgeous rod pointing towards my face. Sen. Romney was still in control as I continued to suck his cock until finally pulled his cock out of my mouth and turned my face to Jon's cock. Quickly I was on it, sucking to be fed his honey. These guys had me! I was their whore for the evening.

"Maybe we should get him to a room and put him to work." Jon nodded and we got dressed and head to Sen. Romney’s townhouse.

Sen. Romney led the way as we all went into the bedroom and started undressing. It was a large master bedroom with a nice king size bed, neatly furnished and clean. Jon smacked my ass and told me to get up on the bed on all fours. Both senators came around the bed and kneeled on the bed in front of me. Sen. Romney fed me his cock first, forcing my throat down deep on his long thick cock. Immediately I knew what I was doing to adjust my sucking to please this man. Mitt pulled out and Jon put his cock in, pumping my mouth to his tune.

Mitt said he wanted to fuck me and my excitement grew as I was anticipated a cock up my ass. Jon kept fucking my mouth and playing with the  back of my head to show me his rhythm. I felt Mitt get back on the bed between my legs. My ass was up for him to reach. Kindly, Mitt put some lube on my ass as I felt his two fingers massaging my ass, pushing in and out to loosen me up. He suddenly stopped and I felt the tip of his cock centering my asshole.

As soon as his dick made contact, he immediately thrust all 8 inches into me. I gasped loudly as his big sausage massaging me as my ass lips tighten around his shaft. Jon continued to fuck my mouth, his cock stiffened as he watched Mitt fuck me from behind. These guys were using me to polish their cocks to the tune of their own pleasure. Mitt began slamming my ass and forcing me to deep throat Jon's cock. Mitt was digging deep and what a feeling! His cock was a thrill to have inside of me as I didn't want him to ever pull out; to be his cock sleeve and have him wear my ass was pure excitement and  pleasure.

"You got him ready, Mitt, cause I'm ready for that ass now."

Mitt waited till Jon was ready before he finally pulled out, came around to the front of the bed and brought his slick wet juicy cock back to my mouth. Wow! What a treat! Jon wasted no time sliding his cock up my ass. I knew Jon knew how to himself and in return give me pure satisfaction. He moved my ass to ride up and down his pole, using my hips as handlebars to massage his cock  to his rhythm. He started pounding my ass furiously, slapping it was his free hand like he was riding a bronco. Mitt was stiff as a board and I wanted his cum. Sucking evenly and slow I felt him start to tighten.

“I’m cuming!” Sen. Romney said as my lips locked around his shaft and anticipated his cream. Up it came as I felt the vein on his shaft fill and shoot.

"Mmmmmmm...." Mitt moaned as more and more of his cum flowed in wads as he came in my month. What a load!

Jon was close too as his pumping got faster and faster. Watching Mitt and me must have taken him to the brink as he assaulted my ass with his big cock. Soon he was filling my ass with ropes of cum and I felt it filling me up.

Exhausted, we all back on the bed when Jon said, "We've just been fucked good!"

[porcupine-girl]

In terms of people needing to stay in his good graces to stay in power:

Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have both already won re-election after having opposed Trump. Collins is from a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican president since George HW Bush. If she wants to keep her seat she has to be moderate.

Trump went all-in against Murkowski last time she was up for re-election - he got the Alaskan Republican Party to run another Republican against her and she still won. And this is after she won in 2010 as a write-in candidate after the Republican Party refused to run her. I honestly don’t know why she’s so stubbornly popular there, but thank god she is.

So, historically, neither of them has to be a Trump yes-(wo)man to get re-elected.

*sigh* I thought Romney had one more year on his term before he retired but I was wrong, he’ll be gone already. Who knows where he plans to go next, though; he has such a varied background that he’s hard to predict.

Yes, a ton of fucking republicans - including the incoming Vice President - have been blatant hypocrites when it comes to Trump, speaking out against him only to cower and lick his boots when he told them to. But right now we’re not quite yet at the point where every single Republican has to do that, and the few that don’t will be valuable allies sometimes, even though other times they’ll still be pushing for legislation we hate.

Here is something to remember as we watch Trump kick off the insanity with his ridiculous cabinet picks:

He’s not a dictator yet.

Some things - even some illegal things, now that anything he does “officially” isn’t illegal - will be a lot harder for him to do than others.

Blackmailing a foreign leader? Easy for him to do all by himself. Selling classified documents to our enemies? Unfortunately, easy for him to do by himself.

But some things require the cooperation of large chunks of the government. Not just on paper, in a way he can ignore, but in the fact that it will take hundreds to thousands of people to pull it off and any bit of government interrupting that process may stop it entirely. And yes, he controls a larger swath of that than last time, but he doesn’t control the whole thing yet.

These cabinet picks? If we can convince just a handful of the people who occasionally scraped together enough spine to stand up to him last time to vote against them, they’re toast. I’m literally planning on sending letters - not emails, USPS letters - to Sens. Collins, Murkowski, and Romney begging them to do the right thing. Collins and Murkowski have already publicly doubted these cabinet picks. I doubt they’ll all three veto every bad pick, but if all three of them vote against even one, that’s damage reduced.

This DOGE thing? This CNN article points out that it’s likely to get bogged down by FACA, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which in his last term stopped his plan to set up a committee to “investigate voter fraud.”

How did it stop him? Not by telling him he can’t do it, and then him listening and obeying. They stopped him by tying the whole thing up in the courts until he got bored and dropped it. He might own SCOTUS, but he doesn’t own the entire federal court system yet.

And he had a short attention span and doesn’t actually give a shit about anything. Do you think he actually cares about reducing government waste? Of course not, he just wants lower taxes and fewer regulations for himself and his buddies. If it doesn’t look like DOGE is going to get him that quickly enough, he’ll lose interest.

I’m not saying the system is functional enough to stop everything he wants to do. It wasn’t last time, and it’s less so this time.

But when you start to spiral into despair, remember that the system is big enough and lumbering enough to slow him down. To get in his way. Not every time, but sometimes. He will NOT be able to pull off every single thing he or Project 2025 claims he’ll do. We don’t know yet which things he will or won’t manage, and yes, he might make some of the worst things happen.

But he’s not a dictator yet, he doesn’t have total control yet. The more cooperation from others it takes to pull something off, the less likely he is to manage it. He will fail sometimes.

[thepoliticalpatient]

RBG’s death all but guarantees the loss of the ACA

Last night was almost as hard and scary as election night, for me.

I will try to keep this brief as I can and so will be focusing on the impact of RBG’s death on healthcare policy in the US. Her death is a tragedy in many other ways, of course. She was a groundbreaking and iconic figure in the judiciary. She was forced to continue working through numerous illnesses and on her deathbed because she was in the position of serving as a 5′1″ human barrier between our already terrible reality and a much more terrible one. and And of course, her death will have numerous awful political consequences in subjects outside of healthcare. I will not be touching on any of that here. I’m sorry, I know it’s incredibly gross to move straight into the politics so fast, but there are millions of lives on the line and we have no time to lose!

The case against the ACA, now called California v. Texas, will start oral arguments on November 10, one week after the election. I have already written a number of posts on the background of this case - this one explains the basis for the case, and this one describes how the lower court has already ruled.

Obviously none of us can tell the future, but before RBG’s death, most folks were pretty optimistic about this case working out in favor of the ACA 5-4. All 5 justices who ruled in favor of the ACA in one of its previous challenges, NFIB v. Sebelius, were still on the court. Obviously this has now changed.

So the case will be heard starting on November 10. From there we should probably expect it to take months to come to a decision. Let’s talk about scenarios:

Trump and Senate Republicans manage to force through a nominee before the election

We all remember 2016 when McConnell refused to hold hearings for the nomination of Merrick Garland to SCOTUS because it was an election year. That seat was stolen by Neil Gorsuch after Trump’s election.

Surprising nobody, McConnell is a hypocrite. RBG’s body was still warm yesterday when he started politicking, releasing a statement indicating that he intends to fill the seat before the election.

If he succeeds, then of course the ACA’s chances are very slim of surviving a challenge in a 6-3 majority conservative SCOTUS.

We delay the confirmation until after inauguration

There is a nonzero possibility that this confirmation can be delayed until the new president is elected and inaugurated.

Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate right now; they need 50 votes to approve a SCOTUS justice (Pence breaks ties).  Prior to RBG’s death, several sitting Senate Republicans stated that they would oppose voting on a nominee during the 2020 election year in order to be consistent with what they did in 2016. Take for instance this absolutely chef kiss video of Lindsey Graham:

https://twitter.com/vanitaguptaCR/status/1307153104941518848

I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.

Other Republican Senators who have made similar statements:

Lisa Murkowski: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/09/18/alaska-senator-murkowski-said-friday-she-would-not-vote-for-a-justice-ahead-of-election/

Chuck Grassley: https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/410686-grassley-says-judiciary-panel-wouldnt-consider-supreme-court-nominee-in

Susan Collins?: https://twitter.com/jmartNYT/status/1307112333253148672

Mitt Romney? Mixed signals. There’s this, https://twitter.com/JimDabakis/status/1307120855454044160, but his staff denies it: https://twitter.com/LJ0hnson/status/1307129082971385858

Sorry my sources aren’t better on some of these; this is all I’ve got right now. We will have to listen to what these 5 say over the next few days. We only need 4 of them to vote no. If any of them conveniently “change their minds” they will probably cite McConnell’s logic that this year is somehow different because Obama was a lame duck in 2016. Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham in particular might be pressurable because they’re both facing very tough challenges for their seats this year. We should keep the pressure on by pledging donations to their opponents, Sara Gideon and Jaime Harrison, in the event that they make the hypocritical decision to approve a nominee less than 2 months before an election.

I know we can’t trust these people as far as we can throw them but we have to try. What other choice do we have?

Another factor here is the special election in AZ. Martha McSally was appointed to John McCain’s seat after his death, after she previously lost her election against Kyrsten Sinema. She is being challenged this year by astronaut Mark Kelly, who is polling very well. If he wins, because of special election rules, he could be sworn in as early as November 30, reducing the Republican majority in the Senate well ahead of inauguration day.

McSally has already stated that she will vote for a nominee before the election: https://twitter.com/SenMcSallyAZ/status/1307123253845032960

Unfortunately, merely delaying the confirmation of a new justice won’t be enough to save the ACA

The situation is every bit as bad for the ACA against an 8 justice court as it would be against a court with a new conservative justice. In the case of a 4-4 tied decision, the lower court’s decision holds. And the Fifth Circuit’s ruling was that the fate of the ACA should be left to district judge Reed O’Connor, a far-right activist judge who already ruled that the entire ACA should be thrown into the garbage.

The only hope it has is if we both delay the confirmation of a new judge, elect Joe Biden, elect a Senate that will not be hostile to his nominee, and get that nominee through, all before the case is decided. The case will begin with oral arguments on November 10.

A legislative salvation for the ACA?

If we get control of both branches of Congress and the presidency, there is a very easy way to save the ACA. The entire case is null and void if we reinstate the individual mandate’s tax at any amount over $0. A $1 tax would save it. A Democratically-controlled Congress could pass such legislation with a simple majority.

But maybe we should just let it die?

Some members of the left seem to think it’s not such a big deal if the ACA goes under. Their argument is that without the ACA, the case for Medicare for All will become more urgent. They don’t care about the chronically ill and disabled people who will die without protections in the meantime. And besides that, what chance does M4A have of surviving a 6-3 conservative SCOTUS? The fucking ACA, as insufficient and centrist as it is, has been challenged mercilessly in the courts by conservatives. This is the third major SCOTUS case they’ve brought against it. M4A would fare no better. In fact, we can expect to say goodbye to any possibility of keeping any progressive policy within our lifetimes under a 6-3 conservative SCOTUS.

So what do we do?

For now, we put the pressure on Murkowski, Grassley, Graham, Collins, and Romney. If you live in AK, IA, SC, ME, or UT, call their offices every damn day until they commit to voting no on any judge nominated before Inauguration day.

Phone numbers:

Murkowski: (202) 224-6665

Grassley: (202) 224-3744

Graham: (202) 224-5972

Collins: (202) 224-2523

Romney: (202) 224-5251

For folks who do not live in those states, pressure your Republican Senators even if it it seems hopeless, and make a lot of noise about donating to the above 5′s opponents if they vote yes. Volunteer to phone or text bank to ask constituents in those 5 states to call those Senators. There’s still plenty you can do.

Then we must do everything we can to elect Joe Biden and a Democratic Senate. Vote on November 3. Phone or text bank for Biden. Adopt a Senate race in a swing state here: https://votesaveamerica.com/adopt-a-state/

If they push a nominee through, it’s time to pack the courts

If they’re going to change the rules on us and confirm a SCOTUS justice in an election year, then we will change the rules on them the minute we get power.

Adding more justices to SCOTUS does not require a Constitutional amendment. It can be done through legislation, and it has been done many times before:

1789-1807: six seats

1807-1837: seven seats

1837-1866: ten seats

1866-1867: nine seats

1867-1869: eight seats

1869-present: nine seats

Even the threat of opening the door to court packing might be enough to convince some Senators not to move forward with this scheme.

But again, in order to pack the court, we need to elect Joe Biden, flip the Senate, and keep the House.

Let’s get to work.

[da-at-ass]

Contrary to two years ago, when the party took the House and leaders articulated a plan for a series of major votes on guns and equality in the first few weeks of the year, no clear agenda has been presented to them by President JOE BIDEN, according to interviews with a half-dozen senior Democrats on Wednesday night.

In fact, Democrats aren’t even on the same page about how to get Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid package through Congress. Before Biden was sworn in, aides had been hashing out plans to use the fast-track “reconciliation” process to try to jam it through on a party-line vote. But now Democrats are pressing pause because Biden is, as one person called it, “bipartisan-curious” — i.e. he wants to try to win over Republicans first, to the chagrin of many senior Democrats eager to move quickly. (Biden aides reached out to moderate GOP Sen. LISA MURKOWSKI of Alaska this week, and Democratic Sen. JOE MANCHIN of West Virginia says he hopes to talk to them over the weekend.)

- politico playbook

I fucking swear. Republicans don’t know how to let go of power, sure. But Democrats don’t know how to USE it.

[taylorscottbarnett]

This DC MAGA LARP is the WORST.

No really, what in the ever-loving FUCK is going on. This fucking nut-jobs ACTUALLY think they are “patriots”. Trump cultist took down the US Flag at the Capital and replaced it with a Trump2020 flag. This actually happened. A mob of Trump supporters ACTUALLY took control of the steps of the Capitol building. A fucking Trump supporter put a giant TRUMP 2020 flag in the hands of the statue of General Ford in the building. A woman was shot inside the US capital building. "I know you're in pain, I know you're hurt. We had an election that was  stolen from us, but you have to go home now." was ACTUALLY Trump’s in response to his deplorables storming the Capitol. Wow. Holy. Fucking. Shit. Q-ANON nut-jobs had access to government computers the same IDIOTS who believe there is a secret pedophilia cabal of child-molestors by the “Elites” (never mind the fact that they don’t consider Trump to be an “elite” too, but look at the fucker and go “Yeah that’s a guy just like me” ) Trump posted on his facebook, literally one right after another that the Republican party:

I mean.... And all of this after a MONTH of Trump threatening: - To support primary challengers against Republicans who concede that he lost the election. "We have to primary the hell out of the ones that don't fight. We're gonna let you know who they are - I can already tell you, frankly."

- called Republicans who vote against baseless objections to Biden's electors "weak Republicans."

- called his OWN sitting Supreme Court Justices "puppet" judges because they have ruled against Congressional Republican lawsuits to overturn the election Trump lost.

- attacked and encouraged challenges to Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Never-mind that while the US continues to break daily records for COVID cases - a threat Trump has downplayed and even outright ignored often Trump is FUCKING SILENT. Just bitching about getting banned from Facebook and Twitter, and about “fraud”. Trump has completely abdicated his duties and responsibilities as President, WHILE WE CONTINUE TO SUFFER UNDER A PANDEMIC. (yes this isn’t a surprise at this point I’m still listing it however). - That members of this fucking cult got unfettered access to the computers of congress and NEVER once thought to find evidence of this so-called cabal of child molesters their god trump is protecting them from. No they took fucking selfies. - An actual Republican lawmaker from West Virginia LIVE-STREAMED himself joining this mob storming the US Capital. Like do they think this IS A FUCKING GAME? Is this just some giant LARP wet-dream? Our allies are watching this in horror and shocked to the point they legit believe Trump attempted a fucking coup. Well his supporters sure as fuck thought they did. Trump’s cabinet officials are resigning like rats from a sinking ship. And what might bother me most of all about this entire thing is these delusional nut-jobs actually think they are "patriots". Fucking MAGA rioters TOOK DOWN THE AMERICAN FLAG AND RAN UP A TRUMP 2020 FLAG.

Remember when Hillary Clinton off-hand called Trump supporters "deplorables" and everyone got so angry that she'd "insult" them like that? Well... I kinda hope she's like "I told you so" right now. Has the national GOP condemned any of this? Nope, it’s run by Trump kool-aid drinkers who've spent the past four years taking control of positions of power in the GOP. And were just re-elected to lead the GOP.

I have, It’s hard to describe the seething outrage and hatred I have for Donald Trump. To put it in the exact words. To paraphrase a qoute from Winston Churchhill: “If Trump invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil.” But remember guys America is the GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH. AND WE ARE GONNA MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and let’s not forget we are in the middle of a pandemic Trump has just abdicated all responsibility for. Not that he took much to start with. Speaking of, remember guys, a new variant of Covid-19 has now been detected in two states that seems to be EASIER to spread, we just broke our daily death total from COVID AGAIN, we reported 3,744 new coronavirus deaths on Wednesday December 27th,  and hospitalizations are surging, with a record-high of 125,220 people are hospitalized nationwide due to the virus. OH WAIT WE BROKE RECORDS AGAIN JUST TWO WEEKS LATER with the “fake” virus because on Jan. 7, more than 4,100 deaths and more than 280,000 new cases — both records — were announced nationwide.

ALSO let’s not forget that as Trump enters the last two weeks of his presidency more than 22,221,500 people in the United States have been infected with COVID under his watch, and 372,398 have died in America. Well Donald? MAGAs? Are we great again yet? What part of this exactly is American exceptionalism? Because after a year living under siege from COVID, and having half the fucking country think it’s a MYTH and a HOAX, the only fucking thing I’ve seen America be exceptional at is dying.

[gwydionmisha]

Anthony Kennedy is resigning.  He is the last moderate Republican on the Supreme Court.  He's been the swing vote protecting Roe vs. Wade, though he's allowed the erosion of access.  All the other Republicans on the Court want to overturn it.  45 has vowed to only appoint justices to overturn it.  Mitch MCConnell stole Merrick Garland's supreme Court seat to over turn it.  If 45 is allowed to appoint another justice to the Supreme Court, the right to choose is gone.  Likely the Right to Vote for the poor and People of colour is gone.  Republican Gerrymandering will likely make permanent one party rule irreversible or close to it.  As it is we generally need 60% of the vote or more to win elections and in some states they've arranged nearly permanent control of Congressional, state, and local governments so well it takes a massive blue turn out to win.  If Garland's seat hadn't been stolen there wouldn't be a Muslim ban in place.  They are already unraveling the public accommodations laws that protect queer folk and people of colour from being denied services.If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, Abortion will soon after be illegal in 33 states.  (Either laws still on the book, trigger laws already in place, or State Governments wanting to ban abortion and keep voting to try to do so).  Birth control will also be in danger.  Seriously, this is a the house is on fire moment.  They owe us a Supreme Court seat.  Under the new role they made up in 2016, they claimed that no president is any longer allowed to appoint a Supreme Court justice.  This looks like an election year to me.  They have no shame, but if we can get the Democrats to exhibit spine just this once instead of letting the Republicans walk all over them again.  If we can delay.  If we can convince possibly one or better yet two pro choice moderates in the senate, there is a slim but non-zero chance of Saving our Country.  It is a huge fucking odds are against us fight.  It requires us all to pull the stops out on protests, on contacting our senators (Tell your Democrats to stand firm against them taking another Supreme court seat.  This is geometrically more important if you r senator is Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, or Joe Donnelly.  They voted for Gorsuch and we need to corral them into strong opposition.  Beg your Republicans to do the right thing; to hold to the new standard they imposed; and if they are moderate to save the Right of women to make their own medical decisions.  If your senator is Lisa Murkowski or Susan Collins, it is geometrically more important as they are our best bets.), on registering to vote and turning up for the primaries (if you have any left) and the election in November.  WE NEED THE SENATE BACK and WE NEED KENNEDY"S SEAT VACANT OR FILLED WITH MERRICK GARLAND OR HIS EQUIVALENT.  To do this will take maximum effort.  This is the last break on the Republican goal of turning us into a religious fundamentalist oligarchy.  We are steps away from Russia and the Handmaid's tale.  It will likely take a generation or more to recover from the damaged 45 has already done in a year and a half.  If they do this...  I am terrified because there will be no brakes left.I know we are all exhausted and discouraged.  There have been a series of particularly bad defeats in the last months.  We have internment camps on American soil and they are building concentration camps on military bases that don't have things like enough water in the desert where they are hoping refugee families will outright die.  They are placing them on purpose where there can be no over sight from civilian authority and the media, where the law can't be applied to protect them.  Our only hope is a strong judiciary and if the Republicans replace Kennedy with another Gorsuch then it will get so much worse so much faster for all of us.Please.  Help save the Country.  We need to fight harder than we ever have before, even though we are all tired and grieving.  Maximum effort from here through November.  We are nearly out of runway folks and either we fly or we crash.If you can go in person to see your senators?  Do it.  If you can go in person to protest?  Do it.  If like me, you can't, here are some other options.Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/

[phroyd]

What A Dumb-Fuck Ass, pandering to his Dumb-Fuck Ass Base! On the other hand, with this precedent, in 2020, our Democratic President can call a National Emergency for Climate Change setting the goal for Net Zero Carbon Emissions,  as laid out in the Green New Deal!  Now there’s a silver lining in this Trump Cloud! - Phroyd

WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to declare a national emergency so he can bypass Congress and build his long-promised wall along the border even as he signs a spending bill that does not fund it, the White House said Thursday.

The announcement of his decision came just minutes before the Senate voted 83-16 to advance the spending package in anticipation of final passage on Thursday night by the House.

Mr. Trump’s decision to sign it effectively ends a two-month war of attrition between the president and Congress that closed much of the federal government for 35 days and left it facing a second shutdown as early as Friday, but it could instigate a new constitutional clash over who controls the federal purse.

“President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action — including a national emergency — to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats were “reviewing our options” in responding to Mr. Trump’s anticipated declaration and did not rule out a legal challenge.

“The president is doing an end run around Congress,” she said.

She also raised the possibility that Mr. Trump was setting a precedent for Democratic presidents to come, precisely what Republicans fear.

“You want to talk about a national emergency, let’s talk about today,” Ms. Pelosi said, reminding Mr. Trump that it was the first anniversary of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. “That’s a national emergency. Why don’t you declare that emergency, Mr. President? I wish you would.”

The spending legislation includes the seven remaining bills to keep the remainder of the government open through the end of September. House and Senate negotiators unveiled the 1,159-page bill on Wednesday just before midnight, leaving little time for lawmakers to actually digest its contents.

“The president is once again delivering on his promise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country,” Ms. Sanders said, as she announced that Mr. Trump would sign it.

The border security compromise, tucked into the $49 billion portion of the bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security, is perhaps the most stinging legislative defeat of Mr. Trump’s presidency. It provides $1.375 billion for 55 miles of steel-post fencing, essentially the same that Mr. Trump rejected in December, triggering the shutdown and far from the $5.7 billion he demanded for more than 200 miles of steel or concrete wall.

In opting to declare a national emergency, Mr. Trump would seek to access funds for the wall that Congress had not explicitly authorized for the purpose, a provocative move that would test the bounds of presidential authority in a time of divided government. Legal experts have said Mr. Trump has a plausible case that he can take such action under current law, but it would almost surely prompt a court challenge from critics arguing that he is usurping two centuries of congressional control over spending.

And some Republicans were clearly nervous about his course of action.

“I don’t think this is a matter that should be declared a national emergency,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska. “We as legislators are trying to address the president’s priority. What we’re voting on now is perhaps an imperfect solution, but it’s one we could get consensus on.”

Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said, “We have a government that has a Constitution that has a division of power, and revenue raising and spending power was given to Congress.”

Mr. Trump disregarded objections raised by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, and other Republicans who balked at what they deemed presidential overreach. Conservative lawmakers and commentators said that such a move would set a precedent for a liberal president to claim the same power to take action on issues like climate change or gun control without congressional consent.

But Mr. Trump ultimately could not see any other way out of his standoff with congressional Democrats over the border wall without shutting down the government again. The first government shutdown prompted by the wall fight deprived 800,000 employees of their paychecks, sapped the president’s standing in the polls and ended only when Mr. Trump gave up last month without getting a penny of the $5.7 billion he had demanded.

Democrats immediately prepared to advance legislation that would curtail the president’s abilities to use certain funds after a national emergency declaration.

A group of Democratic senators — including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, all aspiring presidential nominees — collaborated on a measure to prevent Mr. Trump from using funds appropriated for disaster relief to pay for border wall construction.

The Senate is expected to vote on a border bill to prevent a government shutdown.

Mr. Trump made the wall his signature promise on the 2016 presidential campaign trail, where he was cheered by supporters chanting, “Build the wall,” only to be frustrated that he was unable to do so during his first two years in office, when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress.

[Sign up for Crossing the Border, a limited-run newsletter about life where the United States and Mexico meet.]

In waging a shutdown battle over the barrier, he has made it the nearly singular focus of his presidency in his third year in office. But Democrats, who took control of the House in January, have made blocking it just as high of a priority, leaving the two sides at a stalemate.

Negotiations since late December ultimately went nowhere. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who led Democrats to power in the House, went beyond simply criticizing the wall as unwise or ineffective by declaring it “immoral,” drawing a hard line even though many Democrats have voted for fencing along parts of the border in the past.

At one point during the shutdown, Mr. Trump asked Ms. Pelosi if she would be willing to support the wall in 30 days if he agreed to reopen the government. When she said no, he got up and walked out of the room with a sharp “bye-bye,” then posted a message on Twitter declaring talks a “waste of time.”

Mr. Trump’s national emergency declaration could provoke a constitutional clash between the president and Congress. Under Article I of the Constitution, Congress has the power to appropriate funds. “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law,” it says.

But Congress has passed laws in the past providing presidents with authority in national emergencies, laws that remain on the books. Scholars pointed to two that could be used by the Trump administration to justify a presidential expenditure for his border wall without explicit legislative approval.

One permits the secretary of the Army to direct troops and other resources to help construct projects “that are essential to the national defense.” The other law authorizes the secretary of defense in an emergency to begin military construction projects “not otherwise authorized by law” but needed to support the armed forces.

Democrats or other critics of the president will almost surely file legal challenges to his move, which could ultimately lead to a confrontation at the Supreme Court. The court is led by a five-member conservative majority, but it has shown skepticism of presidential excesses in recent years, reining in both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama when the justices concluded they had overstepped their authority.

As lawmakers took up the spending bill on Thursday, Democratic leaders, like their Republican counterparts, urged their rank-and-file to get on board.

“It is incumbent on Congress to come together to responsibly fund our government,” Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement released shortly after midnight. “This legislation represents a bipartisan compromise and will keep our government open while funding key priorities.”

Even with Congress’s left and right flanks grumbling, a solid majority of lawmakers has signaled support for the package, with Republicans and Democrats unwilling to court another shutdown less than 48 hours before funding for nine cabinets and multiple federal agencies is set to expire.

The Homeland Security section of the measure allows for 55 miles of new steel-post fencing, but prohibits construction in certain areas along the Rio Grande Valley. More than $560 million is allocated for drug inspection at ports of entry, as well as money for 600 more Customs and Border Protection officers and 75 immigration officers.

It includes a provision, pushed by Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas and the only negotiator from a border district, granting communities and towns on the border a period of time to weigh in on the location and design of the fencing. The White House finds that provision objectionable.

The bill also prohibits funds from being used to keep lawmakers from visiting and inspecting Homeland Security detention centers, following a number of highly publicized instances where Democratic lawmakers tried to visit detention centers and were turned away.

Lawmakers were also pulled in by the other six parts of the spending package, which finance a number of agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, which is in the middle of tax-filing season, and the Commerce Department. Allocations include $77 million for addressing the opioid epidemic and funds to address natural disasters, including nearly $4 billion to wild-land fire programs and $12.6 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund.

The package also negates an executive order that Mr. Trump signed to freeze pay for federal civilian workers, and instead extends a 1.9 percent pay increase. Vice President Mike Pence, cabinet officials and other high-level political appointees will also receive raises, about $10,000 a year, which were frozen during the shutdown.

Negotiators failed to resolve other matters, including back pay for federal contractors caught in the middle of the shutdown and an extension of the Violence Against Women Act, which expires Friday — although grants under the act are funded in one of the spending bills.

All but one of the 17 House and Senate negotiators signed off on the final package. Representative Tom Graves, Republican of Georgia, refused to sign, saying he was given no time to digest the seven spending bills. But he did not rule out voting for the bill on the floor.

“Maybe the policy is good, maybe it’s not,” Mr. Graves wrote on Twitter. “I’ll work through this ahead of the final vote later today.”

Phroyd

[don-lichterman]

Slog PM: Two More Republicans Back Judge Brown; Dead Gray Whale Found on Camano; Yep, the Climate Is Still Fucked - Slog

Slog PM: Two More Republicans Back Judge Brown; Dead Gray Whale Found on Camano; Yep, the Climate Is Still Fucked – Slog

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation is looking solid. Knock on wood. ANNA MONEYMAKER / STAFF I don’t want to jinx it because one can never underestimate Republican fuckery and duplicitousness: But it looks like we will be getting our first Black female Justice. Today, GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney have developed a partial spine and announced that they intend to confirm Judge…

[mandaloriangf]

tbh i'm damn upset with lisa murkowski. she supposedly didn't support kavanaugh but voted for him to be confirmed anyway in solidarity with daines who was at his daughter's wedding. i would've been fine with that had kavanaugh been going to be confirmed no matter which side she voted but she was the DECIDING VOTE. if she'd voted against it, it would have been a tie. if daines wanted to support a sexual assaulter so bad maybe he should have skipped his daughter's wedding.

also angry with joe manchin for voting against his party. again, had he not voted for kavanaugh the vote would have been split. 

if it had been a tie he still would’ve gotten in bc pence would’ve been the tie breaker but with that being said republicans (+manchin) are fucking sellouts that hate women, even the republican women. they are the white women that put race over gender and are willing to fuck everyone else over as long as they get to keep their power. 

[patriotsnet]

Why Do The Republicans Back Trump

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/why-do-the-republicans-back-trump/

Why Do The Republicans Back Trump

Republican Voters Turn Against Their Partys Elites

Why many Republicans are refusing to back Donald Trump

The Tea Party movement, which sprang into existence in the early years of the Obama administration, was many things. It was partly about opposing Obamas economic policies foreclosure relief, tax increases, and health reform. It was partly about opposing immigration when Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson;interviewed Tea Party activists across the nation, they found that “immigration was always a central, and sometimes the central, concern” those activists expressed.

But the Tea Party also was a challenge to the Republican Party establishment. Several times, these groups helped power little-known far-right primary contenders to shocking primary wins over establishment Republican politicians deemed to be sellouts. Those candidates didnt always win office, but their successful primary bids certainly struck fear into the hearts of many other GOP incumbents, and made many of them more deferential to the concerns of conservative voters.

Furthermore, many Republican voters also came to believe, sometimes fairly and sometimes unfairly, that their partys national leaders tended to sell them out at every turn.

Talk radio and other conservative media outlets helped stoke this perception, and by May 2015 Republican voters were far more likely to say that their partys politicians were doing a poor job representing their views than Democratic voters were.

He Didnt Sign The Paris Climate Accord

Speaking of Paris, Trump stood alone among politicians in realizing that a lot of the climate change rhetoric is designed to heavily tax American industry while it lets other countries slide and keep polluting. Hes not pro-pollution, but he doesnt want to sacrifice the American middle class in the process of fighting it.

Hes Not Politically Correct

We are living in an age where most people have to bite their lips to the point of bleeding for fear of offending some delicate soul who will scream bloody murder and call the cops and press if you dare to say anything that hurts their feelings. This is mind control and tyranny of the worst formrepression of thoughts. For all that the media and academics say they want diversity, dont you dare utter a contrary opinion or they will ruin your life. Then along comes Trump and says, fuck that.

Don’t Miss: Most Republican States 2018

‘combative Tribal Angry’: Newt Gingrich Set The Stage For Trump Journalist Says

All these factors combined to produce a windfall for Republicans all over the country in the midterms of 1994, but it was a watershed election in the South. For more than a century after Reconstruction, Democrats had held a majority of the governorships and of the Senate and House seats in the South. Even as the region became accustomed to voting Republican for president, this pattern had held at the statewide and congressional levels.

But in November 1994, in a single day, the majority of Southern governorships, Senate seats and House seats shifted to the Republicans. That majority has held ever since, with more legislative seats and local offices shifting to the GOP as well. The South is now the home base of the Republican Party.

The 2020 aftermath

No wonder that in contesting the results in six swing states he lost, Trump seems to have worked hardest on Georgia. If he had won there, he still would have lost the Electoral College decisively. But as the third most populous Southern state, and the only Southern state to change its choice from 2016, it clearly held special significance.

Trump Blasts Mcconnell And His Leadership In Lengthy Response To Recent Criticism

Where will the party turn in its hour of crisis? If the past is any guide, it will turn in two directions: to the right, and to the South. These have been the wellsprings of strength and support that have brought the party back from the brink in recent decades.

That was the strategy that led to Richard Nixon’s elections as president in 1968 and 1972, and it was still working for Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.

Solidifying the South and energizing conservatives were also crucial factors in the Republican tsunami of 1994, when the GOP surged to majorities in Congress and in statehouses. That hamstrung the remainder of Bill Clinton’s presidency and presaged the election of Republican George W. Bush in 2000.

It was a lesson not lost on Trump. While not even a Republican until late in life, he started his primary campaign billboarding the party’s most conservative positions on taxes, trade, immigration and abortion. And the first of his rallies to draw a crowd in the tens of thousands was in a football stadium in Mobile, Ala., two months after he declared his candidacy in the summer of 2015.

Whether the next standard-bearer for the GOP is Trump himself or someone else, there is little doubt the playbook will be the same.

Low points, then turnarounds

Perhaps the most discouraging of these for the GOP was Johnson’s tidal wave, which carried in the biggest majorities Democrats in Congress had enjoyed since the heyday of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.

Read Also: Trump People Magazine Quote 1998

The Tucker Carlson Fans Who Got Vaxxed

I asked vaccinated fans of the Fox News host what it will take to get more Republicans to get their shots.

Late last month, as the Delta variant of the coronavirus filled hospitals across the under-vaccinated South, Tucker Carlson took to his usual perch as the most-watched host on the most-watched cable-news network, just asking questions about the COVID-19 vaccines. Tonight, congressional Democrats have called for a vaccine mandate in Congress, Carlson said, as if flabbergasted by every word. Members and staffers would be required to get a shot that the CDC told us today doesnt work very well and, by the way, whose long-term effects cannot be known.

Carlsons Facebook followers commented eagerly on the video clip, spreading unfounded fears about vaccination among themselves. Completely disappointed in our government, dont believe a word they speak! Will not get the shot! one person wrote. Together, Carlson and his viewers are a placenta and embryo, gestating dangerous ideas and keeping the pandemic alive.

Its no secret that Carlsons audience, and Foxs, are overwhelmingly Republican and right-wing. And in poll after poll, Republicans are much less likely than Democrats to say they have been vaccinated and much more likely to say they definitely wont be vaccinated. The partisan gap in vaccinations has only grown over time.

The Republican Party Was Founded To Oppose The Slave Power

For the first half-century after the United States founding, slavery was only one of many issues in the countrys politics, and usually a relatively minor issue at that. The American South based its economy on the enslavement of millions, and the two major parties which by the 1850s were the Democrats and the Whigs were willing to let the Southern states be.

But when the US started admitting more and more Western states to the Union, the country had to decide whether those new states should allow slavery or not. And this was an enormously consequential question, because the more slave states there were, the easier it would be for the slaveholding states to get their way in the Senate and the Electoral College.

Now, the issue here wasnt that Northern politicians were desperate to abolish slavery in the South immediately, apart from a few radical crusaders. The real concern was that Northerners feared the “Slave Power” the South would become a cabal that would utterly dominate US politics, instituting slavery wherever they could and cutting off opportunity for free white laborers, as historian Heather Cox Richardson writes in her book To Make Men Free.

Recommended Reading: Are There More Democrats Or Republicans In America

Republicans Fear Trump Will Lead To A Lost Generation Of Talent

The 45th president has brought new voices and voters to the party, but hes driven them out too. Insiders fear the repercussions.

06/01/2021 04:30 AM EDT

Link Copied

As Donald Trump ponders another presidential bid, top Republicans have grown fearful about what theyre calling the partys lost generation.

In conversations with more than 20 lawmakers, ex-lawmakers, top advisers and aides, a common concern has emerged that a host of national and statewide Republicans are either leaving office or may not choose to pursue it for fear that they cant survive politically in the current GOP. The worry, these Republicans say, is that the party is embracing personality over policy, and that it is short sighted to align with Trump, who lost the general election and continues to alienate a large swath of the voting public with his grievances and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Trump has driven sitting GOP lawmakers and political aspirants into early retirements ever since he burst onto the scene. But there was hope that things would change after his election loss. Instead, his influence on the GOP appears to be as solid as ever and the impact of those early shockwaves remain visible. When asked, for instance, if he feared the 45th president was causing a talent drain from the GOP ranks, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush perhaps inadvertently offered a personal demonstration of the case.

Filed Under:

I Think He’s Wrong On This Issue One Republican Senator Said Of Trump

Black Republican women explain why they support President Donald Trump

Donald Trump, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell

It’s finally infrastructure week and Donald Trump is mad.

Trump tried but ultimately failed to stop Senate Republicans from supporting;the Democrats’ $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. His effort to shame Republicans out of voting in support of the measure was impotent, as the Senate passed the bipartisan bill on Tuesday.

The former president made his feelings known ahead of the vote when he ripped Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as “overrated.”;

“Nobody will ever understand why Mitch McConnell allowed this non-infrastructure bill to be passed. He has given up all of his leverage for the big whopper of a bill that will follow,” Trump wrote in a statement.;

“I have quietly said for years that Mitch McConnell is the most overrated man in politicsnow I don’t have to be quiet anymore,” the former president said, adding: “He is working so hard to give Biden a victory, now they’ll go for the big one, including the biggest tax increases in the history of our Country.”

Despite Trump’s rhetoric, the Senate minority leader nevertheless remained steadfast in his support of the landmark measure, voting in support of the bill on Tuesday. Although he;made clear that he will not back any Democratic-led effort at budget reconciliation, which would allow the Democrats to pass an additional $3.5 trillion bill intended to target education, health, childcare, and climate action in the coming months.;

Don’t Miss: What Republicans Are Running Against Trump For President

The Partys Core Activists Dont Want To Shift Gears

This is the simplest and most obvious explanation: The GOP isnt changing directions because the people driving the car dont want to.;

When we think of Republicans, we tend to think of either rank-and-file GOP voters or the partys highest-profile elected officials, particularly its leaders in Congress. But in many ways, the partys direction is driven by a group between those two: conservative organizations like Club for Growth and the Heritage Foundation, GOP officials at the local and state level and right-wing media outlets. That segment of the party has been especially resistant to the GOP abandoning its current mix of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, opposition to expansions of programs that benefit the poor and an identity politics that centers white Americans and conservative Christians.

You could see the power and preferences of this group in the response to the Capitol insurrection.

In the days immediately following Jan. 6, many GOP elected officials, most notably McConnell, signaled that the party should make a permanent break from Trump. Pollsfound an increased number of rank-and-file GOP voters were dissatisfied with the outgoing president. But by the time the Senate held its trial over Trumps actions a month later, it was clear that the party was basically back in line with Trump.;

related:Why Being Anti-Media Is Now Part Of The GOP Identity Read more. »

Republicans Think Democrats Always Cheat

The Republican strategy has several sources of motivation, but the most important is a widely shared belief that Democrats in large cities i.e., racial minorities engage in systematic vote fraud, election after election. We win because of our ideas, we lose elections because they cheat us, insisted Senator Lindsey Graham on Fox News last night. The Bush administration pursued phantasmal vote fraud allegations, firing prosecutors for failing to uncover evidence of the schemes Republicans insisted were happening under their noses. In 2008, even a Republican as civic-minded as John McCain accused ACORN, a voter-registration group, of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.

The persistent failure to produce evidence of mass-scale vote fraud has not discouraged Republicans from believing in its existence. The failure to expose it merely proves how well-hidden the conspiracy is. Republicans may despair of their chances of proving Trumps vote-fraud charges in open court, but many of them believe his wild lies reflect a deeper truth.

Recommended Reading: Did Republicans Support The Civil Rights Act

How Republicans Made Common Cause With Southern Democrats On Economic Matters

Roosevelts reforms also brought tensions in the Democratic coalition to the surface, as the solidly Democratic South wasnt too thrilled with the expansion of unions or federal power generally. As the years went on, Southern Democrats increasingly made common cause with the Republican Party to try to block any further significant expansions of government or worker power.

“In 1947, confirming a new alliance that would recast American politics for the next two generations, Taft men began to work with wealthy southern Democrats who hated the New Deals civil rights legislation and taxes,” Cox Richardson writes. This new alliance was cemented with the Taft-Hartley bill, which permitted states to pass right-to-work laws preventing mandatory union membership among employees and many did.

Taft-Hartley “stopped labor dead in its tracks at a point where unions were large, growing, and confident in their economic and political power,” Rich Yeselson has written. You can see the eventual effects above pro-Democratic unions were effectively blocked from gaining a foothold in the South and interior West, and the absence of their power made those regions more promising for Republicans’ electoral prospects.

He Gives The Republicans Full Control Of Washington Again

For all you hear about how great Barack Obama was, do you realize that he had promised to cut the national debt in half but actually more than doubled it? Thats righthe saddled you and your descendants with a tax bill that you will likely never be able to pay off. Now, with Republicans in charge, we can roll back some of the excesses of the Obama era and encourage business growth rather than government growth.

Also Check: How Many Democrats Have Been President Vs Republicans

We Must Give Credit To Media And Technology

While the reason Trump voters believe Trumps lies in their psyche, we cant ignore that social media and cable news have created multiple realties in which people exist. According to Fox News, not once has Trump ever said something negative about; military service members .

Of course, Fox News is considered responsible;when compared to the even-more fringe outlets the way-the-f*ck-out-there mental prison camps like OAN and Americas News that are down-right propaganda channels devoted exclusively to milking angry republicans of their last dime, their last drop of empathy, and their last connection to a reality-based existence. They make Alex Jones look sane. Einstein was right just didnt realize at the time he was talking about political discourse.

Grand Jury Convened In Criminal Investigation Of Trump

Only one president, Grover Cleveland, has ever lost a re-election bid and come back to reclaim the White House. In modern times, one-term presidents have worried more about rehabilitating their legacies by taking on nonpartisan causes Democrat Jimmy Carter by building housing for the poor and George H.W. Bush by raising money for disaster aid, for example than about trying to shape national elections. But Trump retains a hold on the Republican electorate that is hard to overstate, and he has no intention of relinquishing it.

“There’s a reason why they’re called ‘Trump voters,'” Miller said. “They either don’t normally vote or don’t normally vote for Republicans.”

Trump lost the popular vote by more than 7 million last year and the Electoral College by the same 306-232 result by which he had won four years earlier but he got more votes than any other Republican nominee in history. And it would have taken fewer than 44,000 votes, spread across swing states Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin, to reverse the outcome.

Republicans, including Trump allies, say it’s too early to know what he will do, or what the political landscape will look like, in four years. A busload of Republican hopefuls are taking similar strides to position themselves. They include former Vice President Mike Pence, who is speaking to New Hampshire Republicans on Thursday, an event that the Concord Monitor called the kickoff of the 2024 race.

That’s basically what Trump is doing.

Don’t Miss: How Many Registered Republicans In Pa

Klobuchar: Trump’s Actions Are Like A ‘global Watergate’ Scandal

Today, as Democrats in the House of Representatives move toward bringing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, with the next Judiciary Committee hearing of evidence set for Monday, few Democrats are still clinging to the hope that Republicans will reach a breaking point with Trump like they did with Nixon.

“I really don’t think there is any fact that would change their minds,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC News.

Why? Two key changes since Nixon: a massive divide in American political life we hate the other team more than ever before and a media climate that fuels and reinforces that chasm, powered by Fox News on the Republican side.

Himes said he was “a little stunned by the unanimity on the Republican side,” especially among retiring lawmakers who don’t have to worry about surviving a GOP primary had they gone against Trump. “We’re in a place right now where all that matters to my Republican colleagues is the defense of the president,” he added.

No Republican congressmen have said they support impeachment. In the Senate, the entire GOP voted to condemn the impeachment inquiry, except for three moderates: Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The three have stopped short of saying they support Trump’s impeachment, however, and it would take at least 20 Republican senators to vote to convict him in a Senate trial for removal to succeed.

[thepoliticalpatient]

What Doug Jones’s win means for healthcare

Democrat Doug Jones wins the special election in ALABAMA for a seat in the Senate!!! This is a very happy post that I never dreamed I’d get the chance to write.

There’s a lot that could be said about this and what it means for our political climate in general, but I’ll leave that to other blogs and news outlets who will write on it plenty. I want to talk about what flipping this seat means for healthcare!!

The only remaining plausible path to defeating the tax bill just opened up.

The tax bill became a healthcare bill when Senate Republicans decided to put a repeal of the ACA’s individual mandate into it, a move that is estimated to take health insurance away from 13 million people, resulting in 16 thousand deaths per year. It passed a preliminary vote in the Senate 51-49 a couple weeks ago, with just one Republican Senator - Bob Corker (R-TN) - defecting.

The Republicans’ majority has just gotten that much more narrow - 51-49 now - which means that, once Jones takes office, reconciliation bills will be able to be defeated with just 2 Republican defectors. Assuming Corker stays a no vote, this means that losing just Susan Collins would now be enough to kill this tax bill.

This is good news for us, because it’s looking increasingly likely that Collins may indeed defect. She was a holdout until she secured a few assurances from McConnell - that measures would be taken to stabilize the individual market, including reinsurance and restoring the cost sharing reduction payments killed earlier this year by Trump. McConnell promised her these, and so she cast her yes vote. But House Republicans are saying they won’t vote for any such stabilization bill. Now we are left to wonder - will Susan Collins acknowledge that the stabilization she requested is very unlikely to occur, and if so, will she retract her yes vote? If she does, this bill is DEAD in a post-Strange Senate.

But all of this only holds true if the vote happens after Jones takes office. And so…

McConnell and Ryan will start trying to shove the tax bill up our asses as fast as they can.

Jones doesn’t take office until early January, most likely, so McConnell and Ryan will start going into overdrive to pass the tax bill before then. Their success in doing so is still a very real possibility. So here’s what we must do:

Call Susan Collins and ask her to keep her word. She said she wouldn’t vote for tax reform unless she got market stabilization. The stabilization bill is not going to get through the House. She must acknowledge this and then keep her word.

Call your Republican Senators and remind them of the consequences of rushing legislation. The first version of the tax bill that was voted on contained a very significant mistake. Nobody noticed because nobody had time to read the bill before voting. Encourage them to prevent future embarrassing events such as these by following regular procedure, holding hearings, and generally slowing the fuck down.

Call Lisa Murkowski and remind her that taking healthcare away from 13M is just as bad now as it was in July when she voted against it. Lisa Murkowski voted against skinny repeal in July, but now all of a sudden she’s for it, and I have no idea what the fuck happened.

Call your Democratic Senators and urge them to use every delaying tactic they can. They can’t filibuster a budget reconciliation vote, but maybe there are still some tricks up their sleeves.

Call key House Republicans and ask them to flip their votes. Another path to defeating the tax bill is flipping 11 House votes. It’s a longshot, but it’s worth a mention.

Here’s the info:

Susan Collins: (202) 224-2523 Lisa Murkowski: (202) 224-6665 Key House Republicans: CA-10 Jeff Denham - 202-225-4520 CA-21 David Vladao - 202-225-4695 CA-25 Steve Knight - 202-225-1956 CA-39 Ed Royce - 202-225-4111 CA-45 Mimi Walters - 202-225-5611 CA-49 Darrell Issa - 202-225-3906 CO-06 Mike Coffman - 202-225-7882 FL-26 Carlos Curbelo - 202-225-2778 FL-27 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen - 202-225-3931 IA-01 Rod Blum - 202-225-2911 NY-22 Claudia Tenney - 202-225-3665 NY-24 John Katko - 202-225-3701 PA-06 Ryan Costello - 202-225-4315 PA-08 Brian Fitzpatrick - 202-225-4276 PA-15 Charlie Dent - 202-225-6411 TX-23 Will Hurd - 202-225-4511 VA-10 Barbara Comstock - 202-225-5136 WA-03 Jaime Herrera Beutler - 202-225-3536 WA-08 Dave Reichert - 202-225-7761

Finally,

Let’s give credit where it’s due.

Doug Jones won because Black voters showed up in record numbers and voted for him at a rate of 90%+. Our Black brothers and sisters are responsible for this awesome win, while our sorry white asses voted for Moore at a rate of 70%.

—

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/01/politics/alabama-senate-scenarios-roy-moore/index.html

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/12/16761514/doug-jones-win-tax-reform

http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/alabama-senate-election-results/

[hellsbellschime]

yeah people on twitter are saying the only hope rests with Susan Collins, Chuck Grassley, Lisa Murkowski, and Romney - all who have stated prior to RBG's death that they would not allow a scotus nominee to pass until 2021. Collins I don't think is even running again after getting backlash for approving Kavanugh so she may say fuck it and push her agenda. i'm honestly fucking terrified. this who thing fucking sucks and i hate we can't properly mourn RBG right now.

Yeah, I’m overwhelmed with a feeling of existential dread but we do have to remember that it’s not entirely hopeless. Trump and the Republicans are deeply unpopular at the moment and there are a fair number of Republican senators in senate seats that are in danger, so they won’t necessarily vote as a single block. And there are a few senators that we at least know are relatively likely to vote against it, and WE ONLY NEED FOUR.

[cookinguptales]

Man, it is some kind of messed up that the one of the few Republicans brave enough to go against Trump, is dying of cancer. Have you seen his latest pictures? His health is going. Following politics closely for some time now and I really think he was a leader to Republicans who think like him and want to encourage bipartisanship. What's going to happen after he's gone?

idk, anon. I actually voted in the election that McCain ran in, and I remember what his views were – and I remember what his actions were. I don’t think he was some sterling moderate who, sad day, got cancer and now he’s gone. He became more moderate because he got cancer. This is a deathbed conversion, and while I’m glad he’s made it, that doesn’t mean that he’s some longtime hero to the cause. Like I remember him standing up and saying he wanted Roe v Wade to be overturned. I remember him fighting against health care for all. Opposing any restrictions on gun ownership, even assault rifles. He voted to extend the Patriot Act. And despite “being against Trump”, he has repeatedly voted to support him in his most heinous ventures. He’s been all talk for months, and he’s only finally putting his money where his mouth is now that he’s dying. Maybe getting cancer is what made him finally have a little empathy for the people who die of it every day. Who the hell knows.

Like I think it’s fucking tragic that the GOP has become so radicalized in such a short period of time that people are holding up John McCain as some kind of liberal hero. It wasn’t always like this.

If you want to get all excited about Republicans “brave enough to stand up to Trump”, how about some of the female Republicans, like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who have been getting actual threats of violence from within their own party because of their dissension? These are the people who will actually face repercussions for their backbone – not McCain.

[gwydionmisha]

Anthony Kennedy is resigning.  He is the last moderate Republican on the Supreme Court.  He's been the swing vote protecting Roe vs. Wade, though he's allowed the erosion of access.  All the other Republicans on the Court want to overturn it.  45 has vowed to only appoint justices to overturn it.  Mitch MCConnell stole Merrick Garland's supreme Court seat to over turn it.  If 45 is allowed to appoint another justice to the Supreme Court, the right to choose is gone.  Likely the Right to Vote for the poor and People of colour is gone.  Republican Gerrymandering will likely make permanent one party rule irreversible or close to it.  As it is we generally need 60% of the vote or more to win elections and in some states they've arranged nearly permanent control of Congressional, state, and local governments so well it takes a massive blue turn out to win.  If Garland's seat hadn't been stolen there wouldn't be a Muslim ban in place.  They are already unraveling the public accommodations laws that protect queer folk and people of colour from being denied services.If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, Abortion will soon after be illegal in 33 states.  (Either laws still on the book, trigger laws already in place, or State Governments wanting to ban abortion and keep voting to try to do so).  Birth control will also be in danger.  Seriously, this is a the house is on fire moment.  They owe us a Supreme Court seat.  Under the new role they made up in 2016, they claimed that no president is any longer allowed to appoint a Supreme Court justice.  This looks like an election year to me.  They have no shame, but if we can get the Democrats to exhibit spine just this once instead of letting the Republicans walk all over them again.  If we can delay.  If we can convince possibly one or better yet two pro choice moderates in the senate, there is a slim but non-zero chance of Saving our Country.  It is a huge fucking odds are against us fight.  It requires us all to pull the stops out on protests, on contacting our senators (Tell your Democrats to stand firm against them taking another Supreme court seat.  This is geometrically more important if you r senator is Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, or Joe Donnelly.  They voted for Gorsuch and we need to corral them into strong opposition.  Beg your Republicans to do the right thing; to hold to the new standard they imposed; and if they are moderate to save the Right of women to make their own medical decisions.  If your senator is Lisa Murkowski or Susan Collins, it is geometrically more important as they are our best bets.), on registering to vote and turning up for the primaries (if you have any left) and the election in November.  WE NEED THE SENATE BACK and WE NEED KENNEDY"S SEAT VACANT OR FILLED WITH MERRICK GARLAND OR HIS EQUIVALENT.  To do this will take maximum effort.  This is the last break on the Republican goal of turning us into a religious fundamentalist oligarchy.  We are steps away from Russia and the Handmaid's tale.  It will likely take a generation or more to recover from the damaged 45 has already done in a year and a half.  If they do this...  I am terrified because there will be no brakes left.I know we are all exhausted and discouraged.  There have been a series of particularly bad defeats in the last months.  We have internment camps on American soil and they are building concentration camps on military bases that don't have things like enough water in the desert where they are hoping refugee families will outright die.  They are placing them on purpose where there can be no over sight from civilian authority and the media, where the law can't be applied to protect them.  Our only hope is a strong judiciary and if the Republicans replace Kennedy with another Gorsuch then it will get so much worse so much faster for all of us.Please.  Help save the Country.  We need to fight harder than we ever have before, even though we are all tired and grieving.  Maximum effort from here through November.  We are nearly out of runway folks and either we fly or we crash.If you can go in person to see your senators?  Do it.  If you can go in person to protest?  Do it.  If like me, you can't, here are some other options.Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/