#republican house

[contemplatingoutlander]

Contemplations on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 16, 2023

The coming Republican nightmare | Cartoon by Ann Telnaes

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream.

Sadly, what is currently happening the in U.S. isn't it.

Given the anti-CRT movement in red states, the rampant banning of books by Black and Brown authors across the U.S., the vitriol on the right regarding the BLM movement, the unrestrained right-wing zeal of the conservative justices on the Supreme Court who have been slowly dismantling the Voting Rights Act and who are now poised to ban affirmative action programs at universities, and the acceptance of blatant racist remarks by many of today's GOP politicians (most notably their leader Trump), Martin Luther King would probably think that what is currently happening in the U.S. is indeed a nightmare.

Finally, MLK would be livid if he knew that the GQP anti-CRT, covert white nationalist movement has been repeatedly misusing his "dream" quote:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” --Martin Luther King Jr.

According to Melinda Guerra this quote has been:

Used: to defend the incredibly patronizing and trivializing thought that claiming to be colorblind is something laudable, rather than a way of discounting the fact that people of color have the privilege of being because we have to deal with the fact that our non-whiteness dictates parts of our experiences in ways those who talk about being will never understand. Also used to defend the idea of America being post-race, which would be laughable if its very falseness lead to so many awful things. Also used to suggest King would be against affirmative action, as if he hadn't been part of a group of leaders proposing an affirmative-action-like employment program (See #5 below).

Guerra goes on to suggest that we

Remind people: 1. This speech actually consists of more than the 2-3 sentences that get quoted. (Seriously, remind them of that. I'm almost convinced people don't know that.) 2. It is foolish and trivializing to claim you don't see color or suggest America is post-race, and flat-out wrong to suggest King wouldn't support affirmative action programs. 3. The march at which he delivered this speech was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. As a result of that march, meetings with administration, and a ton of work done by other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights act of 1965 were passed, with provisions reflecting the demands of that march. But, contrary to popular opinion, that didn't lead King to suggest we’d “arrived” and the civil rights movement should pack up and go home [...] 4. King’s speaking and activism stretched from before this speech to after it. This speech–and even the passage of important (but baby step) laws like the aforementioned Civil Rights Act and Voting Act–was not some final “end” to all he’d said. It was but one speech (and the lines people love to claim were but a few lines) in a long legacy of things he said, and his lifetime should not be reduced to a few nonthreatening lines white people like to remember. 5. King and others actually proposed something that sounds an awful lot like the affirmative action programs people use this quote to suggest he was opposed to. He supported a “massive program of economic aid, financed by the Federal Government, to improve the lot of the nation’s 20,000,000 Negroes.” Answering an interviewer’s question about whether it was fair to request a “multibillion-dollar program of preferential treatment for the Negro, or for any other minority group,” King responded as follows:

“I do indeed. Can any fair-minded citizen deny that the Negro has been deprived? Few people reflect that for two centuries the Negro was enslaved, and robbed of any wages—potential accrued wealth which would have been the legacy of his descendants. All of America’s wealth today could not adequately compensate its Negroes for his centuries of exploitation and humiliation. It is an economic fact that a program such as I propose would certainly cost far less than any computation of two centuries of unpaid wages plus accumulated interest. In any case, I do not intend that this program of economic aid should apply only to the Negro; it should benefit the disadvantaged of all races.”*

I’m sure you’ll see plenty of your own memes misquoting King this year. If you have the emotional energy (and I do understand if you don’t), consider using some of the above responses (or researching your own) and responding, instead of just scrolling past them.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

_____________ * http://playboysfw.kinja.com/martin-luther-king-jr-part-2-of-a-candid-conversation-1502358645

[wayfarerkel-blog]

DOJ decides not to charge Gaetz in sex-trafficking probe

https://share.newsbreak.com/32i8fbbk

[macwantspeace]

In skunky politics, Mike Johnson was saying [as I vaguely recall from a week ago] that we can't fund border security until we fix border security. Which is, to me, like wtf. So they are whacking together some frankenstein. Kinda smells bad. Mike Johnson is not mentioned in the article. Seems he has his small round things in a vise somewhere. Let's back up the bus. Asylum is international law that the US has signed on to. But all the bits after can't happen without funding. Guys at the border. Judges to hear on asylum. Folks to do paperwork. Transportation to move folks away from the border. San Antonio Migrant Resource Center [i'm a couple miles from there] is trying to cope with overflow but federal funding is hung up. City is helping for now. I donate. The evil part is the blackmail to not send funding for Ukraine "until the border is fixed". But they are blocking border funding. Waiting until The Dictator is reinstated?

[dragonstepp]

Government Shutdown?

I try to not watch National news these days, but in asking a couple of folks about what is going on with Congress, I am assured it will be shutdown in the next six days because the House cannot come to any agreement.

I am on Social Security which not be affected because it is not a government Institution. The money is mine because I worked for 50+ years. However, SSI and SSD will be affected because they are basically welfare (not a word used these days) programs.

Good luck to all of you in Government positions, or on programs run by the Government.

Carol in Austin

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[hezigler]

Watch "Jen Psaki DUNKS On MAGA Clowns" on YouTube

Republican hypocrisy at its finest on display.

[reasonsforhope]

THANK FUCKING GOD

"The Supreme Court on Thursday [June 13, 2024] unanimously preserved access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year, in the court’s first abortion decision since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

The nine justices ruled that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and the FDA’s subsequent actions to ease access to it. The case had threatened to restrict access to mifepristone across the country, including in states where abortion remains legal.

Abortion is banned at all stages of pregnancy in 14 states, and after about six weeks of pregnancy in three others, often before women realize they’re pregnant.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was part of the majority to overturn Roe, wrote for the court on Thursday that “federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.”

The opinion underscored the stakes of the 2024 election and the possibility that an FDA commissioner appointed by Republican Donald Trump, if he wins the White House, could consider tightening access to mifepristone, including prohibiting sending it through the mail...

Kavanaugh’s opinion managed to unite a court deeply divided over abortion and many other divisive social issues by employing a minimalist approach that focused solely on the technical legal issue of standing and reached no judgment about the FDA’s actions...

While praising the decision, President Joe Biden signaled Democrats will continue to campaign heavily on abortion ahead of the November elections. “It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states,” Biden said in a statement...

About two-thirds of U.S. adults oppose banning the use of mifepristone, or medication abortion, nationwide, according to a KFF poll conducted in February. About one-third would support a nationwide ban...

More than 6 million people [in the U.S.] have used mifepristone since 2000. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone and primes the uterus to respond to the contraction-causing effect of a second drug, misoprostol. The two-drug regimen has been used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks gestation...

Biden’s administration and drug manufacturers had warned that siding with abortion opponents in this case could [have] undermined the FDA’s drug approval process beyond the abortion context by inviting judges to second-guess the agency’s scientific judgments. The Democratic administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, which makes mifepristone, argued that the drug is among the safest the FDA has ever approved."

-via AP, June 13, 2024

--

Note: A massive relief and a genuine victory - this will preserve access to the medication used in 2/3rds of abortions last year, for at least another 2 years. (Probably minimum time it will take Republicans to get their next attempt before the Supreme Court.)

Still, with this, a sword that has been hanging over our heads for the last two years is gone. There will be a new one soon, but we just bought ourselves probably at least 2 years. The fight isn't over, but this is absolutely worth celebrating.

[thashining]

WATCH: Protesters in Raleigh dropped off letters at the state legislature Monday denouncing a post-election Republican power grab that seizes powers held by offices that Democrats won in November. Senate Bill 382 was supposed to be a hurricane relief bill for western North Carolina, which was hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September. But it mostly contains attacks on the powers held by offices like the governor, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction — which were all won by Democrats in November’s election. It also takes oversight of elections away from the governor’s office. Demonstrators during the “Moral Monday” protest in Raleigh likened it to a “coup,” saying that it undermines the will of the voters. Gov.-elect Josh Stein has condemned the bill. So has outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper and former Gov. Pat McCrory — a Republican. Cooper vetoed the bill, but Republican lawmakers in the House are expected to consider overriding the governor’s veto Wednesday in Raleigh. Stay tuned to @cardinalandpine for updates.

[gwydionmisha]

Remember how we spent all last year and the early part of this one fighting this sort of thing where they slip anti-trans stuff into must pass funding bills?

Here we are again. Please, call your critters in both house and senate. Democrats actually had our backs through these fights in the last few years, but it's not guaranteed given the scapegoating in the press, so call Democratic critters to help stiffen their spines.

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice. Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/ To get your Critters' numbers to call direct: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

[eugenedebs1920]

Trump has been nothing but a financial, political, and spiritual burden on the United States! What has he ever done, besides give the 1% a giant tax cut adding $5 trillion to the deficit, beneficial for this nation? Honestly! I’d like to know. He inherited a great economy that Obama and Biden spent 8 years fixing from Bush Jr’s catastrophic failures. By the time Trump left office we had record high unemployment, economy in the tank, inflation on the rise. I hear maga say Obama was the most divisive president of all time?! To that I say BULLSHIT!!! He was only divisive if you were a racist. Which apparently is a lot of people.

The only thing Trump has done is grift off this nation, shred the constitution, rig SCOTUS, destroy our reputation, ruin the economy, sell our secrets to Russia, divide this nation like never before, and make a mockery of all who died to protect the rights and freedoms granted to us. So if you hate America, he did quite a bit I suppose.

[odinsblog]

Just to emphasize: Mike Johnson is an antivaxxer, an anti-abortion, forced bither, he believes the job of poor women is to give birth to an infinite supply of low wage jobseekers, he is a climate change denier, he wants to cut Social Security + Medicare + Medicaid, and he’s a “Trump won!” Republican. And House Republicans just unanimously voted for him as Speaker of the House.

Please take note: there are no “moderates” in the Republican Party.

[relaxedstyles]

[busterballsblog]

Jordan Peterson Releases New AD about Kamala Harris & Ends her Political...

[ethanfundraising]

What were your favorite wintertime activities as a child? What upcoming holidays do you celebrate? How do you celebrate? ❄️ Reblog and share in the tags.

“Hi. Please take a moment to read this. I am writing a post on behalf of @suad-khaled whose fundraiser has been stagnating and has only reached 50% despite her fundraising for several months. Suad has been verified by @/nabulsi and also by @northgazaupdates, you can read more about her and her struggles in the tag here.

Suad is an engineer who after graduating with top marks was also working as a university lecturer in her university. Just before the October 7th's accelerated genocide, she also found she was pregnant and was ready to also start this new chapter of her life.

Since the genocide, she and her husband have been displaced multiple times, escaping bombing narrowly in the process. In June she gave birth to baby Khaled and then immediately had to move to a tent with him. Suad and her baby both have been sick this year and her infant has suffered from malnutrition and chest infections in the first year of his life. The doctor recommended nebulising sessions for baby Khaled because of his chest infection and allergies which also ate into the family's limited funds.

Right now, despite facing constant hunger Suad is deeply worried about being able to afford diapers and formula for Khaled. Prices have quadrupled; a pack of 36 diapers now costs $50, and a can of formula is $13. Buying cheaper formula caused baby Khaled's health to worsen. This is also baby Khaled's first winter and he needs winter clothes.

Please, please support Suad and baby Khaled and help their fundraiser reach completion so that they are able to survive and evacuate from Gaza.”

(Thank you for the help with creating this post! I did not have the brain energy to come up with the right words, so this was written by a friend of a friend.)

💙 Reblog, Queue, Share 💙

Tagging for reach under the cut:

@sliceofdyke @littlegermanboy @g00ngala @grillwizard @graciouswings @sillymeter @palestine-donation-links @palestinegenocide @palestine-info-uncensored @gazavetters @gaza-evacuation-funds @zhuiren @weltenwellen @xinakwans @egberts @kropotkindersurprise @niqabisinparis @pukicho @paper-mario-wiki @queenie-says-free-palestine @tamamita @ultimatedirk @astrolavas @atalienart @bob-belcher @beebeedibapbeediboop @botan @buggachat @bi-trans-alliance @cassandrajean @creativepromptsforwriting @crimson-chains @colormush @drawingden @daily-prompts @design-art-architecture @develop-your-oc @discount-supervillain @evermore-fashion @enenkaydoodles @eliotbaum @elasticitymudflap @fyblackwomenart @fannyrosie @fuckyeahgravityfalls @filmgifs @greelin @gawki @ghiblisdaily • Sorry to be a bother!

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[saywhat-politics]

Many people pointed out the irony of how he was the only vote against the 2017 Human Trafficking Bill.

The release of the House Ethics Committee’s report about former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz caused quite a stir on social media.

Of course, that was expected to happen considering the report is chock full of shocking allegations that Gaetz violated House rules “prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress” ― as well as basic rules of conduct.

[socialjusticeinamerica]