Today is a dark day in the United States. Today, some 43 senators threw the first shovelful of dirt into the grave of the United States Constitution, of law and order, of justice for all. These are the men and women who have the blood of this nation on their hands … these are the men and women who sold their conscience in exchange for future votes … these are the men and women who owe us all an explanation, an apology, and their resignations:
- John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
- Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
- Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
- John Boozman (R-Ark.)
- Mike Braun (R-Ind.)
- Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)
- John Cornyn (R-Tex.)
- Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
- Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.)
- Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
- Ted Cruz (R-Tex.)
- Steve Daines (R-Mont.)
- Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
- Deb Fischer (R-Neb.)
- Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.)
- Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa)
- Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.)
- Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
- John Hoeven (R-N.D.)
- Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.)
- James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.)
- Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
- John Neely Kennedy (R-La.)
- James Lankford (R-Okla.)
- Mike Lee (R-Utah)
- Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.)
- Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)
- Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
- Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
- Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
- Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
- James E. Risch (R-Idaho)
- Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)
- Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
- Rick Scott (R-Fla.)
- Tim Scott (R-S.C.)
- Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.)
- Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
- John Thune (R-S.D.)
- Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
- Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)
- Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
- Todd C. Young (R-Ind.)
Remember these names, for they are responsible for what follows. Seven Republicans actually found a bit of courage and voted to convict:
- Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
- Bill Cassidy (R-La.)
- Susan Collins (R-Maine)
- Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
- Mitt Romney (R-Utah)
- Ben Sasse (R-Neb.)
- Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.)
I will write to these 7, thanking them for upholding their oaths of office and having the courage to do the right thing.
The deplorables are still among us. I will never look at some folks the same way again.
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I fully agree … I have ‘lost’ a number of friends in the past few years, as I came to see their darker side. Long time no see … good to see you, old friend!
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The shame of it is of course is that at the elections those 7 will probably pay at the polls for doing the right thing but in the wrong areas. It’s my hope that the DOJ and the FBI will be able to deal with this. using criminal laws and perhaps pick up some of the 43 who must have been sweating badly these last few days. Ted Cruz is an abomination and must lose the Presidential nomination yet again, He would be Trump 2.
Cwtch
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Already they are being painted as ‘traitors’ and denigrated by “the party”. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. As the election nears next year, I will publish the names of the 43 over and over again, on pictures of skull & crossbones. I will do everything in my power to ensure those 43 men and women see their careers go down in flames, just as they’ve sent this nation to it’s death.
Cwtch
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Take note of #31, Jill. And he is not going to face the madding crowd.
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I left him a message, including a link to this post, on Twitter, and on his website. Will he actually see it? Who knows, but I tried. No, he won’t face the voters next year, but most of the others will, and I hope they lose by a landslide.
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Depends on how many are gerrymandered to win. I really don’t know how much Democrats are into gerrymandering, but I do know it is high on the list (I typoed lust, which actually fits better) of how to win by cheating.
Gerrymandering needs to be eradicated at all levels of government, for it prevents votes from all having equal value. And Repuglygarbagecans love it!
But to see them lose in gerrymandered ridings would be even better. I personally do not understand how anyone who is poor, or even lower middle class, can vote a Repuglycan ticket. Such people are begging to be stomped on, covered with mud, and left to bleed out. How can they vote to elect their worst enemy?
And yet they do…
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Gerrymandering cannot be eradicated entirely. I would explain, i really don’t want to. In Michigan we have a dedicated Citizens Commission to draw the outlines of the voting districts. These elected officials need to quit pickin’ their voters an start to try to be on everybody’s side. However, Gerrymandering has NO effect on Senate races. Each state gets two Senators (well-l-l, maybe not every state… Rhode Island is still a state last time I looked), and those Senators aren’t usually on the same ballot because they are elected state-wide, and not in the same years
.
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Thank you for the info. It does change my views on senatorial voting, but I presume it still affects House of Representative outcomes. I understand ridings are created at the state level, though why this is so I will never understand, it cannot be that hard to draw boundaries at the national level, and some electoral jurisductions will still be much more populous than others. In Canada our ridings are totally dissimilar between federal and provincial governments. Having said that, our population is only a tenth of yours, so maybe that is a factor, but I don’t think the problem is insurmountable.
The real problem, as I see it is the FPP or First Past the Post, method of selecting winners. I think Proportional Representation would be a much fairer and more meaningful selection method, but who am I?
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I would like to see the electoral college abolished altogether, which would make gerrymandering irrelevant to elections for president. Popular vote … one vote per person, he who has the most votes wins. Period. Won’t happen in my lifetime, for it would require a Constitutional amendment that would not stand a snowball’s chance in hell in our current climate of uber-divisiveness, but perhaps someday.
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You don’t think much of Proportional Representation? It actually give every vote weight, and there are no losers. There are of course, bigger winners, depending on the % of the popular vote.
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District maps redrawn by non-partisan groups could certainly eliminate most gerrymandering. No, it isn’t relevant regarding senatorial races, but it is relevant in House races, and most of all in the presidential race. Plus, it is the determining factor in how state and federal funds are allocated, so there is reason to have district maps redrawn by independent groups.
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Both democrats and republicans do some of it, but for the last decade or so, the republicans have heavily gerrymandered some states. It doesn’t matter for Senate elections, but it does for elections for the House and of course for president most of all. It also determines how much state and federal funding a district will get.
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Even though many of us had wished otherwise, the inevitable has happened, Trump has been acquired of all charges by a memory vote of the Senate.
It is my fervent wish that cone election time that all voters no matter wich party remember the names of these 43 spineless senators who voted to acquit Donald J. Trump, a want to be dictator, and soundly vote them out of office. I also wish to praise these 7 Senator’s who had the courage and fortitude to stand up for there concoctions and voted ageist acquittal. Re member as you enter the voting booth, as I hope that many of you do, that your vote, no matter who or what party you vote for, is the voice of “WE THE PEOPLE” and will remember this and not be intimidated or brainwashed by a handful of trumpian bullies.
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I have already decided that as the 2022 election nears, I will publish these names again and again, so that people remember to vote them out!
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That’s what you get when you have politicians and political appointees run a legal process. System is busted. Sadly our system is going the same way. One of the most right right, racist media guys has been put in charge of the media scrutiny by Johnson. Our system is being busted.
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The system seems to be beyond repair here, but you guys still may manage to repair yours … at least I hope so. Who is the racist guy who’s in charge of media oversight? I hadn’t heard about that one, but then, I’ve been kept pretty busy by events here of late.
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Paul Dacre…. deeply unpleasant man.
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I did a brief bit of reading on Mr. Dacre … and yes, he seems a thoroughly unpleasant sort, along the lines of Rupert Murdoch. Frankly, anyone associated with the Daily Mail and earning a $1.62 million salary is suspect in my book!
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Watching it here in the UK. Politics is a very dirty business, and the result is no shock. I just hope your country can recover. I’d like to think it would be different here but it probably wouldn’t.
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The result was what was expected, and yet it nonetheless managed to enrage me. At the moment, I don’t think we can recover, but perhaps I’ll view it differently in a day or two. I, too, like to think it would be different there, but some of the same elements of discontent seem to exist there as well.
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They certainly do. Lots going on here. Politicians…. I sometimes wonder why we need them.
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Yes, I sometimes wonder too … here, I’d like to clean out the whole lot and start over, with the criteria that anyone who is independently wealthy need not apply, no clowns need apply, only people with a genuine interest in making the nation a healthy place for all and ensuring that everyone has equal opportunities. Our current batch of politicos have forgotten that.
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Thanks Jill. I focused on the seven more so than the 43. David Brooks said last night some of the 43 confided off the record they were glad the footage was getting out, but could not vote to convict for political reasons. That is why the seven deserve high praise. Keith
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I will also focus on the 7 at some point, but in the heat of the moment I was too furious with the 43 to give more than a passing mention to the 7. I’m glad you did, though.
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Jill, the words of Mitch McConnell following the vote were vintage McConnell, trying to play both sides, as the politician he is. Not only did he give too many hall passes to this most corrupt and deceitful of presidents, he largely ignored the big lie on the election that the former president was perpetuating watching it build to dangerous levels. He voted not to convict after he posed the trial be after the inauguration. That is a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Yes, his words were important, but they would have been more important of he voted to convict the traitorous former president. Keith
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His words might have meant something had he not just before given his seal of approval by voting to acquit. As you say, he is talking out of both sides of his mouth and I don’t trust him one bit. Actions speak far louder than words.
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If anyone is surprised, they haven’t been paying attention -AND- they are ignorant of the Republican mindset.
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I wasn’t surprised, of course, but still felt deep disappointment and rage.
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