This week the cartoonists certainly had plenty of material to work with, from Ted Cruz’ trip to Cancún, to the bigotry of Marjorie Greene to states’ renewed attempts at voter suppression to CPAC and more. They didn’t let us down, and as she does every week, our friend TokyoSand managed to find the best of the lot! Thanks, TS … you’re the best!
Today is the last day in February, the last day of this year’s Black History Month, and last night I came across this post by Annie about a woman, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who was confirmed on February 23rd to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. After reading about her, and listening to Ms. Thomas-Greenfield’s TedTalk from 2018, I see this woman as being perfect for the Ambassadorship to the U.N. She has not only survived adversity throughout her entire life, but been made stronger by it. She reminds us, though, that one must be kind and compassionate, as well as strong. Thank you, Annie, for this wonderful post for this final day of Black History Month 2021!
As we near the end of this year’s commemoration of Black History Month, it seems appropriate to pay tribute to a woman whose life story is that of a Black American girl who rose from humble beginnings in the segregated South to a place of honor and influence in our country.
I hope you’ll spend an uplifting 10 minutes watching this 2018 TedTalk video of Linda Thomas-Greenfield, our newly appointed ambassador to the United Nations, as she describes overcoming adversity and being strengthened by it–with compassion, kindness, and a smile.
And those adversities have been numerous. They included the indignities and fears of her childhood, such as watching the KKK burn crosses on nearby lawns. Further insults and attempted degradation during her education years served only to propel her forward. She discusses in the video her pleasure in being honored years later by the same university that she’d been admitted…
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Keith has expressed my own views, only so much better than I typically do. Thank you, Keith!
The following are the views of a former Republican and now Independent voter. I did not vote for the former president either time and remain puzzled why people would vote for such a well-documented untruthful, egomaniacal bully.
On Friday, I read that Senator Mitch McConnell would support the seditious former president if he were the 2024 presidential nominee. Note, this is after McConnell denounced the former president for his role in the insurrection against a branch of government, which of course, put McConnell and his colleagues in danger. And, unsurprisingly, Mr. McConnell chose not to vote to convict the former president before he admitted said person was guilty.
This is a disgusting lack of leadership in a country that needs this party to help offer some form leadership. But, as of this writing, people who voted as leaders to impeach or convict the seditious former president, have been vilified, censured…
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There was, for a time, a brief glimmer of hope that the federal minimum wage rate would be raised to a living wage of $15 per hour. That hope has now had a stake driven through its heart and is DOA – Dead On Arrival. Why? I could offer up a lot of reasons, such as the Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, has deemed it isn’t appropriate to tie the minimum wage to the coronavirus relief bill, but the bottom line is that it won’t fly because … the Republicans in Congress don’t want it to.
Note that some 75% of the people in this nation do want the minimum wage rate increased, and that includes 62% of Republican voters. Also note that it has remained stagnant since 2009, twelve long years, while inflation has not. But, of late, the Republicans in Congress do not choose to represent their constituents, the people of this country, but rather their wealthy donors, most of whom are corporate bigwigs who, quite simply, don’t want to be forced to pay their employees more than the $7.25 some of them now pay. Here’s another way of looking at it: If the minimum wage rate had been increased by only 65 cents each year since 2009, it would now be over $15 per hour. Just 65 cents per year!
Still, with a tied Senate, and the tiebreaker being Vice President Kamala Harris, one might foolishly think that any piece of legislation raising the minimum wage, could be passed. And it could, but for one little word: filibuster.
A brief explanation of what the filibuster is:
Senators have two options when they seek to vote on a measure or motion. Most often, the majority leader (or another senator) seeks “unanimous consent,” asking if any of the 100 senators objects to ending debate and moving to a vote. If no objection is heard, the Senate proceeds to a vote. If the majority leader can’t secure the consent of all 100 senators, the leader (or another senator) typically files a cloture motion, which then requires 60 votes to adopt. If fewer than 60 senators—a supermajority of the chamber—support cloture, that’s when we often say that a measure has been filibustered.
Senators who are against the bill being considered, but know their views are not shared by a simple majority, will refuse to end debate simply to force a filibuster, or a supermajority requirement for passage of the motion. Rarely will you see a situation in an equally divided Senate where 60 of the 100 will agree on any damn thing! But there are options, as New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie explains in his recent newsletter …
The Senate has bound itself with fake restraints
Opinion Columnist
I know I am more than a little obsessed with the Senate filibuster. But my preoccupation is not without reason. I think the filibuster — or to be precise, the de facto supermajority requirement for legislation in the Senate — is both bad on the merits and a symbol of the sclerotic dysfunction of our Congress.
In the face of multiple, overlapping crises — and at least one long-term existential crisis — our elected officials refuse to act, much less take steps that would give them freedom of movement in the legislature. Instead, they hide behind rules and procedure, as if they are powerless to change both.
All of this is apropos of the news that the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, has ruled a proposed federal minimum wage hike as non-germane to the Covid relief reconciliation bill. Her ruling is not binding, but Vice President Kamala Harris, who also serves as president of the Senate, will abide by it. This means that if the Senate wants to increase the minimum wage, it will have to do so through ordinary legislation, making it subject to the supermajority requirement.
That means it isn’t going to happen, at least not anytime soon, but the point I want to make is that these are fake constraints. The Senate determines whether it will abide by the parliamentarian, and the Senate decides whether it wants to operate by supermajority. The Senate, and its Democratic members in particular, are handcuffing themselves and reneging on their promise to millions of American workers.
That Democrats are doing it to maintain their fragile coalition — to keep Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema from sinking the entire package — is only a testament to how these fake constraints render the entire process of lawmaking a farce. I would rather the Senate take a simple up or down vote, and for individual lawmakers to show where they stand, than listen to some of the most powerful people in the country explain why they are bound by rules they could change at any time, for any reason at all.
Related to this, I want to share this 2010 Connecticut Law Review article titled “The Unconstitutionality of the Filibuster,” by the congressional scholar Josh Chafetz. The key point is this: A Constitution written in the name of “We the people” is necessarily one that cannot abide a supermajority requirement for the ordinary business of lawmaking. Here’s Chafetz:
The mere fact that our Constitution has some anti-majoritarian elements should not serve as a bootstrap by which any anti-majoritarian device is made constitutionally legitimate. … Rather than use some deviations from majoritarianism to justify still others, we should take note of the essential popular sovereignty foundations of our Constitution and insist that, in such a polity, minority veto cannot be piled atop minority veto indefinitely. The Constitution — our higher law — specifies certain deviations from majoritarianism. But the exceptions should not be allowed to swallow the rule, nor should antimajoritarian devices in higher law be used to justify antimajoritarian devices in ordinary law.
We can have a supermajority requirement for legislation or we can have meaningful self-government. We can’t have both.
Yesterday, the U.S. Intelligence report on the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was made public. The bottom line, as I said from day #1, is that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) ordered the hit on Khashoggi. No surprise there … the former guy remained buddy-buddy with MbS and claimed he had nothing to do with it, but those of us capable of adding 2+2 and coming up with an answer of 4, knew better. So, what comes next? Apparently nothing.
The Biden administration has concluded that it could not risk a full rupture of its relationship with the kingdom, relied on by the United States to help contain Iran, to counter terrorist groups and to broker peaceful relations with Israel. Cutting off Saudi Arabia could also push its leaders toward China. I understand the reasons … I really do. However, I think there comes a point when we must take a stand. If we don’t, then how can we claim to be a nation of justice, of human rights and humanitarian values? I share with you Nicholas Kristof’s column in the New York Times that goes into a bit more detail than I am able to do.
President Biden Lets a Saudi Murderer Walk
The crown prince killed my friend Jamal Khashoggi, and we do next to nothing.
Nicholas Kristof
By Nicholas Kristof
Opinion Columnist
The United States government publicly identified Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia as the murderer of an American resident, and then President Biden choked.
Instead of imposing sanctions on M.B.S., Biden appears ready to let the murderer walk. The weak message to other thuggish dictators considering such a murder is: Please don’t do it, but we’ll still work with you if we have to. The message to Saudi Arabia is: Go ahead and elevate M.B.S. to be the country’s next king if you must.
All this is a betrayal of my friend Jamal Khashoggi and of his values and ours. But even through the lens of realpolitik it’s a missed opportunity to help Saudi Arabia understand that its own interest lies in finding a new crown prince who isn’t reckless and doesn’t kill and dismember journalists.
What should Biden have done?
As a matter of consistency he should have imposed the same sanctions on M.B.S., including asset freezes and travel bans, that the United States imposed in 2018 on lower-level figures who carried out the murder of Khashoggi. These sanctions should also apply to the stooges and front companies that M.B.S. has used to accumulate assets around the world.
“The key message that should be sent not only to M.B.S., and others in the Saudi Court and government, but also to other would-be killers of journalists around the world, is that there is a heavy price to pay for such crimes and nowhere to hide,” Agnes Callamard, who as a United Nations official investigated Jamal’s killing, told me.
The United States should also have suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia. United States law bars military assistance to security units involved in gross human rights abuses, and that is true of security forces under M.B.S., who also serves as defense minister.
Biden reportedly feared that sanctions on M.B.S. would poison relations with Saudi Arabia. Yes, that’s a legitimate concern, and I agree that it’s often necessary to engage even rulers with blood on their hands. But in this great balancing of values and interests, the towering risk is that M.B.S., who is just 35, will become king upon the death of his aging father and rule recklessly for many years, creating chaos in the Gulf and a rupture in Saudi-American relations that would last decades.
In other words, it’s precisely because Saudi Arabia is so important that Biden should stand strong and send signals — now, while there is a window for change — that the kingdom is better off with a new crown prince who doesn’t dismember journalists.
M.B.S. is the sixth crown prince Saudi Arabia has had over the last decade, and only one of them (King Salman) rose to become king. Two died, and two were deposed. If it becomes clear that Saudi Arabia will not have a workable relationship with the West if M.B.S. becomes king, perhaps we’ll see a seventh crown prince. That’s not the U.S. dictating to Saudi Arabia, but pointing out reality.
“King Salman and any independent advisers he may still have would be well-advised to consider how unsustainable it will be for the kingdom to retain M.B.S. as crown prince,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now. “M.B.S. has proven time and again to be a liability and a danger for the kingdom, reviled and avoided by the international community.”
American officials sometimes say that if we don’t sell weapons to Saudi Arabia, then France or Russia will. But what Saudi Arabia gets from America is not only high-tech weaponry but, far more important, an implicit promise of defense from Iran or other countries. France and Russia can’t provide that.
Some Saudis tell me that it’s a foregone conclusion that M.B.S. will become king. Maybe. But the fact that M.B.S. has detained rivals, like Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz (who is broadly admired in Saudi society) and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, suggests that he doesn’t think it’s a done deal.
“It’s not a given that if you’re crown prince, you’re going to become king,” noted Dr. Khalid Aljabri, who is currently in the United States but has close ties to senior Saudi royals, and whose father was allegedly targeted for murder by M.B.S. “Just apply the law. Sanction MBS! If they sanction MBS, the whole country would come to a standstill, and King Salman would have no choice but to remove his son, even if he doesn’t want to.”
Perhaps I’m biased because I knew Jamal. Some may think: It’s too bad about the murder, but other leaders have killed people, too. True, but M.B.S. poisons everything he touches. He kidnapped Lebanon’s prime minister. He oversaw a feud with Qatar. He caused the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen. He imprisoned women’s rights activists. He has tarnished his country’s reputation far more effectively than Iran ever could.
So, Mr. Biden, it’s not a human rights “gesture” to sanction M.B.S. Jamal was a practical man who didn’t believe in mushy gestures — but he did dream of a more democratic Arab world that would benefit Arabs and Americans alike. And by letting a murderer walk, you betray that vision.
Your thoughts?
Our friend Jeff from On the Fence Voters has a new venue … he’s a contributing writer for Politically Speaking, a publication at Medium.com. Today, he has written his first piece, and it is both thoughtful and thought-provoking … I hope you’ll take a look and follow him on Medium! Thanks, Jeff, for all your hard work! We’ll speak soon!
Hello everyone. Recently I became a contributing writer for Politically Speaking, a publication at Medium.com. I wanted to share my first post with you and will do so in the future as well. I apologize in advance for using the former guy’s name-as well as writing anything about him. My pledge is to minimize the crazy man as much as possible. But this post really goes to the overall concept of populism, and how it can be used in a good way-and a despicable and dangerous way as well. Anyway, here is an excerpt. I’d greatly appreciate it if you click the link at the end and finish reading over at Medium. Thank you everybody!
Imagine a scenario where an ex-president broke away from his political party to form a new and exciting one based on reforming democracy as we know it. Things like standing up to corporations, providing health…
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Just a short update before I delve into my main topic this morning …
Bye-bye DeJoy
In his testimony before Congress yesterday, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy arrogantly said that he plans to stay in his current position, despite opposition, “… for a long time. Get used to me.” Well, we’ll just see about that, because on the same day that he so cockily said that, President Biden nominated three people to the USPS Board of Governors. Those three – Ron Stroman, Anton Hajjar and Amber McReynolds – once confirmed by the Senate, would create a Democratic majority on the Board and DeJoy could easily be fired from his position. Fingers crossed on that one, for while I don’t like to see anyone fired, this arrogant man has all but destroyed the U.S. Postal Service and has unabashedly spoken of his intent to further slow the mail and raise prices. I shall dance on the day he is told to pack his bags!
Equality Act
The Equality Act has passed its first hurdle … it passed in the House yesterday with a vote of 224-206 and even three Republicans voted for it. What is the Equality Act? It is an amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act to provide protections for LGBTQ individuals. The bill would ban discrimination in various areas, including the workplace, housing and education, in addition to federally funded programs. The legislation also would expand the 1964 bill to cover public accommodations to include places like shopping malls, sports arenas, and even websites. Pretty simple, right? People should not be punished for being LGBT. Period. They are human beings just like me, just like you, and they deserve the same legal protections.
The Republicans in general, however, don’t quite see it that way. With the exception of the three who crossed the aisle to vote for the bill, they are dead set against it. Why? Truth is because they are bigots, homophobes who would disown their own child if he/she told them he/she was gay. They believe that the only people who deserve the best life has to offer are white, straight, Christian males. But they have a remarkable excuse for their homophobia … they claim it takes away people’s religious freedom. Yeah, really … go figure.
One portion of the Republican argument, as well as religious leaders’, is that the bill doesn’t limit “public accommodations” to exclude churches. Religious leaders want to be able to forbid LGBT people in their churches. Well, guess what, Mr. Bigot … I doubt any LGBT person would want to enter your “house of worship.” Keep it filled with racists and homophobes …
Another part of the argument against the bill claims that giving equal rights to the LGBT community would “alter the country’s social fabric by blurring gender lines in women’s sports and other cultural practices.” Bullshit! I’ve never heard such a crappy excuse in my life! Our society, our lives, and our culture are enhanced by the diversity, and any who cannot see that are culturally and socially blind.
The infamous Marjorie Taylor Greene crossed a line when she hung an anti-transgender sign outside her office, claiming “there are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE”. Bad enough to say under any circumstances, but what made it even worse is that the office across the hall from hers is that of Representative Marie Newman, whose daughter is transgender. Ms. Greene, as I have said on multiple occasions, does NOT belong in Congress.
One comment I saw to this story stirred my ire …
“This pieces [sic] of legislation is just another way for “the establishment” to keep us divided as a nation. All people are created equal, I certainly don’t need the DC establishment to pass legislation for me to understand this Fact.”
Seriously, buddy? Don’t you think that if Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, and LGBT were all treated equally, we wouldn’t even have needed the Civil Rights Act? Don’t you think that if everyone treated everyone equally, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation? What keeps us divided is not that the government is trying to protect people from discrimination, but rather that there are bigots out there who would lynch a Black man, who would kill a transgender person on sight. There are landlords who would refuse to rent housing to them, employers who would refuse them a job, and even businesses … oh, say like a bakery that specializes in wedding cakes … that would refuse them service! Sadly, the bigots have to be forced to do the right thing and treat people right! And they call themselves “Christians”. Ask me again why I consider religion the source of most of what’s wrong in the world!
Next stop for the Equality Act is the Senate. This same bill was passed by the House in 2019, but when it got to the Senate, Mitch McConnell refused to even bring it to the Senate floor, so there it died. I think it will be different this time, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised that the legislation will get a floor vote “at exactly the right time.” But … it will need 10 Senate Republican votes in order to beat back a GOP filibuster. Are there 10 Republicans in the Senate with any form of a conscience? Apparently not, given the outcome of the impeachment trial. DAMN the filibuster! I have a brilliant idea … remember how many were calling to ‘defund the police’ last summer? Let’s start a movement to ‘defund republicans in Congress’ until they start acting like adults!
I will be composing a letter to the republican senator for my own state in the next day or two … not that it will matter or change his mind, but … I have to try.
Filosofa means ‘philosopher’ in Spanish. When I first started this blog, my friend Herb suggested the name ‘Filosofa’s Word’ because he sees me as a philosopher of sorts. I rarely philosophize these days, but tonight I am in a reflective mood, pondering and feeling the need to opine a bit. Please bear with me.
Have you ever stopped and pondered the differences … the core differences, not the everyday cosmetic differences … between the two major political parties in the U.S.? Most people are lifelong members of one party or another, while a small percentage are recent converts and another small percentage identify as Independents.
If you ask most people, they will give you a few key talking points, such as Republicans are for smaller government, big business, and a balanced budget, Democrats are for inclusiveness, more government regulations, etc., etc. If you ask a die-hard republican what Democrats stand for, the first word out of his mouth will likely be: socialism.
I am neither a registered Republican nor Democrat, don’t label myself as either, though at this point, I see so much wrong with the Republican ideology that I suppose I’m far more aligned with the Democratic Party than the Republican. But it occurs to me tonight that perhaps neither side actually understands what the other is fighting for.
I drew this conclusion after reading part of a statement issued by Florida Senator Rick Scott tonight. In his statement he makes some truly absurd claims …
At the very same time these far-left radicals are trying to remake America in their image, and lead us into a disastrous, dystopian, socialist future, we have a parade of pundits and even Republican voices suggesting we should have a GOP civil war. NO.
This does not need to be true, should not be true, and will not be true. Those fanning these flames, in both the media and our own ranks, desire a GOP civil war. No, we don’t have time for that: The hour is late, the Democrats are planning to destroy our freedoms, and the threat in front of us is very real.
Yes, we are up against powerful elites headquartered in Washington and on the coasts, and they endlessly try to lecture, bully, and intimidate us. But we can beat them. The Republican Civil War is now cancelled.
You and I are being called upon to rescue our nation from a socialist experiment that always has a tragic finale, an ending that involves loss – loss of prosperity, loss of freedom and loss of life. Let’s work together, let’s focus forward, and let’s get to work to create the America our families want and deserve.
Say WHAT??? ‘Far left radicals’ … is that what I am? What planet is this man living on? Dystopian socialist future? Destroy our freedoms? Socialist experiment??? Loss of prosperity, freedom and life? What the Sam Hell is he even talking about?
My first comment is that Rick Scott does not understand what ‘socialism’ is, and like so many in the Republican Party today is trying to use the word as a scare tactic. Socialism, as I have clarified before, is: a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
Nobody that I’m aware of is advocating that the means of production, distribution and exchange be owned and regulated by the government (the community as a whole, in this case). Regulations, yes … ownership, no. This is, for better or for worse, a market-driven capitalist nation. Personally, I think the U.S. has taken capitalism too far, to the detriment of the people of this nation, but nobody asked me. Regulations have only been imposed where corporations abused their freedom, such as in their treatment of employees, workplace safety, monopolistic practices, and most recently polluting the environment.
When Mr. Scott speaks of ‘loss of prosperity’, I have to wonder just whose prosperity he refers to, for the income gap in this country has been growing by leaps and bounds, leaving most of us scratching our heads when the word prosperous comes up in conversation. But see, here’s the problem … too many people don’t understand most of this and when somebody tells them that they’re going to lose their prosperity or their freedom if a Democrat is elected, they believe it! They don’t realize that they aren’t the ones with prosperity and freedom to begin with! It is the owners of the companies they work for who are prosperous, at their expense. It is the CEOs of the companies who manufacture the cars they drive, the appliances in their homes, the clothes they wear, and the food they eat that are prosperous.
The biggest difference between Mr. Scott’s Republican Party and the Democratic Party is people. The Republican Party still adheres to Ronald Reagan’s ‘trickle down’ economic theory … a theory that has been deposed and dispelled so many times, and yet they keep telling the myth over and over. And people believe it … over and over. The theory goes that if we don’t regulate big business, if we don’t expect them to pay their fair share in taxes, then they will make lots ‘n lots of money and they will then share it by paying their workers more, and by starting new factories to hire even more workers. It’s a lie. A bald-faced lie. But even today, people believe the lie. Even after Republicans have blocked a raise in the federal minimum wage rate for twelve years, people believe the lie.
The key difference in the two parties boils down to this: people vs profit. You’ve heard me use that term more than a few times but stop and consider it for a minute. The Republicans support big business, unfettered by such things as taxes, workplace safety regulations, or environmental regulations that might cut into their obscene profit margin. They believe that the working class should bear the bulk of the burden of supporting government and that government spending should largely be on such things as the military and show-stopping space exploration. Democrats, on the other hand, would rather see people’s wages increased, access to affordable healthcare for all, and taking care of those who, for whatever reason, are not able to take care of themselves. Yes, Democrats support what are called ‘social welfare’ programs that help people pull themselves up, help them feed, house, and clothe their families. Is that really such a bad thing?
The simple fact is that not everyone has the opportunity to earn a college degree and get a high-paying job. People have troubles, sometimes of their own making, sometimes not, but should they and their children have to die of starvation or a lack of healthcare, while others have billions of dollars stowed in offshore accounts? What, exactly, is wrong with equality, with everyone contributing so that everyone has an opportunity to live a decent life? This “I’ve got mine; you get your own” mentality is bullshit. And the ultimate irony is that most of those who identify themselves as Republicans claim to be ‘Christians’. I make no such claim, but I’ve always heard that Christianity was about sharing, giving, caring, helping. Perhaps not so much anymore.
I still haven’t run out of things to be snarky about and it isn’t looking like I will anytime soon! I am greatly relieved to have a real president, one whose tweets are few and are always positive, never whiny or ranty. I am happy to wake in the morning knowing that we haven’t likely started a war somewhere. And I’m pleased with Joe Biden’s performance as president these past 30+ days. However, the racists still exist and many of the loudest ones languish in Congress, so yes, I still have my snarky cap on!
Oust DeJoy!
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is in the news again this week as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is testifying before Congress about the dire failures of the postal service to meet the nation’s needs. The mail … at least important mail … has been so slow that the Pony Express could have delivered it faster (funny how the junk mail and advertisements always get through, though), but then DeJoy was hired for one reason only: to slow the mail to a snail’s pace prior to last November’s election in order to interfere with our mail-in ballots arriving in a timely manner. He succeeded in slowing the mail, but we managed to get our ballots in on time despite his efforts to lose or delay them.
Democrats in Congress have called for his resignation, his ouster, and I fully agree. He did not come to the job with any relevant experience, and he did not come with the intention of helping us, only of harming us. But DeJoy says he has a plan that he will unveil soon, to restore the USPS. Details of his plan thus far are sketchy, but what we do know is that he plans to slow the mail (what, it isn’t already slow enough???), while charging us more (what, $80 to mail a bloomin’ package isn’t already too high???) to mail letters and packages. This, in and of itself, is unacceptable, but add to it the fact that with higher postal rates, the Consumer Price Index will leap skyward as companies are forced to pay more for the shipping of materials and finished products, and will naturally pass their increased cost on to We the Consumers.
It’s a lose/lose situation for We the People, and the only winner would be Mr. DeJoy himself who would get to keep his job … not that he needs it, with a net worth of $110 million. Unfortunately, as I have written before, President Biden does not have the ability to directly fire Mr. DeJoy, but he can fill the vacant seats on the Board of Governors that does have the ability to fire DeJoy. The USPS needs a strong leader who understands the workings of the organization and whose goal would be to restructure it for maximum efficiency while restoring customer service. DeJoy ain’t that person!
Stephen Miller rears his ugly head … again
I’m told that I shouldn’t consider republicans to be racists, but I go by the old adage if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. That said, I do know a few republicans who aren’t racist, so I stop short of saying “all”. I’ve long said that the biggest appeal of the former guy to republicans was the fact that he created in their minds a supreme danger of all immigrants and promised that ‘he alone’ could and would fix the problem. As a result, thousands of children were taken from their parents, put in cages, denied basic healthcare and hygiene, and often were abused in a variety of ways by those in charge of their welfare. As a result, those seeking asylum from life-threatening situations were denied entry into the country. As a result, billions of taxpayer dollars were wasted constructing a few miles of a hideous ‘wall’ at the southern border that would serve no purpose.
Stephen Miller
President Biden is attempting to repair the U.S. immigration policy, but the GOP is not onboard with his vision. Thus, they have hired America’s chief racist, Stephen Miller, along with two other supreme racists, Tom Homan and Mark Morgan, to advise the conservative House members as they organize their opposition to Biden’s planned changes as laid out in his recently unveiled blueprint for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Miller, you may remember, was largely the architect for the hateful separation policy that brought so much grief to so many, especially children.
The meeting between Miller, Homan, Morgan, and House Republicans was organized by the 147-member Republican Study Committee, a group of traditionalist conservative lawmakers that also has met recently with other officials from the former administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Fox News host Tucker Carlson. WTF does Tucker Carlson have to do with any of this, other than he is a racist to the very core?
The recently unveiled Biden bill would provide a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, and incorporates many provisions supported by Republicans in the past as well as by business groups today. The chief argument by republicans seems to be that it leaves out funding to complete the ridiculous ‘wall’ at the southern border … a wall which has been proven unworkable and uber-costly by numerous experts. The U.S. is currently in debt to the tune of some $27.9 trillion, and people around the nation are starving, are in danger of losing their homes, so we damn sure don’t need to spend billions of dollars on a white elephant that benefits nobody!
Republicans who would consult and listen to Stephen Miller cannot deny their racism, for Miller is the very definition of the term white supremacist. But, it seems they are determined to attempt to block anything and everything that President Biden tries to do, simply because … because he isn’t a republican. Not much other reason, when you peel away the layers of excuses.
Interestingly, Representative Liz Cheney, one of ten republicans in the House who voted to impeach the former guy and who has taken considerable flack from the Republican Party as a result, gave a speech yesterday at the Reagan Institute in Washington, where she said …
“It’s very important, especially for us as Republicans, to make clear that we aren’t the party of white supremacy. You certainly saw anti-Semitism, you saw the symbols of Holocaust denial, for example, at the Capitol that day. You saw a Confederate flag being carried through the Rotunda. And I think we as Republicans in particular have a duty and an obligation to stand against that, to stand against insurrection.”
I would hope that most people in the Republican Party would listen to Ms. Cheney rather than Mr. Miller and Tucker Carlson, but … sigh … I know the reality is not what I would wish. The GOP is greatly diminished, and it’s due to the racism and people like the former guy and Stephen Miller, among others.
I am often tempted to revive my old “Idiot of the Week” feature, for those who would qualify for the award are too numerous to even count. On my radar today is a man I have written about before, back in 2018 when he was nominated by the former guy to the position of Director of the National Economic Council. Here’s part of what I wrote about him at the time, just to give you some background …
It is said that Kudlow has been wrong about almost everything for at least the past several decades. Take this one, for example:
“Despite all the doom and gloom from the economic pessimistas, the resilient U.S. economy continues moving ahead. There’s no recession coming. The pessimistas were wrong. It’s not going to happen. The Bush boom is alive and well. It’s finishing up its sixth consecutive year with more to come. Yes, it’s still the greatest story never told.” – Larry Kudlow, 07 December 2007
Note the date … according to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions) the recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, and thus extended over eighteen months. (A side note: President Obama, who has often been blamed for the recession by the GOP, did not take office until January 20th 2009, fully 13 months after the official start of the recession, and just 5 months before its end.) And this is the guy who will now be advising the president, the man who leads the nation into either poverty or prosperity, on economic issues???
In 1993, when Bill Clinton proposed an increase in the top tax rate from 31 percent to 39.6 percent, Kudlow wrote, “There is no question that President Clinton’s across-the-board tax increases … will throw a wet blanket over the recovery and depress the economy’s long-run potential to grow.” This was wrong. Instead, a boom ensued.
The list of his faux pas is long, but the above examples should be enough to convince you that this man does not understand basic economic principles and wears blinders to shut out reality most of the time.
Kudlow’s background includes a degree in history from The University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. Kudlow also attended, but did not complete, Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, where he studied political science and economics. He should have stayed there longer.
He worked in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Reagan … remember ‘supply-side’ economics and the ‘trickle-down’ theory?
Kudlow held his position with the National Economic Council until January 20th, when President Biden was inaugurated, and Kudlow was replaced by Brian Deese. But Kudlow has crossed my radar twice in the past few days … like a boomerang, he keeps coming back!
Kudlow has apparently replaced former Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs. Kudlow’s show, Kudlow, debuted in Dobbs’ old time slot last Tuesday, and since then his guests have largely been members of the former guy’s administration, such as Nazi sympathizer Stephen Miller (former senior advisor for policy and White House director of speechwriting), Robert Lighthizer (former U.S. Trade Representative), Steve Mnuchin (former Secretary of the Treasury), and Moncef Slaoui (former Operation Warp Speed chief advisor). I’m not sure what relevance any of these people have today, but then … this is Fox. I’m not sure what relevance Kudlow or Fox have at this point, other than to tell lies that some people will buy into.
But what really set my radar off was when he attempted to blame the widespread power outages on the fact that President Biden was elected! He wasn’t able to explain how he came to that conclusion, so instead he rambled a series of vague idiotic statements about the President …
“I think they’ve moved very rapidly toward the progressive left position on a lot of these issues. He tried to temper it with talk about unity. There was some talk about moving to the center, that there would be more balance, there wouldn’t be a far-left progressive agenda. Unfortunately, in the early weeks—what, we’ve got a month here—it has been a left, progressive agenda. He’s gone after the energy sector. You saw some of the consequences in Texas. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Let me clarify here. What happened with Texas’ power grid was the fault of Texas politicians being both stubborn and unprepared. It was not wind turbines, though yes, some of those did freeze, but natural gas wells and coal piles also froze, and those are the source of more of Texas’ electricity than the wind turbines. Energy producing equipment was damaged by the deep freeze. But the biggest culprit was the state of Texas itself, that decided to have their own power grid and disconnect from the two major energy grids, the Western and Eastern connections. Independence from the rest of the nation was their stated goal (it should be noted that on January 26th, Texas State Representative Kyle Biedermann filed a bill to create a ‘referendum to the people of the State of Texas on the question of whether this state should leave the United States of America and establish an independent republic.’ No, they cannot simply secede from the nation, but this is just one example of their stubborn desire for independence. And the situation with Texas’ power grid that took numerous lives, is a result of their stubbornness, not a result of Joe Biden’s election!
I thought … I hoped … we had seen the last of Kudlow, but thanks to Rupert Murdoch and the management at Fox, he now has an even louder voice than before. Sigh. I think we should be generous to members of the former administration and give them all a nice, long vacation … perhaps to Siberia for 4 years!
