The Repugnican disdain for integrity is matched only by their disdain for democracy and the right to vote. Expecting them to behave honorably is like expecting a tiger to practice veganism. So absolutely “yes”. Turnabout is and must be fair play. A strong dose of their own medicine might just bring them to the table to outlaw gerrymandering, guarantee the right to vote, and finally attack campaign finance reform. In any case, it is the only way to keep ourselves in the fight to save the Republic. We’re losing that fight by the day; we’d damn well better admit it and adjust accordingly. Now.
Efforts to insure leaders of the opposition party be targeted to lose their votes should be a top priority. Party leaders losing their right to vote can be a tactic pursued to make the issue front and center to put it to an end.
Not much can be done on a federal level. There's more to the Ohio story.
Former Ohio Secretary of State John Husted who was involved in caging and was the subject of the Husted v Randolph SCOTUS case was appointed to the senate by Republican Ohio Governor Mike De Wine despite his notoriety..
The Ohio nuclear bribery scandal was operative at the same time SCOUS heard the Husted case, is a political scandal when electric utility company FirstEnergy paid roughly $60 million to Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) organization purportedly controlled by Speaker Householder in exchange for passing a $1.3 billion bailout for the nuclear power operator.
According to prosecutors, FirstEnergy poured millions into the campaigns of 21 candidates during the 2018 Ohio House of Representatives election, which ultimately helped Householder replace Ryan Smith as Republican House speaker.
In July 2019, the House passed House Bill 6,[a] which increased electricity rates and provided that money as a $150 million per year subsidy for the Perry and Davis–Besse nuclear plants, subsidized coal-fired power plants, and reduced subsidies for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Governor DeWine signed the bill the day it passed. This bill was described as the "worst legislation yet" among bills that subsidize fossil fuels by Leah Stokes and the "worst energy bill of the 21st century" by David Roberts of Vox.
Even before the bribery scandal came to light, the financial connections between Larry Householder and FirstEnergy were public knowledge. These ties dated back to during the 2016 United States presidential election, with Cleveland restauranteur Tony George as the intermediary between Householder and FirstEnergy executives. In addition, Householder and his son flew on a corporate jet owned by FirstEnergy to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Consumer advocates and the natural gas industry tried to place a ballot initiative on the 2020 ballot to overturn the law but were unsuccessful due to negative campaigning by Generation Now.
On June 16, 2021, members of the Ohio House of Representatives voted to remove Larry Householder from the House.[14] The seat representing the 72nd House District was filled by Kevin D. Miller, a former State Highway Patrolman.[15]
A year after the news officially broke about the scandal, on July 22, 2021, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced that FirstEnergy would be fined $230 million for their part in it. Vipal J. Patel, the acting U.S. Attorney, said that this was the largest criminal fine ever collected by the Southern District.[16][17] On December 30, 2022, FirstEnergy agreed to pay a civil penalty of $3,860,000 to the United States Treasury.
In March 2023 Householder was convicted of participating in racketeering conspiracy[20] and later that year sentenced to the maximum term of 20 years in prison.
The Cleveland Browns announced on April 13, 2023, that the team and FirstEnergy had come to an agreement to immediately terminate the naming rights deal for the Browns' stadium, known as FirstEnergy Stadium since 2013, restoring the stadium's original moniker of Cleveland Browns Stadium The naming rights deal would have normally expired in 2029.
Sam Randazzo, the former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, was implicated and charged for accepting a $4.3 million bribe in connection with the scandal,[24] and committed suicide on April 9, 2024.
In 2025 HBO released a two-part documentary about the scandal called "The Dark Money Game"
Michigan has had three governors over the last 40 years who were Dems. That is 24 years of Dems getting more votes. Yet for all but 2 years of the last 40 years, Republicans controlled the State legislature. How? Gerrymandering by Republican governors after the censuses. Once, they even gerrymandered to eliminate the seat of David Boniers, a Democrat they could never beat. When Whitmer was elected, instead of gerrymandering to take back seats from the GOP, Michigan passed a ballot proposal (opposed by the GOP) to assign redistricting to a citizens committee made up of equal numbers of Republicans, Democrats and Independents. That’s the Dems, just wanting to be FAIR, instead of fighting back.
The GOP has been gerrymandering for DECADES. Even now, Newsom and others are saying they will gerrymander IF Texas does. No ifs. Time to fight back. Quit bringing a knife to a gun fight. Based on who the GOP does things for (the rich and corporations) they only way they have and can win, is by lying (via the media) and cheating (voter purges, voter suppression laws and gerrymandering). They lie and cheat very well. Time for the gloves to come off. I always use the Bill Clinton approach with my Republican colleagues: Quick response. Quickly Debunk their BS talking points with the facts, then counterpunch. They don’t bring things up anymore and I’ve brought a couple over to our side. Fight.
Here are 100 protest signs. More are coming, and these are being improved every day, so sign up for more.
This moment demands protest. To each it should be unmistakable—urgent and morally unassailable. I speak for justice, duty, and shared humanity. Act now. We must protect the disadvantaged. Rise. We have many protests to do. Good trouble. Restack these 100 signs to spread the wealth. Others need to be armed.
Just like healthcare, voting in America has turned into a snarled mess that will be extremely hard to unravel but we need to start, state by state. If Democratic gerrymandering is necessary, do it. But if it is successful we need to work to make sure it can never happen again. Perhaps AI could be used to draw fair maps instead of being used maliciously.
Fight fire with fire? I'm afraid most Dems wouldn't recognize fire if they were walking through it barefoot. And if the Republican schemes, gerrymandering, purging of voter rolls, etc., don't work, there will be armed thugs at polling places to guarantee election integrity. You know what "integrity" means, don'cha? It means getting the desired result. Got it?
I'm thinking of "The Last Boy Scout" (1991), which stars Bruce Willis.
A running back named Billy Cole (not Bruce) receives a threatening call during a football game.
So, under the influence of PCP, Billy draws a .45 pistol as he runs down field. He then shoots several defensive players, which clears a path to the end zone, only to shoot himself dead, once there.
In my opinion, Billy = The GOP.
They are, for all intents & purposes, dead. But . . . They don't know it.
They're not unlike Bruce Willis's other character, child shrink Dr. Malcolm Crowe, at the end of "The 6th Sense."
Good analogy. And what good will it be for the Trump family to create a privatized crypto fortune that is pegged to the dollar when they crash the economy, and the dollar has no value?
The 1st {?} Family of GRIFT is neither moral nor bright. If they do blow up the USD as the world's reserve currency, they'll likely wind up like Mussolini and his mistress.
Democrats are at least 17 years late to the party and damn well better catch up soon if they want to win the House (or Senate) in next year’s election. The history — and lack of Democratic response — is shocking.
THE HISTORY AND LACK OF DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE IS SHOCKING!
I asked this question once before - ARE THE DEMS IN ON IT? Can someone come up with another explanation for this deliberate inactivity for their own constituents and party. I can't.
So - all the protests and signs in the world won't hold up if THE DEMS ARE IN ON IT..
Feldman - I’m with you. We are here today because of Dems and Repubs. Couldn’t have happened without the Dems help. Sitting on your hands, wringing your hands, taking the high road, head in the sand, looking the other way are all designed to deflect responsibility, just like thoughts and prayers. There are real warriors for democracy, just not many are the democrats in Congress or our state legislatures. The addiction of position and power overrides the sting of reality.
We are outspent, and it's as simple as that. The Koch Bros, standing alone have more money to spend than the entire party. They started in the 1970's, as "Libertariams."
I donate to Common Cause, with limited funds, has been fighting in virtually every state. We have had a problem since inception. I go back to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1968. Trees and cows outvote people in most states.
You are always exactly right, Professor Hartmann. Democrats need to get real busy like yesterday. GOP people love to vote suppress because they can’t win any other way.
We must disenfranchise those who believe some lives are better than others, and would cause the early demise of those they deem to be lesser than they are or undesirable. It is a matter of self-defense and, therefore, justified.
Time for a pause to raise a subject that everyone, has floated by.
Trump is on his revenge tour, but the one person he is not seeking revenge against is Merrick Garland.
More than anyone, Merrick Garland is responsible for the fiasco that is Trump 47, he didn't investigate the perps of Jan 6 in Congress, he moved the documents case to Florida and he choose Aileen Cannon as the judge, and that is for starters.
Thanks I wish that had been publicized back in 2020, Liberals and leftists fell for the old reverse psychology ploy, of defending someone or some one because the other side is against it
My opinion of Garland is based on what he didn't do, and who vetted him (Orrin Hatch) and who he worked for (Federalist Society)
Obama is lionized by the left but is in fact responsible for today's mess, because of what he did do, and what he didn't do
But I will give him a break, he was an a naif, when he took the oath, and the wolves, like Larry Summers, fell on him like fresh meat, but not Biden he had three decades inside the beltway, knew where the bodies were buried and who really ran things, yet picked Garland for AG.
Yes, I agree. I think Obama, also because he was the first black president, felt more of an obligation to follow the status quo. I mean he couldn't even wear a tan suit without everyone getting bent out of shape. :)
arshambow, Obama was elected because he promised the most important issue in the U.S. : single payer health care as a " public option." It was supported by over 2/3 of voters for decades. He was also supported because the public loved an appealing, handsome, charming, golden-voice man from humble beginnings.
But it was the humble beginnings which in the end, did him in. He had no independent power base to rely upon. He had no lengthy past in government during which he could have built up a support group and become familiar with where the toilets are located in the capital. He had no personal wealth. He had no wealthy oligarchs to fall back upon. He began as a community organizer in Chicago; which is why the public trusted him and the oligarchs feared him.
Our republic worked just well enough to place a good man in the White House. But he was a naked man whom the system dropped into a pit of vipers.
Yes, arshambow, he was, according to the current popular view of Americans, Black, or what in my youth was called Negro. I purposely avoided that subject because it is a completely different issue; one I view from the vantage of cultural anthropology. I grew up in Detroit, and because it was a large Negroid and Caucasoid city, I came of age in a mixed milieu. I learned that, in an objective sense, "race" is a faux subject.
I was proud to observe my fellow "White" citizens finally could see through the false lens of race and elect the better man. Twice.
I understand that it is common today to compare our present difficulties with interwar, Weimar Germany. But, even though I have made this comparison myself at times; I believe we shall not follow the same path as the Germans.
There was that, but then again it is the modus operandi of the GOP to try and make an issue out of everything, to scandalize even a blink of an eye. This what they do, this is how they behave.
Democrats are at fault for responding to them and going on the defense.
Do what Republicans do, ignore or double down. Everything about Trump has been criticized, do you think that he goes on the defense or changes.
His ties are too long, has he changed them?Nope;
He gets criticized from behavior X, his response is more outlandish behavior Y.
The Signore Report wrote an article today:The real reason Trump is afraid:
But the takeaway from it is "Democrats are addicted to losing. even Buttigeg and Newsom are competing to be Republican light
In the context of his 1948 Democratic Convention Acceptance Speech, Harry Truman alluded to the idea that when voters are presented with a clear choice between authentic and inauthentic options, they will favor the genuine article.
In 2024 the voters chose the genuine article,or thought that they did
Yes arshambow, thank you for that Kendzior article. I suspect that all this hoopla about the "eventual", "possible," "future", "revelation" by the "Epstein files" shall turn out to be parallel with the Mueller report. I big zero, zed, nothingburger. Another example of stalling a problem into the fog of lost issues.
I agree Mr Dobbertin, that the Epstein files will go the way of the Mueller Report, Trumps 34, felonies, his two impeachments, the classified documents case, and all other scandals, but not because they are nothing burgers, but because the "system" is in the tank for Trump
Those with money, thus power, thus influence have had Trump's back, he is not a powerful individual, but his backers are.
Yes they should if... legal. If the GOP don't have immunity for malfeasance, Dems can charge them for multiple transgressions. The GOP have no problem arresting DEMS for trying to do their jobs the public sent them there to do. MALFEASANCE HAS TEETHS.
"If the Democrats’ goal is to prevent the 2026 and 2028 elections from looking like those in Hungary and Russia, they need to be raising absolute hell and get on the ball quickly. Time’s a-wasting…"
I feel like the "If" of this statement carries a lot of weight. I'm not convinced I know who the Democratic party as a whole are trying to represent right now. It's nice to see Newsome say some words, but if the party is serious about reversing Trumpism, it will necessitate action - unified action that is decisive, swift and crushing. No holds barred.
I didn't ask to arrive in such an ugly time, yet here I am. And just as the world is not as I'd like it, so too are the strategies which I believe we must embrace in this moment. Yesterday's decorum is quickly amounting to consensual extinction.
Since. the Republicans are corrupt — and gerrymandering is just that — then the Democrats should be as well! Great...
One-party rule can not be democracy. Criminalizing or marginalizing the other side, whichever that might be, is not democracy. Disenfranchising millions is not democracy. Becoming the enemy one despises is not a viable solution but we need to remember that not all problems have solutions. I see three pathways forward: 1) Acquiescence, accepting treasonous behaviors as the new normal while hoping the ICEstapo doesn't kick in the door at 3:00 AM and haul us away for thoughtcrime; 2) Resistance, up to and including full-scale revolution, though with the overall listless behavior of the general public — they'd rather play on their phones than think — is unlikely; and finally, 3) Dissolution, acknowledging that the country is no longer united and letting the disparate parts go their own way to reassemble — or not — however they see fit.
The first is unacceptable, the second a difficult but conceivably attainable goal, and the third perhaps the most rational of the three: Marriages fail all the time, in part because of unbridgeable differences and/or an unwillingness to enter into dialogue. We as a country are definitely at that point and I don't see the other side wanting to discuss serious issues with an open ear and the goal of reconciliation. If free and fair elections are going to be impossible then perhaps it's time to go our separate ways.
And just as a friendly reminder of how we started...
...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security....
Gerrymandering, rigging and sterling elections results in the suffering and premature deaths of millions. When the government is no longer of, by, and for the people it's time for a major change of tactics. Was it unethical for people to lie to the Nazis concerning where Jews were hiding? Not by my standards. Taking away healthcare, food, and making the homeless break unjust laws by sleeping on the streets and in parks is unethical.
My favorite Anatole France quote: "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread".
The Repugnican disdain for integrity is matched only by their disdain for democracy and the right to vote. Expecting them to behave honorably is like expecting a tiger to practice veganism. So absolutely “yes”. Turnabout is and must be fair play. A strong dose of their own medicine might just bring them to the table to outlaw gerrymandering, guarantee the right to vote, and finally attack campaign finance reform. In any case, it is the only way to keep ourselves in the fight to save the Republic. We’re losing that fight by the day; we’d damn well better admit it and adjust accordingly. Now.
How utterly depressing....
Efforts to insure leaders of the opposition party be targeted to lose their votes should be a top priority. Party leaders losing their right to vote can be a tactic pursued to make the issue front and center to put it to an end.
Not much can be done on a federal level. There's more to the Ohio story.
Former Ohio Secretary of State John Husted who was involved in caging and was the subject of the Husted v Randolph SCOTUS case was appointed to the senate by Republican Ohio Governor Mike De Wine despite his notoriety..
He did it in the face of "likely the largest bribery, money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio" against the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives Larry Householder and four others with racketeering. See Wikiipedia and https://www.commoncause.org/ohio/resources/a-cycle-of-corruption-a-timeline-of-the-householder-hb6-scandal/
The Ohio nuclear bribery scandal was operative at the same time SCOUS heard the Husted case, is a political scandal when electric utility company FirstEnergy paid roughly $60 million to Generation Now, a 501(c)(4) organization purportedly controlled by Speaker Householder in exchange for passing a $1.3 billion bailout for the nuclear power operator.
According to prosecutors, FirstEnergy poured millions into the campaigns of 21 candidates during the 2018 Ohio House of Representatives election, which ultimately helped Householder replace Ryan Smith as Republican House speaker.
In July 2019, the House passed House Bill 6,[a] which increased electricity rates and provided that money as a $150 million per year subsidy for the Perry and Davis–Besse nuclear plants, subsidized coal-fired power plants, and reduced subsidies for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Governor DeWine signed the bill the day it passed. This bill was described as the "worst legislation yet" among bills that subsidize fossil fuels by Leah Stokes and the "worst energy bill of the 21st century" by David Roberts of Vox.
Even before the bribery scandal came to light, the financial connections between Larry Householder and FirstEnergy were public knowledge. These ties dated back to during the 2016 United States presidential election, with Cleveland restauranteur Tony George as the intermediary between Householder and FirstEnergy executives. In addition, Householder and his son flew on a corporate jet owned by FirstEnergy to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Consumer advocates and the natural gas industry tried to place a ballot initiative on the 2020 ballot to overturn the law but were unsuccessful due to negative campaigning by Generation Now.
On June 16, 2021, members of the Ohio House of Representatives voted to remove Larry Householder from the House.[14] The seat representing the 72nd House District was filled by Kevin D. Miller, a former State Highway Patrolman.[15]
A year after the news officially broke about the scandal, on July 22, 2021, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced that FirstEnergy would be fined $230 million for their part in it. Vipal J. Patel, the acting U.S. Attorney, said that this was the largest criminal fine ever collected by the Southern District.[16][17] On December 30, 2022, FirstEnergy agreed to pay a civil penalty of $3,860,000 to the United States Treasury.
In March 2023 Householder was convicted of participating in racketeering conspiracy[20] and later that year sentenced to the maximum term of 20 years in prison.
The Cleveland Browns announced on April 13, 2023, that the team and FirstEnergy had come to an agreement to immediately terminate the naming rights deal for the Browns' stadium, known as FirstEnergy Stadium since 2013, restoring the stadium's original moniker of Cleveland Browns Stadium The naming rights deal would have normally expired in 2029.
Sam Randazzo, the former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, was implicated and charged for accepting a $4.3 million bribe in connection with the scandal,[24] and committed suicide on April 9, 2024.
In 2025 HBO released a two-part documentary about the scandal called "The Dark Money Game"
Flash - Ohio update. Sherrod Brown just announced he'll run against Husted.
https://www.10tv.com/video/news/local/ohio/sherrod-brown-plans-to-run-for-us-senate-in-2026-sources-tell-cnn/530-2892eae9-a5ed-474c-9ede-e285e2dcd7f2
Michigan has had three governors over the last 40 years who were Dems. That is 24 years of Dems getting more votes. Yet for all but 2 years of the last 40 years, Republicans controlled the State legislature. How? Gerrymandering by Republican governors after the censuses. Once, they even gerrymandered to eliminate the seat of David Boniers, a Democrat they could never beat. When Whitmer was elected, instead of gerrymandering to take back seats from the GOP, Michigan passed a ballot proposal (opposed by the GOP) to assign redistricting to a citizens committee made up of equal numbers of Republicans, Democrats and Independents. That’s the Dems, just wanting to be FAIR, instead of fighting back.
The GOP has been gerrymandering for DECADES. Even now, Newsom and others are saying they will gerrymander IF Texas does. No ifs. Time to fight back. Quit bringing a knife to a gun fight. Based on who the GOP does things for (the rich and corporations) they only way they have and can win, is by lying (via the media) and cheating (voter purges, voter suppression laws and gerrymandering). They lie and cheat very well. Time for the gloves to come off. I always use the Bill Clinton approach with my Republican colleagues: Quick response. Quickly Debunk their BS talking points with the facts, then counterpunch. They don’t bring things up anymore and I’ve brought a couple over to our side. Fight.
Here are 100 protest signs. More are coming, and these are being improved every day, so sign up for more.
This moment demands protest. To each it should be unmistakable—urgent and morally unassailable. I speak for justice, duty, and shared humanity. Act now. We must protect the disadvantaged. Rise. We have many protests to do. Good trouble. Restack these 100 signs to spread the wealth. Others need to be armed.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/100-free-protest-signs?r=3m1bs
Just like healthcare, voting in America has turned into a snarled mess that will be extremely hard to unravel but we need to start, state by state. If Democratic gerrymandering is necessary, do it. But if it is successful we need to work to make sure it can never happen again. Perhaps AI could be used to draw fair maps instead of being used maliciously.
Fight fire with fire? I'm afraid most Dems wouldn't recognize fire if they were walking through it barefoot. And if the Republican schemes, gerrymandering, purging of voter rolls, etc., don't work, there will be armed thugs at polling places to guarantee election integrity. You know what "integrity" means, don'cha? It means getting the desired result. Got it?
I'm thinking of "The Last Boy Scout" (1991), which stars Bruce Willis.
A running back named Billy Cole (not Bruce) receives a threatening call during a football game.
So, under the influence of PCP, Billy draws a .45 pistol as he runs down field. He then shoots several defensive players, which clears a path to the end zone, only to shoot himself dead, once there.
In my opinion, Billy = The GOP.
They are, for all intents & purposes, dead. But . . . They don't know it.
They're not unlike Bruce Willis's other character, child shrink Dr. Malcolm Crowe, at the end of "The 6th Sense."
Good analogy. And what good will it be for the Trump family to create a privatized crypto fortune that is pegged to the dollar when they crash the economy, and the dollar has no value?
The 1st {?} Family of GRIFT is neither moral nor bright. If they do blow up the USD as the world's reserve currency, they'll likely wind up like Mussolini and his mistress.
There's an argument they're doing it on purpose to make $trump become the world's currency.
If dum-dum believes that skeevy crypto pos of his, is in the running to become the WRC, I'll give him a price on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Democrats are at least 17 years late to the party and damn well better catch up soon if they want to win the House (or Senate) in next year’s election. The history — and lack of Democratic response — is shocking.
THE HISTORY AND LACK OF DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE IS SHOCKING!
I asked this question once before - ARE THE DEMS IN ON IT? Can someone come up with another explanation for this deliberate inactivity for their own constituents and party. I can't.
So - all the protests and signs in the world won't hold up if THE DEMS ARE IN ON IT..
You bastards are so quick to falsely accuse. Lots of Dems have the scars to show for it. What the hell was Trump v Gore?
But for the Ohio situation in 2006 Kerry would have been president.
This is not an explanation for the lack of democratic response. Sorry!
Feldman - I’m with you. We are here today because of Dems and Repubs. Couldn’t have happened without the Dems help. Sitting on your hands, wringing your hands, taking the high road, head in the sand, looking the other way are all designed to deflect responsibility, just like thoughts and prayers. There are real warriors for democracy, just not many are the democrats in Congress or our state legislatures. The addiction of position and power overrides the sting of reality.
That's NOT what happened.
We are outspent, and it's as simple as that. The Koch Bros, standing alone have more money to spend than the entire party. They started in the 1970's, as "Libertariams."
I donate to Common Cause, with limited funds, has been fighting in virtually every state. We have had a problem since inception. I go back to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1968. Trees and cows outvote people in most states.
Unfortunately sued but lost -- due to miscarriages of justice.
You are always exactly right, Professor Hartmann. Democrats need to get real busy like yesterday. GOP people love to vote suppress because they can’t win any other way.
We must disenfranchise those who believe some lives are better than others, and would cause the early demise of those they deem to be lesser than they are or undesirable. It is a matter of self-defense and, therefore, justified.
Time for a pause to raise a subject that everyone, has floated by.
Trump is on his revenge tour, but the one person he is not seeking revenge against is Merrick Garland.
More than anyone, Merrick Garland is responsible for the fiasco that is Trump 47, he didn't investigate the perps of Jan 6 in Congress, he moved the documents case to Florida and he choose Aileen Cannon as the judge, and that is for starters.
Here's the history on Merrick Garland
https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/servants-of-the-mafia-state?triedRedirect=true
Thanks I wish that had been publicized back in 2020, Liberals and leftists fell for the old reverse psychology ploy, of defending someone or some one because the other side is against it
My opinion of Garland is based on what he didn't do, and who vetted him (Orrin Hatch) and who he worked for (Federalist Society)
Obama is lionized by the left but is in fact responsible for today's mess, because of what he did do, and what he didn't do
But I will give him a break, he was an a naif, when he took the oath, and the wolves, like Larry Summers, fell on him like fresh meat, but not Biden he had three decades inside the beltway, knew where the bodies were buried and who really ran things, yet picked Garland for AG.
Yes, I agree. I think Obama, also because he was the first black president, felt more of an obligation to follow the status quo. I mean he couldn't even wear a tan suit without everyone getting bent out of shape. :)
arshambow, Obama was elected because he promised the most important issue in the U.S. : single payer health care as a " public option." It was supported by over 2/3 of voters for decades. He was also supported because the public loved an appealing, handsome, charming, golden-voice man from humble beginnings.
But it was the humble beginnings which in the end, did him in. He had no independent power base to rely upon. He had no lengthy past in government during which he could have built up a support group and become familiar with where the toilets are located in the capital. He had no personal wealth. He had no wealthy oligarchs to fall back upon. He began as a community organizer in Chicago; which is why the public trusted him and the oligarchs feared him.
Our republic worked just well enough to place a good man in the White House. But he was a naked man whom the system dropped into a pit of vipers.
And he was Black.
Yes, arshambow, he was, according to the current popular view of Americans, Black, or what in my youth was called Negro. I purposely avoided that subject because it is a completely different issue; one I view from the vantage of cultural anthropology. I grew up in Detroit, and because it was a large Negroid and Caucasoid city, I came of age in a mixed milieu. I learned that, in an objective sense, "race" is a faux subject.
I was proud to observe my fellow "White" citizens finally could see through the false lens of race and elect the better man. Twice.
I understand that it is common today to compare our present difficulties with interwar, Weimar Germany. But, even though I have made this comparison myself at times; I believe we shall not follow the same path as the Germans.
I am an optimist, in the end.
There was that, but then again it is the modus operandi of the GOP to try and make an issue out of everything, to scandalize even a blink of an eye. This what they do, this is how they behave.
Democrats are at fault for responding to them and going on the defense.
Do what Republicans do, ignore or double down. Everything about Trump has been criticized, do you think that he goes on the defense or changes.
His ties are too long, has he changed them?Nope;
He gets criticized from behavior X, his response is more outlandish behavior Y.
The Signore Report wrote an article today:The real reason Trump is afraid:
https://www.signorile.com/p/the-real-reason-donald-trump-is-afraid
But the takeaway from it is "Democrats are addicted to losing. even Buttigeg and Newsom are competing to be Republican light
In the context of his 1948 Democratic Convention Acceptance Speech, Harry Truman alluded to the idea that when voters are presented with a clear choice between authentic and inauthentic options, they will favor the genuine article.
In 2024 the voters chose the genuine article,or thought that they did
Truman said
I agree, we need more voices like Mamdani, Newsom, Buttigieg, AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Pritzker. The Democratic Party really needs to change.
Yes arshambow, thank you for that Kendzior article. I suspect that all this hoopla about the "eventual", "possible," "future", "revelation" by the "Epstein files" shall turn out to be parallel with the Mueller report. I big zero, zed, nothingburger. Another example of stalling a problem into the fog of lost issues.
I agree Mr Dobbertin, that the Epstein files will go the way of the Mueller Report, Trumps 34, felonies, his two impeachments, the classified documents case, and all other scandals, but not because they are nothing burgers, but because the "system" is in the tank for Trump
Those with money, thus power, thus influence have had Trump's back, he is not a powerful individual, but his backers are.
Yes, Mr. Farrar, I wish I had stated it the way you did. Your response is what I actually meant to indicate.
Yes they should if... legal. If the GOP don't have immunity for malfeasance, Dems can charge them for multiple transgressions. The GOP have no problem arresting DEMS for trying to do their jobs the public sent them there to do. MALFEASANCE HAS TEETHS.
I want to say “No!” but if it’s the redistricting to gain more seats, do it. But, if it’s illegally taking away an individual’s right to vote? No!
You said, "But, if it's illegally taking away an individual's right to vote? No!"
What is legal is being decided by the oligarchy to rig the system.
And this, right here:
"If the Democrats’ goal is to prevent the 2026 and 2028 elections from looking like those in Hungary and Russia, they need to be raising absolute hell and get on the ball quickly. Time’s a-wasting…"
I feel like the "If" of this statement carries a lot of weight. I'm not convinced I know who the Democratic party as a whole are trying to represent right now. It's nice to see Newsome say some words, but if the party is serious about reversing Trumpism, it will necessitate action - unified action that is decisive, swift and crushing. No holds barred.
I didn't ask to arrive in such an ugly time, yet here I am. And just as the world is not as I'd like it, so too are the strategies which I believe we must embrace in this moment. Yesterday's decorum is quickly amounting to consensual extinction.
Return Fire.
It doesn’t matter. Democrats have no idea and no plans to do anything about it if they do win. They are completely ineffective.
Since. the Republicans are corrupt — and gerrymandering is just that — then the Democrats should be as well! Great...
One-party rule can not be democracy. Criminalizing or marginalizing the other side, whichever that might be, is not democracy. Disenfranchising millions is not democracy. Becoming the enemy one despises is not a viable solution but we need to remember that not all problems have solutions. I see three pathways forward: 1) Acquiescence, accepting treasonous behaviors as the new normal while hoping the ICEstapo doesn't kick in the door at 3:00 AM and haul us away for thoughtcrime; 2) Resistance, up to and including full-scale revolution, though with the overall listless behavior of the general public — they'd rather play on their phones than think — is unlikely; and finally, 3) Dissolution, acknowledging that the country is no longer united and letting the disparate parts go their own way to reassemble — or not — however they see fit.
The first is unacceptable, the second a difficult but conceivably attainable goal, and the third perhaps the most rational of the three: Marriages fail all the time, in part because of unbridgeable differences and/or an unwillingness to enter into dialogue. We as a country are definitely at that point and I don't see the other side wanting to discuss serious issues with an open ear and the goal of reconciliation. If free and fair elections are going to be impossible then perhaps it's time to go our separate ways.
And just as a friendly reminder of how we started...
...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security....
Gerrymandering, rigging and sterling elections results in the suffering and premature deaths of millions. When the government is no longer of, by, and for the people it's time for a major change of tactics. Was it unethical for people to lie to the Nazis concerning where Jews were hiding? Not by my standards. Taking away healthcare, food, and making the homeless break unjust laws by sleeping on the streets and in parks is unethical.
My favorite Anatole France quote: "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread".