Over the last 24 hours since Justice Kennedy announced his retirement, a popular form of political fan fiction has sprung up and is racing across the intertubes. Here’s an example:
Narrator Voice: “It doesn’t.”
Murkowski, Collins, Capito- they might all say they support Roe, but none of them are going to need an abortion any time soon and that’s just shit they say to give them a thin veneer of moderation. I mean, it works enough to fool Chris Cilizza and other idiots in the media, but if they gave a flying fuck about abortion rights they’d have voted against Gorsuch. They didn’t. They’d have voted against Alito. They didn’t.
But what about Jeff Flake, who has already been stalling judicial nominees over tariffs? Maybe this is his time, people speculated. Maybe he and McCain will finally have the courage of their convictions?
How about no?
“My goal here is not to block judges. My goal is to get a vote on tariffs, and I have all the leverage I need with circuit court nominees,” he said. The Supreme Court “is unaffected. I have all the leverage I need. I certainly wasn’t anticipating a Supreme Court vacancy, but it’s unaffected.”
Has there ever been a US Senator with a more apt name?
But, but, the Democrats can fight. And stand together. And not give in. And really stick together and not give in and fight.
A.) They won’t. Heitkamp or Manchin or one of the blue dogs will vote with Trump, nullifying any Republican holdouts (of which there won’t be any, anyway).
B.) Even if they did stick together, they are in the minority, AND THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO.
The simple fact of the matter is we are WELL AND TRULY FUCKED and THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE. The damage to the country caused by the Supreme Court appointees will not be even addressed most likely until long after you and I are dead. This is going to take generations to undo. As will all the rest of the crap being done under Trump. The gutting of the EPA and State and virtually every other agency is not something that can just be fixed overnight if a Democrat wins in December. Expertise and experience don’t grow on trees.
So basically, all the good shit you like about this country? You might as well pretend it does not exist anymore. IN at least half the states in the country, abortion is going to be illegal. LGBTQ rights will be removed. As we saw in NIFLA v. Becarra, some religious groups (WHITE CHRISTOFACISTS) will have extra free speech privileges and protections. And on an on.
It’s fucking gone and there ain’t nothing you can do about it in the short term. With the greenlight from SCOTUS this week, we should expect a full on assault on voting rights, expect unions to be killed off in short order, and christ it’s so depressing I’m done listing shit BUT IT IS ALL FUCKING GONE.
The only solution is long term. And that means we need to act accordingly, and expect setbacks and failures, and not expect things to be fixed overnight. Hell yes, you should still be in the streets protesting. Yes, you should be calling, writing, emailing your congressman. But most of all, what you need to do is vote. In every election. This shit needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. And it is going to take a long, long, time. States won’t purge their voter rolls or gerrymander their districts if the legislature and the Governor are in the right hands.
There is no quick fix. There is no fucking savior. There is no fucking Santa Claus. All you have is each other, a righteous anger, and for now, the vote. Use it. Deal with the current reality, but don’t give up. Never give up. Make the motherfuckers kill you. But don’t give them an inch.
TenguPhule
In brighter news, Sarah Sarandon was arrested at a protest.
EBT
Expecting them to at a minimum go through and undo all the name/gender changes done with social security as well. Also rescind passports for trans folks.
TenguPhule
Sad, but true.
/in before accusations of gloompron
TenguPhule
Cart before the horse?
efgoldman
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
VOTE!
There is no fucking other way.
Righteous rant, John.
Mai naem mobile
I usually come here and feel better. Not today and not yesterday. Thanks a lot Cole.
Fuck Feckless Flake.
MagdaInBlack
I’m not giving up, because its not my nature, but sweet jesus I’m glad I’m old.
Kraux Pas
I wonder if the Republicans are going to respond by immediately passing all sorts of heinous legislation that wouldn’t have passed muster with the Supreme Court before while they still have strong majorities across the country or if they’ll wait til after the election to try to mitigate potential blowback.
TenguPhule
@Kraux Pas: As soon as Kennedy’s replacement is sworn in, the gates of Hell open.
lamh36
Uh huh…run coward…run
James E Powell
This was evident on November 8 2016. Everything that has happened since was inevitable. We can lament, we can snipe at each other, we can do all manner of unproductive things that seem to let us vent our rage, but we cannot change the fact that RW extremists control the government and they have the unshakeable support of about 40% of the country.
chopper
@TenguPhule:
don’t tell me, she was protesting why hillary hasn’t been arrested yet.
matk k
You are right. To quote former Bucs coach John McKay “It doesn’t get any lower than this and it’s going to get a whole lot worse.”
efgoldman
@lamh36:
Somebody tweeted thots’nprayers on his behalf.
Mary G
Yep. I could probably qualify to move to another country, but I’ll be damned if I will. My teens and I just finished making posters for Saturday’s march. They follow the news way more than I did at 14. They know what has to be done.
TenguPhule
@chopper: Immigration detention protest.
Ben Vernia
Three steps:
1. Win the House (and Senate?) in 2018.
2. Win the White House (getting/keeping Congress) in 2020.
3. Pack the Court.
Jeffro
No more saviors.
And none needed. We, the people, are gonna get this done in November and never let up on these scum, ever again.
TenguPhule
@Ben Vernia: But who will bell the cat?
Ohio Mom
I ALREADY vote. Always have.
With a couple of local exceptions, in exceptional circumstances, way in the past, I have always voted the straight Democratic ticket. Nowadays I wouldn’t even make those exceptions again (not that either of those two Republicans did any harm on City Council).
I call and write my Congressmen, I throw bucks here and there, I’ve helped out in campaigns — I am freer nowadays to do most of these things because my kid is older and doesn’t need quite as much attention.
So what is left for me to do? I think that is the same question for all of us here.
Hungry Joe
DO NOT GIVE UP. Other counties have had it worse, and for longer. Japan and Germany were mired in a military dictatorship and all but unimaginable Nazi horror, respectively, and after the war were in literal ruins. They rebuilt their countries, and their societies. Look at them now. We can’t do the same? We should throw up our hands and assure each other that we’re fucked? Well, short-term, fine, we are; medium-term, maybe. So we quit, because it’s just too damn depressing?
Okay — goddam right it’s depressing. I’m depressed as hell. But I’m mad as hell, too. And I’m going to work like hell, and fight like hell, to help make things right again.
(What’s REALLY depressing is that all of a sudden I have to keep re-entering my nym and info every time.)
Pogonip
Cole, there’ll be a beautiful full moon tonight. If it has stopped raining in West-by- God-Virginia, why not sit on the edge of your swamp—er, your yard—and enjoy it?
We’re lucky, it’ll be a clear night in Upper Pogonippia, so we’ll be sitting on our postage stamp—er, in our yard—enjoying it. ?
germy
Kraux Pas
@TenguPhule:
It takes time for cases to wind their way through the courts and Trump nominees will have a fast pass in the Senate. Why wait?
Mai naem mobile
I saw a tweet earlier. The story is at Financial Times behind a pay wall that Anthony Kennedys son Jusitn Kennedy is a banker at Deutsche Bank who worked closely with the Trumpov family. You can’t make this shit yp. Remember Deutsche Bank got away with a relatively small fine for all their money launderling shit.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ohio Mom:
Don’t lose heart. Remember that there are more of us.
rikyrah
Good rant.
ICAM, Cole.
ItAintEazy
I’ll repeat others in this thread: court packing.
Either that, or impeachment for perjury during confirmation hearings.
Mary G
Somebody’s afraid of being sued:
efgoldman
@germy:
Fuck you, feckless, brainless asshole.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
We are going to throw these motherfuckers out. We are going to throw them in jail if guilty. We are going to unseat Supreme Court justices, or expand and pack the court. And… I am going to fucking dance a jig on their graves when they pass, hopefully in prison. Unless they’re smart enough to request burial at sea, which they aren’t.
germy
@Ohio Mom:
Help register new voters.
We’ve helped some recent high school graduates with the registration process.
EBT
@efgoldman: It got missed in the other thread because I was late, but a thot is a woman who enjoys sex. Just so everyone knows how hilarious that looks to me.
burnspbesq
Country going to hell?
It all started when the damn frame appeared on my iPad. Get rid of that shit, and Merrick Garland writes all the opinions.
germy
@Omnes Omnibus:
Drumpf’s last rally was held in a high school auditorium.
EBT
@Ben Vernia: Winning enough states and forcing a constitutional convention might be easier.
efgoldman
@EBT:
NO!
You never know what would come out.
Mary G
Reporters who were not shot today are busy putting out the paper.
Quinerly
@Mai naem mobile: there was a big Politico piece last year on that.I remember reading it when it came out.Think Cheryl posted it in the comments of a thread yesterday.I will look for it for you.
chopper
@TenguPhule:
so hillary’s fault then.
Debbie(aussie)
I am so sorry!
Please FSM let us not follow in your footsteps. We don’t have the not voting problem(compulsory), but as to voters actually being informed, ooh boy do we. Same issue as you guys, voting against their best interests, far too much racism and xenophobia, along with all the isms & phobias. Bugger the world sucks. Not looking promising for the future of my granddaughter due in October.
Efg if your about; how are you, your granddaughter & family including future grandchild? Best wishes to you and them.
Just wanted to let you guys know that I have been coming to this here jackal space since 2007 and for a while was a Greenwald acolyte ?. No more! You have made me realise how important incremental change is, getting involved. Thanks for your intelligence your occasional bickering and your obviously genuine love for each other for all the worlds peoples and last but not least, the pets ?
Edited to correct errors
Ohio Mom
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: I understand there is a lot of paperwork involved in a burial at sea — it’s not easy to do, legally. Take heart in that.
@germy: Good point! I’ve done some registering to vote/making sure people got to the polls informally, among friends and acquaintances but I could definitely step that up. I need to find a local group.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Amen. We need to forget about quick fixes, or about some amazing savior who can win the presidency and save us all. This is up to us. We need to take a cue from people like John Lewis. He got beaten almost to death, but he never gave up. He got hosed down and he didn’t give up. He saw people he had counted on turn their backs on him and tell him he and his uppity friends were getting ahead of themselves, and needed to be nicer and take what they were given, and he did not give up. If ever there has been a time for white people like me to take a lesson from Black Americans, it is now.
As you say, this is long haul, baby. White liberals have a shitty way of thinking that with every election we win, that should be the end of it. Everything should be better now. All our problems should dry up and blow away on the wind, and when they don’t, what do we do? We turn on the very people who are working to make the little headway we are making. We have to stop that shit, and boy, I mean like now. We are in this for the long haul, and the sooner clueless, white liberals like me let this sink deep into our thick skulls, the better.
moonbat
Hate to say this first here, but Harlan Ellison has died at age 84. He was, buy all accounts, a dick in person, but, damn, that man could write.
Marcopolo
So I hope every BJer who is physically/ economically able will be joining me & the other folks here who are already donating to & working on campaigns right now to flip House & hold Senate seats. I’ll be out knocking doors for Claire McCaskill & whatever Brendan Kelly’s (IL 12) wants me to do starting the first week of July. With any luck I’ll locate supporters & lose some weight in the process.
ALSO could we please have a dedicated Balloon Juice “Campaign Activity” thread once a week on Sunday or Monday night through the midterms so folks can report what they are doing, how it’s going, tell the story about the German Shepherd ripping through the screen door & chasing me down the street when I was canvassing? (Yes, that did happen). Please.
Hope everyone is finding ways to be positive, proactive in the face of our ongoing shitstorm.
The Ancient Randonneur
@Ben Vernia:
#4-DC and PR statehood.
Then the Dems have a lot better chance of maintaining a majority
Quinerly
@Mai naem mobile: Here’s the Politico piece I was thinking about: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/donald-trump-supreme-court-236925
germy
@The Ancient Randonneur:
After #45’s hurricane response, that would certainly be a blue state for generations to come.
debbie
@germy:
Oh, I’ve introspected plenty, sweetie, and you’re still a jackass.
schrodingers_cat
Sorry. Giving in to despair is a privilege that I don’t have.
John Lewis
Shana
I know TCM seems to have been trolling with their movie schedule for the last year or so, and I also know it’s almost July 4th, but they ran “1776” this evening. A movie I’ve seen so many times I’ve lost count, but I was practically in tears at the end of it tonight. The bravery of those men compared with what we’re seeing in Congress now just feels especially awful after this week.
p.a.
Drumpfists are setting up an event with the families of the murdered journalists, amiright?
NotMax
But the Great Pumpkin is real, right?
:)
Millard Filmore
@Mai naem mobile:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210805122
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/donald-trump-supreme-court-236925
[and Quinerly is faster than me]
B.B.A.
Someday we will rebuild. I’ll be protesting on Saturday, and every week until doomsday if need be, I’ll vote and encourage all two of my liberal acquaintances to, but it’s pissing in the wind.
For now, I am the Fisher King, wounded and impotent, my castle in ruins, my kingdom a wasteland.
lamh36
Marcopolo
@Ohio Mom: Drag a few friends along. Tell them you’ll match a donation or that you’ll take them out for ice cream or a beer after canvassing together. And I think you get like 10,000 extra points if you can get any folks under the age 25 indoctrinated into becoming politically active & working on Dem campaigns.
But seriously, thanks for all you are doing—including being a role model for the folks around you.
Platonailedit
@germy: Spoken like a typical blame the victim rethug. What a feckless arrogant pos.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Projection: it’s not just for Republicans anymore.
debbie
@germy:
Clever. The cheers echoing off the walls make the crowd seem bigger.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@efgoldman: Maybe he was briefed on the political inclinations of the shooter.
NotMax
@moonbat
Some discussion of that in the Breaking : Shooting… thread downstairs a ways.
debbie
@debbie:
Larger, not bigger.
JimL
There is nothing magic about the number 9.
Marcopolo
@Shana: Blythe Danner is amazingly gorgeous in that movie as Jefferson’s wife, Martha. And she still is!
Shana
@Marcopolo: So true.
B.B.A.
No, Mueller won’t save us either. He’s an old-school Republican who hates us hippies and abortionists more than anyone except the Russkies. He’s just our temporary ally because we happen to be up against the Russkies.
Mnemosyne
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
@schrodingers_cat:
I don’t believe in Santa Claus, but I do believe in John Lewis. He and the other elders of Civil Rights can show us the way if we will stop and listen.
People literally died so every American could vote. Not voting is spitting on the graves of every one of those martyrs.
Scamp Dog
@TenguPhule: None of this is “bell the cat” level of danger. There are no extraordinary, heroic actions required. Get people registered and get them to the polls. Granted, the third item, packing the court, won’t be easy, but if we can get the first two to happen, it’s worth fighting for.
Platonailedit
Now that the traitorous thug’s ugly lies and rants against the media have taken its toll, will the media minions get serious at least now and stop covering the fugly’s ass?
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
Yes. Dejection is understandable – and mutable. Despair is throwing in the towel.
efgoldman
@B.B.A.:
He has been a republican. The rest is fact free assertion and assumption. spelled b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t
MomSense
I have kids so quitting is not an option for me. The young people will win. I’m going to do everything I can to help.
germy
@Mary G:
When will journalists stop asking that asshole for his opinion?
lamh36
NotMax
Repeating, because there is no way – zero, zilch, goose egg – this was coincidental
DHS Agents Interrupt Agency Whistleblower’s Interview With CBS
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Omnes Omnibus:
There are more of us. There will come a point when people will realize their government doesn’t represent them and is actively hurting them in obvious ways that can’t be spun away. At some point the system will become unsustainable. This nation was founded on rebelling against tyrannical government. Why is this any different?
hueyplong
GOPers quoted above aren’t cowards. They actively want these things and are simply poor actors at pretending not to.
As for Sarandon, I find introspection equally as painless as noting what a self-centered and clueless person she is. Her continued inability to learn a single thing from the last 2 years is an inspiration to the Chris Cillizzas of the world.
geg6
I’ve been in a deep despair since seeing the Kennedy news yesterday. But you’re right, John. I will pick myself up from the floor, brush off my knees and start moving forward again. I just wish I was younger going into this fight. I’m too old for this shit, but I don’t have a choice. Mother fuckers have to be defeated.
Mary G
This must be a nightmare, the waiting to hear from people:
ETA: I had to click a captcha to submit this comment to show I’m not a robot? WTF?
debbie
@lamh36:
A photo of that child climbing up on the defense table should be blown up and put on every poster in every march.
schrodingers_cat
Mitch McConnell is an evil bastard but he didn’t give up because Obama won the WH and Ds controlled both the House and Senate. Rs have abandoned the usual rules, that doesn’t mean we throw our hands up in the air and say we give up.
Calouste
The only thing Collins is looking for is plausible deniability. She knows every “Supreme” Court nominee is going to lie his ass of during the hearings, she just doesn’t want to be embarrassed by anti-abortion rulings or articles becoming public before the confirmation vote.
SFAW
@hueyplong:
You just fail to appreciate sufficiently her purity.
?BillinGlendaleCA?
What? Now I’m going to be in therapy for years.
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
Co-sign
Mandalay
@germy: There are many public figures – particularly former politicians – who really need to do themselves and the world a favor by shutting the fuck up and going away, but Susan Sarandon has to be at the very top of that list.
Greg
There is no vote. The courts control the count and won’t count the votes. It’s all gone, the country died yesterday.
SFAW
@Calouste:
I think it’s simpler than that — she bets that most of the Maine electorate will either forget her quisling nature, or say “That’s our Suzie!” or some other get-out-of-jail-free card because she’s been there for so long.
I would love to be wrong, but human nature being what it is ….
lamh36
Platonailedit
SFAW
@Greg:
You forgot to use the “sarcasm” font.
Omnes Omnibus
@Greg: Do you know how vote counting works? Answer: no.
Thaddeu
Impeach Illegitimate Gorsuch
Impeach Illegitimate Gorsuch
Impeach Illegitimate Gorsuch
Impeach Illegitimate Gorsuch
Impeach Illegitimate Gorsuch
Impeach Illegitimate Gorsuch
Impeach Illegitimate Gorsuch
Vote to elect senators who will do that
Pack the court
Pack the court
Pack the court
Pack the court
Pack the court
Pack the court
Pack the court
Vote to elect senators who will do that There are no norms. Act like it. Play dirty.
joel hanes
@moonbat:
Harlan Ellison has died at age 84
Wonder if his estate will publish The Last Dangerous Visions.
Or at least release the rights to the authors whose work he bought and never published.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Greg:
Don’t you understand? We have too long of a democratic tradition to just transform into an autocratic state without a fight. There are too many people who care and they won’t be able to keep control forever.
burnspbesq
@Greg:
Bullshit. Get the fuck out of the way so we can do what needs to be done.
bluehill
Winter is coming – now I get it. If polls voted, this could be a short winter after November, but unfortunately only humans and perhaps Russian bots get to. That means the group of apathetic, they-haven’t-come-for-me-yet eligible voters could decide if winter gets worse before spring finally comes.
Major Major Major Major
@Mary G: would you rather have robots? Because that’s how you get robots.
NotMax
@Calouste
A shock collar keyed to operate when the phrase “I won’t respond to hypotheticals” ought to be considered
rikyrah
@lamh36:
Oh lamh????
Those poor babies
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Robots or efg? I’m thinking…..
different-church-lady
@James E Powell:
That’s what I’ve been thinking. Why is everyone acting suddenly surprised? It was inevitable and it was already obvious on election night.
TenguPhule
@Kraux Pas:
Kennedy could still change his mind. What little is left of it.
DCrefugee
@B.B.A.: Mueller’s investigation now is meaningless, insofar as seeing indictments of Agent Orange and other potential co-conspirators is concerned. The successful nominee will most certainly have an oath of loyalty extracted from him/her during an Oval Office visit and once on the Court will vote to protect not only that oath from disclosure but Agent Orange and all his flying monkeys from any sanctions for their misdeeds, up to and including pardoning himself or anyone else. Even if Mueller indicts Agent Orange or merely issues a subpoena, Agent Orange will fight it in the courts and win, thanks to the partisans in the majority on the highest court in the land.
The most plausible scenario I see right now is that the court vacancy remains an issue up to and past the midterm elections, pumping up the GOP base to go to the polls and counter the Blue Wave. In the very unlikely event Dems take the Senate, it’ll be too late — the nominee will be voted onto the court in mid-November in a lame-duck session and there won’t a damn thing we can do about it until we have a Dem president and Dem-majority Senate again.
We are well and truly f*cked. It was a good ride…
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
I welcome our new digital overlords.
Aleta
About Murkowski, Collins, Capito, Flake. The media enjoy the word “transactional.” As in “the Trump doctrine/ world view/ method is transactional.” They’ll stand on principle until he reaches the right combination of pain, cover and sugar.
Also Collins’ staff seem to be undercutting her, maybe their own ambitions or out-of-state influence they can’t refuse. From the start she was manufactured, so there were pressure points on the image, but now she’s just a shell game.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@DCrefugee:
Oh fuck off
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Now if only our elected representatives would stop playing by the old rules of the game and thereby pissing off the Democratic voting population.
Adapt or die.
NotMax
@Thaddeu
Packing the court for obviously political ends is a terrible, terrible idea (not to mention short-sighted). The repercussions 10, 20, 100 years down the road are too appalling to contemplate. The statue of Lady Justice stands on a plinth, not a trampoline.
lamh36
SFAW
@?BillinGlendaleCA?:
A Doonesbury from long ago, just for you.
TenguPhule
@DCrefugee:
And then lots of people get hurt. Most of them Republicans.
sgrAstar
Leaving a comment about Bob Mueller: I have never met Mueller, but family friends- liberals- know him well. They say he is “brilliant” and honest. Also a relentless prosecutor. Republicans of his vintage can be described as agnostic on abortion; plenty of older repubs like my parents actually supported abortion rights in the olden days. Your comments above are baseless.
DCrefugee
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Which part?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@matk k:
Two words “Woodrow Wilson” it CAN and HAS gone a lot lot damn lower in the US, we don’t have citizens denouncing each other as traitors, race riots and a police state were no matter how white and born in the USA you could be deported like under the Wilson admin.
If the country can survive Wilson who had an actual brain we can survive fucking Trump and these reactionaries. History is not on their side. There are things that can’t be undone. Yes, there was Jim, Crow, but they never could just reenslave blacks again like Wilson oh so desperately wanted to.
randy khan
@TenguPhule:
Any chance they’ll deny bail – permanently?
Greg
@SFAW: wasn’t intended as sarcasm. Didn’t count the votes in Bush v Gore. No reason to count them now.
caramine
@Debbie(aussie):
Based on what I remember of the Stolen Generation, the refugee “processing centres,” One Nation, etc., we appear to be following in yours. On the plus side, if it keeps up there may be Milo and reasonable gun regulations in our future.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@NotMax:
This isn’t for “political” ends. The Republicans are a fascist party and are enemies of American democracy. They have to be defeated at any cost or else we won’t have a country left.
randy khan
I’m going to say two contradictory things: I suspect Cole is right (well, more than suspect). Still, I’m going to act like he’s wrong. The only chance to make him wrong is to push, push, push on every lever until there are no more levers to push. So that’s what we need to do.
And, you know, stuff can happen. The pee pee tape (yeah, I know it probably doesn’t exist); some Republican Senator in a state with a Democratic governor could die or be exposed as a Unitarian or go hiking the Appalachian Trail. So we fight.
NickM
I was always a big one for civility and comity and trying to meet somewhere in the middle. Never again. You can’t do that with death cult fascists and that’s what we’re dealing with.
JPL
@lamh36: Well the pres did say that the news was the enemy of the people. What I found interesting was his twitter feed was empty for years until the pres’s MN rally where the press was the enemy. Rile up the base or what.
EBT
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: It’ll start slow. Harassing immigrants (already doing that), conditioning people to the idea some people aren’t human. Probably change enforcement priorities away from rational threats that most people would think warrent investigation to ones that target groups on the other side politically (already did that one). Keep an eye on them revoking trans people’s IDs and passports along with forced legal detransition. Not many folks like us and, like foreign folks and criminals, we can be done away with without much fuss from the general public.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@DCrefugee:
Pretty much all of it. Defeatist bullshit.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Your definition of political differs vastly from mine.
randy khan
@James E Powell:
I guess I’m going to be a designated not-as-gloomy-as-Gus person. Yes, terrible things have happened, and more will happen. But activism has had an effect. The travel ban got watered down; the ACA repeal did not pass (and enough Dems were elected in Virginia that we now have Medicaid expansion in the Commonwealth, after 4 years of Republican stonewalling); public pressure made the Administration pull back, at least some, on tearing children from their parents’ arms at the border. It makes a difference.
hilts
@Shana:
Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and their Republican colleagues in Congress are mental midgets. They don’t belong in the same sentence as the founding fathers.
FDR’s VP, John Nance Garner, said the Vice Presidency was not worth a bucket of warm piss. As far as I’m concerned, all of the Republicans currently serving in Congress combined are worth far less than a a bucket of warm piss.
A Ghost To Most
Fuck you, Susan Saradonova.
You are Natasha to Bernie Badanov.
efgoldman
@B.B.A.: @DCrefugee: Two posts slagging Mueller from two different trolls. Russbots, maybe?
SteveNKY
JC, I’m in your camp.
Right now I’m struggling to find forgiveness or a small sense of camaraderie for anyone who could not bare to vote for HRC. Bernie dead-enders, African-Americans, gays, manufacturing folks in Ohio “not votin’ that bitch”, the lot-of-’em.
Lessons are learn the hard way. There is going to a lot of hurt and pain in the years ahead.
By next summer, abortion will be somewhere between illegal and prove the cluster of cells is less than six days old. From Safe, Rare, Legal to Illegal, Unsafe and Hidden.
Any voting rights/protections left after Roberts killed the VRA are over by Fall 2019.
DOMA will be finished by Fall 2019.
That leaves how do the Constitutional Orginalist justices (the block of white, male, Federalist Society coached, “who me?” a racist bigot with fascist tendencies) find ways to unwind all the progress since the passage of the 19th Amendment.
There are plenty. The Constitution was created for white, male property owners. Any assumption or belief held by a person not in that defined group is wrong. Your rights are now transitory.
Why hasn’t the Equal Rights Amendment passed? Why are GOP’ers trying to exempt rural areas from Medicaid work requirements? Why do bakers get to openly discriminate?
This court will broaden the disparity in rights. My son is/will remain in the white, male (inherited) property owners club. Two of my nephews should be fine too. But my niece won’t be. Women already know they don’t have the same rights men. My third nephew is mixed race. He will not enjoy the rights and protections my son will. No minority will.
I have looked at my son the last two days thinking your cousin may never, in his lifetime, have the same rights and privileges you will enjoy. Decades will this court rule their lives
My son knows I am upset but not sure why. How do you even explain this to an 11 year old.
It is heartbreaking.
Sophie Montane
I’m terrified. I mean sick to my stomach terrified. I woke up tonight (my schedule is turned around) and the full force of the craziness in the news just hit me. Within 30 minutes of getting online I discovered that some maniac has gunned down people at a newspaper, that Maxine Waters has received a serious death threat and is cancelling a public appearance, that Sean Hannity is nonetheless blaming Maxine Waters for the murderous rampage at the newspaper (because she has said that social shaming of the Trump Nazi Regime is appropriate, and it is).
Hundreds of women were arrested on Capitol Hill for a peaceful protest demanding that the Trump Nazi Regime stop kidnapping children and putting them in concentration camps.
In the midst of an ICE whistleblower giving an interview to a reporter, an ICE squad actually burst in to intimidate them like a bunch of goddamn Gestapo agents.
Trump’s possible pick to replace Anthony Kennedy and continue the wholesale Republican theft of the Supreme Court is Mike Lee, a walking absurdity. The Court just spent the last week striking down protections we’ve relied on for decades/centuries, and with Kennedy retiring, basic human rights are next.
With the Supreme Court transformed into a pure GOP operative, and the GOP itself wholly committed to fuck-the-Constitution and fuck-the-rule-of law insurgency, will it ever be possible to rein in Trump?
A Republican congressman jokes about how everybody tampers with elections.
Trump is reported to be trying to destabilize the European Union (he is, this is true) and is planning his big meeting with his control, Putin.
The White House issues a 14-word statement that is not the exact 14 words but sure as hell is a 14 word dogwhistle.
Shit is fucked up. My almost-80-year-old mother, for the first time in her life, is asking aloud about moving to Canada.
Calouste
@NotMax: Good chance of course that the shitgibbon will praise the nominee’s anti-abortion credentials to the high heavens during the initial presentation. Despite being advised not to do so. Which will make Collins’ game a little harder.
TenguPhule
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Well, we don’t have real race riots yet. Other then that, all of the above exist in one form or another.
Although the police state is still not set in stone.
debbie
@lamh36:
When and how did they identify the shooter?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@EBT:
Seems to me the general public is paying attention and generally engaged.
Spanky
@randy khan:
I’ve been musing over what happens if (when?) Putin decides Trump is more of a liability than an asset. How he burns him could prove very interesting. I don’t think the peepee tape is going to be a factor at all, btw.
TenguPhule
@randy khan:
Sorry to rain on your parade.
The travel ban still got the stamp of approval from 5 corrupt judges and set precedent that Trump can abuse the power at his command, brag about it and his bragging can’t be used against him in a court of law.
The ACA is being increasingly sabotaged by Trump’s appointees to increase premium costs and destroy mandated coverage of all conditions.
They’re not pulling back on the children separations. They’re just avoiding the spotlight now because all this other shit broke during the week.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Sophie Montane:
If shit hits the fan, the scary part is I’m not sure there is anywhere that one can flee to.
TenguPhule
@Spanky: Putin arranges a russian retirement for Trump. US government devolves further into chaos as the sudden unexpected death is blamed on godless liberals by God-Emperor Pence.
TenguPhule
@Sophie Montane:
They’re out of room for asylum seekers. No more applicants being accepted.
Calouste
@debbie: Couple of hours ago via facial recognition. He didn’t have an idea on him, but that didn’t mean his picture wasn’t in the DMV database.
Wonder whether the guy is just a sovcit nutter or whether he tried to delay id’ing himself to let accomplishes get away.
waysel
@schrodingers_cat: All caps to JC’s email is most effective. Where’s Goku?
Jeffro
132
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Could you please just shut the fuck up?
Spanky
@debbie:
Anne Arundel County Police responded within 60 seconds of the 911 call. The guy still had the shotgun in his hands.
ETA: Oh! By name, eh? Never mind.
?BillinGlendaleCA?
@Pogonip: Good idea, this was the Strawberry Moon last night.
hilts
Cole, this was one of your most eloquent and powerful rants to date. I hope some future historian who writes about Trump long after all of us are dead discovers Balloon Juice to get a flavor for what opponents of this lunatic President were thinking and feeling while he was doing everything possible to destroy our nation.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@waysel:
What’s that supposed to mean?
NotMax
@Spanky
Who needs urine with all the sh*t the Shirtless Czar’s got to smear him with?
Mai naem mobile
@Quinerly: how did i miss this? The only thing it doesn’t mention is Deutsche Bank. I have a feeling the FT story is more detailed than the Politico piece.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Optimism based on things that are not true is not a good starting position.
Step 1 to getting out of a hole. Realize you are in the fucking hole.
Step 2: Then stop digging.
hilts
Cole,
This rant of yours is priceless. I hope some future historian writing about Trump long after we’re all dead discovers Balloon Juice to see what his opponents were thinking and feeling while he was busy trying to destroy our nation.
J R in WV
@Mary G:
OMG that’s the best paragraph I’ve read in a very long time. Brings tears to my eyes. That’s the kind of newsroom I grew up in. If the giant electric motor that drove the 3-story Goss press burnt up, or the power was out, take the plates to the nearest newspaper plant, and run it all night long to have newspapers to pass in the morning.
Most newspapers have a reciprocal agreement with nearby competitors to do press runs for each other in an emergency, or they did. You always publish, no matter what, it’s a proud tradition. And that’s the wonderful point this young man is making!!
SFBayAreaGal
Black and brown people don’t have the luxury of giving into despair. They have been fighting injustice and evil for over 250 years. Come on some of us white people is exhibiting white privilege here.
ellie
Well, I am never, ever, ever going to give up. I will be a thorn in a side to the powers that be until the end of my days. I suspect there are a lot of people like me out there.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Too bad that doesn’t describe me. At all.
SFAW
@Greg:
Well, you’ve certainly convinced me with your powerfully logical argument. So I guess the only thing to do is blow my brains out.
You know, I (sometimes) get dumped on for being a (sometime) doomsayer, but you get me beat by about 100 to 1. On the other hand, at least my cynicism makes sense
Aleta
@debbie: Facial recognition on license and IDs I read.
He carried no identification and had damaged his finger tips in an apparent effort to thwart identification by law enforcement, sources said. Authorities resorted to using facial recognition software and comparing his face to databases of passports and driver’s license photos.
B.B.A.
@efgoldman: If I blame Bernie for all the world’s ills, will you like me again?
opiejeanne
@germy: Dear Lord, that bitch. She’s the one in need of introspection.
EBT
@TenguPhule: OK I am doom and gloom (just call me Cassandra) but even this is a bit far out there. It’ll be much more banal than that. Something like how I said. Give it a year and see who is in the camps.
opiejeanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank you. The WASF guy is really getting to me tonight.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Nah, you’re just an asshole and a Jets fan.
ETA: But I repeat myself.
opiejeanne
@schrodingers_cat: And thank you for those words from that good man.
Chris Johnson
@DCrefugee: Some of you are Russian trolls. They’re cheap, and it’s not actually that difficult to go to countless online places and figure out the particular angles that will fuck up those particular people the most. Right now it’s ‘depress the libs’, probably with a side order of ‘the hard left did this to us’ and definitely with a heaping shovelful of ‘40% of the country are psychotic traitors out to kill us all’.
Bullshit. 40% of the country got promised that Trump would give them their jobs and their economic security back. This is an opportunity, because the fucker is actively attacking US business now.
Because I guess he is in fact outright working for Putin, and that is how you demoralize and make desperate THAT group: go ‘you didn’t clap hard enough, you will be punished, no jobs for you!’. And the goal is to make everybody individually desperate and fighting each other.
Because if we get together and are collectively desperate, we might have more in common than you’d think. Why is Trump not filling stadiums if people are that in love with his message? You can’t get around that destroying America necessitates making ALL us bitterly warring factions fail and lose. This is not about making the Republicans win or be powerful. It’s a trap and they’re not meant to enjoy their power.
If necessary, Putin will gloat and take credit for it all, at the point where it’s necessary to shiv Trump and reveal the whole charade. There will be no successful, dominant ruling Republican tyranny, and it wasn’t about making America ‘great’, even in the eyes of wingnuts. It’s a trap.
Mai naem mobile
So on my twitter feed was about a fed judge Amul Roger Thapar is on Trumpov’s list for USSC. He would be the first South Asian on the USSC and only the second South Asian fed judge. Anybody know anything about this guy. Also can Trumpov stop.nominating South Asian Americans for anything. This is personally very embarrassing for me. He’s gone past the quota for South Asians kn high positions with Raj Shah, Seema Verma and Ajit Pai. Also Scott Pruitts spokes moron is Indian American. Anyhoo, Thapars middle name is Roger which makes me think he’s Anglo indian unless his parents pronounce it as Raja and spell it as Roger to americanize it. I believe Dinesh D’Souza is Anglo indian as is Russell Peters. Schrodingers Cat probably has more info. I’ll leave it at that.
waysel
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Reference to a couple tone police dust ups around here that I found “annoying”. Small of me , but irresistible. I suppose we’re all near the end of our ropes, in our own special ways.
Peale
@Aleta: plus, he lived there. I mean, it sounds like he harassed quite a few people. I don’t think it would have taken long to figure out who he was.
burnspbesq
when they kick in your front door,
how you gonna come?
opiejeanne
@TenguPhule: What is your purpose here? You’re running around with your hair on fire and likely to set the building ablaze. Stop it.
Just Stop It.
Volunteer for something, join a political activist group, join the protest this weekend. Find something useful that will help, and then tell us about it. We already KNOW how bad it can get because many of us are in the groups that will be targeted and we remember what it used to be like. WE KNOW the potential for harm.
schrodingers_cat
@Mai naem mobile: Nope, no idea whatsoever.
ETA: Dinesh D’souza is a Catholic from Goa. I don’t think he has any English blood. Indian Christians have biblical names or those of Christian saints. They don’t have to be Anglo-Indian for that.
The only Thappar I know is the historian Romilla Thappar.
Amul is a popular brand for butter. Utterly Butterly delicious.
NobodySpecial
@ellie: This was my first thought today. Looks like it’s time to make some people’s lives hell.
Mnemosyne
@Greg:
Thank you for sharing, commenter we’ve never seen before. How is the weather in Moscow today?
mainmata
@James E Powell: Not true. They have the unshakable support of considerably fewer than that 46%, now, 1.5 years after the election. Also many actual eligible Americans didn’t vote. We have to remember that when we genberalize about the ignorant and lazy. They may not be Trumpers.
A lot of apparent Trumper votes were against HRC and not for Trump. I think his true hardcore support is the traditional 27% of insane fascists in this country. This is not the same as conservative GOP voters, which seem to be in the mid-thirties. All the rest of the electorate (not to mention those that aren’t engaged) are in play. Especially because Trump and the GOP Congress are just such wrecking balls.
Very few people are alive who remember what life was like in the Depression, which is what the GOP wants to return to. My aged but active Mom is one of them, which is why she has been a lifelong Democrat and seethes about Trump.
Resist. It’s all we got.
debbie
@Calouste:
Thanks.
I’m going with him being a sovereign citizen. Facial recognition, etc. are beyond them.
opiejeanne
@burnspbesq: It was the Cubs winning the WS
SFAW
@burnspbesq:
My hands won’t be on my head
reid
I know I ain’t the oldest person here, but I’m about to turn 50 and don’t like talk of “long term solutions”. That means I’ll be living the rest of my life through the problems. And yet I know you’re right. Can decent people finally feel motivated to get out in large numbers?
Major Major Major Major
@opiejeanne: hear hear.
Tengu, come on, even Goku thinks you’re being ridiculous.
Mnemosyne
I am now feeling that strange freedom that people were talking about on the morning threads. I’ve been dreading the worst since the Reagan years, and now the worst is here.
And my thought is, These motherfuckers have no idea what they’ve decided to go up against.
They want civil war? They’ve got it. Fuck them. They can kill me, but they can’t win.
Mnemosyne
@reid:
Have you seen today’s news from DC? Similar stuff is going down here in Los Angeles right now.
And the protest proper doesn’t happen until Saturday.
NotMax
@schrodingers_cat
Ghee whiz!
:)
Major Major Major Major
@opiejeanne: David Bowie was singlehandedly holding consensus reality together.
Amir Khalid
@caramine:
If you like malted chocolate drinks, it’s marvellous what Milo can do for you.
reid
@Mnemosyne: I hadn’t, but thanks for the word. I do have some hope.
schrodingers_cat
@NotMax: That’s Amul’s slogan.
EBT
Cishets still at it! https://twitter.com/transscribe/status/1012516769603489798
Peale
@TenguPhule: no. Really. It was watered down. The one they considered was the third one. Which unlike the first two exempted LPLs and a few other categories. I know it’s small potatoes, but I think the first one would have gone down 7-2. Like it or not, the executive has broad powers to deny entry at the border. I knew when the third one came out it would probably pass through. That we have a lout in charge who will probably close borders a dozen times against an ever revolving set of enemy countries until no one even bothers to book a trip to Disneyland…well, we can do something about that. ICE and CBP need their powers decreased, sure. But I’m not surprised that immigrants who were outside the country or in the process of applying were SOL
It’s going to be up in the air what can and can’t be done to immigrants and visitors within our borders. This wasn’t about that. Roberts took a tool away from them. They can no longer use internment of us citizens from japan as the basis for their claims. It’s not much, but it wasn’t this rubber stamp you make it out to be.
schrodingers_cat
@waysel: Fuck off.
waysel
@Mnemosyne: Word
?BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: The WASF’ed stuff around here is making contemplate joining Baud on the sidelines.
ETA: And then there’s having to enter my nym(etc) every fucking time.
randy khan
@TenguPhule:
I know you’re unable to see even the slightest bit of light, but I’m more accurate here than you are. You’re actually beginning to annoy me, and that’s pretty hard.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne:
I warned y’all at the time.
opiejeanne
@randy khan:
That made me laugh. Scared the cat.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Major Major Major Major: Are we sure it wasn’t Prince?
EBT
@Mnemosyne: I know that Portland PD dispersed the protestors blocking the ICE facility last night.
Major Major Major Major
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Prince was one of the first casualties.
Quinerly
@Mai naem mobile: Google “Kennedy’s son Deutsche Bank.” Bunch of stuff not paywalled. I’m on overload. Head fuzzy, in a pretty dark place personally. Stepping away for a bit.
Mnemosyne
@randy khan:
I’m definitely feeling this classic song today.
Shorter me: Fuckem. We outnumber them. Time to show them by how much.
jk
@moonbat:
I too was a fan of Harlan Ellison’s work. I don’t understand the need of some people to disparage someone’s personal character at the time of his/her death. Lots of creative geniuses had reputations of not being nice to friends and family members. As a fan of some of these individuals, I don’t give a fuck if they were mean or nice. The only thing that matters to me is that they created great art.
randy khan
@Peale:
Thank you. That’s exactly what I meant.
Genine
Honestly, all of the anger is helping me feel better. A lot of people were riled up immediately after the election and inauguration. It was nice but I didn’t put much stock in it. I figured people who wouldn’t be as directly affected by it all would eventually get tired and give up. The mood would shift from “This is terrible and must end” to “It’s such a shame. Oh, well, what can anybody do”. I was waiting for that shoe to drop but it hasn’t. Not only has the shoe not dropped there seem to be shoe factories sprouting up everywhere.
(Okay, maybe taking the analogy too far.)
Yes, this mess will take a long time to be fixed. Everyone seemed to be counting on Mueller but I knew it would take more than that and would take a much longer time than anyone thought. Now I feel an inkling of hope. Hope that the long arc will bend toward justice because so many people seem willing to fight.
Anger is often seen as a negative emotion, but it’s been giving me hope the last couple of days. I don’t feel so alone in this sea of despair.
BlueDWarrior
@Genine: I think people get to wrapped up in stopping the putative figurehead of how conservatism manifests that they forget to fight the whole movement.
That is what needs to change the most. Being a Republican in a diverse urban area should make you as much a political pariah as being a Democrat in the country.
Mnemosyne
@EBT:
They removed the ones who were actually on federal property, but about 100 more are still camped nearby off the actual federal site.
opiejeanne
@Major Major Major Major: That too. Damn him, why’d he have to go and die.
EBT
@Mnemosyne: Federal facility run on a privately owned site, just to be technical.
opiejeanne
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve gotten this PC to remember me for a 24 hour block, but only that. Had to tell it who I am again today.
The Mac may be doing the same, not sure because I didn’t post on it today.
randy khan
@opiejeanne:
My work is done.
joel hanes
@Quinerly:
in a pretty dark place personally
Take care of yourself, and know that someone is thinking good thoughts about you in your general direction.
If a few dollars would help, reply and we’ll figure out a way.
If not, I’ll anticipate your eventual return.
“They cannot conquer forever!” Frodo at the crossroads in Ithilien
joel hanes
Warned my esteemed cow-orkers today, one from Ethiopia and one from Turkish Cyprus, to check with all their extended families and friends and be sure to get everyone’s citizenship or immigration status as clean and robust as possible, because the shit is inches from the fan.
James E Powell
@mainmata:
I’m not talking about the 2016 election. I’m talking about his current approval. Today 538 puts Trump’s approval at 41.9%.
This is after weeks in which it was shown that Trump is taking children from parents and putting them in little kiddie prisons. This includes the story that there are children who are not accounted for. This includes the fact that no one will say where the girls and infants are. This includes the fact that Trump’s trade war is costing Trump voters money and jobs. This includes every outrage since the election. And he still has 41.9%.
Stop pretending that about 40% of Americans are ready to support him no matter what he does. We are really and truly up against it in a way that we have never been before.
The Truffle
@Ben Vernia: Also? Win lots of state races. As John pointed out, states in the right hands can protect voter rights. A lot of Governor races are being held this year. A lot of progress will depend on states going forward. I’m happy to live in New York at least.
People keep saying the Dems should pack the courts when they get back into power. Hey when they get back into power, they should play dirty. That goes for court packing, too.
In other news, Kirsten Gillibrand calls for ICE to be abolished. I love this woman.
Please tell me this is the start of a huge anti-GOP backlash. Please.
Peale
@joel hanes: yep. This is not the time to have a visa violation, that’s for sure. At the same time, while it sucks to be in DACA limbo, Congress doesn’t have the votes to change “the worst immigration laws in the world” either. From what I can tell, they are still processing naturalization claims and conversions. At some point, they probably will pass something to end “chain immigration”, but so far all they can propose is ending it for non-citizens only. And the democrats aren’t voting on that until they are actually allowed to negotiate the contents of the bill.
It really is important that we get the House back, though. On this issue, we are only going to be able to tread water for awhile. But for legal immigrants and non-immigrants who can adjust to permanebt status without hassle, I’d probably do that now for safety.
opiejeanne
@The Truffle: We’ve been invited to a brunch for our state senator who just won the special election a few months ago and I think we will go. The primary is August 7 and she’s the first Democrat this district has had in several years, first one since we moved here 8 years ago.
I believe in working to win the local elections as well as the big prize ones.
NotMax
@opiejeanne
Amen to that. Can’t compete in the big leagues without the farm teams.
Genine Tyson
@BlueDWarrior: It some cases, it does.
Joseph A. Miller
Here’s some things that people can do:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/28/1776410/-Want-to-Fight-Back-Venting-Does-NOTHING-Do-THIS-Instead-Take-a-Look
KSinMA
@SFBayAreaGal: THIS.
GregB
I recommend a 20 year term limit on the Supreme Court.
NotMax
@GregB
No thank you. The very possibility of any president appointing multiple (or conceivably all) Supreme Court justices at once is not at all pleasant.
gammyjill
Okay, Cole and others, things look bad at the moment – two Supreme Court picks – but please do not discourage the action-by-citizens that has sprung up since November, 2016. A friend and I traveled to New Jersey and then down to Washington by bus and marched in the Women’s March on Saturday, January 21, 2017. I saw and marched with hundreds of thousands of women – and men – peacefully, in the face of the Donald Trump presidency. Like millions of others, I’ve continued my advocacy against the Trump administration. I’m not praising myself, I just know what we have to do to take back our country. Yes, I sound like a “Tea Bagger”, but that’s, in effect, what I want to do. I WANT TO TAKE BACK MY COUNTRY.
I’ve seen people no longer willing to sit back and let things happen to them. The MSD students and families are a marvelous example of this. They didn’t sit back and mourn their lost friends and family members – they have organised rallies for gun control. I honestly don’t think those young people are going to retreat. They’re angry and a lot more of us are angry. I like the idea of shaming Trump officials in public. I think the more we call out their malfeasance, the better known it becomes and the more people are disgusted.
In four months we have major elections. Unless the Russians are able to “fix things”, I think the Dems have a good chance to regain power in the House, and maybe the Senate. And hopefully we will get the leaders we deserve – IF we’ve voted good ones into office. Dems are making inroads in state elections. But we have to move together to get Democrats elected – from Alexandia O-C in Queens to Joe Manchin in West Virginia. We have to allow districts and states vote the right Democrat to represent them.
I’m pissed, yes, but I’m not depressed. Yet, at least.
Aleta
We’re going to need state legislators and (a lot more) state laws that support environmental protection and regulation. Even though the EPA is being taken apart, and the SC may not support federal environ. regulation, that means former EPA lawyers and staff may be available to help state organizations write laws and target.
We need to go beyond the Constitution and require affirmative action policies where we work and go to school. As well as get affirm. action laws passed in Congress of course. With work, we can secure abortion rights (which majority of voters already support) and gay rights (likewise) and voting and civil rights without needing the SC and its interpretations. By state and in Congress. In the meantime we need to fund organizations that help poor women access abortion and help everyone without means access health care.
Sister Golden Bear
Well worth reading “We are the American majority and we will never surrender.”
Us LGBT people — and I suspect POC, but I’ll let them speak for themselves — have never expected the bending the arc of the moral universe towards justice to be easy. But yet we fight. And when necessary, we re-fight the battles we previously won.
My rights as trans person are already being methodically stripped away, without much mainstream attention. But yet I fight. Because ain’t nobody else gonna do it for me if I don’t do it myself.
terraformer
We know that election vote tampering has happened. As alarmed as I was about that – and still am, of course – I’m even more alarmed that there hasn’t really been any concerted effort or noise made for some kind of transparent investigation, identification, and rectifying of whatever holes and back doors exist in our voting system. I mean, the foundational issue is our voting integrity, right? And that seems quite suspect, at least to me, ever since really 2004 in Ohio.
Without free and fair elections, and apparently without the rule of law (in favor of the application of it), what do we have left to do? Is this a second Civil War? Not for the same reasons, although sadly not far from it – but for pretty much everything we’ve come to believe we stood for, and against ignorance, intolerance, and some kind of noxious mix of things that make a whole lot of people lack empathy and revel in despair for others.
Tony Russels II
That doesn’t just mean voting. It means voting with your head and not your heart, spleen, jerking knee, or “conscience.” It means voting for the candidate that you don’t absolutely love instead of the one that has no shot of winning.
Tony Russels II
@Sister Golden Bear: As a gay man, I will always do it for you OR alongside you, Sister.