Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

We will not go back.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / The Booker Filibuster (Open Thread)

The Booker Filibuster (Open Thread)

by | 190 Comments

This post is in: ,

Senator Cory Booker started a filibuster at 7 PM yesterday evening and is still holding the floor. USA Today:

“I’m heading to the Senate floor because Donald Trump and Elon Musk have shown a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people,” Booker posted on X earlier in the day.

“I am not going to stop speaking, I am not going to stop standing,” he said. “I am going to go for as long as I’m physically able to go.”

Once he took the Senate floor, Booker said the president has “inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy.”

“I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis,” he said.

Right now, Booker is tag-teaming with Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who’s asking questions and introducing topics to give Booker a break. They’re discussing immigration and private prisons. Here’s a live stream:

BTW, some critics on social media, including former senate staffer Gabe Garbowit on Bluesky, say this is all performative. They claim that if Booker and other Democratic senators were serious, they’d vote no on everything, object to unanimous consent and demand quorum calls — and keep doing that as long as Trump keeps breaking the law, which is theoretically forever?

Are those critics wrong? I don’t know. The circumstances seem to warrant a maximalist stance to me, but from my seat in the peanut gallery, the ways of the Senate are a mystery. Also, performative resistance isn’t nothing, inside Congress and outside of it.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    They claim that if Booker and other Democratic senators were serious, they’d vote no on everything, object to unanimous consent and demand quorum calls

    Bernie Sanders could deny unanimous consent to everything. He hasn’t done that. Since savvy online people trust him and haven’t attacked him for not gumming up the works, I can only assume that doing so would not be a productive strategy.

  4. 4.

    Nelle

    I’m at the “do something, do anything” stage.  A little tired of those offstage , saying “not this way, not that way.”

  6. 6.

    japa21

    Performative is important. One thing that has bugged me for years has been the let’s disdain for symbols. Mocking yellow ribbons, tote bags, etc. Symbols have power.
    What Booker is doing is a symbol and it could be powerful. But only if the media let’s people know about it.

  7. 7.

    Suzanne

    BTW, some critics on social media, including former senate staffer Gabe Garbowit on Bluesky, say this is all performative.

    Well, yeah, it’s performative. But IMO, that’s not a reason not to do it. If the last decade has taught us anything, it’s that lots of people want to see the performative aspects of politics. Otherwise they think the government has gone dark, and that creates a vacuum, and then bad actors fill that vacuum with bullshit.

    The truth is, even though I criticize Dem strategy and communications for being stuck in 1997…. I like many/most of our politicians and I welcome their efforts right now.

  8. 8.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Baud:

    Sanders isn’t a Democrat.
    Booker is.
    Booker is rendering a great service to his Party with this performance. It’s important that partisans and supporters see and hear an indictment of this disgraceful clusterfuck coming from a Party member in good standing. Good on Booker.
    His words and performance will steep, resonate and spread some hope for partisans beyond the walls of the Senate.

    Well done Senator Booker.

  9. 9.

    JerseyBeard

    Happy to see one of my Senators doing something positive. Performative actions in a propaganda war are just fine in my opinion. This will get attention.

    I’ve been wanting the dems to withhold unanimous consent this whole Congress. Not sure why they aren’t. But nothing is stopping them from starting that anytime. Maybe this is a ratcheting up of the pressure. Or maybe Booker just had an open Monday night. Either way, better to hear about this than whatever lawless dribble Elon’s First Lady is spouting.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Garbowit criticizes Sanders too. Maybe he’s wrong and there’s a good reason Dems and Dem caucusing independents don’t do that, but I haven’t seen the argument yet.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t know for strategy, but if they started doing that, what’s the demand they would make? Or would they just never stop and make Republicans change the rules.

    And would the media blame Dems even more and take the focus off Trump?

  13. 13.

    prostratedragon

    Comparison:

    Exiled Russian journalist Mikhail Rubin said last week there was little resistance when press rights began to disappear in Russia. “We did not resist for the small things.” Everyone was waiting for the worst to occur before resisting, but when it finally did they had already lost ability to resist.

  17. 17.

    Ten Bears

    It’s a good start, and everything is a tool, a weapon. As performative as it may be

    We go to War with the weapons we have, not the ones we wish we had. Anything can be a weapon; everything can be a tool. If we’re gonna’ save the country, save the world, if we’re gonna’ fight back, we have to use every tool available to us

    All I’ve asked for is ((( DO SOMETHING! ))) This is a good start …

  19. 19.

    dc

    @Baud: I can’t believe the rest of the Dem senators and allied independents aren’t scheduled to tag in and out until the rule of law is stops being a suggestion from the peanut gallery,

  20. 20.

    Baud

    All of these strategy debates typically assume one of two things when proposing action.

    1. The Republicans have no more cards to play in response.
    2.  The people will be inspired and rise up en masse against Republicans.
  21. 21.

    rebelsdad

    Performative resistance is better than no resistance at all. I applaud my former Senator and encourage the gutless ones I have now, Scott and Moody, to get a clue.

  22. 22.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Betty Cracker:

    Given the unbelievably arcane rules of the US Senate that is a rule to be devoutly thankful for.
    Next time the Dems have the numbers they should ensure the rules require the same exertion Senator Booker is exhibiting in order to prevent the ordinary democratic rule of 50% plus one to pass legislation.

    It is an anti democratic marvel, the lengths to which US representative democracy goes to prevent majority rule.
    Simply shocking at every level.

  23. 23.

    Suzanne

    @Ten Bears: I think those of us who follow this stuff (too) closely underestimate the value of inspiration and aspiration in political life. But those things are really the foundation of political capital.

    And we’re all a bit jaded and cynical due to what we have witnessed in the last decade, and that’s understandable, but I also think that we win when we can successfully harness these impulses for good.

  25. 25.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Suzanne:

    Yes, only fools or political naïfs underestimate the importance of inspiration and aspiration in mass politics. It is vital.

  27. 27.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: Yes, this is so much like the trillion-dollar coin.

    God, I’m so sick of Democrat-criticizing pundits.

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Garbowit says the ask should be an end to Trump’s lawlessness, which of course Republicans have no intention of doing. I suspect you’re right that they aren’t taking the maximalist stance right now because of the possibility of political blowback and taking the focus off Trump. Maybe they’re right about that, maybe they have a plan to ratchet the pressure up, etc., but I’ve never heard a senator or current staff make that argument. I’m curious about the thinking behind the current strategy, but of course no one in the senate is obligated to keep me informed.

  31. 31.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @different-church-lady:  Sadly, some political online commentators allegedly on “our” side are addicted to attacking Democrats. Ironically, these clowns don’t seem to understand that what they’re doing is “performative” as well. Worse, it’s divisive and counter-productive.

    Huh. I wonder if that’s the point….

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Garbowit says the ask should be an end to Trump’s lawlessness, which of course Republicans have no intention of doing

     
    That’s not a concrete ask.

    And short of impeachment, it’s impossible for even hypothetical honorable Republicans to enforce it.

  38. 38.

    gene108

    Dems need to do almost anything get attention to their ideas and/or highlight Republican failures.

    If this filibuster does it, that’s great.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Booker is back on the floor talking about Trump’s lawless behavior (e.g., meme coin corruption, illegally abolishing agencies, unconstitutional EOs, etc.) and asking “when will our Republican colleagues say enough is enough?” So that IS the ask.

    The question is how far they’re willing to go to bring it forward. Maybe Garbowit is wrong on strategy, but it’s not a crazy question, IMO.

  42. 42.

    Torrey

    People are using the word “performative” as if it’s inherently negative. That’s a complete misunderstanding of the value, rhetorical and otherwise, of performance. (“Rhetoric” in the traditional definition: “finding in any given case the available means of persuasion.”)

  43. 43.

    Suzanne

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Sadly, some political online commentators allegedly on “our” side are addicted to attacking Democrats. Ironically, these clowns don’t seem to understand that what they’re doing is “performative” as well. Worse, it’s divisive and counter-productive.

    There are parts of our coalition that drive me up the wall, but I do my best — and not always successfully — to STFU about it. Our pols have thick skins and they can take criticism, they signed up for it….. John Fetterman can deal with me saying that he’s wrong on the internet. But IMHO, the criticism of fellow Dem citizens is even more divisive and counter-productive. So I try not to do that.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    @Suzanne:

    I’m skeptical that anyone follows the rule that any criticisms of a politician is fair game while any criticism of people who aren’t politicians is out of bounds.

  46. 46.

    Jackie

    “Administration Error” my ass:

    “The Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing Monday that it had grabbed a Maryland father with protected legal status and mistakenly deported him to El Salvador, but said that U.S. courts lack jurisdiction to order his return from the megaprison where he’s now locked up,” The Atlantic reports.
    Abrego Garcia was deemed by an immigration judge in 2019 to be a likely member of the MS-13 gang — a decision Abrego Garcia sharply contested and that the government credited to information gleaned from a confidential informant. But the court also agreed at the time that he should not be deported to El Salvador, finding that his fear of being persecuted or tortured was credible.
    As a result of that determination, Abrego Garcia was released from custody and has been living in Maryland with his wife, a U.S. citizen, and child.
    He was arrested by ICE on March 12 and sent to El Salvador on March 15, where his wife recognized him in a video showing the shackled and shaven prisoners being arrayed by Salvadoran authorities.
    The Trump administration now says there’s nothing to do to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to U.S. custody. The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to reject a petition by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys to seek his return to United States custody, saying the Trump administration has no power to force El Salvador to facilitate that demand — and that the courts have no authority to issue such an order.

  47. 47.

    Aussie Sheila

    @rebelsdad:

    Good.

     

    @Betty Cracker:

    Senator Booker and his supporters are doing what Parliamentarians do. Performing opposition by inspirational speechifying.
    Is it sufficient to win the fight?
    No.

    Is it necessary for their supporters and partisans?
    Absolutely.

  48. 48.

    Mousebumples

    I might need to watch the Stackhouse Filibuster (one of my fave West Wing eps) tonight. Glad I’ve got the series on DVD.

    Go Sen. Booker!

    ***

    Different topic? Wisconsin voters, polls open at 7 am (until 8 pm) TODAY (no joke!). Please vote (or remind friends/family on Wisconsin to vote) for Judge Crawford, Jill Underly (Superintendent), and NO on the Constitutional Amendment. There are also likely local races (eg school board).

  49. 49.

    suzanne

    @Baud: I agree. I’m not perfect about it, either. But I think more people choose their political alignment based on squishy stuff than we’d like to admit. Part of that squishy stuff is seeing one’s own social cohort amongst the membership, not just the leadership.

  51. 51.

    Gvg

    They need to disband Doge and defang Musk. Anything we citizens can do to reduce his fortune will help. Also mockery and making him less powerful an influencer. Musk wanted the kind of power that Trump has. It’s why he bought Twitter. I think he watched the rise of Trump with envy. Also why he blew his own brand with a different type of demographic. So in a way he needed to latch onto Donald as much as Trump wanted and needed his money. But Congress could make some demands there to ban Doge and even investigate Musk contracts. I bet they could find some dishonest accounting to be reason to end the contracts and access penalties. If they found bad violations like stealing Americans private data, dealing with banned foreign entities, leaking classified info to foreign governments then I think they could justify confiscating SpaceX. Trump might even go along with that as he like something for nothing though I hate to remind him government can do that.

    The area I worry about now with Trump or his advisors now he seems to be a senile figurehead is a war declaration. I want Congress to preemptively declare we are NOT at war with Canada Mexico or Greenland and that the President has to get approval before any action involving them, with no exceptions for his suspicions and no exceptions for what is meant by “war”. This is to make certain orders to the military clearly illegal and they can know it.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    Also, too, I hate to say this about us, but I feel that our people will be more receptive to Dem action if they feel like they forced the Dems to take action. If Dems “led” from the get-go, people would be more likely to take it for granted.

  53. 53.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Jackie: The Trump administration now says there’s nothing to do to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to U.S. custody.

    They can grab anyone they want off the street, ship them to this Salvadoran prison, and then “there’s nothing we can do?”

    These motherfuckers…

  54. 54.

    Salty Sam

    @Baud: And would the media blame Dems even more and take the focus off Trump?

    This is a given in any situation.

  55. 55.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @zhena gogolia: that statement also ignores that Putin goes out of his way to make sure his base has no cause for complaint with him.  Even dictators have to be careful about their polling numbers.

  57. 57.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Baud: The OBVIOUSNESS of their lies and skullduggery simply boggle the mind.

    “We took him, we sent him away, but there’s nothing we can do to bring him back. And we’re not sorry, either.”

    “Oh well, this is what Americans* voted for…”

  58. 58.

    Suzanne

    @Professor Bigfoot: From what I have read, the government of El Salvador responded that they would happily return anyone to the U.S. if FFOTUS requested. So this is extra-evil.

  59. 59.

    tobie

    The only good trouble I can make right now is to protest on April 5th. If Senator Booker is inspiring people to engage in this collective action and the others that will follow, then he’s done good work.

    I’m so moved by the letters from constituents! They’re searing statements about how this admin has wrecked people’s live. Trump & Company have waged war against Americans.

  61. 61.

    Spanky

    Hmmmmmm.

    Virginia Giuffre — the woman whose story of sexual abuse as a teenager led to the reopening of the Jeffrey Epstein case — is fighting for her life as a result of a car accident in Australia.

    Giuffre on Sunday posted an Instagram photo of her in a hospital bed covered in bruises on Instagram, characterizing her injuries as life threatening. The 41-year-old California woman said she had been told she has four days left to live, according to the post, which was first reported by the British media.

    “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure,” she said. “They have given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist in urology. I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time …”

    Giuffre said she was struck by a speeding bus after she tried to swerve her car to avoid the collision. She did not say when or where the crash occurred.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @Professor Bigfoot:

    They really did. It sucks, but I’m not going to pretend we didn’t know of all the innocent victims who would suffer in Trump’s wake.

    I’m not going to scold anyone who is just realizing it for the first time, but I’m not going to lie to them about how foreseeable this was.

  67. 67.

    stinger

    This filibuster may force the media to show Democratic positions and talking points. For those who aren’t watching, Booker and his colleagues aren’t reading from the phone book, they’re talking about real issues and quoting form real constituents. It’s a great listen, and if media covers it at all, some of this will be aired.

  68. 68.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Dictators only care about their polls with either their personal security guards or their bankers or both. The people are ordinarily irrelevant, unless there is elite fracture or elite uncertainty in the face of palpable popular unrest.

    An important part of popular resistance is to drive elite uncertainty.

  70. 70.

    Soprano2

    @Nelle: I think they should do anything that gets good attention for Democrats and what we stand for, because contrary to popular belief we do stand for good things.

  74. 74.

    Deputinize America

    I am probably against the mainstream here, but I am and have always despised the filibuster. It’s performative, and it’s very existence exposes the simple truth that the Senate is the developed western worlds worst, dumbest, least responsive legislative body..

  76. 76.

    suzanne

    @Professor Bigfoot: RIGHT?!?!?!

    Like, I cannot help but think about this asserted fuckup (and of course I don’t believe it was an accident) in the context of my own job.

    If we fuck up, we have to drop everything to make it right. Post-haste.

    ETA: Just another example of this government being less accountable than its citizens. Shocking. Not surprising.

  78. 78.

    Splitting Image

    @Baud:

    I’ll hope for the best. I don’t see Republicans moving until they start losing some of their voters.

    I’m more optimistic. I think that the Republicans will start moving when their voters start shooting at them.

    Technically, they’ll have to lose those voters first before the voters start shooting at them, so your way is actually quicker, but framing it my way makes it seem a lot more likely.

    Somehow it’s easier to imagine a Republican voter shooting his own people than changing his mind.

  79. 79.

    Betty

    @Jackie: The Court has the power to hold the admin officials in contempt until they take the steps to get all of those illegally deported to a foreign country not their home back here, are given due process, and, if appropriate, deported to their home country. Or so it seems to me.

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    Booker has the floor again and is talking about the gulag in El Salvador

    ETA: More than 20K people are watching the YouTube livestream. Tens of thousands more are watching Booker’s TikTok stream.

  84. 84.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: LOL, OT of the thread but not your post, I was watching TV show last night where the protagonist untied two people who had supposedly been tied up for hours, but it was unbelievable because they didn’t immediately run to the bathroom! LOL Of course, that would mess up the show ‘ “I’ll tell you what happened, but first I gotta pee really bad!”

  85. 85.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Professor Bigfoot:

    If the U.S. government wanted Abrego Garcia returned, he’d be back here by tonight. Hell, if El Salvador refused, we’ve got the military capability to capture that prison and take whoever we want.

    ’Nothing we can do,’ my ass.

    And yanno, maybe they could have avoided ‘administrative errors’ like this one by going through due process in each case. What a notion, huh?

  88. 88.

    catclub

    @Baud: I’m not going to scold anyone who is just realizing it for the first time,

     

    I am going to scold EVERYONE.

  90. 90.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Baud: It’s the strategy when you don’t want things to work or happen in the Senate.  Under Obama, the Senate was the weak point.  Now, it’s SCOTUS since Trump is using Executive Orders almost exclusively.

  92. 92.

    chemiclord

    Yeah, it is performative.

    But when you’re the minority party in every branch of government, performative measures tend to be the only things you can do (at least legally).  We, as a collective society, need to understand that for once in our fucking lives, and then maybe accept that elections have fucking consequences and we need to be better voters.

    But that would require things like “being informed” (shudder), and “making strategic choices like voting for the lesser evil” (retches), and “accepting compromise needs to happen” (faints), and surely you all see why we can’t do that!

  93. 93.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m sure his speech will go down as one for the ages.

    Excellent work.

    This is what Parliamentary opposition looks like.

    I’m confident it will resonate and inspire supporters and partisans.
    Which is its honourable and useful purpose.

  95. 95.

    Betty Cracker

    @lowtechcyclist: Yep. They are lying. Rubio (and sorry, I’m gonna bash every single senator for this, even the best we have, because that shithead was confirmed UNANIMOUSLY) and the El Salvador president were having laffs on x-twitter about the extrajudicial transfer of prisoners to the gulag. It’s sickening.

  96. 96.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Democrats need to insist that Congress take back its power from FFOTUS. That’s a reasonable ask that could totally happen if R’s wanted it to. Of course, it’s likely that they’re going along with what FFOTUS is doing because they agree with it but know it’s unpopular so they’re reluctant to put their official stamp on it.

  98. 98.

    Geminid

    @Torrey: Like you say, “performative” is loaded word. I think “demonstrative” might as accurate* and carries less baggage.

    * Ed. At least in many situations. It doesn’t have the “buzz” but that can be a good thing.

  100. 100.

    Deputinize America

    @Baud:

    I once had a client whose (now ex) wife was a morbid gambler, and he’d get a call from the casino periodically to come pick her up and she’d be banned for two weeks. It seems that she’d wear a diaper so that she didn’t have to leave a slot machine that she deemed “hot”. She’d sit at a slot for a day at a time.

    The woman quit her teaching job, burnt through their cash, a HELOC, her own retirement and had started attacking his retirement accounts. He was an engineer by trade, and really meek. They had a special needs daughter that he was the sole provider for, who will never be able to live independently. Wife took off with some dude that she met in her third stint of inpatient rehab somewhere in Arizona, and demanded spousal maintenance on the grounds of no income (she was 52), pay disparity and the notion that the daughter was “capable of working” since she had 5 or so hours a week bagging groceries in some sort of special “make work” program that Kroger had for developmentally disabled adults.

  101. 101.

    TS

    @Jackie:

    So who can be jailed for this event. Suing the trump admin seems to get tied up in the courts forever, how does one start criminal proceedings against the department/group/person who is arresting the wrong person and sending them to purgatory? This is no democracy where anyone can be taken from their home/work/college or wherever & sent out of the USA.

    Until those “just following orders” can be prosecuted, it will continue unabated. The fear held by some would be almost unbearable.

  102. 102.

    CCL

    Open thread???

    House is slated to vote on the SAVE act (HR 22) this Thursday.  I am not where I can post a link easily, but it is the congressional equivalent of the March 25 EO about elections.

    Contact your congressional reps .. especially if they are Republican…need to peel off a few to stop this bill from becoming law.

  103. 103.

    Soprano2

    @Jackie:  The Trump administration now says there’s nothing to do to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to U.S. custody. The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to reject a petition by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys to seek his return to United States custody, saying the Trump administration has no power to force El Salvador to facilitate that demand — and that the courts have no authority to issue such an order.

    What unadulterated horseshit. They have an agreement to send people there, so of course they could request that people be sent back. This reveals what their intentions really are, to disappear people to a place and then say “we can’t get them back, sorry”. It’s not a mistake that they did this.

  105. 105.

    David Collier-Brown

    It wasn’t much reported on, but a filibuster by the Conservative Party in Canada stopped the parliament in its tracks. The Prime Minister subsequently resigned and his successor has called an election for April 28th.

  106. 106.

    Jackie

    @Betty:

    The Court has the power to hold the admin officials in contempt until they take the steps to get all of those illegally deported to a foreign country not their home back here, are given due process, and, if appropriate, deported to their home country.

    Or so it seems to me.

    John Roberts’ court? The Court the FFOTUS is openly thumbing his nose at, daring The Court to stop him? That Court?

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    @tobie: Yes, the technical term is the opposite of the way people always use it. “Performative” means speech that actually accomplishes something! It “performs” an action.

  109. 109.

    p.a.

    @Professor Bigfoot:  Human p o s Scalia said there is no constitutional requirement for a retrial even when exonerating evidence comes to light, for anyone of any citizenship status, never mind non-citizens.

  110. 110.

    Deputinize America

    @Soprano2:

    I note that there’s no fear of indictments for a potential change in administration. Remember that chilling “you’ll never have to vote again” bit?

    Time on the rifle range will be time well spent. Also, be sure to collect small glass bottles.

  113. 113.

    chemiclord

    @Betty Cracker: The simple answer (and I think Democrats discovered this during the entire CR debacle) is that the GOP does not and will not give a shit if everything grinds to a halt.  Both Johnson and Thune would happily send Congress home and never call them back into session and let Trump lay waste to everything.

    This idea that “Democrats need to be willing to shoot the hostage” only would work if the Republicans gave one tenth of one shit about any hostage, and they simply don’t.

  114. 114.

    prostratedragon

    Go Ypsi!

    Yet another example of the lesser-ranked schools taking the stand that the bigger schools are too scared to.

    Here: even as Ann Arbor caves on DEI, Eastern Michigan does not.

    The courage of the smaller schools is laudable. The refusal of the bigger schools is frustrating.

    Probably winds up being differences in incentives.

  115. 115.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Spanky:

    “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

  116. 116.

    suzanne

    @p.a.: IIRC, Scalia managed to opine — with a presumably straight face — that innocent citizens do not have the constitutional right to not be executed. For crimes they didn’t commit.
    #staydeadmotherfucker

  117. 117.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I’m loving the current conversation between Sens. Booker and Warnock! So happy to see my GA Senator tagging his friend and colleague.

  118. 118.

    oldgold

    The etymology of filibuster:

    The word filibuster goes back to a Dutch word for “freebooter,” someone who took booty or loot. It came to mean a legislator who was “pirating” parliamentary proceedings.

  119. 119.

    Shalimar

    Saw a Charlie Sykes interview where he kept talking about the Wisconsin election as Elon trying to use his big stick.  Now I really need a bumper sticker that says “Stick Don’t Work” next to a picture of Elon’s face.  Or maybe a t-shirt.

  120. 120.

    Geminid

    @Aussie Sheila: Interesting.

    I’m reluctant to task anybody I can’t pay, but I’m kind of hoping you’ll post some on Australia’s upcoming elections when they get closer.

    I was checking out Saudi-based Al Arabiya English for Middle East news and I came accross an article about former PM Malcolm Turnbull’s recent mockery of Trump.

    Al Arabiya is controlled by the Saudi government, and I’ve been struck by how much material I run into there that is critical of Trump. He’s supposed to visit the Kingdom in mid-May, and now I’m interest to see if Al Arabiya lightens up on the guy for the occasion.

  121. 121.

    Betty

    @Jackie: Do something now or forever hold your peace. If Trump intends to defy the courts, let them start now so we know the worst.

  122. 122.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Soprano2: If movies were like real life, they’d never last more than 10 minutes.

    One of the things that made me a hard core Babylon 5 fan was the scene where we see Sinclair and Garibaldi, standing and talking, their hands in front of them hidden behind something.

    Then they stepped back, zipped their pants, and went to wash their hands and I said, “holy shit, these people actually go to the bathroom!”

  123. 123.

    Salty Sam

    @Professor Bigfoot: GODDAMN!

    Of all the heinous shit that this fascist takeover is bringing, THIS is the cream that rises to the surface for me.  “Grinding my gears” is the lowest level of outrage i can muster.

    There is a whole new class of “Los desaparecidos” being created.  In Argentina and Chile, it led to a powerful political uprising.  One can hope the same thing eventually happens here.

  125. 125.

    Soprano2

    @Professor Bigfoot: Some people think that’s the first scene on TV like that. *Waves to another hard core fan* I’m finding a lot in that show that’s relevant to today. I watched the whole thing twice through. Did you ever watch the two eps about B4 back to back? It’s an interesting exercise.

  126. 126.

    Betty Cracker

    @chemiclord: I get that, but at one point does it become unconscionable for anyone to participate in this fascist kabuki show? Never? Honest question — I don’t know.

    @Geminid: Booker and everyone he tags in seems to talk about Musk as much or more than Trump. Good

    ETA: Klobuchar is on now talking about Big Pharma and seniors getting screwed on drug prices.

  127. 127.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Geminid:

    The ground work and door knocking is very interesting atm. The Murdoch Press is palpably fading in significance thank heavens, overtaken by social media and the general fracturing of public information.

    Albo is a very good political manager and operative, having cut his teeth in intra Party battles that make Chicago politics look like municipal squabbling. But there’s a difference between ‘managing’ a Party and leading it into battle.

    However he’s a decent man, a fierce partisan and very shrewd politically. I’m quietly confident in both the Party machine and the relevant elected Parliamentarians.

    Oh, and trump’s election hasn’t hurt the government’s reelection chances. At all.

  128. 128.

    chemiclord

    @Geminid: Saudia Arabia sees Trump pretty much the same was as Russia does; a useful imbecile that they can openly scorn because they know he’s such a weak willed little shitstain that’ll happily lick their boots and ask for more.

    That Trump has managed to convince half of America he’s this strong, belligerent alpha male when he’s really a sniveling, cowardly beta they normally mock shows how completely oblivious to anything factual Red America truly is.

  129. 129.

    A Ghost to Most

    Of course it’s performative. It’s a counter to all the fascist performance art.

  130. 130.

    hells littlest angel

    This is a real filibuster. No phone books or “Green Eggs and Ham.” This is Democrats standing up and fighting back, and maybe we should take a day off from carping about them.

  131. 131.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @stinger:

    This filibuster may force the media to show Democratic positions and talking points.

    That’s the key here.  Sure, Senate Dems should be saying ‘no’ to everything and deserve any and all criticism they get from lifetime Dems viewing them as not being up to the moment.

    But, we also discuss the titled media environment and how Dems deal (or don’t) deal well with it.

    This is a way of dealing well with it.  Or at least trying.

    So, performative or not, doesn’t matter.  What matters is getting attention and keeping the spotlight which helps drive a narrative.

  132. 132.

    chemiclord

    @Betty Cracker: That’s a great question with a not at all great answer, no matter how you choose to answer it.  In such cases, I tend to lean on an old axiom I coined back around the George the Later Administration:

    “I’m not going to drag anyone for not choosing my preferred losing scenario.”

  134. 134.

    Belafon

    @Deputinize America: I am completely against the fillibuster. I’m also against war, but I’m glad the US entered and fought in WW2, even as late as they did because it needed to be done, so guess what my feelings are about Democrats using it right now.

  135. 135.

    Anyway

    @Betty Cracker: Good on Booker and the other D Sens. Laying out the mal-admin’s misdeeds chapter and verse is necessary. Get it on record. There is such a firehose of bad stuff every day that not enough attention gets paid to each – this is a small way to remedy that.

  136. 136.

    Belafon

    @Soprano2: Republicans approve of just about everything Trump and Musk are doing. You just can’t do any of that in our government when it’s functional because it means governing and not ruling.

  137. 137.

    Baud

    @chemiclord:

    Saudia Arabia sees Trump pretty much the same was as Russia does; a useful imbecile that they can openly scorn because they know he’s such a weak willed little shitstain that’ll happily lick their boots and ask for more.

     
    IOW, accurately.

  139. 139.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @suzanne: They’ve always been inhuman monsters.

    It’s just the nature of their conservative ideology.

    (The shade of Edmund Burke throws up his hands and says, “yo, these foul bastards got nothin’ to do with me!”)

  140. 140.

    Quiltingfool

    @Professor Bigfoot: I love Babylon 5.  Back in the day (before TiVo or on demand), I would record B5 on vhs so I wouldn’t miss a show!

    Now I have all the B5 output (show, movies, spin off series) on dvd.  There were novels, too.  I read those.  And there was a Babylon 5 website too!

    Im trying to think of my favorite character and I can’t settle on just one!

  141. 141.

    RaflW

    Is Booker doing the politically correct thing? I don’t believe anyone can really know. But I have zero patience for anyone who has been saying “Do something!” over and over who might now be saying “No, not that thing.”

    I saw that Tina Smith has also helped Booker with the effort. She’s not running for another term, but I feel like that has freed her up to be more punchy, and she’s probably got more time now that she doesn’t have to spend hours on ‘call time’ seeking campaign money every day.

  142. 142.

    LAC

    @Professor Bigfoot: And that is why I am not totally sold on Bluesky if what is there is the “that’s not iiiiiiit” crowd.  This has to be a comprehensive resistance. Calling everything performative (unless it is Saint BS yelling into a mic) is discouraging.

  143. 143.

    Glidwrith

    Where did shitforbrains get 6 million to pay the prison anyway? Where’s the budget line item?

  144. 144.

    Belafon

    @LAC: That has nothing to do with blue sky and everything to do with there being more than one Democrat in a room.

  145. 145.

    Jackie

    Heh! ;D

    “Tariffs are a tax on hardworking Americans,” one billboard reads.

    “Tariffs are a tax at the gas pump,” warns another.

    Anti-tariff messages have popped up on digital billboards across metro Atlanta over the past week, all paid for by the Canadian government, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

    On a screen in an elevator of a Georgia government office building last week, a digital ad popped up saying, “Tariffs are a tax on your grocery bill.”

    The messages are part of what Canadian officials are calling “an educational campaign to inform Americans of the economic impacts of tariffs,” John Babcock, spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said in a statement. “The purpose is to increase the understanding of the American public and to counter misinformation.”

    The link’s not paywalled.

  146. 146.

    Geminid

    @chemiclord: From what I’ve seen, the Saudis do not openly scorn Trump. Instead, they show him what he wants to see. But they figured him out in his first term and they know how to play him. Same with Turkish President Erdogan and his Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. They seem to have learned how to play Trump.

    I think maybe Middle Eastern leaders may have had the advantage over the Europeans in this respect. They’re more cynical and hardheaded, and they do not have as many illusions about US foreign policy as do Europeans and Americans.

  150. 150.

    ewrunning

    Three cheers for Senator Booker and for his colleagues who are assisting by asking questions. But even more cheers for Senator Gallegos, who, according to The Hill, is putting a hold on all nominations to Senate confirmed positions in the VA. More of this please!

  151. 151.

    tobie

    @chemiclord: Right now, grinding things to a halt maintains the status quo. This is better than the tax cuts the Republicans want to pass, so Dems should keep it going.

    I wonder if a colleague in the Senate could ask Booker a 6-hour question, so he could get some shut-eye. If this were the case, we could keep this going for a week at least. That would be a hoot. The filibuster that wouldn’t end. I’m prepared to write long letters to my Dem Senators with questions and reflections to help fill the time.

  152. 152.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jackie: So, we have the power to deport but not the power to reverse deportation? How convenient for the fascists.

  155. 155.

    RevRick

    @Baud: As an ordained minister of the gospel, for me words matter. Words shape how we see the world, how we act.
    In Jewish commentary on the Creation of the Universe in Genesis 1, before God spoke the Word, God created the Hebrew alphabet.
    Do we have thoughts apart from words?
    This morning’s posts includes a display of photographs taken by members of this community, but our brains not only see the images, but we respond to them with thoughts about the emotions they evoke. Words make us human.
    One could say that the whole First Amendment is a recognition of the power of words, and that the aim of oppressive regimes is to enforce silence.

  156. 156.

    RaflW

    @Miss Bianca: Un-deporting the mistaken abductee would mean that he’d get interviewed by reporters, who would write about the terrifying snatch-and-rush, as well as the abhorrent conditions in the El Salvador gulag.

    It would be a PR disaster much worse for this recklessly corrupt and evil Admin. So they refuse to put in a call to Bukele to get him sprung.

  157. 157.

    Betty Cracker

    I’m frequently disgusted by the irresistible impulse toward comity in the Senate, but somehow Cory Booker pulls it off without making me puke. I think it’s because he’s so earnest and sincere!

  158. 158.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Perhaps if Senate Dems see support for Booker’s filibuster, they will see that there is an appetite for resistance and move on to the other things like denying unanimous consent.  We have to start somewhere.  Why not here?

    Or we could carp about Dems not doing exactly what we want at any given moment…*

    *”Exactly what we want” of course being different for each person.

  159. 159.

    taumaturgo

    @Betty Cracker:

    Two recommendations that may bring an answer to your question.

    1) I’m still here, 2024 best foreign movie. 2)
    The Origins Of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt

  160. 160.

    Betty Cracker

    Now Coons is tagged in, talking about USAID and our inability to respond to humanitarian catastrophes now that Musk has illegally shuttered that agency.

  163. 163.

    Shalimar

    @Quiltingfool: All of the Babylon 5 role-playing game sourcebooks are excellent too if you haven’t seen them.  Massive amounts of details on everything.

  164. 164.

    Paul W.

    Good on Booker, and the rest of the group supporting him are at least getting attention (sincerely). I hope that they are warming up for increasingly serious measures because we just lost the entirety of the US health infrastructure for the foreseeable future.

  166. 166.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Soprano2: I vaguely remember it– it’s been so long and I really watched it ALL when it was on broadcast TV (it was one night a week where “that TV is MINE”).

    Thanks to piracy on the high seas I have the complete series, but I hate to allocate the time necessary to watch them all… gonna have to do that; because EarthGov is going to shit right now.

  167. 167.

    Bupalos

    @Jackie: Maybe all performative idiocracy is just 5d chess from Trump to get decent countries to take over and fund American education!

  168. 168.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Quiltingfool: Gotta be G’Kar and Londo Mallori.

    Two fascinating characters with incredible character arcs, inhabited by two brilliant actors.

    From there down, everybody. Including Bill Mumy’s Lennier.

    JMS did something very special in Babylon 5.

  170. 170.

    Soprano2

    @Professor Bigfoot:  JMS did something very special in Babylon 5.

    Yes he did, and very relevant to what’s happening today. I can’t pick a favorite character either. I think Mira Furlan brought an unusual depth to her character because what had happened to her and her husband in RL informed her character’s reactions.

  171. 171.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Speaking of Turkiye, this Middle East Eye article by Ragip Soylu is big news:

    Turkiye moves to take control of Syria’s strategic T-4 airbase

    Ankara intends to use the aurbase to strike the Islamic state and deter Israeli aerial attacks on Syria.

    The T-4 airbase is located near the ancient city of Palmyra. Soylu’s sources say Turkiye will install air defense systems and operate long-range surveilance drones from T-4 to attack Islamic State cells operating in the desert along the Syrian-Iraqi border:

          Turkiye intends to intensify its fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, a key condition for the United States to withdraw from the region.

    Link (hopefully):

    https://www.middleeasteye.com/news/turkey-moves-take-control-syrias-strategic-t4-air-base-sources

  172. 172.

    ChrisSherbak

    @prostratedragon: Yes! So many are focused on Musk and Trump (“I regret my vote! I didn’t want this!” – then why are you letting your GOP rep off the hook and not complaining about him / regretting your vote to HIM??) that they give the whole  REST of the GOP a pass.

  174. 174.

    ChrisSherbak

    @Soprano2: Agreed. I loved Bab 5. JMS had such a strong hand in the storytelling (Molari comparing his civ to a remora was accurate and intelligent) AND visuals (J’Kar and Molari’s costuming was EPIC.) And the 3 castes of Minbari culture echoing IE was BRILLIANT.

  175. 175.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Hmm. The link takes me to a GoDaddy ad offering to sell me the middleeasteye site.

    Anyway, the article is easy to look up, and this story will get a lot of coverage on other media sites including Israeli.

  177. 177.

    wonkie

    Of course it’s performative. And what the fuck is wrong with that? Messaging is performance. Communication is performance. How the hell are Democrats ever going to win elections if they don’t do performance? Objecting to something as performative is just stupid. The question is it a good performance? Will it persuade some people? Has is set a narrative that can be repeated to persuade more people? Has it moved the Overton Window away from Republican “truths”?

  178. 178.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    And would the media blame Dems even more and take the focus off Trump?

    Likely. Much (not all) of the news media exists to sell something. They want it to be true, honest, reality – most of them anyway. But there are always people that want life to reflect on what they believe want, and far more than what anyone else thinks. That might have been not all that bad, 150 yrs ago. But in today’s world it’s not. Humans used to be interconnected much less back a few lives. We couldn’t do what we are doing here. Our daily news was a paper or a back yard fence. But the last 30-40 years has changed that. Not humanity all that much but how we interact. Like what we do here. It has opened many avenues of communication – and shown many how selfish some humans can be. Just one of the positives. We live in a far different world than in the lifetimes of many alive today, like me, people my age and a bit older. I remember when not everyone had a phone in their home, and now many of us only have one in our pockets/purses. Look at what we are doing here, how old is this? Life has changed in many ways in the last 100 years. And I’d say quite possibly more than in the 300-400 years prior. How many of us own a motor vehicle? One hundred years ago it was far, far, far fewer. Is it a better world? I’d say absolutely, if for no other reason than we can communicate on this, the world’s longest back yard fence, but there are many, many, many other reasons. Communication can help stem the waging of war because we can see the greed up close, of humans that feel entitled to everything, while giving nothing to anyone else. Communication changes almost everything.

  180. 180.

    Torrey

    @Geminid: I didn’t say–or at least didn’t mean to suggest– that “performative” was a loaded word. I just said that some people seemed to be implying that doing something that is performative is a bad thing. “Demonstrative” is a nice suggestion, but sadly, “demonstrative” has as one of its primary meanings–and the most prominent outside its grammatical usage–“given to or marked by the open expression of emotion,” which isn’t at all true of most things that are performative.

  181. 181.

    Geminid

    @Torrey: I didn’t say you said “performative” is a loaded word. I just think it is a loaded word, and it’s often used perjoratively.

  182. 182.

    Ruckus

    @LAC:

    Calling everything performative (unless it is Saint BS yelling into a mic) is discouraging.

    As it always has been, even before mics and electricity.

  183. 183.

    Ruckus

    @Geminid:

    US foreign policy depends on the person in the WH. The almost, but not close to human in there now seemingly demands policy based upon the time of day he woke up (Not woke up in the sense that he learned anything, only in the sense that the sun came up and his eyes are sort of open – in that light goes in – and unfortunately has no place to register that concept….)

  184. 184.

    WTFGhost

    When Margarine, I mean, Marjory Green is kicked out, someone can complain about another performative congresscritter, but until then, the Repubs set the standard that performance is all they care about

    ETA: Majoreen? Like Margarine but more oleaginous? (Damn, I typed oleaginous right the first try – why have I been looking that word up so often?)

  185. 185.

    Torrey

    @Geminid:

      Thank you for the clarification. I think we’re in complete agreement. I was thinking about the general meaning of the word, but I totally agree with your point that it is in fact often used pejoratively (in fact, it’s often used as as a loaded word, and if it’s used as a loaded word, it quickly becomes one). As the various exchanges both in this thread and cited in the thread demonstrate.

  187. 187.

    Interesting Name Goes Here

    @wonkie: What’s wrong with “performative”?

    The Uncommitted movement, for starters and to use as a recent example.  Performative in the hands of the malicious and/or incompentent can be extremely damaging, as the last decade has demonstrated repeatedly.

  189. 189.

    Ivan X

    Ok that’s a fine supporting question (and break-giver) from Murphy. What does he hope to accomplish? I’m glad he has the opportunity to answer. I’m excited to hear what he has to say.

  190. 190.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Betty: dammed fucking straight, although the courts need to order law enforcement to put the officials into jail until and unless they issue those orders

Comments are closed.