Just time for a couple of quick notes. President Biden has voiced support for filibuster reform — essentially, a return to the talking filibuster. Mitch McConnell is threatening to grind the Senate to a halt if Democrats don’t let him keep his power to grind the Senate to a halt. Basically, Mitch is threatening to punish Democrats for tinkering with the filibuster by continueing to do what he’s been doing for the past several years.
In other news, a group of House Republicans, not all of them QAnoners, are seriously threatening to impeach President Biden if he doesn’t continue to build Trump’s border wall. Of course, as long as they’re a minority there’s not much they can do.
It’s not clear when this happened, but a man was arrested outside the Vice President’s Washington residence who had a car full of weapons.
Politico reports that some Republicans are starting to suspect they bungled their response to the recently passed covid passage.
Hope you’re having a reasonably pleasant St. Patrick’s Day.
Happy St. Patty's Day to one and all!
Are you ok, maha? I don't know why, but I'm worried about you. Hopefully, all's well and that's just a wrong vibe I've gotten.
I was watching something on MSNBC today and Michael Steele – he, of former CEO of the GOP for a bit – warned Democrats not to scoff at Moscow Mitch because the last time they pissed his bigoted obstructionist ass off by eliminating the filibuster for lower federal court seats, he waited for over a year before he cancelled Merrick Garland's Supreme Court dream.
At this point, I say, let people get what they vote for!
And if in the future, they control DC, and the GOP passes laws that the Democrats without the filibuster can't soften the blows of, then so be it: Let the populace suffer.
Let them discover on their own just how socio/psycho-pathic the RepubliKKKLAN Party has become.
Thanks you for your concern. I’ve just been feeling very burned out lately, as I know a lot of us are.
Mitch's speech had a tone of desperation to it. He's been a vocal defender of the filibuster for years. When he lost control of the Senate he delayed on procedural grounds letting the Democrats have control of key committees until he was confident that the filibuster was safe. He wasn't promised by Schumer that the filibuster wouldn't change, but Manchin said he'd vote against repealing the filibuster and McConnell backed down on holding committees hostage.
The delay is why we're only now getting an A/G. And Manchin is open to a more traditional version of the filibuster, which undermines the suggestion that it's a violation of tradition. After all, the change 'd is a move to the version that originally existed.
There may be a huge advantage in the theatrics – Democrats trying to get things done and Republicans preventing progress. It's been that way for a looooong time but it's never been TV dramatic.
If Democrats get popular things done, like the Dream Act, $15 min wage, and HR1 on voting, some sane gun control, tax reform that doesn't clip the working class, maybe infrastructure with emphasis on programs that create jobs. Be the party that's getting things done.
Some may disagree but don't overreach – stay in the comfort zone of programs with wide appeal because we want to expand the majority in 2022. (Yeah, I'd love a wealth tax, but not right before mid-terms.)
We are at a 55K and descending rate of new COVID cases per day, in spite of Republican efforts to the contrary. Could we do better with bipartisan support? Will spring break super spreaders bring a new wave of infections? There are so many questions and too few answers. The big question about town seems to be: Have you got your $1,400 check yet?
I personally like the idea of a talking filibuster, as it does require work and stamina to make it happen. In my book these requirements, willingness and capability for work and solid stamina, favor the Democrats.
Congress is probably the most existentially tenuous branch of government and needs to start worrying about its future. The Trump followers want it subservient to the executive if they get back in power. Saving Democracy needs equal and independent branches of government that function. Right now it is hard to make and argument that congress is a functional law making body. It needs to be.
If the democrats do nothing else this term, they need to get rid of the filibuster and pass the updated version of the Voting Rights Act. Increasing voter participation will force the GOP to live up to the "party of ideas" brand they're desperately trying to pretend to, even as the only "ideas" they have are tax cuts that do nothing more than transfer public wealth to the wealthy, and hate and fear; nothing positive to actually address any issues. They didn’t even bother to put up a traditional party platform at their convention, and why would they when their platform was Donald Trump, who embodied everything the GOP has stood for – greed, hatred, incompetence, anti-governance? No need to document anything, Trump was (and still is) their platform.
A renewed VRA will force the GOP to compete with the democrats on policy, how best to actually run government rather than prevent it from working, something they've been doing for the last 40+ years, since Reagan.
In their current incarnation, democracy is a game the GOP loses, which is why over 200 state laws to prevent people from voting have already passed in republican legislatures. Its why McConnell is trying to scare the democrats away from the filibuster with threats to do what he’s already been doing. The republicans have literally said they can't win if more people vote, a tacit admission that not only do they not have anything to offer the vast majority of voters, they don't want to offer anything to help them. They'd rather destroy democracy to stay in power to keep government from working.
Making government work starts with ending the filibuster, and passing Voting Rights Act
VRA is a fight to the death, and McConnell knows it. If we prevail in reforming / overturning the filibuster, McConnell has his secret weapon: the judiciary / Supreme Court. He's been tirelessly working over the last decade stacking this branch of government with wingnuts, exactly for this moment. They're his firewall. This has been going on since at least Obama / Merrick Garland, that's how big this is for McConnell.
I feel like we're dealing with Sauron.
From Marianne Williamson, "Millions living with collective PTSD from having had to spend 4 years at high level of opposition & resistance to a madman. Huge psychological transition now from co-resistors to co-creators. New phase of our lives from urgently staving off destruction to urgently aiding creation"
Sweet justice: Trump faces an onslaught of legal problems, as investigations and dozens of lawsuits trail him from Washington to Florida. Hold your coffee: