And the lack thereof

Thanks but no

My biggest remembrance of Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is from 2014 when she was being interviewed on Rachel Maddow's show concerning the Farm Bill from that year that was coming up for a vote.  The Farm Bill is where the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (more colloquially, Food Stamps) is funded, and that year's bill (which was sponsored by my sad sack Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow) was going to lead to several thousand Americans losing benefits and going hungry.  When asked by Maddow about the bill, Klobuchar responded that it didn't affect Minnesota, so she was going to vote for it even if thousands of Americans were going to go hungry (note that current Democratic Presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand voted against the bill for just that reason).  Her rationale for voting for the bill seemed to me a callous and hollow response.

So it came as no surprise to me this week when news leaked that Klobuchar had voted to confirm more judges nominated by Donald Trump than any of her fellow contenders--and by a considerable margin (better than 25% more).  One wonders how she'll rationalize this, as Trump is nominating right wing ideologues who stand to do considerable harm to workers' rights, workers' paychecks, Americans' healthcare, voting rights, LGBQT rights, and a host of other that will most certainly affect Minnesotans.

Frankly, what this country needs in its post-Trump era is a President borne of the courage and fortitude that makes up the Democratic Party and it platform and not weak kneed Democratic lite candidates like Amy Klobuchar.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

We're all alone

As of last month, we have 11.7 million unemployed Americans (of which 4.6 million, or nearly 40% are long-term--unemployed for longer than six months), 7.6 million Americans are working part-time hours and need full-time hours, and 2.3 million Americans were marginally attached, i.e., they wanted work and had looked in the past twelve months but either became discouraged or were unable to take a job because of family obligations.  By my calculations, that's better than 20 million Americans, and the numbers don't even include those who have completely lost hope of finding employment.

So yesterday, when Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar scheduled a Congressional hearing on long-term unemployment, you'd expect most Committee members to show up to see what they could do to help alleviate this problem for average Americans, also known as their constituents (because, get real, corporations flat just don't give a fuck about us).

You'd be wrong--Sen. Klobuchar was joined by four, count 'em four, of the Committee's twenty members, all Democrats (Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and Reps. John Delaney and Elijah Cummings of Maryland).  Granted, republicans had 100% no-shows, but a sixty percent no-show rate for the Democrats isn't exactly a number to be proud of.

All of which begs the question...if our hard work that earns an opulent lifestyle for our corporate superiors isn't enough, and our taxpayer dollars supporting their families isn't enough, exactly what does it take for our "leaders" to actually give a fuck whether we live or die?

Peace,
emaycee