White hoods, burning crosses, and the filibuster

This isn't America and neither is the filibuster

 Digby ran a great piece this week wherein she featured a historian showing the historical proof that the filibuster is, and always has been, a racist tactic.  Frankly, it's no different a racist symbol in American history than white hoods, burning crosses, southern states that seceded, and the republican party since Nixon began their southern strategy.

One wonders what it will take for Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to see this--unless of course they prefer not to because white privilege is more important to them and their careers than the ideal that in America we are all created equal.  It's high past time for Manchin and Sinema to be asked why they support a maneuver that is designed to oppress people of color--especially since neither of them has an exemplary track record when it comes to civil rights.

As far as I'm concerned, "Racist much?" works just fine.

It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands

Peace,

emaycee

For a good time call 202-224-6542

 524,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Peace,

emaycee

Talk to the hand

First on our agenda, Mitch...

Isn't this rich?  After running roughshod over the Senate since he took over as Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell is now advising Democrats that should they win control of the Senate not to get rid of the filibuster.  Something about staying in the middle of the road...a lane McConnell has studiously avoided his entire political career.

I don't want to get ahead of myself because there's still four months until election day and the Senate races could tilt back toward republicans, but here's hoping that if we do win the first task Chuck Schumer undertakes is to tell Mitch McConnell to go fuck himself.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

The 2016 dumb ass

Sen. Orrin Asshat (R-Utah) was speaking to the Federalist Society recently where he referred to us as "dumb ass Liberals" and said republicans should keep the filibuster reform laws in place to give Democrats "a taste of their own medicine." (And what a surprise that last one was--methinks they protested so much about filibuster reform because they didn't get to do it first.)

On the bright side, Asshat proves once again that my worries of republicans actually learning to govern are overblown--they're going to go on being their ignorant-ass selves and watch once again from the sidelines as we put another Democrat in the White House and republicans once more become the minority party in the Senate.

Because republicans don't give a shit about America--the only thing they love are throwaway sound bites that keep their dim-witted base fired up over nothing.

Peace,
emaycee

Boom goes the dynamite, BOOM!

The funniest thing about today's use of the nuclear option to end republican filibusters of the President's judicial and executive nominees (and wasn't it wonderful to watch Democrats go badass on republican obstructionism) was the republicans' claims that eventually Democrats would regret it.

Regret what?  Democracy working the way it's supposed to?  If the republicans win back the White House in 2016 (and, boy, what are the odds I take up drinking and smoking again should that happen), they should be able to nominate and have an up or down vote on who they want for the nation's courts.  Frankly, we have hearings on the nominees--if a republican nominee turns out to be a member of the Klan (not as unlikely as you might think), Democrats can vote against him, republicans can vote for him and try to explain to the American people why they think a member of the Klan belongs on the bench of one of our courts or in the President's inner circle.

What the republicans are really bemoaning is that this was another colossal fuck-up on their part--they pushed too far and the Democrats had finally had enough.  And now there are 93 judicial vacancies that President Obama can fill if he so chooses which would give the Democrats a commanding majority in America's courts.

Peace,
emaycee

No man an island

David Atkins wrote a nice piece today taking President Obama to task for his many errors on economic policy (Digby threw her inimitable two cents in as well) and outlines a framework for changing the narrative.  While I couldn't agree more--and I'd be the last to defend the President, who has been a monumental disaster from the Liberal standpoint on help for the working men and women of America--President Obama hasn't exactly had a lot of support from the spineless Democrats in the Senate:

• There's no way a $4 billion dollar cut in SNAP benefits can pass the Senate without Democratic votes (we provided 28).  Michigan's own Debbie Stabenow had the gall to say it was about cutting waste and fraud.  Au contraire, Senator Agriculture Industry, it's about taking food out of the mouths of children and giving the money saved to millionaires.
• Don't know about you, but I signed, oh, about a thousand petitions in the last couple of months to keep student loan rates low.  That worked out well--the Senate, with fifty-five fucking Democrats, managed to pass a bill that significantly raised the rates.  So much for competing in the global economy....
• Republican use of the filibuster has been unprecedented, but even with their minor victory in getting the President's nominees through recently, there still is great doubt Sen. Reid has the votes if he needs to go nuclear in the future.  I did, however, get a letter from my gutless Senator, Carl Levin, this week, outlining why he is against it.  Seems Sen. Levin can cite about three instances where Democrats successfully used the filibuster to prevent bad bills from becoming law.  What exactly Sen. Levin plans to do about the hordes of President Obama's judicial nominees that are languising while republican appointees run roughshod over American workers and support every bad bill/law/decision made by corporations and the chamber of commerce, Sen. Levin didn't say.  One supposes it's the usual gutless Democratic Senator answer:  we can suck on it.

Look, I get that the U.S. House is out of our hands--there's nothing that can be done.  And I really appreciate Senators like Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, Al Franken, and a few others.  But where's the love from the rest of the rotten bastards? 

For fuck's sake, without our votes they'd be back home doing what the rest of us are doing--actually working for a living.

Peace,
emaycee

Damn straight

We've been told that elections have consequences...but apparently that isn't so when Democrats win them.

Republican obstructionism on judicial nominations and vacancies to oversight organizations like the NLRB has virtually reached the point of absurdity.  We've held the Senate and the Presidency since 2008 and there are still an inordinate amount of vacancies on the courts.  The NLRB will soon be unable to do its job because of a lack of board members due to republicans filibustering President Obama's nominees.

Harry Reid is threatening to change the Senate rules (again) so that nominees can pass with a simple majority (this is what we call a democracy, for our less than bright republican friends), but it appears his margin of victory is so thin its anorexic.  Nice then that Larry Cohen, President of the Communication Workers of America, is threatening Democrats who do not support this with both a complete loss of support and primaries from candidates who actually care about the American people.

One hates to reach a point where we sound like republican fanatics, and even though we are the party of the big tent, we have to have bare minimum support from our Congresspersons on the core principles of our party.  As Mr. Cohen states, without that support such Congresspersons are worthless to us.

Even worse, it makes it so republicans don't have to win elections--they can merely obstruct, obstruct, obstruct, and any hope for making life better for the working men and women of America fades like the setting sun.

Democracy destroyed.

Peace,
emaycee

Not feelin' it

Pardon me, but I'm having a real hard time feeling President Obama's indignation today over the Senate's failure to pass any gun control legislation.  Perhaps if the President had fought just a little harder to get the equally feckless Harry Reid to move filibuster reform.  Perhaps if the President--even after four years of their obstructionism, for God's sake--had ever stood up to the republicans.  Perhaps if President Obama had actually, just once, got out there and fought for ordinary Americans.

Instead, he held onto some Pollyanna dream that he could get republicans to cooperate with him in some kind of bipartisan bullshit, and we're all worse off for his inability to grasp reality.

Today wasn't a failure of Washington--it was a failure of the President.  Too little courage, no fight, and another epic fail for Barack Obama.

Call my Congressman?  You have to be kidding, Mr. President.  He's just the same as you, satisifed with the status quo.

But look at the bright side--three more years and you can make countless millions giving speeches and selling your memoirs.

Peace,
emaycee