babylonsister
babylonsister's JournalCBC chair encourages Trump to stay silent on Lewis's death: 'Please let us mourn in peace'
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/507955-congressional-black-caucus-chair-encourages-trump-to-stay-silent-on-lewissTheHill.com
Congressional Black Caucus chair encourages Trump to stay silent on Lewis's death: 'Please let us mourn in peace'
By Tal Axelrod - 07/18/20 12:49 PM EDT
Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, urged President Trump to remain silent on Rep. John Lewiss (D-Ga.) recent death, suggesting his remarks would serve as an unwanted distraction.
Lewis, who represented an Atlanta-area district for 17 terms, was a titan in the civil rights movement and had garnered respect from both Democrats and Republicans. He died Friday night at the age of 80.
Bipartisan lawmakers expressed their condolences Saturday, though Trump has been conspicuously silent. White House Press Secretary released a statement mourning Lewiss death and the White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff, though the president who's at his private golf course in Sterling, Va. has yet to make any remarks.
Trump and Lewis had a contentious relationship while the president was in office. Lewis accused Trump of not being a legitimate president, leading Trump to fire back that the Democrat should worry about his own "horrible" district instead.
Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad! Trump wrote in a series of tweets.
Lewis also drew Trumps ire when he declined to attend his inauguration.
Democrats Already Mulling Filibuster Rule Change
https://politicalwire.com/2020/07/18/democrats-already-mulling-filibuster-rule-change/Democrats Already Mulling Filibuster Rule Change
July 18, 2020 at 1:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard
Known as the nuclear option, the move to eliminate the 60-vote threshold currently needed to end debate in a full Senate would allow a Joe Biden administration and a Democrat-led Congress to act swiftly on key party priorities, including climate change, voting rights and gun control, with just 51 votes.
Its a possibility that the former vice president, who spent 36 years in the Senate, recently signaled more interest in considering and one that could have significant implications for governing.
GOP senators sound alarm as coronavirus surges in home states
Infuriating. NOW they're worried?
GOP senators sound alarm as coronavirus surges in home states
By Jordain Carney - 07/18/20 06:00 AM EDT
Senate Republicans are raising the alarm over the country's rapidly growing number of coronavirus cases.
The warnings come as President Trump has repeatedly linked the recent spike to an increase in testing, while also overselling his administrations response and appearing optimistic about the odds of a quick vaccine or the disappearance of the virus altogether.
But GOP senators back in their home states, many of which are seeing increased case counts are painting a more sobering picture with their on-the-ground view.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has crisscrossed Kentucky during the recess, telling constituents that the coronavirus will not magically disappear and stressing that wearing a mask should not be a political issue.
This is going to be with us for a while, he added. The coronavirus is not involved in American politics. It has its own way forward, and we need to act responsibly.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who, like McConnell, is up for reelection characterized the public health fallout from Memorial Day as a disaster, pointing to an increase in cases coupled with a decrease in hospital space and available protective equipment.
more...
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/507924-gop-senators-sound-alarm-as-coronavirus-surges-in-home-states
"Because of you, John."
Both men are my heroes.As Obama left his swearing in, Lewis approached him with a sheet of paper and asked the new President, the first black President, to sign it. And he did. He wrote, Because of you, John. Barack Obama.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-ongoing-struggle-of-john-lewis
The Ongoing Struggle of John Lewis
By David Remnick
The Rude Pundit: Portland Becomes the Testing Ground for the Next Level of Trump Fuckery
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2020/07/portland-becomes-testing-ground-for.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
7/17/2020
Portland Becomes the Testing Ground for the Next Level of Trump Fuckery
Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, who has the douche name and the douchier face stubble of the asshole Wall Streeter who gets punched in the dick by, say, Michael J. Fox in a late 1980s comedy, issued a statement on "the Rampant, Long-Lasting Violence in Portland." The Portland is the one in Oregon, and it's been the site of ongoing protests in the wake of the police execution of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. In the last couple of nights, they've escalated into confrontations with police and other authorities (get to that in a sec), confrontations that have been provoked by the police and other authorities. For Wolf and DHS and the Trump White House, "Each night, lawless anarchists destroy and desecrate property."
What follows is a list of actions by day, and, gotta tell you, it's just fuckin' embarrassing and overwrought, like trying to hype D-Grade meat as a quality Trump steak. This is really from the DHS doc:
For three days, apparently anarchists violently spray-painted graffiti. I'm not really sure how you do that. Maybe you scream, "Fuck Trump" as you write that. Maybe you punch the wall. What I'm saying here is that you kind of water down your accusations of violence if you include wanton tagging in the category. Basically, you look like a pussy or a drama queen, which is really the two modes that Trump and his lackeys operate in.
And even when Secretary Wolf's weak-ass list of alleged crimes gets to more serious stuff, any credibility has been destroyed by the image of the federal government shitting itself before the terrorism of the graffiti artists. Oh, and it's destroyed by the fact that most of it is complete hyperbole.
snip//
This is scary shit right here. I don't want to be like Chad "Punched Dick" Wolf and blow this up (I've avoided using the term "Gestapo," yet if the overcoat fits...), but when your government feels like it can just snatch you off the street without even the pretext of some kind of official reason, we're into new levels of necessary paranoia.
And while we're a few steps from needing to find decent-sized attics to hide out in, we're damn far down the list of "they came for," getting preciously close to "me."
I'm Not a Liberal. But I Choose Reality Over President Trump
Opinion
I'm Not a Liberal. But I Choose Reality Over President Trump | Opinion
Jennifer Shulkin
On 7/17/20 at 9:41 AM EDT
President Donald Trump gained notoriety through reality TV. Yet since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, his actions and statements have become increasingly divorced from reality. Now about 140,000 Americans are dead, and new cases hit a record 75,600 nationwide on Thursday. Even Republican leaders in states like Texas and West Virginia are being forced to accept certain basic facts about the virusissuing mask-wearing mandates and closing bars.
Yet it is clear there remain two parallel universes within our country: Trump's America, which feeds on misinformation about not only the pandemic but also Black Lives Matter, and the rest of the country grounded in reality and just trying to survive this period of crisis.
As a recent graduate of a liberal law school and resident of a major East Coast city, my social circle and environment is increasingly and unapologetically diverse. It is also increasingly and unapologetically masked. But when I see videos and images of Trump's rallies, showing crowds containing few masks and even fewer faces of color, the truth is obvious: This president and his campaign of misinformation are a danger to the health and well-being of our nation.
I am not a liberal. I have always considered myself a moderateidentifying with conservatives on some issues and liberals on others. While I empathized with the feeling of mourning at Harvard Law School following the 2016 election, I still thought the Trump administration had the potential to do good, especially if talented, patriotic individuals agreed to serve within it and temper the president's impulses. Chief among those individuals in which I placed my hope was my father: an Obama holdover and Trump's first VA secretary.
Yet over the past several months, I have come to believe that supporting Trump because you "like his economic policies," or frankly for any other reason, is no longer justifiable. If you still support Trump in July 2020, you are complicit in his encouragement of reckless behavior in the face of a global pandemic, denial of institutional racism, and deliberate efforts to drive our country away from science, facts and, yes, reality.
more...
https://www.newsweek.com/im-not-liberal-i-choose-reality-over-president-trump-opinion-1518633
Trump's Losing, So When Are Republican Candidates Going to Abandon Him?
https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/trumps-losing-so-when-are-republican-candidates-going-to-abandon-himLetter from Trumps Washington
Trumps Losing, So When Are Republican Candidates Going to Abandon Him?
Spoiler alert: they arent.
By Susan B. Glasser
July 16, 2020
snip//
The best, or at least most vivid, explanation for this phenomenon that Ive seen is a recent piece in Rolling Stone by the Republican strategist Tim Miller, an adviser to Jeb Bushs doomed 2016 Presidential campaign who became a fervent Never Trumper. Miller asked nine G.O.P.-consultant friends who are still welcome in the Party why the dumpster fire that is the Trump 2020 campaign has not caused their Republican candidates to abandon the President. There are two options, you can be on this hell ship, or you can be in the water drowning, one told Miller. Millers report from the U.S.S. Hellship suggests that the trapped sailors are well aware of how badly Trump is faring but are unable to bail outespecially in competitive elections, where the Party can ill afford to lose any Republican votes. In rural Texas, one of Millers informants pointed out, Trump gets like Saddam Hussein level numbers here. Cornyn desperately needs those Trump superfans in order to win statewide. Loyalty to Trump among such voters now outweighs any policy position, which means that catering to them requires Cornyn to strike a hard pro-Trump line, even if it further alienates the suburban moderates now wavering on the President. No dissent is tolerated, a consultant in another state told Miller. And, besides, another strategist told him, the election is all about Trumptheres no use pretending otherwise. Their observations are strikingly similar to a conversation that I had last month with a veteran Republican pollster, whose clients are running in competitive states. I asked him whether, given the bad and worsening poll numbers, we might soon see his candidates running away from the President. I dont think so, he said, citing the Trump Twitter curse. He stirs up his base all the time, so you cant take a position to reach out to the independents who have trouble with his persona, because the Republican Trump base will turn on you in a second. And so the Hellship sails on.
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There are many other factors, of course, ranging from the fight that has already begun for control over the post-Trump Republican Party to the default partisanship that makes Republicans believe that sticking with Trump, no matter how disastrous his decisions may be or how distasteful they find his fulminations, is better than the Democratic alternative.
Another factor to consider is the spectre of 2016. There are many politicians who remain convinced that, with Trump having pulled off a historic upset once before, he can somehow make the improbable happen again, polls be damned. The President is clearly in this camp, but so are a number of Democrats scarred by the false confidence of four years ago. I dont believe these numbers, Debbie Dingell, a representative from the swing state of Michigan, told an online Democratic event recently, after yet another set of polls came out showing Biden well ahead in her must-win state. Dingell, who has taken to calling herself Debbie Downer, comes by her skepticism legitimately, having warned the Hillary Clinton campaign, unsuccessfully, that it was in trouble in Michigan in 2016, despite polls that showed Clinton comfortably ahead. A new Monmouth University survey suggests that, in Pennsylvania, there are many people who agree with Dingell. Although the poll showed Biden leading Trump by thirteen points in the statewhich, like Michigan, is another Democratic electoral must-winfifty-seven per cent of voters said that they believed there was a hidden pro-Trump vote that was not turning up in the surveys. The specter of a secret Trump vote looms large in 2020, the surveys director, Patrick Murray, concluded.
Perhaps it is fitting that the fate of President Trump, a Presidential liar for the ages, should come down to the question of whether large numbers of Americans are lying to pollsters about their support for him. Either way, there is a lesson here. Imagine if Republicans lose this fall because they would not, or could not, believe that their fellow-citizens might actually be telling the truth?
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to WH Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany: 'Hey Karen. Watch Your Mouth.'
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-to-white-house-press-secretary-kayleigh-mcenany-hey-karen-watch-your-mouth?ref=homeChicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany: Hey Karen. Watch Your Mouth.
Blake Montgomery
Updated Jul. 16, 2020 8:20PM ET /
Published Jul. 16, 2020 6:20PM ET
Huckabee's Company Accused of Scamming Parents
Is there any rethug out there who isn't a crook?
https://politicalwire.com/2020/07/17/huckabees-company-accused-of-scamming-parents/
Huckabees Company Accused of Scamming Parents
July 17, 2020 at 7:28 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
But the offer is far from free. Parents across the country described a bait-and-switch scheme that they said duped them into signing up for $20-per-month subscriptions without their knowledge. Many said that Learn Our History ignored their repeated requests to cancel the subscriptions, leaving them locked into payments for products that they never wanted in the first place all so their children can learn Huckabees version of history, which critics described as pretend, kiddie propaganda and full of Christian nationalist revisionism and right-wing political propaganda.'
Republicans Tell Trump to Change Tune on Mail Ballots
https://politicalwire.com/2020/07/17/republicans-tell-trump-to-change-tune-on-mail-ballots/Republicans Tell Trump to Change Tune on Mail Ballots
July 17, 2020 at 6:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Behind the scenes, top Republicans are urging senior Trump campaign officials to press the President to change his messaging and embrace mail-in voting, warning that the party could lose the battle for control of Congress and the White House if he doesnt change his tune Trump officials, sources said, are fully aware of the concerns.
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