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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
May 1, 2023
RNC Chair Says Independents Didn't Break to GOP
womp womp 
https://politicalwire.com/2023/04/30/rnc-chair-says-independents-didnt-break-to-gop/
RNC Chair Says Independents Didn’t Break to GOP
April 30, 2023 at 7:47 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard
RNC chair Ronna McDaniel that a recent report on the party’s disappointing performance in last year’s midterms showed that the GOP was unable to lock down the support of independents, citing abortion messaging as a key reason why, The Hill reports.
Said McDaniel: “The biggest takeaway we’re taking is independents did not break our way, which has to happen if we’re gonna win in 2024.”
Said McDaniel: “The biggest takeaway we’re taking is independents did not break our way, which has to happen if we’re gonna win in 2024.”
April 29, 2023
E. Jean Carroll and Other Survivors Don't Need an Excuse for Not Screaming
by Carol Norris | April 29, 2023 - 7:59am
snip//
"... I don't need any excuse for not screaming."
Indeed, she doesn't. I can't say this too many times: Wondering or questioning why Carroll didn't scream or run or why she laughed or soon went back to work shows a total ignorance of trauma and how nervous systems work. We can't override evolution as much as we might try. Full stop. I get that in a courtroom you need a jury to believe you, but generally you don't need to justify anything to anyone. If people don't believe you, that's about them. And their ignorance or fear or discomfort.
As Carroll has, many do come forward years or decades later. Again, the accusatory cries of, "Why didn't she come forward earlier?" are absolutely uninformed. Maybe that's the time your nervous system needed to work through the trauma be it via trauma-informed therapy or self-exploration or gardening; or maybe the perpetrator finally moved or died; or maybe enough time has passed where your family is able to be supportive and not abandon you for calling out your uncle; or maybe enough is enough and you just can't stay silent a day longer. Many finally felt the validation and the safety in numbers of the #MeToo movement that allowed them to come forward. All the doubting questions ignore that in 2023 we still live in a patriarchal culture. It's a culture that continues to judge and shame and doubt and blame women for their sexual assault, or those questions would never be asked in the first place. And when other genders get assaulted, that comes with its own kind of judgment. And if you're a person of color, add another layer on top of that.
It can take a huge amount of bravery and fortitude just to get up and face a run-of-the-mill day after such a disorienting, devastating experience that robs one of a sense of safety no matter where you are because your body is the scene of the crime. Confronting a perpetrator requires its own kind of bravery. I can't pretend to imagine what it must be like to do it on the national stage.**
E. Jean Carroll and the millions of sexual assault survivors deserve our respect and support. They deserve our empathy, but never our pity. To all the sexual assault survivors out there, I see you. I believe you. And even if at times it feels all-but impossible to access, know that you're resilient beyond measure.
*If you're triggered and need support and/or resources, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE (4673); or go to www.rainn.org.
**If you're a survivor, please hear this loud and clear: You are NO less brave if you don't confront your perpetrator. That is a deeply personal decision and sometimes it's the very best, smartest, and most strategic and self-caring decision to never, ever call out your assailant. Trust that.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
E. Jean Carroll and Other Survivors Don't Need an Excuse for Not Screaming
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/carol-norris/106068/e-jean-carroll-and-other-survivors-dont-need-an-excuse-for-not-screamingE. Jean Carroll and Other Survivors Don't Need an Excuse for Not Screaming
by Carol Norris | April 29, 2023 - 7:59am
snip//
"... I don't need any excuse for not screaming."
Indeed, she doesn't. I can't say this too many times: Wondering or questioning why Carroll didn't scream or run or why she laughed or soon went back to work shows a total ignorance of trauma and how nervous systems work. We can't override evolution as much as we might try. Full stop. I get that in a courtroom you need a jury to believe you, but generally you don't need to justify anything to anyone. If people don't believe you, that's about them. And their ignorance or fear or discomfort.
As Carroll has, many do come forward years or decades later. Again, the accusatory cries of, "Why didn't she come forward earlier?" are absolutely uninformed. Maybe that's the time your nervous system needed to work through the trauma be it via trauma-informed therapy or self-exploration or gardening; or maybe the perpetrator finally moved or died; or maybe enough time has passed where your family is able to be supportive and not abandon you for calling out your uncle; or maybe enough is enough and you just can't stay silent a day longer. Many finally felt the validation and the safety in numbers of the #MeToo movement that allowed them to come forward. All the doubting questions ignore that in 2023 we still live in a patriarchal culture. It's a culture that continues to judge and shame and doubt and blame women for their sexual assault, or those questions would never be asked in the first place. And when other genders get assaulted, that comes with its own kind of judgment. And if you're a person of color, add another layer on top of that.
It can take a huge amount of bravery and fortitude just to get up and face a run-of-the-mill day after such a disorienting, devastating experience that robs one of a sense of safety no matter where you are because your body is the scene of the crime. Confronting a perpetrator requires its own kind of bravery. I can't pretend to imagine what it must be like to do it on the national stage.**
E. Jean Carroll and the millions of sexual assault survivors deserve our respect and support. They deserve our empathy, but never our pity. To all the sexual assault survivors out there, I see you. I believe you. And even if at times it feels all-but impossible to access, know that you're resilient beyond measure.
*If you're triggered and need support and/or resources, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE (4673); or go to www.rainn.org.
**If you're a survivor, please hear this loud and clear: You are NO less brave if you don't confront your perpetrator. That is a deeply personal decision and sometimes it's the very best, smartest, and most strategic and self-caring decision to never, ever call out your assailant. Trust that.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
April 29, 2023
White House Correspondents' Dinner: What's Happening & Who's Attending...
Tonight!!
White House Correspondents’ Dinner: What’s Happening & Who’s Attending D.C.’s Biggest Weekend Of Pop And Politics
By Ted Johnson
April 25, 2023 12:35pm
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, will attend this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, underscoring how one of the biggest social nights of the year for Beltway media and politicos has lasted despite predictions of its demise.
The sold-out event at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night also is expected to draw celebrities and other notables, with attendees scheduled to include John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, as well as the Tennessee state lawmakers who were ousted, then reinstated, for their protest over gun violence. Roy Wood Jr., correspondent for The Daily Show, will headline the event. He will follow Biden’s stand-up material — and given the media events of the week, there will be plenty of material.
The presence of POTUS and FLOTUS is a contrast to the Trump years, when the onetime Celebrity Apprentice host not only skipped the dinner but counter-programmed the event with a rally in which he bashed the dinner as elitist.
snip//
C-SPAN will present live coverage of the event as well as the red carpet, and CNN and MSNBC are planning coverage of the dinner.
more...
https://deadline.com/2023/04/2023-white-house-correspondents-dinner-events-schedule-how-to-watch-1235334824/
April 29, 2023
Special Counsel Looks at Trump’s Fundraising
April 29, 2023 at 8:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Special Counsel Looks at Trump's Fundraising
https://politicalwire.com/2023/04/29/special-counsel-looks-at-trumps-fundraising/Special Counsel Looks at Trump’s Fundraising
April 29, 2023 at 8:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
New York Times: “Led by the special counsel Jack Smith, prosecutors are trying to determine whether Mr. Trump and his aides violated federal wire fraud statutes as they raised as much as $250 million through a political action committee by saying they needed the money to fight to reverse election fraud even though they had been told repeatedly that there was no evidence to back up those fraud claims…”
“Investigators have homed in on the activities of a joint fund-raising committee made up of staff members from the 2020 Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, among others. Some of the subpoenas have sought documents from around Election Day 2020 up the present.”
“Investigators have homed in on the activities of a joint fund-raising committee made up of staff members from the 2020 Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, among others. Some of the subpoenas have sought documents from around Election Day 2020 up the present.”
April 28, 2023
“Don’t Get in Our Way”: Kamala Harris Kicks Off Biden’s Reelection Bid With a Battle Cry on Abortion
As Republican politicians struggle to sell the party’s extreme antiabortion agenda to the American public, Harris made clear that reproductive rights will be on the ballot in 2024.
By Abigail Tracy
April 26, 2023
Kamala Harris took the stage at a Howard University auditorium Tuesday evening to chants of “four more years, four more years.” Despite President Joe Biden’s announcement early that morning declaring his reelection campaign, the evening was not an official campaign event: It was a rally for reproductive rights. But as the administration faces attacks on abortion access across the country, including the high-profile court fight that could not only ban a leading abortion medication, but unravel the authority of the Food and Drug Administration, it was almost impossible to unlink the two.
She even echoed the president’s reelection tagline: Elect Biden-Harris, “so we can finish the job,” she told the audience.
Harris’s speech made clear that abortion rights will play a primary role in Biden’s reelection bid. The duo’s campaign launch video signaled the same; it featured scenes of Americans protesting outside the Supreme Court with “Abortion Is Health Care” signs, among others. “Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans,” Biden says in the video. “Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms…dictating what health care decisions women can make.” It’s been a winning message for Democrats as conservatives’ extreme antiabortion measures poll increasingly unfavorably, even among some Republicans.
more...
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/kamala-harris-joe-biden-reelection-bid-abortion-rights
"Don't Get in Our Way": Kamala Harris Kicks Off Biden's Reelection Bid With a Battle Cry on Abortion
“Don’t Get in Our Way”: Kamala Harris Kicks Off Biden’s Reelection Bid With a Battle Cry on Abortion
As Republican politicians struggle to sell the party’s extreme antiabortion agenda to the American public, Harris made clear that reproductive rights will be on the ballot in 2024.
By Abigail Tracy
April 26, 2023
Kamala Harris took the stage at a Howard University auditorium Tuesday evening to chants of “four more years, four more years.” Despite President Joe Biden’s announcement early that morning declaring his reelection campaign, the evening was not an official campaign event: It was a rally for reproductive rights. But as the administration faces attacks on abortion access across the country, including the high-profile court fight that could not only ban a leading abortion medication, but unravel the authority of the Food and Drug Administration, it was almost impossible to unlink the two.
“These extremist so-called leaders would dare to tell us what is in our own best interest. Well I say, I trust the women of America. I trust the people of America,” she told an energized crowd. “So don’t get in our way because if you do, we’re going to stand up, we’re going to organize, and we’re going to speak up and we’re going to say, we’re not having that, we’re not playing that!”
She even echoed the president’s reelection tagline: Elect Biden-Harris, “so we can finish the job,” she told the audience.
Harris’s speech made clear that abortion rights will play a primary role in Biden’s reelection bid. The duo’s campaign launch video signaled the same; it featured scenes of Americans protesting outside the Supreme Court with “Abortion Is Health Care” signs, among others. “Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans,” Biden says in the video. “Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms…dictating what health care decisions women can make.” It’s been a winning message for Democrats as conservatives’ extreme antiabortion measures poll increasingly unfavorably, even among some Republicans.
more...
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/kamala-harris-joe-biden-reelection-bid-abortion-rights
April 28, 2023
Flaws Found in Senate Investigation of Brett Kavanaugh
Gee, ya think? 
https://politicalwire.com/2023/04/28/flaws-found-in-senate-investigation-of-brett-kavanaugh/
Flaws Found in Senate Investigation of Brett Kavanaugh
April 28, 2023 at 9:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment
A 2018 Senate investigation that found there was “no evidence” to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh contained serious omissions, according to new information obtained by The Guardian.
Also interesting: “A new documentary – an early version of which premiered at Sundance in January, but is being updated before its release – contains a never-before-heard recording of another Yale graduate, Max Stier, describing a separate alleged incident in which he said he witnessed Kavanaugh expose himself at a party at Yale.”
Also interesting: “A new documentary – an early version of which premiered at Sundance in January, but is being updated before its release – contains a never-before-heard recording of another Yale graduate, Max Stier, describing a separate alleged incident in which he said he witnessed Kavanaugh expose himself at a party at Yale.”
April 27, 2023
This is neither cooking nor baking but
it is food... I need to incorporate a morning smoothie in my daily diet, and would like some lowfat, sugar-free suggestions on what to add to the fruit and ice to make a scrumptious one. Also, do you swear by any particular equipment I might need to accomplish this? Thanks for any input! 
April 25, 2023
Joe Biden Won on Normalcy. Will That Be Enough for Reelection?
Voters show little enthusiasm for a Biden-Trump rematch. But as the president officially announces a reelection campaign, his promise of steady leadership could once again be his biggest selling point.
By Eric Lutz
April 24, 2023
The question for Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign, which he officially announced Tuesday: Can slow and steady win another presidential race?
snip//
In many respects, he’s earned it. The first two years of Biden’s presidency have been successful on several fronts: He’s advanced a number of Democratic priorities through a divided Congress. He’s helped hold together an international coalition in support of war-torn Ukraine. And, despite tepid polling on his own job performance, his party outperformed expectations in the 2022 midterms—a sign, to the president and his supporters, that most Americans prefer his boring competence to the braying and bullying of the MAGA GOP. “The American people made it clear: They don’t want every day going forward to be a constant political battle,” Biden said in a post-midterm victory lap last year. “The future of America is too promising…to be trapped in an endless political warfare.”
snip//
Even with a strong message, Biden will have to overcome concerns about his age. At 80, he is the oldest man to serve as president of the United States, and will be 86 by the end of his second term, if he wins. He’s so far shown himself to be fit and capable of carrying out the duties of his office, and has brushed off worries about how it could impact his job performance. “It’s legitimate for people to raise issues about my age,” he told ABC News’ David Muir in February. “The only thing I can say is, ‘Watch me.’” But it’s sure to be at least one focus of GOP attacks this cycle, even if his challenger is Trump—a 76-year-old who has faced significant questions about his own cognitive and physical capacity.
Facing Trump, though, would also underscore Biden’s greatest selling point: While he may not be a movement candidate, he is a broadly palatable one. And while the progress he’s pushed has mostly been incremental and uneven, he has sought, with some success, to dam the rising tide of MAGA extremism. That extremism will be on the ballot next year, whether the GOP nominee is an heir to Trump’s movement like Ron DeSantis or the twice-impeached, criminally-indicted former president himself, whose deranged demagoguery has only gotten more intense since his political fall and legal imperilment. Biden has worked to emphasize that those stakes have risen, not diminished, since 2020: “I hope you’ll make the future of our democracy an important part of your decision to vote and how you vote,,” he told Americans ahead of the midterms. The country mostly listened in November; Biden and the Democrats hope they’ll do the same next year. “He is a steady hand, when you look at what’s out there right now with Donald Trump and what we’re hearing again,” Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar told CNN over the weekend. “People don’t want that chaos back again.”
Joe Biden Won on Normalcy. Will That Be Enough for Reelection?
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/04/biden-reelection-campaign-2024Joe Biden Won on Normalcy. Will That Be Enough for Reelection?
Voters show little enthusiasm for a Biden-Trump rematch. But as the president officially announces a reelection campaign, his promise of steady leadership could once again be his biggest selling point.
By Eric Lutz
April 24, 2023
The question for Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign, which he officially announced Tuesday: Can slow and steady win another presidential race?
snip//
In many respects, he’s earned it. The first two years of Biden’s presidency have been successful on several fronts: He’s advanced a number of Democratic priorities through a divided Congress. He’s helped hold together an international coalition in support of war-torn Ukraine. And, despite tepid polling on his own job performance, his party outperformed expectations in the 2022 midterms—a sign, to the president and his supporters, that most Americans prefer his boring competence to the braying and bullying of the MAGA GOP. “The American people made it clear: They don’t want every day going forward to be a constant political battle,” Biden said in a post-midterm victory lap last year. “The future of America is too promising…to be trapped in an endless political warfare.”
snip//
Even with a strong message, Biden will have to overcome concerns about his age. At 80, he is the oldest man to serve as president of the United States, and will be 86 by the end of his second term, if he wins. He’s so far shown himself to be fit and capable of carrying out the duties of his office, and has brushed off worries about how it could impact his job performance. “It’s legitimate for people to raise issues about my age,” he told ABC News’ David Muir in February. “The only thing I can say is, ‘Watch me.’” But it’s sure to be at least one focus of GOP attacks this cycle, even if his challenger is Trump—a 76-year-old who has faced significant questions about his own cognitive and physical capacity.
Facing Trump, though, would also underscore Biden’s greatest selling point: While he may not be a movement candidate, he is a broadly palatable one. And while the progress he’s pushed has mostly been incremental and uneven, he has sought, with some success, to dam the rising tide of MAGA extremism. That extremism will be on the ballot next year, whether the GOP nominee is an heir to Trump’s movement like Ron DeSantis or the twice-impeached, criminally-indicted former president himself, whose deranged demagoguery has only gotten more intense since his political fall and legal imperilment. Biden has worked to emphasize that those stakes have risen, not diminished, since 2020: “I hope you’ll make the future of our democracy an important part of your decision to vote and how you vote,,” he told Americans ahead of the midterms. The country mostly listened in November; Biden and the Democrats hope they’ll do the same next year. “He is a steady hand, when you look at what’s out there right now with Donald Trump and what we’re hearing again,” Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar told CNN over the weekend. “People don’t want that chaos back again.”
April 24, 2023
Susan Rice, Biden’s Domestic Policy Chief, Is Stepping Down
SIGNING OFF
Dan Ladden-Hall
News Correspondent
Published Apr. 24, 2023 10:56AM ET
Susan Rice, Biden's Domestic Policy Chief, Is Stepping Down
https://www.thedailybeast.com/susan-rice-bidens-domestic-policy-chief-stepping-down?ref=homeSusan Rice, Biden’s Domestic Policy Chief, Is Stepping Down
SIGNING OFF
Dan Ladden-Hall
News Correspondent
Published Apr. 24, 2023 10:56AM ET
Susan Rice is set to step down as the White House’s domestic policy adviser, President Joe Biden confirmed Monday. In a statement, Biden said he “surprised a lot of people” when he appointed President Obama’s national security adviser to the job. “But what I knew then and what we all know now—after more than two years of her steady leadership of the Domestic Policy Council—it’s clear: there is no one more capable, and more determined to get important things done for the American people than Susan Rice,” the statement added. According to NBC News, which first reported the story, Rice will leave the White House on May 26. The outlet said Rice told colleagues when she started the role that she only intended to stay for two years.
April 21, 2023
Hakeem Jeffries Tears Into 'Totally Out Of Control' Marjorie Taylor Greene
The House minority leader slammed House Republicans for their apathy and support for Greene's extremism.
Josephine Harvey
Apr 21, 2023, 06:44 AM EDT
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) slammed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as “totally out of control” and called out House Republicans for allowing her to represent them.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1649091789897318411
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hakeem-jeffries-marjorie-taylor-greene-extreme-republicans_n_64421497e4b0408f3e5252c1
Hakeem Jeffries Tears Into 'Totally Out Of Control' Marjorie Taylor Greene
Hakeem Jeffries Tears Into 'Totally Out Of Control' Marjorie Taylor Greene
The House minority leader slammed House Republicans for their apathy and support for Greene's extremism.
Josephine Harvey
Apr 21, 2023, 06:44 AM EDT
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) slammed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as “totally out of control” and called out House Republicans for allowing her to represent them.
“The extreme MAGA Republicans are showing the American people who they are,” Jeffries said at this weekly press conference on Thursday. “They’re not even trying to hide their extremism. And Exhibit A is Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
“She’s totally out of control. But they don’t care,” he continued. “The leadership apparently supports Marjorie Taylor Greene. The rank-and-file Republicans apparently support Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s allowed to lie. She’s allowed to debase the institution. Apparently, Marjorie Taylor Greene is even allowed to elevate someone who appears to have engaged in espionage and treason against the United States of America.”
“And it doesn’t matter. Because Marjorie Taylor Greene is the face of this version of the House Republican conference,” he added.
“She’s totally out of control. But they don’t care,” he continued. “The leadership apparently supports Marjorie Taylor Greene. The rank-and-file Republicans apparently support Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s allowed to lie. She’s allowed to debase the institution. Apparently, Marjorie Taylor Greene is even allowed to elevate someone who appears to have engaged in espionage and treason against the United States of America.”
“And it doesn’t matter. Because Marjorie Taylor Greene is the face of this version of the House Republican conference,” he added.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1649091789897318411
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hakeem-jeffries-marjorie-taylor-greene-extreme-republicans_n_64421497e4b0408f3e5252c1
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