Mostly Monday Reads: Celebrate Indigenous People’s Day!
Posted: October 9, 2023 Filed under: Foreign Affairs, U.S. Politics | Tags: America's Racist past, and future, Indigenous People's Day, present, Russia to break Nuclear Weapons Treaty 10 Comments
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
Today is the day we officially celebrate Indigenous Americans Day! President Joe Biden issued a proclamation this morning.
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the perseverance and courage of Indigenous peoples, show our gratitude for the myriad contributions they have made to our world, and renew our commitment to respect Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.
The story of America’s Indigenous peoples is a story of their resilience and survival; of their persistent commitment to their right to self-governance; and of their determination to preserve cultures, identities, and ways of life. Long before European explorers sailed to this continent, Native American and Alaska Native Nations made this land their home, some for thousands of years before the United States was founded. They built many Nations that created powerful, prosperous, and diverse cultures, and they developed knowledge and practices that still benefit us today.
But throughout our Nation’s history, Indigenous peoples have faced violence and devastation that has tested their limits. For generations, it was the shameful policy of our Nation to remove Indigenous peoples from their homelands; force them to assimilate; and ban them from speaking their own languages, passing down ancient traditions, and performing sacred ceremonies. Countless lives were lost, precious lands were taken, and their way of life was forever changed. In spite of unimaginable loss and seemingly insurmountable odds, Indigenous peoples have persisted. They survived. And they continue to be an integral part of the fabric of the United States.
Today, Indigenous peoples are a beacon of resilience, strength, and perseverance as well as a source of incredible contributions. Indigenous peoples and Tribal Nations continue to practice their cultures, remember their heritages, and pass down their histories from generation to generation. They steward this country’s lands and waters and grow crops that feed all of us. They serve in the United States military at a higher rate than any other ethnic group. They challenge all of us to celebrate the good, confront the bad, and tell the whole truth of our history. And as innovators, educators, engineers, scientists, artists, and leaders in every sector of society, Indigenous peoples contribute to our shared prosperity. Their diverse cultures and communities today are a testament to the unshakable and unbreakable commitment of many generations to preserve their cultures, identities, and rights to self-governance. That is why, despite centuries of devastation and turmoil, Tribal Nations continue to thrive and lead in countless ways.
South Dakota was the first state to recognize Indigenous Americans Day starting in 1990. As U.S. News and World Report reminds us, Colonizer and Mass Murderer Christopher Colombus never set foot on what is now US soil. His legacy is one of mass rape, enslavement, and slaughter. It is offensive to still have this day recognized as a Federal Holiday.
For many Indigenous peoples, Columbus Day is a controversial holiday. This is because Columbus is viewed not as a discoverer, but rather a
a colonizer. His arrival led to the forceful taking of land and set the stage for widespread death and loss of Indigenous ways of life.When did Indigenous Peoples Day come about?
In 1990, South Dakota – currently the state with the third-largest population of Native Americans in the U.S. – became the first state to officially recognize Native Americans’ Day, commonly referred to as Indigenous Peoples Day in other parts of the country.
More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia now recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. Those states include Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
How does Indigenous Peoples Day change things?
Indigenous Peoples Day offers an opportunity for educators to rethink how they teach what some have characterized as a “sanitized” story of the arrival of Columbus. This version omits or downplays the devastating impact of Columbus’ arrival on Indigenous peoples. Indigenous Peoples Day is an opportunity to reconcile tensions between these two perspectives.
Research has shown that many schools do not accurately represent Indigenous peoples when they teach history. I think this is true not only on Indigenous Peoples Day, but throughout the school year. Researchers have found that K-12 schools tend to teach about Native Americans as if they existed only in the past. By revising the curriculum to better reflect both past and current histories and stories of Native peoples, educators can more accurately teach students about their cultures, histories and traditions.
Thomas Jefferson was the first US President to establish a policy to interact with Tribal nations. This is from the folks who preserve and run Monticello. If you read President Biden’s policies, you’ll be able to see the differences in policies. The various Nations had differences of opinion on Jefferson’s policy.
It was as President of the United States that Thomas Jefferson had the greatest impact on the Indian nations of North America. He pursued an Indian policy that had two main ends. First, Jefferson wanted to guarantee the security of the United States and so sought to bind Indian nations to the United States through treaties. The aim of these treaties was to acquire land and facilitate trade, but most importantly to keep them allied with the United States and not with European powers, namely England in Canada and Spain in the regions of Florida, the Gulf Coast and lands west of the Mississippi River.
Secondly, Jefferson used the networks created by the treaties to further the program of gradual “civilization.” His Federalists predecessors had begun this program, but it was completely in keeping with Jefferson’s Enlightenment thinking. Through treaties and commerce, Jefferson hoped to continue to get Native Americans to adopt European agricultural practices, shift to a sedentary way of life, and free up hunting grounds for further white settlement.
The desire for land raised the stakes of the “civilization program.” Jefferson told his agents never to coerce Indian nations to sell lands. The lands were theirs as long as they wished, but he hoped to accelerate the process. In a letter to William Henry Harrison, written as the diplomatic crisis leading to the Louisiana Purchase unfolded, Jefferson suggested that if the various Indian nations could be encouraged to purchase goods on credit, they would likely fall into debt, which they could relieve through the sale of lands to the government. The “civilization program” would thus aid the Indians in accordance with Enlightenment principles and at the same time further white interests.
I was born on the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma, and my earliest experiences were with the Lakota and Kickapoo tribes. My mother always ensured we went to all the Pow Wows around the area and learned as much as possible about Indigenous History. This included the Trial of Tears, the terrible legacy of President Andrew Jackson, and The Removal Act of 1830. This established everything to the east of the Mississippi as land to be taken from Native Tribes in return for land West of the Mississippi. The Cherokee nation resisted his efforts, and the tragedy of the Trial of Tears resulted. We mustn’t let politicians like DeSantis whitewash these tragedies or remove them from our history books.
The Trail of Tears (Robert Lindneux, 1942)
The Cherokee Nation resisted, however, challenging in court the Georgia laws that restricted their freedoms on tribal lands. In his 1831 ruling on Cherokee Nation v. the State of Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that “the Indian territory is admitted to compose a part of the United States,” and affirmed that the tribes were “domestic dependent nations” and “their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian.” However, the following year the Supreme Court reversed itself and ruled that Indian tribes were indeed sovereign and immune from Georgia laws. President Jackson nonetheless refused to heed the Court’s decision. He obtained the signature of a Cherokee chief agreeing to relocation in the Treaty of New Echota, which Congress ratified against the protests of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay in 1835. The Cherokee signing party represented only a faction of the Cherokee, and the majority followed Principal Chief John Ross in a desperate attempt to hold onto their land. This attempt faltered in 1838, when, under the guns of federal troops and Georgia state militia, the Cherokee tribe were forced to the dry plains across the Mississippi. The best evidence indicates that between three and four thousand out of the fifteen to sixteen thousand Cherokees died en route from the brutal conditions of the “Trail of Tears.”
With the exception of a small number of Seminoles still resisting removal in Florida, by the 1840s, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, no Indian tribes resided in the American South. Through a combination of coerced treaties and the contravention of treaties and judicial determination, the United States Government succeeded in paving the way for the westward expansion and the incorporation of new territories as part of the United States.
Today’s news is disturbing. Two U.S. congressmen returned to Washington after the massive and deadly attacks on Israel. This is from Politico. “At least 2 members of Congress were in Israel during the attack. “Both Rep. Dan Goldman and Sen. Cory Booker have left the country, their offices say.” They can share first-hand experience as the Biden administration and what’s left of the functional parts of the U.S. Congress decide on possible responses.
Both Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) were in Israel over the weekend while extremist group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack at the country’s border with Gaza. Both congressmen have since left the country, according to their offices.
Goldman was in Israel for a Bar Mitzvah with his wife and three of his children, his spokesperson, Simone Kanter, said. “Congressman Goldman and his family sheltered from Hamas rocket fire in their hotel’s interior stairwell until early Sunday morning, when they were able to safely depart for New York,” Kanter said in a statement.
Booker arrived in Israel on Friday, according to his office, ahead of a summit on the Abraham Accords at which he was scheduled to speak Tuesday.
“Senator Booker and accompanying staff were in Jerusalem when Hamas launched their attacks against Israel on Saturday, and sheltered in place for their safety,” spokesperson Maya Krishna-Rogers said in a statement. “We are grateful that Senator Booker and our colleagues were able to safely depart Israel earlier today.”
The Saturday morning assault blindsided Israeli forces, leaving hundreds dead, wounded and kidnapped, including many civilians. Both congressmen took to social media to condemn Hamas’ actions and offer their support for Israel in the hours and days after the attack.
“At a minimum, Congress must replenish — and expand — the Iron Dome as soon as possible,” Goldman posted on X, formerly Twitter, early Sunday morning, referring to Israel’s defense system against rockets. “I hope Republicans can get their House in order so we can pass emergency legislation to assist Israel in defending herself.”
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz posted this Op-Ed in response. “Netanyahu Bears Responsibility for This Israel-Gaza War.” Amazingly, we’re beginning to recognize the damage of our Colonial roots–including the huge white right-wing backlash–while Israel continues to put its Palestinian population in what’s been described as a “prison.” It is also unamazing that many white people are upset to lose their fairy tale versions of American history.
The disaster that befell Israel on the holiday of Simchat Torah is the clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister, who has prided himself on his vast political experience and irreplaceable wisdom in security matters, completely failed to identify the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into when establishing a government of annexation and dispossession, when appointing Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to key positions, while embracing a foreign policy that openly ignored the existence and rights of Palestinians.
Netanyahu will certainly try to evade his responsibility and cast the blame on the heads of the army, Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet security service who, like their predecessors on the eve of the Yom Kippur War, saw a low probability of war with their preparations for a Hamas attack proving flawed.
They scorned the enemy and its offensive military capabilities. Over the next days and weeks, when the depth of Israel Defense Forces and intelligence failures come to light, a justified demand to replace them and take stock will surely arise.
- Netanyahu’s government is responsible for the ’23 Israel-Gaza debacle
- October 7, 2023: A date that will live in infamy in Israel
- Netanyahu: First goal is to purge Israel from enemies, then exact huge price
However, the military and intelligence failure does not absolve Netanyahu of his overall responsibility for the crisis, as he is the ultimate arbiter of Israeli foreign and security affairs. Netanyahu is no novice in this role, like Ehud Olmert was in the Second Lebanon War. Nor is he ignorant in military matters, as Golda Meir in 1973 and Menachem Begin in 1982 claimed to be.
Another frightening bit of global war news comes from Putin. This is from the Guardian. “Russia will revoke ratification of nuclear test ban treaty, envoy says’. The US condemns announcement by Mikhail Ulyanov, saying it ‘needlessly endangers the global norm’ against nuclear testing.”
A senior Russian diplomat has said that Moscow will revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), in a move Washington denounced as jeopardising the “global norm” against nuclear test blasts.
Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian representative to the international nuclear agencies in Vienna, was speaking after Vladimir Putin suggested Moscow might resuming testing for the first time in 33 years, signalling another downward turn in relations between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers
Ulyanov said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Russia plans to revoke ratification (which took place in the year 2000) of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
“The aim is to be on equal footing with the #US who signed the Treaty, but didn’t ratify it. Revocation doesn’t mean the intention to resume nuclear tests.”
Reuters has this “Analysis: Russian nuclear test would send warning signal, prompt others to follow suit.”
Russia may be paving the way to conduct a nuclear test, a move that would sharply raise tensions with the West and likely prompt other world powers to resume testing for the first time this century.
President Vladimir Putin last week said Russia’s parliament should consider withdrawing Moscow’s ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which prohibits tests involving nuclear explosions. Parliamentary leaders were due to discuss the issue on Monday.
Some Western security analysts now see a growing likelihood of a Russian test, even though Putin said the aim was only to mirror the position of the United States, which has signed but not ratified the treaty.
“A Russian nuclear test is clearly very much on the cards now. I don’t think it’s a certainty, but it shouldn’t surprise anybody if that happens,” said James Acton, co-director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Matthew Harries, director of proliferation and nuclear policy at the RUSI think-tank in London, said cancelling Russia’s ratification would create a “legal and presentational framework for Russia to test if it wants to”.
If Moscow did conduct a test, he said, “it would be a strong form of signalling, to put the nuclear threat in people’s minds, to try to signal resolve and to evoke fear”.
Former Soviet and Russian diplomat Nikolai Sokov went further, saying a Russian nuclear test would mark a very serious escalation towards actually using an atomic weapon.
Fascism is afoot in the world right now. We’re dealing with it here, and it’s depressing and tiring. Here’s a Politico article to help you understand the roots of ours. This fits our history. Notice this ruling comes quickly after the passage of Jackson’s Removal Act. “Authoritarianism Come From a 19th Century Supreme Court Ruling. In 1883, the Supreme Court refused to do away with racial segregation. And that’s helped set the stage for today’s massive resistance to multiracial power.” This is written by Sheryll Cashin.
A new Supreme Court term is upon us and voting rights and race consciousness continue to be contested. Last June, the court issued an opinion that ended race-based affirmative action in college admissions. But it also gave Black voters in Alabama a surprise win in the redistricting case of Allen v. Milligan. And now, with this current session, it will once again consider a redistricting case with strong racial ramifications.
Collectively, these cases have implications for the American slide toward autocracy.
Across America, each decennial census brings the ritual of redrawing Congressional districts to adjust to population changes. Currently in five states — Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina — courts are dealing with claims that GOP-dominated legislatures illegally diminished Black voters’ power when they redrew districts to maximize Republican dominance.
In Alabama, the lower court in the Milligan case just approved a new map developed by an independent expert that will likely enable Black Alabamians to choose a second member of Congress in 2024. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, says the state will continue to appeal. Ultimately, they hope to get the benefit of the Court’s affirmative action decision and strike down the remedies of the Voting Rights Act as illegal race-consciousness under the Fourteenth Amendment.
These fights over redistricting could shift the balance of power in the House, where Republicans hold a razor-thin majority. In Florida, at the behest of Governor Ron DeSantis, the legislature carved up a district that had been represented by a Black Democrat and moved Black voters into surrounding majority-white districts, which helped Florida Republicans pick up four seats in the 2022 congressional elections. In other Deep South states, Republicans are trying to avoid creating new majority-minority congressional districts that would be competitive rather than locked-in for the GOP.
They claim that they should be able to move Black voters out of certain districts for partisan or other allegedly non-racial reasons — and not have the resulting political marginalization of Black voters be deemed illegal racial discrimination. But as William Faulkner once wrote, “All of us labor in webs spun long before.”
I live less than a 1/2 mile from where Homer Plessy boarded the train. I’m also within blocks of the school segregated with the arrival of Ruby Bridges. I know her brother, Elton. The impact of slavery and Jim Crow never ends.
The Supreme Court was also hostile to Reconstruction. In 1883, in an 8-1 decision, it struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 which would have enabled Black citizens to use the same public spaces and facilities as white citizens. And in 1896, the court once again encouraged the proliferation of Jim Crow laws, this time with magical thinking, proclaiming in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate was absolutely equal.
Had the Court not blocked integration then, habits of supremacy and its attendant “segregation-forever” politics might have been broken long ago. Instead, white supremacy became the central organizing principle of southern politics for nearly a century and any southerner that disliked segregation suffered under one-party autocratic rule. In Alabama, as late as 1965, voters still encountered the Alabama Democratic Party’s long-held motto, “White Supremacy for the Right,” on the ballot in the voting booth.
No wonder the right wants to erase history while claiming the rest want to erase their ‘culture.’ It suits them for us to forget these things. However, our history is what it is. It’s never that far behind us. Here in Louisiana, we’re still waiting to see what redistricting will do to us.
Have a great week! Let’s put racism, nativism, and fascism behind us!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Finally Friday Reads: Red Caesar and White Elephants
Posted: October 6, 2023 Filed under: just because | Tags: Claremont Institute, Gymbo Jordan, Red Caesar, Republican Chaos, The Former Guy 17 Comments
Birch Forest, Gustav Klimt, Date: 1903
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
Political antics in the Beltway and every red statehouse in the country continue to be worrisome. Maga-bent pols are creating waves of chaos and trouble wherever they go. We’re going into election season with the country in philosophical disarray. Only one candidate is getting any oxygen in the Republican Primary. It’s the former guy with all his felony charges, exposed business failures, fraud, and his penchant for treating every institution in the United States as a playhouse in his reality show.
I’m going down a dank rabbit hole, but please, for the good of everything righteous, come with me.
Will Bunch has written a gobsmacking Op-Ed published in the Philadelphia Inquirer today. I can only hope everyone reads this. “America needs to talk about the right’s ‘Red Caesar’ plan for U.S. dictatorship. “Thought leaders” of the far right talk openly about a 2025 dictatorship. People need to be alarmed.”
The incredible scenes this week on Capitol Hill — leaving the U.S. House without a speaker and promising an autumn of sheer chaos in Congress — marked a rapid escalation of the downward spiral of American democracy. And most of the folks who get paid big bucks to understand politics could not make any sense of it.
TV pundits compared a near-shutdown of the federal government and Kevin McCarthy’s subsequent ouster as speaker to the iconic sitcom Seinfeld — a show about nothing. In capitals around the globe, world leaders and baffled analysts struggled to make sense of the utter dysfunction paralyzing the nation that just a generation ago held itself out as the lone superpower.
Yet to a small but influential gaggle of so-called “thought leaders” on the edge of the stage — the pseudo-intellectuals of right-wing think tanks, and chaos-agent-in-chief Steve Bannon — the growing rot infecting another key U.S. institution is just more evidence for their stunning argument now flying at warp speed, yet under the radar of a clueless mainstream media.
The D.C. dysfunction is more proof, they would argue, that the nation needs a “Red Caesar” who will cut through the what they call constitutional gridlock and impose order.
If you’re not one of those dudes who thinks about Ancient Rome every day, let me translate. The alleged brain trust of an increasingly fascist MAGA movement wants an American dictatorship that would “suspend” democracy in January 2025 — just 15 months from now.
Autumn Effect at Argenteuil, 1873, Claude Monet
There’s more detail on this scheme in The Guardian, the newspaper of my choice now. I started reading it in High School when it was the Manchester Guardian, and my advanced World History Teacher recommended it. Back then, it was the way to get real coverage of the situation with Ireland, Watergate, and the Vietnam War and what the CIA was doing in Southeast Asia, peddling opium and mayhem. Today, it reports, “‘Red Caesarism’ is rightwing code – and some Republicans are listening.” The analysis is by Jason Wilson. “Argument for a ‘red Caesar’ to rule US may seem esoteric, but conservative thinktank behind the idea has connections to Trump.” It appears I should no longer joke about Trump as Orange Caligula.
In June, the rightwing academic Kevin Slack published a book-length polemic claiming that ideas that had emerged from what he called the radical left were now so dominant that the US republic its founders envisioned was effectively at an end.
Slack, a politics professor at the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan, made conspiratorial and extreme arguments now common on the antidemocratic right, that “transgenderism, anti-white racism, censorship, cronyism … are now the policies of an entire cosmopolitan class that includes much of the entrenched bureaucracy, the military, the media, and government-sponsored corporations”.
In a discussion of possible responses to this conspiracy theory, he wrote that the “New Right now often discusses a Red Caesar, by which it means a leader whose post-Constitutional rule will restore the strength of his people”.
Mulberry Tree, Vincent van Gogh, 1889; France
“Post-Constitutional?” WTAF? My blood boils at that description alone.’
For the last three years, parts of the American right have advocated a theory called Caesarism as an authoritarian solution to the claimed collapse of the US republic in conference rooms, podcasts and the house organs of the extreme right, especially those associated with the Claremont Institute thinktank.
Though on the surface this discussion might seem esoteric, experts who track extremism in the US say that due to their influence on the Republican party, the rightwing intellectuals who espouse these ideas about the attractions of autocracy present a profound threat to American democracy.
Their calls for a “red Caesar” are now only growing louder as Donald Trump, whose supporters attempted to violently halt the election of Joe Biden in 2020, has assumed dominant frontrunner status in the 2024 Republican nomination race. Trump, who also faces multiple criminal indictments, has spoken openly of attacking the free press in the US and having little regard for American constitutional norms should he win the White House again.
The idea that the US might be redeemed by a Caesar – an authoritarian, rightwing leader – was first broached explicitly by Michael Anton, a Claremont senior fellow and Trump presidential adviser.
Anton has been an influential rightwing intellectual since in 2016 penning The Flight 93 Election, a rightwing essay in which he told conservatives who were squeamish about Trump “charge the cockpit or you die”, referencing one of the hijacked flights of 9/11.
He gave Caesarism a passing mention in that essay, but developed it further in his 2020 book, The Stakes, defining it as a “form of one-man rule: halfway … between monarchy and tyranny”.
Catskill Mountain House, 1845-7, Thomas Cole
Claremont Institute is a fascist hotbed that’s well-funded. It’s responsible for some of the most deadly policy ideas since Hitler’s Final Solution. Among the other things they have taken on is to present climate change as a hoax. They believe the country is in a “cultural civil war.” They also supported the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rife with corruption and wasn’t decided correction. This New York Times article will give you an idea of some of the dangerous, crazy ideas coming out of a place that considers itself a “think tank.”
“All weak sisters on the right must be called out,” wrote the editors of The American Mind on Nov. 5, 2020, in the uncertain days after the election. Their editorial, titled “The Fight Is Now,” warned that Democrats were all but declaring themselves the winners “before the votes are counted,” making a mockery of the law and trying to “demoralize half the country,” just as they had for the “last damned century.” But the 2020 election — like the contest for America’s future — was not yet over, they vowed. “The fight has just begun,” The American Mind declared. “This is the moment that decides everything.”
The American Mind is an online magazine of the Claremont Institute, a right-wing think tank in California that has, in recent years, become increasingly influential in Republican circles. Scholars at Claremont have long subscribed to the belief that the American republic has been dismantled, the Constitution corrupted by left-wing ideas, a viewpoint that is increasingly in step with that of the broader American right. In recent years, the Claremont Institute has also drawn attention for its deliberate provocations, most memorably with the publication in 2016 of “The Flight 93 Election.” The essay took as its guiding metaphor the only plane on 9/11 prevented from hitting its target by passengers who wrested control of the aircraft, arguing that the election that fall presented conservatives with a similar choice: either “you charge the cockpit” (i.e. vote for Donald Trump) “or you die.” In many ways, “Flight 93” was era-defining, abetting a reckoning within the conservative movement and prefiguring the take-no-prisoners style of right-wing politics that would soon hold sway.
Originally published under a pseudonym, “Flight 93” was written by Michael Anton, a Claremont senior fellow and a skilled polemicist, schooled, as he has written, in making “public arguments that move politics.” If his essay achieved anything, Anton told me, it was to turn Trump into a legitimate candidate of necessary change. “The initial assumption was: This guy’s a buffoon, a reality-TV star, not even an amateur politician, not a politician at all, there’s nothing serious about any of his ideas or any of his program, therefore no serious person could possibly support him or make an argument on his behalf, ” he said. “And then we did it.” Thomas Klingenstein, the chairman of the board at Claremont, went further, telling me that “if there is within the conservative movement a kind of intellectual justification for Trump, it comes from Claremont.”
The Claremont Institute is not a conventional think tank — comparatively small, its main outlets consist of two politics-and-ideas publications and several fellowship programs, including Publius and Lincoln, that have attracted rising stars on the right. Yet Claremont’s reach is extensive: Claremont scholars have collaborated with Ron DeSantis and helped shape the views of Clarence Thomas, Tom Cotton and the conservative activist Christopher Rufo, and the institute received the National Humanities Medal from President Trump in 2019. When Trump failed to win re-election, some Claremonters accused Democrats of using the pandemic to unconstitutionally change election laws to benefit themselves, and in “The Fight Is Now,” they called for “swarms of lawyers” to push for “transparency in all the Democratic city machines now churning out votes for Biden.” One lawyer who can be said to have taken up the challenge was John Eastman, a senior fellow at the institute for 30 years and the founder and director of Claremont’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence.
Egon Schiele, Four Trees, 1917
Politico has this discussion on political dysfunction in our country. “‘What Is Broken in American Politics Is the Republican Party’. Fourteen experts on the roots of Kevin McCarthy’s ouster and why Republicans keep destroying their own leaders. I’ve chosen a few of the essays to highlight. The first is this one. ‘McCarthy did little to resist the feral direction of his party’ as preferred by Geoffrey Kabaservice. “Geoffrey Kabaservice is the director of political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington, D.C., as well as the author of Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party.”
Kevin McCarthy’s ouster from the speakership was, from a short-term perspective, merely the result of his own bad decisions and the leverage his enemies could exercise in an evenly divided House. In a longer view, however, the chaos within the Republican Party comes from a failure to heed the exhortation Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona offered his followers more than 60 years ago. “Let’s grow up, conservatives,” he urged at the 1960 Republican National Convention, and work to “take this party back.” They obeyed the second part of Goldwater’s injunction but not the first. The conservative movement that has dominated the Republican Party for decades has attained power without reaching political maturity.
A grown-up Republican Party — even a deeply conservative one — would accept the rule of law, the norms of liberal democracy, and the legitimacy of the opposing party. It would seek to represent all Americans and would prioritize winning converts over destroying heretics. It would be a governing party, understanding full well that governing is impossible without negotiation and compromise. It would accept America’s responsibility to uphold the post-World War II global order. Its leadership would seek to address the real needs and problems of its working-class base while resisting the conspiracy theories, demagoguery and temptations toward political violence to which populism is all too susceptible.
Unfortunately, that’s not the Republican Party we have. Instead, we have a party that prefers temper tantrums to governing, fantasies about stolen elections to the hard work of appealing to swing voters. It would rather destroy the federal bureaucracy than use it to implement conservative policies. Increasingly it poses a threat to national stability and world order. Kevin McCarthy did little to resist the feral direction of his party and much to indulge it. The next speaker will either find the courage to stand against this Republican nihilism or be consumed by it in turn.
Wassily Kandinsky, Autumn in Murnau, 1908,
This second Essay is by Mary Frances Berry, who “is the Geraldine Segal professor of American social thought at the University of Pennsylvania. ‘Our infatuation with the two-party system … has always been balky’.”
Kevin McCarthy’s ouster is another important symbol of a break in the American political system. In 1910, Democrats joined Republicans aggrieved by Speaker Joe Cannon’s tyrannical control of the House to reduce the speaker’s powers. But then they helped Cannon to defeat the insurgent motion to vacate intended to remove him from the speakership.
This time the Democrats voted against the Matt Gaetz-led rebels to pass McCarthy’s continuing resolution to fund the government, and then they turned against McCarthy to pass the motion to vacate. This may seem like smart politics in its crudest form. But if we view the current situation not as an “American” political system (which is a two-party system), but as a parliamentary system (Britain, Canada, Australia, etc.) then McCarthy’s ouster is a vote of no confidence in the current “coalition” of “parties” — or caucuses.
Our consistent and ill-advised infatuation with a two-party system — something that the Founding Fathers did not include in the Constitution — has always been balky, forcing the electorate and its representatives to hew to one of two party principles in rhetoric if not in fact. The stranglehold of the current party system and the exclusion of insurgents in the electoral process under Republican and Democratic party rules just adds to the numbers of citizens who feel their views are ignored.
Autumn Study in Oberau, 1908, Wassily Kandinsky
Even while Trump is currently having a dalliance with the open Speaker’s position, we see how his term as President has deeply wounded the national security of the country and global security. ABC News reported this last night. I would like to call it a shocker, but the only thing that shocked me was the type of top-secret information handled so haphazardly. An Australian billionaire took no time spreading it extensively. “Trump allegedly discussed US nuclear subs with foreign national after leaving White House: Sources. Trump allegedly discussed the information with an Australian billionaire.”
Months after leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump allegedly discussed potentially sensitive information about U.S. nuclear submarines with a member of his Mar-a-Lago Club — an Australian billionaire who then allegedly shared the information with scores of others, including more than a dozen foreign officials, several of his own employees, and a handful of journalists, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The potential disclosure was reported to special counsel Jack Smith’s team as they investigated Trump’s alleged hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the sources told ABC News. The information could shed further light on Trump’s handling of sensitive government secrets.
Prosecutors and FBI agents have at least twice this year interviewed the Mar-a-Lago member, Anthony Pratt, who runs U.S.-based Pratt Industries, one of the world’s largest packaging companies.
In those interviews, Pratt described how — looking to make conversation with Trump during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago in April 2021 — he brought up the American submarine fleet, which the two had discussed before, the sources told ABC News.
According to Pratt’s account, as described by the sources, Pratt told Trump he believed Australia should start buying its submarines from the United States, to which an excited Trump — “leaning” toward Pratt as if to be discreet — then told Pratt two pieces of information about U.S. submarines: the supposed exact number of nuclear warheads they routinely carry, and exactly how close they supposedly can get to a Russian submarine without being detected.
Today also brought us the unsurprising news that Orange Caligula is backing crazy Gymbro Jordan for Speaker. This is from the Washington Post. “Trump endorses Jim Jordan for House speaker after Kevin McCarthy ouster.”
Former president Donald Trump is throwing his support behind Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to become House speaker after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted in a rebellion by far-right Republicans.
In an early-morning post Friday on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said Jordan had his “complete” and “total” endorsement. “He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House,” Trump posted. “…He is STRONG on Crime, Borders, our Military/Vets, & 2nd Amendment.
We need people to vote the kooks out! I’m afraid it will take longer to get these crazies out of the States, but it’s time to seriously do community organizing in your neck of the woods. Tell everyone you know that the United States of America does not need a Red Caesar. Meanwhile, Biden keeps Bidening, which is good for us. “Low weekly jobless claims, shrinking trade deficit boost US economic picture .” More of this. Less chaos. I’m not going to a white elephant sale today, are you?
What’s on your blogging and reading list today?
Mostly Monday Reads: Dysfunction American Style
Posted: October 2, 2023 Filed under: just because | Tags: @repeat1968, Government Shutdown Blues, Potomac Fever, Republic'ants 7 Comments
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
We’ve avoided a federal government shutdown for at least 45 days, and MAGA Replican’ts are livid. Additionally, we’ve just experienced their idea of impeaching a President without evidence. We know this party faction is basically into performing sideshow acts, but it’s not a good look for the country. This is especially true since it’s leaked into the Supreme Court. We cannot afford to let it back into the White House. The radical right–especially its theocratic and fascist forms–is a threat to our democracy. The elections this year will be maddening but essential.
And now, the news.
This is from Steven Benen, writing for Maddow Blog at MSNBC. I picked it up off of POST, which is just a great compiler of news articles. They may want to shut down the government but don’t want to shut down any of their sideshows orchestrated by the impresario from hell. Hopefully, when he’s jailed, this will stop. “Republicans eye ‘reset’ after failed impeachment inquiry hearing. After last week’s failed hearing, some Republicans want Jim Jordan to replace James Comer as the impeachment inquiry lead. That’s a deeply flawed plan.”
Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill might not agree on much, but there was one belief that generated bipartisan consensus last week: The GOP’s first impeachment inquiry hearing was an embarrassing fiasco.
One senior Republican staffer described the proceedings as “an unmitigated disaster.” Another conceded that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and his staff “botched this bad.” Steve Bannon, meanwhile, slammed GOP members for being unprepared, while one of his guests said House Republicans “don’t know what they’re doing at all.”
It was against this backdrop that Politico reported that some in the party were prepared to do more than just complain.
After a dud of a first impeachment hearing Thursday, some House Republicans are pushing to take the Biden inquiry away from House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and put it in the hands of Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). … “People are just not happy,” a senior GOP aide said, adding that Jordan, on the other hand, “been tested on this stuff” because he led Republicans through Trump’s impeachments.
The same report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that House Republicans privately agreed that “a ‘reset’ needs to happen.” It went on to note that Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina is among those “pushing for a Jordan takeover.”
While GOP officials weigh their options, there are few angles to this that are worth keeping in mind.
The first is that Comer has earned the frustration of his allies. The Kentucky Republican has spent months overseeing a flailing crusade, making promises he couldn’t keep, holding hearings that undermined his own partisan efforts, and releasing ostensible “evidence” filled with factual errors.
Of course “people are just not happy.”
Their biggest problem is that Biden hasn’t done anything wrong and any trial is based on hard evidence. But, I forget, it’s a theatre performance.
“So we agree that the whole government can be shut down by a consensus of Congress’s ten biggest weirdos?” Cartoon by Paul Noth
Politico characterizes the maneuvers to avoid shut down thusily. “‘It is a surrender’: Why McCarthy reversed with his survival uncertain. After Saturday’s shocking vote, the speaker all but taunted his critics to come after his gavel if they wanted to.”
When he walked into the Capitol on Saturday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy knew exactly what he’d do to stave off a shutdown: Call up a bill that abandoned the border policy and spending cuts he’d preached for weeks.
McCarthy’s move marked an abrupt shift after spending most of the year trying to placate all corners of his party — including a dozen-plus hardliners who have made it next to impossible for him to maneuver anything onto the floor. After the vote, McCarthy all but taunted his critics to come after his gavel if they wanted to.
>And their first chance to do that will be Monday night. Multiple House conservatives confirmed in interviews they will begin seriously mulling whether they will try to seize McCarthy’s gavel in the coming days.
“I think it is a surrender,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of multiple conservatives who warned McCarthy not to accept Democratic help to avoid a shutdown.
In the end, the 45-day funding patch that is on track to keep the government open passed with more Democratic than GOP votes, in a repeat of the spring debt vote that first inflamed McCarthy’s opponents.
The bill was finished just before midnight on Friday. But McCarthy didn’t unveil his plans to take up the bill until almost 11 hours later, after a choreographed parade of Republicans took the mic during a private 90-minute meeting to argue for exactly his proposal.
Dozens of conservatives ended up voting against the bill, which gave in on their two biggest priorities — spending cuts beyond McCarthy’s spring debt deal and hard-right border policies. Still, McCarthy wanted the groundswell of support for it to look like an organic move by his members, rather an order down from leadership.
Mere hours later, a majority of House Republicans backed the type of shutdown-averting bill that the California Republican had repeatedly sworn was unacceptable. McCarthy’s 180-degree turn could soon threaten his speakership, giving conservatives who have threatened to try to eject him plenty of fodder to make their move.
“You can’t form a coalition of more Democrats than you have Republicans who you’re supposed to be the leader of, and not think that there’s going to be serious, serious fallout,” Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) said. He confirmed that after Saturday’s spending vote, they would start discussions about ousting the speaker.
Freedom Caucus member Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) acknowledged that McCarthy’s speakership is “probably” in danger, but added: “I’m not even getting into that right now. There are other members that have to decide if they want to bring that or not.”
Steven Beschloss sees it as “A Choice Between Chaos and Governance. Democratic leaders must speak out with clarity about the dangers of extremists, showcased in the latest effort to shut down the government.” You may read his thoughts at his Substack.
“The American people have won, the extreme MAGA Republicans have lost,” Jeffries said at a Saturday press conference after the final vote that excluded any of the MAGA demands that would have severely cut spending and implemented extreme immigration restrictions. The bill was approved 335 to 91, with 209 Democrats and 126 Republicans voting for it and 90 Republicans opposing it.
“It is our hope that the traditional Republicans will finally take their party back from the extremists who have hijacked this Congress from the very beginning of this Republican majority,” Jeffries said. “Time and time and time again, House Democrats have had to come to the rescue, to push back against the extremists and to ensure we’re doing the right thing for the American people.”
President Joe Biden quickly signed the short-term funding bill that keeps the federal government operating until Nov. 17, calling it “good news.” But he underscored Jeffries’ criticism. “We should never have been in this position in the first place,” he said in a statement. “Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis. For weeks, extreme House Republicans tried to walk away from that deal by demanding drastic cuts that would have been devastating for millions of Americans. They failed.”
The aggrieved plan of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, to oust McCarthy from the speakership, only makes the Democrats’ role more important. McCarthy, who said yesterday Gaetz is “more interested in securing TV interviews than doing something,” sounded for a whiplash moment like a bipartisan leader interested in governing.
Referring to Gaetz’s threat to drive him out, McCarthy said, “Bring it on. Let’s get over with it and let’s start governing. If he’s upset because he tried to push us into a shutdown and I made sure the government didn’t shut down, then let’s have that fight.”
But no one should assume that the unreliable and spineless McCarthy, who was more than willing to kowtow to the extremists until that weak tactic failed, is turning over a new leaf. There’s no sign he’s genuinely interested in decreasing Congress’ deadly dysfunction or dropping his appeasement of Trump and the House cultists bent on a Biden impeachment without evidence.
The Bulwark‘s Joe Perticone has this analysis. “How We Avoided a Government Shutdown. (For now.) Congress kicks the can down the road until November. Plus, keep your eyes on Ukraine funding.”
In a chaotic, mad dash on Saturday, Congress averted a government shutdown—at least until November 17. After tumultuous meetings and lots of Republican infighting—all under the lingering threat to depose House Speaker Kevin McCarthy—both the House and Senate passed a continuing resolution to give themselves more time to squabble on the federal budget so that we can do this all again just before Thanksgiving.
Here are the vital stats:
- The legislation funds the government at the current (fiscal year 2023) levels for 45 more days.
- The resolution passed the House 335–91, with more Democrats than Republicans voting for it. It passed the Senate 88–9, with all “no” votes coming from the GOP side.
- There is no Ukraine aid attached.
Examine these three points individually and you can already see some of the problems Congress and the president are going to face in the weeks ahead.
First, the continuing resolution doesn’t mean a shutdown won’t still happen this year. The new deadline of November 17 is less than two months away, a short period of time on Capitol Hill, and members of Congress have a habit of not getting their acts together until the very last minute. As we’ve seen this week. And during last spring’s debt ceiling fight and frankly several other times every year. The budget fight that culminated on Saturday is going to be replayed again very soon—and next time McCarthy might not be there to cave and/or Democrats might not be there to bail him out.
Second, the fact that McCarthy put a “clean” continuing resolution on the floor is sure to anger many of the Freedom Caucus members, like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who have repeatedly threatened a motion to vacate if they didn’t get their way. In an interview Sunday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Gaetz said he will file the motion this week. Up in the air is the possibility that Democrats might throw McCarthy a life preserver. For what it’s worth, Gaetz had been testing the waters on a motion to vacate by talking up Democrats on the floor during votes this week. Gaetz and 89 of his other Republican colleagues voted against the CR.
Gaetz and his motion are just one more Maga Republican’t initiative. The chaos and the attention are a feature, not a meaningful part of a process. It’s just more “reality” show antics adopted by the followers of Orange Caligula. This headline is surreal, and I believe it. “Nikki Haley Says Trump’s Campaign Sent Her A Birdcage. The move came after Trump dubbed her “birdbrain” after she criticized him at the second GOP primary debate.” He only put the ” best” people in White House positions, right? This is from HuffPo. It’s reported by Taiyler S. Mitchell.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley suggested Sunday that former President Donald Trump’s campaign sent her a birdcage a couple of days after Trump posted a social media rant calling Haley a “birdbrain.”
“After a day of campaigning, this is the message waiting for me outside my hotel room,” Haley posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Haley, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, shared a picture of a birdcage with a note that read: “From: Trump Campaign.” She added the hashtags #PrettyPatheticTryAgain and #YouJustMadeMyCaseForMe.
Two days before Haley posted the birdcage photo, the former president went on a rant on his Truth Social platform against Haley, who was ambassador to the United Nations under his administration.
Trump started his social media rant by claiming that Haley once said she’d never run against him because he’d “done an outstanding job” as president.
“Anyway, Birdbrain doesn’t have the TALENT or TEMPERAMENT to do the job. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” the former president continued.
Your average six-year-old would even know that’s a stupid thing to do. Meanwhile, voters today consider both Biden and Trump to be Hobson’s choice. There’s a Monmouth Poll that ‘ain’t that pretty at all.’ I bet more than a few campaign staffers from both sides are throwing themselves at the wall.
There is not a lot of enthusiasm for either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump becoming the major party nominees in 2024. American voters are much more likely to see Biden as too old than say the same about Trump. The Monmouth (“Mon-muth”) University Poll finds that Biden’s support in a potential rematch against Trump has slipped over the past two months. This has mainly come from a decline in the Democrat’s support among Black, Hispanic and Asian voters, while Trump has made some gains among this group. The poll also finds differing views of Trump’s current legal woes and the impeachment inquiry into Biden. However, both, along with the Hunter Biden court case, factor into the outlook for a potential rematch of the 2020 election.
One of the 14th Amendment cases to remove Trump from the ballots of several states is going nowhere in the Supreme Court. “Supreme Court declines to consider longshot bid to disqualify Trump from running for president.” This is from CNN.
The Supreme Court said Monday that it will not take up a longshot challenge to Donald Trump’s eligibility to run for president because of his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
The case was brought by John Anthony Castro, a little-known candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, who sued Trump earlier this year in an effort to disqualify him from running for president and holding the office “given his alleged provision of aid or comfort to the convicted criminals and insurrectionist that violently attacked our United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
The case was denied without any comment or recorded vote.
Maybe the states will fare better. Trump’s busy today with his own problems. This is from the Washington Post. “Trump attends his fraud trial in New York court.” This is the sideshow part. Trump’s antics reminded me of when he stalked Hillary on stage at a debate. Again, give me an average six-year-old’s opinion on this playground bully.
The proceedings paused for a lunch break shortly before 1 p.m. On his way out of the courtroom, Donald Trump hovered right over New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was still seated in the front row. Standing about a foot away from her, Trump leaned over and glared. Afterward, she appeared to laugh off the incident.
Red states are diving deeper into 1984 territory. “North Carolina Republicans create “secret police force”. This is reported by Tesnim Zekeria.
North Carolina’s new $300 billion state budget contains a provision that gives extraordinary investigative powers to a partisan oversight committee co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R).
The Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations — or Gov Ops for short — is empowered to seize “any document or system of record” from anyone who works in or with state and local government during its investigations. The rule applies to contractors, subcontractors, and any other non-state entity “receiving, directly and indirectly, public funds,” including charities and state universities.
Moreover, Gov Ops staff will be authorized to enter “any building or facility” owned or leased by a state or non-state entity without a judicial warrant. This includes the private residences of subcontractors and contractors who run businesses out of their homes, lawmakers say.
Alarmingly, public employees under investigation will be required to keep all communication and requests “confidential.” They cannot alert their supervisor of the investigation nor consult with legal counsel. Violating this rule “shall be grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal,” the law reads. Those who refuse to cooperate face jail time and fines of up to $1,000. In the event that Gov Ops searches a person’s home, these rules mean that the person 1) must keep the entry a secret, 2) cannot seek outside help (unless necessary for fulfilling the request, the law says), and 3) could face criminal charges if Gov Ops deems them uncooperative.
Moore and Berger claim these new rules are benign and necessary to exercise oversight of state funds. But Democrats and other critics say the changes turn Gov Ops into a “secret police force,” warning that the new policies have far-reaching implications.
During a legislative debate, State Senator Graig Meyer (D) asked lawmakers to consider a hypothetical scenario in which Gov Ops accesses personal health records like ultrasounds, which are required by the state to receive abortion pills. The Commission, Meyer said, could release these documents “to the public in a hearing.”
Gov Ops could also potentially enter and search “a law firm that receives state funding for court-appointed lawyers,” compromising “the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege,” State Representative Allison Dahle (D) said. Dahle added that these new powers will allow Gov Ops members to carry out grudges, empowering them to target political enemies as “backlash for previous actions.”
“I don’t think I have ever publicly called the GOP leadership ‘authoritarian’ because that’s not a term I take lightly, but their approach to seizing power and cover up their tracks now fits the bill,” Meyer told Popular Information. “The hypotheticals of how Gov Ops power could be abused are endless. Verbal assurances of restraint are inadequate; we need clear guardrails in law.” Meyer added that he “hope[s] that members of both parties can see what’s happening before it’s too late.”
It’s cooled off down here, so I’m comfortable, but I still have this saltwater wedge threatening potable water for 3 months starting around Halloween. Everything is just overwhelming me at the moment. Youngest Daughter’s condition is still stable. We’ve also got a forecast for a cold winter down here. That won’t bode well if the pipes are still under attack by saltwater.
I hope things are going okay in your corner of the planet. Somebody needs to turn on the Bat Light! Matt Gaetz needs to be given the Batman Treatment. POW! I’m just trying to figure out if the best look for the guy would be to put him in a Harley Quinn costume and turn him loose in Disney World. Your average six-year-old would know what to do with him.
Have a good week! At least we can’t get Potomac fever!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Finally Friday Reads: Rest in Power Senator Feinstein
Posted: September 29, 2023 Filed under: U.S. Politics | Tags: Chaos Caucus, Dianne Feinstein, SCOTUS 6 Comments
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
Today’s top headline is about a woman who was central in the fight for human rights. “Senator Dianne Feinstein, an ‘icon for women in politics,’ dies at 90. Her career was filled with firsts: first woman mayor of SF and one of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate from California.” This is from the San Francisco ABC affiliate. As you can read anywhere, her legacy of legislation and activity for civil rights for all is legendary.
Feinstein’s first foray into politics came in 1960 when then-Gov. Pat Brown appointed her to the California Women’s Parole Board. But it was in 1969, at the age of 35, that Feinstein first held public office, winning a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown was in the state Senate at the time. He recalled meeting Feinstein during those years.
“I remember that I was trying to get a house here in San Francisco, when they wouldn’t allow Black people easily to get houses,” he said. “And there was a demonstration and this angular tall, great looking white woman pushing a baby stroller with a little kid in it, who nobody knew anything about, came out to participate in the protest. That was Dianne Feinstein! And it was that long ago, and so I am a great admirer.”
In the 1970s, while serving as the first female president of the Board of Supervisors, Feinstein ran twice for mayor, but lost. She had decided to not run again, when tragedy struck the city.
The tragic assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone by Supervisor Dan White in 1978 put Feinstein in the job. In 1979, Feinstein won her first full term as mayor and began reshaping the city.
During the decade she served, she survived a recall attempt, lead mostly by detractors of her proposal to ban handguns in San Francisco. She oversaw the remaking of the city’s skyline, which some decried as the Manhattan-ization of San Francisco, also oversaw a raucous 1984 Democratic National Convention and saved the city’s cable car system.
“The cable cars still running!” Brown exclaimed. “Cause of Dianne.”
Feinstein rose to power as a crisis gripped the city’s gay community. A disease that would later be called AIDS, killed thousands of gay men. Hoping to save lives, Feinstein ordered the city’s bathhouses closed. A risky move, considering the political power of the gay community at the time.
Under her watch, the city’s health department created the global standard for AIDS healthcare at San Francisco General Hospital. In 1990, Feinstein set her sights on a higher office, running for California governor. She lost to Republican Pete Wilson, but still made history again as the first woman in the state to win a major party’s gubernatorial nomination. Then, in 1992, there was a turning point.
During what was dubbed the “Year of the Woman,” Feinstein was elected to the U.S. Senate, alongside Bay Area Congresswoman Barbara Boxer.
In Congress, Feinstein served as the first woman to chair the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee. She authored the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, leading to a 10 year restriction on certain semi-automatic weapons. The legislation was prompted by the 101 California Street shooting, when a gunman opened fire at a law firm in San Francisco’s financial district, killing eight people.
“I worked with Republican and Democrats alike,” said Feinstein in an interview with CSPAN. “Ten Republicans along with 46 Democrats voted in favor of the amendment.”
Brown adds, “Dianne Feinstein is the only member of Congress either on the Congressional side or on the Senate side who’s ever been able to get a controlled weapons ban signed into law. Dianne got that.”
In 2014, Feinstein released a report revealing how the CIA was detaining and interrogating potential terrorists, sometimes torturing the suspects. The release of the report, led to anti-torture legislation.
“This program was morally, legally and administratively misguided,” she said in an interview with CSPAN. “This nation should never again engage in these tactics.”
Feinstein’s legislative legacy also includes:
- Creating federal coordination of Amber Alerts, the national child abduction warning system
- Passing the California Desert Protection Act, which protected millions of acres of California desert and created the Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks
- Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, to protect women from domestic violence and sexual assault
- Authoring the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act, to enshrine marriage equality into federal law
In an interview with CSPAN she said, “Simply put, Americans should be free to marry the person they love regardless of sexual orientation or race.”
At times, Sen. Feinstein faced criticism from some in her own party.
She will be missed on many levels. The immediate impact is that Biden’s judicial appointments will be stalled. This is from Politico. “Feinstein’s death throws Senate judicial confirmations into new limbo. Filling the open seat on the Judiciary Committee requires at least 60 votes in the Senate, meaning it would require GOP support.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s death at 90 creates a vacancy on the powerful Judiciary Committee. Democrats could need 60 votes to replace her, leaving controversial judicial nominees in limbo until then.
Senate Republicans are signaling they won’t try and block Feinstein’s committee seats from being filled. Back in April, Republicans blocked Democrats from appointing a temporary replacement for Feinstein as she was ailing with shingles and unable to return to Washington for months.
“Under the circumstances, it’s kind of follow whatever the precedent is,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Friday.
Typically when a seat is vacant there is no fight about allowing vacant committee seats to be filled. Committee appointments are often done by unanimous consent.
Rules of replacement: If any Republicans were to object to a UC request, Democrats would need 60 votes to appoint a senator to fill Feinstein’s role on the Judiciary panel, meaning at least 10 Republicans would need to vote in favor of filling Democrats’ majority on the panel, assuming they move to do so before someone is appointed to the California Senate seat.
Senators are typically assigned to committees by unanimous consent, but such orders are subject to debate and can be filibustered. Republican senators could slow, or stop, Democrats from filling the Judiciary roster.
The panel, under Democratic control, has been advancing scores of judicial nominations that Republicans object to. Leaving the panel short one Democratic vote would hamper the majority’s steady confirmation of President Joe Biden’s nominees.
In April, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had chosen Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, who has since announced his plans to retire at the end of this Congress and has been named Senate Foreign Relations chair. It’s unclear if Schumer would still pursue that resolution.
It also puts focus on the race for her replacement. “Feinstein’s Death Intensifies Fight for a Coveted California Senate Seat. Gov. Gavin Newsom has pledged to pick a Black woman to fill the seat, but has also said he would not choose any of the current Democrats running for Senate.” This is from the New York Times.
The death of Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat, immediately turns the spotlight to an intense, ongoing three-way battle to replace her, fraught with racial, political and generational tensions over one of the most coveted positions in California and national politics.
It also puts new pressure on Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will chose someone to fill her seat. Mr. Newsom, whose profile has risen in national Democratic politics in recent weeks as he has traveled the country on behalf of President Biden’s re-election campaign, had come under fire for announcing he would not pick any of the declared candidates in filling any vacancy, so as not to elevate them and give them an advantage.
Mr. Newsom had originally promised to pick a Black woman to fill the position if it opened up, and many Democrats thought he would turn to Representative Barbara Lee, a progressive. But Mr. Newsom said he would pick a caretaker senator instead. “I don’t want to get involved in the primary,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Ms. Lee denounced Mr. Newsom for that decision, calling it insulting.
The other leading Democratic candidates in the race for Ms. Feinstein’s seat are Representative Adam Schiff, a high-profile member of the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol; Representative Katie Porter, a third-term California member of the House; and Ms. Ms. Lee.
There are no black women currently serving in the Senate. Many disturbing things are happening, including a First Amendment case heading to the Supreme Court. It used to be a relief to hear that some crazy law would be tossed out when it hit SCOTUS. It’s not the crazy laws that get tossed out by the current court, so each significant case brings new fears. This is from the Washington Post. “Landmark Texas, Florida social media cases added to Supreme Court term. The justices on Friday announced which cases they will add to their calendar for the term that begins on Monday.” We can only wonder how much billionaire bribes will influence this outcome.
The justices’ decision to take the landmark social media cases came in an order that alsoadded 10other cases to the calendar for the Supreme Court term that begins Monday. The additional cases concern the FBI’s “no-fly” list, individual property rights and the ability of criminal defendants to confront witnesses against them.
Earlier this year, the high court had said it would tackle controversial issues in the coming term involving gun regulations, voting rights and the power of federal agencies. Those cases will be heard as the justices face intense pressure from Democratic lawmakers to address ethics issues confronting some of their colleagues, including potential conflicts in some of the cases.
Tech industry groups, whose members include Facebook and Google’s YouTube, asked the court to block Texas and Florida laws passed in 2021 that regulate companies’content-moderation policies. The companies say the measures are unconstitutional and conflict with the First Amendment by stripping private companies of the right to choose what to publish on their platforms.
The court’s review of those laws will be the highest-profile examination to date of allegations that Silicon Valley companies are illegally censoring conservative viewpoints. Those accusations reached a fever pitch when Facebook, Twitter and other companies suspended President Donald Trump’s accounts in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The justices’ ruling could have significant implications for the future of democracy and elections, as Americans increasingly rely on social media to read and discuss political news. It could also have wide-ranging effects for policymakers in Congress and statehouses around the country as they attempt to craft new laws governing social media and misinformation.
Tech industry groups, whose members include Facebook and Google’s YouTube, asked the court to block Texas and Florida laws passed in 2021 that regulate companies’content-moderation policies. The companies say the measures are unconstitutional and conflict with the First Amendment by stripping private companies of the right to choose what to publish on their platforms.
The court’s review of those laws will be the highest-profile examination to date of allegations that Silicon Valley companies are illegally censoring conservative viewpoints. Those accusations reached a fever pitch when Facebook, Twitter and other companies suspended President Donald Trump’s accounts in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The justices’ ruling could have significant implications for the future of democracy and elections, as Americans increasingly rely on social media to read and discuss political news. It could also have wide-ranging effects for policymakers in Congress and statehouses around the country as they attempt to craft new laws governing social media and misinformation.
I’m not sure anyone can predict what the nation’s highest court will do with important decisions like this. One of the most serious things the Supreme Court will decide is whether laws that bar gun ownership to Domestic Violence perpetrators will be overturned in the vein of the gun lobby’s idea of the Second Amendment. This is from August and was published in Roll Call. “Lawmakers urge Supreme Court to keep domestic violence gun law. A lower court ruling jeopardizes decades of bipartisan efforts to protect some of the most vulnerable citizens, a brief argues.”
The Supreme Court could undermine decades of congressional efforts to prevent gun violence if they agree with a lower court decision that struck down a nearly 30-year-old gun control law, two groups of lawmakers told the justices.
The members of Congress filed briefs Monday in a case now at the high court that is seen as a test on the limits of a 2022 decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, that expanded Second Amendment rights.
That decision kicked off a flood of litigation over firearms restrictions, changed the way federal judges evaluate the constitutionality of gun control laws. In some cases judges have struck them down. That includes a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that tossed a federal restriction on firearm possession for people subject to domestic violence restraining orders.
The three-judge 5th Circuit panel wrote that the Bruen decision meant the court had to find specific historical laws to justify modern firearm restrictions — and no colonial-era law dealt with firearms of domestic abusers.
A brief from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., told the justices that upholding the 5th Circuit decision wipes out an effective tool to prevent domestic violence and “jeopardizes decades of bipartisan efforts to protect some of our country’s most vulnerable citizens.”
“The Court must not stymie further work by Congress in this crucial area of law and policy. It should reverse,” that brief states.
Congress has gathered evidence that shows survivors of domestic violence “are safer when abusers subject to restraining orders do not have unfettered access to deadly weapons,” the brief states. “This is, frankly, common sense. And nothing in the text or history of the Second Amendment says or requires otherwise.”
Another brief from Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, California Rep. Mike Thompson and 169 other Democrats in Congress argued that the 5th Circuit’s approach to evaluating gun laws would “unduly shackle Congress to the past, rendering it unable to develop innovative solutions for the benefit of the public.” The Democrats also argued that the 5th Circuit approach would let judges toss any gun law they thought didn’t have a specific enough analogue from the founding era and “allow courts to substitute their policy judgments for those of Congress.”
This term could have profound implications for public policy regarding public health. This includes easy access to guns and what kinds of misinformation on public health issues can be presented on social media outlets. It would be nice if we could get some campaign finance reform, too, but I doubt it would make it past Alito and Thomas, who love themselves some Dark Money. This should also be illegal. “Trump’s campaign machine is bleeding cash for legal expenses.” Why is it legal for campaigns to cover Trump’s lawers for his dalliances with fascism? Reuters is reporting this as breaking news.
Donald Trump’s political operation has helped pay the legal expenses of more than a dozen people contacted by prosecutors investigating the former president, tying up millions of dollars that otherwise could be used for his 2024 White House bid.
Reuters has identified 13 potential witnesses or co-defendants who were represented by law firms that received payments from a political group run by Trump, based on interviews and a review of court records and campaign finance disclosures. The payments were disclosed in campaign finance reports as general payments to law firms rather than specific payments to individuals.
Those law firms, which include Brand Woodward, Dhillon Law Group and Greenberg Traurig, received more than $2.1 million in the first six months of this year from Save America, a Trump group that is separate from his campaign but played a major role raising money to support him as the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.
The funds represent a significant chunk of the more than $21 million that Save America’s disclosures to the Federal Election Commission show it spent on legal expenses during that period, a sum that could grow substantially if the group keeps paying legal expenses that are expected to balloon in the coming year.
Some legal experts say campaign finance rules appear to allow Save America’s spending on legal bills involving Trump because the group is registered as a “leadership committee,” which faces few restrictions on spending. Others say, however, that prosecutors may scrutinize the payments for signs of any effort to influence witness testimony.
Four lawyers and legal experts consulted by Reuters said Trump’s defense in four criminal prosecutions could cost over $50 million, more than all the money raised in the first half of this year by Trump’s campaign and its top allied super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc, known as MAGA Inc
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 6: Ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing concerning firearm accessory regulation and enforcing federal and state reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) on Capitol Hill, December 6, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The world is still watching the chaos in the US House of Representatives. There’s a lot of political gossip on this topic today. But I’ll stick with this from the New York Times. “With a Shutdown in View, McCarthy Plays a Weak Hand. The G.O.P. speaker, whose style is to placate his detractors, does not have the Republican votes to keep the government open. He is calling the vote anyway.” This report is by Annie Karni.
When Representative Kevin McCarthy was short the votes he needed to become speaker in January, he didn’t browbeat his far-right Republican detractors or threaten retribution. Instead, he granted them major concessions, subjecting himself to a long, humiliating slog to win them over.
Mr. McCarthy is now facing a near-certain government shutdown and a possible move by the same faction to oust him from his post if he moves to head off the crisis. And he is turning to the same people-pleasing script, seeking to mollify a faction of his conference he privately scorns.
He has once again caved to the demands of far-right lawmakers, opening an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and then agreeing to slash government spending to levels they clamored for. When that was not enough, Mr. McCarthy pushed aside a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown. Instead, he bowed to the right flank’s insistence on first bringing up a series of individual yearlong spending bills loaded up with arch-conservative policy dictates — even though none had a chance of enactment.
Democrats have criticized him as the weakest speaker in history. Hard-right members continue to demand more. But members of Mr. McCarthy’s inner circle — a coterie of mostly traditional Republicans who are deeply conservative but share little in common with the hard right — argue that the speaker’s malleability is actually his strength. They say it is the only way to deal with what they regard as a nearly ungovernable majority.
“He is in the driver’s seat, but he’s also willing to ask members in the car to help him navigate,” said Representative Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican and McCarthy loyalist. “That is not — with all due respect to other speakers — they have mostly been interested in taking everyone in the car where they wanted to go.”
Yet with a four-vote voting margin and a far right that appears bent on forcing a shutdown, Mr. McCarthy’s car is spinning out of his control.
Now, he has decided to bring up a temporary spending bill he knows lacks the Republican support necessary to pass simply to show the public that he tried to keep the government open — a step that would likely have been deemed unthinkable by many of his predecessors.
I cannot dwell on the past for many reasons, including how difficult it was to live your own life if you did not want the stereotypical life Republicans love so much. However, it would be nice if we could go back to a functioning federal government, a Supreme Court that isn’t so topped up with corrupt and backward-looking theocratic judges, and the defeat of this craziness that Donald Trump has brought out from under the rocks of neo confederacy. Hell, I’d just settle for some common-sense governance and basic politeness.
However, this will be a battle royal, and we must do some deep breathing and conscious checking to get through it. At least we’re here for each other’s sanity and peace of mind. This will be a hell of an election season. Vote right down to the dog catcher, please! In a world of the Donald’s, let us be Diannes. Hang in there, Sky Dancers!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Mostly Monday Reads: Money Makes the Pol go ’round
Posted: September 25, 2023 Filed under: Corruption and Criminal Insanity | Tags: Donald Trump and fascism, public corruption, Uncle Clarence Thomas 5 Comments
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
I must admit that the headlines aren’t getting any less depressing about what was once our healthy democracy. Will we default on our debt because a few stupid Republicans in backwater, gerrymandered districts followed Trumpmania to blow up the system and fellate Trump’s ego? Will Trump get back in and try to jail and shoot his political enemies? This is from Brian Klauss at The Atlantic.
Eventually, all luck runs out. Political violence is notoriously difficult to forecast with precision, but would anyone really be surprised if Trump’s violent rhetoric led to real-world attacks in the run-up to the 2024 election—or in its aftermath, if he loses?
For all of these reasons, Trump’s recent unhinged rant about Milley should be a wake-up call. But in today’s political climate, the incident barely registers. Trump scandals have become predictably banal. And American journalists have become golden retrievers watching a tennis-ball launcher. Every time they start to chase one ball, a fresh one immediately explodes into view, prompting a new chase.
Eventually, chasing tennis balls gets old. We become more alive to virtually any distraction: The media fixate on John Fetterman’s hoodie instead of on stories about the relentless but predictable risk of Trump-inspired political violence.
Bombarded by a constant stream of deranged authoritarian extremism from a man who might soon return to the presidency, we’ve lost all sense of scale and perspective. But neither the American press nor the public can afford to be lulled. The man who, as president, incited a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to overturn an election is again openly fomenting political violence while explicitly endorsing authoritarian strategies should he return to power. That is the story of the 2024 election. Everything else is just window dressing.
Well, maybe not everything else. Three days ago, we learned from ProPublica that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “secretly participated in Koch Network Donor Events.”
During the summit, the justice went to a private dinner for the network’s donors. Thomas has attended Koch donor events at least twice over the years, according to interviews with three former network employees and one major donor. The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving.
That puts Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term.
Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to Palm Springs on his annual financial disclosure form, an apparent violation of federal law requiring justices to report most gifts. A Koch network spokesperson said the network did not pay for the private jet. Since Thomas didn’t disclose it, it’s not clear who did pay.
BB texted this article to me this morning about the leading Republican pol in the governor’s race. I seriously don’t want to live in a state run by this guy. This is from Politico. “GOP donor wants his money back after candidate hires Corey Lewandowski. An alleged unwanted advance causes ripples in Louisiana’s gubernatorial primary two years later.”
John Odom, a major Republican donor, has been a top backer of Louisiana gubernatorial candidate Jeff Landry. He’s dined with Landry, talked with him on the phone and attended one of his annual “Alligator Hunt” fundraisers. In all, he’s given $100,000 to his political operation.
But now Landry, the state’s attorney general and frontrunner in the race, has done something that, for Odom, is unforgivable.
He hired former Donald Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as a political adviser.
And now, in response, Odom is demanding that Landry give him his money back and is “urg[ing] the voters of Louisiana to reject Landry at the polls.”
Odom, a construction company executive who made over $100,000 in federal donations to Republican-aligned candidates and groups in the 2022 midterm election, has deeply personal reasons for his dislike of Lewandowski. In 2021, Odom’s then-wife, Trashelle Odom, alleged that Lewandowski made unwanted sexual advances toward her at a Las Vegas charity dinner in September 2021.
Lewandowski was later charged with misdemeanor battery, and in September 2022 he cut a plea deal with Nevada prosecutors. Under the deal, the political strategist agreed to pay a $1,000 fine, undergo impulse control training, serve 50 hours of community service and stay out of trouble for a year. In exchange, Lewandowski would not have to admit guilt.
Along the way, Lewandowski remained active in Republican politics, advising several candidates during the 2022 midterms. Landry’s campaign has paid Lewandowski $100,000 ahead of the Oct. 14 primary, according to state finance records. The payments were first reported this past week by the Louisiana Illuminator.
Many folks are asking for their money back these days. This is from CBS News. “Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman calls on New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez to resign amid bribery charges.” He’s also handing back all donations the Senator made to his campaign.
Earlier this week, Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey along with his wife were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bribery.
The indictment comes after a yearslong investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice looking into public corruption.
The 69-year-old senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are facing one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.
Also named in the indictment are three New Jersey businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes.
Despite the charges, Sen. Menedez has indicated he does not plan to resign.
“I intend to continue to fight for the people of New Jersey with the same success I’ve had for the past five decades,” he said.
This is the second time in 10 years he has been facing corruption charges as in 2015 he was indicted on similar charges but the case ultimately ended in a mistrial.
Several elected officials in both New Jersey and Washington have called on Sen. Menendez to step down, and that includes one of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senators, John Fetterman.
Sen. Fetterman released a statement on Saturday afternoon, calling for Sen. Menendez’s resignation.
“Senator Menendez should resign,” Fetterman’s statement read. “He’s entitled to the presumption of innocence under our system, but he is not entitled to continue to wield influence over national policy, especially given the serious and specific nature of the allegations. I hope he chooses an honorable exit and focuses on his trial.”
Menendez has called the accusations baseless but due to the Senate Democratic Caucus rules, he has agreed to step down as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Of course, even Orangeholio is presumed innocent. So is the Senator. However, this is not Menedez’s first rodeo. But really, Trump is criminally insane by comparison. He shouldn’t be on the streets, let alone on the news. This is from Rachel Skully, writing at The Hill. “Trump pledges to investigate MSNBC parent company for ‘threatening treason.’ ”
Former President Trump pledged to investigate Comcast, the parent company for NBC and MSNBC, if he is elected in 2024, saying it “will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events.”
“They are almost all dishonest and corrupt, but Comcast, with its one-side and vicious coverage by NBC NEWS, and in particular MSNBC, often and correctly referred to as MSDNC (Democrat National Committee!), should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday.
“I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events,” the former President wrote.
Trump also rehashed a phrase he has often used for news media in the past, calling it the “enemy of the people.”
“The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!” Trump added.
So much for the First Amendment.
Anyway, this is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy.
Here’s a little something weird and unusual to think about. Warren Zevon, citing a poem, improvising beat poetry jazz, was one of many artists on an album called Kerouac. It’s also politically timely. It’s the Running Through – Chinese Poetry Song. More respect for the cats! More Wine! More Poetry!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
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bostonboomer
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ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
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