Why We Need the For the People Act--What It Does

Please contact your Senators this week and ask them to support, vote for the For the People Act.

Missouri's Senator Josh Hawley Gets More Media

And thank goodness. We can never forget the January 6 treasonous, traitorous, killing insurrection and attack on our nation's Capitol.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Today's Republican Party

Robert Reich rightly calls out the Republicans for who and what they are and work for. I love who he put on the opening screen, don't you?

Missouri's Senator Josh Hawley Getting Real Coverage

Yes, Missouri's Senator Josh Hawley is getting coverage on media and social media---but it's not positive. It's fair but it's not in his favor. Here's one good example. Vote him out, Missouri. Let's get this known treasonous, traitorous, self-serving seditionist and insurrectionist out of office soon as possible.

Missourians! Did You See Where Your Senator Voted Against a Hate Crimes Law?

Yes, fellow Missourians, did you see where, last week, our own Senator Josh Hawley was the ONLY SENATOR to vote against a hate crimes law? At a time when Asian Americans are being accosted and assaulted more and more lately, he actually voted AGAINST a bill that would work against these racist hate crimes.

The man is unreal. Nearly unbelievable. God help us. #VoteHimOut

The Unbelievable Irresponsibility--and Scariness--of Missouri's Senator Josh Hawley

Missouri's Senator Josh Hawley voted today--was, in fact, the only US Senator--who voted AGAINST a bill to curb anti-Asian hate crimes. That's bad enough. He wrote this today, this evening, explaining his vote: "My big problem with Sen Hirono’s bill that Senate voted on today is that it turns the federal government into the speech police - gives government sweeping authority to decide what counts as offensive speech and then monitor it. Raises big free speech questions."

What the absolute hell? This is the man who was all for "free speech questions" when people wanted to attack our nation's Capitol and overturn our nation's election but all of a sudden, when we want to make sure people don't do Asian hate crimes, he's against these "free speech questions." Seriously, he is frightening. The only person, the only Senator who voted against a crimes bill against Asian hate crime at a time when this ugliness is increasing. In a nation of more than 325 million people, how do you not have--and believe in--government? That he is part of the government and at the highest levels of it yet he does not believe in it. Stunning. Frightening. Scary. Seriously.

Breaking: Missouri's Senator Josh Hawley Does the Nearly Unbelievable Yet Again

Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Missouri, once again, our own deeply Right Wing, Republican Party Senator Josh Hawley does the nearly unbelievable yet again. Check this out. It just broke. The Senate just passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, 94-1. The one vote against was Republican Josh Hawley.

This bill "...seeks to help combat the rise in anti-Asian hate related to the coronavirus." And he was against it. Because, yeah. At least he was the only one who voted against it. How do you vote against a piece of legislation against hate crime? And how do you vote against a piece of legislation created to fight racist hate crimes when there is an increase of those crimes lately? How do you even do that?

Missourians, I Give You Senator Josh Hawley

And please keep in mind, folks, these videos were created by fellow members of the Republican Party. More. We must, must vote this man out of office, Missourians.

Missouri's Senator Josh Hawley, From Republicans

Ladies and gentlemen, Missouri's own demagoguing Republican Party Senator Joshua, Josh, Hawley. Note that it's from fellow Republicans. Let's vote him out, fellow Missourians. Vote him out. We must. For our state, sure, but for the nation, too, no exaggeration.

Did You Hear What Our Senator Hawley Voted Against?

Seriously, Missourians, did you see what our own Missouri Senator Josh Hawley voted against?

How do you even do that? At any time in a nation's history, how could you vote against a bill that would punish any hate crime, against ANY group? And then, especially now, when we, as a nation, are experiencing MORE very racist crimes against Asian Americans. #VoteHawleyOut

Quote of the Day -- Racial Obscenity Edition

"In America, it's safer to be a white man, overthrowing the government than it is to be a Black man doing anything." --Middle Age Riot.

Thanks, Republicans!

Senator Hawley Has Outdone Himself Today

I couldn't believe Missouri's own Senator Josh Hawley and his Twitter post today: "MLB & the giant woke corporations keep telling Biden’s big lie about Georgia & election integrity. They want to run this country. They’ve been coddled by government for too long. We need to bust them up. Starting next week, I’ll introduce a trust busting agenda for 21st century."

Yes, corporations want to run America, all right. It's why they give Republicans hundreds of millions of dollars to put them in office. It's why and how we got the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, opening up our elections to yet more big, big money. Suddenly, the GOP is threatened because--whaddya' know?--Americans poured out to vote and their Orange Man lost the 2020 election. So now, those same Republicans in Georgia and 42 other states are trying to put into place laws to keep us, Americans, citizens, from voting. They and their ideas and policies are so unpopular, Republicans have found they can't get elected or re-elected unless or until they have fewer of us voting. So Jim Crow and more, here we go. Fortunately, some few corporate leaders have stood up and said they won't tolerate it. Consequently, suddenly Josh Hawley and the Republicans are against those corporations.

Three Months Ago Today

Never forget.

We must never forget.

Senator Hawley said WHAT??

Nearly unbelievably, our own Missouri Senator Josh Hawley posted this yesterday on Twitter: "Erin & I were sickened to hear of the violent attack at the Capitol yesterday by an extremist follower of Louis Farrakhan. We pray for the family of Officer Evans & for others injured in the line of duty. Thanks to the brave men & women of the USCP for their tireless service."

What the what?? Suddenly he's "sickened to hear of the violent attack at the Capitol"? First, this attacker was was out of his mind, google it, and second, it's no way even remotely close to the extent of the attack the previous President and this same Senator Hawley himself instigated at and against that same Capitol of ours January 6 this year. No way even remotely close. Shame on you, Senator Hawley. You're showing some serious chutzpah here, sir and we are no way fooled.

What's In the For the People Act?

Know this, everyone! What the For the People Act does:

--Expands voting rights, --Limits partisan gerrymandering, --Strengthens ethics rules, and --Limits the influence of private donor money in politics. It's only bad for Republicans and the Republican Party. It is patently good to great for Americans and America. Please contact your Senators now and tell them to support it.

More Good to Great News on Trump and the Republicans

 

From?  Who else? Not only good to great news but Missouri's own Josh Hawley is in here, too. Oh, happy day.

Heather Cox Richardson 

February 4, 2021 (Thursday)

Today Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) proposed giving at least $3000 annually per child to American families. This suggestion is coming from a man who, when he ran as the Republican candidate for president in 2012, famously echoed what was then Republican orthodoxy. He was caught on tape saying that “there are 47 percent of the people who… are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.” 

Romney’s proposal indicates the political tide has turned away from the Republicans. Since the 1980s, they have insisted that the government must be starved, dismissing as “socialism” Democrats’ conviction that the government has a role to play in stabilizing the economy and society. 

And yet, that idea, which is in line with traditional conservatism, was part of the founding ideology of the Republican Party in the 1850s. It was also the governing ideology of Romney’s father, George Romney, who served as governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, where he oversaw the state’s first income tax, and as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Richard Nixon, where he tried to increase housing for the poor and desegregate the suburbs. It was also at the heart of Romney’s own record in Massachusetts, where as governor from 2003 to 2007, he ushered in the near-universal health care system on which the Affordable Care Act was based.

But in the 1990s, Republican leadership purged from the party any lawmakers who embraced traditional Republicanism, demanding absolute loyalty to the idea of cutting taxes and government to free up individual enterprise. By 2012, Romney had to run from his record, including his major health care victory in Massachusetts. Now, just a decade later, he has returned to the ideas behind it.

Why?

First, and most important, President Joe Biden has hit the ground running, establishing a momentum that looks much like that of Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933. Roosevelt had behind him stronger majorities than Biden’s, but both took office facing economic crises—and, in Biden’s case, a pandemic as well, along with the climate crisis--and set out immediately to address them.

Like FDR, Biden has established the direction of his administration through executive actions: he is just behind FDR’s cracking pace. Biden arrived in the Oval Office with a sheaf of carefully crafted executive actions that put in place policies that voters wanted: spurring job creation, feeding children, rejoining the World Health Organization, pursuing tax cheats, ending the transgender ban in the military, and reestablishing ties to the nation’s traditional allies. Once Biden had a Democratic Senate as well as a House—those two Georgia Senate seats were huge—he was free to ask for a big relief package for those suffering in the pandemic, and now even Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who had expressed concern about the package, seems to be on board.

FDR’s momentum increased in part because the Republicans were discredited after the collapse of the economy and as Republican leaders turned up as corrupt. Biden’s momentum, too, is likely gathering steam as the Republicans are increasingly tainted by their association with the January 6 insurrection and the attack on the Capitol, along with the behavior of those who continue to support the former president.

The former president’s own behavior is not helping to polish his image. In their response to the House impeachment brief, Trump’s lawyers made the mistake of focusing not on whether the Senate can try a former president but on what Trump did and did not do. That, of course, makes Trump a witness, and today Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the lead impeachment manager, asked him to testify.

Trumps’ lawyers promptly refused but, evidently anticipating his refusal, Raskin had noted in the invitation that “[i]f you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021.” In other words: “Despite his lawyers’ rhetoric, any official accused of inciting armed violence against the government of the United States should welcome the chance to testify openly and honestly—that is, if the official had a defense."

The lack of defense seems to be mounting. This morning, Jason Stanley of Just Security called attention to the film shown at the January 6 rally just after Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke. Stanley explained how it was an explicitly fascist film, designed to show the former president as a strong fascist leader promising to protect Americans against those who are undermining the country: the Jews. Stanley also pointed out that, according to the New York Times, the rally was “a White House production” and that Trump was deeply involved with the details.

Trump’s supporters are not cutting a good figure, either. Today, by a vote of 230-199, the House of Representatives voted to strip new Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) of her assignments to the Budget Committee and the Education and Labor Committee. It did so after reviewing social media posts in which she embraced political violence and conspiracy theories. This leaves Greene with little to do but to continue to try to gin up media attention and to raise money.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had declined to take action against Greene—although in 2019 he stripped assignments from Steve King (R-IA) for racist comments-- and only eleven Republicans joined the majority. The Republican Party is increasingly associated with the Trump wing, and that association will undoubtedly grow as Democrats press it in advertisements, as they have already begun to do.

McConnell has called for the party’s extremists to be purged out of concern that voters are turning away from the party. Still, the struggle between the two factions might be hard to keep out of the news as the Senate turns to confirmation hearings for Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Justice, Merrick Garland.

Going forward, the attorney general will be responsible for overseeing any prosecutions that come from the attempt to overturn the election, and the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will question Garland, has on it three Republican senators involved in that attempt. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been accused by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of calling before Trump did to get him to alter the state’s vote count. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) both joined in challenging the counting of the electoral votes.

It is hard to imagine the other senators at the hearing will not bring the three compromised senators into the discussion. The Republicans have so far refused to schedule Garland’s hearing, although now that the Senate is organized under the Democrats, it will happen soon.

Trump Republicans are betting the former president’s endorsement will win them office in the future. But with social media platforms cracking down on his disinformation, his ability to reach voters is not at all what it used to be, making it easier for members of the other faction to jump ship.

In addition, those echoing Trump’s lies are getting hit in their wallets. Today, the voting systems company Smartmatic sued the Fox News Channel and its personalities Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, and Jeanine Pirro, along with Giuliani and Trump’s legal advisor Sidney Powell, for at least $2.7 billion in damages for lying about Smartmatic machines in their attempt to overturn the election results.

Republicans rejecting the Trump takeover of the party are increasingly outspoken. Not only has Romney called for a measure that echoes Biden’s emphasis on supporting children and families, but also Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) today released a video attacking the leaders of his state’s Republican Party after hearing that they planned to censure him for speaking out against the former president.

“If that president were a Democrat, we both know how you’d respond. But, because he had ‘Republican’ behind his name, you’re defending him,” Sasse said. “Something has definitely changed over the last four years … but it’s not me.”

Not done there, there's this beauty from yesterday. Yahoo.

House Boots Marjorie Taylor Greene From Committee Assignments

Not done there.

Fox News loses viewers, flees even further right and away from news

I think FOX is in real big trouble

It's a bee--YOU--tee-full day, campers! RED FRIDAY!! Think happy thoughts. GO CHIEFS!!!

Senator Hawley Has Not Done Himself Any Favors Lately

The Lincoln Project very rightly sums up our Missouri Senator Josh Hawley very well today.

Let's do this, Missouri.

#Throwthebumout 

Only Thing Better Than Trump Impeached Is Josh Hawley

I love how Josh Hawley is now all over the place. Here's two, very well deserved.

Now if we can just get him to do the right thing and resign.

Speaking of Trump:

5 members of legal team depart ahead of Senate impeachment

How do you not love that? 1 Week to go before his impeachment trial and his entire team of 5 defense lawyers quit.  And the only thing better than that is the reason why.

Robert Reich

@RBReich

Trump can’t find lawyers for his Senate trial because he demands they push his false claim that he won the election, thereby becoming accessories to his continuing effort to incite insurrection.

And then there it gets even better.

As Trump's legal team respectfully resigns, his supporters join Dems in blaming him for Capitol riot

Finally today, there is this from the New York Times.

Legal Pressure on Trump Increases With Judge’s Order in Fraud Inquiry

The order, answering a demand for documents by New York’s attorney general, rejected a bid to shield the records with attorney-client privilege.

I tell you, folks, it's a beautiful day.

This Unbelievable President and Presidency

Once again, this President leaves me disbelieving just where, exactly, we all, as a nation, are. 

Yesterday's debacle and insurrection and assault on our nation was nothing if not unforgivable. There's so much to say on it. I could write and write here and then post other's information, too. Obviously, that won't help and no one could read it all. I'll just put where we are now.

And that is, we are, it seems clear, stuck with this greedy, absurd, self-centered, selfish, ignorant, reckless, now obviously dangerous dolt for a few more days. Thirteen to be exact. That and we just have to hope and maybe pray, if we do that sort of thing, that he doesn't do anything else stupid. That is a tall, tall order for this man, as we've repeatedly seen in the last 4 years.

One outcome of all this, sort of shallow as it is, is that he's suspended, indefinitely, on Facebook and Instagram.

Think of that.

Not a teenager but no less than this Republican Party President is blocked from posting on social media because he tells so many untruths--read: lies--and emotionally incites his followers. Again, unreal. For any other President, this would be unthinkable, unbelievable. Heck, for any other adult it would be unheard of.

Then there's his administration.  People are now, no big surprise, bailing on him and it all, and left and right. There have been 9 quit so far with the most notable being Elaine Chao. Yes, THAT Elaine Chao. None other than Senator Mitch McConnell's own wife. 

Then there's very Right Wing nutjob Mick Mulvaney. He quit, too. It was too crazy in Trump's White House now even for him.  You can the rest of the list of the people who have so far, to this minute, bailed here:

Everyone Who Has Quit the Trump Administration After Wednesday’s Anarchy

People are, deservedly, asking, telling him to resign or be thrown out. And not just Democrats are saying it. In fact, this is the first person I heard call for him, Trump, to step down or be removed and he's GOP.

Illinois GOP Congressman: Trump Must Be Removed

Meanwhile, it's ratcheted up since his call hours ago.

Top congressional Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi say Trump should be removed by office by 25th Amendment or impeachment

As for yesterday's insanity and obscenities, I was certain that, because we knew they, Trump's supporters/protesters were going to Washington, that all the security would be in place and it would be inconsequential. I forgot we live in Trump's world, at least now.

If there is any silver lining, so to speak, from this ugliness yesterday in Washington, it is that the Republican Party is in meltdown just now, before our very eyes.

Ex-GOP Senator Says Republicans Must Form New Party

We have at least that to thank Mr. Trump for. Ironically, very ironically, none other than Right Wing, Republican Trump lapdog Senator Lindsey Graham predicted this.

If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2016

Who knew he'd be so prescient?

Think about yesterday's attack on our Capitol, too.  The only leadership we get from this pathetic excuse for a President is to have his delusional followers attack our capitol building in Washington DC. Meanwhile, record numbers of Americans are dying from this pandemic.

A record number of people died from Covid the last two days in America as rioters stormed U.S. Capitol

Which now brings us to the far more local party of this unfolding news and that is our own Missouri Senator Josh "I'll Do Anything For a Vote" Hawley. He rightly isn't coming out of this well. The following is from our own Kansas City Star.

Assault on democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt

A bit from the article:

No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway.

This, Sen. Hawley, is what law-breaking and destruction look like. This is not a protest, but a riot. One woman who was apparently part of the pro-Trump mob was fatally shot by Capitol Police as lawmakers took cover. Some of those whose actions Trump encouraged and later condoned brought along their Confederate flags.

And no longer can it be asked, as George Will did recently of Hawley, “Has there ever been such a high ratio of ambition to accomplishment?” Hawley’s actions in the last week had such impact that he deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that’s been shed.

Hawley was first to say that he would oppose the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. That action, motivated by ambition, set off much that followed — the rush of his fellow presidential aspirant Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and other members of the Sedition Caucus to put a show of loyalty to the president above all else.

Meanwhile, Senator Hawley has been very rightly savaged in the media across the nation for this words and actions leading up to yesterday's Trump supporters' travesty. At one point, at the beginning of the Right Wing assault on our Capitol in Washington, Senator Hawley actually went outside the building to cheer on the Trump troops. Not surprisingly, it prompted lots of backlash on social media. This was my person al favorite.

Again, certainly deserved.

None other than deeply Right Wing, very conservative, very Republican columnist George Will had this to say about our Senator.

Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley are the US Constitution’s 'most dangerous domestic enemies'

Which leaves us rather incompletely at where we are now. Both the 25th Amendment and another impeachment would take far longer than the less than two weeks we have now so chances are strong that, unless Trump does abdicate or bail, chances are strong we are, in fact, stuck with him. I think Vice President Mike Pence is far too much both a coward and opportunist and won't invoke the 25th Amendment. He doesn't want to burn himself with even the nutcase Trump supporters of the party.

But one more good thing that could well come of this, however, is that Nancy Pelosi and the House may well put him, Donald J "Jenius" Trump up for impeachment anyway.  And here's the great thing about that.

Donald Trump would then be the only, only President, of all 45, that has been impeached twice.

Among the things we can't have is this.

Trump asking aides and lawyers about self-pardon power

This is what we need to keep in mind going forward, I think.

You Don’t Heal a Nation By Forgetting About Fascism. You Heal a Nation by Punishing Fascism Swiftly

Think happy thoughts, campers.

Also, hope---and pray, if you're into that--that the worst of this man Donald Trump and his Presidency are behind us.

Stay and be safe and well.

Where We Are Now With This President Trump

16 days out.  Only two more weeks and two days to inauguration. Yahoo.

This happened today, thankfully.

Judge Reject Last Ditch Effort to Overturn Election

This broke earlier today, about an hour ago.

A federal judge has rejected a legal effort from groups of Trump voters to block Congress from officially counting the Electoral College votes and suggested the attorneys involved may be subject to sanctions, suggesting they were using courts to "engage in such gamesmanship or symbolic political gestures."
It was yet another defeat for the dubious last-ditch legal maneuvers aimed at overturning President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

Fortunately, also happening now, today, our Missouri Senator Josh Hawley is getting skewered, too, for supporting the overturning of our votes and election.

Former Senator John Danforth blasts Hawley

Ex-GOP senator blasts Hawley's challenge to electoral vote

The Washington Post puts Senator Hawley and his recent views in excellent, accurate perspective.

Josh Hawley’s heedless ambition is a threat to the republic

Fortunately, Senator Tom Cotton, of all people, of all Senators, from our neighbor to the South, Arkansas, at least did the right thing.

Tom Cotton Breaks With Trump on Coup Attempt in Congress

And Paul Ryan, of all people, also came out against Trump and his electoral gambit.

In scathing statement, former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republican attempts to reject Electoral College vote were 'antidemocratic and anti-conservative'

Amazingly, even Senator Lindsey "Lap Dog" Graham came to his senses.

Lindsey Graham Publicly Ditches The 11-GOP Traitors

Unfortunately, this became necessary. Fortunately, they all spoke up.

All 10 Living Ex-Defense Secretaries Unite Against Trump

All 10 currently living ex-Defense Secretaries — two of whom served in the Trump administration — have banded together with a new op-ed in The Washington Post in which they insist upon the critical importance of an orderly transfer of power between presidential administrations without any military involvement in dealing with election-related challenges like those which outgoing President Donald Trump and his allies have raised. 

Even Dick Cheney--freaking Dick "Right Wing" Cheney came out against Trump's power grab here.

Dick Cheney And More Are Demanding Trump Finally Admit He Lost

And rightly so. Also fortunately, the business community is coming out with their opinion of Trump's trying to overthrow our election results.

Business leaders urge Congress to certify Biden win

CEOs Urge Congress to Certify Biden’s Electoral College Win

Nearly 200 Business Leaders Tell Congress To 'Move Forward

Meanwhile, Trump's colossally misinformed, misguided, quite possibly illegal phone call he made over the weekend to Georgia, asking them to overturn the election and find him, very specifically, "11,780 more votes", is quite possibly, if not likely either getting or going to get him into yet further legal trouble.

Georgia elections board member calls for probe into Trump’s call seeking to pressure Raffensperger

There's talk he could be arrested in Georgia when he goes there tomorrow to help get out Republican votes for their two senate candidates.

Will Trump Leaked Georgia Phone Call Land Him In Jail?

Trump Call to Georgia Official Might Violate State and Federal Law

What took place is incredible.

In his latest attempt to recall the presidential election on Saturday, President Donald Trump reportedly demanded during a now-leaked call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that the latter “find” 11,780 votes for him to win Georgia over President-elect Joe Biden.

During the hour-long phone call, which was first obtained by The Washington Post, Trump insisted to Raffensperger that he, rather than Biden, was the winner of the state’s votes. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” Trump said on the call, where White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Georgia Secretary of State office’s general counsel Ryan Germany, and various lawyers were all present.

It was so incredible, in fact, he isn't even vague about it. He spells out specifically the number of votes he wants, needs them to find. Completely blatant and yet more unprecedented, outrageous Presidency.

Carl Bernstein, one of the two Watergate reporters who helped effectively bring down Richard Nixon, put Trump's phone call, at least, into perspective.

Carl Bernstein Says Latest Trump Tapes Are ‘Far Worse’ Than Watergate

Over 60 different lawsuits by his lawyers and legal team have all, all been thrown out, all across the nation, all for lack of evidence of vote fraud. He needs to give it up. We all know that. He lost. He needs to own it. He needs to do the right thing for the first time in his life. He needs to respect our vote, our votes, our election and Democracy.

All other Presidents, when voted out of office, respected the votes, the election, the process, the people, Democracy and nation.

Until now.

He needs to concede.

In closing, this is a thing.

Airport near Trump's golf resort in Scotland is alerted to a US military plane arriving 1/19/21