Things I Thought We'd Never See--Things I though America Was Better Than, Smarter Than

 

I thought we, the US, were all smarter, better, more educated and so beyond the likes of Donald Trump-- and his followers. 

I thought we were better, far better than self-serving, greedy, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, white supremacist Donald J Trump.

I thought we were far better than an insurrection.

I thought we were far better than a treasonous, traitorous attack on our nation's Capitol.

I was so wrong. So very wrong.

Entertainment Overnight -- Memorial Edition

For Eva Cassidy, died this day, November 2, 1996.  So wrong. What a loss. So tragic.

From Wikipedia:

In 1993, Cassidy had a malignant mole removed from her back. Three years later, during a promotional event for the Live at Blues Alley album in July 1996, Cassidy noticed an ache in her hips, which she attributed to stiffness from painting murals while perched atop a stepladder.[11] The pain persisted and X-rays revealed a fracture. Further tests found that cancer had spread to her bones, causing the fracture, as well as to her lungs.[20] Her doctors estimated she had three to five months to live. Cassidy opted for aggressive treatment, but her health deteriorated rapidly. On September 17,[20] at a benefit concert for her at the Bayou, she made her final public appearance, closing the set with "What a Wonderful World" in front of an audience of family, friends, and fans. Additional chemotherapy was ineffective and Cassidy died on November 2, 1996 at her family's home in Bowie, Maryland.[2][11][21] In accordance with her wishes, her body was cremated and the ashes were scattered on the lake shores of St. Mary's River Watershed Park, a nature reserve near Callaway, Maryland.[2]

Entertainment Overnight -- Birthday Edition

Wishing a very, very happy birthday today to one young Ben Platt, Benjamin Schiff Platt, born this day, September 24, 1993. And thank you, so much, already, for the music and memories and such great music.

On This Day, 1933

On this day, May 26, 1933, country music pioneer and legend Jimmie Rodgers died of complications from tuberculosis at age 35 in New York City, somewhat ironically.

Republicans, Our Votes and Our Democracy

Where we stand, Mr. and Mrs. America. They and their csandidates and office holders and platforms and political party are so very unpopular with most of Americans, all they have is still more, heightened vote suppression.

And so, our nation, that Democracy I was talking about?

Vote suppression.Of fellow, tax paying American citizens. It's all they've got. #VoteThemAllOut

We Need the American Jobs Plan

Hoping everyone is on board with President Biden's American Jobs Plan. Americans need it, America needs. Heck, look at Missouri alone. This is from USA Today, June 29, 2013. Missouri was ranked 10th worst, overall, in list of states with bad bridges.

Since 2011, Missouri may have made more strides fixing its bridges than almost any other state in the nation. Although 3,502 of its 24,072 bridges are structurally deficient, this is actually 640 fewer than in 2011. In St. Louis County, just 3.9% of the 865 bridges received a subpar grade. Those 58 bridges in need of repair carry an average of 789,000 vehicles per day. However, the bridges in many other parts of Missouri remain in a serious state of disrepair. In five counties, more than 30% of the bridges are structurally deficient. Phone your Senators, folks. Sure, they're Republicans and it likely won't matter but hey, we have to try.

KCPT Fixed Their "Week In Review" Problem

What a surprise. I've written a few times here that Kansas City Public Television's show "Week in Review" had real issues of representation on their program. It was virtually always 3 white people and a Black man and that was it. Not one Hispanic or Latinx person represented usually on their panel. Once in a while, yes. Usually, regularly, no. Absolutely not.

So how did they fix it? They didn't have even ONE guest on the program for a panel whatever. Problem solved? Ironically, as Nick Haines interviewed Mayor Quinton Lucas on the show tonight, the Mayor mentioned his own going to the West side of the city on Cinco de Mayo to talk to the Hispanic citizens there. Pretty hilarious. At least he recognizes there is a Hispanic community here and they need to be included.

Kansas Lowers Concealed Carry Age to 18??

Couldn't believe what I read. And it took place at the beginning of the month. I don't know how I missed it. Yes, the Kansas statehouse overrode Governor Kelly's veto and lowered the concealed carry age to 18 years. Insane.

And they're not--repeat NOT--putting any exceptions on college campuses or universities. That's going to be a really good mixture right there, isn't it? No permit required and it can't be open carry--big deal--and the students don't have to be registered with the school. Brilliant. Let's have the administration fly blind as to who may or may not have a weapon. Can you imagine if you had a student who clearly didn't seem to care for you and who also might not have a good, stable emotional base but you don't and can't know if maybe he's carrying a weapon? That's brilliant right there. If they do conceal carry on campus, they do have to be 21 but other than that, Katy bar the door. And if they don't have to register anyway, who's to say an 18 to 20 year old isn't going to carry? Legislators? Republicans? Do you ever really think these things out?

They're fighting citizens being able to vote over there, they're that unpopular, but hey, more guns! is always an answer, right? Not be outdone, Missouri Senate approves a bill seeking to nullify federal gun laws. It's that terrific? God help us all. We have GOT to vote out Republicans, state to state, all across the nation. Let's do this.

Question for Kansas City Public Television

You have someone named Vickie Diaz-Camacho telling us how great KCPT is in your advertising but you can't get an Hispanic or Latinx person on "Week In Review" every week?

Seriously?

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.

Explaining Fox, the Right Wing and Today's Republican Party

Carl Sagan said it so right and true, all those years ago. And now it's all made worse, much worse, with Donald Trump and his supporters.

Don't think it's true? Search the headline: Republican reps declare Jan.6 insurgency 'a normal tourist visit' from 'peaceful patriots'

The Craziness That is the GOP Now

So it's been done. Republicans voted to oust Lix Cheney from her positino in their party because she wouldn't support the lie that Donald Trump won the election last November. Insane that's still going on. So here we are.

I love quoting Republicans themselves on this situation.

The insanity that is today's Republicans Party.

Joe Walsh has been speaking up about them for some time.

We must vote them all out.

Don't Let Anyone Say President Biden Is Doing Nothing at the Southern Border

Check this out. For any and every member of the Republican Party who might try to say President Biden is ignoring or doing nothing for or about the situation on the Southern border:

“At the end of March, there were more than 5,000 children in Customs & Border Protection Patrol stations. Today, that number is approximately 600…. The amount of time children spend in CBP facilities is down by 75% — from 131 hours at the end of March to under 30 hours now.” --Heather Cox Richardson

Today's Republican Party, Disenfranchising Millions of Taxpaying American Citizens

We must stop and not allow, no way allow Republican Party vote suppression in any state in our Union. It's un-American. It's un-democratic. It's anti-democracy.

Please contact your Senators in Washington, DC. Tell them to vote FOR the For the People Act so we end gerrymandering by any and all poltical parties and get the dark money out of politics and get ethics back into our government.

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.

Kansans! Last Week in Topeka!

Once again, Davis Hammet of Loud Light does an excellent job of summarizing last week in the Topeka, Kansas Statehouse. It happened to be the last week of the session this year. You can follow him on YouTube and Facebook at Loud Light. If possible and you can support him, you might make a one time contribution to his work and efforts and reporting or, even better, a recurring, monthly contribution.

Let's Be Clear About What the Republicans Are Doing to Our Elections and Vote

I hadn't heard of this man or his quote but it certainly seems to describe the Republicans' efforts, individually as well as by the political party, across the nation, to disenfranchise likely millions of fellow, taxpaying citizens.

Stop vote suppression.

What Gives Me Hope

This is, of course, what's happening to the GOP, the Republican Party presently and it's from the inside. They're doing it to themselves.

I just hope they collapse before they bring down the nation.

The More Things Change...

From the "More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same" file. As it says, this was created around 1930 during the smallpox virus of the day.

Get vaccinated. Get the vaccine, folks. It's for yourself, your family, friends and all of us out here.

Things You Think You Know

I was sure, once Richard Nixon was gone, that Republicans had done their worst and we would never again, at least in my lifetime, ever do as badly as that man in the White House again.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

A Way The Star Could Sell More Newspapers

Yes, herewith, a way our own Kansas City Star could sell more newspapers.

In the paper Friday, there was an entire two page section of the paper called "Uplift." It had, on those two pages, four articles. Two each, obviously. So they were large articles. One was from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, another from The Washington Post, the 3rd and 4th simply from the AP. That was it. So here's the radical idea to get more readers. Hire one-- or at most, two--more reporters to do just that. Report. And for this and other sections of the paper, have this reporter or these reporters write--wait for it--LOCAL STORIES. Imagine that. Have this person or these persons send out a letter from them and the Star, to every church and local non-profit and charity organization, asking them for good suggested stories on local people, doing good to great, local work. Everyone from churches to the City Union Mission, the Nelson, art galleries, universities, everywhere. You can't tell me people wouldn't respond. And then you know what would happen? Local people would read and want to read those stories. Heartwarming story from Pittsburgh on sisters doing good work in their neighborhood? Sure, okay. But get stories on locals doing great work here? Watch your readership increase. It's a natural.

The Republican Party's Big Lie

The bad news, the Republicans' Big Lie is an attack on our vote, our votes, our election, our democracy and so, our nation and people.

The good news, it's one more thing, along with the former President, that's tearing down and apart the Republican Party.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yes, happy Mother's Day! Now, for all of you children out there, git on the phone and...

It's the Republican Party vs the United States and Democracy

What I've thought and said for some time. It's either the Republican Party or our United States of America, no overstatement. Understand, Americans, the Republicans and their political party are attacking our vote, our votes, our elections and our democracy. Doanld Trump, his followers and Mitch McConnell and their political party cannot win.

Americans Need to Know and Understand and Fight What the Republicans Are Doing

From Heather Cox Richardson, once more. No one evaluates what's going on politically in America currently any better and informs, instructs us all.

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo articulated today what many have been reluctant to say: What is at stake in the Big Lie and all the Republican efforts to keep it in play—the shenanigans in the secret Maricopa County, Arizona, recount; the censuring of Republicans who voted to impeach the former president; the expected removal of Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney from a leadership role in the party; and so on—is not the past election of 2020, but the upcoming election of 2024.

The Republican Party has demonstrated that it intends to control the government in the future, no matter what most Americans want. Iowa, Georgia, Montana, and Florida have already passed voter suppression laws, while other states are considering them. (Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s bill yesterday live on the Fox News Channel.)

As Marshall points out, though, making sure that states return only Republicans to Congress is also about controlling the White House. Republican lawmakers are purging from state election machinery members of their own party who refused to change the outcome of the 2020 election and give a victory to Trump. The former president has fed speculation that he still hopes to overturn the 2020 election, but Marshall looks forward: Is it really possible to think that in 2024, members of the new Trump party will protect the sanctity of any election that gives a victory to a Democratic candidate? If Republicans capture the House in 2022, will they agree to certify electoral votes for a Democrat? In 2020, even before the current remaking of the party in Trump’s image, 139 House Republicans contested them.

Trump is systematically going after leading members of the Republican Party, determined to remake it into his own organization. Several former senior White House officials told Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post that “[t]he defeated ex-president is propelled primarily by a thirst for retribution, an insatiable quest for the spotlight and a desire to establish and maintain total dominance and control over the Republican base.” Republican strategist Brendan Buck noted that Trump seems to relish fighting, rather than victory to achieve an end. “Usually,” Buck said, “a fight is the means to an end, but in this case fighting is the end.”

The Republicans are consolidating their control over the machinery of government in a way that indicates they intend to control the country regardless of what Americans actually want, putting Trump and his organization back in charge. Democrats have proposed the For the People Act (H.R. 1 and S. 1), which would start to restore a level playing field between the parties. The For the People Act would sideline the new voter suppression bills and make it easier to vote. It would end partisan gerrymandering and stop the flow of big money into elections permitted after the 2010 Citizens United decision.

But Republicans are determined to stop this measure. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is especially engaged in its obstruction. He has called it a “partisan takeover” that would “give Washington Democrats unprecedented control over 50 states’ election laws.” He recognizes that restoring a level electoral playing field would hamstring the Republicans’ ability to win elections. Defeating the act is McConnell’s top priority.

The story of how Republican leaders embraced voter suppression and gerrymandering starts back in the 1980s, though the mechanics of overturning a presidential election are new to 2020. Still, their undermining of our democratic system begs the question: Why are leading Republicans surrendering their party, and our nation, to a budding autocrat?

Two days ago, when asked if he is concerned about the direction of his party, McConnell told reporters that he is not paying attention to it because the Democrats are trying “to turn American into a socialist country,” and that “[o]ne-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration.”

Still Wild About Harry

Wishing a posthumous very happy birthday today to Missouri's own Harry S Truman, born this day, May 8, 1884 and thank goodness.

One of his many great and so true quotes: He had these people down all that long ago. If anything, they've only gotten worse. “Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home--but not for housing. They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage--the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for people who can afford them. They consider electrical power a great blessing--but only when the private power companies get their rake-off. They think American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire of Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.” ― Harry S. Truman

America, Your Vote and Voting Rights Are Being Devoured

Yes, Mr. and Mrs. America, the Republicans and their Republican Party know they're so deeply umpopular with Americans across the nation, they have to make it tougher to the point of impossible for us, fellow taxpaying American citizens to vote.

This cannot stand. We cannot allow this. It's un-American and un-democratic. We must stop it, all of it, state to state across the nation. Vote them all out. Push to have Congress end the filibuster and pass the For the People Act so NO POLITICAL PARtY can gerrymander voting districts any longer. Please contact your Senators.Let's do this.

Quote of the Day -- Historically Poignant Edition

Apply this to today.

"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." ---John Adams, Federalist Papers, 1776

No More Racist City in the US Than Kansas City, Missouri

Lonnie McFadden asks an excellent very legitimate question on the PBS program, "Bird: Not Out of Nowhere."

Who had more to do with Kansas City-- Bird, Charlie Parker or Winston Churchill? But who has a statue on the Plaza? A city divided. Literally divided. Badly, badly divided. We need to fix that.

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?