The ballsy move! (#4411)

      Come on democrats, what is it going to take to man up and say enough? The treasonous republican party is not a good faith party so don't hold to traditional thinking and acting. Overrule the parliamentarian like republicans have in the past when they wanted to pass legislation. If republicans can do it with impunity then we can as well for the betterment of our democracy. If it is a pathway that we can take that has been confirmed as acceptable then use it! We as a democratic party have tried like hell to get republicans to negotiate in good faith for many decades and all we end up doing is destroying the effectiveness of our legislation.
     The republican party on the other hand has understood that they don't need to be conciliatory toward us when they want legislation passed because they understand the method for getting whatever they want done. If we democrats don't employ the same method then we are doomed to failure. I would even go a step further and tell us democrats to eliminate the legislative filibuster. The reason being we will never get effective changed passed in the senate, ever! So denying that is like being a coward who is afraid of what may happen down the road. No such time for any mamby pamby quivering. Without needed legislation the electorate will never vote for us as a serious political party.
     We are in this for all the marbles right now and if we don't work within all the possibilities then we will lose all the marbles in the coming elections. So now is the time to be bolder than the democracy destroying republicans or we will regret this moment from this time to eternity! Remove all obstacles to our implementing of our mandated policies and to hell with the crying by the side of the road petty hypocritical republicans. The time is now for us democrats to take charge of all things within our power and reshape the manifest destiny of our society and lead the world with strength and courage. It is here for us to achieve now we just need to be ballsy enough to proceed!

Yesterday felt like a gut punch (#4410)

      Early this morning the House passed the stimulus relief package and that was good but that ruling Thursday night by the parliamentarian took a good swing at my guts. How the increase in the minimum wage did not conclude by her that it would have an effect on the budget will never satisfy my understanding. Yet what is done is done. It is an opinion ruling not a legal one. So we democrats have some tough decisions to make. I say tough because it will take some spine on our part to disregard the advice of the parliamentarian, which republicans have done in the past, and go ahead and include the wage increase in the Senate version of the bill.
     The House passed the minimum wage increase in their bill they are sending the Senate so I say keep it in there and force Manchin and Sinema to sign on or negate the whole stimulus package. I doubt they would negate the whole package over the wage increase. The minimum wage increase is part of the recovery plan that President Biden campaigned on and won with. So taking it out when it will have no other chance of passing this Congress is not acceptable. The will of we the people is stronger than the will of one or two senators who have for no real good reason for obstructing. The increase in the minimum wage is in 5 yearly stages culminating at $15 an hour in 2025 which allows for businesses to prepare for how it is structured. There can also be some carveouts that help businesses more vulnerable to the wage increases. It is the correct thing to do!
     The bottom line though is that if we don't pass a wage increase under the budget reconciliation process we will never get it done as we see that there will be no republicans in either Congressional chamber who can be trusted as objective partners. Bipartisanship is not a priority at all to republicans unless it is to force democrats into watering down already watered down proposals and then still obstruct when the final vote comes about. It is all on we democrats to pass legislation that is meaningful or like I pointed out yesterday we will lose the confidence and votes of our current blue wave dynamic in 2022 and 2024.

Enough, it is time to play hardball with senate republicans (#4409)

      If it isn't painfully obvious that republicans will not work with democrats on Joe Biden's mandate to pass some progressive policies then I don't know what else it will take. There is nothing left to gather for evidence that the republican party will pass no legislation aimed at helping the working middle poor class. So we democrats have got one option left that can succeed. We must blow up the legislative filibuster now and then pass our bills that can get the 50 votes plus Vice President Kamala Harris. This has always been the last gasp measure and now it is time to employ it.
     For one thing the legislative filibuster is an archaic rule that is a holdover from a time when dividing race was used as it's purpose. No real benefit of it is apparent in this time as it is only a tool that the minority uses to thwart the will of the people. If we democrats do not eliminate the legislative filibuster the we will lose the coming midterm election in 2022 and then the general election in 2024. The time is now for getting our agenda passed through Congress and eliminating the legislative filibuster is our last hope. There is no policy that we democrats have that will get at least 10 republicans to sign onto in the senate because they know that if they defeat our policies in Congress the American people will hold us responsible, not them.
     Those democrats who oppose eliminating the legislative filibuster need to have their worlds shaken by we citizens. If they do not vote to end the legislative filibuster then we might as well put such a hurt on them that they feel the weight of their betrayal to our democratic mandate. We are going to lose the senate and house in 2 years anyway without eliminating the legislative filibuster so punishing a couple of senators now is no loss. I am sick and tired of some within the democratic party who cannot fight like our lives depend on it because our lives do depend on it. So if they won't fight for us then we will fight to get them out of our party and then let the republicans destroy what is left of our democracy. Because they will do it anyway if we don't eliminate the legislative filibuster!

The senate parliamentarian is about to make a huge decision (#4408)

      When I woke this morning I was half expecting to see a ruling from the senate parliamentarian on the question of whether the budget reconciliation bill could include the minimum wage increase. Yet at this typing there is no word yet on a decision. It is a critical decision for the future of our economy and whether or not we can lift 10's of millions of Americans out of poverty. It would seem like the raising of the minimum wage would fit nicely within a budget reconciliation bill but I am not at all sure the arguments against including it are illogical. I am not an expert on the intent of the Byrd rule but at a glance it sure does seem to me that it is a budgetary influencer.
     So I will be very disappointed if Elizabeth MacDonough, who is the senate parliamentarian, decides that including the minimum wage aspect of the recovery act is not consistent with the senate Byrd rule. The Byrd rule seeks to exclude non budgetary items from the reconciliation process. She may be waiting for the bill to actually pass the house tomorrow and then be delivered to the senate for approval before she makes her advisory position on the minimum wage known. Either way the sooner she does make her decision known the sooner we can devise our next move as to how to proceed. 
     While our economy is in a lull, the time for increasing the minimum wage as quickly as possible will allow the small businesses within our nation the security of knowing their costs as they consider reopening or reimagining their future. The way we have stifled the work force and made them part of the poverty of our economy is criminal and the idea that we have to keep them there so that small businesses can keep making money off their backs is cruel and brutish! If you cannot afford to pay workers a livable wage then your business sucks to all hell! the incremental increase of the minimum wage over the next several years to a still low of $15 an hour is a compromise to small businesses that they should be glad to have.

Still killing Americans with a knee on the neck (#4407)

      Another man was killed after police kept a man down with a knee on his neck for 5 minutes. It is insane that this would happen after the protests of last summer over the death of George Floyd in the same way. I cannot fathom how this can be allowed to happen again without criminalizing the act. We here in California are going to have to answer for this and since we democrats have supermajorities in both chambers and the governorship the expectation that the qualified immunity that police officers are given must either be changed or eliminated.
     Our police force is necessary and should be given some leeway when dealing with difficult situations but when the death of our citizenry is involved due to an intentional act of restraint that has no business being in their arsenal for subduing a person then that officer must be held to the full extent of his act of the cruel and brutish behavior. In no scenario should a knee to the neck ever be deemed acceptable. Death to a suspect cannot be an outcome when the situation is not desperate nor imminently harmful to an officer. The only reason to use such a maneuver is to cause harm. For that the officer must willfully want to end the life of another human being.
     I will be advocating for the end of qualified immunity or a significant change to the law that does not allow the continuation of the knee to the neck death move. When officers find that prison awaits them for killing citizens with this move surely they will find that not using that maneuver is the better option. The cruelty that must be inside an officer who would keep his knee on the neck of a person should also be a wake up call to the allowing of such folks into our policing fraternity. We need strong men and women who want to serve our communities with honor and not such of those who are less than honorable when it comes to inflicting their own brand of justice under the color of law!

I am feeling optimistic about controlling the virus soon (#4406)

      Not since November 2019 have I had a haircut from my barber. Yesterday I had a haircut from my barber. The reason I chose yesterday is because with guidelines from the CDC and my own precautions as well as the precautions my barber is taking I felt confident that our economy is beginning to appreciate what it takes to reopen. Along with the Biden administration actions on testing, acquiring of vaccines, and a plan for getting those vaccines into arms my confidence is returning. Joe and Kamala have prioritized defeating this pandemic as their number one mission.
     With that I am also reinforced in my optimism. This is no wishful thinking because I couldn't wait any longer to get a haircut. In fact I was torn as to whether I should even get a haircut as my hair was getting to a longer more manageable hippified look that I had had for a part of my younger life. A reliving the past scenario that was almost as strong as getting the normal haircut I like. Well the haircut won out but not because I had to have one but because our nation and here in California we are doing a good job now of staving off this insidious virus.
     I am now so confident that I see our summer as one that will look more like the summer of 19, than the summer of 20. With a very competent federal government now orchestrating the vaccine rollout and fortified with strong CDC recommendations our nation should be poised to arrest the worst of what the Covid-19 virus was allowed to damage due to trump mismanagement and dismissal of facts. The difference with the Biden/Harris ticket in charge now is night and day compared to trumps. I feel alive and eager to begin a life free from the angst of federal ineptitude and uncaring. With new hope and a mindset of logic and science to back it, I can say now that we are coming out of our caves and are ready to find commonality where it exists for those of us who care about what is next for our futures.

Ending the republican party (#4405)

      That trump is speaking at cpac this coming Sunday is another failing of the republican party. He will claim the republican party as his despite the FACT that he lost the presidency, house and senate majorities. The republicans are doing their part in destroying themselves so we democrats must hold up our end by continuing to expose their illogic and shame. We must serve our nation in putting out the flames of republicanism at every turn. Because for republicans it is all about brushfires and outright infernos. They do not govern, they manipulate wherever and whenever they can make political hay.
     As we are seeing with Beto O'Rourke, Joe Biden and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, we democrats are a party of action when help is needed. We are not disinterested enough to vacation during a crisis nor are we out to wrongly blame forward thinking agendas that hide their own culpability. Our democratic policies of unity and strength far outweigh the policies of republicans which are survival of the fittest in application. Texas is showing us that deregulation is not a good policy when profit is the bottom line before humanity. Where republicans lead states the states themselves are impoverished and intellectually backward.
     The only hope for our American society is for the republican party to disband due to it's own corruption and inadequacy. Never in the history of our nation has a political party been so toxic to the values of democracy and nature of humanity. The time has come for the republican party to go the way of the Whigs and Anti-Federalist party's among many others. They initially served a purpose whether good and/or bad but either way they only had limited appeal over a short period of time. The only party now that has great appeal for the last 60 years is the Democratic party. Because we have chosen progressive liberal policies based upon democratic values; not like the others who lost sight of democracy and served only a portion of our electorate.

Never forget that trump republicans put children in metal cages (#4404)

      It took trump losing the election before finally ending the despicable act of caging children by closing the last facility that housed them, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/us/border-migrant-children-cages-ursula-warehouse.html. If there were an instance of the trump reign of 4 years that disgusted me more than all the rest of the horrible acts of this inhumane personage of trump it is removing children from their parents and locking them in cages. That approximately 5,500 children were separated from their parents is appalling. Approximately 500 or more children have yet to be reunited with their missing parents.
     That over 1400 parents were deported without their children was appalling, https://www.npr.org/2021/01/28/961301353/families-separated-at-border-hope-biden-reunites-them-bringing-deported-parents-. The idea that trump would teach immigrants a lesson that if you come here seeking immigration status you will be punished in a most cruel and brutish way was heavy handed and torturous. The Biden administration has created a reunification task force to work to reunite the remaining children with their parents or guardians, https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/02/joe-biden-migrant-children-task-force/. But what has been done by the trump's was a shameful and inhumane episode that will likely never be forgotten in the annals of our American history.
     The shame that the republican party cannot feel is how they are able to be the worst of what humanity has evolved. Their inability to feel remorse is obvious as they are incapable of emotive acts such as compassion and empathy. Why we continue to allow such ethical malfeasance to entertain our politics is beyond me and I have been railing against it since my first awareness. I hope that eventually our national destiny will change from the current insufferable brutishness to a kinder understanding of our duty to lead in all areas of the better and best of what a human being can be.

     
     

Nice quiet morning (#4403)

      Since Joe Biden defeated trump in the election my mornings have been noticeably quieter. There is no angst over how many tweets trump published that were cause for concern. Joe doesn't do that! Instead he is busy formulating policies and then introducing them through the traditional method of press conferences and town hall meetings. I don't wake up in the morning wondering if trump has launched nuclear missiles at one of our allies or if he has given the keys to our democracy to putin or un. The dull and mundane processes of identifying problems and creating solutions is back and for that I do sleep better and easier. I trust Joe and Kamala to have our backs while we recover from our national trump nightmare.
     When I look around me at the worst of what is going on in the world I don't see we here in America dominating the top ten problems anymore. Sure we have ongoing problems that need addressing but we are doing that and not making our problems worse. A calm has settled in on my psyche and I expect it has done the same for most of us Americans. I am not any less vigilant in my pursuit of greater democratic opportunities but at least I am not with my back to the wall as I do so. I keep thinking as I am sitting here how much better I feel and that the problems around me here where I live are now my greatest concern in the moment. Not so with trump as I couldn't even concentrate on my day to day life with him constantly provoking a national crisis.
     So instead I am here not worried about any particular subject because I know they are being addressed by decent caring intelligent folks and that is a welcome change. It was only 4 years that we had to put up with and defend against trump but it seems like it was a whole lifetime to how my bones ached. But now my muscles are relaxed and my bones are still and quiet. My psyche is also well rested from that angst that comes with the uncertainties of trump derangement. It has only been a month since Joe Biden became president yet it is like the memories of trump have faded and the ideal of a new beginning with great hope is upon us. Being at peace is a beautiful thing.

Capitalism must be reigned in (#4402)

      The idea that the markets can solve our problems is a republican illusion so that they wealthy can keep taking all the money and resources. The market is not the answer to our problems, democracy is. Capitalism under democracy can survive quite well but it must be made to fit within the higher ideal of fairness and justice. We have social programs that lean into creating a more humane capitalism but we have not gone far enough yet. As long as we have insane levels of income inequality the solution is still far off for an equitable capitalistic system. I want capitalism to succeed but not at the expense of our democracy.
     Where merit and talent can be justified then a reward is due. Yet we have too many who have neither merit nor talent who are greedily absconding with a majority of us to have an economic opportunity. Our whole economic system from the stock markets to banking are inclined to be useful to the wealthy but not toward the massive working middle poor class. Enough! We have an opportunity going forward with the Biden administration to make substantial change to our way of doing business and all the insight from the brightest among us will be needed to prove the need to do so! The problems we have now with poverty and a lack of basic essentials is all the proof we need of an uneven system. So changing that system to a more inclusive one will by itself start to end poverty and lack of necessary fundamentals.
     Our nation cannot keep going on this path of the markets being treated above and beyond democratic values. One will have to give and since capitalism is a subset of democracy, we should by all rights redesign how we do commerce in a way that brings all Americans into a partnership with a successful economic future. The wealthy among us will fight like hell to keep their privileges and advantages but they must not be allowed to win. The ending of meritless and talentless wealth must be allowed to flourish so that those who really are worthy of great things have a chance to prove it. We have had enough of mediocre and criminal characters as examples of what to become.

The republican illusion is shattering (#4401)

      With the trump experience behind us and the exposure he gave set us up to see with our own eyes the ineptitude and indifference republicans have toward us we are now getting another painful view. The privatization of the electrical grid in Texas and the failure it is exhibiting again confirms the selfish nature of deregulation. The republican party is all about deregulating because it helps the wealthy make even more money off the backs of the working middle poor class. The republican mantra of big government is bad for all of us is once again exposed as an illusion for their real purpose to deny equality and fairness to the American people, while enriching the wealthy even more.
     Even more telling is the Texas governor coming out right off the bat and blaming the green new deal, which is not a thing yet as anything other than a hoped for policy. The republican party is all about blaming anything and everything else instead of their own illogic and corruption. Then you have guys like Texas senator ted cruz who now has snuck off to Mexico for a vacation while millions of his Texas constituents are suffering with no power, water, shelter and food. The republican party is nothing more than a cabal of individuals who do not want to serve as good stewards of our nation but would rather serve themselves at the expense of the under privileged.
     The evidence keeps mounting as to their cruel and brutal agenda in the name of liberty, and their results are where we get the evidence. It would be comical their claims of knowing what they are doing if it weren't so deadly to those whom they are supposed to represent. The republican party is a hot mess of stupidity and no one who is a leader of the republican party has any idea how not to be. It is because they do not put the American electorate and our needs as a priority not even a consideration. The fact that this is clearly becoming visible for all to see is a good omen for those of us who want to expand our democratic leadership in the 2022 elections.

Joe Biden is the man! (#4400)

      I watched Joe Biden's town hall meeting in Wisconsin yesterday and I am so impressed with his compassion and determination to get our nation going again with real leadership. The stark difference between the previous loser who only worried about himself and Joe who only worries about everyone else is clear. Joe has his plan and he is not wavering from it. He is adamant that what we need to do to recover is the most important thing he is doing and nothing anyone who tries to change that will work. Joe knows that not only keeping us alive but getting our economy going is his first and greatest priority. Unlike the conman who has gone to wither.
     We progressives are not going to get all that we want but we are going to get a lot that we really need right now. There will be time for getting to all our problems in society but for now it is getting our society back on a safe and firm footing. There have been problems festering for generations and to expect that they will all be solved quickly is too hubristic. But we can remain dedicated to solving these problems in an order that doesn't lose sight of their necessity. Our future is on the mend and if it goes the way I see it, it may well not stop improving for this next generation.
     America is still a project under construction and as long as we who are democrats and like minded independents remain engaged we will get there. But the key is to have a little patience but stay focused on the overall agenda of improving the lives of the working middle poor class that has been ravaged over the last 40 plus years. Policing reform, civil rights, immigration reform, and voter protections need to be addressed quickly and should be quickly dealt with after the stimulus bill becomes law in March. Time is moving but Joe And Kamala are moving faster so let us keep them protected from the naysayers and those who would undercut their passion to put us first for the first time in a long time.
     

If not eliminate the filibuster then at least modify it (#4399)

      There are several rule changes that can happen if the ending of the senate legislative filibuster is not an option. Modifying it like it has been modified many times even recently seems like a doable venture. To get our legislation passed we need to have clear pathways to eventually getting to a majority vote. The senate for too long has become a chamber where legislation goes to die and that is not acceptable anymore! We the American people installed a new government last November and January that speaks to our will to have legislation pass that actually helps we the American people as soon as is possible.
     We have no patience for the republicans who are only interested in regaining power in 2022. They do not want we democrats to be successful in showing that government can provide solutions to our problems. The republican party is only interested in power and how they can keep it without doing the work we the people need doing. Ending the filibuster to me is the most efficient way to block republican efforts to obstruct any and all help. But if we can't go that route than modifying it to allow for needed legislation to eventually end up with a simple majority passage in the senate then good enough. We can do this with simple majority votes to change the rules to help overcome the filibuster within a reasonable time frame.
     The filibuster cannot be a tool for the minority for the purpose of stifling progress. It cannot be used by the minority to stop legislation that is as vital to our health and welfare. The senate rules are fluid and should not be seen as foundational. If they are restrictive then they need to be made to be not restrictive. Our votes in the election determine what policies we most desire so letting the minority who lost the election count dictate whether those policies can be applied is illogical. I understand the need to process out a bill into law that has a broad or narrow scope but giving the minority the power to overrule the will of the people is not how that process should be premised.

We must crush the republican party! (#4398)

      The only way out of this shit pile that republicans have laid upon our democracy is to do all we can to end their existence in our politics. The end of the legislative filibuster, passing any legislation with all democrats voting yes, even looking to pack the courts if the court, in a trial case with the courts current makeup, restricts our constitutional duty to majority rule. I am tired of the narrative being held by republicans with just threats. We democrats need to not threaten but to actually perform! Performing means getting on the same page and ramming our agenda through like our electorate showed we wanted and republicans displayed in the impeachment trial they cannot be trusted to be good faith partners.
     There is no more illusion nor excuses left for the dying republican party so we democrats need to send the stake of death through the heart of their flailing decrepit embodiment. I have no time left for their insults nor their false braggadocio. They are a grouping of nothings who have nothing as a solution. There time for being of any use is not anymore! I cannot keep saying in different words how completely useless they are and I have no more time left for telling us democrats that the time for their burial is past due. Let us get to the same point in time and harden our hearts and minds to block their road to devastation.
     I thought I could get some rest after this last election cycle but it seems that the death throes of the republican party are a never ending exasperation. So back to attacking their existence every day that I draw breath. We are in a better place than we were before November 2020 but not by the much more that we need. I am serious here that we democrats have got to gird ourselves with the sword of justice while showing no mercy to the followers who would only poison our democracy with their existence. The time for them has passed and to our great misfortune they should never of had time in our places of honor. Join me and keep the vigil to end their rule in our nation by advocating to all that they must never have power again.

The need to beat republicans hard in the 2022 midterm election (#4397)

      As we saw yesterday the republican party will circle the wagons to protect their treasonous acts at all costs. They are not true democracy loving Americans; they are authoritarians who are trying to overthrow our founding fathers idea of liberty and justice for all. So the fight continues to end them from holding public office! Our blue wave is still riding high and we need to keep it rising even higher come less than 2 years from now. Historical trends are on the side of republicans in normal times but these are not normal times. In fact with what the republican party has done with the impeachment trial the historical trends are not applicable.
     They are now a political party that has attached their future to a twice impeached, criminally charged con man. There is a fracture in the republican party that may well grow to a point where it actually splits the party into two opposing factions and makes uniting them an almost impossible task. It is well deserved for them to break apart given the choices they have made. What does the republican party stand for nowadays anyway? Cutting taxes for the wealthy, shrinking government into nonexistence, and deregulating big business to the point where there are no safeguards left to protect us from their greed. While the working middle poor class gets no leg up out of the hole republicans keep digging deeper for us.
     There is much for us democrats to be proud to represent. We want equality for all our citizenry. We want safe and fair working conditions that allow us to share in the fruits of our labor. We want all to have healthy lives with opportunities to pursue our better and best happiness. We want the end of advantage and privilege through equity, so that we all can be based upon our merit and individual talents. A society that honors duty and sacrifice with reverence and humility. Our nation can become a society that values democratic principles and humanity while giving capitalism a structure that promotes achievements for the good of our planet and the good of our relationships with the rest of the world.

Today is the day the republican party goes down! (#4396)

      I will say now that the senate republicans will not convict even though the evidence is overwhelming. We all saw it in real time so this is a no-brainer. Yet the lack of brains or courage or morals or ethics will prevail today because 17 honest republican senators are not known to exist within the 50 republican senators. That should tell you all you need to know about the state of the republican party. They are fearful cowards who are afraid of their own political consequences if they uphold democracy and the rule of law. You got that, correct? They are not heroes nor examples of honor. They are the opposite and they want your vote the next time they run to be your representative.
     The stature of our nation is being dismantled before our eyes and anyone who thinks that we are the land of the brave are being taught a dishonest rude lesson. The brave exist here in our nation but not abundantly. Instead we are a fearful lot who cannot find the logic to be better than our worst. It is a shame what is being exposed as fact here with what trump inspired to happen to our nation's capitol but shame doesn't seem to register on the radar of too many republicans. We democrats stand united in the facts and for that we should be commended. But the cost/benefit paradigm is one that takes republicans to join with us to make effective. A 67 vote threshold is required to convict thus the need for 17 republican senators.
     It is my contention that the law of unintended consequences will make this coming decision to not convict trump a much worse reality for republicans especially and the rest of us generally. By choosing to side with a wanna be dictator the republican party will find that their narrative of being useful to our democracy will have shrunk so much that they are effectively pulling their own roots out. I find it gratifying in that the republican party's narrative became useless decades ago with nixon then reagan. But the throes of destruction they are going through now not only obliterate their survival as an illusory viable party but take us down that spiral with them with little comfort before we can extricate ourselves from them.

As republicans pretzel even more today in defending the indefensible (#4395)

      From what I understand there will be about a 3 hour "defense" of trump today and then his lawyers will close out the impeachment conviction trial. They had 16 hours over the next two days to make a more detailed case but when they already know they have enough conspiratorial republican senators to rely on to acquit, why even bother defending at all? So the likes of ted cruz, mike lee, rand paul and josh hawley are who the more moderate republican senators are going to align with instead of our constitution and the rule of law?
     I find it rather disappointing that these more moderate republican senators have neither the will nor the inclination to put our democracy above criminality but there is no other conclusion that can be drawn. Yet to me personally it is not unexpected. I am one who hopes for the best but is well aware with republicans to expect the worst. That an attack on our capitol and the death of a policeman as a result of the attack is not seen as a high crime or misdemeanor by republican senators is atrocious! They have been twisting themselves into knots trying to defend their own political trump cow. It is a manifest example of how to ignore the promotion of hatred and death in order to capitalize politically.
     This is also good for our citizenry to see just how depraved and incomprehensible the republican party is at its heart. The odds are the cowardly and selfish republican leadership is going to meekly follow a cabal of republican senators (cruz, hawley, paul and lee) that have the worst traits of humanity at their core. They would rather set a precedent of corruption, treason and cowardice as our new standard of American democracy. I thought we were past the worst of what republicans could do to us anymore but the republican senate has found a way to further dishonor our country with a knife in the back of our offer of hope to the world with a strong democratic constitutional republic.

The impeachment of trump is killing the republican party (#4394)

      The root cause of the sickness within the republican party is being exposed in the impeachment trial. Those senators who are still ignoring the facts and damning evidence are showing us just how deep the roots of hatred and selfishness are. We are witnessing the death of the republican party as each new detail of what happened on January 6th, 2021 is amplified. Those 44 senators who are still committed to keeping trump from being convicted for his obvious lead role in the insurrection are exposing the dark putrid underbelly of what it is to be a republican.
     The dark stain of shame and bullishness that republicans are now being seen as will not get better before it gets worse. Those republican senators who vote to acquit trump will wear his dishonor as accomplices to the most egregious murder and desecration of our way of life since the Uncivil war of 1860. The republican senators are gambling that they can make good with trump supporters in the next few elections but have not yet balanced what the next 10 to 20 years will say about their political lusts. They will go down in history as the the ones who said it was okay to destroy our democracy if it can benefit them.
     The one thing we are now seeing is that big money in our politics that allows for such cowards to become leaders of our nation should be banned so that merit, policy and courage are the factors we choose to allow into our sacred chambers of democratic government. The poisoned attitudes of these wealthy privileged living cadavers must never be allowed entry into positions of integrity. The trial is not over yet and given that the evidence is so powerful in its presentation that it is not a sure thing that these mindless uncaring caricatures of humanity couldn't muster enough inner innocence to actually vote to convict. However, no money should ever be bet on them having enough courage to even do what we all know is correct.

The sick and diseased republican party (#4393)

     If we had any doubt about the republican party and it's core we are now fully aware that the core of the republican party is rotten through and through. After watching that video that the House managers provided as evidence and then the incomprehensible defense trump's lawyers floundered to rebut we still saw 44 senators deny the existence of reality by voting to end the trial without a conviction. Nothing ever again will be needed to show the true depth of the republican depravity. The hollowness of their defense is proof that only republican leaders can assail our democracy with murder and still be found innocent.
     The republican leadership in the senate is an absolutely filthy grouping of self centered privileged assholes. The membership of the republican senate is chock full of haters, deniers, and cowards. This is all coming to the front and center stage so that anyone one who will look, can be otherwise convinced. Somehow these republicans have convinced themselves that protecting trump from incitement to riot and overthrow our election with murder is reasonable and not worth trying in an impeachment setting. That not all 100 senators are ready to convict is unbelievable. Yet for that to be, the republican party would need to unglue itself from the hip of trump and that is not how things look at the moment.
     So either way the verdict goes, which most all of us citizenry would say should be guilty, the votes in this trial are going to be recorded. Those republican senators who vote to acquit will wear that badge of shame wherever they go for the rest of their lives. I know that their posterity is unimportant to them which is why they can be as ridiculous and without shame as easily as walk. But to we voters the traitorous and cowardly acts republican senators continue to exhibit will be harshly remembered when they come up for their elections. The only real punishment we can leverage, voting them out of office with all our effort, is our challenge, even those who are in deep red states.

The corruption of the republican party is on display today (#4392)

      The first salvo in the impeachment conviction trial of trump begins today. With it we will get to see up close and personal the corruption that has infiltrated the republican party. With most all republican senators siding with trump it will become evident that they too are as complicit in protecting him from the murderous events on January 6th of this year as he is himself. There will be no equivocation in the evidence as most all of us saw on television while most all the senators lived in real time. How the republican party has to twist their logic to make the illogical case for acquitting trump is the only uncertainty.
     I do hold out a glimmer of hope that the portrayal of the evidence will be so overwhelming that even the lying cheating republicans in the senate are too embarrassed to overlook but that is wishful thinking at this point. What the trial will provide though is the real timeline evidence for all of us electorate to evaluate. Although republicans will protect their criminal leader the American people will not. The evidence is so strong for conviction that the republican party will lose voters due to their cowardly protection of trump. that being the silver lining in all of this.
     Further fracturing our country with a no conviction, republicans have cast their lot at the feet of a selfish cruel brute. So the only way to make them and trump pay further is to beat them so badly in the 2022 midterms that their smoldering asses can be smelt all across the world. I am so tired of the filthy rotten republican party and all those that cannot let go of their diseased connections. Ending the limited power that is left to republicans is on we the electorate and nothing short of a blue wave tsunami is needed to end their corrosive effect on out future as a nation.

The House in 2022 (#4391)

      The blue wave we democrats are on is still riding high and with republican infighting it is hard to  tell what the conservatives will look like come primary season. But the idea that republicans have an advantage because of historical trends is less likely in this era, post trump. For one thing trump is effectively tearing at the seams of the republican party. It is too early yet to know how that will shake out. Also there is the problem with the census being delayed and not knowing for sure what the congressional districts will look like in the 43 states that have more than one district.
     In January of this year President Biden returned the census to its historical method of counting all persons living in the US for the sake of redistricting. Reversing the trump decree to only count US citizens. This makes a huge difference in places like California, Arizona, and Texas. What it also does is make it more difficult for red states to acquire blue state districts. I don't have to tell you the advantage republicans would get with further non representation. Like with obstruction and gerrymandering, the republican party has no chance to win unless they deny democratic principles.
     So predicting the House at this early stage is a fool's errand and not one I will take at this time. However, like I stated yesterday, if we democrats deliver the policies we have been elected to champion then the better for our party in 2022. Which makes the republican party less relevant as they keep showing to our nation as they vote against these same policies. I will say the future looks brighter for our democrats than it does for republicans as we democrats are trying to get help out to the American people. As we go forward today with the trial of trump and the building of the Covid-19 American relief plan the obvious conclusion many may well draw is that there is only one political party working to make life better for Americans and that is us, the democratic party!

There are a lot of vulnerable senate seats up for election in 2022 (#4390)

      The chances that the republican party can regain the senate are not very good when you look at which party is most vulnerable to losing seats in the next midterm. The republican party is going to need to protect 20 seats while we democrats will have to protect 12. But digging deeper, there are approximately 5 seats that will likely be tossups for republicans and maybe at most 4 seats as tossups for democrats. Of course we have a long way to go before we know who the candidates are and their strengths and weaknesses but if party line voting is any indication from the last election the r or d after their names will be what most voters only need to know.
     Much will be decided in the coming months as to who has the clear advantage going forward but given the Biden start it would appear that we dems are the early leaders to gain seats. Which would be wonderful given that 2 of our dem senators are at this moment against ending the senate's legislative filibuster. The seats we dems are most trying to protect are in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire. I feel pretty good about these seats but they could well be competitive if republicans get their voter obstruction laws passed. On the other hand republicans in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Florida should be concerned about holding onto any of these seats.
     There are also some wildcard states for republicans that have senators retiring that typically go republican but with open seats a real challenge by a powerful democrat may switch the seat. All told the idea that republicans will retake the senate in 2022 seems a bit far fetched at this point. We democrats have to keep getting helpful legislation out that does well for our whole nation and if so we are in the drivers seat when it comes to expanding our majority in the senate. Tomorrow I will look at the House side of things but the logic is the same. If we produce for our people the kinds of programs we really need then the voters all over the country will be more inclined to reward our democratic party.

Pressuring Manchin and Sinema to change their stance on the Legislative filibuster (#4389)

      There are groups organizing to put pressure on senators Joe Manchin D WV and Kyrsten Sinema D Ariz. to change their stances on ending the filibuster. By working to bring primary challengers to their next senate races we democrats are trying to leverage the movement of Manchin and Sinema off protecting the archaic filibuster rule. I can tell you that there will not be a Biden transformation of our politics and policies until that filibuster is gone. The argument for keeping it is so that the minority party in the senate can have some sway in how legislation is passed. Yet as we have seen, the republican party is not interested in passing legislation. they are only interested in defeating our agenda and candidates in the 2022 election.
     This point must be made crystal clear to Joe and Kyrsten so that they can objectively see that the legislative filibuster is more an obstructive force than it is a voice for the minority. As well, a point I made yesterday, is that if the filibuster were gone, republicans would then have no other option than to negotiate in good faith for their agenda within our legislation. Which is how it should be for the will of the people to override the interests of the wealthy and destructionists like the republican party. How Joe and Kyrsten go forward will dictate the health and welfare of the American people and I know that both of them can see logic and reality for what it is. Bringing them to the conclusion that the legislative filibuster is a tool of pain and suffering shouldn't be too difficult in this now time of now.
     What we also have going for us is the absolute hate republican politicians have for our agenda as well as a wise president who spent 36 years in the senate. The argument for keeping the legislative filibuster is becoming weak and difficult to defend while the argument for ending the legislative filibuster is growing stronger by the day. Joe Biden did not promise to unify the congress he did promise to unify our nation. With gerrymandering so prevalent from after the 2010 elections, it is impossible to unify our congress when republicans have no personal incentive to negotiate in good faith. So passing popular legislation is the only way to unify us and ending the legislative filibuster is the way to pass that legislation in the senate where the last antidemocratic filibuster still exists.

The republican party is still shit! (#4388)

      After all the amendments added yesterday and this morning by republicans to the Covid-19 relief act republicans still would not vote for it. None of them did so Vice President Kamala Harris had to come over and cast the 51st vote to keep the bill moving. The politicians who are in the republican party will not let this recovery act pass if they have any chance of killing it. So we democrats need to end the legislative filibuster and quit pretending that the republican party will work with us on behalf of the American people. The only thing republicans are working for is to oust democrats from office so that they can regain power in 2022.
     I know that we democrats get this but the effort to try is seen as the better strategy than to just ignore the republican party. So ending the filibuster may actually improve our efforts at trying to include the republicans. If the filibuster is gone, republicans will know that they are going to see legislation pass without them so why wouldn't they then negotiate in good faith in order to have some influence toward their concerns in the eventual signed laws? It makes sense to me because if we keep holding onto the idea that requiring 60 votes for passage will bring about the changes our society needs we are just fooling ourselves while giving republicans the upper hand.
     This first bill shows that, as it is a direly needed form of help that everyone should be behind but as the senate passed vote showed early this morning, the republican party is not going to put the American people first. Not one single senate republican voted to pass the bill on to the house even though they got some of their amendments attached to it. We democrats have only one process after this bill going forward and that is the nightmare for moscow mitch mcconnell in the form of eliminating the filibuster. As I said previously, ending the legislative filibuster will actually bring republicans into a more inclusive bill passing paradigm because they won't have any illusion about being able to block a bill so why not try to make the bill more to their liking. I know it makes sense but republicans thus far are far from the party of sense. However, let's give them an opportunity and eliminate the legislative filibuster.

My first prediction on the 2022 midterms (#4387)

      Historically, the first election after a presidential election 2 years previous has gone decisively toward the party in the minority. Yet I am going against that history in my prediction. So bad were the trump years that no amount of time will cleanse us of that filth. There are still remnants of that filth in power and it needs to be further eliminated. The republican party thinks they can color the progress we are about to begin with a narrative of lies and personal attacks. Well they won't be able to because the programs our democratic majorities are about to institute are going to be wildly popular and influential even among republican voters.
     Another reason is that our national policies toward protecting existing voter rights and expanding them is a high priority and will help to ensure that the republican party, who is bleeding members, does not dampen our democratic/independent turnout going forward. Our electorate is now aware of how important it is to vote and that will not change while republicans are still around to threaten our democracy and our pursuit of happiness. The focus of our democratic party is keen and we will not be caught out unaware much like in 2016 again. As well the older republican voters are dying off while the younger democratic voters are adding to our ranks.
     What also had been a detriment to our modernity was the leaving behind of rural voters. When you look at the election maps from the past you see how most all rural areas voted overwhelmingly for republicans. That is going to begin to reverse in that policies coming from the Biden administration will start to address their needs while republicans will show they are trying to stop those policies. The future is really bright for the liberal/progressive agenda because we can actually pass laws that reflect that. Joe Biden is right to say he wants to unite us because he is thinking about our electorate, not the divisive republican politicians who only have one goal and that is to regain power without doing anything for their or our constituents.

The cowardice of the republican party (#4386)

      When it comes to convicting a bully for instigating the killing of people it is insane that the republican party is about to bury their cowardly heads in the sand. What an atrocious political party that says they are for law and order yet not for themselves. Instead they are really all about greed and selfishness with not guts or spine to carry them along. The republican senators who will vote to acquit trump because they say he is out of office and not therefore convictable are showing that they do not care about law and order but also that they put the possible loss of their senate seats above the principles of democracy. Who wants people in position of power who are derelict in their duty?
     Our democracy is at a crisis moment where the cowardice of the republican party is on display. Not in modern times has a political party been so devoid of courage and character. There are a few in the republican party who have stood up and called trump responsible for the fatal attack on our Capitol but they are far far from the many in the republican party. I keep hearing how republicans in office for the most part are honorable people but that is a lie that is being passed as the truth. There is no honor in being a coward when their cowardice has such an adverse effect on our democracy.
     That Nathan Hale said he wished he had more than one life to give for his country is the gold standard whereas republicans are slinking to hide when they can do far more with far less repercussion. The shame the republican party is willing to wallow in is beyond the pale of understanding or forgiveness. They should all be branded with their cowardly behavior for the rest of their lives. I for one will never let them have a moment of peace if they follow through by acquitting trump of his deadly gambit. They become trump's accomplices and will forever be noted in history as such. How far our nation has fallen from the heady courageous days of our revolutionary forefathers/mothers.
     

The audacity of the loser republicans (#4385)

      First off we have trump claiming that there is no way he lost the election so it must have been rigged. Yet he cannot prove it with evidence. So the takeaway here is that he feels he was deserved the presidency, not that he lost fair and square. That is audacity! It is also elitism, privilege and advantage all rolled up into one paradigm of unqualified deserves. No one deserves anything unless they earn it, not just claim it! Now we have several republican senators who have devised a rescue plan that is less than one third of what the Biden administration has forwarded as necessary. That should tell you all you need to know about how republicans see our society. They don't care about the struggle we are in, only about making political points.
     Again, audacious! I really don't have any time for republicans any more and have been this way for more than 5 decades. I became aware politically early on in my teenage years and have not swayed from my first impressions since. The republican party is about stifling our citizenry in the name of the wealthy while our democratic party is about heralding our society as the one true place where all can achieve happiness. Nothing has changed except the names of the liars on the republican side while our democrats who have occasionally strayed from our message have endured to improve it. So here we are 50 years later and finally we democrats are not the deer eyes in the headlights anymore.
     We know how the republican party operates without a doubt so we are focused on what we democrats can achieve in the limited time we are the path finders. It has only been 2 weeks since Biden has been our president but he has wasted no time in directing the future of our nation. Between executive actions to correct immediate wrongs to putting forth plans that provide solutions for our most deadly problems. The senate and house are all on board and may even be a step ahead of Joe but not by much. This is a great time to be alive as a democrat for those of us who survived the trump pandemic, we democrats will grasp this time with a fervor like our teddy bears when we were just out of infancy!

The end of bipartisanship that never really existed (#4384)

      My whole adult life has been devoid of bipartisanship. Seriously, how can anyone with a straight face say that bipartisanship is dying when it died back with the Eisenhower administration. Now there have been small bipartisanship successes but not on whole. So if people are hoping for bipartisanship they have a bag full of nothing coming! We saw that with the Obama administration when the republicans did nothing to help during a recession they caused. We are seeing it again during a pandemic that republicans allowed to grow into a nearly democracy ending reality. All through the years from the Kennedy administration to now republicans have had only one goal, to get power and never let it go.
     If there is one policy that can be attributed to republicans it is tax cuts for the wealthy. That's it! Of course they have other policies they work on but they deal with ending regulations and shrinking government. Which is just another track to reducing costs for the wealthy. Everything else in society is a nonstarter with republicans to get accomplished. So the idea that we need bipartisanship in order to govern is a failed lie that has long outlived it's long ago death. I cannot get my head around, anyone who would see the need to sabotage, what would be good for the American electorate is forcing necessary policies to pass through the republican lens.
     What we democrats need to do is respond to the needs of the American electorate, not to idealogues who are now inhabiting seats of government. To bypass the obstruction in Congress we need to go directly to the voters. One group of folks that need immediate conversation is the rural group. These folks have been long ignored and their way of life to prosper has been eroding for generations. I know we had obvious urban and suburban problems to fix but we should not exclude the rural part of our nation. They need the help we democrats can bring and when we do we will reengage them into politics outside the kneejerk hatred of democrats in general. Despite the fact that republicans do little for them we democrats have been doing nothing. That has to change!