It's always great catching up with @POTUS, and I'm grateful for everything he and his administration have done to protect and expand the Affordable Care Act. Let's keep working until every American has access to quality, affordable health care. https://t.co/WYCipaCeX4
Great news folks: we hit record-high health care enrollment. 31 million people now have coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Couldn’t think of a better person to celebrate this milestone with than President Obama, so I gave him a call. pic.twitter.com/QtLeskSNnY
#DeadlineForDemocracy looming, and I want Arizonans and West Virginians to turn out in force during the recess to convince Sinema and Manchin the filibuster is a racist tool being used to keep Black, Brown, and young people from voting easily. Their editorials were fantasies of bipartisanship and apparently ignorant of the 400 bills introduced in GOP run legislatures to suppress the vote. Joe and Kamala were on a roll when the Democrats were passing big bills by MAJORITY RULE as the Founders intended.
#FunFact: With the current filibuster in place, Senators representing as few as 34 million Americans could stop legislation supported by Senators representing 297 million Americans.
— Charles #GetVaxxed! 💉 (@charles_gaba) June 22, 2021
UPDATE: Pardon me: That would only get you to 40 Senators. You'd also have to throw in at least one more (Utah), so it's actually 21 states with 37.2 million Americans. pic.twitter.com/Nk5siY3eFI
— Charles #GetVaxxed! 💉 (@charles_gaba) June 22, 2021
The Senate is preparing to take action on a bill that would strengthen our democracy, but Republican Senators are afraid to even debate it. This week, @EricHolder and I had a chance to talk with folks across the country about what’s at stake – and how we can make a difference. pic.twitter.com/ZxicbLJaPY
🚨BREAKING: All 50 Republican Senators opposed a key procedural vote to advance the For the People Act on Tuesday. All 50 Democrats including Senator Joe Manchin voted yes to advance the bill, but Republican opposition has halted the legislation for now. https://t.co/EpExDqDpRA
Increasingly, it looks like Democrats can either abandon the filibuster, preserve the right to vote & hence, democracy, or they can insist upon the filibuster only to see the GOP abandon so they can solidify their grip on the country & minority rule.
To Carl Nassib and Kumi Yokoyama – two prominent, inspiring athletes who came out this week: I’m so proud of your courage. Because of you, countless kids around the world are seeing themselves in a new light today.
I just hope people realize that @BetoORourke has quietly been walking door to door in Texas registering and persuading new voters everyday for months. When Texas flips blue, this person will be a big reason why. pic.twitter.com/UaEcJW1wGo
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 22, 2021
Today, President Biden met with FEMA’s leadership to discuss their ongoing efforts to prepare for and respond to extreme weather events and emergencies. Read about the steps we’re taking to ensure we’re ready to respond quickly when disaster strikes: https://t.co/3RAFpL3OD9
"While most of the legislative focus has been on the registration and voting process, significantly less attention has been paid to another point of vulnerability in our election system — the rules for tabulating and certifying elections."https://t.co/r9uEXlvwPC
Why is there so little focus on provisions in these state voter suppression laws that would give legislators the power to overrule local election authorities and nullify votes? Democracy is being tested, folks.
It’s completely ridiculous Dems requiring supermajority to protect voting rights in Senate but GOP unilaterally making it harder to vote in states on party-line simple majority votes. Total asymmetric warfare
The Senate is preparing to take action on a bill that would strengthen our democracy, but Republican Senators are afraid to even debate it. This week, @EricHolder and I had a chance to talk with folks across the country about what’s at stake – and how we can make a difference. pic.twitter.com/ZxicbLJaPY
Actual republican votes defy Manchin’s optimism on bipartisanship.
Rachel Maddow:
“It wasn’t just that Manchin said he didn’t want to vote for a voting rights bill unless it had republican support.
He said that. But he also expressed this relentless and sort of inexplicable optimism that some republicans WOULD support voting rights in the end.
When he wrote his Op-ed in his hometown paper recently expressing his opposition to any voting rights bill that didn’t have republican support, that was sort of an implicit criticism of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate. For writing a voting rights bill that no republican senator could support.
Senator Manchin then put his theory to the test though.
He wrote his own version of a voting rights bill, actually showing his own ideas, his concept of the kind of bill he felt republicans rightfully should support, and should be expected to support on voting rights.
Senator Manchin drew up his own proposal,
what he thought should get republican votes.
The republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, responded by calling Manchin’s proposed bill “Rotten”.
And then today republican senators – all 50 republican senators – voted to not even consider what Joe Manchin put forward.
So does this change Senator Manchin’s mind about any of this?
Does it shift his idea that no voting rights bill should pass if it doesn’t have republican votes?”
By telling her story, Natoma Canfield helped us pass the Affordable Care Act. She was an inspiration to me and so many others, which is why her letter still hangs in my office. Michelle and I send our condolences to Natoma’s family. https://t.co/QwII5NNM4P
21 attorneys general — all Democrats — oppose Louis DeJoy's USPS plan to delay first-class mail, warning that 4 to 5-day delivery times could have a "significant" impact on mail-in ballots.https://t.co/rQGT4G4BOf
By telling her story, Natoma Canfield helped us pass the Affordable Care Act. She was an inspiration to me and so many others, which is why her letter still hangs in my office. Michelle and I send our condolences to Natoma’s family. https://t.co/QwII5NNM4P
GOPQ Ninja knocked on thousands of doors in Arizona…after the D.O.J. warned them not to.
“Documents appear to show DOJ warning on voter intimidation tactic not heeded by AZ GOP”
“Rachel Maddow shows how documents obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight appear to show Arizona Republicans associated with a door-knocking campaign that the DOJ warned in a letter could constitute voter intimidation.”
Imo, oh aliens…
maybe sensing a moment, maybe because this is a pivotal time/era for the future of the planet.
(turn up music)?
Thinking…that if dinosaurs hadn’t gone extinct due to a natural event, we wouldn’t even be here.
Fact: Dinosaurs were successfully here for 160,000,000 years.
Fact: Homo sapiens have been here 200,000 years.
If GOPQ and the little russian get their way and democracy ends, they will not end fossil fuels.
And our stay shall be brief.
Creationist museum in Glendale MT promotes the belief that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time. Includes their claim that dinosaurs were on ‘Noah’s ark’.
—must…remember…Gianforte…and friends…plan…on….running…this country.
Every few months #ShaunKing ends up back in the news for some nonsense and it’s just like—we cannot get this guy out of the paint. Black people have been trying for 6 years. It’s on white folks now. Y’all gotta get him out of the paint.
“Modern GOP Eschews Policy, Prioritizes Preserving Power”
Steve Benen,
author of “The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics”
talks with Rachel Maddow “about how Democrats and Republicans speak passed each other as Democrats
try to govern through policy and Republicans focus their energy on ideological interests and growing and preserving their political power.”
Benen (excerpt):
“What Democrats did was approach this as a policy matter.
They saw a problem in need of a solution. They relied on data. They relied on evidence.
They turned to experts. And they put together a credible governing solution the way a governing party should.
What did we see from republicans? We saw the opposite. We saw them discard the data.
We saw them discard the evidence. We saw them focusing on their political goals, their ideological goals.
And that’s very much in keeping with this post-policy thesis.
A governing party would approach this debate entirely differently. And so that asymmetry where Democrats are approaching it one way and republicans are approaching it in a post-policy way, that asymmetry is the defining problem in my mind of American politics today.”
Maddow:
“We still don’t have a playbook for what to do when one of two major parties in the country gives up on the idea of governing and decides to work, as you say, essentially just on holding power…”
Benen:
“I think that some Democratic senators make the same mistake that some voters make.
Which is that for years we could make the assumption that there were two responsible and mature governing parties. Folks make that decision all the time, assuming that both Democrats and Republicans despite their differences, have the technocratic wherewithal to solve problems.
And the point I’m trying to emphasize in the book,
is that that assumption is badly in need of re-examination.
Because to assume that republicans are a governing party, is to overlook this RADICAL transformation that we’ve seen in the party over the course of the last 12 years.
And so when I see some Democratic senators, people like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin,
they’re sticking to this old fashioned assumption that Republicans are the same as they were.
They’re not. They’ve made this transition to being a post-policy party.
And by that I mean they’ve abandoned the pretense that policy making matters altogether.”
Sicknick's partner, Garza: "All of the officers and people who were physically harmed, terrified, psychologically destabilized or lost loved ones due to that day are literally being re-traumatized every time someone speaks untrue words" about January 6. https://t.co/csUXGnQL1Q
Sherrilyn Ifill,
President and Director Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, to Chris Hayes:
“Yes I would even go a step further than I heard Representative Clyburn go and I heard you reference, Chris.
Both the 14th and the 15th Amendments to the Constitution being passed, not on a bipartisan basis at all – with the votes of only one party.
But I want to just draw attention to the structure of the 14th and 15th Amendments,
both of which include enforcement clauses that give Congress the power to enforce the provisions of the Amendments. Why did they do that, Chris? They did it because they knew, the Framers of the 14th and 15th amendments knew very well, that white supremacists at the state level would continue to try to subvert the full citizenship of Black people.
And so they gave Congress the power to enforce the 14th Amendment, which ensured that Black people were citizens and entitled to equal protection of the laws. And the 15th Amendment which prohibits denial of the right to vote based on race. So this is Congress’ power. And it’s from that power that of course, Congress has the power to pass something like the Voting Rights Act.
In other words, it was understood that we would need the federal authority to step in, to enforce the rights that the Framers of the 14th and 15th amendments articulated to ensure that Black people newly freed and free, who had been stripped of citizenship by Dred Scott would be full citizens. So the idea that the federal government is somehow stepping in, in some inappropriate way. That old saw from Jim Crow, that old saw from massive resistance after Brown. That is exactly what the Framers of the 14th and 15th Amendments contemplated. That Congress would step in to protect Black people as citizens, from what they knew would be the actions of white supremacists in the states.”
Hayes: “In fact, when white supremacist terrorists under the Klan were terrorizing Black voters, the Act passed to basically bring them to heel is called the Enforcement Act…
Ifill: “Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. Yes.”
Hayes: “And drawing on precisely that Constitutional power.”
Hayes: “I think Congressman Clyburn is not a radical in any way. He’s a pretty institutionalist kind of guy…reformer I’d say…”
Ifill: “Look I’ve been in these conversations and I have been very clear.
And that’s why people should not panic about today. This is the first step. And I have said there is no excuse not to come to the table and hammer something out. It’s called legislation. Nobody gets everything that they want, but there are some things that have to happen given what is happening in the states.
We know that we need pre-clearance provisions. We know we need the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. But we also know that we need protections for early voting, for absentee voting. We need a law that keeps jurisdictions from allowing you to stand on line for 9 hours, and then not be able to get water while on that line. We need access to absentee voting and automatic registration.
What are the elements that we think are necessary? Let’s package those elements together.
Let’s make it happen. Let’s let them pass. Let’s not forget Chris, that it was the abdication of Congress for a hundred years after the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments. The refusal to use that enforcement power to protect Black votes, that left Black people in a position something akin to slavery throughout Jim Crow for 100 years until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
That was Congress’ failure to use their power.
They MUST use this power now and the Supreme Court has said the right to vote is preservative of all rights and fundamental. They said that in 1880. It is more fundamental, more powerful, than any Senate rule including the filibuster. And both Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema have to do their duty as members of the United States Congress, and use that power that the Framers of the 14th and 15th Amendment set forth for them to use to protect fellow citizens who are being overrun by white supremacists, voter suppression laws.”
Ifill:
“This is a serious moment in our democracy.
And if we want to have a democracy going forward, we need to see some courage and we need to see some clarity. And we need to get away from all of these false historical arguments about the filibuster.
And get real about the moment that we’re in this country.”
15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
US computer anti-virus tycoon John McAfee found dead in Spanish prison cell after court allows his extradition on tax evasion chargeshttps://t.co/nBWkwH9wjl
Psycho racist John McAfee — founder of the anti-virus software company — has been found dead in his Spanish prison cell shortly after court says he can be extradited to U.S. for tax crimes. https://t.co/FKRT7inMPz
— Jaime Harrison, DNC Chair (@harrisonjaime) June 23, 2021
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, on Matt Gaetz's critical race theory remarks: "I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, non-commissioned officers of being 'woke' or something else." pic.twitter.com/syogXkaeem
So true amk. Even the mild rebukes and constant criticism you levy at our American politicians would get you killed in your native land if you spoke as such about your government.
The Senate is considered the world’s greatest deliberative body.
But yesterday, Republicans hid behind procedure in an attempt to shut the American people out of a debate on voting rights. We were elected to serve the people—it’s time we do our jobs.https://t.co/Hle97zNIzj
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) June 23, 2021
Senator Raphael Warnock Remarks in Support of S.1.
“Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock delivers floor remarks during the debate on S.1., the For the People Act, calling on senators to advance consideration of the bill. “History is watching and the future is waiting to see if we are who se say we are–the United States Senate, a serious-minded, deliberative body. The United States of America, a nation built on that simple but sublime principle: one person, one vote.”
On the 49th anniversary of Title IX, we honor all of the athletes & trailblazers who have fought for equality & shown us how our entire country wins when we level the playing field.
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) June 23, 2021
MVP is going to the border. The haters won’t be satisfied.
VP Kamala Harris to visit El Paso, Texas on Friday. After successful visits to both Mexico and Guatemala to discuss and learn about root causes of migration, she will visit the Southern Border for the first time as @VP.
— Madam Vice President Harris is GOAT! (@flywithkamala) June 23, 2021
VP office: "Harris will travel to El Paso, Texas on Friday, June 25. She will be accompanied by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas."
As I ponder VP Kamala Harris’s upcoming visit to El Paso, TX on Friday, I am immediately reminded of how, as a presidential candidate, she bought lunch for her opponent Beto O’Rourke’s El Paso campaign HQ in the wake of the El Paso mass shooting. ♥️🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/pNxFY1lX2m
— Madam Vice President Harris is GOAT! (@flywithkamala) June 23, 2021
If Beto O’Rourke welcomes MVP Kamala Harris to El Paso on Friday, it’ll be icing on top of what’s bound to be a successful visit to the border. pic.twitter.com/2530KFOBxd
— Madam Vice President Harris is GOAT! (@flywithkamala) June 23, 2021
VP Harris is going to ElPaso because it’s the site of the humanitarian crisis created by Gov. Abbott. Add this to the power grid crisis… It’s just one crisis after another in poorly run Texas. https://t.co/xPIkTz0s75
El Paso is the site of an emergency intake center for unaccompanied minors— the purpose of the @VP's visit is to address an humanitarian crisis borne of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's incompetence https://t.co/NoKGo61sOc
— Jorge A. Caballero, MD (@DataDrivenMD) June 23, 2021
Hey, @mattgaetz, see those stripes on Gen Milley’s right sleeve? Each one represents 6 months in combat. SecDef Austin has more, but they aren’t on his suit. You really want to do this? https://t.co/vwiSfm1aNc
Matt Gaetz should not be in Congress as he is under Federal Investigation. Gaetz should not be asking g anyone any questions. He needs to answer questions under oath.
Yudissa was separated from her daughter under "zero tolerance" in 2018. When they were reunited Sunday, she didn't recognize the 15-year-old at first. https://t.co/fKcpfz15E4
Judge Lamberth sentencing 1/6 defendants: “I’m espec troubled by the accounts of some members of Congress that 1/6 was just a day of tourists walking through the Capitol. I don’t know what planet they were on. . This was ..intended to halt the very functioning of our government."
Amazing that right now @RevDrBarber is being processed by Capitol Police for his protest to secure voting rights among others… and yet insurrectionist flew home. Gotta love the consistency of white supremacy. 😒 #WokeAF
BREAKING: @GovNedLamont just signed a law to restore voting rights to thousands of people w/past convictions in Connecticut! Congratulations to the advocates who fought for this for many years, and especially to James Jeter. In his words, "it's about time" https://t.co/WM6D4ffiwd
We know you’re a “border expert.” You must cross it often to visit Hiltons & escape disasters like the ice storm that killed hundreds, left 10 million powerless & caused $195B of damage in TX. Those must be some damn good margaritas!
— Jaime Harrison, DNC Chair (@harrisonjaime) June 24, 2021
This dog named Khaleesi was in labor and was in a lot of pain. Mufasa, the father of the puppies laid down beside her and stayed by her side comforting her throughout. 😭🐶❤🐕😭.(🎥:daianicarolinerl) pic.twitter.com/NDF3azFtQC
— GoodNewsCorrespondent (@GoodNewsCorres1) June 23, 2021
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the #FierceUrgencyOfNow. In this unfolding conundrum of life & history, there's such a thing as being too late. This is no time 4 apathy & complacency. This is a time 4 vigorous & positive action #MLK
— Pretty Foot💃🏾 wears a mask😷 (@PrettyFootWoman) June 24, 2021
#miamibuildingcollapse#MiamiBeach#Miami If you have family members that are unaccounted for, please call 305-614-1819 to file a missing person report. The number is for filing a report and does not have information on casualties.
Yesterday, I joined bipartisan Members of Congress for the introduction of the Vanessa Guillén Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act. It is an honor to stand with Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate, who support this legislation. pic.twitter.com/bCS3Vrktpl
Many cultures name full Moons and while the names differ, we can all agree that June's full Moon is a sweet sight to behold. Whether you call it honey, strawberry, mead, or rose, enjoy the view this evening.🍯🍓🍺🌹
"The U.S. economy grew at a solid 6.4% rate in the first three months of this year, setting the stage for what economists are forecasting could be the strongest year for the economy in possibly seven decades."https://t.co/jkaNxaSM1H
"I never really understood what [representation] meant until I became one of the first Indigenous women in Congress. In the end, that’s what it’s really about, for people to bring their perspectives to the table." pic.twitter.com/S3Ym2yuiTR
.@SecDebHaaland discusses the power of being a Pueblo woman, her experience being sworn into Congress, and how it felt becoming one of the first Native American women to be elected to the House of Representatives in its 232-year history. https://t.co/RviRzNsy4Gpic.twitter.com/Y0XC0x8puB
At a hearing in D.C. federal court, Judge Royce Lamberth said the insurrection was a "disgrace" and forcefully rebuked the "utter nonsense" coming from Republicans who are whitewashing what happened.
D.C. Metro Police Officer Fanone to CBS: "I'm done tiptoeing through the tulips here. The questions I have are to what extent, if any, did our political leaders involve themselves in the events of January 6? If there was participation from members of Congress, from their staff."
“Rachel Maddow shares details of a report from the Republican-led Michigan State Senate Oversight Committee that thoroughly debunks all of the election fraud fantasies promoted by Donald Trump and his supporters, and reports on an effort by those same Republicans to nevertheless restrict voting rights in Michigan because of concerns about the very things the report debunks.”
BREAKING: Rudy Giuliani's law license has been suspended.
A disciplinary body says he made "demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump."https://t.co/6PfpsrAFeV
For those of us starving for Justice, a crumb of good news: Giuliani has his NY law license suspended for lying about the election. But we won’t feel full until the Lying Fuck he worked for is indicted.
(excerpts)
Senator Warren:
“Okay. The lay of the land is that there will be one infrastructure deal.
And it will be a big infrastructure deal. We call it an infrastructure deal, but it’s really about the kind of country we want to be going forward. It’s about making repairs from the past, but it’s about making opportunity for everyone.
Right now, there’s a group that’s called this bipartisan group,
and they’re negotiating a part of it. A part of it around roads and bridges, around some important pieces like broadband.
But there’s a whole lot more that we’s going to do.
If we want people to be able to go to work, if we want people to be able to have opportunities, then we need to make sure that child care, universal child care is available, is affordable, is high quality for everyone. We need to make sure that we’re building a green energy system and a green transportation system.
And a part of this is how we’re going to pay for it.
And that means making sure that billionaires and giant corporations are paying a fair share and that we’re enforcing the tax laws.
So this is the plan for this administration, for this Congress, about how we move this economy,
how we move this country forward. And I think the pieces are starting to coalesce.”
Senator Warren:
“That’s exactly the right way to think of it,
is that the smaller piece gets embedded in a larger piece.
Now they may be voted separately. But it is one infrastructure deal. I can’t vote for some small subset that the infrastructure train leaves the station and child care gets left on the platform, green energy gets left on the platform, billionaires don’t have to pay gets left on the platform. It’s that all of the pieces have to move because ultimately, it’s one deal.”
Senator Warren:
“Look the threat to our democracy, on voting, is enormous. This one is existential.
We have to fight back against Republicans cutting out people from being able to vote, and cutting out the effectiveness of their vote.
Remember we keep talking about this, the voting package. It’s not only about access to the polls.
It’s about things like banning gerrymandering and getting that under control. It’s about exposing Dark Money and trying to squeeze it out of elections. It’s about anti-corruption and conflicts of interest.
So there’s a lot there that’s about protecting our democracy.
Always remember first the good part.
And that is we had H.R.1 that passed the House. By the time it got to the Senate, the Republicans had figured out MORE ways to suppress the vote and to keep democracy from functioning.
So we had more work to do in the Senate to be able to add to the original bill.
And we’ve had to have some negotiations. But keep in mind, we now have every single Democrat on board with a voting rights bill, an anti-corruption bill. And that’s powerfully important.”
It’s about time. Character should be part of the metrics for public figure, and this lawless lawyer, sociopath look alike, cannot uphold any law after upholding the Big Lie and helping fabricate many small ones in the American Crazy Period 2015-2020.
This is a per curiam, meaning that it's not 'authored' by any individual justice. It's authored by the court. I jumped to the end; all 5 justices concur. pic.twitter.com/AVLzHkZ7Xp
“Background Checks Stopped A Record 300,000 Gun Sales Last Year”
(nearly double number the previous year)
“Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action,
talks with Rachel Maddow about new FBI records obtained by Everytown for Gun Safety
that shows a record number of gun sales blocked by background checks last year, and how President Biden’s announcement of stricter enforcement of gun sale laws, including background checks, will help advance the cause of gun safety.”
The DOJ is suing Georgia over new voter laws it says discriminate against Black voters, says @washingtonpost.
The laws: ▪️ cut mail ballot access ▪️ cut drop-off boxes 75% in urban areas ▪️ ban giving water to voters in line ▪️ voter ID requirements disprop. impact Black voters pic.twitter.com/ayNrquOFOz
The Obama Diary 
Good Evening Everyone!
Thank you Queen Nerdy! 😘
#DeadlineForDemocracy looming, and I want Arizonans and West Virginians to turn out in force during the recess to convince Sinema and Manchin the filibuster is a racist tool being used to keep Black, Brown, and young people from voting easily. Their editorials were fantasies of bipartisanship and apparently ignorant of the 400 bills introduced in GOP run legislatures to suppress the vote. Joe and Kamala were on a roll when the Democrats were passing big bills by MAJORITY RULE as the Founders intended.
End the filibuster
Never trust never trumpers. They are still thugs in moderates transparent clothing.
What a fucked up system of law making.
Looks like?
Useless schumer can’t even frame it right.
Yahoo morons.
This is cool! We got us a good President!
Bless Beto! Protect him at all costs.
I’m over here snort laughing! 😆😂🤣
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdU77bXN/
wimmin/smh.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57561760
what is biden admin doing? it’s been six months.
Yup. Thugs are doing blatant rigging on fucking live teevee and the dems are sitting with their thumbs in their asses.
didn’t the media minions like him frame the thugs blatant rigging as merely ‘controversial changes’? Fuck him.
I don’t have much hope for 2022 or 2024.
Actual republican votes defy Manchin’s optimism on bipartisanship.
Rachel Maddow:
“It wasn’t just that Manchin said he didn’t want to vote for a voting rights bill unless it had republican support.
He said that. But he also expressed this relentless and sort of inexplicable optimism that some republicans WOULD support voting rights in the end.
When he wrote his Op-ed in his hometown paper recently expressing his opposition to any voting rights bill that didn’t have republican support, that was sort of an implicit criticism of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate. For writing a voting rights bill that no republican senator could support.
Senator Manchin then put his theory to the test though.
He wrote his own version of a voting rights bill, actually showing his own ideas, his concept of the kind of bill he felt republicans rightfully should support, and should be expected to support on voting rights.
Senator Manchin drew up his own proposal,
what he thought should get republican votes.
The republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, responded by calling Manchin’s proposed bill “Rotten”.
And then today republican senators – all 50 republican senators – voted to not even consider what Joe Manchin put forward.
So does this change Senator Manchin’s mind about any of this?
Does it shift his idea that no voting rights bill should pass if it doesn’t have republican votes?”
Yet another case of no consequences. Corruption from top to bottom has been normalized.
Ask himself where my Christmas card with letter to my friend went to?
–How much mail was just trashed?
Fire this creep already!
Sad news. RIP Natoma Canfield 😔🙏🏾🕊
So sad to hear! May she R.I.P.
GOPQ Ninja knocked on thousands of doors in Arizona…after the D.O.J. warned them not to.
“Documents appear to show DOJ warning on voter intimidation tactic not heeded by AZ GOP”
“Rachel Maddow shows how documents obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight appear to show Arizona Republicans associated with a door-knocking campaign that the DOJ warned in a letter could constitute voter intimidation.”
Here: (https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/documents-appear-to-show-doj-warning-on-voter-intimidation-tactic-not-heeded-by-az-gop-115304005543)
–your move DOJ !!
Good West Coast morning sister Nerdy & TOD family (including AMK) 😎🙋🏾♀️💃🏾
“Report:
NASA investigating UFO sightings, agency chief says”
(https://www.space.com/nasa-investigating-ufos-bill-nelson)
Imo, oh aliens…
maybe sensing a moment, maybe because this is a pivotal time/era for the future of the planet.
(turn up music)?
Thinking…that if dinosaurs hadn’t gone extinct due to a natural event, we wouldn’t even be here.
Fact: Dinosaurs were successfully here for 160,000,000 years.
Fact: Homo sapiens have been here 200,000 years.
If GOPQ and the little russian get their way and democracy ends, they will not end fossil fuels.
And our stay shall be brief.
Dinosaurs lived for 160 million years.
–(went extinct 65 million yrs ago)
Homo sapiens have lived for twenty thousand years.
–(but how much longer?)
P.S. Ask Gianforte about his pet dinosaur museum.
Creationist museum in Glendale MT promotes the belief that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time. Includes their claim that dinosaurs were on ‘Noah’s ark’.
—must…remember…Gianforte…and friends…plan…on….running…this country.
Will we allow these dogs of war to create the next cycle?
For real folks
That man is such a grifter. I hope he pays dearly for all his dirty deeds.
Me too Dudette, me too!
“Modern GOP Eschews Policy, Prioritizes Preserving Power”
Steve Benen,
author of “The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics”
talks with Rachel Maddow “about how Democrats and Republicans speak passed each other as Democrats
try to govern through policy and Republicans focus their energy on ideological interests and growing and preserving their political power.”
Benen (excerpt):
“What Democrats did was approach this as a policy matter.
They saw a problem in need of a solution. They relied on data. They relied on evidence.
They turned to experts. And they put together a credible governing solution the way a governing party should.
What did we see from republicans? We saw the opposite. We saw them discard the data.
We saw them discard the evidence. We saw them focusing on their political goals, their ideological goals.
And that’s very much in keeping with this post-policy thesis.
A governing party would approach this debate entirely differently. And so that asymmetry where Democrats are approaching it one way and republicans are approaching it in a post-policy way, that asymmetry is the defining problem in my mind of American politics today.”
Maddow:
“We still don’t have a playbook for what to do when one of two major parties in the country gives up on the idea of governing and decides to work, as you say, essentially just on holding power…”
Benen:
“I think that some Democratic senators make the same mistake that some voters make.
Which is that for years we could make the assumption that there were two responsible and mature governing parties. Folks make that decision all the time, assuming that both Democrats and Republicans despite their differences, have the technocratic wherewithal to solve problems.
And the point I’m trying to emphasize in the book,
is that that assumption is badly in need of re-examination.
Because to assume that republicans are a governing party, is to overlook this RADICAL transformation that we’ve seen in the party over the course of the last 12 years.
And so when I see some Democratic senators, people like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin,
they’re sticking to this old fashioned assumption that Republicans are the same as they were.
They’re not. They’ve made this transition to being a post-policy party.
And by that I mean they’ve abandoned the pretense that policy making matters altogether.”
Correction: “speak past each other as Democrats try to govern through policy”.
Majority Leader Schumer:
Floor Remarks After Republicans Blocked A Senate Vote
On Debating Key Voting Rights Legislation
(https://www.democrats.senate.gov/news/press-releases/majority-leader-schumer-floor-remarks-after-republicans-blocked-a-senate-vote-on-debating-key-voting-rights-legislation)
Sherrilyn Ifill,
President and Director Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, to Chris Hayes:
“Yes I would even go a step further than I heard Representative Clyburn go and I heard you reference, Chris.
Both the 14th and the 15th Amendments to the Constitution being passed, not on a bipartisan basis at all – with the votes of only one party.
But I want to just draw attention to the structure of the 14th and 15th Amendments,
both of which include enforcement clauses that give Congress the power to enforce the provisions of the Amendments. Why did they do that, Chris? They did it because they knew, the Framers of the 14th and 15th amendments knew very well, that white supremacists at the state level would continue to try to subvert the full citizenship of Black people.
And so they gave Congress the power to enforce the 14th Amendment, which ensured that Black people were citizens and entitled to equal protection of the laws. And the 15th Amendment which prohibits denial of the right to vote based on race. So this is Congress’ power. And it’s from that power that of course, Congress has the power to pass something like the Voting Rights Act.
In other words, it was understood that we would need the federal authority to step in, to enforce the rights that the Framers of the 14th and 15th amendments articulated to ensure that Black people newly freed and free, who had been stripped of citizenship by Dred Scott would be full citizens. So the idea that the federal government is somehow stepping in, in some inappropriate way. That old saw from Jim Crow, that old saw from massive resistance after Brown. That is exactly what the Framers of the 14th and 15th Amendments contemplated. That Congress would step in to protect Black people as citizens, from what they knew would be the actions of white supremacists in the states.”
Hayes: “In fact, when white supremacist terrorists under the Klan were terrorizing Black voters, the Act passed to basically bring them to heel is called the Enforcement Act…
Ifill: “Also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. Yes.”
Hayes: “And drawing on precisely that Constitutional power.”
Hayes: “I think Congressman Clyburn is not a radical in any way. He’s a pretty institutionalist kind of guy…reformer I’d say…”
Ifill: “Look I’ve been in these conversations and I have been very clear.
And that’s why people should not panic about today. This is the first step. And I have said there is no excuse not to come to the table and hammer something out. It’s called legislation. Nobody gets everything that they want, but there are some things that have to happen given what is happening in the states.
We know that we need pre-clearance provisions. We know we need the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. But we also know that we need protections for early voting, for absentee voting. We need a law that keeps jurisdictions from allowing you to stand on line for 9 hours, and then not be able to get water while on that line. We need access to absentee voting and automatic registration.
What are the elements that we think are necessary? Let’s package those elements together.
Let’s make it happen. Let’s let them pass. Let’s not forget Chris, that it was the abdication of Congress for a hundred years after the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments. The refusal to use that enforcement power to protect Black votes, that left Black people in a position something akin to slavery throughout Jim Crow for 100 years until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
That was Congress’ failure to use their power.
They MUST use this power now and the Supreme Court has said the right to vote is preservative of all rights and fundamental. They said that in 1880. It is more fundamental, more powerful, than any Senate rule including the filibuster. And both Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema have to do their duty as members of the United States Congress, and use that power that the Framers of the 14th and 15th Amendment set forth for them to use to protect fellow citizens who are being overrun by white supremacists, voter suppression laws.”
Ifill:
“This is a serious moment in our democracy.
And if we want to have a democracy going forward, we need to see some courage and we need to see some clarity. And we need to get away from all of these false historical arguments about the filibuster.
And get real about the moment that we’re in this country.”
15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Facts
https://blavity.com/michael-b-jordan-changes-name-of-jouvert-rum-brand-after-being-accused-of-cultural-appropriation
Interesting. You schooled me today. Thanks for sharing this.
Wow! 😳
Someone’s been cutting onions in here. 🥲😍
That’s awesome 💖😘
Clink goes the handcuffs
Bravo General Milley!👏🏾
A pedophile criminal traitorous treasonous thug ‘questioning’ joint chief of staff. Only in murkkka.
So true amk. Even the mild rebukes and constant criticism you levy at our American politicians would get you killed in your native land if you spoke as such about your government.
No, I won’t be. And, no, I won’t stop.
And btw, this blog was started by a ferriner, iirr.
Not forgotten and just pointing out a few truths. Only in America…
Senator Raphael Warnock Remarks in Support of S.1.
“Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock delivers floor remarks during the debate on S.1., the For the People Act, calling on senators to advance consideration of the bill. “History is watching and the future is waiting to see if we are who se say we are–the United States Senate, a serious-minded, deliberative body. The United States of America, a nation built on that simple but sublime principle: one person, one vote.”
Full here: (https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4967560/senator-raphael-warnock-remarks-support-s1)
Have I mentioned how proud and happy I am that he’s My Senator? 😁
–eh totally knocked out and he’s not my Senator!!!
You can claim him, I’ll share! 😁
Title IX is 49!
MVP is going to the border. The haters won’t be satisfied.
See what I mean?
Turn the sound on for this! 😁
The More You Know… 💦💧🚿🛁🚰🧊🥤
Where the fuck is that much touted ‘indictments’? A pedophile pos.
Exactly. How is this farce allowed to happen on fucking live teevee?
Listen closely to what she is saying
It’s all about fucking momentum and driving the narratives.
Finally some judge telling it like it is.
So phucking maddening
Where were this posse of cops on Jan 6th?
Dog: booyah.
Jaime bringing the fire! 😆
✊🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🔥
🐶😍🐶
This guy is talented!
WOW!
Real role model.
from MLK speech… I have a dream!
Good West Coast morning Nerdy & TOD family. So sad to see the apartment building collapsed in Miami and the bridge collapsed in DC.
Infrastructure…
Condo building collapse in Miami 💔😔
A good analogy from Star Trek for the current situation in Senate
🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔
Michigan GOP: no 2020 election fraud. We been knew.
Look at Our Interior Secretary! ❤️
These photos are stunning!
Powerful and gives me a great sense of pride. Well done InStyle magazine.
Now let’s see if the lying pos thugs ‘back the blue’.
Morning!!
Yesss. Fiiiinally some consequences.
I love it when big words like “uncontroverted evidence” is used! 😎🔥👏🏾👏🏾
WE FOUND THE ACCUSED COMPLETELY INNOCENT AND YET….
“Republicans roundly debunk Michigan election fraud claims;
push to restrict voting anyway”
“Rachel Maddow shares details of a report from the Republican-led Michigan State Senate Oversight Committee that thoroughly debunks all of the election fraud fantasies promoted by Donald Trump and his supporters, and reports on an effort by those same Republicans to nevertheless restrict voting rights in Michigan because of concerns about the very things the report debunks.”
Video: (https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/republicans-roundly-debunk-michigan-election-fraud-claims-push-to-restrict-voting-anyway-115372613586)
Rudy Giuliani’s NY law license has been suspended.
THIS!
Florida’s fascist son does a test run…
DeSantis Vows To Defund Colleges For Being Too Liberal
“An intellectually impotent ideology and party—when it cannot win, it will cheat.”
(Tressie McMillan Cottom)
(https://www.mblip.com/desantis-vows-to-defund-colleges-for-being-too-liberal/)
–Um students are there to learn critical thinking not repetition, colleges are by nature liberal. So is his Q plan to end them all?
YES!
“Senator Elizabeth Warren talks with Rachel Maddow
about how the bipartisan compromise infrastructure deal fits into a much larger infrastructure package that
Senate Democrats intend to pass.”
Video:
(https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-infrastructure-legislation-sen-elizabeth-warren-explains-115372613730)
(excerpts)
Senator Warren:
“Okay. The lay of the land is that there will be one infrastructure deal.
And it will be a big infrastructure deal. We call it an infrastructure deal, but it’s really about the kind of country we want to be going forward. It’s about making repairs from the past, but it’s about making opportunity for everyone.
Right now, there’s a group that’s called this bipartisan group,
and they’re negotiating a part of it. A part of it around roads and bridges, around some important pieces like broadband.
But there’s a whole lot more that we’s going to do.
If we want people to be able to go to work, if we want people to be able to have opportunities, then we need to make sure that child care, universal child care is available, is affordable, is high quality for everyone. We need to make sure that we’re building a green energy system and a green transportation system.
And a part of this is how we’re going to pay for it.
And that means making sure that billionaires and giant corporations are paying a fair share and that we’re enforcing the tax laws.
So this is the plan for this administration, for this Congress, about how we move this economy,
how we move this country forward. And I think the pieces are starting to coalesce.”
Senator Warren:
“That’s exactly the right way to think of it,
is that the smaller piece gets embedded in a larger piece.
Now they may be voted separately. But it is one infrastructure deal. I can’t vote for some small subset that the infrastructure train leaves the station and child care gets left on the platform, green energy gets left on the platform, billionaires don’t have to pay gets left on the platform. It’s that all of the pieces have to move because ultimately, it’s one deal.”
Senator Warren:
“Look the threat to our democracy, on voting, is enormous. This one is existential.
We have to fight back against Republicans cutting out people from being able to vote, and cutting out the effectiveness of their vote.
Remember we keep talking about this, the voting package. It’s not only about access to the polls.
It’s about things like banning gerrymandering and getting that under control. It’s about exposing Dark Money and trying to squeeze it out of elections. It’s about anti-corruption and conflicts of interest.
So there’s a lot there that’s about protecting our democracy.
Always remember first the good part.
And that is we had H.R.1 that passed the House. By the time it got to the Senate, the Republicans had figured out MORE ways to suppress the vote and to keep democracy from functioning.
So we had more work to do in the Senate to be able to add to the original bill.
And we’ve had to have some negotiations. But keep in mind, we now have every single Democrat on board with a voting rights bill, an anti-corruption bill. And that’s powerfully important.”
Dory?
Goldfish sees/smells guy as another fish…family…friend?
Consequences for lying pos of thug. Fucking corrupt clown.
It’s about time. Character should be part of the metrics for public figure, and this lawless lawyer, sociopath look alike, cannot uphold any law after upholding the Big Lie and helping fabricate many small ones in the American Crazy Period 2015-2020.
Guess packing the courts can go only thus far.
“Background Checks Stopped A Record 300,000 Gun Sales Last Year”
(nearly double number the previous year)
“Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action,
talks with Rachel Maddow about new FBI records obtained by Everytown for Gun Safety
that shows a record number of gun sales blocked by background checks last year, and how President Biden’s announcement of stricter enforcement of gun sale laws, including background checks, will help advance the cause of gun safety.”
Remarks by President Biden and Attorney General Garland
on Gun Crime Prevention Strategy
Full: (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/06/23/remarks-by-president-biden-and-attorney-general-garland-on-gun-crime-prevention-strategy/)
thank you both and to everyone involved.
New post.
Alrighty! Love to see it!