Being On The Right Side Of History

“For some, this vote may be hard. But we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history.” Thank y… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) December 18, 2019

Rep. Maxine Waters: “It is no secret that this President could have been impeached a long time ago...In the final a… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) December 18, 2019

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Nancy Pelosi announces the tally: 230 votes to impeach Donald Trump, 197 votes against, and 1 vote present. Donald… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) December 19, 2019

Todd Piro: "Does impeachment help or hurt Trump in 2020?" Carol: "I think it'll help him among people who don't ca… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) December 19, 2019

Impeachment Inquiry Hearing Day 5

LIVE: House Impeachment Inquiry Hearing twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

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CSPAN (@cspan) November 21, 2019

Getting Caught Is No Defense

Rep. Adam Schiff adjourns hearing to applause: "Getting caught is no defense—not to a violation of the Constitution… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 20, 2019

.@RepSeanMaloney: "Who would benefit from an investigation of the Bidens? Ambassador Sondland: "I assume Presiden… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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CSPAN (@cspan) November 20, 2019

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.@ConawayTX11: "The end of the article does go through that and also says 3 Pinocchios in spite of that…"… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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CSPAN (@cspan) November 20, 2019

Democratic Counsel Daniel Goldman: "Is the only logical conclusion to you, that given all of these factors, that th… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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CSPAN (@cspan) November 20, 2019

Impeachment Inquiry Hearing Day 4

LIVE: House Impeachment Inquiry Hearing twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

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CSPAN (@cspan) November 20, 2019

Impeachment Inquiry Hearing Day 3

LIVE: House Impeachment Inquiry Hearing twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

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CSPAN (@cspan) November 19, 2019

Choice Means Freedom

“You can’t tell me what to do with my body.” – @Lesdoggg #SNLFinale https://t.co/0g1tviKPxp

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Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) May 19, 2019

Zika Virus: Do Your Job, Congress

Here's what @POTUS asked Congress to provide to combat the #ZikaVirus—2 months ago: go.wh.gov/zika https://t.co/Ii6Qtf0W2T

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 11, 2016

Congress can't wait until October to pass #ZikaVirus funding @POTUS proposed in February. go.wh.gov/Zika https://t.co/haL9dM8chb

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 11, 2016

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.@Surgeon_General breaks down what you need to know to protect yourself from the #ZikaVirus: go.wh.gov/Zika amp.twimg.com/v/a69ac437-3ec…

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 11, 2016

#ZikaVirus is an emergency. Congress should treat it as one & pass @POTUS's funding request: go.wh.gov/zika https://t.co/nwlMGgFjAu

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 11, 2016

The Great Boehner Deflation

Politico reported yesterday that House Speaker John Boehner is laying the groundwork for that most elusive of all chimeras, the “grand bargain” with President Obama before he steps down. Barring that, he’ll push through a clean debt ceiling hike. Either way, this ends four years of constant hostage taking of the nation’s—and the world’s—economy for short term political gain.

It didn’t have to be like this. At his heart, I don’t believe Mr. Boehner is a bomb-throwing nihilist as are the members of the “Freedom Caucus”. He’s been in Congress since the 1990s, and has a concern for the institution. He could have easily followed in the time-honored tradition of seeking to build coalitions with those across the aisle and sideline the radicals in his own party. He wouldn’t have gotten everything he wanted, but he would have gotten some of it, and the country would have worked much more efficiently.

A feature, not a bug

I have been growing increasingly bemused as Anno Domini MMXV continues to unfold apace. And by “bemused”, I really mean, “Goddammit, we’re heading to hell in a handbasket!”

But nothing matches the complete clusterfuck around funding the Department of Homeland Security, a department born in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and which, if you will recall, Republicans held up as a sacred institution to protect God-fearing Americans from those hordes of brown people seeking to kill them. (Union protections for DHS workers? Why do you love Al-Qaeda??)

Let’s recap. In last year’s Cromnibus (soon to appear in the next Transformers movie), Congress left out funding for DHS. Why? Well, fast forward to this year. John Boehner and his merry pranksters passed a DHS funding bill. But they wanted to show that Kenyan in the White House that treating “illegals” like children of God was not going to wash with Republicans in firm control of both chambers. So they attached several riders to a must-pass bill stripping all of President Obama’s actions for DREAMers and his executive action on the undocumented. There, that’ll show him! Done and dusted, and the first round of drinks are on Rusty Boehner!

When history is inconvenient, rewrite it

The above is an actual quote by Heritage Foundation president and Teabagger extraordinaire Jim DeMint, formerly of the Senate until he found a way to make more money off the rubes principled conservatives.

Yes, the slaves were eventually freed because, according to DeMint’s conflation of history, it was in the Constitution that “all men are created equal and have inalienable rights”. They were also freed due to the efforts of William Wilberforce, noted English anti-slavery campaigner, who just happened to die in 1833, thirty years before the Emancipation Proclamation and the `13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. Government had no role in the freeing of the slaves. It was all people power!

But, wait, why did we need amendments to the Constitution if the freedom of slaves was in it from the start? Because, of course, nothing of the kind was in the Constitution. Slavery was allowed to continue, and the slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of the census. I’m sure they were very glad to know that not only were they not full human beings under the Constitution, but that even that diminution of their humanity allowed slave states to have an outsized influence in Congress, since those slaves counted towards apportionment of House seats.

The fact is that history doesn’t look too kindly on the successors to those slave holders. They are, rather correctly, excoriated.