Song
Fill your heart with love today
Don’t play the game of time Things that happened in the past Just happened in your Mind Only in your Mind-Forget your Mind Then you’ll be free
The writing’s on the wall Free-yea’. And you can know it all If you choose. Lovers never lose ‘Cause they are Free of thoughts unpure And of thoughts unkind Gentleness clears the soul Love cleans the mind Makes it Free.
Happiness is happening The dragons have been bled loveliness everywhere Fear’s just in your Head The feels in your Head Only in your Head The feels in your Head So Forget your Head Then you’ll be free
The writing’s on the wall Free-yea’. And you can know it all Baby know it all If you choose. Just remember Lovers never lose ‘Cause they are free of thoughts unpure And of thoughts unkind Gentleness can clear the soul Love cleans the mind Then makes it Free!!
copyright 1968 Biff Rose & Paul Williams
Crazy is as crazy does
EPA's Scott Pruitt may have his high-tech sound-proof phone booth, but Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has his own flag.
“A security staffer takes the elevator to the seventh floor, climbs the stairs to the roof and hoists a special secretarial flag whenever [Zinke] enters the building," according to WaPo. "When the secretary goes home for the day or travels, the flag” is lowered (this is the same guy who said in a speech to oil and gas executives that 30 percent of Interior's 70,000 workers are “not loyal to the flag”; maybe this is the flag he meant).
Are cabinet officers just as nuts as their boss?
“A security staffer takes the elevator to the seventh floor, climbs the stairs to the roof and hoists a special secretarial flag whenever [Zinke] enters the building," according to WaPo. "When the secretary goes home for the day or travels, the flag” is lowered (this is the same guy who said in a speech to oil and gas executives that 30 percent of Interior's 70,000 workers are “not loyal to the flag”; maybe this is the flag he meant).
Are cabinet officers just as nuts as their boss?
Repeal & replace
The Star-Spangled Banner:
Too martial.
And "This Land Is Your Land" and "America the Beautiful" are more uplifting and far easier to sing.
Too martial.
And "This Land Is Your Land" and "America the Beautiful" are more uplifting and far easier to sing.
Blue Dogs, what are they good for? (huh) Absolutely nothing (say it again)
These are the Democrats who joined the Republicans to save the legislative foundation for the Iraq, Afghan, Syrian and other wars of the Bush, Obama and Trump regimes:
Carper (DE)
Casey (PA)
Cortez Masto (NV)
Donnelly (IN)
Hassan (NH)
Manchin (WV)
McCaskill (MO)
Reed (RI)
Schatz (HI)
Shaheen (NH)
Stabenow (MN)
Warner (VA)
Whitehouse (RI)
Carper (DE)
Casey (PA)
Cortez Masto (NV)
Donnelly (IN)
Hassan (NH)
Manchin (WV)
McCaskill (MO)
Reed (RI)
Schatz (HI)
Shaheen (NH)
Stabenow (MN)
Warner (VA)
Whitehouse (RI)
Bye, Bye Miss American Spy
I'd like to take the opportunity offered by the apparent determination of the Trump treasury department not to elevate the heroic abolitionist Harriet Tubman to our currency (I don't suppose it would make any difference to our military-loving president were he to be informed that Tubman provided invaluable intelligence to the United States Army fighting the rebellion -- if John le Carré were to write her story he might call it "Slave, Nurse, Scout, Spy") to renew my appeal on behalf of Helen Keller who -- struck totally deaf and blind by childhood illness at 19 months, before she'd learned to speak -- overcame the adversity of being unable hear or see to become one of the 20th century's leading humanitarians, an international champion for the disabled, a feminist, a Socialist, a co-founder of the ACLU, a teacher and lecturer, a journalist, and the first deaf-blind person to earn a BA.
On the twenty dollar specie, though, not the ten. Thanks to Broadway, Alexander Hamilton now has a lobby. It is Andrew Jackson, the populist president and, alas, slave holder and genocidist, who needs to go.
Here's the original post: Helen Keller on the $10 by John Gabree (Impractical Proposals).
It is not that the estimable Harriet Tubman doesn't deserve to be honored for her courageous activism, it's just that being, you know, black, she may not be a favorite of this administration.
On the twenty dollar specie, though, not the ten. Thanks to Broadway, Alexander Hamilton now has a lobby. It is Andrew Jackson, the populist president and, alas, slave holder and genocidist, who needs to go.
Here's the original post: Helen Keller on the $10 by John Gabree (Impractical Proposals).
It is not that the estimable Harriet Tubman doesn't deserve to be honored for her courageous activism, it's just that being, you know, black, she may not be a favorite of this administration.
Urban progress and reaction
“You desire the end but close your eyes to the means. You want the garden to be beautiful, provided that the smell of manure is kept well away from your fastidious nose.” ― P.D. James, The Children of MenNimbyism is a reactionary impulse that ignores the history of urbanism and strikes at the city's reason for being. Nimbys seek to impose a romantic fantasy of an orderly and edenic past on an urban history that in fact is a tangled tale of struggle, ambition, imagination, innovation and criminality. Indeed, it is the chaotic nature of the city
To bind a city to imaginary specifications is to strangle its spirit, to rob it of its dreams, to steal its soul. Were you to abandon a city, eventually nature would return it to the jungle or desert, the forest or prairie hidden beneath its tar and concrete; but nowhere has an urbanized locale merely devolved to an earlier stage of development. It has to be murdered, deliberately killed by greed, selfishness and myopia.
A flourishing city is an antidote to mediocrity, monotony, intolerance, rigidity, stasis, just as it is the engine of invention, adaptability, resourcefulness, enterprise, growth. We forget that the modern city developed originally as a refuge from the impliability and oppressiveness of feudalism, that within its communal
It is from the concentration of talents and energies, born of the city's wealth, that the qualities of life we value most, that we count among the benefits of civilization, are afforded; cut off the city's ability to change and grow, and you condemn it, and ultimately urban culture, to death.
The city springs from hope, from the desire for a different and better future; thus, though it can be done badly or to excess, development is, at its heart, progressive.
Why the Democrats won't win back Congress in 2018 -- #67233
"John , we’ve never been this mad -- and we're asking you to sign your name and condemn Trump for pardoning Joe Arpaio." -- Email solicitation from the Democratic Congressional Campaign CommitteeReally?
They've never been this mad?
Not at the Long War? Not at the massacre of the middle class? Not at institutionalized racism? Not at the collapsing infrastructure? Not at the privatizing of the public schools? Not at Wall Street predators? Not at the destruction of the labor movement? Not at two minority presidents out of three? Not at the growing ranks of the poor? Not at pharmaceutical price-gouging? Not at mass incarceration?...
What he did.
It shouldn't be hard to head off Trump tonight before he escalates the war in Afghanistan.
Somebody tell him.
Obama already did it.
Somebody tell him.
Obama already did it.
Crossed fingers # 6,010,043
Harper's says that, of the $16,000,000 Carrier promised Donald Trump it would spend on its Indiana plant to save American jobs, 100% of the money will be used for automation.
"It's like I don't recognize the country I'm living in."
It's more like we're getting to know the country we're living in.
We can't lose sight of the millions deported by the Obama administration. We can't deny decades of lynchings and Jim Crow. We must not forget "No dogs or Irish." We fought a brutal civil war over the holding of human beings as property. We still live in the shadow of slavery. We have never atoned for the near-extermination of Native Americans.
Fake news? We live a fake history.
Are the Democratic Socialists of America For Real?
In the last year, the biggest American socialist organization has experienced a surge in membership. "As it builds on this momentum, there are several big questions facing DSA. What is its relationship to the Democratic Party? Should central leadership serve as administrators or ideological tone-setters? And how can its membership -- which skews white and male -- come to represent an increasingly diverse country?" In other words, can it can transform enthusiasm into real and effective political power?
Are the Democratic Socialists of America For Real? by Kate Aronoff (The New Republic, 2017-08-07)
Are the Democratic Socialists of America For Real? by Kate Aronoff (The New Republic, 2017-08-07)
What a laugh
The Security State has always included an ample admixture of self-parody. The CIA’s arsenal of weapons against Fidel Castro, for example, included a fungus-infected scuba suit, a poison-filled hypodermic needle hidden in a pen and, no kidding, an exploding cigar.
RIP
"I hate endings. Just detest them. Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster. … The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. Why not be more honest with the moment? The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning." -- Sam Shepard.
Big problems require big solutions
A confused and befuddled Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, grasping at straws, have a formulated a nearly perfect compression of their tired lesser-of-two-evils rhetoric -- "A Better Deal," promoting the new slogan under the misapprehension that it's bad marketing instead of bad politics that's the cause of their electoral headaches.
The road to capitalism triumphant is pocked by financial crises: 1819, 1837, 1857, 1884, 1901, 1907, 1929, 1937, 1974, 1987, 2008...
But what accounts for that long break after WWII, 30 years of widespread prosperity and economic growth?
One key factor, besides sizable opportunities in the construction industry afforded by worldwide devastation, is that during these decades banks were severely regulated, capital movement was constricted, exchange rates were limited.
In judging the seriousness of the Democrats in the months ahead, their willingness to rein in the financial giants will be key. Other vital issues -- infrastructure, empire, jobs, climate change, affordable universal education and health care -- cannot be addressed by a party still afraid to pursue any policy that might inconvenience rich people.We need a new era of big government to address big problems. More than a Better Deal, we need a Big Deal.
quote unquote: James Baldwin
"I have met only a very few people - and most of these were not Americans - who had any real desire to be free. Freedom is hard to bear. It can be objected that I am speaking of political freedom in spiritual terms, but the political institutions of any nation are always menaced and are ultimately controlled by the spiritual state of that nation. We are controlled here by our confusion, far more than we know, and the 
American dream has therefore become something much more closely resembling a nightmare, on the private, domestic, and international levels. Privately, we cannot stand our lives and dare not examine them; domestically, we take no responsibility for (and no pride in) what goes on in our country; and, internationally, for many millions of people, we are an unmitigated disaster. Whoever doubts this last statement has only to open his ears, his heart, his mind, to the testimony of - for example - any Cuban peasant or any Spanish poet, and ask himself what he would feel about us if he were the victim of our performance in pre-Castro Cuba or in Spain. We defend our curious role in Spain by referring to the Russian menace and the necessity of protecting the free world. It has not occurred to us that we have simply been mesmerized by Russia, and that the only real advantage Russia has in what we think of as a struggle between the East and the West is the moral history of the Western world. Russia's secret weapon is the bewilderment and despair and hunger of millions of people of whose existence we are scarcely aware. The Russian Communists are not in the least concerned about these people. But our ignorance and indecision have had the effect, if not of delivering them into Russian hands, of plunging them very deeply in the Russian shadow, for which effect - and it is hard to blame them - the most articulate among them, and the most oppressed as well, distrust us all the more... We are capable of bearing a great burden, once we discover that the burden is reality and arrive where reality is. Anyway, the point here is that we are living in an age of revolution, whether we will or no, and that America is the only Western nation with both the power, and, as I hope to suggest, the experience that may help to make these revolutions real and minimize the human damage." -- James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
When you hear the word bipartisan, reach for your gun.
There is a conservative majority in Congress that persists no matter which party controls the big corner offices. When you hear the word bipartisan, remember that it is most often used to describe something like Bob Corker and Mark Warner, just say, getting together to craft a deal to advance corporate interests at your expense.
Quadruple bogey.
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning aired a pop quiz:
"The capital city of your closest ally is attacked. Do you…:"(By the way, the answer is E.)
A) Retweet Drudge before being briefed.
B) Use the attack to lobby the Supreme Court overturn lower court rulings that said your travel ban is unconstitutional.
C) Openly attack the mayor of the city under assault and quote him out of context.
D) Go golfing for the 22nd time in your 19-week tenure.
E) All of the above.
The political horse race
Democrats for Ohio governor in the news today: Schiavoni, Pillich, Whaley, Sutton, Cordray, Springer... The only question: Who will Win, Place and Show?
The mainstream media never -- never! -- tells us what candidates stand for. We knew far more about Always Dreaming on Derby morning than we'll know about our next governor when we get up on election day.
The mainstream media never -- never! -- tells us what candidates stand for. We knew far more about Always Dreaming on Derby morning than we'll know about our next governor when we get up on election day.
Body slamming the electorate
Absentee balloting, as it was originally conceived, is a good and necessary thing. There is no reason that people away from home, disabled or living in nursing facilities should be denied their franchise. But the abuse of absentee voting by both parties has reached a point where in many districts the outcome of elections are determined by party loyalists who have not bothered to consider and compare the actual candidates.
A dramatic example of this is happening this week in Montana's special congressional election, where the local sheriff’s office cited GOP candidate Greg Gianforte on a charge of misdemeanor assault for “body slamming” journalist Ben Jacobs after he asked the Republican about the GOP's recently passed health-care bill. It is more than likely that at least some voters undecided or leaning toward Gianforte will reconsider their vote in light of his seeming inability to control himself under pressure. How likely do you think it is that the outcome of the race will be changed, however, when you consider that election analysts estimate that roughly two-thirds of early votes had already been cast before one of the candidates faced an assault charge?
One possible way of fixing early voting abuse would be to permit absentee ballots to be mailed no sooner than three days before election day; ballots with earlier postmarks would be disqualified. To keep party operatives from rounding up ballots weeks in advance and bulk mailing them within the deadline, absentee ballots would also be required under penalty of law to be signed on the day they were mailed. Such a deadline would not seriously inconvenience any of the intended users of absentee voting, those actually absent from their precincts, while allowing campaigns to play out to the fullest extent possible.
A dramatic example of this is happening this week in Montana's special congressional election, where the local sheriff’s office cited GOP candidate Greg Gianforte on a charge of misdemeanor assault for “body slamming” journalist Ben Jacobs after he asked the Republican about the GOP's recently passed health-care bill. It is more than likely that at least some voters undecided or leaning toward Gianforte will reconsider their vote in light of his seeming inability to control himself under pressure. How likely do you think it is that the outcome of the race will be changed, however, when you consider that election analysts estimate that roughly two-thirds of early votes had already been cast before one of the candidates faced an assault charge?
One possible way of fixing early voting abuse would be to permit absentee ballots to be mailed no sooner than three days before election day; ballots with earlier postmarks would be disqualified. To keep party operatives from rounding up ballots weeks in advance and bulk mailing them within the deadline, absentee ballots would also be required under penalty of law to be signed on the day they were mailed. Such a deadline would not seriously inconvenience any of the intended users of absentee voting, those actually absent from their precincts, while allowing campaigns to play out to the fullest extent possible.
For the Record:
"This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!" -- Pres. Donald Trump
"As the Representative of Salem, MA, I can confirm that this is false." -- Rep. Seth Moulton
"As the Representative of Salem, MA, I can confirm that this is false." -- Rep. Seth Moulton
A new New Deal
In another ridiculous discussion of Bernie Sanders' undermining of the grand old Democratic Party, this: "We are the only party in the last 100 years to successfully push this country toward real progress."
This is absolutely true. It also ended about 45 years ago. The history of the country since the early 1970s is a record of decline. And since the 70s, the Democrats have held the reins of power more often than the Republicans. In that time, we have suffered militarization of foreign policy and, domestically, of the police; incarceration of vast numbers of citizens; severe decline of infrastructure; neglect of public services; huge transfers of public wealth into private hands; decimation of the middle class; a housing crisis; increased poverty...
It is true that more Democrats than Republicans resisted these developments, but not a majority and not the leadership; that is an argument for electing Democrats with those principles and policy goals; it is not an argument favoring continuing control of the party by neoliberals. Most Democrats agree on social issues (abortion excepted), but that's not why we're Democrats; you can be a liberal on social issues and still favor right-wing and libertarian economic policies. The reason to make progressive economic policies primary is that they are the area of broadest agreement among Democrats (neo-liberals excepted), and the guarantee of a decent life -- basic income, a roof over one's head, the ability to be properly educated and trained, protection from impoverishment by medical catastrophe, job loss or old age -- has the broadest appeal to the electorate.
History will look back at the last 40 years as the Reagan-Clinton era. It is time to turn in a different direction, back toward the road to economic and social justice that was the promise of Democrats like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. We need a new New Deal. The goal should be a great society, not an okay one.
This is absolutely true. It also ended about 45 years ago. The history of the country since the early 1970s is a record of decline. And since the 70s, the Democrats have held the reins of power more often than the Republicans. In that time, we have suffered militarization of foreign policy and, domestically, of the police; incarceration of vast numbers of citizens; severe decline of infrastructure; neglect of public services; huge transfers of public wealth into private hands; decimation of the middle class; a housing crisis; increased poverty...
It is true that more Democrats than Republicans resisted these developments, but not a majority and not the leadership; that is an argument for electing Democrats with those principles and policy goals; it is not an argument favoring continuing control of the party by neoliberals. Most Democrats agree on social issues (abortion excepted), but that's not why we're Democrats; you can be a liberal on social issues and still favor right-wing and libertarian economic policies. The reason to make progressive economic policies primary is that they are the area of broadest agreement among Democrats (neo-liberals excepted), and the guarantee of a decent life -- basic income, a roof over one's head, the ability to be properly educated and trained, protection from impoverishment by medical catastrophe, job loss or old age -- has the broadest appeal to the electorate.
History will look back at the last 40 years as the Reagan-Clinton era. It is time to turn in a different direction, back toward the road to economic and social justice that was the promise of Democrats like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson. We need a new New Deal. The goal should be a great society, not an okay one.
From the Your-Mouth-To-God's-Ear Desk:
“I’m not a candidate for FBI director.” -- Rudy Giuliani, at the Trump hotel bar in D.C. after midnight early Wednesday morning.
Who's on first?
It's revealing that the establishment media in the U.S., having taken repeated notice of the number of French voters who abstained or cast blank ballots in the French presidential election to raise questions about Emmanuel Macron's legitimacy ("blank invalid ballots account for 9% of all registered voters; abstention rate at 24.52%"), is not similarly troubled about the U.S. government's legitimacy given that about 40% of adult Americans routinely abstain from voting.
"French election results: The case for saying Marine Le Pen actually came third," as one headline put it. Applying this analysis to November's results, Donald Trump came in third, Hillary Clinton second, and -- to the relief of most Americans -- None of the Above is president of United States.
"French election results: The case for saying Marine Le Pen actually came third," as one headline put it. Applying this analysis to November's results, Donald Trump came in third, Hillary Clinton second, and -- to the relief of most Americans -- None of the Above is president of United States.
From the Money-Talks-Bullshit-Walks Desk:
“No district is off the table." -- Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, the House Democratic campaign chairman.
Except, so far, for Kansas and Montana. In other words, except for two out of three.
Except, so far, for Kansas and Montana. In other words, except for two out of three.
Fight!
Republican Tommy Pope is favored over Democrat Archie Parnell in SC's 5th District next month. That contest is unlikely to see the same magnitude of investment from national parties and superpacs currently flooding the special elections in Georgia and Montana. Apparently, it will be more like the Kansas race that was narrowly lost because of the national Democrats' disinterest.
So much for the "50 States" strategy.
If the Democrats are serious about winning in 2018 and 2020, they will need to treat every contest seriously, not least because a losing race can lay the foundation for a win later and can influence outcomes in neighboring districts and in contests further up the political food chain, such as governor and senator. The Working Families Party, Greens, independents, et al might want to look at whether the Democrats' strategy of giving up various congressional districts and senate seats without a fight is an opportunity.
So much for the "50 States" strategy.
If the Democrats are serious about winning in 2018 and 2020, they will need to treat every contest seriously, not least because a losing race can lay the foundation for a win later and can influence outcomes in neighboring districts and in contests further up the political food chain, such as governor and senator. The Working Families Party, Greens, independents, et al might want to look at whether the Democrats' strategy of giving up various congressional districts and senate seats without a fight is an opportunity.
Yelling at buildings is not enough
The resistance is gratifying and fun and maybe consciousness-raising, but real change will come from an aggressive and eventually victorious opposition.
In the fight over the omnibus spending bill, the Democrats didn't do too badly: no funding for the border wall; no penalty for sanctuary cities; no rollback of environmental programs; no gutting of consumer financial protections; plus funding for ACA subsidies, Planned Parenthood, miners’ health benefits, and Medicaid payments for Puerto Rico.
But both the reactionaries now in power and the neoliberals they replaced must be overcome in 2018 and 2020 if the republic is to be set back on the road toward economic and social justice from which it was deflected 40 years or so ago. It will do us no good to go back to the politics and policies that made the reactionaries' victory possible -- inevitable -- in the first place.
Comprehensive Government Funding Bill Released (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations).
At the gym
Amazon Prime streaming just delivered, in sequence, R. Stevie Moore, Delbert McClinton, Ben Webster, Eden Atwood, the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, Jim Hall, Bessie Smith, Johnny Hodges, Horace Tapscott, Tommy Dorsey, Alan Holdsworth, Hoagy Carmichael, the MGs, Glenn Miller, Don Byas, Bach's Mein Herze, Casey Bill Weldon, Billy Eckstein, Anita O'Day, Ida Cox with Papa Charlie Jackson, and Isaac Hayes.
Newspeak
"War is Peace" has been the watchword of U.S. foreign policy for decades. Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama: each liked to wave his gun around. Dropping bombs on people is a presidential pastime, because it is as easy as ordering dessert and, for the commander in chief, politically risk free, American voters valuing as they do looking tough over being tough. Joining the Democrats in rechristening the various military adventures he inherited as "Trump's wars" will not end militarism. To succeed, the peace movement, should it remobilize, will need to take on both parties. Both are drenched in blood.
quote unquote: Woody Allen
"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -- Woody Allen
DINO Mite
Sen. Joe Manchin ("D"-WV) attended Donald Trump’s signing Tuesday of his executive order on energy, designed to unwind former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Manchin said in a statement that "the Clean Power Plan failed to balance economic and environmental interests.”
Beto v. Ted: Anglo with Mexican name to challenge Cuban-American with Anglo name
Former punk rocker and moderate Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso will announce on Friday that he’ll challenge Senator from Hell Ted Cruz in 2018, according to the Houston Chronicle. Democratic establishment favorite Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio is among other Texas Democrats mulling a run (if you're keeping score at home, Castro was 123rd in the liberal rankings in 2013; O'Rourke ranked 54th).
About that referendum?
We were just kidding.
In November, citizens around the U.S. said they wanted minimum-wage hikes, higher taxes, and criminal-justice reform. Now their elected officials are trying to roll those changes back. “This isn’t how democracy works,” said Justine Sarver, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a nonprofit that works with progressive ballot campaigns. “You don’t get to pick and choose when you like a process and when you don't.”
The rest of the story:
The Legislators Working to Thwart the Will of Voters by David A. Graham (The Atlantic)
In November, citizens around the U.S. said they wanted minimum-wage hikes, higher taxes, and criminal-justice reform. Now their elected officials are trying to roll those changes back. “This isn’t how democracy works,” said Justine Sarver, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a nonprofit that works with progressive ballot campaigns. “You don’t get to pick and choose when you like a process and when you don't.”
The rest of the story:
The Legislators Working to Thwart the Will of Voters by David A. Graham (The Atlantic)
I care, you care, we all care for Obamacare
Except for two Democratic members of the House.
The House Budget Committee yesterday approved 19-17 a motion to send GOP legislation to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law to the full House w/o the support of three Republicans: Reps. Mark Sanford, Dave Brat and Gary Palmer, all Freedom Caucus members. Two Democrats, NY Rep. John Faso and MN Rep. Jason Lewis, voted to move the bill out of committee. Without the Democratic votes, the bill would have failed in committee.
Democratic voters in the NY-19 and MN-02 congressional districts may want to start looking at primary challengers.
The House Budget Committee yesterday approved 19-17 a motion to send GOP legislation to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law to the full House w/o the support of three Republicans: Reps. Mark Sanford, Dave Brat and Gary Palmer, all Freedom Caucus members. Two Democrats, NY Rep. John Faso and MN Rep. Jason Lewis, voted to move the bill out of committee. Without the Democratic votes, the bill would have failed in committee.
Democratic voters in the NY-19 and MN-02 congressional districts may want to start looking at primary challengers.
quote unquote: Jimmy Breslin
The People Polled
From FOX poll released yesterday:
"I'm going to read you the names of several individuals, groups, and items. Please tell me whether you have a generally favorable or unfavorable opinion of each one."
Favorable:
Bernie Sanders 61%
Planned Parenthood 57%
The 2010 health care law, also known as Obamacare 50%
Mike Pence 47%
Donald Trump 44%
Elizabeth Warren 39%
Paul Ryan 37%
Nancy Pelosi 33%
Sanctuary cities 33%
WikiLeaks 31%
Chuck Schumer 26%
Mitch McConnell 20%
The Freedom Caucus 19%
Trump does not represent America.
"Americans disagree with President Donald Trump's immigration priorities, according to a new CNN/ORC poll, with nearly two-thirds of Americans saying they'd like to see a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants rather than deportations.
"Trump has made tough border security and strict enforcement of US immigration laws a focal point of his campaign and presidency -- using some of his first executive orders to pave the way for far more deportations and detentions as well as ordering the construction of a Southern border wall.
"But a CNN/ORC poll released Friday finds that the public is actually moving in the opposite direction since Trump has won election." -- CNN 2017-03-17
"Trump has made tough border security and strict enforcement of US immigration laws a focal point of his campaign and presidency -- using some of his first executive orders to pave the way for far more deportations and detentions as well as ordering the construction of a Southern border wall.
"But a CNN/ORC poll released Friday finds that the public is actually moving in the opposite direction since Trump has won election." -- CNN 2017-03-17
Raising a brown boy in the time of Donald J. Trump
Sikh-American civil rights advocate Valarie Kaur's plea to her country.
Least Shocking Headline of the Day:
As Rebels Move Out of Colombia Drug Trade,
Corporations Look to Move In -- NewYork Times 2017-03-10
Corporations Look to Move In -- NewYork Times 2017-03-10
"No," he explained.
"Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he's never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency." -- Carson adviser Armstrong Williams, The Hill, 11/15/16.
"Ben Carson Is Confirmed as HUD Secretary" -- New York Times, 3/2/17.
"Ben Carson Is Confirmed as HUD Secretary" -- New York Times, 3/2/17.
Priorities
"The City Council feels a need for speed when it comes to substantially shortening the runway at Santa Monica Airport." -- Today's paper.
This is the same city council that, in 30 years and counting, has not been able to deliver a commissioned stop sign to Main Street between Hill and Ashland.
And where are those promised parklets, by the way?
This is the same city council that, in 30 years and counting, has not been able to deliver a commissioned stop sign to Main Street between Hill and Ashland.
And where are those promised parklets, by the way?
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