Reporter Meredith Aldis of local NBC station WRCB was threatened with arrest and ejected from a town hall for asking Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q-GA) about recently-reported social media posts showing approval for the assassinations of prominent Democrats, as well as videos of the congresswoman harassing Parkland massacre survivor David Hogg following that attack.
Aldis and hew crew covered Greene’s Wednesday night town hall in Dalton, Georgia. In a Twitter thread, Aldis noted that she was told beforehand that the press would not be allowed to ask questions of Greene, or “anyone in the building.”
For the last four years good people told ourselves a necessary story.
Because we wanted to believe the best about humanity, many of us clung to a false narrative of otherwise decent people hopelessly swept up in the fervor of the moment: good human beings intoxicated in the bloody water of a feeding frenzy power-grab, eyes rolled back and unable to do anything but consume.
We wanted to believe it was a temporary condition.
We imagined that if he were gone, that once this messianic monster was removed and severed from them, that those around him would begin to come to their senses and the thick haze of their sycophantic adoration would lift and they would slowly but certainly revert to their better natures.
But now we’re realizing the most painful truth of all the lessons of these years: this is simply who they are.
During the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on 1/6/21, a man later identified as Robert Keith Packer was photographed wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” t-shirt. The front also said “Work brings freedom,” one translation of the infamous “Arbeit macht frei” slogan atop the entrance to Auschwitz and other concentration camps. The back of the shirt said “Staff.”
Packer, a resident of Newport News, VA, who apparently has a history of extremism, was arrested, but later released without criminal charges or paying any fines. He was merely ordered to stay away from D.C. unless summoned there.
Whatever they say, however they make their lips move to mouth the right ritual phrases for public consumption, we will know that in their hearts, until they day they die, Republicans from the very top of the party right down to the street where you live will always be American-hating fascists.
Right now everyone is talking about the covid vaccine, and I think that’s awesome. Cultivating a culture of enthusiasm for this life-saving vaccination is so important, but with the flame of vaccine fervor running hot, I can’t help but worry: Is this public safety excitement built to last, or destined to burn out? And specifically, by the time I get vaccinated, will it even be cool anymore?
When I figured out that the modern filibuster is first cousin to the three-fifths clause and the Electoral College, its use by the 21st century GOP and Mitch McConnell made so much sense.
Follow along; I’ll show you how I got here. And in the process, how I evolved from someone who has historically honored norms to someone who sees clearly how the contemporary Senators have debased them. Trump was the culmination, not the initiation, of the Republican Party’s rejection of history.
First, the Constitution is predicated on majority votes, not the supermajority required by a filibuster. The Articles of Confederation (remember them? they failed) required a supermajority. Each state had one vote, and 9 of 13 states were needed to pass any law of substance. Based on personal experience, the framers crafted a Constitution that has limited requirements for a supermajority. For example, a two-thirds majority is needed to override a presidential veto, to expel a member of the Senate, or to convict a federal officer of an impeachable offense.
Nor was the filibuster part of the original Senate. The framers knew it could/would be abused. It did not come to life until they had all died.
“Originally, Senate rules included a provision allowing a majority to end debate, and an early manual written by Thomas Jefferson established procedures for silencing senators who debated ‘superfluous, or tediously.’ Obstruction was considered beneath them.”
But John C. Calhoun (SC) — the man who started the Civil War — wanted a Senate where the minority could block the majority. James Madison (VA, the “father of the Constitution”) believed majority rule was the “republican principle.”
Finally, a president who will actually work from early in the morning until late in the evening and make many calls and have many meetings #InaugurationDay
Sarah Huckabee Sanders [Image from WPRI]
From The Onion:
LITTLE ROCK, AR—Announcing her official bid for governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders vowed Monday to protect the good people of Arkansas from any questions. “As governor, I promise to do everything in my power to ensure Arkansans never have to answer another heinous question again,” said Sanders, who explained she was compelled to run for office after witnessing firsthand the destructive effects of questions in Washington.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, said that the law would send a clear signal to future Presidents that “we will have zero tolerance for coup attempts if they try to do it three times.”
“After the first coup attempt, a President would receive a warning, just as you would if you made an illegal left turn or had a broken tail light,” Paul explained. “After the second coup attempt, the United States Senate will draft a resolution telling you that you’d better not try it a third time.”
SB 9 will make an already difficult situation even more difficult for pregnant people in Kentucky during a particularly painful time.
So what exactly is the Born Alive law? It is a fear-mongering and myth-making law based on the lie that abortion providers are somehow aborting newborns with regularity. (Aborting a newborn is called murder or infanticide where I’m from.)
It is utter propaganda as well as a blatant attempt for Republican legislators to control how and when physicians provide care, as Calla Hales previously wrote for Rewire News Group:
These bills are worded very intentionally, with the aim to further the false narrative that abortions regularly occur immediately before or, according to [Trump], at the time of birth. While it should be apparent, it is still necessary to point out that any intentional action to end the life of an infant is already illegal.
Kentucky’s SB 9 requires a physician performing an abortion to take all medically appropriate and reasonable steps to preserve the life and health of a “born alive” infant.
But here’s the thing: ABORTION PROVIDERS ALREADY DO THAT.
