“The Watergate scandal resulted in 69 government officials being charged and 48 being found guilty” (Wiki)
…. but unlike Watergate, where Nixon was pardoned, Trump will be indicted for crimes that occurred long before he ran for office and all those that conspired with him will not get the promised pardon for standing with him.
Ileana’s rowing away because she caved to releasing the ridiculous Nunes memo, which will completely blow up in her face when its blatant complicity in supporting the desperate republican coverup of Russia’s interference in our election is fully revealed.
I don’t think any Republican members of Congress were involved with Russian collusion (whereas Trump definitely was), but I’m starting to wonder if some of them, like Trump, are involved in money laundering……..
I will remind everyone not to get their hopes up. Democrats have lost elections that should have been no brainers for them to win. The Republicans might be able to rev up their supporters by badmouthing the opponents and fear mongering, but some of us aren’t that easily manipulated. The Dem candidates need to make a case why they’re the best for the job, not just less bad than the Republican. I want to know what that candidate is going to do to make voters’ lives better, not just make our lives worse more slowly than Republicans. This election needs to be about policies that will improve voters’ lives, not the same ol’ distractions. Your candidate doesn’t have to be pure as the driven snow to win my vote, but they have to be a whole lot better than the establishment status quo.
Also, before anyone tries to bully me into backing the status quo with the same tired out argument that I owe my vote to a Democrat who’s only slightly less terrible than the Republican, remember that I consider your argument to be part of why the Dems keep running candidates who barely lose in elections that should have been won in a land slide. YOU are part of the problem, not me.
After all the back and forth, may I present this commentary by Ezra Klein. The bottom line is that our democracy may be in danger (not for the first time), and what we do to preserve it will take more than bickering, either interpartisan bickering or intrapartisan bickering.
The parties have become more distant ideologically, racially, religiously. They look over the divide and see a coalition that doesn’t look like them or think like them, that doesn’t like them, that actively fears them — indeed, a recent Pew survey found that 49 percent of Republicans, and 55 percent of Democrats, say they are “afraid” of the other party. Keep that in mind as you read this paragraph:
“If the definition of “real Americans” is restricted to those who are native-born, English-speaking, white, and Christian, then it is easy to see how “real Americans” may view themselves as declining. As Ann Coulter chillingly put it, “The American electorate isn’t moving to the left — it’s shrinking.” The perception among many Tea Party Republicans that their America is disappearing helps us understand the appeal of such slogans as “Take Our Country Back” or “Make America Great Again.” The danger of such appeals is that casting Democrats as not real Americans is a frontal assault on mutual toleration.”
…
I’ll end this with a paragraph from Levitsky and Ziblatt that I’ve not been able to get out of my head, a paragraph that I almost wish I hadn’t read:“The simple fact of the matter is that the world has never built a multiethnic democracy in which no particular ethnic group is in the majority and where political equality, social equality and economies that empower all have been achieved.”
Perhaps we will be the first. But if we have learned nothing else from this era, it should be to take seriously the possibility that we could fail. That is the challenge of our immediate future. Nothing less is at stake than American democracy itself.
Martens, Levistky andZiblatmay be right. Our species has a number of built-in problems stemming from our evolutionary roots. We may or may not thrive. The regressives hinder our chances. The species will survive, we are too clever for ALL of us to die. But just as we discovered the keys to the kingdom (the scientific method) we slip back into magical thinking.
Orrin hatch is the longest serving Senate Republican, he will retire at the end of the year, paving the way for Mitt Romney to run for the seat.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the most senior US Representative from Florida, she was the first Cuban American and Latina elected to Congress. The inability to find top-shelf candidates to run for her seat has Republicans ready to write off the race and shift money and attention to more winnable contests.
Darrell Issa will retire from the House of Representatives offering the Democrats an opportunity to pick up another seat in California.
Trey Gowdy is not seeking re-election, most likely his retirement will not effect the balance of power to he House. Trey defended the Benghazi investigation and was one of the chief proponents of releasing the Nunes memo.
34 Republicans in all are planning on retiring. Pence is aiming to secure congressional majorities. With a virtually endless stream of dark money at hand and a vice president ready to spend the next nine months on the campaign trail rallying his troops — and using administrative power and resources to do it — the Republican party very well could blunt, or even reverse, the potential blue wave expected this midterm. And considering how much damage the GOP has managed to do with just their small majorities, the idea of Republicans gaining more seats should terrify us all.
ajmsdca over 6 years ago
Like rats leaving a sinking ship ….
Guy Fawkes over 6 years ago
Just vote this fall
And you’ll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip
That started with a tycoon jerk
Aboard this elephant’s ship
•
The mate was a mighty praying man
The skipper fat and dumb
The pachyderms set sail that day
For a 4-year tour, a 4-year tour
•
The evidence started piling up
His tiny hands were tossed
If not for the courage of Mueller’s crew
America would be lost, America would be lost
•
The ship ran aground on the shore of this
Unwanted elephant pile
With Turtle-maaan
The Tяumper too
Some billionaires, and our strife
A porno star
Old Bannon and the Ku Klux Klan
Here on history’s pile!
Masterskrain Premium Member over 6 years ago
Just keep re-arranging those deck chairs. That’ll REALLY help…
SandShark Premium Member over 6 years ago
…And there were no survivors.
superposition over 6 years ago
Is our ping-ping political system doing as good a job as the more collaborative nations are doing for their people?
Radish the wordsmith over 6 years ago
Top GOP people getting away before the dems take majority and the criminal indictments start getting handed out.
feverjr Premium Member over 6 years ago
“The Watergate scandal resulted in 69 government officials being charged and 48 being found guilty” (Wiki)
…. but unlike Watergate, where Nixon was pardoned, Trump will be indicted for crimes that occurred long before he ran for office and all those that conspired with him will not get the promised pardon for standing with him.
dogday Premium Member over 6 years ago
Honestly, people? What y’all need to be lookin’ at is not the details, it’s the insanity of it all. Really. This fun house is toxic.
Kilrwat Premium Member over 6 years ago
Ileana’s rowing away because she caved to releasing the ridiculous Nunes memo, which will completely blow up in her face when its blatant complicity in supporting the desperate republican coverup of Russia’s interference in our election is fully revealed.
Godfreydaniel over 6 years ago
I don’t think any Republican members of Congress were involved with Russian collusion (whereas Trump definitely was), but I’m starting to wonder if some of them, like Trump, are involved in money laundering……..
buckman-j over 6 years ago
Kate and Leo in 2020
Jason Allen over 6 years ago
I will remind everyone not to get their hopes up. Democrats have lost elections that should have been no brainers for them to win. The Republicans might be able to rev up their supporters by badmouthing the opponents and fear mongering, but some of us aren’t that easily manipulated. The Dem candidates need to make a case why they’re the best for the job, not just less bad than the Republican. I want to know what that candidate is going to do to make voters’ lives better, not just make our lives worse more slowly than Republicans. This election needs to be about policies that will improve voters’ lives, not the same ol’ distractions. Your candidate doesn’t have to be pure as the driven snow to win my vote, but they have to be a whole lot better than the establishment status quo.
Also, before anyone tries to bully me into backing the status quo with the same tired out argument that I owe my vote to a Democrat who’s only slightly less terrible than the Republican, remember that I consider your argument to be part of why the Dems keep running candidates who barely lose in elections that should have been won in a land slide. YOU are part of the problem, not me.
twclix over 6 years ago
Thank you Old Coal and Martens. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
wolfiiig over 6 years ago
Don’t worry! The captain is like, a stable genius.
martens over 6 years ago
After all the back and forth, may I present this commentary by Ezra Klein. The bottom line is that our democracy may be in danger (not for the first time), and what we do to preserve it will take more than bickering, either interpartisan bickering or intrapartisan bickering.
The parties have become more distant ideologically, racially, religiously. They look over the divide and see a coalition that doesn’t look like them or think like them, that doesn’t like them, that actively fears them — indeed, a recent Pew survey found that 49 percent of Republicans, and 55 percent of Democrats, say they are “afraid” of the other party. Keep that in mind as you read this paragraph:
“If the definition of “real Americans” is restricted to those who are native-born, English-speaking, white, and Christian, then it is easy to see how “real Americans” may view themselves as declining. As Ann Coulter chillingly put it, “The American electorate isn’t moving to the left — it’s shrinking.” The perception among many Tea Party Republicans that their America is disappearing helps us understand the appeal of such slogans as “Take Our Country Back” or “Make America Great Again.” The danger of such appeals is that casting Democrats as not real Americans is a frontal assault on mutual toleration.”…
I’ll end this with a paragraph from Levitsky and Ziblatt that I’ve not been able to get out of my head, a paragraph that I almost wish I hadn’t read:“The simple fact of the matter is that the world has never built a multiethnic democracy in which no particular ethnic group is in the majority and where political equality, social equality and economies that empower all have been achieved.”Perhaps we will be the first. But if we have learned nothing else from this era, it should be to take seriously the possibility that we could fail. That is the challenge of our immediate future. Nothing less is at stake than American democracy itself.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/20
twclix over 6 years ago
Martens, Levistky andZiblatmay be right. Our species has a number of built-in problems stemming from our evolutionary roots. We may or may not thrive. The regressives hinder our chances. The species will survive, we are too clever for ALL of us to die. But just as we discovered the keys to the kingdom (the scientific method) we slip back into magical thinking.
Mr. Blawt over 6 years ago
Orrin hatch is the longest serving Senate Republican, he will retire at the end of the year, paving the way for Mitt Romney to run for the seat.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the most senior US Representative from Florida, she was the first Cuban American and Latina elected to Congress. The inability to find top-shelf candidates to run for her seat has Republicans ready to write off the race and shift money and attention to more winnable contests.
Darrell Issa will retire from the House of Representatives offering the Democrats an opportunity to pick up another seat in California.
Trey Gowdy is not seeking re-election, most likely his retirement will not effect the balance of power to he House. Trey defended the Benghazi investigation and was one of the chief proponents of releasing the Nunes memo.
34 Republicans in all are planning on retiring. Pence is aiming to secure congressional majorities. With a virtually endless stream of dark money at hand and a vice president ready to spend the next nine months on the campaign trail rallying his troops — and using administrative power and resources to do it — the Republican party very well could blunt, or even reverse, the potential blue wave expected this midterm. And considering how much damage the GOP has managed to do with just their small majorities, the idea of Republicans gaining more seats should terrify us all.