Forgetting 2016

No, there wasn't a military parade this 4th of July.  But perhaps we Dems won't take back Congress in November, and that military parade will happen in 2019.

Meanwhile, Trump still has his rallies.  Taxpayer funded lunatic rants.  And each one is more rage fueled than the last.  Why not?  Each time he surrounds himself with his stupid and angry followers, he is guaranteed the same national attention he got before he won the presidency.

There have been mad, tyrannical leaders on the world stage in the past.  Who could forget Qaddafi's ninety minute bizarro rant at the United Nations in 2009?

The UN is a favorite stage for the lunatic leader.  Ahmadinahad's 2011 assaults on reality and the world were so offensive that there was a walkout by US and European delegations.

And now we have Trump.  Yes, after the election, the media reflected shamefully that maybe they should not have given him so much coverage.  But the ratings!  Who could take their eyes off this train-wreck in motion?  And yet, the end result was an electorate that had not heard a single Clinton speech while being fed the full blown ugliness of Trump's assaults day after day after day.

What we learned -- what I thought we had learned -- from the election coverage, was that Trump feeds on that coverage.  He may be stupid, but he knows how to play to the crowd.  And he knows that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

He is also batshit crazy.

Put that all together and we have the Trump rally.  He personally hates people.  But he adores his adoring crowds.  And surrounded by people cheering him on, there is nothing he can say that is too unhinged.  And surrounded by TV cameras, he cannot be happier.  Unless, of course, that he knew that those TV networks were going to be playing his insane attacks, name calling and lies, on a regular loop, all damn day.

They even call it "Trump's greatest hits."

Have we learned nothing???

I have been weaning myself from MSNBC and CNN.  Honestly, there isn't that much news being covered.  You can hear the headlines of Trump's daily obscenities in the first five minutes of any hour.  Yes, it is important to keep us informed about what is happening in Puerto Rico, a country neglected by Trump, still not recovered from last year's hurricanes as they anticipate the next one.  And we need to keep hearing about the horrendous abuses to immigrants and families seeking asylum, a humanitarian disaster caused by Trump and his gleeful attorney general.  Jobs being lost, prices going up, wages stagnating as Trump acts out his decades long fantasies about economic power.

We need to keep hearing about how our allies are now needing to defend themselves against our mad leader.  And what happens now that North Korea is doing what it has always done, lies as it pursues its plans to threaten and eventually dominate the Korean peninsula?  And then there is Putin, Trump's favorite dictator.  With no adults in the room to provide an honest reporting, we can be assured that Putin will be leading Trump around by his dick, I mean, promises of wealth and power (or at least a Trump hotel in Moscow).

We have some amazing investigative journalists, who have been uncovering scandal after larceny after lie after outrage.  It has been exhausting for those who worry about our democracy to keep up with the tragedies and the cons.  The last thing we need is for our news organizations to run Donald Trump's rallies on a never-ending loop.  We don't need to see them.

After one of the all-too-many mass shootings, some of the media decided that it was wrong to continue to use the shooter's name.  That kind of notoriety could only exacerbate the problem by encouraging other disturbed potential attackers.

It is not much different with putting a camera on Trump.

I was sickened yesterday when I began hearing the rants from his latest rally.  And then heard them again.  And again.  This morning I posted to @MSNBC to stop playing those vile and violent videos.  I won't watch them.  When he starts to screech and rage, call names and tell lies, I will turn off the television.

We should have insisted on more responsible reporting in 2016, but we didn't know any better.  Today we do.  I hope you will help me by telling your news outlets to stop promoting the goals of this disturbed and powerful dictator.  Tell them to stay on message, keep us informed, and treat the rallies and tweets as the fake news that they are.

Dems in Alabama

Yes, there are crazy people in Alabama.  But I have lived in Charleston for nearly eighteen years now and I can tell you I am tired of the South getting short shrift politically.  Democrats -- and yes, liberal Democrats -- here in Charleston are passionate about individual rights, about education, about the environment.  Who knew?

Of course, you say, that is Charleston, the little blue dot in the red state.  But a few short months ago, when national Democrats dismissed the special election in SC's fifth, with little but local effort, the Democrat Archie Parnell lost by a mere four points.  Imagine if the world outside SC gave us credit for being civilized Americans instead of right-wing cretins.

There is a special election happening in December in Alabama.  And from what I have seen so far, it has been deja vu all over again.  The media just can't take their eyes, or their cameras, off Roy Moore.  Moore being the Donald Trump of Alabama, stupid and full of rage.  Unlike Trump, he made his name from religious hypocrisy and he isn't a robber baron, but they share a proud heritage of anger and ignorance.  And he has the loud mouth and the capacity to spew bile with which Donald Trump kept the media hypnotized until November 9, when reality came home to roost.  After which there were months of mea culpas and vows, with some honest attempts, to report the news in a more responsible manner.

If the past week has been any indication of how that is going, Alabama, you are on your own.  To be fair, it is hard to take your eyes away from a shitstorm.  I've seen the image of Trump's mini-me pulling a tiny gun out and waving it around far too many times this week.  And in my mind, composing this blog, I found it hard not to keep wanting to rant about what is awful about Moore, and which has already been reported ad nauseum.

So let us talk about the Democratic candidate.  Didn't know there was one?  That is not a surprise.  The assumption has been that this race ended on primary night -- even Colbert said Moore is pretty much the next senator from Alabama.  I beg to differ.

The Democratic candidate for US Senate is Doug Jones.  He is not a politician, but has an incredible resume.  In 2001, as a US attorney, Jones successfully prosecuted Thomas Edwin Blanton, Jr., for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham which resulted in the deaths of four girls.  He has also been a defense attorney.  Jones has seen injustice and worked to fight it all his professional life.

He grew up in a blue collar, union household, in Alabama.  He knows about fighting for fair wages and good working conditions.  He understands that education is the key to raising the standard of living.  He knows coal jobs aren't coming back, but is determined to provide a safety net and job training to those who lose those jobs.  And he knows there are better jobs to come with rebuilding outdated infrastructure and improving our environment.

He believes that women have the right to make their own reproductive choices without government intervention.  He doesn't waffle when he says that.  He knows that women in Alabama need someone who will fight for their right to contraception and abortion more than those in states that haven't had knuckle draggers like Jeff Sessions and Roy Moore pretending that religion gives them the right to control women's lives.

Doug Jones' website does a comprehensive job of describing a strong and moral position on individual rights, civil rights, criminal justice reform, environment, healthcare and more.  

Whenever I have been exposed to yet another breathlessly obsessive tirade about Roy Moore, I have gone on Twitter and told @CNN and @MSNBC to get their eyes off the car wreck and spend time talking to Doug Jones and Alabama Democrats about the real issues of the campaign.  I was happy to see that Chuck Todd had actually interviewed Jones and asked him about just that.



And here are some numbers:

In the republican primary, there were 480,882 votes cast.  In the state of Alabama, there are 3,330,802 registered voters.  That leaves 2,849,920 who did not vote in the primary.  It seems to me that easily a majority of those voters would like to see better wages and working conditions, an end to racial injustice, better healthcare, a safer and cleaner environment, and an end to the republican attacks on individual rights.

Jones points out that Lilly Ledbetter fought her fight for equal pay in Gadsden, Alabama.  It is personal in Alabama, y'all.  So don't let the wild eyed media ignore the Democrat in this race.

And let's not let the national Democratic Party wimp out either.  Apparently, Joe Biden is planning on stumping for Jones, but some are squeamish about him maybe making waves, that some of those folks in Alabama might get upset if them northern Democrats get involved in their politics.

Nonsense.

And Keith Ellison has a real dog in this race, too.  Jones' opponent, in his rants against anyone who isn't a white 'murican has said that Ellison should be banned from Congress by virtue of his being Muslim.  Ellison needs to get down to Alabama and fight for Doug, for all those who aren't of the white supremacist persuasion.

Fun fact:  when interviewed on September 1, Moore couldn't answer the question about DACA -- or Dreamers --because he had no idea what they were.  Of course, after he did his homework he jumped on the anti-immigration bus.  Who says the man can't learn?

Enough about that jackass, and back to the real story.

We need to spread the word.  Doug Jones is a great candidate.  He doesn't just know the constitution, he has worked his life to defend the rights granted under it.  He has worked to prosecute those who have committed crimes against the innocent, and to protect us from a criminal justice system run amok.

Don't let the media or the Democratic Party dismiss this race.  This is a critical fight, and it can be won.  Right now, even with all the cameras on the infamous criminal Roy Moore, Doug Jones is a mere six points behind.  Give him the microphone so he can tell the people of Alabama what he stands for, and what he plans on doing to make their lives better.

I believe in you, Alabama.

With Friends Like These...

It has been tough enough fighting the forces of evil lately.  But just in the past couple of days we have been hit upside the head by our own Democratic Party.  Multiple times.  Let me just regale you with three items in the news.  Hang on to your hats, friends.

Shock #1

My hero, John Lewis, just last year led a sit-in in the House of Representatives, to protest the refusal of republican leadership to allow a vote on gun control legislation.

You may recall that, during the Memorial after the horrific shooting in Charleston, a call for gun control received a standing ovation -- except for Tim Scott and Nikki Haley, notably sitting front and center.  Scott receives the complete support of the NRA, with an "A" rating.

I haven't lived in South Carolina long (in southern time:  only 18 years).  But Tim Scott and I go back to when I was working at my beloved Charleston County Public Library and he was on County Council.  In the economic destruction of the Bush years, here in Charleston, Tim Scott voted to drastically cut funding for our award-winning library.  The library that teachers in a perennially exhausted school system used to provide the best books to their students, the library that provided an amazing collection to those of us who would never have had that kind of access to literature and science -- Tim Scott voted to slash the budget.

And last week, Tim Scott sat smiling broadly next to Donald Trump as he bloviated about how he was going to get the Senate to pass the health care bill.  And then Scott voted to do Trump's bidding and take health care away from millions of Americans.

That Tim Scott, that is the person who John Lewis has just awarded the John Lewis--Amo Houghton Leadership Award for Faith and Leadership.  Okay, I understand that this is an award given by a group that is committed to non-partisanship.  And I know it is hard these days to find a republican that hasn't compromised himself to hell to follow the leaders of his party.  But Tim Scott???  Yes, he will go on about his faith at the drop of a hat.  But there isn't a damn way you can call him a leader.

Shock #2

And then yesterday I learned that the DCCC had formalized its desperate need to seek the support of the Trump voter by stating that they would support candidates who were anti-abortion.

I imagine that wimpy Tom Perez is hiding behind Bernie Sanders on that one.  Bernie, you may recall, failed us big time when he threw his support behind anti-abortion mayoral candidate Heath Mello in April.  Let me clarify my take on this.  Bernie Sanders had the clout to offer to support Mello if he changed his position on reproductive rights.  Mello didn't have to say he "believed" in abortion; it would have been enough to say that he supported a woman's right to make her own choice.  But he did not.  Despite appeals from women and women's groups, Bernie stood firm in throwing women under the bus to support an otherwise progressive candidate.

So, with Bernie's transgression as inspiration, the Democrats went on a highly suspect Democratic "listening tour." Suspect because it doesn't appear the Democrats are listening to anybody but their own fearful conservative leaders.  Hillary may have won the popular vote by three million, obscenely gerrymandered voting districts and horrendous voter suppression laws may have resulted in Dems winning the vote and losing Congress, but to our Democratic leaders, what we need to do is compromise our values in order to win.  The Democratic Party is like an abused spouse, promising ever more vehemently to behave each time they are struck.

Compare and contrast this to the republican party, which has maintained their leadership by promising to derail the programs that best serve their constituents.  The difference?  They really, really believe in what they stand for.  Tom Perez and the DCCC, not so much.  It has been nice to see the recent squabbles among republicans when faced with the psychotic behavior of the head of their party, but don't forget, only three republicans voted against the despicable Senate health care bill.

And with Democrats supporting anti-choice candidates, who will they compromise next?  Look around folks, because all of us have our vulnerabilities.  LGBTQ, affirmative action, gun control, unions....  basically, all the groups that the Democratic Party is supposed to protect and represent.  The sad thing about this, other than leaving us all hanging out to dry, is that it won't work.  Bigotry-lite will never have the appeal of outright right-wing bigotry.  And the thing about the Democratic Party is that they are just aware enough of what they are doing to be embarrassed by it.  They will never stand strong no matter what they say they stand for, and then they will still be attacked for being Harvard/Goldman Sachs elites.  And when that happens, they will blush and deny it.

With the "listening tour" party sorely in need of a hearing aid, I have taken to firing back at fund-raising emails, saying that there is no way on this still-green earth that I will throw money down that toilet.  I do try to say it in a more civilized manner.  The other thing I do, and I encourage y'all to do both, is tweet @WhicheverDemIsBeingAWuss to let them know you won't support them unless they shape up.  And then send your money and your support to all those great candidates who stand up for all of us.  The DCCC may have forgotten what the Women's March and Indivisible are all about, but we remember, and we will continue to stand together.

Shock #3

And speaking of standing together, I glanced at Twitter today and saw one from Bakari Sellers that wasn't really shocking as much as saddening.  So I replied.

Here in Bakari's state of South Carolina, the Democratic Party just passed over a highly qualified, politically active and successful woman (white) to go out of state to choose a white man to lead the party, which was at the time being led by a black man.

But you don't have to be a white woman to be passed over by Democrats.  In 2014, Joyce Dickerson ran in a primary for US Senator against newly appointed Tim Scott.  She was told by our own Jim Clyburn that she should step aside and let the two men fight out the primary.  Well, with her powerful voice and message, she won the primary, but you wouldn't know it by the help and support she got from her party.

And just this year our state party put their thumb on the scale of the special election for US House seat for District 5.  They unabashedly backed a rich white guy over a young black woman.  And they had help from a bunch of big-name out-of-state Democrats.  Wasn't a day I could check my email or visit Facebook without seeing that white guy's face or a fund-raising email from Robby Mook or Daniel Barash -- again, before the primary.  And yet, that woman who ran without national or state support had a strong message and strong community support; in a three-way race, she got some 22 percent of the vote.

So let's not inject a white woman bias into this debate, okay? 

Here is the thing.  The republicans have been able to pit us against each other for decades.  We have all been victimized by an unfettered capitalist system run by rich white men.  Republicans in the positions of greatest power don't really give a damn about abortion or even the threat of terrorism -- you only have to look at how blase they have been at Trump regime's national security transgressions to know saving the nation is not what they are all about.  What they care about is power, maintaining and growing that power.  And they do that by making people scared and angry -- at each other.

And boy-o, Dems are an easy target.  We are still fighting over Bernie versus Hillary.  And when we argue over who has been the most victimized, they score an easy win.

So, let me say again, let's not do that.  And let's tell the Democratic Party that they had better stick by ALL of us.  And let's keep supporting our great progressive candidates.  We have proven that we don't need the Democratic Party if we have the community.  And with our social network, our community is the entire country.  And these days, much of the world is behind us.

Women marched together, not for one cause or another, but for all of us who are suffering from the callousness and greed of the wealthy and powerful.  And men marched too.  You could march with us even if you were anti-abortion -- you just couldn't march for that with us, because that would have gone against the whole reason for the march.  This is about all the individual rights and freedoms that are being systematically taken away.  Jefferson Sessions might don his white hood and come after Muslims today, but tomorrow he will find time to go after sick people who use marijuana to ease the pain, and the day after that he will get to interment camps for Mexicans, and then young women using birth control, and yes, Bakari, affirmative action.

The Democratic Party needs to be reminded what they say they stand for:  individual rights and freedom for all.  We don't need a party to get behind a great candidate, but we can get their attention and refocus them on who they claim to be.

The Unstoppable Elizabeth Warren

As despised as the Affordable Care Act has been is the Consumer Financial Protection Agency .  And as despised as Obama for getting away with the ACA, Senator Elizabeth Warren is despised by Congressional republicans for taking on the powerful banks.  And when it comes to dastardly villains, hell bent on power and revenge, there is none like Mitch McConnell.  Oh, sure, he may duck into his shell whenever a controversy arises,

but when the coast is clear and he is surrounded by his own kind, he is a true leader.

Let us remember that it was Mitch who first stated his primary purpose after President Obama's 2008 election was to make him a one-term president.  He may have a weak chin, but he has balls that even Donald Trump must admire.  Under McConnell, republican senators have stood firmly on the right to oppose Obama's every act as president -- even when he was making a proposal that had been strongly endorsed, even suggested, by republicans.

Perhaps the most absurd act of obstruction by McConnell was last year's refusal to hear testimony on the nomination of Merrick Garland for Supreme Court Justice.  It was not only unprecedented and undemocratic, the rationale given for this militant act against the president's authority was ridiculous.  As everyone from pundits to legal experts to late night talk show hosts pointed out.

His outrageous gambit appears to have won.  We may soon have a supreme court justice that moves to the right of right-wingnut Antonin Scalia.

And now he has his sights on Elizabeth Warren.

It is easy to understand why he wants Warren neutralized.  She was the voice that led to the creation -- her creation -- of the Consumers Financial Protection Agency.  Following the Wall Street fiasco that led to the Great Recession, right wingers couldn't figure out fast enough how to stop the call for regulation and monitoring of Wall Street.  And Warren is smart and persistent.  She can't be outargued, and she won't be manipulated.  She thrives on challenges and attacks; she knows she has facts and the moral high ground on her side.

She also has the American people on her side.

And, as they used to say at Ronco,

When it was learned last year that Wells Fargo executives had pressured employees to set up millions of fake accounts in customers' names, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau pursued the complaints and fined Wells Fargo $185 million dollars.  During the Senate hearing, Elizabeth Warren told Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, 

"This is about accountability.  You should resign.  You should give back the money that you took while this scam was going on, and you should be criminally investigated."

The plot thickens, because Donald Trump in his effort to keep his swamp full to capacity, nominated Elaine Chao to be transportation secretary.  Elaine Chao, since 2011, has sat at the board of Wells Fargo.  And... wait for it... Elaine Chao is Mitch McConnell's wife.

So I guess we could say there is history here between Warren and McConnell.  Or we could say, follow the money and the special interests.

McConnell had a rare opportunity to really stick his foot in it two days ago, when Warren was on the floor speaking against the nomination of Jeff Sessions to be attorney general.  She was reading a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King to the Senate opposing Sessions' appointment to a federal judgeship.  Thinking this was the moment he had been waiting for, he had Warren stopped and told to sit down.  There was then a vote as to whether to rebuke Warren for "impugning" Sessions' character, which of course fell on party lines.

If you haven't already been immersed in this story, your head may be spinning, you may be saying "Wh-What???"  But it is true.  There is a rule -- Rule XIX -- that was created in 1902, back when Mitch McConnell was just a boy.  It came about because a couple of South Carolina senators engaged in fisticuffs on the floor of the Senate.  And -- this could only happen in Congress -- the rule does not just ban fights on the Senate floor, but any disparagement of a sitting Senator.  This odd and arcane rule has not been used in some forty years, and apparently did not apply when Ted Cruz accused Mitch McConnell of lying. So Warren's crime was that she read a letter stating that Jeff Sessions -- a racist -- is a racist.  And maybe that she is a woman.  A powerful woman.

(In a wonderful act of unity and defiance, a number of Democratic Senators, all male, took their turn to read the same letter for which Warren had been censured.)

More important, Mitch McConnell has once again put Warren front and center of the fight for honest government.  And she relishes that fight.  We can all scoff at the rule that allows unsavory senators like Jeff Sessions to hide the truth.  And we will.  We are fighting on the internet.  "Nevertheless, she persisted" has become yet another battle cry against the tyranny of Trump's right-wing.

And you can catch Elizabeth Warren on talk shows and on the internet spreading the good word.  Fighting for us all.

Thanks for the inspiration, Elizabeth.