As a Butler County, PA resident, I wanted to emphasize the complete joy and energy that Brandon Dukes' victory last week has brought to the Democrats. This is the county where the felon's ear was 'shot'. It is a very red county and hopefully, Brandon will win in November, too!
There is a challenger to our POS US Rep Mike Kelly's seat, too. Kelly has held the seat for 15 years now, and it's time for a generational change. Justin Wagner for Congress!
Kelly and his wife have been implicated for insider trading and padding his expense account. You'd not know that if you read the Post Gazette, Butler Eagle, New Castle News, Sharon Herald, etc.
Very well aware. I do think it's been mentioned in the local paper when the story broke but Mikey was popular in the city of Butler. Football player in HS/College, married into a millionaire family, etc. But, Butler is a DEEP RED county and crimes like that-who cares? I have encountered him a few times in the wild, he is always smiling at passersby and I just GLARE.
The problem is that Democrats have been GOP-lite handmaidens ever since corporate Dems took over the party during the so-called "Reagan Revolution." The reason the party's fortunes are reversing now is because progressives are finally taking the lead again. And that is because the status quo parties have screwed things up so horribly.
I sometimes wonder whether FDR could gain any support from the Democratic Party establishment if he somehow managed to return from the dead and started to campaign using his same New Deal platform.
El-Sayed is not some special white knight on a charger riding to our rescue. If he gets elected — and that's a big "if" — it will be interesting to see where his voting record falls. It's very unlikely to be more progressive than Liz Warren's or Ed Markey's (pretty much impossible given how progressive they are).
I think Democrats need to stop attacking Democrats who are in office. Many of the criticisms are overblown, reflect a black-and-white view of the world, and seek perfection which is the enemy of the good. And many are just not true of most Democratic politicians. It's the classic circular firing squad employed by ideologues. And it could decrease voting for Democratic candidates, especially among young people who often are very idealistic but not all that knowledgeable.
Exactly. And we need to stop the pile-on on Hakeem Jeffries who has done an incredible job of keeping his caucus focused on derailing most of Trump's agenda, completely flummoxing Liddle Mikey Johnson whose response is to recess the House because he has no idea what to do.
That's an exaggeration. What he is saying is that he isn't going to bulldog something that will never pass when the alternative is nothing. Does no one remember the fight around the Affordable Care Act, and how much not only the GOP blocked but also the odious Joe Lie-berman who singlehandedly killed the public option. Jeffries has always supported expanding access to health care to everyone at a price that won't bankrupt them. There are many many ways to do that as other countries have demonstrated with numerous different plans (many don't have anything resembling "Medicare for All" but still manage to provide universal access without bankrupting people.).
Including people of color this time -- which shouldn't be hard because the white Southern Democrats, who were part of the New Deal coalition, exited stage right more than five decades ago and have been replaced by better-qualified and more energetic Democrats of color and other supporters of economic/gender/racial justice.
Yeah, well- I recently heard a political commentator refer to the Republicans as “the party of Jefferson Davis- not Lincoln” and it completely resonated. Because that’s what they are now
The GOP has not been the party of Lincoln since after the Civil Rights Law was passed and Johnson said NO to allowing segregation to continue in the South. That it was the rich white Southern racist men moved to the GOP and those in the GOP who had agreed with Civil Rights legislation eventually made it to the Dem party. Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney et al still try to claim that it's still the party of Lincoln - it is NOT.
A case could be made that it hasn’t been “the party of Lincoln” since the Hayes-Tilden compromise of 1876, but in some parts of the country, like my native New England, Republicans were respectable until Reagan came along: they were generally the party of small-town and rural “old Yankees” as opposed to the urban immigrants and descendants of immigrants, who were often union members.
It was not noticeable until Reagan became president, but the move out of the Democratic party occurred after Johnson refused to allow segregation in the south. Reagan was a racist. He blamed the poor (POC in cities) for being poor and needy. He made the cowboy claim about pulling up oneself by one's bootstraps popular even though it wasn't actually physically impossible. It erased the possibility that ANYONE could be that poor without being at fault. I am unclear about your immigrant and union member comment. Unions did not start because of immigrants. Eisenhower approved of workers' rights and unions. He was the last good GOP president.
"Corporate" Dems is just used as a random slur, meaning nothing. In fact, many people who talk about "corporate" Dems and "progressives" don't know who they are. There are very few "corporate" Democrats in Congress now and it's not like a new groups of "progressives" is taking the lead. They are in Congress right now. It's helpful to identify and support them.
No, it's an actual thing. Reagan Democrats -- GOP-lite corporatists who crossed party lines in the 80s -- helped bring about the so-called "war" on (some) drugs, helped weaken the social safety net, brought about privatized prisons, were all on board for Bush the Dumbers illegal war in Iraq and supported the unPATRIOTic Act. They are the reason the party has languished for the last 50 years. They ALL need to go back to the GOP from whence they came. Third-Way politics is Vichy capitulation. Period.
If you look at what the Bill Clinton “triangulation” got us at the end of the day- it’s a mixed bag.
Glass Steagall was repealed, electric utilities were deregulated, welfare “reform” enacted- all of which in the long run have proved disastrous. The pain we are feeling in our electric bills today can be tied to the electric utility deregulation. Clinton’s welfare “reform” accepted Republican framing of welfare recipients being “lazy” and drove vulnerable families into poverty. The repeal of Glass Steagall contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.
Yeah- I’m glad we didn’t have a 2nd GHW Bush term or a President Bob Dole, but the “let’s buy into the Robert Bork/Chicago School of Economics/Neo Liberal Economics and be Republican Lite” strategy of the Clinton era did a lot of damage and fed the notion that there isn’t much difference between the two parties.
Strikes me that the “Democratic Left” asserting themselves now and taking on the party establishment are a return of New Deal/Great Society Democrats. And they are gaining traction because 40+ years of Republican economic policies has eviscerated the middle class and created predatory Oligarchs that now pose a direct threat to democracy.
You could add Clinton’s massive expansion of the prison industrial complex, the drastic increase in income inequality under his watch, his signing of the Trump-worthy Defense of Marriage Act, his GOP worthy demonizing of Sister Soulja..throw in his very recent endorsement of fellow misogynist Andrew Cuomo over the Democratic mayoral candidate clearly chosen by NYC Dem voter, and his many interactions with Jeffrey Epstein - Clinton should go retire on an island with James Carville.
Again, there are no "Third Way" members in power. They're shouting in the wind hoping to recoup the influence they had decades ago. But it's telling that when they promote their support from Democrats, the only name they cite is Bill Clinton who left office in 2001.
I agree with everything you guys are saying, but in Clinton’s defense, we were coming off 10 years of Republican rule and he had a hostile Congress he was trying to work with. Hillary was tasked with health care reform and was immediately stonewalled. Clinton was from a town called Hope, and he gave us that, for a while. To Clinton’s credit, correct me if I’m wrong, he’s the only president to balance the budget and leave a surplus when he left office.
YES - ONLY dems have reduced the deficit since Reagan. The GOP explodes the deficit with its corruption and gifts to the rich. Clinton reduced the deficit to almost nothing. Obama cleaned up after GW Bush's housing and loan debacle which is still impacting us today, improved the economy, gave us the best HC program he could and reduced the deficit from what it was when he started. Biden in just 4 yrs and after fixing the Covid and other financial messes left by T, improved the economy, gave us the best jobs report in decades, reduced inflation AND cut the deficit. Did the news media tell you any of this? NO. Why? Reagan ended the Fairness Doc.
Thank you. Excellent points, so soon forgotten. So tired of people saying Democrats don’t stand for anything. Look at the record. We stand for Good Government, that cares about ALL our nations people.
Yes- I know I focused on the Clinton policies I view as long-run disasters, but there were positives (hence why I described the Clinton years as a mixed bag). Clinton raised taxes, reduced the deficit and debt, all while the economy prospered. He put the lie to the notion that taxes kill economic growth. You can’t push for Universal healthcare, childcare assistance, and better safety nets for the poor if your budget is in the red. Clinton showed you can raise revenues strategically and have a booming economy
FALSE. That "corporate Dems" label came from a news media/journalists who claimed "both sides" were the same. Why would the news journalists who had been using facts and evidence in their reporting for years spread misinformation? BECAUSE REAGAN CUT THE FAIRNESS DOC. Increasingly news journalists and those in charge of news media slipped into GOP pockets. Like social media, most of what they reported was based on opinions & beliefs within persuasive rather than analytical articles. It wasn't immediately noticeable because Reagan's FCC then allowed Fox News to have a news station. What the rest of news media reported seemed tame compared to the lies, racism and misinformation coming from Fox.
They told you that the GOP was better for the economy - they were ONLY good for the wealthy owners of corporations. Reagan instituted the GOP economic policies that have enriched the rich and hurt the rest of us. These include tax cuts for the rich, "trickle down", cutting or ignoring industry regulations which allowed the rich owners to become richer as well as to create near monopolies, assisting corporate owners in crushing unions and workers' rights, tax loopholes that only aided the rich, allowing stocks NOT to be considered as income or profit - even when the richest used them to buy another company.
At the other end of the spectrum, Reagan who was a racist and fan of Heritage Society ideas (see P2025) started the GOP tradition of blaming people and claiming they were lazy if they were poor. They claimed there was rampant fraud. So they built a web of restrictions to make it harder or impossible for needy people to get benefits. In truth, the people who have committed the worst fraud are the rich corporate owners or CEO's of insurance companies and public programs for Medicare, Medicaid et al. In fact, Rick Scott of FL was the founder and CEO of a company in 1987. He quietly resigned as an investigation was beginning. The company was eventually charged $1.6B for the fraud. That is JUST 1 example or who is responsible for FRAUD in this nation. Gee, funny that the newspapers have not made THAT a big deal.
POC, the poor, LGBTQ+ and immigrants have been blamed for multiple issues so that the GOP could hide behind their corruption behind that rhetoric. That citizens and reporters in this nation could not be bothered to "hear" or write about the signs of fascist Germany has been horrifying. When Reagan cut the Fairness Doc he was following Hitler. WHAT?? Hitler had realized that his mistake when he first tried to get control of Germany was that he had not controlled the German newspapers. In 1933, on his second attempt to take power, Hitler started by getting control of the German newspapers. He then proceeded to use the newspapers to spread his hate and lies about Jews and Romanis. Germans CHOSE hate and to believe Hitler or chose to ignore him and pretend that nothing bad was happening. A few were heroes and chose to save the people being targeted. We have been fed lies and misinformation from the GOP and almost all journalists since Reagan. When T was running a 2nd time, some journalists including Ms Rubin walked away. Racism, misogyny, ignorance and self-absorption gave T the presidency when voters chose to vote for T, not vote, or chose to vote for a 3rd party candidate who could not win. As a citizen, each of us has a responsibility to protect our democracy - EVEN if we do not like either candidate. NOT doing so gave us the b-----d in the WH as well as all of his GOP cronies in Congress.
I am sure you are exactly right about the backlash against Trump and MAGA but months to go before the elections and tons of big money going towards MAGA candidates. Please don't let Democrats, Independents, and truly conservative Republicans take their feet off the petal for a moment. Pro-democracy should and must beat autocracy in the USA.
We need to push through the incessant BS and keep our focus of the issues at hand. Affordability has to be forefront, as well as, the destruction of our democracy by this current authoritarian regime.
I hope also that people on our side will look harder at the actual actions and voting records of our officeholder, and be less swept away by attractive young faces saying things we fall in love with. Elderly, unexciting Ed Markey is the second most progressive person in the Senate — and has a lengthy record of pushing hard for progressive policies. His cohort, Liz Warren, the #1 most progressive senator, was the driving force behind virtually the only good thing this Congress has passed, the housing bill.
Schumer and Jeffries and the other GOP-lite leadership need to go. They consistently bring sternly-worded letters to an insurrection. It IS the reason we're heading for the cliff right this very moment.
Not understanding the role of "sternly worded letters" and mocking them is to misunderstand what leadership does. No, it's NOT the reason we're "headed for the cliff" — it's the reason most of Trump's agenda has been blocked despite Republicans controlling ALL branches of government. Very little he promised has actually gotten through, thanks to Democrats holding the line.
I had just written to Senator Tim Scott about his remarks attempting to blame Biden for Trump's economic failures only to be cut off by Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. I also rejected his support of Darline Graham for senator. I could have given a better answer than the one she gave about Taiwan. It's a long shot, but I am so hoping Annie Andrews can win this election. There are many of us in S.C. who care about things that really matter - trans girls in sports is not one of them!
Does anyone even know a trans girl playing sports? Anyone? Ever? Anywhere? I’ve asked so many people this question and no one can give me a concrete answer. Not one! Just a phantom fear simpleton MAGAs, like Darline Graham, use to scare voters.
MAGAts care deeply about the 200 trans-females playing sports nation-wide, but nothing for the millions of children going hungry due to cuts to SNAP benefits, and nothing for the women dying due to lack of reproductive health care. As another poster said (I’m paraphrasing), their HATE is more dear to them than anything else.
At a local rock club here in NE Ohio, I met a young woman named Ember Zelch who testified several times before the Ohio legislature and became sort of the face of trans girls in sports in this state. She played softball in a wealthy Cleveland suburb. She testified that she was a pretty weak player who mostly sat on the bench, and her team wasn't very good — not taking any championships away from anyone. She said that they played for fun and friendship. (She has since left Ohio to go to school in a less transphobic state). She is smaller than me and I am a petite CIS woman. I'd guess she's about 5'6' and weighs around 120-130 pounds.
I think our legislature spent a week (more?) debating trans girls in sports, while they were defunding our public schools and giving private school vouchers to wealthy families, giving a multi-billionaire team owner $600 million of our tax dollars for a new stadium to replace a 25-year-old one, and continuing to turn a blind eye to the First Energy scandal which has raised all our electric rates.
Well, that's the thing. It's a deliberate distraction from more important issues.
By way of an aside, I wouldn't call 5 foot 6 inches petite for a woman (though it's petite for a man). Public health researcher here. The average height of women in the USA is 5 foot 4 inches. My mother was truly petite -- wore petite sizes and was never taller than 5 foot 1. She would ask her daughters to fetch things down from kitchen cupboards because she couldn't reach that high.
It's probably average-ish for a young female athlete. Definitely being as slender as this girl is below average size. And women's basketball teams are hella tall. Unfair!!!!!
Agreed, Patricia, and that is what I meant when I said it's good to ensure Trans people have fundamental civil rights. BUT, not everyone can compete at highest level in sports, nor should they be guaranteed that as a right. I think Dems need to acknowledge that this issue is not simple and not shout down people who express concerns. I think Americans as a whole will feel less threatened and less polarized if Dems can just acknowledge there are issues that need to be worked out. Raising concerns doesn't have to mean someone is trans-phobic. Even some of the trans people themselves have questioned whether participation in women's sports for trans women is necessarily a right at all levels. It has come out in focus groups, for example.
Among Olympic finalists in swimming, the average height is 5 ft 9. However, Lia Thomas was not an Olympic finalist. She was competing at the high school level when she transitioned. But it's far more than that. Here's an article that explains some of it:
You see that having very little body fat -- as a person who has gone through male puberty does -- is an advantage in swim speed competitions, which is what you see at swim meets and the Olympics.
As for women athletes in general, it depends on the sport. For example, in women's gymnastics you seldom see a top contender who is much above 5 feet tall. I've yet to see a trans woman compete in women's gymnastics. All that I know of have competed in speed events such as running, track and field in general, swimming, and cycling.
I've been interested in the subject since I was a teenager -- after reading Ashleigh Montague's book, _The Natural Superiority of Women_. Ashleigh wasn't talking about trans people back then, but he talked a lot about what the known advantages and disadvantages of the female body were in athletic competition.
South Carolina banned transgender students from playing girls or women's sports in 2022. The US Supreme Court upheld such bans in West Virginia and Idaho so the SC law can stand. It is literally a fabricated issue for Darline Graham.
yeah, but let's remember the trans on the Uof P's WOMENS swim team...she won everything why ? taller longer arms...I wish trans folks every good thing in life , just not fair to play on womens teams. come on, let's all look for that common sense a lot of us have lost.
So all of this hysteria is about one swimmer at a college having an unfair advantage? Something easily fixed by some sort of common sense regulation? Yet MAGAs fixate on that issue and not the lies told to get this nation into a forever war of aggression in the Middle East? They look the other way from massive corruption and fraud by a convicted criminal in the WH? They support the cover up of a famous pedophilia ring, “but, but, but once upon a time there was a trans person who won a sporting match.” Is this the very definition of a false equivalence, or is this just ludicrous gaslighting?
But it IS an important fact. It again points to the truth that we have 200 trans playing in womens' sports. Certainly any trans women who want to play should be fully transitioned or on proper hormones to do so.
Actually the hysteria about Lia Thomas was deliberately overblown by the right. And when people start going on about the unfair advantage trans women have and the opportunities they take away from cis women, I ask them to name one or two cases not named Lia Thomas. They can't. And the story around Lia Thomas is based on lies.
I'm on your side, Patricia. You should be able to voice your concerns here without being shouted down. Fact is, I agree with you. Yes, on one hand, Republicans have used the trans thing as a weapon against Democrats. They use it to distract the public from much more serious issues. NO QUESTION about that.
But at the same time, there are some very real problems that haven't been worked out when it comes to trans civil rights. Almost everyone agrees that someone who identifies as trans should be able to get a job and do other basic things necessary for a decent life without having to face discrimination. The problem is in the areas that *aren't* quite so basic. You are right. Lia Thomas is *6 foot 1*, and in swimming being tall is known to be a huge advantage -- mostly because of the much longer arms. (It's an advantage in speed events, which is what you see at most competitions, though it's not an advantage in marathon events such as swimming the English Channel.) Lia went through male puberty. Taking estrogen (suppressing testosterone) does not eliminate the advantages of male puberty. It does not shorten her height or her arms, for example, though it did reduce her muscle mass. She was already a competitive swimmer before she transitioned (in top several hundred male swimmers) -- but once she began competing in women's events she began ranking in the top ten of women's swimmers. That's a huge shift upward in the ranks, and there's an obvious explanation.
So, yes, there is legitimate reason for concern -- particularly when a few men or women are competing for events that will lead to the Olympics or other world class competitions. But at the junior high or high school level it's not so clear. Most students aren't particularly athletic, period. I wasn't. It wouldn't have mattered to me if there was a trans kid who was doing better than I was in track and field because I was never going to be a track star anyway. I don't think I would have had to worry about being milled down in soccer by a trans athlete because I wasn't competing hard in the gym period anyway. But it's something parents and communities need to discuss and work out for themselves.
Another thing that bothers me is the way the media makes all trans people sound alike. They aren't. There are trans people who are AGAINST trans women competing in women's sports. There are trans people who simply wish politics would get out of it -- even if it meant just going back to the status quo -- because things got much harder for them in general when all this politicizing began. There are trans people who don't use hormones or surgery to transition -- and never will. Yes, really, but you wouldn't know it to see what the media prints.
So, I kind of liked what Abdul El-Sayed said (now, Anastasia, please don't get upset with me. :- )) When interviewed about trans issues. Abdul said it should all be worked out by the sports bodies and individual communities. Taking it to the federal level -- or trying to -- is a mistake. It serves politics and not much else.
It's as with gay people. When given time, seeing gay people come out and appear in movies and TV and public office, the public as a whole became increasingly accepting of gay people -- and most supported gay marriage by the Obama Administration. But this recent politicization has hurt not only trans people but now also gay people -- and Americans are more polarized and less accepting than before.
I looked up women's olympic swimmers and they range from about 5'6" to over 6 feet tall with one topping out at 6'9". You just can't eliminate by body type. Most sports — especially high school and college sports —with trans athletes have requirements about what kind of transitioning they've been doin and for how long.
I agree that regulations about trans athletes' participation is a local issue for exactly that reason: that they can best judge if a trans woman is far enough into her transition to fairly compete with women. This isn't something that requires government (either state or federal) regulation. It doesn't meddle in other sports.
I replied to this elsewhere --- with details about women in different sports events. It depends very much on the level (Olympic or lower) and on the specific sport. But I do agree with you that this should usually be a local thing -- and people need to meet and work out their concerns to see what really is true and what is not.
No, she didn't. That's a lie that the odious Riley Gaines has become rich traveling the country and telling everyone. In fact, that trans woman — Lia Thomas — tied for fifth place with Gaines. Longer arms? Should there be a length limit? What about basketball? It's unfair to me that they allow 6'9" players when I'm 5'3" and I was pretty good at throwing baskets when I went to a gym. Not fair!!!!
We had the guy in charge of the NCAA (I think. Definitely in charge college athletics programs' in some way) testify at one of the GQP congressional show hearings that out of some 150,000 college athlete's, there were only 7 trans people participating in ANY organized college sport.
So the odds of any of us being personally aware of or involved in a situation with one is very, very low. Just adding to the thesis that this is a non-issue for just about every American. Especially our elected officials!
Thank you, Ginger. As a former SC voter, I commend you going after weak-willed Tim. I almost wish I still lived there so I could campaign/vote for Annie!!
Two years into a chaotic, unhinged regime that has focused on undoing everything Biden and Obama achieved, and the MAGA believers are still blaming Biden! And that's the best they've got?
Thanks, Ginger Sox. Dr. Annie Andrews is an outstanding candidate. She’s in a good position to flip the SC senate seat from red to blue. Let’s all throw a few bucks her way!
It’ll be interesting to see who wins the R runoff election tomorrow to face Dr. Annie — Darline Graham Nordone or Rep. Ralph Norman. What do you think, Ginger?
My sister and I both bought yard signs this morning to support Annie Andrews. I have contributed to her campaign, and I encourage others to do so. I am not sure about the outcome in the runoff, but for some reason I think Ralph Norman will win.
Tim Scott is not one of the senate's brightest lights. Darline Graham hasn't lifted the GOP's political IQ. Probably don't look on that side of the aisle to find any!
"Trump can insult voters by claiming affordability is a hoax, but rural voters, be they in Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin, or any other state, know that diesel and fertilizer prices have soared (thanks to Trump’s illegal, reckless war, which has jammed up transportation through the Strait of Hormuz); rural hospitals are closing, and tariffs have decimated farm sales."
I cannot imagine Trump holding on to the votes of the people he has betrayed over and over and over again.
46% increase in farm bankruptcies in 2025, and 70% of federal farm subsidies go to the largest 10% of the farms, mostly the big corporate-owned farms.
At some point, these folks are going to realize Trump is the cause, not the cure for their troubles.
There even comes a point where "owning the libs" and "hating the libs" gets too expensive to be affordable. We are seeing the backlash and Trump's rating is closer to the high 20s in percentage points than ever. The prices, the war, and the chaos only hold peoples' favor for so long.
Ignore the cult. Dem’s win if our message resonates with those eligible voters who did not bother to vote in 2024: that’s 29.2% of adults in Iowa, 41.4% in Indiana, 36.8% in Kansas, 32.0% in Nebraska, etc.
The elections will tell us who will stick with Trump and his tame Republicans, no matter what their situation is. And good luck to Liverpool fans as the season begins.
Exactly, Liverpool. Buffalo Niagara International Airport ran out of jet fuel last night and was unable to refuel aircraft. Huge red flag. Also — the Northeast burns about 80 percent of America’s heating oil. Five million households heat their homes with the same distillate barrel that produces diesel and jet fuel, from refineries already maxed out. Just wait until the cold weather kicks in and residents of the Northeastern states cannot get heating oil for their homes. It’s gonna be a disaster.
Please read Dean Blundell’s warning post on his Substack today:
An American International Airport Just Ran Out Of Jet Fuel. The Oil Crisis Isn't Coming. It’s Here And Landed In Buffalo Last Night.
One war of choice, one drained reserve, one torched alliance with Canada. Trump built the perfect shitstorm and Americans are about to freeze inside it.
I recall seeing an interview with a farm during Trump's first term where he said he'd had his worst year every due to Trump tariffs and expected to lose his farm in the coming year but he added "I think Trump knows what he's doing." Some people you just never lose. Hopefully their numbers are shrinking.
Their numbers are shrinking. A significant number of them are having to sell their farms. Corporate-industrial level farming is the future, and that is sad but predicable.
My grandparents kept their farm in the family for 65 years, and never went into debt (and never voted Republican, either, except maybe for Eisenhower. They had a photograph of JFK on their living-room wall).
I just don't get how someone could stand there and say "I'll be losing my farm thanks to Trump's tariffs but I think he's smarter than me and knows more about farming."
Coincidentally the BLM is rounding up thousands of Mustangs and supposedly sending them out of the country to be slaughtered cheaply. Trump also dropped tariffs on imported beef to further compete with U.S. ranchers hurt by their production costs of higher feed resulting from his war in Iran. Some countries classify horse meat as beef. Do you believe this really is a coincidence from a highly corrupt President who routinely manipulates markets? Will anyone eat the “mystery meat?” (I’m sticking with my garden burger).
Dems need to include the young progressives and their ideas in the mix to succeed in the November election. Out with the old, in with the new! Maybe it would inspire younger Americans to care about our democracy. I’m turning 80 this year like Tr*mp. It’s time to pass the baton to the younger generation who are inheriting the mess this administration has made.
Wrong! The two most progressive members of the senate are 77 and 80. "Young progressives" aren't geniuses who know everyone – and many of us cannot identify a true progressive anyway. I disagree that Liz Warren and Ed Markey should be "passing the baton." (And the guy challenging Markey is much younger but he is emphatically not a progressive — he's one of the more moderate members of the House.)
I agree with you. I think maybe you misunderstood my original comment or I didn’t express it well. I’m not suggesting we abandon the senior members. I’m suggesting we show support for other candidates to bring more people the into the Dem party (and more votes too.) Obviously, there is a need for experienced members to show younger members the ropes.
I agree with that! And I think some people overlook that many excellent younger people we already have in office. Some seem to think it begins and ends with AOC. But what about the incredible Max Frost from Florida, at 29 the youngest member of the House? Or congresspeople like Illinois' Lauren Underwood (39) and Colorado's Joe Neguse (42), both already holding positions on the lower rungs of the leadership ladder, and ultra involved in their home communities? Or Melanie Stansbury (47) from New Mexico, another tireless constituent-engaging person who is on the Epstein files like a pitbull and won't let go? I'd like to see the credit spread around more.
He can't. His dad always told him if you ever lost at anything you were lower than dirt. And he took that message to heart. He's a broken man who should never had had power over anyone.
off topic, but the other day I was recalling how roberts messed up administering the oath of office to Obama, and Obama made him do it again the next day so they couldn't pull any crap about it.
"Senator Darline Graham says she “doesn’t speak politician,” meaning she cannot talk cogently about Iran, but knows trans girls in high school sports are the real problem! Others deflect by ranting about “socialism” or pathetically blaming Joe Biden for Trump’s debacles."
This is really floundering. Even their demented leader who can't hold a green starting flag correctly has found that threats of 'socialism' fell flat and reverted to 'communism' instead. With the rise in government ownership/interests in business, it's pure projection once again.
People in the country are proving that affordability isn't a hoax, and are finally voting against those who support it. It took a major upheaval in the kitchen-table economy to finally get their attention. It has, and high time.
Like a true con artist, tRump promised to make voters happy until he gets what he wants - your vote. Then he does whatever he wants and doesn't look back. His promises are worse than worthless because he is a con man. Please rewatch "The Sting" for a refresher on successful cons.
Appreciate your positive spin here Ms Rubin, but please use your influence to help make it understood that meeting with the corrupt, criminal traitor Kushner eliminates Jeffries from leading House Democrats. He has no instinct for the fight we are in.
No, it doesn't. And we need to stop buying into this shallow, destructive idea based on something we know nothing about, just insinuations from The NY Times, which likes to stir the pot at Democrats' expense, duping grassroots Democrats into turning on its leadership which is currently laying the groundwork to blow up the Trump administration in many ways. Deposing Schumer and, especially, Jeffries, would lead to the sort of leaderless chaos that afflicted Republicans when they could not muster the votes for Kevin McCarthy and had to drag Liddle Mikey Johnson off the back bench. He has been a helpless failure. Jeffries is more of a fighter than most of the image progressives we've fallen in love with. I absolutely love his plan for reforming the Supreme Court and the fact that he's put Jamie Raskin (who will take the reins of judiciary from — ugh — Gym Jordan) in charge of it. BTW Jeffries has a progressive vote score of nearly 97% on a scale of 0-100. And Schumer's score is higher than Bernie Sanders' (he's #10; Sanders is number 13.)
Schumer and JEffries aren't the only Dems in Congress able to lead. Schumer at least once upon a time was good at his job. Jeffries, not so much. Both are more status quo than progressive.
Schumer is still good at his job. Yes, there are several others in the Senate who might be OK, but I can't think of any reason to replace Jeffries. You probably wouldn't like his second in command either, Katherine Clark. And the idea of picking a random congressperson Democrats are infatuated with is destructive. Organizing the Democratic caucus to get something done doesn't require an attractive young person making fiery speeches, but someone who knows how to bring that caucus together to work as a unit — why Pelosi was so brilliant, despite all her detractors.
Then Jefferies should read the room and communicate to us what the actual fuck he was doing even giving that corrupt traitor a meeting. Control the narrative Hakeem!
It's not his job to "control the narrative," but to make sure the gOP does as little damage as possible and to lay the groundwork for the next term which he is doing, and people are ignoring because the media wants to divide us and get us to shoot ourselves in the foot so they can have more entertaining destruction from the Trump administration.
There are over 200 Democratic House members right now. Surely there are a few who would be more decisive than Jeffries has been. There are many who might be able to step into Pelosi's shoes; Jeffries did not do this, unfortunately.
"Decisive" isn't the point: organizing the caucus is. And frankly, Jeffries has done so with brilliance which people don't see because they imagine there is some magical way that they could've passed an amazing progressive agenda WITHOUT HAVING THE MAJORITY. Jeffries has done his job: he has held them at bay as much as humanly possible. He was the best person to step into Pelosi's shoes (and remember how many people on our side dissed her when magical progressive policies did not appear fully formed) which she recognized. We are being played by one vague media story spun to make us mad. We need to stop this.
All of us. Anyone who is doing it. Anyone who doesn't understand what is actually going on, what the speaker's job is and what Jeffries is doing to prepare for being in the majority, and falling for a vaguely spun story from a media outlet that adores seeing Democrats fail – the one that fabricated the "her emails" scandal.
"MAGA Republicans" should uniformly be referred to simply as "Magats" and "MAGA candidates" likewise should be simply called "Magats" as well. And the symbol of the Magats should be a housefly as an animated GIF.
I have a feeling Democrats are going to bounce back in a lot of places. High gas and food prices are a reality for many. The effects of the Iran war and how it is being handled by Trump and our congress doesn’t give anyone hope and just creates division among our people. It’s great to see Democrats gaining ground.
At the start of the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe, a deeply religious abolitionist wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic. What would bring a religious woman of peace to announce that the "terrible swift sword of the Lord" was unleashed on the Southern slavers and insurrectionists? Her overflowing, moral outrage was screaming our in her first verse.
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on"
Just insert "We the People" into each religious reference and you'll understand how ready the great majority of Americans are to bring a reckoning to Trump/MAGA.
Robert, at the time that South Carolina was moved forward, I thought what we'd seen was the equivalent of a coup where the candidate preferred by party insiders looked unlikely to do well in Iowa and New Hampshire possibly leading to a party more divided than it already was.
I couldn't see it at the time, but friends with medical experience felt, as they told me, that Biden was even then showing symptoms of dimentia beyoond those which most of us older people exhibit.
As a Butler County, PA resident, I wanted to emphasize the complete joy and energy that Brandon Dukes' victory last week has brought to the Democrats. This is the county where the felon's ear was 'shot'. It is a very red county and hopefully, Brandon will win in November, too!
There is a challenger to our POS US Rep Mike Kelly's seat, too. Kelly has held the seat for 15 years now, and it's time for a generational change. Justin Wagner for Congress!
Kelly and his wife have been implicated for insider trading and padding his expense account. You'd not know that if you read the Post Gazette, Butler Eagle, New Castle News, Sharon Herald, etc.
Very well aware. I do think it's been mentioned in the local paper when the story broke but Mikey was popular in the city of Butler. Football player in HS/College, married into a millionaire family, etc. But, Butler is a DEEP RED county and crimes like that-who cares? I have encountered him a few times in the wild, he is always smiling at passersby and I just GLARE.
Insider trading by Republican officeholders? I'm shocked, I tell you — shocked. I think they're just trying to emulate their hero, Donald Trump.
Mr. Dukes gives “Let’s Go Brandon” new and appropriate meaning!
The problem is that Democrats have been GOP-lite handmaidens ever since corporate Dems took over the party during the so-called "Reagan Revolution." The reason the party's fortunes are reversing now is because progressives are finally taking the lead again. And that is because the status quo parties have screwed things up so horribly.
The return of FDR New Deal Democrats is a good thing.
I completely agree.
I sometimes wonder whether FDR could gain any support from the Democratic Party establishment if he somehow managed to return from the dead and started to campaign using his same New Deal platform.
Wow, what an interesting comment. Progressive democrats like El-Sayed should point out that their domestic agenda tracks FDR's.
El-Sayed is not some special white knight on a charger riding to our rescue. If he gets elected — and that's a big "if" — it will be interesting to see where his voting record falls. It's very unlikely to be more progressive than Liz Warren's or Ed Markey's (pretty much impossible given how progressive they are).
Most elected Democrats would support that, yes. And they have. We need to be less negative about our elected officials, based largely on image.
I think Democrats need to stop attacking Democrats who are in office. Many of the criticisms are overblown, reflect a black-and-white view of the world, and seek perfection which is the enemy of the good. And many are just not true of most Democratic politicians. It's the classic circular firing squad employed by ideologues. And it could decrease voting for Democratic candidates, especially among young people who often are very idealistic but not all that knowledgeable.
Exactly. And we need to stop the pile-on on Hakeem Jeffries who has done an incredible job of keeping his caucus focused on derailing most of Trump's agenda, completely flummoxing Liddle Mikey Johnson whose response is to recess the House because he has no idea what to do.
Jeffries just a couple days ago came out and said he wouldn't support single payer.
I don’t mind accepting “half a loaf” if that’s all we are able to wrangle out of the political process.
I do have a problem with Democrats who adopt a STARTING position of “we’re only going to get half a loaf, so that’s what I’m going to fight for”
We need leaders who are going to fight for what we know will make people’s lives better.
I don’t understand what Jeffries is going to fight for if he isn’t going to even try for Medicare for all.
That's an exaggeration. What he is saying is that he isn't going to bulldog something that will never pass when the alternative is nothing. Does no one remember the fight around the Affordable Care Act, and how much not only the GOP blocked but also the odious Joe Lie-berman who singlehandedly killed the public option. Jeffries has always supported expanding access to health care to everyone at a price that won't bankrupt them. There are many many ways to do that as other countries have demonstrated with numerous different plans (many don't have anything resembling "Medicare for All" but still manage to provide universal access without bankrupting people.).
Including people of color this time -- which shouldn't be hard because the white Southern Democrats, who were part of the New Deal coalition, exited stage right more than five decades ago and have been replaced by better-qualified and more energetic Democrats of color and other supporters of economic/gender/racial justice.
Yeah, well- I recently heard a political commentator refer to the Republicans as “the party of Jefferson Davis- not Lincoln” and it completely resonated. Because that’s what they are now
The GOP has not been the party of Lincoln since after the Civil Rights Law was passed and Johnson said NO to allowing segregation to continue in the South. That it was the rich white Southern racist men moved to the GOP and those in the GOP who had agreed with Civil Rights legislation eventually made it to the Dem party. Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney et al still try to claim that it's still the party of Lincoln - it is NOT.
A case could be made that it hasn’t been “the party of Lincoln” since the Hayes-Tilden compromise of 1876, but in some parts of the country, like my native New England, Republicans were respectable until Reagan came along: they were generally the party of small-town and rural “old Yankees” as opposed to the urban immigrants and descendants of immigrants, who were often union members.
It was not noticeable until Reagan became president, but the move out of the Democratic party occurred after Johnson refused to allow segregation in the south. Reagan was a racist. He blamed the poor (POC in cities) for being poor and needy. He made the cowboy claim about pulling up oneself by one's bootstraps popular even though it wasn't actually physically impossible. It erased the possibility that ANYONE could be that poor without being at fault. I am unclear about your immigrant and union member comment. Unions did not start because of immigrants. Eisenhower approved of workers' rights and unions. He was the last good GOP president.
"Corporate" Dems is just used as a random slur, meaning nothing. In fact, many people who talk about "corporate" Dems and "progressives" don't know who they are. There are very few "corporate" Democrats in Congress now and it's not like a new groups of "progressives" is taking the lead. They are in Congress right now. It's helpful to identify and support them.
No, it's an actual thing. Reagan Democrats -- GOP-lite corporatists who crossed party lines in the 80s -- helped bring about the so-called "war" on (some) drugs, helped weaken the social safety net, brought about privatized prisons, were all on board for Bush the Dumbers illegal war in Iraq and supported the unPATRIOTic Act. They are the reason the party has languished for the last 50 years. They ALL need to go back to the GOP from whence they came. Third-Way politics is Vichy capitulation. Period.
If you look at what the Bill Clinton “triangulation” got us at the end of the day- it’s a mixed bag.
Glass Steagall was repealed, electric utilities were deregulated, welfare “reform” enacted- all of which in the long run have proved disastrous. The pain we are feeling in our electric bills today can be tied to the electric utility deregulation. Clinton’s welfare “reform” accepted Republican framing of welfare recipients being “lazy” and drove vulnerable families into poverty. The repeal of Glass Steagall contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.
Yeah- I’m glad we didn’t have a 2nd GHW Bush term or a President Bob Dole, but the “let’s buy into the Robert Bork/Chicago School of Economics/Neo Liberal Economics and be Republican Lite” strategy of the Clinton era did a lot of damage and fed the notion that there isn’t much difference between the two parties.
Strikes me that the “Democratic Left” asserting themselves now and taking on the party establishment are a return of New Deal/Great Society Democrats. And they are gaining traction because 40+ years of Republican economic policies has eviscerated the middle class and created predatory Oligarchs that now pose a direct threat to democracy.
You could add Clinton’s massive expansion of the prison industrial complex, the drastic increase in income inequality under his watch, his signing of the Trump-worthy Defense of Marriage Act, his GOP worthy demonizing of Sister Soulja..throw in his very recent endorsement of fellow misogynist Andrew Cuomo over the Democratic mayoral candidate clearly chosen by NYC Dem voter, and his many interactions with Jeffrey Epstein - Clinton should go retire on an island with James Carville.
Again, there are no "Third Way" members in power. They're shouting in the wind hoping to recoup the influence they had decades ago. But it's telling that when they promote their support from Democrats, the only name they cite is Bill Clinton who left office in 2001.
I agree with everything you guys are saying, but in Clinton’s defense, we were coming off 10 years of Republican rule and he had a hostile Congress he was trying to work with. Hillary was tasked with health care reform and was immediately stonewalled. Clinton was from a town called Hope, and he gave us that, for a while. To Clinton’s credit, correct me if I’m wrong, he’s the only president to balance the budget and leave a surplus when he left office.
YES - ONLY dems have reduced the deficit since Reagan. The GOP explodes the deficit with its corruption and gifts to the rich. Clinton reduced the deficit to almost nothing. Obama cleaned up after GW Bush's housing and loan debacle which is still impacting us today, improved the economy, gave us the best HC program he could and reduced the deficit from what it was when he started. Biden in just 4 yrs and after fixing the Covid and other financial messes left by T, improved the economy, gave us the best jobs report in decades, reduced inflation AND cut the deficit. Did the news media tell you any of this? NO. Why? Reagan ended the Fairness Doc.
Thank you. Excellent points, so soon forgotten. So tired of people saying Democrats don’t stand for anything. Look at the record. We stand for Good Government, that cares about ALL our nations people.
Yes- I know I focused on the Clinton policies I view as long-run disasters, but there were positives (hence why I described the Clinton years as a mixed bag). Clinton raised taxes, reduced the deficit and debt, all while the economy prospered. He put the lie to the notion that taxes kill economic growth. You can’t push for Universal healthcare, childcare assistance, and better safety nets for the poor if your budget is in the red. Clinton showed you can raise revenues strategically and have a booming economy
FALSE. That "corporate Dems" label came from a news media/journalists who claimed "both sides" were the same. Why would the news journalists who had been using facts and evidence in their reporting for years spread misinformation? BECAUSE REAGAN CUT THE FAIRNESS DOC. Increasingly news journalists and those in charge of news media slipped into GOP pockets. Like social media, most of what they reported was based on opinions & beliefs within persuasive rather than analytical articles. It wasn't immediately noticeable because Reagan's FCC then allowed Fox News to have a news station. What the rest of news media reported seemed tame compared to the lies, racism and misinformation coming from Fox.
They told you that the GOP was better for the economy - they were ONLY good for the wealthy owners of corporations. Reagan instituted the GOP economic policies that have enriched the rich and hurt the rest of us. These include tax cuts for the rich, "trickle down", cutting or ignoring industry regulations which allowed the rich owners to become richer as well as to create near monopolies, assisting corporate owners in crushing unions and workers' rights, tax loopholes that only aided the rich, allowing stocks NOT to be considered as income or profit - even when the richest used them to buy another company.
At the other end of the spectrum, Reagan who was a racist and fan of Heritage Society ideas (see P2025) started the GOP tradition of blaming people and claiming they were lazy if they were poor. They claimed there was rampant fraud. So they built a web of restrictions to make it harder or impossible for needy people to get benefits. In truth, the people who have committed the worst fraud are the rich corporate owners or CEO's of insurance companies and public programs for Medicare, Medicaid et al. In fact, Rick Scott of FL was the founder and CEO of a company in 1987. He quietly resigned as an investigation was beginning. The company was eventually charged $1.6B for the fraud. That is JUST 1 example or who is responsible for FRAUD in this nation. Gee, funny that the newspapers have not made THAT a big deal.
POC, the poor, LGBTQ+ and immigrants have been blamed for multiple issues so that the GOP could hide behind their corruption behind that rhetoric. That citizens and reporters in this nation could not be bothered to "hear" or write about the signs of fascist Germany has been horrifying. When Reagan cut the Fairness Doc he was following Hitler. WHAT?? Hitler had realized that his mistake when he first tried to get control of Germany was that he had not controlled the German newspapers. In 1933, on his second attempt to take power, Hitler started by getting control of the German newspapers. He then proceeded to use the newspapers to spread his hate and lies about Jews and Romanis. Germans CHOSE hate and to believe Hitler or chose to ignore him and pretend that nothing bad was happening. A few were heroes and chose to save the people being targeted. We have been fed lies and misinformation from the GOP and almost all journalists since Reagan. When T was running a 2nd time, some journalists including Ms Rubin walked away. Racism, misogyny, ignorance and self-absorption gave T the presidency when voters chose to vote for T, not vote, or chose to vote for a 3rd party candidate who could not win. As a citizen, each of us has a responsibility to protect our democracy - EVEN if we do not like either candidate. NOT doing so gave us the b-----d in the WH as well as all of his GOP cronies in Congress.
Sweetie, I was there.
How patronizing!
Do you think that YOU were the only one present at the time?
How about sharing FACTS instead of being rude?
They were proud to call themselves Regan Democrats. Where were you? I've cited numerous facts in this post that you've completely ignored.
I am sure you are exactly right about the backlash against Trump and MAGA but months to go before the elections and tons of big money going towards MAGA candidates. Please don't let Democrats, Independents, and truly conservative Republicans take their feet off the petal for a moment. Pro-democracy should and must beat autocracy in the USA.
We need to push through the incessant BS and keep our focus of the issues at hand. Affordability has to be forefront, as well as, the destruction of our democracy by this current authoritarian regime.
I hope also that people on our side will look harder at the actual actions and voting records of our officeholder, and be less swept away by attractive young faces saying things we fall in love with. Elderly, unexciting Ed Markey is the second most progressive person in the Senate — and has a lengthy record of pushing hard for progressive policies. His cohort, Liz Warren, the #1 most progressive senator, was the driving force behind virtually the only good thing this Congress has passed, the housing bill.
Schumer and Jeffries and the other GOP-lite leadership need to go. They consistently bring sternly-worded letters to an insurrection. It IS the reason we're heading for the cliff right this very moment.
Not understanding the role of "sternly worded letters" and mocking them is to misunderstand what leadership does. No, it's NOT the reason we're "headed for the cliff" — it's the reason most of Trump's agenda has been blocked despite Republicans controlling ALL branches of government. Very little he promised has actually gotten through, thanks to Democrats holding the line.
You must have meant 'pedal' instead of 'petal', but otherwise, you're absolutely correct.
and tht's why English is soooo hard to learn...not knot to too two pare pair pedal petal important not important
Learning English isn't that difficult if we had good teachers and paid attention.
Any Catholics old enough to have been taught by nuns would have learned the differences between all those words, correct spelling, and grammar.
...and bruised knuckles.
guilty
:)
And if we read good writing, like Jen’s, to reinforce/remind us of what we learned.
actually, I was thinking more of people from non-English speaking places
And for that, you would be quite correct.
there their they're
I had just written to Senator Tim Scott about his remarks attempting to blame Biden for Trump's economic failures only to be cut off by Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. I also rejected his support of Darline Graham for senator. I could have given a better answer than the one she gave about Taiwan. It's a long shot, but I am so hoping Annie Andrews can win this election. There are many of us in S.C. who care about things that really matter - trans girls in sports is not one of them!
Does anyone even know a trans girl playing sports? Anyone? Ever? Anywhere? I’ve asked so many people this question and no one can give me a concrete answer. Not one! Just a phantom fear simpleton MAGAs, like Darline Graham, use to scare voters.
MAGAts care deeply about the 200 trans-females playing sports nation-wide, but nothing for the millions of children going hungry due to cuts to SNAP benefits, and nothing for the women dying due to lack of reproductive health care. As another poster said (I’m paraphrasing), their HATE is more dear to them than anything else.
Spot on, Signe. Tell it! 👏🏼
Yes! [Raises hand!]
At a local rock club here in NE Ohio, I met a young woman named Ember Zelch who testified several times before the Ohio legislature and became sort of the face of trans girls in sports in this state. She played softball in a wealthy Cleveland suburb. She testified that she was a pretty weak player who mostly sat on the bench, and her team wasn't very good — not taking any championships away from anyone. She said that they played for fun and friendship. (She has since left Ohio to go to school in a less transphobic state). She is smaller than me and I am a petite CIS woman. I'd guess she's about 5'6' and weighs around 120-130 pounds.
I think our legislature spent a week (more?) debating trans girls in sports, while they were defunding our public schools and giving private school vouchers to wealthy families, giving a multi-billionaire team owner $600 million of our tax dollars for a new stadium to replace a 25-year-old one, and continuing to turn a blind eye to the First Energy scandal which has raised all our electric rates.
Well, that's the thing. It's a deliberate distraction from more important issues.
By way of an aside, I wouldn't call 5 foot 6 inches petite for a woman (though it's petite for a man). Public health researcher here. The average height of women in the USA is 5 foot 4 inches. My mother was truly petite -- wore petite sizes and was never taller than 5 foot 1. She would ask her daughters to fetch things down from kitchen cupboards because she couldn't reach that high.
It's probably average-ish for a young female athlete. Definitely being as slender as this girl is below average size. And women's basketball teams are hella tall. Unfair!!!!!
how is this unfair ? certain sports/activities require traits to do them... I wanted to be an opera singer but I knew I couldn't sing, so...
Agreed, Patricia, and that is what I meant when I said it's good to ensure Trans people have fundamental civil rights. BUT, not everyone can compete at highest level in sports, nor should they be guaranteed that as a right. I think Dems need to acknowledge that this issue is not simple and not shout down people who express concerns. I think Americans as a whole will feel less threatened and less polarized if Dems can just acknowledge there are issues that need to be worked out. Raising concerns doesn't have to mean someone is trans-phobic. Even some of the trans people themselves have questioned whether participation in women's sports for trans women is necessarily a right at all levels. It has come out in focus groups, for example.
Among Olympic finalists in swimming, the average height is 5 ft 9. However, Lia Thomas was not an Olympic finalist. She was competing at the high school level when she transitioned. But it's far more than that. Here's an article that explains some of it:
https://openwaterhq.com/swimming/ideal-best-body-type/
You see that having very little body fat -- as a person who has gone through male puberty does -- is an advantage in swim speed competitions, which is what you see at swim meets and the Olympics.
As for women athletes in general, it depends on the sport. For example, in women's gymnastics you seldom see a top contender who is much above 5 feet tall. I've yet to see a trans woman compete in women's gymnastics. All that I know of have competed in speed events such as running, track and field in general, swimming, and cycling.
I've been interested in the subject since I was a teenager -- after reading Ashleigh Montague's book, _The Natural Superiority of Women_. Ashleigh wasn't talking about trans people back then, but he talked a lot about what the known advantages and disadvantages of the female body were in athletic competition.
There's really no there there. Lia Thomas was an outlier. So is Brittney Griener (6'9"). That's life.
South Carolina banned transgender students from playing girls or women's sports in 2022. The US Supreme Court upheld such bans in West Virginia and Idaho so the SC law can stand. It is literally a fabricated issue for Darline Graham.
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/17/1099501287/south-carolina-trans-transgender-sports-ban
https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article316327244.html
yeah, but let's remember the trans on the Uof P's WOMENS swim team...she won everything why ? taller longer arms...I wish trans folks every good thing in life , just not fair to play on womens teams. come on, let's all look for that common sense a lot of us have lost.
So all of this hysteria is about one swimmer at a college having an unfair advantage? Something easily fixed by some sort of common sense regulation? Yet MAGAs fixate on that issue and not the lies told to get this nation into a forever war of aggression in the Middle East? They look the other way from massive corruption and fraud by a convicted criminal in the WH? They support the cover up of a famous pedophilia ring, “but, but, but once upon a time there was a trans person who won a sporting match.” Is this the very definition of a false equivalence, or is this just ludicrous gaslighting?
Please, Judy. That's not at all what Judy W. was pointing at.
But it IS an important fact. It again points to the truth that we have 200 trans playing in womens' sports. Certainly any trans women who want to play should be fully transitioned or on proper hormones to do so.
Actually the hysteria about Lia Thomas was deliberately overblown by the right. And when people start going on about the unfair advantage trans women have and the opportunities they take away from cis women, I ask them to name one or two cases not named Lia Thomas. They can't. And the story around Lia Thomas is based on lies.
I'm on your side, Patricia. You should be able to voice your concerns here without being shouted down. Fact is, I agree with you. Yes, on one hand, Republicans have used the trans thing as a weapon against Democrats. They use it to distract the public from much more serious issues. NO QUESTION about that.
But at the same time, there are some very real problems that haven't been worked out when it comes to trans civil rights. Almost everyone agrees that someone who identifies as trans should be able to get a job and do other basic things necessary for a decent life without having to face discrimination. The problem is in the areas that *aren't* quite so basic. You are right. Lia Thomas is *6 foot 1*, and in swimming being tall is known to be a huge advantage -- mostly because of the much longer arms. (It's an advantage in speed events, which is what you see at most competitions, though it's not an advantage in marathon events such as swimming the English Channel.) Lia went through male puberty. Taking estrogen (suppressing testosterone) does not eliminate the advantages of male puberty. It does not shorten her height or her arms, for example, though it did reduce her muscle mass. She was already a competitive swimmer before she transitioned (in top several hundred male swimmers) -- but once she began competing in women's events she began ranking in the top ten of women's swimmers. That's a huge shift upward in the ranks, and there's an obvious explanation.
So, yes, there is legitimate reason for concern -- particularly when a few men or women are competing for events that will lead to the Olympics or other world class competitions. But at the junior high or high school level it's not so clear. Most students aren't particularly athletic, period. I wasn't. It wouldn't have mattered to me if there was a trans kid who was doing better than I was in track and field because I was never going to be a track star anyway. I don't think I would have had to worry about being milled down in soccer by a trans athlete because I wasn't competing hard in the gym period anyway. But it's something parents and communities need to discuss and work out for themselves.
Another thing that bothers me is the way the media makes all trans people sound alike. They aren't. There are trans people who are AGAINST trans women competing in women's sports. There are trans people who simply wish politics would get out of it -- even if it meant just going back to the status quo -- because things got much harder for them in general when all this politicizing began. There are trans people who don't use hormones or surgery to transition -- and never will. Yes, really, but you wouldn't know it to see what the media prints.
So, I kind of liked what Abdul El-Sayed said (now, Anastasia, please don't get upset with me. :- )) When interviewed about trans issues. Abdul said it should all be worked out by the sports bodies and individual communities. Taking it to the federal level -- or trying to -- is a mistake. It serves politics and not much else.
It's as with gay people. When given time, seeing gay people come out and appear in movies and TV and public office, the public as a whole became increasingly accepting of gay people -- and most supported gay marriage by the Obama Administration. But this recent politicization has hurt not only trans people but now also gay people -- and Americans are more polarized and less accepting than before.
I looked up women's olympic swimmers and they range from about 5'6" to over 6 feet tall with one topping out at 6'9". You just can't eliminate by body type. Most sports — especially high school and college sports —with trans athletes have requirements about what kind of transitioning they've been doin and for how long.
I agree that regulations about trans athletes' participation is a local issue for exactly that reason: that they can best judge if a trans woman is far enough into her transition to fairly compete with women. This isn't something that requires government (either state or federal) regulation. It doesn't meddle in other sports.
I replied to this elsewhere --- with details about women in different sports events. It depends very much on the level (Olympic or lower) and on the specific sport. But I do agree with you that this should usually be a local thing -- and people need to meet and work out their concerns to see what really is true and what is not.
No, she didn't. That's a lie that the odious Riley Gaines has become rich traveling the country and telling everyone. In fact, that trans woman — Lia Thomas — tied for fifth place with Gaines. Longer arms? Should there be a length limit? What about basketball? It's unfair to me that they allow 6'9" players when I'm 5'3" and I was pretty good at throwing baskets when I went to a gym. Not fair!!!!
you should have tried out for the boys hockey team
Nah — I was a figure skater and we were perpetually at war with the "hockey brats" at the rink!
We had the guy in charge of the NCAA (I think. Definitely in charge college athletics programs' in some way) testify at one of the GQP congressional show hearings that out of some 150,000 college athlete's, there were only 7 trans people participating in ANY organized college sport.
So the odds of any of us being personally aware of or involved in a situation with one is very, very low. Just adding to the thesis that this is a non-issue for just about every American. Especially our elected officials!
Yes, I do. And it's a yawner in her local community where she was born and raised.
Thank you, Ginger. As a former SC voter, I commend you going after weak-willed Tim. I almost wish I still lived there so I could campaign/vote for Annie!!
Two years into a chaotic, unhinged regime that has focused on undoing everything Biden and Obama achieved, and the MAGA believers are still blaming Biden! And that's the best they've got?
Thanks, Ginger Sox. Dr. Annie Andrews is an outstanding candidate. She’s in a good position to flip the SC senate seat from red to blue. Let’s all throw a few bucks her way!
It’ll be interesting to see who wins the R runoff election tomorrow to face Dr. Annie — Darline Graham Nordone or Rep. Ralph Norman. What do you think, Ginger?
My sister and I both bought yard signs this morning to support Annie Andrews. I have contributed to her campaign, and I encourage others to do so. I am not sure about the outcome in the runoff, but for some reason I think Ralph Norman will win.
Yes, I think Ralph Norman will win too. Can Annie beat him in November?
GOOD LUCK!!!! The rest of us hope so too.
Tim Scott is not one of the senate's brightest lights. Darline Graham hasn't lifted the GOP's political IQ. Probably don't look on that side of the aisle to find any!
"Trump can insult voters by claiming affordability is a hoax, but rural voters, be they in Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin, or any other state, know that diesel and fertilizer prices have soared (thanks to Trump’s illegal, reckless war, which has jammed up transportation through the Strait of Hormuz); rural hospitals are closing, and tariffs have decimated farm sales."
I cannot imagine Trump holding on to the votes of the people he has betrayed over and over and over again.
46% increase in farm bankruptcies in 2025, and 70% of federal farm subsidies go to the largest 10% of the farms, mostly the big corporate-owned farms.
At some point, these folks are going to realize Trump is the cause, not the cure for their troubles.
Sadly, they will never desert their "savior" Trump, leader of the cult. Their hatred of the "other" is what matters the most.
There even comes a point where "owning the libs" and "hating the libs" gets too expensive to be affordable. We are seeing the backlash and Trump's rating is closer to the high 20s in percentage points than ever. The prices, the war, and the chaos only hold peoples' favor for so long.
Ignore the cult. Dem’s win if our message resonates with those eligible voters who did not bother to vote in 2024: that’s 29.2% of adults in Iowa, 41.4% in Indiana, 36.8% in Kansas, 32.0% in Nebraska, etc.
Data from https://ballotpedia.org/Voter_turnout_in_United_States_elections
They also get all their "news" from Fox or other right-wing propaganda stations. Many are quite ignorant.
The elections will tell us who will stick with Trump and his tame Republicans, no matter what their situation is. And good luck to Liverpool fans as the season begins.
Exactly, Liverpool. Buffalo Niagara International Airport ran out of jet fuel last night and was unable to refuel aircraft. Huge red flag. Also — the Northeast burns about 80 percent of America’s heating oil. Five million households heat their homes with the same distillate barrel that produces diesel and jet fuel, from refineries already maxed out. Just wait until the cold weather kicks in and residents of the Northeastern states cannot get heating oil for their homes. It’s gonna be a disaster.
Please read Dean Blundell’s warning post on his Substack today:
An American International Airport Just Ran Out Of Jet Fuel. The Oil Crisis Isn't Coming. It’s Here And Landed In Buffalo Last Night.
One war of choice, one drained reserve, one torched alliance with Canada. Trump built the perfect shitstorm and Americans are about to freeze inside it.
I think the challenge will be for Democrats to turn that bitter truth into a message that Trump voters will hear and act upon.
I recall seeing an interview with a farm during Trump's first term where he said he'd had his worst year every due to Trump tariffs and expected to lose his farm in the coming year but he added "I think Trump knows what he's doing." Some people you just never lose. Hopefully their numbers are shrinking.
Their numbers are shrinking. A significant number of them are having to sell their farms. Corporate-industrial level farming is the future, and that is sad but predicable.
My grandparents kept their farm in the family for 65 years, and never went into debt (and never voted Republican, either, except maybe for Eisenhower. They had a photograph of JFK on their living-room wall).
I just don't get how someone could stand there and say "I'll be losing my farm thanks to Trump's tariffs but I think he's smarter than me and knows more about farming."
Here in Nebraska many of us are trying to unload billionaire Senator Pete Ricketts. I think the new beef imports will further tank our ranchers.
Coincidentally the BLM is rounding up thousands of Mustangs and supposedly sending them out of the country to be slaughtered cheaply. Trump also dropped tariffs on imported beef to further compete with U.S. ranchers hurt by their production costs of higher feed resulting from his war in Iran. Some countries classify horse meat as beef. Do you believe this really is a coincidence from a highly corrupt President who routinely manipulates markets? Will anyone eat the “mystery meat?” (I’m sticking with my garden burger).
It is a very good time to be a vegetarian!
Dems need to include the young progressives and their ideas in the mix to succeed in the November election. Out with the old, in with the new! Maybe it would inspire younger Americans to care about our democracy. I’m turning 80 this year like Tr*mp. It’s time to pass the baton to the younger generation who are inheriting the mess this administration has made.
Wrong! The two most progressive members of the senate are 77 and 80. "Young progressives" aren't geniuses who know everyone – and many of us cannot identify a true progressive anyway. I disagree that Liz Warren and Ed Markey should be "passing the baton." (And the guy challenging Markey is much younger but he is emphatically not a progressive — he's one of the more moderate members of the House.)
I agree with you. I think maybe you misunderstood my original comment or I didn’t express it well. I’m not suggesting we abandon the senior members. I’m suggesting we show support for other candidates to bring more people the into the Dem party (and more votes too.) Obviously, there is a need for experienced members to show younger members the ropes.
I agree with that! And I think some people overlook that many excellent younger people we already have in office. Some seem to think it begins and ends with AOC. But what about the incredible Max Frost from Florida, at 29 the youngest member of the House? Or congresspeople like Illinois' Lauren Underwood (39) and Colorado's Joe Neguse (42), both already holding positions on the lower rungs of the leadership ladder, and ultra involved in their home communities? Or Melanie Stansbury (47) from New Mexico, another tireless constituent-engaging person who is on the Epstein files like a pitbull and won't let go? I'd like to see the credit spread around more.
We need a huge blue wave in November!
Interesting how, when he was president, Biden was too old and frail to do his job, but now, 2 years later, he is responsible for everything.
Indeed. Trump has never taken responsibility for any failure, ever. He is still blaming former President Obama for problems he (Trump) created.
He can't. His dad always told him if you ever lost at anything you were lower than dirt. And he took that message to heart. He's a broken man who should never had had power over anyone.
off topic, but the other day I was recalling how roberts messed up administering the oath of office to Obama, and Obama made him do it again the next day so they couldn't pull any crap about it.
Biden was asleep too!
"Senator Darline Graham says she “doesn’t speak politician,” meaning she cannot talk cogently about Iran, but knows trans girls in high school sports are the real problem! Others deflect by ranting about “socialism” or pathetically blaming Joe Biden for Trump’s debacles."
This is really floundering. Even their demented leader who can't hold a green starting flag correctly has found that threats of 'socialism' fell flat and reverted to 'communism' instead. With the rise in government ownership/interests in business, it's pure projection once again.
People in the country are proving that affordability isn't a hoax, and are finally voting against those who support it. It took a major upheaval in the kitchen-table economy to finally get their attention. It has, and high time.
Like a true con artist, tRump promised to make voters happy until he gets what he wants - your vote. Then he does whatever he wants and doesn't look back. His promises are worse than worthless because he is a con man. Please rewatch "The Sting" for a refresher on successful cons.
Check's in the mail.
I'll still respect you in the morning.
I'm from Trump's government, I'm here to help.
...vote for me and I'll help you... yeah, right!!!
...but...
Give me piles of money and I'll make you rich so you can give me more. That works!
Appreciate your positive spin here Ms Rubin, but please use your influence to help make it understood that meeting with the corrupt, criminal traitor Kushner eliminates Jeffries from leading House Democrats. He has no instinct for the fight we are in.
No, it doesn't. And we need to stop buying into this shallow, destructive idea based on something we know nothing about, just insinuations from The NY Times, which likes to stir the pot at Democrats' expense, duping grassroots Democrats into turning on its leadership which is currently laying the groundwork to blow up the Trump administration in many ways. Deposing Schumer and, especially, Jeffries, would lead to the sort of leaderless chaos that afflicted Republicans when they could not muster the votes for Kevin McCarthy and had to drag Liddle Mikey Johnson off the back bench. He has been a helpless failure. Jeffries is more of a fighter than most of the image progressives we've fallen in love with. I absolutely love his plan for reforming the Supreme Court and the fact that he's put Jamie Raskin (who will take the reins of judiciary from — ugh — Gym Jordan) in charge of it. BTW Jeffries has a progressive vote score of nearly 97% on a scale of 0-100. And Schumer's score is higher than Bernie Sanders' (he's #10; Sanders is number 13.)
Schumer and JEffries aren't the only Dems in Congress able to lead. Schumer at least once upon a time was good at his job. Jeffries, not so much. Both are more status quo than progressive.
Schumer is still good at his job. Yes, there are several others in the Senate who might be OK, but I can't think of any reason to replace Jeffries. You probably wouldn't like his second in command either, Katherine Clark. And the idea of picking a random congressperson Democrats are infatuated with is destructive. Organizing the Democratic caucus to get something done doesn't require an attractive young person making fiery speeches, but someone who knows how to bring that caucus together to work as a unit — why Pelosi was so brilliant, despite all her detractors.
Then Jefferies should read the room and communicate to us what the actual fuck he was doing even giving that corrupt traitor a meeting. Control the narrative Hakeem!
It's not his job to "control the narrative," but to make sure the gOP does as little damage as possible and to lay the groundwork for the next term which he is doing, and people are ignoring because the media wants to divide us and get us to shoot ourselves in the foot so they can have more entertaining destruction from the Trump administration.
There are over 200 Democratic House members right now. Surely there are a few who would be more decisive than Jeffries has been. There are many who might be able to step into Pelosi's shoes; Jeffries did not do this, unfortunately.
"Decisive" isn't the point: organizing the caucus is. And frankly, Jeffries has done so with brilliance which people don't see because they imagine there is some magical way that they could've passed an amazing progressive agenda WITHOUT HAVING THE MAJORITY. Jeffries has done his job: he has held them at bay as much as humanly possible. He was the best person to step into Pelosi's shoes (and remember how many people on our side dissed her when magical progressive policies did not appear fully formed) which she recognized. We are being played by one vague media story spun to make us mad. We need to stop this.
I for one won't stop supporting and advocating for the replacement of Jeffries. And Schumer.
"And we need to stop buying into this shallow, destructive idea..."
Who is "we"?
All of us. Anyone who is doing it. Anyone who doesn't understand what is actually going on, what the speaker's job is and what Jeffries is doing to prepare for being in the majority, and falling for a vaguely spun story from a media outlet that adores seeing Democrats fail – the one that fabricated the "her emails" scandal.
"And we need to stop buying into this shallow, destructive idea based on something we know nothing about, just insinuations from The NY Times..."
Again, who is "we"? It's mighty presumptive of you to think that the rest of us don't know what's happening with Jeffries and Schumer.
"MAGA Republicans" should uniformly be referred to simply as "Magats" and "MAGA candidates" likewise should be simply called "Magats" as well. And the symbol of the Magats should be a housefly as an animated GIF.
https://gifer.com/en/1yoe#google_vignette
I have a feeling Democrats are going to bounce back in a lot of places. High gas and food prices are a reality for many. The effects of the Iran war and how it is being handled by Trump and our congress doesn’t give anyone hope and just creates division among our people. It’s great to see Democrats gaining ground.
I'm flummoxed about why congressional republicans are flummoxed that they're GOIN' DOWN. Seriously? Pray tell, what is confusing them?
the stupid voters
Not very smart, are they?
They made their choice and clearly prefer getting taken out by the voters than by trump. Happy to oblige!
Let's revisit the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
At the start of the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe, a deeply religious abolitionist wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic. What would bring a religious woman of peace to announce that the "terrible swift sword of the Lord" was unleashed on the Southern slavers and insurrectionists? Her overflowing, moral outrage was screaming our in her first verse.
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on"
Just insert "We the People" into each religious reference and you'll understand how ready the great majority of Americans are to bring a reckoning to Trump/MAGA.
A favorite tune of mine.
Maybe Iowa primary (caucus) should still be early.
Why can't there be several primaries (or caucuses) on the same day to start the nomination season?
Robert, I thought the party had decided to start in South Carolina?
That’s my point
Robert, at the time that South Carolina was moved forward, I thought what we'd seen was the equivalent of a coup where the candidate preferred by party insiders looked unlikely to do well in Iowa and New Hampshire possibly leading to a party more divided than it already was.
I couldn't see it at the time, but friends with medical experience felt, as they told me, that Biden was even then showing symptoms of dimentia beyoond those which most of us older people exhibit.