"That’s their election strategy to counteract the public’s overwhelming disapproval of their MAGA agenda. They aren’t “saving” anything except their own political careers." Trump and MAGA can save themselves by proposing policies that would help majority of citizens. Such a simple solution and I do not understand why they do not choose this easy way to stay in oiwer.
When we win back control of Congress, we have to put forth rational reforms to the document upon which all US law rests. We need to say in the text itself or in supporting footnotes what the intent of the amendment is in essence, to build the Federalist Papers into the Constitution.. We have to build in teeth and a mechanism to stop a rogue Executive in his tracks and remove him and try him. Impeachment - the only mechanism we have now, is a political removal. We need to make The President susceptible to the very laws he is supposed to uphold and enforce and if he doesn't, slap him in Leavinworth.
I'm more of an arrest-charge-indict-try-convict-sentence-execute kind of guy, myself... No one is exempt from being held responsible for the crime of sedition, perhaps ESPECIALLY a president.
I cannot disagree, but the Supremes do. They need to be reined in and given a defined mandate and term limits - and made susceptible to the same laws. Edit: changed don’t to do…
yeah, but this didn't work the first time. we need something in the amended new constitution like mandatory sentencing...if you do/or don't do Y this is what happens to you.
"We have to build in teeth and a mechanism to stop a rogue Executive in his tracks..."
Well, that's been happening, right? A lot of Trump's executive actions have been challenged and traveled through the Article III branch, and some of those have been adjudicated at SCOTUS. Trump has won some and lost others. Now that is a good thing as now we have limits for the Executive in certain circumstances that can be applied to Trump and future Presidents.
But Congress is partially to blame for allowing Presidents power that was never intended to be theirs in the first place. Tariffs are a prime example. Congress needs to reclaim their powers by repealing those laws. The problem is that neither party wants to do that because they want their own Presidents to have that power.
It's time to stop the politics of hate in America caused directly by Donald J Trump and his cult leaders. Stupidity, Greed, Racism, Fascism and Hate. Our avatar of Hate all bottled into one.
We've had incompetent presidents, racist presidents, well intentioned presidents who did morally repugnant things, vainglorious presidents, probably corrupt presidents, less than truthful presidents and very partisan presidents, but never has America had all of these traits wrapped into one person who's not a real president but the star of his proprietary Apprentice TV show playing what he imagines We the People think a president is like.
The People, whose interest he serves has had enough. He's losing his grip over every group that voted for him. The MAGA/GOP is dropping like a stone. Nov. will spell the end of the Trump reign as a faux leader.
Yes….he is just an actor on a stage and a deplorable person and half the people don't even see it. They think The Apprentice was real. Doesn’t say much for the intelligence of 45% of the country.
Biden had 50 years in the Senate. As President he got the Republicans to help pass his bills to advance infrastructure and stimulus programs. He even got the Senate to pass an Immigration reform bill!
That's not acting. That is a master of the Senate WORKING his old colleagues and getting results. You are being dishonest if you try to compare a real record of accomplishments as President to the bungling actor we have right now.
If you disagree, feel free to list the things Trump managed to get passed with Democratic help. It will be a VERY short list.
This MAGA Hal is a troll and not worth your time trying to logically discuss politics with. Biden is a patriotic American compared to greedy trump the Putin puppet dismantling our country, trying to destroy NATO and now starting a war for the benefit of Putin.
Not true. He spent thirty-six years in the Senate, eight as Vice President and four as President. It still adds up to fifty years, though. But Biden, like so many others on both sides of the aisle, was a "career politician". No real experience in the private sector or military service...just jumped right in to politics and never got out. He's a poster child for everything that's wrong with American politics today.
"He even got the Senate to pass an Immigration reform bill!"
Sure thing, and as President, Biden promptly opened our southern border, allowing millions of migrants in, overwhelming essential services, draining resources and incentivizing drug cartels, human traffickers, gangs and terrorists to enter the country. Brilliant move...not.
"That is a master of the Senate..."
Not hardly. LBJ was a master of the Senate and it helped him many times in getting civil rights legislation passed in Congress.
"If you disagree, feel free to list the things Trump managed to get passed with Democratic help. It will be a VERY short list."
In my memory, the last President who had a decent working relationship with Congress (until the Republicans got stupid and impeached him) was Bill Clinton. Since then, it's been more towards Presidents trying to rule by executive order and the opposition trying to rule through the judiciary. Congress has abdicated their power in ways that were not envisioned by the Founders (i.e., tariffs) and has devolved into nothing more than a bunch of petulant partisan whiners whose only concern is power. I say fire them all, start over with a new group and put term limits on each branch.
Did I miss the part where you addressed the list of solid legislative accomplishments Biden had? Or the list of things Trump got done?
If not, you're just wasting time and ignoring the question. Biden and Trump are NOT equivalent.
Your last paragraph is simply not true. Again, Biden got the R's in the Senate and House to pass a bunch of things they normally would not have. That's just recent history. Trump has not gotten the Dems on board with ANY of his agenda.
I do agree that Congress has abdicated its power though. Both sides, although I could make a case it's FAR more extreme under Trump in these MAGA times.
As a side note - If I hire a plumber I want to know he can fix pipes. If I hire someone to MAKE LAWS, I want to know they know the process for that. I don't need them to have bankrupted casinos or owned a baseball team... it's not relevant experience for the job of legislating.
"Did I miss the part where you addressed the list of solid legislative accomplishments Biden had? Or the list of things Trump got done?"
Not at all.
"Trump has not gotten the Dems on board with ANY of his agenda."
Do you have any clue as to why that would be?
"As a side note - If I hire a plumber I want to know he can fix pipes. If I hire someone to MAKE LAWS, I want to know they know the process for that. I don't need them to have bankrupted casinos or owned a baseball team... it's not relevant experience for the job of legislating."
How do you think our major political parties select their candidates? What do you think their standards are in the selection process?
"So you are saying Biden was deplorable??? That the two are the same?"
Yes, Nay, and also that Biden was just an actor on a stage and that half the people didn't even see it. To take it further, those closest to Biden and knew he was losing his mental capacity but did nothing were probably the most deplorable of them all. That would include Biden's family, closest staff members, VP Harris, senior leaders in the Democratic Party and much of the media. The house of cards came crashing down during that ill-conceived June debate.
Had you been paying attention during the 2020 campaign you would have seen that Biden was definitely off his "A" game, even when compared to 2016. But no, the Left's hatred of Trump was so thorough that the Dems put up Biden because they thought he could be passed off as a moderate.
To me it's not even the ID requirements that are the worst part of this bill, although it is true that the rightwing Republicans have a major problem with women, with Pete hegseth's pastor saying recently that women shouldnt have the right to vote and nick fuentes saying that women can be "mothers, whores or nuns - that's it."
To me, a married woman who just paid more than $200 to renew my passport by mail just in case this bill passes, the biggest issues are states turning over their voter rolls to DHS and the feds requiring mandatory voter roll purges of "inactive" voters.
And the reason those are the biggest issues is that Republicans followed a strategy in 2024 of systematically purging voter rolls in Democratic leaning districts, and also bringing challenges in districts they lost by small margins. Altogether they invalidated more than four million lawllfully cast ballots, and not impartially, but minority / black ballots were invalidated at a 3 times higher rate than white ballots.
And this play may have been enough for them to change the outcome of the 2024 election. Greg Palast says that if all the legal ballots were counted, Harris would have won.
This isn't something new they are doing this year, this IS the Republican playbook that they have been running since the supreme court overturned some provisions of the voting rights act in 2020.
And the point of the SAVE America act is to take that playbook of mass disenfracisement that might have won them the 2024 election, and make it national federal law.
Anyway to sum it up, "require ID to vote" sounds good if you don't know about the specifics, just like "deport illegal alien criminals - it's about law and order" might sound good (to some) if you don't think about the specifics of what that would look like.
But "give DHS access to all the voter rolls" and "feds dictate to the states which voters they must purge and do giant purges after every single election" sounds much worse to everyone who isn't huffing the glue of 2020 election denialism.
So I hope Dems use their time not just to talk about the ID requirements, which some people will simplistically always say must be good, but also these purges and how they are ACTUALLY used by Republicans to remove voters they don't want from the rolls.
Like Noem said ina press conference, it's about making sure the "right people" vote for the "right candidates" and taking away the vote from as many other (nonwhite) people as they can.
i agree with you, and, before reading your post i posted my own fears about the regime trying to eliminate women's right to vote. i'm putting my plan into action, as well.
Rebecca Solnit is another brilliant columnist who writes for The Guardian - the only other "newspaper" I trust beside The Contrarian. She has produced a book called "Orwell's Roses" which I bought, sight unseen, and am looking forward to reading on an upcoming trip.
Sadly, we are now in the world Orwell predicted in 1949 (77 years ago!!!), where right is wrong and up is down and the idea that changing the name of something changes its real intent (e.g., the site for torture was called The Ministry of Justice). Every time Jen directs our attention to the current use of words to mean the opposite thing, I remember Orwell and how prescient he was.
I hesitate to admit it, but I have enough blahblah in my day without more official sources. Given the widespread danger and despair, it's much like humming lalalala while sticking my fingers in my ears!! lol
That is why it is so important to pay attention to sources of truth and ignore the blah-blah. We are fortunate to still have these sources available, as most of the legacy media has abandoned the role of the "free press".
Forget legacy media!! I have, and long ago. But when I refer to "blahblah" I mean everyone's -- even those who are speaking truth. In the sudden proliferation of independent media, so many people seem to be vying for prominence, coming up with a new way to characterize or explain things or nickname the transgressors.
Maybe it's my, er. advancing age, but I can only take so much of anybody's words before I must go outside and see which plants are brave enough to come up.
Understood. Here (central Illinois) we had 10 degree temperatures following 60s and a few low 70s. The daffodils are flat, and the pink of the flowering magnolia trees are now brown. Even the plants are getting sad to look at.
Aii! I lost a full-grown magnolia few years ago, after it tried to bloom three times and each time, the nascent blossoms encountered a cold snap. It finally gave up. There's no explaining climate change to plants -- you know, the thing Hunter Biden's laptop created???
“Democrats should call the bill what it is: The Jim Crow Act. Then they should use their time in the battle to save democracy.”
Fantastically concise analysis, Ms. Rubin! Great job! Thank you! Republicans are nothing but a plague on our Democracy. OUT with them(which, obviously, they are desperately trying to prevent)!
yes, we need that also. I do not think a new term limit law would apply to the current judges and an increase in numbers would be a faster fix right now.
Your time in the trenches pays off in insight, Jen!
As a Son of the South, I’m sick unto death of the South, and the twisted cruelty that comes with it. Under a score of guises, it’s the same old trickery. Almost eighty years, and I have been like a tethered donkey, going round and round the same grinding wheel and hoping for a different day. My only inspiration comes from people of color who have been in the fight a lot longer than me, and taught me most of what I know about survival and hope.
Thanks for the suggestion that the Democratic Senators read the Epstein Files into the record--it's a great idea whose time may have come. It circumvents the obvious attempts by Pam Bondi's so-called Justice Department to protect the Epstein class (which obviously includes his lowness), and it delays for days (or perhaps weeks) the Senate's ability to vote on passing the single most heinous piece of voter suppression at the national level we have seen since the adoption of the Constitution. Gee, if they worked at it, maybe they could even stretch it out to past the midterms in November, there being millions of pages after all. They would have to figure some way to get around the restrictions Bondi and crew have imposed on the ability of Congress to see the unredacted versions of the documents, but I'm sure some enterprising senator could figure out a way. Good luck to them. We all need them to step up and keep this disgusting and unconstitutional bill from passing.
It would seem to me that if this POS "SAVE" Act (translation: SAVE our SKINS) were to pass, that passports MUST be provided on demand and free of charge. It's illegal to require a fee to vote. Likewise, anything required to obtain said passport should be provided free of charge, and any current holder of a US passport must be reimbursed of all costs and fees incurred in obtaining it WITHOUT question. Poll taxes are ILLEGAL!!! Full stop.
Also, if we play this scenario out all the way, we have the fact that passports are only available from the US Government. If the tRumpy sycophants get their way and passports become necessary to vote, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to imagine passports becoming extremely hard to get for those who are registered with the “wrong” party.
I absolutely agree. Whether it's by the states or the federal government, if the government says we need a particular type. of identification, they should provide it. I'm fortunate in that I do have a passport and a real ID drivers license but I live in a rural state and there are so many people that do not have that and many that will be unable to even get to the polls so any messing around with mail in ballots has to be eliminated. Everybody should see that for what it is... voter suppression. Let's take our country back!
This is the most important information needed in recent memory. I note Jon Ossoff and Barack Obama have talked about it on air, among other important issues, but the DNC needs to go all out and right quick in order to put this piece of crap to bed once and for all. Unfortunately, I'm not betting on that happening. The DNC needs a major shakeup and wakeup or we're all going down in flames.
My dad was born in Buffalo at his grandparents' house in 1926 and never had a birth certificate, although later in his life he had a passport. I changed my surname when I married, so no, my birth certificate doesn't match. This is nothing but an attempt by Trump and his minions to disenfranchise people that they think won't vote for him - they don't seem to realize that it will also disenfranchise people who would vote for them but don't have the particular documents required. A filibuster to oppose this terrible legislation is perfectly appropriate.
My birth certificate doesn't match my name either. I took my adopted dad's last name and changed the spelling of the first name. Fortunately I have a notarized letter stating the changes to make it legal, though many people who have done the same thing likely do not. This is voter suppression - undemocratic and unAmerican.
you may want to apply to have your birth certificate amended. a notary does not attest to the truth of a statement. a notary certifies the person signing a statement showed ID to show they are the person signing. just a thought.
The MAGA accomplices of the WH Crime Boss must be made to feel fear. They must be made to fear for not only their seats in Congress but also the fear of prosecution after they're thrown out. The President is protected by the the criminal majority on the Supreme Court but the Toadies aren't. They must feel the brutality of actual truth and justice. No mercy.
We are paying their salaries in the belieif that they will support, provide for, and protect us. We are getting fleeced by the Trumpian Party in Congress. They serve Trump first, themselves second, and the people, if served at all, a distant third.
Getting fleeced, yes ... but perhaps it is more akin to a parasitic infection? We didn't want it, but we got it, it makes us sick, and we're having difficulty figuring out how to get rid of it!
You have that right. Figuring out how to get rid of it isn't too difficult if people would only think and quit voting against their own interests. Sadly, there is no vaccine for 'stupid'.
Agree agree agree.
"That’s their election strategy to counteract the public’s overwhelming disapproval of their MAGA agenda. They aren’t “saving” anything except their own political careers." Trump and MAGA can save themselves by proposing policies that would help majority of citizens. Such a simple solution and I do not understand why they do not choose this easy way to stay in oiwer.
When we win back control of Congress, we have to put forth rational reforms to the document upon which all US law rests. We need to say in the text itself or in supporting footnotes what the intent of the amendment is in essence, to build the Federalist Papers into the Constitution.. We have to build in teeth and a mechanism to stop a rogue Executive in his tracks and remove him and try him. Impeachment - the only mechanism we have now, is a political removal. We need to make The President susceptible to the very laws he is supposed to uphold and enforce and if he doesn't, slap him in Leavinworth.
I'm more of an arrest-charge-indict-try-convict-sentence-execute kind of guy, myself... No one is exempt from being held responsible for the crime of sedition, perhaps ESPECIALLY a president.
I cannot disagree, but the Supremes do. They need to be reined in and given a defined mandate and term limits - and made susceptible to the same laws. Edit: changed don’t to do…
Only the six Christian Nationalists on the Supreme Court believe the President is above the law.
And the same consequences...
"I cannot disagree, but the Supremes do. They need to be reined in and given a defined mandate and term limits..."
Let's put term limits on Congress first so we can get rid of all of those career politicians on both sides of the aisle.
yeah, but this didn't work the first time. we need something in the amended new constitution like mandatory sentencing...if you do/or don't do Y this is what happens to you.
How about one simple law that if one is charged or convicted of a crime, that person cannot run for presidential office?
I'm skeptical of "charged"--anybody can "charge" anybody for anything. But "convicted"--for sure.
Agreed. Can the 'charged', keep the 'convicted' especially if it's a criminal conviction.
"We have to build in teeth and a mechanism to stop a rogue Executive in his tracks..."
Well, that's been happening, right? A lot of Trump's executive actions have been challenged and traveled through the Article III branch, and some of those have been adjudicated at SCOTUS. Trump has won some and lost others. Now that is a good thing as now we have limits for the Executive in certain circumstances that can be applied to Trump and future Presidents.
But Congress is partially to blame for allowing Presidents power that was never intended to be theirs in the first place. Tariffs are a prime example. Congress needs to reclaim their powers by repealing those laws. The problem is that neither party wants to do that because they want their own Presidents to have that power.
It's time to stop the politics of hate in America caused directly by Donald J Trump and his cult leaders. Stupidity, Greed, Racism, Fascism and Hate. Our avatar of Hate all bottled into one.
We've had incompetent presidents, racist presidents, well intentioned presidents who did morally repugnant things, vainglorious presidents, probably corrupt presidents, less than truthful presidents and very partisan presidents, but never has America had all of these traits wrapped into one person who's not a real president but the star of his proprietary Apprentice TV show playing what he imagines We the People think a president is like.
The People, whose interest he serves has had enough. He's losing his grip over every group that voted for him. The MAGA/GOP is dropping like a stone. Nov. will spell the end of the Trump reign as a faux leader.
Yes….he is just an actor on a stage and a deplorable person and half the people don't even see it. They think The Apprentice was real. Doesn’t say much for the intelligence of 45% of the country.
"Yes….he is just an actor on a stage and a deplorable person and half the people don't even see it."
The same can be said of Biden.
Biden had 50 years in the Senate. As President he got the Republicans to help pass his bills to advance infrastructure and stimulus programs. He even got the Senate to pass an Immigration reform bill!
That's not acting. That is a master of the Senate WORKING his old colleagues and getting results. You are being dishonest if you try to compare a real record of accomplishments as President to the bungling actor we have right now.
If you disagree, feel free to list the things Trump managed to get passed with Democratic help. It will be a VERY short list.
Dear Mark- I agree with you.
This MAGA Hal is a troll and not worth your time trying to logically discuss politics with. Biden is a patriotic American compared to greedy trump the Putin puppet dismantling our country, trying to destroy NATO and now starting a war for the benefit of Putin.
"Biden had 50 years in the Senate."
Not true. He spent thirty-six years in the Senate, eight as Vice President and four as President. It still adds up to fifty years, though. But Biden, like so many others on both sides of the aisle, was a "career politician". No real experience in the private sector or military service...just jumped right in to politics and never got out. He's a poster child for everything that's wrong with American politics today.
"He even got the Senate to pass an Immigration reform bill!"
Sure thing, and as President, Biden promptly opened our southern border, allowing millions of migrants in, overwhelming essential services, draining resources and incentivizing drug cartels, human traffickers, gangs and terrorists to enter the country. Brilliant move...not.
"That is a master of the Senate..."
Not hardly. LBJ was a master of the Senate and it helped him many times in getting civil rights legislation passed in Congress.
"If you disagree, feel free to list the things Trump managed to get passed with Democratic help. It will be a VERY short list."
In my memory, the last President who had a decent working relationship with Congress (until the Republicans got stupid and impeached him) was Bill Clinton. Since then, it's been more towards Presidents trying to rule by executive order and the opposition trying to rule through the judiciary. Congress has abdicated their power in ways that were not envisioned by the Founders (i.e., tariffs) and has devolved into nothing more than a bunch of petulant partisan whiners whose only concern is power. I say fire them all, start over with a new group and put term limits on each branch.
Did I miss the part where you addressed the list of solid legislative accomplishments Biden had? Or the list of things Trump got done?
If not, you're just wasting time and ignoring the question. Biden and Trump are NOT equivalent.
Your last paragraph is simply not true. Again, Biden got the R's in the Senate and House to pass a bunch of things they normally would not have. That's just recent history. Trump has not gotten the Dems on board with ANY of his agenda.
I do agree that Congress has abdicated its power though. Both sides, although I could make a case it's FAR more extreme under Trump in these MAGA times.
As a side note - If I hire a plumber I want to know he can fix pipes. If I hire someone to MAKE LAWS, I want to know they know the process for that. I don't need them to have bankrupted casinos or owned a baseball team... it's not relevant experience for the job of legislating.
"Did I miss the part where you addressed the list of solid legislative accomplishments Biden had? Or the list of things Trump got done?"
Not at all.
"Trump has not gotten the Dems on board with ANY of his agenda."
Do you have any clue as to why that would be?
"As a side note - If I hire a plumber I want to know he can fix pipes. If I hire someone to MAKE LAWS, I want to know they know the process for that. I don't need them to have bankrupted casinos or owned a baseball team... it's not relevant experience for the job of legislating."
How do you think our major political parties select their candidates? What do you think their standards are in the selection process?
So you are saying Biden was deplorable??? That the two are the same?
"So you are saying Biden was deplorable??? That the two are the same?"
Yes, Nay, and also that Biden was just an actor on a stage and that half the people didn't even see it. To take it further, those closest to Biden and knew he was losing his mental capacity but did nothing were probably the most deplorable of them all. That would include Biden's family, closest staff members, VP Harris, senior leaders in the Democratic Party and much of the media. The house of cards came crashing down during that ill-conceived June debate.
Had you been paying attention during the 2020 campaign you would have seen that Biden was definitely off his "A" game, even when compared to 2016. But no, the Left's hatred of Trump was so thorough that the Dems put up Biden because they thought he could be passed off as a moderate.
To me it's not even the ID requirements that are the worst part of this bill, although it is true that the rightwing Republicans have a major problem with women, with Pete hegseth's pastor saying recently that women shouldnt have the right to vote and nick fuentes saying that women can be "mothers, whores or nuns - that's it."
To me, a married woman who just paid more than $200 to renew my passport by mail just in case this bill passes, the biggest issues are states turning over their voter rolls to DHS and the feds requiring mandatory voter roll purges of "inactive" voters.
And the reason those are the biggest issues is that Republicans followed a strategy in 2024 of systematically purging voter rolls in Democratic leaning districts, and also bringing challenges in districts they lost by small margins. Altogether they invalidated more than four million lawllfully cast ballots, and not impartially, but minority / black ballots were invalidated at a 3 times higher rate than white ballots.
And this play may have been enough for them to change the outcome of the 2024 election. Greg Palast says that if all the legal ballots were counted, Harris would have won.
This isn't something new they are doing this year, this IS the Republican playbook that they have been running since the supreme court overturned some provisions of the voting rights act in 2020.
And the point of the SAVE America act is to take that playbook of mass disenfracisement that might have won them the 2024 election, and make it national federal law.
It is white supremacy exactly as you said.
https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
Anyway to sum it up, "require ID to vote" sounds good if you don't know about the specifics, just like "deport illegal alien criminals - it's about law and order" might sound good (to some) if you don't think about the specifics of what that would look like.
But "give DHS access to all the voter rolls" and "feds dictate to the states which voters they must purge and do giant purges after every single election" sounds much worse to everyone who isn't huffing the glue of 2020 election denialism.
So I hope Dems use their time not just to talk about the ID requirements, which some people will simplistically always say must be good, but also these purges and how they are ACTUALLY used by Republicans to remove voters they don't want from the rolls.
Like Noem said ina press conference, it's about making sure the "right people" vote for the "right candidates" and taking away the vote from as many other (nonwhite) people as they can.
i agree with you, and, before reading your post i posted my own fears about the regime trying to eliminate women's right to vote. i'm putting my plan into action, as well.
White Male Supremacy
Rebecca Solnit is another brilliant columnist who writes for The Guardian - the only other "newspaper" I trust beside The Contrarian. She has produced a book called "Orwell's Roses" which I bought, sight unseen, and am looking forward to reading on an upcoming trip.
Sadly, we are now in the world Orwell predicted in 1949 (77 years ago!!!), where right is wrong and up is down and the idea that changing the name of something changes its real intent (e.g., the site for torture was called The Ministry of Justice). Every time Jen directs our attention to the current use of words to mean the opposite thing, I remember Orwell and how prescient he was.
Cheers for both The Contrarian and The Guardian for honesty in reporting. Also of honorable mention is The Atlantic and the AP.
I hesitate to admit it, but I have enough blahblah in my day without more official sources. Given the widespread danger and despair, it's much like humming lalalala while sticking my fingers in my ears!! lol
That is why it is so important to pay attention to sources of truth and ignore the blah-blah. We are fortunate to still have these sources available, as most of the legacy media has abandoned the role of the "free press".
Forget legacy media!! I have, and long ago. But when I refer to "blahblah" I mean everyone's -- even those who are speaking truth. In the sudden proliferation of independent media, so many people seem to be vying for prominence, coming up with a new way to characterize or explain things or nickname the transgressors.
Maybe it's my, er. advancing age, but I can only take so much of anybody's words before I must go outside and see which plants are brave enough to come up.
Understood. Here (central Illinois) we had 10 degree temperatures following 60s and a few low 70s. The daffodils are flat, and the pink of the flowering magnolia trees are now brown. Even the plants are getting sad to look at.
Aii! I lost a full-grown magnolia few years ago, after it tried to bloom three times and each time, the nascent blossoms encountered a cold snap. It finally gave up. There's no explaining climate change to plants -- you know, the thing Hunter Biden's laptop created???
“Democrats should call the bill what it is: The Jim Crow Act. Then they should use their time in the battle to save democracy.”
Fantastically concise analysis, Ms. Rubin! Great job! Thank you! Republicans are nothing but a plague on our Democracy. OUT with them(which, obviously, they are desperately trying to prevent)!
we need to get rid of the electoral college and increase the number of sup crt justices...if we get the chance.
Rather than increase the number of justices, do you think term limits might achieve a similar objective?
yes, we need that also. I do not think a new term limit law would apply to the current judges and an increase in numbers would be a faster fix right now.
Yes, in other words “Destroy our Freedom to Vote Act”
Your time in the trenches pays off in insight, Jen!
As a Son of the South, I’m sick unto death of the South, and the twisted cruelty that comes with it. Under a score of guises, it’s the same old trickery. Almost eighty years, and I have been like a tethered donkey, going round and round the same grinding wheel and hoping for a different day. My only inspiration comes from people of color who have been in the fight a lot longer than me, and taught me most of what I know about survival and hope.
Beautifully said! I am a transplant in the south, from the northeast, and what I see here in FL boggles my mind, over and over.
Thanks for the suggestion that the Democratic Senators read the Epstein Files into the record--it's a great idea whose time may have come. It circumvents the obvious attempts by Pam Bondi's so-called Justice Department to protect the Epstein class (which obviously includes his lowness), and it delays for days (or perhaps weeks) the Senate's ability to vote on passing the single most heinous piece of voter suppression at the national level we have seen since the adoption of the Constitution. Gee, if they worked at it, maybe they could even stretch it out to past the midterms in November, there being millions of pages after all. They would have to figure some way to get around the restrictions Bondi and crew have imposed on the ability of Congress to see the unredacted versions of the documents, but I'm sure some enterprising senator could figure out a way. Good luck to them. We all need them to step up and keep this disgusting and unconstitutional bill from passing.
It would seem to me that if this POS "SAVE" Act (translation: SAVE our SKINS) were to pass, that passports MUST be provided on demand and free of charge. It's illegal to require a fee to vote. Likewise, anything required to obtain said passport should be provided free of charge, and any current holder of a US passport must be reimbursed of all costs and fees incurred in obtaining it WITHOUT question. Poll taxes are ILLEGAL!!! Full stop.
Also, if we play this scenario out all the way, we have the fact that passports are only available from the US Government. If the tRumpy sycophants get their way and passports become necessary to vote, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to imagine passports becoming extremely hard to get for those who are registered with the “wrong” party.
oh, hell, you are so correct. i hadn't thought about not being able to get a passport because i am, as the orange monster said, "vermin."
But trump does not care at all about whether something is legal as was writen into our laws. trump and his minions do as they please.
That's the point. He'll care... a LOT... if and when he's held accountable. I call it Project 1793... without the whole Napolean thing.
trump will never be held accountable by us humans.
I absolutely agree. Whether it's by the states or the federal government, if the government says we need a particular type. of identification, they should provide it. I'm fortunate in that I do have a passport and a real ID drivers license but I live in a rural state and there are so many people that do not have that and many that will be unable to even get to the polls so any messing around with mail in ballots has to be eliminated. Everybody should see that for what it is... voter suppression. Let's take our country back!
The ChristoFascist Disenfranchisement Act for Autocracy. CDAFA.
This is the most important information needed in recent memory. I note Jon Ossoff and Barack Obama have talked about it on air, among other important issues, but the DNC needs to go all out and right quick in order to put this piece of crap to bed once and for all. Unfortunately, I'm not betting on that happening. The DNC needs a major shakeup and wakeup or we're all going down in flames.
My dad was born in Buffalo at his grandparents' house in 1926 and never had a birth certificate, although later in his life he had a passport. I changed my surname when I married, so no, my birth certificate doesn't match. This is nothing but an attempt by Trump and his minions to disenfranchise people that they think won't vote for him - they don't seem to realize that it will also disenfranchise people who would vote for them but don't have the particular documents required. A filibuster to oppose this terrible legislation is perfectly appropriate.
My birth certificate doesn't match my name either. I took my adopted dad's last name and changed the spelling of the first name. Fortunately I have a notarized letter stating the changes to make it legal, though many people who have done the same thing likely do not. This is voter suppression - undemocratic and unAmerican.
We have to wonder about JD Vance. What do you suppose his ID says? It sure doesn't match his birth certificate. I've lost track of his name changes.
Some kind of variance or immunity will be conferred upon him. Count on it.
you may want to apply to have your birth certificate amended. a notary does not attest to the truth of a statement. a notary certifies the person signing a statement showed ID to show they are the person signing. just a thought.
Let's hope the Democrats stay the course and run this GOP tactic back to where it belongs.
The MAGA accomplices of the WH Crime Boss must be made to feel fear. They must be made to fear for not only their seats in Congress but also the fear of prosecution after they're thrown out. The President is protected by the the criminal majority on the Supreme Court but the Toadies aren't. They must feel the brutality of actual truth and justice. No mercy.
We are paying their salaries in the belieif that they will support, provide for, and protect us. We are getting fleeced by the Trumpian Party in Congress. They serve Trump first, themselves second, and the people, if served at all, a distant third.
Getting fleeced, yes ... but perhaps it is more akin to a parasitic infection? We didn't want it, but we got it, it makes us sick, and we're having difficulty figuring out how to get rid of it!
You have that right. Figuring out how to get rid of it isn't too difficult if people would only think and quit voting against their own interests. Sadly, there is no vaccine for 'stupid'.
Great idea Jennifer, the dems should read the epstein files aloud in congress for their fillibuster !