We the democratic voters - need to be on the same page regarding what we want and need. Specifically, we have been demanding that the John Lewis Voting
Rights Act (HR-4) be passed and implemented into law. That is critical.
It is necessary in order to restore preclearance and other measures stripped from the VRA 1965 by the Roberts Court in 2013 to hold states accountable. Otherwise, republicans in red states will continue to run roughshod over voters with all kinds of voter suppression tactics.
But equally as important is the passage and implementation of the For the People Act (HR-1), which garners much less discussion. Some people may consider them to be the same thing, but they aren't.
And that's why they must have equal time each time we talk about protecting voting rights and the election processes. The For the People Act contains provision for automatic registration, addressing money from politics, gerrymandering, and other issues.
To protect voting, both bills are essential. Therefore, it's clear that voter protection and election process integrity will be better secured without BOTH acts in full effect.
Please keep this in mind as we push congress to move and get it done.
The only thing that'll change the minds of opportunistic, cowardly GOP congressmen and women is when they start getting killed in the streets at home or the halls of the Capitol by rabid racist insurrectionists and rightwing extremists, too. But, then they'll be dead, won't they?
Some of them think they're being cute and coy. Others think that they are immune to being harmed because they parrot the words of the insurrectionists or even cooperate in the conspiracies. Others are just to afraid of everything to say a word.
The republicans are essentially making coffee and sandwiches for the mass marauders who are plundering the castle.
While most republican voters support increasing the minimum wage, most also still support Trump. So their political support won't change much despite the benefits they'll get from democratic policy.
Still, a few republican voters will still peel off because of republican party inaction, and that will go along way towards cementing the democratic House Majority in 2022.
And, if democrats play their cards right, they could use that to gain support from a couple of senate republicans like Toomey, Burr, and maybe even Portman who are retiring and their states are perilously close to flipping their seats blue.
Despite cheating, electioneering, attempted election theft, crime, and even insurrection, democratic voters delivered the WH and a senate majority. We did it for a reason. It is a non-negotiable mandate to address the needs and will of the people.
We have heard for years that elections have consequences. Senate democrats need to understand and own that. The voters clearly do.
One of the most important items to the vast majority of most democrats, and to large pluralities of republicans, is the $15/hr. minimum wage.
Not only has it been the capstone of the decade long fight against income inequality, it is one of the most important measures necessary to recover from the #COVID19 economic collapse.
The U.S. national security and intelligence apparatus has said for years that climate change is the single greatest threat to the nation and world. While systems intrusion and hacking by foreign actors could potentially have replicated some of what happened in Texas, it didn't.
Climate change and failure to plan did that, along with incompetence, ineptitude, and sheer greed.
Not only was what happened in Texas the failure of governance and malfeasance, it was a complete failure of imagination, vision, and insight.
While some folks want to call it a "black swan event," the fact is what happened in Texas was not. Not only was it anticipated, it was predicted. The people in charge were told what the problems were, how to fix them and why. They were told what to expect if they didn't.
Manchin is one of the weakest men in America. For whatever Tanden has said, it's nowhere near anything we've seen or heard from dept. heads of the previous admin. She is more competent to direct OMB than almost anyone who has held the position the past two or three decades.
To placate the GOP, Manchin went out of the way to support dozens of Trump nominees who were far more toxic and far less competent for jobs without a single word. Those people lied to congress, violated laws, policies and procedures, ignored subpoenas, and even committed crimes.
None of that even addresses the often false, toxic, and even hate driven publics comments they made on television, social media, or in speeches. Those staff asserted rights and privileges they didn't have and didn't exist. Many lied under oath.
Erick Erickson and Ben Shapiro apparently can't understand why the media is beating the daylights out of Cruz for going on vacation because there was nothing for him to do during a cataclysmic life-threatening ice storm.
- Coordinating a federal response,
- Working with the White House to assemble aid and disseminate relief,
- Supporting constituents on the ground,
- Checking in on hospitals and seniors, and
- Calling rich donors
are all too hard for Cruz to do as a US senator?
But you'd better believe that Cruz will be the first one to a microphone to cry and scream when it comes time to appropriate cash for Texas relief. Do you suppose he still remembers his response to Chris Christie in the wake of Super Storm Sandy? Probably not.