How We Fight (or don't)

From the front page of today's NY Times,

President Barack Obama, 2016 "I simply ask Republicans in the Senate to give him (Merrick Garland) a fair hearing and then an up-and-down vote. If you don't, then it will not only be an abdication of the Senate's constitutional duty, it will indicate a process for nominating and confirming judges that is beyond repair." Indeed.

Later in 2016 Mitch said, "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, "Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy."

Many of us recall what happened after President Obama called for a fair hearing and then a vote. NOTHING.

The Senate tradition was that a Supreme Court nominee meets with all 100 Senators individually in their offices for about 10 minutes. Generally, photos are taken.

Very few Republicans agreed to host Merrick Garland.

No Senate hearings took place. No vote was ever called.

What did the Democrats do? Also, nothing.

No crowds in the Senate hallways waylaying (R) Senators and urging them to meet with Garland.

No marches. No protests. Nothing.

Michael Moore's Rumble podcast this morning is urging Democrats to fight. Is he kidding.

There may very well be a plan that can slow Mitch's roll. Please share it with the group if you can fathom it.

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Comments

that had the courtesy to meet Garland for ten minutes?

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6 users have voted.

@Marie There was at one time.

I'll try to find it.

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NYCVG

@NYCVG Here's what I could find: Charles Grassley, Rob Portman, Pat Toomey, Lisa Murkowski and no longer in the Senate: Jeff Flake, John Boozman.

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NYCVG

@NYCVG Grassley was Judiciary Chairman and Flake was on the committee. Toomey was in a tough reelection battle with a woman, but that may not have been a consideration for him. Boozman (AR) is still in the Senate; perhaps he just polite (unlike the other GOP southern senators.) Murkowski appears to be more consistent than the others. Haven't a clue about Portman.

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Lookout's picture

evidently the senate can push the nomination through. The dimwits could perhaps shut down the senate, but I can't see that. FDR threatened to increase the number of justices.

Hoffer says historians disagree about what happened next. Some argue that Justice Owen Roberts had shifted in his opinion of the New Deal before the election, giving later New Deal acts like social security, the National Labor Relations Act and other economic regulations his vote on the Court. That shifted the majority to favor federal welfare and regulatory enactments. Others contend that the threat of adding justices to the Court was enough to swing Roberts' vote.

In the end, Perry says, two members of the Court switched to a pro-New Deal position, known as “the switch in time that saved nine.”

https://www.history.com/news/franklin-roosevelt-tried-packing-supreme-court

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout Pelosi has announced that she won't be shutting Congress down.

Her opponent, Buttar is calling her move, "pre-emptive acquiesence."

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NYCVG

snoopydawg's picture

@NYCVG

"We are going to take everything off the table" if McConnell pushes through with it means that if democrats take the senate then Biden will expand the Supreme Court to more justices and also at the federal level. lol...no democrats are NOT going to do anything close to that. They’ve watched as democrats have folded to republicans since Trumps election, but they think that they will stand firm on this? They don’t even stand firm on McConnell's judges.

Boy o boy will they be surprised when after Trump loses he will leave DC and won’t be prosecuted for all those crimes he’s committed. They believe that Biden’s gonna be the 1st president that charges another one. T hee...exploding heads.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

wendy davis's picture

@NYCVG

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wendy davis's picture

was RBG 'the liberal lion' all she was cracked up to be? awkwardly phrased, of course, but what i mean is: were there other civil rights decisions in which she gave more power to police? i've been seeing a few short criticisms on Twitter that i can't make sense of that then link to PDFs of cases i can't want to try to parse.

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@wendy davis about liberal lion.

Self-centered Clinton insider who thought the Supreme Court was "hers."

That seems clear.

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NYCVG

wendy davis's picture

@NYCVG

rebranded as the 'Clinton News Network'.

but here's one of the ones i'd seen, and no, i don't mean you or anyone anyone has to follow try to decode it:

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wendy davis's picture

@NYCVG

she'd dissented the majority opinion that passed Citzen United into law. i'd forgotten that the hillary clinton documentaty was the genesis of the suit.

she'd also dissented with the majority opinion that effectively killed Miranda, but elena pffft kagan, obomba's choice voted with the majority.

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@wendy davis (Remember Orrin Hatch recommended her to Clinton.) The 'liberal lion' in the Rehnquist court was John Paul Stevens and during the first few years of the Roberts court. Now it's Sonia Sotomayor. Kagen has shown some promise but so far she's more in the RBG mold.

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wendy davis's picture

@Marie

i've been watching too much Twitter, it seems. sotomayor has been great, imo, but could you explain what the RBG mold is?

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@wendy davis strong on the rights of women (stronger than Sandra O'Connor who was reliable on Roe), strong but not particularly identified with minority rights, and moderate, neoliberalish, on economic issues. (O'Connor was a more solid corporatist.)

Scalia was generally uncompromising on free speech; so, RBG may have been in tune with him on that.

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wendy davis's picture

@Marie

memory again. i'm still jangled by the news that it was orrin hatch who'd suggested her to clinton. but then, even hearing his name again was on the shocking side. i felt the same when i'd heard some quotes from newt gingrich recently!

mr. wd still has a ragged t-shirt satirizing newtie that came with a long, long, ago Mother Jones subscription.

when i clicked into the MSN homepage just now, the Rolling Thunder news (as mr. wd calls it) has pelosi saying they may start impeachment proceedings if herr trump tries to choose RBG's replacement. last night RT had him saying he'll choose a woman. Nikki Haley? Ivanka?

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@wendy davis threatening impeachment over Trump's legal and historically acceptable actions or proposed actions. It's not only tiresome but further depreciates the intended purpose of the impeachment clause. Of course Republicans started this nonsense with the Clinton impeachment. And Pelosi declined to impeach Bush/Cheney for lying this country into a $5 trillion war; so, she should just STFU.

Have no idea why Clinton felt it necessary to seek advice/consent from the ranking minority member of the judiciary committee. Democrats held the majority at the time of RBG's nomination. Perhaps he feared that the chair of the judiciary committee (Biden) was too weak to shepherd his nomination through the committee.

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wendy davis's picture

@Marie

but that's the Queen of Team Blue: shake your fist, stamp your feet...and do nothing else.

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Cassiodorus's picture

is when will Democrats wake up and recognize that their party is in fact a Vichy party -- it's there to collaborate with Republicans just as the Vichy regime was there to collaborate with the Nazis.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Cassiodorus Why would they wake up?

They are getting rich from this pretense.

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NYCVG

Cassiodorus's picture

@NYCVG Even the rank and file?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Cassiodorus @Cassiodorus

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

usefewersyllables's picture

@Cassiodorus

"matter" (reg'd TM) are and will continue to be well compensated. The other ones? Hah. Where are they gonna *go*?.

The dems are an utter lost cause, and cannot go the way of the Whigs fast enough to suit me. Looking forward to my Green vote for what's-his-name. The Biden/Kopmala ticket may be the kick that dislodges the broomstick that holds up the shack perched over the Okeefnokeekokeemokiewokee swamp (all thanks to the old MAD magazine)...

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

wendy davis's picture

@usefewersyllables

Trademark the symbol is: numbers lock on, press alt and 0153 together, you've got say...Democracy for Some™. copyright is alt + 0169 or #FakeNews© or #MeToo©. ; )

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

in case Orange Man (OM) wins, I suppose. (iow, it employs many of the same tactics utilized by the US in foreign countries, in order to topple regimes when the Washington Establishment is not particularly pleased with the outcome of an election) So, wouldn't be too concerned about them fighting back.

Plus, AZ Senatorial race results 'may' knock down to only '3' the number of Repub Senators needed to defeat OM's nomination. (which, I suspect, won't be too hard to come by)

BTW, one of the primary authors of the Brookings White Paper "served as a counsel for the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment process of President Donald J. Trump in 2020." (per Wikipedia)

The plan will encourage the opposite stance regarding supporting BLM and/or Dem Party groups/protests. Remember, in 2014, Sharpton and Company were dispatched to various communities (Ferguson, etc.) to tamp down protests. And, a "Commission" to 'study' police brutality was set up--headed by former DC Police Chief Charles Ramsey, who presided over the most prolific manisfestation of police violence against peaceful protestors in the history of DC. (his department set a record for the highest dollar amount of awards granted to protestors, in DC)

Haven't read anything about this in the MSM, but, heard about it on Carlson's show. From there, searched and found the document they were talking about at the Brookings website. For whatever reason, his show is the only one, on Cable teevee, that gives writers such as Greenwald, M Tracey, and Aaron Mate a platform. IIRC, Greenwald has stated that he's been blackballed by CNN and MSDNC. What a sad commentary, if true.

If anyone wants links to the paper, let me know, and, I'll relocated/post it.

Oh, WJC is all over the Sunday shows today, defending our democracy. Rich--considering that he called for a government "Ministry Of Truth" when he was interviewed by "The Money Honey" on CNBC several years ago. (Maria Bartiromo interview) I believe it was in 2011, before FSC's run for President.

The interview also included a CEO of a cyber security firm. Naturally, both of them called for what we're seeing now--massive media censorship, especially, of social media. At the time, I posted an excerpt from the transcript at DKos. Get this--they (CNBC) have now scrubbed that one phrase. (Ministry Of Truth) The rest of the text, remains the same, as far as I can tell. Luckily, there's residual evidence of that phrase being used at other online websites.

Thanks for the essay. Everyone have a good "rest of your weekend." Pleasantry

Mollie

"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020

"I know, I know. All passion; no street smarts."
~~Captain West, 1992 Rob Reiner/Aaron Sorkin Movie, A Few Good Men

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator (1856-1950)

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

snoopydawg's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

I decided to wait and see if it comes to pass. My question is why did they let so many people know about it if it borders on sedition? There has been lots of talk about how Trump is not going to leave if he loses which is just silly. But now add this plan and it’s more fear mongering about the results. Guess we’ll see what happens in the end, but I feel it’s a psyop.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@snoopydawg

to know where you're hearing about this White Paper.

You ask,

My question is why did they let so many people know about it if it borders on sedition?

Again, haven't heard a peep, until Carlson's show covered it, a week or so, ago.

Dunno, but, the way the paper is written, it may be the reason that AG Barr is talking about pursuing sedition charges. (in anticipation)

I've only scanned the document, but, it sounds as though these Brookings Fellows are endorsing fomenting a regime (Administration) change--meaning, throwing OM out of office--regardless of the election results. IOW, even if he manages to win the electoral college vote.

I could be wrong, but, after the Russia Ruse, and the impeachment trial heavily based upon a bureaucrat (Vindman) being unhappy with the tone and/or substance of a 'phone call,' I'm convinced that there may be serious violence on the streets, if the Dem Party decides to overturn an election.

(that is, in event that OM wins the Electoral College vote, but loses popular vote)

Of course, Mr M and I are smack dab in the middle of his supporters. So, we're in total overdrive, trying to get a waiver to travel out of the country--ASAP.

Fingers crossed! Smile

You and Charlie take good care.

Mollie

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

snoopydawg's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

I’ve read a few others that basically say the same thing. I’m keeping an open mind on it, but I still think it’s a ploy.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/coming-coup

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@snoopydawg @snoopydawg

seen this piece, but, of course, I've heard the various 'talking points' that he discusses--election war games played out by Bill Kristol, John Podesta, etc., the push for universal mail-in voting (unsolicited) and risk of ballot harvesting, various Dem Party officials (including Biden) boasting that 'the military' will frog march OM out the door on January 20.

Agree with the Zero Hedge Dude when he suggests that the idea is to super heavily propagandize and/or 'prime' folks, so to speak, so that, when OM's ouster occurs (legally or illegally, meaning, whether he legitimately loses, or not) it won't seem terribly odd and/or frightening to the general public--or, perhaps, to his supporters, since others would likely be very happy--to see him frogmarched out of the White House.

Heh, time will tell. Again, thanks for the link.

[Edited: Added phrase for clarification.]

Mollie

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

snoopydawg's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

Greenwald has stated that he's been blackballed by CNN and MSDNC. What a sad commentary, if true.

Glenn, Aaron Mate and other leftists journalists are not invited on to MSDNC or CNN to give a different perspective on certain topics. Rachel will never let either of them come on her show to rebut the nonsense she spouts. And after Warren said that she won’t go on Fox because they’re misogynistic the centrists has decried that no one from the 'left' go on it either. Bernie was very naughty for going on to give his town hall. And of course Tulsi going on Carlson's show meant that she was a Russian puppet of Putin. I wish I was kidding.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

at strategic culture sept. 16, 2020 echoes it, seemingly. 'Will a Military Coup Undo the November Elections, Donald Trump and the Republic Itself?'

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snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

This goes back to my saying that I think we are being prepared for another psyop campaign on something that will not happen. So what if Trump refuses to leave the white house? The minute the clock strikes whatever time on Jan 21, 2021 Biden becomes president and Trump becomes an ex one. The power is transferred to the new president. Period. But boy does it ramp up the fear mongering. Not to say that Trump could use the courts to delay the final decision, but that's all he can do. If I am wrong please let me know. As Blue republic stated a semi color revolution has been playing out since Trump won through the Russian nonsense, Mueller and the impeachment farce. People think Nancy is going to impeach Trump if he goes through with a SC appointment. For gawd's sake she has no standing because the constitution gives him the power to do it. She take that kabuki ploy though before she stands firm and threatens to shut down the government. She won't even hint at threatening to do it. And her sycophantic supports will let her get away with it. Schumer? Yeah he's worthless. See my essay for thoghts on him.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

columns are all likely psyops, time will tell. and i'm totally mindful of the disgusting fact that the Blues are only willing to fund the post office...until after the election vote-by-mail ballots are in.

i do need to ask blue republic whether or not his civil war conclusions/conjectures are based on what i believe he called the very long 'bannon' video or not. but the gene sharpe/otpor/CANVAS (are they called 'color revolutions' have been going on since socialist milosevic (another of bill clinton's wars) to the attempted overthrow of hugo chavez >>>?.

oh, and wsws had reported that RBG had traveled to egypt to support the overthrow of mubarac (you'll remember hellary's part in installing th next US puppet govt. better than i).

anyhoo interesting times. thanks for your thoughts on the matter/s. and so far, no word on the release of the police body cam footage in the shooting of linden cameron.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@snoopydawg

"anarchies" by AG Barr. (supposedly, will be grounds for withholding federal funds)

The NYT says that protesters are now in neighborhoods with bullhorns, demanding that residents support them. Will try to relocate the piece, and post it. IIRC, saw it at MSNBC news feed.

Regarding Dems and MSM Media--No doubt they're trying to create a state of fear (and, capitalize on the ignorance of many) in their Base--that's how they've run for decades.

Having said that--CNN and MSDNC don't run the programming that the do, 24/7, pushing the election "war games," repeatedly declaring that OM won't leave office because he joked about staying an extra term because of his poor treatment (impeachment)--for no good reason.

Many people say that don't listen to cable or network news. Might be a good idea to start doing so--for a while, at least. Remember, a lot of 'regular' (non-political or nonpartisan) people do--and, unfortunately, they believe every word of what they hear!

See below.

US Declares New York City, Seattle, Portland As Anarchist Jurisdictions, Threatens Funding
By Kevin Billings
09/21/20 AT 12:24 PM

KEY POINTS

The U.S Department of Justice cited rising crime rates and failure to prosecute protesters among the reasons for the designations

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget will have 30 days to decide on potential cuts to the three cities' federal funds

State and local officials in New York previously threatened legal action over threats to the state's federal funds

The U.S. Department of Justice designated New York City, Portland, and Seattle as “anarchist jurisdictions” on Monday after months of Black Lives Matter protests and rising crime rates between the cities.

The cities potentially stand to lose millions in federal funding as a result of the designation, which is likely to set off court battles between the Trump administration and state leaders.

Among the reasons the Justice Department’s report cites for the designations include the rising gun and violent crime rates in the cities, cuts to the police budgets, failure to prosecute protesters, and state and local officials rejecting support from federal law enforcement.

Mollie

"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020

"I know, I know. All passion; no street smarts."
~~Captain West, 1992 Rob Reiner/Aaron Sorkin Movie, A Few Good Men

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator (1856-1950)

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

wendy davis's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

and earlier Barr was calling all involved in black lives matters protests across amerikkka: 'domesttic terrorists'.

menwhile, many believe that DT's October surprise will include thug pompeo's latin americn tour to urge colombia (under NATO's umbrella') and guyana to depose nicolas maduro. by whatever means necessary? another USAID/NED/OAS/CIA attempt. but that's a much longer story...

at least dementia joe's honest: barry o'bomba will be his puppet master:

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@wendy davis

totally shocked--but, I'm thoroughly disgusted regarding overturning Maduro. From what I'm hearing, OM (Orange Man) is desperately going after the Hispanic vote. Especially, the Cuban vote in Florida. So, guess that's a pander to that cohort.

I could be wrong, but, I think AG Barr may be in 'practice' mode for what he anticipates will be the aftermath of the November election.

Heh, Mr M and I are pretty much 'sequestered' or quarantined, anyway. But, sorta beginning to worry that there will be civil unrest like we've never witnessed. IOW, the BLM protests in some cities may look like child' play, before all is said and done.

One thing for sure--we're staying out of all of it! Biggrin

Take care. My best to Mr WD. Both of you stay well, and safe.

Blue

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

wendy davis's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

even though i have no idea of what an 'emergency exit visa' might mean. i assume passports are required? and either flying or driving to a new location, but as far as flights, how many airlines are even in the air by now? the skies here are silent save for an occasional turbo-prop puddle jumper, and local hobby fliers.

earlier, during the height of our local fire season, it was all copters and military planes for slurry-bombing.

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@wendy davis . No telling when it will open,and you need either a passport or an 'enhanced driver's license' to enter.

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wendy davis's picture

@aliasalias

covid restrictions? thanks for the info. ha! we tried to tour canada one fall...and were sent back to Go. of course, we were hitch-hiking with our spaniel dog and had to walk up to the border crossing, where the officials looked at us...and shook their heads No.No.No.

we'd been working construction in brekenridge, co, and had tons of money with us. ah, well.

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@wendy davis

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@Unabashed Liberal
business is deserving of its own essay/thread.

Some good investigative reporting has been done by revolver.news
who note that not only does the "color revolution" playbook appear
to be being followed here - effectively a regime change coup, but that
it is being coordinated by people who have done this work in Eastern Europe
before - two people from the Obama administration. Norm Eisen and George Kent are cited
as significant players. Revolver's piece on Eisen (BHO law school buddy - was the "Ethics Czar" in the Obama Administration, if that suggests anything...) here

I'm not a Steve Bannon fan, but in this episode of his War Room Pandemic program he has as his guest Darren Beattie (former Duke University professor) who has researched all this extensively and whose clear explanation of color revolution and how it is playing out in the current situation is well worth catching (from 47:00 of the video):

Someone mentioned they were intending to watch this and see what happens. For one thing, if it's happening it is *already* happening and has been for some time. For another, if the trajectory continues it's quite likely that the country will be in civil war or the next thing to it in a matter of months.

This is being *engineered* by ruthless authoritarians who are not doing this out of a fervent desire to make the world a better and happier place for the rest of us. I'd suggest the situation merits something a little more proactive than hanging around wondering whether they are going to succeed...

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wendy davis's picture

@Blue Republic

inscrutable to me due to its length and zillion hyperlinks. i'd gone in search of key words: gene sharpe, Otpor!, CANVAS, and CIA/Nato.

but as i remember, he/they loathed 'communists and socialists' like yannno, hugo chavez, maduro, prolly cubanao 'dictators' as well.

but after discarding half a dozen, i've settled on this by Wm. Engdhal, 'The Dishonest Career of the Remarkable Srđa Popović’, jan, 10, 2017

just a bit to entice...or dissuade you):

Guiding Otpor!’s Milošević ouster operation, US Ambassador to Serbia Richard Miles was a specialist in regime change, far more so than in classical diplomacy. He orchestrated the CIA coup in Azerbaijan that brought Aliyev to power in 1993 before arriving in Belgrade, and after that went on to orchestrate the CIA coup in Georgia that brought US asset Mikheil Saakashvili to power.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID), widely known as a CIA front, had channeled the Serb Otpor! Millions of dollars in funds through commercial contractors and through the US-government-financed NGOs: the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the National Democratic Institute, and the International Republican Institute. The Open Society Institute of George Soros was also funneling money into Popović ’s Otpor! for the toppling of Milosevic. I have yet to find a CIA and US State Department regime change or Color Revolution in which the “democracy-building” foundations of Soros were not in a kind of harmony with the Washington State Department and CIA agenda. Maybe just a coincidence.

The NED with all its affiliates was a project of Ronald Reagan CIA head, Bill Casey, in the early 1980’s to conceal CIA regime change operations around the world behind the front of a “private” democracy NGO, the NED. Allen Weinstein, cofounder of the NED admitted to the Washington Post, “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”

[huuuuuge snip]

Popović’s CANVAS claims to have trained “pro-democracy activists” from more than 50 countries, including Ukraine, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Burma (actually the legal name since independence from the British is Myanmar but Washington insists on the colonial name), Ukraine, Georgia, Eritrea, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. Popović ’s CANVAS was involved as well in unsuccessful attempts to start Color Revolution regime change against Venezuela’s Hugo Chaves and the opposition in the failed 2009 Iran Green Revolution.

Every one of those countries happen to also be targets for Washington regime-change of governments who refuse to toe the Washington line on key foreign policy issues, or which contain vital raw materials such as oil, natural gas or strategic minerals.

Goldman Sachs and Stratfor

Even more interesting details recently came to light on the intimate links between the US “intelligence consultancy”, Stratfor—known as the ”Shadow CIA” for its corporate clients which include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and U.S. government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

It was revealed in a huge release of internal memos from Stratfor in 2012, some five million emails provided them by the hacker community Anonymous, that Popović, after creating CANVAS also cultivated very close relations with Stratfor. According to the Stratfor internal emails, Popović worked for Stratfor to spy on opposition groups. So intimate was the relationship between Popović and Stratfor that he got his wife a job with the company and invited several Stratfor people to his Belgrade wedding.

Revealed in the same Stratfor emails by Wikileaks was the intriguing information that one of the “golden geese” funders of the mysterious CANVAS was a Wall Street bank named Goldman Sachs. Satter Muneer, a Goldman Sachs partner, is cited by Stratfor’s then-Eurasia Analyst Marko Papic. Papic, asked by a Stratfor colleague whether Muneer was the “golden goose” money behind CANVAS, writes back, “They have several golden gooses I believe. He is for sure one of them.”

Wikileaks Docs Expose Famed Serbian Activist’s Ties to ‘Shadow CIA’, December 2, 2013, in these times

i was embarrassed to learn all this after lauding him at firedoglake during Occupy via his 'handbook'.

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@wendy davis @wendy davis

Popovich/Otpor!/CANVAS and had only the vaguest knowledge of NED and its origins, so again - thanks for the heads up.

On the subject of Serbia - and the rest of former Yugoslavia, this survivor of that civil war has some cautionary words for Americans who would like to avoid a similar disaster:

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wendy davis's picture

@Blue Republic

don't they? but milosevic died in the hague prison just before he was absolved of war crimes. thanks. yup; she was otpor/CANVAS, i'd rckon.

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wendy davis's picture

@Blue Republic

largely on the bannon video, then? even your suggestion of starting at 47 minutes leaves about...and hour and fifteen minutes. in my current brain malformation, i can usually last about 15 mins before i get tummy-wonky vertigo. hope others may be able to watch. cliffs notes?

For another, if the trajectory continues it's quite likely that the country will be in civil war or the next thing to it in a matter of months.

on edit: i'd forgotten how many time zones away you live. hope you're sleepin' well.

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@wendy davis @wendy davis

Bannon's guest is Darren Beattie - author and former Duke University prof - watching about ten to fifteen minutes from 47:00 should be plenty to get a handle on what he's talking about.

Basically, the Soros types and the national security and other bureaucracy - working through MSM and social media have contrived to create a situation of extreme insecurity and divisiveness such that there is pretty much guaranteed to be chaos no matter what the actual election result is, providing cover for Trump to be removed even if he actually won and for the Clintons, Clappers, Brennnans, Blackrocks, etc. to get back to the business of running things the way they had gotten accustomed to...

Here's a not-to-longish article from NY Post discussing Beattie's work.

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wendy davis's picture

@Blue Republic

just to see the 4 faces and hear the voices, watch them vie for time!!! thanks for the NY post link, but again: this is the sort of rubbish that flips my topnot:

BLM-Antifa’s “mostly peaceful protests” are America’s version of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, where civil unrest was fomented on the streets to oust a Kremlin-backed authoritarian.

yanukovytch was overthrown because he'd decided that signing the EU association deal would be bad for ukraine. so out, then in? In? the chocolate king, petro poroshenko!

anyhoo, we aren't likely to agree on everything, as i'm one of them goddurned socials! ; )

gotta scoot; waaaaay behind on my chores.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Blue Republic

writer," but, go for it (regarding the Color Revolution) it you'd like. You probably know more about it, than I do, anyway. I'll be glad to chime in, if there's anything I can add to the conversation.

BTW, saw that you replied to me about Uruguay--but, couldn't figure out which thread or essay.

If you don't mind, and, remember--did you have a link to the piece you read? Will probably not get to drop back by until Friday 'cause of workshops that I'm helping with, but, would love to read it. OTOH, if it's a hassle, don't worry about it. I plan to call the Embassy, hopefully, this week, or, early next week. Of course, any info we can get our hands on, is helpful, and welcome.

Have a good one, and, be well.

Pleasantry

Mollie

"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020

"I know, I know. All passion; no street smarts."
~~Captain West, 1992 Rob Reiner/Aaron Sorkin Movie, A Few Good Men

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator (1856-1950)

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

@Unabashed Liberal @Unabashed Liberal

Here's my reply about Uruguay - it was on the Evening Blues 1-20-21
responding to a bit about Argentines heading to Uruguay partly in response to lowered
requirements for an investor-type visa and 10 year tax holiday for investor/immigrants.

"If I had a stray 400 Grand sitting around
I might be off to Uruguay myself. Take some tango lessons..."

And Uruguay is encouraging the flow. South America’s smallest nation not only lowered the minimum value of property foreigners must acquire to obtain tax residency from $1.7m to just $380,000 earlier this year, but also passed a new law offering arrivals a 10-year “tax holiday”. ...

Once known as “the Switzerland of South America”, because of its high quality of life and its former banking secrecy laws, Uruguay has now become its New Zealand.

Its population is only 66% the size of the Kiwi state, but both countries have seen fewer than 2,000 cases and coronavirus deaths in double digits. Thanks to a large testing and contact tracing program, most of Uruguay’s schools, restaurants and sports clubs have remained open throughout the pandemic.

Well, if they have stayed open to that extent they are certainly not channelling NZ in their COVID response as New Zealand has one of the most draconian lockdown regimes in the world in place and has set conditions for ending the emergency measures that will probably never be realizable.

Their PM is disturbingly like Oregon governor Kate Brown both in appearance and ideology. Yuck. Enough (well, almost) to put me off my feed...

(also embedded the video below from an anti-lockdown NZ parliament member)

Article was comparing them with New Zealand and mentioned they both had low rates of COVID infection despite Uruguay not having significantly locked down. So, I though it was worth pointing out that that was in contrast to NZ which has severe lockdowns in place and is trying to implement (see video) mandatory vaccination - while claiming that it is not mandatory and attempting to censor dissent, of course...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=Z5rV-laQLYE&feature=emb_...

Not sure if you were also asking about the domestic coup/color revolution thing, but one guy who has been researching and publicizing this is Darren Beattie (former Duke University prof).

Revolver.news has done a number of exclusive reports about the Transition Integrity Project and individuals from the Obama adminstration involved in both the engineered "revolutions" in Eastern Europe and elsewhere who have subsequently been intimately involved in the various efforts to get rid of Trump - here's a link to the second article in their series, about the TIP.

Darren Beattie on Tucker Carlson (9/16/20)

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Blue Republic

and Color Revolution info.

Mr M and I qualify by age for a retiree visa/citizenship, and, it costs practically nothing. Guess it's a good thing that Uruguay is inviting new businesses/entrepreneurs into their country. Canada has a similar program, but, they provide some of the financing (for those people they approve).

Regarding the video, I'll definitely watch it tomorrow. It is possible that Beattie is the person I heard mention the white paper (Brookings) - since I normally listen to cable teevee on XM Radio, obviously, I don't see who's talking. (it wasn't Bannon, I'm sure)

I tend to check out much of what I read and hear. Whoever Carlson was interviewed that evening, I didn't recognize their name. At any rate, the Dude was correct--such a white paper does exist on the Brookings website. Although I didn't read every word--scanned it, especially the sections that most interested me--I have to say, the person gave a decently accurate description of what it calls for. I'll probably know if it was him, once I watch the video.

Mollie

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

janis b's picture

@Blue Republic

Seems like you have no real idea about New Zealand. While Billy Te Kahika expresses some truth, it can’t be denied that he is taking advantage politically, in whatever devious means he can, to acquire votes in the election that will be held in 3 weeks. His running mate is Jami-Lee Ross ...

Controversial independent MP Jami-Lee Ross is again under investigation after misconduct allegations saw three of the four staff in his Botany office placed on special leave.
The latest complaints, understood to include bullying, are from the past year and relate to staff in the office he set up as an independent MP after his spectacular falling out with National [the NZ equivalent of US Republican].

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/new-allegations-surround-mp-jami-lee-ross

I could drop more disgust on the two, but it would be a waste of time.

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@janis b

Very familiar with NZ politics down to the level of individual politicians.

The basic thrust of my comment, though, was to point out that although the EB piece about Uruguay/Argentina cited similarities between Uruguay and NZ, including their low death tolls from COVID-19, and although it mentioned that there had been no real shutdown of the economy in Uruguay, it *failed* to mention NZ's draconian response.

Which, as in other "woke" jurisdictions such as New York or Victoria, Australia is being sold as a necessary, scientifically sound response to the COVID "emergency". BUT the experience of Uruguay, Japan, Sweden - not to mention the opinion of quite a few epidemiologists very much calls that into question.

And very much calls into question the motives of those pushing for never-ending emergency measures, ever-enhanced surveillance, mandatory vaccines (but no liability for the makers) all in the guise of protecting us...

Do Jacinda Ardern and her crowd think there is any place for people like this in their society? I doubt it.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@Unabashed Liberal that the Dems will concede the election in advance to avoid having to execute such a plan.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

wendy davis's picture

@Cassiodorus

laughs, chortles, guffaws, and spit-takes, cass.

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wendy davis's picture

his take on the canaonizations of ginsberg as per the liberal D media at wsws.org this morning. it's long, and he does note her better decisions, etc., but i'm kinda more interested in her pro-police ones, as per the tweet i'd put in.

but a few graphs and an earlier 2014 link as to 'qualified immunity' that affected other such later cases:

In 2014, for example, Ginsburg joined a 9-0 unanimous Supreme Court decision granting qualified immunity to the police officers who killed Donald Rickard and Kelly Allen.

[ https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/05/29/immu-m29.html ]

Police had attempted to pull over Donald Rickard in July 2004 because he had only one working tail light. Rickard unsuccessfully attempted to flee, his car eventually spinning out into a parking lot where police tried to box him in with their cruisers. When Rickard maneuvered his car in an effort to drive away, police opened fire with a hail of 15 bullets, causing the car to crash. Rickard was struck by gunfire and killed, and so was Kelly Allen, who was seated in the passenger seat.

Rickard’s daughter sued the police for wrongful death, alleging that the use of lethal force was excessive and unreasonable. The police claimed “qualified immunity,” but both the federal district court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Rickard’s family in allowing the case to proceed.

When the police appealed to the United States Supreme Court, the Obama administration sided with the police, with Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. filing a brief arguing for immunity.

In May 2014, the Supreme Court unanimously granted qualified immunity to the police, and Rickard’s daughter’s case was thrown out of court without a trial. In the context of already endemic police brutality, the decision was a green light for more police killings. Together with supposed “progressive icon” Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the unanimous decision was also joined by Obama appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

In addition to the Rickard case, Ginsburg joined a decision in 2014 expanding the doctrine of qualified immunity from police to paid agents of the state who are not full-time employees, and in 2017, signed off on a decision permitting Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim travel ban to go into effect.

his brief narrative of her deep friendship with 'arch-reactionary and bigot' antonin scalia
is pretty funny altogether.

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lotlizard's picture

https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

As we have seen with Russiagate, the entire Five Eyes “intelligence community” with all their media friends and tools have no qualms about targeting anyone, all the way up to a sitting president of the United States, with a full-court-press public disinformation campaign with the aim of discrediting and undermining them.

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My last vote in a Presidential election was 2012 when I was down to exactly one issue that I cared about and had any hope at all that Obama would deliver on it -- the Supreme Court. When he folded up like a dishrag, again, I turned to Bernie Sanders, who had a damned impressive run before also folding up like a dishrag.

A friend and I were talking about how the rhetoric about the upcoming vote count was even more virulent than it was in 2016 -- when both parties accused each other of trying to steal the election before a single vote was cast. Once Trump took office, the Dems had legitimate reasons to raise hell about Trump, and ignored them all. Instead they continued with their loud but affectless accusation that he did not win, but was installed because Russia tricked enough voters into voting Trump, by telling the truth about what the Democrats were saying to each other about fixing the primary for Hillary.

You could not devise a better way to rev up the blue team while pissing off the red team. At its heart, the Russiagate Story turns on the assertion that Trump voters are too stupid to understand that the truth about the Democrats should not be considered a factor in their voting decision. The Blue Team never explains why it should not be a factor -- but you are a piece of shit if you don't embrace that assumption because Russia. And Putin. Invoke either of those words, and all thought is supposed to stop and be replaced by fear and loathing. Just like Orwell predicted.

For four years, the Russiagate accusation has been "debunked" beyond hope and caring, yet it continues to bounce around the MSM even now.

Meanwhile, the Republicans HAVE been stealing elections at least since Shrub was jammed down the country's throat twice. Voter suppression is pretty much the GOP's overt policy. And let us not forget the Trump campaign in 2016 with its theme of Lock Her Up. His constituency is mainly the old Tea Party, which was the even older Religious Right, a group of boobs who have been manipulated for the last three decades by bullshit from Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and the creepy gaggle of preacher-political cheerleaders in the mold of Pat Robertson.

Within the world of Trump supporters, wacky conspiracy theories have been percolating for decades, starting with Whitewater and Slick, Hillary and Bengazi, Obama and his birth certificate. Like I said, boobs. But this constituency is now looking at truly biblical catastrophe while continuing to simmer with their own variety of hate for "liberals." And of course many of these citizens are overt racists who see how corporate America has now embraced Black Lives Matter, in spite of the rioting that accompanied most of the protests of police shooting this weird summer in America.

The Tea Party/MAGA parts of cyvberspace are full of conspiracy theories that are just as jarring as the Democratic theory of Russian "interference" in "our" election. Supposedly the goal is to reduce the world's population from 7 billion to 1 billion. Supposedly the Democratic Party will turn its irregular militia (antifa) loose on suburbia to establish a reign of terror. Many harbor what I consider the silliest idea of all -- that there is a plot to "get" Trump.

(I do not believe that last one because if you have the wherewithal to arrange this civilizational suicide, you don't need to worry about politicians. If getting Trump were really the goal of all this massive dislocation and misery, he would be dead or in prison now.)

But with nothing normal, and all of our national "leadership" telling a mutually apocalyptic story of impending conflict over who legitimately holds power, which ever tribe "loses" the "vote" on election night will not believe it. Instead of anybody in authority urging a lowering of voices or appealing for some sort of common ground, the zeitgeist is full of mutual condemnation.

I refuse to take sides in this concocted "confrontation" which cannot be resolved within the four corners of The Constitution. Only one thing can keep this from blowing up -- one side or the other pulling away in the "polls" and then winning the "election" in a landslide.

That is the probable outcome, unless we are living through a conspiracy (not a theory) that includes the leadership of both parties, driving toward some mysterious end. I think they have been conspiring with each other for 20 years, giving us war forever, bankster rule, and steadfast refusal to do anything about climate change.

Most of us obsess on the personalities and symbolic issues that Trump and Obama provoke. We are now moving dangerously close to an actual shooting war against ourselves due to those symbols.

Maybe that is the goal. If not, we are run by a bunch of morons.

Take your pick.

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

wendy davis's picture

and good on him! ‘Supreme Court fight deepens political crisis surrounding US elections’, 21 September 2020 this may be about a third of it:

Trump announced Saturday that he would nominate a female jurist to the open seat on the Supreme Court, citing as possible choices two ultra-right Catholics who are well-known opponents of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion: Judge Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana and Judge Barbara Lagoa of Florida, a Cuban-American.
....................
There are several considerations involved in the drive to fill the Ginsburg vacancy as quickly as possible. Trump and McConnell calculate that the prospect of assuring a 6-3 ultra-right majority on the court, likely sufficient to reverse the Roe v. Wade decision, could mobilize Christian fundamentalist voters behind a Republican election campaign that has been flagging.

Trump trails Democrat Joe Biden in most polls, nationally and in the key “battleground” states that will decide the contest in the Electoral College. Wall Street and much of corporate America have thrown their support to Biden, who has raised far more campaign cash than Trump and is dominating the airways just as early voting begins in many states.

[as have 38 Republican national security offinials]

Senate Republicans are also in danger of losing their narrow three-vote majority in the upper house, with Republican incumbents trailing in the polls in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina and Maine, and only narrowly ahead in a half-dozen other states, while only one Democrat, in Alabama, is in serious danger.

The makeup of the high court could play a major role in deciding disputes arising from the election itself. A 6-3 right-wing majority would be a far more favorable arena for Trump if he challenges mail-in ballots or makes some other legal effort, modeled on the 2000 Bush v. Gore decision, to shut down vote-counting and have himself declared the winner.
.....................................
In addition, just two weeks after the election, the Supreme Court is to hear a challenge to the Affordable Care Act brought by a group of Republican state attorneys general. If Ginsburg is replaced by a conservative justice, the 5-4 decision that upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare in 2012 could well be overturned.
...................................
The response of the Democratic Party leadership in Washington, however, is a combination of cowardice and impotence. They shake their fists at Trump, but they are far more afraid of the consequences of any direct appeal to popular hostility to this hated right-wing government.

This attitude found expression in an unusual Sunday night press conference by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The “senator from Wall Street,” as Schumer is known, and the professed democratic-socialist Ocasio-Cortez had never before made common cause.

They came together to denounce McConnell’s plan to hold a confirmation vote on Trump’s nominee to fill the Ginsburg vacancy, warning of a massive threat to the basic rights of the American people. Trump would appoint a justice committed to overturning reproductive rights, labor rights, civil rights, voting rights, the rights of LGBTQ people, including gay marriage, and turn the clock back, they declared.

All this is perfectly true, but what the two Democrats actually proposed to do about it was … nothing. They urged those watching to call, write and email their senators, particularly Republican senators in contested states.
.......................................
If the Democrats issued a call for a mass demonstration in Washington to oppose the Trump-McConnell effort to fill the Supreme Court vacancy on the eve of the election, they know very well that masses of people would turn out. That is, of course, exactly why they don’t do it. They are far more afraid of the social forces that would be unleashed by such an appeal than of any attacks Trump and the Republicans make on the democratic rights of working people.

Particularly significant is the subservient role of Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, who has been glorified by the pseudo-left groups as proof that their policy of pushing the Democratic Party to the left can transform this right-wing capitalist party into an instrument for progressive social change.

One reporter asked Ocasio-Cortez about impeaching Trump a second time in an effort to block the Senate confirmation vote (under Senate rules, an impeachment vote by the House forces a Senate trial that takes precedence over all other business). She replied meekly that impeachment is “up to the Democratic leadership,” i.e., Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, both die-hard defenders of big business and the US political establishment.
...................................
The enumeration by Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez of the rights that would be endangered if Trump is allowed to proceed with his third nomination of a Supreme Court justice only underscores the extremely attenuated character of American democracy. How is it possible that the rights of tens of millions of people—workers, blacks, gays, women, immigrants—can be threatened by one judge, or two senators, or even a president?

These rights were won in struggles carried out over many decades and involving millions upon millions of working people. Yet now, the Democrats admit, they hang by a thread.

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@wendy davis

Not all conservatives are thrilled with Barrett, consider this from
attorney (ad frequent Infowars guest and guest host) Robert Barnes*

In #Barrett tenure on the bench, she hasn't found a prosecutor she doesn't side with, a corporation she doesn't prefer, or a government action she doesn't approve of. Bad rulings on takings, free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, discrimination, and misconduct.

source

OTOH - If Trump were to nominate Lagoa it could give him a boost with Latinos especially in Florida where she is from. It might well help him even (especially?) if the Democrats try to block her nomination or a vote on it.

Without Florida very few ways for Trump to win. With it, however...

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