Senator Booker's 25 hour non-filibuster
So, I watched all 25 hours, over several days, not at one sitting.
The senator is a known quantity, a true believing neo-liberal and strong supporter of Israel. IDK if that last is belief or policy on his part. He is generally not considered a "progressive", and the colleagues who joined him on the floor to ask questions for the most part did not include well-known progressives, with the exception of the two Massachusetts senators. So, why do I think this 25 hour verbal Marathon was important, and not merely a stunt?
(For any reader who is a Trump voter, you have your opinion, and I have mine. Neither party was offering the kind of proposals I wanted to see, such as closing overseas military bases and expanding mass transit. That being the case, I had to look at the characters of the two candidates. Please don't waste my time here. The guy who married three bimbos and cheated on all of them, the loudmouth who says whatever comes to mind and we are supposed to believe him because...charisma?? Give.me.a.break. I think Harris would have been a mediocre president, but she would surely not have insulted our closest allies.)
What I am seeing from this admin is just what we saw last time around, lazy incompetence. Part of the importance of the 25 hour verbal marathon was the contrast with Maga mouthy, lazy incompetence. The Senator had prepared meticulously--they teach you how to do that at places like Stanford and Oxford. He had dossier after dossier about how this new admin's policies, and the reckless enforcement of them, were affecting people's lives. Furthermore, when he wasn't reading, you know, actual letters from actual constituents, detailing their fears and the harm the new policies are already causing, he was quoting mainstream and even conservative journalists on these same policies. The WSJ was quoted more than once. No slogans or talking points or advertising 'memes'.
What I did not like so well: no mention of Israel, much less Gaza. Chucky Schemer was on hand to see that nothing mean about Israel was said, but I do think Senator Booker might at least have made clear his opposition to genocide. He read letters from federal employees who had been summarily dismissed, escorted out of buildings, and their personal belongings not returned to them. I think they should have all filed police reports for theft of personal items. You can always drop charges later if it turns out that an impoverished cleaner took something, quite understandably thinking that the owner didn't want it. I am also not understanding or accepting the notion that the so-called doge boys cannot be named and photographed. If you are making consequential decisions about MY government, I WANT TO KNOW who you are, where you come from, and are YOU EVEN IN MY COUNTRY LEGALLY. And I Don't Effing Care if your Great Leader says they are all beautiful people. I still want names and resumes.
Nevertheless, despite my reservations, I take two things away from the Senator's non-filibuster.
First, is that this is what professional demeanor, preparation and accomplishment looks like. If that hurts someone's poor ikle feelingses, that someone needs to take a good look at themselves. Second, is that the administration is alienating, not only the progressives, but centrist solid citizens as well. Those are the people you do not want mad at you if you plan on winning elections.
Comments
Whose "closest allies" are they? Certainly not mine.
Harris was an inherent insult to We The People from square 1; who cares about the other oligarchs?
Let's be clear here: After 8 years of bogus charges and an assassination-attempt that just earned him sympathy, Trump has finally earned his place in line to the guillotine with his embrace of the GazaCaust and (let's dub it) Yemenocide - HOWEVER, the fact that all the other mass-murdering tyrant kleptocrats get insulted when he's around? That's his silver lining, always has been.
Excerpted from an E-mail I just got:
If someone lets a 25-hour American Idol audition take precedence over this, I think that is the someone who really needs to self-examine.
I have not read this book, but having long-since heard of it, I am reminded of it now; perhaps now I will: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13064702-hopeless
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
From the squib at your link
,
This perfectly summarizes why I don't vote and why I am fundamentally suspicious of Trump Hate:
Of course, Trump is the current face of the Empire. But it is the Empire that is murdering people in droves. If by some incomprehensible as of now political machination, We, the People rise up and run Trump out of the Executive Mansion and into prison, The Empire will roll along its murderous way.
In the meantime, of course there is no chance that Trump Hate will ever work any better than it has for the last nine years, and counting.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
Agreed about Trump Hate.
As a certain scholar in the field of psychology, forgot the name or book, said, he didn't "hate" Freud, he simply didn't respect Freud. I simply Do.Not.Respect. the current Pres. nor most of his following.
Hate is a normal human emotion, but it does tend to cripple one's capacity for rational thought.
Mary Bennett
I want my country back, imperfect though it may have been,
as human crafted institutions have always been.
Harris was an inherent insult to We The People from square 1; who cares about the other oligarchs? The present Pres and sociopathic VP are not?
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." about Maga fantasists hurt feelings. When the "other oligarchs" are wrecking my country, I am supposed to not notice? My point stands. I want names, mugshots and resumes, curricula vitae, of each and every Doge boy or gal. What we are seeing so far is a tsunami of smart aleck incompetence. Take immigration, for example. The deporters are going for the easy targets, it looks to me like. I think the real criminals are laughing their heads off. Since you are good with the links, maybe you can show me where some oligarch's wife is doing her own house cleaning now? Or the Executive Order which tells the intelligence, you should excuse the expression, agencies they don't get to resettle their pets and proteges in the US any longer.
As for Gaza, did you maybe call or email your senator, demanding that they support Sen. Sander's bill which would forbid the sending of military assistance to Israel? Where financing Israel is concerned, there ain't no virgins here. That said, the ratcheting up to Nuremburg offense levels took place after the recent election. The Pres. and supporters own this.
There are right ways and wrong ways to go about things, and the right ways require care and attention and just don't give a person that emotional rush. News flash, doing good work ain't about emotion, buddy. Nor is it about "feeling good about yourself", although it is a way to build character and healthy self esteem.
Not your closest allies? Oh, did Canadians and Danes fail lavishly to praise the Great Leader? Did they have the effrontery to put their own national interests first? Do they not understand that the recent American election is just the greatest thing in history since Charlton Heston parted the waters of the Red Sea?
If "25-hour American Idol audition" is the designated RW talking point meme-insult, that one is at lead balloon level lameness. You can respect good work without agreeing with every opinion expressed by the workman or woman. People not addicted to their own emotional highs understand that.
Mary Bennett
You're not listening at all, are you?
They were elected democratically (albeit under duress); Harris was appointed without a single primary vote, so on the level I was talking about, no.
As for why you think Vance is a sociopath...what do you base this on? Aren't they all? Worse, do they need to be to do the evil they do (this Aspergian-Mutant-with-a-psych-degree says not)? How does he stand out (especially in contrast to Booker, as it seems you judge both men by the same superficial trait of being well-trained orators, yet have opposite reactions)?
If this isn't the ultimate and definitive "RW talking-point", not just presently but across history, I don't know what is. How is this not literally just another way of saying "MAGA"?
One thing I learned in the GWOT-years is that "imperfect" (or its far worse contemporary synonym, "human") is just a carte-blanche Communion-wafer for dismissing accountability.
How? This is MY point proven, right here (save that my point includes the wrecking of other countries as well - if destroying America saves the rest of the world, I'm afraid there is some obligation to be in favor of that).
https://www.ianwelsh.net/trump-is-the-best-president-of-my-life-unless-y...
OK, this is specifically and demonstrably a lie. I've already specifically addressed how they've JOINED that, but the other guy's gone down in history as "Genocide Joe" for a reason - in fact, as has been covered around here chapter and verse, the GazaCaust is what swung the election:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/harris-gaza
What about substance? What about logic? What about the right to democracy and dignity and participation in power (H/T Cicero-by-way-of-Nader)? What about those of us who AREN'T "MAGA fantasists", and never were?
You're reverting to the VBNMW fallacy people around here specifically rejected...in fact, you're reverting to this:
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Well, so sorry, just can't seem to
live up to your purity standards. In our system, if it happened on your watch, you get to own it. The newly elected president, with majority in both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and a majority of voters on his side, could have told Netanyahoo, No, you don't. Not this time, not on our dime. He could have and he didn't. The guy who wants to reduce government expenditures couldn't tell Bibi to pay for his own war.
Mary Bennett
Listen to me:
I.
AM.
NOT.
A.
TRUMP.
SUPPORTER.
This did NOT happen on "my" watch - in fact, if you're declaring loyalty to BidenCorp, that means it happened on YOURS.
Besides, you're starting with the "purity" slur (a word that makes some sense in chemistry, but never does in politics) and ending with the Bush Doctrine, HOW THE FUCK DOES THAT MAKE SENSE???
AS DID BOOKER, FOR EVEN LONGER.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
You want the last word so badly, have it.
For someone who is not a T-rump supporter, you sure are swinging with the RW meme theme.
There is an old saying, I don't know who you are, but I know what you are.
Mary Bennett
No you fucking don't.
You are seeing who and what you EXPECT to see and have totally closed your mind to the possibility of anything else - in other words, you are a bigot.
I have not referenced A SINGLE "RW meme" this entire time; you just pulled that out of your ass and applied that to whatever you don't recognize.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
I would not have any interest is a board without disagreement
So I am not troubled by it. In this case, the question of how to react to Trump Term II does not invite easy or glib answers -- although you can find much of each during these initial months of the regime.
Signing off of the discussion by accusing the other player of insisting on the last word is a substance free clinker and self-contradictory. And I am not a big fan of Label and Dismiss as a rhetorical gambit.
Emotions run high in the Blowhard Era! Not really a bad thing -- just inevitable.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
"Label and Dismiss"?
Mind telling me more? What's wrong with her??? The way she's been treating me is NOT OK.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Label and Dismiss
was not aimed at you. It was in response to
I probably remain slightly critical of your tone, but on substance you and I are in synch. Especially with respect to your pointing out how her "position" is in effect an apology for the Dems.
It is always hard to disagree without any snark at all.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
I realize it wasn't
I was hoping you could explain the psychology more.
I wasn't being "snarky", I was just frustrated and insulted and more than a tad horrified in an "Et tu?" kind of way.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
I don't think you were the one snarking off
but I own up to doing it on occasion.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
So Booker talked for 25 hours
.
but wasn’t actually filibustering something that republicans were trying to pass.
Why didn’t he filibuster the bill that sees billions cut from Medicaid and food stamps? Why didn’t any other democrat filibuster this bill? To me it just shows that democrats are once again showing that they are the party of fake opposition. Anyone cheering this empty gesture is mind boggling.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
No mention
of the $1 tn military budget, or the genocide in Gaza. I assume he still supports Ukraine and wants to protect Taiwan?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Yep
It was an empty gesture and just a joke to get people to think he was doing something against Trump. Just like Bernie’s going around the country bitching about the oligarchs. You know…the oligarchs that have taken over since he’s been in congress.
We bitch about them all the time and what has come from it?
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom