babylonsister
babylonsister's JournalThe Senate Has Used the Filibuster to Block Civil Rights Bills for Decades....Ditch It.
Seems like we can be our own worst enemy.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/the-senate-has-used-the-filibuster-to-block-civil-rights-bills-for-decades-thats-another-reason-for-dems-to-ditch-it/
2 hours ago
The Senate Has Used the Filibuster to Block Civil Rights Bills for Decades. That’s Another Reason for Dems to Ditch It.
If Democrats want to get anything done, they’ll have to get rid of this “Jim Crow relic” first
Kara Voght, ReporterBio
snip//
On matters of democracy reform, protecting the filibuster allows Republicans to hold onto their grasp of political power by blocking likely Democratic voters. Passing Merkley’s bill and the House’s voting rights bill, another top Democratic priority, would safeguard rights for the historically disenfranchised—most notably, Black Americans. In statehouses where Republicans retain control, lawmakers are already busy crafting tightened voting restrictions to dampen the chance Democratic candidates could succeed in future elections. Merkley says his Republican colleagues have told him McConnell has forbidden GOP senators from backing his bill.
That’s why Merkley sees ending the modern-day filibuster and his party’s proposed democracy reforms as two sides of the same coin. “You have this incredibly racist history of voter suppression, systemic discrimination,” he says, “and you have the filibuster deeply associated with systemic racism, as well.” Passing those bills would rectify “this tilt of power toward predominantly white conservatives in our system,” adds Adam Jentleson, who worked as an aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and recently published a book calling for filibuster reform. “The sequencing is important because you can’t do any of the other things unless you do filibuster reform.”
To Jentleson, the fate of the filibuster is a matter of political survival for Democrats, too. From his perch in Reid’s office, he had a front-row seat to the ways McConnell thwarted Obama’s agenda, then turned around and blamed Democrats for inaction. The tactic cost Democrats seats in both chambers of Congress over those election cycles. Jentleson says there’s tremendous political risk in “getting strung along” by Republican lawmakers only to end up with “small-ball deals” that fail to meet the country’s dire moment. “Bipartisanship is a worthy goal,” Jentleson tells me, “but delivering results to save this country has to be the ultimate goal.”
So how do Merkley and his fellow filibuster detractors prevail with their colleagues who still resist filibuster reform? The path, Merkley says, is probably to get caught trying to get 60 votes on top agenda items, then watch Republicans block them. If Biden’s coronavirus package fails, Merkley predicts, it will “move people’s hearts” to not allow McConnell a veto “that may cost tens or thousands or 100,000 people in this country their lives.” The same goes for his party’s democracy reform bill. “If it comes down to an issue as fundamental as the right to vote and Republicans block it,” Merkley says, “I think that would have a significant impact as well.”
That impact would have to be significant. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), who told the Hill last summer he was intrigued by Merkley’s pitch on filibuster reform, remains opposed to ending the practice. So too, does Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), whose spokesperson told the Washington Post this week that the senator is not only “against eliminating the filibuster,” but also “not open to changing her mind” on the matter. Optimists on the side of filibuster reform hope the moderate Democrats might be open to less extreme reforms than total abolition. One picking up steam is something Sen. Bernie Sanders floated during his presidential campaign: Expanding what’s allowed under budget reconciliation by overriding guidance from the Senate parliamentarian.
In the progressive imagination, abolishing the filibuster crosses a threshold toward more ambitious structural reforms. For the party’s left flank, the proposed democracy and voting rights bills are the baseline. Granting statehood for Washington, DC, abolishing the electoral college, expanding the numbers of seats on the Supreme Court, and enacting a ranked-choice voting system would be necessary steps to rebalance the scales against the tyranny of minority rule. Legislation has been introduced to address each impediment, but not all Democrats are on board with big moves. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) recently told the Atlantic that the votes for DC or Puerto Rico statehood aren’t there, even if the filibuster is abolished (even though the House passed a bill to grant DC statehood last year). For now, Democrats’ debate on the future of the filibuster delays facing up to the divisions that remain within their caucus.
Biden: Trump Impeachment Trial 'Has to Happen'
https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-says-trump-impeachment-trial-has-to-happen?ref=homeBiden: Trump Impeachment Trial ‘Has to Happen’
LET’S DO IT
Danika Fears, Breaking News Editor
Published Jan. 25, 2021 7:51PM ET
Eugene Robinson: Democrats won power. Now, they need to use it.
Democrats won power. Now, they need to use it.
Opinion by
Eugene Robinson
Columnist
Jan. 25, 2021 at 4:37 p.m. EST
Democrats worked long and hard to win power. Now, for the good of the country and the world, they need to use it — with determination and without fear.
Republican calls for President Biden and the Democratic majorities in Congress to settle for half-measures in the name of “unity” would be laughable if they weren’t so insulting. The GOP’s definition of unity would require not doing anything the GOP opposes. To accept that would be a betrayal of the citizens who voted in record numbers — some of them braving a deadly pandemic in the process — to put the Democratic Party in charge.
A better way to seek unity is to vigorously pursue policies that have broad public support — and that begin to clean up the shambles the Biden administration inherits. Democrats may have slim majorities, but they have been given a mandate to lead. They need to remember the past four years when Republicans controlled the White House and Senate. The GOP grandly pronounced that “elections have consequences” and treated the Democratic minority like a doormat.
I’m not advocating payback for payback’s sake, tempting as that might be, but just being realistic. Look at where we are: More than 400,000 Americans have died from covid-19 — a higher number than any other nation. There has been such chaos in the rollout of lifesaving vaccines that the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t been able to find out how many doses are available or where they might be. We’re in a “K-shaped” recovery from the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. The wealthy are seeing their stock portfolios soar while the poor and working class face hunger and fear. Calls for a reckoning on racial justice have gone unanswered and there were ridiculous Trump-era energy policies that ignored the existential crisis of climate change.
So yes, President Biden, if Republicans won’t help, you should continue to do as much as you can through executive action. And yes, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate should be prepared to abolish the filibuster — and should pull the trigger sooner rather than later if Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) continues to block the chamber from even getting organized to do its work.
more...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/democrats-won-power-now-they-need-to-use-it/2021/01/25/fc797318-5f48-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html
What GOP Retirements Mean For The 2022 Senate Map
https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/25/what-gop-retirements-mean-for-the-2022-senate-map/What GOP Retirements Mean For The 2022 Senate Map
January 25, 2021 at 4:08 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
“These retirements could be a helpful development for Democrats, too, as they provide the party with potential openings on what was already a decently favorable Senate map for them. Although the Senate’s rural bias still makes the chamber advantageous to Republicans overall, the 2022 Senate map doesn’t force Democrats to compete on red turf nearly as much as the 2020 map or killer 2018 map did. In fact, no Democratic senators are running for reelection in states won by former President Donald Trump in 2020, while Republicans are defending two seats in states won by President Biden: the open seat in Pennsylvania and Sen. Ron Johnson’s seat in Wisconsin. (To make matters worse for Republicans, Johnson is considering retirement as well.)”
The Whole Republican Party Is on Trial
https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/25/the-whole-republican-party-is-on-trial/The Whole Republican Party Is on Trial
January 25, 2021 at 4:05 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
Already in a ditch, Josh Hawley finds a shovel, keeps digging
Already in a ditch, Josh Hawley finds a shovel, keeps digging
How would Josh Hawley repair his standing and reputation? An answer has come into focus: he's decided not to try.
Jan. 25, 2021, 10:00 AM EST
By Steve Benen
snip//
Hawley has been denounced by former allies; some donors want their money back; businesses don't want anything to do with him; the Missouri Republican faces multiple calls that he resign in disgrace; and seven of his Senate colleagues filed an ethics complaint against him last week.
It was far from clear how, exactly, the senator might take steps to repair his standing and reputation. In recent days, an answer has come into focus: Hawley has decided not to try.
I wish that were true. It's not. Mother Jones' Tim Murphy published ample evidence that discredits the Republican senator's defense, but of particular interest was a Fox News interview on Jan. 4 -- two days before the deadly insurrectionist riot -- in which Bret Baier asked Hawley whether he believed Donald Trump would remain president on Inauguration Day 2021.
In other words, as recently as three weeks ago, the Missouri Republican was telling a national television audience the outcome of the election was still in doubt. Whether Trump remained in power -- whether the election would be overturned -- would "depend on" the events of Jan. 6.
more...
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/already-ditch-josh-hawley-finds-shovel-keeps-digging-n1255528
A Year Ago Today, Trump Said COVID Would "All Work Out Well"
https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2021/01/a-year-ago-today-trump-said-covid-would-all-work-out-well/20 hours ago
A Year Ago Today, Trump Said COVID Would “All Work Out Well”
Ramenda Cyrus
One year ago, on the same day that the CDC announced a test for COVID-19 and a day after Wuhan had gone into lockdown, Donald Trump tweeted the following:
The relevant context for this tweet isn’t just the disease that would soon become a pandemic. Trump had struck a trade deal with China just days before, and this tweet was part of the political effort to maintain an air of sunny relations with a country that only four months earlier he’d called “threat to the world,” a country he would be demonizing again by spring.
It will all work out well. The English language is not yet evolved enough to accurately describe what Trump managed to do on Twitter during his presidency. He loved walking the line between lying and misleading, between sincerity and insincerity, the bullshitter-in-chief who sometimes seemed to bullshit himself most of all. This case was no different. His optimism was unfounded, unrealistic, and ultimately self-serving, and that was clear even then, when we had no idea how the coronavirus would unfold. Can optimism be a lie? Trump had derailed at least one early call on the topic by asking about vapes, making it wholly obvious that he had not dedicated enough thought to the issue of COVID-19 to even guess about the ultimate state of things. A year and more than 420,000 U.S. deaths later, it is clear that he was blind, confident, and remorseless about leading America straight to hell.
Budweiser joins Coke, Pepsi brands in sitting out Super Bowl
Nice!
Budweiser joins Coke, Pepsi brands in sitting out Super Bowl
For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used all of its ad time to introduce a beer called Bud Light, the beer giant isn’t advertising its iconic Budweiser brand during the Super Bowl
By MAE ANDERSON and DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writers
January 25, 2021, 7:05 AM
NEW YORK -- For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used all of its ad time to introduce a beer called Bud Light, the beer giant isn't advertising its iconic Budweiser brand during the Super Bowl. Instead, it’s donating the money it would have spent on the ad to coronavirus vaccination awareness efforts.
Anheuser-Busch still has four minutes of advertising during the game for its other brands including Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer. Those are some of its hottest sellers, particularly among younger viewers.
But the decision to not do an anthemic Budweiser ad — which over nearly four decades has made American icons of frogs chirping “Budweiser,” guys screaming “Whassup!”, and of course the Budweiser Clydesdales — showcases the caution with which some advertisers are approaching the first COVID-era Super Bowl.
more...
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/budweiser-joins-coke-pepsi-brands-sitting-super-bowl-75465983
Eric Boehlert: After touting Trump as "populist," New York Times paints Biden as elitist
After touting Trump as "populist," New York Times paints Biden as elitist
Rolex nonsense
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago
This is why Democrats cannot have nice things.
Reviving a long-running gotcha narrative that portrays wealthy Democrats as hypocrites, the New York Times has been dinging President Joe Biden since Inauguration Day as being out of touch with voters. It's a dishonest pursuit that looks especially absurd following Trump's four years of gaudy, country club excess, which the newspaper ridiculously labeled, “populism.”
At the swearing, the Times reported Biden wore, "a stainless steel Rolex Datejust watch with a blue dial, a model that retails for more than $7,000," and noted the handsome piece "costs the equivalent of dozen or so stimulus checks." The Rolex was "a far cry from the Everyman timepieces that every president not named Trump has worn conspicuously in recent decades," the Times stressed. "Recent presidents have tended to wear Everyman timepieces such as Timex and Shinola."
Note that a Shinola men's watch costs between $400-$1,400, so it's not clear how that brand fits into the "Everyman" mode, unless Times staffers routinely make three and four-figure timepiece purchases. In the same article detailing the price of Biden's Rolex ($7,000), the Times omitted any references to the cost of the gold Rolex Trump wore as president. ($36,000.)
The urgent wristwatch update came three days after the Times delivered a reported piece on Biden's exercise bike of choice, Peloton, noting the high-end workout machine, "does not exactly comport with Mr. Biden’s “regular guy from Scranton” political persona."
Instead of focusing on what's on Biden's wrist or in his exercise room, the better way to determine his "Everyman" agenda is to look at his earliest policy initiatives. To date, they include asking the Education Department to extend the federal student loan payment and interest pause through Sept. 30, pledging to raise corporate income taxes to 28 percent, and firing union-hating officials at the National Labor Relations Board.
The fact that the Times seems obsessed with Biden's missing "Everyman" bona fides after the paper treated Trump as a man-of-the-people "populist" is unforgivable. Trump’s corrupt brand of pro-corporate, anti-worker politics represented the exact opposite of populism, which stands as a political struggle on behalf of regular people against elite economic forces.
more...
https://pressrun.media/p/after-touting-trump-as-populist-new
Biden's latest executive order: Buy American
https://www.axios.com/biden-buy-american-executive-action-0e8b1af8-842e-4663-934d-baa6744031d6.html2 hours ago - Politics & Policy
Biden's latest executive order: Buy American
Hans Nichols
President Joe Biden will continue his flurry of executive orders on Monday, signing a new directive to require the federal government to “buy American” for products and services.
Why it matters: The executive action is yet another attempt by Biden to accomplish goals administratively without waiting for the backing of Congress. The new order echoes Biden's $400 billion campaign pledge to increase government purchases of American goods.
What they're saying: "President Biden is ensuring that when the federal government spends taxpayer dollars they are spent on American made goods by American workers and with American-made component parts," the White House said in a fact sheet.
The big picture: Biden’s action kick offs another week in which the president will seek to undo many Trump policies with executive actions, while signaling the direction that he wants to take the country.
Last week, Biden signed an order to attempt to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors and workers to $15 an hour.
The bottom line: Former President Trump also attempted to force the federal government to rely on U.S. manufacturers for procurement with "buy American" provisions.
But supply chains — with some parts and components made outside of the U.S. — require long and complicated efforts to boost domestic manufacturing.
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