January 17, 2021

From Paul Ryan to Nikki Haley GOP Nightmare of Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders About to Come True

The long-held Republican nightmare that a champion of working-class people and the common good—one who has dedicated his political career to curbing poverty and injustice while denouncing corporate greed, endless war, and the cruelty of a for-profit health system that leaves millions upon millions uninsured or without affordable access to care—would assume the powerful position of chairing the Senate Budget Committee is about to become reality.

"Time to face the harsh reality, socialist Bernie Sanders will become the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He has vowed to use his position to enact his progressive agenda on healthcare, climate, infrastructure spending, and cutting defense spending," Nikki Haley tweeted Saturday.

Among the chief powers that the chair of the committee will be able to utilize is fostering legislation through the Senate using the budget reconciliation process—a procedural tool that will allow, even under current rules, legislation to pass with a simple majority.


"Yes, we can and we must use budget reconciliation to increase the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour with a simple majority vote in the Senate, just like Republicans did to pass massive tax breaks to the 1%," declared Warren Gunnels, one of Sanders' most senior aides who went out of the way to identify himself as the "Incoming Majority Staff Director" for the "Senate Budget Committee" in a tweet Friday morning.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/17/paul-ryan-nikki-haley-gop-nightmare-senate-budget-chair-bernie-sanders-about-come

January 13, 2021

Rep. Mike Nearman stripped of responsibilities, faces fine for allowing Capitol breach

A Republican state lawmaker who let far-right demonstrators into the Oregon Capitol last month has lost his committee responsibilities and will forfeit unfettered access to the statehouse, as calls for his resignation grow.

Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, was stripped of his legislative committee assignments and fined $2,000 for damage that occurred after he allowed demonstrators to breach the building, House Speaker Tina Kotek announced Monday. As speaker, Kotek has authority to unilaterally impose both consequences.

Meanwhile, Nearman has agreed to sign an agreement that he forfeit a badge granting access to the Capitol, give 24-hours notice before coming to the building, and not allow “non-authorized personnel” access to the building. Nearman read those terms on the House floor Monday afternoon, after a closed-door debate in which some Democrats had urged a floor vote to make them more solid. No vote was ultimately held.

The matter is unlikely to end there. Kotek on Monday called on Nearman to resign, and announced a formal complaint that could result in additional consequences, up to expulsion.

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/01/12/oregon-legislature-mike-nearman-penalties/

I hope he is expelled from the Legislature. The photo of him opening the door is enough proof.

January 12, 2021

And we wonder why we can't stop the spread of Covid

https://www.wbrc.com/2021/01/12/championship-celebration-draws-hundreds-strip-tuscaloosa/

January 12, 2021

Lawmakers Warn 'Totally Appropriate' Comment Proves Trump Willing to Foment Violence Again

President Donald Trump on Monday rejected personal responsibility for his comments widely seen as inciting the violent January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The speech he made to the extremist crowd "has been analyzed," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, and "people thought that what I said was totally appropriate."

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) responded by calling Trump a "menace."

"These remarks make it clear that he has no problem endangering others or inciting insurrection, and would be willing to do it again," tweeted Beyer.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/12/lawmakers-warn-totally-appropriate-comment-proves-trump-willing-foment-violence

January 11, 2021

Failure to Hold Trump Accountable for Capitol Siege Means 'It Will Happen Again,' Says Rep. Ocasio-C

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday stressed a need for President Donald Trump's removal from office, saying that failing to hold him accountable for Wednesday's violent attack on the Capitol could ensure "it will happen again."

Speaking with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week," the New York Democrat said that ensuring Trump's ouster was a "top priority" and that House leadership must schedule impeachment.


"What happened on Wednesday was insurrection against the United States," she said. Referencing Republicans' framing of the letter as being "in the spirit of healing," Ocasio-Cortez said that "the process of healing... requires accountability."

"So if we allow insurrection against the United States with impunity, with no accountability, we are inviting it to happen again," she said. Ocasio-Cortez emphasized that lives were at risk during the armed siege, telling Stephanopoulos, "We came close to half of the House nearly dying on Wednesday."

"If another head of state came in and ordered an attack on the United States Congress, would we say that that should not be prosecuted? Would we say there should be absolutely no response to that? No," she said.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/10/failure-hold-trump-accountable-capitol-siege-means-it-will-happen-again-says-rep

January 8, 2021

State lawmaker suspected of letting demonstrators into Oregon Capitol

Sources say Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, was shown on video surveillance footage exiting the Capitol on Dec. 21. Demonstrators gained access directly afterward, setting up a showdown.

According to one person with knowledge of the investigation, after Nearman exited the Capitol he appears to have walked around the building and used his ID badge to re-enter from the south side. The Legislature was meeting in a special session on Dec. 21 to approve a variety of new spending measures and extend the state’s ban on residential evictions. The Capitol building has been closed to the public since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearman has served in the state House since 2015 and is one of the chamber’s most conservative Republicans. He has worked on an unsuccessful attempt to recall Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, is a plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit seeking to overturn Brown’s emergency orders to address COVID-19 and was recently among 11 sitting state lawmakers to sign a letter in support of a Texas lawsuit challenging the presidential election in four states.

Nearman’s been tied to right-wing protests at the Capitol before. In 2017, his then-legislative aide gave a gun to a convicted felon, who then brought it to a pro-Trump demonstration at the building, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Court records show the aide, Angela Roman, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in the incident.

While demonstrators were eventually cleared from the Capitol after their incursion on Dec. 21, some in their number clashed and used pepper spray against officers. Some vandalized the Capitol, breaking panes on glass doors. At least one man was captured on camera assaulting or intimidating members of the press who were on hand outside the building.

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/01/07/state-lawmaker-nearman-oregon-capitol/

Fascists in our midst.

January 8, 2021

State lawmaker suspected of letting demonstrators into Oregon Capitol

Sources say Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, was shown on video surveillance footage exiting the Capitol on Dec. 21. Demonstrators gained access directly afterward, setting up a showdown.

According to one person with knowledge of the investigation, after Nearman exited the Capitol he appears to have walked around the building and used his ID badge to re-enter from the south side. The Legislature was meeting in a special session on Dec. 21 to approve a variety of new spending measures and extend the state’s ban on residential evictions. The Capitol building has been closed to the public since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearman’s been tied to right-wing protests at the Capitol before. In 2017, his then-legislative aide gave a gun to a convicted felon, who then brought it to a pro-Trump demonstration at the building, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Court records show the aide, Angela Roman, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in the incident.

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/01/07/state-lawmaker-nearman-oregon-capitol/

January 7, 2021

I think the current calls for Impeachment or the use of the 25th Amendment to remove

Trump are part of a negotiation to force Trump's resignation. Trump will agree to resign so that he can be pardoned by Pence, which Pence will do. After a momentary cry of outrage from Democrats we'll move on because of the need to address the serious problems facing the country.

January 6, 2021

If Trump is removed using the 25th Amendment can he then be pardoned by Pence?

January 6, 2021

'Arrest the President': Accountability Demanded After Fascist Mob Incited by Trump Storms Capitol

Demands that President Donald Trump be fully held to account for inciting the fascist mob that rampaged through the U.S. Capitol Building proliferated Wednesday as all hell broke loose in Washington, D.C., with members of Congress and journalists forced to seek shelter as the incumbent's supporters smashed windows and clashed with law enforcement.

"Arrest the president," tweeted New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie. "I'm not joking. He incited a riot to try to sack the Congress and install himself in office. Our laws mean nothing if he can continue to live a free man."

Progressive activist Kai Newkirk echoed Bouie, declaring that "Trump must be impeached, removed from office immediately, and arrested."


https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/06/arrest-president-accountability-demanded-after-fascist-mob-incited-trump-storms