With Mary Angela. Better Politics. Better Living. Wellness.
Excellent conversation with data scientist, David Shor. We discuss his interview with NY Mag’s Eric Levitz piece “David Shor on Why Trump Was Good for the GOP and How Dems Can Win in 2022”
We discuss how Dems can win in 2022, messaging and more. Vital conversion because it’s imperative that Democrats retain control of not just both chambers of congress, but flip state legislatures red-to-blue across the county. 
In a draconian move, the Republicans in the Alabama Senate have passed a direct hit to women: a near total ban on abortions.
THE ALABAMA SENATE has passed the most restrictive abortion bill in the United States that bans any termination of pregnancy and could punish doctors who perform the procedure with life in prison.
The text does not include exceptions in cases of rape or incest.
Under the bill, performing an abortion is considered a crime that could land doctors who perform it in prison for 10 to 99 years.
Abortions would only be legal if the life of the mother is in danger or the foetus has a fatal condition.
The largest human rights defence organisation in the US, the ACLU promised to file a lawsuit to block its implementation, saying the vote showed “how little they (conservative lawmakers) regard bodily autonomy”.
“This bill punishes victims of rape and incest by further taking away control over their own bodies and forcing them to give birth,” it added.
Alabama Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth, who also presides over the state senate, greeted the bill’s passage as a “strong step toward defending the rights of the unborn”.
“With liberal states approving radical late-term and post-birth abortions, Roe must be challenged, and I am proud that Alabama is leading the way,” he added.
The bill’s backers have expressly said they want to bring the case to the Supreme Court.
‘You just raped the state of Alabama’
Now that the court has a conservative majority in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s election, some Republicans want to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that recognised women’s right to abortion.
“You just raped the state of Alabama yourself,” state senate Democratic leader Bobby Singleton said after senators eliminated an amendment seeking exceptions to the abortion ban.
“You’re saying to my daughter you don’t matter in the state of Alabama… It’s ok for men to rape you and you’re gonna have his baby if you get pregnant,” he added.
Several conservative states are weighing harsh anti-abortion laws, intending some of them to be challenged and reach the Supreme Court.
States with liberal majorities, however, are seeking safeguards to the right to abortion in their own constitutions.
This year alone, 28 of the 50 US states have introduced more than 300 new rules to limit abortion, according to a report by the Guttmacher Institute, which defends women’s rights.
So, as I and others have said on a constant basis, elections matter. Not only must we ensure Trump and his enablers in congress get voted out, we also must do whatever we can and focus on the state level. Look, I’m not a Biden fan, but even if he wins the nomination, we must come together and vote Trump out. These cases are surely going to make their way to the Supreme Court and well, how are Gorsuch and Kavanaugh working out? We cannot afford another Supreme Court pick of Trump’s and a sure confirmation by a GOP-controlled Senate.
Every state matters. The GOP has been patient, deliberate and will do whatever it takes to take women back in time. This is who they are and they are emboldened.
Stand up and fight back. There’s organizations in all states impacted by Republican-controlled reps and women and our allies are taking action. In Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, everywhere. Show up for our daughters and their futures.
I had a fabulous and informative chat with longtime blogger and co-host of “The Professional Left Podcast”, Driftglass! He’s also hilarious!
We talk the GOP, the left needs to be strategic, the media, fools like Tucker Carlson, the RW machine and so much more.
And support his show with his wife, Blue Gal: professionalleft.blogspot.com — it’s truly one of the best podcasts out there.
Enjoy this episode: https://soundcloud.com/lushleft/a-fab-convo-with-blogger-host-of-professional-left-podcast-driftglass
Mary Angela sat down w/ Andy Kopsa, reporter & journalist — bylines: Cosmopolitan, NY Times, Time Magazine, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The Nation, to name a few.
We discussed sensible gun reform, Iowa, media, don’t pay attention to the polls & more!
Born and raised in Iowa, Andy is a voice of reason and gives much-needed nuance and perspective to the Democratic primary. Enjoy!
I had an amazing conversation with the fabulous, managing editor of Crooks & Liars, Karoli Kuns. We discussed Kamala Harris, the horrific behavior towards her by actor, James Woods, her successful Town Hall and much more! Stay tuned
In the meantime, here is the article regarding Kamala and James Woods’ horrendous tweets. We can expect more awful behavior in this primary season, unfortunately.
Mary Angela sat down with the fantastic journalist, Elizabeth King. We discussed her latest piece regarding the far right-wing, the lack of law enforcement to act even when they’ve had knowledge of the problem for years. Elizabeth has bylines in Splinter, Rolling Stone, The Nation among many outlets and is also a contributing writer for Pacific Standard. A must-listen!
Not only has Judge Kavanaugh lied about documents, Miranda on and on, but it has also come out he (allegedly) is a predator — straight out of a scene from a John Hughes movie, like “Sixteen Candles”. So, to the party of “family values”, my question is this: are lying and assault “family values”?
Apparently these are behaviors that are fine if you’re a regressive Republican. Senator Collins (ME), when asked what she thinks of the new allegations of sexual assault by Kavanagh in the 80s, didn’t have much to say. Just stammering as she tried as fast as she could to get away from the reporter, “It really isn’t fair the way either of them handled this”, meaning, the victim didn’t “handle it well”.
Regarding Senator Collins:
Collins, a key swing vote in the Supreme Court fight, questioned why Democrats had waited for weeks to come forward with the allegation, arguing it wasn’t “fair” to either Kavanagh or Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s.
“What is puzzling to me is the Democrats, by not bringing this out earlier, after having had this information for more than six weeks, have managed to cast a cloud of doubt on both the professor and the judge,” Collins told The New York Times.
Collins asked if Democrats believed Ford, “why didn’t they surface this information earlier,” and if they didn’t believe Ford, “why did they decide at the 11th hour to release it?”
“It is really not fair to either of them the way it is was handled,” Collins said.
Collins’s comments come after Ford spoke publicly about the alleged incident for the first time during an interview with The Washington Post that was published on Sunday.
Needless to say, Kavanaugh has zero business on that bench. And if these “moderate” Republicans like Collins and Murkowski don’t step up for Roe, for this old-fashioned concept of doing the right thing, to not throw a VICTIM OF ASSAULT under the bus in the name of confirming one of their own, we are really in trouble.
In this piece from The Washington Post, as I’ve been saying for months, proof that the progressive base of the Democratic Party is happening: Take a look at the main people vying for the Democratic nomination for POTUS.
As just the latest example, both Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) showed a hell of a lot of moxie when it came to the Kavanaugh hearings:
Booker and Harris, two of the Democratic Party’s most prominent African Americans, took the headline-grabbing but shaky steps to put their opposition to Trump and Kavanaugh on full display for the country.
The jockeying by the two came amid a clamor by a liberal base demanding resistance to Trump’s agenda and nominees at all costs and under a glaring national spotlight exposing every stumble. At the same time, the bare-knuckle brawling has divided Democrats, frustrating moderates >acing tough reelection bids in states Trump won handily.
Now, in the same article, check out this quote from the centrist of centrist “Democrats”, Joe Manchin (D-WV):
“It’s not who I am,” said Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), who observed the questioning by Democrats and Republicans at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and has indicated he is open to voting for Kavanaugh.
I always say that pressure works. I use the example of Medicare For All in both chambers to illustrate my point. The majority of the Democratic caucus in the House are cosponsors to H.R. 676 and in the senate, we have sixteen. The main names we see that are clearly going to go for the nomination for POTUS are cosponsors for Senator Sanders’ Medicare For All bill. As outlined in Business Insider:
Bernie Sanders is getting some serious support in his push to reform the US healthcare system.
Sanders on Wednesday will roll out a Medicare-for-all bill, which aims to extend the Medicare program, federally funded insurance for people over the age of 65, to all Americans.
A single-payer healthcare push has previously been well outside the mainstream for most Democrats. But Sanders’ legislation has picked up support from high-profile Democrats.
The latest Democratic senator offering support is Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
“Health care is a right, not a privilege,” Gillibrand tweeted Tuesday. “This week, I’ll proudly join Senator @ Bernie Sanders to co-sponsor Medicare for All.”
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey also offered support for Sanders’ legislation this week.
R
“I’m signing onto Medicare-for-all, which I’m excited to do this week,” Booker said in an interview with NJTV on Monday. “Sen. Sanders, myself, and some others are going to be announcing some legislation this week along with some of my other colleagues.”Booker, who has been floated as a possible contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, said Obamacare was just a “first step” in securing healthcare for all Americans.
“What we have right now is a country where just because of your wealth, it will depend on whether you have healthcare or not,” Booker continued. “You should not be punished because you are working-class or poor and be denied healthcare. I think healthcare should be a right to all.”
Booker’s announcement comes after other high-profile Democrats said they would cosponsor the bill.
Sen. Kamala Harris, who also has been floated as a 2020 contender, said at a town hall late last month that she would also co-sponsor the bill.
“This is about understanding, again, that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. And it’s also about being smart,” Harris said.
In Senator Sanders’ Raise the Wage Act (S.1242), there they all are: Booker, Warren, Harris, Gillibrand. It’s almost as if the energy and excitement of the Sanders campaign of 2016 changed the conversation.
And according to ProgressivePunch, all are always within the top 12 of the most progressive in the senate. Voting records do matter. Are they the entire story? No, but a major data point that one can’t just toss in a river.
We can stay cynical or keep pushing left. We choose to be blind democrats or INFORMED democrats/left-leaning independents. Either way, someone is going to win that nomination, and from what I can tell, pressuring from the left appears to be working. Getting involved with outside groups and/or working within the Democratic Party — I have said before, I don’t care how they get to the right positions — JUST AS LONG AS THEY GET THERE.
In today’s continuation of the hearings of Judge Kavansugh, to the U.S. Supmeme Court, Senator Booker (D-NJ) has what he called his “Spartacus moment”. While it was becoming more and more apparent that Kavanaugh wasn’t delivering all the documents necessary, Senator Booker wasn’t having it.
As reported by CNN:
Booker, a potential 2020 presidential candidate with an incentive to make a splash in the hearing, said he took the action as an act of civil disobedience after warning that the American people were being deprived crucial information about Kavanaugh’s past.
“I understand the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate. … I openly invite and accept the consequences of my team releasing that email right now,” Booker said.
“This is about the closest I’ll probably ever have in my life to an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment,” he added, after describing the Republican Party’s handling of document production for the hearing as “a bit of a sham.”
I recorded a bit of Senator Booker:
F5E7BBB4-754A-4542-A093-3BA4C0BB8CC1
Now, I’ve watched Cory Booker for years. As a charter school shill in Newark, taking cash from the pharmaceutical industry. He clearly wants to run for POTUS as his positions have definitely been more progressive. I check voting records every day. Booker is usually in the top 5 most progressive, that’s a reality.
We are facing an extreme right-wing SCOTUS. So for today, I’m very proud to say Senator Booker represents me in New Jersey. We can stay cynical about his pro-corporate stances — I’ll stay on him, so should you. REGARDLESS if he’s just doing what he did today, or signing his name to bills like Sanders’ Medicare For All, does it really matter how he got there? As long as he (and others) GET THERE — go left.
So, thank you, Cory Booker. You took a stand.
So, as most of us have seen the “anonymous resistor” Op-Ed via the New York Times, in case you missed it, here’s an excerpt:
President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.
It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.
The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
Well, speculation as who wrote that essay have run wild. Mike Pence is one, John McCain is another (what?), and who the hell knows who will be next up for consideration.
What I DO know is this: The hearings of Kavanaugh have begun. He’s not handing over all the necessary documentation. His answers from everything to abortion and if a president is above the law — questionable at best. A reminder: A LIFETIME APPOINTMENT.
So, as Trump in typical fashion is furiously tweeting his thoughts of lunacy, and more troubling, as the fourth estate — the press — is so incredibly obsessed over that Op-Ed, remember this, class: Decades of progressive change could come to an end even be overturned with the confirmation of Kavanaugh (look at the opinion of Gorsuch already — anti-worker), we cannot afford to indulge Trump’s narcism.
Stay on top of flipping congress. And stay on top of these SCOTUS hearings. Long after Trump is gone, his literal re-shaping of SCOTUS will live on, to horrendous consequences.