Dear Mr President-Elect; Which Senators?

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Thursday December 10, 2020 · 9:48 AM PST

2020/12/10 · 09:48

This is a short, really simple diary. No pictures of whatever that Thing is in the WH or clickbait headlines.

Writers here and pundits on the teevee are sounding louder and louder alarms about the seditious behavior of our elected officials, their mouthpieces and their goons. Consensus appears to be growing that gee, this ain’t normal, or ok, and maybe we shouldn’t just tut-tut about it. But nobody seems to have even a partial answer for what can be done about it, realistically, in the short term.

So here’s a proposal. Mr Biden, (congrats on the win, btw) you have said that quite a few Republican senators have called you privately to congratulate you on your win, like I just did. It was really easy. So, um, which senators are we talking about here?

You are the president-elect, not a journalist, so you are not bound in any way to protect your sources. And do you really think that keeping their secrets will afford you on iota of gratitude or any help at all with implementing your agenda? Cuz, y’know, duh. They won’t. There is no downside for you, the Democratic Party, or America. Just for them and their cult. Seems like a no brainer, and you are a very intelligent man. Maybe at one of your staff rollouts you could give a heartfelt thanks to those senators for their grace and generosity. Heartfelt enough to call them by name. With perfect diction and right into the microphone.

Out them, Joe. Let them tear each other apart over insufficient fealty to a seditious delusion. Better than letting them tear America apart (further).

Poll

93 votes Show Results

Should he or shouldn't he?

93 votes Vote Now!

Should he or shouldn't he?

Yes

35 votes

14 votes

Hell Yes!

42 votes

Hell no! (this space reserved for delusional republicans)

2 votes

Trump Admin Dismantles Border Wall with Mexico, Destroys Private Property

kamarvt

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Wednesday June 12, 2019 · 4:21 AM PDT

2019/06/12 · 04:21

US/Mexican Border, according to some very stupid people

Oh, this is too good to be true. But it is, despite the inevitable cries of Fake Gnus!

Seems our Stalwart Gibbering Hatriots of Freedumb have done what the American People and progressives throughout the country have not been able to accomplish; Make Hell’s Own Traffic Cone punch a hole in their Magic Barrier.

See, in their Hatriotic Fervor to keep out the People Who For Some Inscrutable Reason They Don’t Like, our selfless benefactors at We Build The Wall have built their little hate relic right onto federal land and put a locked gate across a levee road, all without bothering to get permits. Because, in the all-out struggle to Make America White (Except for, maybe, Slaves), there is no room for nice things like flood control or federal agents actually, y’know, patrolling the border. In yet another level of irony, their efforts have actually made it easier for people to cross the border.

Despite USIBWC requests to locate the gate further from American Dam, the private gate was constructed in a way that may channel undocumented immigrants into the American Dam area.

Needless to say, We Build The Wall founder and Yacht Enthusiast Brian Kolfage is in high dudgeon over this, which is odd, since removing the gate means he can sail his new yacht anywhere in the American Dam area…/s

So, we all get the sweet sight of the Trump Administration physically removing a barrier with Mexico that was paid for with the private, patriotic money typically allocated for extra ammo by America’s dumbest and shittiest white people.

Because, even in Hell, there must be some laughter.

Poll

196 votes Show Results

This episode is;

196 votes Vote Now!

This episode is;

A perfect Dem talking point

11 votes

Example number elebenty bazillion of Trumpsters being abysmally stupid and gullible

162 votes

Fake Gnus

5 votes

Just another sign of the Apocalypse

11 votes

Proof Trump is a secret Illegal!

7 votes

On That North Korean Nuclear Offer...

kamarvt

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Saturday April 21, 2018 · 5:23 AM PDT

2018/04/21 · 05:23

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a missile launch in this undated image from the DPRK. — Well, that's....it, then.

Surprisingly, there seems to be little attention to this developing story here on the Great Orange, only one diary scrolling away down the page as I write, but OMG!! North Korea has unilaterally offered to suspend its nuclear program; announcing a moratorium on testing of nuclear warheads and delivery systems, and even offering to demolish the only test site.

This is objectively good news. But it’s not like North Korea has a choice. They don’t have a test site to demolish; it’s already gone.

Something so far entirely missing from the reporting on this is an occurrence, widely reported at the time, at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site immediately after the last underground warhead test. This test was conducted on September 3, 2017, and was of the largest yield yet tested by the Kim regime. It registered a 6.3 tremor and caused small landslides on the surface. Underground, the effects were far more severe. The detonation collapsed a major tunnel in the facility, killing about a hundred workers. About a hundred more were killed in a secondary collapse during a rescue attempt. There have been no tests since this accident. Thinking about it logically, that makes quite a bit of sense. A collapse big enough to kill that many people (some of which were almost certainly scientists and technicians critical to the work being done) would cripple any underground facility. The second collapse only underscores the untenable nature of any attempt to repair this bunker. It’s a goner.

North Korea isn’t known for transparency on anything, let alone its nuclear program, and especially failures in this realm. However, this embarrassing information was sent out to the world in late October of last year. That disclosure is remarkable. It is not apparent from the sources I have read exactly when the collapse occurred, but it appears to have been close to the date of the test, though not reported until nearly two months later. Again, there has been no activity at the site since this occurred. However, this disclosure provides a clue as to Kim’s sudden preemptive ‘disarmament’ prior to his play date with Twittler.

Besides obsessive secrecy, another given with North Korea is the regime will never give concessions for free, often demanding ridiculous terms before even agreeing to pick up the phone. But now, out of nowhere, Kim is generously offering to stop all testing and destroy his only test site. That is wildly out of character, as the regime has directly tied its identity in its domestic propaganda to being a nuclear state.

This offer of a moratorium is being presented as a carrot for Twittler, proof of his awesome negotiating prowess, and a win for Kim simply because he got an attention whore to come sit in front of a bunch of cameras.

I call bullshit. This sudden development has nothing to do with our criminal president, it is simply a fact on the ground that cannot be changed.

North Korea cannot test another weapon without building another test site from scratch, and they don’t have the scratch. This is in no small part because Kim squandered his inheritance on nuclear tests. The offer to destroy their test site is an utterly empty one, since it has already been destroyed. Kim is offering Drumpf a bunch of gift wrap with nothing inside. The next move is to get something from our Idiot, like say a bunch of cash, to rebuild a test site and get back to burnishing NK’s national image as a nuclear threat to all around it.

Now watch everyone act like the Dotard accomplished something.

^{edited for grammar}

If Bernie Sanders were president...

kamarvt

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Tuesday February 06, 2018 · 4:19 PM PST

2018/02/06 · 16:19

If Bernie Sanders were president…

…and he claimed his inaugural crowd was something that any cursory look at a photo would immediately disprove, I would put a red flag up in my head; something is off that needs monitoring. But it’s petty.

If, days later, he banned oil billionaires from entering the country, while claiming their income was not a factor in this decision, but their carbon footprint, I would be derisive of such a level of bullshit while quietly agreeing with the underlying message sent to oil billionaires. I would secretly enjoy the schadenfreude, but I would genuinely support protests against such a capricious and disruptive action.

If Bernie Sanders were president…

…and he staffed his Cabinet with the farthest Left coalition from Congress and government that he could find, I would be initially ecstatic, and anticipating a real push toward a more socially responsive government. But if he brought in a bunch of ill-prepared ideologues, campaign toadies, and family members, I would be aghast and extremely worried about the prospects of the agenda I hoped for. If there was constant turmoil, backstabbing, and turnover among his closest staff, I would be deeply alarmed and concerned about his fitness to serve. I would watch him with a more skeptical eye.

If Bernie Sanders were president…

…and he fired Jim Comey for investigating his honeymoon in the USSR, I would not be terribly upset, because shadenfraude again plus gimme a break. But if he lied about his reasons and it turned out to be because the FBI was looking into Jane’s little embarrassment with Burlington college, and there was even a hint of some there there, I would be pissed as hell at him, and I would begin to seriously reassess my support for him during the campaign. I would certainly stop singing his praises, and I would be mulling both his fitness for office and my own prior judgment.

If, emboldened by the New Order, a bunch of Black Block types in battle gear converged on Wall St to destroy the Bull statue, ran amok and ended up killing a stockbroker, and Bernie Sanders told the world there were good people on both sides, well, I would be done with Bernie Sanders. By Parallel August of 2017, I would be an ex-Berner. I would still support progressive policies and look for a new stalwart. I would support a primary challenger in 2020. But I would not support his impeachment.

None of the above scenarios would make me reconsider my political beliefs. I have been wrong about people before.

But.

If Bernie Sanders were president…

…and he profited openly from his position, I would support his impeachment, for that breaks the oath of office.

...and he dismissed overwhelming evidence of a foreign attack on our elections and refused to act on it, I would support his impeachment, for that breaks the oath of office and is a dereliction of his duty as commander in chief..

…and he flatly refused to comply with a sanctions law passed by congress, I would support his impeachment, for that breaks the oath of office and threatens the separation of powers.

…and he repeatedly, brazenly, and destructively obstructed every effort to investigate a clear attack on our election, from which every bit of evidence indicates he benefited, by design, then went on to attack the investigators without cause, and generally did everything a guilty man would do, then I would demand his impeachment. I would renounce any support I had for him. I would make efforts to apologize to anyone I might have browbeaten during the campaign, and last but not least, I would seriously rethink my entire political self. To know that I had blindly followed someone so compromised, so craven, so corrupt would be revolting to me. To see my party aid and abet this at every turn and know this meant that I had, too would be a life changer. To know that the facts were there to be seen, indeed pointed out to me patiently, and I ignored them would be a bitter pill to swallow. It would mean questioning the very foundations of my political beliefs and how I came by them. But I would swallow it. I would have to. I would never vote again, and keep my stupid mouth shut.

At least I hope I would.

Poll

50 votes Show Results

Do you believe in alternate universes?

50 votes Vote Now!

Do you believe in alternate universes?

Yes

10 votes

25 votes

I'll have to ask my infinite selves

15 votes

Scavengers and Looters

kamarvt

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Saturday June 24, 2017 · 6:10 AM PDT

2017/06/24 · 06:10

There is so much to loathe in the new tax bill Republicans are mislabeling as health care reform that it is easy to point to piece after piece and marvel at the sheer cruelty of it all.

But that’s better left for the experts, of which there are many right on these very pages. What I’d like to point out is a bit more contextual; namely how the Republicans have embraced scavenging and looting as a means of ~~ruling the nation~~ achieving their ends of dismantling the nation. The 2000 presidential election in Florida was an early example of this new style. The results were truly up in the air, so one party went into Defcon mode, staging the Brooks Brothers riot, saturating the airwaves with disinformation, and using the US Supreme Court as a political weapon. The other party sat politely by and waited “for the process to complete itself”. Who can forget that scene from Farenheit 9/11 when nobody in the Senate would even raise an objection to the stealing of a presidency? Needless to say, the complete lack of consequences for this behavior emboldened the perpetrators immensely.

Republican voter suppression, gerrymandering and suspect voting machines are ongoing versions of this same mentality; you can’t get enough votes in the marketplace of ideas? No problem; there are other ways to ensure your side gets disproportionate power. Success has been over the top; despite garnering fewer votes than democrats in most statewide as well as federal elections, Republican hegemony has proceeded with breakneck speed, and they now control the overwhelming majority of elected positions in the country. This after a decade in which they mired the US in two unendable wars, broke the worldwide economy, drowned a major US city, and solved exactly zero problems faced by the American people.

There’s more; in February 2016, Antonin Scalia keeled over and the Republicans in the Senate unanimously decided to steal the seat he left vacant in the travesty we all witnessed as that seat remained empty until March of 2017. This was only accomplished by a brazen and dishonest stonewalling and dereliction of duty by the entire Republican caucus, and then compounded by the removal of judicial filibusters to get an ideologue on the Court with a fifty vote threshold, forever tarnishing the already battered confirmation process with even more ideological rigidity and rancor. This action broke the Supreme Court, make no mistake. Future nominations are going to be repulsive in the extreme.

All of this is unprecedented, goes directly against the norms, traditions, and understanding of the function of the US Senate as the upper chamber in the US legislative body, and sets ugly precedents for the future.

The newly revealed act of class warfare dubbed the AHCA is yet another example of republicans scavenging and looting from the democrats, this time to the tune of $900 billion. It should be common knowledge here that the entire exercise was set up as a tax cut plan for the wealthy. 13 Republican men went into that room with a mission; find as much money as possible to give to the rich, by any means necessary.

And they did. They took the money that Obama and the democrats had squeezed out of rich people and corporations (who had been on a roll with repeated tax cuts going back decades, and hold an obscene and increasing proportion of the nation’s wealth to prove it), as well as all the other revenues that were laboriously forged into creating a revenue-neutral health insurance reform initiative that has seen the lowest uninsured rate in decades as well as a precipitous drop in personal bankruptcies, and looted it. That $900 billion is stolen money, period. Stolen from its purpose of doing good for the American people and redirected to musty, overstuffed offshore bank accounts.

Sure, there’s so much to hate in this monstrous bill, but to me, the very way it was created is fundamentally wrong and belies the true nature of Republicans. They are scavenging and looting Obama’s legacy, co-opting all the hard work of making the ACA workable, just to pay off their patrons to keep those donations coming.

Obama and the dems went to hell and back to make sure the ACA was able to financially stand on its own (though hurt by repeated sabotage by, yes, the looters), not increase the deficit, not bankrupt the insurance companies, and even marginally improve the health of the people of America. All the Republicans see is free money to give to people who know no other kind of money. These bastards couldn’t bother to help craft the ACA, did nothing to ‘earn’ the money they are now appropriating for themselves and their donors, and will STILL not be satisfied once they’ve finished looting this pile of 900,000,000,000 dollar bills. Because “tax reform” is next up, and there might be a buck or two held onto by a democrat or poor person somewhere that could be in some rich guy’s Caymans account.

I was too kind. They’re not just scavengers and looters. They’re parasites.

The Death Star Shot

kamarvt

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Wednesday February 10, 2016 · 3:01 PM PST

2016/02/10 · 15:01

There’s your bumper sticker.

There’s the one in a million shot that takes down the Death Star.

I don’t think it can be reduced any further than that!

Bernie Sanders Campaign Kickoff - photo diary

kamarvt

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Wednesday May 27, 2015 · 8:53 AM PDT

2015/05/27 · 08:53

no image description available — The Main Attraction himself

The Main Attraction himself

Still buzzing from Bernie Sanders' kickoff rally yesterday in Burlington. It was the first truly warm day of the year, in the upper 80s, and there was certainly a festival atmosphere at the Burlington Waterfront, itself a testament to the tenacity and vision of the newest official presidential candidate.
The big draw, according to pre-event scuttlebutt, was free Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and there was a pretty good-sized line of folks looking for some quintessential Vermont beat-the-heat elixir. Notably, the line for buying Bernie campaign paraphernalia was every bit as long.
Another tale making the rounds today, as noted by Rob in Vermont earlier, is this was a bunch of hippies having a pointless little moment.
Um, no. No, it wasn't.
Local tv station WCAX estimated the crowd at 5000 people, and in this little burg in this little state, that is massive turnout. Especially since this wasn't a Phish reunion concert. I saw signs from as far away as St Croix in the Virgin islands, and everyone knows hippies can't swim ;)

Come on below for my take and some pictures from this historic event

Poll

159 votes Show Results

Where are you in the Democratic spectrum?

159 votes Vote Now!

Where are you in the Democratic spectrum?

Clinton all the way

5 votes

undecided - I'll see where the candidates stand before choosing

9 votes

waiting 'til it's inevitable

0 votes

Republicans have the best candidates

1 vote

I'm voting for Bernie

36 votes

I'm donating and voting for Bernie

51 votes

I'm donating, volunteering, and voting for Bernie

54 votes

Ben & Jerry's pie

3 votes

Why they are lying so much

kamarvt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday August 30, 2012 · 7:54 AM PDT

2012/08/30 · 07:54

This is an expansion of a few comments I've made in some of the current posts about the sheer scale of the dishonesty coming out of the Republican Clown Convention in Tampa.
In virtually every one, several commenters are asking wtf is with the escalation of blatant falsehoods, to such an extent that Fox News of all places is calling Ryan a world record holder for lying. Some are encouraged that such reactions from the legacy media are occurring, but I am not among them.
Truth does not matter in American politics. I think most of us have accepted that much over the last decade or more.
What matters is controlling the narrative, and that is what the lies are doing. They are reframing the campaign into a referendum on president Obama, and that has been the Romney campaign's stated goal all along.

kamarvt explains why this is working below the rising orange sea surface.

kamarvt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday May 11, 2012 · 9:16 AM PDT

2012/05/11 · 09:16

This is a diary about empathy, not about cats. Like Watership Down was not about rabbits.
Empathy is an essential component of humanity, and it is never more important than when it is exhibited by the strong for the weak and defenseless. The stronger one's position, the more incumbent it is to not only possess this quality, but also to actively engage it. There is a proportional relationship between power and the ability to do good, when good is defined as being alert to the circumstances of those less powerful, and acting in their interests.

And yeah, it's been brought on by my cat getting sick again.

kamarvt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday March 06, 2012 · 3:57 PM PST

2012/03/06 · 15:57

Like so many of you, I had a personal email from Markos Moulitsas this morning asking me to vote for Rick Santorum. Like so many of you, I had heard of this idea since at least Operation Hilarity, and had made my decision; no.
Not because of the Great Questions about subversion of democracy, but because Vermont is a small prize, Romney will take the scant (R) vote by 2:1, etc, etc, etc. I mean, what's the point?

But voting here is so easy. There's never a line. And they have cake.
Free cake.
So I changed my mind after getting that personal entreaty from the guy who built the blog where I hang out way too much, again, like so many of you, and decided to go vote for Sir Rick Of Camelot.

So here's what happened.

kamarvt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 12, 2011 · 10:09 AM PDT

2011/07/12 · 10:09

Senate minority leader Mitch "Yertle" McConnell (R-The Swamp) just said the following on the Senate floor;

After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable.

So that establishes that McConnell is ready to give up on negotiations regarding a budget deal, and signaling this retreat with a repetition of his monotonous threat that harkens back to his stated goal of this congress; to make Obama a one-term president. He then goes on to bash the president with all the usual projection and upside down pronouncements about the will of the people.
So is this just Eric Cantor 2.0? Take the Ball And Go Home, Again?
I don't think so.
Jump the squiggle if you want the money (er, 13 trillion dollar) quote;

Poll

109 votes Show Results

is McConnell admitting defeat?

109 votes Vote Now!

is McConnell admitting defeat?

Yes, the stock market tanked yesterday, and he's pulled into his shell

35 votes

No. He's just having a tantrum. He'll be back on board the Crazy Train tomorrow.

74 votes

Tax cuts, then and now

kamarvt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday September 16, 2010 · 8:56 AM PDT

2010/09/16 · 08:56

Those of us cursed with functional memories can recall pretty accurately the debate surrounding the various rounds of tax cuts enacted during the bush Dark Ages. Being one of those people, I have had a hard time following the script this time out as our Most Serious Leaders pretend to carefully weigh the pros and cons of giving yet more trillions to the most affluent among us.
As I remember it, these massive cuts, heavily weighted toward the rich, were designed to happen only if they didn't blow a huge hole in the (then surplus) budget, and were specifically targeted at the wealthy because they would function as an economic stimulus to spur the sputtering economy and bring us all golden ponies. (Ok, i made up the ponies part - it wasn't even an internet meme back then).
A little bit of googling confirmed that my memory, and not the drivel we are hearing today, is accurate.
Some fond memories from the Two Party Tango over merely the first round of wealth redistribution, and curtain calls from the likes of Larry Craig below the fold.

Poll

11 votes Show Results

Are they gonna do it again?

11 votes Vote Now!

Are they gonna do it again?

well, duh. I have a functioning memory.

6 votes

no. they learned

2 votes

no, because we will GOTV and have bigger majorities come November

3 votes

Newer
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RSS

Dear Mr President-Elect; Which Senators?

Trump Admin Dismantles Border Wall with Mexico, Destroys Private Property

On That North Korean Nuclear Offer...

If Bernie Sanders were president...

Scavengers and Looters

The Death Star Shot

Bernie Sanders Campaign Kickoff - photo diary

Why they are lying so much

not just another pootie diary

Sorry, Markos. I tried. Really I did.

whoa, did turtleman just cave on the debt limit?

Tax cuts, then and now