Monday, December 23, 2024

Idiot of the Week

Idiot of the week?  


Rashida Tlaib almost got it.  But one dunce outshined Tlaib.  David Dayen (AMERICAN PROSPECT) notes:


In a sense, Donald Trump is picking up where he left off. Most of us remember the last official act of his presidency as the Capitol Riot, but just before that, just before Christmas 2020, he inserted himself late into a government funding fight that he had been previously disinterested in. Congress had agreed to a bipartisan year-end omnibus spending bill that included the first COVID relief measures in nine months. The bills were already passed, until Trump decided that some of the spending sounded funny, and individuals should get $2,000 checks instead of the $600 on offer. He refused to sign the omnibus without them.

Within hours, Democrats wrote an expanded checks bill and passed it through the House, but Mitch McConnell refused to let it advance, and Trump grudgingly signed the omnibus anyway, climbing all the way down. The $2,000 checks became an issue in two special elections in Georgia that Republicans lost. The road to the Biden agenda went through Trump’s anger-fueled, failed gambit to renegotiate a congressional deal after it was complete.

Almost four years to the day, we’re back here again. But this time, Trump is a side player in the show. He and his transition team reportedly had no problem with the 2024 version of a year-end spending bill until this week. Then Elon Musk starting posting into a frenzy about how a perfectly normal bipartisan agreement represented a total betrayal, lying about the contents in the process. Trump had to be roused to back up his co-president, getting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to construct a partisan solution while inserting an eleventh-hour, two-year suspnension of the debt limit to prevent the Republican trifecta from having to deal with that nuisance in the next Congress.


Foreign born Elon Musk was going to show us Americans how it was done.  And all he demonstrated was how stupid and powerless he truly is.  The US Congress - Republicans or Democrats?  They don't take orders from him.  Not having been born in America or raised in America, Musk didn't understand that he couldn't just buy his way in. 

And he's the ultimate form of stupid, he's racist.  Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) notes:

Elon Musk raised alarm by endorsing Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has called for the nation to leave the European Union.

The tech billionaire and Donald Trump adviser commented on an X post by far-right influencer Naomi Seibt, who had criticized German politician Friedrich Merz, saying the potential next chancellor was "horrified by the idea that Germany should follow Elon Musk’s and [Argentina President] Javier Milei’s example," and Musk replied with a brief endorsement.

“Only the AfD can save Germany," Musk posted at 1:03 a.m.


Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


 Friday, December 20, 2024. Donald Chump and his new fellow Elon work to wreck Christmas for millions of Americans as they demonstrate their incompetence, if Mike Johnson's in the closet is it a closet with glass walls, War Crimes in Iraq?, and much more.


MAGA only knows how to destroy.  They represent the worst part of the Republican Party.  Michael Williams and Leinz Vales (CNN) report this morning:


 Shutdown looms: The US is just hours away from a government shutdown unless a funding plan is passed to avoid it. The House failed Thursday to pass a new Donald Trump-backed GOP proposal to fund the government into March, intensifying the threat of a shutdown ahead of the Friday night deadline.

• Debt limit suspension: The GOP inserted a two-year suspension of the debt limit into the legislation after the president-elect demanded that any deal also address the looming debt limit.

• Democrats firmly opposed: Nearly all Democrats and 38 Republicans voted against the new bill after Trump sank a bipartisan deal and Republicans scrambled to find a plan B. Ahead of the vote, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told members in a closed-door meeting, “I’m not just a no, I’m a hell no,” according to a source in the room.     


Chris Stein and Fran Lawther (GUARDIAN) add:

 

By a vote of 174-235, the House of Representatives rejected a Trump-backed package, hastily assembled by Republican leaders after the president-elect and his billionaire ally Elon Musk scuttled a prior bipartisan deal.

Now lawmakers face a last-minute scramble to secure a new deal before the Friday night deadline – or all nonessential government functions will pause.

Thousands of federal government employees would be put on furlough, meaning that they are told not to report for work and go unpaid for the period of the shutdown, although their salaries are paid retroactively when it ends.

Other government workers who perform what are judged essential services, such as air traffic controllers and law enforcement officials, continue to work but do not get paid until Congress acts to end the shutdown.

A shutdown just before the holiday season hits its peak, could be disastrous for millions of Americans.


MAGA smash.  MAGA break.


They don't know to fix things and they don't know how to govern.  Last night, on MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell explained how imbecile Donald Chump and non-American born Elon Musk destroyed and harmed the country.




Yesterday, Robert Reich noted:




Musk went on a daylong rampage yesterday against the continuing resolution drafted by House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team to keep the government going.
Musk posted nearly nonstop on his social media platform X about how lawmakers must kill it. “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk wrote in one post.

Musk — the richest person in the world — was joined in his posting spree by another billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy, whom Trump asked to partner with Musk in an effort to slash government spending and reduce the federal budget deficit.

Republicans gauging support for the legislation said they were bleeding votes as a result of Musk’s barrage.

Then, after Musk spent the day telling Republicans not to support the bill, Trump weighed in against it, too. That put the bill on life support.

If this isn’t oligarchy, I don’t know what is.

You may not get access to services you depend on just before the holidays because an unelected billionaire shadow president wanted it that way.


A government shutdown right before Christmas.  Do we realize how many people -- how many families -- that would harm.  Chris Hayes notes:




Mainly, the drama just exposes MAGA.


It exposes them as an uncaring, anti-family mob that doesn't care if people are put out of work.


It exposes Chump as an idiot fool who has already been wounded in the public eye with each ridiculous nominee he has tried to push for his administration is exposed as a loser -- a big loser that's either a sociopath or a threat to national security.  


It exposes apartheid boy Elon Musk as the non-American that the South African born racist truly is.


It exposes Mike Johnson and conversion therapy as a failure.


Conversion therapy was supposed to allow Mike to run with all the boys -- in a non-sexual way.


That's not happening.  


This is Washington -- This is how -- uh -- lawmaking is done.


Did you catch that -- and his delivery of it --- and the way he coyly tried to be fetching with a head move - in Lawrence's video?  If not, pay close attention to him in the MEDIASTOUCH NEWS video below.



Look at him in those photos.  Grasp why Marjorie Taylor Greene's been whispering for over a year and a half that Mike's a closet case.  


He certainly reads that way and that's the thing, MAGA notes the obvious.  And MAGA -- for all its pretense -- isn't anti-gay. It's anti-equality.  Those closet case MAGA men are lusting after one another in bondage and discipline fantasies.  


Let's note this video about the protesting Mike Johnson.


   


Kat noted last night "MAGA a cult of closet cases" and that is so true.  But it's not just the subs.  It's the bullies.  And they're going to pretend the straight the same as the timid Mike Johnsons.  But they're going to get off on bullying.  

And when you look at photos of Mike with other males, he really doesn't come off well.  The others in the photos are comfortable in their skin.  He never comes across that way.  Instead, he always looks subservient to the other males.  And bullies -- I assume straight bullies or gay bullies -- are like sharks and start to circle when they smell blood in the water. 


MEDIASTOUCH is counting the days that they feel Mike Johnson has left as US House Speaker.  Senator Rand Curly Locks Paul began calling yesterday for Elon Musk to replace Mike as Speaker of the House.


Chris Walker (TRUTHOUT) notes:


Lauding Musk’s actions against the bill, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) suggested on the social media site X (which Musk owns) that the billionaire should take over the speakership from Johnson.

The U.S. Constitution stipulates that the House of Representatives “shall choose their speaker and other officers.” But it doesn’t require a person to be a duly-elected member of the House before becoming speaker.

If Republicans move forward with this plan, it will be the first time ever that a speaker of the House was not also a representative within the House.

“The Speaker of the House need not be a member of Congress,” Paul said, adding that he believes Musk would be a good choice to “disrupt the swamp.”

Far right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) agreed with Paul’s assessment, saying she could “be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House.”


No one took Mike seriously.  Again, Marjorie's been calling him a closet case for over a year and a half now.  Markwayne, what's his name, the one from Oklahoma compares Mike to a KING OF THE HILL episode where the Cowboys play the Saints.  But the one in the episode that Markwayne and others compare Mike Johnson to is Gilbert Dauterive.



They giggle and they laugh at him.  Not the Democrats, mind you, but his own MAGA 'peers' mock him and laugh at him.  And the world recognizes him for what he is.













As for Elon, Ruth noted:


We all get that Elon Musk is not an American citizen, right?  He was born in South Africa and loved living there until the end of apartheid meant Black people had rights so that is when Mr. Musk fled. He should have gone to his mother birth country of Canada.  Instead, he came here on a visa that did not allow him to work so he worked as an undocumented worker -- something he says is "breaking the law" when other people do that.

Because he can buy so much, he thought he could buy citizenship here and we were corrupt enough to let him.  So he has three citizenships.  He is a third American.  On the trashiest side of our family, you can be sure. 

Now he appears to think he is the president of the United States.  Miles Klee (ROLLING STONE) reports:




Elon Musk, self-described "First Buddy" of President-elect Donald Trump, went all out to thwart a last-minute funding deal to avert a government shutdown. The move was a direct challenge to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who rolled out the sweeping plan on Tuesday night.

Now, it appears Musk has successfully killed the stopgap measure in its cradle - before it was even brought to a vote.

In a manic posting spree on Wednesday, the world's richest man bombarded his platform X, formerly Twitter, with attacks on a proposed funding bill, which would've kept the government funded through March 14 and had bipartisan support. He also amplified misinformation about what's in the 1,500-page bill - as did his non-governmental commission, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is recommending cuts to government spending and regulations to the incoming Trump administration.

Trump himself signaled Wednesday that he opposes the resolution, according to a joint statement shared by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. Various hard-right GOP representatives also vowed to vote against it. Should Johnson fail to get a spending plan passed by Dec. 20, the federal government will enter a partial shutdown ahead of the holidays. But that apparently sounded ideal to Musk and his social media clique.


All of this happens as the American people watch.  All of this unfolds and we're reminded yet again what a chump Trump is.



Chump and The MAGA Cult are making fools of themselves as the American people watch.  Danielle Moody's right that this is just time to watch the nutty idiots.  In fact, it's hard to believe that Stan wrote "A new daytime soap opera" this week and was not talking about THE DONALD CHUMP SHOW (Stan was covering CBS' upcoming BEYOND THE GATE).  


 David McAfee (RAW STORY) explains that The Idiot Chump can't grasp how bad this looks for him:

Donald Trump on Friday welcomed a potential shutdown of the government before he takes office.

Trump risked a shutdown when he pressured GOP lawmakers to reject a bipartisan spending deal, which resulted in a second deal which died after being rejected by almost all Democrats and some Republicans.

Trump has already tried shifting blame for the result over to President Joe Biden. 


We'll wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:


“DoD has repeatedly misled the public about what has come to be known as the Haditha Massacre.”

New photos from the scene reveal Iraqi civilians killed in their homes by U.S. Marines; Marine Corps Commandant bragged about keeping photos secret.

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Representative Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter requesting the Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General investigate reports that the DoD mishandled a case involving  U.S. Marines killing civilians in Haditha, Iraq, and DoD’s continued efforts to cover up the alleged war crimes. 

In November 2005, as U.S. Marines patrolled the Iraqi town of Haditha, an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded, striking their convoy, killing one Marine and injuring two others. Immediately after the explosion, eight Marines moved through nearby Iraqi homes to pursue what they described as “the continuing threat” and “armed terrorists who fled the IED site.” Afterwards, the Marine Corps failed to conduct an investigation until three months after the incident, violating then-existing policy and law that required prompt reporting and thorough investigation.

A recent New Yorker story revealed several disturbing photos of Iraqi civilians, including women and children, who appear to have been killed in their homes by U.S. Marines. The graphic photos from that day appear to reveal a much more sinister, deliberate, and cruel execution of civilians, and not the accidental chaos and misidentification of civilians described as armed combatants in previous reports. General Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps Commandant at the time of the Haditha killings, “bragged about keeping the Haditha photos secret.”

“We seek to understand whether DoD improperly withheld information from the public regarding this incident, and whether current DoD processes can ensure timely and complete investigations in response to reported instances of civilian harm,” wrote the lawmakers.

In 2013, the Defense Legal Policy Board reviewed investigations into civilian deaths and prosecutions of DoD personnel accused of war crimes and published a report on military justice in combat zones, which provided several recommendations on how to improve and increase training at all levels and make other institutional corrections. Specifically, the review called for the appointment of a joint commander to “have a central role in the administration of military justice in a theater of operations” who is “ultimately responsible for the conduct of his force,” including “all forces, from every service.”

Yet, even after that report, senior DoD leadership appeared to continue to cover up evidence of the massacre. Following the Haditha killings, the DoD denied New Yorker reporters’ Freedom of Information Act requests for DoD records of alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan since September 11, 2001. The DoD also claimed it would not release the photographs due to concerns about the surviving family members of the Iraqis killed that day, even though those same family members ultimately assisted the New Yorker in obtaining and finally publishing them. 

“We expect and require the U.S. military to uphold the law, rules, and ethics code that service members swear to obey,” continued the lawmakers. “Ensuring fair and swift justice for any violations of the rules of war supports good order and discipline in the armed forces while also building trust with the American people and the international community.”

The 2013 DoD review included several recommendations for changes to DoD’s policy on military justice for war zone investigations. The lawmakers seek to understand DoD’s implementation of the 2013 recommended policy changes, DoD’s current practices to investigate and report civilian harm, and whether they are equipped to better hold military personnel accountable.

The lawmakers are requesting answers by December 30, 2024.

###


The following sites updated:





Posted by at

Friday, December 20, 2024

Who TIME should have picked for Person of the Year

I filled in for Rebecca with "Nut jobs Elon and Greg" which I finished a little while ago.

---------------

I wrote that early this morning,  I thought I had enough steam to fill in for Rebecca and post.  And I did manage to copy and past Thursday's snapshot in the post (below) and to do one sentence.  But I yawned, I put my head down on the desk and fell asleep.  :)  Sorry.


Michelle Obama spoke with Jennifer Hudson on the latter's show.


I think Michelle Obama came into her own and then some this year.  She gave the best speech at the DNC -- moving and powerful.  She delivered repeatedly on the campaign trail.  


I would never have picked Donald Chump for Person of the Year.  TIME should have gone with someone like Michelle who was both inspired and on fire.  She was a defining voice of the year. 

She stepped up to the plate and then some and every time she did?  She knocked it out of the park.


Barack Obama is known for his oratory skills.  


He was out there speaking too.  He did his strong job.  Oprah Winfrey is powerful as well.  She spoke at the DNC also.


But it was Michelle that was the most powerful speaker campaigning for Kamala.  And that's really high praise because she did better than everyone -- that's Barack, that's Oprah, that's anyone.  Michelle delivered and if I were doing a documentary about her, any of her speeches from fall 2024 would be worthy of inclusion.  It showed her power, her comfort and her really coming into her own and then some.


I'll blog again this weekend but I did want to get something up here. 

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Thursday,  December 19, 2024.  Elections have consequences.  Let's discuss some.



Let's start with a basic note.  We're not a supermarket bulletin board.  Just because you've decided to teach guitar lessons, it's not my job to note that.  A number of people are frustrated -- people I don't just not know but have never heard of -- because they're e-mailing their articles or their videos to get them highlighted here.  Martha and Shirley are the main ones working the e-mails but they aren't the only ones.  Something from David Bacon comes in? They know to move it to a folder I will try to work from, we're always happy to note his work which is both journalism and art and he's one of the few labor reporters that the country has.  David's only problem is me finding time to get whatever up here.  But those of you who are new to me?  You're not going up automatic and some of you, when I get the time to review what you're asking be noted, are at the wrong damn site.  



We have changed and we are changing and maybe that causes some confusion.  In the past, I tried to play fair.  I'm not interested in that.  I'll give you an example.  I know Katie Couric, we're not great friends but I know her.  And have real respect for the body of work she's provided.  A fright-wing and centrist took to attacking her in videos.  Didn't want to play gatekeeper so I included them here.  I'm no longer interested in that.  The rank hypocrisy of the circle jerk left is never addressed or even acknowledged.  Right now, a woman who is often noted here and will not be noted for a while.


In 2022 when the nonsense first started, we just ignored it and acted like it wasn't happening.  

I'm not in the mood anymore.  As I've noted repeatedly, Chris Rock is a friend.  I have no idea why, with your political talk show, you have felt the need to do not one but two attacks on Chris.  In one week.  You're a Black woman who has refused to seriously explore real issues that many of us in the community are exploring and have been -- including serious discussions about how the intersection of race and gender impacted Kamala Harris' campaign. 

But you've got time, in one week, to do not one but two lengthy segments attacking Chris?


I'm not in the mood.  

Trump, Tulsi, Hegseth, Junior, Elon -- and how many more nightmares are out there but you're attacking Chris Rock.

I'm not interested anymore in being 'fair' and saying, "Oh well, difference of opinion, we'll just highlight other things from" _____.  Not interested at all.  You pulled this s**t when Chris got attacked in 2022 at the Academy Awards ceremony.  We were kind then.  I'm not interested being kind now.

I think it's important to highlight voices of color but you're not the only voice of color out there and two attacks in one week on Chris?  I'm not interested in you.  We'll probably note you some in the new year -- if I'm not still angry -- but I'm not in the mood now.

And again, for a woman of color to do so little right now -- in the wake of all the pain among Black women over the election results -- doesn't speak highly for you but, I'd argue, two long segments in one week picking on Chris didn't argue highly for you either.

As for the centrists with all their pieces explaining why the Democratic Party needs to move right, no, you're not going to be posted here and we're not going to endure your nonsense. 

Get over it.  That's a line from Stevie Nicks' "Hard Advice" and you can stop reading now if you came by for fluff and nonsense.  We're about to address a serious issue regarding loyalty and betrayal.




He gives such hard advice
He says don't think twice
Turn off the radio
It was finished long ago
Go write some real songs
This is all wrong
Sometimes he's my best friend
Even when he's not around
But the sound of his voice
Well, it follows me down
And reminds me
Sometimes he's my best friend
Even when he's not around
But the sound of his voice
Well, it follows me down
And reminds me
You have to get over this
This pain's gone on too long
Go and write some real songs
Stay out of music stores
Don't buy that doll
-- "Hard Advice," written by Stevie Nicks, first appears on her 24 KARAT GOLD: SONGS FROM THE VAULT

I'm being asked in real life if I'd oppose or support a challenge -- primary challenge -- in 2026 for Rashida Talib who is in the House of Representatives and uses the party i.d. of "Democrat."  I begged off until today for providing an answer.  I slept on it last night and my answer is yes.

Rashida has done real damage.

What has she accomplished?

We have to constantly defend her as a Democratic Party.  We have to defend her foul mouth because she never grasped the way we expect a politician to speak.  We have to defend her positions.  We have to defend her statements.

And that's fine in many ways.

When does it stop being fine?

Zell Miller.

That's what it comes down to.

You're lying and you're justifying and minimizing if you can't grasp that.

Oh, the pain she's in over her family!!!!

I don't give two s**ts and you shouldn't either.  

We didn't write excuses for Zell.  We didn't ponder what pain he might be in.  We didn't care and we shouldn't have.

There are many things we can disagree on. 

But when it comes time to elect a president?

No.  

Zell, for those who don't know, elected in 2004 -- he was in the Senate and also used the label "Democrat" -- elected to speak at the Republican Party's convention and to promote Bully Boy Bush.


That was the end of it for Zell and Rashida's actions (and her sister's) should spell the end for Rashida.


She actively worked (as did Rashida's sister) to defeat the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.  


Until the day before the election, US House Rep Rashida Talib was encouraged to endorse Kamala Harris in the presidential election.  She refused to do so.    In fact, Jeffrey C. Isaac had an entire column about that published at COMMON DREAMS on November 4th:


And because the race is so tight, and every vote counts, and because so much of importance rides on the outcome, it is important, now, to think critically, in an intelligent way, about a very disappointing thing which happened this weekend: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s unfortunate refusal, at a UAW campaign rally in Detroit, to endorse the Harris-Walz ticket.

Tlaib’s rationale is both straightforward and legitimate: the Biden administration’s strong and unwavering support for Israel’s criminal campaign of murder and destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, and the Democratic Party’s refusal to allow even one Palestinian-American to give voice to Palestinian concerns at the party’s convention last summer, represent intolerable disregard for Palestinian lives. As she explained: “Our trauma and pain feel unseen and ignored by both parties. One party uses our identity as a slur, and the other refuses to hear from us. Where is the shared humanity? Ignoring us won’t stop the genocide.”

Tlaib is a brave and savvy political leader who has consistently spoken up against oppression and who, as the only Palestinian-American in Congress, has spoken bravely on behalf of Palestinians in the face of outright hostility expressed by Republicans but also by many Democrats.

When she was attacked last year for her criticisms of Israeli war crimes, I strongly defended her in two pieces, published in rapid succession, that received substantial attention: “To Censure Rashida Tlaib Would Be to Censure Democracy Itself,” “and ““The Attacks on Rashida Tlaib Are Attacks on the Ethos of Pluralist Democracy .” In a third piece, “Defending and Respecting Rashida Tlaib’s Standpoint Does Not Mean Abandoning My Own ,” I also offered a sympathetic criticism of some of her rhetoric, which I thought alienated many allies to her cause.

It is in this spirit that I am writing now. I am not one of those who believes that Palestinian and Arab-Americans are under a moral duty to vote for the Harris-Walz ticket, or that they are somehow morally blameworthy should they refuse to so vote on grounds of either conscience or simple identity. For all politics involves mobilizing identity, and the Harris campaign is going all out to mobilize women in support of reproductive freedom and women’s health--as it should do.


The writer took that to COMMON DREAMS which might not have been the best place for it -- read the comments.  Until early in October, COMMON DREAMS was part of the effort on the left to elect Donald Trump -- via microaggressions and assorted other tricks.  To their credit, COMMON DREAMS did do a self-evaluation and drop that nonsense.  But their readers were already indoctrinated and you can see that in the comments on the article.


I don't believe Rashida who came out of the gate in 2021 with "Mother F**ker" has ever worried about alienating allies.  

Rashida, maybe in your post-Congressional career, you can explain why you chose to call a man a MF as an insult?


As a feminist, I don't even like to use the term "bastard" in my writing (I've used it once) because it's always been used as a judgment on the woman (the mother).  So I'd love to hear you on that and know that you're not part of the rank sexism in the Dearborn and Hamtramck.  


No, Rashida's always been very clear that she's going to do what's best for her.

And as a private citizen, she can do just that.  Her sister's a private citizen and we only mention her in relationship to their combined effort to defeat Kamala Harris.

But Rashida's not a private citizen.

She's a member of Congress who took an oath to the Constitution.

I don't see how working to put a convicted felon back into the White House reflects or honors that oath.


More to the point, not one dime of Democratic Party money should have gone to her re-election.

She took party money, she therefore was required to advance the party in the election.

She refused to do that.

She's Zell Miller and she's proven that she can't be trusted.  The party can't afford a turncoat.


Back to the column:



As I stated last week, in “A Few Words to Those Currently 'Uncommitted' to Voting for Harris ,“ many Arab-Americans are clearly so disgusted by Biden administration policy that they cannot support Harris, and it would be both foolish and morally tone deaf to tell them that their sense of identity is less important than any other. Arab-American fellow citizens have a right to feel outraged and ignored and to act accordingly.



That's interesting.  I don't remember anyone fretting over being "foolish and morally tone deaf" in telling Black women -- who've suffered in this country for centuries, who've been raped and murdered in huge numbers, who've been exploited and had their labor and work stolen -- "that their sense of identity is no less important than any other."  No, what I saw was that Black women were spat on.  But let's continue.


The question I want to pose here regarding Tlaib’s decision is a question of political responsibility.

Tlaib is a Palestinian-American citizen, whose family is currently in danger in Israel-Palestine. As a citizen and as a conscientious moral individual, she has every right to refuse to support or to vote for Harris, by abstaining, or voting for Jill Stein, or whatever. It would be presumptuous for anyone to judge her as an individual, for only she knows what the current destruction of Palestine means to her and those whom she holds most dear.

But Tlaib is not only a Palestinian-American citizen. She is also a member of Congress and leader of the Democratic Party and the progressive left more generally.


She was a leader of the Democratic Party.  She's not now.  For those who don't know, Rashida didn't work alone to defeat Kamala, her sister was part of the Muslim effort in Michigan to destroy Kamala.  Rashida made her choice -- that was to re-elect Trump and if you don't get how f**ked Rashida is now as a result, you're just a dumb fanboy online who thinks politicians never exact revenge. 


And she has a distinct political responsibility that comes with this leadership. It requires that she be accountable to her constituents. But it also requires the she exercise the judgment necessary to truly lead, and to act publicly in ways that promote the interests of her constituents; the policies she cares about; and the survival of democracy itself. What she does publicly is by nature about much more than her. And her decisions carry more weight than ordinary citizen decisions.

A second Trump administration, especially linked to a buoyed MAGA Republican Congress, would be a simple disaster for everything that Rashida Tlaib has long bravely supported, from civil liberties to the dignified treatment of immigrants—including Arab immigrants—to justice for Palestinians. For Trump is an ally of Netanyahu and his Greater Israel agenda, and he will surely green-light even more aggression, dispossession, destruction and death for Palestinians than we have seen over the past year.

Rashida Tlaib is not morally wrong for refusing to support the Harris campaign. But her refusal, I submit, is politically mistaken, because it is likely to bring about results that are politically noxious for her supporters and their values, and for American democracy more generally.




It was beyond politically mistaken and it was ethically wrong.  She needs to leave the Democratic Party.  She needs to leave now.  She's most likely going to be primaried and she should be.  On the basis of party loyalty, she no longer belongs in Congress.  


B-b-but she's Palestinian-American!

She's Zell Miller.  

She didn't take an oath to defend her ancestor's homeland.  She took an oath to defend the Constitution and to defend this country, the United States of America.  

By helping Donald Trump get re-elected, she failed to honor her oath.

People like her did real damage.  And want to talk Palestine?  People like Rashida have destroy support -- decimated it -- for the Palestinians.  In the US, people have walked away.  London?  They turn out a crowd every weekend to protest.

Here?

There's an attitude of "No, thank you."

And that's while Joe Biden's still in the White House.  Satan Trump hasn't been sworn in and can't sick the military on protesters right now.  

People are done.

You overplayed your hand and turned into the freaks that never could get the message across.

You had a window and opening and the American people were listening.

And then you proved yet again that you were freaks.

The most important issue in a US presidential election really isn't what's taking place in another country.

I say that as someone who opposed the Iraq War, spoke out against it and did everything I could to get those who supported it out of office.  

Democracy is under threat now.  Because Gaza Freaks and others f**ked around with our election, we're now in a very bad place and will be for the next four years.

Immigrants and those who look like they might be immigrants are about to be targeted and rounded up.

So was it worth it, Rashida?

He's not even in the White House yet, but Satan's already declared that the Justice Dept should be going after any news outlet that reports on a story he doesn't like.  Not that's wrong, mind you.  That wouldn't be the Justice Dept's business either.  But let's be very clear about what's happening right now.  He's attacking a paper because he didn't like the polling results the paper covered.


Was it worth it, Rashida?

Do we need to talk about Ken Paxton suing New York?

What are you seeing, Rashida, that says, "Great job, Rashida!"

Because what I'm seeing is my country going down the tubes.

What I'm seeing is people of color, LGBTQ+, all women, the press, free speech, et al being under assault for the next four years.

You made your choice and you chose wrong.

Kamala wouldn't have given you everything you wanted on the plight of the Palestinian people.  That's reality and I know you can't deal with reality.

Here's some more reality, you are never going to undue the prejudice against the Palestinian people that the American people have been taught by their media in one or two years.  It is a long struggle.  

Yes, people will die in Gaza during this struggle.  

No, it's not fair.

But that's why you do your best to mitigate and continue attempts to educate.

Donald Trump was never going to help the Palestinian people.

Kamala would have pushed for a cease-fire.  

And I don't need to hear from Adam Johnson or some other idiot telling me differently.  Please see Ann's "Racists Adam Johnson and Othman Ali."  As noted here forever and a day, I've known Kamala for years.  We were not friends.  I did not support her 2020 run.  I did not scream, "Joe step down and give it to Kamala!"  Joe did need to step down and thankfully he did.  But that was it for me.  We needed a new nominee.  When she began emerging as the party's potential nominee -- one of many -- dictating a snapshot, I started out dismissing the idea.  And then, as I thought about it, it became very clear that she would be a solid nominee and could be a great president.  Again, I wasn't not part of her base or a Kamala-stan.  We honestly did not get along.  And that's due to personal issues and I will gladly cop to it being 100% all on my side.  

But my point in sharing this is that she was the best choice and would have made an outstanding president and I didn't drag all my personal issues into it to trash her.  

Rashida did.

I don't know what to tell you, Rashida.  You're damaged goods now.  Not just with the party but with Democrats across the country.

You've asked a lot of us over the last four years.

And we delivered.

We defended you.

We stood up for you.

And our thanks was you did your part to elect Donald Trump.

That didn't help the Palestinians.

And it damn well didn't help this country.

You're Zell Miller.  

You chose to make yourself that and you should be left on your own for now, you should be primaried in 2026 (if you are, I expect I will be maxing out with my donations to your opponent).


Ahead of the US election, Rashida felt the need to Tweet the following:




Rashida Tlaib
@RashidaTlaib
·
Nov 3
The Israeli government bombed children while they were trying to get their polio vaccination.
 


Oh, you care about polio vaccines, Rashida? 

What about American children?  Your actions mean Junior's probably going to be Secretary of Heatlh and Human Services and he is on record opposing the polio vaccine.

So what about American children?

How did you defend them, how did you protect them, by working to defeat Kamala?


Everything is not about you.  

You took an oath to uphold the Constitution but you couldn't even vote to uphold the Constitution.  Why?  Because the Israeli government was yet again attacking the Palestinians.


At the beginning of THIRD's recent "Roundtable," Jim noted the participants: "The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, and me, Jim; Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man; C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review; Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix;  Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub." and from that roundtable:

Jim: Ann, I'm turning to you for a number of reasons.  First off, you were raised a Green Party member.  You always voted Green.  This year, you announced you'd be voting Democratic.  You were very vocal about Jill Stein being an embarrassment.  You're also a Black woman and so there were other revelations for you.


Ann: I had no idea just how much racism there was in this country.  None.  I knew it was out there.  I liked to think it decreased with each year.  I mean, Cedric and I have two kids.  I had thought they were growing up in a country that was getting better and better.  That's not the case.  Kamala was the most qualified candidate.  And the White progressives are forever showing up after the election talking about how Black women as a group repeatedly vote for the Democratic Party nominee. Is Laura Flanders semi-closeted?  I can never keep up.  She was an out lesbian for years when she was doing a public radio program.  Then she went to work for AIR AMERICA RADIO and ran back in the closet.  I think she's out again but I can't keep track of her or her cowardly ways.  She's the worst among the White women.  She'll start extolling Black women after a presidential election and talking about how we saved the election for the Democrat.  That's her posing on air.  She's not a Democrat and didn't even vote for John Kerry -- though she pretended over night on AIR AMERICA RADIO the night of that election that she had voted for Kerry and that she was a Democrat only revealing a couple of years later that she voted for the Green.  At any rate, shove your garbage talk about Black women back up your ass, Laura.  She couldn't stay off INSTAGRAM with her attacks on Kamala as the election approached. Betrayal?  Black women turned out for the Democratic Party over and over and here was one of us, a couple of yards from the presidency, and you could have elevated us and showed us support but instead you showed your racism and ripped us apart.


Cedric: I want to build on Ann's point in a way that people haven't.  Reparations.  We supposedly believe in them.  Now a big cash check to every Black person?  I don't think that's going to happen in my lifetime.  So I tend to advocate for scholarships and assistance and investment into Black communities -- for reparations payments to happen that way.  I don't see most White people going for individual checks -- not even on the left -- because it becomes a wah-wah where's my check too?  Kamala Harris was the most qualified candidate in that race.  And if you truly believed in reparations on any level, you should have voted for her grasping the historical importance of voting for the most qualified candidate when she was Black.  But various people on the left -- a lot of them White -- refused to support reparations and put a Black woman in the White House.  So Laura Flanders, Amy Goodman, Katrina vanden Heuvel and all you other White fake asses grasp that we see you for the racists you truly are.   And we don't need to hear from you and we don't want to hear from you.


Jim: I think Cedric's pulled us into the heart of this roundtable.  We were trying to approach it.  Ruth you wrote down that you wanted to address Gaza Freaks so I'm going to toss to you.

Ruth: Something cruel and criminal has been taking place in Gaza since October of last year.  Many people became part of a movement to stop it.  The Gaza Freaks were the loudest and they'd pretend that they were the first.  They are, always, the first to turn people off to the cause.  That is due to the fact that they are off putting and crazy.  They worked overtime to elect Satan by advancing grifter Jill Stein and/or advocating for Satan and attacking Kamala Harris.  They did not put the Palestinians first.  They lied and told everyone not to vote for Vice President Harris.  Now Satan's headed back to the White House and they want to pretend that's not their fault, they want to pretend that Satan's decision to destroy Gaza is not their fault.  Yes, it is.  You freaks cannot elect anyone but you damn sure can ensure that the wrong person gets into the White House.


Isaiah: And I'm not working with the Gaza Freaks.  They're dishonest liars.  I will never work with them on any issue.  If they're included, I'll find another action to take part in.

Rebecca: And that is the reaction. I've spoken out for the Palestinians since college.  I would often cry about the fact that they didn't get their support they needed and that they were being slaughtered.  We're going back to college years.  C.I. would talk realistically to me.  She'd note what could be done at this moment and what couldn't be done and why.  It went to the fact that the US people had a view of the Israeli state and that they conflated that state with people being Jewish.  It went to our government's relationship with the Israeli government.  When the illegal Iraq War started, C.I. noted that this would help the Palestinian people by educating Americans on occupations.  October 7th saw the Israeli government finally overplay their hand.  And C.I. and other non-Gaza Freaks shaped a message day after day that the American people could embrace.  And the shift is finally taking place.  Enter the Gaza Freaks.  It's really over now.  You would need people like C.I. who know how to shape an argument and how to win support.  And she's not going to work with the Gaza Freaks.  She's not the only one.  COMMON DREAMS, every weekend, tries to highlight some London protest for Palestinians.  They have to go to London because Gaza Freaks burned the bridge in America.  They put Donald Trump back into the White House and no one's forgiving them for that.  Nor should they.

Mike: I'll jump in.  I'm someone coming to the issue late.  And I didn't have strong beliefs one way or the other until October and the way that coverage was addressing it.  I cared about the Palestinians. CODE PINK and it's ancient 'leadership' didn't make that happen.  Amy Goodman and her half-truths didn't make it happen.  It was the people who led on it for the first time following October 7th.  They set new parameters and they made real arguments.  The Gaza Freaks?  They worked for decades and never managed to shift US opinion.  So now they're back in charge and America just doesn't care -- more likely just doesn't care to be working with those fringe freaks.  We still care about the Palestinian people.  But the Gaza Freaks ensured Trump got elected and, in doing so, they ensured the deaths of Palestinians will continue.


Ty: The Gaza Freaks also threatened and bullied and attacked Black people -- especially Black women -- online.  And that's not forgotten.  It's not acceptable.  And I'm not going to pet them on the head and act like they're cuddly and cute.  They're racist, they're sexist and they're homophobes.  And when  Orange Cheeto rains hell down on them, they have only themselves to blame.  They showed the Black community their true nature and we're done.


Stan: I cover entertainment at my site but I do watch and learn.  And there were times something would be in the news and I could argue it was entertainment related and cover it and using the tools C.I. repeatedly accessed while writing at THE COMMON ILLS, I would get some e-mails saying that they hadn't seen the Palestinian issue that way before.  But, like Mike said, it's going to need a full revamp at this point.  The Gaza Freaks took over and sent everyone running off over disgust with the Gaza Freaks.  It's a real setback for the Palestinian cause.







 


While other Trump Cabinet picks have been in the glare of the spotlight – including embattled defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth and potential director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard – Kennedy's nomination has recently become more divisive following reports that one of his allies took aim at the long-trusted polio vaccine. 


Aaron Siri, Kennedy’s top adviser helping him pick health officials for the incoming Trump administration, petitioned the Food and Drug Administration in 2022 to revoke or limit approval of the polio vaccine. If confirmed as HHS secretary, Kennedy would oversee the FDA and other departments. 

Kennedy has questioned the effectiveness of vaccines for years and promoted debunked claims that certain vaccines are linked to autism. Trump, wary of vaccines in his first term, has said recently he is not against them even as he defends his nominee. 

“Vaccines are incredible, but maybe some aren’t, and if they aren’t, we have to find out,” Trump told NBC earlier this month. He has since said he supports polio vaccinations. 

Some Republican senators have embraced that uncertainty. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said there is an “epidemic” of autism in the United States (an uptick that experts have attributed to improved diagnoses practices). “The question of vaccines, he has a right to question it,” Mullin said.  





A public health expert scorned Sen. Tommy Tuberville's analysis of vaccine mandates as illogical and unscientific.

The Alabama Republican met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is Donald Trump's nominee for health secretary, and came away saying that they agreed that children are required to get too many vaccines instead of just three, as both septuagenarians had gotten as children in the 1950s, and Dr. Paul Offit faulted his reasoning during an appearance on CNN.

"That's called survivor bias," said Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital, Philadelphia. "I mean, the notion is that, you know, we were fine, so therefore everybody else is fine. This thing about transparency [in research] is very upsetting to me, because you can see all the data that everybody else sees. It's all open to the public. I mean, when we, the FDA vaccine advisory committee, reviewed, for example, the Covid vaccines in December of 2020, we reviewed about 800 pages of data. That was all on FDA's website for anybody to look at."

"I don't know what Tommy Tuberville is talking about," Offit added, "but one thing that Tommy Tuberville said that should be a key to exactly what RFK Jr. is going to do is he said, 'I just talked to RFK Jr., and we talked about how, do we really need all these vaccines. That tells you everything about what RFK Jr. is about to do. He is about to do everything he can to destroy the vaccine program in this country, and I think it is a dangerous time to be a child in the United States of America."


 
Are you happy now, Rashida?

Elections have real consequences.  The world is going to be living in a world of hurt with Satan headed back to the White House and it's time to see some accountability from those who helped him win.




The following sites updated:





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