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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
