The Thread of Democrats

[Tero]

[L'Emmerdeur]

The militant loon Marge Space Lasers bellows about the Democratic party being 'Communists.' Meanwhile they show their true corporatist neo-liberal colors.

'"Absolute Disgrace": Maine's Democratic Gov. Kills Bill to Allow Farmworkers to Unionize'

Maine's Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is under fire after vetoing a bill that would have allowed farmworkers in the state to unionize.

The Maine Legislature passed a bill to give workers in agricultural industries the right to organize and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. But in a move that labor reporter Kim Kelly called "an absolute disgrace," Mills on Friday single-handedly prevented the proposal from becoming law.

"With 'friends' like these," Kelly said of Maine's Democratic governor, "the working class in this country barely needs enemies."

As journalist Daniel Nichanian pointed out, Mills is one of two Democratic governors to recently kill legislation that would have enabled or made it easier for farmworkers to join a union. Last September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 616—a huge disappointment to the United Farm Workers, which had just helped him defeat a right-wing recall effort.

In her veto message, Mills said she could not "subject our farmers to a complicated new set of laws that would require them to hire lawyers just to understand."

[Brian Peacock]

Big Farmer at it again.

[JimC]

[rainbow]

Big Farmer at it again.

You laugh, but AgriBiz is controlled by the shape-shifting Reptilian Aliens of Monsanto.

[L'Emmerdeur]

I don't think Senator Manchin is stupid, nor do I believe that he is ignorant of the history of the US Senate and the filibuster. So I would tend to answer the question in the headline in the affirmative. I wouldn't call it a Trumpian lie though. Trump's lies are generally blatant falsehoods. Manchin on the other hand strongly implied something that is false.

'"Lying on Purpose?": Experts Scorch Manchin for "Trumpian Lie" the Filibuster Has Existed for 232 Years'

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin is continuing his opposition to President Joe Biden’s agenda. On Monday the Democrat from West Virginia unleashed a historically inaccurate claim about the filibuster that has many enraged.

The filibuster in its current form requires much of what the Senate does to get 60 votes. Confirmation for presidential nominees, including Supreme Court justices to a lifetime appointment, however, require just a simple majority.

The 60 vote rule was implemented in 1975, not when the U.S. Constitution was adopted, and many are blasting Manchin for spreading falsehoods to promote his agenda.

“The tradition of the Senate here in 232 years now..we need to be very cautious what we do..That’s what we’ve always had for 232 years. That’s what makes us different than any place else in the world,” Manchin falsely said Monday, according to Fox News’ Chad Pergram.

“232 years ago, in 1790, a simple majority could end any debate,’ writes attorney Max Kennerly. “The current form of filibuster that Manchin is protecting—in which votes can’t happen until 60 Senators agree—didn’t exist until 1975. Hundreds of exceptions have been made to it, including one last month.”

“Up until the 20th Century, most filibusters failed,” he adds, noting ones that succeeded – which all have one thing in common: [They were mounted by southern Democrats in opposition to civil rights legislation.]

[Hermit]

When Democratic leadership make a big public show of being blocked and helpless, held captive by republicans and two extremist right wing democrats (while they control the house, the senate and the White House) it reminds me of that scene in Casablanca -- when Captain Renault, played by Claude Rains, after he's ordered to close Rick's Cafe shouts, "I'm shocked! Shocked to find that gambling is going on in here." -- and then collects his winnings.

Nobody is shocked.

Everybody knew exactly what was happening. We all watched in broad daylight how democrats traded away their leverage early on in the process, giving away climate-destroying fossil fuel subsidies, giving away obscene defense department budgets and making voting rights low on the priority. Until the last minute.

I don't see Democrats "failing" as the gossip media paints it.

They are doing what they always do, which is serving their donors, conveniently left out of most of the reporting, also paid for by the same donors. We're all shocked, shocked.

David Sirota put it this way in his laser sharp and well referenced assessment this morning:

"The Democratic Party is defined by a contradiction: It simultaneously promises to enrich its corporate donors and solve problems created by those same donors.

That impossibility gives us drug pricing policies that would not significantly reduce medicine prices, tax proposals that never actually address inequality, corporate handouts that don’t much help the working class, and health care policy that enriches the insurance companies already fleecing sick people.

It also gives us rotating villains who help the party’s rank-and-file lawmakers pull their bait and switch — they get to promise populist legislation they know is already doomed by Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema or some other designated malefactor of the day."

I'll post a link to David's article in the comments below. It's worth the full read.

The fact remains that we must keep lobbying our current leadership, keep fighting for voting rights, but nothing will fundamentally change if we keep electing lukewarm, bottom of the barrel corporate funded politicians as our blackmail payment to avoid being slimed by another trump.

There are alternatives. There are alternatives even within the democratic party. They just get smeared, by the corporate press, over and over again, to make it seem like the general public and middle America would never go for a politican who actually wants to serve the public! That would be "socialism"! Everybody run!

Again, shocked.

When an elected official commits themselves to refusing funding from the big businesses that is not some scary radical far left big foot. That's called integrity.

Unless we have some more of it in our cities and towns, states and senate, we're going to continue to fail at giving America the economic stability it needs to be safe, secure and thriving.

Instead we can just keep going around the culture war merry go round while the corporate donors of both parties have another record year.

As Dr. King said: "...we are dealing with issues now that will call for something of a restructuring of the architecture of American society. It is going to cost the Nation something.

.... billions of dollars. We can’t end slums in the final analysis without the necessity to take profit out of slums.

We can’t deal with the school situation in the final analysis without seeing that we are not only talking about integrating education, but we are talking about quality education, which means that millions of additional dollars will have to be spent to improve the whole education system of America.”

As Sirota put so perfectly - right now "America has something closer to the democracy of a student government, where the electeds tweak the vending machine offerings and prom themes, but don’t do much else.”

If we're going to fix the democracy problem, we're going to have to fix the economic problem -- and that means representatives who don't have an economic conflict of interest where the people get the short end of the stick, and a big fake show about how "shocked" they are every time they don't come through.

Most adults were shocked someone like Ronald Reagan could dupe the public into becoming president. Then we thought how could it get worse than Bush and Quayle. Then we watched the dumbest orange slimeball to ever slither out of a Vegas casino promise to drain the swamp and saw millions believe him. STILL believing him.

What's coming next? Do we think it's going to just get better on its own?

CNN just did a piece about Uncle Joe's habitual lying while being sure to also let us know its nowhere near as bad as Trump's pathological lying. Um... sure, no doubt... I mean 80 million of us would have voted for a fried egg at that point -- but really?

If democrats don't meaningfully face the economic inequalities inextricably intertwined with our deep racism and cultural bigotry -- head on address the housing, healthcare, poverty, climate, education, criminal justice issues, and reign in the warlord capitalism of the Amazons and Facebooks and Googles --- another, more despicable swamp creature will surely emerge, until we learn our lesson.

The democratic party platform should be simple and clear in its ethics:

- no corporate donations for politicians period
- public funding of all elections
- clear limits to political donations
- no foreign donations / gifts
- insider trading is a felony
- conflicts of interest are felonies
- lying in political ads, a felony
- gerrymandering is illegal
- the electoral college should be abolished, as was recommended by the founding father who actually penned the constitution (Gouverneur Morris)
- Washington DC should be a state
- the senate reform
- elections should be public holidays
- audit friendly voting machines with paper ballots
- Green New Deal (or call it something else like The Humans Get to Remain Alive New Deal)
- etc

And that's at the bare minimum.

These ideas shouldn't just be bills. It should be the party platform. If you don't like it, don't be in the party. This list is mostly from an excellent comment Frank Lawrence posted on this page a week ago. A party platform obviously needs to include more.

I would argue that Martin Luther King's prescription for America should be the democratic party platform. I can't comprehend arguing against it. If we need a historical example there's FDR - who defeated the Nazi's, fought off big business, and created a middle class. That's the kind of magic we can create when real democratic policies are enacted.

But we can't have that kind of country if we don't elect real democrats, which I would argue is someone who believes in people rule, not the donor class rules.

As it stands now, we can clearly see that #votebluenomatterwho in the case of Sinema and Manchin doesn't do us much good other than barely stave off the wolves. I think it's clear by what's played out in the past few months, that that extends well beyond those two. Time to clean house.

https://www.facebook.com/matthewcookeof ... 8903773688

[Brian Peacock]

Make sure you give that a thumbs down on Facebook. Dislikes are weighted five times higher than likes by the entergagement algorithm.

[pErvinalia]

I for one welcome our fried egg overlords.

[Joe]

Why not? They're just regular yolks.



I'll let myself out now...

[Sean Hayden]

[Sean Hayden]

That could also go in the media bias thread.

--//--

Things like "GOES AT IT" in all caps when referring to a twitter exchange make me feel old.

[Joe]

YouTube makes me feel old, but it compensates by being dammed useful.

[Tero]

Big Farmer at it again.

You laugh, but AgriBiz is controlled by the shape-shifting Reptilian Aliens of Monsanto.

Bayer owns the aliens now.

[Tero]

Dermocrats hope to pass marijuana bill. Too much of jail space used to house black males. So they can't vote!

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5009115/ ... -marijuana