The Thread of Democrats

[Svartalf]

A rising star of the Democratic Party, California Representative Swalwell who was making a run for governor of California, is resigning due to allegations from several women that he's a sexual predator. A Republican in Congress is resigning for the same reason. Bleh

'Two Congressmen Quit in a Day After Vile Sex Claims'

Both Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell and Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales have announced their plans to resign from their seats in Congress after facing sexual misconduct accusations.

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell, 45, wrote in a statement shared to social media. “I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”

The Democratic lawmaker said he was aware of his colleagues’ efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against him, but that it was wrong to do so “without due process, within days of an allegation being made.”

“But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties,” he continued. “Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.”

“I will work with my staff in the coming days to ensure they are able, in my absence, to serve the needs of the good people of the 14th congressional district.”

Sixty-five minutes later, MAGA lawmaker Tony Gonzales announced his own plans to resign from Congress.

“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office,” Gonzales, also 45, wrote in a post on X on Monday. “It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.”

what are the odds of all swallwell's accusers being devout Repugnants of the kind who'd call vance a dreamboat?

[Brian Peacock]

House Democrats call for commission led by JD Vance to oust Trump

House Democrats on Tuesday proposed creating a commission that would work with JD Vance to remove Donald Trump from office under the 25th amendment, should they determine he is no longer fit to serve.

The measure, introduced by Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, follows a series of statements from Trump, including his recent warning that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if it did not capitulate to his demands, and a social media post that depicted him as Jesus Christ.

Democratic lawmakers and other opponents, including the former CIA director John Brennan, have seized on those comments to argue that the 79-year-old president is no longer competent to lead the country, and that the US vice-president should work with Trump’s cabinet to remove him....

They'd be better off developing a sound and costed policy platform that benefits ordinary Americans, and then remorselessly promoting it as an achievable prospect, than engaging in petty court politics and this going-nowhere-grandstanding for clicks and giggles.

[Tero]

Vance will take part only after maybe three nukes are fired. One nuke from Trump is not quite enough. "That's just Trump being Trump."

[L'Emmerdeur]

In Maine, there's been a credible Democratic challenger (Graham Plattner) to the doddering and duplicitous/easily duped Republican Senator Collins. At least he seemed credible even with some obvious issues like a Totenkopf tattoo he got as a much younger man (he claimed he didn't know its significance) and various accusations of being a creep toward women in his life.

Now it's looking like the wheels have come off his campaign with a credible accusation of sexual assault. He hasn't dropped out yet but it certainly seems like he should. The Democrats in Maine are already looking for a replacement.

This is an important campaign because the Democratic Party has a chance to take control of the US Senate, which would put some brakes on Trump's destructive agenda. Every seat up for election is significant.

[Brian Peacock]

I fear the Democrats only aspire to opposition these days. As a more than casual observer (but not much more!) of US domestic politics I don't see or hear much policy coming from them atm. Like Starmer's Labour party here, they seem to have adopted a technocratic "things are bad - but things would be slightly less bad, or at least get worse more slowly, with us" stance. If they're not careful they'll end up 'doing a Starmer' - i.e. arriving in office without fresh ideas or a clear plan.

[L'Emmerdeur]

The Democratic Party establishment is coming up against some new blood from the left. Plattner for instance was making noises along those lines, and Mamdani backed a number of genuine leftist candidates who won primaries in New York. The piece Tero quoted in the 'American Politics' thread is a bit ham-handed but it addresses a genuine phenomenon.

Corporate Democrats like Newsom and the 'don't rock the boat' old guard like Schumer aren't the only game in town. There's hope that Ocasio-Cortez and the 'Squad' will have more like minded people in office to provide a genuine alternative to Trumpism and the ineffectual yapping of the centrist 'strongly worded letter/we don't have any leverage' Democrats. I'm not holding my breath but I'd welcome an effective leftist insurgency in the Democratic Party.

[L'Emmerdeur]

With an eye toward funding his run for the presidency, the greasy corporate bootlicker Newsom is opposing the California billionaire tax. It would be no surprise if the Democratic Party ends up nominating him.

'Newsom Endorses Ballot Measure That Would Cancel Out Billionaire Tax—and Ban Future Wealth Taxes'

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ramped up his opposition to a proposed tax on the state’s billionaire residents on Friday by endorsing a competing ballot measure that would both cancel out the billionaire wealth tax initiative and prohibit any new taxes on the ownership of financial assets or other personal property.

“He’s showing California his true colors,” Debru Carthan, vice president of Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW)—which is leading the campaign for the California billionaire tax—said in response to Newsom’s endorsement of Proposition 42. “He’d rather millions of children and families lose their healthcare than ask a couple hundred billionaires to finally pay their fair share.”

The push for Proposition 42 is funded by Building a Better California, a group bankrolled by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other billionaires.

...

Newsom has opposed the idea of a wealth tax on California’s billionaires from the proposal’s inception, pitting him against major unions, the California Democratic Party, and prominent national progressives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

“Some of the SEIU-UHW members I’ve talked to are tired of Democratic politicians like Gavin Newsom taking their marching orders from the donors who would fund a future presidential campaign,” Khanna, who is considering a presidential run, said during a rally in support of Prop 40 last weekend. “We are tired of a governor defying grassroots delegates in the California Democratic Party, defying California labor... all because he’s on the side of Trump allies like Peter Thiel and Sergey Brin.”

“You can’t pretend to be anti-Trump if you’re doing the bidding of Trump donors,” Khanna added.

[Tero]

There is no stopping it. Sooner or later a future Musk will own the planet.

I keep looking for a short story I once read where a planet had an Emperor who owned everything on the planet. For the safety of the Emperor everybody elese was a prisoner. But of course some of the prisoners had been promoted to prison guard. I looked for Vonnegut, but it was not he.

The closest AI found for me was:
Stanisław Lem: This heavily mirrors the voyages of Ijon Tichy in The Star Diaries or the parabolic tales in The Cyberiad, where space traveler Tichy encounters planets governed by bizarre, absolute mechanical or political logic that traps the entire population in absurd semantic paradoxes.