Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
Who ya gonna blame? Certainly not GhostBusters. They have nothing to do with the elections.
Republicans are still contesting the 2020 election. So far no evidence. Republicans in state legislatures have been trying and often succeeding with voter suppression and election subversion,
Continue reading “The blame game: Election News”
It was a bit over a year ago when a mob attacked the US Capitol to disrupt the electoral count and install their choice as President. This is the first attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in our country’s history. This insurrection was based on a lie, And it is important that we find how it happen and what we can do to prevent a repeat.
The January 6 House select committee was charged to do just that after Republicans blocked a bipartisan commission on this attack. The committee appears to making progress despite Republican opposition and the non-cooperation of some high profile Republicans. Kevin McCarthy is the latest.
Since Rep. McCarthy is the House minority leader I find it unlikely that he knows nothing that could be of interest on the January 6 committee. Is his plan and that of some other non-cooperating Republicans to just stall until Republicans can take the House and kill any investigation? If that seems likely to you, you might want to think twice about voting for any Republican in the election later this year.
I’ve not written much about the 2020 election in a while. At least not directly. I have written some about the consequences such as the January 6 insurrection and possible coup attempt. But I thought the bogus claims of election fraud would be over by now The claims have been the subject of many lawsuits but evidence has never been found. But the claims still live on in the minds of many Republicans.
Continue reading “2020 election nonsense continues”
I’ve been doing a bit of reading on this an here are a few articles.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/12/15/opinion/expand-supreme-court/
https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/should-we-restructure-the-supreme-court/
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/26/liberals-expand-supreme-court-democrats-484562
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/SCOTUS-Report-Final.pdf
Republicans in the Senate have a unique opportunity. The Build Back Better bill can be passed with votes of 50 Senators. The Democrats have 49 but Senator Joe Manchin is delaying and perhaps killing the Bill. This is an opportunity for a Republican Senator or perhaps Senators. Let me explain.
Back in January it occurred to me that Republicans have a choice between constant opposition or using power wisely as powerful leaders and maybe even pleasing constituents while doing so. At the time I was writing about both Houses of Congress but this time I am writing specifically about the Senate. See my earlier post – Republicans can choose power.
Simply put, Republican power is a choice. Choose wisely.
I’m from outside Philadelphia so I was pleased to see that 3 Philadelphia Proud Boys were recently charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection ( https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-proud-boys-capitol-riot-20211214.html ).
Justice is moving slowly but my hope is that more of the insurrectionists will be punished for their roll in the attack on the Capitol and attempt to interfere with the certification of the election. The identification and investigation is continuing. Live in fear if you took part in this and have not been caught yet.
I’m an currently reading an advanced reader by Ira Shapiro about the US Senate. One of the problems he mentions is the filibuster. I’ve had quite a bit to say about the filibuster here.
I ran across this this morning while looking for some of Ira Shapiro’s shorter writing on the Senate. It is well worth the read if you are interested the the Senate or the filibuster.
Today is the 11th month anniversary of the January 6 attack on our Capitol (It’s only the beginning of the Capitol terror hunt and Insurrection based on a lie.) Let’s call that disgrace #1.
Continue reading “A national disgrace or 6 disgraces”
This is today’s news so naturally I could not have it in yesterday’s post (Update on voting rights)
But this is older:
Yes, another filibuster. This one of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act last month.
Stay tuned in case something happens to protect voting rights.. Maybe a way around the filibuster. Maybe enough Republicans will be voted out of office in 2022. Of course that last depends on voting and that seems to be the problem.
I wrote about Republicans opposing federal protection of voting rights which is needed because states are working to discourage voting and if people do vote despite their efforts some states can just invalidate the votes they don’t like. (see Senate Republicans oppose voting rights and oppose even talking about voting rights and Saving Republicans and Democracy ).
There has been no progress as far as I can tell.
An enjoyable and thought-provoking book. The title was intriguing but I really did not expect much. I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting the book turned out to be.
But before I go on, I mentioned the title caught my interest so I should mention that. The title is “The First Robot President“ and it’s by Robert Carlyle Taylor.
I believe we are facing both a climate crisis and a population crisis. The book addresses both and by setting the novel about 500 years in the future shows clearly the consequences of our failures to act.
I found the story well done and it was a fairly quick read. It was interesting to watch the changes in attitudes about the robot as well as the robot’s developing intelligence. The novel works on several levels.
Of course some will agree with the political views expressed and others will disagree. But in either case this is worth reading.
I had thought I’d be able to get this review out around the date of publication, but unexpected things came up and I didn’t make my self-imposed plan. As it turned out, reading a book of short stories over a longer time is not a bad thing.
Continue reading “Many Deadly Returns : 21 stories celebrating 21 years of Murder Squad”
Much more than I expected. The book is Five Decembers by James Kestrel . In late November 1941 Detective Joe McGrady Is sent from Honolulu, Hawaii to the country-side to investigate a gruesome murder. It gets more complicated when a second body is found at the scene and Joe learns the identity of the first victim. And given the date you suspect World War 2 will soon enter the story.
Continue reading “Five Decembers, crime, war, love, fantastic reading”
Republicans again filibuster a bill to protect voting rights. As state Republicans pass bills to suppress voting and subvert elections, the Republicans in Congress do nothing. In some states they not only make is harder to vote but if the legislature doesn’t like the will of the people, they can just overturn the results of the election.
Senate Republicans as well as House Republicans are apparently fine with that.
Continue reading “Senate Republicans oppose voting rights and oppose even talking about voting rights”
Yesterday I wrote about Saving Republicans and Democracy. I was encouraged by the article We Are Republicans. There’s Only One Way to Save Our Party From Pro-Trump Extremists..
The article is definitely worth reading. It starts like this.
Continue reading “We can save democracy.”