Posted inNational politics

McCarthy’s ouster as House speaker is a Democratic dream come true

It was an entertaining day for political junkies like me, especially those of us who are retired and could watch Kevin McCarthy being fired as Speaker of the House in real time. The pleasure was intensified by this being a battle between two truly obnoxious people, McCarthy and Representative Matt Gaetz -- a far-right House member who initiated the "move to vacate" procedure that ended up with the Speaker position being vacant because eight Republican House members and all of the Democratic House members who voted on this wanted McCarthy gone. So today, on a 216-210 vote, McCarthy became the…
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Posted inNational politics

House GOP clown car would be funny if it wasn’t driving to a government shutdown

I heartily enjoy watching Republicans self-destruct. It's so much more pleasant than seeing Democrats do the same thing, which for me is painful, since I'm a progressive.  However, the current Clown Car episode in the GOP-controlled House, though amusing on one level, is deadly serious on another, because Speaker McCarthy and the wacko MAGA extremists in his caucus are speedily driving the federal government toward a harmful shutdown. That will happen at 12:01 am tomorrow night, since that's when the federal fiscal year ends and the current budget is no more. Now, an entirely reasonable question is why Congress has…
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Posted inNational politics

Who lost Russia? New Yorker article says U.S. played a part.

This blog post is a partial apology to a couple of progressive friends of mine here in Salem, Oregon who I've argued with via email about the extent to which Putin was justified in viewing NATO's expansion into the former Soviet bloc countries as a provocation that he used as one of his excuses to invade Ukraine. I vociferously said that the NATO expansion was none of Russia's business, since NATO is all about defending member countries from attack, with Russia being the prime potential attacker. My friends, though, said in strong words that the United States and our allies…
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Posted inEnvironment National politics

Climate change was scariest moment of Republican debate

To preserve my mental health, I've been watching my recording of the first Republican presidential debate in short chunks. So far I'm up to an hour of the two hour debate.  The scariest moment of the debate that I've seen so far -- and I'm pretty sure it will remain on top of my fear factor after I've seen the whole thing -- was the horrendous answers given to a question posed by a young Republican. He said: Polls consistently show that young people's number one issue is climate change. How would you, as both president of the United States…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Georgia indictment of Trump should be wakeup call for GOP voters

A little while ago a Georgia grand jury indictment was unsealed, revealing that Donald Trump and 18 other people have been charged with criminal conspiracy for their efforts to overturn the legitimate 2020 election victory of Joe Biden in Georgia. Aug 14 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump was hit with a sweeping fourth set of criminal charges on Monday when a Georgia grand jury issued an indictment accusing him of efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The charges, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, add to the legal woes facing Trump,…
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Posted inNational politics Oregon politics

In Oregon and Ohio, a good day for democracy

Fans of democracy -- and it's a sad commentary on our politics that this doesn't include everybody -- are heartened by what happened here in Oregon and there in Ohio today. On the home front, I was thrilled when a notification from the Oregonian popped up on my iPhone saying that our Secretary of State had issued the correct ruling on whether ten state senators who took part in a lengthy walkout during the 2023 legislative session could run for office again. Here's an excerpt from "Republican senators who boycotted work can't run for reelection, secretary of state rules." Ten…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Trump’s defenses against Jan. 6 indictment make no sense

Yesterday it filled my progressive heart with joy when I heard that Donald Trump had been indicted by the Justice Department on four counts related to his attempt to steal the 2020 election after Joe Biden was lawfully elected: three of conspiracy and one of obstruction. You can read the eminently readable 45 page indictment via this PDF file.Download Trump Indictment file Today it was amusing to hear the laughable defenses trotted out by Trump's attorneys for why their client is innocent of the charges. Those defenses are so weak, Trump might as well plead guilty tomorrow at his arraignment,…
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Posted inNational politics

Biden is right to send cluster bombs to Ukraine

War is bad. Unless it is a just war. Then war is good. Ukraine's war against Russia is a just war, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and shows no sign of stopping that unprovoked aggression. That's why I support President Biden's decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine. Cluster bombs have been banned by over 100 countries, but not by the United States or Russia.  Russia has used them against civilians in Ukraine. Ukraine, on the other hand, only will use them against the Russian military.  Today I heard a CNN interview with Wesley Clark, a retired U.S.…
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Posted inLGBTQ issues National politics

Supreme Court majority acting like politicians, not judges

This week the United States Supreme Court added to its string of outrageous decisions by voting 6-3 to ban affirmative action in college admissions, to prevent the Biden administration from providing student debt relief to those who took out loans, and to allow a Colorado woman to not offer her web site design service to LGBTQ people -- thereby giving religious bigots a license to discriminate. Previously, of course, the court voted 6-3 to reverse Roe v. Wade, the more than 50-year precedent of abortion rights, a decision that had been upheld in several subsequent decisions by the Supreme Court.…
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Posted inNational politics

Hunter Biden guilty of tax evasion and illegal gun possession. Yawn.

Looks like Republicans are going to have to find another Biden other than Hunter to accuse of dastardly doings. May I suggest the Biden's German Shepherd that bit someone on the White House grounds a while back?  For Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, has gotten the equivalent of a legal slap on the wrist after a five-year investigation by a federal attorney appointed by Trump and kept on the job by President Biden to avoid any appearance of favoritism.  A Washington Post story describes what Hunter Biden is facing. In short, not much, because what he did didn't amount to…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump’s federal indictment another first for the worst ex-president

Donald Trump likes to brag about himself. Well, today he got another #1 to add to his list of pseudo-accomplishments. Trump is the first former president to face federal charges. A New York Times story describes the well-deserved indictment.  The Justice Department on Thursday took the legally and politically momentous step of lodging federal criminal charges against former President Donald J. Trump, accusing him of mishandling classified documents he kept upon leaving office and then obstructing the government’s efforts to reclaim them. Mr. Trump confirmed on his social media platform that he had been indicted. The charges against him include…
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Posted inNational politics

Debt limit deal seems like a good compromise to this progressive

Many of my fellow progressives won't like my opinion, but I'm happy with the debt limit deal reached today between President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy. The deal is going to irritate those on both the far-left and far-right of the political spectrum, so passage of the legislation isn't assured. But the alternative -- defaulting on the nation's financial obligations -- was much worse.  A New York Times story provides some basic facts about the deal. President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Saturday reached an agreement in principle to lift the debt limit for two years while cutting and…
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Posted inNational politics

My debt ceiling prediction: catastrophe. (I hope I’m wrong.)

As early as June 1, the federal government will run out of money to pay all of its bills unless the debt ceiling is raised and more money can be borrowed. The United States has never defaulted on its obligations, so many people believe we won't this time. I disagree. I think there's a better chance of our country entering financial meltdown than of the debt ceiling being raised in enough time to avert a major catastrophe.  Usually I want my political predictions to come true. In this case I want to be proven wrong. However, my reading of the…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Justice! Trump guilty of sexual abuse and defamation

Our legal system served E. Jean Carroll well today. Today a jury took just a few hours to find him guilty of sexually abusing and defaming her. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages that Trump has to pay. A New York Times story starts off this way. A Manhattan jury on Tuesday found former President Donald J. Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages. More than a dozen women have accused Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct over the years, but this is the only allegation to be affirmed by…
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Posted inNational politics

Debt ceiling fight is super scary. Because the GOP is crazy.

June 1 isn't far away. I wish it were a lot farther. Because that's the date when the United States could hit the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is a uniquely American bit of stupidity, along with the electoral college. Denmark is the only other country with a debt ceiling, but Denmark doesn't engage in political games over it as we do. A New York Times story explains this. Almost no other country in the world has a debt ceiling. Elsewhere, politicians argue over how high taxes and spending should be when passing budget laws. Once those laws have passed,…
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Posted inNational politics

Abortion medication ruling threatens our prescription drugs

There's many reasons to criticize the ruling by a federal judge in Texas, Matthew Kacsmaryk, declaring that the abortion medication mifepristone has to be withdrawn from the market by the FDA. I talked about some of those reasons in my first post about this wacko legal decision. Today the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an initial ruling on an appeal by the Justice Department which provides more fodder for those of us who consider this to be a classic case of judicial overreach and incompetence. It was great to see that executives of leading pharmaceutical companies, along with many others,…
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Posted inNational politics Oregon politics

Republicans want to ban abortion in blue states like Oregon

Most Oregonians, like most Americans, want abortion to be available to pregnant people who want one. But it's easy to become complacent about abortion access in our state because we lean so Democratic.  Today's abortion ruling by a far-right federal judge in Amarillo, Texas shows that this complacency is misplaced. For if it stands, the ruling would make mifepristone, a drug used to induce an abortion, unavailable in all 50 states. A Texas federal judge ruled Friday evening to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone — one of two drugs used together to cause an abortion — virtually banning the…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Israeli people fight authoritarianism in their country as GOP promotes it in U.S.

At the moment Israel is being torn apart by the attempt of their right-wing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to pass bills that would do away with the balance of power in that country by allowing the legislature to control the judiciary and stop investigations into wrongdoing by Netanyahu. If that sounds familiar, it's akin to what Republicans in our House of Representatives want to do to protect Donald Trump from prosecution.  A trio of House Republican committee chairs say the House of Representatives could soon take up legislation to strip state and local prosecutors of the authority to prosecute former…
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Posted inNational politics

Now we know Fox News doesn’t care about news

Unless you're a MAGA sort of Republican who only watches Fox News, you should be aware that legal filings submitted by Dominion Voting Systems in its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox have made it crystal clear that Fox News doesn't care about reporting the truth. All it cares about is keeping its viewers happy by telling them only what they want to believe, not what they should know. So bizarrely, Fox News hasn't been reporting on the lawsuit that is one of the biggest news stories in the country right now. Because court documents show that both executives and…
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Posted inCitizen involvement National politics

This blogger is irked at a Florida bill aimed at censoring bloggers

Well, if Florida state Senator Jason Brodeur, a Republican, wanted to get himself criticized by bloggers, his introduction of a bill that would take away the free speech rights of bloggers was a genius move. But unfortunately, Brodeur has other motivations than social media masochism. That seems clear, given that Florida governor Ron DeSantis hates the media because they call him on his right-wing authoritarian bullshit. It's unclear whether Brodeur's bill has a chance of becoming law. Regardless, it grabbed the attention of the New York Times editorial board, which published "Florida Is Trying to Take Away the American Right…
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