Depending on politicians to help their constituents, no matter how critical the issue, seems futile.
As Texans found last month, we’re all on our own unless we have and are good neighbors.
Eight (wealthy) Senators who claim to be Democrats voted against an increase in the minimum wage.
The last round of payroll protection went to a lot of big companies who didn’t need it. Now, the employee threshold is so low that many more businesses are likely to fail.
What we need are grassroots programs, or really creative neighbors, to help us to the other side of this multifaceted debacle.
Reasons To Be Cheerful has become one of my favorite sources for stories about ideas that can be replicated to fix the problems.
Our elected officials are too busy protecting their power/flow of donor money to care about finding solutions to help their fellow human beings.
a ‘toon masterpiece by kevin siers with a little help from his friend edgar p
bill warns beware the being aware craze. as usual he seems to protesteth too much, but he did make a point (starting at 5:06) about how those awareness ribbons seem to have become self-congratulatory statements of “what a good person” the wearer is (even tho’ wearer has done nothing for the cause other than wear the dang ribbon). this ribbon phenomena is similar to flag wear/wavers who want you to think they are great patriots even though they suppress votes and attempt to overthrow the gov’t.
meanwhile at wapo:
The way to overcome Republican attempts to suppress voter turnout may well be grassroots efforts to get every eligible voter registered and get them to their polling place.
Will voters need a official ID if they don’t have a license? Start a fund to help them pay for that; it may require getting a copy of their birth certificate and transportation in addition to paying for the ID.
Will voters need transportation to a polling place? Remember, in 2020 Texas shut down many of the places where mail in ballots could be dropped off, after De Joy had many USPS sorting machines destroyed to slow down mail delivery.
Opening up the basketball arenas as polling places was a great idea. Providing transportation to get there would’ve been even better. Mark Cuban, and others, have the logistical support in place to move people and equipment around. The same needs to be done for voters if they open up arenas to voting, again.
Will there be intimidation of POC at polling places? We may need to think about how we can stand up with our fellow voters and de-escalate situations if they are being harassed.
We know Republicans want to suppress the vote, and, we know why they want to do it. Best to get ahead of this now, as the midterms will be here before you know it.
ps – Why does Louis De Joy still have a job?
Seriously, how can folks not be outraged that our wealthy, elected officials think it’s OK for Americans to continue working for so little?
With job losses, and with many jobs not returning, some maybe looking at their only way to get back into the job market to be with a minimum wage job. It will have a decanting, ripple effect on the overall economy.
I guess Republicans don’t actually care about the economy except as it pertains to the personal economies of the 1%.
I guess eight Democrats in the Senate don’t care about the economy either, nor do they have compassion for folks struggling to pay rent and keep food on their tables.
BiD, good ideas about getting people to the polls rather than just telling them to go. some of the big dollars spent to produce TV ads and the even bigger dollars poured out to TV and social media networks to run those ads would be better spent helping the voters get to the polls and assisting those who can’t with absentee/mail-in applications.
looks like marlette’s picked up on the gQp label. wonder if he got it from the trail (didn’t fearless leader coin it in one of the thread posts a few days ago?)
GOPers no longer pro-life party with their governors promoting maskless open bars, restaurants & sports events and their congress critters trying to stop necessary aid to get everyone vaccinated and funds enough to keep folks from starving. as of 7:55 a.m. today 527,917 dead don’t seem enough for them.
no-life party is more like it. not enough to just be the party of no anymore.
motto: vote for the walking dead. be a patriot, be a zombie.
patd, no, it’s just a matter of the definition of life. In the GQP and its predecessor GOP “Life” is “a potentially independently viable person presently in utero…” Ironically, the definition goes on “…, which ceases to exist at the moment the potentially viable person exits the vagina of the uterus’ owner.”
Apparently, John I-don’t-know-anything-I-just-work-here Cornyn has been told to speak.
He said that only those who’ve lost jobs or income need stimulus money. Every person I worked with last year has either lost their job, or, had a cut in hours or salary.
John Cornyn is either a liar or an amnesiac when he says he’s worried about the budget. He wasn’t worried when he voted for tax cuts for the wealthy. Hmmmm.
pogo – Women don’t own their own bodies in the Republican q-razy world.
Surprised 8 Dems voted against $15 minimum wage. Seems like proponents lost the messaging war on that one.
BiD, no, not under GQP policies, at least not between insemination and birth.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/elviadiaz/2021/03/05/sen-kyrsten-sinema-brings-cake-kills-minimum-wage/4595660001/
Sinema was for a wage hike…until she was against it…and behaved like an ass whilst voting no.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/06/sinema-thumbs-down/
Go Uncle Joe!
Craig… I have emailed my 2 Senators from NH. My understanding is that they are not against the $15 minimum wage… they are against overruling the parliamentarian. Hell… without Joe Manchin’s vote… it’s a dead issue anyways. It sucks! But I’d rather have the Senate controlled by Democrats than for Manchin to walk over to the other side.
the hill:
Agreed RR. I’m fine with Manchin. He did little if any harm to this bill, and keeps Dems from looking like radical lefties. Honestly, for independent voters in swing states I’d rather see Manchin over Bernie/AOC as the face of Democrats.
Back to the House then to Biden then it is a matter of how fast the IRS can get the funds out while handling tax season.
Now let’s get on to passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Fight the real “cancel culture” – – Cancel Voters
some dem house critters are grumbling and mumbling about maybe not voting for senate bill. poor nancy. another day of cat herding to contend with
And RR, sure you remember how shabbily GOP treated their VT Sen. Jeffords when he opposed Bush tax cuts, disinvited him to a WH award ceremony for a VT teacher. He then retaliated by switching to independent and Republicans lost Senate control. Must be on Biden’s mind as he deals with Manchin.
A lot of folks lost 401(k) money, too, while some inside traders in Congress made out like the bandits.
I really hope Elizabeth Warren can push through a wealth tax. It’s peanuts compared to what Bezos and his ilk made last year, alone.
Midterms are on the way and it’s time to get things sorted out now. Voting rights scare the pants off of ‘em. Sooooo many angry villagers with voter ID cards.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/01/ut-eyes-of-texas-donors-emails/
Wealthy racists want to keep their traditions.
“Around 75 people in emails explicitly threatened to stop supporting the school financially, calling on the university to take a heavier hand with students and athletes they believed were disrespecting university tradition by protesting it.“
Pishaàrdis
Ooops…….I meant pishaárdis
That is the traditional Gathering of the Storks in between the baby delivery details; so rare to stumble upon them unawares in their national habit’s at.
the rich & the corp.s got their 1.9 trillion tax cut under the former guy. it’s only fitting that under joe everybody else gets their 1.9 trillion even if it is only in vaccines, schools, waivers and such. fair’s fair.
it has becpme evident that the last millionaire tax break was the straw which squashed the camel, the culmination of 4o yrs of struggle up that hill……the biggest goddam tax break for the swells that has ever been seen in the History of the Goddam Son-of-a-bitch World…..It was a BALL BUSTER……and the plebes climbed right on. But…..where now. The cat is out of the bag. The bitch is loose on the world. The mighty pendulum has at long awaition passed the, what’s that word for that point where the pendulum has reached the absolute pinnacle of or damn…..you know that weightless moment at the peak outward swing……and is gathering steam for the, shall we say, the great reversal……the first shall be last, and the last shall…….if you ain’t first, you’re last. But i digress.
It ain’t no mystery
(Hey Bobba-Ree-Bop)
No, It’s History.
Dr Seuess was performining heinous experiments on Mr Potato, until at the end it was just…….Potato.
cruz-ing for a bruising
business insider:
BI via msn:
There are over 200 bills on 40 statehouse floors that suppress the vote .
There’s yer 2022 platform.
A. They suppress their own voters as well.
B. This is really gonna piss a lot of people off.
( See the NRA playbook , ” Obama is going to ban ammunition ” ……………… )
“Fear and Loathing” drives voters to the polls.
Little old ladies crawl across broken glass spread over gym floors.
I smell a solid congressional mojo which knocks out voter suppression in one felled swoop with one vote and Bosco, out a the room.
Those little old ladies crawling across the broken glass strewed all over the gym floor? I think most of them were in my CLASS
Today is the 185 th anniv. of the fall of the Alamo .
The single greatest whitewash in American history , because it worked so well .
You see this image , and it means ” Fighting for Freedom ! ”
When in fact, one of the great bones of contention in the 2 years before between Tejas and Mexico City was , …….. “We’re keeping our slaves”.
This aspect was never taught in Texas schools.
Deep in the muck of SFB country there is a problem with trying to turn a blue state red, no one except the idiots believe the election was stolen by fraud. That in spite that the only fraud found was trumpians voting their dead mothers ballot for SFB. But, they try to spread the lie. One sign maker may have given up, but I think they are like mushrooms, keep growing in piles of horse apples ready to sprout after fermenting a while. His sign has not changed since August. It is one of the promoters of the lies that Dems want to defund all the police has not changed his to the stop the steal lie. He used to mod his sign with whatever was the current lie. But, no more.
Ya oughta see the damn cat ack like he don’t know what I’m tawkin’ bout
Hey……it just occurred to me……..I’m a victim of Cancel Culture. My god. Christ, I’ve read the whole damn Bible, fahchrissakes…….
Texas was not settled by this guy , it was settled by cotton farmers with 2 or 3 slaves.
America gained a brand new phrase at this time, ………..
“Sold Down the River”.
The Industrial Revolution in Britain was demanding every cotton bowl it could find. The South was the only source , so we did the only thing we could do. We drove the First People off their lands , and Mexican rule out of Texas.
How well did this work ? Ten years after Bowie died , Natchez , Miss. had more millionaires than NYC.
30 years after that , The Industrial Revolution in Britain was demanding every buffalo hide they could get. We shot every bison in Texas in less than 4 years .
Why ?
Industrial belting , in 1875 ……………… One ran a live shaft over head powered by a steam engine . Large flywheels were spaced along it, with wide flat rims . On shop floor one placed a machine with the same type of fly wheel . In 1875 the only “belting” was made from leather.
An english tanner had to crack the way to tan buffalo first on an industrial scale.
After we shot out the bison here , the British moved the Argentina after the wild herds there , much like Texas after the war .
Think about just the British Army in the last quarter of the 19th century.
Boots, saddles, harness, belts, baggage ………. etc.
Little wonder we shot the first white buffalo .
What a week of memories piling onto my life. First I broke down and bought a scanner that is built for copying film in slides, negatives and strips. I am writing a post about that experience. Tonight I was checking my email from Yahoo and took a look at the sent folder. I have not deleted anything in it since I started a new name email on Yahoo in 2005. What an eye opener about my life back then. There was little action of note, except I was starting to be recognized in the Denver LGBTQ community and by a few people in Colorado politics. I was on the local lecture circuit to talk to college classes about being Transgender so there were emails regarding those, and then in late fall 2006 the emails regarding politics started ramping up. In early 2007, after I had announced there were the early media arrangements, these are prior to the campaign email system being set up.
What a time that was. There were many moving parts including trans people from around the world contacting me. 2007 was a wild ride. It is so hard living my life while knowing there are so many people who are discriminated against and were/are barely surviving. You can only do so much with your own wallet, but you do so much more politically.
Joe needs to have breakfast with Joe.
If there was ever a basket case for fossil fuels , it’s West Virginia .
All that money dug out of the mountains , and they are all dying from despair.
Biden needs to make West Virginia a test case for the “Green New Deal” .
BB –
“Life is a funny ole’ dog “
OM – That’s exactly where he should start a pilot program for the GND. Great idea!
~Funny how they GQP distracted their base with Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head~
A good lot of them would probably benefit from an increase in the minimum wage somewhere within their families.
I was sold on the Doors .
I made several pairs of black leather pants. My first was in Austin .
I was certain they were female fishing lures . Boy was I wrong.
Years later , I made 2 pair from deer skin , for Ellen and me .
We rocked the Estes runway .
Black deerskin is the softest thing you will ever touch .
Happy for the country that Joe Biden is President!
I saw Kylie 10 years ago in Melbourne, Australia. She was so amazing in person. The venue, Rod Laver Arena was music-friendly. Good times.
Another treat! Disco was so fun! More good times. Kylie brings it to life :0) I can enjoy music again without being bombarded with that Orange monsters horrific daily acts :0)
Saturday Sock Hop
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/05/texas-greg-abbott-press-conference-social-media/
Greg Abbott: Protecting Texas’ racists
~Don’t wear a mask and be racist just, please, stop talking about the failure of critical infrastructure on his watch~ He just gets worse by the day.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/04/deaths-Abbott-coronavirus-masks/
Texas lost over $700 million in just ag loses , and they are still counting.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/06/politics/murkowski-trump-endorsement-alaska-senate-race-2022/index.html
Well, SFB says a lot of things, but the creep does know how to hold a grudge. A lot of this spewing is to keep other Republicans from turning on him.
Yo tony
Old Man, our spam filter again shutting and deleting your excessive number of comments. I’ll fix tomorrow, not how I want to spend my Saturday night.
OK, what are those gizmos?
I made all these parts to prove the idea, I was right .
Picture how to be fast, and cheap is, …………….. PVC inch and a half.
CC –
I have always been a problem, Know where I go.
I am trying to make you all rich .
I am so sorry , I failed at so much,
NEW THREAD