Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell both did special pre-recorded shows for Christmas eve in order to cover stories that haven’t been given much air time due to impeachment. Here is one of Rachel’s segments about how the NRA could be shut down as New York Attorney General Letitia James investigates their finances. This of course would be very bad for Iowa’s own Joni Ernst.
Enjoy this from The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
With the holidays upon us, we here at The Late Show have a present for you: a brand new animated Christmas classic from the creators of “Our Cartoon President” whose third season starts in January on Showtime. #Colbert #LSSC #OurCartoonPresident
From our inbox here is an important message from Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.
Tis the season to help us report and track manure application that violates the law and threatens our water.
Here are the dates that are stated in the law:
Dec 21- April 1: No manure application on snow-covered ground
Feb 1 – April 1: No manure application on frozen ground
Manure that is applied on snow-covered or frozen ground is a DIRECT threat to our water. Come spring-time when the ground thaws, that manure will run off directly to our waterways. We have over 760 impaired waterways – enough is enough!
Report manure violations to the DNR at 515-725-8694 and to Iowa CCI at 515-282-0484
We know the DNR often grants “emergency exemptions” to factory farms during these winter months (they did over 100 times last winter). But this is just one more reminder that we need an Iowa DNR and State Legislature that works for us, not Big Ag.
Join us for our Stop Factory Farms Lobby Day on Jan 23 to directly lobby our legislators for a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms. It is one of the best ways to fight for the changes we need, and to hold Big Ag accountable!
For clean water,
Abby
Farm & Environment Organizer
P.S. Want to take action at home? Contact us to learn how to get a moratorium resolution passed in your county! With more than 1 in 4 counties calling for a moratorium, local control, and/or a complete change to the current system, we are looking forward to growing that momentum in 2020.
P.P.S. Our water crisis is exactly why we joined forces with allies to file a clean water lawsuit against the state of Iowa. Iowans have a #Right2CleanWater and the state has the duty to protect that right. What’s next on the legal docket? Going before the Iowa Supreme Court. Stay tuned to learn how you can help us give this lawsuit life outside the courthouse.
Merry Christmas from the Republican Party.
In the past two weeks while our eyes and ears were focused on seeing justice brought to the lawless president through impeachment the Republican Party has continued its full on assault against Americans and their families.
Wednesday a Federal Appeals Court ruled on a 2 to 1 (split on a party line by appointer) that the ACA is now unconstitutional since the tax for not having the ACA no longer exists. Merry Christmas from the Republican Party to those who may lose their insurance and die.
By tightening work requirements the current administration will cut benefits to over 700,000 actual human beings. Real breathing humans. By doing this the Republican Party was able to save enough to pay for a few minutes of tax cuts for the ultra rich that they passed 2 years ago. Well what are your priorities? Feeding people or making the rich richer? Merry Christmas from the Republican Party.
The Trump administration will be cutting benefits from the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Besides cutting SS benefits to disabled citizens, this will also be a sadistic attempt at pitting one group of beneficiaries against another. Merry Christmas from the Republican Party.
Think they won’t get you? Keep voting for them and I will bet you will find out.
Think that Medicare is a right? Boy are you in for a surprise!
Think that education is something the state should provide? Just keep on voting for Republicans and you could be very surprised.
Today’s quiz will be light hearted. I am wanting to take a small break from the endless round of politics that old Chosen One has forced us into. However we will hit some of the really big highlights.
Also unfortunately Iowa lost one of it few larger than life figures last week when Hayden Fry passed Tuesday. Can’t help but slip a couple of Fry questions in for fun.
But the focus will be on Christmas or some other solstice holiday. Here is a sample question:
What are you getting me for Christmas???
Answers:
Merry Christmas or whatever your family celebrates.
Note that Iowa’s own Joni Ernst is right at McConnell’s side as he proudly touts his plans for a rigged trial for the current president.
No matter what the issue, most Americans can accept verdicts as long as they know their side was given a fair chance and the evidence and data was evaluated by a jury of impartial (as much as they can be) jurors who gave them a fair shot. Whether it be a promotion at work they didn’t get, a trial decision, or laws that will be fairly enforced on everyone as long as the outcome is reached in a fair non-prejudged manner it is more acceptable.
This is why Mitch McConnell’s announced (on television no less) that he has no intention to preside over a fair impeachment trial for the current president has been met with such resistance. Since the dawn of Ronald Reagan, those with money and privilege have made no bones about reshaping our country to favor their views and situations.
Over the past 40 years we have seen taxes dramatically drop for the wealthy. We have seen wages stagnate at the level they were at under Jimmy Carter while inequality in wealth has widened to levels last seen just before the Big Depression.
With their rise to power Republicans since the 1980s went hard at tilting the playing field in their favor. Their efforts focused on taking away power of opponents through gerrymandering and voter suppression and installing people with their views in permanent positions especially in the judiciary. The coup that put George W. Bush into the presidency despite his losing the popular vote and ultimately the electoral college was one outcome of these maneuvers and led to many others during W’s term
These moves also led to the bizarre yet very predictable outcome of the Citizens United court case that essentially stated the “one dollar, one vote” principle that has moved this country to being a full fledged oligarchy. Add that to corporate owned media that works at every turn to make right wing machinations appear to be “normal.” The amount of free media given to Donald Trump in 2016 along with MSM apologetics for outrageous Trump behavior and statements certainly helped the Trump campaign.
In this operational mode, under Mitch McConnell’s leadership, Republicans have basically taken the attitude of not only “we can do what we please” but that they can do it in the open in defiance of law and no one can do anything about it.
Thus we get the very unconstitutional and in our faces refusal to follow constitutional precepts for the appointment of Merrick Garland. And Garland was only one of hundreds of judicial appointments that Republicans refused to move on. We also have actions by the president of openly calling for foreign involvement in our elections, the open involvement in the accrual of emoluments and who knows what else.
The oligarchs – specifically Mitch McConnell continue to feel more and more empowered as their open defiance of law and constitution. McConnell has been so emboldened that he has brazenly, even proudly, gone on network television to declare that the president that has also openly defied the law will be tried in a rigged court with a guarantee of not being held to account for his (the president’s) actions.
This is the very epitome of what the Founders feared as they worked that hot summer in Philadelphia to put together a government where no person of group of people could usurp power unto themselves. Checks and balances was the concept.
The utter arrogance of McConnell, his utter disdain and disregard for our laws and the Constitution should make McConnell a prime candidate for removal from office to be tried for abuse of power. Yet we all know he won’t be removed or tried. The only recourse we will have is the election. As we know elections have been tainted in this country. So there is a very good chance McConnell will get away with his abuse of power.
As you must note, our current situation did not happen overnight. It is the culmination of efforts that began with the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 when a group of super rich businessmen, gained momentum with the issuance of the Powell Memo and then sped up as Powell Memo concepts were put into practice under Reagan and Bush I, that were then honed with Republican led congresses and the presidency of W. Bush.
Looking around you must note that seldom is a person of privilege, power or wealth actually put in prison nor stripped of their ill gotten gains. Thus the effectiveness of laws that threaten to do so are often muted.
So now America stands yet again under the current president in a situation that is unprecedented. We have a man in power who openly defies our laws, the senate leader who is to lead the trial against the man in power openly stating he will make sure that said man has a rigged trial where he will not be held accountable and a party that for some reason refuses to have the courage to stand for country over party. This is the stuff that dictatorships are made of.
During the summer, prior to a candidate appearance we got into a casual conversation with a reporter from The Washington Post. She asked what we were looking for in a candidate and if we had a choice among those running.
Up to that time I hadn’t really had to put into words what I was hoping to see in a Democratic candidate for president. So I told her I would have to do some thinking out loud.
I told her that I see things maybe a bit different than others. Instead of seeing America’s problems as an issue by issue basis I see the situation as a country that was set up to have certain values with some tools to work on attaining those values for everyone. To me this was the essence of FDR’s administrations.
FDR came in at a time when management of the economy was non-existent save for a few wealthy oligarch types exploiting the country and its people for every nickel that could be wrung from either, then to be discarded as so much junk. FDR turned that around to valuing both people and America’s treasures while always building for the future. All Americans would have a stake in FDR’s plans either through working directly in programs, or peripherally through supplying government programs, through education, or through selling their products to people employed and earning good money.
While our current situation is nothing quite like that of 1932, in certain ways there are some striking similarities. The most frightening is the inequality of wealth and income in this country. As wealth concentrates in fewer and fewer hands, the power that goes with that wealth grows exponentially.
As fewer and fewer are able to contribute more and more to candidates their access to candidates and eventual office holders becomes more of a boss (contributor) to employee (office holder) relationship. Legislation was created over the years tried to control campaign contributions but the SCOTUS blew that out of the water with the Citizens’ United decision.
So in 2019 – 2020 we are in the precarious position of having a ruling class that we haven’t had in decades. We have a media that is nearly totally beholden to those with wealth, including social media that was at one time hoped to be one of the saviors of democracy. Elizabeth Warren has let it be known that our current social media set up is unacceptable.
Add to that the over arching looming climate crisis that has become world enemy #1. Even as I write this there is one group in the world that purposely continues to despoil our planet and that is the Republican Party of the US.
So I told the reporter that to me the crux of our problems is much like 1932 in that wealth and power has concentrated in a few hands and we have a political system that rewards those who fail to stand up to those with wealth and power. In my estimation we need someone with FDR’s vision and resolve. He or she must also understand how to get Americans to agree on what their best interests are and get the country focused on resolving them for the good of all. And they must have the resolve to see it through!
Also I added that it is long past time to quit screwing around on our country’s health and join the rest of the wealthy nations in covering all of our citizens. 110 years is being more than patient. We have more than enough money, it is a matter of making health a priority. (Wednesday a federal appeals court showed that the courts are agitating that they may now declare the ACA unconstitutional, a solid Medicare for All plan is what we need.)
Therefore, I told the reporter that I see the only one who will stand up for the poor and middle class and stand up to the wealthy while being able to work with a Congress to pass legislation that will correct abuses of today and set groundwork for the future is Elizabeth Warren. Warren is not just making speeches, she is making plans and preparing.
Whoever the Democrats select, he or she will immediately be portrayed as a socialist, an enemy of democracy and an enemy of America. In short the networks and social media will run with the same Republican lies that have been in use since 1948 with little update.
Elizabeth Warren’s approach has always been focused on the common American family that sits in the kitchen to pay their bills and talk about their futures and that of their children. She has been in our shoes and she knows what it is like. These are the kind of things that guide her thought process. Nothing socialist there. She will be doing what “We, the People” have been wanting done.
The next president will be stepping into a mess of a government shattered by the previous administration which set about using the government to wreck people’s lives and the environment. The next president will need vision, deep economic knowledge, resolve and the temperament of a saint to try to not only bring things back together but to head us back in the right direction. To me that describes Elizabeth Warren.
She is a figure all Democrats can support. Her views favoring the common American should draw lot of votes from those who are realizing just how badly trusting the wealthy to care about you was a huge mistake. Warren will draw from all sectors of America except those with wealth and power.
In addition to my thoughts I was surprised and heartened to see that Art Cullen of the Storm Lake Times also endorsed Warren. Cullen focused on rural policies as the reason for his endorsement.
Whichever candidate becomes the nominee of the Democratic Party, he or she will be light years better than the impeached current president who believes he is above the law. No Democrat is tied to foreign powers for campaign help. No Democrat is in favor of destroying long established defense treaties. Every Democrat is in favor of revamping health care. Every Democrat will address the climate crisis.
And I am sure every Democrat will deal with the God-awful sadistic caging of children at our southern border. How any voting American can vote for a person who would do that is beyond me.
We need a leader with FDR’s focus on the common American
This is so great. Thank you, Lawrence. We needed to realize this.
Randi Rhodes, queen of progressive radio since 2004. Randi is an American progressive political commentator, activist and talk radio host. The Randi Rhodes Show is live streamed having been previously broadcast nationally on Air America Radio, Nova M Radio, and Premiere Radio Networks.
