“O, let America be America again— The land that never has been yet— And yet must be—the land where every man is free.” Langston Hughes wrote these words in a poem published in 1936. He wrote as the Dust Bowl baked in the heat, Louisiana senator Huey Long died by gunfire, the Supreme Court invalidated much of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, a serial killer terrorized Cleveland, workers finished Hoover Dam, the Depression dragged on, and Black and Brown Americans fell even farther behind their white neighbors.
This time, this court, this person: This is a perfect constellation.
Judge Katanji Brown Jackson’s ascension to the Supreme Court may well be a high point – if not the high point – in an administration that endeavors to set things right.
I can well imagine there were many, many Americans who wept with Judge Jackson when Senator Booker proclaimed that he would not let anyone steal his joy at this moment: I was one of them.
Just for context, notice how much the quality of news has changed in just a few years. Only a few years ago, the interview with Mike Braun might’ve been overlooked, glossed over, or just plain dismissed. We have come a long way.
Braun is clearly advocating making interracial marriage illegal again, and advocating rolling back other rights, and that is exactly how it has been reported everywhere. Clear and clean. Transparent.
In addition, the damage control that his staff attempted afterwards is being condemned as exactly that: disingenuous bullshit.
The media’s quality of reporting, as often as it is terrible and flaky and misleading and alarmist and slanted to be clickworthy to promote sales, has also improved dramatically. They call a lie “a lie,” which they never ever did only a few years ago, until about the fourth year of the Trump administration. Now, due to George Floyd, the media and everyone else is immediately suspicious if a non-white person dies in police custody, an abuse being committed for generations with scant attention and with impunity. Incidents of civil rights violations and misogynistic/harassment misconduct make it into the news almost every day. I’ll never forget the Central Park story of the birdwatcher and the white bubblehead who refused to leash her dog to protect the birds. That story would never have been a headline only a few short years ago: it never would’ve made it past the police report.
We have to be grateful that our attention, and our ability to see the truth of social misconduct, is improving dramatically, and is being reported more consistently and more accurately.
I have been making this argument about voter suppression in particular, a subject that would never be on the front page of any news source even as recently as the Obama administration; but now, in every state, every little obscure law that suppresses the black vote or limits abortions or rolls back rights gains makes national headlines.
It’s getting harder and harder to get away with being racist and sexist and gender-identity-ist. That is one thing I love about 2022. If you indicate that you are taking society backwards, your shameful words will be thrown back in your face by millions of people, and often in minutes.
Sure, we can wring our hands about all the nasty racist and sexist people out there, but keep this in mind:
This information is coming out due to increased transparency. The transparency level is at an all-time high.
And for this I am deeply grateful. It’s harder to be a slime and keep it secret from the rest of us.
A point many missed: Durbin and the other D's on the committee didn't "let the Republicans beat up the nominee." Yeah, that was what happened, but what the public saw was the Republiscum being Republiscum, and doing themselves no favors being the racist asswipes they are. They might get on Hannity, but they've provided lots of footage for attack ads this fall to remind people how awful they are.
Something missed in the news is that the Ukrainian Army has gone over to the counter-offensive around Kyiv. To the east, they pushed the Russians back 20 miles, so they are now 35 miles from the city and out of artillery range. The Russians to the west dug in, but the Ukrainians are coming around them and have cut them off from further supplies and reinforcement. The Russian army is demonstrating its complete incompetence.
Once again, as in every contest with the West over the past 500 years, Russia's goals exceed its capabilities.
Honest to God, Heather, this is one of your best Letters ever. It is a one two punch after one two punch over and over and over again. And this is probably one of the best punches you delivered, thank you:
"Certain Republican senators badgered and bullied Jackson, who could not fight back without endangering her chances of confirmation. It was an abusive dynamic that spoke ill of the process and of the senators themselves: the abusive Republicans, but also the many Democrats who, as legal analyst Dahlia Lithwick pointed out, did little to remind viewers that the Republicans have stacked the court with extremists who are poised to take away our fundamental rights, and instead just let the Republicans beat up on Jackson."
People, THIS is an example of how Democrats do NOT stand up and speak out and support our fundamental rights. WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR DEMS TO GET MAD AND ACT?
From the NYTimes article this: "Pomerantz countered that 'a failure to prosecute will pose much greater risks in terms of public confidence in the fair administration of justice.'"
Stepping back from prosecuting trump and his minions is the nail in the democracy coffin. Trump's criminal cabal got away with an attempted coup and a bunch of other illegal activities. Without the rule of law, we have nothing.
Similar to reading Heather's letters and her videos, listening to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is like getting a civics/history/political science class! Smart women lead!! And, I do so admire and respect Sen. Cory Booker.
We can only survive if the balance of good v evil tips to the side of good. Grace and heart and truth. Repubs are leaning, falling to evil. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson continues walking the high road. And her steps, her Camino, her journey, remind us of her brilliance, her proclamation that repubs better remember while they attempt to drag her through the coals. She walks around that heat and once again reminds the repubs that their guy is over. Her words: “The president is not a King.”
This morning Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave an excellent explanation of court “packing” by picking Justices from lists provided by the Federalist society. Capture of the Court has been accomplished as Trump promised with anonymous money to promote the viewpoints of donors.
Lota and lots and lots of news you delivered tonight! I imagine your frustration with having to write about Judge Jackson and the torture she has endured from the crummiest, the sleaziest, the creepiest of people who represent their God-forsaken states. As a woman, her tears brought tears to my eyes as Cory Booker lifted her spirits. Black and brown women, which I am not, the struggles endured by them were droplets of wetness upon her cheeks. I want her to succeed based on her merits, her composure under fire, as a wife, a mother, a daughter, and as a woman. She will succeed. My word to those abhorrent obnoxious senators who have nothing better to do but belittle others, may many locusts befall upon their doorsteps.
Once upon a time, I thought that the chambers of Congress were sacred, after a fashion. I thought that they called out a higher standard of conduct of their occupants, particularly given the fact that each of them had been elected to represent many, many other people, even millions. I have watched the "sacred" halls of our national government desecrated over and over again; all 3 branches, in fact. Elected officials, mostly men to my personal dismay, have behaved like kings, like spoiled children, like petty criminals. In so doing, they have represented themselves far more than those who elected them. They have empowered untold numbers of our citizens to behave similarly shamefully. Still, there are many whose conduct has been admirable and continues to represent the best of what we hope and expect of them. Our only response to the despicable behavior we have witnessed is to take the fight to the ballot box. And, we need to demand legislation that shines a bright light on the source of the money flowing into the campaigns, the PACS, the other means by which candidacy for office is determined. We need to know who is buying influence and use the force of law to drive disproportionate influence out of the political process. How would it look if every political donation, irrespective of the source, would be subject to a rapidly progressive tax up to as high as, perhaps, 90% beyond $1000 per check? Whether candidate or PAC, if the use is identified as campaigning for public office, the emphasis will be on the small donor, rather than the deep pocket. Perhaps that tax revenue could be pooled into a fund that supports ALL candidates on an equal basis for each office on the ballot. And maybe we should broadcast ALL business of government in real time, thus taking away the incentive to pander for slots on the Sunday morning talk shows. Lets expose it all and let us ALL comment on their behavior in real time.
As Heather says in her interview, Americans are much more engaged in politics and civics today than 5 years ago.
Public pressure has caused Nestle to finally join other global corporations in ceasing business in Russia.
A Russian general who was born in Ukraine leaked his upset in a meeting with US representatives, indicating morale problems at the top, as well as in the front line ranks of the Russian military.
A Ukrainian missile destroyed a Russian landing ship.
The jackassery around here is not just that certain Republicans (Graham, Cruz, etc) are seeking camera opportunities but that they got them too. The media gave valuable air time to Graham and Cruz as their lead into the KBJ hearing and spent almost no time talking about her answers and the positive messages she gave us. Ben Sasse talks about the difference between transparent and creating sound bites for one's base. I'm remembering back to the first televised Presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Those who listened on radio thought Nixon had won the debate; those who watched on TV thought JFK had won the debate. Today's hearing was not a good day for the Senate because their ratings went lower, if that is even possible... It is a broken ineffectual petty institution now. I would have to think hard right now about whether the Senate or SCOTUS get a lower rating from me. Fortunately we have the consensus builder in KJB who brings some hope to the future legitimacy of the Court. In my management experience every promotion putting you in a new higher position that you were only about 50% ready for but you got the job because someone saw your potential. That is what I see in KJB -- someone with magnificent potential that will quickly grow into her new role and reshape the Court into a body that truly embraces the Constitution and the Rights of the People. We, the People, All of Us This Time.
Regarding: "but also the many Democrats who, as legal analyst Dahlia Lithwick pointed out, did little to remind viewers that the Republicans have stacked the court with extremists who are poised to take away our fundamental rights, and instead just let the Republicans beat up on Jackson."
I thought Sheldon Whitehouse, who has made a very large effort to connect the extremists on the Supreme Court to dark money from the Federalist society and spoke to that yesterday DID both defend Jackson and highlight "court packing by court picking".
Whitehouse also tracked all of the dark money including the payoff of Kavanaugh's $200,000 baseball ticket debt that elevated Harvard playboy and exposure artist Kavanaugh to the Surpreme Court. Whitehouse further outlined the fact that the FBI did not do a real background check on Kavanaugh, likely because of dark money payoffs. Search for Whitehouse on youtube. He will scorch the hair off your head with dark money flows associated with the Supreme Court picks.
Amazingly, after all that Whitehouse has learned and documented, nobody is in jail and nobody has been charged with a crime becasue: It is legal to buy whomever you want in our government.
Take a look at some of Sheldon Whitehouse' work. Really disturbing stuff.
But, he definitely supported Jackson, a truly amazingly well spoken and knowledgeable woman who has performed spectacularly in the face of some of the dumbest white men I have ever seen.
Thank you Heather. Today's news was packed with every emotion. The Republicans are exhausting with their prefabricated displays of sound bite fodder for the mid terms and next General election.
Is Grahams obsession with child porn and computer oversight a personal problem? I genuinely hope not.
I watched what I could of the hearings until I could feel my blood pressure rise to unhealthy levels.
Cory Booker was wonderful. I felt he captured the moment brilliantly.
Lastly, rest in power Dr Albright. Ironically, I purchased her latest book just last week. I'm looking forward to this read.
Marsha was right, "abortion" is not in the Constitution. Neither are God, Jesus and the Bible. What a spectacular face plant for Betty Crocker Blackburn.
This time, this court, this person: This is a perfect constellation.
Judge Katanji Brown Jackson’s ascension to the Supreme Court may well be a high point – if not the high point – in an administration that endeavors to set things right.
I can well imagine there were many, many Americans who wept with Judge Jackson when Senator Booker proclaimed that he would not let anyone steal his joy at this moment: I was one of them.
Just for context, notice how much the quality of news has changed in just a few years. Only a few years ago, the interview with Mike Braun might’ve been overlooked, glossed over, or just plain dismissed. We have come a long way.
Braun is clearly advocating making interracial marriage illegal again, and advocating rolling back other rights, and that is exactly how it has been reported everywhere. Clear and clean. Transparent.
In addition, the damage control that his staff attempted afterwards is being condemned as exactly that: disingenuous bullshit.
The media’s quality of reporting, as often as it is terrible and flaky and misleading and alarmist and slanted to be clickworthy to promote sales, has also improved dramatically. They call a lie “a lie,” which they never ever did only a few years ago, until about the fourth year of the Trump administration. Now, due to George Floyd, the media and everyone else is immediately suspicious if a non-white person dies in police custody, an abuse being committed for generations with scant attention and with impunity. Incidents of civil rights violations and misogynistic/harassment misconduct make it into the news almost every day. I’ll never forget the Central Park story of the birdwatcher and the white bubblehead who refused to leash her dog to protect the birds. That story would never have been a headline only a few short years ago: it never would’ve made it past the police report.
We have to be grateful that our attention, and our ability to see the truth of social misconduct, is improving dramatically, and is being reported more consistently and more accurately.
I have been making this argument about voter suppression in particular, a subject that would never be on the front page of any news source even as recently as the Obama administration; but now, in every state, every little obscure law that suppresses the black vote or limits abortions or rolls back rights gains makes national headlines.
It’s getting harder and harder to get away with being racist and sexist and gender-identity-ist. That is one thing I love about 2022. If you indicate that you are taking society backwards, your shameful words will be thrown back in your face by millions of people, and often in minutes.
Sure, we can wring our hands about all the nasty racist and sexist people out there, but keep this in mind:
This information is coming out due to increased transparency. The transparency level is at an all-time high.
And for this I am deeply grateful. It’s harder to be a slime and keep it secret from the rest of us.
A point many missed: Durbin and the other D's on the committee didn't "let the Republicans beat up the nominee." Yeah, that was what happened, but what the public saw was the Republiscum being Republiscum, and doing themselves no favors being the racist asswipes they are. They might get on Hannity, but they've provided lots of footage for attack ads this fall to remind people how awful they are.
Something missed in the news is that the Ukrainian Army has gone over to the counter-offensive around Kyiv. To the east, they pushed the Russians back 20 miles, so they are now 35 miles from the city and out of artillery range. The Russians to the west dug in, but the Ukrainians are coming around them and have cut them off from further supplies and reinforcement. The Russian army is demonstrating its complete incompetence.
Once again, as in every contest with the West over the past 500 years, Russia's goals exceed its capabilities.
Honest to God, Heather, this is one of your best Letters ever. It is a one two punch after one two punch over and over and over again. And this is probably one of the best punches you delivered, thank you:
"Certain Republican senators badgered and bullied Jackson, who could not fight back without endangering her chances of confirmation. It was an abusive dynamic that spoke ill of the process and of the senators themselves: the abusive Republicans, but also the many Democrats who, as legal analyst Dahlia Lithwick pointed out, did little to remind viewers that the Republicans have stacked the court with extremists who are poised to take away our fundamental rights, and instead just let the Republicans beat up on Jackson."
People, THIS is an example of how Democrats do NOT stand up and speak out and support our fundamental rights. WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR DEMS TO GET MAD AND ACT?
From the NYTimes article this: "Pomerantz countered that 'a failure to prosecute will pose much greater risks in terms of public confidence in the fair administration of justice.'"
Stepping back from prosecuting trump and his minions is the nail in the democracy coffin. Trump's criminal cabal got away with an attempted coup and a bunch of other illegal activities. Without the rule of law, we have nothing.
Similar to reading Heather's letters and her videos, listening to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is like getting a civics/history/political science class! Smart women lead!! And, I do so admire and respect Sen. Cory Booker.
We can only survive if the balance of good v evil tips to the side of good. Grace and heart and truth. Repubs are leaning, falling to evil. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson continues walking the high road. And her steps, her Camino, her journey, remind us of her brilliance, her proclamation that repubs better remember while they attempt to drag her through the coals. She walks around that heat and once again reminds the repubs that their guy is over. Her words: “The president is not a King.”
This morning Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave an excellent explanation of court “packing” by picking Justices from lists provided by the Federalist society. Capture of the Court has been accomplished as Trump promised with anonymous money to promote the viewpoints of donors.
Lota and lots and lots of news you delivered tonight! I imagine your frustration with having to write about Judge Jackson and the torture she has endured from the crummiest, the sleaziest, the creepiest of people who represent their God-forsaken states. As a woman, her tears brought tears to my eyes as Cory Booker lifted her spirits. Black and brown women, which I am not, the struggles endured by them were droplets of wetness upon her cheeks. I want her to succeed based on her merits, her composure under fire, as a wife, a mother, a daughter, and as a woman. She will succeed. My word to those abhorrent obnoxious senators who have nothing better to do but belittle others, may many locusts befall upon their doorsteps.
What a day.
Thank you Heather.
Thank you Langston Hughes.
Thank you President Joe Biden.
Thank you Sen. Cory Booker.
Thank you Sen. Ben Sasse.
Thank you Judge Ketanji Jackson.
Thank you and RIP Madeleine Albright.
Once upon a time, I thought that the chambers of Congress were sacred, after a fashion. I thought that they called out a higher standard of conduct of their occupants, particularly given the fact that each of them had been elected to represent many, many other people, even millions. I have watched the "sacred" halls of our national government desecrated over and over again; all 3 branches, in fact. Elected officials, mostly men to my personal dismay, have behaved like kings, like spoiled children, like petty criminals. In so doing, they have represented themselves far more than those who elected them. They have empowered untold numbers of our citizens to behave similarly shamefully. Still, there are many whose conduct has been admirable and continues to represent the best of what we hope and expect of them. Our only response to the despicable behavior we have witnessed is to take the fight to the ballot box. And, we need to demand legislation that shines a bright light on the source of the money flowing into the campaigns, the PACS, the other means by which candidacy for office is determined. We need to know who is buying influence and use the force of law to drive disproportionate influence out of the political process. How would it look if every political donation, irrespective of the source, would be subject to a rapidly progressive tax up to as high as, perhaps, 90% beyond $1000 per check? Whether candidate or PAC, if the use is identified as campaigning for public office, the emphasis will be on the small donor, rather than the deep pocket. Perhaps that tax revenue could be pooled into a fund that supports ALL candidates on an equal basis for each office on the ballot. And maybe we should broadcast ALL business of government in real time, thus taking away the incentive to pander for slots on the Sunday morning talk shows. Lets expose it all and let us ALL comment on their behavior in real time.
Good news:
Our dear humble Heather has been recognized as one of USA Today's Women of the Year:
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/opinion/2022/03/23/usa-todays-women-year-heather-cox-richardson-newsletter-boston-college/6653111001/?fbclid=IwAR0tXXur7YXxTnFDTFepF2xX0w4jKLE6r2rFR1sFofD2C5Q8J33TKSodaUk
As Heather says in her interview, Americans are much more engaged in politics and civics today than 5 years ago.
Public pressure has caused Nestle to finally join other global corporations in ceasing business in Russia.
A Russian general who was born in Ukraine leaked his upset in a meeting with US representatives, indicating morale problems at the top, as well as in the front line ranks of the Russian military.
A Ukrainian missile destroyed a Russian landing ship.
https://twitter.com/johnsweeneyroar/status/1506902974718783488?s=20&t=uMxNrY7jAq4Kvf6eKgQ7bA
With today's Internet, social media, and handheld devices, we have easy ways to make our voices heard. Here's one to fight Russian disinformation:
https://twitter.com/NickKnudsenUS/status/1506759256367796225?s=20&t=uMxNrY7jAq4Kvf6eKgQ7bA
Lastly, a Robert Hubbell reader found a vocal-cord-saving coping device as an alternative to screaming at the TV: the Screaming Goat
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-screaming-goat-running-press/1125863650
The jackassery around here is not just that certain Republicans (Graham, Cruz, etc) are seeking camera opportunities but that they got them too. The media gave valuable air time to Graham and Cruz as their lead into the KBJ hearing and spent almost no time talking about her answers and the positive messages she gave us. Ben Sasse talks about the difference between transparent and creating sound bites for one's base. I'm remembering back to the first televised Presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Those who listened on radio thought Nixon had won the debate; those who watched on TV thought JFK had won the debate. Today's hearing was not a good day for the Senate because their ratings went lower, if that is even possible... It is a broken ineffectual petty institution now. I would have to think hard right now about whether the Senate or SCOTUS get a lower rating from me. Fortunately we have the consensus builder in KJB who brings some hope to the future legitimacy of the Court. In my management experience every promotion putting you in a new higher position that you were only about 50% ready for but you got the job because someone saw your potential. That is what I see in KJB -- someone with magnificent potential that will quickly grow into her new role and reshape the Court into a body that truly embraces the Constitution and the Rights of the People. We, the People, All of Us This Time.
Dr. Richardson,
Regarding: "but also the many Democrats who, as legal analyst Dahlia Lithwick pointed out, did little to remind viewers that the Republicans have stacked the court with extremists who are poised to take away our fundamental rights, and instead just let the Republicans beat up on Jackson."
I thought Sheldon Whitehouse, who has made a very large effort to connect the extremists on the Supreme Court to dark money from the Federalist society and spoke to that yesterday DID both defend Jackson and highlight "court packing by court picking".
Here is his talk. Really very good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5VWqVV3kok
Whitehouse also tracked all of the dark money including the payoff of Kavanaugh's $200,000 baseball ticket debt that elevated Harvard playboy and exposure artist Kavanaugh to the Surpreme Court. Whitehouse further outlined the fact that the FBI did not do a real background check on Kavanaugh, likely because of dark money payoffs. Search for Whitehouse on youtube. He will scorch the hair off your head with dark money flows associated with the Supreme Court picks.
Amazingly, after all that Whitehouse has learned and documented, nobody is in jail and nobody has been charged with a crime becasue: It is legal to buy whomever you want in our government.
Take a look at some of Sheldon Whitehouse' work. Really disturbing stuff.
But, he definitely supported Jackson, a truly amazingly well spoken and knowledgeable woman who has performed spectacularly in the face of some of the dumbest white men I have ever seen.
Thank you Heather. Today's news was packed with every emotion. The Republicans are exhausting with their prefabricated displays of sound bite fodder for the mid terms and next General election.
Is Grahams obsession with child porn and computer oversight a personal problem? I genuinely hope not.
I watched what I could of the hearings until I could feel my blood pressure rise to unhealthy levels.
Cory Booker was wonderful. I felt he captured the moment brilliantly.
Lastly, rest in power Dr Albright. Ironically, I purchased her latest book just last week. I'm looking forward to this read.
Be safe. Be well.
Marsha was right, "abortion" is not in the Constitution. Neither are God, Jesus and the Bible. What a spectacular face plant for Betty Crocker Blackburn.
Pomerantz quitting after being restricted from prosecuting...THIS is the unfinished story.