The GOP expelled 2 Democrats for exercising their free speech rights in the TN Legislature. There are economic and fairness reasons to abolish student debt. Clarence Thomas is selling his SCOTUS seat.
Democrats
I was late preparing for our Politics Done Right program. I had, so far, successful cataract surgery on my right eye yesterday. Both my wife and daughter forbade me from doing any work yesterday or last night. The doctor told them to keep me away from screens, and they monitored me all day and night. I felt like a prisoner in my own house. Early this morning, I went to a check-up that was very positive, with most restrictions removed. I ran over to the closest Starbucks to write my show.
The preferred chairs that gave me some privacy were all taken. I sat at a table, set up, and started writing. A guy came up to my table about five minutes after and said, ‘I saw you looking at the seat I was in, and I know it is more private and cozy. Please take it.” I preach all of the time that most people are good. When we disregard preconceived notions of others that we are all guilty of doing because of external cues, our inherent humanity is realized. I thanked the man and declined. I imagined just as well he enjoyed that spot. He then said, “I listen to you all of the time in my car. I love what you are trying to do.”
In these times where we have our plutocracy orchestrating dissension among us all by political party, religion, race, gender, and every permutation thereof, knowing that there are many out there who get it is humbling and makes me extremely happy and determined to continue by all means necessary. Mark, you may not have known it at the time, but you made my day.
GOP expels 2 Democrats from Tennessee legislature.
Republicans are setting a dangerous precedent that, brought to its demographic conclusion, will end with the party’s extinction. CommonDreams wrote about it as follows.
Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday voted to expel Reps. Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson, two of three Democrats who recently interrupted a floor session with chants for gun control in the wake of the deadly Covenant School shooting in Nashville.
“This is a historic day for Tennessee, but… it may mark a very dark day for Tennessee because it will signal to the nation that there is no democracy in this state,” Jones (D-52) said just before he was officially ousted in a 72-25 vote by the Republican-controlled chamber. “It will signal to the nation that if it can happen here in Tennessee, it’s coming to your state next—and that is why the nation is watching us, what we do here.”
After ousting Jones, the Tennessee House GOP moved on to the resolution targeting Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-13), who is white. That vote was 65-30, falling short of the two-thirds majority required to expel her. Republicans then turned to the measure to force out Pearson (D-86).
In the vote against Pearson, who like Jones is Black, the result was 69-26 in favor of removal and his seat was taken.
Asked by reporters after her vote why she was spared expulsion while Jones was not, Johnson responded: “I’ll answer your question; it might have to do with the color of our skin.”
Let’s seriously talk about this.
Why forgive student debt?
This morning I read a piece in Common Dreams titled “The Win-Win-Win of Student Debt Cancellation.” It is a must-read.
The argument that student loan cancellation will inflate the national deficit is another misleading double standard. The wealthy evade $160 billion yearly in taxes and continuously benefit from tax loopholes. Billionaires pay a lower effective tax rate than most ordinary working people. Why allow all that, only to crack down on indebted young people?
Canceling educational debt has many benefits for our society. While some argue against it on the grounds of personal responsibility, they fail to recognize the advantages of a larger, more diverse group of Americans having the opportunity to pursue higher education. Everyone benefits from public health, job opportunities, and the economic growth that comes with having a well-educated population.
That’s why the majority of Americans support Biden’s student loan forgiveness proposal.
Let’s do the right thing.
Justice Thomas demeans court.
Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia Thomas, are a clear and present danger to America. Virginia was an integral part of the attempt to overthrow our constitutional government. And now we have confirmed that Clarence Thomas is likely on the take as he is paid off with gifts from a billionaire.
ProPublica reported the following.
For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.
The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.
These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said. He also should have disclosed his trips on the yacht, these experts said.
If that is not pay-for-play, what is?