I can’t thank you enough, Lisa, for keeping us informed. We deserve to celebrate these victories but only concomitant with sure knowledge that much, much work lies ahead. … For some ways and whys the Roberts Court might be affected by this election …
Thank you for your fight to end the abuses of this horrible Roberts court. I will believe it will go down in history as the worst court ever. Revered conservative justice Luttig says the immunity decision was far worse than Dred Scott, because it altered the actual structure of the constitution.
Did you know that black turnout in the south was significantly higher than it’s ever been? Whereas in the north it remained steady with previous elections so the white supremacism Roberts court had the opposite effect of what they intended with their grotesque Calais decision and flouting of the Purcell rule to ram this through before the election.
Your hard work and tanacity have been vindicated,..you always had faith that American citizens would deliver,..well done Lisa Graves and everyone at LegalAF.
[Vance] “had cast the deciding vote that installed the incompetent Pete Hegseth at DOD, despite the allegations of boozing and rape.”
“They could have easily weathered defections from more than a couple of members, like Thomas Massie, over major issues such as the Epstein Transparency Act, which mandates the disclosure of investigative files implicating Trump and others in sex crimes.”
And even though trump campaigned on releasing the files, he then refused to release them and instead, “Trump told Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene that he opposed releasing the full Jeffrey Epstein files because "my friends will get hurt" (or that people she knows at Mar-a-Lago and elsewhere would be harmed.”
The convicted felon and sexual predator certainly seems to have normalized sex crimes and drug/alcohol abuse during djt 2.0 reign of terror. Sexual abuser bros unite!
THAT NEEDS TO END!
RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES and let all their names be known!
To name a few (dozen)-
“Sexual misconduct charges and allegations dog many of Trump’s appointees”
“After being found civilly liable for sexual abuse, President-elect Donald Trump is selecting alleged predators and those who have minimized sexual misconduct to be in his administration.”
We won, at best, a brief reprieve from the most obvious symptom of our 30-year drift away from representative democracy. Franklin wondered if we could keep it. We have let it slip steadily away. We have a core problem.
Nothing has changed about that core problem: members of Congress spend their lives dialing for dollars. House members have no time to learn the issues or talk with ordinary voters. Senators can't spare the hours a talking filibuster takes, so we live with a no-effort filibuster: a senator just announces an objection and goes back to dialing for dollars. Nothing gets done without 60 votes. Which means little gets done.
Rinse and repeat.
Watch what happens next. The winners will blame Trump, blame MAGA voters, blame the Supreme Court and Citizens United. They'll ask their donors to give more and pass another round of money restrictions, the same easily dodged ideas we've tried for a century. Money is slippery. It gets past every barrier.
That's blaming people instead of fixing the system that traps the good people we elect.
There is a fix. And it's cheap. Not as cheap as passing meaningless campaign finance restrictions. But cheap enough.
Private donors spent about $26 billion on federal elections over the last four years, roughly $6.5 billion a year, to steer a $7 trillion government. Put the same amount of public money in voters' hands: about $150 each over four years, given online to the candidates and groups they choose. Then watch politicians scramble to learn what voters want. Make voters the most important donors.
What festering issues might finally get attention? The millions with no path to retirement? The deficit? AI and data centers? Climate? A press we've let collapse?
"30-year drift away from representative democracy"? What's your baseline? By my reckoning we had a brief drift *toward* representative democracy starting with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and continuing, more or less, until Reagan took office. At that point the drift *away* began to accelerate, till it culminated in the Citizens United decision of 2010 -- which continues to hamstring democracy, representative and otherwise.
Yep they’ll continue and did scheme(for a 1000 days; #project-2025) with all the help from the 3art/ branches, “we the people”[Just got up , went and voted the #rascals out] continue to “Bend that Arch of a Moral Universe towards Justice” for all thus a better America(e pluribus type of…)
I don’t know how to say it anymore clear, we’ve seen the Promised Land, it’s found in our #Votes|#Voting! Don’t lose it nor give it up, for they’ll continue their schemes to #disenfranchise as their only hope/artifice left #cheat for lack of a better word!
I can’t thank you enough, Lisa, for keeping us informed. We deserve to celebrate these victories but only concomitant with sure knowledge that much, much work lies ahead. … For some ways and whys the Roberts Court might be affected by this election …
https://stevevladeck.substack.com/p/261-the-midterms-and-the-courts-part?r=3codzl&utm_medium=ios
Thank you for your fight to end the abuses of this horrible Roberts court. I will believe it will go down in history as the worst court ever. Revered conservative justice Luttig says the immunity decision was far worse than Dred Scott, because it altered the actual structure of the constitution.
Did you know that black turnout in the south was significantly higher than it’s ever been? Whereas in the north it remained steady with previous elections so the white supremacism Roberts court had the opposite effect of what they intended with their grotesque Calais decision and flouting of the Purcell rule to ram this through before the election.
The hogs are fleeing the creek!
Your hard work and tanacity have been vindicated,..you always had faith that American citizens would deliver,..well done Lisa Graves and everyone at LegalAF.
It's a great summary. Thank you for telling it straight. The truth matters.
So. This is certainly an alarming trend:
[Vance] “had cast the deciding vote that installed the incompetent Pete Hegseth at DOD, despite the allegations of boozing and rape.”
“They could have easily weathered defections from more than a couple of members, like Thomas Massie, over major issues such as the Epstein Transparency Act, which mandates the disclosure of investigative files implicating Trump and others in sex crimes.”
And even though trump campaigned on releasing the files, he then refused to release them and instead, “Trump told Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene that he opposed releasing the full Jeffrey Epstein files because "my friends will get hurt" (or that people she knows at Mar-a-Lago and elsewhere would be harmed.”
The convicted felon and sexual predator certainly seems to have normalized sex crimes and drug/alcohol abuse during djt 2.0 reign of terror. Sexual abuser bros unite!
THAT NEEDS TO END!
RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES and let all their names be known!
To name a few (dozen)-
“Sexual misconduct charges and allegations dog many of Trump’s appointees”
“After being found civilly liable for sexual abuse, President-elect Donald Trump is selecting alleged predators and those who have minimized sexual misconduct to be in his administration.”
https://pennsylvaniaindependent.com/politics/sexual-misconduct-charges-allegations-donald-trump-appointees-rape/
Yes, winning beats losing. But what did we win?
We won, at best, a brief reprieve from the most obvious symptom of our 30-year drift away from representative democracy. Franklin wondered if we could keep it. We have let it slip steadily away. We have a core problem.
Nothing has changed about that core problem: members of Congress spend their lives dialing for dollars. House members have no time to learn the issues or talk with ordinary voters. Senators can't spare the hours a talking filibuster takes, so we live with a no-effort filibuster: a senator just announces an objection and goes back to dialing for dollars. Nothing gets done without 60 votes. Which means little gets done.
Rinse and repeat.
Watch what happens next. The winners will blame Trump, blame MAGA voters, blame the Supreme Court and Citizens United. They'll ask their donors to give more and pass another round of money restrictions, the same easily dodged ideas we've tried for a century. Money is slippery. It gets past every barrier.
That's blaming people instead of fixing the system that traps the good people we elect.
There is a fix. And it's cheap. Not as cheap as passing meaningless campaign finance restrictions. But cheap enough.
Private donors spent about $26 billion on federal elections over the last four years, roughly $6.5 billion a year, to steer a $7 trillion government. Put the same amount of public money in voters' hands: about $150 each over four years, given online to the candidates and groups they choose. Then watch politicians scramble to learn what voters want. Make voters the most important donors.
What festering issues might finally get attention? The millions with no path to retirement? The deficit? AI and data centers? Climate? A press we've let collapse?
I write about this fix, called Voter Dollars, at michaelfoxworth.substack.com.
"30-year drift away from representative democracy"? What's your baseline? By my reckoning we had a brief drift *toward* representative democracy starting with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and continuing, more or less, until Reagan took office. At that point the drift *away* began to accelerate, till it culminated in the Citizens United decision of 2010 -- which continues to hamstring democracy, representative and otherwise.
I’ve had a earworm all year. Jim White: Buzzards of Love.
When the fun is done ain't nothing but hell to pay
See the face in the mirror, it looks alone and afraid
Well, if you think you a player, most times it's you that's getting played
By them buzzards, buzzards, buzzards, buzzards
Them buzzards of love
https://youtu.be/B60EfmWbQEQ?is=OQqtvKrnrbcMAuXR
And, if only for the title, Mississippi Goddamn!
Another great Nina Simone tune. If she’s somewhere in the ethers, she’s certainly smiling now. It’s not enough, but it sure is progress.
Yep they’ll continue and did scheme(for a 1000 days; #project-2025) with all the help from the 3art/ branches, “we the people”[Just got up , went and voted the #rascals out] continue to “Bend that Arch of a Moral Universe towards Justice” for all thus a better America(e pluribus type of…)
I don’t know how to say it anymore clear, we’ve seen the Promised Land, it’s found in our #Votes|#Voting! Don’t lose it nor give it up, for they’ll continue their schemes to #disenfranchise as their only hope/artifice left #cheat for lack of a better word!