The New Jersey state Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to pass a
bill that would keep presidential candidates off the state’s 2020
ballot unless they release their tax returns.
According to the Courier Post,
the Democratic-controlled state Senate passed the measure along party
lines in a 23-11 vote on Thursday, sending the bill to the Assembly
committee and full legislature for a vote before it heads to the desk of
Gov. Phil Murphy (D) for consideration.
The controversial measure would
deny candidates for President and Vice President a spot on the state
ballot if they do not publicly release five of their most recent tax
returns at least 50 days before the general election in 2020.
The
bill, if passed, would also bar the state’s electors from voting for
candidates for President and Vice President as part of the Electoral
College system if they choose not to comply with the legislation.
Let's talk about the dangerous and increasing authoritarian tendencies
of Donald Trump, who is now talking about JAILING Department of Justice
investigators and wanting RETRIBUTION for critics.
MSNBC 11th Hour's Brian Williams hosts Intel Community veteran Malcolm
Nance to discuss recent evidence of Kremlin espionage, using Trump
associates, and disinformation campaigns intended to cause chaos and
disruption.
'The resident's decision to officially declare an emergency - to
pretend to build an unbuildable border wall - is not only an act of
constitutional vandalism. It is also an act of cowardice...,' writes
Eugene Robinson in a new WaPo column. Robinson joins Morning Blow to
discuss.
Let's talk about Donald Trump's bizarre deference for Ann Coulter. No
matter what nasty thing she says or tweets about him, Donald Trump
continues to hold her in ostensibly as high regard as Vladimir Putin!
Last week Trump suggested that he would build a “human wall” along the
southern border if Democrats don’t give him the funding that the wants
for his border wall. Apparently some of his supporters took the message
to heart, and they went down to the southern border and formed a wall
themselves.
Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses the insanity of this
and why his supporters will literally do anything he tells them to do.
Let's talk about Mick Mulvaney's recent interview with Fox News' Chris
Wallace on Fox News Sunday, during which Mulvaney admitted clumsily that
Republicans during Barack Obama's eight years in office weren't worried
about doing their jobs.
Two teams of federal officials assembled to fight foreign election
interference are being dramatically downsized, according to three
current and former Department of Homeland Security officials. And now,
those sources say they fear the department won’t prepare adequately for
election threats in 2020.
“The clear assessment from the
intelligence community is that 2020 is going to be the perfect storm,”
said a DHS official familiar with the teams. “We know Russia is going to
be engaged. Other state actors have seen the success of Russia and
realize the value of disinformation operations.
So it’s very curious why the task forces were demoted in the
bureaucracy and the leadership has not committed resources to prepare
for the 2020 election.”
resident Narcissist actually put a plaque with his name on it on a
section of the fence that was repaired on our southern border. It said,
"Here lies what was left of my shame. Hahahaha just kidding I never had
any shame."
Watch as Alan Gomez reveals this astonishing-but-not-really
tidbit to Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle on their show. They were
discussing the bipartisan budged deal struck in Congress to avoid
another shutdown, and fund the government.
In attempting to predict
whether it will succeed in doing that, Gomez rightly said that since no
one on God's green earth knows what the hell is going on in that idiot
Trump's head, it's impossible to tell.
I'm paraphrasing only slightly.
Then he casually mentioned that Trump might just be satisfied with 55
miles of fencing, put a plaque on it like he did in California, call it
a success and herald the win to the heavens. At that point, Ruhle
stopped him in disbelief.
So, Morning Mika's Husband took some of his own "executive time" to pen a
Washington Post op-ed claiming that Michael Bennet, Colorado's
"soft-spoken, white son of the establishment" could be the answer to the
Democratic party's prayers.
Leave it to proud ex-Republican to try to sell us on a conservative
white, straight, middle-aged corporatist as the "savior" of the party he
loves to preach to but would never join. Michael Bennet gave one good
speech (and I'll give it to him--it was a good speech) on the senate
floor, and all of a sudden he's supposed to eclipse the likes of Kamala
Harris and Sherrod Brown as the one senator who can beat the Idiot
Cheetoh because he's...what...so much like him?
Michael Bennet, just like Trump, knows what it's like to have
everything handed to him. He only won his senate seat because he got to
run as an incumbent, having been appointed by then-Governor Bill Ritter
to fill a vacancy. And Ritter only plucked Bennet from the
Superintendent of Denver Public Schools job (a position he was appointed
to despite having ZERO school administration experience) because he
(Ritter) had some personal grudge against the wildly popular Andrew
Romanoff, former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives. And
despite Romanoff having clobbered Bennet at the state convention, Bennet
ended up winning the primary because President Obama, in a move for
which I will never forgive him, endorsed Bennet. (Why on earth Obama
put his thumb on the scales in a Democratic Primary, I will NEVER
understand.)
As Colorado's senator, Michael Bennet has distinguished himself
by...well...not distinguishing himself. Until his famous "Ted Cruz is a
big meanie" speech, very few people could have named the state he
represents. He serves on three rather quiet committees, and his votes
tend to be non-controversial, as are the bills he sponsors. In short,
he just doesn't seem to want to make news. Now, that might be
Scarborough's idea of presidential material, but I personally want a
leader who...leads.
I truly don't intend to knock Bennet. As our senator he has been
fine. Just fine. (Personally I'm hoping Andrew Romanoff, who just
announced a run for Cory Gardner's seat, will make it to the Senate
after all. Romanoff is my idea of a real Democrat.) I just
think it's kind of rich that Joe fucking Scarborough thinks he knows
what the Democratic party "needs." After all, when Joe served in the
People's House--as a Republican--he sponsored a bill to withdraw
from the United Nations, voted to defund the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, and worked to try to impeach Bill Clinton. And I won't
even go into his own little intern scandal. Google it.
Joe seems to think that since Bennet isn't a lefty-liberal, that he
can "save" the Democratic party. Well, I think that the 2018 elections
proved that the party, and indeed the country, is ready for some loud, proud lefty-ness. And frankly, if we want to beat Cheetoh, the last
person we should nominate is a milk-toast, "soft-spoken" centrist. If
Joe thinks that's what this country needs, let him convince his own former party to nominate Michael Bennet.
1. Fuck you if you're watching the videos
of students from Covington Catholic School hooting and yelling and
chanting and dancing in their douchewear of MAGA hats and Trump shirts
and you think,
"Oh, this is totally innocent and not racist." And double fuck you in
your mouth and your ass if you look at images and videos of very white
Nick Sandmann standing and smirking in front of very Native American
Nathan Phillips and believe, as Sandmann's parents' hired guns
wrote for Sandmann, "I said a silent prayer that the situation would
not get out of hand." Bullshit. Anyone who has ever been around a group
of young white dipshit males has seen that fuckin' smirk, that face that
says, "You wouldn't touch me because I'm white and I got a group of
angry white boys around me who are pissed off that they missed the era
of lynching." Jesus, it must have been frightening to be surrounded by
those howling piss ants in their MAGA gang colors.
1a. The one thing I'll give the forensic videologists of the right is
that I never clearly heard the racist dipshit kids chant, "Build the
wall." They may have. They may not have. I'm just saying I didn't hear
it. Update: I watched another video,
the one where the kid (whose name is probably Squee) rips his shirt
off, and they are definitely chanting, "Donald Trump" for a couple of
moments.
1b. Don't fuckin' tell me to "Watch the video of the whole thing."
Motherfuckers, I did watch it. And it shows exactly what it looks like: a
bunch of privileged white Christian boys getting off first on
confronting some black people (the Hebrew Israelites are fuckin'
assholes) and then on confronting some Injuns. They likely thought
they'd finally get a hug from their MAGA fathers for doing it. Hell,
they were probably gonna circle jerk about how brave they were for
months after. Probably still will. While a Trump speech is playing on
their phones.
1c. Teenagers know that everything...every fucking thing...will be
recorded. They love it. They want it. They want to see how the stupid
shit they do gets major likes and hearts and whatever the fuck. That's
also what Sandmann was thinking standing there, knowing that his boys
were recording. "Holy shit, this is gonna be so sick on my Insta." The
old person argument of "I could do stupid things when I was a teenager
and no one would ever see it" is bullshit because today's kids expect to
be recorded. They do the stupid shit because they want it recorded.
2. As a liberal, I think the way that teenagers of color are treated by
our American justice system, our American culture, and our American
politicians is fucking disgusting. It is a savage fucking country that
arrests kids and tries them in court as adults
and talks about them like they are grown ups and not bundles of
hormones whose brains haven't fully developed. It's a savage fucking
country that lets kids live in abject poverty and does almost nothing to
help them get out and then punishes them when they step even a little
out of line, like acting up in school. All of this need to change, be reformed, overturned, anything. We have failed our kids miserably in so many ways.
2a. If you're conservative and you're pissed off at all the people on
the left who are condemning the Covington Catholic dipshits, saying that
they're just kids and are making stupid kid mistakes, I wonder how
you'd've reacted if it had been a group of African American teen boys
who just came from a Black Lives Matter march and were smirking at and
mocking a white minister singing, "Amazing Grace"? Fuck you. You know
what you would've said. You'd've been calling for them to be castrated
and sent to the fields. Yet now you act like the public outrage at the
dipshits makes them the moral equivalent of unarmed black teens shot by
the police.
2b. The right also viciously attacked the Parkland teens for daring to
speak out about gun control. When they planned a national school walkout
for students, conservatives lost their goddamned minds. "They're being manipulated
by adults," they said. "They're just being exploited." Yet somehow when
you arrange for groups of Catholic school kids to go march against
abortion rights, that's not exploitative. Weird, huh?
2c. If you're liberal and you want the racist dipshits treated like
non-white kids are treated in America, well, sorry, but that's just
fuckin' hypocritical. I don't want the racist dipshits gunned down by
cops or sent to prison for absurdly long sentences or anything like
that. I don't want that to happen to any teenagers. I do want the entire
goddamn country to get back to the idea that all kids are kids, and,
except in exceedingly rare cases, they should be treated as such. That's
not a way to excuse the racist dipshits from Kentucky. But it is to say
that our reaction to all teen dipshittery, criminal or not, should be
contextualized by the fact that they are still kids. (And if you think
sending death threats to the school or the kids is right, you can go
fuck yourself.)
2d. To get super-harsh here, when teens are gunned down in a school or
are the victims of some other crime, we are quick to label them as
"children." Well, why do teen victims get to be innocent children while
teen criminals get to be adults?
2e. Yeah, the dipshits deserve to be punished by their school and, if a
crime was committed, charged with it. Of course. That's obvious. But
punish them as kids, as we should all kids.
3. The dipshits have shitty parents, shitty teachers, and shitty
religious leaders. They all have failed. The chaperones on the trip
failed. The adults failed. They should be punished. They should be fired
if they are at the school. Too bad we can't fire parents. The adults
close to these kids are gonna fuck it all up. They already are.
4. Nathan Phillips has actually been incredibly insightful about the whole situation. In an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer,
he said, "I'm disappointed with [Sandmann's] statement. He didn't
accept any responsibility. That lack of responsibility, I don't accept
it." All he wants is for the dipshits to accept that they were dipshits.
That's where learning begins. "I'm just working for a better future for
all of our children," he said. "But, I can't work with liars and
thieves." And, in one of those so-wise-it's-almost-a-stereotype moments,
he added, "I live in the plains and I've watched a tornado come down.
It's very destructive. What I saw in front of me that day was
destruction from a terrible storm tearing apart the fabric of my America
and threatening the future of all our children." He now wants to meet
with the dipshits and try to teach them what they did was wrong, in case
they don't understand that simple fact. Maybe he can tell them what the
Indigenous Peoples March was for, too.
4a. Yeah, he's not a Vietnam War vet, although he did serve in the Marines. Well done, right-wing media. So? Does that mean Phillips deserves the treatment he received? Assholes.
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has made headlines all week after he
announced his interest in running for President, but the American
public isn’t too happy about it.
In fact, most people are sick and tired
of billionaires like Schultz who want to take away our privileges and
safety nets while hoarding billions of dollars in cash for themselves,
but that is EXACTLY what Schultz’s platform is shaping up to be. Ring of
Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
During an interview with CBN, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders said that God actually chose Trump to be resident and that the
Almighty WANTED Trump to be resident of the United States.
This woman
isn’t playing with a full deck, and her comments prove that. But there’s
a lot of implications from her comment that she likely didn’t realize,
and Farron Cousins explains those.
Rallying at the first Women's March with my aunt, a cardboard Hillary Clinton, and my posterAs I made plans to
participate in my third Women’s March in January, there had been one big
change in my life this time around: I was no longer living with my
husband.
Last fall, after 24 years of marriage and almost two years of
dealing with the aftermath of the devastating 2016 election, I decided I
could not live with this person anymore. Why?
Because, while the
results of the election were devastating for me, they were not for my
husband. He voted for Donald Trump, and he has continued to support him.
So as a staunch liberal and a frequent Trump protester, I had to do
something.
Over a couple of months, I began to look for a full-time job to
support myself. I toured apartment complexes in our area, I ordered new
furniture on my credit card, and I began the process of moving my life
to a new place—without him. I moved out of our house of 20 years during
the last weekend in October and into an apartment. And I have not
regretted it.
* * *
Eric (a pseudonym) and I met in the early 1990's, when we were
both in our late 20's. We didn’t talk much about politics, but I
volunteered for Greenpeace and Amnesty International and was just
beginning to identify as a liberal. From what I gathered, he was pretty
apolitical and middle-of-the-road in his views. We seemed to get along
great.
We enjoyed going to parties with mutual friends, listening to
live music at local clubs, going on hikes in the area, traveling, and
laughing together. Looking back at it, that’s probably all we had in
common. At the time, it seemed like a lot.
We got married in May 1994, adopted a dog, and had our first
child in October 1996. He was followed by another son, and then a
daughter. I guess our compatibility started to fray a little after we
started a family. We had differences of opinion about raising our kids,
but who doesn’t? He came from a more traditional, Catholic family who
expected me to quit my full-time newspaper job when I had my first baby.
That bugged me. I did resign, but that was because I had a
tiny premature baby at home and couldn’t bear to leave him in day care
and be gone all day working. So I started a freelance editing business
and worked from home, which I continued to do over the years while I
raised three kids.
Along the way, I realized that Eric and I were canceling each
other out at the voting booth. He voted Republican or, later,
Libertarian, and I never voted for anyone but Democrats. We joked about
it, but it wasn’t a major deal.
Until it was.
Our differences—and the strain they caused—began to pile up
over the years. I am the daughter of a women’s libber who was an
activist in the 1960's and 70's, and I was influenced by her. Eric seemed
to disparage feminism. He made several sexist comments to me during our
marriage, such as the fact that he thought he
should be the head of our household. He once told me that he didn’t need
me as a friend, because he had enough friends. It felt like he was
relegating me to a more sexual, subservient role.
Our problems as a couple gradually increased. I became a gun
safety activist, and toted my oldest son with me when I went to the
Million Mom March on Mother’s Day 2000.
Other marches followed, and
eventually I joined Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, after the massacre
at Sandy Hook. Being a parent definitely brought that whole issue to
the forefront for me. But as a father, Eric never felt strongly about
the kids being killed in schools in our country. I had passionate views
about this topic, and he just laughed at me and my emotions. He didn’t
argue about gun safety with me, but my activism seemed to be a joke to
him.
Exactly when Eric started to move more to the right of center,
I’m not certain. But as I suffered through the George Bush years, it
definitely bugged me that Eric voted for him in both elections. Around
this time, he also started to get more religious and explore new
churches. I was not a churchgoer, and we didn’t get married in a church.
But I started to suspect that he was sliding over to the religious
right. I had participated in an abortion rights march before we got
married, and now here Eric was reciting pro-life (and anti-choice)
propaganda.
Then Barack Obama came along. I volunteered for his campaign,
and was overjoyed when he won. My middle child was geared up to
volunteer too, at just age 9. He went with me to the first Obama
inauguration, and I was so happy that he wanted to be there. We bundled
up in layers of winter gear that cold January morning and took a VRE
train in from Virginia to Union Station. Walking out of the station onto
the streets spilling over with such energy and excitement, I was
thrilled to be part of this historic moment, and to be sharing it with
my son. We both donned Obama knit hats that I bought from a street
vendor.
But later, I went home to the person I had taken my marriage
vows with. Of course Eric didn’t like Obama. He grumbled about him and
his policies, and he continued to complain about him for the next eight
years. It was another reminder to me that we just were not simpatico.
I brought up the idea of marriage counseling, but we never went forward
with it. I found it was easier just not to talk politics with him.
But all of that pales in comparison to what was to come next:
Donald Trump. I truly think the 2016 presidential campaign and election
heralded the beginning of the end of our marriage.
When I heard that Trump was running, I really didn’t think
anybody would actually support him, especially in my circles. I said
jokingly to Eric, “You better not vote for Trump in the primary,” never
considering that he actually might. His synopsis of Donald Trump was
simple: “He cracks me up.” I tried talking to him about all my
objections: the racism, the misogyny, the blatant egoism, the
corruption, the idiocy, the mocking of the disabled! But he didn’t care.
He thought that Trump’s actions and words were funny and didn’t believe
what the media were reporting. He hated Hillary Clinton and what she
stood for. And to add insult to injury, he told my daughter he didn’t
like Hillary because “she doesn’t wear dresses or skirts.” When I heard
that, I was fuming.
And soon I was canvassing for Hillary. I joined Pantsuit
Nation, and I got involved however I could. I was horrified when Trump
picked off all his Republican rivals and eventually became the GOP
choice for president. But like so many of us, I really didn’t think he
would win against Hillary.
And then he did, and my worst nightmare came true. Waking up
the morning after the election to confirmation that Trump was going to
be president was surreal. I was too upset to talk about it with Eric—I
was sure he would gloat about the Trump victory. I felt really distanced
from him the week after the election. He knew I was distraught, but we
had nothing to say to each other.
I had to find comfort with like-minded people; I wasn’t going
to find it in my marriage. So I texted my Democrat friends and invited
them out for drinks at a local restaurant, to commiserate. After hugs
and symbolic safety pins were passed out among us, we made plans to go
to the resistance march in January 2017 that we were just starting to
hear about. A friend offered to charter a van to get us into Washington
for the march. And with our plans taking off that night, my heavy heart
was lightened a bit.
But there was one thing I couldn’t say to my friends as we
discussed going to the Women’s March and protesting the new
administration: “My husband supports Trump.” I could not admit that. I
was too embarrassed and ashamed, so I hid it.
But my mood got better as word spread to family and friends
about our transportation for the march, and that one van ended up
becoming four chartered buses from Vienna, Virginia, to the National
Mall. My mom flew out from Chicago to join us, along with my aunt from
Maine, and my 14 year old daughter planned to go as well.
The night before the march, the four of us carefully took
colorful markers to poster board, creating our heartfelt protest
posters—even while Eric was spouting off ridiculous pro-Trumpisms to my
mom and aunt. I tried to shush him, and I’m sure my annoyance was
palpable. But he just didn’t seem to get it, and I felt myself
disconnecting a little more from him with each moment.
Before the election, I had asked Eric not to show his support
for Trump in front of my family or friends. At one point, I almost
stormed away from the table when we were out to dinner with a couple in
Annapolis who also were staunch Democrats, because he was defending
Trump. I asked him to stop or I would have to walk away. He just didn’t
seem to get the scope of my deep disdain for Trump, and my utter
annoyance with him for supporting the man.
The day of the first Women’s March was amazing, such a
momentous time to be out there with thousands of other protesters in
pink hats. I was proud to be part of this moment with my mom and my
daughter, and gratified about the numbers of people from all over the
country and world taking part in this and the sister marches. But the
fact that my husband was home disagreeing with what we were so
passionately doing on the streets of the nation’s capital just gnawed
away at me.
I had no idea that day that the Women’s March would be the
first of many such protests of the Trump administration that I would
come to take part in. There was so much to object to, I just couldn’t
stay home, especially living as close to Washington as I do. I was an
occasional activist before Trump became president. After that day,
resistance became my life’s norm. I continued to march, to go to rallies
and protests, as every week there was something else to be alarmed
about. All the while, Eric made light of my activism, embarrassed me in
front of people with his comments, and usually managed to express the
opposite of what I believed in.
So I started to seriously think about getting out. I realized the truth: Eric was not my soulmate, and he probably never was.
After a too-long beach vacation with my relatives in August
2018, I was feeling more resigned about ending our marriage. We didn’t
get along well during that trip, and I was always worried that Eric
would open up his mouth and spout out words supporting Trump, or that
sounded vaguely homophobic, or that expressed his inane belief that
climate change was a myth. And I noticed he had become so rigid about
everything, like an old man I didn’t know. How did I end up here with
this person? I couldn’t even look at him anymore, and the long car ride
home seemed endless.
I came back home determined to find my way out. I knew he would
never leave our house, and if I wanted to separate, I would have to be
the one to move out. I wasn’t working full-time then, but I started to
apply for jobs and also went to secretly tour apartment complexes in our
area. It wasn’t the first time I had explored the idea of moving out,
but this time I felt more sure and actually went to see possible new
homes. I told no one of my plans.
Eric could tell that I was troubled about our relationship and
that I was distant with him.
He tried, however halfheartedly, to make it
better. I went back and forth on what to do. I felt if I was going to
do this, I had to leave soon. But how was I going to explain to anybody
that after 24 years of marriage, it would be our difference in politics
that would end up tearing us apart?
I delayed my decision for a little while and tried to see the
positive side of staying with him and the life we had built together.
But then came the last straw.
Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. I
couldn’t bear this and knew I had to go resist, again. I found out about
a big protest being planned. The night before, I brought it up to Eric,
hoping that he would finally agree that this all was a travesty, but
no—he angrily stated that Kavanaugh was innocent and the “Democrats have
waged a smear campaign on a great federal judge.” I lost it. I couldn’t
believe that he was defending a sexual predator like Kavanaugh,
especially when we have a teenage daughter.
The next day, I called the apartment complex next to my
daughter’s school and told them I wanted to sign a lease. I was prepared
to call it quits. I knew I couldn’t live with a Trump supporter
anymore. I told Eric I was getting a full-time job and moving to an
apartment. I felt terrible, but it was hard for me to talk about it with
him without getting very emotional, so I kept it brief. However, I knew
it was the right thing to do.
Soon I moved out of the house we shared for 20 years, and it
was a relief. Eric and I later talked about the reasons why I left. He
replied that he didn’t think politics was something to split up over,
that it didn’t matter that much to him. I said that it does to me. And that was the heart of the issue, right there: It matters a lot to me.
* * *
Now that I’m in the new apartment, although it is much smaller
than the house we shared and I don’t see my kids quite as much, I have
felt my anger, annoyance, and shame dissipate. And that’s better for
everybody. I am happier now that I no longer share a bed and a life with
someone whose beliefs are so contrary to mine.
So as I recently prepared to march again in Washington, I
reflected on how this was my first political protest since moving out of
the house and marriage. This time I was in a much different place, both
figuratively and literally, as I headed out to the third Women’s March.
When I stepped into the streets with my sign and started chanting, I
knew that I could live with myself a little bit better. Because now when
I continue the resistance, I’m no longer going home to the opposition.
And that feels great.
Jennifer Merrill is a freelance writer, former newspaper copy
editor, and current editor at a science education trade association. She is the author ofChasing the Gender Dreamon Amazon. You can follow her on Twitter @Hey_Jen_Merrill.
