Day: June 18, 2021

Enjoy Juneteenth!

Closing Thought–18Jun21

Today is Juneteenth…..Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday.

The US Senate has passed the bill that would make this a Federal holiday…..

The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, or June 19th, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The bill would lead to Juneteenth becoming the 12th federal holiday. It is expected to easily pass the House, which would send it to President Biden for his signature, the AP reports. Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach the last enslaved Black people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas. That was also about two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a major step forward to recognize the wrongs of the past,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “But we must continue to work to ensure equal justice and fulfill the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation and our Constitution.” The Senate passed the bill under a unanimous consent agreement that expedites the process for considering legislation. It takes just one senator’s objection to block such agreements. GOP Sen. Ron Johnson had objected in the previous Congress to a bill to celebrate Juneteenth as a federal holiday because of the cost, but he said Tuesday that “it is clear that there is no appetite in Congress to further discuss the matter.” The bill was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Edward Markey and had 60 co-sponsors.

Biden will sign and it will become the 12th Federal holiday.

It is now official!

Enjoy your long weekend….

Be Well……Be Safe…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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The Senate Of One

The US Senate (equivalent to the House of Lords) is now owned by one person, Joe Manchin, the backbench senator from West Virginia.

Today the Senate is a 50/50 tie and a Dem president of the Senate is the tie breaker….and now a Dem has stepped up to be the king maker.

Manchin is a conserv and as such does not want many of the issues before the Senate to move forward….voting rights, infrastructure to mention a few.

He is holding progress up for his own personal glory…not about the moving the country forward.

All eyes are on Manchin and not the issues….the media has created this political slug and he is basking in the spotlight.

Manchin didn’t rise into a pivotal position on the Hill. He fell into it. I’ve watched him for 20 years or so and have yet to detect any particular skill set. He’s not a gifted orator. He’s not a tactician or strategist. He doesn’t come up with new ideas or even repackaged old ones. Unlike his predecessors Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, Manchin hasn’t been able to redirect stream of federal money and infrastructure projects into his destitute state. Mainly, he’s perfected the role (let’s refrain from calling it an “art”) of being a loud-mouthed impediment to progressive policies and exploiting that position for his personal advantage, which means more and more airtime. Lately, he’s been booked on more FoxNews shows than Glenn Greenwald.

Manchin is, it must be said, one of the vainest members in an institution renowned for its vanity. He delivers populist rhetoric with freshly manicured nails. Like most politicians, Manchin has contempt for the people who elected him and whose interests he must pretend to represent. But he doesn’t try to conceal his disdain. He can openly act as an agent of austerity in front of the very people in most desperate need of federal assistance, without a quiver in his voice. Most politicians blame people for their own suffering. But only a few, like Manchin, see their role in the prolongation of human suffering as a badge of honor.

(Jeffery St. Clair)

Manchin only has ears for donors and the people of this country be damned.  Manchin is so self-absorbed that he may not even realize how useful a stooge he is or who he is being used by and to what end. Manchin doesn’t mind being used, as long as he still gets the credit.

Why would I say this?

Easy!  Look at the Dem programs that he is against.

“It then lists all of the items Manchin has promised to oppose, including the idea of eliminating the filibuster, the For the People Act, and packing the Supreme Court,” CNBC noted. “It then shows everything the group believes Manchin should oppose, including Biden’s infrastructure plan and the union-friendly PRO Act.“

A dark money group funded by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch has been actively lobbying Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to keep up his opposition to the For the People Act, a sweeping voting rights bill that would expand ballot access and crack down on the kind of secretive spending that has made the deep-pocketed Koch network such a powerful force in U.S. politics.

CNBC reported Tuesday that Americans for Prosperity recently “launched a website titled West Virginia Values, which calls on people to email Manchin ‘to be The Voice West Virginia Needs In D.C. — Reject Washington’s Partisan Agenda.'”

“It then lists all of the items Manchin has promised to oppose, including the idea of eliminating the filibuster, the For the People Act, and packing the Supreme Court,” CNBC noted. “It then shows everything the group believes Manchin should oppose, including Biden’s infrastructure plan and the union-friendly PRO Act.“

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/06/08/manchin-only-moved-corporate-donors-says-bowman-koch-backed-group-lobbies-against

He would oppose most major Dem proposals and wishes…..

See what dark money can buy….a sitting senator from the liberal side of the Senate.

What is it they say about money?

This is why I call him a coward and a political slug.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Manchin Two Step

The political coward, Joe Manchin, that slug that has held up a great voting rights bill because he wants to play games and be the darling of the media.

Now he has an offering to make this all bi-partisan (a worthless hope and a stalling tactic)…….

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia earned the wrath of fellow Democrats earlier this month when he announced that he wouldn’t back a major election-reform law. Now, ahead of next week’s vote, Manchin has put a compromise in play. Coverage:

  • Manchin released a lengthy list of reforms he does support in the For the People Act, as well as in the separate bill known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Read his list in full via Politico. It includes things that will please and anger both Democrats and Republicans.
  • For example, Manchin wants to ban partisan gerrymandering, which Vox explains is “a high priority for both small-d democrats and large-D Democrats, who want to prevent the GOP from seizing control of the House of Representatives with rigged congressional maps.” Also good news for Democrats: He backs automatic voter registration, a mandated 15 days of early voting, and the designation of Election Day as a holiday, per the AP.
  • On the other hand, Manchin supports new voter ID requirements backed by Republicans, and he would give state officials more leeway in their ability to remove names from voter rolls, per Politico.
  • A big sign that Manchin’s proposal is seen as acceptable to the progressive wing of the Democratic party: Stacey Abrams said Thursday that she likes it, reports NBC News. “What Sen. Manchin is putting forward are some basic building blocks that we need to ensure that democracy is accessible no matter your geography,” said the prominent voting-rights advocate. “And those provisions that he is setting forth are strong ones that will create a level playing field, will create standards that do not vary from state to state, and I think will ensure that every American has improved access to the right to vote despite the onslaught of state legislation seeking to restrict the access to vote.”
  • Senate Democrats were expected to huddle Thursday to discuss strategy ahead of the vote, reports the Hill. Manchin made clear he would support the legislation if revised, which would mean unanimous Democratic support. But the bill will likely still be doomed because Republicans could kill it with the filibuster rule—and Manchin remains opposed to scrapping the filibuster.

All the protest to his change of heart.

This is a lameass compromise….he knows that it will go no where in the Senate….so this is just his attempt to stay in the spotlight…..Manchin tryig to calm opposition to his thinking and stay in the bright light of media reporting.

But for those that actual give a sh*t here is the Manchin compromise on voting rights

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20892337-manchin-compromise

Sorry to say but this will go unread…..sadly there are not that many that care enough to check the ‘compromise’ out…..and there is the problem….massive APATHY!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”