#dana washington

[contemplatingoutlander]

The House GOP is a circus. The chaos has one source.

Republicans spent two years sabotaging the U.S. House. Another two years would be ruinous.

Dana Milbank does a masterful job of describing just how dysfunctional the House GOP members have been in the past two years.

This is a gift🎁link for the entire article. Below are some highlights:

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Six weeks after his improbable rise from obscurity to speaker of the House in late 2023, Louisiana’s Mike Johnson decided to break bread with a group of Christian nationalists. [...] “I’ll tell you a secret, since media is not here,” Johnson teased the group, unaware that his hosts were streaming video of the event. Johnson informed his audience that God “had been speaking to me” about becoming speaker, communicating “very specifically,” in fact, waking him at night and giving him “plans and procedures.” [...] Today, Johnson’s run looks anything but heaven-sent. In the first 18 months of this Congress, only 70 laws were enacted. Calculations by political scientist Tobin Grant, who tracks congressional output over time, put this Congress on course to be the do-nothingest since 1859-1861 — when the Union was dissolving. But Johnson’s House isn’t merely unproductive; it is positively lunatic. Republicans have filled their committee hearings and their bills with white nationalist attacks on racial diversity and immigrants, attempts to ban abortion and to expand access to the sort of guns used in mass shootings, incessant harassment of LGBTQ Americans, and even routine potshots at the U.S. military. They insulted each other’s private parts, accused each other of sexual and financial crimes, and scuffled with each other in the Capitol basement. They screamed “Bullshit!” at President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address. They stood up for the Confederacy and used their official powers to spread conspiracy theories about the “Deep State.” Some even lent credence to the idea that there has been a century-old Deep State coverup of space aliens, with possible involvement by Mussolini and the Vatican.

The above article was adapted from Dana Milbank's (2024) book: Fools on the HILL: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down the House.

[See more below the cut.]

And this is on top of the well-known pratfalls: The 15-ballot marathon to elect a speaker, the 22-day shutdown of the House to find another speaker, the routine threats of government shutdowns and a near-default on the federal debt that hurt the nation’s credit rating. They devoted 18 months to a failed attempt to impeach Biden, which produced nothing but Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly displaying posters of Hunter Biden engaging in sex acts. One “whistleblower” defected to Russia, another worked with Russian intelligence and is under indictment for fabricating his claims, and still another is on the lam, evading charges of being a Chinese agent. As soon as Biden withdrew his candidacy, they promptly forgot their probe of Biden’s “corruption” and rushed to launch a new series of investigations into Kamala Harris (over her record on border security) and Tim Walz (over his military service and “cozy relationship” with China). After a number of failed attempts, they did impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (the first such action against a Cabinet officer since 1876) without identifying any high crimes or misdemeanors he had committed; the Senate dismissed the articles without a trial. House Republicans created a “weaponization committee” under the excitable Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), but it was panned even by right-wing commentators when it produced little more than a list of conspiracy theories from the likes of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. They lapsed repeatedly into fits of censure resolutions, contempt citations and other pointless acts of vengeance. In all of its history, the House had voted to censure one of its own members only seven times; in the two weeks after Johnson became speaker, members of the House tried to censure each other eight times. [...] In lieu of consequential legislating, they passed bills such as the Refrigerator Freedom Act, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards (SUDS) Act. On the House floor, the Republican majority suffered one failure after another, even on routine procedural votes. Seven times (and counting), House Republicans voted down their own leaders’ routine attempts to begin floor debates — something that hadn’t happened once in the previous 20 years.

[stuckinthedeadlights]

Josh Washington Icons

free to use, credit appreciated but not necessary. if you have a request or want to be tagged for any of my edits send me an ask. don’t repost, reblogs appreciated. all of my edits can be found here

Screencaps from here

[louisbxne]

AALIYAH

The Christmas Song (Live at Christmas in Washington) [1997]

[2bpoliticallycurious]

Republicans celebrate their successful deception of voters

“The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background.”

--Christopher Wray, FBI Director

"Good for [FBI Director Christopher Wray]. But here’s what’s especially insane, absurd and ludicrous: No matter how many refutations Wray and others provide, Republicans are persuading people to believe their lies — and they are proud of the deception."

--Dana Milbank, opinion columnist for The Washington Post

Dana Milbank knocks it out of the ballpark in describing how House Republicans are convincing many people that the FBI is targeting "conservatives," despite refutations by people like lifelong Republican FBI Director Christopher Wray. This is an important summary of all the conspiracy theories that the GOP flung at Wray during their "inquisition" of him. Consequently, the above link is a gift link 🎁so you can read the entire column, even if you do not subscribe to The Washington Post.

After looking at the Wray interrogation, Milbank also discusses the GOP clown show that was a hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

In addition, Milbank goes on to talk about how Gal Luft, the "star 'whistleblower' behind the allegations of corruption against President Biden and his family, was indicted on a charge of acting as an illegal arms broker and an unregistered agent for China."

Finally, Milbank talks about all the conspiratorially based amendments the GOP have added to the National Defense Authorization Act.

Below are some excerpts from his column:

An honest man visited the House of lies this week. He did not like what he found there. “Insane.” “Absurd.” “Ludicrous.” Those are the actual words FBI Director Christopher Wray used to describe House Republicans’ crackpot conspiracy theories. “The American people fully understand,” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) informed Wray at Wednesday’s hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, “… that you have personally worked to weaponize the FBI against conservatives.” Right. Hageman, the election denier who ousted Liz Cheney in a primary, would have you believe that Wray — senior political appointee in the George W. Bush Justice Department, clerk to a noted conservative judge, contributor to the Federalist Society, Donald Trump-appointed head of the FBI — is part of a conspiracy to persecute conservatives. “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” he replied. [...] Good for him. But here’s what’s especially insane, absurd and ludicrous: No matter how many refutations Wray and others provide, Republicans are persuading people to believe their lies — and they are proud of the deception. Johnson, the leadoff questioner at Wednesday’s hearing, told Wray about a recent NBC News poll, in which “only 37 percent of registered voters now view the FBI positively,” down from 52 percent in 2018. “That’s a serious decline in the people’s faith, and it’s on your watch,” he told Wray.

[tea-tuesday]

09/04/2023

hope everyone had a good weekend!! went to a modern/contemporary art museum this afternoon and tried a black sesame latte with oat milk☕ i really enjoyed the jessica diamond exhibition and dana awartani's installation called "I went away and forgot you. A while ago I remembered. I remembered Iʼd forgotten you. I was dreaming"

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

All the Black Femmes || Found, Season 1

Shanola Hampton: Gabi Mosely

Gabrielle Walsh: Lacey Quinn

A'zaria Carter: Teenage Gabi

Anisa Nyell Johnson: Detective Shaker

Jasmine Washington: Bella

Najah Bradley: Jinny Coe

Dana Gourrier: Andrea Robinson

Autumn Monroe: Rena

Tamara Austin: Hollis Brown

[98percentofthewnbaisgay]

There were EIGHT (player) technical fouls and FOUR ejections in the WNBA yesterday. Here’s the rundown!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Bagley :: Salt Lake Tribune

* * * *

They’re on a mission from God

Republican culture warriors have been exceptionally busy making sure that American schoolchildren are freed from the terrible burden of learning. Among the treatises being removed from classrooms, The Post’s Hannah Natanson reports: Mary Wollstonecraft’s 18th-century classic “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.” Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.” And Christopher Columbus’s journal. A quarter of teachers say their classes have been affected by the new educational gag rules.

This week, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce took up the battle to dumb down America’s youth. It marked up a national “Parents Bill of Rights” and a companion bill aimed at keeping trans girls from competing in youth sports.

Democrats pointed out that both were solutions in search of problems. Controversies involving trans kids in sports number only in the double digits — hardly enough to merit federal action that further stigmatizes children who are just over 1 percent of the population and already face high suicide rates. And despite the right’s “parents rights” crusade, parents are largely satisfied with their children’s education and the lessons they are taught.

But the panel’s Republicans were not to be persuaded on these points. They claimed to be doing God’s will.

Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) announced that parents’ “God-given right to make decisions for their children has been ignored and at times attacked.”

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) declared that “Democrats reject that God created science of sex” and further informed the panel that “the fact is, God does not make mistakes. He creates us perfectly unique as individuals, and all of us are either immutably male or immutably female.” This is a “moral” matter, he said.

And Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) affirmed that “parents and not school employees are charged by God to raise their own children.”

It rarely ends well when politicians claim to be doing God’s bidding. To see the evil it produces, look no further than the Grand Hyatt in Washington, where on Sunday the Development Corporation for Israel, the formerly reputable group that sells Israel Bonds, will be hosting Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. Just a week ago, Smotrich, from the Orthodox, far-right Religious Zionist Party, called for a Palestinian village in the West Bank to be “wiped out.” This fundamentalist zealot, who claims “I work for God,” tried to walk back his murderous remark after an outcry.

Smotrich, and House Republicans such as Foxx, Good and Owens, may think that God supports their brands of persecution. But I side with Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), who responded to the moralizing Republicans on the House Education Committee this way: “I can tell you that the God that I serve teaches me to love my neighbor — all of my neighbors.” Amen.

[from Opinion:  Kevin McCarthy joins the insurrection By Dana Milbank  :: Washington Post]

[afrotumble]

A Journal for Jordan is a 2021 American romantic drama film directed and co-produced by Denzel Washington from a screenplay written by Virgil Williams, based on the memoir A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor by Dana Canedy. The film stars Michael B. Jordan (who also co-produced the film) and Chanté Adams in the lead roles, along with Jalon Christian, Robert Wisdom, and Tamara Tunie in supporting roles.

[notchainedtotrauma]

“ But what is the relation between tragedy, elegy, and improvisation ? “

Fred Moten

from top left to bottom right: Kennedi Carter, Demetrius Washington, Logan White, Chrisean Rose, Melissa Alcena, Shaniqwa Jarvis, Shervin Lainez, Dana Trippe

[thenewdemocratus]

Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell & Jonathan V. Last: "Here's What Needs to Happen'

Source:The Bulwark talking about guess what. Source:The New Democrat “The Secret Pod makes an emergency appearance to work through last night’s terrible performance by Biden and to urge the Democratic Party to do the responsible thing in this moment.” From The Bulwark As I wrote about this yesterday: “President Biden’s task tonight, is to show that he’s in full command, he’s doing the job, he has…

[contemplatingoutlander]

As Biden rallies the free world, Trump serves a higher cause: Himself

In Phoenix, at his first post-conviction campaign rally, Trump portrayed a dark and desperate America.

Dana Milbank does a good job of contrasting Biden's and Trump's speeches on June 6th, the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Biden was in Normandy, France, and Trump was in Phoenix, Arizona. You can use this gift🎁link to read the entire article. Below are excerpts from Milbank's column, put into a table format to easily contrast Biden and Trump's speeches/positions.

_____________ All emphasis added; photo sources: Biden; Trump

[stuckinthedeadlights]

Hannah Washington Icons

free to use, credit appreciated but not necessary. if you have a request or want to be tagged for any of my edits send me an ask. don’t repost, reblogs appreciated. all of my edits can be found here

Screencaps from here

[webcrawler3000]

Caskey is too cute. He’s inventing hashtags for me. Too bad he calls me Dana. I gotta break you guys of that. Celena does it, too, and she’s known me 12 years. It has rolls off the tongue easier than Jennifer.

What about Hecate though? That’s my street name.

Jeda Washington is my RAPPER name.

Riley INSISTS on dropping the Simon AND Ghost part of his name. HIS NAME IS RILEY WASHINGTON!!

[tomorrowusa]

The media double standard which overlooks Trump's deteriorating mental state. (from PBS Washington Week - 8/30/24)

JEFFREY GOLDBERG (host and editor of The Atlantic): Here's the thing. I'll make this observation. I'll own it. If Kamala Harris went from bacon to wind in her interview with Dana Bash, she would, this morning, not be -- the next morning, she would not be the nominee of the Democratic Party. That would have been a very, very strange -- people would have been like, what is going on? Do we just have an absurdly low standard now for the things that Donald Trump says and does? DOMENICO MONTANARO (panelist and senior political correspondent at NPR): I think that there is definitely a double standard, and I think part of it is how each side's voters interpret their candidate. And someone like Donald Trump, Republicans have had the opportunity for years to say this is not the guy we want. Instead, they've continued to get behind him. In every primary that Donald Trump weighs in on, he wins, and then the general election a lot of those candidates tend to lose. I think that from reporter's standpoint, we do have to be careful about how we -- what level we hold both of them to. When I fact-checked Donald Trump's hour press conference, he told 162 lies and distortions within that time period, 2.5 a minute, compared to Kamala Harris' DNC acceptance speech, where she had 12 statements that I found were contextually misleading or needed more.

Here's the entire episode.

The media has mostly shrugged off Weird Donald's unhinged rantings as Trump being Trump while holding Democrats to a higher standard.

We need to be more vocal about the double standard. When Trump has another crazed rant about sharks, windmills, electric batteries, and bacon which gets brushed off by a media provider, ask that provider: What would you be saying if a prominent Democrat conducted a similar unhinged rant?