pelosi bak
main blank 2/18
SEE PELOSI DEMS 3
see pelosi house (2018)
gmail zeteo 10 25
Meet the Multimillionaire Leftist Primarying Nancy Pelosi
AOC’s former chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti tells Mehdi why he’s primarying the ex-house speaker – and Gaza is one of his top issues.
How does one fight illegal National Guard deployments, the kidnapping of immigrants, and creeping fascism? Well, if you’re a mainstream Democrat, there seems to be only one strategy – sternly-worded letters and weak press conferences.
At least, that’s how it seems to people like AOC’s former chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, who is challenging former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her seat in Congress. He joins Mehdi on this week’s episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered.’
“She [Pelosi] has this style of politics that I think is completely out of step with what actually needs to happen today,”Chakrabarti tells Mehdi.
In this interview, Mehdi asks Chakrabarti – the co-founder of Justice Democrats – why he believes Pelosi’s response to Democrats’ loss last November was, “completely insufficient.”
Chakrabarti also takes aim at Democrats’ current House Leader Hakeem Jeffries, with Mehdi asking the former Hill staffer whether Jeffries needs a primary challenger.
“We’re not going to win unless we completely change who the party is,”Chakrabarti says.
Mehdi also presses him on his millionaire status, “Should that make people skeptical of you?”
Paid subscribers can watch the full interview to hear Chakrabarti explain why his other opponent Scott Weiner would be even worse for Palestinian rights and whether he is worried about AIPAC coming after him.
11 23 rww
...Hawking gold has been a financial mainstay of right-wing media outlets and online personalities for years. For religious-right pundits like Wallnau, promoting gold as a hedge against financial and societal collapse can dovetail with broader apocalyptic messaging.
A few months ago, The Washington Post wrote about the extensive marketing on right-wing media of gold coins as a retirement investment, often with outrageous markups. Reporter Hanna Kozlowska, one of the authors of the Post report, followed up with an August story for MSNBC, noting that their research found that older people who watch conservative media are “bombarded” with ads for gold:
We’ve spoken to customers who are disabled, homebound or living only on Social Security, their lives upended by losing their only nest eggs. And although complaints and allegations of fraud against these companies have been public for years, right-wing media outlets have continued to benefit by accepting their advertising.
The kind of fearmongering pitch Wallnau’s email included is a common sales tactic, according to Kozlowska. “To lure customers, the companies often use fear-based and politically tinged messaging in their advertising and on sales calls,” she wrote for MSNBC, citing an example of an ad sent to a Newsmax list claiming, “Nancy Pelosi has been on a secret mission to KILL the US Dollar.”
...
11 23 chris hayes on jokes trump, kari, about husband after musk etc all BS conspir story b/c had to have ctr-narrative for RW being into violence
see cash for economists
omg 1986 13 hours billed nancy pelosi 250$/hr dir of editorial services ?!
1985 SeptThe address and telephone number on the letterhead of this letter from James Savarese & Associates, dated September 1985 is identical to that of Ogilvy & Mather (O&M). They were both effectively running the Committee on Taxation and Economic Growth (CTEG) under some joint agreement.
1986 MayOgilvy & Mather are still handling James Savarese's billings/charges to the Tobacco Institute. He has a billing rate of $115 per hour as a 'consultant, which is only marginally below O&M's Vice President and General Manager, Marcia Silverman at $125 per hour.
Three other O&M staff working for tobacco Richard Marcus, Lynn Snoddon and Keith Tarr-Whelan charge at $100-$110/hr
Nancy Pelosi (Californian Democratic Party) is a consultant to O&M with the top charge rage of $250 per hour. [5]
WIKI
Pelosi was involved with politics from an early age. She helped her father at his campaign events. She attended John F. Kennedy's inaugural address when he was sworn in as U.S. president in January 1961.[10]
In 1958, Pelosi graduated from the Institute of Notre Dame, an all-girls Catholic high school in Baltimore. In 1962, she graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D.C., with a Bachelor of Arts in political science.[16] Pelosi interned for Senator Daniel Brewster (D-Maryland) in the 1960s alongside future House majority leader Steny Hoyer.[17]
Early career
Pelosi, her mother, and President Kennedy watch as her father is sworn in as a member of the Renegotiation Board, 1961.
After moving to San Francisco, Pelosi became friends with 5th district congressman Phillip Burton, and began working her way up in Democratic politics. In 1976, she was elected as a Democratic National Committee member from California, a position she would hold until 1996. She was elected as party chair for Northern California in January 1977, and four years later was selected to head the California Democratic Party, which she led until 1983.[18] Subsequently, Pelosi served as the San Francisco Democratic National Convention Host Committee chairwoman in 1984, and then as Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee finance chair from 1985 to 1986.[19]
rev dr pelosi
https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/443724-ex-pelosi-staffers-in-demand-on-k-street
post election stop steal :
Evangelical leader and top Trump religion advisor Franklin Graham is under fire Thursday after attacking Republican Members of Congress who voted to impeach President Donald Trump, to "Judas," the biblical times apostle who betrayed Jesus Christ.
"Shame, shame on the ten Republicans who joined with @SpeakerPelosi & the House Democrats in impeaching President Trump yesterday," Graham said on Twitter. "After all that he has done for our country, you would turn your back & betray him so quickly? What was done yesterday only further divides our nation."
Graham also suggested they were paid off to vote against Trump, a dangerous allegation especially just one week after MAGA domestic terrorists and insurgents committed murder and sedition.
"House Democrats impeached him because they hate him and want to do as much damage as they can," Graham also charged on Facebook. "And these ten, from his own party, joined in the feeding frenzy. It makes you wonder what the thirty pieces of silver were that Speaker Pelosi promised for this betrayal."[sign 1/6 pelosi is satan"]
trump dumps covid bill, ~ 25th aMeND
https://www.mediamatters.org/mark-levin/foxs-mark-levin-nancy-pelosi-mentally-ill-she-has-shakes-her-face-old-age-malformed
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/trump-trolls-the-libs-with-100000-dead-and-39-million-out-of-work-and-his-fanboys-love-it/
memorial Day weekend will likely be remembered by history as one marked by unimaginable tragedy. The official count of people dead from COVID-19 approached 100,000 — a milestone that will surely be passd on Tuesday or Wednesday — and the actual death toll is likely much higher. The weekend kicked off with new reports of soaring unemployment, putting the number of Americans who have filed benefit claims at 38.6 million, nearly one of every four workers in the United States.
Donald Trump, who currently occupies the White House despite losing the 2016 popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million, could not care less about all this suffering among the people he is purportedly there to serve. We know this, because he spent his weekend ranting on Twitter about pretty much anything — including obviously false conspiracy theories about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough — except the crisis he prefers to pretend isn’t happening at all.
What’s equally upsetting is the soul-deadening knowledge that Trump’s voters, who could well hand him another electoral victory even in the face of a near-certain popular vote defeat, also don’t appear to care about his sociopathic behavior. On the contrary, many of them seem to relish the fact that Trump continues to “trigger the liberals,” even as the nation falls apart around him.
Over the weekend, Trump, who isn’t exactly svelte himself,retweeted a conservative pundit mocking rising Democratic star Stacey Abrams for her weight. Trump also retweeted the same man calling Hillary Clinton a “skank” and claiming that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ugly. Sexualized harassment of women, of course, is easy to psychoanalyze away with the entirely correct assertion that pathetic men try to cover for their own inadequacies. Trump is the supposed president of the United States, however, which puts the lie to long-standing but always untrue claims that ignoring such harassment robs it of its power.
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new
(tears up sotu text, manifesto of misinformation
trump uses National Prayer Breakfast to slam Pelosi for praying for him
President Donald Trump attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Mitt Romney for justifying their impeachment actions on religious grounds.
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Gaetz files complaint against Pelosi for ripping speech
5 days ago - ... New Year looms · 2 U.S. service members killed during shootout in Afghanistan ... Congressman Matt Gaetz is calling for an ethics investigation of ... she ripped up a copy of President Trump's State of the Union speech. ... BREAKING: I'm filing an ethics complaint against @SpeakerPelosi for destroying ...
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aha, why so many fewer dems than gop? tho tony coelho got dems in game:
brian grimm bk we've got ppl
we have ppl --> AOC
https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-june-17-2019/
1976 carter kinda central, fix rep by post-prez
1978 newt g shellacking, longtime senators, lions like frank church, birch bayh
roger stone et al tactics, 1976 scotus camp fin reform [buckely valeo?], political consultant, pol ops, oppo, 30 sec ads TV, corp $ (TV and corp money // rose as factors together: we have opposite now, TV decline coupled with online small $ raising?))
dccc a backwater, tony c goes to corps and sez we have house 40 yrs (still have dixiecrats) so you need to fund us; win big in 1982? said to be b/c of Reagan recession, but grimm sez dem $ ctr; then dems pick Mondale, defiicit hawk, but was painted as liberal, landslide loss; dens say oh liberal is loser, so leads to clinton triangulation?
pelosi endorse by widow, beat DSA britt pro gay cand (so when she says i understand the SF left, she means i have beaten them); she thinks usa basically conservative in RR era, so she stuill fears backlash cf clinton impeachment.
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new
no lnx
Right-wing outlets spread bogus video of Nancy Pelosi on social media to say she’s drunk MSNBC
written by Kerry Eleveld / Daily Kos May 23, 2019
Right-wing groups are circulating deceiving videos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s remarks Wednesday at a Center for American Progress event. In the video, posted to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter accounts, Pelosi’s speech has been subtly slurred, suggesting she’s drunk, by slowing down the video to about 75% of its actual speed, according to The Washington Post.
As with all things on social media, the bogus video is ripping through at lightning speed. A version posted by the right-wing Facebook page Politics WatchDog has already been viewed more than 1.6 million times. Thanks, Facebook.(By the way, be careful out there—so much misinformation.)
This is clearly intended to be a knock on Pelosi’s competence and credibility. She keeps besting Trump, and since Trump can’t beat her without getting outside help, right-wing forces are swooping in to provide a meme about Pelosi that can run wild on social media. Remember when the National Enquirer continually fanned the conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton was sickly? This is most likely the beginning of a conspiracy theory that Pelosi drinks. It’s interesting that they’re using slurred speech to go after her when Trump is constantly slurring his words, likely due to some form of mental deterioration.
If you want to see the real Pelosi at the real speed, below is at least part of the section of that bogus video delivered in real time by CNN. Not drunk—very very very sober in the midst of Trump’s wild emotional outbursts.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says today’s five-minute meeting with President Trump was “very, very, very strange” https://t.co/fUdnQwAaD2 pic.twitter.com/cx2teRVUF6
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 22, 2019
You can listen to all of Pelosi’s comments at the event below, courtesy of C-SPAN. Also, you can click here and go to the C-SPAN site, where the comments in question start at about 6:00 minutes in. Compare that to the bogus video at the link above: It’s remarkably different.
Right-wing outlets spread bogus video of Nancy Pelosi on social media to say she’s drunk Right-wing groups are circulating deceiving videos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s… |
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NEW
2 climate comms same day, also gun 1st in a number of years but...
Sixty members of the House and nine senators are co-sponsoring the resolution, including several presidential candidates, according to a fact sheet from congressional aides that did not include a list of supporters. However, any legislation would be dead-on-arrival with Republicans in control of the Senate and the White House, and would be difficult for Democrats to implement even if they controlled government. In supporting documents staffer acknowledge the investment required would be “massive”.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said a select committee on climate change, which she has announced the members of, will not be tasked with writing a specific bill and called the Green New Deal a “suggestion”.
“It will be one of several or maybe many suggestions that we receive,” Pelosi said in an interview with Politico. “The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it right?”
Discussions on what shape the plan would take also involved major environment, justice and labor organizations, as well as the youth-run Sunrise Movement. Backers hope the six-page resolution will push Democrats vying for the White House in 2020 not just to sign on to the general idea, but to lay out specific legislative goals.
Some environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, said they were encouraged by the movement on climate change but that the resolution does not do enough to confront fossil fuels. The Sierra Club, however, welcomed the document.
But the big action on Capitol Hill is on the Democratic side. And they got off to quite a start yesterday when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was called to the House up for both a classified briefing and a closed-door hearimg for the whole House to explain why in the world he decided to lift sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum company practically in the dead of night. (If you haven’t been keeping score, Deripaska is a former associate of Paul Manafort, who reportedly owed him a large sum of money.)
We don’t know what was said in the classified briefing, but the Democrats were hopping mad about the other one. Apparently Mnuchin was completely unresponsive, reading out a prepared comment and offering up nothing else.Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “It’s stiff competition, mind you, but this was one of the worst briefings we’ve received from the Trump administration. The secretary barely testified.” Mnuchin had better get used to a lot more scrutiny.
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https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/wall-street-leading-attack-pelosi-steny-hoyer-real-barrier-progressive-agenda
It’s impossible to understand the Democratic rebellion against Nancy Pelosi without understanding the way power works in the House of Representatives. To understand the self-serving men behind this rebellion, heed the words of the late screenwriter William Goldman: Follow the money.
There is discontent with Pelosi’s ideology on the left, and that’s understandable. But ideology is not driving this campaign, and this is no populist rebellion. In fact, its leaders have no discernible ideology at all.
That’s how corporate money rolls in the Democratic Party.It lays low, hides its true colors, and pretends it only wants to “get things done.”
The anti-Pelosi insurgency is not a movement. It’s a cabal, orchestrated by the appropriately hashtagged #FiveWhiteGuys, a group of self-self-interested players with big money behind them. These white males resemble nothing so much as the next-generation terminator played by Robert Patrick in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” They’re cunning, aggressive, shape-shifting, and so reflective that anyone who looks at them sees only a distorted image of themselves.
If you’re looking to change politics, they don’t reflect you.
Rebel Without a Cause
This ersatz rebellion’s most visible leader is Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, a custom-crafted biography in a suit who appears to hold no core beliefs. That’s undoubtedly a plus for the political operatives who recruited and promoted him. An early profile has Moulton variously calling himself “a progressive Democrat,” a “pragmatic Democrat,” and a “frustrated Democrat”—and that was just during his first primary.
Moulton was reportedly recruited to run for Congress by “New Politics,” a group that seeks to elect both Democratic and Republican veterans. It describes itself as “bipartisan,” a word will come up again in the story of the anti-Pelosi rebellion. New Politics’ other success story is Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, who notably blamed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, rather than the ill-advised Iraq war, for the rise of ISIS.
Moulton, who reportedly backed that tragic misadventure, enjoyed the early support of two generals who helped lead it, David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal. (Unfortunately, both are now disgraced: McChrystal for disrespecting the civilian chain of command, and Petraeus for revealing secrets to an extramarital lover as he cheated on his wife, a crime that would have likely led to criminal indictment for a less well-connected official.)
As the Washington Post reports, Moulton “has aligned with Republicans on some policy bills, ranging from a ban on the gun accessories used in last year’s mass shooting in Las Vegas to a recent legislation allowing veterans to use medical marijuana.”
Moulton had praise for Pelosi when he was asked about her last year, saying she had achieved an “awful lot.” He told Politico’s Michael Kruse that he thought much of the Republican criticism of her was “unfair,” but added, “the reality is that we’re losing.”
Well, Pelosi’s winning now. What’s his rationale for opposing Pelosi today? “If that many seats change hands,” Moulton said after the election, “that’s just all the more reason the American people are calling out for change.”
Heads, he wins. Tails, Pelosi loses.
The FIRE Brigade
Moulton’s given to making hazy statements like: “Congress needs a new leader. Period.”
The only concrete thing about him appears to be the money he’s raised for like-minded candidates. “Thanks to a network of donors rooted in the financial centers of Boston and New York,” reports the Post, “Moulton’s Serve America PAC and related political committees raised a combined $8 million for the election cycle.”
Moulton has been well-rewarded for his ideological plasticity. During his short political career, Moulton has received a total of $1,723,870 from the investor class that comprises the so-called “FIRE” sector—financial, insurance, and real estate. He has also received more than $160,000 from Pharma. (These figures come from Open Secrets.)
Moulton isn’t the only member of the five-man anti-Pelosi band, of course. The rhythm section is composed of Colorado’s Ed Perlmutter, Oregon’s Kurt Schrader, and Bill Foster of Illinois. The three men have received $4,082,803, $987,050, and $2,747,969 respectively from the FIRE sector. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, who mounted a longshot challenge to Pelosi in 2016, is the band’s other leader—the Keith Richards, if you will, to Moulton’s would-be Jagger.
Ryan isn’t running this time around. Instead, Ryan recently insisted that there are “plenty of really competent females that we can replace her with.”
For sheer tone-deafness in gender relations, that phrase belongs with Mitt Romney’s 2012 comment about the “binders full of women” he hoped to appoint as president. It may be worse, in fact, since it suggests females can’t be assumed to be competent. The remark will have an added sting for Democratic women who remember Ryan’s past positions on reproductive rights.
Why does Ryan say Pelosi has to go? “We need a brand change,” Ryan told Rolling Stone. For content-free criticism, that’s about as empty—and as cringeworthy—as it gets.
No Labels, No Point
The rhetorical style of these Democratic “rebels”—vague on the issues, big on cliches and platitudes, the rhetorical equivalent of cotton candy—comes with a pedigree. It is the hallmark of “centrism,” the billionaire-funded political faction that serves its financial backers by selling themselves as “non-ideological,” “technocratic” architects of “bipartisan” consensus who can “break the gridlock” and “solve problems.”
For this crowd, “solving problems” always winds up meaning the same thing: cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and an unwarranted obsession with the federal deficit that always—just accidentally, mind you!—winds up helping corporations and the billionaire class.
The “centrist” political style claims to be “above parties and partisanship”—which, in the end, is another way of saying it’s free of any principles except the interests of its paymasters. It often comes in the guise of patriotism, as when Seth Moulton says he places “country over party”—a comment that, implicitly, is a deep insult to those who believe one party’s proposals would serve the country better than the other’s.
The anti-Pelosi campaign is being supported by one of the mainstays of the corporate centrist world—the cynical political ploy known as “No Labels,” which I wrote about in 2012, and its creation, the “Problem Solvers Caucus.” If you called “No Labels” a guaranteed-employment plan for Republican and Democratic political hacks, you would not be wrong.
Besides, the Problem Solvers Caucus—which, predictably, promised to “break the gridlock” and get things done—hasn’t solved any problems. Given their agenda, that’s a good thing—but it’s hardly a mandate to lead.
It’s Not About the Speakership—It’s About Blocking Progressive Change
The No Labels crowd is throwing its public influence (negligible) and its ability to muster campaign cash (considerable) behind the anti-Pelosi effort for a reason: they see this as an opportunity to weaken the Democrats’ newfound power in the House. That’s especially urgent for the big-money crowd at a time when nearly half of successful new candidates ran on Medicare for All and more than 100 House Democrats have joined the Expand Social Security Caucus.
The “centrist” campaign may help explain why Pelosi plans to impose a new rule making it harder to raise middle-class taxes. This rule would make it harder to achieve either Medicare for All or expanded Social Security, even though any new taxes would leave the working class much better off financially than it is today.
Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, has already indicated he could back Pelosi if more such changes were put in place. The caucus’ additional proposed changes, roughly outlined here, would effectively give Republicans veto power over progressive legislation.
It is noteworthy that there was no serious attempt to implement these rules when Republicans ran the House.
Even more than the speakership, this procedural power grab motivates the anti-Pelosi crowd and its backers. They might even withdraw their opposition to her if they could seize this power for themselves and their “centrist” allies in both parties.
No wonder these “rebels” are vague about their goals. Given the massive support for Medicare for All (more than 70 percent of the public, 85 percent of Democrats) and expanding Social Security, they know their agenda is extremely unpopular. If they truly believed in “country over party,” they would support programs that most of the country wants and needs.
How Power Works
Here’s how power really works in the House of Representatives. The Speaker holds enormous power, but only serves at the pleasure of her caucus. The representatives in that caucus are not her employees; they are her constituents. Anyone who wants to become Speaker has to win their support.
One very effective way to do that is by raising money, as Pelosi has prodigiously done. Another is by managing the House, and the caucus, effectively enough to rack up a list of accomplishments that will help those representatives win reelection.
Here’s something else worth knowing about Democratic power in the House: Its party organizations are still deeply hierarchical, and are built on deeply embedded relationships. If the Moulton/Ryan gang succeeds in unseating Pelosi, the speakership will not go to someone the left supports. Sure, it would be great to see Barbara Lee become Speaker, but that simply isn’t going to happen. Besides, she’s not even running. (Lee is running for the House’s number five position.)
The Five Guys (not to be confused with the burger chain of the same name) and their backers are almost certainly looking for one of two outcomes: either Pelosi accedes to their demands, which will paralyze the Democratic agenda, or Pelosi is replaced with someone who will. But if Pelosi goes down, that replacement will probably not be Rep. Marcia Fudge, despite her public expressions of interest (as of this writing) and Moulton’s professed support for her.
The Five Guys may block Pelosi, but they will not choose her successor. Instead, in the chaos that would follow a Pelosi defeat, the speakership will probably go to the second-highest member of the Democratic hierarchy: Steny Hoyer.
End Game
The left is distressed with Pelosi, and that’s understandable. Pelosi’s commitment to “pay as you go” funding is a political and procedural mistake of the first order. The new tax rule is, as MoveOn.org and others have said, “a staggeringly bad idea”—although that may have been forced on her by the Five Guys crowd. (Progressives should note, however, that this rule could be waived at any time to pass progressive programs.)
A Hoyer speakership would be a catastrophe for the left, for reasons Politico’s Bill Scher lays out here. Hoyer represents the worst of the corporate-backed, “centrist,” economically neoliberal party elite. His faction’s disastrous policies and muddled messaging led it into the political wilderness. With this election, the party has only begun to make up some of the ground lost under its rule.
Progressives should mobilize to defeat Hoyer and replace him, preferably someone who can serve as an heir apparent. And if the left wants a more progressive House Speaker, it needs to run candidates in more primaries. When House Democrats are more progressive, Pelosi or her successor will either change accordingly or be replaced.
Yes, Pelosi’s a big fundraiser. She reportedly raised $135.6 million for this election cycle. A cynic might say that this figure, when compared to Moulton’s $8 million, makes her about 17 times more likely to win this speakership fight.
Pelosi raises that money, from a variety of sources, because she plays to win in the current system. Nancy Pelosi can’t, and won’t, lead the fight to get money out of politics. But then, the Democratic left needs to stop waiting for politicians to fight their battles. That’s what movements are for.
This country needs a mass movement that will demand fundamental political change. But nobody needs the Five Guys’ corporate-backed chaos, or the reactionary regime it seeks to impose on the House of Representatives.
If some leftists don’t want Pelosi to win, that’s understandable. But they should hope with all their hearts that her opponents lose.
This article was produced by the Independent Media Institute.
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11/18
Nearly three-quarters of the American public and a historic number of Democratic lawmakers support Medicare for All, but the House Democratic leadership is considering using its newly won majority to impose a rule that would "recklessly betray" the grassroots forces that put them in power by making single-payer and other progressive priorities impossible to enact.
"Equating support for middle-class families—with opposition to increasing their tax rates—is a conservative project, which Democrats have no business advancing."
—Eric Levitz, New York Magazine
According to a list of Democratic proposals obtained by the Washington Post, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—who is currently fighting backagainst efforts to prevent her from becoming House Speaker—is pushing for a rule that would "require a three-fifths supermajority to raise individual income taxes on the lowest-earning 80 percent of taxpayers."
In response, MoveOn.org called the proposal "a staggeringly bad idea."
Though the proposed rule is framed as an effort to protect the financial well-being of middle class Americans, Eric Levitz of New York Magazine pointed out that "while progressives are committed to increasing the discretionary income of the bottom 80 percent, that does not necessarily mean keeping their tax rates frozen at historically low levels."
"A bill that required those households to pay a new, smaller monthly sum to the government—so as to fund a single-payer system that would actually reduce their cost of living by delivering radically cheaper healthcare services—could hardly be called regressive," Levitz notes. "And the same can be said for legislation establishing universal child care, paid family leave, or any other program aimed at easing the middle class's financial burdens."
"Equating support for middle-class families—with opposition to increasing their tax rates—is a conservative project, which Democrats have no business advancing," Levitz added. "If the party wishes to establish structural barriers to policies that would hurt the middle class, why not require a three-fifths majority to cut Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security?"
Combined with Pelosi's expressed committment to reviving the "economically illiterate" pay-go rule—which would require that all new spending be offset by spending cuts or tax hikes—the proposed tax restriction would completely undercut Medicare for All, free public college, a federal jobs program, and other ambitious left-wing policies by dramatically restricting the party's ability to raise revenue and effectively handing Republicans the power to block progressive legislation.
"It would be a profound mistake for House Democrats to retake Congress with dozens of candidates who ran on Medicare for All and then pass an absurd, right-wing framed rule that would actively prevent us from taking action on it."
—Democracy for America
"This is disastrous policy and messaging," argued Richard Phillips, senior tax policy analyst for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).
The proposed rule, Phillips added, would constrain "revenue that can be generated for many of the kind of bold investments we need to be making in terms of healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc."
Progressive advocacy groups and experts registered their outrage at Pelosi's rule proposal on social media on Friday, with economist Stephanie Kelton warning that the Democratic leader's measure would completely "kneecap the progressive agenda."
"This is a very bad idea, House Democrats," CREDO Mobile declared. "It makes no sense whatsoever to give Republicans veto power over progressive legislation."
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lcv 94 /93%
dtr activist ~ FF
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...krugman:
in an op-ed in the New York Times Monday, economist Paul Krugman explained why Republicans are always so enthusiastic about demonizing Pelosi.
Despite all the attacks on her, Krugman argues that Pelosi is a historically successful speaker of the House. Under her leadership, Democrats blocked President George W. Bush's efforts to privatize Social Security; she was a key reason the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, passed; she guided major financial reforms through the chamber; and she helped make the 2009 stimulus bill a reality, which staved off some of the worst effects of the Great Recession. "It’s quite a record," Krugman wrote. "Oh, and whenever you hear Republicans claim that Pelosi is some kind of wild-eyed leftist, ask yourself, what’s so radical about protecting retirement income, expanding health care and reining in runaway bankers?"
On the other hand, he says, the last four Republican speakers have little to show for themselves. Current Speaker Paul Ryan's greatest achievement, the Trump tax cuts, is such an embarrassment that his party is barely mentioning it in their campaigns for the midterms.
And yet, despite her successes and the absence of any serious personal scandal, Pelosi remains deeply derided by many.
"Her policy stances are far less at odds with public opinion than, say, Ryan’s attempts to privatize Medicare and slash its funding. So what makes her 'divisive'?" he asked. "The fact that Republicans keep attacking her? That would happen to any Democrat."
He continued: "Or maybe it’s just the fact that she’s a woman — a woman who happens to have been far better at her job than any man in recent memory."...
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gavel pass:
“For eight years, our country has been graced by the trail-blazing leadership and dignity of President Obama and Michelle Obama.
“At their side have been the Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden.
“Let us give the Obamas, the Bidens and their families our thanks for all they have given America.
“Today, as we celebrate the renewal of our democracy, let us pay tribute to the men and women in uniform;those who serve or have served, and their families — whose sacrifice and bravery are guarantors of our democracy. Let us thank our men and women in uniform.
“In this chamber, we stand at the very heart of the American experiment. Every time each of us steps onto this floor, we carry with us the hopes and the hurts of those who have sent us here. We surely have distinct political identities as Republicans, as Democrats. But above all, we are all Americans.
“Here, we have the responsibility and the power to lift the lives, and the hopes of the American people. Our first responsibility is to secure the nation — embodied in the oath we take to support and defend.
“We must be both strong and smart in defending our land, defeating terrorists, and advancing our vital interests in a world of promise and peril. America’s actions must always be equal toAmerica’s values, honoring our Constitution, and respecting our men and women in uniform.
“Another responsibility is to further secure our economy and truly secure opportunity for hard-working families. We in this Congress must focus on job creation and growing paychecks everyday — for everyone, and everywhere in our country.
“From the rural heartlands, the cities, and the suburbs, we must ensure that those who do their part have the opportunity to buy a home, address the aspirations of their children, and retire with dignity. And our responsibility is also to secure our democracy.
“Our founders pledged their sacred honor to create a democracy; a government of the many, not a government of the money. Now our sacred trust is to keep that covenant. We cannot permit our democracy: to be suborned by the checkbooks of the powerful or to be subverted by the dark operations of a foreign regime.
“All of us cherish our ideals. We do have our differences — and they are real. But I hope that we will each be humble enough to accept the good faith of others.
“I hope too that we will find wisdom from the Scriptures where it says, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation — humanity and nature — is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’
“In that spirit, in order to meet the needs of the American people, House Democrats pledge to seek common ground wherever we can: To forge a bipartisan path forward on job-creating infrastructure, to make taxes and foreign trade fair to American workers, to help Americans balance work and family life, and to ‘drain the swamp’ of big money from our campaigns, all of these provisions, President-elect Trump has pledged.
“We will seek common ground. But we will stand our ground wherever in good conscience we must.
“If there is an attempt to destroy the guarantee of Medicare, harm [Medicaid], Social Security, or the Affordable Care Act, Democrats will stand our ground.
“If there is an assault on clean air and clean water; on civil rights, women’s rights, or LGBT rights; if DREAMers and their immigrant families face the nightmare of deportation, Democrats will stand our ground.
“And if there is an attempt to silence our voices for common sense gun violence prevention, with Gabby Giffords here in the chamber as our witness — Democrats will stand our ground.
“Many of us just celebrated Christmas, the birth of Christ. In sharing in our humanity, God enabled us to participate in His divinity. This spark of divinityis acknowledged in every faith tradition. In recognizing the spark in others, we reaffirm it in ourselves.
“Honoring it, honoring that spark of divinity — we are commanded to respect the dignity and worth of all of God’s children, and to work together for the common good.
“In that spirit, I offer my congratulations to the Speaker of this new Congress, a proud son of Wisconsin, Paul Ryan. He is a leader of principle, immersed in ideas, and gifted with experience.
“As we all know, Paul Ryan has had the full breadth of experience on Capitol Hill — from Tortilla Coast waiter, to Hill staffer, to Congressman. He went on to be a sincere and proud advocate for his point of view as Chairman of the Budget Committee, and as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
“In a place as demanding as the Speakership, I know he gathers strength daily from the family he loves so dearly. From his wife Janna, his children Liza, Charlie and Sam and their entire family. Let us acknowledge the Ryan family.
“Mr. Speaker, God bless them God bless you. God bless the Members of this House. God bless the United States of America. This is the people’s House. This is the people’s gavel. In the people’s name, it is my privilege to hand the gavel to the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alex-jones-the-democratic-party-uses-ms-13-to-kill-people
Jones, the conspiracy theorist heading up Infowars, told listeners
that Democrats use members of the violent gang MS-13 as its personal “meth-dealing army.”
Jones was reacting to remarks House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi made yesterday in response to President Trump describing MS-13 gang members as “animals.” Jones claimed that Pelosi criticized Trump because MS-13 is secretly used by the Democratic party to kill people.
“The Democratic party uses MS-13 to kill people. I have confirmed this with our law enforcement and Army sources. I’ve confirmed it with CIA sources, that the Democratic party uses MS-13 nationwide from Chicago to Dallas, Texas, from Austin, Texas, to LA. They use them as their secret army and they know Trump’s got a war going against MS-13 and has wiped thousands of them out, arrested thousands more,” Jones said.
He continued: “When MS-13 fights back, they’re getting smoked by the U.S. military all over this country right now and this Democrat dirtbag is pissed. Her meth-dealing army is in the crosshairs, you dirty, old, evil, globalist whore!”
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For Courtney Zuniga, the sight of powerful women like Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi made a lasting impression during her Fall Quarter UCDC internship in Washington, D.C.
Zuniga spent last fall as an intern for Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and former Speaker of the House.