Public Overwhelmingly Disapproves Of Trump Renaming The Kennedy Center

The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between December 20th and 22nd of a nationwide sample of 1,592 adults (including 1,425 registered voters). The margin of error is 3.4 points for adults and 3.3 points for registered voters.

 

Justice Kennedy Retires - Putting Our Rights In Danger

The people of the United States just got some very bad news. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has been the swing vote on the United States Supreme Court, announced that he will retire at the end of July.

That means that the make-up of the court will change. Instead of four conservatives, four liberals, and a swing justice, there will now be five hard right-wingers and four liberals. It could be that way for at least a decade -- maybe longer. And you can bet that McConnell will try to push a Trump nominee through the Senate as quickly as possible.

This puts equal rights, human rights, and voting rights into serious jeopardy. And it could even put the Roe vs. Wade decision into jeopardy.

Democrats need to use every procedural device at their disposal to stop, or at least delay, a vote on a Trump nominee (who is guaranteed to be a hard right person like Gorsuch). I doubt they can stop the Senate Republicans from approving another right-winger appointed by Trump, but they must try.

This makes it extremely important for Democrats to get to the polls and vote in November. They must flip the Senate to Democratic control. If Democrats are able to delay Trump's nomination pick, they could then force him to appoint a moderate to the court. If not, they could at least make sure that he gets no more picks.

Note the ages of the justices in the graphic above. What if one of the liberals has to retire, or perish the thought, dies. Ginsburg is 85 and Breyer is 79. If Trump got to replace either of them, the conservative advantage would be 6 to 3 -- and that would mean a right-wing court for decades to come.

Flipping the House of Representatives in the coming election would be good, but flipping the Senate has now become critical. That can only be done if Democrats (and Independents) vote is massive numbers in November. Staying at home is NOT an option if you love this country and the rights we have.

Kennedy: Raise Your Voice Against Trump's Russia Scandal

Last Wednesday, Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Massachusetts) made a short 3 minute appeal to Americans regarding the scandal of Trump's ties to Russia (and the interference of Russia in the 2016 election). He cut to the heart of the matter in that speech -- urging an independent investigation, and calling on all Americans to raise their voices to insure the truth is exposed. Here is a transcript of his excellent talk:

Hey everybody,

And thank you so much for continuing to raise your voice. Look, we’re going to start with the facts:

First, our intelligence agencies have unanimously decided, after their analysis, that Russian government and Russian intelligence agencies deliberately interfered with our Democratic process, to erode faith in our democracy, and to erode our confidence in our institutions.

As a result of this interference that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to recuse himself from an investigation about/into the Trump administration’s contact with Russia. The leader in the investigation, Devon Nunes, of the House Intelligence Committee, was forced out of his position because of his inability to effectively lead that investigation.

We’ve seen resignations and dismissals of high-ranking campaign officials and Trump associates from Paul Manfort to Carter Page and of course, Michael Flynn, the former National Security Adviser, after he lied to the Vice President of the United States, who then, based off of that false information mislead, unwittingly, mislead the American public.

Far more troubling than those facts, that we know and what we have seen, however, are the dismissals of Sally Yates, then acting (DOJ) Attorney General, “Preet” Bharara, former U.S. Attorney General for New York, and of course, Director James Comey, head of the FBI, the person leading the investigation into Donald Trump and his associates’ interactions and alleged interactions with Russia.

Now look, Russia’s goal from the beginning was to erode our faith in institutions and our country, our democracy, and the mechanisms we have, in order to protect our democracy. What we have seen, and every day since then, in all these questions as they continue to swirl, is that they continue to make that success because this administration refuses to come clean and answer basic questions with regards to their own actions, with that of a known adversary and our chief political rival around the world.

This is the very least that the American public should expect from their government:

·      What did you know?

·      When did you know it?

·      What are your contacts with the Russian government?

·      Who in this administration has made contacts with the Russian government intelligence agencies?

·      What are your business ties to those organizations?

·      What incentives to you have to, perhaps. be more beholding to Russian interests, than the interests of the American pubic?

Let us understand, please, Mr. President, why is it that you continue to cozy up to a Russian government that does not share our values or our interests, while alienating some of our closet allies around the world.

We need these answers, and at the point, only an independent commission with the full staff, and support and subpoena power that is necessary, is going to get us to where we need to go. 

I urge this administration and our Republicans in Congress to stand up and speak out and look at this as it is — as a national security issue.It’s a threat against our democracy, our nation and our values, and it is only through standing up, raising our voices and being united—that we going to be able to repel this threat. 

Ultimately, this is going to come down to all of you.

For the Republicans that have raised their voices, and there have been some, I applaud them and I salute them. For the others that aren’t quite there yet, they need to hear from you.

Raise your voices, particularly during a recess period when the House is back home, hopefully conducting those town halls and answering your questions. And if they’re not, make sure you raise your voices so they hear you, they answer—and we can hold our government accountable. 

Thank you, so much — keep those voices raised.

Equal Pay Is Still Just A Dream For Women

Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of President John Kennedy signing the Equal Pay Act. It was hoped at that time that by now the women of America would be enjoying pay equal to that of men. Unfortunately that has not happened. Women still get an average of $0.77 for every dollar earned by men -- an inexcusable and shameful statistic for the 21st Century (especially in a country that touts its belief in equality).

Here is what Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has to say about this:

President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act 50 years ago.

President Kennedy called the Equal Pay Act "a first step" to ending the widespread practice of paying women less than men for the same amount of work. And that's exactly what it was: a first step.

50 years later, we're still fighting this fight, and women STILL make 23 cents less on the dollar. House Democrats have proposed a solution -- the Paycheck Fairness Act -- but Republicans voted to block this legislation from even coming to a vote. That's unacceptable.

Our daughters and granddaughters should know that they'll enter the workforce as equals to their male counterparts. But it's going to take a real effort to get this done.

This problem can be solved, but only if the House Republicans are voted out of power in the next election. This is just one reason among many to vote Democratic in the 2014 election.

NOTE -- The young lady pictured above with President Kennedy is Nancy Pelosi, when she was a student at Trinity College.

A New Kennedy For Congress ?

For more than a quarter of this nation's existence there has been a Kennedy holding elective office in the federal government in Washington, D.C. -- starting with the election of John F. Kennedy to Congress in 1947 and ending in January of 2011 when Patrick Kennedy left Congress (a span of 64 years). For Democrats, it has seemed a little strange this year not to have a Kennedy in Washington fighting for progressive causes. But that could change soon.

Joseph Kennedy III (pictured above) has announced his interest in seeking the House seat being vacated by Barney Frank in Massachusetts. He is forming an exploratory committee and has resigned his position as a prosecutor in Middlesex effective January 20th. Kennedy is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, and served in the Peace Corp. In announcing his probable candidacy, Kennedy said:

“I am announcing today my intention to explore a candidacy for the United States Congress in the Fourth District of Massachusetts. My decision to look seriously at elected office is grounded in a deep commitment to public service and my experience – both my own and that of my family -- in finding just, practical, and bipartisan solutions to difficult challenges.


We wage war, pass skewed tax breaks, and expand benefits by spendthrift borrowing, saddling the next generation of Americans with unsustainable debt. Then when it comes time to restoring fiscal sanity to our budget, we see the middle class and the poor take the hit while the wealthy get more tax breaks.


The lack of common sense and fairness in Washington is a byproduct of the partisan gridlock that has turned obstruction into victory. Americans are better than that. Each and every day, we work with people of different backgrounds and political views to achieve a common purpose. Washington can and should do the same.’’

Kennedy Will Not Run For Re-Election

This comes as a surprise to me. Patrick Kennedy has announced that he will not seek re-election to Congress in the upcoming election. That means for the first time in over 60 years there will not be a Kennedy serving the country on Capitol Hill.

The congressman has taped an announcement that will be aired on Rhode Island TV stations next Sunday night. In the announcement he says, "Now having spent two decades in politics, my life is taking a new direction, and I will not be a candidate for re-election this year."

He goes on to thank Rhode Island voters, who continued to elect him by large majorities even when he had troubles, by saying, "When I made missteps or suffered setbacks, you responded not with contempt, but compassion. Thank you for all the times you lifted me up, pushed me forward."

There is no word yet of who his replacement might be, or what Kennedy will be doing after leaving politics.

Gov. Patrick Can Fill Kennedy's Senate Seat

The death of Senator Edward Kennedy recently seemed to make it harder for Democrats to pass health care reform. That's because with some Blue Dog Democrats siding with the "Party of No" (Republicans), every vote will be precious when the health care reform comes up for a vote in the Senate.

It was not expected that the Massachusetts senate seat would be filled until a special election could be held in early 2010, and that would be too late to help with health care reform. But it looks like the Massachusetts legislature has fixed that problem. They have just amended the law to allow the governor to appoint a replacement senator until the special election can be held.

Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat, is expected to approve the legislation and appoint someone to fill the seat temporarily next week. Some expect him to appoint ex-governor Michael Dukakis (pictured) to the senate seat. The Massachusetts Senate is also expected to pass a resolution asking the appointee not to run in the special election.

Whether the appointee does or doesn't run in the special election, this will give Democrats one more vote (hopefully progressive) in the upcoming health care reform egislation, and that's a good thing.

The odds are still not great that real health care reform will be approved, but they are better now than they were last week.