In the U.S. Senate, Republicans are repeating a line made infamous by Indiana’s own Earl Landgrebe during the Nixon Impeachment: My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with the facts.
Landgrebe’s line also describes the current Indiana GOP, which has declined to hear any debate about a good government measure offered by Rep. Ed Delaney as an amendment to House Bill 1414. (Regular readers will recall my post on this effort to tell Indiana’s utilities that they won’t be permitted to go ahead with their plans to close down their inefficient, costly and carbon-producing coal plants unless the EPA has mandated the closure.)
After noting that what he termed HB 1414’s “coal bailout” would raise the cost of electricity for Hoosiers and worsen the air quality in the state, Delaney proposed an amendment that would make it a Level 6 felony for a coal interest or person who has a vested interest in coal to make a contribution to a political candidate or committee.
“I’ve grown concerned about the growing distrust Hoosiers have in our political system,” DeLaney added.
“If the state is going to subsidize an industry at the expense of taxpayers, lawmakers should not be allowed to take political contributions from that industry. Special interests shouldn’t be influencing such impactful legislation. The amendment I offered today would’ve held the coal industry to the same standards as casinos who can’t contribute to political campaigns. I am concerned to restore a greater sense of trust between Hoosiers and their legislators.”
The amendment was blocked from debate on the House floor by House Republicans.
At all levels of government, when Republicans have the power to do so, they block efforts to conduct the sorts of full and fair explorations that would be likely to inform the public but would be politically detrimental to the GOP.
If the facts make them look bad, they simply refuse to allow discussion of those facts.
In the case of HB 1414, as I noted previously, the utilities oppose it, environmentalists oppose it, and consumers get screwed by it. Coal companies must therefore depend upon their friends in the legislature to ignore the facts and protect them–and no one is friendlier than a lawmaker who benefits from an industry’s generous campaign contributions.
Representative Delaney’s amendment would remove the impression that coal interests had “purchased” the “friendship” of state legislators. Surely, if the impression is incorrect or unfair, lawmakers would be delighted to publicly debate it and pass it.
In Washington, they’re following in Earl Landgrebe’s footsteps. Despite taking an oath to act as impartial jurors, they are prepared to exercise raw power to prevent testimony that would confirm the accuracy of what they already know, because that testimony would be further evidence that they value party and power more than country or integrity.
The Republican super-majority in Indiana has declined even to debate the propriety of a rule against legislative bribery, presumably because citizens who followed such a debate (few as they are likely to be in the absence of local journalism) would see them protecting their ability to raise money from industries they subsidize.
Talk about a quid pro quo…
The Republican party in Indiana, and all other deep red states, have become a monopoly. The small pockets of Democratic leadership operate at the disadvantage of being outnumbered and all residents are victimized by Republican rule.
“At all levels of government, when Republicans have the power to do so, they block efforts to conduct the sorts of full and fair explorations that would be likely to inform the public but would be politically detrimental to the GOP.”
Raising the cost of electricity and worsening the air quality of the state will continue for one reason only; to continue increasing profits for corporations and their lobbyists working hand-in-glove with the GOP to maintain their control. If public hearings are held; the few token residents are allowed to speak only to placate the public. We are watching this same tactic in the U.S. Senate; a token performance to placate the public with the foregone conclusion announced before the Impeachment Inquiry had ended. Marco Rubio spoke the truth of the Republican Senate late yesterday when he admitted Trump had committed impeachable acts but would not be removed from office.
Will any Republican in the Indiana House or Senate be as truthful about the outcome of passing HB 1414? We know the answer to that is the same as the Indiana Legislature’s answer to the validity of depleting the Public Education budget to subsidize private, primarily religious, school systems.
If there ever was any trust by Hoosiers in their state legislature it only came from the rich, white Republicans who could be assured of protection for their money and religious beliefs. For everybody else, Nada.
As for the federal government, what trust in the rule of law that was left after three years of Trump/McConnell ended last night. And it is not going to magically return after the next election, saying that there is one.
The old saying “history repeats itself” has become a truth. We now are all living in Germany 1933.
Hooks, Scripture discusses hooks In an interesting way.
Discussing and relating bizarre behavior by chiefs and politicians, kings and authoritarians, That they will not be able to resist inclinations that cause them to self-destruct.
Old Testament Ezekiel 39:2-4 Reads; I will turn you around and lead you and make you come up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you in upon the mountains of Israel. 3 I will knock your bow out of your left hand and make your arrows fall from your right hand. 4 On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the peoples who will be with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of birds of prey and the wild beasts of the field.”
Old Testament Isaiah 37:29 also reads; ” Because your rage against me and your roaring have reached my ears. So I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle between your lips, And I will lead you back the way you came.”
New Testament Luke 21:25-26 which reads; “Also, there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish of nations not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation. 26 People will become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (The sea and its agitation is referring to all of mankind).
What did the prophets of old and Christ and his disciples mean concerning these expressions? That basically, the time will come when, those who are practicing idolatry with their chosen leaders and messiahs, and those who prey on their fellow man, and those who refuse help to the widows and orphans, and those who knowingly and willfully Anoint themselves to positions of reverence and authority, Those who are destroying the planet we live on, Will have run their course according to what has been written in Scripture.
But what will happen then? We all can see that this course is unsustainable, that what is happening has an unnatural element to it, that it is not a logical Progression in the grand scheme.
Human captives were sometimes led by hooks in the lips, nose, or tongue. An Assyrian pictorial representation shows the king holding three captives by cords fastened to hooks in their lips while he blinds one of them with a spear. So this meant/Means that they have no choice! Because of the time, The powerful will be led like those hooks in the lips nose or tongue, to make decisions that seem counterproductive and quite bizarre, with no explanation to be had or given.
Man will basically come to his Ruin! Starting with his own hand and finishing with divine judgment and penalty. This might seem ridiculous to some, but if you are a student of Scripture, you know, if you trust Scripture, this has happened before. History always repeats itself, because of man’s mortality. Mankind does not learn their lesson from history because the pain and the knowledge of things seen dies with the previous generations. Scripture also tells us that there will be a time when the earth is so saturated, so unable to sustain the onslaught of mankind, it will be put to and and once and for all.
Throughout Scripture, there were many that pooh-poohed the Prophetic utterances of The profits Of old and Later on Christ and his disciples. Now we say it’s all mythology, because apostasy has permeated Christianity and misled mankind into believing all of these things are just a story. Purposefully and knowingly manipulating Scripture, like creative days being 24 hours long, this is not supported in Scripture! Epoque’s of time, were the creative days, millions of years. This is just one example, but it’s a major one. A torturous burning hell for those who go against the church, that is not supported in Scripture.
If hell was a torturous place, were only the evil go because they need to be with that the devil and a burning pit, why was Jesus Christ there?
Acts 2:27 reads; “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
And also Acts 2: 31 which reads; “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.”
Obviously Scripture has been manipulated, transcribers lumped the lake of fire, Sheol, Hell, Hades, Into one conglomeration of baloney. If one were actually to Go back to the Greek Emphatic Diaglott, Or The Polyglot, One would be able to see how there were different words used for all of these phrases, but for some reason they were all lumped into the word hell. It’s something that a decent amount of reading and research can verify. But, people still believe a false narrative based on incorrect translations that were done purposefully.
There will be a reckoning, I’m sure of that. How soon? Scripture also says no man knows the day or the hour. But it also says that you will know the warning signs, just as if you were to see the clouds gathering the West denotes a storm, you will be able to see the approaching tribulation.
Hey, at least that’s my take on it!
Republicans are committed to give to their base what they promised; a return to yesterday which gave familiar entitlements. Though that is impossible, hope for it is not.
What has to be done to prepare for the tomorrow that’s coming like it or not is a horse of a different color completely and everything that Republicans are doing to support the illusion of success will take us steps in the wrong direction as time marches only forward.
We don’t need no stinkin’ future they cry in unison.
And when John says, “man,” he means all of humanity. Both political parties consist of humankind, and both are corrupted beyond repair.
While the Democratic Party was impeaching Trump in the House, they all joined him in giving the military their most substantial financial package to date. Gee, I wonder if the Defense Industry makes any kickbacks, or financial contributions, to both political parties? For two polarized bases, they do come together on important matters like lining their pockets and the pockets of their Donors.
Also, while the DCCC takes a rigid stance against the progressives in their party, they quietly changed the debate rules to allow the billionaire Oligarch (Bloomberg) to join the stage in the next debate. Imagine that…money talks…
We are plunging into some dark times where the will of the people is tossed aside in an oppressive manner, which will not be tolerated in this country or any other where a semblance of democracy still stands.
Canada, anyone?
In the tradition of Mr. Landgrebe; and with thanks to the New York Times:
This is what they said:
Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee: “The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the Constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska: “Given the partisan nature of this impeachment from the very beginning and throughout, I have come to the conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the Senate. I don’t believe the continuation of this process will change anything. It is sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed.”
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio: “I have said consistently for the past four months, since the Zelensky transcript was first released, that I believe that some of the president’s actions in this case — including asking a foreign country to investigate a potential political opponent and the delay of aid to Ukraine — were wrong and inappropriate. But I do not believe that the president’s actions rise to the level of removing a duly-elected president from office and taking him off the ballot in the middle of an election.”
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida: “For me, the question would not just be whether the President’s actions were wrong, but ultimately whether what he did was removable. The two are not the same. Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office.”
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska: “Lamar speaks for lots and lots of us.”
The disingenuousness of each of those comments is breathtaking, as if none of the senators attended law school or studied constitutional law or understood the that Constitution is the sole guiding principle in an impeachment trial … or took seriously the oath, sworn to God, of impartial justice. Every “reason” is a political reason. The president’s proven actions are precisely why he should be removed from office. “… taking him off the ballot…” is the constitutionally prescribed remedy for presidential malfeasance.
Representative Jerry Torr (R – District 39) has assured me he will vote against the bill. Everyone in his district reading this should contact him this weekend and hold him to his word as a House vote is scheduled for Monday.
Good point John Street
It makes no sense does it? Humankind is being pulled towards the precipice, it doesn’t matter which party is doing the driving. Just as Todd mentioned in his comment. Humankind does not differentiate between political systems, humans are humans, and when the hooks are in their jaws, if it is that time for reckoning, the rest doesn’t matter.
Things are happening now that are so illogical, so mind-boggling, you have witnessed an entire group of people eviscerate themselves and commit Hari Kari in front of the world, with no rational explanation for it! So then, you would have to ask yourself why?
I can envision a scenario in which this President will use his permission slip to destroy his opposition, or, this president is not an office much longer, and the next president will really demolish what’s left leaving an excoriated scorched-earth behind because they were unable to resist bringing about complete ruination.
Amen! I got a letter from Mike Braun basically saying his mind was made up and I got a letter from Todd Young saying that he was impartial but obviously not. When the politicians say that impeachment is overturning the will of the people, they obviously are forgetting that Hillary won by 3 million votes.
What do we need to do to make our voices heard?
Pete,
Actually, Republicans (though not alone in this) live on bribes. They have been bribed happily for 40 years, or more, by corporate/banking/old money millionaires and billionaires. Bribery is now in their DNA. What Republican donors want is pure capitalism with NO regulations, NO laws and NO taxes that impedes their profits and, thus, the profits of the stockholders. After all, the 25% of Americans (and others) who own 85% of the stock must be served. This is the prediction of Karl Marx that is rapidly coming true. It is also the pathway to utter ruin. Did you see yesterday’s stock market slump? Why? Because some trade might be interrupted by an epidemic emergency in China. Why would that affect American stocks? Trade, of course. But wait! Our idiot in the White House says globalism is bad for America and finance. What? So, bribery will continue apace as long as the Republican party – and too many Democrats – keep sticking their fetid hands out for more. We the people elected these creeps, so we’ve only ourselves to blame.
Todd,
You probably know that just about every Congressional district has some organization or company that profits from military contracts. So, which representative is going to promote reducing the military budget that cuts jobs in their own districts? Clever those bribed politicians.
Canada is a nice idea, but you better have someone there who will hide you in their basement for a while. Take all your personal wealth and deposit it in several Canadian banks before you go. Take six months of “live-on” cash when you make your final move. Canada, New Zealand and Australia are all tightening their laws restricting emigration from the United States. They anticipate the wave of ex-patriot movement should the creature be re-elected. No dummies those…. The irony here is that when our emigration does happen, it will probably be by mostly white people, thus making the USA even browner. You gotta love Republicans and their self-immolating greed, graft and utter corruption.
Well Todd, one thing we can count on is the DNC and DCCC to faithfully uphold their allegiance and loyalty to the 1% by changing the rules to let Bloomberg in future debates.
“To now change the rules in the middle of the game to accommodate Mike Bloomberg, who is trying to buy his way into the Democratic nomination, is wrong,” Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Sanders, told POLITICO as the rules were being announced.
I am sure the Media Networks will be over joyed as Bloomberg can buy millions of dollars in ads.
Richard Wolffe a columnist says it rather well: “Trump has propagated through the body politic: a contagious coronavirus of chronic lying, cowardly ambition and plain old corruption. ”
“Faced with so many profiles in courage, our reality TV star of a commander-in-chief will carry on regardless, seeking out fellow grifters, foreign strongmen and domestic weaklings. Will he feel liberated by the failure of the Senate trial to seek out more foreign interference in this year’s election? The answer may be similar to the one about bears dumping in forests.
Short of removal from office or federal indictment, there are no constraints on Trump’s conduct.”
Are there any Democratic candidates for POTUS who advocate driving
Big Money out of our politics with a public campaign funding system?
Speaking of moneyed interests and old money:
I have an accountant friend from Long Island, NY who tells me that many of his “old money” clients have been old money for so many generations (some of their fortunes predate John D. Rockefeller by hundreds of years) that today they don’t have a clue where the money came from or how someone in their family generated it originally.
Consequently, they and their families have little understanding of or compassion for work or workers, ambition or entrepreneurs. They only understand life in terms of keeping what they have, the rent they are paid for the temporary use of their money, and the class gap they can brandish that exists between them and us.
My guess is that those old money folk are all in for status quo. Their attitude, I believe, is that no one needs rules (Constitution, corporate law, regulations, or the rule of law) to a game–colloquially called “getting ahead”–when, as far as they understand, the game ended, or should have ended, generations ago when someone in their family won the entire jackpot.
My accountant friend says that it is these old money people who own corporate America, which includes owning the multi-million dollar CEOs and their lackey lobbyists, by which they own Congress.
When old money people talk of leaving the earth a better place for future generations, they sincerely mean it. However, “better place” to them means a less hazardous and obstacle-free conduit through which their money and their class gap passes on to THEIR progeny.
My liberalism is of the Constitutional variety that posits maximum individual freedom up to the point where it imposes on the freedom of others, then it becomes power. I believe the opposite of it is authoritarianism.
Separately and in addition I believe that the global human population X lifestyle is unsustainable (pure science) so we will change it or it will change us.
That is what has people overheated about the past vs the future.
Politically the Republican Party promises more of the past (impossible) and Democrats several competing visions of the future (difficult).
Because so much of what we think we know comes from social/entertainment media advertising/fake news/propaganda/brainwashing we have been led to alignment and extremism of liberals are Democrats and Republicans (I was one for 90% of my life) are anti liberal (I coined the word today anti-disestablishment-authoritarianism) authoritarians seeking power.
What a complete mess or in the vernacular cluster f.
I don’t know if the republic can and will survive competing politics vs the collaborative politics that framed our Constitution.
Vernon LOL, tell it brother!
It really isn’t going to do much good though, momentum is really in control now. The precipice is just in the way, LOL.
I’ll tell you, we put our faith in prognosticators, those that talk about the stock market, those to talk about politics, those that espouse a better way, and those who really try to look for relevant connections to ancient history and what has been done, and has happened before.
Through the millennia, we’ve tried everything else, although I think it’s really too late to search through the rubble for truth, it should be well aware to everyone, it could have all been avoided. With the Advent of the world’s knowledge at our fingertips, everyone could have come to an accurate conclusion of why things have deteriorated so rapidly. Unfortunately everyone is blinded by their own misgivings and prejudices.
Science fiction? Mythology? I think not! If everything that I’ve mentioned was fake or bologna, why are there so many out there that try to continue the same ol same ol to keep everyone mislead?
Trump is just a symptom of the illness, but with all symptoms, there is a disease, and the disease is terminal.
north dakota, there a tesla up here driving around with a back window wrap, ” this car is pwered by coal”….it has a state issued,personalized plate,that has a picture of a huge drag line in the pic..all paid by nodaks,legislature.,wyo a few years ago, passed a law,,,,that the state will not allow the power generated by the wind towers in wyo, to be sold,in wyo…er, all republican led..(can you say cheney?)imagine that…the forces of ALEC is influencing the republican ideals,and has a strangle hold on the party,you dont follow rules,you dont get to run again..a private enitity telling a political party how operate..quid,pro,quo..on steroids.. the impeachment should have been aimed at party, not a single idiot puppet.but,as we see,weve allowed this to fester. the decorum of be nice,dont speak out against your fellow house person,be damn..its time to call it like it is, while they shit on our lives and our country..while we all speak out,were laughingly made fun and given the finger by the right… after the charade in the Senate is over,and roberts glaring denial of law,,the leftover will be we won,you have no more crediability,,go away…Pelosi may have been right to forego,the impeachment,for a round up of issues in November. then let the chips fall. my recent run down to texas,i went to a place where they are building part of the wall..intake, 50/60 trucks aday loaded with u.s.made steel….im wondering why i’m paying so much to finish my projects.
the “trump/putin 2020 “bumper sticker on my flatbed trailer,didnt even get a stare,i discussed the wall and trump, within a few feet of it…i giess they thought pence was putin..so much for a intelligence factor..
Like you, I immediately thought of Earl Landgrebe’s ‘don’t confuse me with the facts’ when I heard Sen. Lamar Alexander’s comments.
I guess Mitch McConnell and the Senate GOP majority – Todd Young and Mike Braun included -are okay with a green light to foreigners wishing to impose Sharia Law and the venalities of the North Koreans, Communists in China and Russia, Saudi Prince murderers, and dictators and oligarchs from various other countries on the U.S.A. Donald Trump and Senate Republican majority have definitely put America last.
I hate to key it but I think Todd’s right. I key this not to knock Todd in any way but as I’ve watched our government work, if that’s what one wants to call it, over the last two weeks it has been some of the most dismal stuff that I’ve ever seen. I think back to those comparative politics courses that I took years and years ago where we looked at governments on just about every continent of this planet and found so many, particularly in the 3rd and 4th worlds, that were so corruption laden and dysfunctional that it was no wonder people were leaving those countries in droves trying to find a better life somewhere else and sometimes here.
The spectacle in the U.S. Senate where the term high crimes and misdemeanors no longer has any meaning and where deliberations, extremely crucial deliberations, can be so easily overruled by a sycophantic majority reminded me of what goes on in those 3rd and 4th world countries. It’s almost as if the system that we have had in place for nearly 231 years died this week and with it came, and least to me, a deep sense of foreboding regarding what might be playing out over the course of this year that results in Donald Trump being re-elected for a second term and that the downhill slide that his ascendancy to the Presidency has caused will accelerate accordingly.
I’ve listened to many, many political pundits talk about Trump being reelected and what his reelection might cause but until this last week, while watching the hideous spectacle that played on the Senate floor thanks to the Senate Republican leadership, I’d thought that there was still hope that this wretched spectacle would end. Instead, I think it’s merely a primer illustrating the collapse of our political system and not just at the national level but a collapse that will affect state and local government state by state. What Sheila has keyed in today’s these brings this point home that much harder. Perhaps local governments will be spared for a while but I’d bet they will face the same dilemmas seen at the national level is given that we will end up with a governmental system that is essentially unworkable in the face of rampant corruption that is allowed to become the order of the day.
I am, by nature, an optimist and I’ve read enough American history to know that this country has faced crises after crises over its long history and been able in each instance to reinvent itself. What I am seeing is a convergence of several factors that might make this crises one that will be far harder to solve or mitigate if we even can. While we struggle with it the world goes on and without us being a full-time participant being essentially hogtied by the mess we have allowed to be foisted upon us, those that are anxious to take our place on the world stage will no longer be impeded by us. What happens abroad will affect this year and it could end up being a giant very malignant feedback loop that ultimately affects all of humanity and impedes our ability collectively to save our planet and to save ourselves.
We’re stuck with a national leader that does not believe in hard science or anything else that doesn’t come from his own mind and has his grubby little hands so firmly fixed on the levers of power that he’s able to corrupt the entire political system. If that isn’t enough to scare the daylights out of you think about him being re-elected for a second term and the damage that will likely occur because this fool will be riding roughshod over this country and driving it into the ground day by day, month by month, year by year to the point where we are so beaten down that we give up. I think of my nieces, nephews, and grand nephews and the world that we will give to them because of our inability fully fathom the impact of the catastrophe that we have brought upon ourselves and where we’ve continued to be unable to find any common ground in regard to fixing the horrific mess we, yes we – all of us, have allowed to happen.