Harris Wofford. Photo credit: Nanette Kardaszeski / AP.
#ResistanceRoots
Harris Wofford was born on this day in 1926 in New York. He was a Democratic politician, civil rights activist and a major architect of national service programs in the U.S. He is known for advocating for healthcare as a right and elevating the concept to the national stage. /1
One of my biggest worries about post-Trump policy is that we'll be right back in the world of debt-and-deficit obsession, circa 2011, w/ its stultifying blue-ribbon commissions and deadly budget deals. It's a comfort zone for many D's. Made worse by the new Dem zeal for tax cuts.
@cnn.com and @dailybeast.bsky.social reporting that Jeanine Pirro has "lost the jury pool" as US Atty for DC, as shown by high # of acquittals. I wrote about this and how essential it is for the jury to trust the prosecutor, after serving on a DC jury last summer: www.newamerica.org/insights/dc-...
Tax invisibility is a scourge in our politics
> Public childcare isn't free, it's tax-funded.
> People buying $34 burgers pay taxes.
> Believe $34 burger eaters should pay more? wait until you hear about this idea "progressive taxation"
Wow, problem solved, thanks taxes! 😀
I'm a bit of a broken record on this, but usurping the power of the purse isn't just one constitutional violation among all the many others. It is, uniquely and singularly, the death of constitutional government altogether. Game over, end of story, you now live in an autocracy.
Political parties are essential to democracy—but in the U.S., they’re struggling to do their most basic jobs. Our new report explores what’s gone wrong and how experts think we can fix it. www.newamerica.org/insights/a-b...
@leedrutman.bsky.social @didikuo1.bsky.social @mschmitt9.bsky.social
Reposting my review of @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social 's wonderful book about taxation and citizenship, following her appearance on @hcrichardson.bsky.social's podcast: democracyjournal.org/magazine/79/...
I rewatched MARGIN CALL this week and couldn't stop thinking about how much worse things have gotten — and why.
if think tanks acknowledge what trumpism is (incoherent and vibes-based), they have to face their own crisis of relevance as institutions that pump out policy papers and provide advice to movers and shakers. pretending there's some policy process that makes sense is a way to avoid grappling w this
Underrated that the era of neoliberal globalism characterized by fierce defense of intellectual property as rents, patents, and copyrights gave way so quickly to a new paradigm marked by the blithe plunder of all human creativity for LLM training data.
Not only did Mueller do more to make DC safe than Trump's National Guard troops loitering in the Metro, he also took a huge step down the elite career ladder in order to do meaningful work, for three years. That's a serious commitment to public service that I haven't seen often, and deserves respect
A point in Robert Mueller's career that I haven't seen mentioned much: In 1995, having been Asst Atty General, he left a law firm and returned to the DC US Atty's office as an AUSA prosecuting homicides--a role often held by recent law school graduates. Homicide rate in DC was almost 3x recent #s
As always @jesspish.bsky.social is essential reading here.
and then apparently became Trumpy. I sometimes wonder how much of the performative left opposition of the 2010s that then moved to Trump--Tulsi, Taibbi, Canova, many such cases--was ratfuckery all along, as opposed to just individual psychological journeys that happened to follow the same path?
Was interested to see the name Tim Canova here as one of the schemers behind this draft EO on elections. I remember him as a critic from the left of the Federal Reserve ~2010-12, who then primaried Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in 2016, ran as an indy in 2018, then declared both elections rigged
as @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social shows in her new book, The Price of Democracy. At many points in US history we've understood that, and should rediscover that tradition, rather than just push "no tax" higher up the income ladder. Here's my review of the book: democracyjournal.org/magazine/79/...
govt has tools other than tax cuts--we should be building programs that support families. Let's get beyond the Reagan/Clinton era, when every good has to be framed as a tax cut. And even more: equitable, progressive taxation is an element of our shared citizenship, a commitment to the common good,
Tax proposals by @vanhollen.senate.gov and @booker.senate.gov to eliminate income tax for households with incomes below median are a terrible way to address affordability, in part because lots of people, esp. young ppl w/ kids, federal tax already isn't a major expense, or none at all. But also,
Saw another thread on this, and should say, lacking a B.A. does not make someone dumb or unqualified. Mullin does that all on his own.
If confirmed, Markwayne would be the first cabinet member without a B.A. since...? I'm having trouble finding it. Truman and McKinley had no degrees, so there are probably cabinet examples from the 50s or later, none recently. Most probably served in the military, though, which Mullin also did not.
you can have a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment or a dinner that features Donald Trump but you cannot have both
In case it's not clear how these email fundraising pitches work, here's the conclusion and the fine print of an email in which the "From:" line is "Jasmine Crockett" and the subject, "It’s official: I’m running for Senate"
If I donated, what portion would go to her campaign? Where does the rest go?
It's another way in which candidates are separated from their own campaigns. There must be people who would give to Crockett's campaign if asked, but assume they already gave, b/c they responded to one of these pitches. It's exhausting the pool of potential donors, and damaging my opinion of her.
This might be less about Crockett than the corrupt Dem fundraising structure, in which charismatic figures like Crockett (or not-charismatic but seen-on-TV, e.g. Carville) are deployed all over the place, particularly by Mothership-linked email/text operations. Thoughts, @adambonica.bsky.social?
A screenshot of my gmail inbox, showing emails from Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a candidate for US Senate.
My only opinion about the Texas D Senate primary is to ask why I have 50 fundraising emails from Jasmine Crockett, but not one of them is from her campaign. All are other PACs: Hold the Line PAC, BlueAMP PAC, Fields of Change PAC, etc. A few promise an unspecified split w/ Crockett, most don't.
I'm very worried about the Paramount/WB deal, but not because control of CNN+CBS+TikTok is enough for Trump's allies to execute an Orban-style competitive authoritarian takeover. It won't be, not here.
I'm worried that when Trumpism inevitably falls there will be nothing left of the old order.
"You can walk to the White House now" is a lie for one obvious reason (downtown DC is as safe as ever), but also because, if you do try to walk to the White House, this is what you'll have to get past. Not sure people outside DC appreciate how militarized "the people's house" has become.
Senator Grassley's main job has been politics and elective office since the middle of the second Eisenhower administration. Literally, first elected to the Iowa house in 1958.
This potential outcome, w/ 2 Rs in the general election, also means that the Dems will need to push a few candidates out before the primary. So a reform that was meant to limit the role of parties actually rewards a party that's more aggressive in limiting voters' choices, compared to party primary.
"We're seen as too close to the civil rights movement,' 'We're too close to Jesse Jackson' ...Anytime Dems lose,
there's always some version of, 'We're seen as too left,' which usually means too tied to people of color," says @smotus.bsky.social. Centrist complaints about "wokeness" are not new.
