I’m just an old man with a skooma problem.
Her seat is not in danger, but there’s infighting over who will replace her. If Feinstein resigns, California’s governor gets to appoint her replacement, and Gavin Newsom is likely to appoint a black woman if given the opportunity. Rumor has it that Nancy Pelosi wants Adam Schiff to replace Feinstein though, so she is pushing for the 90 year old Senator to finish her term.
Feinstein’s caretaker also happens to be Pelosi’s daughter. That’s not a conflict of interest at all.
The United States has very similar problems. The oppressed are encouraged to work within the system if they want things to change. They go to the system, and find it broken. So they protest, and the moment the protests turn violent-- or appear to turn violent-- the oppressed are labeled as being impatient or perhaps even deserving of being marginalized. Cries for freedom are willfully misinterpreted as the howling of barbarians, and used as populist propaganda.
Like you, I don’t know what it’s like to be treated like a second-class citizen in my own country, but I do know that racism doesn’t go away simply because the government declares that it won’t be tolerated. It’s hard to come up with any specific solution to this particular problem though, when it’s a conflict that humans have struggled with for their entire existence. Back in 2020, people were just trying to get the message out that black lives matter. Even when taken as a plea for solidarity with no specific policy demands, somehow that statement proved controversial.
Strangely enough, the best 4th of July I’ve ever had was when I was in Lyon.
France has been a big fan of revolution since the late 18th century. They’re on their Fifth Republic and I’m sure some French people feel they’re overdue for a Sixth, just for the sake of keeping the tradition alive.
Either the Democrats need to make some big changes internally, or a third party is going to have to break up the current duopoly. The current Democratic party sucks, as an effective opposition to the Republicans. The GOP just keeps drifting further to the far-right, and the Democrats continue to compromise even though the demands are becoming more extreme. This drags the whole government toward more conservative policies, regardless of which party is winning the elections.
Change isn’t going to happen when you have an aging centrist like Biden in the Oval Office. Governing by compromise is all he knows how to do. And yet, the Democrats still think they’re “winning” even though the GOP is actively twisting their arm with every policy they try to pass. We need more people in Congress who are actually liberals, not centrists, and recognize that the current system isn’t working for anyone outside outside of the 1%. Until that happens, the far-right is just going to keep turning up the heat, and the rest of the country is going to be stuck sitting there like a frog in a pot of water that is slowly being brought to a boil.
I refuse to believe this decision was influenced, in any way, by any actual consideration of the U.S. Constitution. There’s no reasonable interpretation of that document which would provide sufficient justification to rule the relief plan unconstitutional. This was a political decision, pure and simple, by a government body that is supposed to be apolitical. Just like every other branch of government, the judiciary has become corrupted by billionaire donors and turned into a polarized mockery of its original intent. No wonder public opinion of the Supreme Court is in the toilet. They’re no better than Congress these days.
Nikki Haley’s parents were Sikh immigrants, originally from Punjab. And she’s calling for an increase in deportations. I don’t get it, either.
I doubt Ashton and Mila apologized because they actually regret writing those letters; this is just damage control because they got caught defending a rapist. Also, Scientology isn’t a religion, it’s a criminal organization, and it ought to be treated as such.
I was disappointed to hear that Kurtwood Smith wrote a letter in support of Masterson too. I really liked him in RoboCop… but I guess there’s a reason why he was so good at acting like a total bastard.