democracy

Politico
California Senate candidate and Congressmember Adam Schiff is calling for a major overhaul of American institutions, including getting rid of the Electoral College, expanding the Supreme Court and eliminating the filibuster.
More like this, please.
ProPublica
Justices are almost entirely left to police themselves on ethical issues, with few restrictions on what gifts they can accept. When a potential conflict arises, the sole arbiter of whether a justice should step away from a case is the justice him or herself.
The corrupt court hits just keep on coming. This one has all the bells and whistles you've come to expect: billionaire, luxury vacation, business before the court, no recusal, and no ethics disclosure! See Also: Chamber of Secrets describing how the court has changed operations to be even less accountable for its decisions. It's not a good combined look if you're worried about court legitimacy.
ProPublica
Powered by returning companies, RAGA revenues in 2022 jumped 68%, reaching $21.6 million. The group used some of its funds to boost midterm candidates who pushed the lies that Trump won in 2020 and that the voting system is rife with fraud.
Corporations will not provide the accountability democracy needs to survive. See also: Dominion settlement with Fox which is good for Dominion but bad for democracy. We need a public system of accountability. Maybe we could call it a Justice Department if we had one.
BioScience | Oxford Academic
"Humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency. The scale of untold human suffering, already immense, is rapidly growing with the escalating number of climate-related disasters. Therefore, we urge scientists, citizens, and world leaders to read this Special Report and quickly take the necessary actions to avoid the worst effects of climate change."
Please vote for leaders who take our climate emergency seriously. We need large collective actions to help make environmental stress easier for people.
Yahoo News
’If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land and then issue, without basis,’ she said, ‘we must see that through. There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and a hostile takeover of our democratic institutions.’
The only correct take right now. All Democrats should be speaking out against elite impunity night and day. Consequences for corruption must exist in a democratic system.
Fast Company
"The inflow of cash hasn’t exactly been small, either. A separate tally by the watchdog group Accountable.US shows that these companies and many of the trade groups to which they belong have donated more than $8 million to Congress’s 147 objectors since January 6."
hIsToRy wIlL ReMeMbEr
The Atlantic
"Win or lose, their claim to be the sole authentic inheritors of the American tradition means they are the only ones who can legitimately govern and are therefore justified in seizing power by any means."
This is all out in the open. There should be political, legal, or professional consequences for the people who tried to subvert the election, but nope.
Washington Post
"Democrats are still far too reluctant to give serious consideration to filibuster reform as the right thing to do on the merits, let alone to the idea that making a confident, affirmative case for it might be better politics than their oft-relied-upon theater of reluctance."
Theater of reluctance sounds like the entire strategy of Democratic leadership. I still think filibuster reform should be the top priority and Dems should be making their case for it in the media every day.
motherjones.com
"Yet because of the 60-vote requirement to pass most legislation, 41 Republican senators representing just 21 percent of the country can block the bill from moving forward, even though it’s supported by 68 percent of the public, according to recent polling."
One party is working hard to entrench this minority rule and the other party is hesitant to change the status quo.
NPR
"The incentive structure that has been created is one in which so far we've seen zero accountability for lying and pushing these narratives," Masterson, the former DHS official, said. "We don't see anyone really, truly being held accountable."
With no accountability why would they stop? This looks like a pilot program or practice for invalidating future valid elections.
New America
"In future elections, these laws politicizing the administration and certification of elections could enable some state legislatures or partisan election officials to do what they failed to do in 2020: reverse the outcome of a free and fair election. Further, these laws could entrench extended minority rule, violating the basic and longstanding democratic principle that parties that get the most votes should win elections."
This statement signed by dozens of political science professors is an excellent summary of the current threat to voting rights.
Washington Post
"The station has stuck to its pledge in its day-to-day coverage ever since, by simply and without fanfare including boilerplate language about how lawmakers conducted themselves during the attempts to overturn the election whenever they are mentioned in the course of regular news coverage."
Daily journalism with a memory is rare.
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