What an embarrassment of her idiocy. And weak (read: BAD) fucking character. It’s amazing she’d make a video fawning to people who govern by ideology, but play it for her constituents.
Abusive men. Little men like silly and viperous Lindsey Graham and all of the men with a mob mentality. Of course, these goons are afraid to stand independently because they might become a target and we all know that there is safety in numbers.
I agree with most of all that you post. I really appreciate your SubStack posts and podcasts.
I do have a problem with this assertion and idea out there that Term limits are a good idea. Below are my ideas and observations on term limits gained from my living in San Diego CA after moving here from the east where I was not subjected to term limited politics.
I feel so strongly about putting up a viable rebuttal to your assertion that what we need is term limits. That I’m delaying going to work in order to get this posted today!
So to be clear, I’m talking about term limits that would limit the number of times a senator or a
Congressman can run for reelection. I’m not talking about putting upper age limits or functionality limits on elected government officials.
I believe term limits end up creating a political governance class of amateurs. Who end up being consistently up against professionals in the form of lobbyists , think tanks, NGOs, and other special interest groups. Let’s be real politicians tend to stay politicians. So term limited politicians will continually be running for office and then for the next higher level office. Usually first at the local level, then they move on to the state levels, and then perhaps to the national level. While they gain experience and possibly recognition while doing this, they constantly have to play it safe because they need to attract money to get elected up to the next level. So they don’t rock the boat they play along to get along. Never in one place long enough to build a large skill and knowledge set or a support base. This limits their ability to change or shake things up! For instance at a local level a politician needs the support from a combination of the Construction industry, Trade and or other unions or the Real estate industry. These groups put the money and resources out to get politicians they like elected. This sells out the interest of people to money interests! When politicians hold office for more than 2 terms they can get enough recognition and knowledge that may allow them to buck the existing system and shake things up. The upwardly mobile office seeker can not do this; they will not get the funds needed to get elected up to the next level. They will be perceived as dangerous if they don't play along to get along!
Of course the real problem is not having publicly funded elections with meaningful constraints on outside funded advertising!
I agree. There are clearly those who stay in government far too long, who are corrupt, feel entitled, & should lose their job. But there's always a way to get rid of them, by their constituents voting them out because they don't measure up to the job, or let's finally utilize provisions in the Constitution to expel them & prevent them from getting back into government, which we unfortunately failed to do to Trump & his accomplices in his illegal, unconstitutional attempt to stay in power.
We lose their experience & institutional knowledge. Yes, some are no longer mentally sharp after they reach a certain age, but you can't say that about all of them. Take a look at Bernie Sanders, who at age 83 is as sharp & active & full of ideas as ever. Furthermore, term limits are antidemocratic. They may prevent citizens from voting for whom we think is the best person to do the job. I personally think that Obama would've had a stellar third term. Franklin Roosevelt was impressively productive & brilliant during his 3rd term.
I think the task for us is to curb the financial & institutional advantage of incumbency with public campaign financing, so that they would no longer have such an advantage.
This is an honest question. I follow the news pretty closely, but I don’t understand the obsession with Israel in this administration. The motivations for the regime’s behavior with respect to Russia and Ukraine is perfectly clear; they act as Putin’s agents. Is the commitment to supporting Netanyahu’s genocide somehow related to the weird brand of Christianity in ascendence?
Yes, it actually is. Evangelical Christian Nationalists believe in a second coming of Christ & that in order for that to happen the US must be ruled by Christians & Israel has to be expanded to take over Gaza, the West Bank, & maybe even some of Syria. That is why Evangelical Christians don’t care about the genocide of the Palestinian people. In their mind, it has to happen for the “Rapture” to occur. Google Evangelicals & Rapture & then you’ll understand. It’s nuts.
Thank you! I thought I had read something to this effect, but couldn’t quite remember. Smdh. Who can keep track of all the crazy threads that have tangled up to bring us here?
Senator Ernst makes it really impossible to think that "it" is a woman and that we should have more of "its". She is one of the most dangerous hacks for mankind at large and I do not understand what kind of person would vote for an inhumane hypocrite like "it".
Religion out of Politics!
Cruelty out of politics!
Hence, the entire Republican Party and two thirds of the Democratic Party ARE DISQUALIFIED from politics!
I am absolutely certain -not even pretty sure - that there are terms and legal ramifications for knowingly (and even without intent) kill .... these are examples of how the system that has held the 'rest of us' do not apply to elite/governing/presidential etc bodies or people which clearly reveals its beyond undoing to undone
Ernst is a pompous idiot. How dare she proselytize her religion to others, as different as we are. The best thing about our Constitution, is that it separates church and state. A democracy with many peoples and many religions, or none, can only exist and function as a secular state.
And that’s exactly why it’s NOT functioning very well at all right now; Christian Nationalist extremists have taken over our federal govt & about half or more of the state legislatures.
It’s going to take a massive effort to get our Constitutional Republic back from them.
Thank you again, Qasim, for stating these criminal acts, for what they are. You say this more eloquently and justly, than I ever could. The AMOUNT of lies, promotion of white supremacy, total disregard for oppressed and starving people, calling genocide anti-semitism, broken "promises," knocks us flat, because it is OPPOSITE to what our values have been, why people WANT to live here..... or at least, wanted to in the past. But as several commentators have voiced, we TRUE Americans must never stop fighting to restore our values, because this is the greatest experiment ever tried, too unique to give up on.
I just can't with Ernst; I knew some crap was gonna spill out of her mouth and... ta-da! What is it about Republican 'Christians'? Did they totally miss everything at Sunday school?
I swear, every politician - especially Republicans - should have the poster "These Are the Things I Learned in Kindergarden" hanging in their offices.
Just when you think things can’t get crazier, they do. I have to question Americans who sit and believe what is going on is OK. I can’t understand where our Supreme Court has gone. I mean, I recognize that Thomas and Alito are lost causes, but I felt we had some hope. I do get tired, but I know I can’t back down. I have to fight. This country is too important to not fight.
The deaths these people cause due to their arrogance, racism and cruelty should be accounted for. They should face charges of murder, perhaps genocide. These are acts against humanity. How can we make them pay?
Nice job as usual with respect to Donald's hypocrisy on anti-semitism but it's pretty much the same on most thing. But here's some good not pie in the sky wishful thing, despite the short term and long term damages that Trump's fascist assault on democracy and his attempt to realign American global power is having, he and his crew will not be effective in ending our representative democracy with all its imperfections nor will he realign America's global power to the advantage of the U.S. With this prognostication in mind the burning question for me and I am not optimistic about what I am witnessing is whether or not the Congress and the body politic will do anything to (1) restructure what afflicts our bicameral electoral system of disproportionate or unequal representation and to (2) reconstitute the long-outmoded system of bipartisanship to make the three branches more accountable to the the American people and less vulnerable to inside revolutions driven by plutocrats with monocratic visions?
Fuck Israel, fuck America, fuck all the pious authoritarian, nazi, fascist, genocidal, regimes.
Excellent video stitch, it was perfect & put to words what most of us were thinking.
What an embarrassment of her idiocy. And weak (read: BAD) fucking character. It’s amazing she’d make a video fawning to people who govern by ideology, but play it for her constituents.
I shouldda just said she’s lazy & ineffectual, and so can only rely on her defensiveness.
Abusive men. Little men like silly and viperous Lindsey Graham and all of the men with a mob mentality. Of course, these goons are afraid to stand independently because they might become a target and we all know that there is safety in numbers.
Dear Qasim
I agree with most of all that you post. I really appreciate your SubStack posts and podcasts.
I do have a problem with this assertion and idea out there that Term limits are a good idea. Below are my ideas and observations on term limits gained from my living in San Diego CA after moving here from the east where I was not subjected to term limited politics.
I feel so strongly about putting up a viable rebuttal to your assertion that what we need is term limits. That I’m delaying going to work in order to get this posted today!
So to be clear, I’m talking about term limits that would limit the number of times a senator or a
Congressman can run for reelection. I’m not talking about putting upper age limits or functionality limits on elected government officials.
I believe term limits end up creating a political governance class of amateurs. Who end up being consistently up against professionals in the form of lobbyists , think tanks, NGOs, and other special interest groups. Let’s be real politicians tend to stay politicians. So term limited politicians will continually be running for office and then for the next higher level office. Usually first at the local level, then they move on to the state levels, and then perhaps to the national level. While they gain experience and possibly recognition while doing this, they constantly have to play it safe because they need to attract money to get elected up to the next level. So they don’t rock the boat they play along to get along. Never in one place long enough to build a large skill and knowledge set or a support base. This limits their ability to change or shake things up! For instance at a local level a politician needs the support from a combination of the Construction industry, Trade and or other unions or the Real estate industry. These groups put the money and resources out to get politicians they like elected. This sells out the interest of people to money interests! When politicians hold office for more than 2 terms they can get enough recognition and knowledge that may allow them to buck the existing system and shake things up. The upwardly mobile office seeker can not do this; they will not get the funds needed to get elected up to the next level. They will be perceived as dangerous if they don't play along to get along!
Of course the real problem is not having publicly funded elections with meaningful constraints on outside funded advertising!
Respectfully
Chris
I agree. There are clearly those who stay in government far too long, who are corrupt, feel entitled, & should lose their job. But there's always a way to get rid of them, by their constituents voting them out because they don't measure up to the job, or let's finally utilize provisions in the Constitution to expel them & prevent them from getting back into government, which we unfortunately failed to do to Trump & his accomplices in his illegal, unconstitutional attempt to stay in power.
We lose their experience & institutional knowledge. Yes, some are no longer mentally sharp after they reach a certain age, but you can't say that about all of them. Take a look at Bernie Sanders, who at age 83 is as sharp & active & full of ideas as ever. Furthermore, term limits are antidemocratic. They may prevent citizens from voting for whom we think is the best person to do the job. I personally think that Obama would've had a stellar third term. Franklin Roosevelt was impressively productive & brilliant during his 3rd term.
I think the task for us is to curb the financial & institutional advantage of incumbency with public campaign financing, so that they would no longer have such an advantage.
This is an honest question. I follow the news pretty closely, but I don’t understand the obsession with Israel in this administration. The motivations for the regime’s behavior with respect to Russia and Ukraine is perfectly clear; they act as Putin’s agents. Is the commitment to supporting Netanyahu’s genocide somehow related to the weird brand of Christianity in ascendence?
Yes, it actually is. Evangelical Christian Nationalists believe in a second coming of Christ & that in order for that to happen the US must be ruled by Christians & Israel has to be expanded to take over Gaza, the West Bank, & maybe even some of Syria. That is why Evangelical Christians don’t care about the genocide of the Palestinian people. In their mind, it has to happen for the “Rapture” to occur. Google Evangelicals & Rapture & then you’ll understand. It’s nuts.
Thank you! I thought I had read something to this effect, but couldn’t quite remember. Smdh. Who can keep track of all the crazy threads that have tangled up to bring us here?
Senator Ernst makes it really impossible to think that "it" is a woman and that we should have more of "its". She is one of the most dangerous hacks for mankind at large and I do not understand what kind of person would vote for an inhumane hypocrite like "it".
Religion out of Politics!
Cruelty out of politics!
Hence, the entire Republican Party and two thirds of the Democratic Party ARE DISQUALIFIED from politics!
Stop voting your God, start voting your Neighbor!
Qasim, your video rebuttal was perfect. It should be played everywhere, including in Congress.
That lady makes my skin crawl.
But I do like what You say Qasim about taxing the billionaires "...tax them out of existence"..
I am absolutely certain -not even pretty sure - that there are terms and legal ramifications for knowingly (and even without intent) kill .... these are examples of how the system that has held the 'rest of us' do not apply to elite/governing/presidential etc bodies or people which clearly reveals its beyond undoing to undone
Ernst is a pompous idiot. How dare she proselytize her religion to others, as different as we are. The best thing about our Constitution, is that it separates church and state. A democracy with many peoples and many religions, or none, can only exist and function as a secular state.
And that’s exactly why it’s NOT functioning very well at all right now; Christian Nationalist extremists have taken over our federal govt & about half or more of the state legislatures.
It’s going to take a massive effort to get our Constitutional Republic back from them.
Thank you again, Qasim, for stating these criminal acts, for what they are. You say this more eloquently and justly, than I ever could. The AMOUNT of lies, promotion of white supremacy, total disregard for oppressed and starving people, calling genocide anti-semitism, broken "promises," knocks us flat, because it is OPPOSITE to what our values have been, why people WANT to live here..... or at least, wanted to in the past. But as several commentators have voiced, we TRUE Americans must never stop fighting to restore our values, because this is the greatest experiment ever tried, too unique to give up on.
I just can't with Ernst; I knew some crap was gonna spill out of her mouth and... ta-da! What is it about Republican 'Christians'? Did they totally miss everything at Sunday school?
I swear, every politician - especially Republicans - should have the poster "These Are the Things I Learned in Kindergarden" hanging in their offices.
Just when you think things can’t get crazier, they do. I have to question Americans who sit and believe what is going on is OK. I can’t understand where our Supreme Court has gone. I mean, I recognize that Thomas and Alito are lost causes, but I felt we had some hope. I do get tired, but I know I can’t back down. I have to fight. This country is too important to not fight.
The deaths these people cause due to their arrogance, racism and cruelty should be accounted for. They should face charges of murder, perhaps genocide. These are acts against humanity. How can we make them pay?
Nice job as usual with respect to Donald's hypocrisy on anti-semitism but it's pretty much the same on most thing. But here's some good not pie in the sky wishful thing, despite the short term and long term damages that Trump's fascist assault on democracy and his attempt to realign American global power is having, he and his crew will not be effective in ending our representative democracy with all its imperfections nor will he realign America's global power to the advantage of the U.S. With this prognostication in mind the burning question for me and I am not optimistic about what I am witnessing is whether or not the Congress and the body politic will do anything to (1) restructure what afflicts our bicameral electoral system of disproportionate or unequal representation and to (2) reconstitute the long-outmoded system of bipartisanship to make the three branches more accountable to the the American people and less vulnerable to inside revolutions driven by plutocrats with monocratic visions?