The Fracturing of Democracy - A Chronicle of Continuing Trauma. Part 2 A Glimmer of Hope
It is not a question of Left or Right, It is a question of Right and Wrong
Senator Cory Booker rose and spoke for over 25 hours in defense of governmental institutions, the work that they do, and the specific effects that the Trump Administration and DOGE is having on real people throughout the country as he asserts power he does not have illegally and unconstitutionally. I only watched the last hour or so, but if he had that much energy at the end, he must have been on fire at the beginning.
This is from the final 10 hours and 30ish minutes of the speech.
Here is an interview from right after the speech.
It is difficult to not be moved by his presentation.
I will post a link to the transcript when it is available.
Red Box Rules
Please Be Nice
Listen from about hour 10:00 on and you will get an idea.
His blathering BS broke Strom Thurmond's record for a filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Civil Rights Act of 1957 - Wikipedia
All in a good day's work, I would say.
the way a filibuster should take place ...
Point of clarity: This technically was not a filibuster, it was just a use of the rule that when Senator stands to speak does not have to stop speaking until he yields the floor. A filibuster is when a Senator takes the action of standing and speaking for a prolonged time in order to stop or hinder certain legislation from passing.
either, or ...
maga senators would have to pull 2 shifts each and recite everything they knew to match it ...
Example of that would be Democrat Strom Thurmond's pathetic attempts to stop the Civil Rights Act.
Once again with the factually correct but culturally (and politically) obtuse statement.
I just spoke to my digital friend and research assistant, ChatGPT, and Prompted, "Strom Thurmond Democrat Longest speech on senate floor until this week, politics and the southern Democrats in the 1950s and 60s views versus Democratic thought in more recent years"
The neural-network asked, "Want to dive deeper into how the party realignment happened step-by-step, or curious how current GOP positions trace back to those Dixiecrats?” I answered affirmatively and ChatGPT had this to say:
Yeah, whatever. Tell me you didn’t watch it without telling me you didn’t watch it. Knee-jerk tribalism is so overdone.
I wish "Knee-jerk tribalism" were over. We have a ways to go.
A few snippets were viewed, still the same tired progressive propaganda that said nothing and went nowhere.
The Reactions to Cory Booker's Anti-Trump Speech Were Gold
Yes, tired old propaganda like "Go out and do something!" and detailing the specifics of where the actions of the President are illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional in a way that showed that someone besides myself thinks that they are important. Congress as a whole will find itself shunted to the side if they allow the administration to continue unchecked on this illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional attempt to sunder the powers of the presidency from all real constraint.
Trump has again violated his oath of office.
The fact Chucky Schumer had to interrupt him to tell him he broke "the record" and the blathering ended shortly later is an indication that there was nothing really being said. He was talking for the sake of talking.
For those of you who don't have 12 to 25 hours, here is the final 10 minutes or so.
He was great. He was on topic the whole time. Clear, thoughtful, and hopefully, inspiring.
I thought that he did really well. Lots of preparation went into his appeal to the better natures of Americans'.
Thanks for this article
As expected, the reactionaries are calling this a non-event, not realizing that the people did not elect Trump to radically alter the face of government, they elected him because they thought he was going to bring down the cost of living. Instead, he is ensuring that the US standing in the world is deleteriously teetering through the wholesale destruction of Institutions such as USAID. His quest to commoditize the government will fail, as will he.
Do you think if he had talked about DOGE before the election he might have lost? DOGE never once came up when he was campaigning. I think the American people got a bait and switch deal
Actually, he did ramble/drone on and on about it. But he did not say that Musks procedure would be to take a wrecking ball to every government institution to hamstring it so that government cannot work as intended..
See? He droned about it. I stop listening when he repeats himself for the 3rd time
“DOGE never once came up when he was campaigning.”
Neither did the idiocy concerning the annexation of Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Canada. We did hear incessantly about immediately ending the Ukraine conflict and lowering the price of eggs.
Now we are left with an unmitigated assault on the arts, public libraries, institutions of higher learning, private law firms, legal immigrants, health services, our long standing allies…and anything else that had defined what made this country exceptional.
Slash and burn. It is not governance, it is insidious, intentional destruction.
Now we are left with an unmitigated assault on the arts, public libraries, institutions of higher learning, private law firms, legal immigrants, health services, our long standing allies
And a request to shut the hell up about the price of eggs.
Bait and switch. He ran on rising prices and we got more rising prices and a madman wielding a chainsaw on our government
Slash and burn, bait and switch,... it is all part of the mafia conman playbook
Project 2025 came up several times during the campaign. Trump and his propagandists consistently lied and denied even knowing anything about it. Now, we're living it.
I assure you, unamerican maga scum will be picking up the tab when the party is over ...
Hopefully so
Cory Booker was talking about lots of pertinent issues.
from ChatGPT
Wow. This is done by standing the whole time, 25 hours, without a bathroom break and limited water intake. It's a good work in the right hands! Seems it has been well received by those to whom it should matter.
Great article, his ability to hit the right points and have a lucid intelligent 25 hours is recommended for Trump who’s 2 hour rambles sound like Professor Erwin Corey on speed.
I thought that he was quite inspiring. Lucid and cogent, also.
Something we haven't seen on the Republican side of the aisle for quite some time now.
a definite rarity ...