just politics and a pretty flower (your reward for slogging through this post)

*I'm keeping this up for a while to make sure everyone who checks in now and then sees it. I assume those who already get email notices will continue to get them up until July when the 'follow by email' stops functioning. Starting in July, my intention is to email links to the email subscriber group when I publish a new post. If you are in this group but do not wish to continue receiving notices of new posts, just reply with 'remove'.

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While I have been keeping a cursory eye on politics, and it's business as usual for the republicans ie oppose everything even if it's good for the country even if they are in favor of it but not going to give the democrats a win, I haven't really felt like writing about it til now I guess, content to relax a bit with Biden.

Republicans continue to lie and spin the wildest conspiracy theories, like that Biden is going to take away people's meat, allowing only 4 pounds of meat a year per person, an accusation so absurd as to be beyond belief and yet my governor tweeted it out as if it was a real thing, not in Texas, he says.

Their newest outrage is claiming Biden's DHS is handing out copies of VP Kamala Harris' children's book at government expense including it in welcome bags for migrant children coming across the border. When in actuality, these welcome bags are at one facility in one state and are provided by a non-governmental agency that instituted a drive for donations for basic hygiene supplies and yes, a book drive for these migrant children. How many of Harris' books were donated? One. That's what they're up in arms about, one donated book.

And Margery Taylor Green declaring the totally unknown 'Blue Anon' is more dangerous than Qanon apparently unaware that the Urban Dictionary, from which she got the Blue Anon BS is one of those online databases that anyone can add to or edit an entry with no basis in fact. And before that she claimed that the night after Chauvin's guilty verdict that DC was dead, “Police are everywhere and have riot gear” (untrue) and “BLM is the strongest terrorist threat in our country”, (also untrue, it wasn't BLM storming the capitol, killing police, with the intent to capture and kill members of congress nor was it antifa, their other bogeyman), she tweeted claiming everyone is staying home in fear of possible riots when it was really business as usual in DC that night.

And their plain ignorance about this country is astounding as when Nancy Mace objected to DC becoming a state because they didn't even have as many people as Wyoming when, in fact, DC is more populous than Wyoming.

And Ted Cruz claiming the democrats want to destroy the 1^st amendment when it is the republicans in Florida and other states that are passing laws limiting the rights of protesters to assemble (apparently now in Florida, 3 people assembled is a riot with heinous consequences including losing the right to vote) and giving a pass to motorists who plow through them.

And Tucker Carlson with his Fox rant about people, children, wearing masks outside and that conservatives should accost every child and parent whose child is wearing a mask outside. It's child abuse, he says, and the police and CPS should be called on these parents. This from people who have screamed about their rights and freedom being taken away by being asked to wear masks in public and in buildings and yet they have no problem denying other people their right and freedom to wear a mask.

And now republicans are accusing democrats of trying to pack the Supreme Court because Biden has established a commission to investigate whether it should be expanded or not, when it's the republicans who did pack the Supreme Court by refusing to allow a vote on Obama's pick his last year in office, by strong arming/threatening Kennedy into resigning, and by pushing through RBG's replacement not just in Trump's last year but during the election that put Biden in office and the court is now out of balance 6/3 conservative/liberal, and not just conservative, but far right conservative.

This is what they do, accuse democrats of doing what they themselves are doing/have done.

And what if Biden decides to expand the Court in order to achieve balance? Republicans would have you believe that it's an attack on democracy and the constitution but the fact is the size of the Supreme Court has changed 7 times in the history of our nation, sometimes expanding, sometimes decreasing. The last time the number of justices on the court changed was to the current 9 in 1869. While Biden has, as mentioned above, created a commission to study if the court should be expanded as well as other considerations, like revising the 'for life' appointments, some House democrats have introduced a bill to expand the Court to 13 but Pelosi has no intention of bringing it to the floor at this time. So as usual republicans have created a tempest in a teapot in order to keep their shrinking base enraged. Because that's all they've got. They have no policies besides obstruction ignoring the many republicans in the country in favor of Biden's policies. They don't even have a platform for these four years besides kissing Trump's loser fat ass they were so convinced he would win. Or maybe they didn't bother with a platform because they knew he would lose.

Do they really believe their lies and gas lighting? Maybe the most far right Trump cult drunk of them but mostly they know it's bullshit but it's their only plan...keep the country destabilized with their lies, keep their base angry, prevent any progress, and engage in voter suppression with the aim of regaining control of the government in the 2022 midterm elections. Because god forbid they actually create some policies that help the American people, that modernize our infrastructure, that fights against authoritarianism, policies that the electorate is in favor of in order to win elections.

Bottom line is that we achieved a short respite with Biden's election but we have not ended the threat from our internal terrorists and their desire to destroy our democracy in favor of republican/Trump authoritarianism. We need to remain vigilant, continue to fight voter suppression, and turn out in droves for the midterms. We cannot afford to lose even one house of congress and with this new census, New York and California have both lost a seat while Texas has gained two and Florida, one.

So, while we won a great battle, the war is far from over. 

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heirloom dwarf gladiolus