No, It Wasn't A Blue Tsunami - But A Genuine Blue WAVE ("Pussy grabber payback") - Update

Dems celebrate with yet another big House win on Tuesday night.

The Reepster codger clique at the local BK this morning could barely contain themselves as they spat out invective at the midterm election results.  They babbled such predictable effluent as the following in one exchange.

"Yeah, just imagine, them damn Dems put a gay guy in as governor!"

"What'cha expect? It was the cemetery vote, and that's why them Demo-crats got the House too! I kept seein' all that blue on the tube, state after state."

"Heck, that's all them minorities  and migrants votin' who want free stuff. They like socialism and the Dems promised 'em lotta benefits."

Of course, that's why the Reepturds will soon be going the way of the dinos and Whigs. It's a cult party populated by  too many ossified oldsters, incapable of rational thought, and also doting Trumpster cultists who worship at the altar of the Dotard Joker: 


As gratifying as it was to hear these old farts piss, whine and moan - even if the basis was moronic- things did not initially look good on the home front last night. At around 6:30 James Carville appeared on MSNBC's 'Your Vote' and began pontificating that he "didn't really see a blue wave coming". This was soon after results showed the FLA governor's race likely going to Trump toady Rick DeSantis and Bill Nelson possibly losing to Rick Scott.  At that point Janice burst into tears, and I had to do some major psychological damage control by telling her Carville's definition of a blue wave was too excessive - likely 50 or 60 net seats gained.

As another commentator (Chris Matthews) appeared, he confirmed my take that Carville defined a "blue wave' too extravagantly."  In Matthews' opinion a 30 seat win in the House qualified as a wave and I agreed. It now looks like that's exactly what transpired with the Ds at 230 seats - or 22 more than needed to take the House back. Indeed, there were major House flips - from red to blue- in hard red Texas as well as Oklahoma. As I told Janice, "That should cheer you up!"  To which she replied, "Yeah, but Beto still lost to that damned Cruz."

I turned in by 11:30 MT  but Janice stayed up hoping to see if John Tester would win in Montana, but that contest still seems too close to call. Even if Tester loses, I will tell Janice that it's more or less offset by Jacky Rosen's win in Nevada over Dean Heller.  (Update: Tester ultimately won by a very narrow margin, reported the next morning. Needless to say, it almost made J's day - until the news of the Dotard appt. of Whitaker came on and she burst into tears once more- see next post.)

But MSNBC political commentators Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace put it best: "This is like an earthquake because the Democrats now control the House and can mount investigations" (Even though idiot Dotard barked this a.m. if the Dems do he will "mount investigations of them".  LOL!)

Also, Schmidt made no bones about the fact it marked a repudiation of Trumpism, at least from the nation's suburbs and cities - from which most House districts derive their political support. The rural areas? They predictably went for Trump Reeps, and that led to expanding the GOP margin in the Senate.   Never mind! Taking back the House, even in spite of gerrymandering and voter suppression was huge  - and it took at least a generic blue wave to do it!

The takeaway from all this is that enough American voters  (mainly women) brought a semblance of  sanity back to the nation, realizing that a one party state doesn't redound to any citizen's benefit.  Look, the GOP while it had all branches of gov't didn't do diddly or squat to control or check Trump's excesses, they merely enabled him. This required intervention by the adults in the room and arrived when the Democrats recaptured the House of Representatives.  At last now we are done with the enabling traitor goon  Devin Nunes, e.g.

Who as head of the House Intel Committee had been in charge of a third column effort to make the special prosecutor the target of his own bastardized, specious House probe, e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2018/03/house-intel-committee-case-closed-no.html

Now the jig is up for Trump as the Democrats sweep into Washington in January with significant new power to shape the national agenda and especially to mount  REAL investigations for the first time that could change the nature of the Trump presidency. Make no mistake as one female firned of wifey's put it, "This is pussy grabber payback, for that Access Hollywood tape!") Indeed and now women are on track to take over 100 seats in the House.

At the top of the list of  House initiatives will be efforts will be getting Trump's tax records.  After that, the House Intelligence Committee will likely  reopen its investigation of Trump to do the job that Nunes and his traitor collaborators refused to do.

As Adam Schiff  had to say concerning the then GOP mock investigation:

"By ending its oversight role in the only authorized investigation in the House, the Majority has placed the interests of protecting the President over protecting the country, and history will judge its action harshly."

Now Schiff gets to shine a spotlight on  Trump as well as GOP House chicanery in enabling him, which every red blooded American ought to cheer. Yeah, Dotard the past few weeks has displayed a bunker mentality, sensing attack from all sides – Democrats, TV talking heads, distant caravans, hidden conspirators, the media. BUT...now he is about to face an opposition with actual teeth, many of them female.

In the end, let's be clear the House vote was a much needed referendum on the disruptive and disgraceful presidency of  Trump. The Dotard himself on Monday admitted that “even though I’m not on the ballot, in a certain way I am on the ballot.” The press, he whined, considers the election “a referendum on me.”  Well, it was and he failed the test as the sane contingent of Americans restored checks and balances.  That majority comprised mainly of women voters holding their fire for two years to issue payback - and they did- with votes still being tallied.

Thw  “blue wave” didn’t reach tsunami, so never reached the Senate, but it attained massive wave level on a pace to flip almot 40 Reep House seats. . Note also this massive flip occurred despite the supposedly "great" economy: low unemployment, rising DOW etc. under the Reepo reign.  In other words, the big D- House win likely should never have occurred under a normal presidency in such economically beneficial times. As one commenter (Ezra Klein)  put it: "Republicans managed to make people angrier even despite the low unemployment of only 3.7 percent.This  is a political failure of a startling proportion."

 Apart from that,  the Dems had  to overcome monumental gerrymandering,  as well as the earlier SC decision to shelve the Voting Rights oversight, and even more recently ruling against Native Americans voting in North Dakota because they lived on reservations and lacked a street address. (At the last minute, the ACLU came to the rescue in court but it wasn't enough to pull out a win for Ms. Heitkamp). Meanwhile, Reep degenerates voted for three soon -to -be jailbirds to keep their House seats: Duncan Hunter (CA),  Chris Collins (NY), and Ken Paxton(TX) - the latter for AG.

As one Dem observer in Texas put it: "If Paxton can't follow the law, how can he enforce it?"

Good question.  But see the Trumpies don't care about laws or norms.  Look at the shenanigans of Kemp in Georgia.

The shift in the House clearly constitutes a repudiation of Trump’s reckless policies, his violation of political and ethical norms and his repeated falsehoods. It is also an unmistakable rejection of the contemptible rhetoric of fear and prejudice that he has resorted to in recent weeks to rile up his base, especially his claim that a caravan of dangerous asylum-seekers from Central America was heading north to the border to “invade” the United States.

As for Colorado, the Dems took the governorship with Jared Polis besting Walker Stapleton by nearly 5 points.  They are also set to regain a “trifecta” of elected power for the first time since 2014.
As of 9:30 p.m last night, Democrats held strong margins in all five of the critical Senate races. This would give Dems the state Senate, state House and the governorship.

It was also gratifying to see Wayne Williams lose Secretary of State to Dem  challenger Jena  Griswold.  Williams is best known for punishing the Hamilton electors in Colorado, as well as other missteps. He deserved to go down in flames.

Another biggie was Reep House Rep Mike Coffman going down to Dem newcomer Jason Crow.  As all these results from state Senate, House results poured in Democratic strategist Steve Welchert, declared:

"Those are huge numbers. This is a royal blue wave in Colorado.  Colorado is going to be a blue thumb sticking out of the country a little bit.”

Another big win:  Coloradans voted Tuesday for Amendment A,  to officially abolish slavery.  See e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2018/10/yes-ive-just-voted-to-abolish-slavery.html

On the downside, the Amendment 73 to fund schools, education, failed to pass, as well as Proposition 112 which would have increased offsets to fracking wells by 2,500 ft.  It is  an unfortunate outcome, not only because the noise and odor adversely impact home owners located within 500' of wells (currently the limit) but also because of the attendant health issues. (The Colorado School of Public Health showed in 2012 that those living less than a half mile - 2, 680 feet- from a fracking site, were at greater risk for neurological and respiratory diseases as well as congenital birth defects.)

Well, maybe next time around - especially as more newcomers moving into our state feel the adverse effects to their well being, as well as on property values. Just two years ago the slavery prohibition item failed in Colorado, but passed this time around. So who knows?

Update:  Nov. 9: As the size of the Dem Blue Wave continues to  increase to mini-tsunami level, with Kyrsten Sinema now ahead of Trump troll Martha McSally in AZ, and Stacy Abrams staying faithful to voters in GA - to count every damned vote -  despite Kemp's and Trump's pressure to cease.  Let's be clear the Reeptards, Trumpies, and GOOPr stooges are playing their usual card - calling "Fraud!"  Do not be surprised, as these fuckers are incapable of winning fairly and squarely, without putting their grubby paws on the scale. If they can't cop seats via voter suppression, omitting absentee or provisional ballots, or machine tricks  they play the vote fraud card.   Hopefully, enough citizens, including in the Dem party  - raise a hue and an outcry against these anti-democratic, nee fascist forces.  It is bad enough that a minority government controls most branches (SC, Senate, Presidency), we can't allow it to tilt even worse.

See also:

Steven Rosenfeld

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2018 Elections

It Was a Blue Wave Election—And the Republicans Are Feeling the Fallout

And:

Autocrats, Incorporated: Thoughts on Election Day 2018

Cliven Bundy a 'Patriot'? How About A Racist Idiot Scofflaw?

"I wanna tell yuh one more thing I know about the Nigras! Weren't they better off as slaves, pickin'  cotton  and havin' a family life  and doin' things or are they better off under government subsidies ? They didn't get no more freedom they got less freedom"  -  Cliven Bundy on Saturday

"They're not slaves no more but they seem to be slaves to the welfare system..." - Cliven Bundy in a press conference yesterday - trying to defend the earlier balderdash

In doing my earlier blog on Cliven Bundy and his clueless followers I was prepared to be generous and just grant that the man and his toadies were ignorant. They were ignorant of the Nevada state constitution which clearly sets out the purview of federal power, i.e. to act in concert with state law. This is in Article 1, Section 2 of the Nevada Constitution:

.....the Paramount Allegiance of every citizen is due to the Federal Government in the exercise of all its Constitutional powers as the same have been or may be defined by the Supreme Court of the United States; and no power exists in the people of this or any other State of the Federal Union to dissolve their connection therewith or perform any act tending to impair, subvert, or resist the Supreme Authority of the government of the United States.

Did any of Bundy's Bozos read this? I doubt it.  But now, rather than merely reinforce he's ignorant Cliven Bundy has opened his yap on Saturday (see quote above - from a  live Youtube recording - so it's his absolute words) proving he's a racist idiot and scofflaw to boot.

African Americans had it better as slaves?  Having "a family life and doin' things"  together? Are you fucking kidding me? What school did this asshole go to in order to learn that? There was NO family life,  you fucking moron! Families were often broken up - as when they first arrived for auction at the old slave market in New Orleans - with kids sent to different plantations while mom and dad - IF they were lucky- got sent to the same cotton plantation. Usually they weren't. Even if they did somehow get to the same plantation together, ol' Massah could have his way with the woman any time he wanted and her husband couldn't lift a hand!  (Let us bear in mind also that marriage was frowned upon by the slave masters, who considered it antithetical to the slave system - as Prof. Eric Dyson observed last night on Chris Hayes' 'All In'.)

Doing things? Yeah, when ol' Massah Whitey wanted some entertainment he'd use some subterfuge or excuse to take out his whip and flog one or more of the slaves while banjo music played. Or.....he'd  drag the slaves out from their crowded digs early in the morning to dance for him - again to banjo music. The slaves had no choice -  NONE as to what THEY would do, or how they'd entertain themselves.

Now look at Bundy's words above (I still wonder if he's related to Ted Bundy the mass murderer), and ask yourselves this:

Suppose you're an African-American living in this country, paid at the lowest wage scale or not hired at all, with  the Neoliberal capitalist system considering you only for prison labor  (25 cents an hour to make rugs) - would you rather accept welfare to at least survive and feed your kids? Or, would you rather be sent back to a Louisiana plantation in a time slip where you can be whipped at will, your wife can be raped by White Massah at his pleasure, and your kids dispatched to any other plantation the Massah wants?

C'mon - give an answer here! You have uh.....five nanoseconds!

In the wake of Bundy's asinine remarks, it's no surprise that many of his high profile media and political supporters have exited stage right from this fool, including FOX's Sean Hannity ("that was despicable"), Nevada senator Dean Heller, and Tea Party favorite, Rand Paul.  Hannity, let us recall, was among the main bloviators to jump on Bundy's Bandwagon posing idiotic questions that pandered to the massive FOX audience's ignorance, including (with the rational, informed responses):

“Since when does the government send armed officers to collect a debt?”

Actually, many repossession and foreclosure actions often involve a sheriff or other armed officials, and confiscation of property is an ordinary means by which a government resolves a debt.  For example, if you accumulate 20 years of unpaid parking tickets, a court will order that your car be booted and towed until you pay. And if you point a rifle at the cop or otherwise assault him, you might get shot (or tased). The same applies if the IRS dispatches armed agents to your domicile after you've ignored paying taxes for years or have committed massive tax fraud. In addition, here in Colorado if you owe property taxes that have been unpaid for years, a lien can be placed on the property - it can then be purchased by a collection agency, and the home foreclosed. Armed agents will kick your ass out if you don't cooperate.

“Nobody has seen any bill for $1.1 million. It doesn’t exist.

Michelle Fiore, R-Nevada Assembly, bloviated this (while a guest on MSNBC).  Bundy says he has “never been sent a bill” but also says he never opens mail from the U.S. government because he does not recognize the U.S. government’s existence.   This is as fucking dumb as a homeowner who receives mortgage or credit card bills but refuses to open the mail. Can you say STUPID?

In the Bundy case, a court had ordered him to pay a debt of $1.1 million in accumulated fines and fees for having put greater than his allowed quota of cattle on federally protected tortoise habitat. Meanwhile, lawful citizens who are Bundy's neighbors are fed up with this millionaire asshole acting like a dead beat while they pay their legitimate fees for cattle grazing. As one observer -neighbor put it: "If that isn't leeching off welfare, I don't know what is!"

"The BLM provoked, escalated this controversy.”  

Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, made this accusation, as have numerous others. If an armed resistance is put up against an asset seizure by law enforcement officials who are acting under a court order, the provocation is exclusively the work of those who have chosen to threaten the lawmen with violence.  If the IRS sends armed agents to confiscate your property for unpaid taxes you better damned well not pull out your Glock unless you want to see an early grave!

 The land is not being used — it’s not like they want to build a school, road or hospital on it.”  

This was put out by Hannity who doesn't seem to understand that how federal land is used is determined by federal law. No citizen gets to decide for himself whether the land should remain vacant or grazed, or whether something should be built on it. Not if it is federal land, which it is.

“How could a cow possibly eat $1.1 million of grass?”

This one was trotted out by Bundy’s  equally clueless daughter, Stetsy Bundy. She doesn't get that whether  cows can eat a million bucks worth of grass is neither here nor there. Grazing fees are not assessed by weighing the amount of tonnage that a cow eats. It is a per-animal-unit, per-month fee, and it adds up over 20 years. Furthermore, Bundy’s liability is as much  for fines for illegal trespass as it is for fees.

  “Bundy has rights to the land because his ancestors worked the land prior to formation of BLM.”  

Bundy - predictably -  has made this argument himself and others have parroted it.  Even if Bundy’s ancestors did work the land (and we only have his word that they did, and he is notoriously dishonest), with the passage of the Taylor Act in 1934 they would have had to pay grazing fees. And it was never private land.  The parcel that Bundy is trespassing has been owned by the U.S. government ever since it was purchased and/or won from Mexico or Spain.

Again, Bundy merely shows he's a scofflaw as well as a deadbeat and racist idiot. Those who still defend him are no better. The "militias"  that trot around  his place with automatic weapons at the ready are really cowards at heart. They are bold and ready to pull out their weapons and fire at some little BLM guys with tasers in Nevada, but you won't see any of them squaring off against the U.S. Army in Pinon Canyon here in Colorado. Say to defend the rights of the ranchers here whose land stands to be seized for specious reasons (e.g. the Army testing of Predator drones).

Why? Because they know they'd face real, serious opposition with the likelihood they'd get shot at and wounded, not just tased. Hence, it's much easier for them to sashay around,  posturing with Bundy in Nevada than to stand up for ranchers' rights against the Army in Colorado. Bullies, posturing paper patriots and gun toting pseudo-toughs always seem to find out their bravado limits in a hurry when confronted by a formidable opposition- even one based in the federal gov't they "hate".

Why did so many line up with this misfit and racist? Because the indiscriminate anti-government meme is so powerful among right wing circles that it only takes one asshole to blow an anti-fed/  "Patriot"  dog whistle to get all the loonies to come running. But what this episode discloses is that those eager to be seen as "anti-government patriots", need to take more care with whom they align themselves.  Newsflash: it isn't with the likes of  racists like Bundy.

As for Bundy, any dunderhead who still defends him after the racist revelations is no better than he is. If they have a grain of sense they will abandon this idiot bigot like his former political allies have. Again, if they want a REAL cause they will stand with the ranchers of Pinon Canyon, Colorado against the U.S. Army instead!

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/jaime-oneill/55615/dimwitted-patriots-and-phony-cowboys