BONUS: Booker stands up for all of us
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For more than 25 hours this week, Cory Booker, the U.S. senator from New Jersey, wouldn't shut up.
We all hate that guy.
The person who dominates the conversation, interrupts and drone on about things that don't interest us at all.
They are rude, pompous and totally self-absorbed.
That was not Cory Booker this week.
This was the floor of the U.S. Senate where the archaic parliamentarian procedures allow you to speak until you agree to yield the floor.
This wasn't a filibuster like in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, just Booker trying to do something, anything to stop Donald Trump.
In that movie, Jimmy Stewart portrays some small-town bumpkin backed by a political party boss to do his bidding without ever considering his patsy might have a conscious or a moral obligation to his constituents.
So there Booker stood this week - colleagues removed his chair so he would not be tempted to sit - addressing not only the U.S. Senate, but the entire country.
Sure, this was an attention-grabbing stunt, and sure the most cynical of us will conclude this was a way to kick off another presidential bid by Booker, but his words - at times poetic and eloquent - were a warning shot for all of us.
The message: PAY ATTENTION!
The federal government is being ripped to shreds - including the parts we most depend on in emergencies - for reasons few of us can fathom.
What the current administration is doing is using chemotherapy to treat a wart.
It is washing the fine China with a metal brush.
Cory Booker is a young man in the U.S. Senate - just 55 - but not that young.
When was the last time even the youngest and most vigorous of you were on your feet for 25 hours without sleep and not one bathroom break.
It is amazing what the human body - and spirit - is capable of when motivated.
Cory Booker was motivated.
"In just 71 days, the president has inflicted harm after harm on Americans' safety, financial stability, the foundations of our democracy and any sense of common decency," Booker said in his introductory remarks. "These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate."
And that was before Trump's tariffs plunged the stock market on Thursday and Friday.
Booker had prepared for his record-breaking speech by fasting and abstaining from drinking any liquids so he would dehydrated and not need to use the bathroom.
He started talking at 7 p.m. Monday night and didn't stop until 8:05 p.m. on Tuesday.
Part of the motivation for Booker was to eclipse Sen. Strom Thurmond's record of 24 hours and 18 minutes.
Thurmond was a white segregationist trying to block Civil Rights legislation.
Booker is a black Democrat trying to stop the dismantling of the American democracy.
"To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood here, maybe, maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand,” Booker said. “I’m not here though because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.”
NPR reported that despite the marathon speaking, "Mr. Booker, for his part, did not appear to tire. He occasionally rested on the lectern as he spoke. But even in the final minutes of his speech, he spoke loudly and clearly, gesturing with his hands to emphasize his points."
"I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up,” Booker said in a Tuesday night post on the social platform X. “What’s most clear to me tonight is that this is just the beginning, that Americans across this country, no matter their title or party, are ready to be heard.”
“I believe that history will show we rose to meet this moment,” the senator added. “It will show we did not let the chaos and division go unanswered. It will show that when our president chose to spread lies and sow fear, we chose to come together, to work together, and to rise together.”
Thousands tuned in - both online and on C-Span - to see how Booker was doing during his 24-hour marathon.
He started his speech by quoting civil rights hero and congressman John Lewis and then concluded that ways as well.
But let Cory Booker say it his way:
These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such. This is our moral moment. This is when the most precious ideas of our country are being tested…. Where does the Constitution live, on paper or in our hearts?
It is time to heed the words of the man I began this whole thing with: John Lewis. I beg folks to take his example of his early days when he made himself determined to show his love for his country at a time the country didn’t love him, to love this country so much, to be such a patriot that he endured beatings, savagely, on the Edmund Pettus bridge, at lunch counters, on freedom rides. He said he had to do something. He would not normalize a moment like this. He would not just go along with business as usual. He wouldn’t know how to solve it, but there’s one thing that he would do, that I hope we all can do, that I think I did a little bit of tonight. He said for us to go out and cause some good trouble, necessary trouble, to redeem the soul of our nation.
I want you to redeem the dream…. Let’s be bolder in America with a vision that inspires with hope. It starts with the people of the United States of America—that’s how this country started: ‘We the people.’ Let’s get back to the ideals that others are threatening, let's get back to our founding documents…. Those imperfect geniuses had some very special words at the end of the Declaration of Independence…when our founders said we must mutually pledge, pledge to each other ‘our lives, our fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.’ We need that now from all Americans. This is a moral moment. It’s not left or right, it's right or wrong
Maybe it’s time for all of us to go out and cause some good trouble.
Adams case dismissed
Mayor Eric Adams had his case dismissed this past week by a federal judge skeptical that it was done in the name of justice.
Judge Dale E. Ho of the Federal District Court in Manhattan said, “Everything here smacks of a bargain: Dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions,” the judge wrote in his decision.
Yet, he dismissed the case anyway.
Another shocker
The New York Times continues to track the cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. It reported this week that "Scientists focused on environmental health and asthma, injuries, lead poisoning, smoking and climate change were dismissed. Researchers studying blood disorders, violence prevention and access to vaccines were let go. The agency’s center on H.I.V. and sexually transmitted diseases was among the hardest hit, losing about 27 percent of its staff. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which makes recommendations on how to keep workers safe, was all but dissolved."
Confused
Hollywood director Oliver Stone, he did Platoon and JFK, testified to Congress this week about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, perhaps known more for her theater hijinks than her legislative accomplishments, asked Stone a question that seemed to confuse him.
“You wrote a book accusing LBJ of being involved in the killing of President Kennedy. Do these most recent releases confirm or negate your initial charge?” Boebert asked.
The problem was Stone never wrote such a boat.
But Roger Stone, a political operative who was pardoned by Donald Trump during his last administration, wrote a book very much like that.
Another witness jumped in and clarified that it was Roger Stone who wrote the book, not Oliver Stone.
It was then that Boebert looked confused before moving on.
Book festival
To follow up on my coverage of the New Orleans Book Festival from last weekend, it reported this week that it attracted a record-breaking 18,000 people. That topped the 15,000 that attended in 2024.
“Books are alive and well and people in New Orleans are interested in talking about them,” festival co-chair Cheryl Landrieu told The Times-Picayune.
Town board meeting
The Queensbury Town Board meeting is meeting on Monday night at 7 p.m.
There has been some talk that Republican members of the board are going to deny the flying of a Gay Flag price on the corner of Quaker and Bay and may try to establish a moratorium on showing flags on town property.
Attend your Town Board meeting today and be a good citizen.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
"Another witness jumped in and clarified that it was Roger Stone who wrote the book, not Oliver Stone. It was then that Boebert looked confused before moving on."
Moral of the story: People who live in crass houses shouldn't throw Stones.
To me, and hopefully to millions of other Americans, Booker is a hero. He gave voice to all of us who have been frustrated by our inability to speak out against the horrific acts the Trump Administration has wreaked America. Someone needed to speak up, and Booker did, eloquently and forcefully. He appealed not only to democrats, but republicans whom he has great respect for. He acknowledged the good that Congress has done when working together. I hope it inspired others to speak out as well.