You would think Stefanik’s Ivy League education would have provided more capacity for critical reasoning. Perhaps it did, which then makes her spew all the more despicable.
Nice column, Will. I can’t take credit for the comparison, but I’ve seen what Stefanik does compared to Mad Libs. I suppose there’s some irony in that. But, this is also some of her product, “The Soros-backed woke prosecutor Alvin Bragg must testify under oath before Congress.” The hypocrisy of every Republican in Congress and the rightwing media joining in the chorus of Soros is breathtaking. This is two months after they removed Omar from her committees for tweets she made four years ago. Nothing anti-Semitic about the rich globalist Jew pulling strings on a Black DA. A racist two-fer in the words of Kevin Kruse.
“Instead, you and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump’s efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges and made unfounded allegations that the Office’s investigation … is politically motivated,” Dubeck wrote. “We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference.”
That was from Leslie Dubeck in Alvin Bragg’s office to the most ridiculous trio since Moe, Larry and Curly. If Bragg wasn’t busy, I’d love to see him go to DC and make them look like idiots in a televised hearing like the people from Twitter did and Dan Goldman regularly does.
“I think that the New York case is much stronger than people perceive it to be.” That’s John Dean in an article in The Atlantic. I really hope he’s right. I figure his prognostications are worth as much as anyone’s. In any case, I’m looking forward to Trump’s minions defending him for trying to extort votes in Georgia and otherwise stoking the coup for two months leading up to January 6th.
It may be accurate to call the Congresswoman a liar, in my opinion, it is, but that won't fly with many in our district who think she can do no wrong, largely due to her political affiliation. Doesn't really matter what she does, as long as she has GOP next to her name. If there is any justice at all, she will soon be looking for work, though I am highly skeptical that will happen.
If I interpret 'won't fly' the way I understand it, you mean they wouldn't accept it.... I would have to say... sorry.. they are wrong.
1) #pos_tefanik is lying to them.... and on social media I have time and time again demonstrated that she IS lying---> with facts, with sources.
2) while she is lying to them, those in her district who believe what she posts and says, they are only lying to themselves.
If she can lie because she is a republican and she allows her to lie because they too are republicans... we are left with separating the chaff from the wheat.. or in other words
I have said it before and will say it again WE NEED TO VOTE stefanik OUT!! Let’s show the country and world that the people of Northern New York are sick of her crap and want her gone!
As the investigations proceed and indictments begin, certain congress members, including Elies, are becoming more vocal in their opposition to it. What they don't want proven in court is that the person they have steadfastly supported for the past 6 years through 2 impeachment proceedings has been a criminal the entire time. Many of us already knew this, some will never accept it if proven. In addition, another pesky investigation has zeroed in on 34 members of Congress, who are subjects of interest to Jack Smith. They may be co-conspirators in a crime which has already found some actors guilty of seditious conspiracy. This type of involvement could bring several if not many political careers to a grinding halt and a stay in crowbar hotel. Let's hope.
I see commentators separate it all into the political and the legal. None of political nonsense from the rightwing Congress and media is going to have any effect on the legal outcome. And it’s hard to see how the politics of it is going to go well as the indictments keep on coming.
The core principle of our system “…governments are instituted among (the people) deriving their just powers from consent of the governed…” Consent of the governed implies an obligation to work toward consensus. Without general consensus and consent the powers of government by definition would not be just. Further, the statement implies necessity to expand just powers, or social justice. Because people living in our nation are subject to our government the government is obligated to treat everyone justly; everyone, be they black, or women, or transgender, or whatever.
The Trump brand of Republicans work to deny consent of the governed. Their philosophy attempts to deny just governance to whole classes of people. They purport their objections are based on religious principle. They equate their religious belief systems to be morality. But while the Constitution justly allows them any form of religious worship they choose the founding principle of America holds their attempts to claw just rights away from people who have given consent to be governed to be, well, unAmerican.
Historical examples of democracies regressing to authoritarian forms of government include a number of Greek city-states. Interestingly, the Persian empire returned local democracy to a number of those states after conquering them, in return for a form of what amounted to tax payments to the central government. The Persian (Achaemenid) empire is a good historical example to look at when considering governments that included great diversity of ethnicity, religion, customs, etc. This being the Passover/Easter season it’s worth remembering that after Cyrus (a Zoroastrian) defeated the Babylonians he allowed and encouraged his new Jewish subjects to return to their ancestral home. The Achaemenid kings paid for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (a policy that provided similar support to pretty much all religions within the empire) and Artaxerxes set Ezra the task of collecting and documenting the laws of the Jewish people then sent Nehemiah along with substantial government resources to establish a permanent priesthood. Imagine any current GOP leader acting so magnanimously toward a fringe religious/ethnic sect today.
No, we are seeing people like Stefanik working to deny consent of the governed, working in effect to corrode democratic principles, a pattern that lead to the rise of the form of government the ancient Greeks knew as a tyranny.
The most despicable thing about Elise is that she surely knows better but contrives her speech to create fear and uproar in those of her supporters who do NOT know better. She is a terrible actor. Too many of our neighbors fall for her act, and it is ugly.
So well said Will. Appreciate your giving a review of how the legal grand jury process works. I've served on a couple of jurys (Warren County) over my years and respect the system.
Every time I read of another Stefanik outburst I get so frustrated realizing that all my previous attempts at expressing dissatisfaction to her only result in her avoiding the points a raise (if she even responds anymore), and ends with what she claims to do for the district.
The bigger question is how can we convince voters who continue to support her to change their minds. I actually mostly like the announced primary challenger to her, so far.
<b>I actually mostly like the announced primary challenger to her, so far.</b>
I’m hopeful that Jill Lochner and people like her can bring the Republican Party back to a normalish, centrist, actual conservative party. It’d be ironic and a blessing for the country if a lot of the MAGA Republicans ended up losing to more centrist candidates while they were worried about fending off challenges from the more extreme right.
Loved your concluding remarks about S-k...and about ourselves when we choose to react without informing ourselves and not to think and reason as objectively as we can. Thank you for clearly illustrating how a grand jury works, and what a politician can spew out of blinding ignorance and venality.
Thank you also for that beautifully written excerpt from The Dead. It transports the reader from tiny snowflakes to the length, breadth and depth of the human experience.
Of course they are wrong, but try to convince them if that. They consider themselves patriotic, but I think them delusional. I also suspect it is a knee jerk reaction to having a non-white man elected President.
We read that Joyce work in high school . Sophomore year. The same year we studied Civics and learned we lived in a nation of laws.
You would think Stefanik’s Ivy League education would have provided more capacity for critical reasoning. Perhaps it did, which then makes her spew all the more despicable.
Nice column, Will. I can’t take credit for the comparison, but I’ve seen what Stefanik does compared to Mad Libs. I suppose there’s some irony in that. But, this is also some of her product, “The Soros-backed woke prosecutor Alvin Bragg must testify under oath before Congress.” The hypocrisy of every Republican in Congress and the rightwing media joining in the chorus of Soros is breathtaking. This is two months after they removed Omar from her committees for tweets she made four years ago. Nothing anti-Semitic about the rich globalist Jew pulling strings on a Black DA. A racist two-fer in the words of Kevin Kruse.
“Instead, you and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump’s efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges and made unfounded allegations that the Office’s investigation … is politically motivated,” Dubeck wrote. “We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference.”
That was from Leslie Dubeck in Alvin Bragg’s office to the most ridiculous trio since Moe, Larry and Curly. If Bragg wasn’t busy, I’d love to see him go to DC and make them look like idiots in a televised hearing like the people from Twitter did and Dan Goldman regularly does.
“I think that the New York case is much stronger than people perceive it to be.” That’s John Dean in an article in The Atlantic. I really hope he’s right. I figure his prognostications are worth as much as anyone’s. In any case, I’m looking forward to Trump’s minions defending him for trying to extort votes in Georgia and otherwise stoking the coup for two months leading up to January 6th.
at what point do we just call ms #pos_tefanik a
L I A R
at what point do we admit that the liar is a criminal
who is trying to obstruct justice?
It may be accurate to call the Congresswoman a liar, in my opinion, it is, but that won't fly with many in our district who think she can do no wrong, largely due to her political affiliation. Doesn't really matter what she does, as long as she has GOP next to her name. If there is any justice at all, she will soon be looking for work, though I am highly skeptical that will happen.
If I interpret 'won't fly' the way I understand it, you mean they wouldn't accept it.... I would have to say... sorry.. they are wrong.
1) #pos_tefanik is lying to them.... and on social media I have time and time again demonstrated that she IS lying---> with facts, with sources.
2) while she is lying to them, those in her district who believe what she posts and says, they are only lying to themselves.
If she can lie because she is a republican and she allows her to lie because they too are republicans... we are left with separating the chaff from the wheat.. or in other words
the liar from the fools
I have said it before and will say it again WE NEED TO VOTE stefanik OUT!! Let’s show the country and world that the people of Northern New York are sick of her crap and want her gone!
As the investigations proceed and indictments begin, certain congress members, including Elies, are becoming more vocal in their opposition to it. What they don't want proven in court is that the person they have steadfastly supported for the past 6 years through 2 impeachment proceedings has been a criminal the entire time. Many of us already knew this, some will never accept it if proven. In addition, another pesky investigation has zeroed in on 34 members of Congress, who are subjects of interest to Jack Smith. They may be co-conspirators in a crime which has already found some actors guilty of seditious conspiracy. This type of involvement could bring several if not many political careers to a grinding halt and a stay in crowbar hotel. Let's hope.
I see commentators separate it all into the political and the legal. None of political nonsense from the rightwing Congress and media is going to have any effect on the legal outcome. And it’s hard to see how the politics of it is going to go well as the indictments keep on coming.
The core principle of our system “…governments are instituted among (the people) deriving their just powers from consent of the governed…” Consent of the governed implies an obligation to work toward consensus. Without general consensus and consent the powers of government by definition would not be just. Further, the statement implies necessity to expand just powers, or social justice. Because people living in our nation are subject to our government the government is obligated to treat everyone justly; everyone, be they black, or women, or transgender, or whatever.
The Trump brand of Republicans work to deny consent of the governed. Their philosophy attempts to deny just governance to whole classes of people. They purport their objections are based on religious principle. They equate their religious belief systems to be morality. But while the Constitution justly allows them any form of religious worship they choose the founding principle of America holds their attempts to claw just rights away from people who have given consent to be governed to be, well, unAmerican.
Historical examples of democracies regressing to authoritarian forms of government include a number of Greek city-states. Interestingly, the Persian empire returned local democracy to a number of those states after conquering them, in return for a form of what amounted to tax payments to the central government. The Persian (Achaemenid) empire is a good historical example to look at when considering governments that included great diversity of ethnicity, religion, customs, etc. This being the Passover/Easter season it’s worth remembering that after Cyrus (a Zoroastrian) defeated the Babylonians he allowed and encouraged his new Jewish subjects to return to their ancestral home. The Achaemenid kings paid for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem (a policy that provided similar support to pretty much all religions within the empire) and Artaxerxes set Ezra the task of collecting and documenting the laws of the Jewish people then sent Nehemiah along with substantial government resources to establish a permanent priesthood. Imagine any current GOP leader acting so magnanimously toward a fringe religious/ethnic sect today.
No, we are seeing people like Stefanik working to deny consent of the governed, working in effect to corrode democratic principles, a pattern that lead to the rise of the form of government the ancient Greeks knew as a tyranny.
Anything written by you Will is a must read. Thanks for sharing this important column. Jane
Thank you for the Joyce, a reminder of the beauty to be found in our world.
The most despicable thing about Elise is that she surely knows better but contrives her speech to create fear and uproar in those of her supporters who do NOT know better. She is a terrible actor. Too many of our neighbors fall for her act, and it is ugly.
I agree. She is a terrible actor misusing the trust of her constituents.
So well said Will. Appreciate your giving a review of how the legal grand jury process works. I've served on a couple of jurys (Warren County) over my years and respect the system.
Every time I read of another Stefanik outburst I get so frustrated realizing that all my previous attempts at expressing dissatisfaction to her only result in her avoiding the points a raise (if she even responds anymore), and ends with what she claims to do for the district.
The bigger question is how can we convince voters who continue to support her to change their minds. I actually mostly like the announced primary challenger to her, so far.
<b>I actually mostly like the announced primary challenger to her, so far.</b>
I’m hopeful that Jill Lochner and people like her can bring the Republican Party back to a normalish, centrist, actual conservative party. It’d be ironic and a blessing for the country if a lot of the MAGA Republicans ended up losing to more centrist candidates while they were worried about fending off challenges from the more extreme right.
Loved your concluding remarks about S-k...and about ourselves when we choose to react without informing ourselves and not to think and reason as objectively as we can. Thank you for clearly illustrating how a grand jury works, and what a politician can spew out of blinding ignorance and venality.
Thank you also for that beautifully written excerpt from The Dead. It transports the reader from tiny snowflakes to the length, breadth and depth of the human experience.
A great column. Thank you
Of course they are wrong, but try to convince them if that. They consider themselves patriotic, but I think them delusional. I also suspect it is a knee jerk reaction to having a non-white man elected President.
Stefanik is so wrong to do that! And I wish she wasn’t so influential! May she be defeated in the next election!