In November we think about giving thanks, but there are other important days on the calendar. November is election month. Our local election was on the 7th, and Republicans in Virginia took a trouncing. I will give thanks that our governor, now without any legislative support, will not get to track women’s menstrual cycles. Nor will he get his abortion ban. Democrats now control our legislature, and that is a fine thing. Voters across America realize that this election was between the party that wants to take away our rights and the party who wants all citizens to have the right to control their -own lives without governmental interference. Most Americans know that we, the people, should be in charge of what we do with our bodies and who we love, not politicians. Another - often overshadowed by the others - holiday in the November calendar is Veteran’s Day. It used to be called Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of WWI and pay homage to the many who gave their l...
In writing a column reflecting Democratic and Progressive values, I find no shortage of topics: Republicans keep coming up with more and more crazy initiatives and policies; they are currently trying to take away rights to vote, the right to reproductive freedom, the rights of teachers to select curriculum, the rights of librarians to select books.
They still support treasonous insurrectionists and the lie that Trump won the 2020 election. There’s so much, and it’s all a toxic mix of delusion and anti-democracy.
As my last column warned: Get ready for Republican shenanigans instead of governing now that they have the House majority (barely).
After running for election on issues such as inflation, rising gas prices, and immigration reform (issues that Americans are concerned about), what has the new-Republican majority been up to?
Instead of tackling the real problems Americans face, the new House Oversight Committee, using a broad-based panel called The Weaponization of Government, held a hearing called, “Protecting Speech From Government Interference and Social Media Bias, Part 1: Twitter’s Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story.”
Just the title alone proves how little governing-Republicans understand about our rights and our Constitution. Our right to free speech in the First Amendment protects us from government censorship – it has nothing to do with private entities like Twitter. In fact, their Twitter, “witnesses,” appeared bewildered by what the committee was claiming.
But the Republicans spend (and waste) taxpayer money by investigating the lie that The FBI ordered Twitter to suppress information about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Like cats chasing their own tails, Republicans are getting nowhere, (as they did when forcing Hilary Clinton to testify 11 times about Benghazi), but it guarantees them TV time, and slots on Fox news.
The hearing, however, did bring to light one instance of government censorship -when the Trump administration tried to get Twitter to block Chrissy Teigen’s account when she criticized that president.
As Kurt Bardella noted in The Los Angeles Times, “House Republicans are beginning with a massive credibility deficit. A recent Navigator Research poll found that only 16% of Americans think the GOP’s obsessive investigations are important.
And the Pew Research Center found that 65% of U.S. adults believe Republicans will be overly focused on investigating the Biden administration.”
Few Americans are interested in seeing Republicans twist themselves into pretzels over nonsense investigations. But it is kind of fun, in an ironic way, to watch Marjorie Taylor Greene screaming about her loss of free speech as she speaks from one of the most powerful and public platforms in the free world.
Republican investigations will continue; they are looking into what they say is Democratic Party’s use of government entities to harass the Trump administration. They plan to investigate the origins of Covid and President Biden’s family taxes and what they think is the misuse of the Dept. of Justice.
Chair of this committee, Rep. Jim Jordan claims he has, “Dozens of whistleblowers” from Justice, but he was unable to produce any affidavits, saying the public will meet the whistleblowers, “when they testify.” Undoubtedly, a hearing on the Justice Department will most likely be as useful as the hearing about Twitter.
Meanwhile, what about inflation? Climate change? Gas prices? Refugees? Americans are still asking.
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