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Tag: marsha blackburn
Marsha Blackburn

Blackburn Scorched For ‘Klansplaining’ Nonsense On Critical Race Theory

United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) on Saturday suggested that American parents are rebelling against the teaching of critical race theory. Then she called for it to be banned.

"Parents across America are paying attention to what their children are learning in the classroom, and they’re speaking up," Blackburn tweeted. "Ban critical race theory."

Gun control activist Fred Guttenberg offered Blackburn some perspective.

Other Twitter users – including parents – fired back at Blackburn, whose complaint can be easily dismantled under some light scrutiny:

  • Critical race theory is not an official component of any public school curriculum
  • Avoiding history does not mean that the sins of the past did not happen
  • An outright "ban" would be a violation of free speech
  • Outlawing an idea is literally impossible













Blackburn has also torpedoed her credibility on issues relating to the Constitution.


Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Republicans Accuse Biden Of 'Hypocrisy' On Travel Curbs -- But It's Still A Lie

Republicans Accuse Biden Of 'Hypocrisy' On Travel Curbs -- But It's Still A Lie

Congressional Republicans are dishonestly attacking President Joe Biden's effort to slow the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant, reviving debunked accusations from the 2020 campaign. They are still false.

On Friday, Biden signed a temporary suspension of some travel from southern African nations where the new omicron variant has been most prevalent. The emergency action, he wrote, was an effort to "swiftly and aggressively to prevent further spread of the disease."

But Republican lawmakers who cheered a similar travel restriction on some visitors from China — implemented by then-President Trump in early 2020 — have attacked Biden's efforts. Trump boasted — without evidence — that his orders saved 2 million lives.

"Almost two years ago, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris called President Trump a racist for protecting Americans by restricting travel for those entering the U.S. as the pandemic began," tweeted Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn on Sunday "Now, they're doing the exact same thing."

"When President Trump took bold and decisive action in February 2020 to impose travel restrictions into the United States from coronavirus hot spots, Joe Biden attacked him, calling this decision a disgrace and xenophobic," claimed House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik.

North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn retweeted former President Donald Trump's leadership PAC, which wrote that "Joe Biden is now using the Trump policies he once criticized. HYPOCRITE!"

Throughout the 2020 campaign, Trump repeatedly complained that Biden had opposed those travel restrictions and called them xenophobic.

"I had Biden calling me xenophobic," he claimed in a March 2020 Fox News appearance. "He called me a racist, because of the fact that he felt it was a racist thing to stop people from China coming in."

In their first debate last September, Trump scolded Biden, saying, "I closed it and you said, 'He's xenophobic. He's a racist and he's xenophobic,' because you didn't think I should have closed our country."

But independent fact-checkers debunked these statements, noting that Biden warned in late January 2020 that it was "no time for Donald Trump's record of hysteria xenophobia, hysterical xenophobia, and fear-mongering to lead the way instead of science" and criticized Trump's racist use of the term "Chinese virus," but never attacked the travel restrictions.

Indeed Biden's campaign said last April that he "supports travel bans that are guided by medical experts, advocated by public health officials, and backed by a full strategy."

Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) tweeted Monday, "President Biden has banned travel from 8 countries in Africa due to the new COVID variant. But when President Trump did the same thing, it was a 'disgrace.'"

He linked to a Feb. 1, 2020 tweet from Biden, criticizing Trump's travel restrictions on people from six African countries with significant Muslim populations. But that "Africa Ban" had nothing to do with the coronavirus and was — according to Trump — entirely about addressing those nation's alleged "deficiencies in sharing terrorist, criminal, or identity information."

On Saturday, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) — Trump's former White House doctor and his unsuccessful pick to be secretary of veterans zffairs — baselessly suggested that the omicron variant is just a Democratic ploy to stay in power. "Here comes the MEV - the Midterm Election Variant! They NEED a reason to push unsolicited nationwide mail-in ballots. Democrats will do anything to CHEAT during an election - but we're not going to let them!"

One expert told the Washington Post that it's possible Biden's ban might slow the variants spread in the United States by days or weeks, as the public health community rushes to understand its impact. But some public health experts warn that travel bans like this can undermine scientific transparency and African leaders say they are not justified by science.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Sen. Ted Cruz

Senate Republicans Shield Super-Rich Tax Cheats — And Democrats Are Silent

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Senate Republicans are dead set on making sure that the rich people who they've been helping to avoid pay their taxes continue to have the privilege of cheating the rest of us. It would appear that the Democrats participating in the sham called bipartisan infrastructure negotiations are okay with that. According to Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, the group is "looking at alternative pay-fors to IRS tax enforcement."

Again, this is about letting the wealthy off the hook for the taxes they already owe. It's not about new taxes. It's not about raising anyone's taxes. It's about continuing to allow the super-rich to cheat the rest of us, who do pay our tax bills every year.

Republicans have been raising holy hell over the idea that President Joe Biden wants to strengthen the IRS enough so that it can go after the really big tax cheats, the ones robbing the nation of hundreds of billions of dollars, instead of the working poor peoplewho are easier to audit, the ones who can't afford lawyers to intervene. Fully funding the IRS and clawing those owed tax dollars out of the hands of people who can damned well afford to pay has been included as one of the ways that the bipartisan group has said they'll pay for their almost $600 billion proposal for hard infrastructure.

That, apparently, is out and apparently Democrats in the bipartisan group are accepting that fact. Even though it's the likes of extremist Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Marsha Blackburn who are raising hell—extremists who were never going to vote for an infrastructure plan that helps President Joe Biden in the first place. Senate aides working with the group confirmed to TheWashington Post that "it is likely to be removed from the deal."

That means that the fire sale of existing infrastructure to the highest hedge fund bidders, who would then be in a position to make the public pay for its use all over again, could still be in. Because they have to figure out how pay for it somehow anyway. Or at least they say they do, which they really don't because borrowing money is still cheaper than dirt. As of earlier this month, White House aides were telling Democrats in phone conversations that was not an option, but we haven't seen a high-level, public denunciation of that idea.

Republicans aren't just having hissy fits over the IRS making them and their buddies pay all their taxes, however; they're outraged that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants them to finish their work. A short exhibit of their varied tantrums:

Never mind that they've supposedly been working on this since April, when Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who is so concerned that there just isn't enough time, started negotiating with Biden. They announced this supposed bipartisan agreement more than three weeks ago. She added that she thought Schumer's scheduling the vote was an attempt "to put pressure on the group to either put up or shut up."

Well ... yes. And about time, too. Because seriously, they've been at this forever. Now, we all know Republicans are awfully rusty when it comes to doing actual work (like writing bills), but there's a bunch of Democrats who could be doing all of that hard part. So what in the hell have they been doing all these weeks, that they can't be ready by next Wednesday?

They've been wasting time, is what they've been doing, hoping to draw this process out and have it die from neglect. And Democrats have been letting them get away with it because "bipartisanship." Now that the $3.5 trillion budget resolution train is getting loaded up, yes, this group needs to put up or shut up. And pay their damned taxes.

Myrna Pérez

Senate Republicans Attack Biden Nominee For Voting Rights Advocacy

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Senate Republicans on Wednesday came out against President Joe Biden's nominee for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, criticizing her support for voting rights and advocacy against the type of voter suppression tactics Republican lawmakers across the country have sought to implement.

The senators said during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Myrna Pérez that she would not be able to rule impartially on voting rights issues if she were seated on the court.

Pérez is currently on leave from her role as the director of the Brennan Center for Justice's Voting Rights and Elections Project, where she analyzed and criticized voter suppression laws that have been passed by GOP-controlled state legislatures in the wake of Donald Trump's loss of the 2020 presidential election.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took issue with Pérez's advocacy against voter suppression laws.

"You have waged litigation campaigns and opposed voter ID laws, you have opposed voter integrity laws, you have opposed prohibitions on ballot harvesting, you have advocated for felons being able to vote," Cruz said, calling her a "radical activist."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said she didn't believe Pérez could be neutral, tweeting, "Myrna Pérez is too busy being an activist to concentrate on being a second circuit judge," Blackburn tweeted, sharing a video of her questioning of Pérez.

Pérez responded, "In the great genius of our Constitution, people play different roles," according to the Hill newspaper. "Advocates zealously argue on behalf of their clients in as many forms as they can. I have had the privilege and pleasure of doing that."

Democrats and voting rights groups responded to the Judiciary Committee Republicans as well.

"Sen. Ted Cruz claims that Myrna Pérez is a 'radical' activist because of her advocacy for the right to vote. Guaranteeing access to the polls is anything but radical, and we need judges with civil rights experience like Pérez on our courts," the Alliance for Justice tweeted, urging Pérez's confirmation.

The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund also tweeted support for Pérez, writing, "Federal judges play vital roles in preserving constitutional democracy. It's critical that judges have a demonstrated commitment to fairness and the rule of law. Myrna Pérez has dedicated her career to strengthening and protecting voting rights and our democracy."

Senate Democrats are taking advantage of their slim majority in the chamber to prioritize the confirmation of Biden's judicial nominees.

The pace at which they are confirming his court picks is faster than any president in the last 50 years, according to a report by CBS affiliate WUSA9 in Washington, D.C. To date, seven of Biden's judicial nominees have been confirmed, more than the two judges Trump had confirmed at this same point in his term.

Republicans have yet to block one of Biden's judicial nominees — who have been far more diverse than Trump's picks.

If Pérez is confirmed, she'll be the only Latina to serve on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, and the first since then-Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.