US politics: Trumpenslammer

[Zorral]

West Virginia, Unions, Corporate Coal Mine Owners and the 1921 Battle at Blair Mountain.

The striking miners were literally bombed from the air, among other murdering violence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/opinion/culture/west-virginia-strike-coal-miner-history.html

Quote

 

The striking miners were 10,000 strong on the first day of September 1921 as they charged up the slope of Blair Mountain, propelled by a radical faith in the American dream. According to an Associated Press reporter who crouched behind a log and watched through field glasses, each time they pressed forward, a “veritable wall” of machine gun fire drove them back. As the barrage peeled through the hollows, reminding some of the action they had just seen in the forests of France, the advancing miners soon heard a different sound: deeper, earthshaking explosions. From biplanes above, tear gas, explosive powder and metal bolts rained down. “My God,” screamed one miner fighting his way up Crooked Creek Gap. “They’re bombing us!”

“They” were Sheriff Don Chafin and his deputies, who terrorized the citizens of Logan County, W.Va., by the authority of the coal companies. The miners vastly outnumbered their opponents, but Chafin had the superior position and weapons. “ACTUAL WAR IS RAGING IN LOGAN,” one local paper declared the day before.

The miners were fighting for the right to unionize, and to end the reviled “mine guard system,” a private force of armed guards who brutally enforced the company’s control in the coal fields. Unless the mine guard system was removed, John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, had warned, “the dove of peace” would “never make permanent abode in this stricken territory.”

On Sept. 4, federal troops arrived at Blair Mountain. The miners cheered, thinking Uncle Sam had come to liberate them from King Coal. Uncle Sam had no such plans. In 1921, about three million Americans were unemployed, and Washington was concerned that the industrial war raging in southern West Virginia could spread to other states. The troops told miners to stand down, and they did. “We wouldn’t revolt against the national government,” one of them said.

ImageA photograph from 1921 of modest houses along some railroad tracks.
Credit...Kenneth King/West Virginia Mine Wars Museum

The miners were roundly defeated, but their struggle was not in vain: Years later, as part of the New Deal, the rights they were fighting for — including the right to collectively bargain — were written into law. Black, white and immigrant, the “Red Neck Army” (so named for the red bandannas they wore) had mounted the largest working-class uprising in U.S. history and the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. ....

 

 

[ThinkerX]

Given how poor the republicans fared in the midterms - including the almost surprise upset in Colorado - and the idiotic bills and internal feuds of the R's that did hold their seats...I think the democrats have good odds of both taking the House back in 2024 and possibly expanding their senate lead. The republicans are ticking off that many people. Have no idea which ones, but I figure there is a 50-50 shot of one or two 'safe' R senate seats flipping. 

[Gaston de Foix]

14 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

Given how poor the republicans fared in the midterms - including the almost surprise upset in Colorado - and the idiotic bills and internal feuds of the R's that did hold their seats...I think the democrats have good odds of both taking the House back in 2024 and possibly expanding their senate lead. The republicans are ticking off that many people. Have no idea which ones, but I figure there is a 50-50 shot of one or two 'safe' R senate seats flipping. 

Love the optimism, but I would just remind you that in 2022 Greg Abbott crushed Beto (ok, fine, imperfect candidate) in TX and Rubio crushed Val Demings (great candidate) in FL in those two safe seats.  The dream of Blue Texas remains alive, at least in my heart, but exceedingly unlikely to happen in 2024.  Scott is less popular, sure, but we don't even have a top-tier Dem candidate yet.  

I think, you are right, that a Senate seat in TX can and will flip eventually, and Cruz is more vulnerable than Cornyn.  Just doubtful it will happen in a presidential election year.  

[ThinkerX]

4 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Love the optimism, but I would just remind you that in 2022 Greg Abbott crushed Beto (ok, fine, imperfect candidate) in TX and Rubio crushed Val Demings (great candidate) in FL in those two safe seats.  The dream of Blue Texas remains alive, at least in my heart, but exceedingly unlikely to happen in 2024.  Scott is less popular, sure, but we don't even have a top-tier Dem candidate yet.  

I think, you are right, that a Senate seat in TX can and will flip eventually, and Cruz is more vulnerable than Cornyn.  Just doubtful it will happen in a presidential election year.  

I wasn't thinking Texas for a 'out of the blue' flip - I actually have no idea. I would point out that Paxton, Texas's utterly corrupt attorney general who boasted about keeping the state red via voter suppression, did get himself impeached. Additionally, what seems to have escaped the attention of Red State legislators is that some of the election laws they are passing can be used against THEM. 

[Zorral]

Can't we get rid of Tuberville?  Please, Universe, Please, PLEASE!

Biden's named a woman to lead the US Navy, but can she even get confirmed?

[Zorral]

Ha! The fascists' punching bag ... punches back. 

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4110372-hunter-bidens-attorney-files-ethics-complaint-against-marjorie-taylor-greene-for-showing-sexual-images/

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Alabama tells the SC to go fuck itself on redistricting. Nothing will happen. Blue states need to learn to do the same. The SC is dead. Idk why anyone would respect them at this point. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

7 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Alabama tells the SC to go fuck itself on redistricting. Nothing will happen. Blue states need to learn to do the same. The SC is dead. Idk why anyone would respect them at this point. 

How long before Court draws its own map?

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/21/politics/alabama-congressional-map/index.html

Edited July 21, 2023 by Ser Scot A Ellison

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Link?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/alabama-gop-refuses-draw-second-black-district-supreme-court-order-rcna94715

[karaddin]

3 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Boo. Ignore. Week made the point first...

I'll acknowledge your late effort by asking you instead of Week :p I've seen push back on the profits from Modelo going back to AB InBev anyway on the basis of it not being distributed by their subsidiaries in the US, just the rest of the world - is that actually the case or just bullshit on Reddit?

[Gaston de Foix]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Alabama tells the SC to go fuck itself on redistricting. Nothing will happen. Blue states need to learn to do the same. The SC is dead. Idk why anyone would respect them at this point. 

I get that people are up in arms about this but the lower federal courts will shut this down.  The SC will deny cert.  The decision in Merrill was 6-3 and the majority won't brook defiance of its own decision.  Alabama's hope is Kavanaugh or Barrett rides to the rescue with some dishonest application of the Purcell principle.  Won't happen.  The rule of law is flickering in this country, but not all is darkness, yet. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

7 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

I get that people are up in arms about this but the lower federal courts will shut this down.  The SC will deny cert.  The decision in Merrill was 6-3 and the majority won't brook defiance of its own decision.  Alabama's hope is Kavanaugh or Barrett rides to the rescue with some dishonest application of the Purcell principle.  Won't happen.  The rule of law is flickering in this country, but not all is darkness, yet. 

Want to make a bet on this? I think the two most likely scenarios are the Alabama legislature ignores the courts or the courts agree that there's enough ambiguity in the ruling that the desired outcome is aspirational, not mandated.  

Edited July 22, 2023 by Tywin et al.

[Gaston de Foix]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

Want to make a bet on this? I think the two most likely scenarios are the Alabama legislature ignores the courts or the courts agree that there's enough ambiguity in the ruling that the desired outcome is aspirational, not mandated.  

Sure. Terms?

The ambiguity here is that the SC said majority or something close to it.  Alabama could have been smarter and done a 45% black district.  But they opted for 39.9%.  It's always helpful when the racists are also stupid. 

[Jaxom 1974]

1 hour ago, karaddin said:

I'll acknowledge your late effort by asking you instead of Week :p I've seen push back on the profits from Modelo going back to AB InBev anyway on the basis of it not being distributed by their subsidiaries in the US, just the rest of the world - is that actually the case or just bullshit on Reddit?

Apparently it's convoluted l, to a degree. I can't claim to understand all of it. I know AB InBev is who is responsible for distribution in the US.  Apparently, though, the actual company that owns the production rights for the US Market, Constellation Brands, has been shipping overseas on their own...

[James Arryn]

3 hours ago, Zorral said:

West Virginia, Unions, Corporate Coal Mine Owners and the 1921 Battle at Blair Mountain.

The striking miners were literally bombed from the air, among other murdering violence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/opinion/culture/west-virginia-strike-coal-miner-history.html

 

Been saying for a looong time, the US is currently grappling with their history of dealing with gender, race, religion etc. but never even for a second explores the brutal history of brutalizing and murdering in droves anything even remotely related to organized labour. Just read the history of the Pinkertons for one single example, they made their bones as gangs of ‘strike breakers’ who beat up, killed or framed countless people for trying to uphold the only power labour has in the marketplace, collective bargaining. 

 Like it’s not even discussed, and if brought up is dismissed the way all the other horrible things used to be, ie ‘product of their times’ never mind how relatively bad or one-sided or even retained it is. A reckoning is surely due there too, but never a hint of it anywhere in popular American culture or political debate. I wonder why that is. 

Edited July 22, 2023 by James Arryn

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

8 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Sure. Terms?

The ambiguity here is that the SC said majority or something close to it.  Alabama could have been smarter and done a 45% black district.  But they opted for 39.9%.  It's always helpful when the racists are also stupid. 

Title bet for a month, as always. Kal and Jace's debts are about to cash in. I still can't believe you two thought Urban Meyer would get a job within two seasons. The bet is over, but technically the season hasn't started. 

The loophole is what you mentioned. "Something close to it" can literally mean anything you want it to. The difference between 40% and 45% is legally meaningless. It just can't be some thing like 20%.If they can argue there's reason to believe 40% is still a plurality, game over. And that's assuming anyone really cares who has the power to do anything. 

[Gaston de Foix]

On 7/20/2023 at 5:45 PM, Kalnak the Magnificent said:

This is a crazy long read - from the person who wrote How Democracies Die - but it's absolutely fascinating and well-researched and reasoned, and gives very succinct reasoning as to why the US is in real trouble:

https://www.californialawreview.org/print/the-third-founding-the-rise-of-multiracial-democracy-and-the-authoritarian-reaction-against-it

 

So I intended to engage with the premise behind this article, and it reminded me in many ways of an excellent article by Pam Karlan: link. 

Here's the first place I disagreed: 

pg.4: "And in fact, I think there’s now a pretty good chance that the Republicans will try to steal the 2024 election." 

Well. 

It's absolutely true that between Nov. 2020 and Jan 2021 the Republican party became an authoritarian or anti-democratic party and not just a minority one.  It's also true that it expelled or punished many of those who defied the authoritarian turn or tried to investigate or sanction that conduct.  BUT, it's also true that many of those resisted survived and thrived, including many like Raffensberger who were called dead men walking, or Murkowski.  Silent defiance was not punished; only open defiance was.  Most importantly, the electorate savagely punished election deniers in 2022.  In terms of personnel, the Republican party has never been more Trumpified.  But in terms of following Trump's authoritarian turn, I'm unconvinced that those such as Kemp and Raffensberger who resisted in 2020 are going to suddenly change course in 2024.  

But OK, let's say the facts are murky enough a la Florida 2000 that they try to do it.  Where do they have control? Not PA, MI or WI or AZ.  Just GA (and NC, FL and OH the old battleground states).  Are we really saying that Raffensberger and Kemp are going to go balls to the wall for their buddy Trump and their efforts are going to be decisive? Yeah, right. 

So this brings us to the link between the counter-majoritarian institutions and the authoritarian Republican party (about p.8) which is reminiscent of the Karlan article.  And I really do get the frustration with the melange of these profoundly undemocratic parts of the constitution.  And the inability to amend the constitution. 

But there are some institutions that are contingently counter-majoritarian and some that are structurally counter-majoritarian. 

For example, if you take the long view, the benefit of the electoral college has shifted from party to party, and may shift in the future.  Does it suck? Sure.  Will it continue to suck for evermore? Maybe not.  Maybe we'll reach a new balance where the electoral college and popular vote align.  But if not, we do have initiatives like the National Popular Vote that are trying to address this problem.  It's a long hard road, sure, but we aren't completely out of luck. 

Same for the Senate.  The filibuster is a procedural rule.  It will die in the next couple of decades when an ambitious president finds it impedes his or her agenda.  Trump wanted to get rid of it, and if he had been slightly more disciplined and organized, might have managed it.  

As for the SC, look for all the complaints about constitutional hardball, the Democrats did lose the 2004 election and RBG did stay on the bench in 2014 when she should have retired.  And that's really on the Dems.  No one, including Obama, dared tell RBG in no uncertain terms to shuffle offstage.  If they wanted to dominate the SC for a generation, they should have won the 2016 election.  It's really that simple. They fucked up, thrice. 

They also got a couple of lucky breaks inasmuch as John Stevens lived as long as he did, and Souter retired when Obama was president.  Both Republican appointees, whose drift leftward was fortunate for the country, but hardly guaranteed.  

I hear Levitsky's cri de couer:  "The United States desperately needs institutional reform. We need to entrench voting rights. We need to replace the Electoral College with direct elections. We need to democratize the Senate. We need to eliminate the filibuster. We need to reform the Supreme Court."

I want all this stuff too. 

But we had a Democratic president with a supermajority in Congress only 14 years ago.  He could have passed a new voting rights act; eliminated the filibuster or even imposed a code of ethics on the SC.  It wasn't a felt necessity at the time and he didn't do any of those things.  When one party prioritizes substantive outcomes, and the other focuses on garnering power by any means necessary you have an imbalance. 

The Democratic party has largely gotten what it wanted and what it felt the country needed in the last two democratic presidencies; it's just that it has had (arguably) the wrong priorities.  But it's not too late.  It can win congressional majorities, abolish the filibuster and pass a major new voting rights act.  It can admit PR and DC as states.  It can expand the SC.  It's not easy, but it's not impossible.  And actually, the party has never been more unified in terms of its identity or its rejection of Republicans.  There are no Ben Nelson's left with the exception of Manchema and we'll see if both or either survive 2024). 

[Gaston de Foix]

21 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Title bet for a month, as always. Kal and Jace's debts are about to cash in. I still can't believe you two thought Urban Meyer would get a job within two seasons. The bet is over, but technically the season hasn't started. 

The loophole is what you mentioned. "Something close to it" can literally mean anything you want it to. The difference between 40% and 45% is legally meaningless. It just can't be some thing like 20%.If they can argue there's reason to believe 40% is still a plurality, game over. And that's assuming anyone really cares who has the power to do anything. 

Deal.  Just to be clear, the terms of the bet are whether the federal courts strike down this specific map as being noncompliant with the SC's decision in Merrill.  If they uphold the current 39.9% as "something close to it", I lose.  We should set a deadline: Let's say 1 Oct? There's a hearing in August, but who know when they will hand down their opinion.  If there are appeals, we'll just wait till the legal process finishes.      

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

30 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

Deal.  Just to be clear, the terms of the bet are whether the federal courts strike down this specific map as being noncompliant with the SC's decision in Merrill.  If they uphold the current 39.9% as "something close to it", I lose.  We should set a deadline: Let's say 1 Oct? There's a hearing in August, but who know when they will hand down their opinion.  If there are appeals, we'll just wait till the legal process finishes.      

Terms accepted.

Welcome to the Game of Death.

[Zorral]

13 hours ago, James Arryn said:

Like it’s not even discussed

There have been brilliant histories written about these matters. But the commercial publishers aren't interested in this old history, so the media isn't interested in covering those books, or maybe the commercial publishers aren't interested because TikTok Book isn't interested.  Nor are these works inexpensive to obtain, and many public libraries don't carry them, and increasingly the academic libraries don't either, because admin is getting rid of the 'humanities,' in which labor history falls because, you know, 'history' -- not in in economics or politics or biz management.

Flames of Discontent: The 1916 Minnesota Iron Ore Strike. By Gary Kaunonen. (Minneapolis:  University of Minnesota Press,  2017. xii,  253 pp. Cloth, $100.00. Paper, $24.95.)

Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor (2022)  by Kim Kelly.  A friend who hales from Northern Minnesota, as I hale from ND not so far from there, and I read both of these two together.

There is this from PBS  (2020)

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/7-books-that-dive-into-the-long-history-of-americas-labor-movement

Let's not forget the farmers, which commercial publishers and reviewers are even less interested in than Appalachian coal miners; by someone I know, documenting the final death knell for the small family farm:

The Farmer's Lawyer: The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm (2021) Sarah Vogel -- https://sarahmvogel.com/the-farmers-lawyer/

These books aren't the kind of picks for a Michael Dirda long article of retrospective etc. in the WaPo, not even once.  He'd rather write about the golden age of sf.

It's all part of the concerted war to rid the nation of all the FDR era New Deal smoothing out to a degree the vast inequities between those who work and those who talk.  With Reagan and the 'fall' of the Soviet Union, honoring and recognizing workers was no longer necessary, They believe, as there was no longer any power to which workers could appeal and threaten the talkers.  Never forget the very first thing Reagan did as POTUS was bust the air controllers union.  Air travel has been going to hell ever since too, btw, and that was BEFORE 9/11 and TSA.