The power of words

Cory Booker, a democratic senator from New Jersey, spoke for 25 hours and 8 minutes without a break, except to take questions. Some of his fellow democrats took turns to ask questions to allow Booker to rest his voice.

He didn’t speak as a filibuster (aka a long speech to delay passage of a proposed law) but rather to denounce what the current regime is doing: he spoke of the president’s executive orders (EOs) and of their impact; he read letters from constituents directly affected by EOs and by Muskrat’s slash and burn of the government; he spoke of democracy: what it is, what it means, the danger it is in. He is an eloquent man and I am glad he took to the lectern in the Senate room. Another ray of hope that all is not lost :)

Republicans were quick to try and diminish his accomplishment, calling it “performative” as if the Repugs themselves actually had any substance. The last guy who spoke for that long (Strom Thurmond) actually was doing so to prevent passage of the Civil Rights Act and, after the first 2 of his 24 hours, he simply read from the encyclopedia: that would “performative.”

The other major news item of course is that the stock markets completely tanked after the idiot’s announcement of ‘liberation day tarifs’. Duh. Good luck to those whose retirement portfolios are based on stock market activity… For those of you based outside the US, you may not know that there really is no social safety net for retirees — or very little of it (via social security, which is one of the organizations being dismantled by Muskrat). Interestingly enough, a lot of MAGAts would likely be ‘punished’ by all this. But I am def short on empathy: you dragged us into this shitshow: I am not opening my arms to you.