For all the GOP’s talk of “political retaliation” against their presumptive presidential candidate, the real retaliation unfolded on Thursday on the front lines of the fight for gun safety in Nashville, Tennessee.
It is as you said the other day; as the legitimacy of GOP power dissolves, their efforts to retain it are becoming ever more desperate.
Because they now have the issue of abortion as an albatross around their neck rather than the galvanizing rallying point it was pre-Dobbs, they have had to ramp up such other culture wars issues as they can find in order to appease their ever-shrinking-but-increasingly-truculent base. All that they can find are LGBTQ issues, CRT, guns, and Trump's legal woes. There isn't a public policy worth printing in the batch.
“Nearly 1,400 people die each year in Tennessee by guns”
Why the passive “die” instead of “are killed”?
Dying is a thing that happens in the normal course of events for us all. “Die each year by guns” puts this in the realm of “die each year from cancer”. It makes murders sound like an unfortunate fact of existence rather than the violent violation of a person that it is.
It’s akin to saying “Six people lost their lives in a mass shooting” (careless people, misplacing their lives like that) instead of the vastly more accurate “Six people were murdered...”
We need to stop talking about shootings as if they were something the victims did, or something unfortunate that just happened to happen to them, and acknowledge shootings are a deliberately act of violence done to them.
This was a careful parse which perhaps sounded too careful. I was including suicides, which in my ear sounded odd to say they were killed each year by guns, since they died by their own hand.
I hope you would recognize that while you chose “die” instead of “killed” because you were including suicides, you equally could’ve chosen to say “killed” instead of “die“ because you were including murders. And you made the choice to go with the more careful, genteel one.
They are coming at us TO KILL US. And that is not hyperbole; they have declared it outright. We cannot afford to be genteel. We have to stop worrying about parsing our language to make sure we’re perfectly accurate and to avoid hurting feelings. We need to be blunt.
I’m 62. And, I feel it’s time for all the young voters to vote out these old fart politicians. They are lost and intentionally ignorant of the real meaning of our Constitution. Please, please encourage all your young friends to vote, and even run for office if that’s their passion. We need you to come into the fold and make much needed changes to save our Democracy. WE NEED YOUR VOTES NOW.
I'm 63 and couldn't agree more!! It makes my heart happy to see that this generation have really stepped up and are speaking out and voting and making a difference.
Gen-Z is getting fairly well pissed off and are tired for being fodder for the so-called 2nd Amendment "rights" advocates who have never even read the Constitution much less the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments. They will be the nail in the coffin of the GOP.
You are totally right. I do think the GOP really didn’t think far enough ahead to understand the ramifications of their actions. They are overconfident.
Those old fart politicians as you refer to them who are intentionally ignorant of the real meaning of the Constitution etc...Please stop equating a persons age with
How does this legislature have the power to disenfranchise the voters? I hope they pay dearly for it, you ignore the will of the voters at your peril, and there is a tipping point. Only hope this is it. Pretty rich for the party that has nothing to say about the Mean Girl Caucus heckling the President during the State of the Union decides to outright eject members of the other party who are doing something similar.
The mean girls were censured by removing them from committees for their rhetoric and involvement in Jan 6. Pelosi and the Dems didn't silence their voices or disenfranchise their districts.
This is the same party that refused to even vote on Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, claiming their reason was “we should wait until after the next election to see what the will is of the voters, and see who they want to have nominate the next Justice.” (As if the voters who elected Obama to exercise the full powers of the presidency for his full four year term hadn’t already made that clear.) 
And now, of course, they eagerly disregard what the voters want, and rush to expel the person they voted for.
Born and raised in TN but do not live there now (and will not until things improve). Very impressed with the two young men (the two Justins!). Can't wait to see how they continue to work for justice.
Very fond memories of concerts in Memphis in the 70's , The Stones and even George Harrison, spelunking near Suwanee and generally enjoying parts of Tenn! Hoping for the best!
The GOP playbook is to lie, grab for power, and punish those who object. Look at Desantis’ ongoing war with Disney-he’s now threatening to inflict more hotel taxes and tolls for roads to further punish them. His craven thirst for absolute domination is sick and frightening to behold. The Republican supermajority he inflicted on Florida with gerrymandering and bowing to wealthy conservatives is ruining this state. My fear is that as his numbers shift downward nationally, he’ll shore up his ridiculous ego by imposing more authoritarianism here. HE CAN NEVER ATTAIN THE OVAL OFFICE. He is a clear threat to democracy.
With regard to North Carolina, what about the will of the voters? All of a sudden a blue candidate from a blue district flips? How is that representative democracy. Those voters sent that rep there to advocate on their behalf not caucus with the opposing party with opposing viewpoints. I get its easy to only see this from one side but ultimately it's the voters who lose. Kristen synema is a great example of this. She ran on platforms that she has abandoned. Those voters entrusted her to carry the flame of those policy positions to DC. She has abandoned them and the voters. That is cruel and borderline antidemocratic. We know her days are numbered because of this, hopefully voters see the error of their ways and replace these people with better candidates.
Many Dem voters in AZ with experience with Synema warned us all about her tactics. But she was a DEM! So we need to vote for her. AZ is waking up after all the nonsense they've been through. I hope.
So much to unpack here. The GOP has been taking lessons from dictators in Russia, Turkey and Hungary. It's not surprising conservatives are taking over to have their own dictatorship here. This is how it starts.
I can't speak to Hungary, and, for the most part, Russia. However, I can speak to Turkey. First off, I lived in Turkey for two years. Erdogan is on borrowed time. Turkey is a constitutional secular democracy. They just happen to be at the crossroads of the world, and have been for millennia. YES, they have their racial/social prejudices (Armenians, Kurds, and pretty much any other group that didn't support the Ottoman Empire). BUT. Atatürk is a national hero. The modern Turks pretty much like their free lifestyle. As with the US, a lot of the babble is coming from the poorer rural regions. Like I said, Erdogan is on borrowed time as the wealthier segments of the society are getting fed up.
So, in the case of Turkey, or, more correctly, Türkiye, like in the US there are substantial blocks who disavow Erdogan, many are young, and as inflation grows more and more out of control, and as the middle east is more and more unstable, Erdogan needs to think long and hard about his role in the future of that country.
My niece is first grade teacher in Nashville. She grew up in Greenwich, CT and taught 1st grade on the UWS before moving to Nashville for her husband's job. She said she almost cried when the kids in her class asked her why she didn't have a lot of books in their classroom. She said her colleagues who are members of the LGBTQ+ family, are afraid to post on their social media accounts and one of her gay colleagues said he won't even hold hands with his partner just in case he's seen by a student's family. For someone coming from liberal areas like CT and NYC, she said thankfully Nashville is progressive, but it's still really bad. She's been out there protesting when she can, but she thinks there will come a time where they will get fired if they attend any protests or speak out. It's just awful. I can't believe there are no laws to prevent the GOP from just doing away with Democrats.
Oh, Lordy she has my sympathy for having to move from Greenwich to Nashville. I'd chalk it up to culture shock, and I've had to move all over the world so have seen it and felt it. She's right, though. She will -- as long as this is allowed to progress -- be arrested and lose her job.
As they use Viagra to F**** their secretaries, visit glory holes in men's rest rooms and are caught. How many Republicans have been arrested recently for indecent behavior involving minors? Is any body keeping track, because it seems almost as if every other day another one is hauled into court.
There’s a sea change in the US. Gen Z and Millennials are more diverse, believe in social justice, and are sick of allowing a small set of people to control politics, the economy, and their lives.
I wrote about it often in my Substack, Roots of Change. The rise in extremism and the GOP’s blatant attempts to subvert democracy are attempts to silence younger, progressive, and diverse generations. They can only hold back the change for some time, they can’t stop it completely. Wisconsin and Chicago elections are great examples of that.
It is as you said the other day; as the legitimacy of GOP power dissolves, their efforts to retain it are becoming ever more desperate.
Because they now have the issue of abortion as an albatross around their neck rather than the galvanizing rallying point it was pre-Dobbs, they have had to ramp up such other culture wars issues as they can find in order to appease their ever-shrinking-but-increasingly-truculent base. All that they can find are LGBTQ issues, CRT, guns, and Trump's legal woes. There isn't a public policy worth printing in the batch.
The GOP has always run on abortion and guns. Notice that there are bans against abortion and not a ban on men who cause the need for abortion.
And plenty of ads for erection control but barely any for birth control
As it's always been... [not a ban on men who cause the need..]
“Nearly 1,400 people die each year in Tennessee by guns”
Why the passive “die” instead of “are killed”?
Dying is a thing that happens in the normal course of events for us all. “Die each year by guns” puts this in the realm of “die each year from cancer”. It makes murders sound like an unfortunate fact of existence rather than the violent violation of a person that it is.
It’s akin to saying “Six people lost their lives in a mass shooting” (careless people, misplacing their lives like that) instead of the vastly more accurate “Six people were murdered...”
We need to stop talking about shootings as if they were something the victims did, or something unfortunate that just happened to happen to them, and acknowledge shootings are a deliberately act of violence done to them.
This was a careful parse which perhaps sounded too careful. I was including suicides, which in my ear sounded odd to say they were killed each year by guns, since they died by their own hand.
Thank you for the explanation, Jay.
I hope you would recognize that while you chose “die” instead of “killed” because you were including suicides, you equally could’ve chosen to say “killed” instead of “die“ because you were including murders. And you made the choice to go with the more careful, genteel one.
They are coming at us TO KILL US. And that is not hyperbole; they have declared it outright. We cannot afford to be genteel. We have to stop worrying about parsing our language to make sure we’re perfectly accurate and to avoid hurting feelings. We need to be blunt.
Very well said, Sir.
Wish I could like your comment more than once. I'd hit that button multiple times if I could. Thank you for your clear comments.
Thank you.
I’m 62. And, I feel it’s time for all the young voters to vote out these old fart politicians. They are lost and intentionally ignorant of the real meaning of our Constitution. Please, please encourage all your young friends to vote, and even run for office if that’s their passion. We need you to come into the fold and make much needed changes to save our Democracy. WE NEED YOUR VOTES NOW.
I'm 63 and couldn't agree more!! It makes my heart happy to see that this generation have really stepped up and are speaking out and voting and making a difference.
Gen-Z is getting fairly well pissed off and are tired for being fodder for the so-called 2nd Amendment "rights" advocates who have never even read the Constitution much less the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments. They will be the nail in the coffin of the GOP.
You are totally right. I do think the GOP really didn’t think far enough ahead to understand the ramifications of their actions. They are overconfident.
Those old fart politicians as you refer to them who are intentionally ignorant of the real meaning of the Constitution etc...Please stop equating a persons age with
...weaknesses. Age is so often a plus, not a minus. There is no substitute for experience by intelligent old folks.
And yes. The people we’re talking about here who caused the expulsion of our two heros are not too bright and don’t deserve to serve.
Yes, the old farts need to go.
How does this legislature have the power to disenfranchise the voters? I hope they pay dearly for it, you ignore the will of the voters at your peril, and there is a tipping point. Only hope this is it. Pretty rich for the party that has nothing to say about the Mean Girl Caucus heckling the President during the State of the Union decides to outright eject members of the other party who are doing something similar.
The mean girls were censured by removing them from committees for their rhetoric and involvement in Jan 6. Pelosi and the Dems didn't silence their voices or disenfranchise their districts.
It’s just typical hypocrisy from Republicans.
This is the same party that refused to even vote on Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, claiming their reason was “we should wait until after the next election to see what the will is of the voters, and see who they want to have nominate the next Justice.” (As if the voters who elected Obama to exercise the full powers of the presidency for his full four year term hadn’t already made that clear.) 
And now, of course, they eagerly disregard what the voters want, and rush to expel the person they voted for.
I have already read many accounts of this "showdown" in several online publications. This one is by far the clearest and most thorough. Thank you!
Born and raised in TN but do not live there now (and will not until things improve). Very impressed with the two young men (the two Justins!). Can't wait to see how they continue to work for justice.
JUSTINS FOR JUSTICE
Very fond memories of concerts in Memphis in the 70's , The Stones and even George Harrison, spelunking near Suwanee and generally enjoying parts of Tenn! Hoping for the best!
The GOP playbook is to lie, grab for power, and punish those who object. Look at Desantis’ ongoing war with Disney-he’s now threatening to inflict more hotel taxes and tolls for roads to further punish them. His craven thirst for absolute domination is sick and frightening to behold. The Republican supermajority he inflicted on Florida with gerrymandering and bowing to wealthy conservatives is ruining this state. My fear is that as his numbers shift downward nationally, he’ll shore up his ridiculous ego by imposing more authoritarianism here. HE CAN NEVER ATTAIN THE OVAL OFFICE. He is a clear threat to democracy.
With regard to North Carolina, what about the will of the voters? All of a sudden a blue candidate from a blue district flips? How is that representative democracy. Those voters sent that rep there to advocate on their behalf not caucus with the opposing party with opposing viewpoints. I get its easy to only see this from one side but ultimately it's the voters who lose. Kristen synema is a great example of this. She ran on platforms that she has abandoned. Those voters entrusted her to carry the flame of those policy positions to DC. She has abandoned them and the voters. That is cruel and borderline antidemocratic. We know her days are numbered because of this, hopefully voters see the error of their ways and replace these people with better candidates.
Can those specific NC voters (her constituents) mount a recall election?
Many Dem voters in AZ with experience with Synema warned us all about her tactics. But she was a DEM! So we need to vote for her. AZ is waking up after all the nonsense they've been through. I hope.
We need a national boycott of Tennessee. I don’t spend my money in any red states.
Come to Michigan — Pure Michigan. A gorgeous place to vacation and a wonderful place to live. Soooo proud of Gov. Gretchen!
I so agree. I really want to visit some Southern cities, but my husband I agree with what you’ve said.
So much to unpack here. The GOP has been taking lessons from dictators in Russia, Turkey and Hungary. It's not surprising conservatives are taking over to have their own dictatorship here. This is how it starts.
I can't speak to Hungary, and, for the most part, Russia. However, I can speak to Turkey. First off, I lived in Turkey for two years. Erdogan is on borrowed time. Turkey is a constitutional secular democracy. They just happen to be at the crossroads of the world, and have been for millennia. YES, they have their racial/social prejudices (Armenians, Kurds, and pretty much any other group that didn't support the Ottoman Empire). BUT. Atatürk is a national hero. The modern Turks pretty much like their free lifestyle. As with the US, a lot of the babble is coming from the poorer rural regions. Like I said, Erdogan is on borrowed time as the wealthier segments of the society are getting fed up.
So, in the case of Turkey, or, more correctly, Türkiye, like in the US there are substantial blocks who disavow Erdogan, many are young, and as inflation grows more and more out of control, and as the middle east is more and more unstable, Erdogan needs to think long and hard about his role in the future of that country.
And this from ‘conservative’ Republican snowflakes who moan about cancel culture. #potkettleblack
My niece is first grade teacher in Nashville. She grew up in Greenwich, CT and taught 1st grade on the UWS before moving to Nashville for her husband's job. She said she almost cried when the kids in her class asked her why she didn't have a lot of books in their classroom. She said her colleagues who are members of the LGBTQ+ family, are afraid to post on their social media accounts and one of her gay colleagues said he won't even hold hands with his partner just in case he's seen by a student's family. For someone coming from liberal areas like CT and NYC, she said thankfully Nashville is progressive, but it's still really bad. She's been out there protesting when she can, but she thinks there will come a time where they will get fired if they attend any protests or speak out. It's just awful. I can't believe there are no laws to prevent the GOP from just doing away with Democrats.
Oh, Lordy she has my sympathy for having to move from Greenwich to Nashville. I'd chalk it up to culture shock, and I've had to move all over the world so have seen it and felt it. She's right, though. She will -- as long as this is allowed to progress -- be arrested and lose her job.
And again, we see a bunch of aging white men at the podium pretending to be righteous.
As they use Viagra to F**** their secretaries, visit glory holes in men's rest rooms and are caught. How many Republicans have been arrested recently for indecent behavior involving minors? Is any body keeping track, because it seems almost as if every other day another one is hauled into court.
Very Happy to See Chris Murphy in the fray! And yes this is very much retaliation
Boycott everything related to this state! Fight back!
Totally agree.
The youths won’t stand for the GOPs corruption.
There’s a sea change in the US. Gen Z and Millennials are more diverse, believe in social justice, and are sick of allowing a small set of people to control politics, the economy, and their lives.
I wrote about it often in my Substack, Roots of Change. The rise in extremism and the GOP’s blatant attempts to subvert democracy are attempts to silence younger, progressive, and diverse generations. They can only hold back the change for some time, they can’t stop it completely. Wisconsin and Chicago elections are great examples of that.