During the debate about the nomination of Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions for Attorney General, Elizabeth Warren began reading a letter from Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King Jr., written many years before, opposing his nomination for a federal judgeship. Senator a Mitch McConnell told her to stop, told her she was impugning the integrity of a fellow senator, then told her to sit down and stop reading. Like a very bad little girl, she was silenced. Four other senators (male) were then allowed to read the controversial letter without reprimand. Hey, it is a man’s world.
Here is the letter.
Warren was not permitted to speak in the debate after her reprimand. But as she was silenced, the New York Times said, she got a very large megaphone.
Sessions was just confirmed. All eyes will be on him to see if he enforces civil rights laws.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We now live in a world where the GOP is controlled by the extremist haters filled with fear Alt Right.
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McConnell, the Republican whore/puppet, shut down, and followed Bannon’s orders to “shut up” the respected progressive female Senator Warren reading the writing of the Black highly venerated female civil rights leader, King, during Black History Month, in order to protect his White highly bigoted choice to be the Attorney General of the US, Jeff Sessions. The AG is supposed to work directly for The People, not Congress, not the Judiary, and NOT for the Prez.
Is this going to happen with Sessions now the AG>
We are going to see the women of Congress increasingly diminutized and not allowed to speak, in the New Normal of the Drumpf American Taliban. If women are not nude models, they should stay quiet and out of sight in this New World Order.
These so-called ‘men’ are terrified of brave strong women who are smarter than they are…and they will shoot them down. What a disgusting outrage.
Kamala Harris for Prez. Elizabeth Warren for VP.
RESIST.
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Sure, they will make America great again. They will make it just like the 1950’s before the Women’s Rights movement, before Roe vs Wade, before Brown vs Board of Ed. We will have segregated schools, women dying from back room abortions. The men will be in charge because they are the superior sex (sarcasm). We’ve come a long way and it is about to all go away with the stroke of a pen by a yam colored man.
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Bernice King is an amazing human, no matter how controversially she presents! Here are her prescribed directives for resistance, so PLEASE consider them!
And Reverend Bernice, if you are reading this, please know how much you and your family are loved and taken seriously.
Some Wise Advice Circulating from Reverend King:
Use his name sparingly so as not to detract from the issues. I believe that everyone, regardless of their beliefs, deserves the dignity of being called by their name. However, this is a strategic tactic. While we are so focused on him we are prone to neglect the questionable policies that threaten freedom, justice and fairness advanced by the administration.
Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone;
Do not argue with those who support him and his policies–it doesn’t work;
Focus on his policies, not his appearance and mental state;
Keep your message positive; those who oppose peace and justice want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow;
No more helpless/hopeless talk;
Support artists and the arts;
Be careful not to spread fake news. Check it;
Take care of yourselves; and
Resist!
Keep demonstrations peaceful. In the words of John Lennon, “When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight! Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.”
When you post or talk about him, don’t assign his actions to him, assign them to “The Republican Administration,” or “The Republicans.” This will have several effects: the Republican legislators will either have to take responsibility for their association with him or stand up for what some of them don’t like; he will not get the focus of attention he craves; Republican representatives will become very concerned about their re-elections.
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The Streisand Effect strikes again…
“The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.”
“It is named after American entertainer Barbra Streisand, whose 2003 attempt to suppress photographs of her residence in Malibu, California, inadvertently drew further public attention to it.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
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The Watergate effect forced a president to resign.
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I recall Ted Cruz calling Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate floor and McConnell didn’t invoke Rule 19. What was different for Mitch and his Republican cronies this time was that it was a Democratic female Senator reading a letter by a female African-American civil rights hero disparaging a proven southern racist. It least now it is clear how and when Rule 19 comes into effect.
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Let them be fastidious, then impeach Trump or die by hypocrisy.
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Let us also keep in mind the spurious application of Rule No 19: comments read/ cited referred to actions of Sessions when he was not a Senator…
But no need to split hairs. As a couple of Senators had it on MSNBC & CNN today… Many Dem Senators have softer, more judicious-style commentary. But when Warren gets the mike, Repubs know they are in for articulate, voluble invective backed by thorough grasp of the issues– & she gets under their skin!!
You go, Elizabeth.
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And furthermore! The analysis on CNN & MSNBC counted this as a major faux pas by McConnell & Co, sure to invigorate anti-Trump fervor & focus attention on Warren’s message, by virtue of the very obvious anti-democratic stifling of dissent.
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The irony of the Republicans clutching their pearls is that their president regularly insults people, and they don’t complain. I know he is not bound by Rule 19, but still…
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“The irony of the Republicans clutching their pearls is that their president…” Like it or not Diane, he’s YOUR president too.
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SuzyC, I was born in 1938, a matter of public record. I have respected every person who was elected president. I don’t respect this one. I have serious doubts about the legitimacy of the election. He lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million. Without the intervention of Comey and Putin, he would not be where he is. He is destroying the ideals and values of my beloved nation. He is a serial liar and a malignant narcissist. He is not my president.
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Yes. Salon has an interesting take on the McConnell put down, complete with stern lips and finger raised (as if admonishing a child). His exact language is taking off as a meme.
“She was warned.
She was given an explanation.
Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Salon speculates that McConnell’s arrogance is “red meat” for the Republican base and well suited to ads that could stop Warren if she makes a move to run for President in 2020.
This three line putdown can be recycles into posters, ads, and chants for demonstrations in support of women and in praise of their work on behalf of civil rights. There is a long history there and it is worth revitalizing. The Republican narratives cannot go unchallenged.
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/09/elizabeth-warren-thinks-she-won-that-round-but-mitch-mcconnell-got-everything-he-wanted/
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Thanks for the link, Laura.
This comment fits right into the Lakoff narrative of the Strict Father Who Is Always Right.
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Trump needs to be removed from office immediately. His idiot speak is surely dementia or profound impairment of some kind. This has to stop. He is mentally disabled and unstable.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-foreign-leaders-phone-calls-234770
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“Never the less, she persisted”
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Sessions can’t be that bad … after all in 2009 the NAACP GAVE SESSIONS AN AWARD!
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That McConnell would shut down Warren so soon after the enormous showing women made rankles. This shouldn’t stand. What if women organized a Read-A-Thon nationwide, where we all read Coretta Scott King’s letter. And invite the Senators who stood in solidarity with Warren.
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Great idea. NOW should organize it. Or the ACLU
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We could teach the letter in schools.
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Super idea, Mary. I will suggest it to my RESIST group. and see if we can make it work nationwide.
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Unconscionable!
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This is horrible and embarrassing. Each time this happens the reputation of the USA is tarnished.
Get out the silver polish
😎
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Diane,
I totally agree that this was an egregious example of the absolute misogyny of the old white boys. It was absolutely disgusting. The imperious and condescending tone of McConnell’s reprimand was outrageous, and it’s something he would NEVER have tried with a male colleague. Good for Elizabeth Warren for posting on Facebook. I was glad to see that some of the Democratic senators had the cojones to get their butts up there and read that letter. Unfortunately, there were far too few of them. Despicable. Disgusting.
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Readers who want a short, easily read explanation of how American democracy was brought to its knees, should read “Exploding the Myths…”, by C. J. Polychroniou, posted at Truthout. C.J. explains how a regressive political agenda was enacted, disguised as something else- “balancing the books”, “getting the house in order”. The homilies hide a plot to cut spending for the common good. The target of the plot, is the working class and poor.
Too many of us have accepted the false narrative of “market forces”, foisted on us by a political system owned by the richest 0.1%. Our domestic enemy, born within, i.e. America’s richest 0.1%,, stole basic services like education, water, electricity, public transportation, postal services…
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In every public place, in every school/college, 9 life-size rag dolls, should be hung in effigy, bearing the names, ALEC, AEI, Bill Gates, Charles and David Koch, Pete Peterson, economists Rogoff/Rinehart,
with the final one, reserved for the 6 Walton heirs, who have wealth equivalent to 40% of Americans combined.
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