Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator from Rhode Island, gave a masterful presentation on the power of dark money at the confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Please take 30 minutes and watch it. If we don’t put a stop to the power of dark money, we will lose our democracy.
Senator Whitehouse names names. He details the “Scheme,” the money trail, the big donors (where they can be identified) who are buying our democracy and choosing Supreme Court Justices.
Their three big legal goals right now: to overturn Roe v. Wade; to overturn the gay marriage decision; to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
The Republicans are rushing through Judge Barrett’s confirmation so that she can be a member of the Supreme Court when Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) is argued on November 10.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This guy can teach. Oops —he’s lecturing—the education school professors tell us that that’s bad teaching. He should put his listeners in groups, hand them piles of documents and have them discover knowledge on their own.
love your comment
Sheldon Whitehouse outlined how our democracy has been corrupted by special interest groups. We need more progressive leaning leaders like him in politics.
I was glad to see Biden say in his ’60 Minutes’ interview that we need to make fundamental changes going forward. He wants to empower black and brown people that have been marginalized by unfair laws. Maybe he is trying to make amends for the Crime Bill or maybe he knows we are long overdue for change? CBS made sure a stoic Nora O’Donnell looked like she was grilling an enemy combatant when she interviewed Biden so the network would not look like it was giving Biden and Harris preferential treatment. Biden handled the questions with ease and grace as did Harris. As we know Trump preened, raged and stomped off. Pence was like the guy that follows the elephant at the circus. The funniest moment was when the gigantic book holding the GOP health care plan was handed to Leslie Stahl. Stahl said something about the book being big in size, but not content. I can almost hear Trump commanding his sycophants to produce a big book that will out size Obama’s big health care book. That’s how Trump’s stunted emotional intelligence looks at the world.
Diane I came to tears when I watched this when Whitehouse presented it. Thank you for posting it. I’m speculating here, but when they showed Barrett as he was presenting, it SEEMED to me that she was at least paying attention and perhaps even taking some of it in. Who knows. CBK
I’d like to see everyone back off the “the democracy will be destroyed” hyperventilating. Both sides are trying so hard to manipulate everyone with fear. The sky ain’t falling. Big institutions are not nearly so fragile … ever try to change one? The SC needs to be unpacked and reformed (the 9th circuit has 29 judges and the average fed court has 13). Senate rules need to change to eliminate the possibility of ever having another moscow mitch, the gov’t needs to rejoin the private sector in the climate work and we need to invest big global $ to meet the existential challenge of the zoonotics. Vote to set the table for the needed changes and don’t assume the D’s will go deep and wide enough even if they have the WH and both chambers. Activist citizens will need to keep the pressure on the pols. Trust the women!
tom pitman I’m so glad to hear that “The sky ain’t falling” and that “big institutions aren’t nearly so fragile.”
Whew!
. . . uh, . . hmmm . . . I was just wondering why so much office furniture was stacked out in the hallways of the State Department not long after Trump stepped into the White House? and while we’re on the subject . . . why are department heads all lobbyists from companies who want to dismantle . . . those departments? . . . firing people for telling the truth and doing their jobs under the Constitution? Shall I go on? or is that just all fake news? CBK
The sky ain’t falling
Sky ain’t falling
Sky is burning
Fire mauling
Climate turning
Tom Pitman, I agree. It is fear-mongering.
Of course the items CBK cites are not fake news. But they aren’t changes to institutions: head personnel and appropriate staffing will reverse overnight with a new administration. I think you’re saying the institutions are the framework; they’re there. It may be a little creaky. Personally I am less concerned with “unpacking” the SC than with reforming Senate rules, as the SC can only interpret legislation.
The founders purposely hamstrung the Senate in certain ways, in order to create a more “contemplative” body than the House. I doubt if in their wildest dreams they imagined it populated with anti-govt ideologues and led by a Machiavelli. Resulting in the business of the people getting left undone for years at a time. But I may be wrong: they are, after all, elected. We may simply have to ride out what is in effect a long conservative backlash to progress made in the ‘50’s-‘70’s.
To me the most important thing to fight for—through organizing voters—is the greasing of legislative palms via campaign donations, lobbyists & PACS, and revolving-door sweetheart jobs/ speeches et al for legislators when leaving office. They are the ones confirming these creeps, and they alone can appropriate $$ for righteous causes.
Fear-mongering is acceptable when there is something to fear.
It seems that the opposite of fear-mongering is quietly accepting fascism because you believe the US “deserves it” for not offering up the perfect non-fascist candidate to vote for.
I’m sure people in 1930s Germany were chiding “fear-mongering” too. In fact, history shows that they were.
Saying the sky is falling is “fear mongering” right up to the minute the sky falls. Correctly predicting a hurricane or a tornado before it can wreak devastation is “fear-mongering” and it is a good thing to do.
**bethree5″ writes: “Of course the items CBK cites are not fake news. But they aren’t changes to institutions: head personnel and appropriate staffing will reverse overnight with a new administration.”
Yes, but ONLY with a new administration. Think of the recent Post Office debacle . . . just one example. Trump WANTS to tear down what Bannon calls “the administrative state.”
“I think you’re saying the institutions are the framework; they’re there. It may be a little creaky. Personally I am less concerned with ‘unpacking’ the SC than with reforming Senate rules, as the SC can only interpret legislation.”
Rules? Who with an R follows rules? Also this from the LA Times: “The fact that someone like Trump came to power at all and subjugated the Republican Party so easily shows that an institutional framework alone cannot protect democracy. Even the best-crafted law depends on the attitude of society.” CBK
If we [Dems] fear-monger, e.g. re-electing Trump will be “the death of democracy as we know it”, how are we any different from Reps claiming that electing Biden means scrapping capitalism for socialism?
How does my position remotely resemble “quietly accepting fascism because you believe the US “deserves it” for not offering up the perfect non-fascist candidate to vote for”? Vote for Biden. Personally I’ve liked him from the start, as an alternative to my fave [EWarren]: my sentiment has been that he is not a neolib ideologue; he is flexible & responds to the public. (Never felt that Sanders could command enough of center to beat Trump—tho I voted for him in primary, to help Biden move left).
Biden campaign is doing what’s needed: emphasizing it45’s covid-mgt fiasco & its economic fallout, pointing out he rode Obama’s coattails in improving economy [which then leveled off] & did not “return mfg,” & presenting a calm, positive, statesmanlike demeanor, which by itself draws the necy comparison.
Yes positive change requires Biden in WH, & enough Dems in Senate to defang McConnell. CBK, re: LA Times: institutions alone cannot sustain democracy w/o the support of the public, under any circumstances. I do not believe it’s the will of the people to drown govt in a bathtub. Saying it’s an uphill battle until we outlive the backlash against mid-20thC liberal progress—remember, they are just a fringe: only enough to get a nutjob elected Prez by a tiny margin. Reforms to currently-legal corruption are needed [1st priority for Dems, check out HR-101]—plus voting reform– to ensure Congress reflects the will of the people.
I don’t see where sky-is-falling hype does anything but make Dems look as nutty as the MAGAs.
Did I ever tell you that you are a thoughtful and very sensible person?
bethree5 Part of slipping into fascism is that it isn’t recognized by those who are most affected by it. Democracy disappears to the tune of: What happened?
If we [Dems] fear-monger, e.g. re-electing Trump will be “the death of democracy as we know it”, how are we any different from Reps claiming that electing Biden means scrapping capitalism for socialism?
Moderation of the abuses of capitalism does not translate into socialism. The difference is that Biden is about the Constitution, the rule of law, and democratic, public institutions and norms. He won’t hollow out those institutions and install authoritarian-loving sycophants to destroy them, or get rid of regulations, independent oversight, and separation of powers–which is what Trump is already doing:
On the other hand, what they mean by “scrapping capitalism for socialism” means no more pay to play as the working principle, e.g., with health care. Biden will moderate neo-liberalism, predatory capitalism, and the unregulated corporate free-for-all, and give the workers fair rights through support of unions. The billionaires and corporations won’t own the world to run it to ruin it any more. Poor babies. CBK
Thanks Diane. You just made my day [/month/ year]. I consider you the epitome of thoughtful & sensible, which is why your blog is where I turn each a.m. (even before what my google-feed conders “the news.”)
yet again:
The best government money can buy.
God help us.
Best for some, worst for the many.
A very impressive conspectus of this vast web of capital whose soul purpose appears to be restricting the rights of citizens and destroying public institutions. Diane is right: everyone should view this relatively brief video.
“conspectus”…a new word for me! Thanks, will add to the vocabulary list and look for opportunity to use. Well, that’s the new thing I learned today, now on to blissful ignorance for the rest of it.
Kind of old fashioned, but a nice, semi-onomatopoeic synonym for “summary.”
Sheldon Whitehouse was well prepared and persuasive…if people actually watched and listened to Congressional hearings on the addition of Barrett to the Supreme Court.
All of us should also be looking at the attacks on Institutions that Trump is launching under his authority to issue Executive Orders. He has most recently used this instrument to replace public service workers with political cronies. In another EO he and his handlers are attacking affirmative action by misrepresenting diversity training programs in federal agencies, claiming these are reinforcing race and gender stereotypes and more.
In addition to dark money shaping this nomination, there are savvy and unseen Trump enablers who are writing his Executive orders with all the technical requirements of these legal documents.
According the According to the American Bar Association, “Executive orders are not legislation; they require no approval from Congress, and Congress cannot simply overturn them. Congress may pass legislation that might make it difficult, or even impossible, to carry out the order, such as removing funding. Only a sitting U.S. President may overturn an existing executive order by issuing another executive order to that effect.”
In other words, Executive Orders have the effect of laws. They can be challenged in the courts or by Congressional legislation, but rarely are.
From the Huffington Post this afternoon 10-27=20:
“DATA DISAPPEARED”
“Four years ago, Donald Trump won the presidency while relentlessly fearmongering about refugees. So it came as no surprise when, in March 2017, his White House ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to study the long-term costs of refugee resettlement. A few months later, HHS returned with their results: Far from being a drain on resources, refugees had, in fact, contributed $63 billion more in government revenue than they had received in benefits between 2005 and 2014. The numbers were not to the White House’s liking—and so senior adviser Stephen Miller simply buried them. ‘The president believes refugees cost more, and the results of this study shouldn’t embarrass the president,’ he reportedly told agency staff.
“That’s just one example out of a myriad of instances during the last four years where the Trump administration has purposefully destroyed, manipulated, subverted and sidelined data—the lifeblood of a functioning government. Are honey bee colonies on the verge of collapse? How toxic is mercury? Are people of color paid less for the same work? How economically devastating has the COVID-19 pandemic been? The Trump administration’s war on data has made each of those questions, and many more, harder to answer—and thus harder to do anything about. As writer Samanth Subramanian puts it in the introduction to Data Disappeared, ‘by attacking numeracy, it is attacking democracy.’ In 2021, for example, the United States will accept no more than 15,000 refugees, down from an annual average of 76,000 during the Obama administration.
“Over the past year, a team of reporters at HuffPost has tracked and vetted these data distortions, using published accounts, NGO reports and government documents. What we present to you today is by no means an exhaustive list. Instead, it’s a chilling collection of the Trump administration’s most consequential and well-documented assaults on science—and reality itself.”
https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/article/disappearing-data/index.html?ncid=newsltushpmgpolitics#introduction
Whoa doggie!!! I think I finally found a politician that I LOVE. This makes me want to pack up and move to Rhode Island. THIS is explained so well that normal people can understand and I hope this gets lots of air time over the next week.
He’s also, by far, the most knowledgeable member of Congress on climate change policy.
LisaM,
One reason not to move to Rhode Island. Governor Raimondo is a former hedge fund manager and DINO.
While on the topic of Dark Money, I hope you will consider watching this captivating documentary:
https://www.darkmoneyfilm.com/
The Supreme Entreaty
Wade on in
The water’s fine
We’ve roe for din
And demo whine
Diane and All: I hope I’m not sullying this site by copying the below note; but I wanted to share with you a forwarded note from my unnamed relative that “tells” just how bad it is “out there” in Trumpland. She added:
“Powerful and Thought-Provoking!” to it.
All you “sheep people” who wear masks, you can begin HOLDING YOUR NOSE NOW:
“He makes much sense. This pandemic crap is pure b.s.. The AI part probably does make some sense however I have seen some interesting results in heavily crowded areas. They are screwing with us and most are cowering to them in the form of sheep people. I watched Inforwars for a short time today and one of the comments I heard was the masks are nothing more than a badge that says ‘I surrendered’ and promise to be a good little boy or girl which is sooooo true. Wow this guy is good and spot on. People need to wake the hell up and tell these people trying to control us that it will not work. Infowars also had a couple of guys from northern CA on as guests and they said 23 counties in northern CA are organizing to become the 51st state.”
I kid you not. I responded: “Junk.” (The nicest 4-letter word I could think of)
She wrote back: “REALLY!”
I responded: “Yes, really.”
Sigh. . . . CBK
The governor of South Dakota, a Trumper, says that wearing a mask is up to each person. “No one should be shamed into wearing a mask if they don’t want to.”
South Dakota has highest per capita rate of infections in nation.
Diane I am in a constant state of jaw-drop, or as the British say, “gob-smack,” at the adolescent attitude and lack of discernment in what I thought were reasonable people.
Trumpland is “out there,” so I guess it’s just a question of “how much.” CBK