So, as you may have heard, Senate Republicans voted to shut down a speech by Senator Elizabeth Warren last night, using an old and generally unenforced rule banning Senators from impugning one another on the Senate floor.
The Senator that Warren was allegedly impugning was one Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, Trump’s pick for attorney general, and Warren was in the midst of reading a letter from Coretta Scott King, written in 1986 in opposition to his nomination to a federal court. (He didn’t get the job.)
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell justified this dick move by declaring that she had been “warned” that she was breaking the rule. “She was given an explanation,” he continued. “Nevertheless, she persisted.”
That last phrase stuck in the minds of many of those who heard it, some of whom started using the hashtag #ThePersistence alongside the standard #TheResistance; others adopted the simple #LetLizSpeak.
All of which is a long preface to saying: CALL YOUR SENATORS ABOUT JEFF SESSIONS. And maybe mention the silencing of Elizabeth Warren while you’re at it. If your senator was one of the 49 Republicans who voted to shut her down, maybe share your thoughts on that as well.
Get your Senators’ phone number (and some suggestions of other issues to call about) on 5Calls. See my posts here and here for information and advice on how to make your calls and emails effective. If making these sorts of calls is tough for you, here’s some advice on calling politicians if you have social anxiety. But emails are also fine.
Resistance is a good start. But persistence is what gets things done.
Archaic, oft-ignored laws suddenly coming to the forefront to stop someone from speaking. If we are not careful, this could become a pattern.
How utterly disgusting.
I don’t understand how Senators can adequately discuss the suitability of one of their number for the AG job if they’re not allowed to “impugn” him. Are the only options on the table “he’s good” and “no, he’s awesome”?
To quote a famous example:
“Half of Parliament are crooks”
“Withdraw that remark!”
“Ok, half of Parliament are not crooks”
Another suggestion (not mine, it flew by on twitter): people are faxing copies of the speech to McConnell (202-224-2499) for free from PC using Fax Zero and the like.
The good news is that McConnell has thrown the spotlight on Warren and the King letter, while making himself look like a pompous ass in the process.
I seem to recall that the Republicans had signalled their intention to get rid of the filibuster.
Now generally I’m all in favour of that. The passage of legislation should not be dependent on how long someone can hold their bladder.
Of course the, not even hidden, intention behind that is to remove one of the ways the Dems could block legislation whilst still being in the minority. Does seem that they’ll happily use procedural points when it suits them though.
Mind you, all they’ve achieved here is create a cool hashtag.
What really churned my butter about that was that a male senator got up right after her and read the letter and didn’t get this shit.
Either Mcconnell was taking a nap, or that’s sexist as fuck.
I vote for “that’s sexist as fuck.”
It happened. Our government finally got so bad that I’m crying from reading the news this morning. I do not feel safe in this country anymore.
<3 kupo
Elizabeth Warren is my senator, that I voted for. If anyone else wants to express their support for her, I got through at her Springfield office. Boston mailbox is full and I didn’t even try DC.
Wait, Sessions’ middle name is Beauregard ?
BAHAHAHAH !
@Sinkable John
I have been silently thinking that (and laughing in the safe confines of my head) ever since I learned this fact some time ago.
Well Beauregard is a traditional Southern name:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._T._Beauregard
and Jefferson is presumably for Jefferson Davis. So he wears his allegiance on his sleeve. Not that it’s entirely his fault, as presumably his parents gave him these names, but he sure lives up to them.
I’ll go for “sexist as fuck” also.
Was able to fax one of my senators Re: Sessions, but for the other one the fax did not go through- twice. Hopefully that means the line is SUPER BUSY, but I can’t help but wonder if he has the line turned off? There were reports that both of our senators were trying to limit access by shutting off phone lines. *grrr*
I’ll try a third time later, I guess…
I had an idea: if one of the artistic types on here wanted to add a “Nevertheless, she persisted” shirt to their web store I’d be down for buying one. 🙂
@kupo Haha Twitter loves u:
http://teestrumphate.storenvy.com/products/19074148-she-persisted-w
and I have spent the entire fucking day on social media, go me.
Sinkable John (with backing vocals by dashapants):
I think I missed the joke?
@guest and numerobis
Dude’s got anything but a beau regard.
In French, from regarder : to look, to stare, etc. Basically the look in your eyes. And there’s nothing pretty about Sessions’. And in the figurative sense, it means “outlook”, and again, definitely nothing pretty about Sessions’.
Also, there’s an old mansion in France called Beauregard. Last time I checked, it was owned and occupied by blues/rock musician Elliott Murphy and his family – he titled one of his albums after it, and no, I don’t actually have any reason to mention that, other than to brag that the dude’s a friend of my father’s, so I used to be friends with him as a kid. Don’t even know if he still lives there though.
Can someone suggest a senator I can contact? All I’ve got is Richard Shelby and Sessions himself. 🙁
Call Sessions, @Mea. Call him and tell him that his days in power are numbered – that people in his own jurisdiction are going to throw him out on his ass. Call him and let him know just how disappointed and angry you are.
The Trump/GOP administration is trying to fatigue good people through sheer volume, but that works both ways. Call him, and keep calling – it doesn’t matter if he won’t ever see your side of things. Call him until his staff’s ears ring with your voices. Until Sessions can’t keep anyone on his staff because they just can’t take the endless calls, and faxes, and postcards, and letters, and emails, and people-outside-the-door…
When it comes to Sessions and the other Republican quislings, it doesn’t matter whether they’ll ever come to your side or not. This is about resistance – about making a bulwark of voices to keep them hemmed in. Make them realize that their reality now consists entirely of treading water in an ocean of anger and outrage that’s entirely of their own making. Make them feel hopeless for that ever changing.
They laugh now, and confidently plough ahead with their horrible plans, thinking that they’ll exhaust us and we’ll accept it as the new normal. In a few months, exhaustion will set in – for them. This summer they’ll brace themselves for a Summer of Discontent, but will tell themselves that winter will bring them exhaustion and peace. A year in, at the anniversary of the inauguration, they’ll realize that we aren’t going to shut up. Hopelessness will set in – for them. That’s when we’ll see Republicans starting to change sides, when we start seeing motion. When they realize that the American people are stronger than their will to rule.
Up here in Canada, I’m personally bracing and preparing for a flood of refugees from the States: we’ve already started to see them. So we’ll try to provide a good example for how refugees should be welcomed, and will help you how we can! But it’s on you, guys.
Persist, persevere. When silencing Elizabeth Warren, Mitch McConnell (that bespectacled Wormtongue) said “She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” That’s gotta be your motto, guys. Warren went outside and finished her speech to a camera, for everyone else. She persisted, and is going to continue to persist. You have to, too.
Give Sessions a call and give him a piece of your mind – respectfully, peacefully, so that you aren’t blacklisted. But persist. You can do it!
Even better, Der Trumpf’s father’s middle name was Christ. I kid you not.
God the father, God the son…..
As a Canadian, I’m also braced for Trumpists trying to get a firmer hold up here.
I’m thinking that McConnell is going to really regret giving us a slogan to rally behind. I suspect he’s going to be really sick and tired of hearing “Nevertheless, She Persisted.”
I’m not American, but I would find it amusing if people rang those involved in shutting Warren down and read that letter to them.