FlamingLib

Progressive. Intersectional Feminist. Recovering writer. Intolerant of hatefulness and hypocrisy.
She/her

[FlamingLib @LibFlaming]

A reminder to liberals: Please stop defending Al Franken. He was credibly accused of misconduct by eight women. EIGHT.
https://t.co/qq9d1h5R0h

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

What a fucking idiot.

Trump admin has been in place for two years, and the GOP blocked investment in transit upgrades.

Meanwhile Elon and DOGE cut FAA/ATC personnel, including maintenance budgets and farmed out contracts to private companies.

We’re now learning a private company attached to the ATC system is the one that pushed the failing update.

[Dave Itzkoff @ditzkoff]

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue

[Scott Colom @scott_colom]

THANK YOU, MISSISSIPPI! This victory belongs to all of us and I am honored to be your new senator-elect.

[Michelle_BYoung @michelle_byoung]

OMG This is hysterical! 😂😂😂🤣😭

[FlamingLib @LibFlaming]

Dear God. How do you get this wrong?

[FlamingLib @LibFlaming]

I love - and often agree with - Mehdi, but I think we should focus less on the presidential race. AES and JT would probably be more effective in the Senate. Look at Mitch McConnell. He arguably had more power than Obama in determining SCOTUS outcomes. Congress matters.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Yep. No reason AES or Talarico can’t run in 2028. Don’t listen to all the ‘experts’ who say they can’t run so soon after election.

The guy from Home Alone 2 is president. Old rules don’t apply.

[FlamingLib @LibFlaming]

Brilliant.

[Organizermemes @OrganizerMemes]

Fascinating organizing tactic by the @scott_colom field campaign to stop knocking doors and start organizing workers who weren't being reached through traditional methods

Kinda reminds me of Bernie with the meatpackers in Iowa

[Lina Khan @linamkhan]

Why should Congressional Democrats investigate corporate America if their mandate is to deliver real economic change? Because investigations are a key catalyst for securing reform and legislation. For much of the last century, Congress used to be the main institutional player working to secure an economy that serves working people. A key tool was oversight. Lawmakers routinely investigated complex markets and major corporations, identifying problems and exposing wrongdoing. A major goal of these investigations was to learn what was driving certain problems and figure out how to fix them.

After Democrats took back the House during the first Trump administration in 2019, I joined the House Judiciary Committee as a staffer on the Antitrust Subcommittee. Under the terrific leadership of @RepJerryNadler and then-Rep @davidcicilline, we pursued an 18-month investigation into Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, securing key evidence of how their business practices were undermining competition and harming people, setting the basis for both lawsuits and proposed legislation.

A few lessons from that experience:

1. The quality of legislative oversight depends on the staff and the support of top members to confront power. Committee and Subcommittee Chairs that are focused on getting answers and unafraid to take on powerful corporate interests will make the difference between oversight that doesn’t surrender to their evasion tactics and oversight that aims low or flames out.

Even a relatively small number of dogged, talented lawyers ready to dive in can make a big impact. In the 1930s a single congressional lawyer, Ferdinand Pecora, helped reshape our entire banking system by subpoenaing records and interrogating top financiers, including J.P Morgan. The investigation exposed self-dealing, market manipulation, and tax avoidance, and laid the groundwork for foundational New Deal legislation, including the Glass-Steagall Act and the Securities Exchange Act.

2. Eliminating bottlenecks to moving investigations forward is key. For example, the House should make sure that Subcommittee Chairs can issue subpoenas rather than needing the sign-off of the full Committee or its Chair. A credible threat of sending subpoenas is critical for credible oversight.

3. Ensuring that members can develop the muscle to effectively interrogate CEOs requires investing in real preparation. In the lead up to the hearing with Bezos, Pichai, Cook, and Zuckerberg, the Antitrust Subcommittee spent months reviewing millions of documents collected from the firms, interviewing affected parties, briefing members on key evidence, and conducting practice hearings. Members came into the hearing deeply informed and able to rebut and call out CEO dissembling. The result was some of the most effective member questioning of executives we’ve seen in decades. @TheProspect wrote up a great overview: https://t.co/7BYC3UHFbW

4. For decades, institutional capacity in Congress has been extremely weak. Much of this traces back to the Gingrich Revolution, which was effectively the 1995 DOGE-ing of Congress. Republican leadership fired over 600 professional staffers, eliminated the Office of Technology Assessment, and gutted research capacity. None of that capacity was ever meaningfully restored.

As a result, members have way fewer resources to develop serious expertise or go deep on a new topic. Members should start rebuilding that capacity so the institution can fully play its Article I role, where Congress can again do serious policy development and legislating and serve as a real check on the executive and judicial branches.

5. AI markets should be high on the list of investigations. The business decisions of the major AI firms have huge public ramifications, yet the public is at a severe informational disadvantage when it comes to how these markets work and the choices these firms are making. A congressional investigation will help ensure future legislative action is based on a more complete view of what is going on rather than selective and partial corporate disclosures.

[FlamingLib @LibFlaming]

Just wondering if anyone's heard from Lindy Li after Tuesday?

[Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman]

If she loses to Scott Colom, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will have helped set her own defeat in motion.

He'd likely be a federal judge right now—not her opponent—if not for the fact that she blocked Biden's nomination of him over his support for trans rights.
https://t.co/epVC96VBCP

[FlamingLib @LibFlaming]

Hope we can rid ourselves of trash like this. 👇

[Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer]

I hope everyone is learning Arabic.

[Amanda Litman @amandalitman]

Not sure there's a federal candidate in the country who worked as hard -- with as little national help -- as Angie Nixon. What a star.

[Angie Nixon @AngieNixon]

Invest In The South.

[God @TheTweetOfGod]

And so it was.

[Beto O'Rourke @BetoORourke]

So proud of Gina, so proud of James, so proud of Texas!

[The Tennessee Holler @TheTNHoller]

🔥MUST-WATCH: "Byron, just because you're talking doesn't make it accurate... you're trying to gaslight the voters... You're squishy but i can squeeze... you're gonna be a do-guy for Trump."

On @breakfastclubam the great @angela_rye grills Florida Republican governor candidate Byron Donalds on his support for policies that hurt Black folks, including racist redistricting.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Abrams on Haley Stevens: She used black people as a prop in order to pursue an agenda of sore loserness.

And having been someone who has not won everything, I thought it is deeply inappropriate to use anyone else to justify your behavior and to justify your dismay, She said he told her not to come to something. I've been asked not to come to things before. That doesn't mean that I then disavow my values

[FlamingLib @LibFlaming]

Deplorable.

[Sam Robinson @samueljrob]

Stevens says she’s for investing in Black owned businesses. “And that’s the policy that Mike’s going to take on,” Stevens says.

[Dr. Annie Andrews @AnnieAndrewsMD]

Moments like this one make the long days, late nights, and hours on the road worth it 🫶

[FlamingLib @LibFlaming]

She's right about people in power having secrets, but the problem with asking people to wake up and figure it out is that you can't expect someone in F*ck Nut, Arkansas to uncover dirt in DC. People like Greene need to start talking - on the record to reporters.

[Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 @FmrRepMTG]

On Lindsey Graham.

Stay with me on this.

The worst kept secret in Washington DC came out today because 3 brave men came out and told the truth and it doesn’t matter if it is after he’s dead.

Brave?

Yes brave.

Why are they brave?

They had to go on camera and tell intimate details of their personal lives.

To the world.

That is extremely difficult to do. Yes it’s brave. And Stressful. They walked into the public square opening themselves to the opinions of the entire world.

No matter your opinion on the issue, they took a courageous leap in coming forward.

If you are critical, would you go on camera and tell your secrets to the entire world?

I would bet a lot of money you wouldn’t.

Ok but there is more to this.

Because this is the world I saw up close in Washington.

I saw behind the curtain and saw ALL the wizards.

Everyone in the highest levels of power in Washington DC are keeping secrets that would destroy their entire lives.

And that’s exactly why they have power.

Not because they are so smart or qualified or the best choice for leadership.

I mean really, if you think our best and brightest are in charge then do some critical thinking and look at the pathetic state of our debt, our dollar, and how our government is run, and the outcome that affects your life.

Their secrets are the only reason these people rise to the top.

Because their secrets are not secrets.

We all knew Lindsey Graham was gay. Everyone did.

Their secrets are levers of control. Keeps them in line. Makes them a team player. And will make them fight the hardest on issues that don’t make sense in order to keep their secrets just that. Secrets.

So everyone is arguing about how this is old news, why now? Or arguing about being gay, and gay issues. Or arguing because that’s what everyone does on the internet, just argue with each other and with bots about issues they don’t have the real truth on, but throw out their strongest opinion anyways.

I’m here to tell you the granular issue you need to dial in on and block out the rest of the noise.

Three gay men just bravely pulled back the curtain and tried to teach you all the most important lesson America needs to learn.

It’s this.

America’s most powerful leaders keep secrets that comprise them in the most dangerous ways for the security, safety, and prosperity of our nation.

That’s the whole point.

I tried my hardest to fight the entire system on both sides of the aisle and couldn’t beat it because YOU ALL keep voting these people back into office and back into power.

By the way, I always cosponsored the Term Limit bill and no matter who is in charge, Pelosi, McCarthy, or Johnson, Dem or Rep, that bill never ever got even close to getting a vote on the House floor.

So the question for you, The American People, is are you able to learn the lesson and if so, what exactly are YOU going to do about it?

Ask yourself, what are you voting for? Donating to? Volunteering for?

And are you really satisfied with the outcome election cycle after election cycle?