The Thread of Democrats

[Sean Hayden]

—right? It’s almost like they know the headlines have the bigger impact…

[Tero]

Elsewhere:
A: Yes, he’s been far more effective than i expected. I voted for him with some reluctance due to his age, but i will vote for him enthusiastically this time around.

B: He’s actually a better, and more effective president than either Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. He strongly governs in ways they never could. But he won’t get the credit unfortunately. I think Clinton & Obama are better natural speakers and politicians. Biden is better at the sausage-making itself. Not so good at public speaking.

[L'Emmerdeur]

A conservative Democratic congressman and his wife seem to have had their hands too blatantly in the cookie jar. Won't be much of a loss in regard to social issues at least.

'US Rep. Henry Cuellar and Wife Indicted on Bribery Charges'

The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed Friday that Democratic Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were indicted last week for allegedly "participating in two schemes involving bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering."

According to the indictment, between at least December 2014 and November 2021, the Cuellars allegedly took approximately $600,000 in bribes from a fossil fuel company owned by the Azerbaijani government and an unnamed bank headquartered in Mexico City. The congressman, who has served on Capitol Hill for nearly two decades and is seeking reelection, previously co-chaired the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus.

"The bribe payments were laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar," the document states. "In exchange for the bribe payments to Imelda Cuellar, Henry Cuellar agreed to perform official acts in his capacity as a member of Congress, to commit acts in violation of his official duties, and to act as an agent of the government of Azerbaijan and [the foreign bank]."

NBC News first reported early Friday that the Justice Department was expected to release the indictment, which came more than two years after a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid of the couple's Laredo home. Before the document was unsealed, the congressman claimed in a statement that his actions were "consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people."

"I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations," Cuellar said Friday. "Before I took any action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm."

[Sean Hayden]

—jeez, you’d think a bare minimum of effort would make it impossible to prove a consulting business was a sham…

[JimC]

The temptation to corrupt practices is ever present for politicians of all stripes. The very nature of their path to being elected, with its wheeling and dealing, means that they are often pre-adapted to the slippery slope of corruption...

[L'Emmerdeur]

Democratic US Senator Menendez convicted of accepting bribes. Weaponized justice system!!! He should have insisted on receiving the remunerations after he did the briber's bidding--the US Supreme Court might have given him the nod.

'Senator Bob Menendez Convicted on All Counts in Bribery Trial'

A jury found New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez guilty on all counts on Tuesday afternoon, marking the end of the powerful lawmaker’s two-month corruption trial.

Federal prosecutors had accused Menendez of accepting bribes in exchange for using his clout as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to benefit Qatar, Egypt, and several personal associates. In June 2022, the FBI found evidence of the bribery scheme at his New Jersey home—gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, and home furnishings, as well as more than $480,000 in cash hidden in envelopes, clothing, closets, and a safe. The senator pleaded not guilty and claimed that he wasn’t aware of the money in the bedroom closet because his wife, Nadine, kept the door locked. Nadine was also charged but her trial has been postponed indefinitely as she recovers from breast cancer surgery. One of the couple’s co-defendants, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty in March and testified against Menendez at trial.

According to Politico and the Bergen Record, in a five-hour closing argument starting last Monday, prosecutor Paul Monteleoni went through each charge in the 18-count indictment, connecting the lawmaker and his wife to gifts from three New Jersey businessmen—the co-defendants in the case—via emails, phone records, texts, and witness testimony. The prosecution team also asserted that Menendez made direct efforts to protect his co-defendants from criminal investigations, including attempting to secure the appointment of a particular candidate to lead the New Jersey US Attorney’s Office in the hope of shutting down a probe.

[L'Emmerdeur]

California governor Newsom, 'heartless dipshit.'

'"Cowardice": Homeless Advocates Condemn Newsom Order to Remove Encampments'

Civil rights advocates and progressive commentators on Thursday condemned California Gov. Gavin Newsom after the Democrat issued an executive order to shut down homeless encampments on state property and to incentivize local authorities to do the same.

The order marks the first notable state policy shift to result from a momentous U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 28, decided 6-3 on ideological lines, that the liberal dissenting justices argued criminalized homelessness.

Eric Tars, a policy director at the National Homelessness Law Center, told The New York Times that the executive order effectively blamed the victims of a systemic problem.

"The only way to end homeless encampments in California is to end the need for homeless encampments," he said. "California has an affordable housing crisis, and unless Newsom's executive order is coming with sufficient resources to address that, this new push isn't going to work."

In a direct response to Newsom on social media, Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said that the governor hadn't provided the fundamental ingredient needed to solve the homelessness problem.

"You didn't provide the needed affordable housing," she wrote. "You're choosing political expediency over real solutions. That's not leadership, it's cowardice. This will only worsen homelessness."

Echoing the need for more housing, Nina Turner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy, called the Newsom decision "shameful," while Jordan Chariton, a journalist at Status Coup, a progressive media outlet, called it "disgusting," saying Newsom's solution was to "sweep them all up like it's taking out the trash."

Mel Buer, a reporter for The Real News Network, indicated on social media that the decision was in keeping with the political approach of the governor, who is widely believed to have presidential ambitions.

"Saw this one coming from a mile off," Buer wrote of Thursday's executive order. "Newsom's a fucking heartless dipshit who would rather court billionaire donors to his 2028 presidential run than be a real human being."

[L'Emmerdeur]

Yeah he's a Democrat, though you couldn't tell it by a lot of his policies. Former police captain turned politician. Say no more.

'New York City Mayor Eric Adams Just Got Indicted on Federal Charges'

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal criminal charges by a grand jury, sources familiar with the matter told The New York Times.

Minutes after the Times’ report was published late Wednesday, other insiders confirmed the indictment to the New York Post, which added that Adams is expected to surrender to law enforcement early next week.

It was not immediately clear what charge or charges Adams will face because the indictment remains under seal. He is the first mayor to be criminally charged in the city’s history while still in office.

Both the Times and the Post reported that the charges will stem from an investigation into Adams’ relationship with Turkey, including accusations that its government illegally funneled foreign money into his mayoral campaign.

[Brian Peacock]

Will Trump pardon the friend of Erdoğan?

[L'Emmerdeur]

On their way out the door Manchin and Sinema, the infamous duo of blatantly corporation-owned former Democratic senators, fuck over working people in the US--staying true to their shitty masters. Voting against the confirmation of a worker-friendly member of the National Labor Relations Board they make sure that Trump will be able to put the exact opposite into the position.

'Manchin and Sinema Screw Biden Yet Again, Give Trump Control of Labor Board'

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Tuesday voted not to confirm President Joe Biden‘s re-nomination of Lauren McFerran as member of the National Labor Relations Board. The nays from the pair of independents, who both declined to run for reelection in 2024, will block continued control of the labor regulator by Democrats — their former party, which they’ve still caucused with — and paves the way for President-elect Donald Trump‘s next administration to strip worker rights while pursuing an anti-union agenda.

McFerran is the current chair and one of three Democrats serving on the NLRB, which enforces labor law as a federal agency. Ordinarily, the board has five members, each nominated to a five-year term by the sitting president, but there are only four at the moment, including one Republican. Cutting McFerran’s tenure short allows the GOP to gain a three-member majority instead of preserving a Democratic advantage through 2026.

Sinema, who hadn’t cast a vote in the Senate since before Thanksgiving, apparently showed up specifically to side with Republicans against McFerran’s appointment, with Manchin then arriving late to deliver the tie-breaking blow for a final tally of 49 in favor and 50 against. Had he not turned up, Vice President Kamala Harris would have presumably voted to keep McFerran on track for another term on the NLRB. Democrats in the chamber and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders had urged outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to do everything he could to ensure Democrats retained the balance of power on the board.

[L'Emmerdeur]

The Democratic Party does a fair job of governing (certainly compared to the Republican Party) but is a flaccid failure when it comes to political strategy and responsiveness to circumstances. There is no question for instance that Nancy Pelosi was a skillful operator when it came to leading the House of Representatives. She isn't capable of seeing the writing on the wall though, and works to support the lame old guard of her party, thwarting a movement to bring forward new leaders to meet the challenges of the present situation.

'Pelosi Won. The Democratic Party Lost.'

Fresh off hip replacement surgery, Nancy Pelosi, 84, secured another victory. House Democrats on Tuesday afternoon decided that 74-year-old Gerry Connolly—who announced his throat cancer diagnosis in November—will serve as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, besting 35-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a closed-door caucus vote. “Gerry’s a young 74, cancer notwithstanding,” said Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, a Connolly ally. Pelosi had opposed the 35-year-old’s run for the role, “approaching colleagues urging them to back Connolly over Ocasio-Cortez,” Axios reported last week.

Connolly will join fellow septuagenarians in top committee spots next year. Richard Neal, 75, will lead Democrats on Ways and Means while Frank Pallone, 73, will be the party’s top representative on Energy and Commerce. Eighty-six-year-old Maxine Waters will be the ranking member on the Financial Services Committee, and Rose DeLauro, 81, will helm the Democrats’ presence in Appropriations.

The elderly are not too old to govern. But they may, in this case, be too attached to a failed way of doing things. The job of the Oversight Committee, for instance, is to “ensure the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies,” including the Pentagon. Connolly this past cycle accepted $118,500 from political action committees, or PACs, linked to the defense sector. Ways and Means is the House’s top tax-writing committee, with jurisdiction over the revenue-related aspects of Social Security and Medicare, among other programs. Neal is a top recipient of donations from the insurance industry, having accepted $412,000 from insurance industry PACs during the 2024 campaign cycle, plus generous six-figure donations from HMOs and pharmaceutical companies. Frank Pallone has gotten more than $1 million from electric utilities since joining Congress in 1998.

In other democracies, the leadership of parties that have endured humiliating defeats like the one Democrats saw in November—or even just regular defeats—resign. That kicks off a process by which members determine a new, ideally more successful direction, represented by different people. But the Democratic Party isn’t really a “party” of the sort that exists in other democracies, with memberships and official constituencies, like unions, who have some say over how it’s governed. Members mostly make decisions based on their own interests rather than to drive some shared, democratically decided agenda forward.

That’s part of what’s so depressing about the Oversight Committee ordeal for the couple dozen journalists and political junkies who pay attention to that sort of thing. Pelosi and the old guard’s continued opposition to younger talent seems breathtakingly counterproductive in the face of the Democratic Party’s numerous challenges right now. Simultaneously, the House’s “resistance” to Trump and the GOP in the House will be led by people of all ages who don’t seem particularly interested in that project, despite having spent the entire election cycle warning that Trump’s Republican Party represents a second coming of fascism. If incoming House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries really believes that, then why is he advertising his willingness to work with the GOP? Why are so many other Democrats, for that matter, trying to make nice with Trump acolyte Elon Musk?

[pErvinalia]

Yeah. The people increasingly have had enough of this nonsense.

[Brian Peacock]

Drain the catheter bags.

[JimC]

[Sean Hayden]

They should be investigated for witchcraft. Their only significant achievement of late is resurrecting the GOP.

—//—

Working on providing a counter to MTG on the left…