The American system of governance is leaving too many Americans to despair and misery, too many problems unsolved, too many people disillusioned. It [the American system of government] is captured by corporations and paralyzed by archaic rules. It is failing, and too many Democrats treat its failures as regrettable inevitabilities rather than a true crisis.

I'd add that when Repubs say "both sides are corporate," that might arguably be their one correct bothsider point. Even as Dems major contributors are unions, they are not the major lobbyists in Congress. That's what Klein describes as "system of governance," imo.

First, they
-- need to help people fast and visibly. (In my view, waaay faster than in the past.) Second, they
-- need to take politics seriously, knowing that defeat in 2022 will be catastrophe. The Trumpist Republican Party needs to be politically discredited through repeated losses; it cannot simply be allowed to ride back to primacy on the coattails of Democratic failure. And, finally, they
-- need to do more than talk about the importance of democracy. They need to deepen American democracy...

the real question Democrats face.
They have plenty of ideas that could improve people’s lives and strengthen democracy.
But they have, repeatedly, proved themselves more committed to preserving the status quo of the political system than fulfilling their promises to voters.
They have preferred the false peace of decorum to the true progress of democracy.
If they choose that path again, they will lose their majority in 2022, and they will deserve it.

From Celerity:

Richard M. Burr N.C. 224-3154
“The President bears responsibility for today’s events by promoting the unfounded conspiracy theories that have led to this point.”

Susan Collins Maine 224-2523
“If you announce ahead of time how you’re going to vote, I don’t see how you can render impartial justice before you’ve heard the evidence.”

Mitch McConnell Ky. 224-2541
“I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate.”

Shelley Moore Capito W.Va. 224-6472
“I did support the president, and I did support the policies and I think the policies were good for West Virginia. But this is inexcusable.”

Lisa Murkowski Alaska 224-6665
“I will listen carefully and consider the arguments of both sides, and will then announce how I will vote.”

Rob Portman Ohio 224-3353
“If the Senate proceeds with an impeachment trial, I will do my duty as a juror and listen to the cases presented by both sides.”

Mitt Romney Utah 224-5251
“During the course of an impeachment trial, Senator Romney will again be bound by his oath to ‘do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God.’ He will consider all of the facts and evidence presented,” a spokesperson said.

Ben Sasse Neb. 224-4224
“As a juror, I’m not announcing anything now and I’m going to be limited on what I say in advance.”

Thom Tillis N.C. 224-6342
“I’m prepared to go back up to Washington and listen to the arguments.”

Patrick J. Toomey PA. 224-4254
“Should the Senate conduct a trial, I will again fulfil my responsibility to consider arguments from both the House managers and President Trump’s lawyers.”



We need 7 of these IF the 10 above vote to convict


Marco Rubio Florida 224-3041 (IF he is running for POTUS, but he is a worm)

Tom Cotton Ark. 224-2353 (IF he is running for POTUS, but he is a dangerous thug, albeit extremely intelligent)

Tim Scott S.C. 224-5274(surely he must at some point tire of supporting white nationalism, but maybe not, grrr)

John Thune S.D. 224-2321

Deb Fischer Neb. 224-6551

John Kennedy La. 224-4623 (listed because he can do bizarre things, and is actually one of the most intelligent Senators, he totally plays a fake dumb slack-jaw hick persona to gaslight the rubes in the bayou)

Chuck Grassley IA 224-3744
“That’s a major thing you’ve got to think about, should Congress, under the Constitution, even do it? We shall see.”

Michael D. Crapo Idaho 224-6142
A spokesperson said that Mr. Crapo is undecided.

Richard C. Shelby Ala. 224-5744
“I believe we need to wait and hear the evidence. If there is a trial, which would be my third as a sitting Senator, I would sit as a juror. And as a juror, I would carefully consider the evidence presented.”

Dan Sullivan Alaska 224-3004
“When a trial is conducted, I will be a juror, and I will thoroughly examine the arguments and evidence presented, including any defence mounted by the President’s legal team.”

John Cornyn Texas 224-2934
“If they decide to proceed with the impeachment trial, I will certainly listen to the case presented.”

James M. Inhofe Okla. 224-4721
“Accordingly, I will withhold further comments given my role as a prospective juror.”

James Lankford Okla. 224-5754
“We’re going to go through the facts and the issues on this.”

When YouTube and Facebook barred tens of thousands of Mr. Trump’s supporters and white supremacists this month, many flocked to alternative apps such as LBRY [alt-YouTube], Minds [alt-Facebook] and Sessions[alt-Google]. What those sites had in common was that they were also inspired by the design of Bitcoin.

That underlying technology is called the blockchain, a reference to the shared ledger on which all of Bitcoin’s records are kept.

Companies are now finding ways to use blockchains, and similar technology inspired by it, to create social media networks, store online content and host websites without any central authority in charge. Doing so makes it much harder for any government or company to ban accounts or delete content.

Dozens of start-ups now offer alternatives to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Amazon’s web hosting services, all on top of decentralized networks and shared ledgers. Many have gained millions of new users over the past few weeks, according to the data company SimilarWeb.

Minds, a blockchain-based replacement for Facebook founded in 2015, also became an online home to some of the right-wing personalities and neo-Nazis who were booted from mainstream social networks, along with fringe groups, in other countries, that have been targeted by their governments. Minds and other similar start-ups are funded by prominent venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures.

Blockchains are not the only solution for those in search of alternatives to Big Tech’s power. Many people have recently migrated to the encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram, which have no need for a blockchain. Moxie Marlinspike, the creator of Signal, has said decentralization made it hard to build good software.

The experimentation with decentralized systems has nonetheless ramped up over the last month. Brave, a new browser, announced last week that it would begin integrating a blockchain-based system, known as IPFS, into its software to make web content more reliable in case big service providers went down or tried to ban sites.

“The IPFS network gives access to content even if it has been censored by corporations and nation-states,” Brian Bondy, a co-founder of Brave, said.

At LBRY, the blockchain-based alternative to YouTube, the number of people signing up daily has surged 250 percent from December, the company said. The newcomers appear to have largely been a motley crew of Trump fans, white supremacists and gun rights advocates who violated YouTube’s rules.