RIP U.S. Congressman John Lewis

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John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, died. He was 80.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed Lewis’ passing late Friday night, calling him “one of the greatest heroes of American history.”

“All of us were humbled to call Congressman Lewis a colleague, and are heartbroken by his passing,” Pelosi said. “May his memory be an inspiration that moves us all to, in the face of injustice, make ‘good trouble, necessary trouble.’”
Lewis’s announcement in late December 2019 that he had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer — “I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now,” he said.
 

Aribeth Zelin

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I had the great fortune to have him as my Congresscritter for at least some of my lifetime. And the honour of getting to vote for him.

I'm just so mad that we've lost him, but still have that orange excrement in the WH.
 

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I came across this on Twitter earlier today:


I did not know about this. Not all of it, anyway. I don't understand the acrimony.
Bernie did try to diffuse it, but obviously it didn't take.

I asked for a screenshot of BrieBrie’s tweet about Lewis and the cats; surely the description was exaggerated? Not exactly;

 

Aribeth Zelin

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"Libertarian hero"? Libertarian?
Unless they mean by the political definition, instead of what that party has become? I mean, I count as a libertarian instead of authoritarian, but I think the party has been overrun by a bunch of republicans.
 

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Unless they mean by the political definition, instead of what that party has become? I mean, I count as a libertarian instead of authoritarian, but I think the party has been overrun by a bunch of republicans.
I'm not an expert on libertarians, but there are a suspicious number of people on Twitter who are aholes and have libertarian in their profile.
 
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Aribeth Zelin

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I'm not an expert on libertarians, but there are a suspicious number of people on Twitter who are aholes and have libertarian in their profile.
Yup, those are the 'party' as opposed to the political leaning. all it means in the latter is that you believe in personal freedom and are against authoritarian policies.

And I get libertarian on tests when I answer that I think the government should help take care of its citizens. I mean, that's what taxes are for, right? And not lining the pockets of the republican crooks in office?
 
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So Mr. Lewis represented the 5th congressional district in Georgia, which basically covers the city of Atlanta itself (not the much larger metro area). Since the election is coming up quickly, the state Democratic party is meeting *today* to select a substitute candidate, because they need to submit that on Monday to revise the ballots. Absentee and early voting starts about a month before election day.

He won the last election with 85% of the vote. The Republican candidate, Angela Staton-King, served time in prison for being part of a car-theft ring and was pardoned by Trump earlier this year. This should be interesting.
 

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Unless they mean by the political definition, instead of what that party has become? I mean, I count as a libertarian instead of authoritarian, but I think the party has been overrun by a bunch of republicans.
I made a much longer post on why I renounced libertarianism on the old forum, but in short, yes, the party was overrun with republicans. When Obama was in office and the tea party bullshit started, a ton of republicans started saying they were "libertarian" because they thought that was a way to say "SUPER-DUPER conservative." The libertarian party has supported gay marriage and other socially liberal causes since the 1970's, but after the tea party the movement was flooded with people who have no concept of what the original philosophy was. I don't still subscribe to the philosophy for a lot of reasons, but I'm still opinionated on what the philosophy actually is.

As for the civil rights act, the issue that a lot of libertarians take with it is that they think all racist laws should be abolished, instead of piling on other laws to make states and and individuals go the other way. Libertarians often think you should have the right to be a racist piece of shit, because "freedom means the right to be wrong." I'm not a libertarian anymore, and I think the law should forbid overt racism. The fact that most libertarian and conservative message boards often tolerate so many overt racists is another reason I wanted to leave the movement.
 

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I made a much longer post on why I renounced libertarianism on the old forum, but in short, yes, the party was overrun with republicans. When Obama was in office and the tea party bullshit started, a ton of republicans started saying they were "libertarian" because they thought that was a way to say "SUPER-DUPER conservative." The libertarian party has supported gay marriage and other socially liberal causes since the 1970's, but after the tea party the movement was flooded with people who have no concept of what the original philosophy was. I don't still subscribe to the philosophy for a lot of reasons, but I'm still opinionated on what the philosophy actually is.

As for the civil rights act, the issue that a lot of libertarians take with it is that they think all racist laws should be abolished, instead of piling on other laws to make states and and individuals go the other way. Libertarians often think you should have the right to be a racist piece of shit, because "freedom means the right to be wrong." I'm not a libertarian anymore, and I think the law should forbid overt racism. The fact that most libertarian and conservative message boards often tolerate so many overt racists is another reason I wanted to leave the movement.
Yup, pretty much. I mean, its always been weird, in the 80s, a bunch of our College's Young Democrats went to the Libertarian Convention and you had people in suits, and you had bikers and other hippie types. But that was also the year I gave up on them; when they took the nomination away from the Native American candidate and gave it to the dud in a bowtie who had lost the Democratic nomination.

* The Young Democrats at my school were not so much Dems, as progressives who took a mostly dead organization [at our school] and gave it life again.

Anyway, in the bit you quoted, I meant republican both literally, and definitely as an insult.
 

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So the state Democratic party selected Nikema Williams to run in place of John Lewis. She's the state party chair, and a state senator whose district is more or less in the same area as Lewis' district (but smaller). There's an open question about how the remaining time until January for that seat will be filled.
 
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The Fairfax County School Board voted in favor of the change to go into effect for the 2020-21 school year, according to an announcement Thursday. Board members in the suburban Washington D.C., district voted June 23 to change the school’s name but had been deliberating over a new name for the last few weeks.

Board chair Ricardy Anderson said in a statement that the district wanted to choose a name that reflected the school’s multiculturalism after concerns were raised by students, staff and the community over the old name.

“Rep. Lewis was a champion of the Civil Rights movement, and our Board strongly believes this is an appropriate tribute to an individual who is a true American hero,” Anderson said. “We will also honor his life’s work by continuing to promote equity, justice, tolerance and service in the work that we do.”
 

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Mm hmm.

He found himself in a position entirely of his own making where whatever he did would have been wrong -- don't attend and be convicted of disrespect to the late Congressman Lewis or attend and be convicted of gross hypocrisy.
 
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He found himself in a position entirely of his own making where whatever he did would have been wrong -- don't attend and be convicted of disrespect to the late Senator Lewis or attend and be convicted of gross hypocrisy.
Someone with even an ounce of courage would still do the right thing.