There were two important bills Congress passed on Wednesday-- a bad one and a good one. The bad one was a reauthorization of the USA Freedom Act (FISA). It passed 278-136. 75 Democrats and 60 Republicans voted against it. The Blue Dogs, New Dems and the corrupt Military Industrial Complex supporters led the way. Which Democrats voted against it? You know... the good ones like Ro Khanna (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), AOC (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Andy Levin (D-MI), Judy Chu (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Chuy García (D-IL), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)... the ones you'd expect. And the bad guys? 152 Democrats joined with most of the GOP to pass this, many of them all the regular suspects like this couple of dozen shitheads:
• Steny Hoyer (Majority Leader-MD)• Jim Clyburn (Biden Resuscitator-SC)• Cheri Bustos (DCCC chair-IL)• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)• Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL)• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)• Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)• Greg Meeks (New Dem-NY)• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (New Dem-FL)• Joe Morelle (New Dem-NY)• Stephen Lynch (New Dem-MA)• Pete Aguilar (Blue Dog-CA)• Gil Cisneros (New Dem-CA)• Harley Rouda (New Dem-CA)
Those 24 were just a representative sample of all the bad Democrats who voted for an especially bad bill that reauthorizes the unchecked domestic spying powers of what is now Trump's intelligence-gathering bureaus, such as the unwarranted collection of phone records. I asked some of the candidates running for Congress whose opponents voted for the bill. Liam O'Mara, the Riverside County progressive Democrat taking on Trump sycophant Ken Calvert responded with his own question: "How is it that a country which prides itself on freedom is so quick to limit freedoms in the name of security? There is no cause for spying on the communications of American citizens as a whole, and the Orwellian name of the USA FREEDOM Act should not be allowed to obscure its purpose. Calvert voted to let the NSA watch your calls; I would have voted no." Eva Putzova, the Arizona progressive taking on Blue Dog and "ex"-Republican Tom O'Halleran who voted to reauthorize the domestic spying bill (and against the war powers bill). He can always be counted on to vote with the Republicans on any important legislation. Eva told us this morning that his vote "to join with the Trump administration and the GOP and reauthorize Section 215 of the Patriot Act that allows government spying and surveillance on American citizens is reprehensible. This provision allows the unwarranted collection of phone records of hundreds of millions of people in the United States. It would give Attorney General Barr the authority to engage in surveillance of the administration's political rivals. Is this what the incumbent and my opponent wants? Growing up in pre-1989 Czechoslovakia, I'm too familiar with tools of totalitarian regimes used to terrorize their own citizens and the Patriot Act is just like that. When I am in Congress I will vote to repeal the Patriot Act and all other intrusive government spying and surveillance programs that interfere with our rights under the Constitution."So that was the bad bill. The good bill that passed was a bicameral directive to removes all U.S. armed forces deployed against Iran without congressional approval. It passed 227 to 186. Six fucked-up fake Democrats voted with the Republicans to stop this. If you see one of these in the street, you should throw a runny fruit pie in their face:
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)
And if you live in one of their districts... Well, you know what to do. Oklahoma's 5th district would be a good one to start in. Blue Dog Kendra Horn has one of the most disgraceful voting records of any Democrat in Congress-- craven, cowardly and conservative. She has no business being in Congress at all and was never anything more than a lesser-of-two evils candidate. Progressive Tom Guild is running against her this cycle, in part because of voters like the two she screwed up on this week-- voting for domestic spying and against peace With Iran. "Under no circumstances," said Guild today, "should American troops fight in Iran without prior congressional approval. I’m deeply disappointed that Horn gave the current volatile and impulsive president or any president carte blanche to start another costly endless war in the Middle East. Enough is Enough!"