Cory Booker Honors Edan Alexander
Sen. Cory Booker stages a marathon Senate speech, tackling pressing issues and honoring hostages.
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker took to the Senate floor on Monday night to stop all Senate business. He wasn’t doing this as a means of filibustering as it didn’t come up during debate on the floor. But seeing as how it lasted well into early Tuesday evening, you can probably call it a filibuster since no Senate business is getting accomplished.
A few things happened during his speech. The first is that he got biblical and you could argue that he delivered a D’var Torah. Transcript courtesy of JTA:
We have to say to history where we stood, where we stood when they were coming after our constitutional principles, where we stood when they were threatening judges to impeach them for making just decisions. Where we stood when they were taking law firms and threatening their business unless they came and kowtow to the big leader. Where we stood when they were disappearing people from America without the due process that even Antonin Scalia said they should have. Where were you when they came after the health care of the disabled, the health care of the children, the health care of the expectant mothers, the health care of seniors? Where were you when they attacked veterans, laying them off for no justifiable reason and attacking the VA services that they rely on? Where were you when we turned our back on Ukraine? Where were you when we turned our back on our alliances? Where were you when they took the economy down with tariffs, when they took the economy down by threatening it so consumer confidence drops. Where were you?
How many things are going on before we answer the question, as it says in Hebrew, hineni. Hineni. Behold Lord, here I am.
While discussing his colleague, Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Booker placed a yellow hostage ribbon pin on his label and honored Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American being held hostage in Gaza.
“I’m grateful that we were founders of the Black-Jewish Caucus…The Juneteenth seder’s coming up. I’m going to put this on as you have it on, as I think about Edan Alexander and all those who are suffering. I’m just so grateful for our friendship and what we’ve done against antisemitism, what we’ve done for the Abraham Accords.”
He’s particular strong in his words approaching the 5:30 PM CT mark. Separation of powers are key. Booker mentions how Elon Musk is threatening Republicans to run primaries against them if they “step out of line.”
The Courts are the only ones actively putting a check on the administration. There have been 140 federal lawsuits filed against him in the first nine weeks. They’ve lost case after case.
Booker also namedropped Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Joachim Prinz shortly after 5:30 PM CT.
I was getting emotional as Booker discussed the late John Lewis. Lewis is a legend for his work in the Civil Rights movement. He would also be someone that says and does something to meet the moment that we’re facing.
Booker broke Strom Thurmond’s previous record of 24 hours, 18 minutes. I’m not crying, you’re crying!
But Her Emails
National Security Advisor Michael Waltz has done it again. The Washington Post reports that members of the National Security Council—including Waltz—have been conducting official government business through a personal Gmail account. Gmail is less secure than Signal as far as messaging is concerned.
Waltz is the advisor to a convicted felon that campaigned on Hillary Clinton using a personal server during her time as Secretary of State. If the felon doesn’t make him resign, he’s going come off as a hypocrite. I’m sorry but you cannot have it both ways. There’s absolutely zero consistency here!
A senior Waltz aide used the commercial email service for highly technical conversations with colleagues at other government agencies involving sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict, according to emails reviewed by The Post. While the NSC official used his Gmail account, his interagency colleagues used government-issued accounts, headers from the email correspondence show. […]
The use of personal email, even for unclassified materials, is risky given the premium value foreign intelligence services place on the communications and schedules of senior government officials, such as the national security adviser, experts say.
FCC Targets Mickey Mouse
Despite agreeing to pay $15 million to the felon’s presidential library as part of a settlement, Disney is not out of the woodwork. FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a Monday interview that ABC’s broadcast license is now at risk after shareholders rejected measures against diversity, equity, and inclusivity. This is nothing but typical bullying and racism, sexism, and xenophobia.
“Yeah, this is about the hiring practices and their employment practices. Look, broadcasters and Disney owns one, ABC. They have an obligation under federal law. We have EEO rules at the FCC, which means you can’t make hiring decisions based on protected characteristics, including gender and race.”
Republicans Might Be Starting to Fight Back
It appears that the Republicans are beginning to fracture when it come to the felon’s tariffs. Who could blame them? They know that the tariffs are not a tax on other countries but on American companies and consumers. Any resolution that passes the Senate is symbolic at best since House Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t appear to even consider opposing the felon. With 47 members of the Democratic Senate Caucus, there only needs to be four Republicans to join Dems and Independents and pass resolutions with a simple majority.