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To the Editor:

Re My Fellow Republicans Need to Grow Up, by Bob Inglis (Opinion guest essay, Oct. 3):

We are divided not by ideology but by a deep lack of willingness to consider ideas before party alliances.

I wasnt paying attention to politics until 2015. But Donald Trump was so outrageous I was shocked into political activism. I speak out often because silence is not an option.

The MAGA followers I encounter on internet political sites call me Communist, Marxist, treasonous and fascist. I find their attitudes loathsome. I blame Mr. Trumps constant attacks on anyone who speaks out against him his most virulent and nasty attacks being against Democrats. We have become deeply divided because Mr. Trump models divisive behavior. I fear for our Republic.

But, if I am honest, it is Mr. Trump who has taught me something vital. I must be careful of rejecting someone just because they are on the other side. At least I must be able to define our differences and find our similarities. As a result I may expand my point of view to be richer, more inclusive and balanced. And that is what our system of debate and compromise demands.

Jo Trafford Portland, Maine

To the Editor:

I appreciate Bob Ingliss call for Republicans to stop with the mindless vilifying of their Democratic colleagues (and with them the millions of Americans who voted for them), and start engaging on substantive issues that really matter.

Elected Republicans prioritize demonizing and scapegoating and temper tantrums over concern for the challenges of the lived lives of their constituents. Those challenges are shared, to varying degrees, by most Americans. Look for legislative common ground there.

When elected Republicans at all levels of government start noticing the specifics of their constituents suffering, and then start using their offices to do something about it thats when well know theyve really grown up.

Jeri Zeder Lexington, Mass.

To the Editor:

In Giulianis Drinking Is Subplot in Trump Inquiry (front page, Oct. 5), I was quoted as saying:

Its no secret, nor do I do him any favors if I dont mention that problem, because he has it. Its actually one of the saddest things I can think about in politics.

While I dont deny the quote Rudy Giuliani had a drinking problem that he has dealt with, and I believe he is no longer drinking I also said a lot of good things about Rudy.

He was one of our greatest mayors. He cleaned New York City up and made it livable. He was a national hero during 9/11, when the country needed leadership. He was Americas Mayor and beloved by many.

We should also not forget that he was a great U.S. attorney for the Southern District and prosecuted many people who committed heinous crimes.

I have the greatest respect and empathy for this man, who did so much good.

Andrew Stein New York The writer is a former president of the New York City Council.

To the Editor:

Re Prozac Nation, Meet Lexapro Sweatshirts (Style, nytimes.com, Oct. 2):

I cringed when I read this article about using the names of antidepressants on shirts. I personally think it trivializes the seriousness of depression. Having suffered from manic depression for 50 years now, I dont see that as reducing the stigma of mental illness. It reflects privilege if anything.

Too many moan about being depressed or anxious, but some of us are battling a chronic illness. And we see no point in publicizing our conditions. We are too busy taking care of ourselves.

Nancy C. Langwiser-Kear Wellesley, Mass.

Here is the original post:
Opinion | Closing the Political Divide: Compromise, Don't Demonize - The New York Times

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Windsor Republican and member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, is facing criticism and potentially a primary challenge since he hasnt shown support for impeaching President Joe Biden.

A group of far-right House Republicans opened an impeachment inquiry alleging Biden while he was vice president profited from his sons international business scheme, but Buck is among a faction of Republicans who say they havent seen any substantial evidence.

The representative for Colorados 4th Congressional District, which covers the eastern part of the state and has a strong Republican lean, penned a column in the Washington Post in which he urged the GOP to prioritize avoiding a government shutdown as opposed to the Biden impeachment inquiry. He cited a lack of evidence that the president was ever involved in his sons business dealings.

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Republicans in the House who are itching for an impeachment are relying on an imagined history, Buck wrote.

Colorado state Rep. Richard Holtorf, an Akron Republican, said Bucks lack of support for an impeachment inquiry doesnt sit well with voters in the 4th District.

An inquiry is just an inquiry theyre just looking into things, getting a little additional subpoena power maybe, Holtorf said.

Bucks team did not respond to a Newsline request for comment.

Despite being a member of the Freedom Caucus, other far-right Republicans such as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have questioned whether Bucks constituents will continue to support him.Holtorf told Colorado Public Radio he is considering challenging Buck in a primary. Hes working on building an exploratory committee to determine whether a run is something he will actually pursue.

Ken Bucks trying to be the Liz Cheney of Colorado and not supporting the past president, President Trump, when the Democrats were coming for him like a pack of wild hyenas with the Jan. 6. protests and riots, Holtorf told Newsline. Ken Buck was on the wrong side of history on that one.

Cheney, a former Republican representative from Wyoming, served on the House committee investigating Jan. 6 and continuously pushed back against Trumps false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. She lost her seat in her most recent bid for reelection as a result of her stance on the election and Trump.

Buck has always supported Cheney, and defended her when the Republican Party ousted her from leadership for voicing her opinions on Trump.

Tom Peterson, chairman of the Elbert County GOP, said he thinks there are Republicans in his 4th District county who are looking forward to speaking with Bucks office to get a better understanding of his reasoning on recent decisions hes made.

He said the Elbert County GOP has helped direct constituents who have questions for Buck to the right channels. Theres clearly some increased interest in connecting with the congressman in his county, he said.

Ken Buck has done an excellent job over the years of representing CD4, Peterson said. Obviously hes not going to please everyone all the time, but when he does take positions that are different people want to know why, right now, theyre wondering why.

Buck was 1 of 5 Republicans who initially voted against a recent House defense spending bill, but he switched his vote to support the measure later in the week.

At the start of September, Buck asked fellow Republicans in Colorado to stop spreading misinformation about the treatment of people who were arrested for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. This was in response to a letter written by El Paso County Republican Vice Chair Todd Watkins claiming that Jan. 6 defendants have been grossly mistreated and abused by our legal system. Watkins claimed these defendants have been detained without bond for misdemeanor offenses, have been denied medical care, have been physically abused, and have been denied contact with their attorneys, among other assertions that the defendants constitutional rights have been violated.

Republicans have also come for Buck following news that he considered leaving Congress to take a job as a commentator at CNN. He previously considered other jobs, including a role with a Washington D.C. law firm or seeking a Biden nomination to the Federal Trade Commission.

Buck so far faces two Democrats, Ike McCorkle and John Padora, in the 2024 race, but, unlike the Democrats, the two Republicans officially running at this point, Justin Schreiber and Karen Breslin, havent reported raising any money. Buck was first elected to the U.S. House in 2014 and is now in his fifth term.

Holtorf said seeing Buck appear on CNN, viewed as a liberal outlet, left him disappointed as a constituent, and he said this was the final straw that pushed him to start his exploratory committee on running for Bucks seat.

That leaves constituents of CD 4 and Colorado Republicans with a very bad taste in their mouth, Holtorf said. Hes obviously having a mid-life political crisis, and if hes looking for his next job maybe he ought to finish this job before he goes.

In an appearance on CNN, Buck said he isnt worried about a potential primary challenge.

They brought a primary two years ago, I won 75-25, Buck said. I am comfortable that the people in my district know that Im a conservative and know that I want to make sure we dont ruin this institution over a tit-for-tat impeachment.

Holtorf said if Buck wants to win back the support of his constituents, he needs to return to Colorado and have more conversations with those in his district to hear what they want from him, because they are who he works for.

Holtorf thinks voters would support him because he would represent the people and not try to line his pockets.

Im not going to shun from the people in the district, Holtorf said. You call me, I answer the phone. You want me in the district, Im there. I know who I work for, and its the people.

Original post:
How some Republicans came to view Ken Buck as the 'Liz Cheney ... - Colorado Newsline

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Federal appeals court judges in New Orleans closely questioned voting rights advocates and attorneys for Louisiana Republican officials Friday on whether Louisiana must follow Alabamas court-ordered path in drawing a new mostly Black congressional district and how quickly that could and should be done ahead of next years elections.

Louisiana is among multiple states still wrangling over congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court decided in June that Alabama had violated the Voting Rights Act when its Republican legislature failed to create a second Black-majority congressional district when it redrew the states congressional map after the 2020 census.

At issue Friday was an injunction by a federal judge that Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin and Landry, both Republicans, are fighting. The injunction in 2022 by U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick found that a congressional map drawn up by the Republican-dominated Legislature that year likely violated the Voting Rights Act. The state is about one-third Black but only one of the six congressional districts has a majority Black population. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards is among supporters of a second mostly Black district.

On Friday, Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, one of three judge's hearing the case at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, raised the possibility that the injunction, which orders a new congressional map for 2024, could be upheld while also allowing a trial on the merits of the case that could alter the map again before the 2026 election. But Elrod also suggested the court might toss the 2022 injunction with orders for an expedited trial process aimed at assuring the issues are settled before next year's elections.

Elrod and Judge Leslie Southwick both took pains to stress during Friday's hearing that their questions shouldn't be construed as an indication of how they will rule in the Louisiana case.

Members of the Republican-dominated Legislature have resisted drawing a new minority district, despite the Alabama case.

Southwick at times seemed skeptical of the state's argument that the injunction should be reversed because the state had too little time to prepare its case.

What would another hearing do that you didnt have an opportunity to deal with, whatever it was, in 2022? he asked attorney Jason Torchinsky, who represented Attorney General Jeff Landry.

Abha Khanna, representing voting rights advocates, argued that the injunction must be upheld and that a move toward drawing up new districts must get underway quickly.

The plaintiffs should not be forced to play chicken with the election calendar, she said.

Members of the Republican-dominated Legislature have resisted drawing a new minority district, essentially ignoring the Alabama case.

Phillip Strach, an attorney for Ardoin, argued that race cannot be used to stitch together distant areas into a single district. He argued that a proposed Black district linking parts of the Baton Rouge to rural north Louisiana's Mississippi Delta country violates court precedents for compact districts.

Voting rights advocates suing the state argue that the plans they have suggested so far are on average more compact than the plan the state is trying to preserve. And they cited evidence that the district linking Baton Rouge and the Delta joins communities of similar social and economic interests.

The outcome of the cases could have major implications on the makeup of the next Congress if they result in more predominantly Black likely Democratic Party-leaning districts.

Elrod and Southwick were both nominated to the 5th Circuit by former President George W. Bush. Also hearing the case by way of a remote connection was Judge Carolyn Dineen King, nominated to the court by former President Jimmy Carter.

Read the original post:
Louisiana Republicans are in court to fight efforts to establish new Black congressional district - Yahoo News

The House of Representatives has no speaker, another budget showdown looms and the Republican majority is in disarray. To break down what happened in Congress this week, the domestic politics correspondent Michelle Cottle spoke with Opinion Audios executive producer, Annie-Rose Strasser. They discuss this unprecedented event and what it means for the future of the House Democrats, American politics and democracy at large. Hint: According to Cottle, its not good news.

(A full transcript of this audio essay will be available midday on the Times website.)

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

This Opinion short was produced by Vishakha Darbha. It was edited by Kaari Pitkin and Annie-Rose Strasser. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Original music by Issac Jones and Sonia Herrero. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski.

Read more:
Opinion | 'This Is the Republicans' Dumpster Fire They Have to ... - The New York Times

Finally. News you can trust. From politicians with a grudge. Ohio Senate Republicans made a foray into counter-media programming with a new website called On the Record featuring partisan content and podcasts that they assert will deliver the real story directly to the people. Its the gospel according to Ohio Sen. President Matt Huffman preaching what the mainstream media (and pesky sticklers for accuracy) will not.

This could change everything. State GOP senators, and their always forthright leader, (credible messengers all) vow to save us from the clutches of fake news and woke fact checks. They promise to deliver the unvarnished truth as only Republican extremists can about the deep state media that has gone to war against conservatives with a rabidly partisan agenda.

From safe seats in uncompetitive state senate districts, Team Huffman will expose the big lie of gerrymandering and dispatch with the easily debunked accusation that the GOP supermajority in Ohio is a result of gerrymandering (due to hopelessly lopsided redistricting maps drawn by the GOP supermajority). There is clear evidence (nowhere) that the redistricting committee did not gerrymander the maps used in 2022, declared a website post.

Certainly blockbuster news to the 2022 Ohio Supreme Court which struck down Republican gerrymandered maps five times. But leave it to the GOP supermajority, ensconced in the Ohio Senate via a rigged election they couldnt lose, to put the record straight.

Gerrymandering played no role in the 2022 elections that expanded the GOP supermajority in the General Assembly, read the post the on the Republican state senate site. Presumably that means the latest installment of Republican-crafted maps, that give Republicans an advantage over the (unconstitutional) plans used last year, will also play no role in the partisan-skewed districts in the 2024 elections.

What state Republican senators and staff are posting on their own online newsroom (aka Huffmans spin room) are alternative facts that bear little relation to life on Earth-1. Its political posturing that purports to tell it like it is unimpeded by woke Ohio journalists who might interject to question rhetoric detached from reality. Thats deliberate.

Ohio GOP senators dont want to get caught conning constituents with verifiable deception. So they bypass the media, described as the enemy by the senate GOP press secretary. They spew propaganda without objective check or challenge and call it a public service. Truth is what they say it is. Framed through a partisan filter.

On the billion-dollar giveaway of tax money (universal vouchers) to fund private and parochial education, they say diverting public dollars from public schools to pay tuition at religious schools actually saves taxpayers money. Who knew? They also insist public schools have plenty of money and are only looking to protect the deep state bureaucracy that protected them from accountability for decades. Their truth.

On fossil fuel fracking, they say it makes for a greener Ohio with an exceptionally clean extraction process that increases environmental quality (despite leaking methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide, poisoning groundwater, and posing serious health risks). The claim wont fly in the real world of documented research but will among Ohio Senate Republicans currying favor with the oil and gas industry.

On their insane response to school shootings to arm more teachers and staff with less firearm training they say guns make schools safer. They also say opponents who decry the absurdity of arming educators (instead of passing meaningful gun control legislation to curb rampant gun violence) dont think kids are worth protecting with guns.

On higher education, state senate Republicans say their sweeping attempt to tamp down on the supposed threat of campus wokeness (by slamming the door on diversity, free thought, and collective bargaining) is a course correction to end discrimination against conservatives in academia who are treated unequally and can face punishing censorship (based on culture war conjecture about a uniformly leftist agenda in higher ed).

On The Presidents Podcast, Huffman and his communications chief complain about private [media] publications in the state who have the audacity to exercise editorial judgement and not accept all submissions from Huffmans extreme caucus members (whose specious rants were apparently declined as misleading political messaging without merit).

The Senate boss and his subordinate bemoaned editorials around the state attacking and smearing Republicans for (take your pick) thumbing their nose at the Ohio Constitution, state supreme court, and Ohio voters who demanded fair, representational, competitive legislative and congressional districts and got neither. For trying to rob Ohio voters of their century-old right to direct democracy in an illegal August election.

For conspiring to sabotage a citizens initiative on the constitutional right to abortion to keep a majority of Ohioans from having their say on the issue. For seizing control of an elected Ohio Board of Education and giving it to an unelected political appointee in a flagrant power grab to remove education policy from the people. I could go on.

But you know the real story. Huffmans self-serving podcast showcases a disingenuous political schemer. His online spin room is replete with diatribes of whiny wingnuts whose submitted invectives were rejected by woke editorial gatekeepers as irrational nonsense. This is not news you can trust. Its political PR from crybaby demagogues you can take with a big grain of salt.

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Ohio Senate Republicans throw online temper tantrum over being ... - Ohio Capital Journal