Mark McKibbin

Governor Newsom signed SB 79!!!! Well done @scottwiener.bsky.social and thank you all for making calls!!!

My Republican member of Congress in California, Kevin Kiley, voted to kick millions of children off Medicaid in July 2025, the same month that he voted to block the release of files revealing the truth about pedophile and Donald Trump confidant Jeffrey Epstein.

That's the story, folks.

Today, my GOP representative, Kevin Kiley, expressed "outrage" about gerrymandering in California on the floor of the House.

Yet, two weeks ago, Kiley said he wouldn't support a bill for national independent redistricting unless it was accompanied by widespread disenfranchisement.

Most important U.S. states in each century for understanding the course of American democracy.

18th century: Pennsylvania
19th century: Kentucky
20th century: Alabama

I have a much longer thread on WHY, but I thought I'd throw out some clickbait at first to gauge interest.

Two weeks ago, my Republican member of Congress, Kevin Kiley, voted to kick millions of children off Medicaid.

Today, he voted to block the release of files on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Congressman, you're a disgrace, & you deserve to lose your seat.

Don't ever let the same people who are taking a sledgehammer to America's moral credibility tell you they are champions of liberty.

Loving America means fighting for Americans, not screwing them over. That was true 249 years ago, and it is true today.

Make them own the massive upward transfer of wealth they passed to help their billionaire friends.

Make them own the dirty air they are subjecting Americans to through rolling back clean energy policies.

To stop this, it is imperative that we make Republicans own their policies at every turn.

Make the Republicans own their cruel cuts to Medicaid.

Make them own the children who will cry with hunger because of their cuts to SNAP/food stamps.

Put simply, Republicans will try and convince Americans to build their patriotism on a foundation of willful ignorance.

Over the next year, as we approach the 250th anniversary of American independence, Republicans are going to do everything they can to wrap themselves in the American flag, portray themselves as champions of liberty, & persuade us to forget how many people their policies have hurt.

We must not let Trump and the Republicans pull Patrick Henry’s shtick.

The reason for this, more than anything else, is that Henry was probably the most brilliant orator in 18th century America. He sounded really good. Henry had many stupid beliefs, he said them with a level of conviction and passion and gravitas that made people forget that his beliefs were stupid.

Despite Henry’s record of being a blatant hypocrite, he is still fairly well-regarded by history.

Why did Henry fight so hard against ratifying the Constitution?

Well, there were many reasons, but two BIG reasons were 1) because Henry didn’t think Americans should have to pay taxes to the federal government and 2) because he didn’t think the Constitution did enough to protect slavery.

However, a decade later, in the 1780s, when the Federalists fought to create a system of government that would make the United States less vulnerable to foreign attack via the Constitution, Henry fought tooth and nail against ratifying the Constitution.

A great example of this is Patrick Henry, who famously declared “give me liberty, or give me death” in 1775, and was one of the foremost advocates of separation from Great Britain in 1776.

Henry did not think twice about sending American boys and men to fight and die in war in the 1770s.

In 1775 and 1776, many of those who were the most gung ho about independence would later become some of the most ardent opponents of bolstering the powers of Congress to create a sturdy system of post-war peace.

Unfortunately, U.S. politicians acting w/ flagrant disregard for the consequences of their actions isn't new. It’s as old as the Declaration of Independence itself.

Today, on July 4, Republicans celebrated the enactment of what might be the most heinous piece of legislation in my lifetime, the “Big, Beautiful Bill."

Scores of children who will be hurt by the brutal cuts it makes to Medicaid, food stamps, & other social programs.

If you don’t know who your rep is, find out at the link below.

Friends! If you have a Republican member of the House, NOW is the time to call them & tell them to vote NO on the Big, Beautiful Bill.

Tell them your name, where in the district you live, to vote no, and, if you want, pick a reason (I said Medicaid cuts when I called my rep, Kevin Kiley).

Don’t let them. It IS this bad. The rage you feel is valid. Hold onto it. Make them own it again & again & again.

Re - Homeland Security thugs roughing up Senator Alex Padilla:

Years from now, Republicans will try & gaslight us about how bad 2025 actually was. About all their atrocious acts of political violence & moral bankruptcy. “You’re exaggerating,” they will say. “It wasn’t that bad!”

Good catch. Whatever is the way to screw Cuomo over the most on the RCV ballot, NYC voters should do THAT.

The upcoming NYC mayoral race is a HUGE test for rank-choiced voting (RCV). Every other candidate but Cuomo is BEGGING voters to rank Cuomo last. That’s good, because Cuomo is trash.

If Cuomo wins anyway, it’s not going to do any favors for RCV. If Cuomo loses, I will sing RCV’s praises to the sky.

One of the things I hate most is post-election analyses that treat whatever election result that happened as the “inevitable” one.

Much more credible, in my mind, are pre-election analyses.

Today, I'm thinking w/ contempt about my Republican state senator, who ran on being a "businessman", but then yesterday voted NO on one of the most important bills in California history to make it easier for OTHER businesspeople (i.e., developers) to build the housing our state desperately needs.

Written by the amazing @evancragin.bsky.social and @raders.bsky.social!!!!

Really awesome @sacyimby.bsky.social discussion tonight with Supervisor Desmond and county leadership on housing policy outside the boundaries of Sac City. Big things cooking!

We had over 30 people turn out for our event on housing and homelessness in Sacramento County last night. Thanks to Supervisor Rich Desmond, County Planning Director Todd Smith, and Deputy County Executive Dave DeFanti for a great panel discussion. And thanks to 19 Handles for hosting us.