The bad news continues to pour in as the Republic lay dying: « Shirley Chisholm passes at age 80 »:

‘Chisholm, who took her seat in the U.S. House in 1969, was a riveting speaker who often criticized Congress as being too clubby and unresponsive. An outspoken champion of women and minorities during seven terms in the House, she also was a staunch critic of the Vietnam War. Details of her death on Saturday were not immediately available. She was 80. … “My greatest political asset, which professional politicians fear, is my mouth, out of which come all kinds of things one shouldn’t always discuss for reasons of political expediency,” she told voters. … “She was a mouthpiece for the underdog, the poor, underprivileged people, the people who did not have much of a chance,” 88-year-old Conrad Chisholm told the AP early Monday from West Palm Beach. Once discussing what her legacy might be, Shirley Chisholm commented, “I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That’s how I’d like to be remembered.”’

— AP

Speaking from one big mouth to another: God rest you, Ms. Chisholm; your kind will be sorely missed.

Also passing this weekend: « California Congressman Robert Matsui », a survivor of America’s WWII konzentrationslagers:

‘Matsui, who headed his party’s unsuccessful campaign to retake the House in the November election and who was expected to play a key role in debates on changing Social Security in the new Congress that opens Tuesday, died Saturday night at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., a Washington suburb. … Matsui, a slight, soft-spoken and affable native of Sacramento born just 2 1/2 months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, had entered the Bethesda hospital on Dec. 24 with pneumonia. One of the nation’s most influential Asian American politicians, he had kept publicly quiet about his illness and had been active in the Social Security debate until his hospitalization. … The third-generation American’s concern with helping the marginalized probably stemmed from his experiences as an infant, when he was sent to the Tule Lake camp in far Northern California along with his family. His father was forced to give up his produce business in Sacramento when the family was interned for more than three years.”

— SF Chronicle

Meanwhile, Social Security destruction is on the Emperor’s agenda and shrill fascist voices on the right are calling for American muslims to be rounded up into 21st century American konzentrationslagers.

Shirley Chisholm and Bob Matsui are dead and the fat, happy, snarky and bribed uber-fascists still infest the Congress. There is no divine justice on this earth.

Sad. Two more nails in the coffin of the Republic.