Tag: US Senate

McConnell And Democratic Centralism

I have often said that the US Senate is where great bills go to die…….and for the past decade it is more so than normal under the leadership of McConnell….but now the GOP Senate seems to be practicing ‘democratic centralism’…….

What is that?

Democratic centralism is a practice in which political decisions reached by voting processes are binding upon all members of the political party.

“The fundamental system of the Party is democratic centralism, which emphasizes both democracy and centralism. We pursue the goal of combining the two systems together, which neither overstresses democracy to suppress centralism, nor the other way around.”

… stipulates that if individuals hold different opinions, they can keep the differences to themselves but must obey the Party’s decision in action. 

Does that sound familiar in any way?

It should.

Looks like McConnell after demonizing Dems as socialist is taking a page from the playbook of Lenin.

  • That all directing bodies of the Party, from top to bottom, shall be elected.
  • That Party bodies shall give periodical accounts of their activities to their respective Party organizations.
  • That there shall be strict Party discipline and the subordination of the minority to the majority.
  • That all decisions of higher bodies shall be absolutely binding on lower bodies and on all Party members.

The members must fall into line and do what the party leadership tells it to do…..and those supposed individual loving party stooges do as they are told….no one wants to go against leadership for it could be disastrous to their long careers within the party.

Look at recent events…..McConnell has said that the main function of the GOP in the Senate is to thwart the Biden agenda…and the expects ALL GOP Senators to follow his lead and to vote against it all.

Before the fur starts to fly.  I am NOT calling McConnell a Leninist….all I am doing is pointing out the similarities between DC and the McConnell agenda.

Suggested Reading:

View at Medium.com

https://quizlet.com/246838121/chapter-6-democratic-centralism-flash-cards/

Democratic Centralism in Practice and Idea: A Critical Evaluation

But do not take my word for this situation….

When then-President Donald Trump called for mandatory “patriotic education” for all U.S. students in September 2020, Susan Rice (former national security adviser under the Obama Administration) slammed his authoritarian idea as profoundly unamerican and told CNN’s Erin Burnett, “I thought I was listening to Mao Tse Tung running Communist China.” Rice, however, isn’t the only one who sees parallels between Trumpism and the regime in Beijing. Never Trump conservative Max Boot, in a scathing Washington Post column published on July 5, argues that the Republican push to abolish the teaching of “critical race theory” in public schools and replace it with “patriotic education” is exactly the type of thing the Chinese Communist Party would do.

“Woe to any person in China who challenges the official version of the past; that is a crime for which you can be sent to prison,” Boot explains. “The United States is different. We are a free country where nothing is off-limits. We can talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. Can’t we? Yes, we can — but Republicans are doing their level best to change that. How ironic that the GOP, which claims to be the ‘tough on China’ party, wants to make America more like China. As the party of white America, Republicans seek their own political legitimacy from history by trying to minimize the impact of racism.”

https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/conservative-explains-why-the-trumpified-gop-now-resembles-the-authoritarian-communist-party-of-china/

Independent thinking is sadly missing these days.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–06Jul21

Oops! My bad!

A head honcho lobbyists at Exxon just revealed that he has 11 US Senators in his pocket and they will do as they are told in the law making process……

From an interview with Keith McCoy is a senior ExxonMobil lobbyist on Capitol Hill…

McCoy said he has 11 U.S. senators who are “crucial” in ExxonMobil’s efforts.

“Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Senator Joe Manchin, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Senator Jon Tester, Senator Maggie Hassan, Senator John Barrasso, Senator John Cornyn, Senator Steve Daines, Senator Chris Coons, Senator Mark Kelly and Senator Marco Rubio,” were all cited.

He went on to explain that the last thing they want is to appear in a public hearing before Congress where the American people can see.

“We don’t want it to be us, to have these conversations, especially in a hearing. It’s getting our associations to step in and have those conversations and answer those tough questions and be for, the lack of a better term, the whipping boy for some of these members of congress,” McCoy confessed.

(rawstory.com)

There you have it…..I have always said that our elected officials care more about the cash they rake in than the country they have pledged to protect.

These gutless slugs are not alone….every major industry has an official in their pockets and controls the flow of issues in the Congress.

Time to shut down this pipeline and force the reps into working for the country and not some corporation.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

GOP Senators Are Cowards

This is a continuation of my thoughts on the US Senate…..

To be honest most Dem senators are also cowards (notice I stated ‘most” not all)….

Before I explain why the GOP are such cowards I will explain why I feel that way about Dems….

Dems are cowards because they still clutch to the failed concept of bi-partisanship. They waste valuable time pursuit a dinosaur of a policy that may have worked in 1960 but those days are long gone….for over a decade it has been a policy that accomplishes only one thing…waste time and energy.

Now for the cowards in the GOP.

The news is that there are some GOP senators that would step up and support infrastructure or voting rights but are worried about the tongue lashing they would get from Trump and that pond scum that support his antiquated ideas.

Running scared is a sure sign of a coward.

If they will not stand up for their principles then what hope is there they will do so for the American people?

Like I said….COWARDS!

In the beginning of this country’s debate on statehood…..those that wanted a ‘house’ called ‘senate’ wanted this to be the repository of intellectual thought and meaningful debate….look at today if that description does not make you laugh then you have NO sense of humor.

 

Another Dem Failure

The vote has been taken and the “For The Peoples” Act failed in the Senate.

Was there ever any doubt it would fail?

Of course there was not!

But the MSM had to milk that drama for all it was worth…..

The biggest voting rights bill in decades met its widely expected fate in the evenly divided Senate Tuesday, with Republicans unified in opposition. Senators voted 50-50 on advancing the For the People Act, the Hill reports. Democrats needed 60 votes to overcome the GOP filibuster and advance the bill to debate. Before the vote, which was presided over by Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats delivered dire warnings about the state of US democracy, the Washington Post reports—and afterward, they vowed to keep fighting the efforts of Republican-controlled states to make it more difficult to vote. “This is a battle for the soul of America,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, per the AP. “We will keep fighting until we succeed.”

The bill, which would bring in national voting standards, passed the House in March but was denounced by Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as a partisan “solution looking for a problem.” In a small victory for Democrats Tuesday, Sen. Joe Manchin flipped his vote to a yes, ensuring unified Democratic support. The switch came after Democrats agreed to consider his compromise proposal, which includes a national voter ID requirement. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, seen as a possible swing vote, said Tuesday that she supported some parts of the Democratic legislation, but the “sprawling” bill would make elections “more difficult, expensive, subject to federal micromanagement,” the AP reports. Democrats may now push to abolish the filibuster, though Sen. Krysten Sinema made it clear Tuesday that she does not intend to change her position.

And Manchin voted “YES”?

Then what was those months of him strutting around pretending to be a leader all about?

Just another example of how flipping worthless and spineless the US Senate has become.

Another illustration of just how far Right morons will go to flex their political muscle…there is nothing about the Senate that works for the people or the country…..just old farts pretending to care.

And the obstructionism lives on.

Amicus Populi

Turn The Page!

I  Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Enjoy Juneteenth!

Closing Thought–18Jun21

Today is Juneteenth…..Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday.

The US Senate has passed the bill that would make this a Federal holiday…..

The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, or June 19th, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The bill would lead to Juneteenth becoming the 12th federal holiday. It is expected to easily pass the House, which would send it to President Biden for his signature, the AP reports. Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach the last enslaved Black people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas. That was also about two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a major step forward to recognize the wrongs of the past,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “But we must continue to work to ensure equal justice and fulfill the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation and our Constitution.” The Senate passed the bill under a unanimous consent agreement that expedites the process for considering legislation. It takes just one senator’s objection to block such agreements. GOP Sen. Ron Johnson had objected in the previous Congress to a bill to celebrate Juneteenth as a federal holiday because of the cost, but he said Tuesday that “it is clear that there is no appetite in Congress to further discuss the matter.” The bill was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Edward Markey and had 60 co-sponsors.

Biden will sign and it will become the 12th Federal holiday.

It is now official!

Enjoy your long weekend….

Be Well……Be Safe…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Senate Of One

The US Senate (equivalent to the House of Lords) is now owned by one person, Joe Manchin, the backbench senator from West Virginia.

Today the Senate is a 50/50 tie and a Dem president of the Senate is the tie breaker….and now a Dem has stepped up to be the king maker.

Manchin is a conserv and as such does not want many of the issues before the Senate to move forward….voting rights, infrastructure to mention a few.

He is holding progress up for his own personal glory…not about the moving the country forward.

All eyes are on Manchin and not the issues….the media has created this political slug and he is basking in the spotlight.

Manchin didn’t rise into a pivotal position on the Hill. He fell into it. I’ve watched him for 20 years or so and have yet to detect any particular skill set. He’s not a gifted orator. He’s not a tactician or strategist. He doesn’t come up with new ideas or even repackaged old ones. Unlike his predecessors Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, Manchin hasn’t been able to redirect stream of federal money and infrastructure projects into his destitute state. Mainly, he’s perfected the role (let’s refrain from calling it an “art”) of being a loud-mouthed impediment to progressive policies and exploiting that position for his personal advantage, which means more and more airtime. Lately, he’s been booked on more FoxNews shows than Glenn Greenwald.

Manchin is, it must be said, one of the vainest members in an institution renowned for its vanity. He delivers populist rhetoric with freshly manicured nails. Like most politicians, Manchin has contempt for the people who elected him and whose interests he must pretend to represent. But he doesn’t try to conceal his disdain. He can openly act as an agent of austerity in front of the very people in most desperate need of federal assistance, without a quiver in his voice. Most politicians blame people for their own suffering. But only a few, like Manchin, see their role in the prolongation of human suffering as a badge of honor.

(Jeffery St. Clair)

Manchin only has ears for donors and the people of this country be damned.  Manchin is so self-absorbed that he may not even realize how useful a stooge he is or who he is being used by and to what end. Manchin doesn’t mind being used, as long as he still gets the credit.

Why would I say this?

Easy!  Look at the Dem programs that he is against.

“It then lists all of the items Manchin has promised to oppose, including the idea of eliminating the filibuster, the For the People Act, and packing the Supreme Court,” CNBC noted. “It then shows everything the group believes Manchin should oppose, including Biden’s infrastructure plan and the union-friendly PRO Act.“

A dark money group funded by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch has been actively lobbying Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to keep up his opposition to the For the People Act, a sweeping voting rights bill that would expand ballot access and crack down on the kind of secretive spending that has made the deep-pocketed Koch network such a powerful force in U.S. politics.

CNBC reported Tuesday that Americans for Prosperity recently “launched a website titled West Virginia Values, which calls on people to email Manchin ‘to be The Voice West Virginia Needs In D.C. — Reject Washington’s Partisan Agenda.'”

“It then lists all of the items Manchin has promised to oppose, including the idea of eliminating the filibuster, the For the People Act, and packing the Supreme Court,” CNBC noted. “It then shows everything the group believes Manchin should oppose, including Biden’s infrastructure plan and the union-friendly PRO Act.“

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/06/08/manchin-only-moved-corporate-donors-says-bowman-koch-backed-group-lobbies-against

He would oppose most major Dem proposals and wishes…..

See what dark money can buy….a sitting senator from the liberal side of the Senate.

What is it they say about money?

This is why I call him a coward and a political slug.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Manchin Two Step

The political coward, Joe Manchin, that slug that has held up a great voting rights bill because he wants to play games and be the darling of the media.

Now he has an offering to make this all bi-partisan (a worthless hope and a stalling tactic)…….

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia earned the wrath of fellow Democrats earlier this month when he announced that he wouldn’t back a major election-reform law. Now, ahead of next week’s vote, Manchin has put a compromise in play. Coverage:

  • Manchin released a lengthy list of reforms he does support in the For the People Act, as well as in the separate bill known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Read his list in full via Politico. It includes things that will please and anger both Democrats and Republicans.
  • For example, Manchin wants to ban partisan gerrymandering, which Vox explains is “a high priority for both small-d democrats and large-D Democrats, who want to prevent the GOP from seizing control of the House of Representatives with rigged congressional maps.” Also good news for Democrats: He backs automatic voter registration, a mandated 15 days of early voting, and the designation of Election Day as a holiday, per the AP.
  • On the other hand, Manchin supports new voter ID requirements backed by Republicans, and he would give state officials more leeway in their ability to remove names from voter rolls, per Politico.
  • A big sign that Manchin’s proposal is seen as acceptable to the progressive wing of the Democratic party: Stacey Abrams said Thursday that she likes it, reports NBC News. “What Sen. Manchin is putting forward are some basic building blocks that we need to ensure that democracy is accessible no matter your geography,” said the prominent voting-rights advocate. “And those provisions that he is setting forth are strong ones that will create a level playing field, will create standards that do not vary from state to state, and I think will ensure that every American has improved access to the right to vote despite the onslaught of state legislation seeking to restrict the access to vote.”
  • Senate Democrats were expected to huddle Thursday to discuss strategy ahead of the vote, reports the Hill. Manchin made clear he would support the legislation if revised, which would mean unanimous Democratic support. But the bill will likely still be doomed because Republicans could kill it with the filibuster rule—and Manchin remains opposed to scrapping the filibuster.

All the protest to his change of heart.

This is a lameass compromise….he knows that it will go no where in the Senate….so this is just his attempt to stay in the spotlight…..Manchin tryig to calm opposition to his thinking and stay in the bright light of media reporting.

But for those that actual give a sh*t here is the Manchin compromise on voting rights

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20892337-manchin-compromise

Sorry to say but this will go unread…..sadly there are not that many that care enough to check the ‘compromise’ out…..and there is the problem….massive APATHY!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

This Filibuster Bullsh*t

Have you heard the word?

And that word is…..FILIBUSTER

The media has a new fixation…..the proposed fight over the ‘filibuster’….that super majority rule in the Senate…….

We have two back bench Dems in the Senate that are making sure that all attention is leveled on them…..Sen. Machin and Sen. Sinema……without this attention they would return to being a non-productive member of the Senate.

Sinema recently made the statement that the Founders created the filibuster to protect the minority…..first it is BS the idea of a filibuster is nowhere in the Constitution….the Founders did not foresee the rise of the political parties……

My suggestion is these political slugs should read the document that they use a political prop…..I can help……

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript

Then there is addendum put in the Constitution to appease the whiny states like Virginia….the Bill of Rights…..

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript

For Christ sake…read the document!

The first so-called filibuster was used in 1837 (way after the ratification of the Constitution)….the filibuster arose from a loophole…..

The loophole that permits a senator’s right to speak endlessly on the senate floor dates to Vice President Aaron Burr, who declared in 1805 that the Senate need not be burdened by too many procedural rules. Back then a process to end debate on legislation, known as the “previous question” motion, was rarely used, so upon Burr’s recommendation, the senate dropped it in 1806.

Minority party senators soon figured out that talking endlessly on the Senate floor could prolong debate indefinitely and gum up progress on a bill or nomination. The first successful filibuster was recorded in 1837, when a group of Whig senators who opposed President Andrew Jackson filibustered to prevent Jackson’s allies from expunging a resolution of censure against him.

Basically Aaron Burr, the VP at the time, is believed to be the father of the filibuster….

Under original Senate rules, cutting off debate required a motion that passed with a simple majority. But in 1806, after Vice President Aaron Burr argued that the rule was redundant, the Senate stopped using the motion.

Rarely has this technique of delay has ever ended well…..

https://www.salon.com/2021/03/14/a-short-history-of-the-filibuster-rarely-a-tool-for-good–and-never-a-tool-of-democracy/

If this country is ever to move forward then it is time for this delaying tactic to go the way of the do-do.

I these parasites cannot overturn this piece of manure…then at least be accurate and read the Constitution!

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Are Voting Rights A Dead Issue?

With all the voter suppression tactics making the rounds in most states….there was hope to put the brakes on this suppression but one coward in the Senate will do mall he can to help the GOP take away your right to vote…..that coward is Manchin.

A key Democratic senator says he will not vote for the largest overhaul of US election law in a generation, leaving no path forward for legislation that his party and the White House have portrayed as crucial for protecting access to the ballot. “Voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen,” Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia wrote in the Charleston Gazette-Mail. He wrote that failure to bring together both parties on voting legislation would “risk further dividing and destroying the republic we swore to protect and defend as elected officials.” Among dozens of other provisions, it would require states to offer 15 days of early voting and allow no-excuse absentee balloting, the AP reports

Democrats have pushed the legislation as the antidote to a wave of restrictive state voting laws, many inspired by former President Trump’s claims of fraud in his 2020 loss. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pledged to bring the election bill to a vote the week of June 21. But without Manchin’s support, the bill has no chance of advancing because Republicans are united against it. In appearances on Sunday news shows, Manchin stressed his reasons for opposing the bill, including his view that it is too broad. “I think it’s the wrong piece of legislation to bring our country together and unite our country and I’m not supporting that because I think it would divide us further,” Manchin said. He added that lawmakers should instead focus on revitalizing the landmark Voting Rights Act, which was weakened by a Supreme Court decision in 2013.

How does voter protection “further divide the country”?

This back bencher has his moment to shine and he is playing it for all it is worth……a minor Senator has the power to hold up the protection of your right to vote…..

How much does it pay to betray the people of the United States?

He is a political slug that deserves ridicule.

Centrists are the bane of progress…..they the bane of progress….Dems cling to a long dead issue of bi-partisanship…..instead of moving the country forward they remain in the past and deluding themselves continuously.

Kinda pathetic!

If Manchin has his way then kiss your vote good-bye.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Enemies Of State

The Senate wanted a 50/50 split of members on the 01/6 Commission….the Dems caved…..the Senate wanted 7 members of the GOP….the Dems caved…..and then after all that….the Senate voted against the establishment of the commission as a ‘personal favor’ for McConnell……bi-partisanship my ass!

The bill to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol attracted the support of six Republican senators Friday, but it wasn’t enough. The vote was 54-35, Politico reports. No Democrat was opposed, so the procedural vote would have needed 10 GOP votes to reach the 60 required to keep the measure alive. Two Democrats and nine Republicans didn’t vote at all, per CNN. The legislation had already passed the House. Republican Sen. Susan Collins was trying to put together a compromise but failed. Lobbying by the family of fallen Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick on Thursday also could not move Republican opponents, who used a filibuster to stop legislation for the first time in 2021. Some GOP senators said they feared the commission’s findings could be used against them in the midterm elections next year.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell lobbied his members harder to stop the commission as the vote neared. “They’d like to continue to litigate the former president, into the future,” he said of Democrats, per the AP. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Friday that the Republican leader is hurting “any chance we have to be bipartisan.” The country needs the commission, Manchin said, per NBC. “It’s just pure raw politics,” he said. “And that’s just so, so disheartening.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski criticized fellow Republicans. “We just can’t pretend that nothing bad happened, or that people just got too excitable. Something bad happened,” she said. “And it’s important to lay that out.” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech that “Donald Trump’s big lie has now enveloped the Republican Party.”

My two US Senators voted nay….(go figure….two Trump acolytes)…..

Senate Republicans, including Mississippi’s delegation, on Friday blocked the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Six Republicans voted to advance debate on the commission, but the final 54 to 35 vote fell six votes shy of the 60 votes needed to prevent a procedural filibuster.

https://mississippitoday.org/2021/05/28/mississippi-senators-block-january-6-commission/

Mississippi Reps have proven to me that they are the cowards I have always thought them to be.

Dems need to flush the idea of bi-partisanship down the political toilet where it belongs.

There is always a ‘Presidential Commission’ to get to the bottom of the 01 January insurrection, right?

Nope not according to Pelosi….

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ruling out a presidential commission to study the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, telling House Democrats on Tuesday that having President Biden appoint a panel is unworkable even after the Senate blocked an independent probe last week. Pelosi laid out possible next steps after Friday’s Senate vote, in which Senate Republicans blocked legislation to create an independent, bipartisan panel to investigate the siege by former President Trump’s supporters, the AP reports. She proposed four options for an investigation of the attack, according to a person on the private Democratic caucus call who spoke on condition of anonymity.

  • The first option, Pelosi said, is to give the Senate another chance to vote on the commission. Six Republicans voted with Democrats to move forward with the bill, and a seventh missed the vote but said he would have backed it. That means Democrats would only need support from three additional Republicans to reach the 60 votes needed for passage. The commission would be modeled after a highly respected panel that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
  • The other options involve the House investigating the attack, meaning the probes would be inherently partisan. Pelosi suggested that she could appoint a new select committee to investigate the siege or give the responsibility to a single committee, like the House Homeland Security panel, which wrote the original bipartisan bill to create the commission. Alternately, Pelosi said committees could simply push ahead with the investigations that are already underway.
  • But the speaker said she believed a commission appointed by Biden—an idea pitched by some in her caucus after Friday’s Senate vote—was “not a workable idea in this circumstance.” It is unclear why she holds that view.

Pelosi’s comments come as members of both parties have pushed for a deep dive into the insurrection, which was designed to interrupt the presidential electoral count and was the worst attack on Congress in two centuries. The White House has not yet said whether Biden would appoint a commission without Congress.

Appears that Congress is the country’s worst enemy…..the “true” enemy of state.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”