IT: 🏛 Biden signs order to explore expanding SCOTUS, and... Should Matt Gaetz resign?
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Welcome to Monday, April 12th, singles and duos...
GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz is facing calls to resign - including from his own party - amid a federal probe into allegations that the Florida lawmaker was involved in sex trafficking.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) tweeted that Gaetz, who has not been charged with any crime, needs to step down. Kinzinger linked to a story from The Daily Beast, who revealed that Gaetz, in 2018, paid an accused sex trafficker who later sent the same amount of cash to teen girls.
Gaetz sent two Venmo transactions - amounting to $900 - to accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg. The first transaction was labeled “Test," the second transaction “hit up _____,” with the alleged nickname of the teen girl.
Greenberg later made Venmo payments to three girls labeled “Tuition,” “School,” and “School" which totaled $900. (Gaetz’s once-public list of Venmo transactions disappeared during the course of reporting this story.)
“I may be a canceled man in some corners,” Gaetz tweeted on Saturday. “I may even be a wanted man by the Deep State. But I hear the millions of Americans who feel forgotten, canceled, ignored, marginalized and targeted.”
Does Rep. Gaetz need to resign?
Commission to Explore SCOTUS Expansion
Biden has signed an executive order to form a commission that will analyze the merits and legality of proposals to expand or otherwise reform the Supreme Court.
The 36-member “Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States” includes former federal judges, lawyers who’ve argued before the Court, in addition to reform advocates.
The White House explained the commission’s purview in its press release:
“The topics it will examine include the genesis of the reform debate; the Court’s role in the Constitutional system; the length of service and turnover of justices on the Court; the membership and size of the Court; and the Court’s case selection, rules, and practices.”
Last week, Justice Stephen Breyer spoke for two hours at Harvard Law School to warn against court packing efforts and said he hoped to “make those whose instincts may favor important structural change or other similar institutional change, such as forms of ‘court-packing,’ think long and hard before they embody those changes in law.”
Do you support or oppose expanding the Supreme Court?
Historic Levels of Illegal Border Crossings
Federal agencies encountered 172,300 people at the southern border in March 2021, the highest level since at least October 2012 and more than 10 times the number recorded in April 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic began in earnest.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported 18,890 unaccompanied minors were apprehended in March 2021, an all-time high that surpassed the previous highs of 11,861 in May 2019; 10,620 in June 2014; and 9,431 in February 2021 as this USAFacts chart shows:
Are you concerned about the rise in border apprehensions?
All the Memes Fit to Post
And, in the End…
Eyes to the skies for International Day of Human Space Flight.
On this date in 1961, Soviet Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin became first person to orbit the Earth.
Moment of reflection for all the animals that went before Gagarin,
—Josh Herman
Talk to us via email at editorial [at] causes.com. And don’t forget to keep in touch @Causes.
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No on both! A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Not guilty until proven innocent!
Absolutely expand the Supreme Court. Enact term limits of perhaps 8 years that do not run concurrently with the presidential election cycle. Each appointed seat has a term limit. If that seat becomes vacant before the end of the term, it can only be filled for the remainder of that term. Immediate senate confirmation vote, not up to senate majority leader to decide if or when!
House and Senate Democrats Plan Bill to Add Four Justices to Supreme Court
Matt Gaetz meets to GET OUT. Statutory rape should be investigated it sounds like.
International standards for the treatment of refugees, international law was broken by the trump’s treatment of refugees. There was an initial list of which children were separated from which parents that the trump’s administration destroyed to prevent the extent of this practice from being leaking to the public. This says that they knew what they were doing was wrong by any standard. I believe that there are still children whose parents are yet to be found. Female detained asylum seekers were forcibly sterilized without consent while they were being held captive. These actions by our government would certainly deter some from seeking asylum. So any move to abandon inhumane treatment fostered by the former administration would re-open the flood gates for desperate people escaping gang brutality. … … … Having principles and honoring them even when it is inconvenient is much harder than simply reacting by telling people what they want to hear or choosing the most expeditious path in lieu of the honorable one. So yes, Biden’s policies and stated beliefs that, as a matter of principle, inhumane treatment of people seeking refuge and held in our country’s charge is wrong has contributed to the influx. … … … The fact that so many people can tolerate politicians who constantly lie, mislead and disinform the public for their self-serving interests and political advantage disgusts me. The comments here which are shrouded by what-about-isms, projection and half-truths shows that much of the country simply does not care about principles or values that do not benefit themselves personally. Changes are needed for this country to survive the near term pressures which we will be facing and denying the need to do what is needed, what is right and what will be difficult now will cause substantial future problems. Our country’s erstwhile ‘greatness’ and world-wide respect was earned by taking on big, difficult and consequential challenges and resolving them for ourselves and the world in a fair and equitable manner. Being afraid only makes the impact of delayed proactive strategic actions more consequential. Frankly, if we had today’s Republican Party during World War 2, we would all be speaking German today and reminiscing about our lost democracy. … … … The Republican Party is unintentionally taking us down the road to an autocratic plutocracy by endorsing ‘alternative facts’, intentional disinformation, emotive sloganeering and hate-filled rhetoric for their own self-serving interests and political gain. They have no platform, nothing that they stand for, nothing they support and no purpose other than acquiring and holding onto political power. Power without purpose is intoxicating, easily corrupted and very damaging to any form of democracy.
Yes I think there should ALWAYS be balance or at least a chance for either side to git their point heard and possibly decided on a bipartisan basis. I also believe Justice Thomas has forgotten his oath and in it his promise of non partisanship and equal rights. His self interest and friendships have no place in delivering Justice. "I, _________, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God." This oath was used until 1990 when the Judicial Improvements Act replaced the phrase beginning with "according to the best of my abilities..." to "under the Constitution." This language proved reasonably more effective in tying the decisions of the judiciary to the authority of the United States Constitution. Thomas has been there tooooo long.
Gaetz should absolutely resign. He is a disgusting human being.
No SCOTUS should not be bigger, it should be reformed (see previous comments). Yes Gaetz should resign, but doubt he will. He is in need of reform, too.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-04-11/stephen-miller-media-white-nationalism?fbclid=IwAR1586l97Vk4rxAyh1uEacRJ7XFKmU83QFmPZF2eT0IlJX7_3w_HCzNjU8E
Matt Gaetz has the right to defend himself in court, if charges are ever brought. We have seen high profile Democrats who have not left office for accusations against them. If he says he’s innocent he’s innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Border: Biden and the Democrats criticized Trump on how he handled the children at the border. Now the situation is 100 times worse brought on by Biden's policies. And the concerning part is that Biden will not even acknowledge that there is a crisis, including sexual abuse of children while in holding cages according to the latest report. Biden nor Harris hasn't even visited the border. Democrats are pretending to be in denial using all kinds of excuses including the numbers are wrong. How pathetic. Biden doesn't have a clue about what to do, so he appoints Harris as the point person who could care less and meantime, the children are suffering under our care. I have to say, this administration is off to a horrible start. Every decision made so far has been a poor one with bad results.
Gaetz should never have been elected in the first place. But until stupid, uninformed voters who are easily conned stay home, people like him will continue to deteriorate our Democracy. He is a political terrorist. The new brand of Republican policy and practice.
jimK, you said a mouthful! Right there with ya!!!
Cancel Culture War https://www.newsandguts.com/link/substack-the-coming-cancel-culture-war/?fbclid=IwAR3xEyPPfOLuN__LotanbCBMIzYo5IrfxCACKqYEktCo641jtWM-XMdiHSY
The presidents of Mexico and El Salvador blame Biden, the immigrants say they are coming because of the promises Biden made, border patrol is saying they are working harder and inefficiently while being babysitters because of Biden. They’re saying it’s Biden so it’s Biden. Period.
Should Cuomo resign?
No to both. Ones a mistake and the other is a witch hunt
JimK: You do realize that everything you say can be reversed if you just replace Trump with Biden and Republicans with Dems? The Dems are not any more perfect than the Republicans. You’re not making any substantial arguments.
@Carina: You are right about Eric Swalwell. Nothing was done about him sleeping with the enemy. Even Nancy Pelosi is staying away from commenting about Matt Gaetz because she is afraid of the backlash that may occur with her handling or lack thereof of Swalwell.
Democrats twisting the constitution yet again..