Senate Joins House on Recess

Andy S.: Really a great summary on the history of the filibuster and the mythical interpretations being promoted by some Senators. Thanks - a real keeper!

Back to work.Monday June 7th

We need to remove the BIGGEST LIE (ok, the second biggest behind trump won), that the FILIBUSTER was created by the Founders! ... From the Intelligencer news feed (allsides media rated both far left and right) .... "The Fake History of the Filibuster Won’t Die Senators keep repeating a made-up origin story" .... https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/fake-history-senate-filibuster-sinema-founders-constitution.html .... Particularly cornyn and cruz, From the article ... (READ SHITS) ... First, the filibuster was not “created to bring together members of different parties.” Political parties did not exist when the Constitution was written, and the Founders famously failed to anticipate their central role in the system. The filibuster emerged in the 19th century not by any design, but, as Brookings scholar and Senate expert Sarah Binder has explained, due to an interpretation of Senate rules which held that they omitted any process for ending debate. The first filibuster did not happen until 1837, and it was the result of exploiting this confusing rules glitch. Second, the Founders not only did not create the filibuster, they specifically rejected a supermajority voting requirement. (They didn’t like having a chamber where every state had equal votes regardless of size, either, but they had to agree to it, for the same reason they had to accept the three-fifths clause: They were politicians, and they couldn’t wrangle enough votes for the Constitution without compromising their principles to do it.) They created a supermajority requirement for a handful of special votes, like a treaty or Constitutional amendment, but rejected such a requirement for normal legislation. As Alexander Hamilton explained in “The Federalist Papers”: To give a minority a negative upon the majority is in its tendency to subject the sense of the greater number to that of the lesser number …The necessity of unanimity in public bodies, or of something approaching towards it, has been formed upon a supposition that it would contribute to security. But it’s real operation is to embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of government, and to substitute the pleasure, caprice, or artifices of an insignificant, turbulent or corrupt junto, to the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority. And finally, the filibuster was not created to “protect the rights of the minority from the majority.” It was originally a rules glitch." .... JUST READ THE ARTICLE MY DIPSHIT REPS!

Three weeks now. Another for Fourth of July. Our public officials are spoiled and out of control. They no longer work for citizens. They work for re-election. Citizens United increased their donations. Plutocracy further spoiled them. It’s really time for term limits and limitations on political donations. End Citizens United.

Here is the daily COVID-19 figures for June 2nd. These totals are from January 20th at noontime to present. 133 days. Cases 8,741,180 new cases 14,217. Deaths 326,646 new deaths 407.

TheDarkSide: Great post from NewAmerica.org. Thanks!

Glo: With you all the way. Not clear to me what is worse: the trump, Malevolent Mitch, the trumpublican party, or the zealous acolytes. I think the rot in the Republican Party started with Gingrich and the declared war on Democrats. Listen to almost any National Republican today and they will say that they have to win elections but they don’t say why. At least they don’t say why quantitatively. Democrats will say we have to fix some clearly defined issue or problem and to that end, should be elected. With no platform other than to ‘stop socialism’, the Republican Party’s only purpose is to attain or retain political power. … … … Along came the buffoon-in-chief, elected due to the producers of the apprentice hyping up the trump’s great business skills for market share and Malevolent Mitch saw an opportunity to use the trump to stack the judiciary, with the trump basically delegating Presidential authority to nominate judges to McConnell and the Federalist Society. The trump also cut as many regulations as he could for businesses, gleefully supported the tax cuts for the wealthiest, gave Republican family members cushy Federal jobs including making McConnells wife the head of the Department of Transportation and fired the IG who was investigating claims that she diverted disproportionate funds to Kentucky to support Mitch’s re-election, removed or fired anyone who could provide government oversight, put political leaders in charge of critical government Agencies with a Mission to destroy what the Agency’s stood for. The Republican Party morphed into a Faction motivated by self-interests and the perks of power - and no longer their oath’s of office nor their pledged service to our country. And of course, the true believer, conspiracy-case deep-state followers that suck all of this up and believe the big lie. … … … I see the most evil belonging to the Republicans and Malevolent Mitch for being so stupid to let a narcissistic sociopath continue to abuse his authority to increasingly egregious levels in return for no interference with their self-serving agendas - and now they lust for the votes of his radicalized base. … … … I see the trump as a symptom of the Republican Party’s disease and an unfortunate confluence of events. Who would have thunk that the transition of a political party into Faction lusting for power, a narcissistic sociopath becoming President due to a manufactured and highly marketed media image, a depressed people searching for a strong man to lead them and with a pledge to support their biases, a Russian State sponsored activity to swing elections to the trump knowing how divisive he would be, the QAnon and other conspiracy nonsense, and a pandemic would all happen at once. … … … McConnell is the embodiment of the disease and the trump is a symptom as well as a strong catalyst. They both have made our country ill and they both really make me sick.

Free-thunker, why are you always ass backwards? You a bot? You sure are ignorant enough to sound like one. Oh, to the informed among us, have you heard Michael Flynn (Putin’s other puppet and on Putin’s payroll, too) is calling for a coup? Must be why the orange stink pot pardoned him! So he could continue his sticking his head up the stink pot’s ass and do his bidding. Certainly, hope stink pot couldn’t pardon people for life. Flynn should be arrested, immediately, for trying to instigate another insurrection. Where are you FBI? Do you think Dumbo is still your President? That ugly mother f’er should be arrested immediately! Hands down! So why didn’t he pardon all his buddies that stormed the Capital on Jan. 6? You know why? Because they were just lowly, insignificant creatures, that were dispensable, that’s why. Yet they still lick his boots... He was so happy to have Covid killing us all, ‘cause then he didn’t have to shake our germ-filled hands! The man has a rock for a heart. Stone cold, through and through. Wake up!

Thank you, TheDarkSide! ❤️😊❤️ That took some precious time. Another much-needed post filed with truths, not alternate fact, half-truths, altered photos, and out and out lies. Kudos!

Statement of Concern The Threats to American Democracy and the Need for National Voting and Election Administration Standards STATEMENT June 1, 2021 We, the undersigned, are scholars of democracy who have watched the recent deterioration of U.S. elections and liberal democracy with growing alarm. Specifically, we have watched with deep concern as Republican-led state legislatures across the country have in recent months proposed or implemented what we consider radical changes to core electoral procedures in response to unproven and intentionally destructive allegations of a stolen election. Collectively, these initiatives are transforming several states into political systems that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections. Hence, our entire democracy is now at risk. When democracy breaks down, it typically takes many years, often decades, to reverse the downward spiral. In the process, violence and corruption typically flourish, and talent and wealth flee to more stable countries, undermining national prosperity. It is not just our venerated institutions and norms that are at risk—it is our future national standing, strength, and ability to compete globally. Statutory changes in large key electoral battleground states are dangerously politicizing the process of electoral administration, with Republican-controlled legislatures giving themselves the power to override electoral outcomes on unproven allegations should Democrats win more votes. They are seeking to restrict access to the ballot, the most basic principle underlying the right of all adult American citizens to participate in our democracy. They are also putting in place criminal sentences and fines meant to intimidate and scare away poll workers and nonpartisan administrators. State legislatures have advanced initiatives that curtail voting methods now preferred by Democratic-leaning constituencies, such as early voting and mail voting. Republican lawmakers have openly talked about ensuring the “purity” and “quality” of the vote, echoing arguments widely used across the Jim Crow South as reasons for restricting the Black vote. State legislators supporting these changes have cited the urgency of “electoral integrity” and the need to ensure that elections are secure and free of fraud. But by multiple expert judgments, the 2020 election was extremely secure and free of fraud. The reason that Republican voters have concerns is because many Republican officials, led by former President Donald Trump, have manufactured false claims of fraud, claims that have been repeatedly rejected by courts of law, and which Trump’s own lawyers have acknowledged were mere speculation when they testified about them before judges. In future elections, these laws politicizing the administration and certification of elections could enable some state legislatures or partisan election officials to do what they failed to do in 2020: reverse the outcome of a free and fair election. Further, these laws could entrench extended minority rule, violating the basic and longstanding democratic principle that parties that get the most votes should win elections. Democracy rests on certain elemental institutional and normative conditions. Elections must be neutrally and fairly administered. They must be free of manipulation. Every citizen who is qualified must have an equal right to vote, unhindered by obstruction. And when they lose elections, political parties and their candidates and supporters must be willing to accept defeat and acknowledge the legitimacy of the outcome. The refusal of prominent Republicans to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, and the anti-democratic laws adopted (or approaching adoption) in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Montana and Texas—and under serious consideration in other Republican-controlled states—violate these principles. More profoundly, these actions call into question whether the United States will remain a democracy. As scholars of democracy, we condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms as a betrayal of our precious democratic heritage. The most effective remedy for these anti-democratic laws at the state level is federal action to protect equal access of all citizens to the ballot and to guarantee free and fair elections. Just as it ultimately took federal voting rights law to put an end to state-led voter suppression laws throughout the South, so federal law must once again ensure that American citizens’ voting rights do not depend on which party or faction happens to be dominant in their state legislature, and that votes are cast and counted equally, regardless of the state or jurisdiction in which a citizen happens to live. This is widely recognized as a fundamental principle of electoral integrity in democracies around the world. A new voting rights law (such as that proposed in the John Lewis Voting Rights Act) is essential but alone is not enough. True electoral integrity demands a comprehensive set of national standards that ensure the sanctity and independence of election administration, guarantee that all voters can freely exercise their right to vote, prevent partisan gerrymandering from giving dominant parties in the states an unfair advantage in the process of drawing congressional districts, and regulate ethics and money in politics. It is always far better for major democracy reforms to be bipartisan, to give change the broadest possible legitimacy. However, in the current hyper-polarized political context such broad bipartisan support is sadly lacking. Elected Republican leaders have had numerous opportunities to repudiate Trump and his “Stop the Steal” crusade, which led to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Each time, they have sidestepped the truth and enabled the lie to spread. We urge members of Congress to do whatever is necessary—including suspending the filibuster—in order to pass national voting and election administration standards that both guarantee the vote to all Americans equally, and prevent state legislatures from manipulating the rules in order to manufacture the result they want. Our democracy is fundamentally at stake. History will judge what we do at this moment. Newamerica.org

Thanks @Jimk. I didn’t post all the academic signatures. I figured if people wanted to see who signed the letter they could go to the website.

Here are the daily figures for COVID-19 from January 20th at noontime to present 132 days. Cases 8,726,963 new cases last 2 days, 28,407. Deaths 326.239 new deaths last 2 days 933. Comrade dear leader Beijing Biden keeps the borders open letting thousands of illegal aliens come in the country then quickly releasing them without quarantine or testing.

This way the Communist Democrats are not able to destroy our country anymore than they have already. We have a week of relief.

I am sick to death of the republican party it’s turned into the party of bullshit.

We knew they'd take another holiday. My Senators and Representative certainly aren't holding town halls to meet with constituents, and I know Senator Toomey certainly isn't meeting with black people to hear about the anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre or the LGBTQ community to hear about the importance of Pride month and the need for Equality. I wish we could tie their pay and benefits to the actual time they spend getting things done for their constituents.

Congress has a lot to do. I hope they’re checking with their constituents and they’re finding people want action and not inactivity. Senators, you may have to put the filibuster in the trash bin of old ideas.

As the Titanic was sinking, the band played on. … … … Perhaps it would be better if our National Band stopped playing just their own music and instead focused on finding some life preservers before we all drown .

Just stay away from D.C.

Freethinker: Democrats are not against term limits. In fact, liberal states have them on their governors and legislators at higher rates than red states.

Wish I could receive their $178,000.00 check for doing only 73 DAYS work for the YEAR! Disgusting and so wrong.