If you missed the headlines over the weekend… well, as usual, you didn’t miss much. To no-one’s real surprise, the threat of filibuster was only a threat, and Mitch and Chuck have arrived at a power-sharing agreement. Later today, the Senate will convene as a court rather than a deliberative body, and Senator Patrick Leahy — the President Pro Tem, by tradition the longest-serving member of the majority party in the Senate — is expected to preside over Donald Trump’s second impeachment.
(more…)The Senate has adjourned for their pre-election break following marathon sessions to confirm a new Supreme Court justice. This makes it highly unlikely that we’ll see more stimulus checks before Election Day.
But for once the blame doesn’t actually belong to the Senate, despite how bad this looks. They don’t have anything to vote on.
(more…)With the unfortunate and highly regrettable, yet hardly unexpected nor even alas untimely, passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the nation is once again in an uproar. And yet the tempest is at present a mild one — more than “in a teapot”, perhaps, but certainly less than Class Five. And this is as it should be.
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There have been several versions of this going around. Trouble is, it’s completely absurd, a patently evident attempt to propagandize.
This is important for two reasons: One, it’s apt to backfire because it’s so transparently wrong. Two, everyone, even (more…)
Most of the issues we talk about here are pretty straightforward. I mean, yeah, they’re more complicated than either the news or politicians let on, but once you get past the fact that complex problems demand complex solutions, it’s (more…)
It’s been 24 hours since Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to replace Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Since then I’ve seen him described as a religious ideologue, an ultra-conservative, and (my favorite) a sign that “The American Experiment Is Over”.
This isn’t a slight misstatement, a matter of nuance or a bending of the truth. It’s laughably, ludicrously wrong.
Look, I get it: Donald Trump nominated this guy, so he must be evil. Given some of this president’s other nominees (though hardly all), that’s understandable, the more so if we also consider Mr. Trump’s high scores on the Supervillain Index. (No cape, and his monologues (more…)
I know; I know: One more story on this guy is too many.
Between him, and Trump stumping for him, and the Senate arguing over whether or not to confirm him, and partisan political action committees spending tons of money on attack ads about him, and everyone with a microphone weighing in on the subject in one direction or another, we’re sick to death of hearing (more…)
After 283 days, on January 3, 2017, Merrick Garland’s nomination for appointment to the United States Supreme Court expired, as the Senate refused even to consider his candidacy.
Despite persistent claims, this was not entirely unprecedented. However, it was indeed an undeniable abuse of partisan political power by one of the few individuals in history capable of getting away with it, Senator Mitch McConnell. That action revealed a dangerous weakness (more…)
The Not Fake News 