#Susan Collins

[liberalsarecool]

Susan Collins could have put a check on Republican misogyny and slowed the GOP War on Women, but like all conservatives, her words of support mean nothing: betrayal is the design.

No remorse. No regrets. No shame.

[porterdavis]

[corporationsarepeople]

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Andrew Mangan at Daily Kos:

In this year’s Senate elections, Democrats won over 2 million more votes than Republicans but still lost their majority. So much for democracy.  The Senate is famously biased toward the GOP, and with less ticket-splitting these days, that leaves Democrats with quite the hole to climb out of. But there is a ladder back to the majority, even if it’s a tall one. Democrats have performed well in the past two midterm elections, riding a blue wave to a net gain of 40 House seats in 2018 and flipping one Senate seat in 2022, a midterm they were expected to lose decisively. In 2018, Democrats lost four Senate seats while gaining two, but all the losses were in red states, like North Dakota (!) and Indiana (!!). In 2024, though, they saw their 51-seat majority slashed to 47 as the GOP claimed the chamber. But the 2026 midterms alone almost certainly won’t put them back in the Senate majority. There are only two good shots at pickups that year: Maine and North Carolina. 

[...] Nevertheless, holding all their seats and flipping four across these two elections would put Democrats back into the majority. But flip the White House in 2028 and they need only three.

The Democrats lost 4 seats this election (and frankly lucky to not lose any more) to put them down to 47 seats (including 2 Dem-caucusing I’s), and the effort to win back the Senate will likely be a two-cycle effort.

[schraubd]

Will Matt Gaetz Finally Cause the Senate GOP To Stand Up To Trump? My Money's On No!

I really thought I'd laid the bar on the floor, but somehow Donald Trump has already burrowed under it by announcing (former*) Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as his pick for attorney general. I had the pleasure of sharing this news with several of my law school colleagues, where it literally provoked a laugh-out-loud howl of incredulity. It wasn't just my people though. Senate Republicans also seem rather blindsided by the pick: The selection of Mr. Gaetz blindsided many of Mr. Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill. The announcement was met with immediate and unvarnished skepticism by Republicans in the Senate who will vote on his nomination. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she was “shocked” by the pick — and predicted a difficult confirmation process. [....] Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, when asked about Mr. Gaetz’s selection, said, “I don’t know the man other than his public persona.” Mr. Cornyn said he could not comment on the chances that Mr. Gaetz, or Tulsi Gabbard, Mr. Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, would be confirmed: “I don’t know — we’ll find out.” “He’s got his work cut out for him,” Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, said as other senators dodged questions from reporters. Representative Max Miller, Republican of Ohio, told reporters that many members of the G.O.P. conference were shocked at the choice of Mr. Gaetz for attorney general, but mostly thrilled at the prospect that he might no longer be a member of the chamber. The House, Mr. Miller added, would be a more functional place without Mr. Gaetz. He predicted a bruising confirmation fight, adding that if the process revealed evidence to corroborate the allegations of sex trafficking against Mr. Gaetz, he would not be surprised if the House moved to expel him, as it did with Representative George Santos. Mr. Santos lost his seat after the Ethics Committee documented violations of the chamber’s rules and evidence of extensive campaign fraud.   But things aren't all bad. You'll never guessed who raced ahead of the pack to greet Trump's failson pick with open arms: One of the few lawmakers to offer a positive assessment was a staunch Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who called Mr. Gaetz “smart” and “clever” but predicted tough confirmation hearings. So, how long will it take for the Senate GOP caucus to fall in line? I'm guessing it'll happen before the first confirmation hearing. (That is, if we have confirmation hearings). Oh, and speaking of organizations that have put their dignity in a lockbox, we did finally learn what bridge is too far for the ADL, which blistered the Gaetz selection because of his "long history of trafficking in antisemitism," including "defending the Great Replacement Theory." How he's distinguished from the ADL's glowingly-praised Elise Stefanik, who also promoted Great Replacement Theory, was left unsaid. * Gaetz hastily resigned his seat following the announcement, also getting ahead of a planned House Ethics Committee report that was set to issue findings on Gaetz's myriad, er, "controversies" -- including allegations of sex trafficking minors. Score one for QAnon! via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/WqtsjKg

[porcupine-girl]

After reading an article about reactions to some of Trump’s absolutely insane cabinet picks, I realized that once again we will be at the mercy of Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski to fend off the worst of him. I’d forgotten they both existed. God, I hope they still have any spine left at all. They never had much, but the bit they had was often all that was standing between us and some terrible, terrible decisions.

[mysterythief]

Can’t wait for my babygirl (he’s an adult alcoholic) Haymitch Abernathy to find himself (experience extreme trauma) in the hunger games and stick it in Snow’s face so that he can teach two teenager twenty-five years later that the power of love really can bring down dictatorships and heal wounds

[republicanidiots]

I love how Republicans like Susan Collins are (suddenly) outraged by Trump -- but only for very recent, very specific things.

It's like Trump robbed a bank and Collins is only mad he took the twenties.

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Giant Leopard Moth

COURTESY SUSAN COLLINS

[niremedy]

Everlark🫶🏻❤️‍🩹

[stop-ugly]

I finally watched the ballad of songbirds and snakes and I don't like it sending the message that being hot is an excuse for any crime 😕

[davidaugust]

The GOP leadership disapproved of the GOP nominee for President.

[bookreviewcoffee]

The Ballad of songbirds and snakes Susan Collins

Before the reader's eyes is the rise of a despot - the very President Snow from the Hunger Games trilogy. But in my opinion, it will be interesting to read not only fans of history. And certainly do not refer this book to teenage fantasy and light reading.

In my opinion Collins has really grown as a writer. She painstakingly draws details of the personalities, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Coriolanus' attachment to the smell of roses, which is associated with his dead mother and helps to calm him down, his struggle with the image of his overbearing father, his shame at his plight as an orphan, his attempts to stay on top of the social ladder, his courageous actions, not dictated at all by concern for others, the ambiguous selfish tenderness for his cousin and grandmother - like a three-year-old who perceives everyone only through himself, his thoughts about his origins and destiny, his fear of being left on the margins of life. And "friendship" and "love." In inverted commas because these concepts are unknown to our hero, but he really wants to be accepted, to adapt to the environment, and for this he needs to interact with people somehow. So he interacts: he smiles, helps, co-operates, serves and even cares. But in the inner dialogue we always hear the truth. Each person is simply a means to an end for Snow.

At the very beginning this boy wants to justify and support, it's as if he has no choice. But in the last third of the book the transformation is completed and we are shocked to see the devastating consequences. And we knew from the beginning who it was! We knew it wouldn't be otherwise and still we are horrified by the plot twist and the actions of the characters.

Oh yeah, and there's also the tenth Hunger Games in this book, not at all as technologically advanced and popular as the games in Kitniss' time. Yes, and compared to those games that go on in Snow's head - they just pale in comparison. But, believe me, our hero will add pepper to them, and that's what he does from the very first pages.

In my opinion, the entire Hunger Games series of books is about how war uglifies society. How concepts are overturned, will is lost, hatred is nurtured. About how propaganda of any kind works, and how difficult it is to break out of that cycle, not only for those who have gone through the war, but for many generations of descendants later. Snow says (not verbatim) that war, once started, never ends. It is in people's souls and in their heads. And as long as that is true, there will be more and more Hunger Games.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jeanne Sahadi at CNN:

The US Senate passed a bipartisan bill early Saturday to increase Social Security benefits for close to 3 million federal, state and local public sector workers, which includes firemen, policemen and teachers.

In the roll call vote, 76 senators voted in favor of the bill, and 20 senators voted against it. If the legislation is signed into law by President Joe Biden, it would apply to all benefits payable after December 2023. The Social Security Fairness Act — which already passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support in November — eliminates two policies that have reduced Social Security benefits for public service employees. The workers affected are those who are eligible for government pensions from jobs where they didn’t pay into Social Security but who did pay into the program through other jobs or whose spouses did so. The first is the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). “The WEP reduces benefits for retired or disabled workers who have fewer than 30 years of significant earnings from employment covered by Social Security if they also receive pensions on the basis of noncovered employment,” according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The second provision that will be eliminated is the Government Pension Offset (GPO). “The GPO reduces the spousal or surviving spousal benefits of people who receive pensions on the basis of noncovered employment,” CBO noted. Americans can receive retirement benefits if they have paid into Social Security for at least 10 years and are also entitled to spousal or survivor benefits if their spouse paid into the program. The Congressional Research Service estimates that “the two largest groups of Social Security beneficiaries that may be (or are currently) affected by the GPO and WEP are (1) about 28% of state and local government employees covered by alternative staff retirement systems; and (2) most permanent civilian federal employees hired before January 1, 1984.” The bill’s chief co-sponsors — outgoing Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — have stressed that the alternate formulas used to determine the Social Security benefits for pension-eligible public sector workers penalized them for choosing to serve their communities.

The bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act sponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) passed 76-20 in the Senate. The bill is off to President Biden's desk for his signature. The SSFA will increase SS benefits for public service employees.

[none-of-it-was-accidental]

just rewatched the hunger games movies for the first time after reading crimson rivers and cried for the first time ever