#sen. Mitch McConnell

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Senate Democrats sought to pass legislation Tuesday banning bump stocks for firearms after the Supreme Court overruled a previous ban, but a single Republican objected on behalf of his party, effectively stalling the bill.

Backed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., sought “unanimous consent” to pass his BUMP Act that would prohibit the devices, which modify semi-automatic weapons to fire bullets more quickly.

The New Mexico senator said he’s a firearm owner who sees no purpose for bump stocks other than to facilitate mass shootings, as in Las Vegas in 2017, when a gunman killed dozens of people at a music festival and more than 500 people were injured.

“The Las Vegas gunman was able to murder and injure so many so quickly because he used a deadly device known as a bump stock,” Heinrich said on the Senate floor. “There’s no legitimate use for a bump stock. Not for self-defense, not in a law enforcement context, not even in military applications as they’re less accurate than a standard fully automatic military platform. But what they are tailor-made for is a mass shooting.”

But the bill was met with an objection from Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., blocking it from moving forward. The objection was backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and many other Republican senators, marking a turnaround after many of them championed a bump stock ban imposed by the Trump administration after the Las Vegas massacre.

Ricketts labeled the bill “a gun-grabbing overreach," saying it is written vaguely and could give the Biden administration power to target “common firearm accessories, not just bump stocks.”

“That’s really, really scary,” Ricketts said, calling the measure an infringement on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. He labeled it “another day in the Democrat summer of show votes,” following recent votes on protections for IVF and contraception which were also blocked by Republicans.

The clash comes in the heat of an election year, when Republicans are running as staunch supporters of gun rights while President Joe Biden and Democrats call for stricter firearm laws.

The move Tuesday followed a Supreme Court decision last week saying the executive branch may not use existing law to ban bump stocks, although the 6-3 ruling along ideological lines kept the door open for Congress to regulate the accessories with a new law.

Unanimous consent is one mechanism for the Senate to pass legislation speedily, often used for non-controversial measures. Schumer can also bring the bump stock bill or other legislation up through the regular process, which takes more time and requires 60 votes to break a filibuster. That means at least 9 Republicans would have to support it if Democrats and independents stick together.

Before the unanimous consent request, Schumer didn’t say whether he’d bring up the bill through regular channels if it stalled, imploring Republicans to “see the light” and not block it.

“Many of them were extremely supportive of this when President Trump did it as a regulation,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump is hardly a friend to gun safety. But I’m just shocked that the Supreme Court will be even to the right of him.”

Heinrich warned that if Congress doesn’t prohibit bump stocks, “street gangs and cartels and mass shooters” may be able to access these devices “and turn them against our communities.”

He added: “This will not be the last time you hear about these devices on the floor of the Senate.”

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

Senate GOP faces politics vs. policy battle on marijuana

Senate GOP faces politics vs. policy battle on marijuana

The omnibus package is on the path to passage, but the expected exclusion of marijuana banking reform has spawned a battle in the Senate GOP. For months, top Democrats and a number of Republicans had high hopes that legislation allowing banks to offer services to cannabis businesses in states where it has been legalize would be part of either the year-end National Defense Authorization Act or the…

[sniperct]

On Thursday, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced a bill to overhaul the Supreme Court, including adding six justices to the court. It would do this over 12 years by having future presidents appoint one in their first and third years of their term until a total of 15 justices is reached. The bill, titled the “Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act,’’ would also require a two-thirds supermajority—instead of a simple majority—to overturn laws passed by Congress. Additionally, it proposes a prevention measure to keep senators from blocking a president’s nominee by refusing to hold a vote. That happened in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the high court and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked it. The bill also aims to build trust between the court and the American public by requiring justices to consider recusing themselves and make their written opinions public.  “I think we can all agree it's time to reform the Supreme Court. As of today, I have the bill to do it,” Wyden said on X.

[odinsblog]

Sen. Mitch McConnell appears to freeze again at a Kentucky event. The Republican leader was silent for more than 30 seconds after being asked if he will run for re-election. Aides had to step in to help him out, and lead him away from the podium. He previously froze at a news conference in July. This is from August 30th.

👉🏿 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-mitch-mcconnell-appears-freeze-kentucky-event-rcna102583

[dhaaruni]

Attendees at the rally didn’t wait to receive their newly released Harris merchandise. Many women wore merchandise from Harris’ 2020 presidential run or Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, shirts with feminist and pro-abortion rights slogans, and attire with the Trump-era slogans like “Nasty Woman,” Trump’s preferred insult for Clinton, and “Nevertheless, she persisted,” a broadside in a warning from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to Sen. Elizabeth Warren that became a rallying cry.  Patricia McFarland, who has been active in Democratic politics for decades and has shared her story of getting an abortion before Roe v. Wade, came to the rally wearing a Biden-Harris button with blue duct tape over Biden’s name, along with a button for Baldwin. She’s preparing to work 20 hours a week registering voters and getting out the vote — and has started using the slogan “Yes We Kam.” (x)

[partisan-by-default]

Christine Blasey Ford had alleged an assault by Kavanaugh when they were teenagers, involving Kavanaugh locking her in a room, climbing on top of her, attempting to remove her clothing, and covering her mouth to keep her from screaming. A second woman, Deborah Ramirez, who attended Yale as an undergraduate with Kavanaugh, alleged that he’d exposed himself to her, waggling his penis in front of her face. Kavanaugh “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegations, which both involved him being drunk.

At the time, Donald Trump himself promised the FBI would have “free rein” to conduct its inquiry, which the Justice Department assured would be “by the book.” The FBI investigation uncovered little and Senate Republicans used it as a fig leaf to confirm the justice, with then-majority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell insisting: “The FBI report did not corroborate any of the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.”

But a new report from the office of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) finds that the FBI investigation was “flawed and incomplete,” the agency failed to follow up on leads that could have shed light on Kavanaugh’s alleged misbehavior, and the FBI explicitly did not pursue corroborating evidence. Whitehouse chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts.

Far from giving the FBI “free rein,” the report finds that the Trump White House exercised “total control” over the scope of the investigation, as the administration sought to “kneecap” the FBI probe, while misleading the Senate and the public. Perhaps most egregious, calls by the public into an FBI “tip line” about Kavanaugh were never probed by the FBI. Instead, “all tips related to Kavanaugh were forwarded to the White House without investigation.”

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Fox News is Private, Pro-GOP US Media]

"I welcome the U.S. and coalition operations against the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists responsible for violently disrupting international commerce in the Red Sea and attacking American vessels," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. "President Biden’s decision to use military force against these Iranian proxies is overdue."

"I am hopeful these operations mark an enduring shift in the Biden Administration’s approach to Iran and its proxies. To restore deterrence and change Iran’s calculus, Iranian leaders themselves must believe that they will pay a meaningful price unless they abandon their worldwide campaign of terror," he added.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul, R-Texas, who said he was meeting with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the strikes were called, also praised the actions. He also called on Biden to restore the Houthis' terror designation.

"I’m pleased the president, in coordination with our allies, finally took action against the Iran-backed Houthis following weeks of instability in the Red Sea. Tonight, with these strikes, we are beginning to restore deterrence. The administration must acknowledge it was a mistake to rescind the Houthis designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and re-list them immediately," he said.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, similarly called the action "overdue" and accused the Biden administration of contributing to the increasingly hostile situation in the Red Sea, but said the strikes were "a good first step toward restoring deterrence in the Red Sea."[...]

["]It is important that we follow this action in close consultation with our Saudi partners to ensure they are with us as the situation develops," Wicker said.[...]

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of former President Trump's, said he was "very supportive of the Biden Administration’s decision to strike Houthi rebels who have been harassing international shipping and trying to attack Israeli and American interests."[...]

Even rank-and-file Republicans have been issuing cautious and rare praise for the move. Rep. John James, R-Mich., a military combat veteran who served in Iraq, told Fox News Digital, "The Houthis are a terrorist organization. They have been striking at U.S. military personnel since late last year and must be destroyed."[...]

"While I support these targeted, proportional military strikes, I call on the Biden Administration to continue its diplomatic efforts to avoid escalation to a broader regional war and continue to engage Congress on the details of its strategy and legal basis as required by law," Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said.

11 Jan 24

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alex Griffing at Mediaite:

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) sounded the alarm yet again on former President Donald Trump’s fitness to return to the White House after he shared a call for her to be tried for treason. Trump shared a Truth Social post on Sunday that called for Cheney to be tried for treason in televised military tribunals. “ELIZABETH LYNNE CHENEY IS GUILTY OF TREASON, RETRUTH IF YOU WANT TELEVISED MILITARY TRIBUNALS,” read the post that the presumptive Republican nominee “retruthed.” Cheney shared a screenshot of Trump’s post and commented, “Donald – This is the type of thing that demonstrates yet again that you are not a stable adult—and are not fit for office.”

On Sunday, Trump also called for top Democrats and some Republicans including his former Vice President Mike Pence to be jailed. Trump shared a post that read, “THEY SHOULD BE GOING TO JAIL ON MONDAY NOT STEVE BANNON! WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE!” The post then included a large image of various House Jan. 6th Committee members as well as Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Pence, President Joe Biden, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has long called to jail Cheney, including in March when he posted, “SHE SHOULD BE PROSECUTED FOR WHAT SHE HAS DONE TO OUR COUNTRY! SHE ILLEGALLY DESTROYED THE EVIDENCE. UNREAL!!!”

The claim that Cheney and the January 6th Committee withheld evidence stems from a March 8th “exclusive” and roundly debunked article from The Federalist’s editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway titled, “Liz Cheney, January 6 Committee Suppressed Exonerating Evidence Of Trump’s Push For National Guard.”

Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney sounds the alarm after Fascist Convicted Felon Donald Trump retruthed a post on Truth Social calling for her to face a “televised military tribunal”.

[gusty-wind]

“It does not actually articulate or force the articulation of a strategy for how to end the conflict to begin with. So you basically have a blank check — or a near blank check — for a strategy that’s completely gone off the rails.”

Lee called out his Republican colleagues for sending aid to Ukraine at the expense of America’s own interests.

“By voting yes and passing this bill now, it empowers drug cartels, it dissolves our borders, it spends insane amounts of money that we don’t have on the priorities of foreign countries all at the same time,” he said.

Lee also slammed the bills’ proponents for defeating an effort led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to increase accountability and oversight of the aid to the notoriously corrupt Ukrainian government through appointment of an inspector general.

“These are not choir boys,” Lee said. “These are not Boy Scouts. These are not Girl Scouts. These are people who have really set world records for corruption. It’s an art form over there.”

Vance laid out the arguments from Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for rushing the aid through without further accountability measures.

“The basic argument is that we have to rush resources to Ukraine immediately, or they’re liable to fall to Russian aggression,” he said. “And it’s all basically an argument made under the gun that unless you approve this appropriation of resources and weapons, then you will allow Russia to win. So it’s a kind of moral blackmail.”

Supporters of yet more aid to Ukraine can not admit the reality that the war is not winnable for Ukraine, Vance continued. “They can’t admit that this isn’t going well because if they admitted that, it would cause too much psychological harm, and they’d have to cut bait.”

Johnson added that proponents argue that it is in politicians’ naked political interests to support the aid because “it’s helping build our industrial base, and so it’s creating jobs in your state. And I call that a depraved justification.”

Musk, who noted his contributions to Ukraine’s war efforts, echoed the assessment of the trio of senators that the war is ultimately not winnable and that a peace deal is in their best interests.

Ukraine is “losing people every day,” he said. “And if you’re going to spend lives, it must be for a purpose.”

Musk continued:

There is no way in hell that Putin is going to lose. If he would back off, he would be assassinated. And for those who want regime change in Russia, they should think about: Who is the person that could take out Putin? And is that person likely to be a peacenik? Probably not. They’re probably gonna be even harder, even more hardcore than Putin if they took him out.  Ramaswamy detailed additional “unacceptable” risks to American and global interests from continued “endless funding” of the fighting in Ukraine, arguing that Americans see “daily strengthening of the military alliance between Russia and China, which, when combined, is the single greatest increase for the risk of World War III that we’ve seen in the post-World War II era.”

If the foreign aid passes the Senate, as is expected, the House must still act. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would likely face a rebellion from members of the Republican conference if he brought the bill to the floor.

Monday night, after the conclusion of the X Space, Johnson seemed to throw cold water on the Senate’s package, echoing earlier statements that Congress must address American border security first.

“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” a Johnson statement read. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”

The timing before Monday night’s vote is important, sending the message to any on-the-fence Republican senators that a vote on the unpopular aid package would imperil their political standing for legislation that will not become law.

Some Democrats have insisted they will use all the parliamentary tools at their disposal to bring the bill to the floor, although a path forward for the legislation in the House is unclear.

Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.

[simply-ivanka]

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN)

VOTE THESE PIECES OF SHIT OUT OF CONGRESS.

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Sanders reups vow to boycott ‘war criminal’ Netanyahu’s address to Congress | The Hill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) re-upped his vow to boycott “war criminal” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress and again slammed the leader’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

“Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal,” Sanders said in a statement released on Saturday. “He should not be invited to address a joint meeting of Congress. I certainly will not attend.”

Sanders’ rebuke of Netanyahu and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza comes as he was officially invited to address Congress, The Hill first reported on Friday. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sent Netanyahu a formal invitation that was also signed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). The address is expected “as soon as the next eight weeks or soon after August recess,” a source familiar told The Hill.

The progressive Democrat previously said he would not attend any speech by Netanyahu in Congress, saying last week that Israel created “the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history.” That week, Johnson was pushing to get Netanyahu to address Congress. Schumer, who previously slammed the prime minister and called for new elections in the country, said he was open to signing the invitation.

In his statement on Saturday, Sanders said it was a “sad day” for the U.S. that Netanyahu was invited by leaders of both political parties. He reiterated that Israel has the right to defend itself following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on the southern part of the country where around 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 250 were taken hostage. But, the Vermont senator, strongly criticized Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip, slamming it for the number of civilians killed, the damage to the infrastructure and the destruction of the health care system in the region.

“Israel does not have the right to kill more than 34,000 civilians and wound over 80,000 – 5% of the population of Gaza. It does not have the right to orphan 19,000 children. It does not have the right to displace 75% of the people of Gaza from their homes,” Sanders said.

“It does not have the right to annihilate Gaza’s health care system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing more than 400 health care workers,” he continued. “It does not have the right to bomb all 12 of Gaza’s universities and 56 of its schools, or deny 625,000 children in Gaza the opportunity for an education.”

He also said Israel does not have the right to block humanitarian aid and the Jewish state is in violation of the “American and international law.”

“It does not have the right to condemn hundreds of thousands of children to death by starvation,” he said while also voicing his support for International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“The ICC is right,” Sanders said. “Both of these people are engaged in clear and outrageous violations of international law.”

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Sociopaths, a term often used to describe those living with antisocial personality disorder, who operate within their daily lives without a “conscience,” can be characterized as acting without feelings of guilt, remorse, or shame coupled with a tendency to reject the concept of responsibility.

Antisocial people will intentionally make others angry or upset and use harsh and cruel indifference as they manipulate or attack others.

Clinically speaking, there is no defined difference between a sociopath and a psychopath although some have drawn this line at acting with low moral conscience (sociopath) and no moral conscience (psychopath) or having no regard for someone else’s rights or feelings (sociopath) and taking pleasure in robbing another of their rights, freedom, or well-being (psychopath).

My colleagues and I have discussed psychopathy in the previous president elsewhere as an example. Recognizing these nuanced differences exist, I will use the term sociopath and sociopathy here for brevity’s sake.

There appear to be at least three forms of this public political/governmental sociopathy present today. The first are those individuals for whom sociopathic tendencies are deep-seated and a core feature of who they are – the former president being a prime example. A second form includes the scores of Republicans and right-wingers who have decided to play the role or act sociopathic for their own personal gain. This includes hard-line MAGA members such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Kari Lake and Matt Gaetz, who decided to infect themselves with contagious sociopathy.

Look at the case of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis whose impressive on-paper resume includes graduation from Yale University (where he served as captain of the baseball team) and Harvard law school (with honors), distinguished service in the United States Navy including a legal role with Seal Team One and a deployment to Iraq. On paper, he is highly accomplished and embodied what we as Americans tend to hold in high regard … until he acquired contagious sociopathy.

Coincident with his departure from active military service and rise to Congress and the Florida governorship, he apparently chose to include antisocial tendencies in his political and public persona. He believes in unregulated gun ownership (despite brutal killings in his state’s own schools), he attacks the rights of women with his restrictive abortion laws, he suppresses legislation that would support the LBGTQ+ community, and he seeks to diminish the plight of historically maltreated groups (such as African Americans) with his attempts to bury the past.

In another high-profile example, the U.S. Supreme Court was constitutionally designed as a third arm of our democratic republic that was supposed to serve independently from the other Branches in an apolitical manner … now its majority is infested with contagious sociopathy. In just the last year (and weeks), they sociopathically overturned Roe v. Wade and severely undercut women’s healthcare rights, ruled in favor of discrimination, and ruled against students struggling under the mountain of student debt…all while facing accusations of improper gifts, hypocrisy, and politicization … in other words, with contagious sociopathy.

The third group with contagious sociopathy are the passive enablers of widespread acts of manipulation and cruelty ranging from long-serving, establishment leaders like Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) all the way to the throngs of people clad in Confederate flags and MAGA idolatry whose inaction and permissiveness serves as a large-scale petri dish by which contagious sociopathy can flourish. It cannot go without mentioning that the processes of cultism are at play here as well.

It should be noted that the term I have been using – contagious sociopathy – is not mutually exclusive from what we have been observing with the perversion of Christian thought to suit sociopathic behaviors and the rise of fascism in the U.S. (Ruth Ben-Ghiat has written extensively on the latter). In addition, and in no way trying to simplify or underestimate the factors underlying American racism, the racist platforms of the far right and GOP, have provided a type of currency by which contagious sociopathy can spread – many have argued that the ascension of Donald Trump allowed closeted racists to become public racists. Racism includes the antisocial tendencies of demeaning, manipulating, and harming others without remorse as a key feature.

One cannot talk about contagious sociopathy without considering righteousness – a term describing the phenomenon by which malicious acts – including harming and killing others – are justified as long as the bad actor can consider the ‘victims’ to be an enemy. This is a bedrock of the Trump and MAGA attacks on the Left and any that criticize or oppose them.

I have written and said it before and I will do so again: The contagious spread of sociopathy has provided us with potential and actual leaders who embody the worst that humanity has to offer according to moral, legal, religious/spiritual, and societal norms…and they continue to run on this platform.

About the author: Seth D. Norrholm, PhD (Threads: neuropsychophd) is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University School of Medicine. Dr. Norrholm has spent 20 years studying trauma-, stressor-, anxiety-, depressive-, and substance use-related disorders and has published over 120 peer-reviewed research articles and book chapters. The primary objective of his work is to develop “bench-to-bedside” clinical research methods to inform therapeutic interventions for fear and anxiety-related disorders and how they relate to human factors such as personality, genetics, and environmental influences. Dr. Norrholm has been featured on NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN, Politico.com, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, USA Today, WebMD, The Atlantic, The History Channel, Scientific American, Salon.com, The Huffington Post, and Yahoo.com.

[acronymking4tdp]

There is method to the madness ...

Behind the "Immigrants in Ohio are eating pets" foolishness there is in a dangerous, dishonest story. Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American, 13 SEP 24) adds an historical perspective to explain why this is not funny and very calculated.

From HCR's letter: "The widespread ridicule of Trump’s statement (on Haitians eating pets) has obscured that this attack on Ohio’s immigrants is part of an attempt to regain control of the Senate. Convincing Ohio voters that the immigrants in their midst are subhuman could help Republicans defeat popular Democratic incumbent senator Sherrod Brown ... Brown and Montana’s Jon Tester, both Democrats in states that supported Trump in 2020, are key to controlling the Senate. 

"Two Republican super PACs ... have booked more than $82 million of ad space in Ohio between Labor Day and the election and are focusing on immigration. 

"Taking control of the Senate would enable Republicans not only to block all popular Democratic legislation, as they did with gun reform after the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, but to continue to establish control of America’s judicial system. So long as their judges are in place to make law from the bench, what the majority of Americans want doesn’t matter." (emphasis mine) HCR traces the GOP's legislating through the courts back to the Reagan years. We have already seen what Mitch McConnell was able to do to the courts when the GOP controlled the Senate during Obama's and Trump's terms in office. Jay Kuo (The Status Kuo) is strongly urging support for Sen. Jon Tester in Montana and Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, challenger for the Senate in Florida. Of course, there are other close Senate races in other battleground states as well. Keeping the Senate is critical for either allowing a Harris administration to do the people's work or preventing the worst excesses of a second Trump administration. (A second Trump administration is still a 50-50 possibility because of the electoral college. If this bothers you, consider doing something to prevent it.)

[bighermie]

McConnell Stepping Down as Senate GOP Leader

McConnell Stepping Down as Senate GOP Leader https://link.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/us/mcconnell-stepping-down-as-senate-gop-leader-5596944?utm_source=andshare

FINALLY!!! FUCK YEAH!!!!