#thom tillis

[porterdavis]

And that's how democracy dies...

[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.

[gwydionmisha]

North Carolina GOP votes to censure Sen. Thom Tillis for straying from party platform

[gayfertilitygoddess]

If you live in North Carolina and feel like calling your senators, you can give feedback on Thom Tillis’s remarks about the Dubious Oligarchs Grabbing Everything.

Tl;dr: he accuses the democrats of trying to hold back progress, makes a vague reference to “having some guardrails,” claims the muskrat is actually an astute businessman and that running the us govt like one of the muskrat’s businesses is going to solve all of our problems.

Source: https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-171/issue-24/senate-section/article/S750-1

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, this week has been interesting, as I have seen from some of my friends on the other side of the aisle, a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth and all the horrible things that are going to come before us. And it reminded me of a book that I used as a basis for management consulting training back in 1998. It was called ``Who Moved My Cheese.'' It is a story about two mice and two small people in a maze. The mice are named Sniff and Scurry, and the two little people are Hem and Haw. And it is only about a hundred-page book. But the premise of the book is the cheese was moved in the maze, and the challenge was to figure out where the food source was.

Well, Sniff and Scurry, the mice, actually did a pretty good job, fairly quickly, to kind of move where the cheese was and deal with the status quo. But Hem and Haw really had more challenges.

And I think we have some hemming and hawing going on here in Washington right now because they just don't understand business practices that we are trying to apply to government that have never been applied at scale before.

And I decided that I would give you an idea because a lot of people think that Elon Musk is off the chain and causing all kinds of havoc. I haven't seen that yet. As a matter of fact, if time allows, I am going to talk a little bit about the narrative this week over the payment system and all the detailed payment data that supposedly got out--which is patently untrue, contrary to what press reports have said.

But I thought I would start with the story of SpaceX. When Elon Musk decided to invest in and create SpaceX, he did something that has never been done before in this industry. He decided that instead of doing what the old players do--which is to be perfect, never launch a rocket until you are absolutely certain that that mission can be accomplished--he decided that you can learn from failure.

This is actually a social media post of one of his first launches where the booster failed to come back to Earth. His immediate response--whether it was either his instincts or really good communications people--his immediate response was a social media post that said: ``Great launch, unscheduled RUD''--R-U-D, which is rapid unscheduled disassembly.

So he was telling his shareholders and the people that have invested in SpaceX, that what happened, on its face, looked like a disaster. But, in fact, it was being willing to fail--provided that human life was not at risk--that being willing to fail was how you accelerate and you bypass everybody who has a partnership with the Federal Government. You get through all of that, and now you have the premiere launch platform, while all the other competitors have been working on it for years or decades, because he understands the concept that I understand in business, where I spent most of my life, that you learn from failure, if you know how to measure it and you are responsive and resilient.

Now, when I advised clients on enterprise transformation, we would push the envelope. We would pull back if we thought it was a market reputation risk or a center business risk.

So I believe that we need to do more of that, but we need to have guardrails, clearly.

Now there are just people that they just can't figure out where the cheese is. Now, if I just go back to the one area on payments, I have to admit, when I first heard about the payments information with read-only access being provided to someone who may be technically a government employee, but not a career government employee, it did give me concern.

So I had my staff dig into it. And since then, the administration has put out a fact sheet that anybody who is concerned about what is happening in the payments platform should look at it.

They are not looking at detailed payment data. What they are looking at is the way payments are processed to determine whether or not there is an opportunity to do it more efficiently, more cost effectively, and leave more money in the U.S. Treasury as a result--maybe more money that we can use to retire our debt. That seems like a reasonable thing to do.

People said they are getting top secret information and confidential information they shouldn't have.

I asked the specific question. I have been assured that if there is classified information, that the only ones who are going to see it are people that already have the appropriate clearances. And I have also been assured that there is no confidential information being passed.

So I would defy those in the press or maybe some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I am all about facts here. If I have established no reputation in the U.S. Senate, it is that I am tedious and I complete my due diligence.

I went to the administration. I asked these questions, and I believe we are dealing with a false narrative because people don't want to know where the cheese has been moved. They have got to get used to change.

I have been in the U.S. Senate for 10 years. I am sick of saying: Medicare has to get better. I am sick of saying: Medicaid has to get better. I am sick of saying: We are not getting people more healthy on Medicaid today. I am sick of hearing people say that on both sides of the aisles, folks.

So if we don't take some calculated risk, then we are going to be talking about the same sort of vexing issues 10 years from now.

And so I want to ask everybody to reject this narrative that we are going too fast, too soon, too many things on the line, and let's get to specific examples.

I have used the example that has dominated the press this week to determine most of what is being said is a red herring to take the President and, in this case, Elon Musk, off of the trail of trying to find efficiencies. You have facts to dispute that? Come to the Senate floor; I can learn from it. But stop creating a false narrative because you don't want to go through change because you want to continue to establish and follow the status quo, which is failing the American people and failing to fulfill promises that I have heard people make for the last decade.

Mr. President, I come here to say--I also shared a story. I had a friend of Greek ancestry call me this week and say: What is going on with Mr. Musk?

I will say, Mr. Musk has put out some social media posts that are incorrect. He actually is one of the reasons why we are having to complete this due diligence because he was talking about looking at payment data versus having professionals who--some of them are career personnel looking at source code to figure out how to make it better. He probably needs to tighten it up.

But my Greek friend told me--when I thought about all this stuff, I said: I think the President has enabled Mr. Musk and other people a lot like Icarus's father provided him with wings. They were made of wax and feathers. If you know mythology, the idea was for Icarus to fly and never go so low as to drown in the sea but never go so high as to have his wings melted, his feathers float away, and ultimately drown in the sea.

So to those who are looking at all of this in the way that I am, I want that sweet spot. I want those who are looking at government efficiencies to understand the rules. They need to understand confidentiality, national security, and when lives are on the line.

When we are talking about DOD, the intel community, the Foreign Service, you need adult supervision in the room to make absolutely certain we don't compromise or put those men or women in danger. But in the meantime, if we really want to force change, if we really want to fulfill the promises that we made to the American people when we took control of Washington, we have to get people comfortable with change.

We have to start fulfilling promises--some of the big promises that for the 10 years I have been here, I heard it every year, and we haven't made appreciable progress.

Look, the American people are patient. If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will present facts, not innuendo that could be politically motivated at best or just bad information at worst, then we can get through this, and we can do right by the American people as a result.

[starredforlife]

this guy sucks so fucking bad. nc followers of there are any of you please keep annoying his office. No one ever answers so I email.

[stardew-bajablast]

one of my senators finally responded to my emails asking them to call for a ceasefire in gaza

it’s exactly what you’d expect but it is a response at least, ig

anyway keep writing your representatives. especially in light of the ICJ’s ruling on the south africa case. write them, keep writing them, and then write them some more. flood their inboxes with demands for the US to stop aiding and abetting this genocide.

and that goes for queer rights and abortion access and climate change and police brutality and everything else

your representatives are supposed to work for you! you are their boss!!! if you think your representatives are doing a shitty job, LET THEM KNOW! harass them! and let them know you will continue to harass them until they stop supporting genocide

[redsnerdden]

SAG-AFTRA Applauds The NO FAKES Act Announcement

SAG-AFTRA Applauds The NO FAKES Act Announcement #SagAftraStrong #SagAftraStrike #Movies #Entertainment #Television #Politics

Yesterday, the U.S. Senator and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced a new bipartisan bill to protect voice and likeness of actors, performers, and individuals from AI-Generated Replicas, titled Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep…

[kkelenca]

Strategically fill this with garbage. If there’s one this tumblr is good at, it’s our ability to organize to fuck shit up.

Hello everyone, the US Senate is conducting a survey to get the opinions of people on issues such as a ceasefire in Palestine, America funding Israel’s weapons, and the TikTok ban. Please share and take the survey, let your voices be heard. (Non Americans can participate )

[floorcharts]

Who: Senator Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina)

X: @SenThomTillis

When: January 2025

What: Honoring Officer Michael Horan

Watch on C-SPAN

Read the Congressional Record

[erebusvincent]

I read recently an article alleging that populists eventually collapse because they only know how to destroy. There’s no plan afterwards for what the brave new world should look like. Eventually, progressives gain power by fixing the problems caused by populists and creating the mechanisms for a functioning government. Let’s hope so.

Tillis could have told Danielle Hegseth that there was no point in telling people how abusive Pete Hegseth was and she needn’t put her name out there. I wonder if the point of his jackassery was to make sure the American people fully knew what a terrible person Hegseth was and had him forced on us anyway. Just as women fail to appreciate how much men hate them, Americans fail to appreciate just how much our government loathes us.

[ppound]

Military: What President Obama Did!

[politicsnc]

Another defining primary

Ten years ago, the Republican primary for US Senate in North Carolina mirrored sharp divisions within the national GOP at the time. Then-State House Speaker Thom Tillis represented the staid establishment led by country club Republicans. Greg Brannon was the Tea Party candidate who brandished his libertarian ideals of less government and lower taxes. Pastor Mark Harris represented the social…

[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.

[a-violet-riot]

THOM TILLIS you piece of shit! If Tim Moores’ admin had to ACTUALLY LISTEN to me, you better clear out your inbox because I’m calling you 6 times a day minimum, you fucking coward.

[readingloveswounds]

the actual gall of these political texts is getting kind of wild. no mrs robinson (as paid for by the friends of mark robinson) i dont think the media is misrepresenting your husband's remarks, actually, and i will DEFINITELY not be clicking on this random ass link