American Politics Thread V: We're Just Biden Our Time ...

[The Caleshan Valkyrie]

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) would like you to know that the new voting law isn't really that bad...because you can order GrubHub and UberEats while in line

Who knew that you didn’t have to be given your food to eat it, maybe those Georgians are just more advanced than the rest of us...


Unrelated, but Biden has restored US humanitarian funding to Palestinians, and investments for Gaza and the West Bank, to the tune of $235 million.

That’s barely even a rounding error, but they could probably use it.

[Kowani]

oh my fucking god

[National Capitalist United States]

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Hahaha fucking losers

rAdIcAl LeFt

The only thing that that website is missing is Jock Cranley's Patriot Test

Like this is beyond parody

[Salus Maior]

oh my fucking god

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He better not get another term.

[Flowera]

oh my fucking god

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Oh god

[Exalted Inquellian State]

oh my fucking god

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If this is seriously run by Trump, I am on the verge of finally giving up on him, and I already got close given he'll be 78 when he wants to run in 2024, despite the fact he claims he is in his second term. This is pure hypocrisy(though, what else can you expect from politicians)? I saw many adds in 2020 asking to vote for him early. And Georgia law is fine.

[Postauthoritarian America]

Mike Pence has a book on the way-an autobiography

President Selflove: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying about Being Hung by a Violent Mob of Insurrectionists and Love the Dear Leader

Wisconsin, like Arizona, picks election conspiracy theorists to investigate the 2020 election

Republican leaders of the Wisconsin Assembly's elections panel say they're looking to transition to a "formal investigation" process after fellow GOP lawmakers granted them the ability to subpoena witnesses and documents as part of a review of recent contests.

That could include compelling individuals that appear before the Campaigns and Elections Committee to testify under oath, the body's top two Republican lawmakers said...

Pro tip for WI Republicans: be careful what you wish for.

[Zurkerx]

"I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster [..] it is time to do our jobs," Senator Joe Manchin.

When Americans vote to send their two senators to Washington, they trust that they will work to represent the interests of their state on equal footing with 98 other senators. I have always said, “If I can’t go home and explain it, I can’t vote for it.” And I respect that each of my colleagues has the same responsibility to their constituents.

It’s no accident that a state as small as West Virginia has the same number of senators as California or Texas. It goes to the heart of what representative government is all about. The Founding Fathers understood that the challenges facing a rural or small state would always be very different from a more populous state. Designating each state with the same number of senators — regardless of the population — ensured that rural and small states and the Americans who live in them would always have a seat at the table.

The filibuster is a critical tool to protecting that input and our democratic form of government. That is why I have said it before and will say it again to remove any shred of doubt: There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster. The time has come to end these political games, and to usher a new era of bipartisanship where we find common ground on the major policy debates facing our nation.

Think about the recent history. In 2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) led the charge to change Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster for Cabinet-level nominees and federal judges. I was one of only three Democratic senators to vote against this rule change. In 2017, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) proposed to lower the threshold to end debate on Supreme Court nominees to a simple majority. I voted against that change, too. Despite my votes, both rules changes were enacted and the filibuster was weakened, allowing the majority to more easily enact its agenda with little to no input from the minority.

Every time the Senate voted to weaken the filibuster in the past decade, the political dysfunction and gridlock have grown more severe. The political games playing out in the halls of Congress only fuel the hateful rhetoric and violence we see across our country right now. The truth is, my Democratic friends do not have all the answers and my Republican friends do not, either. This has always been the case.

Generations of senators who came before us put their heads down and their pride aside to solve the complex issues facing our country. We must do the same. The issues facing our democracy today are not insurmountable if we choose to tackle them together.

Unfortunately, our leaders in the Senate fail to realize what goes around comes around. We should all be alarmed at how the budget reconciliation process is being used by both parties to stifle debate around the major issues facing our country today. Legislating was never supposed to be easy. It is hard work to address the needs of both rural and urban communities in a single piece of legislation, but it is the work we were elected to do.

I simply do not believe budget reconciliation should replace regular order in the Senate. How is that good for the future of this nation? Senate Democrats must avoid the temptation to abandon our Republican colleagues on important national issues. Republicans, however, have a responsibility to stop saying no, and participate in finding real compromise with Democrats.

Working legislation through regular order in the Senate prevents drastic swings in federal policymaking. Voting rights reforms, instituting health-care protections and changes to the federal tax code and business regulations take time to implement on the state and local levels. If the filibuster is eliminated or budget reconciliation becomes the norm, a new and dangerous precedent will be set to pass sweeping, partisan legislation that changes the direction of our nation every time there is a change in political control. The consequences will be profound — our nation may never see stable governing again.

Senators introduce bipartisan bills that seek to invest in broadband infrastructure, tax incentives to spur manufacturing investments in rural communities, reform the Department of Veterans Affairs, protect our children from harm and more.

There is also bipartisan support for voting reform and many of the initiatives outlined in the For the People Act. Our ultimate goal should be to restore bipartisan faith in our voting process by assuring all Americans that their votes will be counted, secured and protected. Efforts to expand voting hours and access, improve our election security and increase transparency in campaign finance and advertisement rules should and do have broad, bipartisan support and would quickly address the needs facing Americans today. Taking bipartisan action on voting reform would go a long way in restoring the American people’s faith in Congress and our ability to deliver results for them.

We will not solve our nation’s problems in one Congress if we seek only partisan solutions. Instead of fixating on eliminating the filibuster or shortcutting the legislative process through budget reconciliation, it is time we do our jobs.

I feel Democrats will be somewhat relieved when Manchin leaves- even if that means losing a seat: because this guarantees that stuff like HR1 won't pass so easily. As much as Biden is a relic of the past, he seems to at least somewhat grasp that the GOP have no intention of compromising: he probably doesn't recognize the GOP he once knew anymore.

[Loeje]

oh my fucking god

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I don't know what Trump wants anymore.

[Kowani]

US, Iraq reach agreement on plans to withdraw U.S. combat troops

The United States and Iraq on Wednesday reached an agreement on the eventual withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from the nation.

In a joint statement following the conclusion of the third round of talks between the United States and Iraq known as the Strategic Dialogue -- the first two of which were conducted under the Trump administration -- the two sides agreed the U.S. military presence would begin to shift to a non-combat role."Based on the increasing capacity of the [Iraq Security Forces], the parties confirmed that the mission of U.S. and Coalition forces has now transitioned to one focused on training and advisory tasks, thereby allowing for the redeployment of any remaining combat forces from Iraq, with the timing to be established in upcoming technical talks," the statement said.

The statement went on to say that the transition of U.S. and other international forces away from combat operations "reflects the success of their strategic partnership" to combat the presence of the Islamic State terror group in Iraq.Iraq's national security adviser, Qasem al-Araji, said in a news conference the discussions resulted in "important progress" toward the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops.

About 2,500 U.S. troops remain in Iraq helping the ISF combat the IS, according to the Pentagon.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters there was "no specific agreement of a date certain or a certain number of troops by a certain date," but assured the United States has never intended to keep troops in Iraq indefinitely. "I think we all realized when we were invited in by the government of Iraq, that this mission was aligned against ISIS and that there was no expectation that it was going to be a permanent, enduring mission or footprint," said Kirby, using an alternate abbreviation for the terror group.

[Trollzyn the Infinite]

oh my fucking god

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"The GOP hurt itself in the confusion!"

[Rusozak]

oh my fucking god

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I don't know what Trump wants anymore.

He's just lashing out in the ultimate rage quit moment.

[Joohan]

https://www.wglt.org/post/mwilambwe-comes-out-top-3-way-bloomington-mayoral-race#stream/0

In Bloomington, Illinois located just south of the city of Normal which is home to Illinois state university, Mboka Mwilambwe was elected the city’s first black mayor.

Im from there - why is this such a big deal?

[Kowani]

Biden's family separation task force has identified 5,600 "yet-to-be-reviewed" files from the first half of 2017 that may hold evidence of additional family separations during the Trump administration

President Joe Biden’s family separation task force has identified 5,600 "yet-to-be-reviewed" files from the first half of 2017 that may hold evidence of additional family separations during the Trump administration, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said Wednesday.

"We found the list we had when we came in was not comprehensive and included large timeframes that had not been reviewed," said the official, who was briefing reporters on the progress of the task force.

The official said the new files may reveal "a few additional families" who have not yet been identified.

The new files are from the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement between Jan. 20., 2017, and July 2017, a time period not included in the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit against the Trump administration over family separations.

[...]Approximately 2,800 families were separated during the Trump administration’s "zero tolerance" policy in mid-2018, and lawyers have said previously that more than 1,000 others had been separated prior to the policy’s official implementation. The official provided no timeline for reunification of still-separated families, and said that the Biden administration had entered into settlement negotiations with the ACLU in their lawsuit against the federal government over separations, but said that an initial report on the progress of the task force was due on June 2.

[Salus Maior]

I don't know what Trump wants anymore.

He's just lashing out in the ultimate rage quit moment.

He's a cult of personality now he can do whatever he wants and some people will listen to him.

[Shrillland]

https://www.wglt.org/post/mwilambwe-comes-out-top-3-way-bloomington-mayoral-race#stream/0

In Bloomington, Illinois located just south of the city of Normal which is home to Illinois state university, Mboka Mwilambwe was elected the city’s first black mayor.

Im from there - why is this such a big deal?

It isn't so much, just going through cities having their votes yesterday like we did. I'm from relatively close by myself.

[Shrillland]

Turnout in the Alabama Amazon Union vote was 55%

...which is unfortunate on a variety of levels, the biggest one being 45% don't seem to give a shit that they have to piss in bottles for substandard wages.

[San Lumen]

https://www.wglt.org/post/mwilambwe-comes-out-top-3-way-bloomington-mayoral-race#stream/0

In Bloomington, Illinois located just south of the city of Normal which is home to Illinois state university, Mboka Mwilambwe was elected the city’s first black mayor.

Im from there - why is this such a big deal?

Me and Shrill provide election coverage. I do county and municipal elections, I thought it was of significance.

[San Lumen]

https://www.al.com/news/2021/04/alabama ... xcuse.html

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill admits affair, won’t run for U.S. Senate or any other office in 2022 : ‘There’s no excuse’

[The Alma Mater]

Turnout in the Alabama Amazon Union vote was 55%

...which is unfortunate on a variety of levels, the biggest one being 45% don't seem to give a shit that they have to piss in bottles for substandard wages.

Or to be afraid of consequences. Amazon did have a rather... agressive.. campaign.

[The Alma Mater]

oh my fucking god

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I don't know what Trump wants anymore.

Any vote not for Trump is obviously invalid, because Trump is Lord and all love Him.

[Loeje]

I don't know what Trump wants anymore.

He's just lashing out in the ultimate rage quit moment.

It seems a little late for that.

I don't know what Trump wants anymore.

Any vote not for Trump is obviously invalid, because Trump is Lord and all love Him.

I sincerely hope no one really believes that.

[The Black Forrest]

oh my fucking god

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Hmmm. I wonder if that is a violation on twitter? Trump was banned so posting his stuff?......

[Salus Maior]

I sincerely hope no one really believes that.

It gets pretty close sometimes.

[San Lumen]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/ ... story.html

In Waukegan located to the north of Chicago in Lake County incumbent Sam Cunningham lost reelection to Alderwoman Ann Taylor. She will be the cities first female mayor.

The city has not reelected a mayor since 1996.