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Tag Archives: current-events

Senator Franken Explains and Exposes


Senator Al Franken addressed the Senate’s failure to the country:

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) addressed the new justice vacancy in the Supreme Court on February 24. In opening, Franken told the Senate Judiciary Committee that “swift” action needed to be taken. He offered his “thoughts and prayers” to the family of the late Justice Scalia, adding he did not share Scalia’s views on the U.S. Constitution, nor on the country, and that Scalia had a great sense of conviction and humor. Franken then quickly gets down to the business at hand:

“Let us all remember that each and every senator serving in this body swore an oath to support and defend [the] Constitution,” said Sen. Franken in prepared remarks. “It is our duty to move forward. We must fulfill our constitutional obligation to ensure that the highest court in the land has a full complement of justices.”

Franken reminds the audience that the U.S. Constitution Justice Scalia loved is the same U.S. Constitution that allows the president to nominate a new justice, and with the “Advice and Consent of the Senate,” appoint a judge to the Supreme Court.

The senator notes with disgust that it took less than an hour after news of Scalia’s death hit the public for the GOP to announce they would not take up the business of considering a replacement until after the presidential election. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the American people should have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court justice.

The only problem with the Majority Leader’s reasoning, Franken adds, is that the American people have spoken. Twice.

He reiterates that President Barack Obama was elected and reelected by a solid majority of the American people who understood his role is to uphold his duties according to the Constitution and that includes appoint a Supreme Court justice should a vacancy occur.

Here’s where it gets good. One of the highlights of this speech was when Franken suggests the GOP apply their own reasoning to the Republican-led Congress.

If we were to truly subscribe to the Majority Leader’s logic and extend it to the legislative branch, it would yield an absurd result. 

  • Senators would become ineffective in the last year of their term.
  • The 28 senators who are now in the midst of their reelection campaigns and the 6 senators who are stepping down should be precluded from casting votes in committee or on the Senate floor.
  • Ten committee chairs and 19 subcommittee chairs should pass the gavel to a colleague who is not currently running for reelection or preparing for retirement.
  • Bill introduction, and indeed the cosponsor ship of bills, should be limited to those senators who are not yet serving in the sixth year of their terms. When a Republican says it’s been standard practice over the last 80 years to not confirm Supreme Court nominees during a presidential election year, Franken says, “I know that’s not true. And I’m not the only one,” mentioning several sources including the indisputable SCOTUS blog, which says, “historical record does not reveal any instances [in over a century] of the Senate failing to confirm a nominee in a presidential election year because of the impending election.” In closing, Senator Franken states the Supreme Court is a central pillar of our democracy. The women and men who sit on that bench make decisions that touch the lives of every single American—regardless of party or political persuasion. Franken urges his colleagues to “reject the impulse to put politics before our sworn duty” to uphold the Constitution. There is a video of Franken’s entire speech.
  • In his speech, Senator Al Franken describes the hypocrisy, negligence, and obstructiveness of Republicans that has taken place the entire seven years President Obama has been in office.
  • Franken tells the committee (and the public) that the day before, every Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the Majority Leader vowing to deny a hearing to the president’s eventual nominee, saying they will not hold hearings on any Supreme Court nominee—until after their next president is sworn in on January 20, 2017. Franken calls their actions an historic dereliction of the Senate’s duty. He brings up that “Chairman Grassley gathered only Republican Committee members in a private meeting where they unilaterally decided, behind closed doors, to refuse consideration of a nominee.” Franken calls the action to refuse a hearing “shameful, and I suspect that the American people share that view.“

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The Little Stuff


With all of the attention being paid to the Presidential Race not enough of us are paying attention or thinking about the activities of the smaller elections. These smaller or less publicized activities around the country. These  small events are the real things that  shape our Government. The Congress is elected in these small statewide elections. The current Congress is made up of people who were elected and re-elected on a State level. This semi-annual elected return to Washington by the States is the biggest problem. Each of these Representatives uses local issues to stay in office while doing something different on the big stage. It needs to clear to all State voters that their representatives do not and will not represent them as long as their big donors pour money into their campaigns no matter what the candidate says to their faces. For instance Coal is a polluted form of energy which is being phased out by manufacturers and producers but the Coal States representatives use the decimation of Coal as a talking point to be re-elected. This bit of misleading  information is just one part of the bigger lies that people are told by our “representatives” for their own ends, not for the people they purport to represent. The American people that the political pimps are so fond of quoting seemingly have no idea what these guys are actually doing and maybe they (we) don’t) want to know. The key to better Government is better representatives and the use of the vote to change them when it is required but this will only happen when we (voters) look behind the proverbial curtain. It’s the Little Stuff that makes the difference.

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The Justice On Justice


 This post from “The Rude pundit” is indeed Rude an coarse however to keep it in context I have altered some words. And as an add of my opinion,: perhaps the “Justice” will answer to a higher Justice.
 
 
 3/03/2016

Samuel Alito: Supreme Dick (A Short One)

Yesterday’s Supreme Court hearing was on the insultingly dumb Texas law requiring family planning clinics where abortions are performed to meet rigid standards that virtually no other medical clinic where outpatient procedures are done must meet. The three women justices kicked so much ass that asses miles away felt it. Justices Ginsberg, Sotomayor, and Kagan, along with liberal male Justice Breyer, were all over Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller, taking apart the absurdity of his argument that the closure of all but 10 clinics in the entirety of Texas wasn’t an “undue burden” on the women of the huge fucking state.

Of course, back on the conservative side, Clarence Thomas didn’t say a goddamned thing, having gone back into a decade-long hibernation, like a particularly dumb and cruel cicada. Anthony Kennedy was at his weaselly peak in figuring out how not to make a decision. And John Roberts attempted to undo the arguments of clinics’ attorney Stephanie Toti. The ghost of Antonin Scalia was screaming from Hell.

But the king dickhead of the day was Samuel Alito, the bespectacled worm of the court. Alito took it upon himself to try to get Toti to admit that the clinics didn’t close because of the law. This mattered to him more than the lives of the women or the distance they had to travel or the money they had to spend or anything else, even though he was utterly f**king wrong:

JUSTICE ALITO: Well, there is very little specific evidence in the record in this case with respect to why any particular clinic closed. Basically, your argument is that the law took effect, and after that point, there was a decrease in the number of clinics…As to how many, of the total that you claim closed, do you have direct evidence about the reason for the closure?

MS. TOTI: Well, 11 of them, Your Honor, closed on the day that the admitting privileges took effect.

JUSTICE ALITO: Yeah. And as to how many…how many are you claiming total closed as a result of the law?

MS. TOTI: To…to date, roughly 20 clinics have closed.

JUSTICE ALITO: And of the 20, how…as to how many do you have direct evidence?

MS. TOTI: I…approximately 12, Your Honor, direct evidence.

JUSTICE ALITO: Because if…if you go through this ­­now we’re not talking about a huge number of facilities.

A few minutes later, Justice Kagan punched Alito right in the nutsack when she said, “Is it right that in the two­-week period that the ASC requirement was in effect, that over a dozen facilities shut their doors, and then when that was stayed, when that was lifted, they reopened again immediately?” Toti said that was true. Kagan then put mighty fist to tiny balls as she concluded, “It’s almost like the perfect controlled experiment as to the effect of the law, isn’t it? It’s like you put the law into effect, 12 clinics closed. You take the law out of effect, they reopen?”

Who knows how this will go at this point. But, obviously, there could be a law called “Keep That F**kin’ Baby, Whore of Babylon” and Alito would justify it somehow.

– See more at: http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2016/03/samuel-alito-supreme-dick-short-one.html#sthash.Er0p9Osn.dpuf

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About Cosby


The ongoing Bill Cosby sexual allegations and public trail by media is not over but could be if the attorneys would get their acts together. At this time most people who follow this are at once surprised, amazed or not. The Many accusations have so many flaws or possible misconceptions as to muddy the waters on the real story. It appears that many well known personalities (including Mrs., Bill Cosby)are being deposed on their knowledge of his actions. I am concerned about the time span between the actual occurrence of the supposed acts and the current revelations. It may turn out to be true or not but the media frenzy has more to do with selling papers or air time than facts. We expect this type of coverage from the checkout stand journals rather than the mainstream media but it appears that any method of increasing revenue is fair game even if it may turn out to false. This is not to say that Mr. Cosby is innocent or guilty but a fair shake should be available for all  as this could happen to any of us for any supposed transgressions from the past.

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Handled Better?


The current public feud between Apple and the FBI is something that should never have been made public. I am for openness but sometimes it is improper or incorrect. I understand Apple’s viewpoint however a sit down with the Feds out of the public eye would have been a better approach. The information that may or may not be on the IPhone is definitely worth a look. If there is information that could prevent loss of life and/ or property it should be revealed. I think if Apple were to enter the phones system and down load what could be information relating to other potential terrorist attacks or information on network associations, then that is what should be done. I believe the Government should accept that information and move on. I do not believe the method of obtaining it should be given to the Government, Now that the issue is public you have people who for their own reasons jump on the bandwagon of misinformation and misplaced anger towards the Government and Apple. The issue is National security and should be seen as such. My fear is that too many people are too angry about almost everything to think clearly about what is really happening in this country. There are no longer only 2 sides to any story but most are multisided and all sides bear a look or a listen.

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The War Potential


Several candidates for the Presidency have espoused the idea of how to handle the conflict in the Middle east and Asia with no real knowledge of what is involved. Their rhetoric and the related theories of execution are no more than circa WWII thinking when we were attacked. The difference is: 1. We were already supplying our allies in their struggle with Hitler’s armies and associated allies

2. There was no UN

3. The combatants were some of the people we now are against.

4. We have been complicit in some of the issues that exist due to  our actions on behalf of several dictators

With the above in mind we still have several runners and their followers warfare who do not have a full grasp of the realities of war. War requires millions to billions of dollars to support the personnel and material needed. With our economy  in a just out of recession stage and stagnating due to an ineffective Congress that spends more time politricking rather than legislating, the last thing we need is another military commitment in another part of the world and especially the Middle east and Asia where we have had a less than stellar result. Any future military actions on our part should only occur  if requested by the affected Nation, the UN as joint venture or if we are attacked on a scale larger than the towers. The idea of attacking because it appears to be correct isn’t correct. Our focus needs to be here and now. If we in the heat of election campaigns elect a firebrand then the past 10 to 15 years will seem like paradise. If  we allow the existing Congress to put us in an unwarranted or unneeded, war we need to unseat them as they will not improve with age. The existing Congress is so filled with obstructionists as to be mildly effective at best but can weigh in events that have not happened. Remember it is our children, fathers, brothers and sisters that will be on the front lines not the warmonger.

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State Income Tax Refund Information


As I read this statement my mind went to the actual budget situation in Illinois, this statement is in fact possibly true until the last line, which I find possibly false in part.

Refund Alert

The Illinois Department of Revenue does not anticipate releasing any Individual Income Tax refunds between January 1, 2016 and March 1, 2016.

We are working with the IRS and other states’ revenue departments to protect taxpayers. Enhanced identity theft prevention measures and security protocols will lengthen timeframes for refund issuance.

Filing your return electronically and requesting direct deposit into your checking or savings account is still the fastest way to receive your refund.

For electronic returns filed prior to March 1, 2016 – We anticipate your refund will be issued within two to three weeks from the March 1st date when we begin issuing refunds.

For electronic returns submitted error-free on or after March 1, 2016 – We anticipate your refund will be issued within two to three weeks from the date you submitted your return.

Click here for Refund Delay Frequently Asked Questions.

Note: Tax refunds are not subject to budgetary appropriation by the Illinois General Assembly and are not impacted by the current budget impasse.

The Politricks Begin


The death of Justice Scalia has left a hole in the High court and the Dupublicans have jumped all over it. Since the Congress has opted to fight everything the president has proposed and to the detriment of all of us, there is a great chance that the nomination will be stalled as long as it can be stalled. If we as voters do not raise our voices on this we will all suffer for years to come, our current Congress is as divisive as the rifts between the various religious sects in Asia. This Congress led by Senator Mitch (turtle) McConnell will move to block any nomination presented by this administration. Keep in mind that “Mitch’s” agenda is based solely on what good for Mitch  and not his constituents or the united States, this has been proven by his record during the 30 years he has been in the Congress (you must read it for yourself as there is too much to set down here). It is our duty to start the process of controlling the government with our votes and voices because we ALL MATTER!. Each of the Dupublican candidates has weighed in on this and made it part of their Shtick but have no idea for the most part what is really involved in replacing a Justice and the long range effect of placing another “Thomas” on the bench. Our opportunities to have a voice is now and has to continue every day. We as voters have to use the electronic media to let our representatives know when we are unhappy or happy but in a reasoned way , not in a knee jerk fashion. Do not be influenced by sound bites, buzzwords or school yard fights which provide no information at all.

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Still Crazy


The controversy over Hillary Clinton’s private email servers is still lingering in spite of recent revelations about Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice also had private Email servers yet the RNC has pushed the Clinton issue with great vigor. The FBI is investigating the issue about Hillary Clinton’s emails seemingly at the behest of the Dupublican establishment. If there were issues about email servers in previous administrations then surely Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice’s emails bear examining too. Political tricks is not the way to fix an internal problem. The way to fix it is to acknowledge it then do what a business would do and fix it. Of course we know politics is a dirty business and many time the stink of it cannot be removed by washing.

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Rauner Runaround?


Governor Rauner has allowed the budget impasse to continue to the detriment of the State schools, employees and everyone else. There is enough blame to go around so what now? His address of a few days ago did not address any solutions but there were a couple of initiatives to consolidate some State agencies, updating the cyber systems but nothing on the budget.  Mr. Rauner is a financially savvy guy but running a State like a business is not the same as just running a State or a business. The upgrades he wants to put in place are needed but a State minded leader (politician or Statesman) is needed to run a State. When a leader (President, Governor, etc.) gains an office, the normal process is to meet with the legislature and try to get a sense of who the players are and how one can work with them. This has nothing to do with political parties as the people are first and should be considered first. We have not had that and the end result so far is more debt and more pain. Snatch the Band-Aid off and get on with it! Make a budget and get the state moving again. Nothing is perfect in any plan but if you do nothing , you gain nothing.

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