crickets
crickets's JournalOh, absolutely agreed.
Military bases, NASA, the most recent electrical grid catastrophe (illustrating that TX's go-it-alone attitude is not such a hot idea,) the state's need for federal aid money to recover from said catastrophe, as well as the fact that there's no legal way for any state to secede.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/29/texas-secession/
Yet even before Texas formally rejoined the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession was not legal, and thus, even during the rebellion, Texas continued to be a state. In the 1869 case Texas v. White, the court held that individual states could not unilaterally secede from the Union and that the acts of the insurgent Texas Legislature even if ratified by a majority of Texans were absolutely null.
If there were any doubt remaining after that, late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia set it to rest more than a century later with his response to a letter from a screenwriter in 2006 asking if there is a legal basis for secession.
The answer is clear, Scalia wrote. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, one Nation, indivisible.)
Plus a bunch of good reasons listed in other posts. Texas isn't going anywhere.
Paul Gosar is a real peach.
He's big pals with Ali Alexander:
https://twitter.com/jason_paladino/status/1347602470365765639
https://twitter.com/NickKnudsenUS/status/1349366590932873222
Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar implicated by activist in Capitol insurrection
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214879932
Two GOP congressmen sought pardons for their connection to Capitol attack: report
https://www.salon.com/2021/01/20/two-gop-congressmen-sought-pardons-for-their-connection-to-capitol-attack-report/
I know. It's true that it's hard to compete with a cheaper product,
but cheaper is not always better. Quality matters. What's the quality of an overseas product compared to a domestic one? Just throwing out a question because I wonder. I remember when "Made in the USA" was a good thing. I inherited a decades-old, completely unrusted slotted kitchen spoon from my mother that proves it. If you don't cook, you may have no idea what a big deal that is, but whatever. Transfer the question of that quality to military materiel and I think we have an issue that may resonate a little more with those who don't care about spoons.
Some of the reasons overseas manufacture is cheaper comes down to safety regulations and wages. Safety regulations are life saving and therefore I have no truck with companies who complain about the expense. Moving on, manufacturing businesses want federal funding and tax cuts to be able to "afford" to pay their domestic work force. Oh, how inconvenient it is that workers in the US want a decent wage. (sorry, none of this snark is aimed at you)
Part of my frustration is that Congress can't seem to pass a bill to help people feed their kids and hold on to their homes - people unable to work through no fault of their own - but here come the corporations holding out their fat sweaty hands, and their bill will likely sail through with very little of the aggro faced by the average citizen. So, the only way manufacturing corporations will be able to afford to pay a decent wage is with federal funding and tax cuts. Who pays the lion's share for the federal funding and tax cuts? The very same people trying to get a decent wage.
It's frustrating.
It's about time. Good for Biden for stepping up to address the issue.
We may not be able to reach manufacturing independence and we may not want to try, but we certainly should have the capacity to provide for enough of our manufacturing needs that we aren't caught completely flatfooted again. Outsourcing has its limits.
Not so fast. There's a thing called supply and demand. The demand is definitely there. Cough up the supply or get out of the way for those who can. There's no need for federal funding or a tax cut to do normal business. Greedy jerks.
I'm dizzy from the spin. Wow.
For all of the cadet programs Kyle attended, he didn't seem to learn lessons about right and wrong, he just got to play Junior Hero. Why was someone his age, rightly turned down by the Marines, allowed to receive firearms training, given a uniform, and allowed to ride along with officers on patrol? An after school seminar or two or some safety training I could understand, but why was he allowed to accompany firefighters on calls? Why would any minor be treated as though they were receiving on the job training for either of those dangerous vocations?
I've seen that video. It didn't 'appear' to show him punching a girl from behind, then going back to punch her again. It clearly did show him doing just that. But punching girls in the back is all about a perpetual desire to help, right?
Kyle Rittenhouse legally had no business with a gun, and he knew it. He had no business playing vigilante, and he knew that too, though he doesn't want to admit it. It was all a tough guy game until he killed two people and got arrested for it. His life sounds like it hasn't been a picnic before he threw it away, but there are plenty of other people out there with similar stories who don't fixate on the police and military, illegally buy a gun, then use social unrest as an excuse to run out and shoot people dead.
The article spends too much time trying to play him up as a good kid who just got confused and made a little mistake, and conservative white people are upset and feeling aggrieved these days, and BLM was just so unruly, and, and...
George Zimmerman is an icon? Ri-ight. And little Kyle is still painted the victim rendered powerless by circumstance. Yech. This kid was not 'engulfed by the chaos' - he went looking for it. He found it.
Daniel's Law
Governor Murphy Signs Daniels Law
https://nj.gov/governor/news/news/562020/approved/20201120b.shtml
To everyone who played a role in getting this done, I thank you. However, our work does not end here. We must extend these privacy protections nationwide, so that no one lives through what Judge Salas and her husband lived through, said U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. We are living in a time of endless vitriol, rising hate crimes, and increased personal attacks. And while we may not be able to eliminate hatred from someones heart, we can take action to better protect the men and women of our federal bench. Thats why I am proud to see Governor Murphy sign Daniels Law here in New Jersey and why I remain committed to the passage of the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act in Washington.
No person who takes on the responsibility of serving as a federal judge should ever have to live in fear that they or their family could be targeted by someone who is able to easily access their personal information, said U.S. Senator Cory Booker. Judge Salas and her husband, Mark, have gone through something that no parent should ever have to endure. I am grateful for the leadership of Governor Murphy, Senator Cryan, and Assemblywoman Quijano as we honor the memory of Daniel with a commitment that this should never happen again.
S.4711 - Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2020
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4711/text?r=3&s=1
Referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020. Here's hoping this is resubmitted and passed this year.
Linked NPR article well worth the read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_for_American_Immigration_Reformhttps://www.npr.org/2021/02/15/967783477/immigration-hard-liner-files-reveal-40-year-bid-behind-trumps-census-obsession
[snip]
But since the first U.S. head count in 1790, this has been an unwavering truth: No resident has ever been left out because of immigration status.
Trump officials attempted to break with that 230-year precedent. The administration, like FAIR, wanted to subtract unauthorized immigrants from the apportionment counts, taking power away from those residents and the communities where they live.
[snip]
To Roger Conner, who led FAIR until 1988 as the group's first executive director, it was clear that the Trump administration had another goal in mind to change how congressional seats and electoral votes are reapportioned in order to curtail the political representation of areas where unauthorized immigrants live.
[snip]
Buried within Trump's order about citizenship data was a new policy of developing "complete and accurate" data on "illegal aliens in the country" that did not attract much attention at the time. Existing estimates by the Department of Homeland Security and academic researchers, the order said, are not reliable enough to "evaluate" policy proposals about enforcing immigration laws and changing eligibility rules for public benefits.
"Data tabulating both the overall population and the citizen population could be combined with records of aliens lawfully present in the country to generate an estimate of the aggregate number of aliens unlawfully present in each State," said Trump's order, which Biden reversed last month.
Much more in the article, which is quite long, but an excellent read.
Oh, I remember this. Lindsey got downright rude with his questions.
Had to really dig through the bookmarks, but I think this is it:
Graham realizes he's been caught up in 702 surveillance
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212776914
https://twitter.com/TrumpFrederick/status/1205134941169868801
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4838250/user-clip-lindsey-compromised
There's a link to the full hearing on the CSPAN clip page.
This is a good outcome.
By putting Rep. Herrera Butler's statement into the record, important facts are now part of the case against trump. This is a good thing. Witnesses do need to be called eventually. There's no doubt about that, but the timing is important. The FBI, General Honore at the behest of Nancy Pelosi, and others are still investigating the events leading up to and including the insurrection on January 6. There is going to be a commission, hearings are very likely, and there will be public testimony. Not calling the witnesses now avoids stepping on any current investigations.
Now if the hearings and/or commission never materialize, then I would get extremely upset that witnesses were not called. I don't think that's going to happen. We're going to hear testimony eventually, it just may take a while to get there.
Y'all, I have googled.
"duty of candor to a tribunal" is a real thing. Who knew? Well, attorneys apparently, but still.
Rule 3.3: Candor Toward the Tribunal
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_3_3_candor_toward_the_tribunal/
Well, I'll be darned. Many of us, including the dishonest trump team, thought that the lying liars who lie could get away with saying whatever convenient thing they wanted. That may not be the case after all. Could be that tomorrow just got very interesting.
Thank you, Senator Whitehouse.
P.S. I'm wondering if Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz are still feeling like smarties for helping the team.
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