Over the years we’ve seen several iterations of Facebook’s mission statement; from the original, 2004, provide a means for Harvard student to connect/communicate with one another, to the 2020 “bring the world closer together”.
Facebook didn’t bring us together, it sorted us into groups.
Senator Mitch McConnell dropped his demand that Democrats promise to preserve the procedural weapon that can grind the Senate to a halt, but with President Biden’s agenda in the balance, the fight is not over.
WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell on Monday dropped his demand that the new Democratic Senate majority promise to preserve the filibuster — which Republicans could use to obstruct President Biden’s agenda — ending an impasse that had prevented Democrats from assuming full power even after their election wins.
In his negotiations with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the new majority leader, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, had refused to agree to a plan for organizing the chamber without a pledge from Democrats to protect the filibuster, a condition that Mr. Schumer had rejected.
But late Monday, as the stalemate persisted, Mr. McConnell found a way out by pointing to statements by two centrist Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, that said they opposed getting rid of the procedural tool — a position they had held for months — as enough of a guarantee to move forward without a formal promise from Mr. Schumer.
“With these assurances, I look forward to moving ahead with a power-sharing agreement modeled on that precedent,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement. …
We need someone to do a study on how much prices will increase at say Walmart if there was a $15 minimum wage. Probably out there but I haven’t seen it.
I remember years ago…
“In the latest video in the series “The Secret Life of a Food Stamp,”
Marketplace reporter Krissy Clark runs the numbers on Walmart paying its workers a living wage. And those numbers show that if Walmart passed on 100% of cost increases from raising employee salaries to a level where no full-time worker was eligible for food stamps, it would raise the cost of a box of macaroni and cheese by one cent. Even across a full cartload of groceries, the average customer’s shopping trip wouldn’t even go up by a dollar or more.”
Republicans Rally Against Impeachment Trial, Signaling Likely Acquittal for Trump
All but five Republican senators voted to challenge the constitutionality of the trial, suggesting that Democrats were unlikely to find the 17 they would need to join them in convicting the former president.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans rallied on Tuesday against trying former President Donald J. Trump for “incitement of insurrection” at the Capitol, with only five members of his party joining Democrats in a vote to go forward with his impeachment trial.
By a vote of 55-to-45, the Senate narrowly killed a Republican effort to dismiss the proceeding as unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office. But the numbers showed that loyal Republicans were again poised to spare him from conviction, this time despite his role in stirring up a mob that violently targeted lawmakers and the vice president on Jan. 6 as Congress met to finalize the election.
“I think it’s pretty obvious from the vote today that it is extraordinarily unlikely that the president will be convicted,” said Senator Susan Collins of Maine, one of the five Republicans who voted to proceed to trial. “Just do the math.”
It would take two-thirds of senators — 67 votes — to attain a conviction, meaning 17 Republicans would have to cross party lines to side with Democrats in finding Mr. Trump guilty. If they did, an additional vote to disqualify him from ever holding office again would take a simple majority. …
Repthugs dispute the election with vagaries but ignore the very real and known attacks made on it by Trump and cronies. Every complaint needs to be met with questions on what they are going to do to prevent those, or they should just shut up.
Ron (RC) Weakley (a.k.a., Darryl for a while at EV) says:
Glad that the militia article was about Richmond. That gives me some insight to it. I cannot say that it cannot happen here, but I am reasonably sure that if it happened here then it would not end like the militias want it to. Reminds me of the film scene where Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were trading racial slurs until Pryor got to “honky,” then Wilder used the N-word and Pryor responded with “Dead honky.” If militias want to start a race war then they would do better on the outcome in 95% white Laredo, TX than in 41% white Richmond, VA. I don’t think that the news people get that when white supremacists rally in RVA then that massive police presence is to protect the stupid white people.
Over the years we’ve seen several iterations of Facebook’s mission statement; from the original, 2004, provide a means for Harvard student to connect/communicate with one another, to the 2020 “bring the world closer together”.
Facebook didn’t bring us together, it sorted us into groups.
McConnell Drops Filibuster Demand,
Letting Democrats Assume Full Power
Senator Mitch McConnell relented on his demand that the new Democratic Senate majority commit to preserving the filibuster.
The move ends an impasse in which most Senate committees were frozen under Republican control.
But as in past fights over the filibuster, the outcome is likely to be only a temporary solution.
McConnell Relents in First Filibuster Skirmish, but the War Rages On
NY Times – January 25
Senator Mitch McConnell dropped his demand that Democrats promise to preserve the procedural weapon that can grind the Senate to a halt, but with President Biden’s agenda in the balance, the fight is not over.
WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell on Monday dropped his demand that the new Democratic Senate majority promise to preserve the filibuster — which Republicans could use to obstruct President Biden’s agenda — ending an impasse that had prevented Democrats from assuming full power even after their election wins.
In his negotiations with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the new majority leader, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, had refused to agree to a plan for organizing the chamber without a pledge from Democrats to protect the filibuster, a condition that Mr. Schumer had rejected.
But late Monday, as the stalemate persisted, Mr. McConnell found a way out by pointing to statements by two centrist Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, that said they opposed getting rid of the procedural tool — a position they had held for months — as enough of a guarantee to move forward without a formal promise from Mr. Schumer.
“With these assurances, I look forward to moving ahead with a power-sharing agreement modeled on that precedent,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement. …
We need someone to do a study on how much prices will increase at say Walmart if there was a $15 minimum wage. Probably out there but I haven’t seen it.
I remember years ago…
“In the latest video in the series “The Secret Life of a Food Stamp,”
Marketplace reporter Krissy Clark runs the numbers on Walmart paying its workers a living wage. And those numbers show that if Walmart passed on 100% of cost increases from raising employee salaries to a level where no full-time worker was eligible for food stamps, it would raise the cost of a box of macaroni and cheese by one cent. Even across a full cartload of groceries, the average customer’s shopping trip wouldn’t even go up by a dollar or more.”
https://aflcio.org/2014/4/4…
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/us/politics/republicans-impeachment-trump.html?smid=tw-share
Republicans Rally Against Impeachment Trial, Signaling Likely Acquittal for Trump
All but five Republican senators voted to challenge the constitutionality of the trial, suggesting that Democrats were unlikely to find the 17 they would need to join them in convicting the former president.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans rallied on Tuesday against trying former President Donald J. Trump for “incitement of insurrection” at the Capitol, with only five members of his party joining Democrats in a vote to go forward with his impeachment trial.
By a vote of 55-to-45, the Senate narrowly killed a Republican effort to dismiss the proceeding as unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office. But the numbers showed that loyal Republicans were again poised to spare him from conviction, this time despite his role in stirring up a mob that violently targeted lawmakers and the vice president on Jan. 6 as Congress met to finalize the election.
“I think it’s pretty obvious from the vote today that it is extraordinarily unlikely that the president will be convicted,” said Senator Susan Collins of Maine, one of the five Republicans who voted to proceed to trial. “Just do the math.”
It would take two-thirds of senators — 67 votes — to attain a conviction, meaning 17 Republicans would have to cross party lines to side with Democrats in finding Mr. Trump guilty. If they did, an additional vote to disqualify him from ever holding office again would take a simple majority. …
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/26/magazine/armed-militia-movement-gun-laws.html?smid=tw-share
How Armed Protests Are Creating a New Kind of Politics
Americans have often ignored the implications of the country’s enormous arsenal of
of privately owned, military-style weapons. Did Jan. 6 change that?
Repthugs dispute the election with vagaries but ignore the very real and known attacks made on it by Trump and cronies. Every complaint needs to be met with questions on what they are going to do to prevent those, or they should just shut up.
Fred,
Glad that the militia article was about Richmond. That gives me some insight to it. I cannot say that it cannot happen here, but I am reasonably sure that if it happened here then it would not end like the militias want it to. Reminds me of the film scene where Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were trading racial slurs until Pryor got to “honky,” then Wilder used the N-word and Pryor responded with “Dead honky.” If militias want to start a race war then they would do better on the outcome in 95% white Laredo, TX than in 41% white Richmond, VA. I don’t think that the news people get that when white supremacists rally in RVA then that massive police presence is to protect the stupid white people.