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116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

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Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

Rover said:
Even Weasel Paul Ryan has some principles, as Draconian as they may be with his lust for Ayn Rand.
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Well he instantly abandoned them the moment they had power and ok'd the tax cuts so I'm not even sure about that.
 
Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

This is interesting.

With Democrats back in control of the House after eight years of Republican control, there is strong support for reviving earmarks — the power to direct money on pet projects — which caused a major scandal in Congress during the George W. Bush years.

Senate and House lawmakers from both parties predict there will be a serious push to bring back earmarks once the government shutdown is finally over — with one exception.

Earmarks is a dirty word, so if the specially allocated funds return, they will be referred to as “congressionally directed spending.”

Support for bringing back earmarks is not unanimous, but it is growing in both parties as Republicans and Democrats alike say too much power has shifted to the presidency.

“When you discontinue earmarks, you’re saying the administration can better spend the money in my district. They know best what we need,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.).

He said it is “not just some, it is the majority” in the House Democratic Caucus that back ending the earmark ban.

“Based on what I’m hearing, on the other side, they too believe it was a mistake to discontinue earmarks,” he said of his GOP colleagues.
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Killing earmarks was one of those things like term limits that sounded great but turned out to have awful consequences. The power to allow or quash earmarks was one of the most powerful methods leadership had of reining in the crazier extreme groups within their caucus. When they killed them they essentially handed a bomb to the Freedumb Caucus and stopped the legislative branch from functioning. With the legislature immobilized the executive became even more powerful. The cure was worse than the disease.

I hope they bring them back. The GOP could also help themselves by killing term limits on Committee chairs, another seemingly good idea that wound up being really, really bad, although in that case it was bad for the GOP so, meh, f-ck em.
 
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Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

Kepler said:
This is interesting.



Killing earmarks was one of those things like term limits that sounded great but turned out to have awful consequences. The power to allow or quash earmarks was one of the most powerful methods leadership had of reining in the crazier extreme groups within their caucus. When they killed them they essentially handed a bomb to the Freedumb Caucus and stopped the legislative branch from functioning. With the legislature immobilized the executive became even more powerful. The cure was worse than the disease.

I hope they bring them back. The GOP could also help themselves by killing term limits on Committee chairs, another seemingly good idea that wound up being really, really bad, although in that case it was bad for the GOP so, meh, f-ck em.
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Agree with this. The alleged "wasteful spending" of earmarks was peanuts compared to say defense spending and it made Congresscritters actually do their jobs and hustle for $$$ to benefit their districts. Now you have a bunch of useless grandstanders trying to land a cable TV gig or lobbying job. Can't honestly say this has all worked out for the better.
 
Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

The DINOs are gonna hate this woman.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was the lone House Democrat to vote against a bill to reopen the government on Wednesday, a position she described as “a tough/nuanced call,” The Hill reported.

The short-term measure included funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Ocasio-Cortez explained in an Instagram story is opposed by many people she represents.
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Exxon and Goldman aren't going to like that, either. And neither will Google and Amazon.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly aging
Please get outta' the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'
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Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

trixR4kids said:
IDK but **** ICE getting more funding.
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ICE is necessary. Their scope has just been pulled way the f-ck out of control. But there actually are people we need to find, detain, and either hand over to law enforcement or stick on an airplane back home.

It has its legitimate purpose, it's just being abused by our Gestapo friends in the GOP.
 
Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

unofan said:
The INS did. ICE is just a rebranding of that.
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Sort of, there was a branch of INS that basically served that purpose but it wasn't its own agency and it didn't constantly go over its allotted funding like ICE does, nor did it function like ICE currently does or even did during the Obama administration. The agency is completely rotten and getting rid of it would make more sense than trying to fix it.

Kepler said:
.It has its legitimate purpose, it's just being abused by our Gestapo friends in the GOP.
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It's not like you couldn't go back to the pre-ICE days and like I said it didn't exactly have a spotless record during the Obama admin to say the least.
 
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Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

trixR4kids said:
It's not like you couldn't go back to the pre-ICE days and like I said it didn't exactly have a spotless record during the Obama admin to say the least.
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I think we're in agreement. We both understand that there are a few actual criminals who enter the country and have to be found and extradited. We both understand that ICE as currently configured and deployed are domestic terrorists kicking in the front doors of brown people.

Just as the reactionary right misuses the cops and the army to play out their ape-brain paranoid delusions, so do they abuse the DOJ, CBP, and other agencies for their Fascist Cosplay.
 
Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

Kepler said:
I think we're in agreement. We both understand that there are a few actual criminals who enter the country and have to be found and extradited. We both understand that ICE as currently configured and deployed are domestic terrorists kicking in the front doors of brown people.

Just as the reactionary right misuses the cops and the army to play out their ape-brain paranoid delusions, so do they abuse the DOJ, CBP, and other agencies for their Fascist Cosplay.
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In which case I agree with how AOC voted, at the very least I don't think they should be getting more funding with how they're currently aligned structured (and I think there's a case to be made for abolishing the agency).
 
Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/31/bernies-plutocracy-prevention-act

Congress should jump on board an improved estate tax introduced today by Senator Bernie Sanders, that would levy a top rate of 77 percent on inheritances over $1 billion. Sanders bill, The For 99.8% Act (pdf), would also plug up loopholes and ban trusts that wealthy families use to hide and perpetuate wealth dynasties.

"The 400 wealthiest billionaires on the Forbes 400 list today own as much wealth as the bottom 64 percent of the US population combined... And they are clearly using this wealth and power to rig the rules further in their favor."

The estate tax, established by Congress a century ago to put a brake on the build-up of concentrated wealth and power, is paid only by a miniscule sliver of billionaires and multi-millionaires. At the time, Theodore Roosevelt supported the estate tax as a protection against the “tyranny of plutocracy.”

Sanders estate tax proposal is a plutocracy prevention act, squarely aimed at preventing the children of today’s billionaires from dominating our future democracy, economy, culture and philanthropy.

In December 2017, Republicans failed to abolish the estate tax as part of their $1.5 trillion dollar tax windfall for the superrich and a handful of transnational corporations. But they did raise the exemptions of who will pay the tax.

In 2019, fewer than 2,000 households will pay the tax, starting with couples with over $22.8 million (individuals with over $11.4 million).

Earlier this week, Senate leader Mitch McConnell and Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced the “Death Tax Repeal Act of 2019.” It is worth noting that the number of annual taxable estates in their home states of Kentucky, Iowa, and South Dakota are fewer than two dozen.
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I'll ask again. Who are the morons voting for Turtle Boy, Grassley, and Thune? And what kind of drugs are they on. I said I'm playing it straight this election. Here's me with a pro Bernie post.
 
Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

Handyman said:
Fellow poster Slap Shot commented :eek:
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I nearly lost it here:

We can only hope that one day mankind will come up with a way to store energy when it isn't in use.
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It is very difficult to believe that Republican Members of Congress are as stupid as they appear to be. My first instinct is they only pretend to be stupid to identify with their constituents. That was how the game always used to be played. But since the FreeDumbs started primarying everybody to the left of Julius Evola, I dunno... they may not be playin'.
 
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Re: 116th Congress: Episode 1 - Trial by Fire

I dont think a lot of them are...the Nimrod in Chief for sure is though.
 
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