I have never supported arbitrary term limits but if the Constitution sets a minimum age to hold office---- surely an amendment that sets upward age limits could be doable. For the Supreme Court, too.
Even at 70 I know I am not as sharp as I was at 60.
From the interview with Feinstein when asked if she meant she had been working from home during her absence, she responded “No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting. Please — You either know or don’t know.”
In regards to Feinstein, I wonder whether she would have a different perspective if her husband, who passed away last year, was still alive and able to reason with her. Without him, her Senate seat might be the only thing to her worth keeping.
How could there not be a rule to be able to eliminate a Senator with dementia? It's pathetic that Democrats have allowed this to happen. On the other hand, Tuberville is so stupid, he's the epitome of a modern Republican White Supremacist and Trump loyalist.
And yet, John Bolton was totally fine with taking a job in the White House with Trump as his boss. Thanks for coming out against him NOW, but I'm a nobody voter and I knew in 2016 Trump wasn't fit to be president.
I had to stop reading after the Feinstein story. God help us - and I say that as an atheist. People on this planet really get themselves in some unbelievable situations.
I wouldn't get too excited about bipartisanship in WI. The republicans are not stupid, they know the supreme court is now liberal and they are no longer going to be able to ride roughshod over democracy and shove anything they please down the throats of the people. It is only prudent to get as good a deal as they can with the democrats.
RE: Musk Denying the Shooter is a White Supremacist
Hmmm, if Musk thinks that Nazi tattoos are insufficient proof that someone is a white supremacist, really makes me wonder what kind of tattos Musk is sporting under his shirt.
To corrrect a few comments below, yes it is possible to remove Feinstein from the Senate against her will. However, that would require 2/3 of the Senate to vote for her expulsion (and no, there doesn't have to be a finding of misconduct, Constitution does not specify that as a requirement).
But that's never going to happen because if she were to be expelled, Governor Newsome (Dem) would get to replace her and/or a special election would be called. Both scenarios guarantee a Dem replacement.
Given that the Republicans want to keep ensuring that Biden can't appoint any more judges, and given that the Dems have a tenous "majority" (in so far as the VP casts the tie breaker) Republicans would rather keep Feinstein in the Senate. After all, why would they want a guaranteed Dem Senate vote in the Senate, over having the Senate seat occupied by a Senator who may have significant physical impediments preventing her from voting at all, which would essentially paralize the Senate (together with Biden's policy agendas)?
And no, "basic human decency" is not on the list of realistic Republican options in this multiple-choice question.
Only other option would be for Feinstein herself to resign, but given her aggressivve responses and clear dementia when questioned by the Slate reporter, I'm not seeing that happening any time soon.
I think the republicans should be put to the test on this. First and foremost (and above all else), removing her is the right thing to do.
Now with that out of the way, the political angle is this, as I see it: If the Dems vote to expel her and the Republicans refuse, it is on them to explain how it isn't rank political hackery on their part. Joe gets to take the podium and speak in heartfelt terms about his good friend and long term colleague and what is best for America. Republicans have to come up with some lame ass shit of why the democrats are united in removing one of their own with clear video evidence to back up the reason and they (the Republicans are blocking it).
The alternative is to do nothing, which is going to make it much easier to sell to idiots that the Dems are keeping an obviously unfit person in office for their own gain.
Dear heart republicans do not care. These are the same people ready to blow up the economy one way or the other, they like Senator Feinstein right where she is, sick and ineffective.
Not targeting republicans. Targeting independents. Targeting those people with dementia experience who outside of politics would easily come to the same conclusion and might be given pause when seeing how republicans react.
And again, it isn't in my mind a choice between neutral zero action and my suggestion (doomed in your framework). It's a choice between getting painted as the uncaring bastards keeping her there to keep power and my suggestion.
From a theoretical perspective, I 100% agree that your suggestion is the best course of action. Hell, I think that up until 2008 that would have been a move that could have shifted some Republican votes through shame alone.
Sadly, we're now in such a polarized media environment that Republicans can't be shamed to do the right thing, because the likes of Fox News will either refuse to cover the issue (they barely covered the defamation settlement) or will outright lie to their viewers.
And the way the Republicans handled the Dem effort to have Feinstein temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee is a good roadmap to how they would handle an expulsion vote.
In that instance, Republicans voted against temporarily replacing Feinstein and cited ridiculous arguments where they seem to be claiming that Feinstein is being unfairly pressured to leave the committee.
This piece is chock-full of ridiculous Republican arguments for denying the temporary replacement:
A) If *any* law enforcement agency needs to be totally burned to the ground and rebuilt, it sounds like that agency should be the United States Secret Service. They are having lapses left and right, To me, that suggests the operational modus operandi is totally decrepit and that it is now fair to ask questions regarding the professionalism and general judgment of both administrators AND field agents in the service. (I won't even get into the questions I have of how Dan Bada-Bing was hired as a Secret Service agent).
B) Due to the fact that Elon Musk has business activities in both Turkey (where he granted the Turkish government's request to black out Twitter in Turkey regarding the elections), and in the People's Republic of China where he makes his hacker-magnet Tesla cars, I have one question. The question is "How in the F'ing F is this man able to bid on classified satellite launch contracts from the US government?".
Remember these were the people who conveniently deleted all the tweets from 1/6, so yeah most assuredly time to clean house. If anything happened to Biden, I doubt Kamala Harris' life would be worth a plug nickle with a republican waiting in the wings.
Dianne Feinstein is unfortunately a shadow of her former self. I don't want her to resign so our governor can appoint someone, like the last time. That being said, Alex Padilla is great and won election to his seat when it was time. Shifting over to Tuberville - that guy is dumber than a box of nails, which puts him right up there with Marsha Blackburn.
So who is going to sit Dianne Feinstein down and be brutally honest with her? It’s time to take the car keys from Grandma. The risk of harm to others has gotten too great.
Of course not, but “car keys” is a simple shorthand to drive home an issue that so many of us have dealt with in relation to aging loved ones. (By the way, were it not for her wealth and status, Ms. Feinstein would almost certainly be facing nursing home confinement right now, as most others in similar circumstances do.)
If I asked Feinstein to comment on the activism of the 9/11 families who forced the creation of the 9/11 Commission, her answer wouldn't be any less informed than anyone else's in Washington or among most of the American public. We so easily dismiss the families' grievances that it seems unlikely most of us are truly concerned about the Senate one or the other anyway. It just becomes fodder to yack about. If we don't care about the families even so far as to simply listen to and consider their information like good faith adults, we're just pretending to be a serious country. Senator Feinstein's people probably figure they can just obfuscate their way through the ordeal, since that's what we did and continue to do with 9/11. If we bullshit our way through the 9/11 attacks, we can bullshit our way through anything.
I have never supported arbitrary term limits but if the Constitution sets a minimum age to hold office---- surely an amendment that sets upward age limits could be doable. For the Supreme Court, too.
Even at 70 I know I am not as sharp as I was at 60.
Maybe being 'in the Senate' means a physical presence.
From the interview with Feinstein when asked if she meant she had been working from home during her absence, she responded “No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting. Please — You either know or don’t know.”
She obviously does not know.
Sad. She was a good Senator in her prime.
In regards to Feinstein, I wonder whether she would have a different perspective if her husband, who passed away last year, was still alive and able to reason with her. Without him, her Senate seat might be the only thing to her worth keeping.
How could there not be a rule to be able to eliminate a Senator with dementia? It's pathetic that Democrats have allowed this to happen. On the other hand, Tuberville is so stupid, he's the epitome of a modern Republican White Supremacist and Trump loyalist.
And yet, John Bolton was totally fine with taking a job in the White House with Trump as his boss. Thanks for coming out against him NOW, but I'm a nobody voter and I knew in 2016 Trump wasn't fit to be president.
I had to stop reading after the Feinstein story. God help us - and I say that as an atheist. People on this planet really get themselves in some unbelievable situations.
Trump's 24 hour plan is to stop all aid to Ukraine and assist Russia.
I'm in on #SpecialMilitaryOperations
I wouldn't get too excited about bipartisanship in WI. The republicans are not stupid, they know the supreme court is now liberal and they are no longer going to be able to ride roughshod over democracy and shove anything they please down the throats of the people. It is only prudent to get as good a deal as they can with the democrats.
RE: Musk Denying the Shooter is a White Supremacist
Hmmm, if Musk thinks that Nazi tattoos are insufficient proof that someone is a white supremacist, really makes me wonder what kind of tattos Musk is sporting under his shirt.
Re: Feinstein
Yikes, this is problematic for the Dems.
To corrrect a few comments below, yes it is possible to remove Feinstein from the Senate against her will. However, that would require 2/3 of the Senate to vote for her expulsion (and no, there doesn't have to be a finding of misconduct, Constitution does not specify that as a requirement).
But that's never going to happen because if she were to be expelled, Governor Newsome (Dem) would get to replace her and/or a special election would be called. Both scenarios guarantee a Dem replacement.
Given that the Republicans want to keep ensuring that Biden can't appoint any more judges, and given that the Dems have a tenous "majority" (in so far as the VP casts the tie breaker) Republicans would rather keep Feinstein in the Senate. After all, why would they want a guaranteed Dem Senate vote in the Senate, over having the Senate seat occupied by a Senator who may have significant physical impediments preventing her from voting at all, which would essentially paralize the Senate (together with Biden's policy agendas)?
And no, "basic human decency" is not on the list of realistic Republican options in this multiple-choice question.
Only other option would be for Feinstein herself to resign, but given her aggressivve responses and clear dementia when questioned by the Slate reporter, I'm not seeing that happening any time soon.
I think the republicans should be put to the test on this. First and foremost (and above all else), removing her is the right thing to do.
Now with that out of the way, the political angle is this, as I see it: If the Dems vote to expel her and the Republicans refuse, it is on them to explain how it isn't rank political hackery on their part. Joe gets to take the podium and speak in heartfelt terms about his good friend and long term colleague and what is best for America. Republicans have to come up with some lame ass shit of why the democrats are united in removing one of their own with clear video evidence to back up the reason and they (the Republicans are blocking it).
The alternative is to do nothing, which is going to make it much easier to sell to idiots that the Dems are keeping an obviously unfit person in office for their own gain.
Dear heart republicans do not care. These are the same people ready to blow up the economy one way or the other, they like Senator Feinstein right where she is, sick and ineffective.
Not targeting republicans. Targeting independents. Targeting those people with dementia experience who outside of politics would easily come to the same conclusion and might be given pause when seeing how republicans react.
And again, it isn't in my mind a choice between neutral zero action and my suggestion (doomed in your framework). It's a choice between getting painted as the uncaring bastards keeping her there to keep power and my suggestion.
From a theoretical perspective, I 100% agree that your suggestion is the best course of action. Hell, I think that up until 2008 that would have been a move that could have shifted some Republican votes through shame alone.
Sadly, we're now in such a polarized media environment that Republicans can't be shamed to do the right thing, because the likes of Fox News will either refuse to cover the issue (they barely covered the defamation settlement) or will outright lie to their viewers.
And the way the Republicans handled the Dem effort to have Feinstein temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee is a good roadmap to how they would handle an expulsion vote.
In that instance, Republicans voted against temporarily replacing Feinstein and cited ridiculous arguments where they seem to be claiming that Feinstein is being unfairly pressured to leave the committee.
This piece is chock-full of ridiculous Republican arguments for denying the temporary replacement:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/republicans-block-temporary-replacement-for-sen-feinstein-on-judiciary-committee
Two things--
A) If *any* law enforcement agency needs to be totally burned to the ground and rebuilt, it sounds like that agency should be the United States Secret Service. They are having lapses left and right, To me, that suggests the operational modus operandi is totally decrepit and that it is now fair to ask questions regarding the professionalism and general judgment of both administrators AND field agents in the service. (I won't even get into the questions I have of how Dan Bada-Bing was hired as a Secret Service agent).
B) Due to the fact that Elon Musk has business activities in both Turkey (where he granted the Turkish government's request to black out Twitter in Turkey regarding the elections), and in the People's Republic of China where he makes his hacker-magnet Tesla cars, I have one question. The question is "How in the F'ing F is this man able to bid on classified satellite launch contracts from the US government?".
The stories about the USS and the "trump loyalists" was an eye-opener to me.
Yep, burn it down and start from scratch
Remember these were the people who conveniently deleted all the tweets from 1/6, so yeah most assuredly time to clean house. If anything happened to Biden, I doubt Kamala Harris' life would be worth a plug nickle with a republican waiting in the wings.
Dianne Feinstein is unfortunately a shadow of her former self. I don't want her to resign so our governor can appoint someone, like the last time. That being said, Alex Padilla is great and won election to his seat when it was time. Shifting over to Tuberville - that guy is dumber than a box of nails, which puts him right up there with Marsha Blackburn.
Oh no babe...he's even dumber than Marsha...and Marsha has the intelligence of a banana nut muffin you buy at a Circle K.
Actually, I think she is gas station sushi, or egg salad.
So who is going to sit Dianne Feinstein down and be brutally honest with her? It’s time to take the car keys from Grandma. The risk of harm to others has gotten too great.
Of course not, but “car keys” is a simple shorthand to drive home an issue that so many of us have dealt with in relation to aging loved ones. (By the way, were it not for her wealth and status, Ms. Feinstein would almost certainly be facing nursing home confinement right now, as most others in similar circumstances do.)
If I asked Feinstein to comment on the activism of the 9/11 families who forced the creation of the 9/11 Commission, her answer wouldn't be any less informed than anyone else's in Washington or among most of the American public. We so easily dismiss the families' grievances that it seems unlikely most of us are truly concerned about the Senate one or the other anyway. It just becomes fodder to yack about. If we don't care about the families even so far as to simply listen to and consider their information like good faith adults, we're just pretending to be a serious country. Senator Feinstein's people probably figure they can just obfuscate their way through the ordeal, since that's what we did and continue to do with 9/11. If we bullshit our way through the 9/11 attacks, we can bullshit our way through anything.