US Politics : Biden 100 days edition

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konfab

konfab

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The_Right_Honourable_Brit said:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1439748416767238150

Hahaha. Dems and their dodgy ways are being exposed by the great non-partisan Senate parliamentarian. Trying to pass major social policies through budget reconciliation....
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One of the few features of the SA constitution that I like is the fact that it expressly prevents shenanigans like this.
77. (1) A Bill is a money Bill if it— (a) appropriates money; (b) imposes national taxes, levies, duties or surcharges; (c) abolishes or reduces, or grants exemptions from, any national taxes, levies, duties or surcharges; or (d) authorises direct charges against the National Revenue Fund, except a Bill envisaged in section 214 authorising direct charges. (2) A money Bill may not deal with any other matter except— (a) a subordinate matter incidental to the appropriation of money; (b) the imposition, abolition or reduction of national taxes, levies, duties or surcharges; (c) the granting of exemption from national taxes, levies, duties or surcharges; or (d) the authorisation of direct charges against the National Revenue Fund.
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konfab

konfab

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ponder said:
Same goes for federal judges, those fsckers die on the bench. At 65 they must gtfo.
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Age isn't really the problem. It is the fact that there are no term limits.

There should be term limits for:
The entire legislature.
As you said, the upper echelons of the judiciary.

I would also add that any head of dept in the executive should have a term limit as well. There pretty much is a fourth branch of government in the US that just consists of the administrative class. Having a term limit will require them to ensure that these organisations don't fall to pieces if they get replaced by an incoming government.
 
Kieppie

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ponder said:
Same goes for federal judges, those fsckers die on the bench. At 65 they must gtfo.
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Mmmm wouldn't say 65 is particularly old. Have seen many mentally and physically fit people at 65 that are forced to retire due to arbitrary reasons.

I do not see a problem in more academic fields having a higher age limit, but this should be predicated on the fact that they remain of sound mind. Experience of the older generation is a valuable resource that shouldn't be discarded unnecessarily.

The question remains what is a good age to "be retired"? 70? 75?
 
Kieppie

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greg0205 said:
There are 50 states. Roe v Wade is no longer the law of the land in one of those states already, but you do you, Kieppie.
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Wrong Greggy, but fearmonger more. There hasn't been any ruling on the Texas law yet and it might still be struck down.

Anyway Casey v. Planned Parenthood is the more up to date version of Roe v Wade (which had some arbitrary rulings contrary to medical science at the time).
Part of which read "The state has a legitimate interest in protecting woman’s health and life of the fetus"
So Texas sees the fetus as alive when it has a heartbeat.

Will be happy to be wrong come December.
 
Kieppie

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C4Cat said:
At 12 weeks?
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Any reason why you arbitrarily focus on the first trimester?

The reason for these heartbeat bills are not because they believe that's when life starts as that is scientifically at conception.
Rather the formation of the heart, manifested by its heartbeat, is an indicator that another’s life is present in the womb.
 
OrbitalDawn

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greg0205 said:
There are two things you need to know about Josh Mandel.

First, he's in a clown car demolition-derby with J.D. Vance to be the Republican candidate for OH's senate seat.

Second, his brain is so smooth a zamboni would slip right off it.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1439778144815304706
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The problem for J. D. Vance is that he can do his whole pathetic little performance, but he can't match Mandel's outright, perverse stupidity.
 
cerebus

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Speaking of smooth brains...


www.tampabay.com

Death of Hillsborough GOP member from COVID-19 causes financial problems for party

The local Republican Party told federal election regulators it can no longer access its campaign finance software
www.tampabay.com www.tampabay.com

Death of Hillsborough GOP member from COVID-19 causes financial problems for party

The local Republican Party told federal election regulators it can no longer access its campaign finance software
 
OrbitalDawn

OrbitalDawn

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konfab said:
One of the few features of the SA constitution that I like is the fact that it expressly prevents shenanigans like this.
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Tbf, the real shenanigan here is this absurd system that empowers an unelected lawyer to decide what the Senate can and can't do. Which itself is based on the recent invention of another absurd shenanigan - the filibuster.

Also worth remembering what happened when the GOP disagreed with the Parliamentarian's ruling - they just fired him.


One wonders what Chris' reaction would be if Schumer told the current one to take a hike...
 
OrbitalDawn

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konfab said:
Age isn't really the problem. It is the fact that there are no term limits.

There should be term limits for:
The entire legislature.
As you said, the upper echelons of the judiciary.

I would also add that any head of dept in the executive should have a term limit as well. There pretty much is a fourth branch of government in the US that just consists of the administrative class.
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Term limits for legislatures are a bad idea. It only empowers the lobbying industry and other vested interests. It would put the revolving door on hyperspeed.

Legislating, like every profession, is something people can be good at. Getting rid of legislators who know what they're doing simply because of an arbitrary term limit is short-sighted. And that's before you get to the anti-democratic nature of it.

konfab said:
Having a term limit will require them to ensure that these organisations don't fall to pieces if they get replaced by an incoming government.
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Why would it do that? If anything, term limits ensure no one has any incentive to care about what happens in the future as it won't be their problem.
 
C4Cat

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Kieppie said:
Any reason why you arbitrarily focus on the first trimester?
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It's not arbitrary, that's when the fetus has an actual heart. You can only hear a heartbeat without the use of an ultrasound at around 20 weeks
Kieppie said:
The reason for these heartbeat bills are not because they believe that's when life starts as that is scientifically at conception.
Rather the formation of the heart, manifested by its heartbeat, is an indicator that another’s life is present in the womb.
Click to expand...
The heart hasn't formed yet at 6 weeks. What you're hearing at that point is not a beating heart and the "beat" isn't actually audible without an ultrasound. If you used a stethoscope you would not hear anything. What you are picking up at 6 weeks is an electrically-induced flutter of a part of the fetal tissue that might eventually become a heart as the embryo develops. That's far from a sure thing at 6 weeks.
 
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