#cloture

[victusinveritas]

“As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air – however slight – lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.” -- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

Today's word is Quislings.

[di-kot-o-me]

[toutplacid]

L’Huisne entre le Gravelot et les Galannières, Corbon – pinceau à cartouche d’encre de Chine, carnet n° 133, 8 octobre 2021

[odinsblog]

When Trump, Elon Musk, DOGE, and Republicans start gutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, please remember that instead of fighting with everything he had, Chuck Schumer appeased them and voted with them to help make it as easy as possible for them.

[antiqwrld]

Tems is so elegant

[sarcasticcynic]

Jim Crow Filibuster

Image credit: Guernsey-Montgomery for the Economic Outlook, CIO, via Brown Political Review

As everyone who has seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington knows, the filibuster lets a Senator halt all Senate business by continuing to talk endlessly. It lasts until ended voluntarily or--as of 1917--by supermajority vote. From 1917 to 1970, the Senate voted on ending filibusters only 49 times in total. (One of the more notable examples was southern Democrats attempting to filibuster the Civil Rights Act in June of 1964.)

In 1975, the Senate changed its filibuster rules in two ways. First, it allowed other Senate business to proceed despite a filibuster. Second, it eliminated the requirement that a Senator actually continue talking. Since 1975, Senators can block legislation simply by signaling that they would filibuster, at which point the legislation dies unless it has 60 votes in support of ending debate.

Even with these relaxed rules, there were a total of only 413 filibusters in the 73 years between 1917 and 1990. But in the six years between 2008 (when President Obama was elected and Democrats held the Senate) and 2014 (when Republicans took back the Senate), the Republican minority invoked filibuster 644 times, far more than ever before in U.S. history. The filibuster has since evolved from a rare practice that requires holding the floor for extended periods into a routine 60-vote supermajority requirement.

"Filibusters on motions to proceed prevent the Senate from even being able to consider ideas for how to solve our country's big problems. For years now, small numbers of senators representing as little as 11% of the country have kept the Senate from even discussing important legislation that has passed committee review.

"Virtual Filibusters allow small numbers of senators to effortlessly place personal political agendas above the work of government with no consequence. As a result, even routine Senate functions like approving executive appointees get mired in partisan politics, resulting in 85 vacancies on federal judiciary benches [as of 2012]. Major pieces of legislation, including a bill that would have provided medical care for 9/11 responders, have enjoyed majority support in the Senate yet died in the face of filibusters for lack of cloture.

"Legislation that should pass into law has been canceled and courts have been thrown into disarray, but the senators who have helped make that happen have never needed to actually make a case to their colleagues or their constituents."

At its heart, the filibuster recognizes that some legislation may be so important that it should require bipartisan support, rather than a (temporary) majority mechanically imposing its will on the (temporary) minority. But current rules make it too easy for a single Senator *cough*McConnell*cough* to obstruct legislation routinely, without taking the floor, without calling public attention to the filibuster, without holding up other Senate business... and thus at virtually no political cost.

This is an untenable way to run a country.

Senators go to Washington to get things done for their constituents (at least in theory). The filibuster in its current form blocks debate and progress on important issues facing the American people. But there is no need to convince every Democrat in the Senate to eliminate it entirely. The Senate should simply reverse its 1975 rule changes, reinstating the "talking" filibuster and precluding all other Senate business until resolved. Then we'll see who has the political stomach for letting the entire country grind to a halt.

[loveisbraveandwild]

im in love with taylor’s attitude in cloture and how she’s just like yeah wtvr i got ur letter but im doing better and im not gonna waste my energy trying to smooth something over that doesnt deserve my time and how its the same attitude taylor has in i forgot that you existed where she’s just like fuck this ur living rent free in my mind but actually im just gonna not think abt u and ure existence is indifferent to me

[transparentgentlemenmarker]

How to make iron fence

Voici de quelle manière on fabrique les clôtures en fer

August 31 2020