keitha
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Post by keitha on Jul 22, 2022 9:44:56 GMT
Ok forget the Land of the free etc
Democrats have the President and control of both houses
Democrats are saying the overturning of Roe vs Wade is unconstitutional
So why don't they pass a law through both houses that makes abortion legal. Currently they could do so, come November and the mid term elections it is likely Biden will be a lame duck with both houses held by republicans. I'm told by friends in the US that the republicans intend to remove Pelosi and charge her with abuse of power for her constant removal of republican members from committees
I also find it interesting that less that 2 years after getting the biggest public vote ever at 61 Million he is now the most unpopular president in history, and where has Kamala Harris gone.
Interesting also that American has 233 million people able to register to vote but only 168 million do so.
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pikestaff
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Post by pikestaff on Jul 22, 2022 10:29:07 GMT
filibusterOk forget the Land of the free etc Democrats have the President and control of both houses Democrats are saying the overturning of Roe vs Wade is unconstitutional So why don't they pass a law through both houses that makes abortion legal. Currently they could do so, come November and the mid term elections it is likely Biden will be a lame duck with both houses held by republicans. I'm told by friends in the US that the republicans intend to remove Pelosi and charge her with abuse of power for her constant removal of republican members from committees I also find it interesting that less that 2 years after getting the biggest public vote ever at 61 Million he is now the most unpopular president in history, and where has Kamala Harris gone. Interesting also that American has 233 million people able to register to vote but only 168 million do so. Because they don't have control, not really. The Republican minority can use the Senate filibuster to block anything. With US politics as polarised as it is at present, the chance of getting enough Reps onside to get to the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster is remote. And there's little or no prospect of the Dems winning enough small states from the Reps in an election to get to 60 votes on their own - even if they have a landslide in the popular vote nationally. This is partly because each state regardless of size elects the same number of senators, and the small states are overwhelmingly Rep, but also because of gerrymandering by the Reps in the states that they control. If/when the position is reversed, the Democratic minority might (in theory) able to do likewise - though the Reps have in the recent past found it easier to "peel off" enough right-wing Dems to get things done. Typically they would not need many (if any), because when there is a Rep president there is (because of the bias in the system) almost sure to be a significant Rep majority in the Senate. As regards turnout, 168/233 = 72.1%. This is more than it was in the last general election in the UK (67.3%). Edit: My mistake. Registration is not the same as turnout.
According to Wikipedia the figures for the 2020 presidential election were: Voting-eligible (voting age population, whether registered or not, excluding those who are ineligible) 239.2m
Turnout 159.7m (66.9%).
From which it's clear that the vast majority of those who register to vote actually do so, and turnout was only slightly lower than it was in the last general election in the UK (67.3%). And that's despite many Rep states making it quite difficult to vote (particularly in urban majority-Dem areas). It will be interesting to see by how much UK turnout falls if voter ID is required at the next general election here - though whether that would benefit the Tories (as they expect) is unclear because many older voters lack ID.
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registerme
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Post by registerme on Jul 22, 2022 10:33:38 GMT
The Republicans control 50 seats in the Senate, the Democrats 48 (at least a couple of which don't always vote with the Democrats eg Joe Manchin ), and Independents (?) 2. Assume that the Independents side with the Democrats and that gives the Democrats control of the Senate because the rules state that in the event of tie the vice president's affiliation determines which party is in the majority (and the VP gets a vote in case of a tie). Chuck in the filibuster, which allows debate to spin out to the point that there isn't enough time left for a vote (and requires a super-majority to overcome), and... gridlock. And then there's the mid-terms coming up later this year, where the Democrats are likely to lose control of both the House and the Senate. Sadly that "shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere" is proving to be increasingly dysfunctional  . EDIT: Crossed with pikestaff  . |
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Post by captainconfident on Jul 22, 2022 12:44:21 GMT
I'm told by friends in the US that the republicans intend to remove Pelosi and charge her with abuse of power for her constant removal of republican members from committees Charging Pelosi with 'abuse of power' would be for the Justice Department to decide, and they are [until Trump] an independent branch of government. 'Republicans' do not have this power. Rather than listening to Fox and Friends, a seconds research uncovers that this nonsense refers to a call from the 'Freedom Caucus' to remove Pelosi, these being the most far right Jewish Space Lazer grouping in the House. Parroting this two year old news seems to out your friends as similar right wing nut-jobs.
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keitha
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Post by keitha on Jul 22, 2022 13:13:54 GMT
I love the fact that both sides describe the fillibuster as unfair when it stops them doing things !
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2022 13:43:09 GMT
Look it is a constitutional government based on three competing power bases, President, Congress and Senate. Hence you actually have four, because the constitution and the Supreme court gets in the way.
Significant legislation change requires more than a 50% vote as the filibuster allows people to talk everything out unless they hit either 66% or 70% levels of vote.
Add to that that the president is not voted for by the people but by an electoral college, the Senate distributes power per state rather than numbers of people in the state and the Supreme court members are elected for life by whoever is in power when one steps down
Then they allow a whole load of things that we don't allow here, like zoning of votes and politician subsidy like you will not believe
Which means that it is politics of grinding delays and no actions
It is as if you took the Italian system and crossed it with the Greek system and then wrote the rules in the 1700s and corruption from Chicago in the 1850s
Still they love it, well some of them love and they all pledge allegiance to the flag on a regular basis.
It ain't clever it just is
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keitha
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Post by keitha on Jan 29, 2024 19:58:51 GMT
WOW just WOW
Trump is 6/5 to be next president
Biden is as near as makes no difference 2/1
Now the "books" are not usually that wrong
for example the UK election Labour 1/10, Conservative 17/2 to have most seats
I find it hard to believe with all that is going on that Trump is favourite
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Jan 29, 2024 22:19:17 GMT
WOW just WOW Trump is 6/5 to be next president Biden is as near as makes no difference 2/1 Now the "books" are not usually that wrong for example the UK election Labour 1/10, Conservative 17/2 to have most seats I find it hard to believe with all that is going on that Trump is favourite Why you reckon Biden is doing such a great job?
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Jan 29, 2024 22:22:24 GMT
WOW just WOW Trump is 6/5 to be next president Biden is as near as makes no difference 2/1 Now the "books" are not usually that wrong for example the UK election Labour 1/10, Conservative 17/2 to have most seats I find it hard to believe with all that is going on that Trump is favourite Why you reckon Biden is doing such a great job? By absolute standards? He's not. By the standards of his immediate predecessor? Biden's the bigliest and bestiest ever. When it comes down to an aged mediocrity... or a similarly-aged half-witted egomaniacal serial criminal... you'd think it'd be very easy to decide, while simultaneously thinking "Really?"
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agent69
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Post by agent69 on Jan 29, 2024 22:23:02 GMT
WOW just WOW Trump is 6/5 to be next president Biden is as near as makes no difference 2/1 Now the "books" are not usually that wrong for example the UK election Labour 1/10, Conservative 17/2 to have most seats I find it hard to believe with all that is going on that Trump is favourite Why you reckon Biden is doing such a great job? His biggest asset is that he isn't called Trump
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keitha
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Post by keitha on Jan 29, 2024 23:00:18 GMT
WOW just WOW Trump is 6/5 to be next president Biden is as near as makes no difference 2/1 Now the "books" are not usually that wrong for example the UK election Labour 1/10, Conservative 17/2 to have most seats I find it hard to believe with all that is going on that Trump is favourite Why you reckon Biden is doing such a great job? Honestly I think Biden is carp, but he's not suggested injecting bleach or anything stupid ( yet ), and oddly events in the middle east might help him
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Jan 29, 2024 23:17:01 GMT
Why you reckon Biden is doing such a great job? Honestly I think Biden is carp, but he's not suggested injecting bleach or anything stupid ( yet ), and oddly events in the middle east might help himI guess time will tell. I think he's between a rock and a hard place. If merchant ships keep getting hit and we see oil prices rise etc what can he do? He's clearly now threatening Iran but if he makes the order to invade, lots more american lives will be lost (and others of course) and the US public won't like that. So I don't think he can do much. He looks weak as a result.
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Post by bracknellboy on Jan 30, 2024 7:52:39 GMT
Honestly I think Biden is carp, but he's not suggested injecting bleach or anything stupid ( yet ), and oddly events in the middle east might help himI guess time will tell. I think he's between a rock and a hard place. If merchant ships keep getting hit and we see oil prices rise etc what can he do? He's clearly now threatening Iran but if he makes the order to invade, lots more american lives will be lost (and others of course) and the US public won't like that. So I don't think he can do much. He looks weak as a result. What is your definition of 'invade' here ? In my mind, the normally accepted usage would be to launch an attack - typically land based - of sufficient size to either partially but still substantially occupy a country/territory, or entirely occupy and replace the regime.
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Jan 30, 2024 9:21:19 GMT
As far as Biden vs Trump goes, I find it endlessly fascinating that the strongly-religious element of the US electorate is endorsing the amoral serial adulterer over the staunch Catholic.
But, then, the strongly-religious element of the US electorate would probably lynch Jesus as a commie hippy. They aren't big on reading and thinking.
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adrianc
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Post by adrianc on Jan 30, 2024 9:24:43 GMT
Honestly I think Biden is carp, but he's not suggested injecting bleach or anything stupid ( yet ), and oddly events in the middle east might help himI guess time will tell. I think he's between a rock and a hard place. If merchant ships keep getting hit and we see oil prices rise etc what can he do? He's clearly now threatening Iran but if he makes the order to invade, lots more american lives will be lost (and others of course) and the US public won't like that. So I don't think he can do much. He looks weak as a result. Agreed. Iran look to be stepping back from the Houthis - www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68126137"We only sold them the kit, they're doing what they want with it."(And, of course, what if the drones had been Chinese-made?) One interesting wrinkle in that article... "A defence official said the drone came in "very low and very slow" at the same time that a US drone was returning to the base from a mission.
As a result, the auto-response features of the air defence system were turned off so as not to shoot down the US drone, the official said, which meant there was little to no warning for troops at the base."Basically, they got lucky and followed the US drone in through the open door.
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