#election committee

[johnadamsbignaturals]

i do genuinely get the idea that electing a facist democrat who might keep policies in place that will protect vulnerable communities while keeping trump out is ostensibly the morally right thing to do, but i also do not trust you white libs to continue showing up for poc and palestinians once your own personal safety is secured.

when biden was elected in 2020 you all took that as a final victory and stopped protesting with us. we went from burning shit down to business as usual, losing all the momentum we had built together over that summer… because you thought biden would provide a safety net for you to go back to living your normal life of white privilege.

but here’s the sticking point— biden was never going to save you, and neither is kamala harris or 99% of democrats with a lot of power. project 2025 has already been underway under the biden administration, and it will continue (albiet faster or slower) regardless of who’s elected if we don’t rise up as a singular american people to stop it

if a democrat wins in november, i better not see you leaving the streets. we need to fight on.

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

I love this, it's fairly lighthearted and she has great energy throughout the pseudo-interview, vote blue and vote Harris this election.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

As of December 2023, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has received 59 allegations that Donald Trump or his committees violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. In 29 of those cases, nonpartisan staff in the FEC’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) recommended the FEC investigate Trump. Yet not once has a Republican FEC commissioner voted to approve any such investigation or enforcement of the law against Trump.

Democratic Vice Chair Ellen Weintraub pointed this out in her December 5, 2023 statement of reasons after the FEC once again failed to garner the votes to enforce the law against Trump after he allegedly violated the law by illegally soliciting or directing money to a pro-Trump super PAC that spent millions on ads opposing Joe Biden in 2020.

Because at least four of the six FEC Commissioners need to approve any FEC investigation, and because only three of those seats can be filled by Democrats, Republicans hold a veto over the agency’s enforcement and have repeatedly used it to shoot down any recommended enforcement of campaign finance law against Trump—and thus successfully shielded him from accountability over and over. Instead of fostering bipartisanship, the split FEC has often become gridlocked and, in cases involving Trump, its ability to pursue action is constrained by the members of one party.

The FEC’s enabling statute, the Federal Election Campaign Act, specifically subjects the Commission’s non-enforcement to review to prevent it from blocking meritorious enforcement. In June 2018, however, two Republican-appointed judges of the D.C. Circuit—including now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh—largely gutted that rule, giving commissioners the authority to block enforcement of the law without judicial review if the commissioners claimed that they did so as an exercise of prosecutorial discretion or under Heckler v. Chaney.

So, in 21 of the 29 cases where the FEC received recommendations to enforce the law against Trump, Republican commissioners justified non-enforcement by invoking prudential or discretionary factors in attempts to circumvent review.

When dismissing the recommendations to investigate Trump—and to kill further inquiries into his actions—the Republican commissioners have at times claimed that the FEC should not take any action because “proceeding further would not be an appropriate use of Commission resources” or that the resources would be “best spent elsewhere.” Trump has even falsely declared that the FEC “dropped” one of its investigations into him “because they found no evidence of problems.” As Commissioner Weintraub wrote in a statement of reasons in November 2023, “the data is clear: At the FEC, Mr. Trump is in a category by himself.”

Unless courts restore their check on partisan vetoes on enforcement, the commissioners will continue to fail to enforce federal campaign finance law against the powerful figures they are trying to protect.

[tomorrowusa]

We need to smash the mythology of Republicans being fiscally responsible and good at economics. Shoveling vast amounts of money into the pockets of venal oligarchs who don't need it is not good for the country.

Former president Donald Trump approved almost twice as much borrowing as current President Joe Biden during his four years in office, according to the Committee for a Responsible Budget (CFRB). Trump, who presided over the federal government from 2016 to 2020, approved $8.4 trillion in new ten-year debt. But incumbent president Biden, who defeated Trump four years ago, has approved $4.3 trillion in new borrowing, said a new report by the committee. As for reducing the budget deficit, Trump cut it by $443 billion. The Biden administration has reduced it by $1.9 trillion. The U.S. is sitting on a total of $34.73 trillion in national debt, accrued over the country's history, according to government data.

I often say that Republicans create a mess when in office. And when they're voted out, the Republicans then try to make a campaign issue out of Democrats not cleaning up the Republican mess quickly enough.

During the Trump years, his tax cuts added $1.9 trillion in U.S. debt, while the budget passed in 2018 and 2019 generated borrowing of $2.1 trillion. Those two policy moves contributed some of the largest debt increases during Trump's tenure. Over the last three and a half years, under Biden, some of the largest contributors to the national debt included the appropriations bills of fiscal year 2022 and 2023 that generated $1.4 trillion of borrowing, while the American Rescue Plan Act was responsible for $2.1 trillion in debt, according to CFRB.

The Trump tax breaks for the filthy rich will automatically expire in a few years. That's why multi-billionaires are ignoring Trump's dictatorial behavior and criminality and are dropping HŪGE donations into Trump's campaign coffers so that he can renew their tax breaks if he gets back into office. Their rapacious greed is downright pathological.

When those tax breaks expire, provided Biden wins, the debt will then level off as it did during the Clinton administration after Democrats raised taxes on the filthy rich. Bill Clinton ended his presidency with a budget surplus.

As long as we're talking economics, a reminder that 90.9% of all recessions of the past 71 years began under Republicans.

... just sayin'.

[saltwife]

it's that time again!

Today (05/10/23) is Grazer's first matchup in Fat Bear Week 2023! It's time to come out and support the HBIC of the falls, the only sow to crack the top 4 of the bear hierarchy even without cubs, the Queen of Katmai, 128 Grazer!!

This year, Grazer successfully emancipated her 3.5 year old twins, now numbered 428 and 429, who have gone on to become plump bears in their own right! Single once more, she dedicated herself to fishing and fatness. In a lean year, where the salmon run was late and not as abundant as it had been for the past few years, Grazer found-- no, earned success. While many other bears struggled to find fish, this peerless angler went to work to find the precious few productive spots. She was the first bear to catch a fish on cams this year, and she just never stopped. Day and night (more often night, later in the summer) she slammed those salmon, and went from a skinny sow to a behemoth bear. Her neck disappeared. She became a little tiny bear face on a big fat body. I have seen her fall look compared to that of a tardigrade, and honestly? Yes.

Perfection.

And that's not even touching on her other amazing qualities, such as how her fierce reputation as a mother bear not to be trifled with has carried over into her single life! She is able to displace other, much larger bears from her desired spots, often without doing anything other than sowing up. She commands respect.

But she is also tolerant of other family groups, even allowing one of 910's cubs to 'share' fish with her. And of course, she is a heart stoppingly beautiful bear! Need I even add that she is endorsed by explore.org's own Mike Fitz??

Grazer has deserved the crown the past 3 years. Even while nursing and protecting cubs, she was immense. And in this lean year, her skills have allowed her to flourish into glorious fatness once again. It's time for a new head to wear the crown. It's time to go to fatbearweek.org and vote GRAZER! Voting is open from noon to 9 PM eastern time.

[sentimental-apathy]

This is so important. Please reblog this. And please, please, for the love of everything and everyone, PLEASE VOTE!

[dustsculptures]

all monarchs should have to do this

[kp777]

Jane Fonda rallies disaffected young US voters: ‘Do not sit this election out’

Sept. 23, 2024

Young people’s understandable unhappiness with the Biden administration’s record on oil and gas drilling and the war in Gaza should not deter them from voting to block Donald Trump from again becoming president of the United States, the Hollywood actor and activist Jane Fonda has warned.

“I understand why young people are really angry, and really hurting,” Fonda said. “What I want to say to them is: ‘Do not sit this election out, no matter how angry you are. Do not vote for a third party, no matter how angry you are. Because that will elect somebody who will deny you any voice in the future of the United States … If you really care about Gaza, vote to have a voice, so you can do something about it. And then, be ready to turn out into the streets, in the millions, and fight for it.’”

Read more.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Paige Skinner at HuffPost:

Former President Donald Trump told people attending a Republican National Committee donor retreat in Florida on Saturday that 40% of Americans will automatically vote Democrat because they are on welfare, echoing a remark Mitt Romney made when he ran for president in 2012. “When you are Democrat, you start off essentially at 40% because you have civil service, you have the unions and you have welfare,” Trump said at the retreat, according to The New York Times. “And don’t underestimate welfare. They get welfare to vote, and then they cheat on top of that — they cheat.”

Trump’s comments are similar to something Romney was caught on tape telling wealthy donors at a private fundraiser in 2012. The then-Republican presidential nominee said that because 47% of Americans don’t pay income tax, they would automatically vote for then-Democratic President Barack Obama. “There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,” Romney said at the time in a video obtained by Mother Jones. “All right, there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it — that that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax.”

Donald Trump took a page out of Mitt Romney's infamous "47%" comments and his plutocratic playbook by baselessly implying that welfare recipients are part of the 40% that automatically vote Democratic and cheat, along with unions and the civil service.

This is a stark reminder that Trump is an elitist plutocrat and not a champion of the working class that he likes to tout himself as.

[roseapprentice]

Never thought I'd be happy to see a candidate avoid a question in a debate, but when Kamala dodged the question about the economy under Biden, all I could think was, "Oh thank fuck she's acting like an actual coherent politician, and not actively contradicting reality. This is so refreshing!"

For a second I worried that my rose-tinted glasses were oversaturated. But then the "eating dogs" part happened and I remembered why my standards have plummeted through the floor.

I do miss the lower-BS version of her from when she served on Senate hearings. Back then she would have been like, "Yeah, the cost of living has become untenable. Here's what I'm gonna do about it. Remember the bread lines in 2020 though? That wasn't great either."

I get why she's having to learn to be more evasive though 🥲 Gotta build the muscle of dodging questions in case they ask something that has no good 2 minutes answer

...okay I also do need to adjust the tint on these glasses

[johnadamsbignaturals]

everybody shitting their pants over having “only 3 months” to choose a new dem candidate please take a breath. it’s gonna be okay. on a worldwide scale, 3 months is actually a pretty long time for candidates to run— we’re just used to an ABSURDLY LONG campaign trail in the US, but there’s no real need for them to be like that.

there has been talk of 1.) an open convention, and 2.) a two-week mini-primary to choose a new candidate. this is an amazing opportunity for leftist voters to elect someone who can break the status quo! stay calm and vote for the candidate who can make real change

[drumlincountry]

Litany against running for local government:

- I'm LITERALLY an anarchist

- I'd hate it

- local government in Ireland is demonstrably undemocratic such that the structure that exists would not allow me to actually represent people well even if I wanted to and they wanted me to.

- what if they found my blog

- my mother would be SO DISAPPOINTED

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Donald Trump has lashed out at several Republican congressmen after an amendment to defund criminal prosecutions of the former president failed by "only one vote."

In a post on Truth Social he attacked Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson after he "stupidly" voted "no" on the amendment that would have prohibited the use of federal and state funding for the prosecution of any presidential candidate prior to November's election.

The amendments to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Bill, introduced by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, failed to pass by a vote of 25-26.

Trump also blamed House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee who did not show up to vote on the amendment.

The presumptive 2024 GOP nominee is facing federal trials over allegations he illegally hoarded classified documents after he left office, and attempted to criminally overturn the 2020 election results. Trump and several other defendants are also facing trial in Georgia under a sprawling 2020 election interference case. Trump has already been convicted of 34 felony charges as part of his falsifying business record case in New York.

Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: "Just heard from Great Congressman Andrew Clyde of Georgia that the Amendment to Defund the Prosecution of a Presidential Candidate prior to November's Election did not pass, 26-25."

"It lost by only one vote, because one Republican, Mike Simpson of Idaho, stupidly voted NO, and two 'Republicans,' David Valadao of California and Dan Newhouse of Washington, the only two remaining Impeachers in the House of President Donald J. Trump, didn't show up to vote," Trump added.

"They must have had more important things to do. Also, Mike Garcia of California, David Joyce of Ohio, and Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, didn't show up to vote. Thanks very much, fellas, for your great support!"

Speaking to The Daily Caller, Simpson explained why he voted against the amendment to defund prosecutions of presidential candidates despite believing the cases against Trump are "politically motivated and utter nonsense."

"I am grateful the Supreme Court has acted as a balancing force against the Democrats' weaponization of the judicial system," Simpson said. "However, prohibiting the use of funds for investigations sets a dangerous precedent—potentially limiting Republicans' ability to investigate President Biden's wrongdoings. For that reason, I could not support this amendment."

Simpson's office has been contacted for further comment via email.

Clyde said he intends to reintroduce his amendment in the coming weeks.

"My measure fell short of receiving enough support because several of my Republican colleagues conveniently 'missed' the vote. I'm deeply disappointed—but I'm not giving up," he told The Daily Caller.

The House Appropriations Committee is expected to markup the CJS bill when members return to Washington, D.C., in September.

[tomorrowusa]

« Let me tell you why nobody wants to talk to y’all behind closed doors. Because y'all lie. »

— Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30) making an observation about her Republican colleagues at the Hunter Biden hearings on Wednesday. Via ABC News.

Hunter Biden showed up at the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. He's willing to testify publicly but Republicans want his testimony behind closed doors so they can make shit up.

The GOP majority wants to hold Hunter Biden in contempt for not falling into their trap. Despite his presence right in front of them they claim he's not complying with a subpoena. However a slew of House Republicans failed to comply with subpoenas by the House January 6th Committee in 2022. Hypocrisy is nothing new for the MAGA GOP.

Republicans have little interest in governance or lawmaking. To them, holding office is just an opportunity to conduct culture wars and try to install their orange dictator back in the White House. They have completely abandoned any semblance of adherence to the rule of law.

The Lincoln Project put together a vid of Democrats calling out Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.