The Thread of Democrats

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Joe
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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by Joe » Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:49 pm

Scot Dutchy wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 11:20 am
An unsupported claim. Nothing is equivalent to the Electoral College. The electors are free to vote the way they want to and ignore the people that elected them.
Not any longer.
On July 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states have the power to require presidential electors to vote for their party’s candidate for president.

More specifically, the decision allows states to pass laws requiring presidential electors to cast their votes in a manner that faithfully reflects their commitment to vote for the person they promised to choose when they were nominated as an elector.
What's interesting is how this decision will impact the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
This clear reaffirmation of the power of states to appoint their electoral votes “in whatever way it likes” supports the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and Article II, section 1 upon which National Popular Vote is based. States have broad authority over their electors, and nothing in this case would suggest this plenary power would suddenly be limited if the states’ electors were awarded to the National Popular Vote winner.

And second, the Court’s decision reinforces the validity of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Under National Popular Vote, states that combine for at least 270 electoral votes agree to award their electors to the presidential candidate who wins the most individual votes across the nation. (Fifteen states and the District of Columbia, totaling 196 electoral votes, have already passed the measure.)
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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by Scot Dutchy » Wed Sep 15, 2021 10:38 pm

Ok that is improving the American "democratic" system. Just scrap the EC. Use the popular vote. It is better than the present undemocratic system.
Scrap the Senate bring in a PR body.
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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by pErvinalia » Wed Sep 15, 2021 11:56 pm

Scot Dutchy wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:55 pm
They dont
They demonstrably do. There's 10x more seats per Maltese person than German person.
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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by JimC » Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:38 am

I'll worry about that when Maltese panzers start to roll... :tea:
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And my gin!

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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by pErvinalia » Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:40 am

It's the terriers you've got to be wary of.
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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by Tero » Thu Sep 16, 2021 2:00 am

Scot Dutchy wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 10:38 pm
Ok that is improving the American "democratic" system. Just scrap the EC. Use the popular vote. It is better than the present undemocratic system.
Scrap the Senate bring in a PR body.
It's not allowed. It would require an amendment. No amendments have passed since 1992, an insignificant one. Last real amendment was in 1971. None will pass before the entire US breaks up.
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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by laklak » Thu Sep 16, 2021 2:20 am

pErvinalia wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:40 am
It's the terriers you've got to be wary of.
Horrid little things. My mother in law had one. I couldn't stand the little fucker.
Yeah well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by Hermit » Thu Sep 16, 2021 2:57 am

pErvinalia wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 1:40 am
It's the terriers you've got to be wary of.
They are truly ferocious. Mine is particularly bad. Given half a chance she will lick you to death. She's a Maltese-terrier promenade mix.

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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by Brian Peacock » Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:18 am

CGI.
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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by L'Emmerdeur » Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:13 am

Senator Sinema is simply disgusting. Slurping up money from the pharmaceutical industry and doing their bidding--to hell with the people who voted for her.

'Why Does Kyrsten Sinema Oppose Drug Pricing Reform? Maybe This Is Why.'
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who is a top recipient of donations from the pharmaceutical industry, is reportedly objecting to prescription drug pricing reforms that are being pushed by President Biden and Congressional Democrats.

The White House and Congressional Democrats are currently trying to shepherd two large bills through Congress: the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal that the Senate approved last month and a larger $3.5 trillion spending plan that would fund services like free universal childcare by boosting taxes on high-income earners and corporations. Democrats are trying to pass the larger spending plan through a process called budget reconciliation, which allows them to pass it with a party-line vote.

Both plans include provisions that would allow the federal government to negotiate the price of pharmaceuticals for Medicare recipients, a policy intended to reduce the cost of description drugs. However, it appears that Senator Sinema, who championed the bipartisan infrastructure deal just last month, is opposed to the drug pricing reform proposals. With their current razor-thin majorities in both the House and Senate, Democrats need every vote to pass the spending plans.

Politico reported yesterday that Sinema is "opposed to the current drug prescription drug pricing proposals in both the House and Senate Bills" and that she "doesn't support a pared-back alternative" that is being pushed by centrist Democrats in the House who are squeamish about the provisions. Sinema also allegedly told President Biden during a September 15 meeting that she was opposed to the proposals, though the report notes that it's "unclear" if the Arizona senator is "completely immovable."

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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by L'Emmerdeur » Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:03 pm

Not to leave good ol' coal money Manchin out--

'Manchin Rejects $3.5 Trillion Social Investment After Backing $9+ Trillion for Pentagon'
Sen. Joe Manchin on Thursday derided his own party's plan to spend $3.5 trillion over the next decade to combat the climate crisis, invest in child care, and expand Medicare as "fiscal insanity."

But progressive lawmakers and commentators were quick to point out that Manchin (D-W.Va.)—along with other conservative Democrats who are currently standing in the way of Democrats' reconciliation package—have had no problem greenlighting the Pentagon's increasingly bloated budget year after year after year.

"Ever notice how 'deficit hawks' vote for record-high defense spending, yet claim bills that help people and challenge lobbyists are 'too much?'" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) asked in a tweet Thursday evening.

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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by L'Emmerdeur » Fri Oct 01, 2021 11:05 pm

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is showing some backbone and not letting the 'moderate' Democratic members of the US Congress buffalo them.

'Sinema and Manchin's plan crashes and burns after a key miscalculation'
President Joe Biden met with the House Democratic caucus on Friday and confirmed what had already become clear the previous night: Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have failed in their plan this week.

Multiple reports confirmed that the president's message was clear. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the Senate in August isn't going to pass the House until there's a deal within the Democratic Party on the reconciliation bill — which includes a slew of tax increases and social program spending that progressives are demanding.

What this means in the short term is that the more conservative Democrats — including Sinema and Manchin, but also some House members such as Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey — aren't getting their way. They wanted the bipartisan infrastructure bill to pass the House and become law before the formal negotiations began on the reconciliation package.
... so they could take away the progressives' leverage before entering into intra-party negotiations.

...

Manchin, Sinema, and Gottheimer seemed genuinely surprised that their plan didn't work. But there's no reason for shock. The congressional progressives and the Democratic leadership made clear from the start that they viewed both bills as an inseparable pair — the "two-track process," as it was called. Everyone was aware of this — despite Manchin's later claims of ignorance. This process was the reason progressives tolerated the conservatives' efforts during the spring and summer to work extensively with Republicans to get bipartisan agreement in the Senate on the infrastructure bill.

Sinema and Manchin were central players in the Senate negotiations, which were a subject of pride for both of them. They clearly concluded that, having negotiated the infrastructure deal in the Senate, they could pressure the House to pass the same bill. They would then have the upper hand in the reconciliation negotiations, if they even allowed such talks to take place.

But Sinema and Manchin miscalculated. They thought they could walk all over the House progressives and make unilateral demands without giving up any concessions. They thought their crucial votes in the Senate and their small number of allies in the House Democratic caucus gave them the power them dictate the whole process.

It didn't work because the progressives were able to stick together. Led by Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the Congressional Progressive Caucus consistently and convincingly promised that it had enough votes to tank the infrastructure bill without a deal on the reconciliation bill. This threat kept House Speak Nancy Pelosi from even bringing the bill up for a vote in her chamber this week, despite her previous pledges to the conservative Democrats to do so. And Sinema and Manchin never even bothered to garner enough votes from House Republicans to subvert such a threat from the progressives.

Many media outlets framed this as a failure for the Biden presidency. It's possible that will end up being true, if neither bill ever passes. But some observers argued that progressives are really doing Biden a favor — whether he currently agrees or not — by using their leverage against the conservative Democrats and ensuring that more of his agenda passed. And Manchin and Sinema have been forced to grudgingly enter into real negotiations over the reconciliation bill, a sign that deliberative progress is actually being made.

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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by Tero » Sun Oct 03, 2021 8:53 pm

Tax the rich as planned, but put smaller price tag on bill:
House progressives looking for ways to rescue President Joe Biden’s stalled domestic agenda opened the door to scaling back some of the more ambitious social spending by having those programs expire rather than be permanent.

“One of the ideas out there is to fully fund what we can fully fund, but instead of funding it for 10 years, fund it for five years,” said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat and leading progressive voice, on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
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Said Peter...what you're requesting just isn't my bag
Said Daemon, who's sorry too, but y'see we didn't have no choice
And our hands they are many and we'd be of one voice
We've come all the way from Wigan to get up and state
Our case for survival before it's too late

Turn stone to bread, said Daemon Duncetan
Turn stone to bread right away...

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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by L'Emmerdeur » Mon Oct 04, 2021 12:17 am

It's interesting to observe actual negotiations over policy in the US government. The Republicans fairly quietly agreed to roads and bridges (INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK. FINALLY! :hehe: ) and then took themselves out of the equation with the accustomed intransigence of the past decade +.

So now the Democratic legislators are doing the dance themselves--the back and forth, the bargaining--in the way the two parties did in days of yore. Conservative Democrats like Manchin, Sinema, and Gottheimer are playing the part of Republicans while the actual Republicans sit on their thumbs and bleat nonsense.

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Re: The Thread of Democrats

Post by Brian Peacock » Mon Oct 04, 2021 5:34 am

Biden's administration clearly does not want to get bogged down, and with 2022 fast approaching democrates could do with some real, visble evidence that the allocated remittances in the infrastructure bill are being spent in their states.
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