#sen. marco rubio
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Surveying the reactions of top Republicans after Donald Trump’s indictment on charges of mishandling classified information, you’d think the country was in the midst of a coup.
“It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted. “The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed. “There is no limit to what these people will do to protect their power & destroy those who threaten it, even if it means ripping our country apart,” Sen. Marco Rubio declared.
These are extraordinary claims — and all made on Thursday night before the indictment or the evidence behind it was made public. On Friday morning, we learned thanks to CNN that Trump is literally on tape in 2021 discussing having documents in his possession that he knew were still classified. “As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” he reportedly said.
The tape may or may not prove dispositive in a court of law; there’s certainly room for good-faith disagreement on the strength of the case against Trump. But the tape is at least very strong evidence that these charges are not some kind of Biden-mandated witch hunt but instead based on very serious allegations of wrongdoing.
Yet top Republicans — including Trump’s leading rival for the 2024 election — have shown no signs of changing their tune, and instead are lining up behind Trump’s conspiracy theory that special counsel Jack Smith is leading Joe Biden’s personal Stasi.
This paranoid reaction to Trump’s indictment is not a surprise. Over the past several years, the political right has been captured by a worldview that sees the entirety of mainstream society arranged against it. According to this thinking, America’s “woke” power elite, including ostensibly neutral institutions of governance like the Justice Department, is determined to stamp out the conservative way of life. You are either with us or against us — and attempting to send Trump to jail, whatever the reason, puts you on the wrong side.
Such once-fringe thinking now dominates the Republican Party at the very highest levels. Whether people like McCarthy and DeSantis actually believe it is immaterial: The fact that they feel the need to say such wild things indicates just how central anti-institutional paranoia has become in Republican politics.
The dangers of this going forward, as Trump faces trial and America faces an election where he is the GOP’s most likely presidential candidate, should not be underestimated. A democracy whose basic institutional functions come under attack is a democracy in mortal peril.
THE PARANOID STYLE IN REPUBLICAN POLITICS
The entire Trump phenomenon was, from the very beginning, about conservative fear of losing America. Study after study after study has found that Trump voters in the GOP primary and electorate are motivated by a concern that the United States is becoming literally unrecognizable: populated by people who look different and think differently than they do.
The fears of the base were reflected in the language of the elite. In 2016, the most famous intellectual case for Trump in 2016 was Michael Anton’s “Flight 93” essay — which argued that these changes were transforming the government in ways that handed more and more control over American government to the left. Anton spoke of a “bipartisan junta” that controlled the centers of power and wielded it against conservative institutions, a kind of soft coup against ordinary Americans backstopped by demographic change.
“Our side has been losing consistently since 1988,” Anton wrote. “The ceaseless importation of Third World foreigners with no tradition of, taste for, or experience in liberty means that the electorate grows more left, more Democratic, less Republican, less republican, and less traditionally American with every cycle.”
Anton’s essay, seen as fringe at the time, captured an essential linkage of the Trump era: between the traditional conservative sense of alienation from mainstream American culture and growing hostility to its governing institutions. The general conservative sense that they were losing America demographically and spiritually could easily be translated into a case that the government itself was hostile to their interests.
So when Trump began facing legal trouble during his presidency, at first over his campaign’s ties to Russia, he ran a version of the Anton playbook (Anton was, at the time, serving in Trump’s White House). He argued, in now-familiar but then-novel terms, that the investigation was a “deep state” plot against Trump — that special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigators were Democrats who sought only to destroy his presidency.
Faced with this challenge, the rest of the Republican Party had a choice: They could defend the underlying integrity of the Justice Department, even while remaining skeptical of the merits of this specific investigation, or fully accede to the Trumpist “witch hunt” narrative. We know which one they chose, and we know why they chose it: Trump had built such a powerful following on the basis of his paranoid critique of America that any Republican who challenged it risked career suicide.
The Russia investigation set a pattern that would endure for the entire Trump presidency. Again and again, when faced with credible allegations of wrongdoing, Republicans indulged Trump’s wildest fantasies out of either fear or genuine belief. The Anton worldview, once the province of cranks, evolved into the official narrative of the Republican Party — an evolution cemented when Trump attempted to overthrow the 2020 election and the party elite permitted him to do so.
In the Biden years, with Republicans out of power, the narrative of an entire government arranged against them only became more credible in the eyes of the base. Surveys consistently showed that a large majority of Republicans believed his claims of voter fraud; political scientists have shown that this belief is likely genuine and that Republican politicians who parrot Trump’s lies improve their standings in the eyes of the base.
The result is a party that has, in the past several years, grown increasingly radicalized against the core institutions of America. They believe that everything in America is turning against them: not just the traditional enemies like the media and Hollywood, but also the military, big business, and even the US Olympic team. If you express agreement with the left on anything from LGBTQ issues to Trump’s fitness for office, you are an enemy of the right.
The dangers of this shift cannot be overestimated. Republicans are already vowing to “bring accountability to the DOJ” (DeSantis) and “hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable” (McCarthy). If Republicans do win the White House in 2024, the chances of an attempt to turn the Justice Department into an actually political institution are very high. If Trump is their candidate, it’s basically a certainty.
And if they lose — well, January 6 showed us what could happen when Republicans believe they’ve lost illegitimately. And we’re already seeing paranoia about this indictment bleed over into paranoia about the upcoming election.
“Biden is attacking his most likely 2024 opponent. He’s using the justice system to preemptively steal the 2024 election. This is what’s happening, plain and simple,” writes Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH).
Democracy depends on both sides respecting the rules of the game. But one side has decided, without any real evidence, that the rules are rigged against them — and have demonstrated a willingness to disregard them as a result.
#us politics#news#vox#classified documents#classified documents probe#donald trump#republicans#conservatives#2023#department of justice#jack smith#ag merrick garland#rep. kevin mccarthy#gov. ron desantis#Sen. Marco Rubio#sen. j.d. vance#Michael Anton#conspiracy theorists
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#us politics#2022#2022 midterms#2022 elections#gop#conservatives#Republicans#donald trump#sen. ted cruz#sen. chuck grassley#sen. mitch mcconnell#sen. lindsey graham#sen. marco rubio#us healthcare#us health system#medicare#medicaid#social security#social security checks
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In a letter to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the State Department confirmed that Hamas is a designated foreign terrorist organization and that the State Dept. has the power to revoke visas.
"The Department of State also has broad authority under the [Immigration and Nationality Act] to revoke visas," the agency said. "We exercise the authority when there is information or evidence indicating a visa holder may be ineligible for a U.S. visa."
Additionally, it said that when it receives "derogatory information" indicating ineligibility, it takes "immediate action" which can include revocation of visas.
"Even after issuance of a visa, the Department of State works closely with the Department of Homeland Security and other partner agencies to ensure every visa applicant is continuously screened to ensure they remain eligible for travel to the United States," it told Rubio.
The department also said it "shares your outrage regarding Hamas’ brutal attack against the State of Israel and its citizens."
[archive.org mirror]
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"The first session of the 118th Congress was one of the least productive in the body’s history. Only 22 bills were signed into law this year by the president — by far the lowest total since at least 1993, the first year for which the National Archives have data. (For comparison, the next least productive year during this timespan was in 2013, when 72 bills became law.)
Despite the slow year, members nonetheless found time to introduce an abundance of bills relating to the threat of China, which was the focus of hearings in committees ranging from Financial Services to the Judiciary committee, and of legislation concerning everything from fentanyl distribution to TikTok.
In 2023, members introduced 616 pieces of legislation that contain a variation of the word “China” — more than 3.5 for every day that Congress was in session on average. That’s already more than any two-year congressional session, except for the 117th Congress (2021-2022; 860 bills) and the 116th (2019-2020; 620 bills), according to a search of the congressional record.
One of the few “accomplishments” in Congress this year was the formation of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party — which was almost instantly dubbed the “tough on China committee” — in January."[...]
Members of Congress introduced at least nine bills aimed at restricting foreign ownership of agricultural land in the United States. As RS has explained, these efforts are not always logical, even if there are some legitimate national security concerns over China or other nations buying up farmland.[...]
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and five co-sponsors introduced the “Defund China’s Allies Act” to “prohibit the availability of foreign assistance to certain countries that do not recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan,” aimed at 21 countries in Central America and the Caribbean. The bill argues that the “United States efforts to condemn these countries’ willing diplomatic shift toward a genocidal government is undermined by an incomprehensible adherence to the so-called ‘One China’ policy, on terms dictated by the Chinese Communist Party,” implicitly calling for an end to the policy that has maintained peace in the Taiwan Strait for decades.[...]
bills introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Reps. John Curtis (R-Utah), and Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) [...] would have renamed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington, D.C. to the Taiwan Representative Office, because it “better reflects its status as Taiwan’s de facto diplomatic mission to the United States.”
That was only one of many bills that were purely symbolic and antagonizing, including one that demanded that Beijing “must be held financially liable for $16,000,000,000,000,” because of its responsibility in the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and a resolution that declared China to be the biggest threat to freedom in the world.
“Whereas it is the opinion of Congress that the Chinese Communist Party is the greatest threat to freedom and to the free world,” reads the text, introduced by Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). “Be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress agrees that the Chinese Communist Party is the greatest threat to freedom and to the free world.” That’s the entire resolution.
27 Dec 23
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GOP has gone rancid—and it isn't fair decent people have to keep cleaning up after them
D. Earl Stephens
April 23, 2024 5:27AM ET
People await the arrival of former U.S. President Donald Trump at a rally for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at the Miami-Dade Country Fair and Exposition on November 6, 2022 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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I’ve heard more than enough from people identifying as Republicans to last for whatever is left of my life.
By words and actions, Republicans have proven they are not serious people, and most definitely do not love or care for our country. We have learned without any doubt during the past decade that there is no line they won’t cross, rule they won’t break, or lie they won’t tell to further their dirty causes, which have absolutely nothing to do with making America great.
They are incapable of good governance, and have settled into mob rule. The Republican-led House of Representatives is a complete and nasty joke, where members literally elbow and hiss at each other, and that is both true and terribly, terribly sad.
With help from our inept Justice Department and a bought-off Conservative Supreme Court, Republicans are making a mockery of the notion that our nation is protected by the rule of law. They know better than anybody, that this simply is not true.
They have exploited a system they have learned to eagerly spit on by refusing to allow nominations for Supreme Court Justices in some cases, while rocketing other Conservative nominees through the Senate in record time.
READ: Breaking our democracy is all part of the GOP plan
They call violent terrorists who attack our country hostages, and expect the press to keep swallowing it whole, because that’s what they do.
Cheating and underhandedness is in their DNA.
They are long past the point of no return, and will either pay for their felonious behavior, or will somehow be rewarded for it at the polls this November, in which case we are done with our Democratic experiment after 248 years.
It is now up to Democrats to once again save this nation from the sick arsonists eagerly trying to burn it to the ground, and that is helluva lot to ask, and isn’t remotely fair.
Here’s a damn truth we don’t hear near enough about: If the Democratic candidate for president was facing 91 felony counts, had been convicted of fraud, was a serial abuser of women, told a documented 30,573 lies in four years, spread a big, toxic lie about an election he lost, and praised dictators, the party and the people who support it, would drop him/her like a rock.
He or she wouldn’t stand a chance. They’d be banished to the nearest dumpster. No decent person would want to be associated with such obvious scum.
The people who vote on the Left and the Right in this country are not remotely the same, and I am way past sick and tired of hearing that they are.
Something as despicable and odious as Donald J. Trump could NEVER happen in the Democratic Party. We simply would not allow it.
That right there is an ironclad fact.
Democrats and left-leaning people are not perfect, because no person is, but we still believe in truth, decency and manners. ALL children are important in our world, which is why we believe feeding them and getting them the healthcare and the childcare they need is vital, and far more important than paying the taxes of filthy-rich, bloated billionaires. We still believe that how the United States projects itself to rest of the world and our children means something.
We love our country, warts and all.
We still believe that when we’ve made mistakes, or said stupid, hurtful things we should apologize for them, not recklessly double down like ill-bred maniacs.
We have not, and will not, surrender to the lowest form of life like Trump. It is simply not in us.
As of this writing, I am officially DONE listening to the unmitigated gall that “both sides do it” or “both parties are the same” because that’s a complete load of bullshit. It is brutally insulting to the tens of millions of people in this country who play by the rules, believe all people are created equal, and still know a damn lie, or attack on our country when they hear it and see it.
The people who populate the Left and Right in our country are wired differently, and it’s time this was said out loud, and repeatedly. It is also long past time our media reported this. Especially because they know it to be true.
In the newsrooms where I used to work, if something so obviously bad and as evil as Trump and his enablers had burst on the scene, we would have been sounding alarms and reporting on it 24/7. The man means us and our country harm. We know this because he is SHOWING US AND TELLING US THIS.
There is seldom a day that goes by without him saying or doing something revolting and egregious. The media doesn’t even bother asking his Republican followers in Congress to account for his larceny anymore. They just accept it as somehow normal when it most certainly is not and never can be.
There are two sides to the story that should be told in America right now. One is called, good, the other is called, evil.
The only reason our national press does not report on this legitimately and accurately is simply because they are pathetic cowards, plain and simple. They know they are failing, but are carrying on despicably, anyway.
I’ll always have ammo to burn addressing their egregious behavior these days, but for now, I want to continue unwinding this thread of how the Left and Right are completely different and how unfair it is that we have to deal with the never-ending recklessness on the Right.
Back in 2015, when Trump laughably announced he’d be seeking the Republican nomination for president, many prominent Republicans rightfully scoffed at the possibility. You’ll get no better example than Lindsey Graham’s evergreen tweet: “If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.” Graham went on to call Trump, “a jackass.”
The Bushes, Rubios, and other red-blooded Republicans all saw Trump for what he was: completely disgusting and ridiculous. That was before the big-mouth, lifetime loser started blasting them off the debate stage by imitating a slobbering, belligerent drunk at the end of the bar.
Instead of bouncing him from the party, they allowed him to play to the delight of the silent minority in America, who had watched him bravely fire people on his TV show, and lick his toilet seat by degrading President Obama with his putrid, racist, noxious birther blather.
These were the fine people whose tongues bled from self-censoring the bile that flowed from their broken brains, into their big, fat mouths, and had taken centuries to finally go out of taste in this country. It killed them that there were actually awful, hurtful things they could not say out loud anymore.
Now they were free to be themselves again, and let the sludge flow freely from their chapped lips.
Their freedoms had nothing to do with breaking free from any chains, or breaking glass ceilings. No, their freedoms meant having the permission from the very top to be just as disgusting and appalling as they wanted to be. It meant belittling the disabled, and dragging women into the gutter. It meant coddling Nazis and calling cities that terrified them with their sophistication, “s--t holes.”
Before we knew it Nazis and white suprematists were coming out of their caves everywhere and lighting their tiki torches. They were finally on the march to the point of no return, where their disgusting leader was waiting to tell them that he loved them.
Once you have coddled a racist, a traitor, a two-timer, a friend of our enemies, an environmental terrorist, a serial liar, and a sociopath, you are completely lost and broken. Done.
Now the mob rules the Republican Party, which makes it fitting they are represented by this two-bit thug, who is currently sitting in a court room for hiding campaign money he paid to an adult movie star he slept with named Stormy, while his wife was at home caring for a newborn.
Yeah, that’s good and wholesome and normal right there.
A few have broken free of the madman’s grip in the Republican Party, while others have tried, and have crumpled into a heap and back into the mud and slime.
In February, Trump’s very own attorney general, the morally corrupt, Bill Barr, stumbled into bravery and truth when he said that voting for Trump would be “playing Russian roulette with the country.”
By this past Wednesday he had once again devolved and said, but “I’ll support the Republican ticket” if Trump leads it.
Also in February, New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu said of Trump: “A--holes come and go. But America is here to stay.”
On Sunday, he admitted he had changed his tune and said: “Look, nobody should be shocked that the Republican governor is supporting the Republican president.”
That’s exactly right, governor: A--holes come and go, and apparently you will do everything you can to hang around for a while. You are a revolting person, sport.
Nobody should be surprised by these things anymore, because the Republican Party is irredeemable and incapable of surprises. They can ALWAYS go lower, and prove it literally every day.
This is what happens when you are morally busted and are not bound by any rules or self-control that guides the rest of us.
This is what happens when you surrender to depravity.
This is what happens when you rubber stamp abuse of women, lies, insurrection and support for dictators as anything in the vicinity of normal.
So what happens when standing by the truth and playing by the rules gets you nowhere as a political party and as a country? What happens when millions discover there is no justice and a depraved mad man once again has the keys to the kingdom?
Thanks to the Barrs and the Sununus, and the tens of millions of below-average, broken-down Republicans littering our country, we are terrifyingly close to finding out.
It is up to the Left to take out the garbage once again in America, because the Right has lost its damn mind, as well as its sense of taste and smell.
At what point can all this FINALLY be delivered as fact and shouted on Page 1?
At what point can we quit pretending that both sides are even remotely the same?
NOW READ: What most assuredly happens when Trump sits down with the New York Times
D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. Follow @EarlofEnough and on his website.
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The Sunday News Shows were pretty interesting...
Sen. Marco Rubio goes on 'This Week' & speaks about a "Pro- Hamas Wing"(?). He's obviously Pro- Israel, but he tries 2 equate 1,200 Israeli deaths (hundreds killed by 'Friendly Fire') & the relocation of 90,000 Israeli squatters w/ over 30,000 dead Palestinians & the relocation of over 1.5 Million Gazans. Netanyahu faces criminal charges when he leaves Office, so he's motivated 2 keep his Campaign of Genocide going. Netanyahu & the Likud Party's lust 4 a 'Greater Israel' has made Bibi determined 2 force the Palestinian Population on Egypt, & Marco Rubio seems okay w/ that.
Sen. Rafael Warnock appeared on 'Face The Nation', & pretty much echoed Sen. Rubio on Israel. He called 'The State' of Israel an Ally, but R they? The History isn't lining up w/ the Washington D.C. narrative. AIPAC is definitely getting their money's worth! Warnock then stumbled over the question of Black Voter Apathy. Blackfolk want Freedom of Expression more than the Right 2 Vote 4 Anti Black Racist 'A' or Anti Black Racist 'B'... What's his view on Black Business & Job Development in Georgia? What about Black Home Ownership? Can We get ALL of these bootlicking Ministers out of Our Politics? We need POLICY, not Sermons. How many of them actually LIVE in 'The Hood'?
Following a curious disclaimer by Kristen Welker, she proceeded 2 grill Former RNC Chairwoman & Current NBC Contributer, Rona McDaniel on 'Meet The Press'. Nothing out of the ordinary 4 Kristen, but her Panel took it up a notch. Chuck Todd started by saying NBC owed Kristen an apology 4 interviewing McDaniel(???) He went on 2 slam his 'colleague' & question NBC's decision to hire her. The other Panelists more or less agreed w/ Chuck... I found that curious. NBC has been criticized 4 its Democratic Party affiliation; Chuck Todd came across like a 'Cool Kid' who didn't want Rona McDaniel sitting @ his lunch table. I thought they were supposed 2 B 'Teammates' who agree 2 disagree... I found Myself thinking about The NY Yankees acquiring Roger Clemens. Imagine if the Players shunned 'The Rocket', bcuz of his actions during his tenure w/ the Boston Red Sox? He 'beaned' A LOT of them over the Years... Where R the Adults in The Room?!
It's pretty clear that The Powers That B believe that They have dumbed down & polarized the American Public, 2 the point that Proxies call tell Us anything. Meanwhile, Conspiracy Theories of a Cancelled 2024 Presidential Election R growing. When Alexa & Siri both have it in their Algorithm, that's cause 4 concern. Nevermind the Fact that Joe Biden just signed the 2023 Budget @ the end of the 1st Quarter of 2024. When can We expect the 2024 Budget 2 B passed? Congress is awash in Lobbyist $$$, & Our Elected Officials R actually Corporate Vassals. This degree of decadence destroyed Rome, Mali, & Kongo; America is walking the same path. The Southern Invasion is only speeding up a historical Cycle.
I have said that 2024 is a Year of Affirmation, & it's clear what Politicians R affirming. Lucky 4 Us, Real Change doesn't come from Congress, it comes from The Streets.
-It's gonna B a HOT SUMMER Family!
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U.S. users email your representatives this, and make sure to include your zip code:
I am your constituent. I am strongly in favor of defunding Israel. I want my opinion logged on every single one of these pieces of legislation. It is an atrocity that the USA is sending our taxpayer dollars, weaponry, and other support to Israel in order to aid in the genocide of the Palestinian people. It does not reflect the will of your constituents, and I demand that you correct this by voting for/against the following bills, resolutions, and legislation.
To be frank, I will be basing my vote for you in upcoming elections on this issue. I will be watching closely to see how you vote on issues regarding funding to Israel. I will not vote for you in the next election if you vote to send any money, support, or weaponry to Israel. I will be voting for you if you vote to block money, support, and weaponry to Israel.
This is the current legislation I am for, and the current legislation I am against. I would like your office to record my opinion for each bill, and I would like you to take this into consideration when you vote.
I am FOR the following, and expect you to vote for this and co-sponsor, either now or when matching legislation reaches your office.
H.Res. 786: by Rep. Cori Bush
H.Res. 388 by Rep. Rashida Tlaib
H.R. 3103 by Rep. Betty McCollum
I am against Joe Biden’s proposal to spend billions of dollars on Israel via a package for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the US border. Biden is asking for $100 BILLION for this package and it is only 1 YEAR'S worth of funding. This is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable, and I am against you voting for ANY bill that spends even $1 on Israel. I do not care what else is in the bill. If it gives money to Israel, I am against it.
I am AGAINST the following, and expect you to vote against this and not co-sponsor, either now or when matching legislation reaches your office.
S. 3083 by Sen. Bill Hagerty [R-TN]
S.Res. 417 by Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer [D-NY]
H.Res. 797 by Rep. Cory Mills [R-FL7]
S. 3081 by Sen. Steve Daines [R-MT]
H.Res. 796 by Rep. Ernest “Tony” Gonzales [R-TX23]
S.Res. 413 by Sen. Marco Rubio
H.R. 552 by Rep. Lance Gooden
H.R. 5959 by Thomas Tiffany
S. 3081 by Sen. Steve Daines
H.Res. 789 by Rep. Jefferson Van Drew
H.Res. 771 by Rep. Michael McCaul
H.R. 5932 by Rep. David Schweikert
H.Res. 768 by Rep. Michael McCaul
H.Res. 770 by Rep. Zachary (Zach) Nunn
H.Res. 701 by Rep. Bradley “Brad” Schneider
H.Con.Res. 61 by Rep. Janice “Jan” Schakowsky
S. 2587 by Sen. Jon Tester
H.Res. 606 by Rep. Andrew Ogles
S. 2413 by Sen. Robert “Bob” Menendez
S. 2438 by Sen. Christopher Coons
H.R. 4709 by Rep. Josh Gottheimer
S.Con.Res. 14: by Sen. Tom Cotton
H.Con.Res. 57 by Rep. August Pfluger
H.R. 4665 by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart
S. 2265 by Sen. Dan Sullivan
S. 2226 by Sen. John F. “Jack” Reed
H.Res. 581 by Rep. Gregory Steube
S. 2240 by Sen. Christopher Coons
H.R. 4564 by Rep. Claudia Tenney
H.R. 4365 by Rep. Ken Calvert
H.R. 4076 by Rep. Chris Pappas
H.R. 3932 by Rep. Michael Turner
H.R. 3907 by Rep. Lois Frankel
S. 1802 by Sen. Gary Peters
H.R. 3792 by Rep. Joe Wilson
S. 1777 by Sen. Jacky Rosen
H.R. 3393 by Rep. Carlos Gimenez
H.Res. 409 by Rep. Carlos Gimenez
S. 1637 by Sen. Marco Rubio
H.R. 3266 by Rep. Brad Sherman
S. 1504 by Sen. Tom Cotton
H.R. 3099 by Rep. Michael Lawler
S.Res. 188 by Sen. Robert “Bob” Menendez
H.Res. 346 by Rep. Randy Weber
H.R. 2973 by Rep. Cathy Anne McMorris Rodgers
S. 1334: by Sen. Jacky Rosen
S. 1300 by Sen. Benjamin Cardin
H.Res. 311 by Rep. Ann Wagner
H.R. 2670 by Rep. Mike Rogers
H.R. 2531 by Rep. Bradley “Brad” Schneider
S. 1143 by Sen. Jerry Moran
H.R. 1777 by Rep. Joe Wilson
H.R. 1218 by Rep. August Pfluger
H.R. 1102 by Rep. Chip Roy
S. 510 by Sen. Tom Cotton
S. 489 by Sen. Rick Scott
S. 430 by Sen. James Risch
S. 431 by Sen. James Risch
H.R. 987 by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
H.Res. 92 by Rep. Josh Gottheimer
H.Res. 76 by Rep. Max Miller
H.R. 687 by Rep. Gregory Steube
H.R. 211 by Rep. Gregory Steube
S. 224 by Sen. Tom Cotton
S. 189 by Sen. Marco Rubio
I am against any legislation that allows troops to deploy to the Middle East in support roles for Israel, as proposed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
I am against Netanyahu’s ground invasion of Gaza, which will inevitably lead to mass killings of Palestinian civilians and escalate violence. If there are any future bills supporting this, you need to vote against them and not co-sponsor.
The U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Act stipulate that only Congress can authorize the president to use military force in a foreign war, except in cases of self-defense. Previous administrations from both parties have ignored this, with unauthorized strikes in places like Syria and Libya. I want you to stand against ANY use of military force that supports Israel or hurts Palestine.
And of course, I am against the usual funding of $3.8 billion PER YEAR to Israel. This 10-year agreement began in 2016. I do not want a renewal in 2026, and in the next election, I will vote for representatives who WILL NOT VOTE TO FUND ISRAEL. I will be keeping track of how you vote now, and I will not vote for you if you decide to fund Israel in any way.
I am a single-issue voter for this. I want you to defund Israel. I do not want a single dollar spent on supporting Israel. I will be paying attention to how you vote in the upcoming weeks and months, and if you vote to fund or provide weapons, troops, or intelligence to Israel, I will NOT vote for you in the next election.
We are paying attention to the budget. We know when you're giving aid to a country committing genocide instead of helping your constituents in the USA. Both myself and tens of thousands of other constituents have spent years saying that we don’t want our hard-earned taxpayer dollars going to Israel. The lack of willingness to fund anything for American citizens, but the quickness with which you take action for Israel is telling. It is unacceptable.
As an elected official, you have the opportunity to listen to the public and stand against genocide. Israel is currently committing war crimes against Palestine. You can stop this by defunding Israel. THOUSANDS of Palestinian people have been killed, 1/3 of them children, in just a couple of days. One child every 15 minutes is being killed. YOU can prevent this by refusing to send additional weapons and funding to Israel.
We are currently spending BILLIONS of dollars EVERY YEAR on Israel. I do not want my money going towards the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians. Not a dollar more.
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An anti-transgender US Congress Senate Bill mentions DID
August 16, 2023
The site LegiScan.com is for tracking US legislation. It lets you arrange to receive email alerts for whether any new bills use keywords you're interested in. It recently notified me of a new one that mentions Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which is a form of plurality.
General info about the bill and its main purpose: US Congress Senate Bill 2394 is for opposing the rights of transgender youth. This bill is harmful for human rights. Four Republican Senators introduced the bill on July 19, 2023: Sen. Tom Cotton (Arkansas), Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio), Sen. Josh Hawley (Missouri), and Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida).
How the bill also involves plurality: The mention of DID happens once, on page 2, line 25: "... regardless of any medical diagnosis or indication of gender dysphoria, body dysphoria, dissociative identity disorder, or social anxiety disorder." You can see this line in the PDF of the bill as it was introduced.
Progress toward law: Currently, the bill is at 25% progression, meaning it hasn't passed yet. You can follow its progress on LegiScan here, or on the bill's US State Legislature page. If you live in the US, you can help stop bad bills from becoming laws. To learn how, look up how to provide legislative testimony.
The above article was originally posted on the Otherkin News blog on Dreamwidth on August 16, 2023, where you can also see and participate in its forum conversation.
#fffff noticing a month later that i hadn't crossposted this yet#it's still current though#dissociative identity disorder#transphobia#us politics#uspol
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Florida Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott called on Senate leaders Friday to provide more funding to help Florida rebuild after the devastating Hurricane Ian wiped out buildings, roads and power for millions of people.
Why It Matters: Several members of Congress from Florida previously voted against a short-term spending bill that includes aid for disaster relief.
What They Said: Rubio and Scott sent a joint letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee chairs that requested "much-needed assistance to Florida."
• “Hurricane Ian will be remembered and studied as one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States,” the Florida Senators wrote. “Communities across Florida have been completely destroyed, and lives have been forever changed."
• “A robust and timely federal response, including through supplemental programs and funding, will be required to ensure that sufficient resources are provided to rebuild critical infrastructure and public services capacity, and to assist our fellow Floridians in rebuilding their lives.”
• Rubio's office did not immediately return Axios' request for comment.
Yes, But: Florida lawmakers already opposed major disaster relief earlier this week.
Flashback: The Senate passed a stopgap bill Thursday to fund the government through December that included an $18.8 billion fund for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help states with natural disasters, CNBC reports.
• Scott voted against the bill, per the Senate roll call. Rubio was not present for the vote.
• The House voted in favor of the bill Friday. All 16 GOP members of Florida's Congressional team voted against it, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
Scott's office pointed to a statement released Friday that said the continuing resolution (CR) in the bill "contains no funding for Florida’s response to Hurricane Ian."
• “Prior to Ian’s development, l made clear that I fully supported the proposed disaster funding for other states," Scott said in a statement.
• "This CR failed to fund the federal government until the new Congress begins in 2023, and that is why I could not support it.”
Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz criticized Floridian lawmakers for not approving the measure.
• “The same week that Hurricane Ian brought so much chaos and destruction to Florida, not a single Florida Republican cared enough to vote in favor of hurricane relief for the people in their own state hit hardest by the storm," he said, per the Democrat.
• "That is a level of callous indifference and political opportunism that boggles the mind."
The Big Picture: Multiple Republicans in Congress previously opposed hurricane relief packages or supported proposals that aimed to reduce the amount of federal money given to major storm relief, according to the Daily Beast.
Go Deeper: Ian to weaken overnight, NHC says
Death and destructions are not the only things Hurricane Ian brought to Florida this week. Along with the storm surge and high winds which devastated the southwestern portion of the Sunshine State, Governor Ron DeSantis’ chickens have also come home to roost.
The man who first made his name in Congress by opposing hurricane relief is now begging the federal government to bail out his state. In doing so, he’s providing a timely reminder to the American people as to why Republicans — and DeSantis specifically — cannot be trusted to govern this great country.
First, let’s state what should go without saying: Floridians need and deserve our help. Following tornadoes in the western portion of Kentucky last year and flooding in the eastern part this year, I condemned liberals who suggested my home state “reaped what it sowed” by voting for the likes of Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. Florida is no exception. The people there, regardless of politics, are human beings and our fellow Americans. We have a moral and patriotic duty to come to their aid.
Yet, there was one thing those Twitter liberals got right: their criticism of McConnell and Paul. They too have opposed disaster relief for other (Democratic) areas. Indeed, Republicans seem to only care about Americans when they’re in red states. That’s despicable.
Florida’s answer to these heartless and calculating politicians is, of course, Ron DeSantis. We know just how cruel he can be – this is the man who ‘kidnapped’ refugees and flew them halfway across the country just this month. But DeSantis has always shown his true colors, going back to his earliest days as a Tea Party congressman.
In January 2013, the newly elected Congressman DeSantis opposed a $9.7 billion flood insurance aid package to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey. Though he expressed sympathy for the victims, he said that “allowing the program to increase its debt by another $9.7 billion with no plan to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere is not fiscally responsible.” In short, DeSantis was sorry for what happened, but not enough to help. His response was basically the equivalent of a shrug emoji.
Fast forward nine-and-a-half years. Now-Governor DeSantis wants the federal government to pick up 100% of the cost for debris removal and emergency protective measures for the 60 days following the hurricane. Yet when people bring up his hypocrisy, the Governor’s spokesman says that “we have no time for politics or pettiness.”
It isn’t politics or pettiness to point out a glaring double-standard, one that seems to prove Republicans are incapable of caring for anyone but themselves. Nor is it petty to point out that Florida — a state governed by Republicans since 1999 and in which Republicans control both houses of the legislature — is in the midst of an insurance crisis.
Since the beginning of 2020, ABC News reports, “at least a dozen insurance companies in the state have gone out of business, including six this year alone.” A further 30 are being watched by the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation “because of financial instability.” Meanwhile, the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corporation — created as a last resort for desperate homeowners — has seen the number of policies it underwrites more than double since 2020.
The problems facing Florida’s homeowners are compounded by the shockingly low levels of flood insurance in a state barely above sea level. The New York Times reports that in the counties under an evacuation order for Hurricane Ian, only 18.5% of homes are covered through the National Flood Insurance Program. Of those, only 47.3% of homes inside government-designated floodplains have flood insurance, while outside of the area designated a floodplain by the NFIP — areas still very likely to have been damaged by the storm surge — only about 9.4% have flood insurance.
Ian, like Sandy in 2012, was more of a flood event than a wind event. As such, traditional homeowners’ and even hurricane insurance is unlikely to cover much of the damage. Those without flood insurance will be left to foot the bill to recover and rebuild, or to rely on the government for assistance.
In fairness, not all of this is DeSantis’ fault. He can’t control the fact that Florida is susceptible to hurricanes, nor can he control whether people have flood insurance or national insurers do business in the state. I’m also not inclined to blame him for the rampant litigation and insurance fraud in the state.
But it’s worth noting that insurance premiums more than doubled during DeSantis’ term. Former governor Charlie Crist, who is DeSantis’ Democratic opponent in his race for reelection, pointed out that “Floridians now pay the highest property insurance premiums in the country.”
Despite a new law allocating $2 billion to a reinsurance fund, which Bankrate says “can help home insurance companies share risk, which lessens the likelihood that any one company will become insolvent,” the damage from Hurricane Ian is likely to far exceed what that reinsurance fund can handle. It’s no surprise, then, that DeSantis is looking to Washington — and to President Biden, a man he routinely denigrates and insults — to bail his state out.
Washington and President Biden should and, I expect, will do just that — because unlike Ron DeSantis, Joe Biden is a decent man. He doesn’t play politics with people’s lives and homes the way DeSantis has done from quite literally the moment he first entered Congress. Biden will help Florida, not because it is politically beneficial to him, but because it is the right thing to do.
DeSantis will, no doubt, try to take credit for that. We should not let him. The man has shown us who he is time and again. The only reason he is advocating federal aid in this disaster is because it’s his own state, one which will suffer immense economic and humanitarian harm without it. Had this hurricane hit a blue state, though, DeSantis would probably be demanding we let our fellow citizens fend for themselves.
#us politics#news#twitter#tweet#2022#republicans#conservatives#florida#hurricane ian#natural disasters#sen. rick scott#sen. marco rubio#rep. Gerry Connolly#gov. ron desantis#op eds#the independent#National Flood Insurance Program#the new york times#Citizens Property Insurance Corporation#abc news#bankrate#hurricane sandy#sen. mitch mcconnell#sen. rand paul#GOP
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#us politics#nra#national rifle association#blood money#corporate lobbying#lobbyists#get money out of politics#sen. mitch mcconnell#sen. ron johnson#sen. marsha blackburn#sen. tom cotton#Sen. rob Portman#sen. joni ernst#sen. marco rubio#sen. mitt romney#gop#conservatives#Republicans#2022
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The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear whether a California lawyer can register the phrase “Trump too small” as a federal trademark on t-shirts.
Since 2018, Steve Elster has been attempting to register the mark “Trump too small” for use on t-shirts that criticize former President Donald Trump. Elster’s application was denied due to a federal statute that prohibits trademarks containing a person’s name unless that person gives written consent.
Last year, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that Elster’s proposed trademark goes to “the heart of the First Amendment” because it is intended to poke fun at a government official. Barring Elster from registering the trademark was unconstitutional, the court ruled.
The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to weigh in because a lower court had invalidated a federal law.
The phrase “Trump too small” originates from an exchange of taunts between Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who at the time were rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Trump often called Rubio “Little Marco,” and in response, Rubio criticized the size of Trump’s hands during a campaign stop.
The court will hear oral arguments in the case, Vidal v. Elster, in late 2023 or early 2024.
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Senator Marco Rubio worries craft retrieval programs are being run by 'internal military complex' that is 'accountable to no one'
In unaired interview segments with NewsNation, Sen. Rubio expressed serious concern that Deep State views US 'elected officials' as 'temporary employees'
Whatever the truth of UFO whistleblowers' claims, 'We can't ignore it,' Rubio said
Senator Rubio — in the unaired portions of his interview with NewsNation on Monday — voiced concern over the apparent and 'very problematic' lawlessness of the alleged UFO crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program.
Behind closed doors, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where Senator Rubio is vice chairman, has heard even more 'firsthand' testimony on these covert UFO programs from senior military and intelligence whistleblowers beyond David Grusch.
In a complete and uncut transcript of his recent interview, supplied to the DailyMail.com by a member of Senator Rubio's office, Rubio described the alleged UFO program as 'in essence, some sort of an internal military complex that's their own government and is accountable to no one.'
'It would be a huge problem,' the Florida Republican said, 'if it's even partially true.'
'The existence of complex historical programs involving the coordinated retrieval and study of exotic materials, dating back to the early 20th century, should no longer remain a secret,' in David Grusch's view.
But Grusch has also claimed that the information has been illegally withheld from Congress as the military, the intelligence community and their private contractors have raced to quietly take advantage of the technology.
Senator Rubio did not mince words on the gravity of these allegations, in the cut portions of his NewsNation interview.
'If that is accurate,' Rubio said, 'what you're basically saying is that within the government of the United States, there's a group of people who believe that they possess something that they don't need to share with anybody including elected officials who they view as temporary employees.'
Although the US Intelligence Community Inspector General found Grusch's whistleblower complaint 'credible and urgent' in July 2022, Sen. Rubio was careful to note the many remaining questions regarding the truth of these allegations.
'There are 1 of 2 things here that are true,' Rubio said in his unaired response, 'Either what he is saying is partially true or entirely true, or we have some really smart, educated people with high clearances and very important positions in our government who are crazy and are leading us on a goose chase.'
Having attended classified briefings by both Grusch and some 'firsthand' witnesses with 'very high clearances' to the government's UFO reverse-engineering program, Rubio admitted that he was still 'not in a position yet to make that judgment.'
But the senator believes that these whistleblower claims demand attention no matter what the truth underlying them is revealed to be.
'Either one is a problem,' Rubio said. 'Either what they're telling us is true — or we've got some people in important positions that are doing this for some reason.'
'We've got to figure this out,' the senator said, 'We can't ignore it.'
The Senator noted that whether the reality of the threat comes from America's adversaries abroad, 'non-human intelligences,' or unaccountable domestic actors from the military and defense sector, the credibility of the witnesses require action.
'People who we entrusted to do some really important things for our country are saying some pretty incredible things,' Rubio said, 'that I think we have an obligation to take seriously and listen to.'
'We are getting more information now,' he added, 'more people [are] coming forward than at any time in the history of our country about this.'
'We need to find answers,' Rubio emphasized, 'because at the end of the day, anytime agencies of the federal government are unsupervised and do whatever they want, it's generally not a good outcome for the country.'
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