USA News and Discussions

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caltrek
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Sinema Sparks Fury by Choosing Filibuster Over Democracy
Jake Johnson
January 13, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... -democracy

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was met with a torrent of outrage on Thursday after she delivered a floor speech reiterating her opposition to weakening the Senate's 60-vote threshold, striking a major blow to her party's plan to finally overcome Republican obstruction of voting rights legislation.

"While I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country," Sinema (D-Ariz.) said, referring to the Democratic leadership's plan to pursue changes to the 60-vote filibuster if GOP senators continue to block the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
From a follow-up article, also by Jake Johnson in Common Drreams:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... r-hell-out

Extract:
Referring to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's (D-Ariz.) Thursday speech defending the 60-vote legislative filibuster, Martin Luther King III argued Saturday that "what she said is, 'I support voting rights, but not as much as I support the ability of someone to take those rights away.'"
"The filibuster is a meaningless Senate rule," he added. "It's a remnant of slavery used to block civil rights for generations."

The Arizona Democrat's refusal to consider even a voting rights exception for the filibuster has infuriated Arizona residents who've watched the state's Republican-controlled legislature ram through voter suppression measures along party lines, making a mockery of Sinema's purported desire for bipartisan cooperation.

"I want the Senate to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and the only way that will happen is if we carve out the filibuster," Tessa Williams, an Arizonan who attended Saturday's demonstrations in Phoenix, told the local Arizona Republic. "It's critical to protect the right to vote. It's under threat right now, and I think it's much more important that Senator Sinema gets behind this legislation than hold on to the filibuster."

Sinema's speech Thursday—delivered just before President Joe Biden addressed the Senate Democratic caucus in a closed-door meeting—intensified calls for her ouster in 2024, the end of her first six-year term. A recent Data for Progress survey showed that 70% of likely Arizona Democratic primary voters disapprove of Sinema's job performance.
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caltrek
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Early last year we argued about whether the events of January 6 constituted a coup or were just the results of some kind of organized riot. Well, now that the Justice Department has had a chance to investigate, this is what seems to be emerging:


Former Federal Prosecutor Indicates DOJ Believes It Can Prove Insurrection Was 'Armed Effort to Overthrow Our Government'
David Badash
January 16, 2022

https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/jan-6-2656415546/

Introduction:
(Alternet) A well-known former federal prosecutor is making clear how significant it is that the Dept. of Justice decided to charge eleven people, mostly members of the far right wing anti-government extremist group Oath Keepers, with seditious conspiracy on Thursday.

Joyce Vance, the former U.S. Attorney for Alabama for eight years who is now a law professor and MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst, says the fact that DOJ used that charge on Thursday is “very significant” and means they believe they can prove January 6 was “an armed effort to overthrow our government.”

The Justice Department when it speaks has a different burden than when folks in the political arena or in the news media speak,” Vance said Friday afternoon on MSNBC. “DOJ knows that if it makes an allegation, it has to be able to prove it in court with admissible evidence beyond the reasonable doubt. So the fact that DOJ is now calling what happened on January 6 “an insurrection” and referencing violence and the firearms – the storing of firearms across the river that you all have just been talking about, strikes me as very significant. It confirms the importance of this event. It was not a tourist day in D.C. It was not a riot. It was a an armed effort to overthrow our government.”

Vance says she believes DOJ has “a strong case,” says it’s clear DOJ has “cooperating individuals who’ve turned over, for instance, private communications that would be very difficult to obtain.”

“The fact that they have access to these communications, that they know who was talking to who but more importantly, what they were saying is essential in proving that conspiracy.”
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weatheriscool
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Biden administration suspends 44 flights by Chinese airlines
Source: Axios
The Transportation Department said on Friday that it is suspending 44 China-bound flights conducted by the country's airlines after the Chinese government canceled dozens of flights from American carriers.

Driving the news: Chinese authorities have suspended 44 flights since Dec. 31 from United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Airlines due to coronavirus concerns.

What they're saying: DOT said that the Chinese government's actions "are adverse to the public interest and warrant proportionate remedial action by the Department."

Its "unilateral actions against the named U.S. carriers are inconsistent with the provisions of the agreement and are premised on circumstances wholly outside of the carriers’ control," the department added, referring to a U.S.-China bilateral agreement.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/biden-transportat ... c38da.html
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Biden administration raises minimum wage for federal employees to $15
Source: Axios
Federal agencies are being directed to raise the minimum wages for government employees to $15 an hour, according to new guidance from the Office of Personnel Management shared first with Axios.

Why it matters: The guidance will impact almost 70,000 federal employees, most of which work at the Departments of Agriculture, Defense and Veterans Affairs. OPM is directing agencies to implement the new wage by Jan. 30.

The largest share of employees, more than 56,000 people, currently paid below $15 work at the DOD.

Catch up fast: During his first week in office, President Biden signed an executive order directing OPM — which serves as the chief human resources agency and personnel policy manager for the federal government — to provide a report to the president with recommendations to promote a $15 per hour minimum wage for federal workers.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/minimum-wage-incr ... 98f50.html
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wjfox wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:56 am
can we set up the guillotines yet? seriously what the hell are people waiting for?
weatheriscool
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He pretty much said that blacks vote as much as anyone else and don't need any extra help. In fact blacks vote and come out on election day at a higher percentage then any other group...

I forgot the number and % but I remember that it was quite high. Much higher then hispanics...Hispanics make up 18% of this country and only make up 13% of the electrate while blacks make up 13% and make up about that number of the electrate.
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Republicans vote to allow 18-year-olds to carry concealed weapons on school property

Posted: Jan 20, 2022 5:10 PM CST

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Republicans in the state Assembly passed a series of bills to expand gun laws in the badger state, including a proposal to allow some high school students and parents to have firearms on school property.

During the Assembly's return to the floor since the new year, Republicans passed legislation that would lower the concealed carry age from 21 to 18, allow legal gun owners to have their weapon in their vehicle when dropping off or picking up their child from school, and allow anyone with a concealed carry license from any state to be armed in Wisconsin.

With gun violence on the rise in Wisconsin and across the nation, Republicans believe more residents should be able to carry a gun legally to protect themselves.

State Rep. Shae Sortwell (R-Two Rivers), author of the bill to lower the concealed carry age, contends if 18-year-olds can vote, they should be allowed to arm themselves.

"They are mature enough, they are adult enough to make these decisions and yet we are going to deny them the basic human right of self-defense?" Sortwell said.

https://www.cbs58.com/news/republicans- ... l-property
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The Roots of Republican Paranoia
by Daniel Cubas
January 19, 2022

https://manomagazine.com/the-roots-of-r ... -paranoia/

Introduction:
(Mano) They’re coming for you.

OK, I don’t know exactly who “they” are. But trust me, if you are a Republican, you’re next.

Yes, the “ludicrous idea that conservatives are particularly oppressed has been a theme of right-wing activism at large throughout the Trump era.” And we have now reached the logical conclusion of a political movement based upon fictional persecution, which is that “all of American life is a woke hellscape” that true patriots must vanquish.

For example, if a thuggish teenager murders a couple of people in the street, he becomes an “avatar of this imagined oppression for the next generation of conservatives,” who are outraged that “the system dared put him on trial for it.” Similarly, lunatics who stormed the Capitol and are now on trial are the real victims of the January 6 riot, because some of them might miss their Caribbean vacations.

The laughable idea that liberals are suppressing conservatives is engrained as a hard truth within the Republican Party. Indeed, “conservative activism hinges on the idea that the system isn’t fair to them,” and that their only recourse is often violence.
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