The Speaker is dealing with a very slim majority so the decision to postpone votes until next week might relate to the prospect of his majority being increased by at least two following the special elections in Florida. While the issue involved in the rule change might not seem significant, allowing a small number of members to successfully defy the leadership by aligning with the opposition party is very detrimental to maintaining party discipline. This has always been the difference between republican and democrat leadership success. Democrats impose discipline while Republicans herd cats.
AG Bondi was not announced as the nominee until November 21, 2024. She was not confirmed by the Senate until February 4, 2025 which is less than two months ago. She is now in charge of a Department with approximately 116,000 employees. She does not arrest people; she supervises people who supervise people who supervise people who supervise people who arrest people. Before people who arrest people arrest them, they normally have to obtain evidence of crimes and present that evidence to Grand Juries and obtain indictments. The process takes time and if shortcuts are taken, the guilty usually go free.
Patience is a virtue many of us lack. Possibly it is because we have grown up with television and movies showing major crimes being committed, solved, and punishment meted out in a one to three hour episodes. The real world doesn't work that way. We are in for a long haul and a disappointing one unless we get control of our expectations.
Sorry for not getting back sooner. No, the VP and cabinet officers did not do their job and thankfully they were removed by the voters in the last election.
After reviewing your comment, I must admit I totally missed your point. I mistakenly thought you were advocating for court involvement in monitoring the presidents mental qualifications. Considering our judiciary that would we scary. For what it is worth, I agree with the view that it is futile to expect anything to be done at this point. Facing reality is often difficult (as is admitting error). Have a good rest of the day.
Line Item Veto is allowed in my home state and I have always believed it would be good on a National level but the Supreme Court found otherwise in the 1998 case of Clinton v. City of New York. Their decision was based on the Separation of Powers doctrine. Congress had enacted a law authorizing the line item veto and President Clinton had used it, but on appeal the Supreme Court held in a 6 to 3 decision that when congress passed a law, the Constitution gave the President authority to approve or disapprove but not the power to amend or change legislation. They also held that Congress could not change the Constitution by enacting legislation granting this power to the President. In short, a Line Item Veto could only be authorized by means of a Constitutional Amendment.
There are currently only two members of NATO with real military forces. The first is The United States and the other is Turkey. Without consent of these two dominant members, no military action or Article 5 protection under the NATO treaty can be initiated. Any action in or related to Ukraine by France, UK, Italy or Germany will not bind any other NATO member.
If The United States withdraws from NATO, our ability to constrain the other members is lost and these weak leaders could possibly stumble into a wider conflict that would have the potential of eventually dragging us in. Without The United States as a member, I would worry more about Turkey occupying Greece and Syria than France, UK, and Germany mustering enough force to bother Russia. Italy is going to be Italy regardless of who is momentarily in charge.
That was his speech in the binder. It will go in the Presidential archives and eventually be in his Presidential Library. For formal speeches, he does use a teleprompter. He has good speechwriters who are familiar with his style and he appears to go off script at times.
If there have been 4.6 million credit cards issued since the credit card program was adopted by the government that would probably not be a problem. If there are 6 million credit cards active during any one year, that would definitely be a problem. I would not doubt the latter.
Times have certainly changed. As a child, we knew we would get the measles and mumps but we wanted it to be during the school term so you had an excuse to stay home. Unfortunately, I go them all during summer vacation so no benefit at all.
The leadership team for the U S Attorney office in the Southern District of New York is in a difficult situation. The way this has worked out, the national spotlight is now focused directly on them and they are not in any position to delay, deny, cover up or destroy any evidence without facing severe consequences. Dismissal would be the least of their worries. The Attorney General and her team can not survive a retreat and anything other than full compliance with her orders will have to be dealt harshly. There are too many people who know what is going on for any kind of cover up to be successful. I suspect the U S Attorney in New York and those around him will realize they are in a no win situation.
Things have really changed since my army days. Pay was $78 per month before taxes and mandatory contributions to United Fund. The Mess Hall served three meals a day with the only contribution being KP duty once or twice a month. Food wasn’t always what you wanted but was plentiful and nutritious. Officers and enlisted ate the same with enlisted going first. Looking back 60 years things weren’t nearly as bad as they seemed at the time.
Jasmine Crockett represents Texas's 30th Congressional District. Before her the District was represented by Eddie Bernice Johnson. As strange as it may sound, Crockett is probably as good as you are going to get out of that district. The 30th is comparable to the Texas 18th District represented for years by the late Sheila Jackson Lee.
Don’t forget the Earned Income Tax Credit. A alien can report moderate income on an income tax return claiming multiple minor children and receive refund of all withheld tax as well as up to $7,800 Tax Credit for the children. While a citizen must prove existence of his children by showing a Social Security number, the alien filer doesn’t have to prove his claimed dependents in any way.
It only takes a simple majority in the House to impeach. Conviction by the Senate requires a two thirds majority. I agree that in the current climate conviction and removal is highly unlikely; however impeachment alone would go a long way in reining in rouge district judges. Once impeached, their lives would be disrupted for a considerable period of time. The higher courts, including the Supreme Court would be on notice and would likely take a more active roll in policing the subordinate courts. Oftentimes just a credible threat is sufficient to cause change in behavior.
Zeldin is trying to be cute by equating the Biden Administration with the Titanic and wasted money as Gold Bars. Many people, including my 83 year old brother, are taking this literally. It took a half hour to convince him that a ship crew didn’t actually throw gold bars overboard. He finally understood that this was an improper electronic transfer of 20 billion dollars by Biden officials in the final days before Trump took office. As he left, I heard him muttering “why the hell don’t people just say what they mean”. I have to agree with him. In a perverse way, the use of hyperbole softens the impact of the story.
McConnell stood strong and prevented Merrick Garland from being placed on the Supreme Court. Now he will be remembered as a powerless and bitter old man trying to settle petty grievances. Sad to see any man end his time in such a pitiful state.
The only positions provided for in the constitution subject to popular election are members of the House of Representatives, and, since ratification of the the 17th Amendment, members of the Senate. That currently totals 535 positions.
Neither the President nor Vice President are subject to popular election. Both are elected by members of the Electoral College whose members are selected by such means as each State may direct. At this time all states select their Electors by popular vote.
Everyone else is appointed in one way or the other. Stephen Miller is correct.
Translation: “To encourage others”.