Operating under the principal that for every action, there is an equal an opposite reaction: have any of these republican state representatives stopped to think how a democratic incumbent president would respond if the republican state legislature overruled the will of their states voters showing that the democrat won?

Chinese Billionaire Gets 18 Years for "Provoking Trouble"

This is an important lesson that every American capitalist needs to understand: just like the honey badger, authoritarians don't care. Authoritarians don't give a f..k about how much money a person has because they know that power trumps money each and every time. Xi is doing it in China, Putin has done it in Russia.

The only way that rich people will be able to keep their money, their freedom and maybe even their lives is if democracy and the rule of law prevails. Now, on the other hand, if their wealth was gained illegally, rich people have an incentive to prefer authoritarianism because eventually the rule of law will likely take their wealth and their freedom.

Just another example of how the senate is dysfunctional.

Individual senators have to much power. Senate rules need to change so that they function like the HOR. More would get done and the public would know where each senator stood on the issues because they would be forced to vote more often; no hiding behind the filibuster or some other senator that wanted to take the lead on an issue by gumming up the works.

The brilliance of the select committee is that Nancy has final say as to which GQP members get on the committee, and they will have zero power.

That is not the only brilliant move. Several others come to mind: 1) Dems don't need republicans to form a quorum! This makes it possible for the committee to do its business without any republican participation; 2) By naming a republican, Liz Cheney, dems can claim that the committee is bi-partisan; 3) Even with full participation by republicans (6), there are more dems (7) on the committee than republicans.

Brilliant. Just effin brilliant.

Biden must send warships into Havana harbor and eliminate the communist regime.
Why Cuba?

You can't do this without the CIA and the FBI. We're the guys with the guns.

To paraphrase the NRA: The only thing that stops a bad guy is a good guy with a gun.

Why do I get the impression that McCarthy isn't happy that Trump announced their meeting?

It's a corruption of the system.

Of course it is! Prosecutors have to much discretion to prosecute/not prosecute. In addition to police reform, we also need prosecutorial reform.

The grand jury is supposed to be a check on prosecutors but they are easily manipulated. Prosecutors need to be held accountable for the bad decisions that they make; especially when it involves withholding evidence from the defense that could exonerate someone.

Why are Christians involved in so many crimes, atrocities, attempted coups, etc?

They are troubled people that recognize that their soul needs saving.

If you want people on board, 100% of Americans will support equal opportunity

Equal opportunity is necessary but not sufficient to deal with the racial inequities that exists. Equal opportunity assumes that everyone is at the same starting point which is not the case. Because of long term structural inequities, blacks are not at the behind the starting point. If you were officiating a race and you wanted a fair race, some accommodation would have to be made for those starting behind the starting point.

Now, if you were a competitor in the race and believed in meritocracy, you would not want to compete if you knew that your competitors started behind you because you would know that your victory would be tarnished. On the other hand, perhaps meritocracy is overrated and the goal is to win at all costs.

Of course the one dissenter was Thomas. What a joke he is.

I agree with Thomas on this decision (Somebody pinch me! I don't believe that I just wrote that!). Participation in school related clubs is not a right; its a privilege. And, as a privilege, the club should have the right to set the rules for participation. Though not stated in the article, I am pretty sure that membership on the cheer squad is not automatic.

I think the problem with the school's action was that the school made the decision to punish the kid and not the club (i.e. cheer squad). Did the cheer squad have any rules about off campus behavior? Probably not. And that, I think, is where the problem lies. If the cheer squad had in place provisions in its membership rules that constrained off campus behavior, the SCOTUS decision might have been different.

For every black person unjustly killed by the police a white person was killed in a similar situation but the media chooses to ignore it and because you're lazy and ignorant you choose to buy into their BS narrative.

If you truly believe that whites are unjustly killed by police, why are you so antagonistic to the media hype about blacks being killed by police? Something needs to be done about unjust police actions and the American people should be thankful that a shining light is bringing these issues to the public's attention.

A similar situation exists with respect to affirmative action. The plight of black folk focused attention on the need for AA. Sure, black folk did benefit from AA but who else benefited? It's been said that white males over 40 and white females benefited even more from AA than did black folk! Why is that? Investigation into the structural racism that existed/exists in hiring/promotion policies uncovered the structural sexism and ageism that also existed. So the thinking went, if we're going to address racism, we should also address sexism and ageism.

That's quite a statement coming from Ms Abrams, but it does not surprise me. Indeed, it reflects my opinion of voter ID requirements, an opinion I've stated repeatedly here on this august board.

Ms. Abrams concept of voter id is VERY different from republican's concept of voter id. Abrams does not require that the id be issued by the government. It could be a utility bill, credit card, library card, student id, etc. However, republicans want a government issued id i.e. driver's license, voter id card, gun license, etc.

McConnell has already stated that he can't imagine any republican voting for the Manchin's compromise. In any event, dems expect to put a bill (that I assume will include Manchin's changes) on the floor this coming Tuesday. Then we will see how much republican support it receives. If republicans were smart, they should sacrifice 10 senators to vote for the bill. Otherwise, Manchin will side with the other dems to do away with the filibuster and, if the filibuster falls, Katy bar the door because there will be a mad dash to pass the entirety of the Biden/democrat agenda before the year is out.

That's quite a statement about voter ID coming from Ms Abrams, but it does not surprise me.

Don't get to excited. From Manchin's perspective, the id doesn't have to be a government issued card. It can be a utility bill, library card, credit card, etc. that has the voter's name on it. Needless to say, republicans ain't buying it. McConnell has already announced that Manchin's changes are unlikely to garner any republican support.

Since the victors get to write the history, it's not surprising that historians will be kind to the victors. Only after an appropriate amount of time has lapsed, will different perspectives emerge. As with this story about Texas, so it is about Critical Race Theory.

Different people will view history through different lens. However, facts, supported by documentary evidence are uncontestable. From what I've read, the issue with CRT seems to have more to do with when children should be exposed to it. Personally, I don't think you should teach an American History class without touching on certain elements of CRT. Since high school is the last formal education that many kids will get, turning them out to the world without an true understanding of how things are the way they are is a disservice to the kid. Without that truth, people will be more susceptible to lies.

Of all the good things that Garland said, the thing that got an audible response from me was the statement: "Particularly concerning in this regard are several studies showing that, in some jurisdictions, nonwhite voters must wait in line substantially longer than white voters to cast their ballots."

Forcing non white voters to wait in line for hours just to vote has, for decades, been a tactic used to deter them from voting. Making voting easier during the pandemic revealed how much of a deterrent long vote wait times had been. As a result, republicans have renewed their efforts to suppress the non white vote by repealing pandemic era voting reforms that made it easier to vote.

I use to have hope for the GOP at local and state levels. That hope has been dashed because EVERY election is now nationalized; even school board elections. Republicans are putting in practice the war time philosophy of Winston Churchill:

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender".

If while in office, any governmental official makes defamatory comments related to a personal matter or any matter unrelated to their oath of office, they deserve to be prosecuted once they leave office.

The oath of office is not just ceremonial, it defines the scope of their duties and responsibilities.

I find it interesting that some progressives in the HOR are now taking the position that they will not vote for an infrastructure bill that was passed by the senate if the sole purpose of which was to achieve bipartisanship.

In fact, it would be interesting if some of them send a message to Joe Manchin by taking the position that they would not support the infrastructure bill if West Virginia received any funding.

Two can play that game.

As one of us argued[1] when the lawsuit was first brought, Trump's strongest argument is that he enjoys absolute civil immunity for actions taken in his official capacity as president.

A POTUS, operating outside the boundaries as determined by his oath of office, is not operating in his official capacity as president.

Dotard did not just deny the accusations, he also called Carroll a liar, which is defamation. Had he simply said, "I have no idea what you're talking about, I did not do that," and left it at that, he'd have been fine,

Agreed! Also, a case could be made that the DOJ's position during the time that Trump was POTUS, was justified. However, now that he is just another citizen, the DOJ's continued support is untenable.

I hope that she is able to continue appealing until the SCOTUS rules.

Israel to Ask U.S. for $1 Billion in Emergency Military Aid

Not just no but HELL NO!

the GOP is running the risk of delivering only vituperative diatribes to their voters, instead of roads, bridges, and enhancements to social programs...

Not to worry. They will still get their roads, bridges, etc. because the dems will force through the legislation that will make their roads, bridges, etc. possible. Then, repugs will take credit for "bringing home the bacon" and their dumba.. constituents will rejoice.

Republican duplicity when it comes to taking credit for things they didn't support makes me wish for earlier days when earmarks were used. Congress critters that didn't support legislation were punished by not having their favorite projects funded and therefore could not take credit for something that they had nothing to do with.

Ok Joe Manchin. You were the one who said that you could work with republicans. What happened? Did they show you their collective arses? Now that you have been kicked in the teeth, what are you going to do about it?

Congress was engaged in a constitutionally prescribed activity that Trump swore an oath to protect. That oath sets him apart from the protections provided to ordinary citizens.

Unless the civilized world immediately bans all flights to and from Belarus, other tyrants will do the same.