“The American people elected a Senate that is evenly split at 50-50,” Mr. McConnell said in his first statement since word of the retirement leaked. “To the degree that President Biden received a mandate, it was to govern from the middle, steward our institutions and unite America. The president must not outsource this important decision to the radical left. The American people deserve a nominee with demonstrated reverence for the written text of our laws and our Constitution.”
Pragmatic politics focused on the public interest for those uncomfortable with America's two-party system and its way of doing politics. Considering the interface of politics with psychology, cognitive biology, social behavior, morality and history.
Etiquette
Friday, January 28, 2022
Republican hypocrisy and lies on display, once again
Quota filling...
I like balance. Balance is good. I like symmetry. And I really like that elusive idea of “fairness.” I know, I know... in these tribal days, call me silly.
For example, I’m glad that Biden promised to nominate a
woman on the Supreme Court. That gives
it more balance. Some might consider
that quota-filling:
Definition of quota
1: a proportional part or share especially : the share or proportion assigned to each in a division or to each member of a body
2: the number or amount constituting a proportional share
3: a fixed number or percentage of minority group members or women needed to meet the requirements of affirmative action
So, this leads to a couple of questions:
1. Are you for quota-filling, whether it be in government,
schools, workplace, etc.? Give your
pro/con reasons.
2. Is the United States the kind of country that needs to have
quota-filling mandated, else top (usually) man on totem pole constantly keeps his “side”
in power?
Thanks for posting and recommending.
Thursday, January 27, 2022
The deep and bitter the American reality divide
BENSON, Minn. (AP) — The newspaper hit the front porches of the wind-scarred prairie town on a Thursday afternoon: Coronavirus numbers were spiking in the farming communities of western Minnesota.
“Covid-19 cases straining rural clinics, hospitals, staff,” read the front-page headline. Vaccinate to protect yourselves, health officials urged.
But ask around Benson, stroll its three-block business district, and some would tell a different story: The Swift County Monitor-News, the tiny newspaper that’s reported the news here since 1886, is not telling the truth. The vaccine is untested, they say, dangerous. And some will go further: People, they’ll tell you, are being killed by COVID-19 vaccinations.It’s another measure of how, in an America increasingly split by warring visions of itself, division doesn’t just play out on cable television, or in mayhem at the U.S. Capitol.
It has seeped into the American fabric, all the way to Benson’s 12th Street, where two neighbors -- each in his own well-kept, century-old home -- can live in different worlds.Jason Wolter, is a thoughtful, broad-shouldered Lutheran pastor who reads widely and measures his words carefully. He also suspects Democrats are using the coronavirus pandemic as a political tool, doubts President Joe Biden was legitimately elected and is certain that COVID-19 vaccines kill people.
He hasn’t seen the death certificates and hasn’t contacted health authorities, but he’s sure the vaccine deaths occurred: “I just know that I’m doing their funerals.”
He’s also certain that information “will never make it into the newspaper.”“There are no alternative facts,” Reed Anfinson [publisher, editor, photographer and reporter for the Monitor-News] says. “There is just the truth.”
Wolter’s frustration boils over during a late breakfast in a town cafe. Seated with a reporter, he starts talking as if Anfinson is there.
“You’re lying to people,” Wolter says. “You flat-out lie about things.”
Over 339 million vaccine doses were given to 187.2 million people in the US as of July 19, 2021. The vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective. .... Between December 2020 and July 19th, 2021, VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) received 6,207 reports of death (0.0018% of doses) among people who got a vaccine, but this does not mean the vaccine caused these deaths. Doctors and safety monitors carefully review the details of each case to see if it might be linked to the vaccine. There are three deaths that appear to be linked to blood clots that occurred after people got the J&J vaccine. (emphasis added)
Your pick...
-So, with Justice Stephen Breyer retiring, who is your pick for his SCOTUS replacement, and why? Give as many details as possible.
-Do you foresee any interference by the Republicans on Biden's SCOTUS nomination? If yes, in what way(s) and by whom?
Thanks for posting and recommending.