Category: U.S. Senate

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Climate Change National Security U.S. Senate WTF?!

Ted Cruz Says The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Should Be Fired For Believing In Climate Change

Bless his tiny, coal-black heart, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) just cannot accept facts that go against his own fantasies and lies about something as fundamentally hazardous to every person who lives in this planet as climate change and and global warming.

It’s not that Cruz doesn’t know any better. He does. But he chooses to deny scientific evidence so he can continue to get large campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies, many of whom have major operations in the Lone Star State.

However, this time Ted is going even further over the crazy line and demanding that the the Joint Chiefs of Staff who run the U.S. armed forces be fired for daring to agree with something President Joe Biden said during a speech.

Biden told a collection of Air Force personnel that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had told him that global warming is the “greatest threat facing America.”

And yes, the Defense Department has indeed warned that global warming and climate change will greatly worsen “poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions that threaten stability in a number of countries.”

Despite that, Cruz couldn’t resist tweeting out a video of Biden’s speech along with a sarcastic notation that the either the top military brass be fired or President Biden was lying:

Actually, Ted, neither of those options is the least bit factual. The joint chiefs do not need to be fired and President Biden isn’t lying. Also, why did Cruz never see fit to call Donald Trump a liar? At least he’d have been right on that one.

However, something good did come out of Teddy’s snarky posting: The reactions he received from others on social media:

https://twitter.com/ChadPow91004144/status/1403096139663036417?s=20

https://twitter.com/WTopelius/status/1403083929318531079?s=20

Sorry, Ted, but as usual you’re full of shit and too arrogant to admit your own ignorance.

 

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Congress U.S. Senate

Chuck Schumer May Have Found A Way To Change Joe Manchin’s Mind About Nixing The Filibuster: Report

Thanks in large part to the massive stubbornness of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), major portions of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda — voting rights, expanding access to affordable health care, and repairing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure — remain on the shelf, unrealized and threatening to bring progress to a grinding halt just five months into Biden’s term.

Could there be a way to convince Manchin and his Arizona counterpart, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, to finally give in and agree to major reform of the Senate filibuster?

According to a report from the New York Times, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) may have found an antidote to Manchin’s recalcitrance:

“Democrats are about to embark on a strategy to try to demonstrate to those reluctant colleagues — and to the public at large — that the filibuster is being abused by Senate Republicans intent on depriving them and President Biden of crucial legislation.”

How will this be accomplished? By bringing extremely popular legislation to the Senate floor and letting reluctant Democratic senators see just how complete Republican obstruction is and how it must be overcome:

“Mr. Schumer said he intended to bring the filibuster showdown to a head beginning next week, by forcing votes on a series of measures that Republicans oppose, including one that was blocked by a Republican filibuster in 2014 that seeks to ensure that women and men receive the same pay for equal work. Mr. Schumer hinted that he could also bring forward legislation on gay rights and gun safety. Most immediately, he promised a vote before the end of June on a sweeping voting rights bill that Democrats say is needed to counter new Republican-led voting restrictions being enacted in states around the nation.”

With that strategy, Schumer and other Senate Democrats believe it will soon become clear that only by nixing the filibuster can anything be accomplished in the upper chamber of Congress:

“The idea is to show Democrats refusing to change the filibuster rules that Republicans led by Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, are going to stand in the way of legislation that has widespread support, and that the only way to win their adoption is by overturning the rules.”

It’s the very same strategy former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used when faced Democratic resistance to amending and update filibuster rules:

“It is replicating a strategy that Harry Reid, then the Senate majority leader, employed in 2013 to persuade fellow Democrats to blow up the filibuster for judicial and executive branch nominees. He purposefully lined up a series of votes on highly regarded nominees to the influential United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. When Republicans repeatedly blocked them, Mr. Reid gathered enough Democratic support to change the rules by a majority vote.”

June, it seems, could be the make or break month when it comes to implementing the Biden agenda, with Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) noting:

“It is all building toward a showdown on voting rights, and voting rights are the precondition to every other issue being considered fairly in our country. I do believe a historical moment is about to arrive by the end of June on the Senate floor.”

The bottom line is this: If Manchin and Sinema don’t want to actually accomplish something for their constituents and the nation, they should forego running for reelection.

 

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Gun Crime U.S. Senate

Ted Cruz Got His A*s Handed To Him At A Senate Hearing – So He Stormed Out Like A Child

Though it’s been said millions of times before, it bears repeating: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is the biggest, most obnoxious douchebag in the U.S. Senate.

Cruz proved what a petulant shitbag he is once again recently during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence when he accused Democrats of wanting to “defund the police,” which is a lie that gets repeated by conservatives whenever anyone says there’s far too much death and destruction caused by the weapons of mass murder produced by arms companies in the United States:

“You just said a moment ago that no Democrat favors abolishing the police. If that were the case why did every single Democrat vote to confirm Vanita Gupta—a nominee for the number three position at the Department of Justice who said last year in writing, in written testimony before this Senate, advocated abolishing the police?”

Of course, what Cruz said contains not a shred of truth. Gupta has written that she favors using some of the funds currently spent on cops to programs that would focus on improving care for the mentally ill, addressing the underlying economic causes of violent crime, and looking for alternatives to merely hiring more police officers.

Despite having already misstated what Ms. Gupta stands for, Cruz continued to trash a woman who dares to have an opinion that differs from his:

“And [Gupta] was confirmed by one vote. Every single Democrat was the necessary vote to confirm a radical who advocated abolishing the police and just this week we’re taking up Kristin Clarke, another radical, who has last year in testimony before this Senate advocated abolishing the police. If you don’t support abolishing the police why do you keep voting for nominees who advocate abolishing the police?”

But Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal (CT) called Cruz out for his nonsense, reminding him:

“As you well know Senator Cruz, that is a complete distortion of their positions. We’re not here to talk about those nominees. If you want to stay, we can do it at the end of the hearing. But right now we’re going to move on.”

Rather than stay and participate in rest of the hearing, Cruz stood up and walked out like a child taking his toy and running home to mommy. Seems the Texas senator isn’t just a lying asshat, he’s also unable to take criticism, which is a sure sign of insecurity.

Maybe it’s time to rename Sen. Cruz the Raving Infantile Liar. It’s a hell of a lot more accurate.

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Coronavirus U.S. Senate

Sherrod Brown Says What We Suspected About Rand Paul: ‘He’s Kind Of A Lunatic’

If we’re being completely honest, we’ve all thought at one time or another that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) isn’t quite right.

Now, however, we have confirmation that Paul is indeed off-kilter, and it comes to us courtesy of a colleague of his in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

AlterNet reports that during a mass vaccination event in Columbus, Ohio, Brown remarked:

“He’s kind of a lunatic. He thinks he wants to be different, but it doesn’t serve the public interest.”

Just a couple of months ago, Paul clashed with Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing on COVID-19. He insisted that it was “theater” for those who were already fully vaccinated to still wear a protective mask. Fauci disagreed and let the senator know just how ignorant he sounded saying such a thing. He also explained why it’s a good idea to wear a mask even after one has been vaccinated:

“The expert immunologist has warned that although the COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer and others offer major protection, it is still possible for someone who has been fully vaccinated to be infected and spread COVID-19 to others — and for that reason, Fauci recommends wearing masks as an added precaution.”

There was also this confrontation between Paul and Fauci back in June of last year:

Did you wonder why there were fewer cases of the flu last year, especially during peak flu season? Because so many of us were wearing masks! Maybe we need to do that every year when it’s flu season if only to save lives. Why does this have to be controversial? We should all be willing to do what’s best for others and not just what makes us feel good. That’s what it means to be a member of a civilized society.

But there’s something more at play here: Rand Paul is a dick. Plain and simple. He knows he is, and he plays it up because he thinks that’s what his constituents want to hear. Maybe he’s right, but he’s still a lunatic and a douchebag.

 

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Social Media U.S. Senate

Ted Cruz Picked A Twitter Fight With Trevor Noah – That Was A BIG Mistake

There are few people in this country who are as widely disliked as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has also been called the most hated man in the U.S. Senate.

Despite this knowledge, Cruz seems determined to pick fights with those who can easily make him look like the moronic troglodyte that he is and reinforce his own pathetic ineptitude when it comes to debating.

For example, Ted ran across a clip of “The Daily Show” and saw host Trevor Noah commenting on some of the results from the 2020 Census. Noah zinged Cruz with this line:

“Aside from New York getting screwed, the big news out of the census is that America’s population grew at the slowest rate since the 1930s. Basically, immigration is down and the birth rate is falling, primarily due to this photo.”

Cue a photo of Ted Cruz.

Clearly, Noah is making a joke. That’s kind of his job. But Cruz got his feelings hurt and tweeted a response that came across as pure asshole:

As you’d expect, Noah was equal to the challenge, and he fired off this retort:

Cruz should have left well enough alone. But he just couldn’t:

That’s when former host Jon Stewart joined the fray:

Noah then finished off the Texas Republican:

Game, set, and match, Trevor Noah, with an assist by Jon Stewart.

At last report, Ted Cruz was seen slithering out of his Senate office and heading to the nearest international airport. He was said to be carrying a box of tissues.