Steve Thomas
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Posts posted by Steve Thomas
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Postal police union sues USPS, DeJoy over limits to mail theft enforcement authority
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/14/postal-service-police-union-sues-dejoy-414537
“The Postal Service last month abruptly ordered its police officers to stop investigating mail theft that occurs away from post office property, the Postal Police Officers Association alleged Monday, suing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to block a change they say could erode the safety of mail carriers and delivery.”
"The Postal Service’s sudden change is unwarranted, impermissible, and contrary to the language of the statute and also to collective bargaining promises it has made to the officers’ union," the association said in its lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Washington D.C.”
"Per the union, USPS implemented the change on Aug. 25, a day after DeJoy testified to Congress amid mounting concerns that policy changes he implemented were delaying mail service and could jeopardize record numbers of mail-in ballots expected in the presidential election.
Per the court filing, the USPS leader "declared that Postal Police Officers should no longer be assigned to investigate or prevent mail theft or protection of letter carriers" unless it occurred on Postal Service premises.
This would be a sharp break, the union alleges, from decades-old practices.”
Steve Thomas
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Democratic Donations Dramatically Shoot Up Following Death Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
By Jeremy Blum
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ruth-bader-ginsburg-democratic-donations_n_5f662859c5b6b9795b115e19
“ActBlue, a nonprofit that raises funds for Democrats, received more than $12.5 million in the two hours after news broke of Ginsburg’s death.
In the first hour after Ginsburg’s death was announced, ActBlue, a nonprofit that raises funds for Democrats and left-leaning organizations, received more than $6.2 million, according to The New York Times.
Over the course of the following hour, donations soared an additional $6.3 million, with more than $100,000 coming in per minute. That total was the highest amount the site received in a single hour since its founding in 2004. In total, $35 million was raised on Friday, ActBlue confirmed."
"At the same time, one of the campaigns using ActBlue, Get Mitch or Die Trying, raised more than $1.5 million, according to tweets from Crooked Media founder Tommy Vietor, whose company is behind that effort.
By Saturday morning, that number rose to more than $9.4 million. Get Mitch or Die Trying donates to 13 Senate races in an effort to flip the Senate to a Democratic majority."
Steve Thomas
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https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1307383525490950147
@LindseyGrahamSC
"Jaime Harrison will be a loyal foot soldier in the cause of the radical liberals to destroy America as we know it. As to me – I will be part of the Resistance and oppose their radical liberal agenda as they try to fundamentally change America."
Lindsey Graham, just a Jedi Knight kind of guy.
Steve Thomas
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Democrats have let Mitch McConnell know that if he pushes this, and the Democrats win the Senate in this election, they will increase the number of Justices to 11 or 13.
If Trump loses, a Democratic President will not veto this move.
The number of Supreme Court Justices is not enshrined in the Constitution. It's set by Congress.
Steve Thomas
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Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
“If McConnell cannot muster the votes he needs to confirm Trump's pick prior to the November election, it's possible he would bring the Senate back in a lame-duck session after the election in hopes of gaining a few more votes. The theory of such a move would be that endangered GOP senators who had either won or lost in November would be freer to cast votes without fear of political reprisal. (Note in McConnell's statement that he didn't say the Senate would vote on Trump's pick before the election; he just said the Senate would vote on the pick.)”
Steve Thomas
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Venus is a Russian planet -- say the Russians
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/18/world/venus-russian-planet-scn-scli-intl/index.html
“No longer confined to territories here on Earth, Russia has now staked its claim on Venus, saying it is a "Russian planet."
This week, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos, revealed that the country plans to send its own mission to Venus in addition to "Venera-D," the planned joint mission with the US, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Rogozin was addressing reporters at the HeliRussia 2020 exhibition, an international expo of the helicopter industry in Moscow.
"Resuming Venus exploration is on our agenda," he told reporters Tuesday.
"We think that Venus is a Russian planet, so we shouldn't lag behind," he said.”
Steve Thomas
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Steve Thomas
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https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1306408278755164160
Reporter: “The U.S. has 4% of the global population and 24% of the world’s COVID-19 death, how is that a success?”
Kayleigh McEnany : “We use different numbers”
Steve Thomas
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2 hours ago, John Butler said:
Here's a major what if for you. What if immigrant Harvey was really from the Belarus area of Russia.
John,
I was intrigued by the idea of a "Baltic" Oswald.
I collected a few notes along those lines:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/oswald_m1.htm
WC testimony February 3, 1964
Mr. RANKIN. Did you know that Lee Oswald was an American when you first met him?
Mrs. OSWALD. I found that out at the end of that party, towards the end of that party, when I was first introduced to him, I didn't know that.http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/m_j_russ/hscamar1.htm
HSCA testimony 1977?
Mrs. PORTER. No, I didn't. When he asked to dance, we just talked very little.
Mr. McDONALD. Did he tell you he was an American?
Mrs. PORTER. No, not at that--not during the dancing, no.
Mr. McDONALD. At this time you were speaking in Russian together?
Mrs. PORTER. Yes. He spoke with accent so I assumed he was maybe from another state, which is customary in Russia. People from other states do speak with accents because they do not speak Russian. They speak different languages.
Mr. McDONALD. So when you say another state, you mean another Russian state?
Mrs. PORTER. Yes, like Estonia, Lithuania, something like that.
Mr. McDONALD. Did you suspect at all that he was an American?
Mrs. PORTER. No, not at all.http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/demohr_g.htm
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right, it is spelled this way. That is a Swedish way of spelling. And the letter "o" with two dots over it is a typical Swedish letter which cannot be translated or written down in any language. So in probably moving to Russia, or to the Baltic States, you see, which was an intermediary area between Russia and Sweden, they probably changed it to S-c-h-i- l-d-t. And it can also be written in Russian, at the same time.
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes--because I am more or less of a French orientation. And when I became an American citizen, I did not like the prefix "Von" which is German to the average person. And so we used "De" which is equally used in Sweden or in the Baltic States, interchangeably.Mr. JENNER. Sometimes people refer to you as Baron De Mohrenschildt.
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Would you explain that?
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. I don't refer to myself as that, you know. But supposedly the family has the right to it, because we are members of the Baltic nobility.
Mr. JENNER. Through what source?
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Through the Swedish source, from the time of Queen ChristinaMr. JENNER. What was your impression of his command of Russian?
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, he spoke fluent Russian, but with a foreign accent, and made mistakes, grammatical mistakes, but had remarkable fluency in Russian.
Mr. JENNER. It was remarkable?
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Remarkable--for a fellow of his background and education, it is remarkable how fast he learned it. But he loved the language. He loved to speak it. He preferred to speak Russian than English any time. He always would switch from English to Russian.http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/bouhe.htm
Mr. BOUHE - I never discussed a membership in any organization or hunting club. But I now remember that when I asked him after the week's work is done, what do you do--"Well, the boys and I go and hunt duck."
And he said, "ducklings". The reason why I remember it is because he didn't say "duck," but he said in Russian the equivalent of "duckys-duckys".
Mr. LIEBELER - He used the Russian word that was not the precise word to describe duck?
Mr. BOUHE - Yes; but a man going shooting would not use it. He spoke in Russian and did not try to get the Russian word exactly.Mr. LIEBELER - Did you speak to Oswald in the Russian language from time to time?
Mr. BOUHE - Yes; I did.
Mr. LIEBELER - Did you form an impression as to his command of that language?
Mr. BOUHE - Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER - What was that impression?
Mr. BOUHE - A very strange assortment of words. Grammatically not perfect, but an apparent ease to express himself in that language.Mr. LIEBELER - Did Oswald's command of the Russian language seem to be about what you would expect from him, having been in Russia for that period of time? Would you say it was good?
Mr. BOUHE - I would say very good.
Mr. LIEBELER - You think he had a good command of the language, considering the amount of time he had spent in Russia?
Mr. BOUHE - Sir, for everyday conversations, yes. But I think that if I would have asked him to write, I would think he would have difficulty.http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/raigorod.htm
Mr. RAIGORODSKY. Well, from what I understand, George De Mohrenschildt comes from what we call by-the-Baltic Germans.
Mr. JENNER. What is--by-the-Baltic Germans?
Mr. RAIGORODSKY. The by-the-Baltic Germans are Germans that lived by the Baltic Sea and they were Russians or rather, Russiafied Germans and they were in the service of the Czar for generations and generations and were considered Russians. Most of them were barons, you know, and I don't know whether George's family were or not, but the "de" Mohrenschildt signifies that his family had a title.
Mr. JENNER. That's the "de"?
Mr. RAIGORODSKY. The "de"---yes; it signifies that.http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/gregoryp.htm
Peter Paul Gregory, a native of Chita, Siberia, told the Warren Commission that “I thought that Lee Oswald spoke [Russian] with a Polish accent, that is why I asked him if he was of Polish descent….It would be rather unusual…for a person who lived in the Soviet Union for 17 months that he would speak so well that a native Russian would not be sure whether he was born in that country or not.”
Posted in the Education Forum by Jack White April 2, 2010
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/15686-did-harvey-return-from-russia/page/3/
“I am still doing comparisons of the Russian LHO with the Dallas LHO. Some depict the same person, some do not. The point is...we do not really know what the variety of LHOs in Russia represents...a substitute or doctored photos, or both. But the photos show something suspicious was going on. This leaves us to wonder...did the fake defector Harvey return to the US, or was a Russian impostor substituted for the US impostor?
Jack”
Steve Thomas
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Where conspiracy theories meet Jesus: Inside the ‘upside-down fantasy world’ of Trump rallies
By Chauncey Devega, Salon 09/18/20
“Hoffman traveled some 5,000 miles across the country attending Trump rallies, and spent almost 200 hours talking with the Trump faithful who attend those events.”
“In his book, “xxxx’s Circus: A Strange and Terrible Journey Into the Upside-Down World of Trump’s MAGA Rallies, (Carl) Hoffman explains that Donald Trump’s rallies function as a form of alternate reality for his followers. This “upside-down world” is tied together by conspiracy theories, ignorance, racism and a longing for an earlier time in America where life was “simpler” because nonwhite people, LGBTQ people, women and other marginalized groups “knew their place” and white Christian straight men were understood as the most essential Americans. Hoffman also explores the similarity between Trump’s rallies and evangelical church revivals where the sick are healed, sinners are “born again” and the charismatic preacher is seen as a semi-divine prophet.”
“Donald Trump’s world is an upside-down one. It is a fantasy world. One of the most popular songs at a Trump rally is “YMCA” by the Village People. There are 22,000 people pantomiming the letters YMCA at a Trump rally. The next person that comes on the stage is Vice President Pence. Out of 22,000 people, untold thousands of them are fundamentalist, evangelical Christians who think homosexuality is a sin. And yet their favorite song is a disco hit about having anonymous gay sex at the YMCA.”
“I was shocked and surprised to see that at a Trump rally it is hyper-lit —it is incredibly bright and there are no shadows. I shared that observation with a woman in Dallas. She explained to me that it is like church. Trump’s rallies are like a church revival. You want to see the preacher, and the preacher wants to see you. The idea of being “born again,” what does that mean? To be born again means you have to die.”
“The idea of being reborn is something that happens because the preacher convinces you that the world is evil, and that you’re sinning so badly that you essentially die, and then he brings you back. At a traditional church revival, people faint, they pass out and then they come back to life and they are reborn. I have seen this happen at Trump rallies. I have watched people fall out at a Trump rally and then be carried out on stretchers and placed near the front row.”
That is scary stuff.
Steve Thomas
PS: The Forum's software is apparently set up to delete the word that is synonymous for someone who doesn't tell the truth. The first word of Hoffman's book is "Someone Who Doesn't Tell the Truth's" Circus.
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At least this was new to me.
Project Gutenberg has provided the first 15 vols of the Warren Commission Hearings available in ASCII text format.
It's cumbersome, but it does make copy and paste functions available to those who want it.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Warren+Commission&submit_search=Search
Steve Thomas
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Kirk.
I saw that Triumph the Dog video earlier.
The scariest part for me was that not one of the "focus group" members recognized that it was not Trump speaking.
They were like mindless zombies. They just heard the words, and that's all it took.
Steve Thomas
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11 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:
Question ... was Oswald placed on this threat list that Curry referred to before 11,22,1963? Was he placed on this the very day of 11,22,1963?
Curry said they only had "one" TXSBD employee on this list up to 11,22,1963 - Joe Molina.
Joe,
The list of employees (CE 2003) is arranged in three columns. The first column is an employee name. Some names are misspelled. The third column had their address and phone number. The second column is headed, “REF.INT.” Almost all of the names in that column have the word, “NONE” in that entry. Two names: Joe Molina and Mrs. J.E. Dean (Ruth Dean) have the letters, “INT” and a number. I believe that these are people who were listed in the Police Department's Intelligence Files, as described by Roy Westphal to Larry Sneed. And V.J. Brian in his WC testimony.
If what I believe is true, I noted a couple of things:
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Lee Harvey Oswald was not in the DPD Intelligence Files
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Charles Givens, who had a record of narcotic arrests; and as such, would fall under the purview of the Special Service Bureau is listed as NONE. Is this possibly an indication that Givens was an undercover informant to the Criminal Intelligence Section of the Special Service Bureau?
Astounding as it appears to be, it seems to me that the Intelligence Section of the DPD had organizations under surveillance, but not specific individuals.
Chief Curry, Captain Fritz and Lieutenant Revill all told the WC that the DPD had no knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald and had no idea that he was living in Dallas.
I actually believe them.
There was, however, a Harvey Lee Oswald in their files. His last known address was Elsbeth. No information about Neely, or N. Beckley, or Oswald's activities in New Orleans in the summer.
You have to ask where that record came from.
Steve Thomas
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1 hour ago, Joe Bauer said:
What did the DPD's monitoring of Joe Molina involve?
Joe,
On February 5, 1964, Jack Revill, Lieutenant of the Criminal Intelligence Section of the Special Service Bureau, wrote a memo to Captain W.P. Gannaway. In this memo he said that 13 organizations had been placed under surveillance following the announcement of JFK’s visit to Dallas. One of those organizations was the American GI Forum. Joe Molina was its President.
Warren Commission Exhibit 2003, located in (24H259) is a list submitted to Captain Gannaway through Lieutenant Jack Revill of Texas School Book Depository employees. It is dated November 22, 1963. Heading that list is Harvey Lee Oswald at 605 Elsbeth. Page 3 of CE 2003, found on page 260, is signed by R.W. Westphal, Detective, Criminal Intelligence Section and P.M. Parks, Detective, Administrative Section. R.W. Westphal and P.M. Parks were both Detectives in the Special Service Bureau.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1140#relPageId=277&tab=page
Though that list of employees is dated 11/22/63, in Westphal's interview with Larry Sneed in No More Silence, he talks about going home, and then returning to his office at the Fairgrounds to write up his report of a man at the Trade Mart with a “Free Cuba” flag. So, I'm not sure what time of the evening that list was actually typed up. While he was writing his Report, Captain Gannaway called and asked him to check the names of the TSBD employees against the Department's Intelligence files. Westphal said, “We had handwritten, partial lists; some of them, you couldn't read the names”.
Westphal did recognize the name of one man, Joe Molina however. Gannaway instructed Westphal to “bring the entire file down to his office”
If you do a search in the Forum, you will find lots of discussion of the American GI Forum and Joe Molina. The GI Forum was suspected of being Communist.
Steve Thomas
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Lemmings and Trump cult followers are two examples of “herd mentality”
‘Herd developed’: Trump’s death cult would rather get COVID-19 than admit they were wrong
By Amanda Marcotte September 16, 2020
"TRUMP: It is going away.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Without a vaccine?
TRUMP: Sure. Over a period of time.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And many deaths.
TRUMP: It’s gonna be herd developed."
“The wild thing is how many people turned up for the dubious pleasures of risking their lives to hear Dr. Bleach-Injector’s whiny, singsong cadence for more than an hour. Thousands of people showed up at the Henderson rally, putting it all on the line to show the world that they’re willing to get sick or even die rather than admit it was a bad idea to elect a racist reality-TV host with the moral compass of a serial killer to the highest office in the land.”
By packing thousands of people into indoor arenas, is Trump deliberately trying to thin the herd?
"It is what it is."
Steve Thomas
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17 minutes ago, Mark Stevens said:
Anyone know who Curry might be referring to?
Mark,
Joe Molina.
Steve Thomas
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I’m voting for “Spike”.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — President Donald Trump ... and “Spike?”
https://apnews.com/aa5101b6fbd7936a4aaf1679a54960ff
“Local election clerks in Michigan downloading absentee ballots for residents overseas were given ballots that listed Trump’s Republican running mate as Jeremy Cohen, who is the Libertarian Party candidate for vice president, the Michigan Secretary of State’s office said.
Vice President Mike Pence wasn’t on the ballot next to Trump. Cohen, whose nickname is “Spike,” is running with Jo Jorgensen.
It was a “temporary error” that was fixed within 90 minutes Tuesday, said Tracy Wimmer, a spokeswoman for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.”
Steve Thomas
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Trump’s Doral Hotel to Host a Confab of Anti-Vaxxers and Leading QAnon Champions
A CRAZY BREW
MAGA world meets science deniers with a large scoop of conspiracy theorists on top.
By Will Sommer Published Sep. 16, 2020
“...as the COVID-19 virus could very well be entering an expected second wave, one of Trump’s hotels will become a hub for anti-vaccine activism. Some of the most notorious figures in the anti-vaccine movement are set to converge on the president’s Trump National Doral Miami resort in early October for a MAGA-world conference.
The anti-vaccine figures won’t be the only fringe GOP movement represented at Trump’s property during the American Priority Conference or “AMPFest,” which runs between Oct. 8 and Oct 11. They’ll be joined by top QAnon conspiracy theory promoters, including one with a history of anti-Semitic remarks.
There’s even a pool party.”
Steve Thomas
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7 hours ago, Richard Booth said:
What are the odds that this description as found in CIA files on Oswald miraculously appears in the newspaper on 11/22?
Richard,
I personally believe that this description is included in a dossier compiled in military intelligence files about a Harvey Lee Oswald. Here's a portion of a cable from the Continental Army Command that went out to Fort McDill in Florida on the evening of the 22nd:
Steve Thomas
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Donald Trump saying of trees that have fallen in the forest:
"They become really like a matchstick. And they get up you know there's no water pouring through."
My wife said she has never heard of fallen trees getting up. She wanted to know where they were going.
I was at a loss...
Steve Thomas
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2 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:
Is this a true story?
Joe,
Yes. Watch the video clip.
Steve Thomas
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This is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.
Trump calls in to Fox news and threatens to call in every Monday or Tuesday for 47 minutes of free air time.
The host says, "Fox News has not committed to that and we will gladly give Joe Biden 47 minutes of equal time."
His fellow hosts are stunned.
Steve Thomas
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Trump-linked hotel investors are begging for a bailout as they struggle with Wall Street debt: report
Published on September 15, 2020
By Matthew Chapman
“On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that hotel owners with ties to President Donald Trump are struggling to pay off debt in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — and are begging the administration for a bailout.
“Thomas J. Barrack Jr., the billionaire investor and major donor to President Trump, has run into an unexpected patch of red ink thanks to the pandemic: He has struggled to keep up with payments on $1.97 billion in Wall Street debt he used to buy a collection of more than 160 hotels,” reported Eric Lipton and Jeanna Smialek. “Monty Bennett, another big donor to Mr. Trump, is in a similar tough spot after he recently halted payments owed on the $2.6 billion worth of Wall Street debt used to acquire his own hotel collection.”
“The hotel industry is running into trouble in part because it spent years loading up on a type of debt, known as commercial mortgage-backed securities, which must make regular payments to the bondholders who own the debt,” said the report. “But as hotel occupancy has fallen, the owners of these properties in many cases have lacked the cash flow to cover payments on the loans, which had been bundled together and then sold off to Wall Street investors as bonds. Over all, there are $550 billion worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities outstanding in the United States, financing hotels, shopping centers, office buildings and even self-storage facilities.””
Steve Thomas
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@realDonaldTrump
According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani, which was carried out for his planning a future attack, murdering U.S. Troops, and the death & suffering...
10:04 PM · Sep 14, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
Replying to
...caused over so many years. Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!
Here we go.
Steve Thomas
The inevitable end result of our last 56 years
in Political Discussions
Posted
Will Democrats fight? How far will they go to stop Mitch McConnell’s power grab?
September 19, 2020
By Sophia Tesfaye, Salon on September 19, 2020
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/will-democrats-fight-how-far-will-they-go-to-stop-mitch-mcconnells-power-grab/
“Democrats could also send the Senate new articles of impeachment against President Trump, which are privileged over judicial nominations in Senate proceedings.
Of course, in such a scenario McConnell would simply choose to fast-track another impeachment trial or vote to change Senate rules, as he did in eliminating the judicial filibuster. In strategic terms, that doesn’t mean Democrats can’t or shouldn’t force him to do so. Republicans have absolutely nothing to lose in a December lame-duck session, especially if they know they have lost the Senate majority. But Democrats have an important chance to show their supporters that they understand the magnitude of the fight and have finally awoken to the reality that the opposition party will never play fair. It could serve as a harsh lesson for President-elect Joe Biden — assuming, of course, that the presidential election has been resolved and that he’s the winner.”
Steve Thomas