Yeah right, so not #weird

Via #TheIntellectualist

#Republican candidate #HungCao: I am running for the US #Senate in #Virginia because #wiccans have taken over parts of #California and now there is "a lot of #witchcraft" and "we can't let that happen in Virginia."

#Congress April 16

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) spoke on the Senate floor in support of a War Powers Resolution to end Trump’s disastrous war of choice in #Iran. Once again, Senate Republicans struck it down. What will it take to get Republicans to think for themselves and stop blindly following orders?

Senator Murphy: It’s just extraordinary that we haven’t had a single hearing in the United States Senate on this war with #Iran.

Republicans block any oversight. There hasn’t been a vote to authorize the war, but there also hasn’t been a single hearing. Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseths have *not* shown up to Congress at all, to answer questions in a public forum.

Every week, Democrats bring resolutions before the #Senate asking our colleagues to vote to withdraw us from the Iran war. #Epstein republicans block congress from voting on the War Powers Act.

Gas prices are going through the roof, the global energy supply chain is in meltdown, and more war with Israel attacking Lebanon.

https://www.contrariannews.org/p/why-is-congress-not-being-briefed

#news

#ChatGPT, Other Chatbots Approved for Official Use in the #Senate

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/us/politics/us-senate-chatgpt-ai-chatbots.html

#AI #Gemini #Copilot #OpenAI #Google #Microsoft #politics

Al Gore Invented the Internet.
Joe Biden invented PGP encryption.
Cypherpunks write code.

Joe Biden gifted humanity with PGP encryption (in a roundabout way). Phil Zimmermann created PGP in response to a anti-privacy bill clause proposed by Senator Joe Biden.

https://www.americanscientist.org/article/cypherpunks-write-code

"In 1990, the FBI launched an over-the-top crackdown on computer hackers, known as Operation Sundevil. This was swiftly followed, in early 1991, by a proposed piece of U.S. Senate legislation that would force electronic communications service providers to hand over people’s personal data. (The key clause, S.266, was pushed by the then chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Joe Biden.)"

"On learning of Biden’s S.266 clause, Zimmermann feverishly set out to complete the project, almost losing his house in the process. When he finished his software in 1991, he published it all online, free for anyone who wanted to use it. He called it “Pretty Good Privacy,” or PGP for short, and within weeks it had been downloaded and shared by thousands of people around the world. “Before PGP, there was no way for two ordinary people to communicate over long distances without the risk of interception,” said Zimmermann in a later interview. “Not by phone, not by FedEx, not by fax.” It remains the most widely used form of email encryption to this day."

https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/266

"SEC. 2201. COOPERATION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDERS WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT. It is the sense of Congress that providers of electronic communications services and manufacturers of electronic communications service equipment shall ensure that communications systems permit the government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law."

#Biden #JoeBiden #PGP #Cypherpunks #Cypherpunk #PhilZimmermann #Privacy #Cybersecurity #Cryptography #GPG #Email #Senate #Law #Government #Panopticon #Hackers #Hacking #Security #Encryption

This is pretty cool.
t will take a miracle for the Dems to capture The Federal Senate, but then again, I think this was thought of as such as well.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5716988-democrats-score-upset-texas/

#State #Senate #Texas #Upset #Democrats #SpecialElection

If you live in Minnesota, vote for Peggy Flanagan for Senate. If elected, she’ll be the first Native American woman to ever serve in the U.S. Senate.

#Indigenous #PeggyFlanagan #Senate

Alt...

Peggy Flanagan in a blue suit jacket and beaded dentalium earrings in front of the American flag

“If we believe that citizens should receive notice when the #government subpoenas their phone bill, great! Perhaps this revolutionary new policy—which #CivilLiberties groups would probably support—should be the law. But then the law should protect the civil liberties of all 320 million Americans, as the #EqualProtectionClause of the #Constitution demands, not just the 100 Americans in the #Senate,” #JamieRaskin added.

#law #Trump #Republicans #Jan6 #SeditiousConspiracy #shutdown

Rep #JamieRaskin (D-MD) called the provision “one of the most blatantly #corrupt provisions for political self-dealing & the plunder of public resources ever proposed in #Congress.”

The provision, which is retroactive to 2022, only applies to members of the #Senate & would allow them to sue for $500,000 if data was sought without their being notified, as well as once it was obtained.

“That’s a cool one million per Senator,” Raskin said in a stmnt.

#law #Trump #Jan6
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5601358-senate-phone-record-legal-challenge-raskin/

#Senate Passes Deal to Reopen Government

The Senate, with the help of Democratic defectors, passed a bill to end the longest government #shutdown WITHOUT the #HealthInsurance subsidies #Democrats long demanded. The earliest the House will vote is Wednesday.

#healthcare #ACA #Medicaid
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11/10/us/trump-government-shutdown-news/heres-the-latest?smid=url-share

& [for once] his ask was reasonable. It makes no sense for #Congress to require a supermajority vote to allow the govt to stay open.

The outcome would have been a win for #Democrats. The #Senate would get fairer & more reasonable rules. Dems would not find themselves in the position of being asked to supply votes for a spending deal #Trump feels free to violate. And the next time Dems get control of govt but fewer than 60 Senate votes, they would have an easier time passing their agenda.

#Democrats had succeeded in drawing news coverage to #healthcare, & had even baited #Republicans into floating more of their toxic & radical ideas for changing the system.

The likeliest way out of the impasse wasn’t that Republicans would make concessions on the #ACA, but rather that they would decide to end the #filibuster, changing #Senate rules to block minority parties from shutting down the govt. #Trump had demanded Republican senators do this….

#BadPolitics #Medicaid #HealthInsurance

The conventional wisdom about shutdowns is that they fail. #Senate #Democrats probably assumed as much when they shut down the govt. Perhaps they thought they were giving partisan activists something to root for…before eventually caving.
That was a reasonable, if somewhat cynical, calculation. The odd thing is that the #shutdown was actually working for Dems, but in a way that some Democratic senators did not fully internalize, & which makes their ultimate capitulation much harder to understand.

#GiftArticle

#Senate #Democrats Just Made a Huge Mistake

The #shutdown was hurting #Trump.
Ending it helps him.

#BadPolitics #Congress #ACA #healthcare #HealthInsurance #Medicaid
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2025/11/democrats-shutdown-mistake/684878/?gift=guxsrl_dAdXUP9zqbQPWxY0ek1fYWjjq_xeucJTGWi8

#Senate confirms #Trump's pick to join liberal-majority US appeals court

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Trump's first and only nominee to the Boston-based federal appeals court, which until now had been largely composed of judges appointed by Democrats and has frequently blocked his policy initiatives.

#law
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/senate-confirms-trumps-pick-join-liberal-majority-us-appeals-court-2025-11-04/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

The cause of #Trump’s anger is the #Senate blue slip tradition, which gives home-state senators virtual veto power over whether certain #justice-related nominees can advance, forcing the White House to seek their consent. While its influence has been diluted on appeals court judges, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the #Judiciary Cmte, has kept the practice in place for district court judges, federal prosecutors & US marshals—personnel matters where senators like to play a role…

#law

“You know, I have 10 U.S. attorneys who are phenomenal, phenomenal — a Harvard or Yale, a this, a that — all top,” #Trump said during last month’s White House luncheon with #Senate #Republicans as he went on an extended rant about the prosecutorial blockage. “And the problem is they’re not going to ever be confirmed, I guess. I put them in, they’ll be there for three or four months, whatever it is, & then they have to leave.”

#law #Congress #USpol

The ability to #filibuster also amplifies the #influence of each senator, allowing any one member of the body to threaten to slow or block #legislation if his or her demands aren’t met, a regular #Senate ritual.

The fight over federal prosecutors [#USattorneys] gets much less attention than the fate of the famed filibuster, but it is clearly vexing #Trump & presenting real complications for the White House as it seeks to pursue criminal charges against Trump’s perceived enemies.

#law #USpol

In reality, the #filibuster also serves #Republicans as a handy check on a president who sometimes takes stances that carry substantial risk or defy party orthodoxy, an excuse for #Senate Republicans to avoid doing things they don’t see as sound #policy or #politics without infuriating #Trump. Eliminating the filibuster would also be a huge blow to the credibility of Thune, who has pledged to preserve it.

#law #shutdown #Congress #USpol

When it comes to preserving the legislative #filibuster & controlling the confirmation of #USattorneys, #Republicans are so far holding their ground in the face of intensifying White House pressure to jettison #Senate practices that #Trump sees as holding him back. In both cases, the rules empower senators on a personal & political level in a way that they are reluctant to surrender — even to a demanding president whom they rarely challenge.

#law #shutdown #Congress #USpol

#Republicans in #Congress have been remarkably compliant this year as #Trump has usurped their constitutional pre-eminence on fundamental matters such as #spending, #tariffs & #WarPowers. But in 2 areas, #GOP senators have put up firm resistance that is increasingly frustrating Trump.

#law #shutdown #Senate

#Republicans Hold Firm on #Filibuster & Prosecutor Veto Power, for Now

#Trump is showing mounting frustration at his inability to win confirmation of #USattorneys in blue states or break the filibuster's grip on the #Senate. The #GOP has been uncharacteristically uncooperative.

#law #shutdown #Congress
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/us/politics/trump-republicans-filibuster.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Whether #JackSmith gets the chance to confront his accusers on the biggest official stage available to him, a public #House or #Senate hearing, remains very much an open question. Some #Republicans have privately expressed concern that #Trump’s quest for vengeance could backfire by giving a credible anticorruption investigator an open mic.

#law #SeditiousConspiracy #ElectionInterference #coup #Jan6 #insurrection

The letter says that thus far the admin "has selectively shared what has at times been contradictory information" with some members, "while excluding others."

Earlier Fri, the Republican chair & ranking Democrat on the #Senate #ArmedServices Cmte released a pair of letters sent to #Hegseth written in late Sept & early Oct requesting DOD's legal rationale for the strikes & a list of drug cartels the #Trump admin has designated terrorist orgs in its justification for use of #military force.

#law

#Senate #Democrats renewed their request for more info about the strikes in a [strongly worded] letter on Friday to Secy of State #MarcoRubio, DNI #TulsiGabbard & #Hegseth.

"We also request that you provide all legal opinions related to these strikes & a list of the groups or other entities the President has deemed targetable," the senators wrote.

#Trump #criminal #law #murder #ExtrajudicialKillings #InternationalLaw #Constitution #Congress #WarPowers #AbuseOfPower #Autocracy #MafiaState

@wdlindsy

"“It’s their fault,” #Trump said of #Democrats [despite the fact that #Republicans control the #House, the #Senate and the #Presidency] ... “Everything is their fault. It’s so easily solved.”"

This has always been the #Republican starting point, and the only Republican solution:

"Give us everything we demand, in a full #Democratic capitulation, and your precious little country won't get hurt."

@Nonilex

"“It’s their fault,” #Trump said of #Democrats [despite the fact that #Republicans control the #House, the #Senate and the #Presidency] ... “Everything is their fault. It’s so easily solved.”"

This has always been the #Republican starting point, and the only Republican solution:

"Give us everything we demand, in a full #Democratic capitulation, and your precious little country won't get hurt."

As the stalemate nears the record for the longest #shutdown in US history — one set during Trump’s first term — he has continued to seem unbothered by the fallout, casting the log jam as one easily resolved.

“It’s their fault,” #Trump said of #Democrats [despite the fact that #Republicans control the #House, the #Senate, the presidency & #SCOTUS] as he traveled to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club & estate, on Friday. “Everything is their fault. It’s so easily solved.”

#POS #plutocracy #oligarchy

The #filibuster is a long-standing tactic in the #Senate to delay or block votes on legislation by keeping the debate running. It requires 60 votes in a full Senate to overcome a filibuster, giving Democrats a check on the 53-seat Republican majority that led to the start of the Oct. 1 shutdown when the new fiscal year began.

#Trump’s call to terminate the filibuster could alter the ways the Senate & congressional dealmaking operate….

#law

#Trump says #Senate should scrap the #filibuster to end the government #shutdown

Trump is calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster, so that the Republican majority can bypass Democrats & reopen the federal government.

“THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER,” Trump posted late Thursday night on his social media site, Truth Social.

#law
https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-effects-trump-update-democrats-95b986b83b9802fe7a8374572fcd86f0

The one-page #Senate joint resolution simply declares that the [BS] national emergency declaration that #Trump invoked on April 2, which #Trump dubbed “Liberation Day,” to authorize sweeping reciprocal #tariffs on countries cross the globe would be “terminated” on the date of its enactment.

#law #economy #AbuseOfPower

#Senate passes resolution to end #Trump’s global #tariffs; 4 #Republicans side with #Democrats

4 Republican senators voted with Democrats on Thursday to approve a bipartisan resolution to repeal Trump’s global tariffs, including steeper rates on long-time #allies such as the #EU, #Japan & #SouthKorea.

Sen #RandPaul (KY), #GOP sponsor of the resolution, & Sens #MitchMcConnell (R-KY), #SusanCollins (R-ME) & #LisaMurkowski (R-AK) voted for it.

#law #economy #AbuseOfPower
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5581377-trump-tariffs-senate-republicans/

France’s #Senate gave its final approval on Wednesday to a bill defining #rape & other #SexualAssault as any #nonconsensual sexual act, a move that comes after the landmark drugging & rape trial that shook #France & turned #GisèlePelicot into a global icon.

The bill was presented in January following the conviction of 51 men for the rape & abuse of Gisèle Pelicot in a case which spurred a national reckoning over #RapeCulture in France.

#law #VioenceAgainstWomen
https://apnews.com/article/france-consent-rape-law-gisele-pelicot-senate-b208f67c13a27898d7d8ca26472ab61a

The #House & #Senate are negotiating over a final version of an #intelligence policy bill, known as the Intelligence Authorization Act, & the proposal to overhaul #counterintelligence operations, including the level of #TulsiGabbard’s involvement, remains one of the main sticking points, congressional officials said.

#law #NationalSecurity

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), chairman of the #US #Senate #ForeignRelations Committee, on Tuesday denounced the #RSF attacks on the city, & called for it to be designated as a foreign #terrorist organization.

“The RSF has waged terror & committed unspeakable atrocities, genocide among them, against the Sudanese people,” he wrote on X.

#SVAC #CRSV #LawsOfWar #InternationalLaw #law #RSF #geopolitics #Sudan #Darfur #elFasher #WarCrimes #terrorism

The #Senate is expected to vote next week on a bipartisan resolution that would bar the #US from engaging in hostilities inside #Venezuela without explicit authorization by #Congress.
The #Constitution gives Congress the #authority to declare #war, but formal declarations are rare & have not been issued since WWII. Lawmakers have more often passed authorizations for the use of #military force to grant the president permission to use force against specific targets.

#law #murder #authoritarianism

#Trump said that he would not seek congressional approval to carry out #military strikes against alleged drug #cartels that allegedly traffic narcotics to the US, even as he vowed to expand the operation from attacks at sea to targets on land. The #Senate is expected to vote next week on a bipartisan resolution that would bar the US from engaging in hostilities inside #Venezuela without explicit authorization by #Congress.

#law #Constitution #authoritarianism #fascism
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/us/politics/trump-military-authorization-cartel-strikes.html?smid=url-share

#GOP senator blocks #Democrats bill to #pay all federal employees during #shutdown

Sen #RonJohnson (R-WI) objected to a request by Sen #ChrisVanHollen (D-MD) on Thursday for the #Senate to immediately consider & pass a bill to pay all #FederalWorkers, members of the #military & federal #contractors during the 2025 government shutdown.

#law #PublicDisservice #Republicans #Trump #OrchestratedShutdown
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5569758-ron-johnson-chris-van-hollen-shutdown-pay-bill/

The Steady State, a rule-of-law advocacy group, issued its call for congressional inquiries into the Interagency Weaponization Working Group in a letter to the top #Republicans & #Democrats on the #Senate & #House #intelligence, #judiciary & armed services committees.

#Trump #law #LegalEthics #RevengePolitics #WeaponizationOfGovernment

https://steadystate1.substack.com/p/steady-state-letter-to-congress-reports

#PaulIngrassia is scheduled to appear Thursday in a confirmation hearing with the #Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, but his confirmation, which requires simple majority approval from the Senate, seems to be doomed.

#Trump #MAGA #GOP #Republicans #Nazis #antisemitism #racism #WhiteSupremacy #MaleSupremacy #WhiteChristianNationalism
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/20/paul-ingrassia-racist-text-messages-nazi-00613608

#Senate #Democratic leader #ChuckSchumer called the #WhiteHouse meeting a “pep rally” & said it’s “shameful” that #House Speaker #MikeJohnson has kept the House out of town during the shutdown. Schumer says his side wants to end the #shutdown & fix the #healthcare premium crisis that “looms over 20 million hardworking Americans.”

#law #Trump #Republicans #OrchestratedShutdown #PowerGrab

What clowns

As the government #shutdown enters its fourth week, #Senate #Republicans are headed to the #WhiteHouse on Tuesday — not for urgent talks on how to end it, but for a display of unity with #Trump as they refuse to negotiate on any #Democratic demands.

#law #OrchestratedShutdown #PowerGrab
https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-10-21-2025

A #bipartisan measure to block the #Trump admin’s lethal strikes on alleged #Venezuela drug traffickers fell short in the #Senate last week, a #failure of lawmakers to assert their constitutional role in deciding if & how the #US enters a #war.

#Military ofcls in multiple classified briefings have not definitively identified the victims or explained why the military is using deadly force rather than the long-standing protocol of interdicting vessels at sea, Democratic lawmakers have said.

#law

#USpol #Resist #US #Elections2025

Main Senate Candidate calls out rival #Dem #Oligarch, #SusanCollins--🎼This is how you do it! 🎶

"#GrahamPlatner is running for the #Senate in #Maine - and he's ready to take on the ultra wealthy.

#maine​ #politics​ #berniesanders​ #democracy​ #progressive​ #news​ #shorts​ #republican​ #maga​ #trump​"

https://youtube.com/shorts/X_crEXa_qfA

@democracydocket
@democratsabroad
@indivisibleteam
@MeidasTouch

#USpol #Resist

#BernieSanders destroys #RFK jr. in hearing:

#Progressive #US "#Senator Bernie Sanders calls out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his attacks on public #health groups and the #CDC."

Everyone is corrupt but RFK jr.! 😜🤣

"#news​ #politics​ #politicalnews​ #shorts​ #liberal​ #democrat​ #progressive​ #us​ #usnews​ #senate​"

https://youtube.com/shorts/azZx0IqchMQ