As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned would happen today, the U.S. hit the debt ceiling, although it can avoid default for a few months with what Yellen calls “extraordinary measures.” These consist primarily of suspending government pension investments, which will have to be made whole again when the ceiling has been increased or suspended.
Sorry to have to repeat myself again, but Sec. of the 14th Amendment says the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned. That must mean it has to be paid as it comes due, so the debt ceiling is irrelevant or unconstitutional, or both. The President should just announce that the United States will pay all debts as they come due.
Edit: I should have added, WRITE OR CALL YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE! Normally, I suggest calling, because it's quicker, but this issue is semi-complicated, so I think writing might be better. Write even if you're in a red district or state--let them know we're on to the fraud.
I suspect the Supreme Court leak came from Alito, Thomas or Thomas's wife, Ginny, which is why the public won't be privy to the responsible party or parties.
Once in power, republicans never fail to hold the U.S. to unnecessary economic trauma.
The GOP is a cruel and useless excuse for a political party.
Let's take a quick look at the resume of Michael Chertoff, who Chief Justice John Roberts chose to conduct the investigation of the Dobbs case leak:
- Special counsel on the Senate Whitewater investigation of Clinton
- Protege of Rudy Giuliani in the SDNY
- Fundraiser for W Bush and other Republicans
- W Bush campaign advisor on law and order issues
- DOJ appointee who helped establish the CIA's enhanced interrogation program
- Bungled DHS response to Hurricane Katrina
- Appointed by W Bush to US court of appeals
- Member of defense team in US prosecution of Dmitro Firtash, an ally of Vladimir Putin who funneled Russian money to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine
Thank you, Heather. You’re a haven of solid information in a world of bad reporting. Just today, I turned on MSNBC around noon and all they talked about was Biden and the documents. I turned it off. Curious, I turned it on about 15 minutes later, and it was still about Biden and the documents. It makes me crazy when there are so many important and crucial things occurring which are dangerous to our country and our people.
What a final paragraph reported by HCR! Yes, a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United is sorely needed. For starters, people are people, not random groups of people. And secondly, money doesn't equal free speech obviously.
"But the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic, is money: Money, money, money. When I ran 6 years ago, in 1998, I raised $8.5 million. That $8.5 million is $30,000 a week, every week, for 6 years. If you miss Christmas week, you miss New Years week, you are $100,000 in the hole and don't you think we don't know it and we start to work harder at raising money.
As a result, the Senate doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. We have longer holidays. The policy committee is adjourned and we go over to the campaign building because you can't call for money in the office. So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that." - Fritz Hollings
How could unlimited money to influence election results, and the media calmly accepts as a given that funds applied to political purposes in do fact influence political outcomes, not only as in important factor in determining which candidates are taken seriously, and win, but which laws are and are not passed. Certainly Senator Hollings (or anyone who thinks about it) was in a position to know. And is that not patently anti-egalitarianism and anti-democratic? Not that money is the only determent of political outcomes, but like athletes using dangerous "performance-enhancing drugs" it a big fat thumb on the scale.
The two "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" for which "the President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction" stated explicitly by the Constitution are treason and bribery. Is de facto bribery, which may be technically distinguished from a direct, detailed purchase of political outcomes, yet results in a very similar dynamic, any less damaging to the integrity of rule and equal protection of law than the classic envelope of cash thrown over the transom? I don't think so.
From ‘This leak undermines the process of the Supreme Court, and I am determined to find out who…’ to ‘… move along, nothing to see here’ is astonishing. How dumb do you think we are, Justice Roberts?
“I am struck today by how language—its silences, obfuscations, truths, lies, and hopes—shapes our world.” Thank you, Professor, for clearly stating the repub strategy for confusing policies and reasons for their proposed laws and regulations. Could be “1984,” the George Orwell dystopian novel.
Life imitates Art or is it the opposite? Tax cuts, tax breaks, deficit spending, supply-side economics, all confuse voters, and on and on, become lies and just rhetoric to many citizens, exactly their design. They stop listening and then vote their party. Even when their vote will hurt them. I just finished watching a PBS “Firing Line” interview with Margaret Atwood, about the “Handmaid’s Tale.”The author compared some American attitudes, policies and attempts to change laws as strategies to control women, with her story of Handmaids. Who votes against abortion and even birth control? At the same time voting against family and child policies like increased subsidies for daycare and parental leave? Against Women, who they see as baby machines and belong at home. Who votes against Critical Race Theory, Truth? Who votes to make voting harder not easier? The same answer since that party voted against the ERA, Equal Rights Amendment. https://pbs.org/video/margaret-atwood-tgvkxq?source=social
Isn't failure to raise the debt ceiling a violation of the 14th amendment which forbids withholding any debts already occurred by the government 🤔 the debt ceiling needs abolished anyway it's a redundant accounting measure that's irrelevant because the nation’s debt will always grow just like America 🇺🇸 will always grow 😉
We also need fair representation in congress instead of only 435 representatives in the House the last 100 years almost doesn't not adequately represent the actual population 🙄 statistically if it was same % as when 435 limit set we would need over 600 I read in article awhile back 😉 that's the answer to the GOP gerrymandering and undue influence now of the radical rednecks
The best news I've heard this year, kudos to Congressman Adam Schiff for proposing the Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United. Of course, we'd need 78 honorable Republican Congresspersons to join us to pass it and that's a tough job. We need to get the House of Representatives back in 2024, which means both the DCCC and the DNC will have to actually do their jobs and recruit viable candidates, and the Democrats here in California will need to put more effort into defeating MAGgots in the rural areas. Because we are a blue State there is a tendency to say oh, what difference can12 or so Republicans make when we field 40 Democrats, but when one of them is creepy crawly on his belly Kevin McCarthy and another is Kevin Kiley who'll lick the slime trail McCarthy leaves - we need to do better. There are some decent people in the mountains, lets help them too.
Hasn’t it historically been TFG’s MO to hurl frivolous lawsuits at those who, say, want him to pay his bills, honor his contracts, etc.? Finally we get a Judge Middlebrooks to call him out on the practice and make him pay. Hurray for Judge Middlebrooks!
At this point, what kind of law firm would take TFG on as a client? I know that if I were shopping for a lawyer, any association with TFG, past or present, would be an immediate disqualification.
And finally;
“I am struck today by how language—its silences, obfuscations, truths, lies, and hopes—shapes our world.”
And I am struck by how beautifully, poetically, HCR uses language to make her point.
This article starts at the heart of the problem: income disparity/wealth disparity and no one wants to pay more tax. It's been so easy to give tax breaks and so irresponsible. The mess will only continue until the tax issue improves.
it is with so much thanks that we read your daily views on the affairs of the world, and in particular during these tortured and challenging times. Thank you, many times, over for your work and your persistence. We as a people are the better for it.
Citizen's United is one of the most egregious example of SCOTUS legislating from the bench. It has completely changed the political landscape in the US since 2010. It was decided 5 to 4 with Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito in the majority. Interestingly the dissent written by Justice Stevens and joined by Justices Breyer, Ginsburg and Sotomayor says that the ruling went far beyond the issues brought before the court and the majority had "changed the case" so they could make a broader ruling. He also used the originalist argument that the understanding of the founders of "We the people" did not included the concept of corporations as people--but apparently the conservative majority only uses originalist arguments when it supports their view.
It will be impossible to amend the consistution to correct this given all the corporate money that will pour in to sway the members of Congress and then if it somehow manages to get through there, that will be poured into state legislatures during ratification. The only hope is that just like Roe this is ruled incorrect by a subsequent Court. The knife can eventually cut both ways.
But Democrats need to win the national Trifecta for at least another 20 years before the composition of the Court can be changed to do that.
Sorry to have to repeat myself again, but Sec. of the 14th Amendment says the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned. That must mean it has to be paid as it comes due, so the debt ceiling is irrelevant or unconstitutional, or both. The President should just announce that the United States will pay all debts as they come due.
Edit: I should have added, WRITE OR CALL YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE! Normally, I suggest calling, because it's quicker, but this issue is semi-complicated, so I think writing might be better. Write even if you're in a red district or state--let them know we're on to the fraud.
I suspect the Supreme Court leak came from Alito, Thomas or Thomas's wife, Ginny, which is why the public won't be privy to the responsible party or parties.
Once in power, republicans never fail to hold the U.S. to unnecessary economic trauma.
The GOP is a cruel and useless excuse for a political party.
Let's take a quick look at the resume of Michael Chertoff, who Chief Justice John Roberts chose to conduct the investigation of the Dobbs case leak:
- Special counsel on the Senate Whitewater investigation of Clinton
- Protege of Rudy Giuliani in the SDNY
- Fundraiser for W Bush and other Republicans
- W Bush campaign advisor on law and order issues
- DOJ appointee who helped establish the CIA's enhanced interrogation program
- Bungled DHS response to Hurricane Katrina
- Appointed by W Bush to US court of appeals
- Member of defense team in US prosecution of Dmitro Firtash, an ally of Vladimir Putin who funneled Russian money to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine
Thank you, Heather. You’re a haven of solid information in a world of bad reporting. Just today, I turned on MSNBC around noon and all they talked about was Biden and the documents. I turned it off. Curious, I turned it on about 15 minutes later, and it was still about Biden and the documents. It makes me crazy when there are so many important and crucial things occurring which are dangerous to our country and our people.
Heather, I am so grateful for you.
“I am struck today by how language—its silences, obfuscations, truths, lies, and hopes—shapes our world.”
Now, that’s an admirable conclusion!
What a final paragraph reported by HCR! Yes, a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United is sorely needed. For starters, people are people, not random groups of people. And secondly, money doesn't equal free speech obviously.
"But the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic, is money: Money, money, money. When I ran 6 years ago, in 1998, I raised $8.5 million. That $8.5 million is $30,000 a week, every week, for 6 years. If you miss Christmas week, you miss New Years week, you are $100,000 in the hole and don't you think we don't know it and we start to work harder at raising money.
As a result, the Senate doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. We have longer holidays. The policy committee is adjourned and we go over to the campaign building because you can't call for money in the office. So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that." - Fritz Hollings
How could unlimited money to influence election results, and the media calmly accepts as a given that funds applied to political purposes in do fact influence political outcomes, not only as in important factor in determining which candidates are taken seriously, and win, but which laws are and are not passed. Certainly Senator Hollings (or anyone who thinks about it) was in a position to know. And is that not patently anti-egalitarianism and anti-democratic? Not that money is the only determent of political outcomes, but like athletes using dangerous "performance-enhancing drugs" it a big fat thumb on the scale.
The two "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" for which "the President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction" stated explicitly by the Constitution are treason and bribery. Is de facto bribery, which may be technically distinguished from a direct, detailed purchase of political outcomes, yet results in a very similar dynamic, any less damaging to the integrity of rule and equal protection of law than the classic envelope of cash thrown over the transom? I don't think so.
From ‘This leak undermines the process of the Supreme Court, and I am determined to find out who…’ to ‘… move along, nothing to see here’ is astonishing. How dumb do you think we are, Justice Roberts?
“I am struck today by how language—its silences, obfuscations, truths, lies, and hopes—shapes our world.” Thank you, Professor, for clearly stating the repub strategy for confusing policies and reasons for their proposed laws and regulations. Could be “1984,” the George Orwell dystopian novel.
Life imitates Art or is it the opposite? Tax cuts, tax breaks, deficit spending, supply-side economics, all confuse voters, and on and on, become lies and just rhetoric to many citizens, exactly their design. They stop listening and then vote their party. Even when their vote will hurt them. I just finished watching a PBS “Firing Line” interview with Margaret Atwood, about the “Handmaid’s Tale.”The author compared some American attitudes, policies and attempts to change laws as strategies to control women, with her story of Handmaids. Who votes against abortion and even birth control? At the same time voting against family and child policies like increased subsidies for daycare and parental leave? Against Women, who they see as baby machines and belong at home. Who votes against Critical Race Theory, Truth? Who votes to make voting harder not easier? The same answer since that party voted against the ERA, Equal Rights Amendment. https://pbs.org/video/margaret-atwood-tgvkxq?source=social
Words are powerful tools.
Isn't failure to raise the debt ceiling a violation of the 14th amendment which forbids withholding any debts already occurred by the government 🤔 the debt ceiling needs abolished anyway it's a redundant accounting measure that's irrelevant because the nation’s debt will always grow just like America 🇺🇸 will always grow 😉
We also need fair representation in congress instead of only 435 representatives in the House the last 100 years almost doesn't not adequately represent the actual population 🙄 statistically if it was same % as when 435 limit set we would need over 600 I read in article awhile back 😉 that's the answer to the GOP gerrymandering and undue influence now of the radical rednecks
The best news I've heard this year, kudos to Congressman Adam Schiff for proposing the Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United. Of course, we'd need 78 honorable Republican Congresspersons to join us to pass it and that's a tough job. We need to get the House of Representatives back in 2024, which means both the DCCC and the DNC will have to actually do their jobs and recruit viable candidates, and the Democrats here in California will need to put more effort into defeating MAGgots in the rural areas. Because we are a blue State there is a tendency to say oh, what difference can12 or so Republicans make when we field 40 Democrats, but when one of them is creepy crawly on his belly Kevin McCarthy and another is Kevin Kiley who'll lick the slime trail McCarthy leaves - we need to do better. There are some decent people in the mountains, lets help them too.
Hasn’t it historically been TFG’s MO to hurl frivolous lawsuits at those who, say, want him to pay his bills, honor his contracts, etc.? Finally we get a Judge Middlebrooks to call him out on the practice and make him pay. Hurray for Judge Middlebrooks!
At this point, what kind of law firm would take TFG on as a client? I know that if I were shopping for a lawyer, any association with TFG, past or present, would be an immediate disqualification.
And finally;
“I am struck today by how language—its silences, obfuscations, truths, lies, and hopes—shapes our world.”
And I am struck by how beautifully, poetically, HCR uses language to make her point.
This article starts at the heart of the problem: income disparity/wealth disparity and no one wants to pay more tax. It's been so easy to give tax breaks and so irresponsible. The mess will only continue until the tax issue improves.
it is with so much thanks that we read your daily views on the affairs of the world, and in particular during these tortured and challenging times. Thank you, many times, over for your work and your persistence. We as a people are the better for it.
If they mess up our economy, along with the World’s too, I think I’ll buy voodoo dolls. I’m open to learning new things if anyone has experience! /; )
Citizen's United is one of the most egregious example of SCOTUS legislating from the bench. It has completely changed the political landscape in the US since 2010. It was decided 5 to 4 with Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito in the majority. Interestingly the dissent written by Justice Stevens and joined by Justices Breyer, Ginsburg and Sotomayor says that the ruling went far beyond the issues brought before the court and the majority had "changed the case" so they could make a broader ruling. He also used the originalist argument that the understanding of the founders of "We the people" did not included the concept of corporations as people--but apparently the conservative majority only uses originalist arguments when it supports their view.
It will be impossible to amend the consistution to correct this given all the corporate money that will pour in to sway the members of Congress and then if it somehow manages to get through there, that will be poured into state legislatures during ratification. The only hope is that just like Roe this is ruled incorrect by a subsequent Court. The knife can eventually cut both ways.
But Democrats need to win the national Trifecta for at least another 20 years before the composition of the Court can be changed to do that.