#sen. mitch mcconnell

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

#us politics #republicans #conservatives #gop #sen. Mitch Mcconnell #Republicans be like #conservatives be like #eat the fucking rich #eat the rich #tax the billionaires #tax the rich #simping for billionaires #memes #shitpost #donald trump

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

As the national security workforce ages, dementia impacting U.S. officials poses a threat to national security, according to a first-of-its-kind study by a Pentagon-funded think tank. The report, released this spring, came as several prominent U.S. officials trusted with some of the nation’s most highly classified intelligence experienced public lapses, stoking calls for resignations and debate about Washington’s aging leadership.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who had a second freezing episode last month, enjoys the most privileged access to classified information of anyone in Congress as a member of the so-called Gang of Eight congressional leadership. Ninety-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whose decline has seen her confused about how to vote and experiencing memory lapses — forgetting conversations and not recalling a monthslong absence — was for years a member of the Gang of Eight and remains a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on which she has served since 2001.

The study, published by the RAND Corporation’s National Security Research Division in April, identifies individuals with both current and former access to classified material who develop dementia as threats to national security, citing the possibility that they may unwittingly disclose government secrets.

“Individuals who hold or held a security clearance and handled classified material could become a security threat if they develop dementia and unwittingly share government secrets,” the study says.

As the study notes, there does not appear to be any other publicly available research into dementia, an umbrella term for the loss of cognitive functioning, despite the fact that Americans are living longer than ever before and that the researchers were able to identify several cases in which senior intelligence officials died of Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive brain disorder and the most common cause of dementia.

“As people live longer and retire later, challenges associated with cognitive impairment in the workplace will need to be addressed,” the report says. “Our limited research suggests this concern is an emerging security blind spot.”

Most holders of security clearances, a ballooning class of officials and other bureaucrats with access to secret government information, are subject to rigorous and invasive vetting procedures. Applying for a clearance can mean hourslong polygraph tests; character interviews with old teachers, friends, and neighbors; and ongoing automated monitoring of their bank accounts and other personal information. As one senior Pentagon official who oversees such a program told me of people who enter the intelligence bureaucracy, “You basically give up your Fourth Amendment rights.”

Yet, as the authors of the RAND report note, there does not appear to be any vetting for age-related cognitive decline. In fact, the director of national intelligence’s directive on continuous evaluation contains no mention of age or cognitive decline.

While the study doesn’t mention any U.S. officials by name, its timing comes amid a simmering debate about gerontocracy: rule by the elderly. Following McConnell’s first freezing episode, in July, Google searches for the term “gerontocracy” spiked.

“The President called to check on me,” McConnell said when asked about the first episode. “I told him I got sandbagged,” he quipped, referring to President Joe Biden’s trip-and-fall incident during a June graduation ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, which sparked conservative criticisms about the 80-year-old’s own functioning.

While likely an attempt by McConnell at deflecting from his lapse, Biden’s age has emerged as a clear concern to voters, including Democrats. 69% of Democrats say Biden is “too old to effectively serve” another term, an Associated Press-NORC poll found last month. The findings were echoed by a CNN poll released last week that found that 67% of Democrats said the party should nominate someone else, with 49% directly mentioning Biden’s age as their biggest concern.

As Commander In Chief, the President is the nation’s ultimate classification authority, with the extraordinary power to classify and declassify information broadly. No other American has as privileged access to classified information as the president.

The U.S.’s current leadership is not only the oldest in history, but also the number of older people in Congress has grown dramatically in recent years. In 1981, only 4% of Congress was over the age of 70. By 2022, that number had spiked to 23%.

In 2017, Vox reported that a pharmacist had filled Alzheimer’s prescriptions for multiple members of Congress. With little incentive for an elected official to disclose such an illness, it is difficult to know just how pervasive the problem is. Feinstein’s retinue of staffers have for years sought to conceal her decline, having established a system to prevent her from walking the halls of Congress alone and risk having an unsupervised interaction with a reporter.

Despite the public controversy, there’s little indication that any officials will resign — or choose not to seek reelection.

After years of speculation about her retirement, 83-year-old Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stunned observers when she announced on Friday that she would run for reelection, seeking her 19th term.

#us politics #news #republicans #Democrats #boomers #Gang of Eight #sen. Mitch Mcconnell #sen. Diane Feinstein #rep. nancy pelosi #Senate Intelligence Committee #the pentagon #classified information #RAND Corporation #National Security Research Division #national security #dementia #cognitive decline #Alzheimer’s disease #security clearances #Fourth Amendment #gerontocracy #president joe biden #us congress #2023 #the intercept

[midnightfunk]

‘Outdated and Wrong’

If that ain’t the pot...

#sen. mitch mcconnell #roe v wade #women's rights #reproductive rights #scotus

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

Senate GOP faces politics vs. policy battle on marijuana

Senate GOP faces politics vs. policy battle on marijuana

The omnibus package is on the path to passage, but the expected exclusion of marijuana banking reform has spawned a battle in the Senate GOP. For months, top Democrats and a number of Republicans had high hopes that legislation allowing banks to offer services to cannabis businesses in states where it has been legalize would be part of either the year-end National Defense Authorization Act or the…

View On WordPress

#GOP #Marijuana Banking #marijuana legalization #mitch mcconnell #Sen. Steve Daines #senate republicans

[odinsblog]

Sen. Mitch McConnell appears to freeze again at a Kentucky event. The Republican leader was silent for more than 30 seconds after being asked if he will run for re-election. Aides had to step in to help him out, and lead him away from the podium. He previously froze at a news conference in July. This is from August 30th.

👉🏿 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-mitch-mcconnell-appears-freeze-kentucky-event-rcna102583

#politics #republicans #glitch mcconnell #mitch mcconnell #please die a slow and painful death 😊

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Fox News is Private, Pro-GOP US Media]

"I welcome the U.S. and coalition operations against the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists responsible for violently disrupting international commerce in the Red Sea and attacking American vessels," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement. "President Biden’s decision to use military force against these Iranian proxies is overdue."

"I am hopeful these operations mark an enduring shift in the Biden Administration’s approach to Iran and its proxies. To restore deterrence and change Iran’s calculus, Iranian leaders themselves must believe that they will pay a meaningful price unless they abandon their worldwide campaign of terror," he added.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul, R-Texas, who said he was meeting with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the strikes were called, also praised the actions. He also called on Biden to restore the Houthis' terror designation.

"I’m pleased the president, in coordination with our allies, finally took action against the Iran-backed Houthis following weeks of instability in the Red Sea. Tonight, with these strikes, we are beginning to restore deterrence. The administration must acknowledge it was a mistake to rescind the Houthis designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and re-list them immediately," he said.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, similarly called the action "overdue" and accused the Biden administration of contributing to the increasingly hostile situation in the Red Sea, but said the strikes were "a good first step toward restoring deterrence in the Red Sea."[...]

["]It is important that we follow this action in close consultation with our Saudi partners to ensure they are with us as the situation develops," Wicker said.[...]

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of former President Trump's, said he was "very supportive of the Biden Administration’s decision to strike Houthi rebels who have been harassing international shipping and trying to attack Israeli and American interests."[...]

Even rank-and-file Republicans have been issuing cautious and rare praise for the move. Rep. John James, R-Mich., a military combat veteran who served in Iraq, told Fox News Digital, "The Houthis are a terrorist organization. They have been striking at U.S. military personnel since late last year and must be destroyed."[...]

"While I support these targeted, proportional military strikes, I call on the Biden Administration to continue its diplomatic efforts to avoid escalation to a broader regional war and continue to engage Congress on the details of its strategy and legal basis as required by law," Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said.

11 Jan 24

[gusty-wind]

“It does not actually articulate or force the articulation of a strategy for how to end the conflict to begin with. So you basically have a blank check — or a near blank check — for a strategy that’s completely gone off the rails.”

Lee called out his Republican colleagues for sending aid to Ukraine at the expense of America’s own interests.

“By voting yes and passing this bill now, it empowers drug cartels, it dissolves our borders, it spends insane amounts of money that we don’t have on the priorities of foreign countries all at the same time,” he said.

Lee also slammed the bills’ proponents for defeating an effort led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to increase accountability and oversight of the aid to the notoriously corrupt Ukrainian government through appointment of an inspector general.

“These are not choir boys,” Lee said. “These are not Boy Scouts. These are not Girl Scouts. These are people who have really set world records for corruption. It’s an art form over there.”

Vance laid out the arguments from Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for rushing the aid through without further accountability measures.

“The basic argument is that we have to rush resources to Ukraine immediately, or they’re liable to fall to Russian aggression,” he said. “And it’s all basically an argument made under the gun that unless you approve this appropriation of resources and weapons, then you will allow Russia to win. So it’s a kind of moral blackmail.”

Supporters of yet more aid to Ukraine can not admit the reality that the war is not winnable for Ukraine, Vance continued. “They can’t admit that this isn’t going well because if they admitted that, it would cause too much psychological harm, and they’d have to cut bait.”

Johnson added that proponents argue that it is in politicians’ naked political interests to support the aid because “it’s helping build our industrial base, and so it’s creating jobs in your state. And I call that a depraved justification.”

Musk, who noted his contributions to Ukraine’s war efforts, echoed the assessment of the trio of senators that the war is ultimately not winnable and that a peace deal is in their best interests.

Ukraine is “losing people every day,” he said. “And if you’re going to spend lives, it must be for a purpose.”

Musk continued:

There is no way in hell that Putin is going to lose. If he would back off, he would be assassinated. And for those who want regime change in Russia, they should think about: Who is the person that could take out Putin? And is that person likely to be a peacenik? Probably not. They’re probably gonna be even harder, even more hardcore than Putin if they took him out.  Ramaswamy detailed additional “unacceptable” risks to American and global interests from continued “endless funding” of the fighting in Ukraine, arguing that Americans see “daily strengthening of the military alliance between Russia and China, which, when combined, is the single greatest increase for the risk of World War III that we’ve seen in the post-World War II era.”

If the foreign aid passes the Senate, as is expected, the House must still act. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would likely face a rebellion from members of the Republican conference if he brought the bill to the floor.

Monday night, after the conclusion of the X Space, Johnson seemed to throw cold water on the Senate’s package, echoing earlier statements that Congress must address American border security first.

“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” a Johnson statement read. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”

The timing before Monday night’s vote is important, sending the message to any on-the-fence Republican senators that a vote on the unpopular aid package would imperil their political standing for legislation that will not become law.

Some Democrats have insisted they will use all the parliamentary tools at their disposal to bring the bill to the floor, although a path forward for the legislation in the House is unclear.

Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.

#the great awakening #war is real #ncswic #treason

[saywhat-politics]

See Russian state media praise Mitch McConnell and GOP

Clips from Russian state media show how Russia is celebrating as US lawmakers remain deadlocked over aid to Ukraine. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) joins CNN’s Poppy Harlow to discuss.

#youtube #cnn

[simply-ivanka]

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN)

VOTE THESE PIECES OF SHIT OUT OF CONGRESS.

#Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) #Bill Cassidy (R-LA) #Susan Collins (R-ME) #John Cornyn (R-TX) #Joni Ernst (R-IA) #Chuck Grassley (R-IA) #John Thune (R-SD) #Thom Tillis (R-NC) #Roger Wicker (R-MS) #and Todd Young (R-IN)

[soberscientistlife]

The best news of the week

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

I’ve said many times that Moscow Mitch would be replace by one of his two henchmen, Thune or Cornyn. They’re both old school Republicans, oligarch puppets, but they aren’t deranged MAGA cultists. A small distinction as one group will impoverish using the system while the other will extra-legally slaughter us in the streets.

#republican assholes #John Thune #Moscow Bitch #Bitch McConnell #republican values #maga morons #resist #never Trump

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

#us politics #twitter #tweet #@IbaraEleven #sen. mitch mcconnell #republicans #conservatives #gop #us healthcare #us health system #socialized medicine #save medicare #expand medicare #universal healthcare #2023 #eat the rich

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell bluntly warned Republican senators in a private meeting not to sign on to a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley aimed at limiting corporate money bankrolling high-powered outside groups, telling them that many of them won their seats thanks to the powerful super PAC the Kentucky Republican has long controlled.

According to multiple sources familiar with the Tuesday lunch meeting, McConnell warned GOP senators that they could face “incoming” from the “center-right” if they signed onto Hawley’s bill. He also read off a list of Senators who won their races amid heavy financial support from the Senate Leadership Fund, an outside group tied to the GOP leader that spends big on TV ads in battleground Senate races. On that list of senators: Hawley himself, according to sources familiar with the matter.

McConnell has long been a chief opponent of tighter campaign finance restrictions. But there’s also no love lost between McConnell and Hawley, who has long criticized the GOP leader and has repeatedly called for new leadership atop their conference. Just on Tuesday, Hawley told CNN that it was “mistake” for McConnell to be “standing with” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, in their push to tie Ukraine aid to an Israel funding package.

Hawley’s new bill, called the Ending Corporate Influence on Elections Act, is aimed at reversing the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision that loosened campaign finance laws – an effort that aligns the conservative Missouri Republican with many Democrats. Hawley’s bill would ban publicly traded corporations from making independent expenditures and political advertisements – and ban those publicly traded companies from giving money to super PACs.

In an interview, Hawley defended his bill and said that corporate influence should be limited in elections.

“I think that’s wrong,” Hawley told CNN. “I think it’s wrong as an original matter. I think it’s warping our politics, and I see no reason for conservatives to defend it. It’s wrong as a matter of the original meaning of the Constitution. It is bad for our elections. It’s bad for our voters. And I just think on principle, we ought to be concerned.”

According to a list of Senators obtained by CNN, McConnell singled out a number of lawmakers who benefited from his outside group over the last three cycles: Mike Braun of Indiana, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Susan Collins of Maine, Steve Daines of Montana, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Katie Britt of Alabama, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Ted Budd of North Carolina, JD Vance of Ohio and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

In 2018, Hawley benefited from more than $20 million from McConnell’s group.

McConnell’s office declined to comment.

#us politics #news #cnn #republicans #conservatives #us senate #sen. mitch mcconnell #sen. josh hawley #Senate Leadership Fund #super pacs #citizens united #end citizens united #Ending Corporate Influence on Elections Act #sen. Kevin Cramer #sen. Mike Braun #sen. Marsha Blackburn #sen. Dan Sullivan #sen. Joni Ernst #sen. Roger Marshall #sen. Susan Collins #sen. Steve Daines #sen. Thom Tillis #sen. Lindsey Graham #sen. Katie Britt #sen. Lisa Murkowski #Sen. Eric Schmitt #Sen. Ted Budd #sen. JD Vance #sen. Ron Johnson

[midnightfunk]

Mitch McConnell.

A punk yesteryear. A punk this year.

A punk every year.

#sen. mitch mcconnell #ole mitch putin’s lil bitch #uvalde #school shooting

[cogitoergofun]

On Wednesday night, almost by accident, CSPAN's cameras caught several hours of live American history. I am no historian, but I am willing to bet that the Congress of the United States never has been as utterly, flamingly useless as it was Wednesday night. It never labored so hard to deliver so small a mouse. It never has calendared such an array of completely empty gestures, completely nonsensical performance pieces, and completely vacant exercises in political vanity. It was quite a thing to watch. Here is what went on.

1) The House of Representatives declined to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib at the request of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

2) The House of Representatives declined to expel Rep. George Santos, the Henry Gondorff of American legislators.

3) One by one, the Senate brought up for approval all 60-odd military promotions currently being blocked by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Crackback), which allowed Tuberville to object to each one individually.

All of this happened and, in reality, nothing happened.

[...]

But it was the extended exercise in the Senate that proved to be the biggest waste of time. It was strictly reserved for Republican members, chiefly Senators Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Joni Ernst of Iowa. They took turns reading the individual CV's of the stalled nominees, most of which were quite impressive, at least to these ears. But Sullivan and Ernst were twisting on their own hook. Tuberville is holding up the promotions because the Pentagon initiated a policy whereby members of the military can be recompensed for travel expenses if they have to travel in order to terminate a pregnancy. So Sullivan and Ernst constantly had to declare that they agreed with Tuberville's casus belli, just not his current tactics. Rest assured that, if Tuberville were gumming up the works on any issue except abortion, he'd have been smacked down by what's left of Mitch McConnell weeks ago. Nevertheless, Tuberville objected to every one of the nominations, effectively chloroforming them again. It took freaking hours. All of this happened and, yet nothing really happened at all.

[gusty-wind]

#the great awakening #war is real #ncswic