Less government weighed against the desire for more control over educational curriculum, voting rights, minority rights, the courts and women’s bodies has to be one of the more delicate balancing acts in the 170-year history of the Republican party.
And they are certainly not very good in any display of consistency.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s look at just one issue that is becoming more popular with emboldened Republicans with each passing day.
Outlawing abortion, even in cases of rape, incest or endangerment to the mother, apparently was not enough for the party that professes to wanting less government intervention into the lives of Americans.
Earlier this month, Senate Republicans blocked legislation aimed at protecting women’s access to contraception.
It’s not like we were not given a heads-up. In April 2023, we learned that the overturning of Roe v. Wade was not enough; Republicans had already set their sights on birth control with the BANNING OF CONTRACEPTIVES. A year earlier, the House passed a bill that would prevent states from banning birth control but only eight Republicans in the entire chamber voted in favor.
In perhaps the most far-reaching decision of all, the Alabama Supreme Court in February of this year deemed that EMBRYOS created through in vitro fertilization are, in fact, children, prompting Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville to utter a totally baffling EXPLANATION of his take on the ruling.
But back to last week’s vote. The vote on the bill was 51-39 with 10 members not voting. That vote fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage.
Only two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in favor of the bill.
Louisiana’s two senators? BILL CASSIDY, a physician no less, fell in line with his Republican colleagues and voted no. John Neely Kennedy conveniently took a walk and did not vote.
So, to all those who scoff at the suggestion that Republicans are taking aim on your social security and Medicaid/Medicare, I would suggest you read Sen. J.D. Vance’s DENIAL that Republicans want to limit birth control access of just last December. So, how did Vance back up his words? Like our John N. Kennedy, he went fishing and did not vote.
All of which goes to validate my credo on politics: Disregard totally what politicians say and listen for what they don’t say – because you can bet the farm the latter is what they’ll end up doing.
Louisiana Voice 
From their perspective, it makes total sense to ensure people have more babies – people are the largest commodity the government has. 😉
Nothing says ideological bankruptcy like the unhealthy obsession the political right has with regulating the choices women can make about their body.
Defeat the “MOST HAPPY FELON.” Kill the head and the snake dies.
Fact. Trump the only US President who did not take America to war in the 21st Century. The US involvement in the Ukraine/Russian war did not begin when Biden became President. Napoleon and Hitler invaded Russia through the Ukrainian plains. In like manner the US would not permit Russia to station an Army on the borders of Mexico!
Fight Fight Fight. Pelosi Schiff and Nadler attempted to impeach Trump over his refusal to intervene in the Ukraine attempt to join the Natio alliance. Bunk on the SS (secret service) Federal bureaucrat government corruption\National debt. This government within, this concealed non elected bureaucratic puppet-master Government, it continuously attempts to pull other Kennedy, Kennedy, King assassinations & Bay of Pigs — Vietnam – war of imperialism. Which defines the Pax American Empire – US exceptionalism dogma theology; also known as “Manifest Destiny”.
Make America Great Again, bring our boys home from Europe. Pull the US out of the Nato alliance. The USSR ceased to exist in 1991. Follow up the Roe vs Wade States Rights victory by dismantling all the post-Civil War Federal bureaucracies; these illegal 4th Branch of the Federal government. And restore Universal States Rights freedoms to bureaucratically regulate all Trade and Commerce.
As set out through the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution. Close the Federal Reserve and restore Andrew Jackson’s free banking economy. Herein raises from the dead the Great American economic experiment by which the Founding Fathers rejected the European economic model. Specifically, where Central Governments establish “to Big to Fail” Corporate Monopolies and bureaucracies which protect these Government corporate monopolies. Remember the model of the Boston Tea Party where American revolutionaries rejected the British monopoly of Tea.
But the United States was not at war?
At least 65 active-duty troops were killed in hostile action during Trump’s presidency, the records show, as Trump ramped up commitments in Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State terrorist group while also launching airstrikes on Syria as punishment for a chemical weapons attack. Trump also escalated hostilities with Iran, including the killing of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Trump said at the time the strike was carried out in accordance with the Authorization for Use of Military Force resolution of 2001. Trump tried to wind down the war in Afghanistan, cutting a deal with the Taliban to set a deadline for U.S. troops to leave, but troops were still there when he was president.
Where were these 65 active-duty troops killed? Trump reduced US Troops in Syria. where did Trump escalate hostilities? Trump rejected the Obozo agreement made with Iran. Good for him.
During Trump’s presidency, which ran from January 20, 2017, to January 20, 2021, there were 45 combat deaths among U.S. service members reported in Afghanistan, as well as 18 “non-hostile” deaths, according to the Defense Casualty Analysis System.
And you conveniently overlook the $7 trillion he added to the US deficit (remember his campaign promise to elimate the deficit entirely?), or the 2.9 million jobs lost during his presidency as unemployment grew to 6.3%, he lowered corporate taxes (permanently) while increasing the tax rate for middle-income Americans, economic growth declined 3.4%, the murder rate (gasp) increased by 1.1 points, home prices increased 27.5%, corporate profits increased by 8.5%, people without health insurance increased by 3 million, manufacturing jobs decreased by 154,000, the trade deficit increased by 40.5%, the consumer price index increased by 7.6%.
And let’s not forget Jan. 6 and those secret documents he stole and refused to return – refused!
You likewise ignore the amazing boom in employment the Trump Administration brought to all Americans.
Boom in employment? My God, man, where did you pull that from? Didn’t you read what I wrote? He LOST 2.9 million jobs. There was no “boom” in employment. Those weren’t my figures I quoted: https://www.factcheck.org/2021/10/trumps-final-numbers/
How can you possibly interpret that as a “boom” in employment? Of course, I’m sure you’ll come up with some other magical “accomplishments” of this clown.
Prior to Covid employment boomed.
When Trump took office in January 2017, the U.S. had 145.6 million nonfarm jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ standard measurement for job counting. After Trump’s first 30 months — the same number of months that Biden has been in office — the number of jobs had risen to 150.8 million.
That’s an increase of about 5.2 million jobs, or a bit higher than the 4.9 million Trump described in South Carolina.
Using this methodology, Trump was much further off base with Biden’s numbers.
When Biden took office in January 2021, the U.S had almost 143 million nonfarm jobs. By Biden’s 30th month in office — June 2023 — the number of nonfarm jobs had risen to 156.2 million.
That’s an increase of 13.2 million jobs, or more than six times as big as the 2.1 million jobs Trump referenced in his speech.
https://www.wral.com/story/fact-check-did-trump-or-biden-create-more-jobs-over-30-months/21012411/
This back and forth could go on indefinitely because I’m obviously not going to change your mind and you certainly are never going to convince me that Trump was good for the country, so let’s end this here and now. I’m tired of fact-checking you.
The Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001 was a critical legislative response to the 9/11 attacks, granting the President the authority to employ military force against those responsible. Its impact reverberates through U.S. history and foreign policy to this day.
Debates arose regarding the scope, duration, and applicability of the AUMF. Critics argued that its open-ended language allowed for prolonged military engagements without clear congressional oversight. But clearly the killing of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani did not even remotely violate AUMF. The US invasion of Afghanistan based upon AUMF that’s a completely different story.
So, did the U.S. abuse the AUMF in Syria? Well, opinions vary like flavors at an ice cream shop. Some say yes, some say no, and others just want a scoop of diplomacy.
Now, about that abuse question. Between 2016 and 2020, the AUMF was like a well-worn tool in the U.S. foreign policy shed. It wasn’t just for Syria; it moonlighted in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even against the Islamic State (ISIS).