Even if the Democrats don’t win control of the Senate, there is a way to strip Mitch McConnell of his power for good: priority recognition.

According to Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the Constitution, the Vice President is also the President of the Senate. The Majority Leader is not a position that exists anywhere in the Constitution. The reason that the Majority Leader has near-dictatorial powers to control floor votes is because of a tradition that dates back to 1937. The tradition is that the Vice President gives the floor leaders priority recognition. Most notably, this is not a rule in the Senate.

As President of the Senate, Vice President Harris could give any senator priority recognition. That senator could then decide on all legislation that is brought before the entire Senate. Even with a minority in the Senate, Vice President Harris could simply give Chuck Schumer priority recognition. He could decide what is voted on and what isn’t.

This would change everything. Without Mitch McConnell to hide behind, the moderate Republican Senators would be forced to vote down every Cabinet member, bill, resolution, everything that Harris would want done. Without McConnell, anything even remotely popular with at least two senators would pass. Including getting a cabinet assembled.

I see some debate as to what the Senate rules do and do not permit. I encourage everyone to read this article on the actual written rules and why the Majority Leader is so powerful today. It should be noted, however, unlike the House of Representatives, a large part of the Senate rules is tradition. As Mitch McConnell will gladly tell you, tradition is not written rule.

Also, This wouldn’t be the first time Schumer has done something like this. And yes, while there’s the possibility of rule changes, they cannot change the Constitution. At the end of the day, Madame Vice President Harris is President of the Senate. Period. Not Mitch McConnell.

Short article; nothing more at the link. The original article has live links embedded in it and they lead to further interesting discussions.




https://newsflector.com/how-vp-harris-can-sideline-moscow-mitch/?fbclid=IwAR3gHll0PgOxVhUfrZXzuA_kRP_nj_T2Ht3HSd9J4DzwoNUsE_awVYOCqhA

My husband carving our half turkey!




Cranberry sauce:



At dinner:



The end of my wine:

I was lucky enough to have it published.



A Thick Gold Band--or The Taxi Driver

Rounded edges glowed
true
brown velvet was his hand and dark from Ethiopia
the gold ring
shone

The radio sang
music quick and fast
voices agile joyful rhythmic
was he homesick
had he been back

The gold band spoke of love
perhaps a wife a child
I didn’t ask

The gold ring shone.

flamin lib is truly helping me conquer Paint Shop Pro. This photo was originally taken in 2018 and today we worked on making the craters sharper.

I hope all of you enjoy!

By Steve Lopez Columnist
Nov. 14, 2020
7 AM

As the tally of COVID-19 cases and deaths surged across the United States over the last week, President Trump seemed not to notice because he was too busy insisting he had won reelection. And through it all, Trump’s Jim Jones-like cult of true believers remained as loyal as ever.

I know this because some of them reached out to me.

“I hope you die a miserable death very soon!” wrote a reader named David.

A bit harsh, perhaps, but like Trump himself, his acolytes across the land insist he has been robbed, and that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president-elect. They claim there was widespread cheating in places like Philadelphia and Atlanta. And they beat me like a punching bag for not buying Trump’s view of things.

But that’s the way it ought to work. I took my shots at Trump last week in a column titled “Good riddance, Mr. President.” So, in the interest of fairness, I will now air the other side, from my readers who continue to stand by their man.

All of it at the link: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-14/column-i-hope-you-die-a-miserable-death-and-other-words-of-encouragement-from-my-readers

flamin lib has very kindly offered to tutor me on the joys of Paint Shop Pro; today was our third lesson! The learning curve is like Mt. Everest but I am progressing. It is getting easier, thank goodness.

Hope you enjoy these photos! I do prefer my revised version, obviously.

By Masha Gessen

The President of the United States has called the election a fraud. He has declared victory without basis, tweeting on Wednesday, “We have claimed” Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, and perhaps Michigan—all states that were still counting votes. Donald Trump, who has been engaged in an autocratic attempt for the last four years, is now trying to stage an autocratic breakthrough.

I have borrowed the term “autocratic attempt” from the work of Bálint Magyar, a Hungarian sociologist who set out to develop analytical tools for understanding the turn away from democracy in many Eastern and Central European countries. I have found Magyar’s ideas surprisingly illuminating when applied to the United States.

Magyar divides the autocrat’s journey into three stages: autocratic attempt, autocratic breakthrough, and autocratic consolidation. The attempt is a period when autocracy is still preventable, or reversible, by electoral means. When it is no longer possible to reverse autocracy peacefully, the autocratic breakthrough has occurred, because the very structures of government have been transformed and can no longer protect themselves. These changes usually include packing the constitutional court (the Supreme Court, in the case of the U.S.) with judges loyal to the autocrat; packing and weakening the courts in general; appointing a chief prosecutor (the Attorney General) who is loyal to the autocrat and will enforce the law selectively on his behalf; changing the rules on the appointment of civil servants; weakening local governments; unilaterally changing electoral rules (to accommodate gerrymandering, for instance); and changing the Constitution to expand the powers of the executive.

For all the apparent flailing and incompetence of the Trump Administration, his autocratic attempt checks most of the boxes. He has appointed three Supreme Court Justices and a record number of federal judges. The Justice Department, under William Barr, acts like Trump’s pocket law-enforcement agency and personal law firm. Trump’s army of “acting” officials, some of them carrying out their duties in violation of relevant federal regulations, have made mincemeat of the rules and norms of federal appointments. Trump has preëmptively declared the election rigged; has incited voter intimidation and encouraged voter suppression; has mobilized his armed supporters to prevent votes from being counted; and has explicitly stated that he is changing the rules of the election. “We want all voting to stop,” he said on Wednesday morning, and vowed to take his case to the Supreme Court.

All of it at the link: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/by-declaring-victory-donald-trump-is-attempting-an-autocratic-breakthrough?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_110520&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5df969e7954fcf1853569dd0&cndid=59415923&hasha=e6d99470f2be9f1757ca234d98420b03&hashb=4ad9e8e0e66f39f3aa67c60b0216b8709ae176b1&hashc=eda1a2e8c8a89ffa7bed84dc538fe3993f6ca3351d3bfdea44755e42f843a2c9&esrc=Auto_Subs&utm_term=TNY_Daily