The voters can't even be bothered to learn about candidates running to represent them, why would they be any better at making laws themselves? If a remedial civics class was a requirement, it might work. I guess I'd support it vs. the current system, but I wouldn't expect any better governance. Basically it is trading smoke-filled back-room deals for a series of Tide-pod challenges. barfo
You could make it where the same national ballot measure is on the ballot in all the states, then you count the states, and the majority wins. In a rare 25/25 tie, you then go by total votes. .......... The ballot measure process works well for the states, imo. There is very little pork in ballot measures, and the measures are much clearer and concise than federal legislation.
Everybody should be forced to take at least a civics class... Or there should at least be a huge tax deduction if you take one.
Gee, paying a for-profit company to deny health care to people. What a novel and untested idea! barfo
Well if this doesn't convince people that the right to health care should be encoded in law then I don't know what else will...
Trump Revokes Harris' Secret Service Protection: Report President Donald Trump has revoked Secret Service protection for former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a letter obtained by CNN. The directive, dated Thursday, instructs the agency to discontinue all security procedures beyond those required by law, effective September 1. Why It Matters Under federal statute, as cited in news reports, former U.S. presidents typically receive lifetime Secret Service protection, while former vice presidents receive six months of protection after leaving office. President Trump's memorandum rescinded an extra-year extension that former President Biden had signed before the end of his term. This changed the federal safety posture for a prominent former national official at a time when the former vice president planned a nationwide public schedule tied to her memoir release, raising questions about federal, state and local responsibilities for her security. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-tru...s-secret-service-protection-joe-biden-2121488
Trump Nixes Patent Office, Weather Service, NASA Unions President Donald Trump nullified more government unions Thursday, expanding a March executive order that has sharply limited federal-sector collective bargaining. The president issued a new directive ending collective bargaining agreements at NASA, the International Trade Administration, the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, the National Weather Service, the US Agency for Global Media, hydropower facilities under the Bureau of Reclamation, and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service. Trump classified the agencies as having national security interests, exempting them from federal union laws. The order comes in the wake of a US Supreme Court victory, which allowed Trump to eliminate collective bargaining at some agencies while a legal challenge to the president’s action proceeds. It represents another advancement of Trump’s campaign to exert control over the federal workforce, by weakening the career civil service, eliminating barriers between presidential politics and day-to-day governing, and disbanding federal unions. “Certain procedural requirements in Federal labor-management relations can create delays in agency operations,” the White House wrote in a fact sheet broadly criticizing government unions. “These delays can impact the ability of agencies with national security responsibilities to implement policies swiftly and fulfill their critical missions.” The concept of years-long collective bargaining agreements can limit agencies’ ability to “modify policies promptly,” the sheet states. “The President needs a responsive and accountable civil service to protect our national security,” it says. Several agencies have already canceled union contracts under Trump’s original executive order. This week, Health and Human Services workers were notified that their collective bargaining agreement had been canceled, joining Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others. Trump’s sweeping use of national security exemptions where they have not historically been relevant is sure to invite more scrutiny—and litigation—from Trump’s opponents, who argue it’s a pretense to erode checks on presidential power. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily...ent-office-weather-service-nasa-worker-unions
Mystery surrounds $1.2 billion Army contract to build huge detention tent camp in Texas desert WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump’s administration last month awarded a contract worth up to $1.2 billion to build and operate what it says will become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex, it didn’t turn to a large government contractor or even a firm that specializes in private prisons. Instead, it handed the project on a military base to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a small business that has no listed experience running a correction facility and had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million. The company also lacks a functioning website and lists as its address a modest home in suburban Virginia owned by a 77-year-old retired Navy flight officer. The mystery over the award only deepened last week as the new facility began to accept its first detainees. The Pentagon has refused to release the contract or explain why it selected Acquisition Logistics over a dozen other bidders to build the massive tent camp at Fort Bliss in West Texas. At least one competitor has filed a complaint. The secretive — and brisk — contracting process is emblematic, experts said, of the government’s broader rush to fulfill the Republican president’s pledge to arrest and deport an estimated 10 million migrants living in the U.S. without permanent legal status. As part of that push, the government is turning increasingly to the military to handle tasks that had traditionally been left to civilian agencies. A member of Congress who recently toured the camp said she was concerned that such a small and inexperienced firm had been entrusted to build and run a facility expected to house up to 5,000 migrants. “It’s far too easy for standards to slip,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes Fort Bliss. “Private facilities far too frequently operate with a profit margin in mind as opposed to a governmental facility.” Attorney Joshua Schnell, who specializes in federal contracting law, said he was troubled that the Trump administration has provided so little information about the facility. “The lack of transparency about this contract leads to legitimate questions about why the Army would award such a large contract to a company without a website or any other publicly available information demonstrating its ability to perform such a complicated project,” he said. Army declines to release contract Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved using Fort Bliss for the new detention center, and the administration has hopes to build more at other bases. A spokesperson for the Army declined to discuss its deal with Acquisition Logistics or reveal details about the camp’s construction, citing the litigation over the company’s qualifications. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined for three weeks to answer questions about the detention camp it oversees. After this story was published Thursday, the department’s spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, issued a statement that said “under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens.” She said the Fort Bliss facility “will offer everything a traditional ICE detention facility offers, including access to legal representation and a law library, access to visitation, recreational space, medical treatment space and nutritionally balanced meals.” Named Camp East Montana for the closest road, the facility is being built in the sand and scrub Chihuahuan Desert, where summertime temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit and heat-related deaths are common. The 60-acre (24-hectare) site is near the U.S.-Mexico border and the El Paso International Airport, a key hub for deportation flights. The camp has drawn comparisons to “Alligator Alcatraz,” a $245 million tent complex erected to hold ICE detainees in the Florida Everglades. That facility has been the subject of complaints about unsanitary conditions and lawsuits. A federal judge recently ordered that facility to be shut down. The vast majority of the roughly 57,000 migrants detained by ICE are housed at private prisons operated by companies like Florida’s Geo Group and Tennessee-based CoreCivic. As those facilities fill up, ICE is also exploring temporary options at military bases in California, New York and Utah. At Fort Bliss, construction began within days of the Army issuing the contract on July 18. Site work began months earlier, before Congress had passed Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill, which includes a record $45 billion for immigration detention. The Defense Department announcement specified only that the Army was financing the initial $232 million for the first 1,000 beds at the complex. Three white tents, each about 810 feet (250 meters) long, have been erected, according to satellite imagery examined by The Associated Press. A half dozen smaller buildings surround them. Setareh Ghandehari, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Detention Watch, said the use of military bases hearkens back to World War II, when Japanese Americans were imprisoned at Army camps including Fort Bliss. She said military facilities are especially prone to abuse and neglect because families and loved ones have difficulty accessing them. “Conditions at all detention facilities are inherently awful,” Ghandehari said. “But when there’s less access and oversight, it creates the potential for even more abuse.” Company will be responsible for security A June 9 solicitation notice for the Fort Bliss project specified the contractor will be responsible for building and operating the detention center, including providing security and medical care. The document also requires strict secrecy, ordering the contractor inform ICE to respond to any calls from members of Congress or the news media. The bidding was open only to small firms such as Acquisition Logistics, which receives preferential status because it’s classified as a veteran and Hispanic-owned small disadvantaged business. Though Trump’s administration has fought to ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs, federal contracting rules include set-asides for small businesses owned by women or minorities. For a firm to compete for such contracts, at least 51% of it must be owned by people belonging to a federally designated disadvantaged racial or ethnic group. One of the losing bidders, Texas-based Gemini Tech Services, filed a protest challenging the award and the Army’s rushed construction timeline with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress’ independent oversight arm that resolves such disputes. Gemini alleges Acquisition Logistics lacks the experience, staffing and resources to perform the work, according to a person familiar with the complaint who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Acquisition Logistics’ past jobs include repairing small boats for the Air Force, providing information technology support to the Defense Department and building temporary offices to aid with immigration enforcement, federal records show. Gemini and its lawyer didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. A ruling by the GAO on whether to sustain, dismiss or require corrective action is not expected before November. A legal appeal is also pending with a U.S. federal court in Washington. A judge in that case denied a motion that sought to freeze construction at the site at a sealed hearing Thursday. Schnell, the contracting lawyer, said Acquisitions Logistics may be working with a larger company. Geo Group Inc. and CoreCivic Corp., the nation’s biggest for-profit prison operators, have expressed interest in contracting with the Pentagon to house migrants. In an earnings call this month, Geo Group Executive Chairman George Zoley said his company had teamed up with an established Pentagon contractor. Zoley didn’t name the company, and Geo Group didn’t respond to repeated requests asking with whom it had partnered. A spokesperson for CoreCivic said it wasn’t partnering with Acquisition Logistics or Gemini. https://apnews.com/article/trump-im...act-army-ice-3595746cd420c6f83c4ffd0b331ae056
Teflon Don may now be headed for the dumpster...he's clearly losing the ability to fake being a capable human being. His legs and ankles are failing almost as fast as his frontal lobe. Maybe the Dems couldn't beat him but looks like Father Time has finally had enough. Rather than fabricating lies when questioned by reporters he's now just saying, "I don't know" ...
