The Shining City Upon a Hill

[SalesServiceGuy]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

Science is now proving that vaccinated individuals are contributing more to the pandemic than the unvaxxed! You do believe in science, don’t you?
They walk around spreading the virus that is still being harbored in their bodies, with massive viral loads that they’re unaware they contain, and all the while vilifying those that choose not to get vaxxed for whatever their reason may be.

I think it’s safe to say that “vaccinated” individuals are killing more people with their “care free” “vaccinated” lifestyles, than any other group of people on our planet. Change my mind.

... do you have a link that proves that vaccinated people are contributing more to the pandemic than the un-vaxxed?

I will save you the bother of checking with the science based FDA or CDC as they have published exactly the opposite of what you have said?

It is truly 99% the unvaxxed who are responsible for the vast majority of new COVID cases in America and around the world.

Yes, it is true that even triple vaccinated individuals can suffer from breakthrough COVID symptoms but the effects are much milder than for the un-vaccinated.

[slimslob]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

And another moderate Democrat Senator shutdown legislation that Biden wants.

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[SalesServiceGuy]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

President Biden backs exception to filibuster for voting rights bills



President Biden says he supports creating an exception to the legislative filibuster in the Senate in order to pass voting rights legislation over Republican opposition.

Biden told ABC News’s David Muir in a portion of an interview that aired Thursday that he would support fundamental changes to Senate rules in order to pass election reform legislation.

“That means whatever it takes. Change the Senate rules to accommodate major pieces of legislation without requiring 60 votes,” Biden said.

When asked to clarify that he supported a carveout for voting rights legislation from the 60-vote threshold needed to pass most bills in the Senate, Biden said that he did.

“The only thing standing between getting voting rights legislation passed and not getting passed is the filibuster, I support making an exception on voting rights of the filibuster,” Biden said.

The remarks are similar to those that Biden made during a CNN town hall in October, when he opened the door to “fundamentally” altering or eliminating the filibuster to advance voting rights legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said earlier this week Democrats would take up voting rights legislation upon returning to Washington in January and warned they would pursue changes to the Senate rules if Republicans continue to block the legislation as they did several times in the past year.

Biden has faced pressure from civil rights leaders and other advocates to do more to advance voting rights legislation.

Democrats are debating a range of options on filibuster reform, including returning to a “talking filibuster,” which Biden has said he supports, or changing the rules so that 41 votes are required to maintain a filibuster, rather than 60 votes to break one.

“The President's belief ... on voting rights is that if the Republicans continue to obstruct, then we are going to look at what needs to be done to get it done. We're not quite there yet, but we, of course, will continue those discussions with Leader Schumer,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a briefing Wednesday.

President Biden says he supports creating an exception to the legislative filibuster in the Senate in order to pass voting rights legislation over Republican opposition.

Biden told ABC News’s David Muir in a portion of an interview that aired Thursday that he would support fundamental changes to Senate rules in order to pass election reform legislation.

“That means whatever it takes. Change the Senate rules to accommodate major pieces of legislation without requiring 60 votes,” Biden said.

...democracy is in crisis in America and the world is watching. Republican politicians across the country are proposing or passing voting rights suppression laws across the county in large numbers.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

President Biden backs exception to filibuster for voting rights bills



President Biden says he supports creating an exception to the legislative filibuster in the Senate in order to pass voting rights legislation over Republican opposition.

Biden told ABC News’s David Muir in a portion of an interview that aired Thursday that he would support fundamental changes to Senate rules in order to pass election reform legislation.

“That means whatever it takes. Change the Senate rules to accommodate major pieces of legislation without requiring 60 votes,” Biden said.

You can forget that. I told you once that it's over for Biden. Manchin will not stand for it.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) signaled Sunday that he is not in favor of reforming the filibuster to provide a clear pathway for Senate Democrats to pass voting rights and election reform legislation.


Why it matters: Manchin's remarks on "Fox News Sunday" come after several failed attempts by Democrats to pass voting bills in the gridlocked Senate.


The West Virginian Democrat has repeatedly refused to eliminate the filibuster. Unless Democrats suspend or change the rule, however, they will likely remain unable to pass voting legislation.
Manchin reiterated that voting is "the bedrock of democracy" and should not be a partisan issue, adding that the Senate "should be working on that together."

[SalesServiceGuy]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

Kamala Harris: She’s Doing a Great Job But Her Story’s Not Getting Out


The office of the vice president of the United States is under siege these days.

Is this in spite of the fact that Kamala Harris has already had a historically significant political career?

Or is it because of it?

Is it in spite of the fact that the 57-year-old is heir apparent to the oldest president in American history, or because of it?

Is it in spite of or because of the fact she is a woman of color who has ascended to an unprecedented level in a country in which politics has, since the beginning, been dominated by white men?

Is she really “difficult”?

Is there really “just something about her” people don’t like?

Or do these critiques have a familiar ring about them because they are the darts of choice the political patriarchy uses to attack women in positions of power?

What we do know is this: Vice President Harris has recently been subject to a degree of press scrutiny that is unequaled by any modern holder of the office who was not also the architect of an illegal war and a proponent of torture who also happened to shoot one of his friends in the face with a shotgun.

The media attacks on her have ranged from the absurd—critiquing her for her choice of a souvenir on a recent trip to France or for a “Bluetooth phobia” that was actually just a sound security precaution—to whisper-fueled analyses of her management style that fail the laugh test when set alongside the behavior of men in top jobs or her level of achievement throughout her career.

These pieces have come despite a first-year track record that is impressive, substantive, and wide-ranging. Indeed, upon examination, Kamala Harris is enjoying a very Biden-like vice presidency. Like the president, she has ignored the inside-the-Beltway buzz from a D.C. press corps going through a bad case of withdrawal after the never-a-dull-moment train wreck of the Trump years. And, like the man she works alongside, she has kept her head down and done her job.

Few areas reveal her successes and strengths as clearly as how she has handled her broad foreign policy portfolio. While she has not received credit for much of what she has done in this area, she has been undaunted, working with a methodical intensity that has won admirers around the world and among her closest colleagues.

While the vice president’s critics often make much of her low approval rating in opinion polls, the fact is, many Americans are still learning about her.

Only 3 percent of us don’t have an opinion on how well Biden is doing. More than six times as many do not have a view on Harris. That’s not unusual. It is almost exactly the same position that Joe Biden was in after he had served as VP for four years following four decades of high-profile Washington service.

For Americans still trying to get to know Harris, the recent tsunami of press coverage about her has not been much help. Setting aside the silly feeding frenzy stories, even more “in-depth” pieces have offered more heat than light.

One example was a CNN story last month, entitled “Exasperation and dysfunction: Inside Kamala Harris’ frustrating start as vice president.” While the article was full of retweetable rips from anonymous critics, its on-the-record quotations were from supporters of Harris, including the president’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, who said she was “off to the fastest and strongest start of any Vice President I have seen.” Other stories in the avalanche of recent coverage of the vice president have also relied on the blind-quote-driven theme that her office, following a series of staff departures, is supposedly not a happy place.

While Harris’s management style can be rough, the focus on it echoes that of attacks on other women in politics like Senator Amy Klobuchar and is distinctly different from that men usually receive. For example, even “genial” Joe Biden is also known to have a temper, a salty vocabulary, and to be short with staff while Trump would regularly “go completely nuts” or “erupt like a volcano” or “uncontrollably rant.” in the words of several senior Trump administration officials with whom I recently spoke for a book project on which I am working.

Other lines of attack on her in the media have been just plain wrong. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan argued that Harris has not focused seriously enough on foreign policy and implied she has paid to0 much attention to political appearances. She wrote, “Ms. Harris should set her mind primarily on the deep and profound responsibilities of the job she may have to fill. She should do this as an act of will. Only secondarily should she be thinking about her political prospects.”

That’s good advice for a vice president. But as it happens, that is precisely what Harris is doing.

In fact, when National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan saw some of the pieces suggesting there were problems with the vice president’s role within the administration he thought to himself, “Did I miss something? In the national security space we work extremely closely with her team. I personally work extremely closely with her. The president constantly seeks her input, seeks her counsel, gives her important missions.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has worked closely with Harris in preparation for her trips and high-level meetings, commented, “Through dozens of meetings, calls, and overseas trips, Vice President Harris has taken on some of the most important challenges our country faces—whether that’s address the root causes of migration, reinforcing global health security, or standing up for the rights of women and girls. As we saw in Paris, she is equally adept at deepening our relationships with our closest allies and partners, as she has done in the Indo-Pacific.”

While these are the comments you might expect from administration colleagues, taking a look at her track record and speaking to officials overseas supports their point of view. For all the flak Harris and the administration have received on immigration, she has played the central role in re-establishing a working dialogue with Mexico’s president and with leaders in Central America.

Her efforts at controlling immigration at its sources have directly resulted in the formation of a new anti-corruption task force focused on countries in Central America to ensure aid dollars are not misspent, a human smuggling and trafficking task force, a program on women’s empowerment, and funding for housing and business in the Northern Triangle.

Just this Monday, she announced over $1.2 billion in U.S. investments in Central America, made in response to her call last spring for U.S. companies to help stimulate economic growth there as a way of helping to stem the tide of migration at its sources. Said one senior Mexican foreign ministry official, “Her result-oriented focus has made a big difference.”

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

KamalaToe is the worst VP ever and she works for an idiot.


This is an old high school picture of KamalaToe that is floating around the internet.


ct.jpg

[SalesServiceGuy]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

... In addition, Harris has also been seen, in the eyes of Blinken, Sullivan, and other national security officials with whom I spoke, as a champion of what Sullivan described as “the frontier elements of foreign policy.” Citing an example, McEldowney notes, “She has advocated for a stronger response to cyber attacks and threats—as in the case of the recent ransomware attack. She is focused on 5G, AI, Quantum and the need to strengthen our cyber defenses, be more aggressive about the attribution of attacks and to hold attackers accountable.” On her trips to Europe and Asia, cyber discussions and agreements have been a top priority.

One particular irony of the recent criticism of the vice president is that much of it has come from Republicans who are acolytes of our last president, who egged on supporters wanting to put his own vice president to death.

And while that may be an extreme example, past vice presidents have virtually all faced serious challenges. At this point in the Obama administration, for example, Obama had just rejected Biden’s arguments to significantly reduce the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. During the first year of the Bush 43 administration, before he turned his focus to helping launch an illegal war in Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney was attracting criticism as the often secretive lobbyist-in-chief for Big Oil in the Bush White House.

Al Gore’s relationship with Bill Clinton grew very frosty. The Bushes were famously not close to the Reagans. The list is long and goes all the way back to the beginning of the Republic when Washington and Adams and then Adams and Jefferson seldom spoke… and Jefferson actively wanted to try his first vice president for treason. (One of FDR’s VPs, John Nance Garner, famously said the job is not worth “a bucket of warm spit.”)

Harris has several advantages doing this tough job, not the least of which is her genuinely good working relationship with Biden, one founded in ties that go back to her friendship with Biden’s son Beau. She has also benefited from the fact that so many key people in this administration understand the vice presidency so well—from Biden to officials who served on his staff as VP like Klain, Blinken and Sullivan.

Members of that team emphasized to me that vice presidents typically take some time to grow into the roles they eventually become known for—as was the case with Biden taking the lead on the relationship with China’s Xi Jinping during the Obama years. They argue that what we’ve seen in the past 10 months, impressive as it is, is just a start and that over time, her track record will speak every more loudly for itself. They also note that from undertaking scores of meetings and phone calls to support the president’s legislative agenda to police reform to voting rights, the vice president has also done significant work on the domestic front. (For a recent look at her work on the infrastructure project, see this.)

Speculation that, due to his age, Biden will be a one-term president and her own role breaking a major historical barrier have, however, denied this vice president the option her predecessors had of working in the shadows. While the White House has stated as recently as late November that it is Biden’s intention to run again in 2024, even some of the president’s strongest supporters are uncertain.

As Biden approaches his 80th birthday, Harris will remain in the glare of a spotlight more intense than that trained on most of her modern predecessors. As a result, whether media efforts to slime her are fair or not, they will likely continue in her future–whether from Democrats who want her to make way for what they perceive as more viable candidates or from Republicans who fear her candidacy or who simply get points with their base for going after a woman of color.

[bsm2]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

KamalaToe is the worst VP ever and she works for an idiot.


This is an old high school picture of KamalaToe that is floating around the internet.

Yep Your right that last guy was an idiot and the Last VP they wanted to Hang Him

[slimslob]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

Could Mark Meadows' Lawsuit Finally End the Democrat's Witch Hunt Into the Events of Jan 6th? - Analyzing America

[slimslob]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

Mike Rowe Sounds Off on Real Meaning of 'Let's Go Brandon', Shares Why He Wants to Say it - Analyzing America

[SalesServiceGuy]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

President Biden signs bill banning goods from China's Xinjiang over forced labor



US President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law legislation that bans imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor, the White House said, provoking an angry Chinese condemnation.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is part of the US pushback against Beijing's treatment of China's Uyghur Muslim minority, which Washington has labeled genocide.

The bill passed Congress this month after lawmakers reached a compromise between House and Senate versions.

Key to the legislation is a "rebuttable presumption" that assumes all goods from Xinjiang, where Beijing has established detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim groups, are made with forced labor. It bars imports unless it can be proven otherwise.

Some goods — such as cotton, tomatoes, and poly-silicon used in solar-panel manufacturing — are designated "high priority" for enforcement action.

China denies abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world's materials for solar panels.

Its Washington embassy said the act "ignores the truth and maliciously slanders the human rights situation in Xinjiang."

"This is a severe violation of international law and norms of international relations, and a gross interference in China's internal affairs. China strongly condemns and firmly rejects it," embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in an emailed statement.

He said China "would respond further in light of the development of the situation," but did not elaborate.

In a statement Friday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its "strong indignation and resolute opposition" to the legislation.

"Claims of 'forced labor' and 'genocide' in Xinjiang are nothing but vicious lies hyped up by anti-China forces," the statement said.

The US is engaging in "political manipulation and economic bullying under the guise of human rights," and is trying to "undermine Xinjiang's prosperity and stability and contain China's development," it added.

Nury Turkel, Uyghur-American vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, told Reuters this month the bill's effectiveness would depend on the willingness of Biden's administration to ensure it is effective, especially when companies seek waivers.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Biden's approval of the law  underscored  the "United States' commitment to combating forced labor, including in the context of the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang."

"The State Department is committed to working with Congress and our inter agency partners to continue addressing forced labor in Xinjiang and to strengthen international action against this egregious violation of human rights," he said in a statement.

One of the bill's co-authors, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, said it was necessary to "send a resounding and unequivocal message against genocide and slave labor."

"Now ... we can finally ensure that American consumers and businesses can buy goods without inadvertent complicity in China's horrific human rights abuses," he said in a statement.

The US Customs and Border Protection agency estimated then that about $9 billion of cotton products and $10 million of tomato products were imported from China in the past year.

[Phil B.]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

Mike Rowe Sounds Off on Real Meaning of 'Let's Go Brandon', Shares Why He Wants to Say it - Analyzing America

He needs to run for office, but his common sense will never fly with the liberals.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Phil B.]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

President Biden signs bill banning goods from China's Xinjiang over forced labor



US President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law legislation that bans imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor, the White House said, provoking an angry Chinese condemnation.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is part of the US pushback against Beijing's treatment of China's Uyghur Muslim minority, which Washington has labeled genocide.

The bill passed Congress this month after lawmakers reached a compromise between House and Senate versions.

Key to the legislation is a "rebuttable presumption" that assumes all goods from Xinjiang, where Beijing has established detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim groups, are made with forced labor. It bars imports unless it can be proven otherwise.

China denies abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world's materials for solar panels.

Its Washington embassy said the act "ignores the truth and maliciously slanders the human rights situation in Xinjiang."

"This is a severe violation of international law and norms of international relations, and a gross interference in China's internal affairs. China strongly condemns and firmly rejects it," embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in an emailed statement.

He said China "would respond further in light of the development of the situation," but did not elaborate.

In a statement Friday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its "strong indignation and resolute opposition" to the legislation.

"Claims of 'forced labor' and 'genocide' in Xinjiang are nothing but vicious lies hyped up by anti-China forces," the statement said.

The US is engaging in "political manipulation and economic bullying under the guise of human rights," and is trying to "undermine Xinjiang's prosperity and stability and contain China's development," it added.

Nury Turkel, Uyghur-American vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, told Reuters this month the bill's effectiveness would depend on the willingness of Biden's administration to ensure it is effective, especially when companies seek waivers.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Biden's approval of the law  underscored  the "United States' commitment to combating forced labor, including in the context of the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang."

"The State Department is committed to working with Congress and our inter agency partners to continue addressing forced labor in Xinjiang and to strengthen international action against this egregious violation of human rights," he said in a statement.

One of the bill's co-authors, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, said it was necessary to "send a resounding and unequivocal message against genocide and slave labor."

"Now ... we can finally ensure that American consumers and businesses can buy goods without inadvertent complicity in China's horrific human rights abuses," he said in a statement.

The US Customs and Border Protection agency estimated then that about $9 billion of cotton products and $10 million of tomato products were imported from China in the past year.

But he's been taking their back door deal since he came into the senate!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Phil B.]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill

President Biden signs bill banning goods from China's Xinjiang over forced labor



US President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law legislation that bans imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor, the White House said, provoking an angry Chinese condemnation.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is part of the US pushback against Beijing's treatment of China's Uyghur Muslim minority, which Washington has labeled genocide.

The bill passed Congress this month after lawmakers reached a compromise between House and Senate versions.

Key to the legislation is a "rebuttable presumption" that assumes all goods from Xinjiang, where Beijing has established detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim groups, are made with forced labor. It bars imports unless it can be proven otherwise.

China denies abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world's materials for solar panels.

Its Washington embassy said the act "ignores the truth and maliciously slanders the human rights situation in Xinjiang."

"This is a severe violation of international law and norms of international relations, and a gross interference in China's internal affairs. China strongly condemns and firmly rejects it," embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in an emailed statement.

He said China "would respond further in light of the development of the situation," but did not elaborate.

In a statement Friday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its "strong indignation and resolute opposition" to the legislation.

"Claims of 'forced labor' and 'genocide' in Xinjiang are nothing but vicious lies hyped up by anti-China forces," the statement said.

The US is engaging in "political manipulation and economic bullying under the guise of human rights," and is trying to "undermine Xinjiang's prosperity and stability and contain China's development," it added.

Nury Turkel, Uyghur-American vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, told Reuters this month the bill's effectiveness would depend on the willingness of Biden's administration to ensure it is effective, especially when companies seek waivers.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Biden's approval of the law  underscored  the "United States' commitment to combating forced labor, including in the context of the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang."

"The State Department is committed to working with Congress and our inter agency partners to continue addressing forced labor in Xinjiang and to strengthen international action against this egregious violation of human rights," he said in a statement.

One of the bill's co-authors, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, said it was necessary to "send a resounding and unequivocal message against genocide and slave labor."

"Now ... we can finally ensure that American consumers and businesses can buy goods without inadvertent complicity in China's horrific human rights abuses," he said in a statement.

The US Customs and Border Protection agency estimated then that about $9 billion of cotton products and $10 million of tomato products were imported from China in the past year.

" forced labor "

But not the killings on religious reasons..

But not for the world wide virus problem.

But not for the hacking.

But not for refusal to let investigators into the Wuhan labs?

#FuckJoeBiden

#FireFauxci

#LetsGoBrandon

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[bsm2]

Re: The Shining City Upon a Hill