Daily Archives: July 9, 2023

I never thought I would say this, but I want to thank Congresswoman Lauren Boebert for filing Articles of Impeachment against President Biden. Shes spent the last three years doing nothing but riling up her base, engaging in performative but useless antics, whining about Twitter and the media, and, generally, embarrassing 49.9% of the voters in her district while having zero legislative accomplishments.

Ah, but in her fact-free fantasy universe, impeaching Biden (despite naming no high crimes or misdemeanors of which he might have committed), then having 66 lawmakers vote to impeach him would be her Holy Grail. Of course, if all of that were to occur, we would be swearing in President Kamala Harris the first woman and first Black woman president.

Kudos to Boebert for doing what the Supreme Court refuses to do advance the cause and progress of Black people. I bow to Boebert the wokest Republican yet for her far-sighted and progressive strategy. I can only hope that the Republican party and MAGA base reward her accordingly in 2024.

Mark Stetz

Durango

Link:

'Boebert wokest Republican yet' The Durango Herald - The Durango Herald

July 08, 2023 7:35 pm Last Updated: July 08, 2023 7:35 pm

Historically, the Ole Town Republican Party has tried to present an image of moderation and common sense (even though in reality they have not always coincided). But let's defer that issue for now. They typically downplay their connection to the national Republican party and tend to focus on local issues confined to this side of the Baldwin Bridge. Their campaign materials rarely even mention the Party. Campaign signs typically say something like, "Vote for Good Ole Tim;" not "Vote for Tim Griswold Republican.

Slowly, over the last two years, Trumpian right wingers have started to stir, certainly making weird noises; and last year one ran for office and was soundly defeated. Now they have made a concerted effort to directly weigh into the cultural wars via the "parental rights" Trojan Horse. Suddenly it's the July 4th and the explosions are going off all around them. Their feet are stuck in the mud, and their leader wrote a long, defensive, muddled article in an attempt to dig their way out.

They might want to start thinking about the old adage, when you are in a hole stop digging, and high tail it back across the Baldwin Bridge.

Howard Margules

Old Lyme

Visit link:

Ole Town Republican Party in a hole - theday.com

The edicts prompted a furious backlash by an architecture world that was already primed for a fight. The preferred-style rule was the handiwork of a traditionalist Washington nonprofit called the National Civic Art Society, which fights for the classical tradition and has condemned modern architecture as dehumanizing. The organization had long criticized the American Institute of Architects, the professional association that voiced outrage against Trumps new rule.

Trump had earlier named the Civic Art Societys president, a conservative architecture critic named Justin Shubow, to the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts, which oversees new buildings in the capital. In January of 2021, as Trump left office, Shubow who, professionals sniffed, was not even an architect was elevated to the commissions chairship.

Soon after taking office, President Joe Biden rescinded the executive orders and removed all but one of Trumps appointees from the Fine Arts Commission, replacing Shubow with the celebrated contemporary architect Billie Tsien.

But as with so many other disruptions of the Trump years, things didnt simply go back to normal in part because Shubow is a determined advocate, and in part because the traditionalists have a point, or at least half a point.

And that half a point is: There are a lot of hideous federal buildings out there!

The growth of government in the decades after World War II happened to take place during one of the most maligned periods in public architecture. Like college campuses, government properties have been among the modernist eras most conspicuous offenders, perhaps because the people commissioning the buildings were not the ones who would have to live or work in them. When its their own private home or business, people tend to be much less deferential to the artistes drawing up the blueprints.

In Shubows telling, that deference is the problem baked right into the 1962 Moynihan document his rivals want to enshrine in law. Design must flow from the architectural profession to the Government, it declares, and not vice versa. Rather than a gesture of support for creativity, he says, the language essentially orders public servants to abandon their duty of keeping an eye on the contractors. (He notes that the AIA, which has blasted the GOP bill in the name of free expression, isnt quite a dispassionate academic group: Its a trade association for architects, ie those very same contractors.)

Shubows organization has commissioned a poll demonstrating that, by a significant percentage, Americans favor more traditionalist forms of architecture. Shouldnt a democratically elected government make sure that its buildings dont alienate the citizens who pay for them?

Well, sure. But the new bills do more than that. In elevating the stature of the Greek- and Roman-inflected buildings favored by Thomas Jefferson and his cohort, it adopts a grimly backward-looking posture in a country that has always been about dynamism and change.

So while its true that the capital was launched by people who obsessed about (small-r) republican style as they set about creating a fledgling republic in an age of monarchies, its also true that said obsession extended well beyond architecture to things like clothing which, thankfully, no one is trying to legislate in the year 2023.

The idea of writing one particular style into law also ignores the tendency of tastes to change and perspectives to vary. Plenty of people including me adore the look of D.C.s Federal Triangle, the massive 1930s constellation of Neoclassical government buildings including the Justice Department, the National Archives and the Department of Commerce. Others think its sweep of columned edifices looks kind of fascist, an association that no one could have imagined when the project was first envisioned in the 1920s.

See the original post:

Republicans Want to Mandate a Single Style of Architecture in ... - POLITICO

Republicans are deeply divided over impeaching President Biden, with newly energized lawmakers on the far right applying pressure to do so and leaders and rank-and-file members concerned they have undertaken a politically risky battle that they cannot win.

A vote last month to send impeachment articles against Mr. Biden for his border policies to the Homeland Security Committee alongside the Judiciary Committee amounted to a stalling tactic by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to quell the urgent calls for action from the hard right. But it has also highlighted the rifts in the House G.O.P. over moving forward and complicating a separate monthslong drive by the panel to prepare an impeachment case against Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, for the same offenses.

Neither pursuit appears to have the votes to proceed, and many Republicans are worried that without a stronger case against the president, even trying the move could be disastrous for their party.

Several rank-and-file Republicans from politically competitive districts had balked at the idea of impeaching Mr. Mayorkas, even after Mr. McCarthy endorsed that push. Few believe that the new investigation of Mr. Biden a hastily arranged effort designed to halt a right-wing attempt to impeach the president outright with no investigation will yield anything that could persuade them to oust him.

Were supposed to impeach on high crimes and misdemeanors, said Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska and a moderate who previously stated he opposed impeaching Mr. Mayorkas over a policy disagreement. When asked whether he was any more inclined to support impeaching Mr. Biden for the same reason, he answered, Not really.

Even among Republicans who support removing Mr. Biden, there is deep skepticism about whether focusing on his border policies is the best place to build an impeachment case against him.

To be frank with you, I think that our issue is a side issue its not the main issue here, said Representative Carlos Gimenez, Republican of Florida and a member of the homeland security panel. He said accusations of financial impropriety involving the presidents son, Hunter Biden, which are being investigated by the House Oversight Committee, are where the president really is going to have the majority of his problems.

But that panel has yet to produce any evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Biden despite months of scrutiny and the frequent public claims by top Republicans that he has engaged in corrupt and potentially criminal behavior.

The push to impeach Mr. Biden comes amid a fierce struggle between Mr. McCarthy and a right-wing faction of his party that has been in open revolt ever since he struck a debt ceiling deal with the president. That faction includes Representative Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, who forced a vote in June demanding that Mr. Biden be investigated on allegations of having intentionally facilitated a complete and total invasion at the southern border. Her resolution made no mention of Mr. Mayorkas.

The measure thrust Mr. McCarthy into an awkward position. Despite his frequent criticism of Mr. Biden for having failed the country with open-border policies, the speaker has pushed back on efforts to impeach the president, arguing Republicans had yet to articulate a good reason for doing so.

The move also forced the House Homeland Security Committee to abruptly pivot barely a week after Representative Mark Green, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the panel, presented a 55-page report detailing why Secretary Mayorkas must be investigated for his border crisis the preliminary findings of an inquiry he has been heralding for months.

Since early spring, Mr. Green has been laying out a sprawling case against Mr. Mayorkas. The representative took his panel to visit points along the U.S.-Mexico border as he tried to back up his assertion that the secretary is to blame for rising unlawful entries, drugs and cartel-related crime and a drop in morale among border patrol officials.

He recently suggested to reporters that the mandate to investigate Mr. Biden could be an extension of his current plans for scrutinizing Mr. Mayorkas, which he has said will take place in five phases, beginning with a look at whether the homeland security secretary was derelict in his duty.

Weve been looking into the complete failures, the Biden administrations complete failures at the southwest border, Mr. Green told reporters, adding that when it comes to Mr. Bidens personal actions, we will dig deeply into it.

What exactly he meant was not clear. While Mr. Green has frequently claimed Mr. Mayorkas is culpable for carrying out the Biden administrations border plans, he has also argued that the case against the secretary is more egregious than mere policy disagreements. He has accused him of having either violated or subverted at least 10 laws and having blatantly lied to the United States Congress under oath on multiple occasions and lied to the American people at least 58 times charges the Department of Homeland Security denies.

Mr. Green has also avoided describing the goal of his panels work as impeachment, saying it would be up to the Judiciary Committee to make such determinations. That stance now clashes with the Houses explicit instruction to his committee to investigate Mr. Biden on impeachment charges.

The Judiciary Committee traditionally writes and approves articles of impeachment before they are sent for a vote by the full House. The recent vote on Ms. Boeberts measure sent the articles against Mr. Biden to both panels.

In the absence of clear direction, Republicans on the homeland security panel are struggling to figure out how to prioritize their new Biden-focused charge without undermining their ongoing inquiry into Mr. Mayorkas. Some suggested that the new priority would prolong the committees work on Mr. Mayorkas, which Mr. Green had predicted would wrap up in early fall.

It might change timing, said Representative August Pfluger, Republican of Texas, adding that while it was probably important to continue on both tracks, the referral for Mr. Biden made that line of inquiry really important.

Others suggested that completing a case against Mr. Mayorkas would only help them to build an argument against Mr. Biden, who set the policies Mr. Mayorkas has carried out.

Our focus on Secretary Mayorkas has been squarely over enforcement of immigration law and border policy, but I think the subject matter was limited, said Representative Dan Bishop, Republican of North Carolina. This inevitably opens it up to other questions.

Luke Broadwater contributed reporting.

Originally posted here:

Republicans Are Divided on Impeaching Biden as Panel Begins ... - The New York Times

Last month, theRepublican Study Committee (RSC)unveiled a comprehensive alternative budget, presenting a detailed set of spending priorities to bring burgeoning U.S. government spending under control.

The proposal was intended to provide not only "policy wonks" but everyday voters and citizens with a comprehensive alternative to the assumptions of the debt ceiling deal that cleared Congress and was quickly signed into law by President Joe Biden.

(https://www.city-sentinel.com/business/republican-study-committee-unveils-fiscal-year-2024-budget-aiming-at-protecting-america-s-economic-security/article_98d44dba-0b03-11ee-bc63-8b3176b18a23.html)

As we have reported, the budget drew the praise of leading Center-Right groups (conservatives and some libertarians) who are pressing for public understanding of and support for the RSC budget particulars.

(https://www.city-sentinel.com/business/republican-study-committee-conservative-budget-draw-center-right-praise/article_1eaf2cde-0eb0-11ee-93c6-9329ec4126cb.html)

Advocating on this front in the mounting conflict over budgetary, fiscal and broader economic policy are some of the most impactful new (and emerging) organizations who have fundamental disagreement with what the mainstream media characterizes as a consensus approach to American governance.

The organizations praised not only the budget, but the boldness of the plan crafted by RSC Chairman,Kevin Hern, who represents OklahomasFirst Congressional District, and RepresentativeBen Cline, R-Virginia, the RSC Spending Task Force Chairman.

Comments from leaders of four grassroots these groups, and background on their organizations

In a statement sent toThe City Sentinelnewspaper in Oklahoma City,Isabelle Morales, Federal Affairs Manager,Americans for Tax Reformsaid The RSC Budget contains numerous proposals to rein in out-of-control spending, reduce taxes for the American people, and implement desperately needed government reforms. This easy-to-understand document will be an exceptional resource for conservative lawmakers looking to grow the economy, provide relief to the American people, and fight the Lefts disastrous agenda.

In an examination of Americans for Prosperity data, gleaned from the national website, this reporter projected 2022 national membership at nearly 4 million people, spread across 36 states.

In 2022 alone, those activists knocked on an estimated 1.6 million doors in direct grass-roots communication intended to advance school choice and other education reforms.

These projected numbers do not include AFP's efforts aimed at direct communications to members of Congress or in the executive branches of the various states and communities where the group is active.

Nor do these estimates include the impact that AFP members and leaders have in working coalition-style with groups advocating for broader social reforms, including in the arena of criminal justice, alternatives to incarceration, social welfare policy reforms and other causes.

(https://www.city-sentinel.com/education/oklahoma-celebrates-historic-education-tax-credit----americans-for-prosperity-oklahoma-provide-leadership/article_97f11fa0-f725-11ed-9660-dfd6085ba969.html)

Disclosure:The Oklahoma chapter of Americans for Tax Reform has been an occasional advertiser forThe City Sentinelnewspaper, advocating for school choice, criminal justice reform and other policies.

Heritage Action for Americas executive directorJessica Anderson, said in her statement:

"The Republican Study Committees FY 2024 budget encapsulates conservative priorities of ensuring liberty through deregulation, promoting employment opportunities, prioritizing sustainable healthcare coverage, and rolling back federal spending - all while allowing Americans to keep more of their paycheck. Reckless spending and rising interest rates have resulted in the budget deficit increasing more than 190% from just one year ago. This must stop.

We commend Chairman Kevin Hern and Congressman Ben Cline for offering a roadmap for responsible federal spending."

According to its website, Heritage Action for America "turns conservative ideas into reality on Capitol Hill. We do that by holding lawmakers accountable to their promises to advance the conservative principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."

The organization advocated previously for the Limit, Save Grow Act as an alternative to the Biden Administrations Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal.

(https://www.city-sentinel.com/government/u-s-congressman-kevin-hern-of-tulsa-celebrates-passage-of-limit-save-grow-reminds-conservatives/article_fbf7a048-e526-11ed-8902-337562a39867.html)

Comments from leaders of these four grassroots groups, and background of their organizations

Ryan Ellis, President,Center for a Free Economysaid in a statement provided by RSC, The budget put forward by the Republican Study Committee focuses on the real fiscal problem in Washingtonpoliticians spending too much of our money. We dont have an under-taxing problem. We have an over-spending problem. Bring spending back in line, and the rest of our economic and fiscal problems will all work out.

A respected economist, Ryans analyses appear frequently at National Review + the premium news and information service hosted by the long-running right-of-center journal of opinion and analysis founded by the late William F. Buckley, Jr. Ellis has, among other policy changes, advocated for a child care tax credit that Republicans and Libertarians can support, and for stricter oversight of the Internal Revenue Service.

TheClub for Growth, under the leadership of former U.S. RepresentativeDavid McIntosh, also praised Hern and Cline for outlining a fiscal vision that would increase economic freedom, liberty, and opportunity. The RSCs budget provides a pathway to balance in 7 years while eliminating $16 trillion in government intrusion. This budget is proof that hard choices can be made in order to save America from fiscal ruin. These reforms should be considered as Congress begins legislating the federal appropriations bills.

McIntosh served as a Congressman from Indiana from 1995-2001. In addition to the Club for Growth, he co-foundedThe Federalist Society

Disclosure: In the 1990s, the author of thisstory Pat McGuigan ofThe City Sentinelnewspaper --participated inFederalist Societygatherings, invited by McIntosh and other organizers, at theUniversity of ChicagoSchool of Law, where conservative legal policy analysts such asAntonin Scaliaengaged with representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other liberal of Progressive organizations to debate jurisprudence and constitutional law.McGuigan has addressed Federalist Society chapters occasionally over the intervening decades, often speaking on Article III, Section2 and other U.S. constitutionalissues.

Read more from the original source:

Impactful Quartet of Center-Right grassroots groups aim to advance ... - City-sentinel