Tag Archives: John Cornyn

Ahhhhh … The Snarky Snippets Keep On Rolling

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, education, Election 2020, guns, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Sometimes I am focused on one particular topic or news story, but many times snippets of news draw my attention in many different directions.  Today is one of those days …

WHY???

Yesterday I signed up to follow a blogger I was only recently introduced to.  Why?  Not because I find any beauty or humour in his writing, and not because I find his words to be particularly intelligent or witty.  I disagree strongly with most of what he says and find myself growling by the time I’ve gotten halfway through one of his very wordy posts (4,000 words).  So … why did I sign up to follow him?  Is it because I went looking for an argument?  Do I not have enough angst in my life?  Or is it something more?  Is it that of late I seem to only read those opinions that are in sync with my own?  Do I read this man’s words seeking to find some common ground, a shred of humanity, or am I simply spoiling for a fight.  In truth, I do not know.

A ‘platform’ made from rotten wood

Every now and then, when they want to prove to the world just how stupid their political leaders are, the state of Texas threatens to ‘secede from the United States’.  The Republican Party currently has no platform, no set of goals and ideologies, but the Texas GOP settled on a ‘platform’ at the state party convention over the weekend.  Their platform is essentially, from all I can decipher, nothing more or less than the former guy’s Big Lie.  I plan to write more about this later, but the basis seems to be that they declare Biden did not win the 2020 election and they even refer to him as the “acting President”.  Their platform also includes statements about abortion (they intend to teach schoolchildren about “about the Humanity of the Preborn Child”), and the LGBTQ community (referring to homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice.”)

Senator John Cornyn, who had worked on the milquetoast ‘bipartisan’ gun legislation that passed in the Senate last week, was actually booed and “rebuked” by the party for his work on that bill!  I told you in a post a few weeks ago that they “eat their own”! The platform, such as it is, dismisses all gun regulations as a violation of “God given rights.” Wait, I thought it was the Constitution that gave “a well-regulated militia” the “right to bear arms”???  Now, I haven’t read the bible, but … does it even mention guns?  As I said, I plan to write more on this later, but for today, suffice it to say that I agree with columnist Michael Gerson that the Republican Party is in decay!

A boycott is in order

After the January 6th attempted coup, some 249 companies promised not to fund the 147 senators and representatives who voted against any of the results.  It didn’t take some of them long to break that promise, and today more than half are now back to funding those who played a role in attempting to undermine the election that day.  Among those companies are Toyota, AT&T, UPS, FedEx, Visa, Home Depot, GM, and Exxonmobil.  I don’t know about you guys, but I will boycott these companies to whatever extent is possible.  Our lives, the very foundation of our democratic republic, were on the line that day, but for these companies, obviously their profit is more important than our lives.

A bright side

More than 5,000 flights were canceled this weekend.  GOOD!  That much less CO2 being put into the environment, killing trees, killing us.  No, I don’t feel one bit sorry for the couple who was planning a vacation trip to Italy.  Yes, I do feel sorry for the woman who missed her mother’s funeral due to a canceled flight.  But for the most part, I would like to see all air travel limited to ‘emergency’ use only for the foreseeable future.  Just because we can fly doesn’t necessarily mean we should, especially in this time of severe climate change that is having a negative effect on most of the world.  People complaining about the price of gasoline and lettuce … well, think how much gasoline and lettuce you can buy for the price of that airline ticket!!!

Confirmation Hearing Or Political Circus?

Posted on by under cartoons, education, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Who could have seen it coming, eh?  Yesterday was day #2 of the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.  She answered questions for the better part of twelve hours … heck, five minutes of talking does me in.  I have no doubt that Ms. Jackson wished, on more than one occasion, that she could fire back at some of the questions she was asked, but to her credit, she proceeded with dignity and respect, only letting out the occasional sigh to indicate a bit of frustration.

Barring some dramatic revelation that I cannot foresee, I strongly believe that Ms. Jackson will, indeed, become the next Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.  I even think a few of the more … shall we say ‘honest’ Republicans … will vote to confirm her … perhaps Senator Collins of Maine, Senator Murkowski of Alaska, and Senator Romney of Utah.  Others are likely to vote ‘Nay’ for a number of stated reasons, but the main reason being that Judge Jackson has two strikes against her:  she is Black, and she is a woman.  Period.

I did not watch the 12-hour confirmation hearing … I really haven’t got either the time or the patience … but I have read numerous accounts of the questions and answers from the day.  The first one to come to my attention was, unsurprisingly, from Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.  Among Blackburn’s false or distorted accusations, she …

  • linked Jackson to the controversy over transgender athletes and women’s sports
  • suggested Jackson would trample parental rights
  • accused Jackson of wanting to put dangerous criminals on the street
  • accused Jackson of saying every judge has a hidden agenda
  • said Jackson praised the 1619 Project
  • said Jackson thinks judges must use ‘critical race theory’ when sentencing criminals

Blackburn went so far as to suggest to Jackson, a Black woman, that white privilege doesn’t exist in America, a country where of the 114 justices to have been confirmed to sit on the highest court in the land, only two have been Black.  She also asked Judge Jackson to “define the word ‘woman’”.  When Jackson told her she couldn’t, at least “Not in this context. I’m not a biologist,” Blackburn responded with acidity … “The meaning of the word woman is so unclear and controversial that you can’t give me a definition?”  Sigh.  Seriously, is this what we’re paying our lawmakers to do?

And then there was good ol’ Ted Cruz, never one to mince words, or even to attempt to make his words sensible. Noting that the judge is a board member of her kids’ private school Georgetown Day, the senator began pulling out books, including Antiracist Baby, in order to claim the school is definitely teaching CRT. “There are portions of this book that I find really quite remarkable. One portion of the book says babies are taught to be racist or anti-racist,” Cruz bellowed, displaying an enlarged page from the book. “Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that babies are racist?”  Her response …

“I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist or though they are not valued or though they are less-than. That they are victims. That they are oppressors.”

 She also noted that her understanding was that “critical race theory is an academic theory is taught in law schools.”

I’m not sure what got into Lindsey Graham … I seriously believe that man has some mental issues!  In the middle of his questioning Judge Jackson, he asked … “What faith are you, by the way?”  Say WHAT???  Since when is religion a qualifier for a seat on the bench???

Then Lindsey began berating Judge Jackson for defending detainees at Guantanamo Bay back in her days as a public defender.  He went on a verbal diatribe, spouting …

“We’re at war, we’re not fighting crime! This is not some passage of time event. As long as they’re dangerous, I hope they all die in jail if they’re going to go back to kill Americans. It won’t bother me one bit if 39 of them die in prison. That’s a better outcome than letting them go and if it cost $500 million to keep them in jail, keep them in jail because they’ll go back to the fight. Look at the freaking Afghan government made up of former detainees at Gitmo. This whole thing by the left about this war ain’t working!”

And then he stormed out of the hearings without waiting for a response.

John Cornyn, who I typically think of as one of the less toxic Republicans in the Senate, questioned Judge Jackson about her stance on LGBTQ rights, claiming that granting equal rights to LGBTQ people conflicts with the religious beliefs of some people. To which Jackson responded, “Well, senator, that is the nature of a right. That when there is a right, it means that there are limitations on regulation, even if people are regulating pursuant to their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

From everything I’ve read and the video clips I have seen, it appears that Judge Jackson handled herself well through the entire ordeal … far better than I would have in similar circumstances!  It’s just too damn bad that the confirmation of a Justice who will serve on the highest court in the nation for life has been turned into a political circus in recent years.  The Supreme Court are the people who will make the decisions we have to live by.  They will decide if women have the right to control their own bodies, whether LGBTQ people should have certain unalienable rights, whether a single religion will force us all into a small, airless box, and whether we have the right to vote.  And yet … the Republicans in Congress seem to care more about the colour of a potential justice’s skin and about her gender.

Note to readers:  This just in from the New York Times … “Conservatives are pressuring Senator Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat, to oppose Judge Ketanji Brwn Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.”  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Beyond Salvation?

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

As far as I can tell, today’s Republican Party has no actual platform, no ideologies of its own, but instead is simply against anything that Democrats support, and vice versa.  What the former guy did to that which was once recognizable as a legitimate party with actual views, has left a party that is no longer in control of its senses.  Max Boot, writing for The Washington Post, shows us just how low the Republican Party has gone, and one must question whether there is a future for the party outside of conspiracy theories, racism, incoherent rants and obfuscation.

The Republican Party is beyond salvation — even without Trump

Opinion by 

Max Boot

Columnist

April 20, 2021 at 1:05 p.m. EDT

That was a very telling comment that Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) posted on Twitter last week. He noted that tweets from President Biden’s account “are limited and, when they come, unimaginably conventional” and that his “public comments are largely scripted.” In Cornyn’s mind, this “invites the question: is he really in charge?”

On one level, this shows a senior Republican senator — someone who is seen as a staid establishmentarian — trying to spread smarmy insinuations that the president has lost his marbles and is being manipulated by shadowy leftists. That’s an article of faith on the conspiratorial far right that has now migrated to the mainstream despite the total lack of any substantiating evidence. When called out by Chris Wallace on Fox News, Cornyn retreated to the usual, despicable defense of conspiracy theorists: “I simply asked a question.” I didn’t say the moon landing was faked — I was only asking if it was!

But what is even more disturbing about Cornyn’s tweet is the upside-down assumption that it’s normal for a president to spew deranged, ungrammatical, abusive tweets — and that there is something wrong with a president who refuses to do so. Most people thought that President Donald Trump’s tweets were bonkers — but for a large portion of the GOP, they have now become the standard by which his successors will be judged. Republicans have gone down the rabbit hole where sanity and sobriety are inexplicable and indeed suspicious.

This is a sign of how the Republican Party is adjusting to post-Trump life. It has embraced Trumpism without Trump. This is not really a set of policy preferences; the GOP in 2020 passed on a platform beyond allegiance to the Orange Emperor’s whims. It is more of a mindless, obnoxious attitude — it’s all about “owning the libs,” spreading conspiracy theories, and waging culture wars as a way to rile up the rabid base and keep the cash register ringing.

Three of the major tenets of the Trumpified GOP have been on public view the past week — if you can bear to watch.

Hostility to science: Watch the video of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) yapping at Anthony S. Fauci, one of the nation’s leading infectious-disease experts, like an enraged chihuahua. “Dr. Fauci, when is the time?” Jordan kept asking. He wanted to know when it was “time to pull back on masking” and “physical distancing.” “When do Americans get their freedoms back? … What is low enough? Give me a number.” Fauci tried to explain that restrictions could be lifted as infection rates got lower. But for Jordan, this had nothing to do with eliciting information — it was all about showing his contempt for a leading scientist and demonstrating that he is much more exercised about prudent public health restrictions than about a virus that has already killed more than 567,000 Americans. It’s no surprise that vaccination rates are lower in counties that Trump won than in counties that voted for Biden.

Racism: Some of the most pro-Trump members of the House tried last week to start an America First Caucus. “White People First” is more like it: Their manifesto declared that “America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions. History has shown that societal trust and political unity are threatened when foreign citizens are imported en-masse into a country.” There was so much blowback that the America Firsters backed off. But, as my colleague Aaron Blake notes, the white supremacist “replacement theory” — which claims that shadowy elites are importing people of color to replace native-born Whites — has gained wide adherence in the GOP. It has been pushed recently by everyone from Fox News’s Tucker Carlson to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who recently wondered (there’s that question again!) if Democrats “want to remake the demographics of America to ensure — that they stay in power forever.”

Authoritarianism: The Big Lie has become Republican orthodoxy — just like tax cuts and conservative judges. Polls show that 78 percent of Republicans don’t think Biden legitimately won and 51 percent say Congress “did not go far enough” to support “Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.” Little wonder that so many 2022 aspirants — including leading Republican Senate candidates in Ohio, Alabama, Missouri and North Carolina — are pushing the falsehood of the stolen election. The willingness to deny the election outcome — and thereby to reject democracy itself — has become the new litmus test for Republican primary voters.

This is by no means the whole of the GOP — but the Trumpy wing is by far the most vocal, militant and important. The “mainstream,” by contrast, is weak, vacillating and uncertain. Former House speaker John A. Boehner is a case in point: He denounces the “crazies” who have taken over, but he admits that in 2020 he voted for Trump — the leader of the crazies — because “I thought that his policies, by and large, mirrored the policies that I believed in.”

As I’ve said before, this is a party that is beyond salvation. I just wish Republicans didn’t insist on proving that bleak judgment right with dismaying regularity.

The GOP Ain’t Atticus Finch!!!

Posted on by under Election 2018, Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

In the past weeks, and especially the past few days, I have seen some of the most asinine comments come from the mouths of men and women who are supposed to be well-educated, reasonable human beings. Men and women who are paid a sizable chunk of money by us to represent us.  That would be … us … all of us … as in, We The People.  It isn’t bad enough that they are not doing their job, that they are playing games with our lives, gambling away the future of this nation, but on top of that, we have to listen to them spout ugly and stupid rhetoric!

Tonight I focus on one such fool, John Cornyn III, a United States Senator from the State of Texas.  A brief bio …

John_Cornyn_(cropped)Cornyn is a graduate from Trinity University and St. Mary’s University School of Law, receiving his LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law. Cornyn was a Judge on Texas’ 37th District Court from 1985 to 1991, until he was elected an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, where he served 1991 to 1997. In 1998, Cornyn was elected Attorney General of Texas, serving one term until winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2002. He was re-elected to a second term in 2008 and to a third term in 2014.

Cornyn was the subject of a number of controversies during his single term as Attorney General of Texas, involving deals with the Koch brothers, injecting religion into schools, and others that I wish I had the time and space to delve into, but for tonight I shall stay the course.  What has set me off now is his inane comment about the republican senators who shoved Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation through, despite at least five valid reasons not to do so.  He had the unmitigated gall to compare these jerks to the fictional character Atticus Finch, from Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird.

atticus-finch-qoeAtticus Finch, you may remember, played by Gregory Peck, was a lawyer in a small fictional southern town of Maycomb, Alabama.  Finch was representing a black man, Tom Robinson,  falsely accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell.  The character of Atticus Finch represents morality and reason.  He is soft-spoken, believes in fighting for justice and equality, and is a moral hero in every sense of the word.

John Cronyn and his bunch are definitely not Atticus Finch.

“Some commentators have called this our Atticus Finch moment. We all remember that Atticus Finch was a lawyer who did not believe that a mere accusation was synonymous with guilt. He represented an unpopular person who many people presumed was guilty of a heinous crime because of his race and his race alone. We could learn from Atticus Finch now.”

The comparison is 180° off base, for while Atticus Finch was defending a Black man from a white woman who had accused him of a rape he didn’t commit, in the Jim Crow South, the GOP are trying to ensure a privileged white judge gets an even more privileged position on the Supreme Court.

And while Cornyn’s is the most bombastic comment, others in the GOP, now that they have gotten their way and feel they have nothing to lose, have dropped the masks of decency and are showing their true colours.Mitch McConnell said that the allegations made against Kavanaugh were “uncorroborated mud” and that blocking his nomination would be a “fundamentally un-American precedent.”  Never mind, I suppose, that McConnell was the force behind blocking the nomination of Merrick Garland, a highly qualified candidate, under President Obama, for more than a year!

Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, has accused Democrats of spurring an “unethical sham”, and is insisting that democrat Amy Klobuchar apologize for the “smear campaign”.  Such nice language these so-called professional men use, eh?

It’s funny, isn’t it, that the republicans got their way, by hook or by crook … mostly crook, for the FBI investigation was not an investigation, but a farce, and many credible allegations were simply ignored … and yet they still feel a need to push conspiracy theories, lie, and denigrate innocent people.  At first I was confounded by this behaviour, but then I recalled that they are only talking to their own base, the minority, if you will, of the population of this nation.  Remember that, folks, when you are tempted to lose heart, when you feel like the guys in the black hats are winning the game.  They are only winning amongst about one-third of the country, for the rest of us are not buying their snake oil pitch.  The thing we must do is take away their rosy glow next month at the polls.  It’s our last, best hope … our only hope for a semblance of sanity, of decency to return to at least one branch of government.mlk quote

They Just Don’t Get It …

Posted on by under Political commentary, Social commentary

I had not planned to address the ridiculous piece of health ‘care’ legislation under consideration by the Senate again just yet, but my hackles were raised this morning by a story in Think Progress about the new party line floating around on Capitol Hill.  The headline read:

Republicans Argue Anyone Who Loses Coverage Under Trumpcare Really Doesn’t Want It

According to the article, this is the ‘talking point’ these days in the halls of Congress.  The philosophy being that once the mandate to purchase insurance is gone, some people will simply choose not to have insurance.  With reductions in coverage, higher rates, and state’s ability to choose not to cover pre-existing conditions and essential services, the Congressional Budget Office estimates some 22 million people will not be able to afford adequate coverage. The Republicans in Congress seem unable or unwilling to understand how those of us without 7-digit bank accounts live. Let us take a look at a few of the more egregious statements members of Congress have made recently:

  • Just this morning, a reporter accused Senator John Cornyn from Texas of not caring that 22 million people would lose their coverage. His response?  “Not lose, choose. People will buy what they value.”
  • On Sunday, Marc Short, Trump’s director of legislative affairs claimed, “That’s not losing, that’s choosing.”
  • Last month, Speaker of the House, Paul Ryans, said, “So it’s not that people are getting pushed off a plan. It’s that people will choose not to buy something they don’t like or want.”
  • Back in March, former Representative Jason Chaffetz made this statement: “And you know what? Americans have choices, and they’ve gotta make a choice. And so maybe rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care. They’ve gotta make those decisions themselves.”

And the worst one of all came from Representative Mo Brooks from Alabama …

  • “My understanding is that it will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool. That helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy.”

Mr. Brooks’ comment is so deplorable that it causes one to question his mental acuity.  Let’s face it, most of us have some form of pre-existing condition, whether it is diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, or something more serious such as a heart condition or cancer. His suggestion that those of us with pre-existing conditions are in this situation because we don’t “lead good lives” is a crock of very stinky stuff.  Brooks is in line for Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award soon. Mr. Brooks is from Alabama, as is Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions … maybe that explains a lot.

The prevailing attitude, however, is of greater overall concern than the ignorant comment of Mr. Brooks.  It is further proof, as if we needed any, that some of our elected representatives, particularly those of the Republican Party it would seem, are so far removed from the people they are supposed to represent, that they might as well be living in another universe.

If the costs for health insurance rise, as they will do with reduced subsidies, higher costs for certain people, such as those with pre-existing conditions, and reduced benefits, it will not be a matter of “choice”.  Or rather, the “choice” will be between putting food on the table, or buying health insurance.  A choice between paying the rent in order to avoid being homeless, or buying health insurance.  It is NOT a question of buying an i-phone rather than health insurance, and anyone who thinks it is, does not deserve to be sitting in Congress!

The chart below* reflects the average net worth of members of Congress.  I think it goes a long way toward explaining why our elected representatives do not understand how those of us in middle and lower income brackets need to make purchasing decisions!

   

 

U.S. Senate U.S. House of Representatives
Year # of Senate Reports Senate Average Year # of House Reports House Average
2011 112 $14,013,596 2011 512 $6,594,859
2010 116 $13,224,333 2010 525 $5,992,869
2009 116 $13,229,651 2009 536 $5,106,476
2008 110 $13,835,333 2008 490 $4,719,554
2007 106 $17,170,451 2007 497 $5,661,643
2006 107 $14,106,027 2006 487 $5,071,549
2005 101 $14,553,612 2005 441 $4,511,705
2004 105 $14,455,289 2004 475 $4,243,935

Not surprisingly, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is among the 10 wealthiest senators with an estimated net worth of $22,841,026.

While I do not pretend to have all the answers for having a Congress that can at least begin to relate to the needs of their constituents, not only in health care, but in all areas, I see a few changes that might have a positive effect.

  • Term limits – I have discussed this before. I once was against term limits, thinking that if a senator or representative was good, we would want to keep them as long as possible, and if they were not good, the democratic process would weed them out quickly enough.  Turns out, this is not the case, as in this day and age elections are bought by PACs, lobbyists, and large corporations.  So, term limits must be seriously considered.
  • Gifts to members of Congress – I would propose a moratorium on all gifts to members of Congress, monetary or otherwise. A gift in this case is not a gift, but to put it bluntly, a bribe.  Almost every Republican in both the Senate and the House received monetary gifts from the NRA in 2016, ranging from $250 to $11,900.  Not huge sums, admittedly, but suggestive of an expected ‘return on investment’ nonetheless.  Insurance companies and other large corporations also contribute ‘gifts’ to members, especially during election years.  Even if there were no strings attached, there is room for speculation.
  • Congressional healthcare – Since members of Congress believe the plan they are proposing is such a great plan, they, too, should be able to take advantage of it! It hardly seems fair that We The People should have this wonderful plan, while our elected representatives are stuck with the one they receive as part of their fringe benefits, whereby the federal government subsidizes approximately 72% of their health care costs.

Ultimately the responsibility to hold members of Congress accountable for their rhetoric and actions rests with We The People.  We must stop being influenced in election years by rhetoric and flashy ads sponsored by corporations and PACs whose interest is far different than our own.  We must say to the Mitch McConnells and the Paul Ryans, “You know what?  You did not go to bat for me over health care, so you are not going back to Washington next year.” And then we need to vote for people who have, perhaps a little less wealth and a lot more conscience.  Until we do our homework, research issues and the candidate’s views on those issues, until we all vote and vote responsibly, nothing will change.  Think about it.

* Https://ballotpedia.org/Net_worth_of_United_States_Senators_and_Representatives

 

JASTA – A Bad Idea

Posted on by under Global Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

Sometimes there is a disconnect between the brain and the heart, and while we may feel that one thing is the proper course, the brain reminds us that it just is not so.  This post is about one such situation.

At issue is S.1535, Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), passed in the Senate yesterday and now headed to the House of Representatives as H.R.3143, that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia. First, the rationale behind JASTA: 15 of the 19 hijackers of the 9/11 attacks were Saudis.  Part of the job of the 9/11 commission in 2002 was to investigate how the hijackers were able to operate without alerting U.S. intelligence agencies.  Though the commission’s report was released in 2004, some information was classified and remains so today, including 28 pages pertaining to the Saudi government’s involvement. Recently there has been a major push to declassify and release this information which could, if JASTA becomes law, result in private lawsuits filed in the U.S. courts against the government of Saudi Arabia.

Senators John Cornyn and Chuck Schumer introduced the legislation in 2013 and it enjoys bi-partisan support, though last month Senator Lindsey Graham temporarily blocked it based on concerns that it could backfire on the U.S. Their stated purpose with this bill is to send a message to all nations that they can and will pay a price if they harbor terrorists or in any way aid terrorism, and to afford justice to 9/11 victims. While many see this as a positive move, I see more harm than good that could come as a result of its passage into law.

President Obama has said he will veto the bill should it pass the House.  The ramifications of this act becoming law could be widespread and have the potential for an economic domino effect. The Saudis hold hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. assets and have indicated that they would sell up to $750 billion in U.S. Treasury securities if the law were to pass.  To do so would cause a severe blow to the U.S. economy, the Saudi economy, and would have the potential to de-stabilize the world economy.

Saudi Arabia is our ally and this legislation, if passed, would undoubtedly alienate Saudi Arabia and undermine a longstanding, albeit strained relationship with a critical U.S. ally in the Middle East. Additionally, Senator Graham’s concern is the possibility that it could open the door for foreigners to sue the U.S. government, accusing Washington of supporting terrorism.  Senator Schumer disagrees with that argument, saying “We’re not busy training people to blow up buildings and kill innocent civilians in other countries.” I mostly agree with him, but … I would not want to see that door opened, especially in light of Trump’s claim that he will bomb terrorists and kill their families which, in itself, could easily be considered an act of terrorism.

The Senate unanimously passed the S.1535 yesterday.  Senators Schumer and Cornyn are talking to leaders of both parties in the House in hopes of expediting the vote there.  Paul Ryan has expressed concerns, surprisingly, as that puts him on the same side as President Obama on this one.  If H.R.3143 passes but the president vetoes it, as he has said he will, Schumer and Cornyn believe they can muster enough votes in the Senate to override the veto.

In the end, even if this bill becomes law, it is likely to accomplish very little and potentially cause many more problems.  The idea that it will provide justice to the victims of 9/11 and their families is ludicrous.  I cannot see that anybody will derive any satisfaction from suing a foreign government for their failure to take proper counter-terrorism measures 15 years ago. The likelihood of monetary compensation is slim to none, and what good is it anyway … you cannot replace human life with cash.  As far as sending a message goes … other nations in the Middle East will simply laugh at the notion.  In short, what seemed like a good idea to the heart, does not seem like much of one to the brain.  At least that is Filosofa’s Word.