Sen. Dianne Feinstein dies

[Icarus27k]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/29/politics/dianne-feinstein-death/index.html

 

Dianne Feinstein, longest-serving female US senator in history, dies at 90

By Lauren Fox, Manu Raju, Haley Talbot, Clare Foran and Paul LeBlanc, CNN

Updated 9:02 AM EDT, Fri September 29, 2023

[discolé monade]

not to be ^that^ person, but her time in senate had well exceded prefered use date. 

granted she was one the broke the glass ceiling in the political arena...in some aspects/views/opinions. 

however, gate keeping a position shouldn't be amongst the accolades. 

 

[Raptorpat]

Wouldn't be surprised if Gavin Newsom appoints or announces a replacement today. Edit: ok, maybe not today - that's probably too soon. But like by next week.

I feel like I read somewhere that Republicans have to approve replacing her on the now-deadlocked Judiciary Committee. Which unless Mitt Romney has a "I believe in comity and I'm retiring anyways" moment, means the judicial confirmation train goes back to relying on Kamala to break every single procedural tie vote.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Raptorpat

[1pooh4u]

May she RIP

she should have retired long ago and it’s sad that she was abused for her position by almost everyone around her 

[1pooh4u]

The delusional people online that want to portray Sen Feinstein as a warrior returning to confirm judges as though she actually wanted to, or even had the presence of mind to purposefully make a decision, is a little sickening. 

[matrixman124]

2 hours ago, discolé monade said:

not to be ^that^ person, but her time in senate had well exceded prefered use date. 

granted she was one the broke the glass ceiling in the political arena...in some aspects/views/opinions. 

however, gate keeping a position shouldn't be amongst the accolades. 

 

Term limits across all 3 branches of government. That is all.

[Insipid]

56 minutes ago, matrixman124 said:

Term limits across all 3 branches of government. That is all.

Age limits too. Military has it, elected government officials should have it too.

[scoobdog]

45 minutes ago, Insipid said:

Age limits too. Military has it, elected government officials should have it too.

You don't need age limits if you have term limits.

[scoobdog]

2 hours ago, 1pooh4u said:

The delusional people online that want to portray Sen Feinstein as a warrior returning to confirm judges as though she actually wanted to, or even had the presence of mind to purposefully make a decision, is a little sickening. 

I'd like to believe she wasn't propped up just for her vote, but I don't see how she couldn't have been.  She did stay well past her effective date, and she didn't need to in a state where her replacement would be guaranteed to be ideologically in-line with her.  We're fortunate (not that there is a silver lining to death) that Newsome will be picking a caretaker Senator that will be a POC, and it's happening early enough that she will hopefully be able to use it to build a small resume leading up to the election.

[Icarus27k]

*Eye rolls*

Not that I have a sense of affinity for Feinstein but rather I have a hatred of the overabundance of opinions online. I've really lost patience for it in recent years. 

This person probably thinks she's saying something really important too. 

I'm waiting for the right time to totally cut social media off because of its frivolousness. 

This message board will be an exception though. I kind of don't hate what you guys say. 

[1pooh4u]

23 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

I'd like to believe she wasn't propped up just for her vote, but I don't see how she couldn't have been.  She did stay well past her effective date, and she didn't need to in a state where her replacement would be guaranteed to be ideologically in-line with her.  We're fortunate (not that there is a silver lining to death) that Newsome will be picking a caretaker Senator that will be a POC, and it's happening early enough that she will hopefully be able to use it to build a small resume leading up to the election.

She was propped up just for her vote.   I don’t believe anyone knows who really has been the Senator of CA for a while now. At least not her seat. 
There have been reports that Schiff wanted Feinstein’s seat and Pelosi was somehow going to help him reach that goal. Idk how true that is but there’s a few disturbing stories out there. Like that Pelosi’s daughter was “caring for” Feinstein and when family members wanted to see or speak to Feinstein they were turned away. 

[scoobdog]

2 minutes ago, 1pooh4u said:

She was propped up just for her vote.   I don’t believe anyone knows who really has been the Senator of CA for a while now. At least not her seat. 
There have been reports that Schiff wanted Feinstein’s seat and Pelosi was somehow going to help him reach that goal. Idk how true that is but there’s a few disturbing stories out there. Like that Pelosi’s daughter was “caring for” Feinstein and when family members wanted to see or speak to Feinstein they were turned away. 

Situations like this tend to breed rumors anyway, but the lawsuit of her late husband's estate for control of it, supposedly on her behalf, was always a huge warning indicator that someone has been manipulating her.

[Insipid]

1 hour ago, scoobdog said:

You don't need age limits if you have term limits.

Is that why Trump was elected president with no previous experience in politics at the ripe young age of 70?

[scoobdog]

5 minutes ago, Insipid said:

Is that why Trump was elected president with no previous experience in politics at the ripe young age of 70?

Trump would have been incompetent at any age, and he would have been elected by the same degenerate voters for the same disgusting reasons.  I'm not dismissing that dementia could lead him to be even more overtly racist and violent than he might otherwise be, but his attitudes have always been there in some form, including his profound laziness, penchant for demagoguery, and his liberal use of verbal abuse to belittle others and elevate himself.

[Raptorpat]

I am conceptually opposed to term limits and age limits for different reasons (though i bounce back and forth a lot), but leaving it as is requires politicians and judges to be more willing to step in when their colleague is clearly unable to adequately perform their job.

[PenguinBoss]

 

[Icarus27k]

 

 

[discolé monade]

1 hour ago, Raptorpat said:

I am conceptually opposed to term limits and age limits for different reasons (though i bounce back and forth a lot), but leaving it as is requires politicians and judges to be more willing to step in when their colleague is clearly unable to adequately perform their job.

well, then if oppossed, and i'm sure there are many with your line of thinking, how about 'mental capacity and fitness' tests upon each term after a certain age?

because, this is not working. 

 

2 hours ago, Icarus27k said:

*Eye rolls*

Not that I have a sense of affinity for Feinstein but rather I have a hatred of the overabundance of opinions online. I've really lost patience for it in recent years. 

This person probably thinks she's saying something really important too. 

I'm waiting for the right time to totally cut social media off because of its frivolousness. 

This message board will be an exception though. I kind of don't hate what you guys say. 

how is she wrong though?

do let us know if and when we cross the threshold. 

: |

[scoobdog]

8 minutes ago, discolé monade said:

how is she wrong though?

She's wrong in the sense that she elevating Feinstein from a misguided politician to an almost-villain merely for overstaying her usefulness.  I'm not 90-years-old; I would nonetheless imagine at that age I too would be more fearful of losing my right to self-determination than selfishly hoarding power - and I'm not a woman.  As Pooh pointed out, there has been a lot of whispering about how the people around her were also manipulating her, and regardless of the truth, it points to a greater problem of how women who are forced out of power are very easily marginalized - just like the millions of equally capable women who aren't fortunate enough to achiever her stature.  She was no friend to the liberal causes that underpin the modern Democratic Party, but she also didn't stand in the way of progress like Manchin or Sinema when it mattered.  Judging her too harshly or making her a poster girl for what's wrong with the Senate defeats the point of criticizing her actions and what they mean for women in general.

21 minutes ago, discolé monade said:

well, then if oppossed, and i'm sure there are many with your line of thinking, how about 'mental capacity and fitness' tests upon each term after a certain age?

because, this is not working. 

100%.  Term limits are the least obtrusive way to eliminate incompetent people without publicly humiliating them or being ageist, but, at the end of the day, you also have to do what needs to be done to make sure the people in power are capable of properly using that power.

[Raptorpat]

If there's a way to test for competency without public humiliation, that'd probably be the way to do it. People age differently and I just don't think it's fair to set an arbitrary cut-off.

NY has a 150 year old requirement to kick judges off the bench when they hit 70 years old, but judges on the state Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court can apply to an administrative review board to continue to serve in two-year increments until they're permanently cut off when they hit 76 years old. I think that 70 years old is an embarrassingly low cut-off (particularly for a judge), but there is a routine process to recertify the older judges in that 70-76 range.

[matrixman124]

3 hours ago, Insipid said:

Is that why Trump was elected president with no previous experience in politics at the ripe young age of 70?

Trump is abhorrent for other reasons aside from his age

[matrixman124]

34 minutes ago, Raptorpat said:

If there's a way to test for competency without public humiliation, that'd probably be the way to do it. People age differently and I just don't think it's fair to set an arbitrary cut-off.

NY has a 150 year old requirement to kick judges off the bench when they hit 70 years old, but judges on the state Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court can apply to an administrative review board to continue to serve in two-year increments until they're permanently cut off when they hit 76 years old. I think that 70 years old is an embarrassingly low cut-off (particularly for a judge), but there is a routine process to recertify the older judges in that 70-76 range.

Considering Feinstein was 90, I would say 85 would be a good start for a cutoff on the federal level. Hell that's generous considering Pelosi is 83

Edited September 29, 2023 by matrixman124

[Raptorpat]

https://twitter.com/burgessev/status/1707784508253073422

[Top Gun]

I'm still mostly convinced that she died several years ago and it's been a Weekend at Bernie's situation since then.

[discolé monade]

19 hours ago, Top Gun said:

I'm still mostly convinced that she died several years ago and it's been a Weekend at Bernie's situation since then.

finally. someone said the thing out loud. 

and are we entirely sure that mcconnell isn't being controlled by a little alien, that's dying? the glitching out thing is....strange to watch and no one remove him. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by discolé monade

[Icarus27k]

Gov. Newsom has chosen Laphonza Butler, the president of EMILY'S List, to be the next senator from California.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/01/newsom-senate-pick-butler-00119360

Edited October 2, 2023 by Icarus27k

[1pooh4u]

First order of business should be setting upper age limits for every federal office. After 60 politicians should have to take competency tests every 5 years until 70 and then every 2-3 years after that. Sorry for the inconvenience but for the last decade it feels like no one is retiring they’re just dying in office from disease and old age. 

[Top Gun]

We've turned into a gerontocracy, and entire generations of Americans have been blocked out of power by those desperately clinging to it for decades.