where i come from if you don't show up to work for 2-3 days, you're fired. you'd think the snobby fucks lecturing every american about personal responsibility would be able to at least pretend that they're maintaining a high standard.
why is this freeloader even getting free healthcare at this point?
wheel him out onto the street like the bum that he is and let god deal with it.
Beshear should just call their bluff, and name a Democratic Senator. Force MAGA to sue to stop him, and then they'll have to provide proof of life. If they do, then fine, Mitch is still breathing, so they win.
But if they can't prove it, or choose not to, then Beshear's pick stands, and we've got another Dem senator.
Go ahead, call their bluff. You know they're lying, they're ALWAYS lying.
Quite the opposite. The state constitution says replacements are appointed. Recent legislation that has not (yet) been tested in court calls for a special election.
He's passed on! This senator is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If they hadn't nailed him to the hospital bed he'd be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!! HE IS AN EX-SENATOR!!
They have to pretend he's alive until the 3rd. A Kentucky law passed in 2024 requires a special election to be held to fill vacant Senate seat. But that law doesn't apply if the vacancy occurs within 90 days of the seat being up for election.
Mitch's seat being empty is better for the fascists than the risk of a Democrat taking the seat in the leadup to an election the GOP plans on fucking with.
Need age caps -- or at the very least -- a rigorous cognitive and physical assessment from a panel of independent medical experts after retirement age that is made COMPLETELY public (because you're a public servant, after all), annually.
It's too much of a national security risk to have these geriatrics in office. I mean they're easily-scammed by phishing emails and scam phone calls. Dementia is a high risk at that age. Sudden strokes, heart attacks, or sudden aneurysms as in Graham's case are too much of a liability.
The problem isn't age, it's entrenchment and corruption. Being old in office is a side effect, not the main problem.
We need term limits for Congress. If we had term limits, the only way an old person could get into office is if they were voted in when they were old. Being old doesn't necessarily make one incompetent.
Congress makes national policy that affects all of us, but only a few people in each state vote for or against them. There should be some safeguard against them remaining in office for decades.
The problem is that there are multiple problems, and some of the solutions aren't close to the root cause. I'll try my best to explain.
One can say that age alone isn't the problem; it's corruption. I'd personally say the problem isn't term-limits; it's the ignorance of the electorate in discerning who is ready to go.
Yes, Sanders is an outlier that proves that old age isn't always a problem; but he's also proof that term-limits have negative consequence -- for he has been an exceptional Statesman for decades, and we would've lost him long ago, if we had term limits.
So in my opinion in terms of corruption, we are chasing symptoms instead of the root cause, which is helping the electorate identify when a politician is useless. Examples of this: Kentucky for McConnell, California for Feinstein, New York for Schumer, and Maine for Collins.
Independent of corruption, old age is certainly an issue though. But even from a corruption standpoint, these senile geriatrics know they're not long for this world and have little stake in the long-term future of the country, or even being worried about being held accountable and spending years in prison. That alone matters.
I'd personally say the problem isn’t term-limits; it’s the ignorance of the electorate
I'd say that it's disenfranchisement and the fact that elections arent mandatory. That makes it more advantageous for the non-working class to spend time at townhalls and at voting booths.
A man working 2 jobs 12 hours a day to support his family simply isn't going to have the same kind of presence as a business owner who makes his own hohrs or retirees who no longee work full time. And that applies even to voting. So guess how the voter skews?
But mandatory voting isn't even in the conversion right now. Term limits are and has precedent. We gotta try something.
Yeah I'm amicable to term limits as one method of helping solve this, I just have concerns and will have to do more of a deep dive on the pros and cons. Sadly the issue with so many of these good ideas is that it still puts the cart before the horse. We know what needs to be done, but since the likes of term limits require literal Constitutional Amendments, that requires both widespread public consensus, and an ability to vote together and for legitimate representatives willing to play ball -- which, naturally, is the very problem we're trying to fix in the first place.
So we have the 3rd and 4th step... But how do we get there from here?
really hard to say. We first need to stop breaking our government and get adults back in the room. Then we need chains of actions that rebuilds trust amongst all of us, or enough of the apathetic to rule out the inevtiable MAGA propoganda. It's not impossible because term limits are generally a positive topic (very few people like the idea of career politicians to begin with), but still an uphill battle
Alternatively, we could somehow garner massive support that even Trump can't ignore. But that's a harder order than the above.
Mandatory voting means more low-information voters who will vote reactively. I don't see how that will help.
Australia has mandatory voting and its politics are just as broken as the UK's (which has a similar parliamentary system) and nearly as hosed as the US.
My view is that the root cause is money in politics, which drives corruption. Everything else that's being discussed is just displacement activity, "quick fixes" that are easier than dealing with the real problem, but don't actually accomplish anything.
We need to enforce mandatory disclosure of all non-legislative income, to shut down legislators having side jobs at all, insider trading by legislators, prevent them taking cushy fake jobs when they leave office, shut down the current Citizens United system of institutionalized bribery, further control agents of foreign influence interfering in our politics, and brutally punish anything remotely approaching Trump levels of corruption. It's hard and will require constant vigilance, but band-aids don't help.
more low-information voters who will vote reactively. I don’t see how that will help.
Disenfranchisement runs on the idea that most people would vote left if everyone voted. That's why the right tries so hard to suppress rather than invigorate more people to vote. Mandatory voting doesn't literally mean "everyone has to vote". It punishes institutions who try to obstruct voting much heavier than a voter who refuses (for that voter, it's usually an easy excuse or like, 20 bucks fine. It's not trying to punish them).
But sure. There's a no zero chance we get an influx of low information voters who just go with whatever narrative is popular. Or votes in a candidate with no political presence but is a well known name. I'd wager the average voter is aware enough to at least know the two big national candidates for president or their senate, though. Ideally, it creates a culture where there's time to get informed for you ballot, since it usually includes a holiday to allow for voting.
My view is that the root cause is money in politics, which drives corruption
Okay. I agree with all your points. How do you drive that out? You need votes. Votes to get people in who aren't corrupt and votes to regulate it. If someone wants to take a bribe, they should be scared for their life of that being a campaign-ending, if not career-ending, move.
Primary turnouts especially are absolutely pathetic. Things would be very different if candidates weren't betting on 20% turnout.
Term limits are a double edged sword. You lose experience when you kick people out just because they have experience, not to mention taking away voter choice.
It might be better to limit consecutive terms to a low number, based on the length of the term of office. For example, no more than 2 consecutive terms as a US Senator, or something.
I agree with you that there's a problem that needs solving.
These ghouls do their dardnest to make sure remove voter choice as is.
Besides, term limits don't need to be 8 years. Make it 3-4 terms for Senate and 10 for House. The main idea isn't a revolving door, but to make sure fossils older than my dead grandpa aren't still in Congress controlling my (theoretical) kids future.
Well, that's a different take than the one I responded to. You seem focused on age limits, which are not the same as term limits.
As the other person noted, term limits won't keep old people from being elected, if they're old when they're first elected.
Not that they both can't be problems worth addressing, but we should take care to define what it is we're trying to solve, and solve it as directly as possible.
Yeah, the age thing doesn't matter as much. You can technically be 30 and still be seriously hospitalized like this. You can be 80 and genuinely have the best interst for the country. it's just more likely at 80 that you end up this way, on tubes and bitter at the world. T
he issues here is that represenatives have no incentive to actually do their job, or at least have minimum accountability from not doing their job as long as they are "the right people". I beleive other countries have either recall processes for situations like this, or require X days per quarter in session before special elections can be triggered.
We should have multiple forms of accountability. Recalls, age and term limits, a cap on recesses and vacations, backup representatives when people go on vacation, requirements to attend town halls, and so forth.
Why not both age and term limits? The way I see it, they act as filtering layers that help remove problems. If one fails, the other might do the trick.
Many US states have term limits already. Their positive impact on governance has been nil. They just shift more power to the party apparatchiks, lobbyists and the civil service (someone has to have institutional knowledge, and it there's a revolving door, the elected people never have time to acquire it). And when someone's about to be termed out, their final year in office is a scramble to find their next political post.
I disagree with the the former, it's too easy to exploit, and also people are living with cognisance and clarity and good health for much longer than they used to, with no signs of a stop coming to that trend yet.
I vehemently agree with the latter though, but it should be as something hard to exploit, cause GOP could use it as a weapon against their enemies
Sorry, can you clarify -- disagree with blanket age caps as we already have age mins, or disagree with a cognitive/physical annual assessment as we often as private employees are subject to already?
Of course; though contextually that could've meant the latter paragraph, too. I was slightly thrown off as I don't know how one would exploit hard age limits, but instead it also seemed exploiting the cognitive assessments would be an easier thing to exploit.
Either way, something must be done of course. Hopefully consensus continues to rise on this.
You know he isn't going to resign, even if he is, somehow, still alive. Instead of pussyfooting about the matter like this, I'd rather they stop wasting time and explore avenues to expel him from Congress, unless McConnell can make an in person appearance and satisfy questions as to whether he is still fit to serve in his office. Instead, I can't help but feel like this will be slow-walked until days before the deadline to determine if there will be a special election to replace him, and then we'll get a week of Dems wringing their hands going "Oh, however were we meant to know we couldn't complete a process that is guaranteed to be slowed down as much as possible by our Republican colleagues in Congress in just the 3 days we left ourselves before we started acting like we were taking this matter seriously?"
How many times are we going to see them run this same play, only for it to blow up in their faces when their master plan requires the Republicans to act with sincerity and honesty, even when it would be disadvantageous for the GOP to do so? We literally saw it play out with the very man in question being a two-faced shit as soon as he sniffed a chance to steal a Supreme Court nomination from the Obama administration? We saw it again with investigations into Trump's criminal behavior that, honestly, should have had him already sentenced in multiple cases and serving time before he even had the chance to run for a second time. Just assume the Republicans are lying through their teeth, and go scorched earth with a campaign to forcefully oust McConnell from office. Or take them at their word and make stupid demands you know McConnell would ignore if he were alive, and just make it that much clearer for us all that the Democrats are not sincere in their opposition to the agenda of the GOP.
I imagine some are probably blackmailed or otherwise entangled with powerful people that wont let them retire.
Plus, being a senator ensures to a certain level that they can see what fuckery is coming to help protect their families and themselves.
Its power and prestige too. But its got to be a carrot and a stick.
Not to mention the potential boredom ,
for someone like that in retirement. Imagine spending most of your life traveling around the country, sometimes the world singing and meeting interesting people, amazing dinners. Actually working maybe a few months out of the year but most of the time just talking to people and playing a part.
And then one day , all that goes away , and you're just sorta sitting somewhere out of the game.
At MINIMUM he is incapacitated. There's no way he wouldn't have shot a video, made a statement, or snapped more pictures. Hes either got a tube down his neck, is mentally/physically handicapped someway, or dead. There's no other option or excuse for the silence.
He may be in some kind rehab but the type of rehab is for something that has impaired his ability to act as senator.
Any company would have likely fired the guy for not showing up by now unless he submitted FMLA paperwork. This is one of the differences between regular working people and these government officials.
One minute beyond the deadline they will announce, "mitch was visiting the ole' Kentucky explosion factory today, not being a closeted homosexual, and in a freak accident, he exploded. So we're all super bummed that there can't be an autopsy now... Even if there could be of course, the results would just say he was definitely straight, and he was not dead for a month before his corpse living body was deliberately accidentally exploded."
Need to send out more photos like a kidnapping victim from the 1980s holding today’s newspaper. Should use a Polaroid this time to make it really authentic. Maybe a note with some letters cut out from a skateboarding magazine. Someone can wait at a payphone at the mall next to Spencer’s for an anonymous landline call with further instructions.
Honestly it's the fact that the paper was there that sells me for it. Like whoever took or doctored or made that photo was like "no we have to include the paper, nobody is going to believe us if we don't" but if they really wanted us to believe them they'd make a statement. Which means that it wasn't a good faith photo, they deliberately did their best to trick us by making it "as believable as we can"
That’s why it’s so funny. It’s like a parody of what these out of touch assholes think a proof of life photo would be, in 2026. When everyone has a video recording device in their hand at all times. It’s comically not credible (even if real.)
Exactly. They know what they're doing. Nobody thinks he's some "spring chicken". He's old as dirt and he freezes in public all the time. If he didn't look nearly dead then they'd do a 30 second video of him saying "hello everyone I'm getting better" but they aren't. If he was really sitting in that chair with the paper and coherent then they'd let him be coherent.
You cant resign if your dead ... kind of a Republican loophole.
Democrat politicians likely want this to happen with zombie McConnell... they aren't pushing very hard. On 8/1 or shortly after McConnell will pass away suddenly.
No, not a health update that he can lie about. Live public appearance where he speaks and answers questions for at least 30 minutes. Anything less should lead to a resignation.
He could have a five minute phone conversation with a respected journalist and instantly kill all of these rumours. The fact that he hasn't done so indicates he's either dead or at minimum no longer of sound mind.
All these politicians calling for him specifically to do anything are being naïve or are in on the cover-up. He is either dead or so impaired that we are never going to get anything directly from him and the only reasonable course of action is to move forward as though he has passed. Let them prove otherwise or proceed with the special election. These useless statements for the past few weeks are meaningless. The fact that so many politicians on both sides of the aisle are playing along really makes me feel like everything is rigged because if the Democrats were truly an opposition party, they wouldn’t just put out these useless press releases, they would take action and force their hand before the deadline.
There isn't any new information in the article aside from the quote.
Washington Examiner was started as the conservative alternative to the Washington Post. They have mostly party-line Republican views, with a few exceptions.
It's not a job, it's an elected position. If you can't do it for any reason at all, you don't get to subvert the whole concept of representation for the people and leave the seat empty for a prolonged period
Just because people have made careers out of being a politician doesn't mean they have a right to. It's not their job to lose, it's the people's right to representation
101 Comments
CobraChicken3000@lemmy.ca · 88 pts · 29d
That would be precisely the case if this was any other job. But, apparently, Senate seats are ordained by God and are a divine right.
jagermo@feddit.org · 50 pts · 28d
And get handed over to family members, as with Graham.
anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 27d
This one has a Democrat governor though unlike Graham’s state. That’s why they are fucking around.
theparadox@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 28d
Considering the Senate was meant to be a collection of representatives hand picked by the rich, you are not far off...
whodat504@thelemmy.club · 3 pts · 28d
And what if he is incapable of resigning?
Spacehooks@reddthat.com · 74 pts · 28d
I cant even miss work for 3 days in a row without a doctor note and this pos just doing w/e?
jtrek@startrek.website · 21 pts · 28d
Conservatives tend to believe in different rules for different people. They don't really believe in equality
YouTalkinToMe@lemmy.wtf · 7 pts · 28d
Some pigs are more equal than other ones.
quick_snail@feddit.nl · -2 pts · 28d
And you think that's a good thing?
glance@lemmy.world · 59 pts · 28d
I always figured that if you didn't show up to work for a few weeks, that was a resignation. We should treat him as if he's already resigned.
whereitsat@lemmy.zip · 20 pts · 28d
where i come from if you don't show up to work for 2-3 days, you're fired. you'd think the snobby fucks lecturing every american about personal responsibility would be able to at least pretend that they're maintaining a high standard.
why is this freeloader even getting free healthcare at this point?
wheel him out onto the street like the bum that he is and let god deal with it.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 46 pts · 28d
Beshear should just call their bluff, and name a Democratic Senator. Force MAGA to sue to stop him, and then they'll have to provide proof of life. If they do, then fine, Mitch is still breathing, so they win.
But if they can't prove it, or choose not to, then Beshear's pick stands, and we've got another Dem senator.
Go ahead, call their bluff. You know they're lying, they're ALWAYS lying.
GutterRat42@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 28d
Kentucky doesn't allow appointments, it has to be a special election.
wookiepedia@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 28d
Quite the opposite. The state constitution says replacements are appointed. Recent legislation that has not (yet) been tested in court calls for a special election.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 28d
I think that a honest court would strike down the legislation, especially if McConnel is revealed to be a corpse. The GOP are malicious liars.
FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca · 34 pts · 28d
He's passed on! This senator is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If they hadn't nailed him to the hospital bed he'd be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!! HE IS AN EX-SENATOR!!
ThePropHat@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 27d
well he's probably pining for the fjords
CocaineShrimp@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 28d
Stop giving me false hope
OS2Warp@lemmy.zip · 29 pts · 28d
FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 28d
Honestly if he’s a fucking lich then at this point I wouldn’t even be surprised. Just tell us already, take the mask all the way off.
stringere@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 27d
Lindsay Graham was his second to last horcrux, which is why je's hanging on by a thread.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 27d
They have to pretend he's alive until the 3rd. A Kentucky law passed in 2024 requires a special election to be held to fill vacant Senate seat. But that law doesn't apply if the vacancy occurs within 90 days of the seat being up for election.
Mitch's seat being empty is better for the fascists than the risk of a Democrat taking the seat in the leadup to an election the GOP plans on fucking with.
postmateDumbass@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 28d
Did he speak back? Or just drool?
OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 28d
You do realize that the “author” of that tweet is dead, right?
postmateDumbass@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 28d
I had indeed forgotten he died.
BigDiction@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 28d
Reads like a tweet typed while held hostage at gunpoint from a script
OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 28d
You do realize that the “author” of that tweet is dead, right?
BigDiction@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 27d
Nah I forgot Herman Cain died of Covid!
nullify3112@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 28d
2012 was like “where’s his birth certificate?” 2026 is like “where’s his death certificate?”
Soup@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 28d
One was racism, the other is something people genuinely need to know.
Racoonwithbenefits@lemmy.zip · 24 pts · 28d
lennybird@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 28d
Need age caps -- or at the very least -- a rigorous cognitive and physical assessment from a panel of independent medical experts after retirement age that is made COMPLETELY public (because you're a public servant, after all), annually.
It's too much of a national security risk to have these geriatrics in office. I mean they're easily-scammed by phishing emails and scam phone calls. Dementia is a high risk at that age. Sudden strokes, heart attacks, or sudden aneurysms as in Graham's case are too much of a liability.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 28d
The problem isn't age, it's entrenchment and corruption. Being old in office is a side effect, not the main problem.
We need term limits for Congress. If we had term limits, the only way an old person could get into office is if they were voted in when they were old. Being old doesn't necessarily make one incompetent.
Congress makes national policy that affects all of us, but only a few people in each state vote for or against them. There should be some safeguard against them remaining in office for decades.
Term limits for Congress.
lennybird@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 28d
The problem is that there are multiple problems, and some of the solutions aren't close to the root cause. I'll try my best to explain.
One can say that age alone isn't the problem; it's corruption. I'd personally say the problem isn't term-limits; it's the ignorance of the electorate in discerning who is ready to go.
Yes, Sanders is an outlier that proves that old age isn't always a problem; but he's also proof that term-limits have negative consequence -- for he has been an exceptional Statesman for decades, and we would've lost him long ago, if we had term limits.
So in my opinion in terms of corruption, we are chasing symptoms instead of the root cause, which is helping the electorate identify when a politician is useless. Examples of this: Kentucky for McConnell, California for Feinstein, New York for Schumer, and Maine for Collins.
Independent of corruption, old age is certainly an issue though. But even from a corruption standpoint, these senile geriatrics know they're not long for this world and have little stake in the long-term future of the country, or even being worried about being held accountable and spending years in prison. That alone matters.
raze2012@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 28d
I'd say that it's disenfranchisement and the fact that elections arent mandatory. That makes it more advantageous for the non-working class to spend time at townhalls and at voting booths.
A man working 2 jobs 12 hours a day to support his family simply isn't going to have the same kind of presence as a business owner who makes his own hohrs or retirees who no longee work full time. And that applies even to voting. So guess how the voter skews?
But mandatory voting isn't even in the conversion right now. Term limits are and has precedent. We gotta try something.
lennybird@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 28d
Yeah I'm amicable to term limits as one method of helping solve this, I just have concerns and will have to do more of a deep dive on the pros and cons. Sadly the issue with so many of these good ideas is that it still puts the cart before the horse. We know what needs to be done, but since the likes of term limits require literal Constitutional Amendments, that requires both widespread public consensus, and an ability to vote together and for legitimate representatives willing to play ball -- which, naturally, is the very problem we're trying to fix in the first place.
So we have the 3rd and 4th step... But how do we get there from here?
raze2012@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 28d
really hard to say. We first need to stop breaking our government and get adults back in the room. Then we need chains of actions that rebuilds trust amongst all of us, or enough of the apathetic to rule out the inevtiable MAGA propoganda. It's not impossible because term limits are generally a positive topic (very few people like the idea of career politicians to begin with), but still an uphill battle
Alternatively, we could somehow garner massive support that even Trump can't ignore. But that's a harder order than the above.
phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 25d
Mandatory voting means more low-information voters who will vote reactively. I don't see how that will help.
Australia has mandatory voting and its politics are just as broken as the UK's (which has a similar parliamentary system) and nearly as hosed as the US.
My view is that the root cause is money in politics, which drives corruption. Everything else that's being discussed is just displacement activity, "quick fixes" that are easier than dealing with the real problem, but don't actually accomplish anything.
We need to enforce mandatory disclosure of all non-legislative income, to shut down legislators having side jobs at all, insider trading by legislators, prevent them taking cushy fake jobs when they leave office, shut down the current Citizens United system of institutionalized bribery, further control agents of foreign influence interfering in our politics, and brutally punish anything remotely approaching Trump levels of corruption. It's hard and will require constant vigilance, but band-aids don't help.
raze2012@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 25d
Disenfranchisement runs on the idea that most people would vote left if everyone voted. That's why the right tries so hard to suppress rather than invigorate more people to vote. Mandatory voting doesn't literally mean "everyone has to vote". It punishes institutions who try to obstruct voting much heavier than a voter who refuses (for that voter, it's usually an easy excuse or like, 20 bucks fine. It's not trying to punish them).
But sure. There's a no zero chance we get an influx of low information voters who just go with whatever narrative is popular. Or votes in a candidate with no political presence but is a well known name. I'd wager the average voter is aware enough to at least know the two big national candidates for president or their senate, though. Ideally, it creates a culture where there's time to get informed for you ballot, since it usually includes a holiday to allow for voting.
Okay. I agree with all your points. How do you drive that out? You need votes. Votes to get people in who aren't corrupt and votes to regulate it. If someone wants to take a bribe, they should be scared for their life of that being a campaign-ending, if not career-ending, move.
Primary turnouts especially are absolutely pathetic. Things would be very different if candidates weren't betting on 20% turnout.
joe@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 28d
Term limits are a double edged sword. You lose experience when you kick people out just because they have experience, not to mention taking away voter choice.
It might be better to limit consecutive terms to a low number, based on the length of the term of office. For example, no more than 2 consecutive terms as a US Senator, or something.
I agree with you that there's a problem that needs solving.
raze2012@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 28d
These ghouls do their dardnest to make sure remove voter choice as is.
Besides, term limits don't need to be 8 years. Make it 3-4 terms for Senate and 10 for House. The main idea isn't a revolving door, but to make sure fossils older than my dead grandpa aren't still in Congress controlling my (theoretical) kids future.
joe@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 28d
Well, that's a different take than the one I responded to. You seem focused on age limits, which are not the same as term limits.
As the other person noted, term limits won't keep old people from being elected, if they're old when they're first elected.
Not that they both can't be problems worth addressing, but we should take care to define what it is we're trying to solve, and solve it as directly as possible.
raze2012@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 28d
ahh. I might have mixed up threads.
Yeah, the age thing doesn't matter as much. You can technically be 30 and still be seriously hospitalized like this. You can be 80 and genuinely have the best interst for the country. it's just more likely at 80 that you end up this way, on tubes and bitter at the world. T
he issues here is that represenatives have no incentive to actually do their job, or at least have minimum accountability from not doing their job as long as they are "the right people". I beleive other countries have either recall processes for situations like this, or require X days per quarter in session before special elections can be triggered.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 28d
We should have multiple forms of accountability. Recalls, age and term limits, a cap on recesses and vacations, backup representatives when people go on vacation, requirements to attend town halls, and so forth.
SabinStargem@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 28d
Why not both age and term limits? The way I see it, they act as filtering layers that help remove problems. If one fails, the other might do the trick.
phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 25d
Many US states have term limits already. Their positive impact on governance has been nil. They just shift more power to the party apparatchiks, lobbyists and the civil service (someone has to have institutional knowledge, and it there's a revolving door, the elected people never have time to acquire it). And when someone's about to be termed out, their final year in office is a scramble to find their next political post.
gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 28d
I disagree with the the former, it's too easy to exploit, and also people are living with cognisance and clarity and good health for much longer than they used to, with no signs of a stop coming to that trend yet.
I vehemently agree with the latter though, but it should be as something hard to exploit, cause GOP could use it as a weapon against their enemies
lennybird@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 28d
Sorry, can you clarify -- disagree with blanket age caps as we already have age mins, or disagree with a cognitive/physical annual assessment as we often as private employees are subject to already?
gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 27d
Former means "the first one"
lennybird@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 27d
Of course; though contextually that could've meant the latter paragraph, too. I was slightly thrown off as I don't know how one would exploit hard age limits, but instead it also seemed exploiting the cognitive assessments would be an easier thing to exploit.
Either way, something must be done of course. Hopefully consensus continues to rise on this.
gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 27d
Anything that can be exploited likely will be
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 22 pts · 28d
The undoctored proof of life pic has leaked.
pigup@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 28d
Maybe's not dead. Maybe he just made a cocoon, and then returned as a beautiful tortoise.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 28d
Gamera is really neat.
capt_wolf@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 28d
He is filled with turtle meat!
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 1 pts · 28d
Is that AI slop or am i trippin?
SabinStargem@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 28d
hraegsvelmir@ani.social · 20 pts · 28d
You know he isn't going to resign, even if he is, somehow, still alive. Instead of pussyfooting about the matter like this, I'd rather they stop wasting time and explore avenues to expel him from Congress, unless McConnell can make an in person appearance and satisfy questions as to whether he is still fit to serve in his office. Instead, I can't help but feel like this will be slow-walked until days before the deadline to determine if there will be a special election to replace him, and then we'll get a week of Dems wringing their hands going "Oh, however were we meant to know we couldn't complete a process that is guaranteed to be slowed down as much as possible by our Republican colleagues in Congress in just the 3 days we left ourselves before we started acting like we were taking this matter seriously?"
How many times are we going to see them run this same play, only for it to blow up in their faces when their master plan requires the Republicans to act with sincerity and honesty, even when it would be disadvantageous for the GOP to do so? We literally saw it play out with the very man in question being a two-faced shit as soon as he sniffed a chance to steal a Supreme Court nomination from the Obama administration? We saw it again with investigations into Trump's criminal behavior that, honestly, should have had him already sentenced in multiple cases and serving time before he even had the chance to run for a second time. Just assume the Republicans are lying through their teeth, and go scorched earth with a campaign to forcefully oust McConnell from office. Or take them at their word and make stupid demands you know McConnell would ignore if he were alive, and just make it that much clearer for us all that the Democrats are not sincere in their opposition to the agenda of the GOP.
HotsauceHurricane@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 28d
But he can't do either because he's dead.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 28d
Mitch is playing 4D chess.
bstix@feddit.dk · 19 pts · 29d
I don't think he's capable of resigning.
Feathercrown@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 28d
Just automatically remove anyone who can't make it to their seat (aka their job) for a month
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 28d
You can't resign when you're dead. Checkmate, leftists!
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 28d
I never understood why, ,after stealing all this money, these POS can't simply retire to an island at 50 and leave us the fuck alone.
4am@lemmy.zip · 21 pts · 28d
It was never about the money. They are addicted to the power.
You know those old ladies you see at casinos and they’re on their motorized scooter with an oxygen tank and they just play slots all day and night?
That’s the boomers in Congress, except the slots is imposing their will on the world like gods.
StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 28d
I imagine some are probably blackmailed or otherwise entangled with powerful people that wont let them retire.
Plus, being a senator ensures to a certain level that they can see what fuckery is coming to help protect their families and themselves.
Its power and prestige too. But its got to be a carrot and a stick.
Not to mention the potential boredom ,
for someone like that in retirement. Imagine spending most of your life traveling around the country, sometimes the world singing and meeting interesting people, amazing dinners. Actually working maybe a few months out of the year but most of the time just talking to people and playing a part.
And then one day , all that goes away , and you're just sorta sitting somewhere out of the game.
Lots of reasons. None of them good.
BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 29d
Mitch's resignation letter:
StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 28d
At MINIMUM he is incapacitated. There's no way he wouldn't have shot a video, made a statement, or snapped more pictures. Hes either got a tube down his neck, is mentally/physically handicapped someway, or dead. There's no other option or excuse for the silence.
He may be in some kind rehab but the type of rehab is for something that has impaired his ability to act as senator.
...or he's dead.
He should be removed.
bassgirl09@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 27d
Any company would have likely fired the guy for not showing up by now unless he submitted FMLA paperwork. This is one of the differences between regular working people and these government officials.
dizzle18@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 28d
Jokes on her, he's too fucking dead to resign.
Snapz@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 27d
One minute beyond the deadline they will announce, "mitch was visiting the ole' Kentucky explosion factory today, not being a closeted homosexual, and in a freak accident, he exploded. So we're all super bummed that there can't be an autopsy now... Even if there could be of course, the results would just say he was definitely straight, and he was not dead for a month before his
corpseliving body wasdeliberatelyaccidentally exploded."jaybone@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 28d
Need to send out more photos like a kidnapping victim from the 1980s holding today’s newspaper. Should use a Polaroid this time to make it really authentic. Maybe a note with some letters cut out from a skateboarding magazine. Someone can wait at a payphone at the mall next to Spencer’s for an anonymous landline call with further instructions.
Man I really miss Orange Julius.
abigscaryhobo@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 28d
Honestly it's the fact that the paper was there that sells me for it. Like whoever took or doctored or made that photo was like "no we have to include the paper, nobody is going to believe us if we don't" but if they really wanted us to believe them they'd make a statement. Which means that it wasn't a good faith photo, they deliberately did their best to trick us by making it "as believable as we can"
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 28d
That’s why it’s so funny. It’s like a parody of what these out of touch assholes think a proof of life photo would be, in 2026. When everyone has a video recording device in their hand at all times. It’s comically not credible (even if real.)
abigscaryhobo@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 28d
Exactly. They know what they're doing. Nobody thinks he's some "spring chicken". He's old as dirt and he freezes in public all the time. If he didn't look nearly dead then they'd do a 30 second video of him saying "hello everyone I'm getting better" but they aren't. If he was really sitting in that chair with the paper and coherent then they'd let him be coherent.
Whostosay@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 28d
I like how everyone stopped to argue whether or not it was todays paper, but no one stopped to ask, why the fuck would they do that?
thesohoriots@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 28d
It really was a tasty treat.
WanderWisley@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 28d
August 3rd…🪦
Wilco@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 28d
You cant resign if your dead ... kind of a Republican loophole.
Democrat politicians likely want this to happen with zombie McConnell... they aren't pushing very hard. On 8/1 or shortly after McConnell will pass away suddenly.
MisterQueue@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 28d
Washington examiner is a right wing rag that shouldn't be used as a source ever.
AOC Is right though.
CoolSouthpaw@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 28d
No, not a health update that he can lie about. Live public appearance where he speaks and answers questions for at least 30 minutes. Anything less should lead to a resignation.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 27d
Is he MIA, DIA, or DOA? Whatever it is, he's No call no show.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 27d
He could have a five minute phone conversation with a respected journalist and instantly kill all of these rumours. The fact that he hasn't done so indicates he's either dead or at minimum no longer of sound mind.
deft@lemmy.wtf · 6 pts · 27d
He's dead ffs. They should be launching a police investigation into the missing McConnell
stefenauris@pawb.social · 5 pts · 27d
Honey corpses can't respond to congressional mandates
SarcasticMan@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 28d
Don't worry he will "resign" in about 10 days.
neidu3@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 28d
At this stage I wouldn't be surprised if it's the Knox Virus. He's from KY, after all.
psyc@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 28d
All these politicians calling for him specifically to do anything are being naïve or are in on the cover-up. He is either dead or so impaired that we are never going to get anything directly from him and the only reasonable course of action is to move forward as though he has passed. Let them prove otherwise or proceed with the special election. These useless statements for the past few weeks are meaningless. The fact that so many politicians on both sides of the aisle are playing along really makes me feel like everything is rigged because if the Democrats were truly an opposition party, they wouldn’t just put out these useless press releases, they would take action and force their hand before the deadline.
tae_glas@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 28d
*should be replaced
someone who's too sick (or deceased) to provide a health update also won't be able to resign.
ryannathans@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 29d
How does one open the article
dan1101@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 28d
Firefox reader view usually works.
There isn't any new information in the article aside from the quote.
Washington Examiner was started as the conservative alternative to the Washington Post. They have mostly party-line Republican views, with a few exceptions.
ryannathans@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 28d
When I click it a video tries to open, there is no link to click or open on Jeroba on this post
ghostface@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 28d
I don't senator, maybe enact a law
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 27d
cant provide what he aint got
phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 25d
What's Beshear doing besides talking?
Randelung@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 27d
Not resign, be removed.
FrankFrankson@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 28d
quick_snail@feddit.nl · -24 pts · 28d
That's kinda fucked.
You think people should loose their jobs just because they're sick?
Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca · 20 pts · 28d
No, people should lose their job if they don't show and won't report they are sick / dead. That work for you?
jaschen306@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 28d
No, they should lose their job if they are dead.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 28d
Do you honestly think a public office equates to a normal job in this context?
FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 28d
CoolSouthpaw@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 28d
muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 28d
Okay, this is funny.
theneverfox@pawb.social · 2 pts · 28d
It's not a job, it's an elected position. If you can't do it for any reason at all, you don't get to subvert the whole concept of representation for the people and leave the seat empty for a prolonged period
Just because people have made careers out of being a politician doesn't mean they have a right to. It's not their job to lose, it's the people's right to representation