Major shout-outs to Joe Connor, The MoMo, and others who stayed up later than I do these days, for keeping the midnight oil burning in Leg Hall. Were there any key pieces of legislation that were expected to pass that did not get considered? Let me know. Also, for those of you who were in the Hall, was there any talk about the Special Election? Looks like this was all orchestrated in advance. Control over the nomination process appeared to be the pre-eminent concern of the insiders. Here are the Session Activity Reports for June 30 and July 1.
Some good stuff happened late. The Inspector General bill passed and goes to the Governor. Oh, and finally, finally, legislation passed to enable wine connoisseurs not unlike myself to receive shipments from a couple of the boutique wineries we love out in Oregon. W-wait, what’s this? Larry Lambert, my Larry Lambert, voted against this?? Et tu, Larry? That’s it. Larry, you’re flagged from drinking one of our superb Oregon pinots at the Arden Fair. Don’t worry, we’ll lay in some swill just for you. Perhaps something in a box…although, we’ll have some champagne to celebrate passage of your HB 210. I know how hard you worked on it. Congratulations!
It’s 7:31 AM. Do You Know Where the Big Beautiful Bill Is? Well, JD Vance has arrived. I know some of you may have hope. Not me. The bill will pass because it has to. It will be the Worst Bill In American History:
Senate Republicans were racing on Tuesday morning to lock down the votes to pass their sweeping tax and domestic policy bill, after an all-night session of voting and negotiating with holdouts left President Trump’s agenda hanging in the balance.
Debate on the package stretched into a third day as party leaders pressed to keep the legislation on track to meet Mr. Trump’s deadline of enactment by July 4. All day Monday and into the early hours of Tuesday morning, Republicans held firm against numerous Democratic efforts to challenge every element of the measure, particularly its cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition programs, as well as tax cuts for the wealthy.
But the bigger challenge for the G.O.P. was the nagging reservations in its own ranks over the bill, which polls have shown to be deeply unpopular with voters. Fiscal hawks, upset that the measure would pile at least $3.3 trillion onto an already soaring national debt, were pressing for bigger cuts to Medicaid to offset more of the cost. Moderate Republicans were agitating to scale back the bill’s cuts, fearing the impact on their constituents’ access to health care coverage and other government services.
What Happened In Gaza During ‘The Twelve Days That The World Looked Away’:
One of the consequences of Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran was a drop-off in attention paid to the war in Gaza, where a terrible humanitarian situation deteriorated even further. This is a timeline of what happened.
A day-by-day recounting of the genocide by arms and by starvation. The people who don’t give a shit will feel nothing.
The Justice Department is aggressively prioritizing efforts to strip some Americans of their U.S. citizenship.
Department leadership is directing its attorneys to prioritize denaturalization in cases involving naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes — and giving U.S. attorneys wider discretion on when to pursue this tactic, according to a June 11 memo published online. The move is aimed at U.S. citizens who were not born in the country; according to data from 2023, close to 25 million immigrants were naturalized citizens.
At least one person has already been denaturalized in recent weeks. On June 13, a judge ordered the revocation of the citizenship of Elliott Duke, who uses they/them pronouns. Duke is an American military veteran originally from the U.K. who was convicted for distributing child sexual abuse material — something they later admitted they were doing prior to becoming a U.S. citizen.
Denaturalization is a tactic that was heavily used during the McCarthy era of the late 1940s and the early 1950s and one that was expanded during the Obama administration and grew further during President Trump’s first term. It’s meant to strip citizenship from those who may have lied about their criminal convictions or membership in illegal groups like the Nazi party, or communists during McCarthyism, on their citizenship applications.
A ‘Dark Sky Reserve’. In west Texas, of all places:
Recent research shows the night sky in North America is getting brighter every year – on average, researchers say, you can see about 10 percent fewer stars than the year before. But the Big Bend area in Texas has fended off the light glow that washes out starry nights.
Over the last several years, astronomers and conservationists in the region have worked with cities and counties on lighting ordinances to reduce light pollution. They have also convinced oil and gas operators in the nearby Permian Basin–a major source of light pollution–to also take up dark-sky friendly lighting at drilling rigs and gas plants.
In spring 2022, this region was designated as “dark sky reserve,” meaning it’s an area where not only is the sky dark, but there are policies in place to help preserve the nighttime sky.
Me likey.
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