The slippery constitutional slope

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Thursday March 24, 2016 · 9:24 PM PDT

2016/03/24 · 21:24

I haven’t seen this mentioned so I’ll throw it into the diary list. A paper written by University of Illinois law professors posits that by not fulfilling their constitutional duty of ‘advice and consent’, the Senate is explicitly delegating the sitting presidents power to his successor, which they do not have the power to do.

Here’s the link to a description of the paper. The summary is worth reading. Here’s a few key paragraphs.

By announcing in advance that they will break from this precedent, Senate Republicans are explicitly seeking to delegate the current president's Supreme Court appointment powers to an unknown successor, which is constitutionally tenuous ground, Kar and Mazzone write.

"Senate Republicans have publicly explained that their aim is not to reject any particular Obama nominee, such as Merrick Garland, but rather to prevent full senatorial consideration of any and all nominees put forth by President Obama," Kar said. "These senators believe that the president's successor, rather than President Obama himself, should be given this appointment power."

And that's the crux of the problem: An outright refusal on the part of some senators to consider any nominee from President Obama is an attempt to delegate an elected president's Supreme Court appointment power.

Read more at: phys.org/...

MotoX 'Made in America' Phone is Competitive

MartyA

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Wednesday August 28, 2013 · 12:07 PM PDT

2013/08/28 · 12:07

I'm not sure if anyone else picked this up but it just popped up on my feed. An analysis of the costs for the Moto X smartphone (from Googles Motorola business) shows that labor and assembly costs of $12/phone make up a small part of the $226/phone production cost and keep it cost-competitive with the IPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S-III which are assembled overseas.

I have no idea if the employees are paid well (I hope so) or unionized (almost certainly not) but this article claims Google got no tax incentives to take over the old Nokia facility.

It's a small drop in a big bucket but every scrap of evidence that offshoring isn't a profitable business practice is worthwhile celebrating.

Here's the link: Phys.org article

Raw vote totals say NO FRAUD would change the result

MartyA

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Friday November 09, 2012 · 2:33 PM PST

2012/11/09 · 14:33

I saw a diary by Dr. Squid and I decided to add my own bit on raw vote numbers. In my case it was to analyze and put the lie to any accusation of fraud in the result of the election. I know there's been so much yelling about fraud from the right wing that it's easy to tune out, and it seems to have settled down since the Tuesday but it's sure to raise its ugly head again soon.

What I wanted to know was, if you order states by the margin of winning as a percent of votes cast in the state for Romney and Obama then how many (and which) states could have swung the other way with Obama still winning. The results may surprise you.

Continued under the squiggle...

MartyA

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Tuesday August 28, 2012 · 6:31 AM PDT

2012/08/28 · 06:31

This item was so amazingly pathetic I had to post it. Here's the link but if it doesn't work it's in the Christian Science Monitor.

MartyA

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Wednesday November 03, 2010 · 4:38 PM PDT

2010/11/03 · 16:38

I know this isn't really a diary, and there's some other really good diaries about the upside from last night, but I thought I'd share what I just posted on FB in case anyone else wants to use it (or comment here, I'm online for a bit).

VVV FB Status VVV

Ah well, the elections (mostly) over and it pretty much went the way predicted, which isn't entirely a bad thing.

MartyA

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Sunday August 01, 2010 · 10:08 AM PDT

2010/08/01 · 10:08

A conservative co-worker who I'm "friends" with on Facebook popped up a "like" message for an organization named "American Majority". I hadn't seen references to them before so I thought I'd take a few minutes and dig into what they're about.

I searched on dKos and didn't find any mention of this group. They don't seem particularly nefarious, but in the interest of knowing the enemy I wanted to dig a little.

Follow me below the fold for a barely exciting look at what might be Newt going "back to the future".

MartyA

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Monday December 28, 2009 · 10:42 AM PST

2009/12/28 · 10:42

A diary is on the rec list detailing all the things wrong with air travel in the wake of 9/11 and other incidents. As the other diary author said, nothing about air travel is glamorous or even comfortable anymore.

But I'm still flying.

Poll

70 votes Show Results

Are you flying in January?

70 votes Vote Now!

Are you flying in January?

Yes, and without concern

9 votes

Yes, but I wish I didn't have to

11 votes

No, I changed my plans

6 votes

40 votes

Pie (in honor of tradition)

4 votes

Read 'Daybreak' by David Swanson

MartyA

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Sunday September 13, 2009 · 5:56 PM PDT

2009/09/13 · 17:56

I received my copy of this book from Amazon this week and just finished it. This is a relatively short diary/review, and unfortunately I can't stay online for comments, but I wanted to get my thoughts down.

I also did a search for diaries and stories and didn't find anything that reported on the content. I will thank DK in general for telling me about the book, and motivating me to bounce it above Beck's drivel in the sales list.

David Swanson deserves recognition for past work (afterdowningstreet.org is the clear starting point) and this book - so help me to put this book in front of more readers so we can get the message out!

Join in below.

MartyA

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Wednesday August 19, 2009 · 7:57 PM PDT

2009/08/19 · 19:57

I felt enlightened when I read an article in the New Yorker by Atul Gawande that described the reality of health care in America.

I may have been naive in thinking that the information conveyed would be sufficient to drive real reform into the American health care distribution system. We keep fighting each other about pieces of the pie when we should be pulling together to drag our county into the 21st century.

Bottom line - any health care system has three "perverse incentives". Patients want all services immediately. Providers may see patients as revenue streams. Payers want risk pools that exclude high-cost individuals. These are realities, no matter what the structure of the payment/delivery system is.

MartyA

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Wednesday November 12, 2008 · 11:52 AM PST

2008/11/12 · 11:52

The WSJ has posted their take on the recount process in MN, and they are trotting out all the typical "stealing the election" garbage, including reference to ACORN.

WSJ Opinion

Keep this one on the front page! We need Franken in the Senate!

MartyA

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Thursday November 06, 2008 · 6:37 AM PST

2008/11/06 · 06:37

What's the big surprise?

http://elections.foxnews.com/...

OMG!! Breaking News!! Obama will continue to rely on the advice and support of people who have backed him in the past!!

What a joke, but the most interesting thing is who isn't on the list - any lobbyists! Lots of political movers and shakers, but no representatives of industry, since they didn't buy Obama's candidacy.

Defining Economics

MartyA

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Thursday October 30, 2008 · 10:04 AM PDT

2008/10/30 · 10:04

I ran into this a few minutes ago over at the Freakonomics Blog and thought it was worth quoting here, mostly because it recognizes both the strength of a "free market" system, but recognizes our social responsibility to the poorest/weakest in our society.

Q: How would you summarize the “wheels of commerce” in a paragraph or two?

A: You’ve given me a killer task. But here goes: a one-paragraph abstract for Economics for Dummies.

The rest below the fold...

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The slippery constitutional slope

MotoX 'Made in America' Phone is Competitive

Raw vote totals say NO FRAUD would change the result

Rove advises Pres. Obama to 'Take a few days off'

My FB Post - not really a diary

Is "American Majority" Gingrich's GOPAC?

I'm NOT done with flying

Read 'Daybreak' by David Swanson

Mayo Clinic is a Coop - it's not Insurance!!

Now Franken is stealing the election?

More Fox Concern Trolling

Defining Economics