jb smith

I'm not an "own the libs" guy -- in fact, I am the polar opposite of such people and I especially hate that genre of social media -- but very few things make left wingers madder than pointing out, correctly, that Nazism was a virulently anti-capitalist, pro-socialist movement.

Zohran Mamdani just proposed a preliminary budget of $127 Billion for NYC… The entire state of Florida is $117 Billion.

This is literal fucking insanity, completely anti-2A and against any logical LEO defense but here's a whole lot of people not arguing it because (obvious) reasons

The Senate Filibuster Serves as a Minority Party Veto The filibuster in the U.S. Senate is a procedural rule that allows senators to extend debate on a bill indefinitely, effectively delaying or preventing a vote unless a supermajority intervenes. Under current Standing Rule XXII, known as the cloture rule, it takes a three-fifths majority—60 out of 100 senators—to invoke cloture and end the filibuster, forcing a vote on the underlying legislation. This applies to most routine bills; exceptions include budget reconciliation (which can pass with a simple majority of 51 votes) and certain nominations, where the threshold has been lowered in recent years. In practice, this has evolved into what many describe as a de facto minority veto because a unified bloc of at least 41 senators can sustain a filibuster by repeatedly voting against cloture, blocking the majority from advancing its agenda. If the minority party controls 41 or more seats, they don't even need to speak endlessly on the floor (as in the "talking filibuster" of old); a simple threat or procedural objection triggers the 60-vote requirement. This shifts the Senate away from simple majority rule, embedded in the Constitution for most decisions, toward a system where the minority can halt progress on issues like voting rights, infrastructure, or judicial confirmations unless the bill garners broad bipartisan support. The "veto" aspect is amplified in today's polarized environment, where party-line voting is the norm and cross-aisle defections are rare—particularly among Democrats, as you noted, who have shown strong unity in recent sessions. For instance, if the majority party holds 53 seats (as Republicans do in the current 119th Congress), they need at least 7 votes from the minority to reach 60 for cloture. But with high party discipline, the minority can refuse to provide those votes, effectively killing bills they oppose without ever allowing a final up-or-down vote. This creates gridlock, making it "impossible" for the party in power to accomplish much beyond must-pass items like government funding, which often rely on workarounds or temporary deals. Critics argue this undermines democracy by letting a Senate minority (potentially representing far fewer Americans due to the chamber's equal state representation) override the House, president, and public will. Defenders, however, see it as a check against hasty majoritarian overreach, forcing compromise and protecting minority interests in a diverse nation. The rule's modern form dates to reforms in 1975, lowering the cloture threshold from two-thirds to three-fifths, but polarization since the 1990s has made it more obstructive than deliberative.

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