„Ein Ring, sie zu knechten, sie alle zu finden“ – und der #Palantir als sehender Stein, durch den eine böse Macht alles beobachtet: Wer Tolkiens „Der Herr der Ringe“ kennt, weiß, dass Thiels Software nichts Gutes verheißt
#taz #joswig #fuckThiel #Überwachungssoftware #Bundesrat
#Hessen #Bayern #NRW #Thüne
“A defining policy battle is about to come to a head in this country.
The Republican budget will force everyone—especially Congress and the White House—to make plain whether they are prepared to harm the rest of us in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest.”
-- Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
As Trump Turns Against Ukraine, Republicans in Congress Stay Quiet https://www.diningandcooking.com/1908337/as-trump-turns-against-ukraine-republicans-in-congress-stay-quiet/ #DefenseAndMilitaryForces #DonaldJ #Ernst #ForeignAid #Graham #JD #JohnR #Joni #lindsey #lisa #McConnell #Mitch #Murkowski #putin #Recipes #RecipesTopics #RepublicanParty #Roger #russia #Senate #ThomasR #Thune #Tillis #trump #ukraine #UnitedStatesPoliticsAndGovernment #Vance #VladimirV #Volodymyr #Wicker #Zelensky
The new Senate Majority Leader says he wants to get President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet through the confirmation process as quickly as possible
but spent a good part of Sunday cautioning there is “a process” that must be followed first.
U.S. Sen. #John #Thune, in the wake of a deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans,
said that the incident was a good example of why “the Senate must get President Trump’s national security team in place as quickly as possible.”
On Friday, when the U.S. Congress began its 119th session, the Majority Leader said the upper chamber would work swiftly to “ensure President Trump has his team in place to secure our border, protect our homeland, and provide for our nation’s defense.”
But by Sunday the South Dakota Republican was tapping the brakes as he made the talk show rounds, explaining that Trump’s top picks are going to have some “hard questions” to answer before they are confirmed.
“The Senate has a role:
advise and consent.
And we intend
— we have a lot of our senators who take that role very seriously.
And so we will make sure that these nominees have a process,
a fair process,
in which they have an opportunity to make their cases
not only to the members of the committee
and ultimately to the full Senate
but also to the American people,”
he told NBC.
Whether all of the 47th president’s picks make it past muster is an open question, Thune acknowledged,
saying that he doesn’t have “clarity” on how the votes will play out.
However, he’s inclined to provide the chief executive due consideration when it comes to deciding who serves in his administration, he said.
Republicans only have a three vote margin to work with,
so whether any nominee makes it through “is going to be up to each individual senator and how they decide to vote,” the Majority Leader said.
“I suspect a lot of them will get through and we’ll see about all of them.
Remains to be seen, but I think that’s why we have the process,
and we will adhere to that process
and give all of these nominees an opportunity to make their case,”
he told CBS.
It sounds like Thune is open to recess appointments but not set on them yet. https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/13/south-dakota-senator-john-thune-says-recess-appointments-still-an-option-for-trump-cabinet/76265376007/
We can, by contacting our Senators and Representatives demand the full advising and consenting of appointments (and yes, Representatives can add pressure to the Senate to not do recess appointments).
Find yours: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Senators are privately (and publicly) saying they hope Donald Trump 
stays out of the internal election to replace #Mitch #McConnell as Senate GOP leader.
Why it matters:
None of them know — or it's a damn good secret — whether the felon-candidate will make an endorsement.
But senators and advisors fear a Trump intervention could turn the secret ballot leader election into a public feud.
"I said, 'Sir, if I was you, I would stay out of the race, because there's no win for you in this,'" Sen. #Markwayne #Mullin (R-Okla.) told us about a recent call with Trump.
"I hope not," said Sen. #Thom #Tillis, when asked if he thinks Trump will weigh in. "I think outside influence could be problematic."
"He's offered some views on it to me,"Sen. #Josh #Hawley (R-Mo.) told us. "It's safe to say he has a pretty consistent prediction of who he thinks it'll be." -- Hawley said he did not know if Trump would weigh in.
Between the lines:
This the first real competitive Senate GOP leadership race of the Trump-era,
and his endorsement still carries a lot of weight with a segment of the conference.
McConnell has had a tumultuous relationship with the pussy-grabber.
The top two candidates
— Sens. John #Thune and John #Cornyn
— each have had rocky relationships with Trump.
However, they have worked to make amends.
After Jan. 6, Thune denounced Trump and initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for president.
Cornyn has said the GOP needed to move on from Trump.
Senate sources do not talk about Sen. Rick #Scott's (R-Fla.) bid as seriously as Thune's or Cornyn's, though he has a good relationship with Trump.
"Sen. Scott is focused on dramatically changing the way the Senate operates and creating a member-driven process," according to spokesperson McKinley Lewis.
Sources often describe Thune as the likely favorite,
though they say not to discount how much Cornyn's long history of hard-dollar fundraising for Senate campaigns means to people.
Cornyn told us it's been a few weeks since he spoke with Trump about the leadership race.
But he visited Mar-a-Lago a couple months ago "to talk about planning for the future,"
adding they've been "visiting with some of the transition folks."
Mullin said Trump "likes" Thune despite their rocky past.
The Oklahoma Republican has publicly backed Thune.
Some sources suspect there could be a late entry:
NRSC Chair Steve #Daines (R-Mont.) is the most-floated name.
The bottom line:
There's not a lot of incentive for senators benefiting from both Thune and Cornyn's aggressive fundraising efforts to commit too early.
"If one of them felt that they really had a majority, I think they would not be shy about saying that,
but I don't think anybody does," Hawley said.
https://www.axios.com/2024/10/03/trump-senate-republicans-mcconnell-thune-cornyn
Mechanic 
