Mastodawn

Pressure is on Newsom to quickly appoint Feinstein’s temporary replacement

https://lemmy.world/post/5984152

Pressure is on Newsom to quickly appoint Feinstein’s temporary replacement - Lemmy.world

The death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein places Gov. Gavin Newsom under intense pressure to quickly name a replacement as a bitterly divided Congress votes on a spending plan in the coming hours to avert a government shutdown. Newsom had hoped to avoid the politically charged decision of selecting a second senator. But he will need to move swiftly as a budget standoff has the government on the verge of shutting down, and Senate Democrats could need every vote. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) affirmed on Friday that the fast-moving political situation creates an imperative for Newsom to make a difficult decision quickly. “He, you know, wants to be respectful and not name somebody while folks are still grappling with their grief,” Kaine said, but “we cannot afford to be one down. We really can’t.” The timing of Feinstein’s death — four months before a primary but more than a year before the end of her term — complicates this election cycle. Staff at the California secretary of state’s office was huddling early Friday morning to determine the timelines that would govern an appointment or a possible special election.

FarceMultiplier Sep 29, 2023

If he didn’t already have someone in the wings to replace a seriously ailing 90 year old, then I’m going to consider him incompetent.

heyspencerb Sep 29, 2023

lol there is plenty more reasons than this to consider him incompetent

FuglyDuck Sep 30, 2023

Yup.

Especially after the controversy with the “I would like to vote…” bit.

surfrock66 Sep 30, 2023

The problem is he made conflicting statements…he said he would appoint a black woman to fill the demographic gap created by harris-padilla, and said he won’t appoint someone who plans to run in the election as an incumbent has an advantage he thinks dilutes the will of the voters in an open field. It puts him in a bad spot with Barbara Lee, a totally self-inflicted political pickle.

flossdaily Sep 29, 2023

Remember, as awful as she was, there are 49 Republican senators who are infinitely worse.

hglman Sep 30, 2023

They are both systemic issues, and ranking them by “bad” is not particularly important. Ranking them by changeable is. Which is to say, either promote acceleration or term limits.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

Irrelevant

flossdaily Oct 1, 2023

The context is very relevant, because while party infighting is great, it’s absolutely vital to keep some perspective.

Feinstein was awful, but not let-trump-get-away-with-sedition awful.

Hyperreality Sep 30, 2023

“He, you know, wants to be respectful and not name somebody while folks are still grappling with their grief,”

What a load of crap.

She was 90, everyone knew this was coming, arguably she'd already left the building a while ago, and this is politics not a private family gathering.

They're delaying because they want to be seen as respectful. That's all.

A successor should have been named 25 years ago. Chop chop.

Decoy321 Sep 30, 2023

What a pessimistic take. We should be expecting this kind of behavior from our politicians, not denigrating or whenever we see it.

halferect Sep 30, 2023

This is how I see it, if you needed heart surgery but the surgeon died and the chief decided not to hire a new heart surgeon until everyone’s fee fee feels got better and you died would you applaud the chief for being respectful? Fuck no and I’m sorry but she has been basically dead for at least a year and the second she was pronounced dead they should have been swearing in a replacement.

Decoy321 Sep 30, 2023

I understand your perspective. There are differences between your analogy and this current circumstance, though.

For one, there isn’t ever only one surgeon. If your heart surgeon died, they’d call in another surgeon from elsewhere.

Two, no one’s lives are in immediate danger from Feinstein’s absence. It ain’t like a replacement will magically get a bunch of stuff done tomorrow if they were hired today. They’re politicians. They take forever to get stuff done anyways because of plenty of other politicians obstructing the process.

Diane Feinstein was a person. A human being. One with decades of actual contributions in her vast career. The fact that she had issues in her latter years should not detract from the deserved respect from all her previous accomplishments. And to reiterate, she was a human being.

Have some empathy.

halferect Sep 30, 2023

Many hospitals only have one surgeon for certain parts, a general surgeon probably can’t operate for complex heart surgery. And her not being replaced does stop the senate, without her the Democrats at best can break even on votes and with senama and mamchin willing to break party lines the republicans could do a lot of damage. Her holding power until she had to die makes her contribution null to me. I don’t have empathy for power hungry monsters. I would have if she left two elections ago

Sterile_Technique Sep 30, 2023

She deserves as much empathy as she offered up when she gave the middle finger to a classroom full of children asking to not be sentenced to cook to death.

Idk if she had redeeming qualities at some point in her life, but she cast those aside in order to cling to power, and eventually died a monster.

She doesn’t get bonus points for being blue, human or dead - her actions are what matters, and based on those, the world became a slightly better place when she passed.

I’ll sing the exact same song when Moscow Mitch finally bites the dust, and every other power-hungry obstructionist squatting in what could otherwise be a useful office.

rambaroo Sep 30, 2023

What about empathy for all the people who will suffer because the Republicans will get their way into the Senate? Why the fuck does Feinstein matter more than them?

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

They’re delaying because they want to be seen as respectful. It’s optics. That’s all.

You realize they all knew each other quite well, they were all in the same inner circles, right?

That maybe, just maybe, they’re actual human beings and they actually do want to pay respect?

Hyperreality Sep 30, 2023

"Dear passengers, we apologize for the delay, but one of our pilots pilot died last week, we all knew them quite well, and we feel really bad about it, so out of respect we'll delay hiring a replacement and cancel the hundred flights they would otherwise have flown over the coming week."

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

“Dear passengers, we apologize for the delay, but one of our pilots pilot died last week, we all knew them quite well, and we feel really bad about it, so out of respect we’ll delay hiring a replacement and cancel the hundred flights they would otherwise have flown over the coming week.”

Just repeating myself at this point, but here goes, for what it’s worth…

Newsom has time. Her committee is not in session right now, as Congress/House is busy grappling with the last minute voting before the government shuts down, and in the Senate the VP can override any tie by voting herself.

rambaroo Sep 30, 2023

Give me a fucking break, Newsom was not her BFF. This is bigger than their feelings. We can’t afford to be down one senator.

If he’s really too emotional to make this decision then he should resign because he’s incapable of doing the job.

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

Newsom was not her BFF.

There’s a range of friendship between not knowing someone, and being BFFs.

If he’s really too emotional to make this decision then he should resign because he’s incapable of doing the job.

Always with the instant extremist opinion / options with you people.

Newsom has time. Her committee is not in session right now, as Congress/House is busy grappling with the last minute voting before the government shuts down, and in the Senate the VP can override any tie by voting herself.

How about he just wants to show some respect, to give people a moment to grieve. She was a big deal in California and San Francisco, even if you personally didn’t like her.

Rapidcreek Sep 30, 2023

If I were placing a bet, it would be on Shirley Weber, a black woman who Newsom appointed to be SoS when he named Alex Padilla to the US Senate. She’s a former state legislator, and at age 75 a 15 month appointment to the US Senate would be a fine way to cap off her political career, while making good on Newsom’s promise to name a black woman and to appointment a “caretaker” who wouldn’t run for the post.

ronalicious Sep 30, 2023

love it

BertramDitore Sep 30, 2023

Perfect. It’s not overthinking it, while keeping a promise, and not rebuffing anyone who wants to or is already running for the seat. I hope he doesn’t fuck this up.

Whisp Sep 30, 2023

I'd rather we stop putting geriatrics in the senate, even temporarily

atzanteol Sep 30, 2023

Ageism is wonderful. Maybe we should just shoot everyone over 30?

Whisp Sep 30, 2023

Why should the country be led by people who will not feel the consequences of their actions? That's part of why the US is in the mess it's in.

njm1314 Sep 30, 2023

Lol, the idea that age is the issue there and not class is laughable.

Whisp Sep 30, 2023

It's both

njm1314 Oct 1, 2023

Ain’t no old poor senators.

hoshikarakitaridia Sep 30, 2023

There is undoubtedly an age where you are wise enough to lead a country. But there is also an age where you will statistically either die soon or become unable to handle your tasks in high ranking position. And for some positions that’s compromising.

We’re not calling them out for being old, we’re noticing that there’s an upper bound age that causes a huge number of problems.

atzanteol Sep 30, 2023

We’re not calling them out for being old

This, is a lie.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

Ageism IS wonderful. Stop defending the fucking geritocracy.

Sterile_Technique Sep 30, 2023

Ageism is stupid, but recognizing the limits and needs of the upper limits of age related physiology isn’t ageism.

We don’t let 5 year olds run the country for the same reasons we shouldn’t let 90 year olds. Is there an occasional exception that might actually make a decent leader? Absolutely! …and frankly the 5 year old comparison stands there too - I’d take most 5 year olds over most of the current assholes running the world. But I digress - we shouldn’t run shit like age barriers on the possibility of exceptions.

Another angle I don’t see people talking about much here is that making someone work literally all the way to the grave, is fucking cruel. I get that these folks are power hungry wastes of oxygen who want to just occupy what would otherwise be useful space for as long as possible, but again, exception not rule.

halcyoncmdr Sep 30, 2023

Society has already decided on a general retirement age. Social Security age eligibility should be the cut off for all elected positions.

Serinus Sep 30, 2023

Man, you really want to raise the social security age that badly?

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

As long as someone has their cognizant abilities and is capable of doing the job and they want to do the job they should be able to do the job.

We as voters should be voting them out of the office if we don’t like the job they’re doing, or even if we feel they’re out of touch with their constituency, but we shouldn’t be excluding them from taking the job just because of their age.

Sterile_Technique Sep 30, 2023

I’m personally cool with that, but only if we have a system to process them as exceptions. Mental wellness checks, verification that they actually understand the things they’re legislating - like iirc there was a recent story with a law maker who was handling some of Google’s recent shenanigans, but let slip that didn’t know what a browser is. He didn’t have any mental disease that I’m aware of, he just didn’t grow up around tech and found himself legislating on something he had zero understanding of as a product of his age.

We can’t just rely on voters to vote them out - name recognition is and will continue to be a helluva drug. Also not every office is decided by voters.

We need to handle the age problem in politics. It doesn’t have to be some heavy-handed “just kick out all the 65+ers!” shit, but our policy now is to just wait until they die, which is equally unacceptable.

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

Totally and completely agree with your take.

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

Ageism IS wonderful.

age·ism /ˈājˌiz(ə)m/ noun prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

So you agree that five-year-olds should own guns and drive cars

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

Ageism IS wonderful. Stop defending the fucking geritocracy.

age·ism /ˈājˌiz(ə)m/ noun prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age.

So you agree that five-year-olds should own guns and drive cars

Your logic train blew past the station it was supposed to stop at.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

Doesnt change the fact that ageism is a good and proper thing, and all the self-righteous virtue signaling will never change that.

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

Doesnt change the fact that ageism is a good and proper thing, and all the self-righteous virtue signaling will never change that.

Sticking your fingers in your ears and going “Lalala!” as loud as you can does not change the facts on the ground.

I’m not going to repeat myself, I’ll just leave a link to my comment that directly answers your response: lemmy.world/comment/3931658

Pressure is on Newsom to quickly appoint Feinstein’s temporary replacement - Lemmy.world

The death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein places Gov. Gavin Newsom under intense pressure to quickly name a replacement as a bitterly divided Congress votes on a spending plan in the coming hours to avert a government shutdown. Newsom had hoped to avoid the politically charged decision of selecting a second senator. But he will need to move swiftly as a budget standoff has the government on the verge of shutting down, and Senate Democrats could need every vote. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) affirmed on Friday that the fast-moving political situation creates an imperative for Newsom to make a difficult decision quickly. “He, you know, wants to be respectful and not name somebody while folks are still grappling with their grief,” Kaine said, but “we cannot afford to be one down. We really can’t.” The timing of Feinstein’s death — four months before a primary but more than a year before the end of her term — complicates this election cycle. Staff at the California secretary of state’s office was huddling early Friday morning to determine the timelines that would govern an appointment or a possible special election.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

Blah blah blah shitty bad faith argument

Ageism is a GOOD thing, and our representatives are entirely too fucking old for the job. DEAL WITH IT.

Abd fuck you in the neck for trying to pretend that this is tha same as skin color, you racist asshole

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

Blah blah blah shitty bad faith argument

Again, you can’t tell someone else when they feel they’re being prejudiced or discriminated against, it’s up to them that decide, not you.

Abd fuck you in the neck for trying to pretend that this is tha same as skin color, you racist asshole

Prejudice and discrimination is always the same, no matter who the target is.

And right back atcha, ahole.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

Here’s news: the leftist “anti-agism” crusade is a super weak position to be taking

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

Here’s news: the leftist “anti-agism” crusade is a super weak position to be taking

So pushing back against prejudice and/or discrimination is a “leftist ‘anti-ageism’ crusade”? Really?

Prejudice and/or discrimination of ANY kind should not be allowed in a healthy society, and is definitely NOT a “super weak position to be taking”.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

No, we should push back on clowns who avoid the lessons of reality by trying to invent fake “offenses” like ageism.

You are wildly outnumbered in this thread.

FEINSTEIN WAS TOO FUCKING OLD

atzanteol Sep 30, 2023

If you think being part of a mob makes you right I have some Jan 6 defendants to introduce you to.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

No, being part of the group who is clearly in the right makes me right. You would be the in the minority having a hissyfit on Jan 6 because your feefees got butthurt over a virtue you made up.

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

You are wildly outnumbered in this thread.

**

I really don’t care if it’s 1v3 or 3v1, etc. I’m speaking towards the truth of things, and what is right, and not being emotional and extremist just for the sake of it.

trying to invent fake “offenses” like ageism.

So if a black person tells you you’re being discriminatory or racist towards them, you’d be able to tell them it’s a fake offense they’re having/feeling as well?

You don’t get to choose which offenses are fake or not, it’s up to the person that the comment is targeted to to decide if they’re offended or not, if they feel discriminated against or not.

ageism ā′jĭz″əm noun Discrimination based on age, especially prejudice against the elderly. Discrimination against middle-aged and elderly people. The treating of a person or people differently from others based on assumptions or stereotypes relating to their age.

The literal English definition defines it as discriminatory, a negative.

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

If we’re going to do something like that can we go full Logan’s Run and have a Carousel and orgies and everything?

atzanteol Sep 30, 2023

The children in this thread don’t know what Logan’s run is. 😆

Cosmic Cleric Sep 30, 2023

Yeah, I think their version was called ‘The island’, which was a decent movie, but definitely no Logan’s Run.

njm1314 Sep 30, 2023

Let’s not pretend that anyone of the age of 70 immediately becomes mentally incompetent. That’s not only ridiculous it’s insulting. These things should be taken on a Case by case basis.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

Let’s stop pretending that anything je over 65 has any fucking business deciding on the future of the country. STOP FUCKING APOLOGIZING FOR GERITOCRACY

Tujio Sep 30, 2023

Plenty of people over 70 still have cognitive function. Plenty of people over 70 benefit from decades of experience and relationship-building. Plenty of people over 70 make decisions for the benefit of later generations, either via a sense of altruism or to help their grandkids. Just because someone’s old doesn’t mean they’re shitty.

I’m all for running out the shitty old people, just like I’m for running out the shitty young people. But let’s not discount people for their age, either direction.

IHaveTwoCows Sep 30, 2023

See, what you dont understand is that people like that WON’T LEAVE. They’re past retirement age and trying to get into power structures and keep working. This is NOT a good thing. They are not trying to be altruistic; they are trying to avoid feeling useless. It is entirely selfish.

TowardsTheFuture Sep 30, 2023

The issue is they for the most part have no idea what technology is and thus how to regulate it. They’ve also grown in a completely different political landscape than what people want to see going forward and so it’s just fucking tiring. While I agree they can still do “fine”, people are fucking sick of that.

Boddhisatva Sep 30, 2023

Correct. We need a lot fewer people like this in public office.