Agonizing': How Alaska’s pivotal Republican
senator decided to vote for Donald Trump’s bill
Posted By: Mercedes44, 7/2/2025 7:18:25 AM
Just after midnight, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was pacing in a Senate hallway, alone and looking concerned. It had suddenly become clear to all her Republican colleagues that her vote would be their best chance of passing President Donald Trump’s sweeping bill of tax and spending cuts. Had she decided whether she would support the bill? “No,” Murkowski said, shaking her head and putting her hand up to signal that she didn’t want to answer any questions. Around 12 hours later, after she had convinced Senate leaders to change the bill to benefit her state and voted for the legislation, ensuring its passage,
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Mercedes44"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by
Mercedes44"
Agonizing': How Alaska’s pivotal Republican
senator decided to vote for Donald Trump’s bill 15 replies
senator decided to vote for Donald Trump’s bill 15 replies
Just after midnight, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was pacing in a Senate hallway, alone and looking concerned.
It had suddenly become clear to all her Republican colleagues that her vote would be their best chance of passing President Donald Trump’s sweeping bill of tax and spending cuts. Had she decided whether she would support the bill? “No,” Murkowski said, shaking her head and putting her hand up to signal that she didn’t want to answer any questions.
Around 12 hours later, after she had convinced Senate leaders to change the bill to benefit her state and voted for the legislation, ensuring its passage,
Let’s Talk about ‘Proportionality’
11 replies
Not long ago, I ran into a long-lost acquaintance who always assumed — always incorrectly — that I was simpatico with her leftist leanings. Maybe it was my long hair or dangling earrings or that I liked to listen to Joe Cocker.
I remembered that she always appeared distressed — not because of a cancer diagnosis or trouble with her two children or a problem in her marriage or with her job as private secretary to a malpractice lawyer, but because of one or another of the endless planet-killing problems that occupy the daily bad thoughts and the nightmares of liberals.
CIA chief told lawmakers Iran nuclear
program set back years with strikes on
metal conversion site 16 replies
program set back years with strikes on
metal conversion site 16 replies
CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical U.S. lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran’s lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran’s nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a U.S. official said Sunday.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence, said Ratcliffe laid out the importance of the strikes on the metal conversion facility during a classified hearing for U.S. lawmakers last week.
Here are the key Big Beautiful Bill differences
that the House and Senate will have to reconcile 15 replies
that the House and Senate will have to reconcile 15 replies
The Senate version of President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that passed a key procedural vote late Saturday has some big differences to the version the House approved.
Two Republican Senators — Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY) were the lone GOP holdouts in the 51-49 vote after caucus leadership spent hours rallying support for the multi-trillion-dollar bill.The current version of the bill, which Senate lawmakers got their first look at Friday night, clocked in at 940 pages, and is largely in line with what the House narrowly approved in May.
I know a lot of you are skeptical, and for good reason. The violent conflicts and political tension between Rwanda and Congo go back decades. Approximately six million people have died. Millions more have been displaced. Even without conflict, the region lacks stability for any number of reasons. But this time could be different The peace deal that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio brokered may not solve these two countries' problems instantly — and Rubio made that clear on Friday — but it's a historic step in the right direction worthy of praise and attention.
Well this was certainly unexpected. The leftist Washington Post dropped a devastating op-ed Friday by its editorial board that ripped into democratic socialist mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani and said that he would be “bad for New York.” As we reported, the political novice won a shocking victory in Tuesday's Democrat NYC mayoral primary, beating disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo and putting himself in prime position for the November general election.
Usually the liberal rag is little more than a mouthpiece for the DNC, so to see them go after a Democrat this hard is a stunner and reveals two things:
Democrats are right to be worried about the party’s shift to the left that Zohran Mamdani’s surprise victory in New York City’s mayoral primary implies.
That’s because the party was already on the outs with a majority of American voters, according to newly released data from the Pew Research Institute.
Pew conducts a biennial poll known as the Validated Voter Survey — considered one of the best ways to understand what happened in the prior election, because its survey results are cross-indexed with each state’s voter files.
Only respondents who are shown to have actually voted are counted.
Justice Department abruptly fires 3 prosecutors
involved in Jan. 6 criminal cases, AP
sources say 30 replies
involved in Jan. 6 criminal cases, AP
sources say 30 replies
The Justice Department on Friday fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases, the latest moves by the Trump administration targeting attorneys connected to the massive prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Those dismissed include two attorneys who worked as supervisors overseeing the Jan. 6 prosecutions in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington as well as a line attorney who prosecuted cases stemming from the Capitol attack, the people said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
A letter that was received by one of the prosecutors was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Happy Thursday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. The Sine Qua Non Sequitur is busy introducing Skittles to an experimental yak collective in Tajikistan.
There are a lot of things about the 21st century Democrats that make me wish that Elon Musk could get to us Mars faster. As long as he doesn't invite any Democrats to the Martian party, that is.
Back in ancient times — we called them "The 1900s" — not all Democratic elected officials cheered on criminals. No, I'm serious! Many of them were even patriotic Americans — the real kind. We were crazy idealists and thought that things would be that way forever.
distanced herself from apparent New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday, calling him “the wrong choice for New York.”
“Socialist Zohran Mamdani is too extreme to lead New York City,” Gillen said in a statement. “His entire campaign has been built on unachievable promises and higher taxes, which is the last thing New York needsBeyond that, Mr. Mamdani has called to defund the police and has demonstrated a deeply disturbing pattern of unacceptable antisemitic comments which stoke hate at a time when antisemitism is skyrocketing. He is the absolute wrong choice for New York,” she
House Freedom Caucus (HFC) chair Andy Harris is warning that Senate GOP leadership is making a losing bet if they try to force House conservatives to swallow the upper chamber’s version of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill.
Harris, who leads the conservative flank of the House Republican Conference, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a Wednesday interview that he is prepared to tank the Senate’s proposal — arguing the upper chamber’s budget package would increase budget deficits while reducing House-passed spending cuts.
Towards Jihadist Pogroms in Europe?
4 replies
Europol reports indicate that Europe is now home to tens of thousands of radicalized individuals. The attacks in Paris (2015) and Brussels (2016) demonstrate the feasibility of complex operations by small groups.
Will people who criticize Islam be dragged through the courts by a desperate regime, while those who outspokenly fantasize about murdering Jews are granted a blank check?
Is quoting Islamic law "inflammatory"? The answer is completely arbitrary.The European Court of Human Rights often upholds convictions if statements about Islam are deemed to disrupt "religious peace" or "target Muslims". This subjective determination reflects a legal trend in Europe to prioritize "social cohesion" over freedom of speech, unlike the U.S. First Amendment.
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
President Donald Trump must allow illegal migrants to file for asylum, regardless of the impact on his mandate to raise deportation rates, says a district court judge in Washington, D.C.
The administration must also “provide relief” to recently deported migrants who may want to file for asylum in the United States, the Wednesday judgment says.
The ruling by Judge Randolph Moss may crash Trump’s deportation policy because it would force officials to release migrants, or detain them at great expense while judges consider asylum pleas.
The judgment will be appealed, but it argues that the pro-asylum laws passed by Congress decades ago override Trump’s January 20 proclamation, “Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion.”
The new CIA assessment released this week is nothing short of a bombshell—a long-overdue confirmation of what conservative media has been saying for years: The Obama administration, with the eager help of its top intelligence brass, orchestrated an unprecedented operation to cripple Donald Trump’s presidency before it even began. This isn’t some fevered speculation or partisan rumor.
The CIA’s own review lays out, in damning detail, how former CIA Director John Brennan, former DNI James Clapper, and former FBI Director James Comey took “unusual” and direct control over the infamous Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that became the cornerstone of the Russia collusion hoax.
Zohran Mamdani was officially certified as the winner of the June 24 New York City Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday. He defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on his way to a victory that is still sending shockwaves through the Democratic Party establishment and beyond. Now, the debate rages over who Mamdani really is. Is he antisemitic or just pro-Palestinian? Is he anti-ICE or just pro-immigrant? However, one thing seems to be increasingly clear. Mamdani is a serious Marxist and that should concern anyone in New York City.
Twenty-four House Democrats have called on the Trump administration to close down “Alligator Alcatraz,” a brand-new illegal alien detention facility built in the Florida Everglades.
Led by Democratic Reps. Janelle Bynum (OR) and Maxwell Frost (FL), the House Democrats demanded that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons shut the facility down.
In the letter, the lawmakers called the facility an “inhumane stunt.”
“This remote swamp is notorious for oppressive heat, relentless humidity, severe storms, and perilous terrain infested with venomous snakes, disease-carrying insects, and large predatory wildlife, including alligators and crocodiles,” they wrote.
If you thought the spectacle of Biden behind a podium was a thing of the past, think again. This week, the former president emerged from his Delaware cocoon to deliver the keynote at the Society for Human Resource Management’s convention in San Diego.
A couple of months ago, it was revealed that he was having trouble booking speaking gigs — probably because no one was going to fork over the $300,000 speaking fee reportedly attached to his name.
The Society for Human Resource Management must have had a Groupon code.
So what kind of wisdom did Ol’ Joe share?
Biden was asked about what he’s doing these days. His answer?
If you want to understand the full scope of the Biden administration’s border catastrophe, look no further than the horrifying reality that unfolded for thousands of migrant children. Under Joe Biden, the federal government didn’t just lose track of unaccompanied minors; it actively handed them over to criminals, abusers, and traffickers, putting these kids directly in harm’s way.
Under Biden, the Department of Homeland Security placed unaccompanied migrant children with so-called “sponsors” who were barely vetted, if at all. These weren’t just distant relatives or family friends. In many cases, these sponsors had rap sheets a mile long — charges ranging from aggravated assault
CIA Assessment Reveals How Far Obama
Administration Went to Frame Trump, Implicates Officials 22 replies
Administration Went to Frame Trump, Implicates Officials 22 replies
A new CIA assessment was released on Wednesday that shows how far the Obama administration went to stand up the Russian collusion hoax. John Ratcliffe announced that "all the world will finally see the truth" before name-dropping James Clapper, John Brennan, and James Comey as those primarily implicated in the scheme.
All three men took "unusual" direct roles in shaping the now-infamous ICA that was released during the presidential transition following the 2016 election. It was that report that would form the building block of the Russian collusion narrative and eventually lead to a special counsel investigation.
When he's not assisting with taking out Iran's nuclear capabilities, revoking visas from those who support terrorism, or helping the president broker peace in Africa, he's looking after your tax dollars.
"The era of government-sanctioned inefficiency is OVER. From now on, our foreign assistance programs will be accountable to the American taxpayer," Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X today. The post was accompanied by a lengthy Substack essay called "Make Foreign Aid Great Again."
It appears that USAID is officially dead.
House Republicans on Thursday passed President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" so it can be sent to his desk in time for the Fourth of July holiday.
The passage marks a significant achievement for House Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump, who corralled Republican hardliners all day Wednesday in order to get the necessary support. Some House Republicans opposed things like Medicaid reform and caps on state and local tax deductions.
State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville) on Monday filed legislation that would establish a new criminal offense for law enforcement officers, including federal agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to wear face masks when dealing with the public.
Titled the Stop American Gestapo Act (SAGA), the Democrat’s House Bill (HB) 1442 would make it a Class C misdemeanor in Tennessee for law enforcement officers, including federal agents, to “wear a mask, face covering, or personal disguise while interacting with the public in the performance of the law enforcement officer’s official duties.”
The Nashville Democrat included minor exceptions
US cuts off some weapons to Ukraine after
Biden depleted arms stockpiles to arm Zelenskyy 17 replies
Biden depleted arms stockpiles to arm Zelenskyy 17 replies
The Pentagon has halted shipments of some previously promised munitions to Ukraine at a key juncture of the country’s war with neighboring Russia due to the depletion of U.S. stockpiles during the Biden administration.
In news that was first reported by Politico, the decision was made after a review of munitions stockpiles “leading to concerns that the total number of artillery rounds, air defense missiles and precision munitions was sinking,” according to the usual anonymous sources of “three people familiar with the issue.”
The decision was driven by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, an appointee of President Donald J. Trump,
Raging Leftists Are Already Losing It
Over 'Alligator Alcatraz' but the Replies
Are Hilarious 17 replies
Over 'Alligator Alcatraz' but the Replies
Are Hilarious 17 replies
The great thing about what's being referred to as "Alligator Alcatraz" is that it's not just a fantastic detention facility for illegal immigrants ready for deportation, situated out in the Florida Everglades where you're more likely to run into a predatory creature all the way from the Triassic period than a human, but it's also a meme.
How could something that awesome not be?
The facility is one accidental open door away from being a Michael Crichton book, encouraging everyone there to stay put to stay safe, and while everyone else thinks this is one of the coolest things in America now, the left is doing what it does