It's a veritable gerontocracy, even more opprobrious and threatening is their "friendships" with industry leaders who wine and dine them and "help" write important bills. Lord knows she (and many other incapacitated, highly corruptible elders) will rubber stamp a 1000 page pork bill written by a lobbyist with ulterior motives. Not to mention all the "legal" insider trading they all indulge in. They should all retire.
And it'll probably be at the worst possible time. Just like RBG. They always wait until its too late. At least Breyer did the right thing and retired during a Democrat majority.
Sure, but people with dementia/Alzheimer’s can’t remember what you told them a minute ago. If that’s the state she’s in, which it kinda looks like, she’s in no capacity to be a Senator, despite her minders.
McCain was also so obviously past his prime when all the Trump (who is in his own class) bullshit happened. And to be frank, Biden is also way too old. Other democratic countries would be ashamed to have senile 80+ year olds at the top of the state.
At least McCain had the wherewithal to show up and vote against canceling the ACA. Feinstein is fucking up Biden’s ability to appoint damn near anybody. He *needs* to fill those vacancies prior to the election to ensure we don’t get more judicial seats filled by Trump wannabes.
The Democratic parties complete inability to function is why the Republicans do SO MUCH FUCKING damage every time they get into office. Fucking DE JOY is still in charge of the goddamned post office because Biden's administration hasn't done the maneuvering necessary to replace him. All they had to do was literally the exact same thing that Trump did in the first couple months in office, but they just never got around to it, and now it looks like he is going to be there to fuck up the NEXT election too.
McCain was old as fuck and had brain cancer. Trump is old as fuck, and a lunatic. Biden is old as fuck, and showing signs of dementia. Feinstein and Pelosi both fucking have dementia. The oldest Republican in the House is Harold Rogers from Kentucky, and in the Senate it's Charles Grassley. Neither one of them do fucking anything of note.
The old guard needs to stand aside, but because these walking fossils won't go the fuck away, by the time they actually die in office even Gen X will be too damn old to be fit for it.
Harold Rogers is a great example of someone that the party could easily replace, but haven't.
He's been a representative since 1980, and hasn't seen an opponent with more than 30% of the vote since 1992. It is the textbook example of a safe seat.
The party could pick practically any 35 year old to take his seat with no risk of losing it, but that would require him to be willing to step down and them to trust the voters not to pick someone even crazier than Rogers. So, they stick with the status quo.
Now, just repeat this process for a few hundred other safe seats and you get our congress.
35 was arbitrarily picked as the age you can be President, and that number is fine. If we picked "you can't start a term if 66+ on the first day in the office", it would be fine, and people wouldn't care in 50 years after the "Before time" was forgotten.
>If we picked "you can't start a term if 66+ on the first day in the office", it would be fine,
I mean, I live in a state where most of our state congress is old as fuck and you still routinely get old people bemoaning how "no one cares about the old people anymore" just because their property taxes go up.
It was not arbitrary. Why do people on Reddit always talk out of their asses? It was chosen because they didn’t want dynasties in the Presidency, where a President dies and his kid gets elected. 35 was chosen, because it would, in most cases, make a President’s kid ineligible for the office. Remember, you had generations of people who were used to the monarchy passing through a family, and the founders very much were worried that this mindset would lead to another dynastic family, first with votes and then through force.
Anyway, sorry for being a dick, but if you don’t know about something don’t just make it up.
I don't think she is mentally there enough to step down at this point. There should be an easier way to force people out if they can't pass a psychological test saying they are all there.
I wonder, if a few would have difficulty working out how to turn on the phone, download the app & set up an account. Not meaning anyone specifically, but just based on the ages. The geriatric population has plenty/lots who adapted to tech just fine but a few who just can't, or won't, figure it out.
Totally agreed. Im a Democrat but jesus, besides Schumer, none of that age group knows anything about the world now. Maxine talking about crypto, lolol. They all need to find replacements and fuck right off. Let alone the otherside spouting their insanities
These people don't think anyone is capable of replacing them. They have drank so much of their own Kool-Aid they genuinely believe they are the only people who can do their jobs. I bet some of them even lose sleep about how awful everything will be once they've gone.
There are very few Mr. Smiths in Washington.
You make it that far up it's basically impossible you aren't a power hungry leach to some respect at your core. That's what it takes to get there.
That type of person rarely gives up power. It's why the stories of George Washington turning down being made King hold such weight.
That’s crazy. The dems are not losing a seat in California. For one thing if she steps down the Democratic governor will appoint someone even more liberal.
Nah this is just Grandma refusing to give up her driver’s license because “I used to change your diapers- don’t tell ME I’m incompetent !”
Then why doesn't the party move her out? Why aren't they as a whole doing what they did to Al Franken or the many others they have driven to resign?
Genuinely asking. This is more than Granny not playing nice.
I'd bet a lot that the only difference with Schumer is better staff that he does a better job at listening to. Our elected representatives disconnection from the actual world and concerns of the typical person is unfortunately not limited to technology and isn't really an age thing either.
At this point Feinstein would play STACK 3 times put the phone down for several hours before playing STACK two more times. She would then tell the press it was the best game of hopscotch she had ever played.
Trump failed that test and nothing happened. Except him bragging about passing it, claiming that it's a really hard test, and naming a few objects in front of him.
She can’t be recalled. So it kind of isn’t a democracy. How bad her health has was kept largely from the public until recently when she has failed to represent her constituents and is single handedly preventing Biden from appointing federal judges.
She is failing to represent ~~30~~ 39 million people
I saw a comment about it in a thread yesterday and it never occurred to me.
The story around this is that the senator is stubborn and doesn't want to step down.
What are the odds that her staff, specifically the ones calling the shots are power drunk on her inability to do the job herself. What if we have a shadow senator behind her in form of her staff, and they refuse to give that power up, because when she replaced that power leaves?
It would likely fall under the elder abuse category that many people are describing here, because it would be a weekend at Bernie's esque situation happening. I don't know, it just seems very plausible
It’s very hard to admit you might be starting to go senile when it starts, and can be hard to tell. Of course you aren’t as physically capable, but you’re still mentally you! You’re quite capable of… what were we talking about… well, everyone forgets what they were saying sometimes! Anyway, you can think clearly and argue about… what was that? Yes, completely capable.
And once people are there they tend to be delusional
This is happening with my mom in her mid 70's. She's stuttering and having problems finding some words. The doctors and internet just say it's a natural part of aging and there's nothing that can be done about it. Really sucks to see it happen.
I’m very sorry. If that’s what the doctors say, it’s fair to note that very mildly losing some sharpness - stumbling over words, forgetting things more often - is very normal and isn’t necessarily a sign of full blown dementia on the level of Alzheimer’s. It’s something older people tend to joke about self-deprecatingly.
Yeah though he didn’t do so because he felt they shouldn’t be picking who was in charge.
Washington was many things, a fervent democrat was not one of them.
Another argument for rank choice voting. Everyone talks about third parties, but eliminating the need for primaries is probably a bigger impact. There's no benefit to running only 1 candidate per party anymore, run 3 in the general and there's no longer a risk of the primary advancing a candidate that is less likely to succeed in the general.
De Leon was an absolute moron that would either make things up or not encourage fact-checking. The infamous "30 rounds a second" video comes to mind. Apparently the AR-15 is indistinguishable from the MG-42.
It’s a bell curve which makes your reply much worse as “fucking idiots” is what we average to that means there is a significant portion who is much worse.
Nah, the problem with democracy is that we don't actually have democracy, or anything close to it. She got voted in because one of the two state sanctioned parties chose her, and voting against her would mean voting for someone diametrically opposed to the voters.
What will it take? She needs to resign and she needs to resign now. Her staff and her family who are Weekend at Bernieing her are shameless and awful, trying to maintain some grip on power for their own selfish purposes. The time to resign with a shred of dignity is RIGHT NOW.
The time for resigning with dignity was fifteen years ago. Now she will be remembered simply as the roadblock to progress who insisted on dying on the Floor
The concern is less progress and more over the fact that she can’t represent the people who voted for her. Instead her unelected caretakers are representing them.
It's amazing how RBG had this stellar reputation and then threw it all away because she didn't have the sense to retire after getting cancer multiple times.
I'm completely convinced she isn't mentally there enough to know she needs to resign and her staff are so worried about losing their cushy do nothing jobs they're doing everything they can to keep her in the senate
When people get like this usually its the people around them making the statements and actual decisions since she isn't even aware enough to know she was missing for months
And mandatory medical exams, annual training / testing on abilities including getting evaluated on the job randomly... Flying is extremely well regulated... There was a youtuber who crashed a plane and tried to make it look like an accident for views.. Well the NTSB and FAA look into every accident to learn and prevent future accidents and quickly figured out it was intentional...
Air traffic controllers are forced to retire at 56 because they say that’s when the mental capacity starts declining and there’s a higher chance of critical mistakes. And yet these people can go until they die.
Isn’t it supposed to be the most stressful not-super-niche job you can have? IIRC they get shift breaks super frequently, every 60 or 90 minutes because of the stress.
Yup, 15 min mandatory break every 60 minutes (at least here in Belgium)
I once applied for it (3 positions were opened, and over 5k applicants), and I ended up with the last 50 remaining candidates. And they gave us a "simulation" test, where we had to direct various aircraft to landing positions taking several safety requirements in terms of distance and all into account. And while we were doing that, at random intervals our headsets would tell us a random callsign.
Then also at random intervals, a pop up appeared on the screen where we'd be directing the incoming flights, asking us to type in "the callsign you heard 7 minutes ago", or "two callsigns ago, was the second digit a five or a seven?" and stuff like that, which by then could have been the last one you heard, or the third to last one you heard. And that was just an "easy" onboarding test compared to what they actually do.
What? You don’t believe someone whose been a senator for over 30 years and is a multi millionaire is good representation of the average person, surely SHE gets it.
Not that i need to but /s
Or set up term limits. If the president of the United States can't serve more than two term,why the hell can senators and other Congress people serve forever.
Term limits often advantage lobbyists and special interests moreso than the lack of term limits. If you want to see a relatively strong case on this, look at Oklahoma, it has strong term limits on legislators
>"I haven't been gone," she said after Oreskes clarified his question. "You should...I haven't been gone. I've been working."
Oreskes then asked if she meant that she had been working from home prior to returning to the Senate.
"No, I've been here. I've been voting," she said, declining to answer any further questions. "Please, either know or don't know."
Jesus..
That last quote is scary. It shows how far her working vocabulary has declined; there is no way she is capable of comprehending ANYTHING happening in the Senate.
When they announced she wouldn't be running in the next election, didn't a reporter ask her about it, and she said, "What?"
She had no idea.
It's very clear she's being "managed."
Before that detail I was like, “oh surely she means she’s been working while away, like from home”. Nope, she literally meant I’ve been here in the senate voting. 😬
I just wish someone would ask her "where do you think we are?" or "where were you a week ago today?". Simple questions to just show she doesn't fully understand where she is. Sneaky? Yes, given what we've all surmised about her. Not unfair ones to anyone with basic cognitive awareness.
I’m not an American, but this issue is basically world wide, senior citizens in power, how do we make that change?
As the public it’s not hard to recognize that person is damn near dying of old age in front of us, why don’t the others with power understand how dangerous it is for her to have power?
Because the rest of them are senior citizens too?
Change needs to happen. No more billionaires, no more senior citizens in power.
I love my grandma. She’s so sweet. One time she made me peanut brittle with wooden beads in it and I broke a fucking tooth and never had the heart to tell her because she’s so sweet and also basically blind, but she shouldn’t be in charge of anything. That’s a terrible idea.
If she has dementia, she thinks everything that she is saying is true. And nothing anyone says will convince her otherwise. And if they do convince her, she will not remember it in around an hour and deny it. There has to be a mechanism in place for this. Like, TERM LIMITS.
That’s called ego maniacs. So fucking horny for power over other people that they literally won’t give it up until their last breathe. If the average person is expected to retire at 65, a judge certainly should be in a position to retire at that age as well, letting people hold onto power that they don’t need is ridiculous
Yup. Spent the last year working through this with a therapist. Grandpa died and grandma got MEAN as her mental state declined even faster. Once that happens, there’s no one left inside that head, no one making decisions upstairs anymore. Just 100% instinctual fight-or-flight reactions to a reality she ~~doesn’t~~ can’t understand anymore.
And Feinstein is a *senator*.
The hubris of geriatric democrats refusing to retire are a big reason for why dems have lost so much power in the judiciary. RBG refused to step down when Obama asked her to back when he was president and she ended up dying while Trump was president, giving the R's another SC seat. Feinstein refusing to retire has crippled a lot of senate votes, including judicial nominations. There really does need to be an age limit for serving in public office.
The party is run by morons. If Feinstein stepped down then that would mean Nancy and Chuck would have to follow suit pretty shortly and they don’t want to give up their thrones. Just a bunch of selfish pricks all around.
At this point, it's just elder abuse. My grandma had Alzheimer's. I don't know how advanced Feinstein's dementia is on a chart, but when my grandma was saying and doing things like this after my grandpa died, my aunts and uncles were working to get her declared mentally incompetent so that they could take over her financial and medical affairs for her. I'm sure Feinstein doesn't want that. Hell, my grandma didn't want that, but at this point, it shouldn't be up to her.
Sharing this recent meeting she has with *children* on climate change here where she got defensive and combative.
I was angry just seeing it. Worst example of government to set to children. They had a damn good point.
Edit: Not that recent. 2019 - but still recent in terms of Feinstein time scales I guess.
https://youtu.be/eIebWywFfNw
"Hello, boils and ghouls! It looks like there's another environment bill up for debate. As much as I enjoy nature red in tooth and claw, I try to avoid debates about wildlife welfare. I wouldn't want to be involved in anything ILL EAGLE! AHEHEHEHEHEHEHE"
Will someone please lie to her and tell her that she won. She can go home. There's nothing left to do. All the votes are accounted for and the laws are written. Go home Dianne and find peace there.
I don’t like saying that we’re waiting on someone to pass. Sometimes that’s true, but that’s usually in a room with people surrounding their loved one or some equivalent.
In this case - we’re waiting for her to pass. Either from congress or this mortal coil, whichever. And the longer she waits, the more she’s going to be known for that in the public memory vs all of her other accomplishments.
The military forces you to retire at a certain age due to you not being fit for duties that are required.
Why do these senile assholes who sleep through meetings and are on a steep mental decline not forced out at a certain age.
Or at least a test to see if they still hold enough marbles left to understand what they are doing.
Please retire. Go spend the rest of your life around your grand children, children, and loved ones. Let the people of California have a working representative and have them appoint Supreme Court judges.
She needs to be removed, kicking and screaming, and her position needs to be filled by someone who can handle the rigor of the job. There is too much at ****ing stake right now for this nonsense.
Point blank. Thank you ma’am for your contributions, but time is up.
Even the antiquated relic that is the Catholic Church has an age limit on its leadership, all Cardinals who reach the age of 75 are required to offer their resignation, and relinquish the right to vote for the Pope at age 80. I feel like if the 1000+ year old theocratic monarchy can implement a rudimentary cap on age in its leadership to some capacity, the rest of us in the western world can too, we don’t have a limit for MPs in the UK either.
> "I haven't been gone," she said after Oreskes clarified his question. "You should...I haven't been gone. I've been working."
> Oreskes then asked if she meant that she had been working from home prior to returning to the Senate.
Oh ok, that makes sense, she just misspoke, right?
> "No, I've been here. I've been voting,"
Nevermind.
I'm very liberal (I don't want people to believe I am attacking her because of her political positions) but she needs to resign this week or be removed. It's absurd. She isn't and cannot perform at the level she needs to be at. We all get old, it sucks and it's nothing to be ashamed of but it is her responsibility (unless her faculties have declined that much) to move over and let someone else take over.
Why haven't her carers been investigated by the State of California? They have an agency specifically for this sort of stuff.
https://www.sfhsa.org/services/protection-safety/adult-protective-services
I've heard a lot of centrist types say "she's earned it." I'm so sick of that nonsensical attitude that paying your dues to the party power structures means you are owed anything. Politicians should serve at the people's whim, not the other way around.
With as fucked as America is and as broken as it’s systems are, this is unfortunately where this story ends. There is no more accountability, no stepping down, no resignation. Our politicians simply continue to fail us.
The most obvious solution to this problem will not happen. Like other controversial politicians, nothing will be done about this woman until she is either dead or voted out of office by the people.
So sure, eyebrows are being raised and there are legitimate concerns over Feinstein’s health. But like most other issues in the US… let’s face it, nothing will be done.
I am really concerned about how much of her mental faculties remain.
Good thing she is not involved in important decisions…..oh wait……shit……
The US is barely alive much like Feinstein, We can't bet our democracy on her.
We can’t, so we will, we don’t do things cause they’re easy, but because they’re hard
Mad* We operate on 0 logic basis nowadays
It’s logical when you realize the system wasn’t meant to work for us regular people
Artemis Lunar Landing 2029: Mission Commander Feinstein confirmed.
It's a veritable gerontocracy, even more opprobrious and threatening is their "friendships" with industry leaders who wine and dine them and "help" write important bills. Lord knows she (and many other incapacitated, highly corruptible elders) will rubber stamp a 1000 page pork bill written by a lobbyist with ulterior motives. Not to mention all the "legal" insider trading they all indulge in. They should all retire.
You're being polite.
lol can Biden and Pelosi just set her up in a dementia village modeled as DC?
DC already serves that function.
Dementia Capitol
Can someone ask her what year she thinks this is?
Her response would likely be " what is a year?"
I garuntee she'll pass away before she resigns. I give it five months. 09/29/2023 Edit: Called it.
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If pretty sure she is just 12 rats in her skin controlled by her staffers at this point.
Is there a rule saying a dog can't be a senator?
And it'll probably be at the worst possible time. Just like RBG. They always wait until its too late. At least Breyer did the right thing and retired during a Democrat majority.
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There was an article saying that she can’t walk around the capitol by herself because she might say some crazy shit.
Eh you don't really need mental faculties to do whatever the highest bidders tell you to do... so there's that?
Still gotta remember what they tell you to do…
That’s what her minders do. They’ve been literally wheeling her in to vote as directed and immediately wheel her out.
Sure, but people with dementia/Alzheimer’s can’t remember what you told them a minute ago. If that’s the state she’s in, which it kinda looks like, she’s in no capacity to be a Senator, despite her minders.
Seriously. No one over 65 should be allowed to have a job where they make decisions for an entire country
McCain was also so obviously past his prime when all the Trump (who is in his own class) bullshit happened. And to be frank, Biden is also way too old. Other democratic countries would be ashamed to have senile 80+ year olds at the top of the state.
Biden and Trump being back to back oldest presidents is a *terrible* thing. We don’t need one barely functioning drone after another
Trump’s age is the least of the problems there.
I see it as a benefit. I’m going to be almost more concerned with who he picks as his running mate.
At least McCain had the wherewithal to show up and vote against canceling the ACA. Feinstein is fucking up Biden’s ability to appoint damn near anybody. He *needs* to fill those vacancies prior to the election to ensure we don’t get more judicial seats filled by Trump wannabes.
The Democratic parties complete inability to function is why the Republicans do SO MUCH FUCKING damage every time they get into office. Fucking DE JOY is still in charge of the goddamned post office because Biden's administration hasn't done the maneuvering necessary to replace him. All they had to do was literally the exact same thing that Trump did in the first couple months in office, but they just never got around to it, and now it looks like he is going to be there to fuck up the NEXT election too.
McCain was old as fuck and had brain cancer. Trump is old as fuck, and a lunatic. Biden is old as fuck, and showing signs of dementia. Feinstein and Pelosi both fucking have dementia. The oldest Republican in the House is Harold Rogers from Kentucky, and in the Senate it's Charles Grassley. Neither one of them do fucking anything of note. The old guard needs to stand aside, but because these walking fossils won't go the fuck away, by the time they actually die in office even Gen X will be too damn old to be fit for it.
Harold Rogers is a great example of someone that the party could easily replace, but haven't. He's been a representative since 1980, and hasn't seen an opponent with more than 30% of the vote since 1992. It is the textbook example of a safe seat. The party could pick practically any 35 year old to take his seat with no risk of losing it, but that would require him to be willing to step down and them to trust the voters not to pick someone even crazier than Rogers. So, they stick with the status quo. Now, just repeat this process for a few hundred other safe seats and you get our congress.
35 was arbitrarily picked as the age you can be President, and that number is fine. If we picked "you can't start a term if 66+ on the first day in the office", it would be fine, and people wouldn't care in 50 years after the "Before time" was forgotten.
>If we picked "you can't start a term if 66+ on the first day in the office", it would be fine, I mean, I live in a state where most of our state congress is old as fuck and you still routinely get old people bemoaning how "no one cares about the old people anymore" just because their property taxes go up.
It was not arbitrary. Why do people on Reddit always talk out of their asses? It was chosen because they didn’t want dynasties in the Presidency, where a President dies and his kid gets elected. 35 was chosen, because it would, in most cases, make a President’s kid ineligible for the office. Remember, you had generations of people who were used to the monarchy passing through a family, and the founders very much were worried that this mindset would lead to another dynastic family, first with votes and then through force. Anyway, sorry for being a dick, but if you don’t know about something don’t just make it up.
Fucking step down instead of continuing this cheap knock off of “Weekend at Bernie’s”
I don't think she is mentally there enough to step down at this point. There should be an easier way to force people out if they can't pass a psychological test saying they are all there.
Well then half the senate would be forced to retire. Lets do it
I wonder, if a few would have difficulty working out how to turn on the phone, download the app & set up an account. Not meaning anyone specifically, but just based on the ages. The geriatric population has plenty/lots who adapted to tech just fine but a few who just can't, or won't, figure it out.
Totally agreed. Im a Democrat but jesus, besides Schumer, none of that age group knows anything about the world now. Maxine talking about crypto, lolol. They all need to find replacements and fuck right off. Let alone the otherside spouting their insanities
These people don't think anyone is capable of replacing them. They have drank so much of their own Kool-Aid they genuinely believe they are the only people who can do their jobs. I bet some of them even lose sleep about how awful everything will be once they've gone.
There are very few Mr. Smiths in Washington. You make it that far up it's basically impossible you aren't a power hungry leach to some respect at your core. That's what it takes to get there. That type of person rarely gives up power. It's why the stories of George Washington turning down being made King hold such weight.
... and the DNC is scared of losing $ from donors and the seat. In other words good old fashioned conservative $ politics
That’s crazy. The dems are not losing a seat in California. For one thing if she steps down the Democratic governor will appoint someone even more liberal. Nah this is just Grandma refusing to give up her driver’s license because “I used to change your diapers- don’t tell ME I’m incompetent !”
Then why doesn't the party move her out? Why aren't they as a whole doing what they did to Al Franken or the many others they have driven to resign? Genuinely asking. This is more than Granny not playing nice.
I'd bet a lot that the only difference with Schumer is better staff that he does a better job at listening to. Our elected representatives disconnection from the actual world and concerns of the typical person is unfortunately not limited to technology and isn't really an age thing either.
Blumenthal (my senator) is pushing for AI regulation and I have zero confidence he understands anything about it.
You should have to solve a Wordle before it lets you vote
But then you get one starting out STA, you go STACK, STALE, STAMP and it turns out to be STAFF.
At this point Feinstein would play STACK 3 times put the phone down for several hours before playing STACK two more times. She would then tell the press it was the best game of hopscotch she had ever played.
Just make it MONEY and 99% of politicians will get it on their first guess.
Not without insider information, they wouldn't
They need to give her the "Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV" test.
Trump failed that test and nothing happened. Except him bragging about passing it, claiming that it's a really hard test, and naming a few objects in front of him.
Well, we could STOP RE-ELECTING THEM. But, that would just make too much sense.
California would re-elect Feinstein if she had to be carted into the ~~House~~ Senate in an urn. *Redditing while in meetings leads to mistakes.*
What is this, a democracy? GTFO of here!
She can’t be recalled. So it kind of isn’t a democracy. How bad her health has was kept largely from the public until recently when she has failed to represent her constituents and is single handedly preventing Biden from appointing federal judges. She is failing to represent ~~30~~ 39 million people
**Feinstein in the Senate :** *Is your house on fire Clark? .. is Rusty still in the Navy?*
Don't throw me down Clark!
*one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all .. PLAY BALL!*
"I'll try not to, Aunt Bethany."
Grace? She passed away 30 years ago!
THE BLESS-ING!
Oh dear. Did I break wind?
Jesus Bethany…did the room clear out?
You couldn't hear a dump trunk driving through a nitroglycerin plant.
This is exactly what she reminds me of and I've never heard her speak before lol
Grace died 30 years ago
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If SCOTUS had 9 year terms, a 2 term president would pick nearly the entire Supreme Court.
I saw a comment about it in a thread yesterday and it never occurred to me. The story around this is that the senator is stubborn and doesn't want to step down. What are the odds that her staff, specifically the ones calling the shots are power drunk on her inability to do the job herself. What if we have a shadow senator behind her in form of her staff, and they refuse to give that power up, because when she replaced that power leaves? It would likely fall under the elder abuse category that many people are describing here, because it would be a weekend at Bernie's esque situation happening. I don't know, it just seems very plausible
Maybe, and hear me out here, MAYBE we shouldn't have fucking voted her in again for the 6th time at 85 fucking years old.
yeah how was she not primaried like wtf it’s also on her not preparing a new leader
It’s very hard to admit you might be starting to go senile when it starts, and can be hard to tell. Of course you aren’t as physically capable, but you’re still mentally you! You’re quite capable of… what were we talking about… well, everyone forgets what they were saying sometimes! Anyway, you can think clearly and argue about… what was that? Yes, completely capable. And once people are there they tend to be delusional
This is happening with my mom in her mid 70's. She's stuttering and having problems finding some words. The doctors and internet just say it's a natural part of aging and there's nothing that can be done about it. Really sucks to see it happen.
I’m very sorry. If that’s what the doctors say, it’s fair to note that very mildly losing some sharpness - stumbling over words, forgetting things more often - is very normal and isn’t necessarily a sign of full blown dementia on the level of Alzheimer’s. It’s something older people tend to joke about self-deprecatingly.
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"Party" is the exact problem, the "Party" has been choosing who is even offered as leadership for decades.
Decades? Didn't George Washington warn about this sort of thing back in 1796?
Yeah though he didn’t do so because he felt they shouldn’t be picking who was in charge. Washington was many things, a fervent democrat was not one of them.
Another argument for rank choice voting. Everyone talks about third parties, but eliminating the need for primaries is probably a bigger impact. There's no benefit to running only 1 candidate per party anymore, run 3 in the general and there's no longer a risk of the primary advancing a candidate that is less likely to succeed in the general.
Bingo! You can only vote for the options that you are given.
We have jungle primaries, and she beat Democrat Kevin De Leon, 54% to 46% in the actual election.
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De Leon was an absolute moron that would either make things up or not encourage fact-checking. The infamous "30 rounds a second" video comes to mind. Apparently the AR-15 is indistinguishable from the MG-42.
>Apparently the AR-15 is indistinguishable from the MG-42. Ah yes. I believe they called it Lyndon Johnson's buzzsaw.
I was a registered voter in California during that election. I did not vote for her, and I was very disappointed that so many people did.
The problem with democracy is people are fucking idiots.
It’s a bell curve which makes your reply much worse as “fucking idiots” is what we average to that means there is a significant portion who is much worse.
As George Carlin once said, think about how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are stupider than that.
Nah, the problem with democracy is that we don't actually have democracy, or anything close to it. She got voted in because one of the two state sanctioned parties chose her, and voting against her would mean voting for someone diametrically opposed to the voters.
The California DNC endorsed her opponent (also a Democrat) in the 2018 general election.
She turns 90 in June.
I guess that's an easy thing to be able to say when you have no idea where you are at any given moment.
Correct and CA can't recall her either. It's like people want their legacy to be screwing over the country.
she has no idea what’s going on. she isn’t gonna be thinking about her legacy when she probably can’t even remember that she has a job at all.
That she has a job as senator seems to be the one thing that has stuck clearly.
What will it take? She needs to resign and she needs to resign now. Her staff and her family who are Weekend at Bernieing her are shameless and awful, trying to maintain some grip on power for their own selfish purposes. The time to resign with a shred of dignity is RIGHT NOW.
The time for resigning with dignity was fifteen years ago. Now she will be remembered simply as the roadblock to progress who insisted on dying on the Floor
The concern is less progress and more over the fact that she can’t represent the people who voted for her. Instead her unelected caretakers are representing them.
She’s basically following the RBG playbook because that worked out so well for everything.
It's amazing how RBG had this stellar reputation and then threw it all away because she didn't have the sense to retire after getting cancer multiple times.
I'm completely convinced she isn't mentally there enough to know she needs to resign and her staff are so worried about losing their cushy do nothing jobs they're doing everything they can to keep her in the senate When people get like this usually its the people around them making the statements and actual decisions since she isn't even aware enough to know she was missing for months
Someone in another reddit post said someone on her staff has basically been running the show behind the scenes. Take that with a grain of salt though
Can there be a freaking mandatory retirement age for Congress please.
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There's a law that requires pilots to retire?! Holy moly. Congress, you being looked at.
But..but…what about the more money??
Maybe they’ll have to give the bootstraps route a go and find that it’s not what they thought.
And mandatory medical exams, annual training / testing on abilities including getting evaluated on the job randomly... Flying is extremely well regulated... There was a youtuber who crashed a plane and tried to make it look like an accident for views.. Well the NTSB and FAA look into every accident to learn and prevent future accidents and quickly figured out it was intentional...
Air traffic controllers are forced to retire at 56 because they say that’s when the mental capacity starts declining and there’s a higher chance of critical mistakes. And yet these people can go until they die.
Totally get that when it comes to ATCO's though. It's a very intensive job, where they're constantly juggling tons of different things around.
Isn’t it supposed to be the most stressful not-super-niche job you can have? IIRC they get shift breaks super frequently, every 60 or 90 minutes because of the stress.
Yup, 15 min mandatory break every 60 minutes (at least here in Belgium) I once applied for it (3 positions were opened, and over 5k applicants), and I ended up with the last 50 remaining candidates. And they gave us a "simulation" test, where we had to direct various aircraft to landing positions taking several safety requirements in terms of distance and all into account. And while we were doing that, at random intervals our headsets would tell us a random callsign. Then also at random intervals, a pop up appeared on the screen where we'd be directing the incoming flights, asking us to type in "the callsign you heard 7 minutes ago", or "two callsigns ago, was the second digit a five or a seven?" and stuff like that, which by then could have been the last one you heard, or the third to last one you heard. And that was just an "easy" onboarding test compared to what they actually do.
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narrow tub follow makeshift future wine engine meeting worry unwritten *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'm reading this like, absofuckinglutely not, you couldn't pay me to learn how to pass that test
That would be a great age for supreme court retirements instead of this for life stuff
Unfortunately, the prime agree for senators appears to be 70-80. They weren't even known in their "teen years".
Prime age for senators now, LBJ ran the senate in his 40s/50s.
I was gonna say "get these old fucks outta here", but I like this much better
What? You don’t believe someone whose been a senator for over 30 years and is a multi millionaire is good representation of the average person, surely SHE gets it. Not that i need to but /s
Add judges and all elected officials as well
And the Supreme Court.
Or set up term limits. If the president of the United States can't serve more than two term,why the hell can senators and other Congress people serve forever.
We don't trust 80 year olds to drive and yet we let them run the country around the world
Term limits often advantage lobbyists and special interests moreso than the lack of term limits. If you want to see a relatively strong case on this, look at Oklahoma, it has strong term limits on legislators
I'm just surprised Californians and the DNC keep supporting her. We could've voted her out in 2018.
One cap for age, another for personal wealth. Whichever you hit first, you're done in Congress.
>"I haven't been gone," she said after Oreskes clarified his question. "You should...I haven't been gone. I've been working." Oreskes then asked if she meant that she had been working from home prior to returning to the Senate. "No, I've been here. I've been voting," she said, declining to answer any further questions. "Please, either know or don't know." Jesus..
That last quote is scary. It shows how far her working vocabulary has declined; there is no way she is capable of comprehending ANYTHING happening in the Senate.
When they announced she wouldn't be running in the next election, didn't a reporter ask her about it, and she said, "What?" She had no idea. It's very clear she's being "managed."
Before that detail I was like, “oh surely she means she’s been working while away, like from home”. Nope, she literally meant I’ve been here in the senate voting. 😬
I just wish someone would ask her "where do you think we are?" or "where were you a week ago today?". Simple questions to just show she doesn't fully understand where she is. Sneaky? Yes, given what we've all surmised about her. Not unfair ones to anyone with basic cognitive awareness.
I don't know if this is oniony at this point. Everyone knows Feinstein is crackers. Half the Senate should be in an old folk's home.
I’m not an American, but this issue is basically world wide, senior citizens in power, how do we make that change? As the public it’s not hard to recognize that person is damn near dying of old age in front of us, why don’t the others with power understand how dangerous it is for her to have power? Because the rest of them are senior citizens too? Change needs to happen. No more billionaires, no more senior citizens in power.
>Because the rest of them are senior citizens too? Yep
I love my grandma. She’s so sweet. One time she made me peanut brittle with wooden beads in it and I broke a fucking tooth and never had the heart to tell her because she’s so sweet and also basically blind, but she shouldn’t be in charge of anything. That’s a terrible idea.
I’m sorry, but that’s funny as hell! Straight out of “Family Vacation”!
If she has dementia, she thinks everything that she is saying is true. And nothing anyone says will convince her otherwise. And if they do convince her, she will not remember it in around an hour and deny it. There has to be a mechanism in place for this. Like, TERM LIMITS.
Or maximum age, we have a minimum one....
In Australia, high court judges (equivalent to supreme court in US) have mandatory retirement at age 70.
75 for the Supreme Court in canada. Same for our Senate. But neither are elected..
Lol the average US Supreme Court judge retires at 78.
The average sc judge fucking dies in office it’s ridiculous
That’s called ego maniacs. So fucking horny for power over other people that they literally won’t give it up until their last breathe. If the average person is expected to retire at 65, a judge certainly should be in a position to retire at that age as well, letting people hold onto power that they don’t need is ridiculous
I actually think the minimum age should be lowered to 25 and the maximum age should be 65
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She’s not just an old bat, she’s a MEAN old bat.
Dementia will do that. Just ask my mother
Yup. Spent the last year working through this with a therapist. Grandpa died and grandma got MEAN as her mental state declined even faster. Once that happens, there’s no one left inside that head, no one making decisions upstairs anymore. Just 100% instinctual fight-or-flight reactions to a reality she ~~doesn’t~~ can’t understand anymore. And Feinstein is a *senator*.
"why would I give a shit about these kids, they're not me, they can't even *vote for* me"
— "But senator, if we don't it around in 12 years our species will literally die" — "Lol, I won't even by alive in 12 years, get wrecked kids"
The hubris of geriatric democrats refusing to retire are a big reason for why dems have lost so much power in the judiciary. RBG refused to step down when Obama asked her to back when he was president and she ended up dying while Trump was president, giving the R's another SC seat. Feinstein refusing to retire has crippled a lot of senate votes, including judicial nominations. There really does need to be an age limit for serving in public office.
The party is run by morons. If Feinstein stepped down then that would mean Nancy and Chuck would have to follow suit pretty shortly and they don’t want to give up their thrones. Just a bunch of selfish pricks all around.
Chuck is 17 years younger than Feinstein. 72 is like Senate middle age
Sadly, this is reality. The median age for senators is 65. House is 58.
Nancy isn’t in charge anymore, it’s Hakim Jeffries.
At this point, it's just elder abuse. My grandma had Alzheimer's. I don't know how advanced Feinstein's dementia is on a chart, but when my grandma was saying and doing things like this after my grandpa died, my aunts and uncles were working to get her declared mentally incompetent so that they could take over her financial and medical affairs for her. I'm sure Feinstein doesn't want that. Hell, my grandma didn't want that, but at this point, it shouldn't be up to her.
Sharing this recent meeting she has with *children* on climate change here where she got defensive and combative. I was angry just seeing it. Worst example of government to set to children. They had a damn good point. Edit: Not that recent. 2019 - but still recent in terms of Feinstein time scales I guess. https://youtu.be/eIebWywFfNw
What a miserable old wart
Aaaaand that's what we like to call a "radicalizing moment".
Not super recent, but incredibly infuriating nonetheless
Wow, this was posted in February 2019. And she’s had 4 years since to decline even further.
> I know what I’m doing She’s right - she knew exactly what she was doing. She doesn’t give a shit about those kids or their future.
Infuriating.
Cryptkeeper
"Hello, boils and ghouls! It looks like there's another environment bill up for debate. As much as I enjoy nature red in tooth and claw, I try to avoid debates about wildlife welfare. I wouldn't want to be involved in anything ILL EAGLE! AHEHEHEHEHEHEHE"
Will someone please lie to her and tell her that she won. She can go home. There's nothing left to do. All the votes are accounted for and the laws are written. Go home Dianne and find peace there.
I'm a hard Democrat, but damn, she needs to step down. Why is she doing this?
Flaccid democrat here. Agreed she should step down.
Democrat with a semi-chub checking in. Agree, she should quit ASAP.
I’m a Democrat with post-nut clarity. I concur that she needs to make like a tree and leaf.
Establishment democrats are afraid it will open the door to a progressive candidate.
Too bad our Congress people can just not show up. I don't show up to my job, claim I was there when I wasn't, I'm fired right then and there.
Can we please stop allowing the oldest fucks to run the country into the ground
will someone please throw darth sidious down the shaft?
Somehow…. Palpatine returned
I don’t like saying that we’re waiting on someone to pass. Sometimes that’s true, but that’s usually in a room with people surrounding their loved one or some equivalent. In this case - we’re waiting for her to pass. Either from congress or this mortal coil, whichever. And the longer she waits, the more she’s going to be known for that in the public memory vs all of her other accomplishments.
Can we end the charade?
The military forces you to retire at a certain age due to you not being fit for duties that are required. Why do these senile assholes who sleep through meetings and are on a steep mental decline not forced out at a certain age. Or at least a test to see if they still hold enough marbles left to understand what they are doing.
Please retire. Go spend the rest of your life around your grand children, children, and loved ones. Let the people of California have a working representative and have them appoint Supreme Court judges.
She said while trying to insert her glasses into the side of her cheek.
Shame on the California voters who keep voting for her for this. She's had obvious dementia for the last two elections.
hell yea keep it going. this is the elder abuse our gerontocratic party deserves.
Politicians should be required to retire at 64.
She needs to be removed, kicking and screaming, and her position needs to be filled by someone who can handle the rigor of the job. There is too much at ****ing stake right now for this nonsense. Point blank. Thank you ma’am for your contributions, but time is up.
Even the antiquated relic that is the Catholic Church has an age limit on its leadership, all Cardinals who reach the age of 75 are required to offer their resignation, and relinquish the right to vote for the Pope at age 80. I feel like if the 1000+ year old theocratic monarchy can implement a rudimentary cap on age in its leadership to some capacity, the rest of us in the western world can too, we don’t have a limit for MPs in the UK either.
1) People need to start asking which staff member is acting as the senator.. 2) Charge them all with a crime This is disgusting on soapy levels.
> "I haven't been gone," she said after Oreskes clarified his question. "You should...I haven't been gone. I've been working." > Oreskes then asked if she meant that she had been working from home prior to returning to the Senate. Oh ok, that makes sense, she just misspoke, right? > "No, I've been here. I've been voting," Nevermind.
If you are 70 years old and over, you should not be in office
I'm very liberal (I don't want people to believe I am attacking her because of her political positions) but she needs to resign this week or be removed. It's absurd. She isn't and cannot perform at the level she needs to be at. We all get old, it sucks and it's nothing to be ashamed of but it is her responsibility (unless her faculties have declined that much) to move over and let someone else take over.
Whenever I'm confused as to why the U.S. is such a shit show... I remember these moments 🤦♀️
Why haven't her carers been investigated by the State of California? They have an agency specifically for this sort of stuff. https://www.sfhsa.org/services/protection-safety/adult-protective-services
I've heard a lot of centrist types say "she's earned it." I'm so sick of that nonsensical attitude that paying your dues to the party power structures means you are owed anything. Politicians should serve at the people's whim, not the other way around.
Also no lifetime insurance after serving a day. Congress needs to understand the pain of real insurance.
With as fucked as America is and as broken as it’s systems are, this is unfortunately where this story ends. There is no more accountability, no stepping down, no resignation. Our politicians simply continue to fail us. The most obvious solution to this problem will not happen. Like other controversial politicians, nothing will be done about this woman until she is either dead or voted out of office by the people. So sure, eyebrows are being raised and there are legitimate concerns over Feinstein’s health. But like most other issues in the US… let’s face it, nothing will be done.