I try to keep up with most newly introduced bills or acts, but one has really caught my eye. Bill 722 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/722/text has not had its text uploaded since it was introduced a week ago. Usually I’ve found that text gets uploaded 48hrs-5 days after it’s introduced. Why do you guys think it’s taking so long to upload?

Follow up: If myself and others were to disagree with it is there any way to get past my representatives to fight against it? (I come from a very strict pro-life state so I doubt they’d listen) If not, how can I get their attention?

Excuse me if this is a dumb question, but I noticed in my local election one of the candidates is elected to the state senate for a separate district but is running for house of rep in our district, can you just run for whatever district you want regardless if you live in or represent another district?

I know films and TV should be taken with a pinch of salt, but I feel like NSAs are often depicted doing far more than just "advising" the president - sometimes they go so far as ordering / overseeing intelligence / military operations themselves. Even in real life, the role seems quite prominent in comparison to other advisory roles.

Do they actually have any statutory / legal authority to do things besides request intel reports from various agencies? Or is it more of an unofficial "I can't technically order this, but I speak with the authority of the President, so....make it happen."?

There's a lot going on now that needs action from citizens. Bills and cabinet members we should be writing representatives to oppose (or support), and encouraging others to do the same. Legal defense funds that need support. Executive orders we need to take a stand on.

But there are a lot of distractions. A lot of potential bills get attention before they are even introduced, sapping energy to address more urgent issues. Rage bait articles that come after the opportune time to have actually done anything. Or sensational or pointless things that aren't worth our attention (e.g. Gulf of America).

So how are you staying on top of things that need action, and need action now, while ignoring all the distractions? And how are you learning what are effective actions you can take?

I'm starting to use www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/ but it doesn't' cover everything.

Hi everybody, I very recently turned 18 (yay me) which means I am finally old enough to register to vote. I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit clueless when it comes to politics, and most of my political beliefs are based off social media and whatever news outlets are reporting. While I've found a few good resources, I find bias often seeps itself into politics, and I feel unbiased sources would be the best for forming my own opinions. I'd like to go into this with an open mind, and was wondering what the best books would be to learn a bit more about politics, whether it's political parties, or just the government in general. I would appreciate any recs, thank you!

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-children-from-chemical-and-surgical-mutilation/

It includes:

(a)  review Department of Justice enforcement of section 116 of title 18, United States Code, and prioritize enforcement of protections against female genital mutilation;

(b) convene States’ Attorneys General and other law enforcement officers to coordinate the enforcement of laws against female genital mutilation across all American States and Territories; 

But doesn't mention male genital mutilation.

Why is that? Is it unnecessary for some reason?

It suggests that Female Genital Mutilation is the priority -- does the absence of mention of Male Genital Mutilation in this text mean that it's still not against the law to go male-to-female?

Just curious about the best way to reach out, if there is a difference. Also, normally I would pick an overall topic I fee strongly about and just reach out about something related to that topic when it comes up so as not to be that person who's not taken seriously, but is that even a thing anymore at the federal level since it seems the contacts get logged into a database these days? Also is it even worth it to do it, if you're sure b/c of party affiliation how the person will vote and you are a member of another party, but you're still a constituent.

Hello, please can someone point me in the right direction to help the afghan women & girls, and also now on Iraq. Volunteer work / donations. Anything.

Or can he just keep some secret? I am thinking about the original Guantanamo cases and how much of the trials, and even legal reasoning was kept secret from all parties in accordance with FISA regulations. Some suspects where convicted on evidence that could be kept secret from the defense team in the name of national security.

Could these principles be extended to any decrees or dictates?

Just in case anyone wonders. I don't think we've even had someone link to X/Twitter in the last year-plus. If someone did, its either a primary or secondary source, which we encourage here.

Feel free to report links to X/Twitter or anywhere else that are not fulfilling any of our requirements.

Okay, I didn't pay much attention in government class. Or I just got the wrong messaging from it. But from what I understood, constitutional amendments are kind of impossible to overturn. Or maybe not impossible but just too difficult to even try and overturn.

But for some reason in the year of 2025, the state of Idaho wants to overturn marriage rights and make it a state matter. I could be absolutely wrong but I know that the matter falls under the 14th amendment in some form.

Could someone just give me some very basic explanation as why Idaho thinks it is a possibility to do this?

I'm considering a career change from nonprofit work, and I'm hoping someone can share a bit more about what senate staff jobs are like - particuarly those in local offices rather than DC. I've seen titles like Regional Director, Constituient Services Representative, Legislative Director, etc., but most of the postings are much more brief than I'm used to seeing. Any advice on the general level of experience they're looking for in some of these roles, and what pay might look like? Assuming pay may vary based on regional cost of living - I'd be looking in the northeast/urban areas.

This is a curious and rather bizarre trend or phenomenon I've been noticing for the past year during this entire political season. All the more bizarre because no one else seems to talk about it. Every time there is a filmed political rally speech where there are people placed behind the speaker at the podium, they ALWAYS, without exception, heavily prioritize placing East Asian women behind the speaker. Yesterday, with Donald Trump giving a speech, was just the latest example of this (though in this case they happened to pick a particularly good looking one). And. while white males are also placed along with them, you rarely ever see white females put in such positions nowadays. And this is done completely regardless of whether they're attractive or not. All that matters is that they are of a certain race. Can someone explain this socio-political phenomenon to me, which seems to have started in recent years (post 2016)?

I am watching the inauguration and am struck by home much pomp there is.

This is despite the very foundation of the presidents role being the antithesis of the monarchy in the UK, and the founding fathers of wanting to avoid any type of monarchy in the US.

From the introduction of the presidents and them ‘being escorted’ by Members of congress. How they all have titles such as ‘the honourable’, the amount of music and ceremony surrounding was is essentially the swearing of an oath of office (the only stipulation in the constitution). Not to mention the use of a bible to swear the oath (considering they are a ‘secular’ country).

How did the ceremonial / pomp come to be? And how do they justify this considering the founding fathers really didn’t want / in-vision this?

I’m looking for a website or app that lets me see what stuff is passed or rejected in congress. And preferably stuff from the president’s desk like executive orders. Because a lot of stuff doesn’t get reported in the news.

Are the Hamas really fearful of Trump? Or is there something else going on to make it look like Trump’s really the reason?

Whilst I’m sure most people are aware of what this is, a ‘Political Realignment’ is when “is a set of sharp changes in party related ideology, issues, leaders, regional bases, demographic bases, and/or the structure of powers within a government” (Wikipedia). Either people change their voting substantially or the parties themselves change.

In the 2022 Australian Federal Election, the ‘Teal Independents’ took over 6 Liberal seats in inner city suburbs, adding to Zali Steggall’s seat in Sydney. Currently they hold collectively 7 seats in the House of Representatives, 4 in Sydney, 2 in Melbourne and 1 in Perth.

These seats for decades formed the base of the Liberal Party and prior conservative counterparts, often being held on substantial margins and almost always winning more than 50% of the popular vote (therefore not needing to rely on preferences).

These seats are typically much wealthier seats, in fact most of them (if not all) are in the top 10 wealthiest federal divisions in Australia. And I should know I live in one of them. Apparently these electorates are fiscally conservative or liberal, and socially progressive. To an EXTENT, that is true.

None of the ‘Teal Independents’ seats are held on high margins. And apart from Steggall’s seat in Sydney, all of the Liberals won the popular vote (but lost on preferences. A large part of why they lost is that some people chose the ‘Teal Independent’ as a tactical vote to remove the Liberal candidate (that is also, to an EXTENT, true, as the Labor and Greens vote declined in these seats). But many also changed from voting liberal.

As someone who even lives in one of these seats, I don’t even know myself whether the Liberals would ever have a shot at these seats again. The liberals got trounced in the cities in 2022 but comparatively did quite well in regional and rural areas.

Is this the beginning of a political realignment in which the liberals can only form government through outer suburbs and the rural and regional areas? Or was this a setback which they can come back from?

My understanding is that the TikTok divestiture and ban was legislation passed by the House, confirmed by the Senate and signed by the President. Now I’m reading a bunch of articles this morning that mention a President has the ability to delay this law for 90 days without elucidating what that action entails.

If a bill has already been passed into law, can the President use this power to suspend ANY existing legislation for 90 days? Is there a little clause in the law that allows this? Does it have to do with the timing of the law’s enforcement coinciding with the post-election period?

I stumbled upon this memo for the new admin proposing cutting so many things— HSAs, child tax credit, mortgage tax credit, etc https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/budget_optionspdf.pdf

Well, I had this question for a long time and didn't find an answer. Elaborating in there, suppose France has a majority of stacks on Tesla (the best example I found) and, with that, wants to nationalize it (remember, hipotethical scenario), would it be possible? And if so, what would be the pros, cons and ramifications? I suppose if a war occurred, for example, it wouldn't be good to have a company in your enemy's territory, but that is just me thinking.

Thanks, by the way.

If the government is irresponsibly accumulating infinte debts and reckless money-printing, then why should taxpayers feel any responsbility? Why don't the aveage citizen just go into mass tax-cheating or banking credit fraud, in the face of all these double-standards?

Also it feels like vast majority of taxpayers money is going into favored neoptistic big-corporate managements' pockets via government contracts, as well as excessive interest payments into big-corporate banks. And the supposed benefits are not really reaching the bottomost rung of society (eg. low-income & homeless folks). Because of corrupt politicians and breaucrats middlemen.

Apparently some house republicans have introduced a bill called: "Make Greenland Great Again Act" that will allow future US American president Donald Trump to start negotiations with Denmark on the purchase of Greenland. What is the likelihood of this bill being passed?

Who owns it? Isn't most it of technically international waters?

Biden is obviously “retiring”, but what happens to VP Harris after Trump takes office? She’s had an accomplished career, but is she now unemployed? How does that work?

Why are most politicians in their 60s or older? It seems like the people running a country and making major decisions tend to be much older than the generations who will actually be carrying the country forward. Why do we mostly see older individuals in political leadership roles, and what does that mean for younger generations?

There is a weird phenomenon that millionaires and philanthropists or people from the upper class become revered through a certain period, possibly because of achievements that they managed to acquire through perceived hard work (the word "perceived" is the highlight here because there is a trend that millionaires, philanthropists and people from the upper class come from wealthy backgrounds) and the possibility of being admired over what is known as "wealth porn".

However, some of these people later become criticised over decisions they make later on in their lives such as Jeff Bezos being accused of poor workplace environment and workplace abuse in some of his factories, or Elon Musk firing a large portion of the workers on Twitter after acquiring the social media platform and is being accused of using the account as a vocal panel for many political stuff.

Despite that people like these still get a decent amount of admiration, it is also interesting that these people are criticised of being "bad" in the eyes of others.

So what are the reasons for this?

Looking to follow a few more newsletters

This might be a dumb question but when a politician loses an election and/or runs out of terms, what do they usually end up doing for money and stuff? For example VP Harris is leaving office and lost her election so would there be any way for her to make money in the time she leaves office and her next election she runs in?

Is it cause Chinese people are not white as Soviets? Is this the same reason why Japanese were sent to camps during WW2 instead of Germans & Italians?

I remember this being something Snowden discussed on Rogan, and came up in his film. He said that he watched someone testify in front of congress that the American government was not spying on its own citizens, while Snowden was working for the NSA and helping them spy on American citizens.

Who was that guy who lied?