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The Obscure Protectionist Law That Will Slow Clean-up of the Baltimore Bridge Disaster

Reason by  Eric Boehm 3/27/2024
The best time to repeal the Foreign Dredge Act was before the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed. The next best time to repeal it is right now.

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge figures to snarl traffic around Baltimore, but the bigger problem might be the downed bridge's effect on maritime activity.

Until the bridge's wreckage can be cleared away, the Port of Baltimore is cut off from the Chesapeake Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and the global supply chains beyond. It remains unclear how long the port will be closed, but federal Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday that there could be a "long and difficult path" ahead.

In the meantime, trade flowing through the port will have to be redirected to other ports along the East Coast. That's a disruption that could mean higher costs and other complications—and it is a particularly acute issue for the roughly 15,000 workers who earn a living off the commerce that passes through Baltimore's port.

Clearly, there's every reason to make sure the port can be reopened as quickly as possible. Buttigieg acknowledged as much on Wednesday, and said the White House had given a "clear directive" to "tear down any barriers, bureaucratic as well as financial."

But Buttigieg stopped short of naming any specific federal regulations that might be waived to speed along the recovery efforts in Baltimore. Here's one that should go right to the top of the list: The Foreign Dredge Act of 1906.

More: https://reason.com/2024/03/27/the-obscure-protectionist-law-that-will-slow-clean-up-of-the-baltimore-bridge-disaster/
2
I thought she already did.  Huh.  She's been marketing anti-Trump swag, like shirts and such.
Nope - photoshop - debunked
Search on "taylor swift anti-Trump swag" and you will see over a dozen articles debunking this.
Some of them are from very Left-leaning sites.
3
Isn't that like cognitive dissonance? Or maybe just plain stupid?
This is Biden/Obama/UN making sure that no matter what happens, Hamas will keep Gaza.
They want a force to kick Israel out of Gaza and move the terrorists back in.
Biden/Obama/UN worst fear is that Israel will actually do what they say and win the war in Gaza.
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TBR Kitchen / Re: Good, low cost meals
« Last post by Polly Ticks on Today at 01:23:21 am »
 :bkmk:
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Battle heats up over proposed federal funding for Baltimore bridge

KHON2 by Mychael Schnell, Mike Lillis, and The Hill 3/28/2024

The battle over Congress’s role in repairing a landmark bridge in Baltimore is already heating up on Capitol Hill, just days after it collapsed.

President Biden vowed Tuesday that the federal government would cover the massive cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a major artery feeding the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the country. The bridge was struck by a cargo ship, almost 1,000 feet long, that lost power as it was leaving Baltimore Harbor and drifted into a support pile in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Biden’s proposal is already winning praise from a number of Democrats, especially those in Maryland, who say the port’s value transcends the state, making the repairs an issue of national importance.

Only the federal government, they argue, has the resources to accomplish the task.

Yet the idea has sparked an immediate backlash from conservative spending hawks, who are already up in arms over Congress’s recent approval of a massive 2024 spending package and maintain that Washington simply can’t afford to pile more money onto the national debt.

Key Bridge, they argue, is a regional matter to be tackled by regional governments.

“The very thought of having the Federal Government pay for the Baltimore bridge is TOTALLY ABSURD!!” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told The Hill by text message. “This exemplifies the old slogan ‘ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL!!’”

Republicans are not the only critics. Some liberals are also questioning Biden’s proposal, arguing that the blame for the tragedy lies, at least in part, with the owner of the cargo vessel, which should bear some portion of the repair costs.

“Let’s be clear about the tragedy in Baltimore. That bridge didn’t just collapse. There was no earthquake. The bridge was knocked down (apparently) by a private ship that lost control. Shouldn’t they be at least partly responsible for fixing it?” said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist and Vice President Harris’s former communications director.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday on MSNBC that she expected insurance payments to cover part of the cost to rebuild the bridge.

More: https://www.khon2.com/hill-politics/battle-heats-up-over-proposed-federal-funding-for-baltimore-bridge/amp/
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Kentucky legislature passes bill cutting Democratic governor out of Senate vacancy process
By
Jack Birle
March 28, 2024 6:52 pm
.

The Kentucky Senate sent a bill to Gov. Andy Beshear‘s (D-KY) desk that would cut him out of the process of filling a vacancy in either of the commonwealth’s U.S. Senate seats.

The upper chamber of the state legislature passed House Bill 622, which would remove the authority for the governor to appoint a replacement for a vacant U.S. Senate seat and instead keep the seat open until a special election can be held. The state Senate passed the law, 34-3, on Thursday after it passed the state House, 88-4, earlier this month.

The bill comes as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has had several health scares in recent years, and the governor’s mansion in Kentucky is set to be occupied by Beshear, a Democrat, until December 2027. McConnell announced earlier this year he would step down as Republican leader in the Senate later this year, but he has said he will finish out his Senate term, which expires in January 2027.

State House Republican Steven Rudy, who spearheaded the legislation, has claimed the bill is aimed at preventing a situation like in Illinois when former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted of attempting to sell an appointment to fill former Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s seat. Rudy has denied that the bill is designed with McConnell in mind.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/2943978/kentucky-legislature-cutting-democratic-governor-out-of-senate-vacancy-process/
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Tumpy did that all by his self.
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I’ve heard this for the last two years at least and I still don’t have a clear explanation of why voting for Biden and Democrats would be preserving democracy
9
Gen. Charles Q. Brown Confirms: U.S. Denying Israel Some Weapons

Joel B. Pollak 28 Mar 2024

General Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed Thursday that the U.S. is not providing Israel with all of the weapons it has requested for its war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Earlier this month, reports emerged that Israeli military leaders believed that the U.S. was “slow-walking” deliveries of arms and ammunition as a way to create more leverage over Israeli policy and appease critics of Israel in the U.S.

General Brown appeared to confirm those reports — at least partially.

Reuters (via the Times of Israel) reported:

    The United States’ top general says Israel had not received every weapon that it has asked for, in part because US President Joe Biden’s administration was not willing to provide at least some of them.

    “Although we’ve been supporting them with capability, they’ve not received everything they’ve asked for,” says General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

    “Some of that is because they’ve asked for stuff that we either don’t have the capacity to provide or not willing to provide, not right now,” Brown adds, while speaking at an event hosted by the Defense Writers Group.

Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant spent two days in Washington, DC, this week, meeting with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, partly to request more arms and ammunition for the continued fight against Hamas and Hezbollah.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2024/03/28/gen-charles-q-brown-confirms-u-s-denying-israel-some-weapons/
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Scaramucci: We Have to Make Sure Republicans Either Don’t Vote or Vote for Biden

Pam Key 28 Mar 2024

Former Trump administration communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that he is working to “split the Republicans” and make sure that “these people either don’t vote or they vote for Joe Biden.”

Scaramucci said, “I would say to you and other people that are listening here, it’s one day and one step at a time. I’m going to do my job or my part in this. I certainly love Liz Cheney for what she’s doing. We’d like to get Paul Ryan out there. Secretary Esper has told people publicly that I may not like President Biden’s policies, but we can deal with policies that we disagree with in three or four years as opposed to what Mr. Trump could do to the nation. And so we got to get more people out there like that.”

He continued, “I think the good news is that if you look at the Nikki Haley exit polling, lots of those people say no way, never, I’m not voting for Donald Trump. We’ve got to reinforce that because you know and I know without the crossover vote, you did this for a living, if you don’t get that crossover vote from John McCain into George W. Bush, he doesn’t win the presidency. Hillary Clinton did not get that vote from Bernie Sanders, but Barack Obama got it from Hillary Clinton. And we have to prevent Donald Trump from getting that vote.”

Scaramucci added, “While the Democrats are unifying and standing with the democracy, we’ve got to split the Republicans and got to make sure that these people either don’t vote or they vote for Joe Biden with a statement that they’re there to preserve the democracy, they are patriots first and partisans last.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/03/28/scaramucci-we-have-to-make-sure-republicans-either-dont-vote-or-vote-for-biden/
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