why can't we have something better?

@BizSuitStacy i'm in favor of requiring a plebescite (direct public vote) for certain things. I'd start with higher taxes, raising the deficit cap, declarations of war . . .

@BizSuitStacy They vote themselves raises with tax-payer money, the greedy gobs. They have so many benefits that a typical American worker doesn’t get and still give themselves raises. In what other job besides being self employed can a person do that ???

@cherokeepatti congressional offices are (in part) staffed with unpaid volunteers. those who are paid often work more than 40 hours without overtime pay

@SusanInFlorida that’s a shame. Congress members get shuffled back and forth to the Capitol in limousines, they get all kinds of free perks….laws say that if they are given gifts worth over a certain amount of money it has to be declared and donated. They get around this law by letting the donor give them to their spouse. I have personally seen hundreds of works of art given to a former congressman’s wife and given by foreign heads of states and other dignitaries. A huge home full of donations and then was told that other homes that they collected were also filled with such works of art that were donated.

@cherokeepatti i dont care about works of art. its the suitcases of cash that cause problems

@SusanInFlorida well if they aren’t too shy to take all those works of art no telling how much cash they got. Last I heard this one has 6 homes including two in foreign countries, one in China and another in Rome. Had to get the cash somewhere to buy and maintain all of those homes not to mention flying back and forth to them and probably first class at that so they don’t have to sit next to the general public. and artworks are a way to launder money, some of those pieces were antiques

@cherokeepatti yeah i'd be super suspicious of a mansion in china. they're not exactly a reliable beacon of democracy and human rights

@SusanInFlorida Bingo! Confucius Institute was allowed on college campuses in the USA. they promoted China and also opened the door for spies to enter this country, which stole academic property and did other things. Believe there is a connection because this mansion in China was acquired about the same time the Confucius Institute showed up on campus.

@cherokeepatti plus, they line their pockets with bribes, make $$ off insider trading. So corrupt.

@cherokeepatti china is now opening "security offices" in the USA and canada to spy on and intimidate their citizens who live here. why we permit this i can't imagine.

@SusanInFlorida I live in Oklahoma and 4 Chinese nationals were executed at their worksite this week, and a fifth person was also shot but survived and identified the shooter, also Chinese. This happened at a Chinese owned medical marijuana grow center. Investigation is ongoing.

@cherokeepatti wow, i read that but didn't realize it was chinese. i assumed it was "gangstas"

@SusanInFlorida could have been, they arrested the suspect down in Florida already. There are Asian gangs in America. I audibly witnessed a shooting (no one was injured) during holiday break at my apartment complex one winter break 33 years ago. A lot of people heard it but I was told that I was the only person to call the police. I walked out and saw a police woman handcuffing the suspect, an Asian man, that I recognized visiting a neighbor woman several times. Chinese living above me told me he was having an affair with a married woman. The police asked me to fill a report they could use and I cooperated the next day. After I signed it the officer warned me that I should always look through the peep hole before opening my front door and if I saw any Asian men with tattoos on their arms to not open my door and to call 9-1-1. I asked him if he was in an Asian gang and he said they believed he was. The rest of my break was basically ruined. The police told me they wanted to prosecute him due to a history of violence after women had broken up with him and that they believed he would kill someone if he wasn’t dealt with. The police officer told me that the D.A. Was not wanting to take the campus police’s charges seriously so my report was important. It ended badly because the D.A. Refused to press charges.. The man found another girlfriend, and when she broke up with him only a few months after this incident he killed her and killed himself.