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| Reid: 'Time to change the Senate before this institution becomes obsolete' - NBCNews.com Posted: 21 Nov 2013 09:03 AM PST By Kasie Hunt and Carrie Dann , NBC News Senate Democrats were poised Thursday to change one of the chamber's most fundamental rules, a move which majority Democrats insisted was vital to clearing up a logjam of presidential nominees due to Republican obstruction. "It's time to change," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor as almost all members sat at their desks in the chamber. "It's time to change the Senate before this institution becomes obsolete." Reid asked for reconsideration of a vote on one of the previously blocked nominees, the first step in a process that could culminate in a vote on the rules change. That vote was 57-40, with three senators voting present. Senate Democrats, frustrated with the Republican votes to block several of President Barack Obama's appellate court picks, are trying to change the rules governing the chamber's approval of most presidential nominees by invoking the "nuclear option" – an often-threatened procedural move that would diminish the minority party's power. Republicans have vocally criticized the move as a radical change of Senate rules that are crafted to give the minority power to slow or stop overreach by the majority party. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the Democratic objections "a fake fight over judges who aren't even needed" and said Reid is trying to "break the rules to change the rules." McConnell argued that Republicans are merely using tactics pioneered by Democrats when the president's party was in the minority. The rule change – which Senate Majority Harry Reid would try to push through with only 51 votes instead of the two-thirds majority usually required to change Senate rules – would then allow all executive and judicial nominees other than Supreme Court picks to be approved with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote threshold. This higher threshold has increasingly become the norm for even the most mundane nomination fights in recent years, as the minority is allowed to insist that nominees clear the higher hurdle. This tactic makes confirmation more difficult for most of Obama's nominees "The Senate is a living thing, and to survive it must change, as it has over the history of this great country," Reid said. Republicans argue that Obama has picked judicial nominees who will uphold his agenda when White House-backed policies are challenged in court. And they warn that, if Reid muscles through the rule change, they will retaliate when they win back a majority in the Senate. "Some of us have been around here long enough to know that sometimes the shoe is on the other foot," McConnell said, telling Democrats "you may regret this a lot sooner than you think." The "nuclear option" threat may sound familiar to most Americans; similar crises have shaken the Senate four times in the last three years. But each time, the procedural bomb has been defused by eleventh-hour bipartisan negotiations. This time, Reid shows no signs of backing down, and he believes he has enough votes to push through the rule change. Vice President Joe Biden, who served in the Senate for over 30 years, told reporters Thursday that he supported the change. But Biden was notably not on Capitol Hill; he made the comments during a visit to a D.C. eatery. NBC's Mike O'Brien contributed. |
| Who shot JFK? 6 conspiracy theories - USA TODAY Posted: 21 Nov 2013 08:44 AM PST Five decades after the death of President John F. Kennedy, many still don't agree with the official record that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman in his assassination. Here are some of the most talked about conspiracy theories surrounding his death: 1) The CIA The Central Intelligence Agency may have played a role in his death. The motive? The CIA was upset about the changes being made within the agency after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. The CIA also did not want Kennedy to discharge CIA agents for disagreeing with him. Other theories pin the assassination on a rogue cell of the CIA or an agency contract killer gone rogue. JFK'S DEATH: Case not closed for many The theory of forensic historian Patrick Nolan, whose book CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys asserts four high-level agents planned the shooting and three fired four shots in Dallas that day. 2) The Mafia The Mafia may have killed Kennedy for several reasons. One being that the Mob was angry with brother Robert Kennedy efforts to crack down on organized crime. Another involves a theory that the Mafia was working with anti-Castro exile groups that were trying to take down JFK. A LOOK BACK: The moments before JFK's death 3) The Soviets The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 gave the Soviet security agency KGB very good reasons not to like Kennedy. Many say Oswald had a fascination with Russia after marrying a Russian woman, and he may have been acting as a KGB operative. READ: Ex-Secret Service agent opens up about JFK's killing 4) Lyndon Johnson Author Craig Zirbel argues that Vice President Johnson was motivated by political gain to organize Kennedy's assassination. Kennedy and Johnson had many political differences and personal issues. (Johnson may have been taken off of the Democratic ticket for Kennedy's re-election in 1964). MORE: Conspiracy theorist points finger at LBJ The argument goes that Johnson's financial scandal and desire to be president served as possible reasons. Since Kennedy was visiting Texas, Johnson's home state, it seemed logical that Johnson could been involved. His associates also controlled many of the trip's details. HONORING JFK: Obama, Clinton Pay Tribute 5) Two shooters The idea that there could have been a second shooter has been discussed often in intellectual circles. Some believe the shooter was hiding on a grassy knoll behind a picket fence that was located to the right of JFK's vehicle. Oswald could have fired a first shot from his perch in the Bookstore Depository, and then a second shooter fired. 6) The debunked umbrella man theory Bill O'Reilly reported for WFSB that a man fired a dart from the tip of his umbrella at JFK. Theorists believed the umbrella man shot Kennedy in the neck. The theory was debunked in the late 1970s. |
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