A bill may be proposed by anyone but only a member of Congress, called the bill's sponsor, may introduce them on the floor of one of the houses of Congress. A bill may be introduced in both the Senate and House at the same time. In theory, this saves time over sending it though one house, then the other. In each house of Congress, a bill is sent to a committee. A committee studies the bill and recommends changes. If a committee does nothing, the bill is considered "dead". A committee may also add other unrelated provisions to a bill called amendments. Committees usually divide themselves into smaller groups called subcommittees. The bill's sponsors then try to convince the subcommittees to approve the bill. They do this through hearings. If the bill passes through a committee it is sent to the floor for debate and a vote. A bill may either be passed by be defeated. If passed, it is sent to the other house of Congress to follow the same procedures.
In addition to bills, Congress also passes Acts of Congress called resolutions. There are three kinds: simple resolutions, joint resolutions and concurrent resolutions.
These are resolutions concerning the operation of either house of Congress. They are not sent to the President for his approval. Resolutions by the House of Representatives which affect that house are designated "H.Res." followed by a number. Simple resolutions in the Senate are designated "S. Res." followed by a number.
A joint resolution may start either in the House or Senate. They are essentially the same as a bill. The only difference is a joint resolution that proposes an amendment to the US Constitution. They require a two-thirds majority vote in each house. Like a simple resolution, they are not sent to the President for his signature. They become effective when they are ratified by three-quarters of the states. A joint resolution that began in the House of Representatives is designated "H.J.Res." followed by the number. A joint resolution started in the Senate is designated "S.J.Res.", followed by the number. Joint resolutions become law the same as bills.
Concurrent resolutions start with either "S.Con.Res." (Senate) or "H.Con.Res." (House). They are numbered consecutively as they are introduced. Concurrent resolutions are those that affect the operations of both the House and Senate. They can also be used to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not sent to the president for his signature and do not have the force of law.
Jeff Weaver (political staffer)
Jeffrey "Jeff" P. Weaver (born 1966) is an American political adviser. He was the campaign manager for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign in 2016. Weaver served as the campaign manager during Bernie Sanders' successful Senate run in 2006. Weaver also served as chief of staff in Sanders’ House and Senate offices.
Weaver was born in St. Albans, Vermont. He studied at Boston University, the University of Vermont, and Georgetown University.
Asta Nielsen
Asta Nielsen (11 September 1881 – 24 May 1972) was a Danish silent movie actress. She was very popular in the 1910s. She was one of the first international movie stars. Nielsen was in 74 movies. 70 were in Germany where she was known simply as "Die Asta" ("The Asta"). She had large dark eyes, a face like a mask and a figure like a boy. Nielsen most often played strong and passionate women trapped by tragic lives. Her performances were erotic so Nielsen's movies were heavily censored in the United States. Therefore, she was not very famous there. Nielsen started her own movie studio in Berlin in the 1920s. She went back to Denmark in 1937 after Nazism became a problem. Later in life, Nielsen became a collage artist and an author.
F. Lee Bailey
Francis Lee Bailey Jr., commonly referred to as F. Lee Bailey, (June 10, 1933 – June 3, 2021) was an American criminal-defense lawyer. Bailey was born in Waltham, Massachusetts. He worked in Massachusetts and Florida.
Bailey represented Doctor Sam Sheppard on appeal after Sheppard was convicted of murdering his wife. Bailey managed to get Sheppard a retrial, in which Bailey was successful in getting Sheppard acquitted. Bailey was the lead lawyer in successfully defending in the court martial for the My Lai Massacre. Bailey, along with others, successfully defended O. J. Simpson in the trial where Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown.
In 2014, the Maine State Bar Association and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court denied Bailey's petition to have his law license reinstated.
Bailey died in Atlanta, Georgia on June 3, 2021, one week before his 88th birthday.
Stuffed animal fetishism
Stuffed animal fetishism (or "plushophilia") is a sexual attraction to stuffed animals. People who have this fetish are sometimes called "plushies". People who have a stuffed animal fetish are sometimes thought of as furries.
Albert Einstein Square
Albert Einstein Square (, "Kikar Albert Einstein") is a public square in Jerusalem, Israel. it is located in the entrance of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities at the Talbiya neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Albert Einstein visited Palestine in 1923 for 12 days. He gave the first lecture at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Einstein was in favor of the Hebrew University, as well as Zionism and education in general. This is the reason the square is named for him. Also, a statue of Einstein is nearby in the gardens of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Ratified on February 3, 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment (Amendment XVI) to the United States Constitution allows the Congress to impose a federal income tax. This allows the federal government to collect a tax on personal income, no matter where that income came from. The Sixteenth Amendment overturned the 1895 Supreme Court landmark decision in "Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co". In "Pollock", the Court ruled that a 2 percent tax on incomes over $4,000 was unconstitutional. This was because the law the ruling struck down did not allow for apportionment, the court ruled against it. The Sixteenth Amendment allowed Congress to levy a uniform direct income tax without being subject to apportionment.
When the framers of the Constitution were determining how the new government would be funded, they were trying to avoid a tax based on a person's income. In the Constitution, Article one, Sections 2 and 9 created the "rule of apportionment". On a practical basis this required Congress to tax the states based on each state's population instead of a tax on each person's income or property. For example, if a state made up four percent of the total population, they would be required to pay four percent of the total federal tax. The framers of the Constitution expected direct taxes to be used and defined the term broadly. However, they did not see that apportionment would cripple any attempt to collect direct taxes.
Before 1913, the bulk of federal revenues came from indirect taxes on goods. These include tariffs on goods imported into the country. They also included excise taxes on items like whiskey. Income taxes were not new in 1913. Congress had passed the Revenue Act of 1861 during the Civil War to help pay for the war. Ten years later it was allowed to lapse. The Confederate States of America also had an income tax. Starting in 1863, the tax exempted the first $1,000 and charged a 1% tax on the first $1,500 over the exemption. A 2% tax was levied on all income over that amount.
In 1894, Congress passed the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act which included a flat rate federal income tax of 2 percent. A year later, the Supreme Court handed down their decision in "Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.". They ruled the tax unconstitutional because it was a direct tax and not apportioned to the population of each state.
On June 16, 1909, President Taft sent a message to the Senate which read: