Senator Dianne Feinstein’s career was filled with firsts, including first woman mayor of San Francisco and one of two of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate from California.

  • TallonMetroid@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Not to celebrate her death, but fucking finally. The woman was literally older than the Golden Gate Bridge and had no business being in government at her age. She should’ve retired with some dignity decades ago.

    • dhork@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The woman was literally older than the Golden Gate Bridge

      I was about to mock you for being hyperbolic but then looked it up. She was born a few months after construction started in 1933, and the bridge opened in 1937. So she was literally older than the bridge.

  • Thunderdonk4444@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I don’t understand why not retire. She held on to that seat till the bitter end, for what?

    She could have had time with her family and we could have had a seamless replacement. Instead, she got to die at work (basically) and there is a hole in representation right as the government is about to shut down.

    I wonder how this will impact the gov shutdown results

    • DoctorTYVM@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I don’t think she had full control of her faculties near the end. Her handlers and power of attorney should have forced her to retire but they didn’t.

      • Chariotwheel@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, she’s been clearly a barely functioning wreck, propped up by people who needed her power. It was quite sad.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        The party wanted it controlled, prop her up till a moderate could be appointed, because a progressive can win Cali.

          • lolrightythen@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            This is the DNC we’re talking about. They don’t want folk too progressive. They want neoliberal moderates.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            For Cali?

            Yeah…

            But regardless, the best thing for Cali that she’s gone, is they get a fucking choice in who replaces her. The party “picking” someone to hold that seat for the next couple decades and be more Conservative than Cali voters should be an obvious problem.

            But for some reason I doubt anyone will be able to explain that to you in a way you understand…

            • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              Gavin Newsome has gone on record stating he’s going to pick a placeholder to keep the seat warm instead of one of the major contenders for the seat, like Schiff.

              And I don’t see why you’re being a rude asshole. If you want, you can speak like an adult and we can have a decent conversation. But if you insist on being a prick, then I can just start insulting you right back if you prefer.

              • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Gavin Newsome has gone on record stating he’s going to pick a placeholder to keep the seat warm instead of one of the major contenders for the seat, like Schiff.

                Because in all likelihood he’s going to run for it…

                It’s not altruism, it’s selfishness.

                And I’m not even getting into the rest of what he said that made his statement problematic.

                But calling someone rude for being sarcastic and then going on a rant with personal insults…

                Yeah, you said like a neoliberal bud. Which explains why you don’t see any issues with what Newsome is doing

                • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  Dude, you heavily implied I was an idiot. All because I came into this not having assumed the conclusion that Gavin Newsome is some evil, power mad puppet master.

                  You fucking people in the Always Online Lefty Left can be just so goddamn insufferable. It’s like you’re absolutely committed to ensuring that no one can reasonably talk to someone who has a mildly divergent opinion. God, imagine being such a tool that you can’t be comfortable in a political coalition with someone as progressive as Newsome. How the fuck do you clowns propose to win an election when you’re running around pretending he and anyone he agrees with is a “neoliberal”

      • winterayars@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Her handlers were enjoying making all the decisions and running her Senate office for her, wheeling her around and playing weekend at Bernie’s. I’d say it was abuse but tbh it’s what she deserved and probably what she wanted anyway.

      • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
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        8 months ago

        Yep, and now there are a bunch of parasites that are out of a job and pissed off most of the people that could hire them by trying to perpetuate a farce. I don’t understand what their endgame was.

    • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
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      9 months ago

      Nancy Pelosi wants someone to replace her, Gavin Newsom wants someone else. Nancy Pelosi wanted her to stay in office until the next election.

      It’s all just a game to these kinds of people.

      • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        Newsom has been clear that he’s appointing someone as a placeholder so as not to interfere in next year’s Senate race by giving one of the actual contenders (Schiff, Porter, or Lee) the advantage of incumbency. But I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi, being Nancy Pelosi, would prefer the Party put their finger on the scale for the candidate leadership wants (which is probably 77 year-old Barabra Lee)

        • dhork@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Schiff, Porter, or Lee

          Aren’t they all in the House right now? Appointing one of them is a mixed bag, because it also leaves their House seat vacant until a special election is held, and Democrats need every vote they can get there. House seats can’t be filled with temporary appointments like Senate seats can.

        • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
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          9 months ago

          Pelosi wants Adam Schiff. Newsom stated he wants a black woman (bc ofc he cares about identity politics) in the interim, likely Lee. Pelosi doesn’t want Lee since she’s more progressive than Schiff.

          The temporary choice will have a massive leg up as an incumbent in the next election.

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Senators don’t work that much. She had plenty of time with her family. She didn’t retire because she made lots of money being a centrist senator in a safe seat with enough seniority to do whatever she wanted.

      This won’t impact the shutdown at all, since the House republicans want a shutdown.

      Now Newsom will appoint a moderate black woman who will provide the optics without causing chaos. You might think that sounds cynical, but that’s exactly what Newsom already promised to do.

    • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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      9 months ago

      Because of her senority, she was one of the leaders of the party. I agree these elderly politicians need to retire, but that means at best they get replaced by a freshman senator of the same party with no political power. It’s the same reason why McConnell hasn’t retired even though he can’t finish a speech without zonking out and being whisked away by his handlers.

    • snooggums@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      You mention family and smoother governance, but to some people their work connections are more important to them than their families and she could have thought that resigning would have been less smooth than trying to finish out the term.

      Those things are possible, but I really think that her identity was being a senator and she didn’t want to give that up.

      • Infynis@midwest.social
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        9 months ago

        …her identity was being a senator and she didn’t want to give that up.

        Fuck her then. It’s the US Senate, not daddy’s law firm. No one should be in the Senate just because it makes them feel important. The job is too important for that.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      We need a complete overhaul of our political party system.

      Both parties decided that seniority = power, and if you’ll always have more next year, it’s never a good time to step aside.

      With a “bonus” that younger generations never get the experience till they’re also old as shit. The parties have no reason to change, because they’re ran by the most senior people.

      Parties have far too much influence considering they’re not officially part of the government. And the current state of shit is why a lot of founding fathers were against them. I think Jefferson or Franklin wanted to explicitly forbade them

    • RelativeArea0@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      I think the reason why US went with officials can still “serve” even dead is to avoid political killings (or to avoid a loophole in “justice system”, just like mitch mcconnell who is probably acting having a seizure on his live speeches to avoid heavy charges because he knows the fed knows he has a huge role with trump shenanigans annnnnd unfortunately, it is challenging to press charges against persons who has “mental” illness and stroke can be considered as one).

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Yeah that was like 30 years overdue. She’s not an “icon for women in politics”, she’s an obstructionist sack of shit whose stubbornness left her own constituents with nothing to hope for other than her death.

    GTFO before you become useless.

    Good riddance.

  • Ertebolle@kbin.socialOP
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    9 months ago

    I feel bad that she spent her final few years Weekend At Bernie’s-ing for her staff instead of getting to retire + relax a bit.

    • chaogomu@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Dementia patients rarely admit they have dementia, even when they struggle to put a full sentence together. It’s depressing to watch.

        • chaogomu@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          Look at Trump’s current unhinged nonsense on his little twitter clone. In the last two years, it’s gotten progressively worse.

          • thepianistfroggollum@lemmynsfw.com
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            9 months ago

            All you have to do is look up an interview with him in the early 2000s. He was still a self absorbed asshole, but at least he could form complete sentences.

      • dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        This is my grandma. She got tested a few years ago, but refused to tell anyone the results. It’s so sad. Now then though my mom wants to move she’s stuck taking care of her and grandpa.

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Watching my parents age, now into their 80s, they’re only just now starting to admit that, maybe, they’re not as smart, agile, and capable as ever. Chronic kidney disease, COPD, metastatic cancers… No blatant signs of dementia, but it’s a struggle to explain new concepts or devices to them. I think it’s just hard for people who’ve been strong, independent people all their lives to accommodate a world in which they can’t carry 25 pounds or deviate from habits engrained over 20 years. It’s got to be even harder for a politician or oligarch surrounded by sycophants. Harder still when the brain loses its capacity for logic.

      • GreenMario@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Aging sucks… that’s why I plan to Kurt Cobain at 50. There is nothing good about being old. Only the healthcare Oligarchs benefit.

  • randon31415@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Feinstein dies in office, Carter enters month 9 of hospice surrounded by family. I know which way I would want.

  • robocall@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    May all the 80+ year old senators and congress members take note at how many people are celebrating Feinstein’s death today.

  • Fafner@yiffit.net
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    9 months ago

    This just in: It appears that while Laying in State, the deceased senator was seen rising from her coffin and returning to her seat. Sources in her office say this is a sign she has successfully completed her ritual to transform herself into a Lich.

  • Smacks@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    SENATOR?!?! Woman is 90 and is a Senator?! Jesus Christ can we stop voting these dinos

    • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      She was incoherent while “working” just a few weeks ago if that. The video was online.

      Maybe she could have been an icon. But instead her legacy is that of a greedy asshole who made shady stock deals and held her political power far too long - to the detriment of her constituents.