Is this just vandalism against a tree? Why would someone do this?

I'll add that this not a statement on whether the Senate should or should not end the filibuster, just to say that ideas about the Senate and its role have their own history that goes beyond the founding era.

you start to see that label applied to the Senate, with the filibuster and unlimited debate identified as the key ingredient to what made the Senate special in the Constitutional system. 3/

after the Speaker Reed stamped out minority obstruction in the House. In the 19th century, if one mentioned the "world's greatest deliberative body," they were usually talking about the House, not the Senate. After 1890, specifically after the fight over the Federal Elections Bill /2

With a payroll of $255 mil, Blues Jays maybe not quite David. Maybe a David armed with more than a rock?

With much less brain damage too.