We seem to have entered an era in which impeachment is just another arrow in the quivers of opposing political parties. Kevin McCarthy’s announcement yesterday that House Republicans will begin impeachment hearings on Joe Biden, without a shred of evidence that he has done anything impeachable, was a surprise to exactly no one. I will make an argument in a separate column that it shouldn’t worry Democrats and might even help President Biden as the year goes on. But for now, not even the report of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Diet Coke and Halibut dinner with Defendant Trump at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during which she reportedly told him the impeachment investigation will be “long and excruciatingly painful for Joe Biden,” was new. After all, it was Kevin “Sell My Soul For a Nickel” McCarthy who said this of the endless Benghazi hearings intended to roast Hillary Clinton on a spit: “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?
McCarthy's an evolutionary anomaly - a worm that walks on 2 legs. Although, as an acquittance just named her, the blonde hyena may have him crawling on all fours very soon.
Oh yes. And check news articles over the past few days (WAPO, Salon, the Guardian UK, etc) -- some reporters are all over what's going on in Wisconsin, where the Republican legislature is threatening to IMPEACH our newly elected state supreme court judge who was backed by the Democratic establishment and activists, won in a landslide, has yet to even hear a case, but the GOP that has benefited so much from the state's outrageous gerrymandering is gaming the rules to sideline her and preserve their gerrymandered districts. This is a pure power play made possible only because they control both houses of the lege with veto-proof majorities. They want to hamstring the Wisconsin Supreme Court despite the will of the electorate. It's beyond shameless.
It is shameless to be sure, but not especially new. The Rethugs only accept the results of an election if they win. For a while they only whined and complained about it, never accepting the person who won (e.g., Bill Clinton, Obama, Biden), but never used tactics such as these planned for Wisconsin. Voter suppression seemed to help them for a while, but now with rational voters more alert to what’s going on and turning out in bigger numbers voter suppression isn’t working so well. With gerrymandering now on the line their next move is to find ways to ignore elections entirely, or try to do away with them. They have become an insurgency, and the ends justify the means. They have revealed themselves to be the fascists that they are, and aren’t trying to hide it anymore.
I see immediately after posting that you got here first, it does seem glaringly obvious, so how long until the "Both Sides Do It" gibberish from too many media outlets takes account of it?
Its where the Repubs take something they decried when the democrats did it and now piously declare that its a "Rule" established by the Dems. Trump speaking today supporting the Biden impeachment claiming that they are just following the precedent set by Dems. Their new party plank should just be "They did it to us first." True patriots.
I guess we can confidently state that this country has arrived at the stage where the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of one fundamental conclusion: any half-way powerful Republican, on any level of American politics, is working from a stance that is conceptually indistinguishable from authoritarianism.
Some are just more rabid and less constrained by any self-respect, or respect for the rule of law and democratic norms, that's all.
Yesterday Wisconsin Republicans in the legislature decided they want to “work together” to come up with a new map. The map would be drawn by a non-partisan group that works for the legislature. Governor Evers shut this idea down right away. Robin Vos cannot grasp the fact that he’s on his way out of power. It cannot happen soon enough. https://apnews.com/article/e7dfd0155af2c80cdec44f25d0d7b67e
Thanks for the link, will read it now! I wonder what this is all about -- a surprise flanking maneuver. My worry is that the GOP has the power to railroad us voters and I don't know what or how we can respond? Fixing the district gerrymandering is key to undoing this one-party misrule, but these creeps are determined to preserve their power and are defying anyone to stop them, best I can tell. What's the recourse if they start knocking off justices they don't approve of? Who's next, the governor?
I wish some intrepid reporter would dig into what McCarthy actually DOES all day. For that matter, what do any of these braying jack...es do besides dress themselves and seek out the nearest camera or microphone. I am serious about this. WHAT is their actual JOB?
Their actual job? What are you, a starry eyed idealist, Ellen? Their version of "public service" - and with the ex-Yogurt franchise owner - manager Kevin "Banana Back" McCarthy THIRD in succession to the GD presidency, this really matters, their version is to pretend to be conducting serious public business that affects millions of Americans and millions of hapless others around the planet, that's it!
Fake being serious and so deeply concerned about Clinton, and now Biden, posing a threat to the American way of life and all that is sacred, that you can even tell everyone the investigations aim at crippling their ability to work for their agenda, because THE END JUSTFIES THE MEANS, POLITICS AIN'T BEAN BAG, CAN'T STAND THE HEAT GET OUTTA THE KITCHEN, WE ARE REPUBLICANS THEREFORE WE ARE ALWAYS CORRECT AND OUR OPPONENTS ALWAYS WRONG...etc. etc. etc.
I think you’re right, the circular firing squad of dimwits are more likely to wing each other, learning nothing while they’re bleeding.
Thank you for taking this apart in a way that’s gotten me a little further down from the edge. Your piece on WWIII had obliterated hope for the little ones in the last few days. Because it made sense.
I still cannot quite believe we are witnessing government as a circus act, and I would give anything to know where Speaker(!) McCarthy's balls were stashed.
As for Mr. T. writing "recall frenz," is this a great new word, or a typo?
LOL. Your search for Mr. McCarthy's stones, well, pebbles, brings to mind Melissa McCarthy's INCREDIBLE scene in "The Heat," in which she, a Boston cop, loudly and theatrically "looks" for her commanding officer's testicles, at one point turning to the room of detectives and explaining, "If you've ever seen a mouse ball, about half that size."
Your mouse ball reference takes me to a Boston Harvard Club story from a Squash player there. It is about a great MA. Senator who unfortunately was a drinker and womanizer.
It was said, from locker room observation, that said Senator "was hung like a mouse."
Yikes! On the positive side (look for the silver lining), perhaps less "stuff" produced to splash on, say, a blue dress, or what was worn in Bergdorf Goodman, or if it were the case of an infamous Hollywood producer, not much to moisten potted plants.
The glass that is half-full in this particular instance isn't even as large as a "pony shot," one-ounce only. But hey, it's not just how big a taw is in a game of marbles, but what a mibster can do with it. Mumbles McCarthy (why elevate him to "Speaker"?) is clearly a loser at "keepsies."
We have normalized chaos and the Republicans have figured out distraction
Is a very effective tactic in a populace conditioned to propaganda and dog whistles.
Recent poll says 61% of voters “believe” Joe Biden “profited from Hunter’s business dealings. No proof only assertions from Fox and the MTG wing of the GOP. When the degree of willful ignorance is that great we must all begin to accept the very real possibility our participative democracy is on a death watch.
We have to double - no triple down - on education: history, reading, the sciences. Critical thinking. World religion. No subsidies for religious-affiliated schools. Separation of church and state. Maybe have a year of international travel for high school seniors. This isn’t brain surgery. Let’s insist our legislators pay attention to offering our children a solid education. An open internet. Open libraries. Theater. The arts. Our country is worth fighting for. Worth insisting we do better. Not just bread and circuses for the masses.
Toss in 12-18 months of service, whether at the state, or national level. After age 18 add the option of international service. No exceptions. Some of the time can be served during summers while in high school/prep school with the remainder beginning a week or 2 after the graduation date whether one graduates or not.
Thanks for the chuckles Lucian, with a punch line that got got me twice. Once from each direction.
What happens at an impeachment inquiry if nobody arrives, not even the documents?
Their subpoenas won't work and McCarthy's entire enquiry process is invalid, thanks to Nancy Pelosi. As I read in Robert B. Hubbell's "Todays Edition Newsletter" substack today.
"Per Politico,
In January 2020, the Donald Trump-led Justice Department formally declared that impeachment inquiries by the House are invalid unless the chamber takes formal votes to authorize them.
That opinion — issued by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel — came in response to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into Trump without initially holding a vote for it. Not only is it still on the books, it is binding on the current administration as it responds to Tuesday’s announcement by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to authorize an impeachment inquiry into Biden, again without a vote."
Rs/cons don't engage in due diligence, actual research, or have a scintilla of respect for any type of precedent. They wing everything, begin with a desired outcome, then go about searching for wet spaghetti to throw at it.
Obligated to say Hunter Biden was a piece of work. So much so it's hard to fathom him cutting in anyone to financial gains. Easy to imagine him cutting people out, though. Likkur and dope will do that.
Sadly, see him during his bad days as an I, I, I, me, me, me jamoke. Truly brought shame onto his ancestors and painted a bulls-eye on his Father.
Soon the media will be debating whether it's easier to indict a ham sammie or impeach one.
This is going to become House Speaker's Kevin McCarthy' is nadir. McCarthy is the weakest and most inconsequential Speaker of the House of Representatives that I have seen in my lifetime. Forty years ago, when I was still a part of the federal civil service, my duty station was in Cambridge Massachusetts, where I was the Regional Attorney for what is now the Federal Transit Administration's administrative Region 1. My office was right in the heart of then-Speaker Thomas P. O'Neil's Congressional District. Tip O'Neill was one of the most consequential Speakers of the House of Representatives in my lifetime. He was the public face of the House of Representatives, third in line in the presidential line of succession, just behind the Vice President, should both he and the President die or become disabled during their terms of office. Although elected on a partisan basis, simply by virtue of his party having a majority of the votes in the House, the Speaker is expected to represent the interests of all members of the House of Representatives vis-à-vis other branches of government, and to be a fair administrator of the rules of the House. The Constitution does not require the Speaker to be an elected member of the House of Representatives; in theory, anyone could be the Speaker. Throughout American history, the Speakership has been occupied by men and women of extraordinary talent, and political sagacity. That is, at least until now. In this century, Republican Speakers of the House of Representatives have universally failed to demonstrate the kind of leadership and competency that were characteristic of their forebears in the 19th and 20th Centuries, in managing the peoples' business in the House of Representatives. Newt Gingrich destroyed the concept of bipartisanship within the House membership by engaging in relentless partisan warfare that resulted in the shutting down of the American government for the first time ever. Gingrich's successor Dennis Hastert continued to promote hardline Republican partisanship, thus thwarting bipartisan compromise, until Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006; John Boehner, who succeeded Nancy Pelosi in 2011, endure the frustration of having an increasingly volatile and right wing Republican contingent to deal with, culminating in him resigning his speakership in September 2015. Boehner was followed by Paul Ryan, who served until January 3, 2019. It was during that time that the Republican majority in Congress became increasingly radical, led by its fractious so-called Freedom Caucus. This period of time coincided with Donald Trump's election to the presidency. The Republican party became 'the party of No'.
With the Democratic Party losing control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, Kevin McCarthy became Speaker of the House of Representatives, but only after an agonizing 15 votes in which the new Republican majority failed to elect one of their own as Speaker of the House of Representatives.Kevin McCarthy gain his speakership by a hair's breadth, and only after compromising away his power as speaker to the now out-of-control Freedom Caucus, and we see the effects of that debacle every day. McCarthy's speakership has been reduced to a mere figurehead status, unable to forge compromises with the Democratic minority in the House, and with the actual House leadership increasingly out of touch with reality. Their attempts to smear the reputation of President Joe Biden border on the ridiculous. None of them have been able to articulate any set of facts that constitute the three criteria specified in the Constitution for conducting an impeachment of the president: treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. What they have is the president's younger son who fell on hard times and mismanaged his personal life and career. No one has alleged, much less proved, that the president engaged in the kind of incessant grifting and corruption that became the hallmark of the Trump administration. No facts. No theory of the case. Nothing to tie the president to any illicit deal or scheme generated by his son Hunter Biden, and for certain, none of the receipts, i.e., the paper trail that would prove their case.
Donald Trump has continued to denounce the two prior impeachments brought against him for misusing his power of office, in the case of providing arms to Ukraine to ward off the Russian threat; and for Trump's well proven participation in the planning and execution of the January 6 insurrection, which almost ended the peaceful transition of power in United States, and was intended as a coup d'état to keep Trump in office. That proof was the report to the American people prepared by the House of Representatives Select Committee On the January 6 Insurrection, whose televised hearings firmly established Trump's culpability in that event.
Kevin McCarthy and his radical Republican cohort's attempt to create a counter-narrative centered around Hunter Biden is going to end in failure. What it will do is remind people that the Democrats have already proved their case, and that the three pending trials of Trump, and his co-conspirators, are the real deal.
Your delicious last line: LOL. Plus, when you *do* have cable, and throw in the equivalent of Emeril's "Bam!" seasoning in the form of social media...are MAGAmites snorting MSG? I'm a little surprised to learn from you that Kevin McCarthy has courageously raised the price of his Soul to a nickel. I thought he was a ha'penny kind of guy. And since you brought up one of the reasons first generation feminists can sometimes be seen muttering into their Ovaltine --- that is, Marjorie Taylor Greene --- I commend to you and your readers the New York Post article on Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and her squeeze being thrown out of a musical production for making noise and vaping. Not to be *too* much of an objectivist male pig, but the photos of Boebert overflowing her dress give full meaning to H.L. Mencken's coined word, booboisie.
There's a new version of the fabric: Kevin's Kev-i-liar, the only completely flexible protective fabric, advertised as especially effective for kneepads. It's being marketed by Matt Mounts, also DBA Gaetz Gets, which provides services better left to the imagination.
Such irony, with all the recalls for petty cause, that fraudster NY congressman George Santos can be unseated only by unelection next time. Meanwhile, the impeachment the Wisconsin GOP is mulling over for a newly elected state supreme court justice is a different kind of extreme—in effect a recall before Janet Protasiewicz is even sworn in if she refuses to bend to their will on cases that could affect their reelection.
If you need a reminder that the Republican party’s problem with democracy extends beyond the antics of Donald Trump, look no further than Wisconsin. A battle is under way there which began before the January 6 insurrection was even a twinkle in Trump’s eye, and which will do much to determine the future of democracy in America whether Trump ultimately answers for his crimes or not. It’s no exaggeration to say that Wisconsin and its state capitol, Madison, are now the front line of the battle to save American democracy.
In 2011, Republicans gerrymandered Wisconsin’s state legislature so badly that the party can win supermajorities despite losing the popular vote, as it did in 2018. Voters have fought back, and earlier this year they elected Janet Protasiewicz to the state supreme court, ushering in a new liberal majority which looked poised to finally overturn the gerrymander and bring democratic regime change to Madison.
But Wisconsin Republicans have no intention of seeing their undeserved power slip away. They’re proposing to impeach Protasiewicz on spurious charges before she has ruled on a single case, paralyzing the court and leaving the gerrymander intact.
When Trump argued that he was the real winner of the election because the votes of people living in Democratic-leaning urban areas were somehow fraudulent and should not count, he was repeating arguments that Wisconsin Republicans had already honed. The speaker of the state assembly, Robin Vos, has explained that the state’s gerrymander is fair because “if you took Madison and Milwaukee out of the state election formula, we would have a clear majority”. Because Madison and Milwaukee are the parts of the state with the largest concentration of non-white voters, Vos has revealed what the Wisconsin gerrymander is really about: race.
There is a long history in the United States of skewed electoral systems being used to suppress the voices of minority voters, and Wisconsin’s is only the latest example. Like their predecessors in other states, Wisconsin Republicans have been remarkably frank about their intention of ensuring that minorities stay in their place. When Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers powered to victory in 2018 with massive wins in Madison and Milwaukee, the Republican legislature used a lame-duck session to strip him of much of his power. Not content with that, Evers’ Republican opponent in 2022, Tim Michels, promised that if he was elected then Republicans in Wisconsin “will never lose another election”. *****
I believe it was P01135890 hisself that said something to the effect that if you don't change these election laws, republicans will never WIN another election. I guess the reuplicants took that to heart.
"That what you get when you don't have anything else useful to do."
Because the GOP doesn't have anything to do-except lose elections, and they're doing their best to lose the next big one by impeaching Biden for nothing he's done but rather for what they haven't done.
While looking for an appropriate quote on mistakes I found one even better:
"Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error" - Cicero
Which is all we have to say about this group of ninnies.
Let me see if I can locate the astounding bar band Duke Tumatoe and the All-Star Frogs' song on that, generally followed in their sets I believe with another R&B classic in the same spirit....
The interwebs has just about every song and band imaginable, after all...
Oh YEAH, and this rocks, barks like a dog, and has Duke's Gibson Les Paul quacking fer ackshun with the dancing crowd singing the refrain of this hilariously silly song...
The Recalls of New Jersey cracked me up. It would make a fine musical, perhaps with the intrepid, increasingly bewildered New York Times reporter in the starring role. Too bad Eugène Ionesco isn't around to write the book.
I'm currently rereading Jane Mayer's DARK MONEY, about how the Kochs and other filthy-rich billionaires set out to get rid of any government that could infringe on their property rights. I look at the current crop of Republicans and wonder if this was what the Kochs et al. had in mind. Again -- where is the Ionesco who could do justice to all this? Or maybe we don't need a playwright when it's happening in real life.
If the link works it leads straight to Charles Koch, now wonder this story has been "buried" and it takes a fearless, dogged, incredibly stubborn investigative journalist like Palast to follow the money and publicize the results as widely as possible.
Link fails search terms are Charles Koch Greg Palast Osage Indians (literally murdered for their Oklahoma lands with bountiful oil...leading to Koch)
Hey looks like the link works, you'll want to read this, ancillary to Jane Mayer's book, btw, isn't she great? Heard her on Fresh Air a bunch of times in interviews with Terry Gross and Dave Davies.
McCarthy's an evolutionary anomaly - a worm that walks on 2 legs. Although, as an acquittance just named her, the blonde hyena may have him crawling on all fours very soon.
She's auditioning for the vp position on all fours.
Maybe she's trying to get in line to be the new Melania
"Say hello to my little friend!"
Double ick!
oh no, Greg...now I have a picture in my head I can't unsee.
Ick!
before that, she should learn how to pronounce words like "solemnity." otherwise, somebody's gonna catch her out for massive stupidity.
And she had better watch out for whatever Bill Gates is cooking up in his “peach tree” dishes!
"blonde hyena" <dead>
"That’s what you get when you do have cable." MIC DROP-perfect ending to the story.
I don’t watch TV. Glad to see I’m making the right decision. I get by great with MSNBC podcasts and reading my news.
Kevin I'm NO tv now for 68 months. And never really watched much since 1954. And dont do Podcasts and videos.
But i do read about 8 hours a day.
Oh yes. And check news articles over the past few days (WAPO, Salon, the Guardian UK, etc) -- some reporters are all over what's going on in Wisconsin, where the Republican legislature is threatening to IMPEACH our newly elected state supreme court judge who was backed by the Democratic establishment and activists, won in a landslide, has yet to even hear a case, but the GOP that has benefited so much from the state's outrageous gerrymandering is gaming the rules to sideline her and preserve their gerrymandered districts. This is a pure power play made possible only because they control both houses of the lege with veto-proof majorities. They want to hamstring the Wisconsin Supreme Court despite the will of the electorate. It's beyond shameless.
It is shameless to be sure, but not especially new. The Rethugs only accept the results of an election if they win. For a while they only whined and complained about it, never accepting the person who won (e.g., Bill Clinton, Obama, Biden), but never used tactics such as these planned for Wisconsin. Voter suppression seemed to help them for a while, but now with rational voters more alert to what’s going on and turning out in bigger numbers voter suppression isn’t working so well. With gerrymandering now on the line their next move is to find ways to ignore elections entirely, or try to do away with them. They have become an insurgency, and the ends justify the means. They have revealed themselves to be the fascists that they are, and aren’t trying to hide it anymore.
I see immediately after posting that you got here first, it does seem glaringly obvious, so how long until the "Both Sides Do It" gibberish from too many media outlets takes account of it?
Its where the Repubs take something they decried when the democrats did it and now piously declare that its a "Rule" established by the Dems. Trump speaking today supporting the Biden impeachment claiming that they are just following the precedent set by Dems. Their new party plank should just be "They did it to us first." True patriots.
SMH...
😰😡😱
I guess we can confidently state that this country has arrived at the stage where the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of one fundamental conclusion: any half-way powerful Republican, on any level of American politics, is working from a stance that is conceptually indistinguishable from authoritarianism.
Some are just more rabid and less constrained by any self-respect, or respect for the rule of law and democratic norms, that's all.
Yesterday Wisconsin Republicans in the legislature decided they want to “work together” to come up with a new map. The map would be drawn by a non-partisan group that works for the legislature. Governor Evers shut this idea down right away. Robin Vos cannot grasp the fact that he’s on his way out of power. It cannot happen soon enough. https://apnews.com/article/e7dfd0155af2c80cdec44f25d0d7b67e
Thanks for the link, will read it now! I wonder what this is all about -- a surprise flanking maneuver. My worry is that the GOP has the power to railroad us voters and I don't know what or how we can respond? Fixing the district gerrymandering is key to undoing this one-party misrule, but these creeps are determined to preserve their power and are defying anyone to stop them, best I can tell. What's the recourse if they start knocking off justices they don't approve of? Who's next, the governor?
I wish some intrepid reporter would dig into what McCarthy actually DOES all day. For that matter, what do any of these braying jack...es do besides dress themselves and seek out the nearest camera or microphone. I am serious about this. WHAT is their actual JOB?
Their actual job? What are you, a starry eyed idealist, Ellen? Their version of "public service" - and with the ex-Yogurt franchise owner - manager Kevin "Banana Back" McCarthy THIRD in succession to the GD presidency, this really matters, their version is to pretend to be conducting serious public business that affects millions of Americans and millions of hapless others around the planet, that's it!
Fake being serious and so deeply concerned about Clinton, and now Biden, posing a threat to the American way of life and all that is sacred, that you can even tell everyone the investigations aim at crippling their ability to work for their agenda, because THE END JUSTFIES THE MEANS, POLITICS AIN'T BEAN BAG, CAN'T STAND THE HEAT GET OUTTA THE KITCHEN, WE ARE REPUBLICANS THEREFORE WE ARE ALWAYS CORRECT AND OUR OPPONENTS ALWAYS WRONG...etc. etc. etc.
They're protecting their phoney baloney jobs!
Not to mention their benefits!!!
I think you’re right, the circular firing squad of dimwits are more likely to wing each other, learning nothing while they’re bleeding.
Thank you for taking this apart in a way that’s gotten me a little further down from the edge. Your piece on WWIII had obliterated hope for the little ones in the last few days. Because it made sense.
I still cannot quite believe we are witnessing government as a circus act, and I would give anything to know where Speaker(!) McCarthy's balls were stashed.
As for Mr. T. writing "recall frenz," is this a great new word, or a typo?
LOL. Your search for Mr. McCarthy's stones, well, pebbles, brings to mind Melissa McCarthy's INCREDIBLE scene in "The Heat," in which she, a Boston cop, loudly and theatrically "looks" for her commanding officer's testicles, at one point turning to the room of detectives and explaining, "If you've ever seen a mouse ball, about half that size."
Your mouse ball reference takes me to a Boston Harvard Club story from a Squash player there. It is about a great MA. Senator who unfortunately was a drinker and womanizer.
It was said, from locker room observation, that said Senator "was hung like a mouse."
Oooo...thank you for that belly guffaw I just emitted...thankfully, my cuppa tea was safely down on the desk and I had none in my mouth.
Thank heavens about the tea!
Yikes! On the positive side (look for the silver lining), perhaps less "stuff" produced to splash on, say, a blue dress, or what was worn in Bergdorf Goodman, or if it were the case of an infamous Hollywood producer, not much to moisten potted plants.
You are certainly a glass-half-full guy! Good on ya'.
The glass that is half-full in this particular instance isn't even as large as a "pony shot," one-ounce only. But hey, it's not just how big a taw is in a game of marbles, but what a mibster can do with it. Mumbles McCarthy (why elevate him to "Speaker"?) is clearly a loser at "keepsies."
Y can’t we all just be frenz?
We have normalized chaos and the Republicans have figured out distraction
Is a very effective tactic in a populace conditioned to propaganda and dog whistles.
Recent poll says 61% of voters “believe” Joe Biden “profited from Hunter’s business dealings. No proof only assertions from Fox and the MTG wing of the GOP. When the degree of willful ignorance is that great we must all begin to accept the very real possibility our participative democracy is on a death watch.
We have to double - no triple down - on education: history, reading, the sciences. Critical thinking. World religion. No subsidies for religious-affiliated schools. Separation of church and state. Maybe have a year of international travel for high school seniors. This isn’t brain surgery. Let’s insist our legislators pay attention to offering our children a solid education. An open internet. Open libraries. Theater. The arts. Our country is worth fighting for. Worth insisting we do better. Not just bread and circuses for the masses.
Toss in 12-18 months of service, whether at the state, or national level. After age 18 add the option of international service. No exceptions. Some of the time can be served during summers while in high school/prep school with the remainder beginning a week or 2 after the graduation date whether one graduates or not.
Reporter was Michael Winerip, November 1984. The lede: “Just because I called someone a fat pig, we’re in this whole mess,” said Edith Perlman.
I knew the Times put somebody good on the story, or there wouldn't have been one published. Thanks for finding it.
Thanks for the chuckles Lucian, with a punch line that got got me twice. Once from each direction.
What happens at an impeachment inquiry if nobody arrives, not even the documents?
Their subpoenas won't work and McCarthy's entire enquiry process is invalid, thanks to Nancy Pelosi. As I read in Robert B. Hubbell's "Todays Edition Newsletter" substack today.
"Per Politico,
In January 2020, the Donald Trump-led Justice Department formally declared that impeachment inquiries by the House are invalid unless the chamber takes formal votes to authorize them.
That opinion — issued by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel — came in response to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into Trump without initially holding a vote for it. Not only is it still on the books, it is binding on the current administration as it responds to Tuesday’s announcement by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to authorize an impeachment inquiry into Biden, again without a vote."
You can read it here... https://open.substack.com/pub/roberthubbell/p/mccarthys-sham-impeachment-inquiry?r=8u0q8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Rs/cons don't engage in due diligence, actual research, or have a scintilla of respect for any type of precedent. They wing everything, begin with a desired outcome, then go about searching for wet spaghetti to throw at it.
Obligated to say Hunter Biden was a piece of work. So much so it's hard to fathom him cutting in anyone to financial gains. Easy to imagine him cutting people out, though. Likkur and dope will do that.
Sadly, see him during his bad days as an I, I, I, me, me, me jamoke. Truly brought shame onto his ancestors and painted a bulls-eye on his Father.
Soon the media will be debating whether it's easier to indict a ham sammie or impeach one.
This is going to become House Speaker's Kevin McCarthy' is nadir. McCarthy is the weakest and most inconsequential Speaker of the House of Representatives that I have seen in my lifetime. Forty years ago, when I was still a part of the federal civil service, my duty station was in Cambridge Massachusetts, where I was the Regional Attorney for what is now the Federal Transit Administration's administrative Region 1. My office was right in the heart of then-Speaker Thomas P. O'Neil's Congressional District. Tip O'Neill was one of the most consequential Speakers of the House of Representatives in my lifetime. He was the public face of the House of Representatives, third in line in the presidential line of succession, just behind the Vice President, should both he and the President die or become disabled during their terms of office. Although elected on a partisan basis, simply by virtue of his party having a majority of the votes in the House, the Speaker is expected to represent the interests of all members of the House of Representatives vis-à-vis other branches of government, and to be a fair administrator of the rules of the House. The Constitution does not require the Speaker to be an elected member of the House of Representatives; in theory, anyone could be the Speaker. Throughout American history, the Speakership has been occupied by men and women of extraordinary talent, and political sagacity. That is, at least until now. In this century, Republican Speakers of the House of Representatives have universally failed to demonstrate the kind of leadership and competency that were characteristic of their forebears in the 19th and 20th Centuries, in managing the peoples' business in the House of Representatives. Newt Gingrich destroyed the concept of bipartisanship within the House membership by engaging in relentless partisan warfare that resulted in the shutting down of the American government for the first time ever. Gingrich's successor Dennis Hastert continued to promote hardline Republican partisanship, thus thwarting bipartisan compromise, until Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006; John Boehner, who succeeded Nancy Pelosi in 2011, endure the frustration of having an increasingly volatile and right wing Republican contingent to deal with, culminating in him resigning his speakership in September 2015. Boehner was followed by Paul Ryan, who served until January 3, 2019. It was during that time that the Republican majority in Congress became increasingly radical, led by its fractious so-called Freedom Caucus. This period of time coincided with Donald Trump's election to the presidency. The Republican party became 'the party of No'.
With the Democratic Party losing control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, Kevin McCarthy became Speaker of the House of Representatives, but only after an agonizing 15 votes in which the new Republican majority failed to elect one of their own as Speaker of the House of Representatives.Kevin McCarthy gain his speakership by a hair's breadth, and only after compromising away his power as speaker to the now out-of-control Freedom Caucus, and we see the effects of that debacle every day. McCarthy's speakership has been reduced to a mere figurehead status, unable to forge compromises with the Democratic minority in the House, and with the actual House leadership increasingly out of touch with reality. Their attempts to smear the reputation of President Joe Biden border on the ridiculous. None of them have been able to articulate any set of facts that constitute the three criteria specified in the Constitution for conducting an impeachment of the president: treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors. What they have is the president's younger son who fell on hard times and mismanaged his personal life and career. No one has alleged, much less proved, that the president engaged in the kind of incessant grifting and corruption that became the hallmark of the Trump administration. No facts. No theory of the case. Nothing to tie the president to any illicit deal or scheme generated by his son Hunter Biden, and for certain, none of the receipts, i.e., the paper trail that would prove their case.
Donald Trump has continued to denounce the two prior impeachments brought against him for misusing his power of office, in the case of providing arms to Ukraine to ward off the Russian threat; and for Trump's well proven participation in the planning and execution of the January 6 insurrection, which almost ended the peaceful transition of power in United States, and was intended as a coup d'état to keep Trump in office. That proof was the report to the American people prepared by the House of Representatives Select Committee On the January 6 Insurrection, whose televised hearings firmly established Trump's culpability in that event.
Kevin McCarthy and his radical Republican cohort's attempt to create a counter-narrative centered around Hunter Biden is going to end in failure. What it will do is remind people that the Democrats have already proved their case, and that the three pending trials of Trump, and his co-conspirators, are the real deal.
Your delicious last line: LOL. Plus, when you *do* have cable, and throw in the equivalent of Emeril's "Bam!" seasoning in the form of social media...are MAGAmites snorting MSG? I'm a little surprised to learn from you that Kevin McCarthy has courageously raised the price of his Soul to a nickel. I thought he was a ha'penny kind of guy. And since you brought up one of the reasons first generation feminists can sometimes be seen muttering into their Ovaltine --- that is, Marjorie Taylor Greene --- I commend to you and your readers the New York Post article on Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and her squeeze being thrown out of a musical production for making noise and vaping. Not to be *too* much of an objectivist male pig, but the photos of Boebert overflowing her dress give full meaning to H.L. Mencken's coined word, booboisie.
Amazing what they're doing with Kevlar® nowadays.
There's a new version of the fabric: Kevin's Kev-i-liar, the only completely flexible protective fabric, advertised as especially effective for kneepads. It's being marketed by Matt Mounts, also DBA Gaetz Gets, which provides services better left to the imagination.
Such irony, with all the recalls for petty cause, that fraudster NY congressman George Santos can be unseated only by unelection next time. Meanwhile, the impeachment the Wisconsin GOP is mulling over for a newly elected state supreme court justice is a different kind of extreme—in effect a recall before Janet Protasiewicz is even sworn in if she refuses to bend to their will on cases that could affect their reelection.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/13/wisconsin-warning-democracy-gerrymandering
Yes. ^^^^^ Excerpt:
If you need a reminder that the Republican party’s problem with democracy extends beyond the antics of Donald Trump, look no further than Wisconsin. A battle is under way there which began before the January 6 insurrection was even a twinkle in Trump’s eye, and which will do much to determine the future of democracy in America whether Trump ultimately answers for his crimes or not. It’s no exaggeration to say that Wisconsin and its state capitol, Madison, are now the front line of the battle to save American democracy.
In 2011, Republicans gerrymandered Wisconsin’s state legislature so badly that the party can win supermajorities despite losing the popular vote, as it did in 2018. Voters have fought back, and earlier this year they elected Janet Protasiewicz to the state supreme court, ushering in a new liberal majority which looked poised to finally overturn the gerrymander and bring democratic regime change to Madison.
But Wisconsin Republicans have no intention of seeing their undeserved power slip away. They’re proposing to impeach Protasiewicz on spurious charges before she has ruled on a single case, paralyzing the court and leaving the gerrymander intact.
When Trump argued that he was the real winner of the election because the votes of people living in Democratic-leaning urban areas were somehow fraudulent and should not count, he was repeating arguments that Wisconsin Republicans had already honed. The speaker of the state assembly, Robin Vos, has explained that the state’s gerrymander is fair because “if you took Madison and Milwaukee out of the state election formula, we would have a clear majority”. Because Madison and Milwaukee are the parts of the state with the largest concentration of non-white voters, Vos has revealed what the Wisconsin gerrymander is really about: race.
There is a long history in the United States of skewed electoral systems being used to suppress the voices of minority voters, and Wisconsin’s is only the latest example. Like their predecessors in other states, Wisconsin Republicans have been remarkably frank about their intention of ensuring that minorities stay in their place. When Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers powered to victory in 2018 with massive wins in Madison and Milwaukee, the Republican legislature used a lame-duck session to strip him of much of his power. Not content with that, Evers’ Republican opponent in 2022, Tim Michels, promised that if he was elected then Republicans in Wisconsin “will never lose another election”. *****
I believe it was P01135890 hisself that said something to the effect that if you don't change these election laws, republicans will never WIN another election. I guess the reuplicants took that to heart.
I'd paraphrase that line you quoted to
"That what you get when you don't have anything else useful to do."
Because the GOP doesn't have anything to do-except lose elections, and they're doing their best to lose the next big one by impeaching Biden for nothing he's done but rather for what they haven't done.
While looking for an appropriate quote on mistakes I found one even better:
"Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error" - Cicero
Which is all we have to say about this group of ninnies.
I'm thinking of changing my name to Pud! 🤔
My Uncle Pud (not Williams) looked like the Monopoly mogul.
Whips involved I’m guessing
Let me see if I can locate the astounding bar band Duke Tumatoe and the All-Star Frogs' song on that, generally followed in their sets I believe with another R&B classic in the same spirit....
The interwebs has just about every song and band imaginable, after all...
Oh YEAH, and this rocks, barks like a dog, and has Duke's Gibson Les Paul quacking fer ackshun with the dancing crowd singing the refrain of this hilariously silly song...
youtube.com/watch?v=_WCL7h2tRjY
4:56
Duke Tumatoe - Tie You Up
Dan Holmes 222 subscribers
119,628 views Jul 16, 2009
Recorded live during the "I Like My Job!" shows in 1988.
{I heard it at an after -work party gathering in 1983 -environmental / citizen's activist
canvass in Minneapolis got a little kinky too!}
And the segue that followed although maybe not by them but the original Motown version
''' Well well well this is too fine not to add first:
youtube.com/watch?v=RRml5nZA1ng
LOVE TO PLAY THE BLUES" - DUKE TUMATOE
bluzdudemi
32.1K subscribers
*****
youtube.com/watch?v=kuuHj9obt8Q
Chain of Fools (2021 Remaster) · Aretha Franklin
The Genius of Aretha Franklin
℗ 2021 Atlantic Recording Corporation.
Vocals: Aretha Franklin
Background Vocals: Carolyn Franklin
Tenor Saxophone: Charles Chalmers
Guitar: Chips Moman
Background Vocals: Cissy Houston
Background Vocals: Emma Franklin
Background Vocals: Estelle Brown
Producer: Jerry Wexler
Guitar: Jimmy Johnson
Trumpet: Kenny Laxton
Tenor Saxophone: King Curtis
Cornet, Trumpet: Melvin Lastie
Background Vocals: Myrna Smith
Drums: Roger Hawkins
Wurlitzer Piano: Spooner Oldham
Background Vocals: Sylvia Shemwell
Unknown: Tom Dowd
Bass: Tommy Cogbill
Baritone Saxophone: Willie Bridges
Writer: Don Covay
^^^^^ After that, there's nothing more to say....
The Recalls of New Jersey cracked me up. It would make a fine musical, perhaps with the intrepid, increasingly bewildered New York Times reporter in the starring role. Too bad Eugène Ionesco isn't around to write the book.
I'm currently rereading Jane Mayer's DARK MONEY, about how the Kochs and other filthy-rich billionaires set out to get rid of any government that could infringe on their property rights. I look at the current crop of Republicans and wonder if this was what the Kochs et al. had in mind. Again -- where is the Ionesco who could do justice to all this? Or maybe we don't need a playwright when it's happening in real life.
mailchi.mp/gregpalast/until-they-killed-them-100-crucial-seconds-of-a-story-buried?e=e0515fee4d
If the link works it leads straight to Charles Koch, now wonder this story has been "buried" and it takes a fearless, dogged, incredibly stubborn investigative journalist like Palast to follow the money and publicize the results as widely as possible.
Link fails search terms are Charles Koch Greg Palast Osage Indians (literally murdered for their Oklahoma lands with bountiful oil...leading to Koch)
Hey looks like the link works, you'll want to read this, ancillary to Jane Mayer's book, btw, isn't she great? Heard her on Fresh Air a bunch of times in interviews with Terry Gross and Dave Davies.