Soooo, the Republicants have in fact broken the government which was their goal in any event. I also absolutely concur with the Dems decision to refuse to support a bad faith negotiator who doesn’t honor his promises to his own “party.” He would have reneged any “deals” made with Dems y
Ok, that got sent before completion. Let me continue: Qevin would have reneged any agreements with Dems the instant the gavel closed the day’s business and we should not have expected any differently.
Do we just sit back and wait on these fools to fix this? Why on earth would we think they can? What if their solution is to perpetrate a “putsch?”
My understanding of the situation thus far is that the House is powerless to conduct any business at all without a speaker. The House has failed to perform its Constitutional function. That’s NOT something the Framers considered.
Can we place a suit at the largely unethical SCOTUS that places the function of the House in the hands of the Senate, a representational entity, until such time as the House can get its stuff in one sock?
So one might say, “Oh, but they have a President pro t’empire so they still have capacity to do business.”
And instead of driving the bus to do the only thing that is his business, the seating of a speaker, he sends them home for a week to run out the clock on keeping the government operating as constitutionally intended.
Suffice it to say, I do not find that a satisfactory approach.
My comment appears to have struck a chord much more than I ever anticipated. I am humbled by your responses.
Let us be mindful of the thought, not original with me, that tyrants triumph when good people stand aside. This is not a moment in which we should acquiesce to malign actors to determine the outcome.
Is it becoming more clear by the hour that the Republican party actually wants an authoritarian government? There isnt an ounce of intellect or decency among them. And are the people who vote for these cretins able to understand what that would mean for THEM? The antics of the GOP, while meme worthy, are also making America a dangerous place for the rest of us. As Jay said, the only real solution to this is VOTE THEM OUT.
Interestingly, a new pair of headings about disputed elements of the Wiki article have been added in the past couple of days. Gee, I wonder who is disputing the content?
I've been sharing info about Project 2025 on my FB feed and hope that at least some of my FB Friends are sharing the info on. One thing I haven't done is provide the Project 2025 website; anyone sufficiently interested can find it easily. Instead, I post articles that provide summarizing aspects of it and, of course, the Wikipedia article which provides a fairly easy to understand overview.
No. Sad to say. Their supporters are ignorant & clueless. They all buy into the media hype. This is just another realty show for them. They totally don’t get it.
Quite a few democrats on the news last night said the turning point was when, after saving him from a shutdown, Kevin went on the Sunday talk shows to whine that it was really the democrats that tried to force a shut down. and he prevented them from doing it. Wow, talk about "alternative facts." Then I see an article from The Daily Beast saying that democrats missed an opportunity to save McCarthy and be the adults in the room. What crap. The democrats have long been, and will continue to be, the ONLY adults in the House and for that matter Congress. Right on cue later last night I saw a right wing show using the Daily Beast article as proof that even the "liberal media" blames democrats for this. Another example of the media trying to "both sides" everything, and cutting the legs out from under democrats.
Don't get too worked up about the Daily Beast article, it was written by Matt Lewis, a die-hard MAGA apologist who pretends to be a "moderate conservative", and happy shill for the far-right. You should see some of his other takes on various issues, so ignorant and pompous while congratulating himself on what a reasonable guy he is. He's Daily Beast's equivalent of Hugh Hewitt and Greg Abernathy (for WaPo), and I don't know why Daily Beast is giving him a platform for his nonsense. Of course the far-right is using him as propaganda, that's his real job.
Thanks for that info, I don't normally read the Daily Beast so I wasn't familiar with his work. There are too many of these "moderates" being given a legitimate platform to be an apologist, then, when everything burns down, they absolve themselves of responsibility. I'm so sick of it.
P.S. I did send him a rather nasty email, and now I'm sure I won't hear back.
the media spin to all of this is not helping this country. And too many are willing to ignore fact over what they want to hear and not willing to actually research themselves.
Can you imagine Trump sitting next to Kamala and behind Joe at the State of the Union Address?
I predict the Freedom Caucus will help delay nominating a Speaker to attain the gavel indefinitely, and purposefully, to force a shutdown of the US Gov't.
They don't want to govern, so they certainly do not want the US House to govern either.
There are Republicans in the Problem Solvers group, right? Get one of them to run, with the understanding that there will be no concessions to terrorists.
I seriously doubt Trump would be interested in the Speakership.
Not only would it be a demotion in his eyes, he doesn't understand the job AND would be behind Harris in the line of succession. In addition, he'd be forced to compromise and work within the realities of the Senate as well.
I can't see his ego allowing that at ALL.
But yes, the fact that they turn to Trump shows just how feckless they really are.
With their standard bearer being slapped down in court, let's hope the moderates see the light and take the reins back.
Or, even better, that this is the beginning of a long walk off a short pier.
Oh come on, think like a mobster. He could get someone else to do the Speakering for him, and he’d be only 2 bullets away from the presidency. A deal he could understand.
That's true - and (bonus) Newt Gingrich is only 80 years young, currently unemployed and has experience they probably admire since he was a fan of St. Reagan. He also wants to see Gaetz cut down so more traditional Rs might like that.
To today’s republicans, St Reagan is a RINO. Reagan would not recognize his party of “law and order” any longer. He wanted gun control (remember the Brady Bill? Such things come in to sharper focus once you’re on the receiving end of an attack). Reagan was the beginning of the end. But I’d he were to run today, he’d never make it. Today’s GOP don’t know the first thing about compromise and working across the aisle. They only know how to rule, not govern. There is a difference. One leans toward authoritarianism.
I would be concerned for the safety of President Biden and VP Harris. If Trump is 3rd in line, nothing stops him from sending any of his minions to take out #1 and #2
'behind Harris," yes, but, a'fatal heart attack" at Camp David and maybe a multi vehicle pile-up of the veeps (now president) motorcade, and then, CHAOS!
Maybe I have read too many spy novels, but it has become harder and harder not to imagine foreign governments or ultra rich bond type villains hiding in plain sight being behind this. Russia and China both gain from the chaos. Which rethuglicans are on the take? If only Tom Clancy still was alive...he would have written this novel years ago.
Did you watch “The Americans”? I’m more and more convinced that “illegals” have indeed been here for decades and their children have absolutely infiltrated our government and other institutions. That and just ordinary citizens taking bribes from foreign governments to do their bidding.
Jim Jordan? Jim Jordan?????? That's who they're considering putting forward?????? Although it might be just as much fun to watch him squirm as McCarthy.
How is it even possible to elect someone NOT in Congress to Speaker? That sounds completely ludicrous.....where do these "rules" come from. What a mess!!!!!
Just another case of the Framers' inability to foresee the guanopsychotic legislators of the future. They expected their successors to act with...well, Common Sense.
Oddly enough, nothing in the Constitution requires the Speaker to be a member of the House. It feels like an oversight of the Framers, although perhaps they were perfectly fine with the idea of the House pulling someone from the outside to speak for them. Or they expected a later Constitutional amendment to close that loophole.
David Kurtz at TPM put it succinctly and on-point:
"But this is not really about Kevin McCarthy. He’s a stand-in. Before him were the chronically debased Paul Ryan and John Boehner. The House GOP has been on this merry-go-round for more than a decade."
As the GOP imploded in the House with no plan in place to deal with the aftershocks, no candidate to fill the Speaker's role, I find myself reminded of a line from the The Dark Knight movie: "...because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."
That sums up the GOP for me. They just want to watch the world burn.
Me, too. I had the pleasure to hear him perform circa 1966 (when I first heard him sing this) when I worked at the U.S. Naval Academy library and he performed there.
Maybe Biden can do what Trump did with his "border wall": declare an emergency and shift money from somewhere else to Ukraine. SCOTUS has already ruled on that and said that it's Constitutional and within the President's powers.
Soooo, the Republicants have in fact broken the government which was their goal in any event. I also absolutely concur with the Dems decision to refuse to support a bad faith negotiator who doesn’t honor his promises to his own “party.” He would have reneged any “deals” made with Dems y
Ok, that got sent before completion. Let me continue: Qevin would have reneged any agreements with Dems the instant the gavel closed the day’s business and we should not have expected any differently.
Do we just sit back and wait on these fools to fix this? Why on earth would we think they can? What if their solution is to perpetrate a “putsch?”
My understanding of the situation thus far is that the House is powerless to conduct any business at all without a speaker. The House has failed to perform its Constitutional function. That’s NOT something the Framers considered.
Can we place a suit at the largely unethical SCOTUS that places the function of the House in the hands of the Senate, a representational entity, until such time as the House can get its stuff in one sock?
Interesting idea. But given their leanings, doubtful it would fly. If we had a more independent scotus, great idea.
So one might say, “Oh, but they have a President pro t’empire so they still have capacity to do business.”
And instead of driving the bus to do the only thing that is his business, the seating of a speaker, he sends them home for a week to run out the clock on keeping the government operating as constitutionally intended.
Suffice it to say, I do not find that a satisfactory approach.
Auto correct is the bane of my existence: “tempore”
t’empire was a good slip...
LOL! Thanks for making me laugh 😆
I learned a new acronym from my sister last week: GDAC (G-d D..n Auto-Correct).
But, not atypical, considering....
My comment appears to have struck a chord much more than I ever anticipated. I am humbled by your responses.
Let us be mindful of the thought, not original with me, that tyrants triumph when good people stand aside. This is not a moment in which we should acquiesce to malign actors to determine the outcome.
My thanks to you all.
Great breakdown of events Jay! We should pull the curtain behind Butt-Head, I mean Matt Gaetz, and see which billionaire money was behind all this.
I honestly think he does it to fundraise for himself
I think Matt does this solely for the Benjamins. And the attention it gets him.
Is it becoming more clear by the hour that the Republican party actually wants an authoritarian government? There isnt an ounce of intellect or decency among them. And are the people who vote for these cretins able to understand what that would mean for THEM? The antics of the GOP, while meme worthy, are also making America a dangerous place for the rest of us. As Jay said, the only real solution to this is VOTE THEM OUT.
They even wrote out the plan. It's the 2025 project
Agree. It is terrifying.
There is so much to message here. Dems need to get expert help to send out a consistent
Was she that will wake people up and get them out to vote Blue.
Especially important in those vast red wastelands where good people despair.
Google it....horrifying!
Ok thx. I’ll
Look there.
Where can I read about this 2025 project?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
Interestingly, a new pair of headings about disputed elements of the Wiki article have been added in the past couple of days. Gee, I wonder who is disputing the content?
I've been sharing info about Project 2025 on my FB feed and hope that at least some of my FB Friends are sharing the info on. One thing I haven't done is provide the Project 2025 website; anyone sufficiently interested can find it easily. Instead, I post articles that provide summarizing aspects of it and, of course, the Wikipedia article which provides a fairly easy to understand overview.
No. Sad to say. Their supporters are ignorant & clueless. They all buy into the media hype. This is just another realty show for them. They totally don’t get it.
Quite a few democrats on the news last night said the turning point was when, after saving him from a shutdown, Kevin went on the Sunday talk shows to whine that it was really the democrats that tried to force a shut down. and he prevented them from doing it. Wow, talk about "alternative facts." Then I see an article from The Daily Beast saying that democrats missed an opportunity to save McCarthy and be the adults in the room. What crap. The democrats have long been, and will continue to be, the ONLY adults in the House and for that matter Congress. Right on cue later last night I saw a right wing show using the Daily Beast article as proof that even the "liberal media" blames democrats for this. Another example of the media trying to "both sides" everything, and cutting the legs out from under democrats.
Don't get too worked up about the Daily Beast article, it was written by Matt Lewis, a die-hard MAGA apologist who pretends to be a "moderate conservative", and happy shill for the far-right. You should see some of his other takes on various issues, so ignorant and pompous while congratulating himself on what a reasonable guy he is. He's Daily Beast's equivalent of Hugh Hewitt and Greg Abernathy (for WaPo), and I don't know why Daily Beast is giving him a platform for his nonsense. Of course the far-right is using him as propaganda, that's his real job.
All I'm saying is, consider the source.
Thanks for that info, I don't normally read the Daily Beast so I wasn't familiar with his work. There are too many of these "moderates" being given a legitimate platform to be an apologist, then, when everything burns down, they absolve themselves of responsibility. I'm so sick of it.
P.S. I did send him a rather nasty email, and now I'm sure I won't hear back.
the media spin to all of this is not helping this country. And too many are willing to ignore fact over what they want to hear and not willing to actually research themselves.
Can you imagine Trump sitting next to Kamala and behind Joe at the State of the Union Address?
I predict the Freedom Caucus will help delay nominating a Speaker to attain the gavel indefinitely, and purposefully, to force a shutdown of the US Gov't.
They don't want to govern, so they certainly do not want the US House to govern either.
I hope that then the problem solvers produce a discharge petition to go around the rules committee.
There are Republicans in the Problem Solvers group, right? Get one of them to run, with the understanding that there will be no concessions to terrorists.
Yes, the "Problem Solvers Caucus" are equal numbers of Dems and Reps.
They are also funded by “No Labels”. Do not turn your back on these so-called solvers.
I seriously doubt Trump would be interested in the Speakership.
Not only would it be a demotion in his eyes, he doesn't understand the job AND would be behind Harris in the line of succession. In addition, he'd be forced to compromise and work within the realities of the Senate as well.
I can't see his ego allowing that at ALL.
But yes, the fact that they turn to Trump shows just how feckless they really are.
With their standard bearer being slapped down in court, let's hope the moderates see the light and take the reins back.
Or, even better, that this is the beginning of a long walk off a short pier.
Please do not underestimate Trump’s capacity to do things to serve himself at the expense of the country.
Oh come on, think like a mobster. He could get someone else to do the Speakering for him, and he’d be only 2 bullets away from the presidency. A deal he could understand.
That's true - and (bonus) Newt Gingrich is only 80 years young, currently unemployed and has experience they probably admire since he was a fan of St. Reagan. He also wants to see Gaetz cut down so more traditional Rs might like that.
To today’s republicans, St Reagan is a RINO. Reagan would not recognize his party of “law and order” any longer. He wanted gun control (remember the Brady Bill? Such things come in to sharper focus once you’re on the receiving end of an attack). Reagan was the beginning of the end. But I’d he were to run today, he’d never make it. Today’s GOP don’t know the first thing about compromise and working across the aisle. They only know how to rule, not govern. There is a difference. One leans toward authoritarianism.
Reagan helped give us what we have now. There is a direct and ever-devolving line from him to Bush I to Bush II to Trump.
And don't kid yourself; if Reagan were to run today, he'd adapt to the basement right quick.
A sad state of affairs to be sure...not that I was ever a Gingrich fan or would be BUT I am hoping there is someone less flammable they would elect
I’d be so very afraid for Biden and Harris, if TFG was third in line for the presidency.
I would be concerned for the safety of President Biden and VP Harris. If Trump is 3rd in line, nothing stops him from sending any of his minions to take out #1 and #2
'behind Harris," yes, but, a'fatal heart attack" at Camp David and maybe a multi vehicle pile-up of the veeps (now president) motorcade, and then, CHAOS!
Maybe I have read too many spy novels, but it has become harder and harder not to imagine foreign governments or ultra rich bond type villains hiding in plain sight being behind this. Russia and China both gain from the chaos. Which rethuglicans are on the take? If only Tom Clancy still was alive...he would have written this novel years ago.
Did you watch “The Americans”? I’m more and more convinced that “illegals” have indeed been here for decades and their children have absolutely infiltrated our government and other institutions. That and just ordinary citizens taking bribes from foreign governments to do their bidding.
Jim Jordan? Jim Jordan?????? That's who they're considering putting forward?????? Although it might be just as much fun to watch him squirm as McCarthy.
Jordan would be worse I fear.
I agree, and I really don't want to see him in that position of authority. But like Jay has implied, I doubt he could get anything done either.
No microphone needed. He’d just yell
Gym?
How is it even possible to elect someone NOT in Congress to Speaker? That sounds completely ludicrous.....where do these "rules" come from. What a mess!!!!!
Just another case of the Framers' inability to foresee the guanopsychotic legislators of the future. They expected their successors to act with...well, Common Sense.
“guanopsychotic”. And now I have new favorite way to say Batshit Crazy!
Nice Paine reference!
And there’s my Word Of The Day! 😃
I'll try to use "guanopsychotic" in a sentence today! Thanks! 🤣
Oddly enough, nothing in the Constitution requires the Speaker to be a member of the House. It feels like an oversight of the Framers, although perhaps they were perfectly fine with the idea of the House pulling someone from the outside to speak for them. Or they expected a later Constitutional amendment to close that loophole.
Wonder what the Framers would think of this Congress today? Thank you for your insight.
David Kurtz at TPM put it succinctly and on-point:
"But this is not really about Kevin McCarthy. He’s a stand-in. Before him were the chronically debased Paul Ryan and John Boehner. The House GOP has been on this merry-go-round for more than a decade."
QED.
And Gingrich before that!
Hahahahaaha that gavel picture is the best!!!!!
And if it had broken, how truly emblematic of the situation it would have become!
What happens when the rope they keep trying to hang themselves with doesn't actually break.
As the GOP imploded in the House with no plan in place to deal with the aftershocks, no candidate to fill the Speaker's role, I find myself reminded of a line from the The Dark Knight movie: "...because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."
That sums up the GOP for me. They just want to watch the world burn.
💯
Do you recall Trump’s tale of the woman and the snake? “You knew I was a snake before you took me in.”
That's a great Johnny Rivers song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZVqeGefY_Y
Yes! 🎶Take me in o tender woman 🎶 Big fan!
Me, too. I had the pleasure to hear him perform circa 1966 (when I first heard him sing this) when I worked at the U.S. Naval Academy library and he performed there.
How great for you! I was happy to learn he’s still alive.
BTW your job sounds amazing!
Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
The big winner in the CR/vacate? Vladimir Putin by gutting Ukraine funding 🤬
Maybe Biden can do what Trump did with his "border wall": declare an emergency and shift money from somewhere else to Ukraine. SCOTUS has already ruled on that and said that it's Constitutional and within the President's powers.