Tag: House Leadership

The New House Begins Work

Let me say in the offset that these women that are new to the House are showing balls……something even the men could not accomplish.  Rashida Tlaid and AOC are showing spine and not shrinking from opposition by the old farts that cannot understand progressivism…..thumbs up…I love these women!

On to their, the House, getting to work…….

Some of the first order of business….debt and ethics……

When a new Congress convenes every two years, the majority party must approve a resolution outlining House rules, the intricate parliamentary procedures that govern the chamber. Two notable changes in the Democrats’ package are aimed at avoiding certain confrontations that became commonplace during the Republican majority from 2011 through 2019, after the rout of the party in the 2018 midterms.

Democrats will revive the “Gephardt Rule,” introduced in the late 1970s by Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., that automatically raises the debt ceiling — the nation’s borrowing limit — once the House passes a budget.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/681547346/democrats-announce-major-changes-to-u-s-house-rules

Then the debates on economic policies…….

Okay, it’s that time of year when we are all supposed to commit ourselves to performing nearly impossible tasks over the next twelve months. I will play the game. Here is the list of areas where I will try to bring economics into economic policy debates in 2019.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/03/resolutions-to-improve-debates-on-economic-policy-in-2019/

The Dems in the House are trying desperately to return democracy to the system……

In a major step toward fixing our broken system of elections, House Democratic lawmakers introduced a comprehensive democracy reform bill Thursday, the first day of the 116th Congress.

The bill, which is known as H.R. 1, or the For The People Act, and was sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), would create a more responsive and representative government by making it easier for voters to cast a ballot and harder for lawmakers to gerrymander, by transforming how campaigns are funded to amplify the voices

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/04/historic-bill-strengthen-democracy-introduced-congress

I know some of these are redundant but I am proud of the direction the House is taking….sadly they will need the Senate to make these things law…..will they get it?

The new members of the House are showing spine….hopefully the old farts of the House do not crap on the progress these women can lead the country into…..Centrists are the cowards of the country.  Remember I said That!

My guess is NO…for they are trying very hard to protect Trump at all costs…….

Some members of the Republican National Committee and grassroots Republicans are backing an effort to block potential primary challengers to President Trump, even though party insiders are insisting it is too late to change the rules for the 2020 campaign.

The push to rally GOP support around the president early comes as freshman Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah published a Washington Post op-ed arguing that on issues of character, “the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.” The 2012 GOP nominee also said he would not run himself in 2020 and declined to endorse Trump, in an interview with CNN.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/04/681987077/rnc-members-want-to-block-a-primary-challenge-to-trump-but-the-rules-may-stop-th

The Senate is old angry white men without a spines.

To Protect The President

I have watched the GOP slowly but slowly become the party of Trump…..and these slugs will do whatever they must to protect the president…

Sorry but their oath of office is to the country, the Constitution, and the rule of law…..NOWHERE in the oath does it say that the president must be protected at any cost…..

That gutless wonder in the House of Representatives, Devon Nunes, has proved my accusation……

“If Sessions won’t unrecuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones. Which is really the danger.” That was just some of what House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes said in audio recorded at a private July 30 fundraiser in Spokane, Wash., and aired in part on the Rachel Maddow Show Wednesday night (listen to clips here). The Washington Post interprets the comments as an apparent shift “from criticizing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election to strategizing about how to blunt its impact should it imperil President Trump.” And in that effort, retaining control of Congress is key: “If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away,” he’s heard saying on the tape, which was secretly recorded by a member of the progressive group Fuse Washington who’d paid $250 to attend the event. More:

  • The other comments getting pickup center around Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein and the desire of hard-line House Republicans to see him impeached, something the Los Angeles Times reports some members suggest they’ll rally for again next month. Nunes indicated that might not be the case. While NBC News reports Paul Ryan has been a roadblock in the impeachment effort, Nunes described two others: the midterms and the Supreme Court. “You have to decide what you want right now because the Senate only has so much time. Do you want them to drop everything and not confirm the Supreme Court justice [Brett Kavanaugh], the new Supreme Court justice? … The question is the timing of it right before the election.”
  • The Post notes that even had Nunes been speaking publicly, he might have said much the same: “This, after all, is the adamantly pro-Trump lawmaker who in February released a memorandum accusing the intelligence community of conspiring against the president.”
  • Indeed, the Hill has this comment from Nunes’ rep: “These are sensible ideas, I’m glad Chairman Nunes talked about them.”

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu didn’t share that sentiment, tweeting, “Under our Constitution, the duty of Congress is not to clear the President. The duty of Congress is to be a check and balance on the Executive Branch, and to pursue the facts wherever they may lead. Devin Nunes should resign for perverting the oath he took.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/08/maddow-obtains-tape-devin-nunes-confessing-gop-plan-impeach-rosenstein-must-impede-investigation-goes-away/

This should piss off every American voter…..but it illustrates how our beloved country is changing and taking the government with it.  This is what I always going on about…I bet this tool has a copy of the Constitution in his pocket as a prop but has NO idea what it really means.

You know I remember when the House of Representatives had no tolerance for ethics scandals…….yeah me too….but that was when we had statesmen in Congress today we have a bunch of spineless and worthless people that owe their existence to corporations and wealthy slugs.

Back in 2006, a series of financial, ethical, sexual scandals involving MZM, Jack Abramoff, and improper relationships with congressional pages was a key factor in House Republican’ losing their majority. Eager to prove they had learned their lesson, then-Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) vowed in 2010 that if the GOP won back the majority, he (as majority leader) and his conference would ensure the highest possible ethical standards.

“I think as the Republicans emerge as a new governing majority, it is incumbent upon us to institute a zero-tolerance policy,” Cantor vowed at the time. “We understand there were reasons for our being fired in ’06 and ’08. Some of that had to do with ethics violations. I mean we had several members under public investigations during the time of the ’06 elections. I think we’ve learned that that’s not a good way to gain the confidence of the people and that we ought to be instituting a zero-tolerance policy here.”

https://thinkprogress.org/house-gop-broken-promise-zero-tolerance-ethical-scandals-chris-collins-363f5129695e/

As usual it is …of course we stand against ethic abuses but not when it is our people committing them …..

In 25 years when we look back at these days it will be known as the “Age of Corruption and Cruelty” (sorry do not know who coined this phrase but I think it was conservative Charlie Sykes)……

Maybe I should spend time explaining the Constitution to the d/bags that we elect……

Turn The Page!

Drop A Bomb On Me

I am battling a internet connection that will not cooperate……please bear with me……..

Great reference to an old funk song from the 70’s…..

There have been times when I have been caught with my brain in neutral and today has been one of those days……

I got the news from my friend over at “The John Liming Report”……the weeping angle (Dr. Who reference) of thew Congress will step down from his leadership roll in October…..

John Boehner dropped a political bombshell this morning, announcing that he’s not only resigning as House speaker but as a congressman as well. Boehner will leave at the end of October, reports the New York Times. Boehner himself told House Republicans in a closed-door session today, reports Politico. The surprise move comes as Boehner faces another revolt from conservative House members about a potential government shutdown, this time over Planned Parenthood funding.

“The Speaker believes putting members through prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution,” an aide tells the Hill. “Speaker Boehner believes that the first job of any Speaker is to protect this institution and, as we saw yesterday with the Holy Father, it is the one thing that unites and inspires us all.” (Boehner was seen crying during the pope’s address, though he tends to cry a lot.) The same aide says Boehner, 65, actually intended to quit last year and stuck around only because of Eric Cantor’s stunning election defeat.

Now in October who will emerge as the top dog for the GOP in the House?

It seems that many GOPers are dancing on Boehner’s grave…..read more…..

Source: Conservatives Rush To Dance On John Boehner’s Grave

Where will the process of choosing the next Speaker take the country?  Will we be subjected to a lengthy partisan battle between the GOP and the Tea Party upstarts?  Where does that leave the shutdown?

Lots of questions and few good answers……

Thoughts?

Domestic Cold War

By now even if you live under a rock you have heard all the stuff about the Repubs and their internal civil war….Party vs Tea Party, if you will……..we know, for instance that the TP is not happy with Boehner and the old guys for their kowtowing to Obama….at least if is as they see it…..what if anything can be done?

Glad you asked that all important question.

The so-called GOP civil war may be going from cold to hot. The conservative group ForAmerica tells CNN that it intends to spend six figures on a campaign it’s calling “Dump the Leadership,” aimed at deposing all the GOP’s leaders in both the House and Senate. “Time and again, year after year, the Republican leadership in the House and Senate has come to grassroots conservatives … pleading for our money, our volunteers, our time,” the group’s chairman says. “It’s been years. There is not a single conservative accomplishment this so-called ‘leadership’ can point to.” The group is vowing “significantly” more spending than the $200,000 it dropped to promote defunding ObamaCare, notes the Hill. The group says it’s got digital ads online now, but it’s unclear if those ads will attempt to convince voters to oust John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and Co., or attempt to convince other GOP lawmakers to depose them. It’s not the group’s first swipe at leadership, either; it has repeatedlyattacked McConnell for striking deals with Democrats, once dubbing him a “chicken” for not fighting hard enough to defund ObamaCare.

Now from my perspective……is this the best idea?  I know there are many that are unhappy with Boehner and his cohorts….but removing them may not be the best idea……why?  The agenda that is being pursued is not necessarily the agenda of what the people want to be done….I know people?  Who among them gives two craps in Hell what we want done by our elected government?

This, if successful, could give them a temporary win….but in the long run they will be thrown from office….the American people are very close to that now……the people do NOT see these toads doing their jobs….only massaging the genitals of high dollar donors…..what is it that Kenny Rogers sung about……you gotta know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em……..a better strategy needs to be found…a winning strategy….the course they are on now is NOT a winning one……

This is just plain silly…..they had rather beat their own leadership than a Democrat……explain the logic there please?

Smirking Chimp

Not a post about the website…however, it is a really good read……

As everyone who reads my stuff knows how much I like politics and the antics that go with it…..but I have always dislikes and mistrusted any politician that smirks when asked questions….that goes for every politician regardless of party or affiliation…..but recently I have seen more smirks per issue than in the past…..and the smirk-iest of the bunch is the GOP’s majority leader in the House, Eric Cantor……

Wne he sprints to the microphones after any announcement from the Obama administration to get in the first shots of the battle to come….he seems to always smirk when talking about important issues….like unemployment or the recession or……after reading a piece om political wire I now have a good grasp of the situation…..

Jason Zengerle profiles House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) noting that no one “has done more to disrupt Obama’s first term — and threaten his chance at a second — than Cantor. The two men have clashed from the start.”

He’s consolidated his own power by courting the Republican House freshman who gave his party the majority in last year’s elections. “Some veteran GOP lawmakers find Cantor’s coddling of the freshmen irritating… But Cantor has realized that, in Washington these days, being liked is not a substantial advantage. Much better to be deemed so unreasonable that your opponents ultimately feel no choice but to bend to your will.”

Also interesting: “And yet for all the loyalty many GOP congressmen feel toward Cantor, he is surprisingly unloved. Even his admirers say he lacks the social ease and natural confidence of most politicians… Cantor rarely socializes with his colleagues, and since he doesn’t golf or fish or have any hobbies, when he does find himself in social situations, he usually talks about work.”

I think we could call it….ARROGANCE.  To me, his smirking illustrates that he does not take the plight of the American people as something serious and that his own personal ambitions trump anything useful for society…..

“The Hammer” Gets Hammered

Back in the early days of the 21st century, the speaker of the House Tom DeLay, was known as the “Hammer” because of his heavy handed treatment of others in Washington…….DeLay conspired with two associates to use his Texas-based political action committee to send $190,000 in corporate money in 2002 to an arm of the Washington-based Republican National Committee. The RNC then sent the same amount to seven Texas House candidates. Under Texas law, corporate money can’t go directly to political campaigns.

After many years of legal dancing and him dancing with the stars the trial has rendered a verdict……from Salon.com…….

A judge has ordered U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to serve three years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally funnel corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.

The sentence comes after a jury in November convicted DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. DeLay was once one of the most powerful men in U.S. politics, ascending to the No. 2 job in the House of Representatives.

Which is a slap on the hand….why?….he was looking at the possibility of a life sentence……will justice be done?  Not if lawyers have their way……

The Texas money laundering law is usually associated with drug dealers or white collar criminals, and Tom DeLay‘s defense attorneys say they will try to keep the former U.S. House majority leader out of prison with an appeal that focuses largely on questions about whether the law was ever intended to apply to election violations.Unlike in most money laundering cases, prosecutors argued he stood to benefit not financially but through political power.

The creative use of the statute — the first time it was ever applied in such a case — was key to his convictions on money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges.

Is it possible that a crook like DeLay will walk on money laundering charges?  You betcha!  Will justice be done here?  Not a chance, if the lawyers have their way………we will be watching!

Mr. President…Screw ‘Em!

For two years the GOP has been bitching that the White House and the Dems have locked them out of the governing process…..even some media types have bitched that the leadership of the GOP has NOT been invited to meet with the president to work on some sort of compromise to govern the country better….they have bitched and they have moaned and they have pouted……it had nothing to do with the “just say no” attitude of the GOP….the massive obstructionism that they employed all the way to the mid-term election, which worked well for them……and now they are looking very arrogant!

The WH has invited the leadership of the House and the Senate, the GOP leadership, to a summit at the request of the Prez so they could work on the possibility of a bi-partisan approach to the coming session of Congress……but said to say…the Repubs could not make it on the day scheduled and wanted to re-scheduled…they had prior commitments that could not be broken……

Obama had invited congressional leaders from both parties to a meeting Thursday to plan the legislative agenda moving forward. Last night, officials announced postponement until Nov. 30, citing scheduling conflicts, though Politico and other media outlets also attribute the delay to lingering GOP mistrust of Obama.

Reports Politico:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) both claim Obama had presented the Nov. 18 date as a fait accompli — without their consent or any attempt to accommodate frenetic schedules following the midterm recess. For weeks, staffers have been warning the White House not to assume the invitation had been accepted, apparently to little avail.

Wait…the President of the United states wants a meeting and you say no thanks…only when we say it can occur….that is ARROGANCE!  When the president wants you at the WH…YOU GO!

The GOP is flexing its muscle…they think that they have the president by the nuts…..it may seem so…but that is what it is….an assumption……time for Obama to stop trying to please all the people all the time…it cannot be done….time to act like the president and tell them what they will do……if they cannot make it on their terms then they have to explain why they would not meet with the president…

Dems need to use this arrogance to their favor…stop trying to play nice with a group that has NO concept of civility!  If respect cannot be the rule of the day, then use every tactic known to keep them from accomplishing anything…..I realize the country needs all the players on the same page….but that will NEVER happen….so SCREW “EM……go for the jugular!