Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s finish the job.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

We still have time to mess this up!

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Tick tock motherfuckers!

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

White supremacy is terrorism.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

You are here: Home / LOL Draining the Swamp

LOL Draining the Swamp

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Nothing to see here:

Defying the wishes of their top leaders, House Republicans voted behind closed doors Monday night to rein the independent ethics office created eight years ago in the wake of a series of embarrassing congressional scandals.

The 199-74 vote during a GOP conference meeting means that the House rules package expected to be adopted Tuesday, the first day of the 115th Congress, would rename the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) to the Office of Congressional Complaint Review and place it under the oversight of the House Ethics Committee.

The OCE was created in 2008 to address concerns that the Ethics Committee had been too timid in pursuing allegations of wrongdoing by House members. Under the current House ethics regime, the OCE is empowered to release a public report of its findings even if the Ethics Committee chooses not to take further action against a member.

This should be mentioned every time this is brought up:

Democrats, then in the House majority, established the OCE in 2008 in the aftermath of the lobbying scandal surrounding Jack Abramoff to conduct ethics investigations free from political influence. But in recent years, some members of Congress have sought to limit the office and its work.

Democrats fix shit. Republicans burn shit down.

Reader Interactions

200Comments

  3. 3.

    jl

    ” Republicans burn shit down. ”

    Let’s be fair here. They do it for money and power. So.. the Savvy would say that is just how the world rolls and only hypocrites make a stink about it.

    Edit: prolly some do it for the lulz but that is OK too.

  5. 5.

    Hunter Gathers

    Democrats fix shit. Republicans burn shit down.

    But I can’t say nigger as often as I’d like. Therefore, burn it down.

  6. 6.

    No One You Know

    Perhaps the swamp must be overfilled, or even enlarged, to achieve optimal cost-effectiveness ratios and a sufficiently enhanced ROI to justify draining.

    It would be irresponsible not to speculate; the returns on swamp waterfront can be quite lucrative.

  7. 7.

    jl

    @JPL: One can detect the deep weary sadness in his eyes, the yearning Ryan soulful eyes (TM) and patent pending.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    To be fair, they could have done this any time after 2010. I wonder why they felt they could do it this year.

  9. 9.

    jl

    @Baud: ‘Both Sides Baud’ has a ring to it. You are a miserably failed politician, so when will you make your move to respected corporate media pundit? Easy money, dude.

    Edit: In fact, being probably the worst presidential candidate in the history of the universe, you can specialize in earnest and dispirited rueful centrist reflections, and always just happen to line up with pushing mythical centrist GOPers. Team up with Brooks. You’ll be rich, rich, I say.

  13. 13.

    Yarrow

    On the plus side, the scandals are going to be yuuge! The best scandals! Bigly scandals! You’ve never seen scandals like these before!

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    The 199-74 vote

    Any roll call on that? I’d love to know the names of the 74 Repubs who voted to retain the OCE.

  17. 17.

    lollipopguild

    @Yarrow: Only the best scandals for America which is in the process of being made Great again. Previous scandals will pale in comparison.

  18. 18.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: Because they now have a Republican President with zero ethical sensibilities.

    They can now go hog wild.

  19. 19.

    RealityBites

    Not surprisingly, MY useless POS congressman is leading the pack of jackals that wants to tear the Ethics Office to shreds. (B. Goodlatte) Deep red area of a blue state.

  23. 23.

    tpherald

    Democrats fix shit. Republicans burn shit down

    And Democrats lose elections because they are weak sauce who care more about WaPo & NYT editorials beeing mean to them than beating Repubs.

  24. 24.

    p.a.

    @JPL: Haven’t really had even a modest sex scandal for a while, unless I’ve missed some. Guess it requires some homophobic and/or anti-choice legislation at the Washington level to get the closeted self-loathers and misogynists to get busy. With the veto threat gone 1/21 there should therefore be an uptick.

    Lots of regressive action on the state level, but I don’t know of much ‘wide-stancing’ etc.

  27. 27.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Citizen_X: Clinton bad!!! Yesterday I heard a misguided young man argue that Bernie would have won. Calmly disagreed but can’t believe that this is going to be a ghost floating over us for years to come. Sigh.

    Let’s focus on the madman in the White House and all the shenanigans Republicans are going to drag this country through.

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: Maybe, maybe not. As Rick Hasen said in response to Bresnahan, its going to depend on who’s running the DOJ:
    https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/816080094753980416

    Follow

    Rick HasenVerified account
    ‏@rickhasen Rick Hasen Retweeted John Bresnahan
    How aggressive would the new DOJ be in this area?Rick Hasen added,
    John Bresnahan @BresPolitico
    /2 This move will come back to haunt GOP. Since the Ethics Cmte is ineffective, Justice Dept. will play a bigger role in policing members

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Since the Ethics Cmte is ineffective, Justice Dept. will play a bigger role in policing members

    I take it this means that DOJ’s formal role hasn’t changed, but that this person thinks that DOJ will step up because internal oversight will be worse.

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: Correct, but it will depend on who is running DOJ. As @PsiFighter37: indicates, it will likely not matter with a DOJ under control of Senator Sessions. Hence Hasen’s skepticism.

  37. 37.

    JMG

    Investigations can be used as blackmail. If there are votes Trump needs, he can either bribe Reps or threaten them with exposure of their misdeeds. It’s a twofer.

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    @PsiFighter37: Not only that, but it looks like the House Ethics Committee (not the OCE) usually refers things to the DOJ, so that part hasn’t changed. Ballotpedia:

    In addition, according to Meredith McGehee, the policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, there are ethics rules that track law.[10] Put differently, the same action could both violate House rules and break the law. In these instances—depending on prosecutorial discretion—”the misuse of [House] funds and other resources […] may result in not only disciplinary action by the House, but also criminal prosecution.”[11]

    What about Honda’s case? According to the OCE report, “[i]f Representative Honda used official resources for campaign purposes, then he may have violated federal law, House rules, and standards of conduct.” The federal law violation arises from regulations defining the permissible uses of federal funds. “Federal law provides that official funds may be used only for the purposes for which they were appropriated,” the OCE report reads.[1] In other words, there is potential grounds for a criminal investigation.

    How would a criminal investigation arise? From a House investigation, criminal investigations can begin in two ways. An ethics probe may be halted temporarily while the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) undertakes an inquiry of its own—for example, late last month the House Ethics Committee deferred to the Department of Justice in an investigation of Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) for the possible violation of campaign finance and tax laws, among others.[12] Or the investigative Committee may refer an investigation to the Department of Justice.[13]

    At present, there has been no indication that action has been taken, either by the Ethics Committee or the Department of Justice, to initiate a criminal review.

    I think the DOJ can investigate things in the House without the Ethics Committee getting involved (e.g. the House Post Office scandal, Abscam), but don’t take that as gospel – I may be mis-remembering.

    It looks to me like getting rid of the OCE is designed to make sure there is nothing non-partisan watching over their members. They want to be able to do any investigation using only their partisan systems that they can fully control. Whether things get moved to the DOJ seems to have little or nothing to do with whether the OCE exists or not.

    (But I’m no expert.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  40. 40.

    scottinnj

    119 isnt 218, doesn’t this go to the floor so Pelosi’s team can vote on this?
    Again team Dem needs to raise a stink on this – who is leading the charge for the Democratic party? Where is Pelosi, where is Schumer where is the head of the DNC (oh right we are still in circle firing squad mode).

  45. 45.

    JMG

    FBI can and does investigate Congresspeople suspected of breaking laws on its own hook if they get a complaint or if it comes up in another investigation.

  51. 51.

    Lizzy L

    @efgoldman: Yes. And the media will yawn, nothing to see here, both sides do it, EMAILZ!!! Maybe The WaPo will grow a pair. (I’ve given up on The NYT. The WSJ is totally punk. TV? Fuggedaboudtit.) I really think that as of Jan 20th we will be in uncharted waters.

  52. 52.

    Yarrow

    @Baud: Jeff Sessions is never going to investigate his former colleagues. And even if he’s forced to, it will be slow-walked, nothing will be found, and the whole thing will be dismissed.

    It’s going to take a massively obvious scandal for something to be done.

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: I’m not suggesting anything. One person, Bresnahan, is positing that this would put oversight of members of Congress’s misdeeds under the DOJ. The other, Hasen, is countering that this doesn’t seem to mean much in reality.

    What I stated was that if this did, indeed, move things under DOJ, and you had a DOJ that was willing to be active in regard to this issue, this would be a real issue for members of Congress who misbehave.

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Josh Barro ‏@ jbarro 1h1 hour ago
    If the 74 House Republicans who opposed this change are truly bothered, they could always vote down the rules package…

    Would be quite a moment of bipartisan leadership for Sweet Paulie Blue Eyez, Ron Fournier would die of the multi-hour boner> I don’t see the downside.

    Sessions will go after R ‘critters is Trump tells him to, or maybe that’ll fall to whoever Jared and Ivanka’s people in the DOJ will be

  56. 56.

    Lizzy L

    I just posted a link to the Times story on my FB page, with a post saying Call your Congressperson first thing tomorrow morning, before the full House votes.

    It’s all we can do, and we have to do it. Let them know we are watching, and remind them they’re all up for re-election in two years.

  59. 59.

    J R in WV

    @efgoldman:

    I guarantee you that they can’t exceed my cynical and black dog expectations for the evil and corrupt things they will get up to, or more accurately, down to.

    These guys include pedophiles and sexual predators, self-hating gay red-necks, thieves and con-men, people twisting religious beliefs to steal, all mixed up with evil politics, hatred of others from women to brilliant foreign doctors, from people of color to people of different and genuine religions.

    There is no evil they can commit I don’t expect. What I don’t expect is for them to get caught at their evil, because they are all evil, to their core. They will steal from crippled veterans and construction workers, from miners dying of black lung, from widows and orphans.

    And if one Republican sees another stealing, they won’t reveal that dirty secret, because they all have their own dirty secrets, and fear that their own cruel hate will be disclosed if they testify against anyone of their corrupt party.

    ETA: I was going to lessen the wrath in some of the descriptions of evil in the Republican party, and then as I read the list, I realized that they have already had members commit all of these things, and be caught, eventually, at their evil workings. So, nope, gonna stick with my first draft. Evil, black hearts at work in that caucus.

  62. 62.

    Jeffro

    @Baud:

    To be fair, they could have done this any time after 2010. I wonder why they felt they could do it this year.

    Yuuup.

    I think there was a Grover Norquist quote about his ideal president having ‘enough working digits to use a pen’. Seems like they’ve found one.

    In other non-Tweet news (does that still qualify as news anymore, if it’s not a Tweet?), I saw the video of Trump’s New Year’s Eve speech at his grift-bash where he crows about cutting rich peoples’ taxes and getting rid of health insurance for 20M people (which, technically, is ALSO cutting rich people’s taxes, since that’s what was paying for Obamacare). So that’s two things that Orange Jowlius is consistent about: loving Russia more than his own country and helping out the struggling 1%.

  66. 66.

    gene108

    Every time Republicans get into power they make sure laws meant to ensure political accountability get degraded. They have been doing this for 20+ years, at least.

    Gingrich did it in 1995.

    This is not new.

    This is a pattern of one Party trying to institutionalize corruption.

  69. 69.

    Jeffro

    I know it’s probably too much to expect, but I’m hoping that President Obama’s farewell address on 1/10 notes the laundry list of things that no one – not even Trump voters – voted for, but are about to get due to the fever dreams of the Hard Randians and their Tangerine AutoPen. Would love to hear him remind citizens that it’s past time to get in Congress’ face and hold them accountable for what they’re about to try and take away, loot, grift, destroy. Remind them that whatever damage this gang of goons does in 2017 can be undone in 2018 and 2020, but only if we commit.

    Then he can shoot McConnell the bird (metaphorically, since he’ll be in Chicago ;) and go get himself a blue Rebel Alliance tattoo like the rest of us…

  70. 70.

    Corner Stone

    @Jeffro: If he does they will all hate his fucking guts 1000X more for saying it out loud. Then go out and sit on a bridge blocking traffic while burning their Rolling Coal 4×4 trucks and blaring “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC as loud as fucking possible.

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jeffro: He is an institutionalist. He won’t do that. Besides, he is staying in DC until his younger girl finishes high school.

  74. 74.

    Jeffro

    @Corner Stone: Who’s ‘they’ – Trump voters, Trump & his inner circle, or GOP members of Congress?

    I guess it doesn’t really matter as you’re right: all three groups hate PBO to infinity anyway, so he’ll essentially be addressing the other 270M Americans…heck, maybe to remind them that they’re a majority if & when they can be bothered to vote.

    1/10 SPEECH:
    – thank you America
    – review Obama record economically, internationally, civil rights, environment
    – thanks again
    – remind America that only about 30M hardcore haters + 30M party-before-country voters elected Trump (ok, sheer fantasy, that one…but he’ll work it in subtly)
    – remind America that “job-killing Obamacare” did nothing of the sort, but did bring health care to 20M, and losing it would raise prices for everyone…and probably affect voter turnout in 2018 and 2020, as it should
    – remind America that no one voted to have their Medicare voucher-ized or Social Security privatized
    – remind everyone that regardless of distracting Tweets, Trump’s only purpose is to sign whatever the Hard Randians put in front of him…so “don’t worry about what he Tweets, watch what he signs”
    – quickly re-review how well the country is doing
    – remind folks that his next projects will entail voting rights…”so important to every American and supporter of the Constitution…”
    – thanks again
    – (no mic drop this time – he already covered that one)

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    He is an institutionalist. He won’t do that. Besides, he is staying in DC until his younger girl finishes high school.

    By bringing it up, he’d be doing a small part to protect those institutions from Trump’s gang of looters.

    And when I said Chicago, that’s where he’s scheduled to give the speech. I know he’s staying in DC.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    I feel like this is the new conservative position: ethics and conflicts rules are regulations and conservatives are anti-regulatory. It’s another bedrock principle they just discovered.

  81. 81.

    Corner Stone

    @Jeffro:

    so he’ll essentially be addressing the other 270M Americans…heck, maybe to remind them that they’re a majority if & when they can be bothered to vote.

    That 270M number is doing a lot of work. Obama went out and told everyone it would be an insult if they didn’t come out to vote to continue his agenda. Hmmm…

  82. 82.

    O. Felix Culpa

    O/T, but not entirely, this FB post from two Afghani brothers, now in the U.S.:

    We lived 5 years under Mujahideen and 5 years under Taliban regimes. I am sure we can handle 4 years of trump. Proud to be Afghan, proud to be Muslim and very proud Afghan-American/ Muslim American. Happy New Year!
    ” You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind” Mahatma Gandhi

  83. 83.

    Jeffro

    @Corner Stone: Ok, granted, probably not fair to include the under-18 set in that 270M…or the 100M that could vote, but don’t. This is why I had to be a Democrat, I’m not good at making shit up and then sticking with it when called on it. =)

  86. 86.

    Yarrow

    @efgoldman: I want to know when the rules change and Democrats can run against Republicans for decades. Didn’t happen with Nixon. Or Reagan. Or W. Maybe Trump will be the turning point?

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: @Major Major Major Major: FDR. What Speaker Ryan’s Better Way plan on the domestic side is a repeal of the New Deal and everything that developed out of it and/or as a result of it. There is a strong belief among a significant number of Republicans and/or Conservatives that FDR redefined liberalism from what its supposed to be to what its been ever since he was President and he ushered in the new deal. And that redefinition is, essentially, socialism trending towards communism.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    Trump doesn’t follow any rules, and his administration won’t either. Why should Congress? Why should anyone?

  91. 91.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: and Trump’s victories in the primary and the general were due, in no small part, IMHO, to his repeated vows to protect medicare and Social Security. This rarely gets prominent mention in Village post mortems.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: We should, because we do. Rules and institutions matter. We need to learn to use them to delay, deny, and defeat the assholes.

  95. 95.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Mnemosyne: yep.

    @Adam L Silverman: Republicans up through Reagan, were running against the new deal economically (and black people socially). Since his generation they’ve been running against the great society, hippies, black people, and queers.

    Ryan is a Randian fuckstick but I don’t think it’s fair to generalize that republicans run against FDR more so than the 60s.

  98. 98.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Omnes Omnibus: You’re welcome. The coming years will be tough, to be sure – I never ever sought nor expected to be catapulted into such “interesting” times – but we still have agency and power. I’ll be damned if I roll over for Trump and his henchmen. We are being called to fight and fight we must.

    I believe this quotation from Thomas Paine applies for us today (whilst acknowledging the gender bias of his era):

    These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

    Each of us will have to determine the nature and shape of our service, but each of us is capable of something. All those cumulative somethings can and will make a difference.

  101. 101.

    Corner Stone

    OMG! I just got a little too excited when Nicole Wallace opened the 11th Hour segment on MSNBC.

  103. 103.

    J R in WV

    @efgoldman:

    @Mike in NC:

    how long before they vote themselves a pay raise?

    By law, members may not receive an increase greater than the increase in the base pay of General Schedule (GS) employees.

    But who passed that law? Who can repeal or revise every law, except for constitutional restrictions? Congress, isn’t it? So that schedule can be revised, by the folks who pass the laws, or repeal them, right?

    I know that in some states the legislature can only approve a pay raise for the folks elected in the next election, not for themselves… as if they themselves weren’t all going to be re-elected, right? But is that true for our nation’s Congress? I dunno.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    27th amendment.: “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened”

    Passed in 1789, ratified in 1992.

  114. 114.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Matthew Yglesias ‏@ mattyglesias 2h2 hours ago
    Remember when a scandal was, like, Doug Band asked for a diplomatic passport and State told him he couldn’t have one?

  116. 116.

    Tazj

    Maybe this has been alluded to in another thread, but I just saw video of Trump’s speech at Mar-a-Lago the other night. “We’re going to repeal Obamacare!” Then a big “Woo Hoo !” from the crowd. They’re just monsters all around. As Lawrence O’Donnell said, none of the people in attendance at that party ever had to worry about paying for their healthcare. Then he goes on to talk about securing the border and “Yes, we’re going to build a wall.” He’s still talking about that bs., I thought that was just for the campaign. What an embarrassment he is to this country.

  117. 117.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: She made a really good point on Meet the Press over the weekend, from what I understand. That in all the news media post mortems and navel gazing what is being missed is all of the sexism and racism and mainstreaming of extremism starting with the primaries, then into the general election, and now into the transition period and how the news media enabled this. That it wasn’t just free airtime or the cooption of the Republican Party or the demonstration that religious and social conservatives talk a good game, but actually don’t care about what they claim to care about. It was that the news media just couldn’t bring itself to focus and now is looking to shirk as much blame as possible.

  119. 119.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Tazj:

    What an embarrassment he is to this country.

    I was in London when Reagan was re-elected. I could say “Yeah, what about Thatcher?” as a defense. I don’t have that now.

  124. 124.

    Davebo

    I’m curious. Why now?

    The GOP has controlled the House for a long time and could have made this change.

  131. 131.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Davebo: The speculation I’ve seen is that this now clears the way for the incoming administration to spread the largesse from any enrichment that might occur because the President-elect is not going to divest in any traditional, and most likely meaningful, manner. So it opens the door for the carrot, as opposed to the stick of being called out by the President-elect and his people and setting the President-elect’s supporters on them.

    The stick was reapplied earlier today when word dribbled out that the President-elect prefers Senator Schumer to Senator McConnell or Speaker Ryan because the latter opposed his candidacy within the GOP.

  134. 134.

    Yarrow

    @Tazj: He has nothing else. He knows nothing about the job. He’s a showman. He’s giving them a show. Those are his greatest hits.

  135. 135.

    NotMax

    @Major Major Major Major

    Gets confusing because on U.K. political maps, red is reserved for the left and blue for the right. A tradition for much longer than the left/blue, right/red delineation in the U.S., which was locked in as a norm only in 2000.

  138. 138.

    Adrift

    Just read in the Guardian : “Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”
    I repeat the last comment I made here several days ago before I crawled into my depression cave:
    We are so fucked.
    I now retreat to my cave.

  140. 140.

    Corner Stone

    @Miss Bianca: I heard her voice and realized that for me it’s not over… Never mind! I’ll find some one like yououououou!!!
    I wish nothing but the best for you too
    Don’t forget me, I beg
    I’ll remember you said,
    “Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,
    Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead”

  142. 142.

    Adrift

    @NotMax:

    on U.K. political maps, red is reserved for the left and blue for the right

    I think ours is more appropriate as Communist red is so appropriate for these treasonous shits.

    ETA: minor edit

  145. 145.

    mai naem mobile

    It was a secret ballot so you don’t even know who voted for or against it. So brave,your GOPigs.

  148. 148.

    Adrift

    @Omnes Omnibus: It absolutely matters. I’m just saying that the color red in our historical context has represented communism. Reds under the bed, and all that.

  149. 149.

    dww44

    @Corner Stone: I saw the intro and had the teevee on mute, but she featured photos of Lieberman and a split screen with McCain on the left and Trump on the right. Did you hang around to see what she had to say? I didn’t, cause she is a loyal Republican through and through.

  154. 154.

    Corner Stone

    @dww44:

    Did you hang around to see what she had to say? I didn’t, cause she is a loyal Republican through and through.

    Yes. Yes, I did. There was a segment there where she did a one on one interview with Joey about FP and McCain’s influence on any possible hearings.
    Then, somewhat unexpectedly to some, she started professing her deep and undying love for one Corner Stone. To be honest, I was not quite sure what to make of it at first. But the longer I listened I could easily discern a pattern in what she had to say. It was something along the Fibbonaci Sequence but from what I have unencrypted thus far it seems pretty promising for me.

  156. 156.

    Corner Stone

    @Adrift: I can hunt and start a fire with limited resources but am bad about snuggling unless you may be about to freeze to death otherwise. I’m good on share and share alike unless it’s my last Coke or piece of chocolate.

  159. 159.

    Adrift

    @Corner Stone: No need for snuggles I’m long used to living alone. Also no need to hunt or start a fire as everything here including groceries and liquor are delivered, unless you want to purposely burn something down which I am not entirely opposed to.

  161. 161.

    NotMax

    @Adrift

    Trivia: Red as a designation for the left supposedly emanates from the red flags waved during the French Revolution of 1848.

  162. 162.

    Adrift

    @NotMax: Yes, I am well aware. However as our failed media in the U.S. has declared that the republicans are the color red I associate them with the former USSR and therefore Putin. There should be a new color, Putin Red, added to the crayola box.

  165. 165.

    Corner Stone

    @Adrift: Maybe I could relent on my “no snuggle” policy? I mean, if it’s that important to you afterall and all that.

  167. 167.

    Adrift

    @Corner Stone: You are welcome to share my cave and no snuggling is necessary. I have a 16 year old furry and extremely lovable Maine Coon who would probably snuggle with you if you offered more treats than me. But you would have to share brushing duties, she is a bit demanding on that point.

  168. 168.

    NotMax

    Sign of geezerdom: completely spaced out the annual New Year’s tradition of viewing Die Fledermaus.

  169. 169.

    Another Scott

    In other news, Donnie is picking a fight with Kim.

    Donald J. Trump Verified account
    ‏@realDonaldTrump

    North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won’t happen!
    3:05 PM – 2 Jan 2017

    11,058 replies 17,074 retweets 55,919 likes
    Reply 11K Retweet 17K Like 56K

    Nice.

    Maybe he’ll include “Bring it on!” in his next Tweet. Worked out really well for W and the rest of us, amirite?

    :-/

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  170. 170.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” In a world without ethics, an ethics office is just waste of money. ”

    Out of the box thinking on Drain the Swamp. Wheww. I am already tired of winning!

  174. 174.

    Adrift

    @Another Scott: Our new SOS Exxon already destroyed a beautiful part of Alaska and they (Palin & Co.) don’t seem to really care, so a couple of megatons wouldn’t really be so bad in their minds, would it?

  179. 179.

    Corner Stone

    @Adrift: Ok, fine! I’ll agree to snuggling every other day and on recognized Holidays. But that’s it! Maybe every Tuesday if that’s going to be a dealbreaker. But don’t push me on this! Mondays..I gotta have Mondays to myself. Ok, fine! Two Mondays a month it is! Dammit.

  182. 182.

    Adrift

    The Finland UBI trial is close to me as I was downsized last June and despite all efforts remain unemployed to date. UI benefits have run out and I have depleted my savings as well (NY UI benefits are notoriously cheap).
    Although I have irons in the fire, my ACA insurance expired on Saturday, the company pulled out of the state and I cannot afford premiums for a new policy.
    I have applied for Medicaid and am in a holding pattern.
    So 2016 ended in shit, and 2017 is not looking any better. By January 20 I will be in my cave with my cat and praying a better future lies ahead.
    I Know. TMI.

  184. 184.

    Aleta

    @Adrift: Sorry to hear. That is really rough. Sometimes, many times, my cat has been my best option. I’ve been depressed in NYS and personally I found it one of the worst places to be depressed that I ever was depressed in. (Upstate during high unemployment period)

  187. 187.

    Adrift

    @Aleta: Thanks, and I appreciate the commiseration. It especially sucks because I live in NJ and worked in NYC. NYS max benefits are $430 weekly but NJ tops out at $565 weekly.
    that $540 extra a month would have made a difference and I might still have a few bucks left if I had been able to collect here. I worked 18 years for the damn company and left with nothing.
    Yes, I am bitter. But hopeful nonetheless.

  189. 189.

    Another Scott

    @Adrift: Yikes! Sorry!! It’s a link to Anchorage Daily News. I’m sorry it caused problems for you, but it does work here (I just checked again on a different system).

    I’m sorry you’re going through horrible financial issues now, too. I didn’t intend to add to the crappiness.

    Hang in there. It will get better. Best of luck going forward.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  190. 190.

    Adrift

    @Another Scott: Thanks for the positive thoughts. I appreciate it. For now I am going to go play with the cat then head to bed. Smiles all around!
    Good night everyone. And Happy New Year for what it’s worth.

  192. 192.

    sukabi

    @Baud: it’s not that they felt they could do it now, it’s that it’s going to be imperative that it’s shut down… Time to get their grift on.

  193. 193.

    Calming Influence

    @Major Major Major Major: Sorry, that complete non-sequitur was a followup to a different comment elsewhere. (Thumbs of fury!) Facebook’s fake news influence on the election, hatred of Facebook in general, etc. Discuss or disregard as you see fit.

  195. 195.

    Xenos

    @Mike in NC: Pay raise? Only if they can find a way to give Republican representatives a pay raise and Democratic representatives a pay cut.

    Cleek’s law.

  196. 196.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Defying the wishes of their top leaders,

    Sounds like they want to burn their shit down too

  198. 198.

    PaulW

    @JPL:

    No, now Ryan is saying good things about the new ethics “guidelines”…

    Look, there were a handful of Republicans who voted against this in that not-so-silent vote. Every single one of them should threaten to quit the Party as independents, and it should be enough to flip the House over to Dem control.

  199. 199.

    nominus

    After Conway goes on tv this morning and defends the idea of gutting the OCE, after massive outcry from both the left and some on the right, motherfucking Vichy swine CNN had to give Trump credit for quashing the move.

  200. 200.

    Another Scott

    @nominus: So much for Republicans singing from the same hymnal, huh.

    Was it really just Frank Luntz that was holding the whole wet, stinky ball of string that is the GOP together?

    Can we hope?

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Sure, we can hope, but we’ve got to fight them every . single . day.)

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