Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

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

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

The revolution will be supervised.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Not all heroes wear capes.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Friday Vote Dump Open Thread: Legislative Progress

Friday Vote Dump Open Thread: Legislative Progress

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… which was one part of the NDAA. The GOP now considers its lame duck a dead duck. Per the Washington Post:

… The 81-13 vote in the Senate came just days after the House also voted in overwhelming numbers to back the legislation, despite Trump’s repeated protests. It takes two-thirds of each chamber to override a presidential veto.

The strong bipartisan majorities supporting the defense bill in both chambers represent a significant rebuke of the president, as it contains several repudiations of his policies as commander in chief.

The bill contains new restrictions on how much of the military’s construction budget the president may move by emergency order — a direct response to Trump’s efforts to divert billions of the Pentagon’s dollars toward the border wall. It also limits the president’s ability to draw down troop levels in Germany, South Korea and Afghanistan — a move Trump had planned over the objections of members of his own party…

The president didn’t immediately comment on Friday’s override of his veto, tweeting instead to remind his supporters about an upcoming rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, to coincide with Congress’ planned certification of the 2020 electoral college results. Supporters of the president in the House and Senate have pledged to object to the results, ensuring a drawn-out process that will ultimately have no effect on the outcome…

Reader Interactions

75Comments

  2. 2.

    John Revolta

    This is a big fucking deal.

    Also, what’s with Booker, Bernie and Warren?

    Also too, I wonder if this had anything to do with the big push to get Brexit done? The EU has been cracking down on this stuff too lately.

  4. 4.

    mali muso

    Count me in as one waiting to hear the 11-dimensional chess moves that involved any Dems voting against.

  6. 6.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I’m guessing that Booker, Markey, Merkeley, Sanders, Warren, and Wyden voted in protest of the size of the DoD expenditures

    ETA: This was primarily the National Defense Authorization Act. The measure against anonymous shell companies was tacked onto it. There were enough votes so that these senators, who usually disapprove of large defense expenditures, could make their point by voting against it.

    And that’s notable: bipartisan support.

  7. 7.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    Both my Senators (Merkley, Wyden) voted against it too. I assume they want less military spending, especially in this time of domestic emergency, and are expressing this view with this vote.

  11. 11.

    Anne Laurie

    @craigie: Can someone explain what Warren and Sanders were doing?

    My senators, Warren & Markey, announced they would vote pro forma against, because there’s better things to spend our joint funds on than more military hardware.

    Markey, at least, made it clear in advance that he wouldn’t have cast his protest vote if there was any chance it would actually derail the veto — this ain’t his first time at the rodeo.

    Assume the other Dem dissenters have similar stories, but that’s up to them to explain.

  13. 13.

    J R in WV

    I would assume [yes, I know what assume means, it makes an Ass of U and me] that Cotton voted very late and out of order, so that he would up on the Not Voting list early, and then voted No late in the game. Same for Rafael Eduardo Cruz…?

  19. 19.

    Jay

    This has an amazing detail: an agent became so enamored of the President’s agenda he quit the Service and became a policy advisor, helping to tear-gas the protestors at Lafayette Square. Now he’s going back to the Service to train other agents. https://t.co/iS4CR78HAW— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) December 31, 2020

  23. 23.

    Bill Arnold

    @John Revolta:

    Also too, I wonder if this had anything to do with the big push to get Brexit done?

    Many people are wondering about that. A common narrative leading up to the present Brexit was that it was in large part about turning the UK into an island money laundering haven, with nuclear weapons to keep that laundered money safe.

  24. 24.

    J R in WV

    @Jay:

    This has an amazing detail: an agent became so enamored of the President’s agenda he quit the Service and became a policy advisor, helping to tear-gas the protestors at Lafayette Square. Now he’s going back to the Service to train other agents.

    Isn’t it the Hatch Act that forbids federal employees from working on political campaigns? Didn’t this guy break that law?

    Can a lawbreaker be qualified to work for a Law Enforcement Organization?

    How can you work for the Secret Service training school from jail? Perhaps he should be in charge of participating in counterfeit investigations in Montana? Or Alaska?

    SO Many Questions!!!

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @J R in WV: If he quit, then he wasn’t working for the government. So I don’t believe the Hatch Act applies.

    But they sure as hell shouldn’t take him back, and they sure as hell shouldn’t allow him to be training agents.

  30. 30.

    Yutsano

    I don’t think the fact that Perdue or Loeffler didn’t vote on this will impact the race in any way. I’m pretty sure Georgia is used to them not doing any work for them anyway.

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I didn’t ask my questions well.  I understand what the words mean, but I don’t understand the implications.

    So they can still be in the House but they can’t be on the floor of the House?  So they don’t get to participate in voting, unless voting is remote?  No committees?  Not part of the caucus?

  33. 33.

    Jay

    @J R in WV:

    he took leave from the Secret Service to work for the campaign.

    that’s legal.

    going back to a training position, is an example of how the Reichwing has managed to infiltrate US LEO’s and the Military.

    and will continue to do so.

  34. 34.

    Michael Cain

    The shell company thing is interesting.  The Trump Organization is >500 interlocking LLCs, most of which are shell companies.  More recently, the family appears to have set up one or more layers of shell companies to handle diversion of political contributions into their own pockets.

  35. 35.

    Bill Arnold

    Did people see Lin Wood’s rant thread today (some links removed to reduce link count)? Giuliani must be feeling … sane. (He is not sane, but Wood and Powell have been out-performing him.)

    (1) For two months we have focused on accusing the Democrats of attempting to steal the 20/20 election for Biden. We focused on the Presidential election.
    We focused on the obvious.

    Over time, we have learned that the Democrats were joined by CCP & other foreign countries.

    — Lin Wood (@LLinWood) January 1, 2021

    (2) We have also learned that the Globalists like George Soros & the Elitists like Bill Gates were involved. CIA too (no surprise – military industrial complex).
    It all seemed so clear we overlooked one of the main participants in the theft of the election:

    THE REPUBLICANS.

    (3) These groups aspire to the goals of Communism. A ruling elite & an oppressed class of people who exist to serve those in power.
    When arrests for treason begin, put Chief Justice John Roberts, VP Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell at top of list.

    If Pence is arrested, @SecPompeo will save the election. Pence will be in jail awaiting trial for treason. He will face execution by firing squad. He is a coward & will sing like a bird & confess ALL.

  36. 36.

    Jay

    JFC: “They moved ahead with executions in the middle of the night… They executed a prisoner while an appeal was still pending… They bought drugs from a secret pharmacy that failed a quality test… They hired private executioners & paid them in cash.”https://t.co/oGyyMmCYLI— Caroline Orr Bueno (@RVAwonk) December 28, 2020

  37. 37.

    Yutsano

    @Jay: He can’t be fired for taking leave to volunteer on a political campaign. That’s a lawsuit the Biden administration will lose easily as a political prosecution. But it doesn’t mean the new head of the Secret Service or Department of Homeland security won’t be indirectly breathing down his neck. If there are reflections in the training that crop up that can call into question how he trains agents then yes he deserves scrutiny. But the last thing this government needs is to punish people in the federal government for having political opinions. That way makes Biden no better than Dolt45.

  40. 40.

    Bill Arnold

    @Yutsano:

    But the last thing this government needs is to punish people in the federal government for having political opinions.

    It’s more about the safety of Biden and Harris. There is open talk on the right of political assassinations of figures both on the right and the left. Do we really have confidence that a Trump political operative (“advisor”) with intimate knowledge of how the Secret Service blocks assassinations is to be trusted to be involved in training[1] Secret Service people? I suppose their is no choice, but I’d be worried about e.g. multiple closed door discussions with trainees. The rallies he organized demonstrated a lack of concern for human life.

    [1] “Ornato will be leaving the White House and is slated to return to the Secret Service to become the assistant director overseeing the agency’s Rowley Training Center,” (WaPo)

  42. 42.

    randy khan

    @Bill Arnold:

    Wood seems to think that if Pence is in jail, Pompeo presides over the joint session of Congress on the 6th, which is . . . not true.  It would be the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, who currently is Chuck Grassley (and presumably also will be on the 6th, as it’s unlikely he will be replaced).

    I don’t actually have the slightest idea what makes Lin think it would be Pompeo.  Even if the order of succession applied (which it would not  because a VP’s status not affected by whether he’s in jail awaiting trial – Pence would still be VP unless he resigned or was impeached and convicted), he’s after both Pelosi and Grassley.

  43. 43.

    Ken

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: (Merkley, Wyden) voted against it too. I assume they want less military spending

    That’s the charitable interpretation.

    The somewhat less charitable interpretation is that they want to keep traitors’ names on the military bases.

    The least charitable (but possibly most accurate) interpretation is that in two years, we’ll find that both of them are involved in shell companies that have been illegally transferring money.

  45. 45.

    Ken

    @randy khan: I don’t actually have the slightest idea what makes Lin think it would be Pompeo.

    From reading Wood’s tweets, I’m guessing an undiagnosed but self-medicated psychotic disorder.

  47. 47.

    Bill Arnold

    @debbie:

    He’s blocking lots of people. It’s almost like a badge of honor.

    I’ve just picked at his sanity a bit. :-) No insults.

  49. 49.

    Jay

    @Yutsano:

    it’s one thing to “have a political opinion”, and another thing to be a Reichwing Trumpist.

    In theory, Nazis should not be allowed in any aspects of Security.

    In reality, they are welcomed with open arms, and their views are embraced.

  51. 51.

    eachother

    Broken Shells. Sand shards. Off shore sand shards.
    New rule may discourage pirates and traders.
    The bums have been beach barbarians much too long.

  54. 54.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl:

    Me too. I signed a letter from relatives of murder victims imploring Barr not to do these executions. What evil demons they are.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Can you imagine how the person who was executed with appeals still pending felt?  The families?  The decision-makers there ought to be able to be charged with something serious.

    It boggles the mind.  It is truly sick and evil.

  59. 59.

    jonas

    Folks are wondering if the part of the NDAA Trump really objected to is the ending of tax-dodging shell companies. The howls of anguish you hear all over the globe tonight are of outraged oligarchs and other billionaires realizing that they won’t be able to launder money as easily through US-based entities. Trump included.

  60. 60.

    TS (the original)

    @craigie:

    Sanders tried to stop the vote being held until the senate voted on the $2000 pandemic payment – which may be why he voted against. Perhaps Warren agreed with that sentiment.

  62. 62.

    Ken

    @SFAW: Oh, you’re all so evidence-based.  That’s such 20th century thinking.  Nowadays the skill set is to slyly insinuate while yelling at the top of your lungs.

    (And for the record, I don’t think either of Oregon’s Senators want to keep the confederate base names, nor are they laundering money for the Russian mob.)

  63. 63.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Bill Arnold: Dear me; Turtle and Pence are commies now. ROFL  Why hasn’t the  corpse of Lenin been seen laughing in his tomb?

    Like I said, this is just the Lizard Alien Conspiracy with the word Communism scribbled over it.

  64. 64.

    J R in WV

    @randy khan:

    Wood seems to think that if Pence is in jail, Pompeo presides over the joint session of Congress on the 6th, which is . . . not true.

    So very much that L. Wood believes is SO NOT True at all. Should read the Constitution first, and then some history books about the founding and the Constitutional Convention. But no, easier/better to just make up a bunch of stupid shit about elections being verified by the legislative bodies…

  65. 65.

    Subsole

    @randy khan: I think this is the part of the story where Stephen Glass is spinning bullshit at relativistic speeds, and slowly beginning to realize that it isn’t near fast enough to hold the ship together.

  66. 66.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Bill Arnold: Here is another Wood quote

    “I might actually be Christ coming back for a second time in the form of an imperfect man, elevating Christ consciousness… That cause you to have a little bit of a chill? Who would be more eloquent to say what the will of God is, the belief of God in me.” […]

    From what I’ve been told this messiah complex is what happens to strong believers when they fail a crises of faith. Normally this quickly passes.   So, Wood be  pants of the floor crazy.

  67. 67.

    sdhays

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I might actually be Christ coming back for a second time in the form of an imperfect man…

    LOL.  I might actually be Spiderman and I just haven’t discovered my ability to spin webs yet. Gives you a chill, doesn’t it?

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    @opiejeanne: the base in North Carolina. The Fort Bragg I speak of is home to the 82nd Airborne Division. Matthew Ridgeway was its first commander, and dropped into Normandy with his Division on June 6, 1944. One of Eisenhower’s most effective commanders, he later led the American forces that captured Bremen in the last days of the European campaign.                                       When the Army commander in Korea was killed in a jeep wreck during the retreat from the Yalu River, Ridgeway replaced him and salvaged MacArthur’s  disastrous campaign.

  72. 72.

    Geminid

    @opiejeanne: A good Ridgeway story: when assuming an important new command, he had a staff officer write a short speech for the occasion. The staffer included a passage “and so with determination and humility…” Ridgeway struck out the latter part, saying “I am humble before no one but my God.”

  73. 73.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geminid: Um, IIUC who it is you’re promoting for the renaming, he spelled his name Ridgway. No “e”.

    I guess whoever does the list of common BJ misspellings should add him to the list: MATTHEW RIDGWAY.

  75. 75.

    SteverinoCT

    @SFAW:

    I’m guessing Wood recalled Al Haig declaring himself in charge, and thought Haig actually was.

    In Al’s defense: in the Navy we were trained that in a crisis (fire, flooding, assassination attempt) the senior person present should announce that, in order to organize and lead an effective response (“This is Petty Officer SteverinoCT, and I am in charge”). When a more-senior person arrives on-scene, they take command. It keeps the response  from being an every-man-for-himself cluster.

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