Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

People are complicated. Love is not.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Friday Morning Open Thread: Women’s Work Is Never Done

Friday Morning Open Thread: Women’s Work Is Never Done

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… Pelosi’s decision this week to sideline Reps. Jim Banks (Ind.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio) — both ardent defenders of former president Donald Trump — prompted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) to lash out at Pelosi and withdraw all five of his designees from the investigative committee.

But Pelosi’s move won strong backing from House Democrats, many of whom remain disturbed and angry about the violent incursion of Trump supporters into the Capitol. The upheaval of congressional norms, several said Thursday, was outweighed by the risk of giving Republicans an official platform to distort, minimize and deflect a focused inquiry into the causes of the riot.

“This was an assault on the fabric of, the hallmark of our democracy, which is the transfer of power, and the fact that they aren’t treating it seriously really, really is upsetting to me and a lot of members,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), one of the Democrats serving on the panel. “We want people who are going to have allegiance to the oath of office that they took, not an allegiance to one person. And they’ve clearly pledged their allegiance to the former president.”…

Democrats — as well as Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), an anti-Trump Republican selected by Pelosi — said the speaker was more than justified in rejecting Banks and Jordan, while allowing three other McCarthy designees — Reps. Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), Rodney Davis (Ill.) and Troy E. Nehls (Tex.) — to serve…

Banks, 42, is a relative newcomer to the Republican ranks — first winning election in 2016 — but he has moved rapidly into prominence. A former naval reserve officer who did a tour of duty in Afghanistan, Banks won election last year as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, an influential conservative policy group, and helped lead the effort to expel Cheney as GOP conference chairwoman after she voted to impeach Trump this year.

Multiple Democrats said Thursday they were disturbed by a CNN report that an alleged Capitol rioter, Anthony Aguero, accompanied an RSC-sponsored trip that Banks led to the U.S.-Mexico border in May and served as an informal interpreter. Banks has denied inviting Aguero or meeting with him during the trip.

One member familiar with the internal deliberations said Pelosi and other leaders were also swayed by the statement Banks issued after being tapped by McCarthy to lead the panel’s GOP contingent. He indicated that he would push to investigate other episodes of political violence, including the street riots seen last year after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and accused Pelosi of seeking to “malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda.”…

The select committee is scheduled to hold its first hearing Tuesday, featuring Capitol Police and D.C. police officers who responded on Jan. 6. Further hearings are certain to follow, and Thompson has not ruled out calling Republican members of Congress — or Trump — to testify.

Among the potential Republican members who could be called as witnesses are McCarthy and Jordan, who spoke to Trump during the riot, as well as Rep. Greg Pence (Ind.), who spent much of the day under Secret Service protection with his brother, former vice president Mike Pence.

While Pelosi did not rule out naming additional GOP members to the panel — such as anti-Trump Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) — Thompson said he was prepared to move forward with the members Pelosi has already named. He named David Buckley, a former CIA inspector general, as the panel’s top staffer on Thursday, and told reporters that Republicans could be added to the staff as soon as this weekend. While Thompson would not comment on potential hires, former GOP congressman Denver Riggleman of Virginia met with Thompson’s staff on Thursday…

Excellent photo choice, here:

Reader Interactions

95Comments

  2. 2.

    debbie

    A small part of me wants to see the Capitol Police cops go off on Gym et al. for their stupid, stupid questions and even stupider statements.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    They just showed Jill at the opening ceremonies.

    The nearly empty stadium is so weird.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Banks won election last year as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, an influential conservative policy group,

    Since the GOP has no policy beyond tax cuts, he certainly can’t do any harm there.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Rustle up R ex-Congresscritters as non-voting members, to sit in an advisory capacity?

  7. 7.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Sue Bird, who’ll be playing in her fifth Olympics, has been selected by her fellow USA athletes as a flag bearer for the Tokyo Games, USA Basketball has announced— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) July 21, 2021

    wow

  10. 10.

    Baud

    I just finished watching a Japanese show on Prime so I feel in tune with Japanese culture.

  11. 11.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Here comes the parade of nations – 205 contingents. US will be the 203rd team to enter. Then France, then the host nation of Japan.

    This opening act was really short – less than 40 minutes. Opening ceremonies are usually 75 to 80 minutes long.

  13. 13.

    Geminid

    @NotMax: It sounds like former Congressman Denver Riggleman (VA-5) will be involved in some capacity. Maybe as an expert witness. Riggleman is dull as dishwater, but he has an earnest nerdiness that might come across well. For while. I suspect people might use his testimony as an opportunity to take a bathroom break or fix a sandwich.

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    McCarthy is a ridiculous person with absolutely no character. The quality gap between McCarthy and Pelosi is every bit as vast as the competency chasm that separates Trump and Biden.

    Pelosi is about as indispensable as a politician gets. I don’t know how on earth we’ll replace her.

  16. 16.

    MomSense

    Speaking of women’s work – two of the humans I raised are in a band that released an album today! They made this video and it’s freaking awesome!
    I know people love their states but there’s a special devotion to Maine when a band makes a music video that is a love song to Maine. One of the members, who wrote and sings this song, is a lobsterman.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l0fFe15Mpk0&feature=youtu.be
    Song of the Wind in the Pines.

  22. 22.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: No one can fill Speaker Pelosi’s shoes, but Brooklyn Representative Hakeem Jeffries has a lot of strengths. He’s hardworking and an excellent communicator.

  23. 23.

    MomSense

    @Geminid:

    Not only can no one fill her shoes, no one else can walk in them!  Holy hell it would be nothing but wipeouts.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    My daughter and her husband attend a liberal Methodist church and a couple of weeks ago they said a prayer for Doug Emhoff, which she and I find hysterical. Just that it’s specifically and only him :)

    Pastor is kind of a fan, I guess.

  30. 30.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Baud: I got up early and went to the “pajama party” my building is holding to watch the Opening Ceremony. I must be more sentimental than I thought because I was moved by that whole first part about the effects of the pandemic and then the attempts to come together again (even as the delta variant rages)

  36. 36.

    lowtechcyclist

    In a statement released Monday night — before he was removed from the committee — Rep. Banks dismissed the ordeal as a purely partisan effort. “Make no mistake, Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left’s authoritarian agenda,” he wrote. “I will do everything possible to give the American people the facts about the lead up to January 6, the riot that day, and the responses from Capitol leadership and the Biden administration.”

    Yeah, the response of the Biden Administration was totally nonexistent for a whole two weeks afterwards.  Can’t imagine why.

    Nancy Pelosi: Rep. Jim Banks Blamed Biden Admin for Jan 6th (mediaite.com)

  39. 39.

    MomSense

    Thanks everyone.

    @MJS:

    They have an interesting mix.  They have backgrounds in blues, soul, gospel, folk, jazz and bluegrass.  They have more songs coming out that are completely different. It’s going to be fun to see where they take this.

  40. 40.

    Tim C.

    McCarthy is a perfect representa ton of about half the Republican party.  They know what Trump is, they know what the rest of their party is.   They are just far far too morally weak and corrupt to do anything about it.  No actual principles or values,no long term thought.

  42. 42.

    lol chikinburd

    Labor regulators in California sued video game giant Activision Blizzard this week over allegations that the company systemically discriminated against female employees and failed to address a “pervasive ‘frat boy’ workplace culture” that led multiple women to quit and may have contributed to one worker’s suicide.
    […]
    Inside the highly successful video game company behind “World of Warcraft” and “Diablo,” women allegedly suffered relentless harassment and endured heavier scrutiny than their male colleagues. During “cube crawls,” a reference to pub crawls, male employees would drink “copious amounts of alcohol” and visit cubicle after cubicle while harassing the women they passed along the way, according to the lawsuit.

    WaPo has more of the ugliness.  This comes during a mass exodus of WoW players for unrelated, product-quality reasons.  You hate to see it, by which I mean you absolutely love to see it.

  43. 43.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Tim C.: You remember a few weeks back when Rs were talking about TFG as somehow becoming Speaker?  He’d be terrible for a variety of reasons but one of them is that he lacks Pelosi’s spine

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    It’s a sad day, Democracy still exists in Misery: Medicaid expansion measure did not violate state constitution, Missouri Supreme Court rules

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — In a unanimous decision, the Missouri Supreme Court remanded the Medicaid expansion lawsuit Thursday, ruling the constitutional amendment did not violate the state’s constitution.

    The case was heard earlier this month, with attorney Chuck Hatfield representing three single mothers in the lawsuit and Solicitor General John Sauer representing the state.

    Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled against the lawsuit last month, deeming 2019’s Amendment 2 unconstitutional due to its lack of a stated funding source. However, the state’s highest court said the amendment did not violate the state’s constitution since it did not appropriate money nor remove the General Assembly’s discretion in appropriating funds.

    “An initiative that simply costs money to implement does not necessarily require the appropriation of funds so long as the General Assembly maintains discretion in appropriating funds to implement that initiative,” the decision said.

    The court said the Department of Social Services (DSS) has the appropriation authority to provide services for those covered under the expanded Medicaid program and noted the General Assembly “chose against placing conditions or limitations on eligibility for MO HealthNet benefit appropriations in Fiscal Year 2022.”

    The case has been remanded back to the circuit court which will determine injunctive relief.

    But don’t worry, the state GOP will find a way to gut it anyway.

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    After reading Cilizza’s idiotic/moronic “headline*” on his latest completely-fucking-stupid “hot take” (re: how Speaker Pelosi has destroyed bipartisanship by booting Sexual-Assault-Enabler Gym Jordan), I thought the title of a Paul Campos post at LGM (“Why Were There No Al-Qaeda Supporters On The 9/11 Commsission?”) was an appropriate response. It should be used by Dems everywhere, whenever Traitor McQarthy or any other Rethug traitor tries their bullshit.

    *I could barely stomach the headline, so I sure as hell won’t read his moronic pukings

  50. 50.

    lowtechcyclist

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Since the GOP has no policy beyond tax cuts, he certainly can’t do any harm there.

    Dude, how can you say that?  The GQP has plenty of policies besides tax cuts!

    Deregulation, gun rights, white supremacy (especially rural and small-town white supremacy – can’t trust those big-city white libtards!), preserving a favored status for conservative Christianity, and of course putting judges and Justices on the courts who will enable all of the above.  And of course defending the right of the people to overturn by violent means the results of any election they don’t like.

  51. 51.

    debbie

    NPR is reporting on a demonstration in Tokyo protesting the Olympics. It’s a very large crowd, but also very orderly and polite. Love it!

  52. 52.

    Wilson Heath

    I don’t believe that it’s standard protocol to let insiders investigate their own insider attack.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    @SFAW

    As was brought up when the Rs en masse voted to kill a commission, not a single Nazi voted yea for holding the Nuremberg trials.

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    NPR is reporting

    Was listening to the PBS “News” Hour on NPR last night. Their “analysis” of the infrastructure/recovery bills involved interviewing Shelly Moore Capito — at least, I think that’s who it was, because I had to keep shutting it off — for about 10 minutes. I was particularly impressed that Woodruff allowed Capito to spew Party of Traitors bullshit talking points, without any serious pushback.

    Had I been driving my own car, I might have needed to replace the radio today, because I would have punched the shit out of it.

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Don’t know. I’m just appalled that an allegedly “liberal*” news outlet would give a 10-minute megaphone to the RWMF lies.

    *Yeah, I know they’re not liberal, but I think they had that rep for a number of years.

  60. 60.

    zhena gogolia

    @MomSense:

    Beautiful, thanks!

    We’re now in day 12 or so of our Richard Armitage film festival. Did you know he married the Vicar of Dibley? It’s adorable!

  61. 61.

    zhena gogolia

    @SFAW:

    They have that rep the same way all media outlets have that rep — because RWNJs repeat it so often it becomes the truth.

  62. 62.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    @OzarkHillbilly: We get used to things, but when you back off and think about it, this refusal to give people health care is just bizarre

    I wish I could say that was true, but it’s coming from the same place they’ve been coming from since the 1960s: if a nontrivial fraction of the people helped by a program are people of color, then a good chunk of white America is against it, and that chunk has dominated the GOP for most of my lifetime.

    Remember when Obamacare was being debated back in 2009? GOPers were comparing free health care with free steaks for the poor, and we know which poors they meant.

  63. 63.

    lol chikinburd

    @lol chikinburd: (To clarify: the thing you love to see is definitely not the harassment that happened, but the prospect of a number of stunningly awful people [maybe, Blob-willingly] getting what they deserve at long last.)

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Ibram X. Kendi@DrIbram
    Missouri legislators didn’t invite any Black people to an invite-only hearing on teaching about race. They did invite the misinformers of CRT who claim to be committed to equality. But did any of the invitees oppose the exclusion of Black people?

    No Black parents, teachers or scholars invited to Missouri hearing on teaching race
    “What not having any African Americans in the room really showed was that this wasn’t really about understanding.”
    kansascity.com

    Nothing says “We’re not a bunch of racist rednecks.” like purposely silencing black voices.

  68. 68.

    WaterGirl

    @MomSense: Great song!

    Seems like sons are close enough to commenters that the band could be featured in their own Artists in Our Midst post.  Let me know if you/they would be interested

    edit: I was sorry when the song ended.

  70. 70.

    dr. bloor

    So, Mississippi has decided to serve up the long-awaited batting practice fastball for our esteemed SCOTUS.

    Lawyers for the state of Mississippi urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn Roe v. Wade, taking a more aggressive approach than the one they presented when they asked the court to hear the case a year ago.
    The case for overturning the two main decisions that legalized abortion in the U.S. — Roe v. Wade in 1973 and a later case, 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey — is overwhelming, the state said. “The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition,” it said.

  78. 78.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @lol chikinburd: I suppose after “Drunk at work”, sexual harassment should come as no surprise along with “I don’t understand why our customers are calling our products poorly made shit”.

  80. 80.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    Don’t take this personally, but I been a radio-shouter-at for probably a lot longer than you.

    Be that as it may: I appreciate the honor.

  82. 82.

    Another Scott

    @dr. bloor:

    In the SCOTUS of the Logical Universe…

    “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

    The case is Denied! With Prejudice!!

    Next case!

    Here back in our Universe… (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    @SFAW: I don’t shout at my radio. But if I listen to NPR for very long, I get this weird feeling, like I am undergoing a mild lobotomy.

  85. 85.

    lowtechcyclist

    @SFAW: I used to listen to Morning Edition on the way in to work.  But their coverage of the 2016 campaign ended that for me, and I’m not even talking about the fall.

    The last straw was the morning after TFG’s acceptance speech.  They had a commentator on the program to give his impressions of the convention.  He had three things that he considered worthy of noting that all seemed pretty anodyne at the time.  (The two I remember were what a great job Manafort was doing, and also how impressive TFG’s kids were, which have held up really well, right?)

    What had me slamming my radio at the time was what he didn’t talk about: no “I alone can fix it,” no “Lock her up!” none of the things about the convention that were genuinely notable (in an appalling way, of course).

    I haven’t listened to NPR since.

  86. 86.

    hueyplong

    Barrack hearing (presumably about custody) at 10:00am PDT/1:00pm EDT.

    Might be interesting.

  87. 87.

    mrmoshpotato

    Excellent photo choice, here:

    Only bettered by pictures of the orange shitstain bellowing bullshit with his resting butthole mouth in full simian screech.

  88. 88.

    smith

    I stopped listening to or supporting the Nice Polite Republicans in 2004 when they continued to flog the Swiftboat lies long after they’d been debunked. They’ve been at this a long time.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @Geminid:

    I don’t shout at my radio. But if I listen to NPR for very long, I get this weird feeling, like I am undergoing a mild lobotomy.

    I noticed that you didn’t deny slamming your head into the console (or the steering wheel or the window), so maybe that’s why?

  90. 90.

    SFAW

    Excellent photo choice, here:

    I was going to speculate that McQarthy had lockjaw from his Mar-a-Grifto visit, but I’m guessing TFG is not that big, if you know what I mean.

    Apologies for any brain-bleach needed.

  91. 91.

    dfh

    ““There will be a strong appetite for revenge when we’re in the majority next time, and there will certainly be discussions in our conference whether we do it or not,” said Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, a junior member of the GOP leadership who personally opposes retaliation. “Banks and Jordan are a lot of things, but they are serious legislators and they would have taken this very seriously.””

    Seriously?  I know nothing of banks, but we all know Gym and the last descriptive word I’d think of is “serious”.  Bravo and huzzah to Nancy for shocking the pearl-clutchers.

  93. 93.

    dnfree

    @SFAW:  I have written several emails to PBS about Judy Woodruff’s inability to respond when Republican interviewees spout the same repetitive nonsense and falsehoods, contrasted with her forceful repetition of the exact same question three times to Democrats. It’s like she’s trying to establish that she’s not a liberal, but as you note, it’s infuriating. She should retire and let some of the younger talent have her spot.

  94. 94.

    Matt McIrvin

    The plane is interesting: it’s one of the 757s that normally acts as Air Force Two, the Vice-President’s plane (though it can be Air Force One in a pinch–not all airports can take a 747).

    I’ve heard these planes actually present something of a dilemma–the 757 is long out of production and the planes are aging, but the model is overpowered in a way that’s actually greatly appreciated for this particular use, and nobody is sure precisely what to replace them with.

  95. 95.

    Citizen Alan

    @dfh:  The republicans have had an appetite for revenge since approximately 1964, if not earlier.

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