Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Innocent people do not delay justice.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

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Friday Evening Open Thread: Split Screens

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Let. Them. Fight…

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174Comments

  2. 2.

    PaulB

    For tonight’s Speaker vote, Biggs and Crane have both said no, they will not vote for McCarthy. Crane was one of the two they were really working on, along with Rosendale, so a disappointment for McCarthy.

    Hunt and Buck are both returning to the House, so that means that McCarthy will need 218 votes. With the two votes from Hunt and Buck, he will have 216 (assuming everyone stays with him).

    That leaves McCarthy to find 2 votes from Boebert, Gaetz, Good, and Rosendale.

  4. 4.

    PaulB

    McCarthy’s latest strategy is to try to persuade holdouts to vote Present rather than for anyone but him. If he can persuade 3 of them to do that, that reduces the total number of votes for named candidates to 431, at which point his 216 votes would be a majority.

  5. 5.

    mali muso

    Super excited…a friend has a connection that has scored me and the kiddo a tour of the White House (for later this month).

  6. 6.

    PaulB

    Per CNN, this is what McCarthy gave up:

    • Any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair
    • McCarthy’s leadership PAC won’t play in open primaries in safe districts
    • Hold votes on key conservative bills, including balanced budget amendment, congressional term limits, border security
    • A debt ceiling hike must be paired with spending cuts
    • Move 12 appropriations bill individually
    • More Freedom Caucus representation on committees, including the House Rules Committee
    • Cap discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels, which would amount to lower levels for defense and domestic programs
    • Allow for 72 hours to review bills before they come to floor
    • Give members ability to offer more amendments on the House floor
    • Create an investigative committee to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government
    • Restore the Holman rule which can be used to reduce the salary of government officials
  8. 8.

    OverTwistWillie

    Reconvening in the dead of night to slip through all their crooked deals.

     

    Typical.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    @PaulB:

    • Create an investigative committee to probe the “weaponization” of the federal government

    Finally, we’ll get to the bottom of Trump’s shenanigans!

  10. 10.

    PaulB

    A key part of this agreement is for House GOP to present a BALANCED budget over 10 years – using the 2022 baseline, per multiple sources.

    That could be a potentially devastating move for Republicans, as they would need massive cuts to the safety net in order to make that goal, assuming that they mostly leave taxes and defense spending alone.

  11. 11.

    MisterForkbeard

    @PaulB: McCarthy had also offered holdouts specifically that he’d kick some Democrats of their choices off committees. I wonder if that’s still in there, and just not ‘official’ because he’ll do it anyway?

  14. 14.

    PaulB

    @MisterForkbeard: I wonder if that’s still in there, and just not ‘official’ because he’ll do it anyway?

    That’s my take on it. He threatened that even before the election, as payback for kicking MTG off of committees. He promised to retaliate by kicking a few Democrats off of committees in return, assuming that he has the votes.

    ETA: A quick Google search shows that he promised to strip Ilhan Omar, Adam Schiff, and Eric Swalwell of their assignments.

  16. 16.

    Alison Rose

    Also, Newsom was inaugurated today and his speech was really good (link should be cued up to the right spot, but if not, skip ahead to about 14:45). There’s a bit of California bragging, of course, but hey, it’s well-earned. His vision for the state and our future is a good one, and as we like to say here, since we do tend to be leaders in a lot of areas, as goes California, so goes the nation.

  17. 17.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Alison Rose: 

    If magic were real and I had some, I’d make it so any conservative misusing MLK’s words got an electric shock to their junk every time.

    While *I* would certainly enjoy watching that, I don’t think that would stop them.

  18. 18.

    PaulB

    @Baud: Amazing that almost all of those demands are “economic” issues, not culture war.

    Could be, but if you assume that all of them are all in on the culture war stuff, McCarthy may not have needed to explicitly put it on the table.

    If everyone agrees to pass an anti-CRT bill, an anti-transgender bill, an anti-abortion bill, then you don’t need to negotiate.

  20. 20.

    karen marie

    I was working and missed the end of today’s House party.  Are they off for the weekend?

  22. 22.

    Suzanne

    I looked back at my FB memories from this day two years ago. I wrote:

    “If only there had been a way to foresee the occurrence of this totally unpredictable event, instigated by this totally unpredictable man.”

  23. 23.

    Another Scott

    @PaulB:

    • And a pony

    These folks are clowns with no memory at all of what it was like when these “policies” were in place in the past.  E.g. the 72 hour thing.  They were windowdressing and ignored when the choice was to uphold the stupid 72 hour thing or make the last flight home.

    It’ll be interesting to see how much of a public battle there is about the rules.

    Also too, catturd2 has spoken.  Sorry Qevin.

    (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  24. 24.

    Sparkedcat

    The six remaining crazies having been sufficiently bought off will vote present thereby allowing McCarthy to  become Speaker. Act I of the of the 118th Congress will then come to a close. The second act of the 118th Congressional shithow will then begin.

  25. 25.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @PaulB: i don’t understand newbie Eli Crane. He doesn’t represent a bright red district like Gosar. It’s been represented by Dems before. I would have to look it up but my guess is that Debbie Lesko’s district is redder than Crane’s and Lesko voted for McCarthy all along.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    Also FYI.

    Over a million total? Magic 8-ball sez “Lkely.”

    The hottest reality show in America this week is being broadcast live on the country’s nonprofit public service broadcaster.

    C-SPAN’s live coverage of the House of Representative’s first attempts to elect a speaker was watched by at least 379,000 households on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. That marks a 161% increase over the opening day of the prior Congress two years ago.
    [snip]
    That figure is an estimate from Samba TV, which tracks viewership on smart TVs. So it doesn’t count people who streamed the proceedings on C-SPAN’s website — or watched their live-stream of the House on other TV channels.
    [snip]
    According to the Samba TV estimates, though, C-SPAN viewership on Tuesday was higher than that of some cable reality shows. The latest episode of Southern Hospitality, the new Southern Charm spinoff on Bravo, had an audience of around 300,000 households, according to USTVDB.com, which tracks ratings. Episodes of Growing Up Chrisley on E! had less than 300,000 last fall. Source

  28. 28.

    Ken

    @PaulB:

    • Move 12 appropriations bill individually

    Oh, please. Like they’ll even get 12 bills written, much less out of committee.

  34. 34.

    PaulB

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Is a balanced budget actually bad as a concept?

    In a word, yes, it absolutely is. One simple scenario: let’s say that the country goes into a recession, there’s a stock market correction, people stop spending, etc.

    In a balanced budget scenario, the federal government has to make additional cuts, since tax revenue would be down. This would both deepen and lengthen the recession. Even worse, the recession would mean greater demand on the safety net, so you’re reducing spending at the same time you’re increasing the need for the spending.

    A balanced budget at the federal level is a truly terrible idea.

  35. 35.

    PaulB

    @NotMax: National debt has been going down since Biden took office.

    No, the annual deficit has decreased, but the overall national debt continues to rise. The last time the debt actually decreased was during the Clinton administration.

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    They sure are acting as if they won by a landslide and didn’t just barely win the House. It’s incredibly brazen. I can never get over that 

    Because they’re assholes.  Same reason they always bellow that a Democratic President never has a mandate.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    Did mine eyes deceive me on driving very locally for couple of minor but necessary errands today? Gas prices for regular posted as under a fin at $4.99.

  42. 42.

    PaulB

    Punchbowl news reports that if McCarthy wins tonight, they plan to swear in members and pass the rules package immediately, a package that would include the concessions listed above.

  43. 43.

    Splitting Image

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Is a balanced budget actually bad as a concept?

    Yes. The entire point is to force spending cuts simply by electing Republicans. With a balanced budget amendment, they could immediately cut taxes by 50% or 90% and force spending cuts to happen automatically.

    State governments in the U.S. generally have to balance their budgets, which gives them no leeway whatsoever to deal with emergencies like hurricanes, earthquakes, and the like. That’s why FEMA has to be a federal agency. To say nothing of a localized downturn like Detroit’s auto industry. Michigan couldn’t use deficit spending to goose Detroit’s rebuild, so without federal help, the downturn became a depression.

  44. 44.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Oops-a-doodle. Deficit. Blame it on only now getting around to pouring the first cuppa joe.

    No wet noodles handy with which to flagellate self.

  45. 45.

    PaulB

    @Mai Naem mobile: I don’t understand newbie Eli Crane. He doesn’t represent a bright red district like Gosar.

    All I’ve heard is that Crane has said, “In my district they don’t support Kevin McCarthy.”

  46. 46.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): A balanced budget is not bad in itself (the budget was more than balanced under Clinton, when there was a budgetary surplus), but requiring the budget to be balanced is bad. It would make some sense to try to run surpluses during boom times and deficits in recessions.

    And, of course, Republicans always want to cut taxes to the bone and balance the budget by cutting social spending, regardless of how the economy is doing.

  47. 47.

    Kirk Spencer

    @PaulB: So no time taken to ensure the recent changes were entered correctly? That’s never caused problems in the past. /s

  50. 50.

    Mike in NC

    @PaulB: McCarthy insists he has the votes.

    “The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage,” Emperor Hirohito, surrender speech, 1945.

  54. 54.

    TooManyJens

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Same reason they always bellow that a Democratic President never has a mandate.

    Because the Real Americans vote for them and not for Democrats, of course. So if they lose an election it’s been stolen by illegitimate usurpers, and if they win it’s the will of the people.

  55. 55.

    PaulB

    Gaming this out, assuming that everyone but the 6 holdouts votes as they did earlier today. There will be 434 members voting tonight, with 216 votes for McCarthy, 212 votes for Jeffries, and 6 uncertain votes.

    If 2 of the 6 vote for McCarthy, he wins.

    If 1 of the 6 votes for McCarthy and 1 votes Present, McCarthy wins.

    If 3 of the 6 vote Present, McCarthy wins.

  56. 56.

    MisterDancer

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Is a balanced budget actually bad as a concept?

    Do you like social services? Because the whole-assed point of this “Balance the Budget/Cut Debt” wankery is to Defund the New Deal, and everything socially benefiting, since.

    That’s it. That’s the whole game, and has been since the Conservative Movement started muttering about Debt in the late 1970s. the only thing that’s changed is that these yahoos are so committed to a concept that prior Conservatives just paid lip service to, they they’ll dismantle the core of American economic growth and stability — not to mention the WHOLE DAMN WORLD — without a decent replacement.

    Balancing the budget has Nothing to do with real economic stability and responsibility.

  57. 57.

    Citizen Alan

    The republicans will never be satisfied until the majority of Americans and the overwhelming majority of non white, non Christian Americans are homeless and starving.

  58. 58.

    Geminid

    I wonder if the full moon will generate enough tide to float The McCarthy off the stinking mud bank it’s been stuck on. Then at least at it will have a chance to sink in open water.

  59. 59.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Is the size of the national debt and poor yields on bonds for the last decade related?

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    @Geminid:  And, next Friday is the 13th.

    Beautiful full moon out there tonight.  Whether yokels be skulking and plotting under it, or not.

  64. 64.

    Another Scott

    @Splitting Image: +1

    Not only that, but being forced to have a balanced budget every year leaves money on the table that could be used for the economy to grow.  It’s like demanding people buy houses with cash as opposed to taking out a loan.  IIRC, some economist made a decent case that a healthy deficit is about 3% of revenue (which would be about $4.64T x 0.03 = $139B – so we are running high deficits now, but we’re still recovering from the Pandemic and decades of under-investment so that’s not unusual).

    Plus, as a consequence of the way the federal budget accounting is done, if Social Security runs a surplus then it Increases the national debt.  Why?  Because SS money doesn’t sit in a vault somewhere, it gets loaned to the Treasury and moved out into the economy.  And has to be paid back, so it’s a debt.

    Most of the federal debt is money like that that we owe ourselves.

    A balanced federal budget, and trumped-up panic about the federal debt (when Democrats are in office), are both colossally stupid ideas. The federal budget is not like a family budget, and it’s wrong to think that it is.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  68. 68.

    The Thin Black Duke

    These yahoos in the GOP have massive hard-ons just thinking about grabbing that Social Security and Medicare money. That’s it. Don’t overthink it.

  69. 69.

    eclare

    @Geminid:   Huh.  My ex is a paramedic, and I know it’s not scientific, but he said everyone dreaded full moons.  The crazy really came out.

  70. 70.

    PaulB

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): When does the size of the debt start to matter?

    Well, for starters, when a country cannot afford to pay the interest on the debt. You’re asking questions that could easily require book-length answers. There is nothing simple about these topics.

    Well, other than that a balanced budget requirement at the federal level would be a truly awful idea.

  71. 71.

    eclare

    @Geminid:   You win the internets!

    None of this mattered when the R house lowered the Corp tax rate to 21% from 35%.  That is an unprecedented drop.  I have worked in tax for thirty years, a decrease that big is staggering.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    As of 2021, Japan had the highest general government debt-to-GDP ratio of the countries for which the IMF had available data at 262.5%. Next was Venezuela, with a reading of 240.5%. The U.S. was fifth with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 128%.

     

    I haven’t heard that the Japanese people were hurting too much despite claims of “low growth.”

  74. 74.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Geminid:

    Funny, but hasn’t the Fed kept interest rates artificially low for the last decade partly because of the high national debt as the debt servicing payments could put a strain the US’ finances if interest rates were higher? Isn’t low yields bad for investors, including retirees?

  75. 75.

    PaulB

    @karen marie:  That’s insane.

    They wanted the delay to give them a little time to work on the last 6 holdouts, plus time to get Buck and Hunt back. Buck is returning from an unspecified medical issue and Hunt was with his wife and their premature infant. Both are supposed to be in the chamber this evening.

  76. 76.

    PaulB

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Funny, but hasn’t the Fed kept interest rates artificially low for the last decade partly because of the high national debt as the debt servicing payments could put a strain the US’ finances if interest rates were higher?

    No. That’s not part of the Fed’s charter.

    Edited to add that this is clearly a topic you’re obsessing over. Might I suggest you do some reading offline before pursuing this further?

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Another Scott: Yeah, the funny thing is that even if we were to take the “household budget” analogy as valid, households use debt to finance things all the time. It can be done to excess, but it’s a tool in the toolbox.

  78. 78.

    Kirk Spencer

    So I’m wondering if the push for the flat tax will make a resurgence?

    Gads, I’m glad we kept the senate.

  79. 79.

    Geminid

    Talk about rubbing it in!

    A few hours ago Politico Magazine put up an article titled:

      Kevin Who? In McCarthy’s Hometown, a Different Take on His Fate

    It’s more like an indifferent take. The reporter found that outside a few Republican officials, even McCarthy’s supporters were not too wrapped up in the Speaker election (unlike people on a blog I could name!).

    Democrats were gloating, and some people did not know who their congressman was.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    Regardless, the best way to reduce the deficit is to have Dems in charge so we can fix the tax code.

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think the Fed kept interest rates low because the economy was growing so slowly they were afraid raising them would put us back in a recession. The lower debt payments were an ancillary benefit.

    Low rates do cause problems for some groups and maybe systemically in some ways, but they are not directly related to the deficit or national debt (I think).

  86. 86.

    PaulB

    @Baud: Regardless, the best way to reduce the deficit is to have Dems in charge so we can fix the tax code.

    Yup. It’s also a good way to determine if someone you’re talking to is serious about deficit reduction (rather than just mouthing partisan platitudes). If tax cuts are off the table, they’re not serious about the deficit. It’s pretty much that simple.

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kirk Spencer: What I’m hoping is that people are smarter about it now. Incredible to think there was a time when Jerry Brown had a flat tax proposal.

  91. 91.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): ​
     I recommend you get the classic economics book for laypeople – The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert Heilbroner – and read/skim the chapter on Keynes.

    I’m sure there are newer books out there, but my recollection is that Heilbroner was good at clear explanations, without talking down to the reader.

  94. 94.

    Geminid

    @eclare: More anecdotal evidence: a feature about a woman magistrate I read a few years ago quoted her saying that domestic violence cases peaked during full moons.

  95. 95.

    Eunicecycle

    @eclare: my daughter used to be a labor and delivery nurse and she swore there were more babies born under full moons. She dreaded those nights, too!

  96. 96.

    Gvg

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): yes. Good lord you should know this by now. A nations finance doesn’t go in a fiscal year. You borrow when interest rates are low and invest in things that will pay off long term not that year. You pump money into the economy when times are bad and tax when things are booming too much. You spend when emergencies happen then pay like depressions, wars to exist and disasters which don’t happen to fit in fiscal balances.

    it’s following tiny rules for timid minds which can’t deal with the big wide world. Like gold buggery.  Governing by slogans not wisdom.

  101. 101.

    different-church-lady

    @lollipopguild: ​
     

    I remember when Bill Clinton and Al Gore not only balanced the budget

    And earned the undying enmity of shitlibs evermore.

  102. 102.

    the pale scot @ gmail

    @PaulB:

    the federal government has to make additional cuts, since tax revenue would be down.

    Just look at the UK’s austerity budgets after the financial meltdown. Every other developed country opened the spigots. The UK GDP stagnated while the rest of us grew at a decent rate.

     

    12 years of Tory rule has devastated the NHS, the police, all indicators of well being are falling, and the Tories are still in la la land

  106. 106.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Go read about the New Deal.  Go read Keynes.  Hell, make it less technical, read Galbraith.

    Or simply compare 2009-2011 with 2020-2022.

  107. 107.

    PaulB

    McCarthy is confident enough about his victory tonight to whip votes for the House Rules package. Tom Emmer, “Majority Whip-Elect,” has sent out a note to House Republicans:

    The House will reconvene at 10:00 p.m. and proceed to the fourteenth ballot for the Election of the Speaker of the House.

    Members are strongly encouraged to remain on the floor throughout business this evening.

    Following the Election of the Speaker, the Speaker will swear-in all Members and Delegates on the House floor.

    After the swearing-in, the House will debate H. Res. __ – Adopting the Rules for the 188th Congress.

    At approximately 1:45-2:15 a.m., we will have our last vote series of the week on the Previous Question, Motion to Commit, and adoption of the House Rules Package.

  111. 111.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I really need to know how all these offers are represented in the rules package, because if they’re just McCarthy making promises, or even just votes that are going to be taken, he might as well be farting show tunes for all it matters legislatively.  ‘Present a budget’ is gigantically different from ‘only a balanced budget can be voted on.’

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    These yahoos in the GOP have massive hard-ons just thinking about grabbing that Social Security and Medicare money.

    But they’re not talking about spending it on other things, or privatization.  They’re talking about removing the money completely.  The massive hard-on is for hurting people.

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulB: What a dick McCarthy is.

    Many of these new reps likely have families that want to attend the swearing in, and he wants to do it in the fucking middle of the night?

    What a dick!  But I repeat myself.

  113. 113.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:

    McCarthy has a monomaniacal obsession with becoming Speaker, even if he’s the weakest Speaker in history. It’s really weird. And yes he is a dick

  115. 115.

    Gvg

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): no. Low interest rates for everything for a decade mean the feds also offer a low rate. Which is yield. They are safer than banks or other investments so their rates can be really low.
    it also indicates the government hasn’t been competing for more bond money (offering higher rates to get people to choose bonds instead of other things like private stocks). This is partly because the government hasn’t been authorized to invest in enough things like infrastructure and research that it should have been and was in smarter times. It’s why our roads and bridges need repair, our education has fallen behind and hospitals are closing.

    After the revolutionary war, our government invested in us, in a ton of things like roads and canals and later railroads which paid off for a more prosperous country. This group of fiscal balanced budget idiots think they understand money, but they are business idiots with slogans. Nearsighted slogans. And they are afraid.

  117. 117.

    James E Powell

    Is it possible this clown show is going to continue till next week? I am already tired of it. I feel like McCarthy as a weak speaker constantly be harried by the crazies in his party is the best possible outcome for us. The looser his hold on his party, the more likely President Joe can twist enough arms to get things passed. Or maybe I’m just being overly optimistic.

  118. 118.

    PaulB

    @WaterGirl: What a dick!

    But don’t you see?

    “Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern. So now we’ll be able to get the job done,” McCarthy added.

    McCarthy is hoping that this will come across as “strong, decisive action” after the days of uncertainty and incompetence. That there is no rush, that doing this overnight is completely unnecessary, doesn’t matter; he needs this pointless gesture and is hoping that the optics will work in his favor.

  120. 120.

    PaulB

    @Geminid: Like in the Speaker contest, 5 defectors can sink the Rules. This is not neccessarily  a done deal.

    You’re absolutely right, but McCarthy thinks that he has the votes for the whole thing: not just himself as Speaker but also the votes for the rules, suitably modified with all of the concessions he has made.

    His vote counting thus far has been … lacking. We’ll see if he can count any better tonight.

  121. 121.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Matt McIrvin:

    What I’m hoping is that people are smarter about it now.

    I feel as though you have not been watching this whole speaker election thing. Except you did say “hope”, not “expect”.

  122. 122.

    BC in Illinois

    @PaulB:

    After the swearing-in, the House will debate H. Res. __ – Adopting the Rules for the 188th Congress.

    At approximately 1:45-2:15 a.m., we will have our last vote series of the week on the Previous Question, Motion to Commit, and adoption of the House Rules Package.

    Wait – – I thought that McCarthy’s masters were demanding that every bill have a 72-hour notice, so that all the members could pretend to read it.

  123. 123.

    PaulB

    @Geminid: Like in the Speaker contest, 5 defectors can sink the Rules. This is not neccessarily  a done deal.

    Bolstering your point: Tony Gonzalez (R-TX), has now announced via Twitter that he is a “NO on the house rules package.”

  124. 124.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @PaulB:

    His vote counting thus far has been … lacking. We’ll see if he can count any better tonight.

    I’m not sure he gives a shit about passing the rules package as promised or any other way once he’s Speaker.  I think he’s made it pretty plain that the title is his goal.  Once he’s got it, his motivation to fight for anything drops like a rock.  I don’t know.  We’re hearing rumors about promises, at this point.

  128. 128.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @PaulB:

    By the way, thanks for your “live reporting” on threads on the GOP House Circus over the last couple of days. Protects my sanity lol

  130. 130.

    HumboldtBlue

    So, once they all get sworn in and the rules have been passed, can a Dem then stand up and demand a vote to vacate the speaker’s chair?

  131. 131.

    David 📢 Speaker 📢 Koch☑️

    The local radio station that carries baseball broadcasts turns into Hate Radio overnight. During the summer, when I would go out at night, I’d start the car and Hate Radio would be on and all they did was SCREAM about Mexicans. Not exaggerating. Without except, it was SCREAMING hatred of Mexicans. And the person they personally attacked wasn’t the president or DHS, it was McCarthy. They kept frothing at the mouth that he’s a RINO and “betrayed us on the border”.

  134. 134.

    Skepticat

    @NotMax: I (cheerfully) paid $2.29 a gallon in Portland, Maine, yesterday. Of course, for an year and a half after Dorian in The Bahamas, gas and diesel were $7 a gallon, so anything under that looks comparatively acceptable to me.

  135. 135.

    Geminid

    @PaulB: The concessions McCarthy made to the radicals will be resented by other caucus members. Some may dig in their heels over various provisions. They may also want to hold out a vote or two as a “flex,” to show the radicals  who prolonged this election that they can play the obstruction game as well.

  138. 138.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kirk Spencer: No, I mean the general public. There was a time when even US liberals were on board with these goofy schemes. They’re not any more.

  140. 140.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: People voting “no” on the Rules package would also send a message to McCarthy that he cannot take them for granted.

    I’m not saying the Rules won’t pass, just that some in the caucus have good reason to jam it up.

  142. 142.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @eclare:

    And Greenspan argued that the govt having a surplus was bad.

    As I recall, he also argued that credit default swaps were uber safe because of “counterparty surveillance”. Good times.

    We still have Larry Summers rooting for higher interest rates and millions of unemployed. Because inflation is somehow only caused by workers, no rent seeking going on in America, no sir.

  147. 147.

    Fair Economist

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Is a balanced budget actually bad as a concept?

    In the long term, yes. For a modern financial system to work it needs large amounts of extremely secure and extremely liquid assets to trade. Only governmental debt qualifies. As the economy grows there needs to be more governmental debt to trade, which means the government must over time run a deficit.

    Now there can be *too much* government debt and so sometimes temporary balanced budgets or small surpluses are good, and too large a deficit can be bad; but overall the government needs to run a deficit.

    Thomas Levenson’s book “Money for Nothing” talks some about how the debt creation system the British created partly to clean up the South Seas Bubble was one of their great advantages against the French in the 18th century contest for worldwide supremacy. And they eventually won that supremacy carrying a debt twice the size of the one we have now (relative to the economy), just to indicate how much slack we have left.

  148. 148.

    PaulB

    @Geminid: I’m not saying the Rules won’t pass, just that some in the caucus have good reason to jam it up.

    Fair point. Not to mention that some of them are undoubtedly pissed off at the crazy caucus and how much McCarthy had to give them, so might register their displeasure by voting no on the rules package, even as they vote yes for McCarthy.

    I’ve been spending far too much time online these past few days, so I’m going to take the evening off. I’ll find out tomorrow morning whether McCarthy succeeded or not. Be well, everyone.

  149. 149.

    scav

    @WaterGirl: Someone should get him a gold star chart for his new accomplishments.  Counting!! What could be next!?  ooooooo, I hear A is for Apple. . . . or maybe take a little rest and master the shape ball first.

  154. 154.

    WaterGirl

    Can anyone find a link to this debacle Vote 14 on YouTube?

    Because I am not finding a link on YouTube or on CSPAN.

    edit: Another Scott found it.

  156. 156.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, ICYMI, BallsAndStrikes.org:

    It may be a new year, but the Supreme Court is stuck in the same place: mired in an ethics scandal of its own creation. Last week, Jo Becker and Julie Tate of The New York Times reported that since 2003, an alarming proportion of donations to the Supreme Court Historical Society—a nonprofit “dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court”—have come from lawyers and firms with cases before the Court, corporations, or other special interest groups.

    Donations to the Society matter because they come with special access to the justices. The Chief Justice serves as the honorary chair of the organization’s board of trustees, and the justices regularly appear at gala events, lectures, and forums where wealthy donors can get some high-priced face time. The Rev. Rob Schenck, a former anti-abortion activist, recently testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he encouraged fellow activists to build relationships with the conservative justices by donating to the Society. “I believe we pushed the boundaries of Christian ethics and compromised the high court’s promise to administer equal justice,” Schenck said.

    There is nothing inherently wrong with donating to a nonprofit like this. But the lack of a binding ethics code for Supreme Court justices has blurred the social and professional lives of the justices and people with stakes in the outcomes of the Court’s work. Schenck, for example, has described his practice of researching the justices’ family and religious histories to find points of commonality, and to buttonhole them at Society events. He knew his influence campaign was working when Justice Clarence Thomas invited him to his chambers to show off a wood-mounted Ten Commandments display, which members of Schenck’s group had given him as part of their efforts to promote the public placement of these monuments.

    […]

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  158. 158.

    Michael Bersin

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Yes.

    If revenue was greater than expenditures in any given year and the surplus was socked away for a rainy day…wait, that will never happen.

    National emergencies and natural disasters and pandemics, just to name a few, don’t pay attention to balanced budget amendments,

  159. 159.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    Amazing that almost all of those demands are “economic” issues, not culture war.

    The culture war is being handled by Republicans at the state and local level.

  165. 165.

    lowtechcyclist

    MTG:

    Playing identity politics is not the Republican way. It’s not the American way.

    It most certainly IS the Republican way.  All that CRT and grooming stuff, those anti-trans and “don’t say gay” bills?  And describing Latin American refugees seeking asylum here as an invasion? Those are most certainly “identity politics.” So get off your motherfucking high horse.

    As for whether it’s the American way, that’s one thing the two parties are fighting over. You obviously believe it is, and we Dems believe it damn well shouldn’t be.

  166. 166.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: In Chrome on Winders, I just opened a new tab and entered “youtube.com” then it automagically converted to a search of that site and I continued typing “cspan”.

    The first link under “Latest from C-Span” is that link.

    HTH!

    [eta:] I’ve got a Google 1 subscription which includes YouTube/YouTubeMusic stuff, so that might be a difference.  Dunno.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  170. 170.

    Another Scott

    @Scout211: It’s laughable that they think the Senate is going to accept anything that comes over the wall subject to those rules.

    “3/5 majority for any tax rate increases” – they’re afraid of tax increases and are trying to make them illegal so that they don’t actually have to do their jobs to fund the government.

    Saying House Resolution 1096 no longer applies – that gave collective bargaining rights to employees of the House.

    And so forth.  They’re trying to break things and not be held accountable for the breakage.

    Here’s hoping that there is some drama tonight, but I’m not expecting it.  Even the GQP “moderates” are monsters.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

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