Swalwell: "You're seeing now the fulfillment of McCarthy's corrupt bargain w/ Marjorie Taylor Greene, somebody who declared on J5, the day before the attack on the Capitol, 'this is 1776.' Someone who cheered on insurrectionists … she's going on the Homeland Security Committee" pic.twitter.com/J67glW7wEs
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 25, 2023
mainstream reporters are unable, afraid to say that McCarthy is purely a figurehead, even more than boehner, running the House like an Alex Jones type effort. he agreed to a strictly non custodial relationship with his testicles. https://t.co/BjoYFyOgyu
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 25, 2023
âHakeem Jeffries has 200 other people who can serve on that committee,â House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said of blocking Reps. Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee, noting the move wasn't âpolitical.â https://t.co/kgM473rRmX
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 25, 2023
'Thereâs two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.' â Kevin McCarthy, June 15, 2016.
https://t.co/THOfo35nkz— Evan Hurst (@EvanHurst) January 25, 2023
Freedom Caucus is a little over 20% of House GOP.
It will be:
-38% of Oversight Committee
-44% of Judiciary
-44% of select covid panel
-50% of panel on "weaponization" of gov'tAnd that doesn't include Rules, where 2 HFC members + Massie loom large.https://t.co/7QOTzcDc7J
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) January 25, 2023
And don't believe me re: Tucker Carlson. Just ask @RepThomasMassie (via @NBCNews.) pic.twitter.com/cnUzcswc6t
— Derek Martin (@dmartkc) January 25, 2023
Remarkable this is getting done with a straight face. Itâs basically the select committee on black helicopters and shadowbanning pic.twitter.com/xtBwchzZrT
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 25, 2023
— MorningGlory? (@morningglorie52) January 25, 2023
"Kevin McCarthy has begun his job as speaker by servicing the demands of the most extremeâand weirdestâmembers who supported him, thus handing the Peopleâs House to the Clown Caucus," @RadioFreeTom writes. https://t.co/iKUlePhRM9
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) January 26, 2023
… Let us leave aside the removal of Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee. The republic will not rise or fall based on such things, and if McCarthy wants to engage in snippy stoogery to ingratiate himself with the MAGA caucus and soothe Donald Trumpâs hurt feelings, it is within his power to do so. In his letter to Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the speaker claimed his decision was all about âintegrity.â This is not just the death of irony; it is a North Koreanâstyle, firing-squad-by-anti-aircraft-gun execution of irony. Worse, McCarthy even has the right to channel, as he did, Joseph McCarthy, and smear Swalwell by alluding to derogatory information that the FBI supposedly has about him. It might not be honorable or professional, but he can do it.
McCarthyâs shuffle of the Intelligence Committee pales in comparison to the creation of two new committees, both of which were part of the Fileneâs Basement clearance of the new speakerâs political soul. One of them, on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, is a continuation of the Republican assault on science that predated Trump but reached new heights with the former presidentâs disjointed gibbering about bleach injections. The committee will include the conspiracy theorist and McCarthyâs new best friend Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Ronny Jackson of Texas, the former White House physician who assured us in 2018 that Trump only weighed 239 pounds and was in astoundingly good health…
The âweaponizationâ committee is worse, and likely to do far more damage to the United States, because it is starting from the premise that the machinery of the United States governmentâlaw enforcement, the intelligence community, and federal agenciesâhas been turned against the average American citizen. Jim Jordan, who stands out even in this GOP for his partisan recklessness, will serve as chair. The committee will include members whom I think of as the âYou-Know-Better-Than-This Caucusâ: people with top-flight educations and enough experience to know that Jordan is a crank, but who nevertheless will support attacks on American institutions if thatâs what it takes to avoid being sent back home to live among their constituents. Two standouts here are Thomas Massie (an MIT graduate who apparently majored in alchemy and astrology), and the ever-reliable Elise Stefanik (Harvard), whose political hemoglobin is now composed of equal parts cynicism and antifreeze.
The committee will include other monuments to probity, such as Chip Roy; Dan Bishop, who has claimed that the 2020 election was rigged; Harriet Hageman, the woman who defeated Liz Cheney in Wyoming; and Kat Cammack of Florida, who alleged that Democrats were drinking on the House floor during the speakership fight. All of them will have access to highly sensitive information from across the U.S. government…
The Church Committee was, in its day, a necessary walk across the hot coals for Americans who had invested too much power and trust in the executive branch. I suspect that the Jordan committee will not look to uncover abuses, but rather to portray any government actions that it does not like as abuses, especially the investigations into Trump. It will be the Church Committee turned on its head, as members of Congress seek to protect a lawless president by destroying the agencies that stand between our democracy and his ambitions.
Kevin McCarthy will be fine with all of it, as long as he gets to wear the top hat and red tails while indulging in the fantasy that he is in control of the clowns and wild animals, and not the other way around.
lollipopguild
The minute you say that something “isin’t political” you make it political.
Baud
Jordan will be on Chuck Todd’s show this Sunday.
eclare
The quote by Josh about the Squeaker’s testicles is perfect.
FelonyGovt
Send in the clowns. (And I HATE clowns.)
Baud
I wonder who the Dems will put on these committees to point out the crazy.
Alison Rose
Speaking of McCarthy not having any clue how to do his actual job, yet more Santos shenanigans revealed!
We Tried to Call the Top Donors To George Santosâ 2020 Campaign. Many Donât Seem To Exist.
Numerous cases where they could not find anyone by the name or address provided. Yet Kevin thinks this MFer deserves his seat. Sure, Jan.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@FelonyGovt:Â that could go in the other thread, too.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Alison Rose: he may have made them up. He makes things up, you know. [I’m thinking of the Golux and the Thirteen Clocks.]
Suzanne
@eclare: Agreed.
My Kevin is such a putz.
Baud
@Alison Rose:
Talk about the gift that keeps on giving.
Alison Rose
@Baud: why did I suddenly start singing “Dick in a Box” in my head
Baud
@Alison Rose:
I assume it’s a lesbian thing.
MagdaInBlack
@Alison Rose: I’d like to note that I’ve missed your sense of humor. đ
NotMax
@Alison Rose
It’s Friday. Supposed to sing Bounce Your Boobies.
h/t Randi Rhodes.
:)
stinger
I’d like to thank whoever — can’t recall if it was in a front page post or a comment — posted the link to Cal. Gov. Newsom’s press conference after the Half Moon Bay mass shooting. I didn’t know much about the governor but was extremely impressed. He gave up on prepared notes — he’d read from them too many times — and just talked off the cuff, then answered media questions. I may watch it a second time.
bjacques
That âWeaponizationâ Committee even comes with its own theme songs:
Soul Coughing – Unmarked Helicopters
Talking Heads – Puzzling Evidence
Chumbawamba – Everything You Know Is Wrong
Also, welcome back Alison Rose!
prostratedragon
@Alison Rose:Â âAnd speaking of old tunes shaken loose from memory by current events, here’s one I keep thinking of lately. Admittedly could use some new verses:
MagdaInBlack
@NotMax:Â I love Randi. I’ve been listening to her since her Air America days.
gene108
McCarthy is the perfect man to be Speaker for this Republican House of Representatives.
Republicans are supplicant yes men to right-wing media, their billionaire backers, and the MAGA voters.
Also, Republicans have been working to undo any oversight on what they do in government for decades. The Weaponization of Government committee is just another step on the road theyâve laid out. Destroying campaign finance laws, voting rights, etc. are all part of this path.
Alison Rose
@Baud: I’ll have you know I’m only like 94% lesbian.
Maybe 95.
96.
97.5 tops.
Alison Rose
@MagdaInBlack: Aw shucks. Honestly, that’s like the best compliment you could give me, so thank you :)
Alison Rose
@stinger: One thing I like about him is he very rarely does read from prepared notes and yet always sounds informed and smart. He has dyslexia and has said that it’s harder for him to do that than to just memorize what he wants to say and say it more extemporaneously. It makes him sound much more genuine, IMO.
stinger
@Alison Rose: Interesting! I have to say, he certainly didn’t sound memorized in that clip.
Also, I love when people with “disabilities” such as dyslexia or stammering show that they are completely capable and even better than most.
gene108
@Alison Rose:
In all honesty, thereâs no reason for Republicans to do a damn thing about Santos. Republicans in tough districts keep a healthy distance between themselves and âhonestâ George, and Georgeâs scandals arenât going to hurt them.
I think politics is so polarizing that thereâs no way most of the nation unites in horror at a politicians wrong doing and those defending the politician, unlike say in 2006 with the Mark Foley scandal.
Immanentize
@bjacques: I nominate “Life During Wartime” instead by THs
Anne Laurie
Cher was one of the first highly public figures to come out as dyslexic, thirty? forty? years ago. She said Sonny Bono told her she was ‘stupid’ because she memorized her lines for The Sonny & Cher Show — because she couldn’t read the cue cards with any fluency.
If I didn’t already love Cher (& despise her ex), I would’ve done so from that moment.
kalakal
As usual Big Bill Shakespeare described McCarthy’s type best
“199Â And cry âContentâ to that which grieves my heart,
200Â And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
201Â And frame my face to all occasions…
207Â I can add colours to the chameleon,
208Â Change shapes with Proteus for advantages”
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
As if I needed another reason besides Upchuck Toddler to not watch any of the Sunday Shitshows.
I wonder how many lies Chuckles will “have to leave right there.”
mrmoshpotato
@eclare: Yup. I was going to quote it.
Alison Rose
@Anne Laurie: When Newsom first started talking publicly about his dyslexia (and also wrote a very cute picture book about it!), a bunch of shitheads in his Instagram comments started calling him illiterate and the r word and stuff. Disgusting.
Trollhattan
Watching the junior girls final, Australia Open, between two eevas–Andr and Korn. The skill level is boggling and they make few mistakes for 15YO. Not just finesse, one ripped a 114 mph serve. Hour 2.
Sister Golden Bear
@stinger: I was not a fan of Newsom at first, he seemed more of an empty suit even since his days as mayor of San Francisco. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised that he’s grown into the job.
Plus he seems to enjoy his other role as the designated finger-giver to Republicans, and does seem to genuinely give a damn.
lowtechcyclist
@Mr. Bemused Senior:Â â
I’m thinking it’s a shame we can’t take all these crazies and feed them to the Todal.
artem1s
McQuarthy is certainly spinning as fast as he can with the Biden papers and now allowing a committee to refute the Jan6 committee and TFG impeachments. Sooner or later Smith and the DOJ is going to start going after the planners and enablers in Congress who help foster the Big Lie and Gym wonât be do anything about it. Iâm wondering if Qevin is actually hoping these asshats continue to perjure themselves in public and eventually lose their seats. It would remove a lot of his headaches so why not let them play in their own feces? I doubt it will work out the way he thinks it will but, you know, never interrupt your enemy, etcâŠ