WaPo has a fascinating article about the various scenarios that could play out over the next 48 hours as House GOP clowns punch each other in the face repeatedly. Here’s a gift link. I found this part intriguing:
If Gaetz succeeds in ousting McCarthy, the House will enter uncharted territory.
When McCarthy was elected speaker, House rules required him to give a secret list of “speakers-in-waiting” — people who would succeed him temporarily if he ever vacated the speakership.
“There’s a little disagreement amongst Hill procedural experts about how much power that temporary Speaker would actually wield,” Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who’s well versed in congressional procedure, wrote in an email to The Post. “Is their power limited to conducting a new speaker election? What if the election deadlocks without electing a new speaker? Is the House really frozen and unable to do business?”
House Democratic leadership thinks a temporary speaker would only have the power to oversee the election of a new speaker and that no other business could take place in the meantime, according to a Democratic leadership aide.
It’s Marge, isn’t it?
Open thread.
ETA: I think it was Napoleon Bonaparte who said, “When your enemies are kicking each other in the junk, do not interrupt them.” (Or something like that.) Good to see that House Democrats are following that good advice!
la caterina
MTG as speaker?? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Baud
How regal.
I can’t recall, who presided during the many votes it took for McCarthy to be elected the first time. I seem to recall a black lady.
RaflW
Seems like a question for the House Parliamentarian. Is he the same Republican Jason Smith who represents part of the politically crazed state of Missouri? Cause that doesn’t bode well, does it.
MattF
@Baud: Clerk of the House, I think.
Jeffro
So many exciting new frontiers in governing with these clowns, from “alternate electors” to “speakers in waiting” to billionaire-owned judges and more!
(almost forgot: endless recounts if the Republican loses! that’s a new one, too)
Who says we aren’t a fresh, constantly innovating democracy? =)
(Narrator: everyone. Basically everyone says that.)
Shalimar
Jeffries is apparently saying Democrats are unified in voting against McCarthy. That is the position you have to take if you want to force him to negotiate, and I don’t know that this is a done deal yet. But they are right that nothing McCarthy says can be trusted so you might as well roll the dice with his replacement, whoever that turns out to be. I just hate to give a victory to Gaetz.
Baud
@Shalimar:
Oh wow. I thought he would abstain.
Fascinating.
rikyrah
@la caterina:
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAA
Nukular Biskits
[Posting mobile]
@BettyC:
Unfortunately I did not make it to the Columbia last night. I’m flying back home today.
:>(
But it is on my bucket list for the next time I go to Tampa.
Cameron
Just perfect. Nothing can move in the House without a Speaker; will take a million votes to get one; and by the time one is finally agreed upon – the continuing resolution will have expired and the government will shut down. Swell. Great. Fucking terrific.
Betty Cracker
@Shalimar: Dozens of House Repubs also hate to hand a victory to Gaetz, so maybe this will go on for weeks. It almost qualifies as an in-kind DNC contribution!
Betty Cracker
@Nukular Biskits: Sorry you missed it, but it will be there next time you’re in town! :-) Hope you had a good time otherwise.
la caterina
@rikyrah: Come sit by me.
MattF
@Cameron: Also, good chance it will end up being McCarthy. Again. Since he’s the only person who appears to want the job.
bbleh
@Baud: IIRC she was/is the Clerk
@MattF: ah, beat me to it.
Shalimar
@Baud:
Leigh Ann Caldwell
@LACaldwellDC
NEWS: Democrats will NOT vote present and will NOT vote to table. Sources say the caucus is unified. McCarthy’s actions on Jan 6, his trip to Mar a Lago, his attempt to discredit the Jan 6 Cmte, his reneging on debt limit deal and his actions this weekend are all the reasons
10:21 AM · Oct 3, 2023
·
636.4K
Views
la caterina
Watching C-Span. McCarthy just ordered the House to adjourn. I wonder if the means the vote will be delayed? I haz a sad.
smith
@MattF: I looked it up yesterday — that’s what happens at the start of a new Congressional term until the incoming Speaker is chosen and seated. I don’t think it applies in this case. It’s certainly possible to have a temporary Speaker, but if the Rs can’t agree on a Speaker, I’m not optimistic they’d be able choose a temporary Speaker either.
Baud
@Shalimar:
I’m impressed.
Baud
@Shalimar:
What actions this weekend?
RaflW
For us olds, has anyone thrown together a quick “I want my MTV” meme this morning?
Cameron
@MattF: Never can tell. Might be a surprise candidate. “When Lauren Boe-boe-boebert comes boe-boe-boebin’ along…..”
bbleh
@Cameron: yeah this is what I saw as the motivation for Dems to help McQarthy, cuz a shutdown could mean a recession, for which Biden inevitably would be blamed. But apparently McQarthy’s back-of-the-hand to the Dems has closed that off. Seeing reports now that even the Dems in the “Problem Solvers Caucus” have said nuh-uh.
B1naryS3rf
I’m waiting to hear how our brahmins in the wise media will tell us the Democrats might have forced the Doo Doo Head Caucus©®™ into this unfortunate series of events for not inviting them to tea, or something. Anyone have a bet which pundit will chime in with this first?
Baud
OT more good news
smith
@Baud: What I heard is that he went on TV and blamed the Dems for the near-shutdown.
RaflW
@Baud: He dissed the Dems, blaming them for the shutdown cliff, on whatever Sunday show. And I’d add that this morning when he tweeted a backhand at the Dems shows incredibly poor strategery.
We’ll know soon if he has managed to whip just enough votes to deny the vacating.
Fester Addams
Time to start leaking alleged copies of the secret speaker-in-waiting list. They don’t even have to be house reps, the potential for hilarity is unbounded.
Ken
Nothing says “U. S. Congress” like making a rule requiring a secret Speaker, but not bothering to define what that person can and cannot do.
However I will hold out hope that McCarthy misunderstood the rule as asking for his likely successor, and has listed Jeffries.
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
Wasn’t much time at all.
Pulled into the port yesterday around lunch, got to hotel around 4, then flew out this morning. Currently about to leave ATL.
Here was my ride for the past week.:
http://Twitter link https://x.com/porttampabay/status/1708885693143904555?s=42&t=ohl-v8C_n-eYXw0fZyrZkw
Baud
@smith:
@RaflW:
Ah thanks.
Shalimar
@Baud: The part that pissed Republicans off was pulling a parliamentary maneuver to force the 45-day extension vote without giving Gaetz a chance to block it. I am guessing the parts that pissed Democrats off was both the constant lying to people on all sides plus leaving Ukrainian aid out of the final bill they voted on.
edit: I totally forgot about the Democrat-blaming on Sunday. He always does that.
RaflW
@B1naryS3rf: Already done. Brendan Buck is an MSNCB ‘analyst’. And a jagoff.
@BrendanBuck
Question of the day is how many Democrats can see past their hatred of McCarthy to recognize how bad a precedent this would be – and how things get no better for them under the next person.
Baud
@RaflW:
Thank God we have a liberal cable network.
JoyceH
Are there enough “moderate” Republicans to cross the aisle and give the gavel to Jeffries? I think they would have to actually switch parties to turn control of the committees over, but it’s really the only way things are going to get done.
Nukular Biskits
@Nukular Biskits:
Sorry for screwed up link.
Shalimar
@Cameron: I am guessing you can find at least 100 Republican House members who would trade their vote for a Boebert hand job.
Leto
DougJ nailing it again.
B1naryS3rf
@RaflW: ROTFLMAO.
But our NORMS! OUR PRECIOUS NORMZ! We don’t know anything about this uncharted territory but we get that thrill up our leg when the Republicans ravish us. (Did we say that out loud? Oopsie.)
Nukular Biskits
@Leto:
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
bbleh
@JoyceH: I would think any Rep who did that would be toast come election time.
RaflW
@Baud: He’s also an idiot.
In 2021, every single Republican voted against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker. OK, that wasn’t a motion to vacate, but WTF ‘precedent’ is today’s vote setting?
That an opposition party votes to oppose the speakership by another party? Why is that even remotely abnormal??
Jebus H LeChrist. So damn dumb. From an analyst.
Shalimar
@RaflW: Brendan Buck was a Paul Ryan aide. He has worked on budget proposals every bit as extreme as what Gaetz is asking for. He’s a “contributor”, not a neutral journalist.
Baud
@RaflW:
Yes, beyond stupid. Completely drunk the only-Dems-have-agency Kool Aid.
Leto
As an alternative to the GOP shitshow (bold is mine):
Gov. Katie Hobbs Shuts Down Corrupt GOP Deal With Saudi Arabia For AZ Water
Villago Delenda Est
MTG has been sucking up to Qevin since January, so…
Baud
@Shalimar:
Ah, thank you. So he’s a propagandist, not an idiot. (Or maybe both.)
Shalimar
Byron Donalds is on MSNBC now saying he is not going to vote to expel McCarthy. So now that Democrats are committed against him, Republicans have to weigh being the deciding vote against and are chickening out.
Villago Delenda Est
@Leto: IMGUR needs to upgrade from that Pentium they’re using to something more modern.
Baud
@Shalimar:
Heh. Posers.
Dorothy A. Winsor
The Pod Save America guys interviewed Jayapal today. She says any deal with McCarthy should be built into House rule changes because he’s such an obvious liar.
JoyceH
@bbleh: There are sixteen GOP reps sitting in seats that Biden won. If they switch parties and the House spends the next year doing actually useful things, I’d think they might be able to get re-elected as Democrats. I think the Dem caucus would have to hold off on stuff like abortion and gun control until they could increase their majority, but there’s a lot that needs doing that moderate Republicans could agree with, like funding Ukraine. I think it could be a nice 2024 set-up, showing that the Dems can hold both houses and the White House without catastrophic consequences.
Snarki, child of Loki
Qevin’s “sekrit list” is a GOP Doomsday Device, to burn down the House if Qevin is ousted.
So:
#1: Trump (Speaker doesn’t have to be a member!)
#2: ???
#3: Hank, the Angry Drunken Dwarf
And yes, a Doomsday Device doesn’t make any sense if you keep it secret, but Premier Putin luvvs surprises.
Baud
@JoyceH:
Dems can’t agree to hold off on key properties for a temporary majority now.
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Continuing to exist.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Leto: It was when I got to the part about not just taking as much water as they want but taking it without payment to the state that I really rolled my eyes.
Villago Delenda Est
@Snarki, child of Loki: Does the Doomsday Device cut up planets and use the rubble for fuel?
RaflW
Jeffries out with a Dear Colleagues letter (sorry, it’s Xitter).
Cameron
@Villago Delenda Est: I thought that was Jewish space lasers.
Ken
@Villago Delenda Est: No, that’s the Doomsday Machine, completely different thing. Also do not confuse either with the Doomsday Clock or the Doomsday Can Opener.
bbleh
@JoyceH: well, from your keyboard to the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s galactic monitor, and weirder things have happened.
Villago Delenda Est
@Leto: Fucking over the Saudis is a good thing.
rikyrah
Never forget that Nancy Pelosi had the same margin that McCarthy does now.
Chris
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“Thanks for the tip!” – Czar Alexander I
Villago Delenda Est
@Cameron: Well, those and the Jewish Shark Lasers.
jonas
No. Their careers would be over instantly. And they’re not moderates. They’re MAGAts who managed to get elected in districts that voted for Biden in 2020, so need to “play” moderates on TV while actually just voting more or less the same as MTG the rest of the time. There is no constituency in their districts who they could count on to support such a vote that would even come close to counterbalancing the apoplectic rage from the Trumpist base. Including probable death threats against them and their families.
Villago Delenda Est
@Chris: (insert two snaps up gif here)
Villago Delenda Est
That’s the one the economist assumes in the desert island joke, right?
RaflW
Nancy SMASH.
lee
@Shalimar:
I know the feeling, but when his victory is to set fire to the Republican party, it helps take the sting out of it.
schrodingers_cat
BJP is slapping terrorism charges on journalists that’s the future that awaits our media if Rs ever gain the WH again.
Alison Rose
@RaflW:
Not while Republicans have a majority, it won’t.
lee
@jonas:
I think this is the part that a lot of low information voters do not realize. The entire GOP has been taken over by extremists.
cain
Otherwise known as “Please proceed, Governor”
BC in Illinois
And on the other topic of the day . . . Frank Conniff on Trump’s legal strategy:
Shalimar
@schrodingers_cat: There were chilling clips last night of Trump supporters saying matter-of-factly like no one could ever argue with the logic that Milley committed treason so of course he should be executed. People are so willing to follow horrible things that it’s chilling. I have no doubt you’re right about what would happen in another Trump presidency.
cain
@Villago Delenda Est:
Ick.
Frankensteinbeck
@Cameron:
45 days is an absurdly long time for that process to drag out. They will have given up and reelected McCarthy out of exhaustion by that point, if they can find no one else. It could take weeks and a hundred votes, sure, but by the time the CR is up everyone but Gaetz will be tired of it and Gaetz will be the most hated man in congress.
Jackie
@Ken:
That’s a hard no go. Jeffries isn’t going to be Speaker with a majority of GQP’s. He wouldn’t get ANYTHING passed – as the majority Repugs would vote No each and every time.
I’m more concerned the temporary CR will end without a budget getting passed – as nothing can happen with a Speaker-less House. No new funding for Ukraine. And, as per usual Biden will be blamed – even though he has NOTHING TO DO WITH the House.😡
Danielx
I’d say confusion to our enemies, but it would be redundant.
Also too, I’ll tell you something for free: two words you never want to hear after a fall – subarachnoid hemorrhage. I am one of the luckiest people currently walking the face of the planet, emphasis on walking.
JPL
@Jackie: Not sure if I’m being a realist or an eeyore, but I think we are in for a world of trouble.
RaflW
@Alison Rose: Of course. But the tone of Madame Speaker Emerita is sooo delish.
MattF
In case anyone imagined that McCarthy would keep a promise (Greg Sargent):
RaflW
@Frankensteinbeck: If reports are to be believed (a big IF), Matty already is the most hated Republican in Congress. By Republicans.
Jackie
@JPL: Realist.☹️
Shalimar
@lee: If McCarthy supporters get revenge on Gaetz by joining with Democrats to expel him from the House, I will be doubly happy.
Alison Rose
@Danielx:
Your spider was bleeding?
In all seriousness, very glad you’re okay!!
Alison Rose
@RaflW: Ted Cruz rejoices.
dmsilev
@Frankensteinbeck: It’s really unclear how things would play out if McCarthy gets booted. Does he try to run again? Slink away in disgrace and disgust and let someone else try to corral the now-emboldened monkeys? Who would that someone else be?
I could imagine a “caretaker” Speaker, elected with the votes of Democrats plus a few Republicans who either don’t fear primary challenges or who have gotten sick and tired of being jerked around by Gaetz and company and just don’t care any more. That’d be a vaguely stable equilibrium until the next election, but it would need those “few Republicans” and right now their existence is purely theoretical.
RaflW
@MattF: Any time I see these ‘curtailment of immigration’ bills from the GOP (ie: often), I reflect on how the business interests in the country have lost their power over the GOP.
Sure, as was mentioned in an earlier thread today, people still (dammit) think Republicans are ‘good for business’, but the anti-immigrant fervor over there is to the point of really pushing up wages (fine with me) and starting to really pinch growth prospects, IMO.
Shalimar
@MattF: So that would be what Democrats are pissed about from just this weekend. No one can trust a word McCarthy says. He makes Mitch McConnell look honorable, and Mitch would have committed ritual suicide hundreds of times by now if he was Japanese.
Scout211
Rep. Alford is issuing strongly worded words, I tells ya!
Strongly! Worded! Link
Marriage counselor? Miracle worker? Uh, okay, yeah sure.
RaflW
@Alison Rose: Hah! Being first runner up in that competition is the opposite of being “Miss Congeniality”. Is miscongeniality a thing?
Certainly misanthropy is rife in the GOP.
Eolirin
@jonas: This is not universally true. Marc Molinaro who’s in a neighboring NY district to me had previously won as county executive for my county with plenty of Democratic voter support and only slid into parroting extreme positions when trying to win a primary to run for a house seat. It ultimately cost him his special election but he was able to pick up the neighboring seat under the new house maps. He’s bucked his party on some issues. It’s not really obvious or visible when that’s happening because they can barely get anything to pass, and what they can is dead in the senate anyway.
And NY may have new maps in 2024 so he may be toast either way. I’m sure there are a enough Rs in similar situations that you might be able to get them to cut deals with the Dem caucus. I don’t think you can get them to swap parties, but you could possibly get them to vote for Jeffries, and there’s support from enough Republicans that just being able to bring things like aid to Ukraine and appropriation bills that match what’s coming out of the senate to the house floor would let them easily pass.
But this is a very high risk play.
Jackie
@Shalimar: I read this earlier; I had forgotten Gaetz was under investigation! Puts another layer to the current grunge match between the two of them:
Citizen Alan
@jonas: There are no moderate Republicans. But there might be a few who are just feckless weathervanes willing to do whatever they need to in order to get reelected. Which might conceivably mean switching to the Dem Party in what are clearly blue districts and then adopting voting patterns basically identical to a standard Blue Dog Dem. Not many, probably because feckless. But five would end the GOP majority.
RaflW
Extremely minor note on Leader Jeffries letter to his caucus today. In it, he says extremist Republicans in the House have been “hurdling us towards this chaotic moment.”
I think he meant to say hurtling. But perhaps he really does mean the sport of racing over hurdles. It is like the Gaetz + Freedumb Caucus just keep tossing up barriers for Kevin to trip over.
Jackie
@Alison Rose: I think Cruz had already been replaced with Tuberville as the most hated senator.
Gaetz gets the award for most hated Rep.
Cameron
@Scout211: Sent to do their job? What job? They don’t do anything. Well, anything productive.
JPL
McCarthy made it easy to put in a motion to vacate act. Will the next republican speaker have to agree to the same terms?
RaflW
@JPL: Not certain, but I believe the ‘anyone can do it’ provision is in the Rules package the GOP voted to adopt that I then presume is applicable for the entire biennium.
Another reason (not that we need one) for Jeffries to steadfastly refuse to stand for Speaker unless — somehow — maybe 8 of the fake-moderate Rs formally switch parties.
sab
@Danielx: Yikes! Isn’t that what Emilia Clarke had?
Jackie
@Scout211: Alford had me nodding along in agreement… until he didn’t.
He should have shut up before he got to marriage counselor.
satby
@Danielx: Whoa! Lucky indeed! Glad to hear you weren’t affected worse.
Captain C
@rikyrah:
The MSM would be demanding that either 1) Democrats cave in to the most extreme things Republicans want (except for things which would materially hurt the higher castes of the MSM), or 2) that all right-thinking Democrats switch parties, and then do 1)
ETA: And they would do so in the smarmiest, fakest both-sides manner possible.
JWR
@rikyrah:
Well yeah, but all that meant was that she ruled with an iron fist! (Actual Repug argument heard last week.)
Maxim
@Danielx: Yikes. Glad you’re okay.
Eolirin
@JWR: Someone should ask them if they’re okay with their leaders being weaker than a woman in her 80s.
(That’s not really what went into Pelosi being able to pull off what she did, but if they’re going to assume dictatorial effectiveness, no reason not to lean into it)
H.E.Wolf
I love it when Autocorrect inserts a word that is both not what was meant, and also deliriously, wonderfully appropriate. :-)
New version of GOP acronym: Grungy Odious Prevaricators?
Jackie
Why would Liz call Goldberg? But, this IS interesting! Obviously she’s still pissed about “MyKevin’s” assist in ousting her from Congress:
JWR
Just heard on a TV news update that T***p confirmed this morning that he will be taking the stand in his own defense.
Danielx
@satby:
You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain…
Indeed.
...now I try to be amused
@Shalimar:
Speaking of traitors: Given that Gen. Milley refused to support Trump’s coup with the military, I think Milley might have done something about Trump if his coup had come closer to success, which is to say Milley might have done something to Trump, ifyouknowwhatimean.
dmsilev
@Jackie: The Cheney family does know how to hold a grudge, that’s for sure.
Brachiator
I heard Matt Gaetz in an interview pitching Steve Scalise as his favorite candidate to become Speaker. I wonder if his name is on the list.
Eolirin
@JWR: Wow that’s gonna be a mess.
Baud
@Brachiator:
Isn’t he undergoing cancer treatment?
Shalimar
@JWR: Trump already gave a deposition in this case. How much worse could he fuck up his criminal cases than he already has?
Jackie
@H.E.Wolf: 🤦🏼♀️ I HATE autocorrect! But, I’m happy to have tickled your funny-bone 🤷🏼♀️
Cameron
@Eolirin: But a highly entertaining mess.
...now I try to be amused
@JWR:
Dare we hope for a Captain Queeg/strawberries moment on the witness stand?
JoyceH
@Baud:
I think Scalise is finished with his treatment.
And on a related matter, I’m glad that Jamie Raskin got his hair back, but does anyone else miss that pirate vibe he was rocking there for a while?
Shalimar
@Brachiator: And Andy Biggs was pitching House Whip Tom Emmers last week. Nothing says radical extremists like pushing the current 2nd and 3rd members of leadership to take over.
wjca
The only apparent option: insist that McCarthy bring a full budget bill (or an 18 month CR) to the floor before voting for him to keep the job he is so desperate to have.
NotMax
@JWR
If anyone believes that, i got a bridge to sell ’em. Inveterate liar gonna lie; same thing he said in the E. Jean Carroll case.
Baud
@JWR:
“Mr. Trump, how many square feet is your apartment in Trump Tower?”
MattF
From TPM:
Eolirin
@Cameron: In the past when he was in these sorts of situations he would just claim not to recall anything, but I think he may have devolved enough in his functioning that he won’t do that this time. I can’t believe his lawyers are happy about this.
Scout211
This is what NBC live updates reported:
So when is the “appropriate time” for Trump to testify? My guess is never. But his usual “braggadocio” continues unchecked.
bbleh
@Danielx: boy howdy! Close to an ER were you?
Jackie
@Baud:
TIFG: “Well in MY mind… 300,000 sq ft”
Lyrebird
Steve Van Zandt was what I was thinking
Another Scott
C-Span.org live feed of the House. They’re voting on Energy and Legislative Branch FY24 appropriations now. Qevin’s vote is next.
Gaetz is up.
Cheers,
Scott.
H.E.Wolf
Open-thread-ly: Today’s mail delivery included my recent orders of postcards and stamps, just in time for tonight’s Postcard & Music thread!
RaflW
@MattF: “The point of this rule was to deal with a catastrophic terrorist attack. But it seems to apply here as well.”
TBF, I’d call today moderately inconvenient terrorist attack.
Cameron
@MattF: He probably just listed himself.
Ken
This is Trump, so he’ll find some new way that the rest of us could never even have imagined.
“No, your Honor, my client will not be testifying today. We were going over his testimony in my office last night when my fountain pen accidentally embedded itself in his throat four times. He will be unable to speak for at least a month, but in the interests of justice has retracted his earlier demand to testify and requested the trial continue without his presence. At least, that’s how I interpreted his hand gestures.”
Jackie
Gaetz isn’t gonna win any popularity contest anytime soon! It’s an entertaining read! This is the headline:
https://www.rawstory.com/fool-or-a-liar-gop-knives-out-for-a-hole-matt-gaetz-as-vote-to-oust-mccarthy-appears-likely-to-succeed/
Bill Arnold
@RaflW:
May be (I hope!) a different guy:
https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/22891/Jason_A_Smith.html
”
I get Representative Jason Smith’s emails (a legacy gmail address attracts misaddresses), and he is indeed both partisan-nuts and very dishonest.
dmsilev
@…now I try to be amused:
As if Trump would ever eat anything as healthy as canned strawberries.
Betty Cracker
@Nukular Biskits: Sweet!
CarolPW
@Lyrebird: Van Zandt gave Raskin one of his do-rags.
wjca
I’d guess that, by that point, Gaetz would be pretty much the only Republican willing to set themselves up for a reprise.
Alison Rose
LOL the title on the CSPAN feed reads “Table/Kill Motion to Remove Rep Kevin McCarthy as Speaker” and it honestly reads at first like they’re voting on whether to take him out back and shove him into the woodchipper.
Miss Bianca
@Jackie: ha! “One a-hole holding up the government”? Really! *One*? Just one?
Shalimar
@Lyrebird: IIRC, Raskin got at least some of his bandanas as a gift from Stevie Van Zandt.
geg6
@JWR:
Christmas is coming early this year!
But I won’t believe it until I see it.
Bill Arnold
@Shalimar:
Would this actually be a victory for M. Gaetz, though?
A lot of people hate those who play dominance games.
WaterGirl
@Danielx: No idea what that is, and I’m sure none of us ever wants to have to know! But I am so glad you beat the odds and are okay.
Geminid
@bbleh: You are right about most of the Republicans, but Valedeo (CA) and Newhouse (WA) are probably exceptions. They already survived their votes to impeach Trump (probably because they are in jungle primary states). I don’t think a Speaker vote will hurt them as badly, and might even help them next year.
That’s only two, but Representatives planning on retirement are another pool of potential defectors.
geg6
@Brachiator:
Scalise is in the midst of cancer treatments. I doubt he wants to take this on or has the energy to do it.
MattF
Motion to table is officially failing. So far, no Ds voting for it.
Motion to table has failed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Per twitter the current mini-drama, or sub-plot?, is Nancy Pelosi is on her way back to the Hill from the airportUpdate II:
Cori Bush is skipping the votes,
maybe because of Covid, even though she was apparently on the Hill in a meeting this morningupdate: “a medically necessary procedure“Old School
WaterGirl
Is twitter broken for everyone? Or is it just me?
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Working fine for me on the iOS app
wjca
One question which arises is, can the Speaker revise his secret list? Or is it locked for the whole 2 years?
Because if he can revise it, no surprise if he’s doing so right this minute.
bbleh
Motion to table looks like it’s goin’ down. 11 Republicans against.
I remain gobsmacked. I have no idea what — if anything — is going on in Qevin’s head. Nancy Smash! must be helpless with giggles.
MattF
@WaterGirl: Seems to work for me. On iPad.
H.E.Wolf
It definitely did!
I’d read enough of your comments in the past to recognize that autocorrect had been meddling this time. :)
geg6
@WaterGirl:
It’s been broken since it’s inception. It’s just pieces of garbage floating around in the digital flotsam at this point.
So glad I never signed up for it and never spent a second on it. It is apparently addictive and I don’t need another one of those.
Alison Rose
Ew Republican talking, close tab
Bill Arnold
I’d be OK with this sort of “inviting them for tea”. With the Russian sort lurking in the background.
“Drinking Tea with the State Security Police” (Yaxue Cao, March 1, 2012)
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: Hmm, I get the “something went wrong” message for each of the dozen twitter accounts I have open in browser tabs.
Shalimar
@bbleh: McCarthy’s head is unfathomable. He is so bad at strategy. Going on Sunday and blaming Democrats for wanting to shut the government down was the stupidest thing he could have possibly done. All he had to do was say nothing. You don’t have to blame Gaetz. Just don’t talk. And he fucked that up.
Jackie
@Geminid: Alas Newhouse beat his Dem challenger – our congressional district is one of the reddest in WA, if not THE reddest ☹️
H.E.Wolf
Ooooh my. The motion to table the Motion To Vacate failed. Now they’re gonna debate it.
Yea votes to table it: 208, all GOP. (Grunge Odious Prevaricators, h/t Jackie’s autocorrect)
Nay votes (gotta debate it): 11 GOP, aka the wild-eyed fringy-est of the fringe + 207 Dems
Not voting: 2 GOP, 5 Dems
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Shalimar: he’s an incredibly weak man who is incredibly desperate to sound tuff when he appears on TeeVee
Betty Cracker
Who is this braying ass?
MattF
@Shalimar: Blaming Ds is a reflex.
zhena gogolia
@…now I try to be amused: Oh, boy! But Trump could never be as handsome as Humphrey Bogart, or as sympathetic. That scene is such brilliant acting.
karen marie
@Leto: Apparently this became a bigger scandal when people found out the state retirement fund was an investor.
CaseyL
@Betty Cracker:
I’m not watching, but the Guardian (which is doing live updates) says Bob Good is up first to speak in favor of giving Qevin the boot. So it might be him.
MattF
@CaseyL: So the caption says.
Leto
@rikyrah: Nancy SMASH is a stone cold killer. Also she can do basic fucking math. Just got back from PT and I’m listening to Rep Bob Good (R-Dipshitastan) whine about how McCarthy wouldn’t bow to the extreme far right and help them blow up the US/world. Fuck all of them.
eversor
These fuckers are going to shove their cocks into an electric pencil sharpener and scream they like it.
H.E.Wolf
At the mic, in the House? Bob Good (R-VA-05), a lunatic.
“A former wrestling champion, coach, and businessman” – hometown Lynchburg. Seems appropriate.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Weird…coming up fine on desktop too. Maybe you said too many mean things about Muskrat and he heard you :P
Shalimar
@Betty Cracker: If you mean Bob Good, he’s the Liberty University graduate who took Denver Riggleman’s seat. One of those “I would drink Trump’s bathwater” assholes.
karen marie
@JoyceH: When was reality ever a factor?
The media reporting would assert this is proof Republicans are the real grownups.
Leto
@karen marie: it’s not bad enough that the Western states don’t have enough water to maintain their own populations, but to have the Saudi’s do that shit? I remember hear about this at least two years ago. This is on top of Nestle basically doing the same f’ing thing.
Brachiator
@Baud:
Gaetz was asked about that. He claimed that Salise was doing well and was adamant about his preference here.
Jackie
@Old School: I really don’t believe this BS AT ALL, and I hope that law clerk sues that Asshole for slander and/or defamation! He should have learned “something” after Carroll’s civil suit win!
Leto
@H.E.Wolf: So a constituent of Gym Jordan? Good to know.
Captain C
@JWR: Planning an irrational outburst or three on cross and then hoping for the insanity defense to work in the damages phase of a bench trial? That’s…certainly a strategy. If so, I guess the paid-off lawyer has some ironclad language in the contract about how TFG is responsible for any bad defense decisions (I suspect the other lawyer is not included in this, if so).
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Scout211:
the appropriate time?
Which could only mean, “In two weeks”
eversor
@Brachiator:
Did his balls grow back?
Elizabelle
We live in exciting times. That Chinese saying: “May you live in exciting times” — is thought to actually be a bit of a curse.
Rooting that Gaetz does a lot of damage to the GOP with his grandstanding. We have elections in Virginia next month — entire legislature is up — and Virginia feds, military, government contractors, and all their affiliates and support systems, are watching this with extreme interest.
Also, amused that the word “injuries” has not appeared in this thread yet (at least on a quick search). As in, rooting for.
H.E.Wolf
Now up: Tom Cole, R-OK-04. Member of the Chickasaw Nation. Hard Right; refers to “the Democrat [sic] side”; seems to be defending McCarthy: “I’m proud of this Speaker.”
sdhays
@MattF: And that’s why Democrats are going to vote YES on the Motion to Vacate. Democrats don’t want this drama. Keeping his word on passing a clean Ukraine bill would have convinced enough Democrats that he’s better than the alternative – whatever that is.
But instead, our Qevin just breaks his own promises right away, again. Better to just get on with this nonsense than continue to let it fester.
Jackie
@bbleh: As is Liz Cheney!🤭
H.E.Wolf
Gaetz is now up, and yammering. Florida come get your boy. He ain’t right.
lowtechcyclist
@RaflW:
“Only Democrats have agency”
Ken
Not that I have any of the qualifications of the investment professionals who manage that fund, but “grow hay in one desert to ship halfway around the world to a different desert” does not strike me as a high-return prospectus.
eversor
@Elizabelle:
The election is now I got my ballot.
Alison Rose
OMFG
The fucking cajones on this man. THE CHAOS WOULDN’T EXIST IF NOT FOR YOUR PARTY, YOU MENDACIOUS TRASHFERRET
lowtechcyclist
@Leto:
So to speak!
Shalimar
Opinion | Newt Gingrich: Republicans must expel Matt Gaetz – The Washington Post
If there is an expert on getting expelled from the House, it is Newt Gingrich.
Alison Rose
@H.E.Wolf: More specifically: Betty Cracker, come get him, and feed him to the spoonbills.
Leto
And Rep Butthead (R-Daddy Issues) now up. Waiting to see if they really take him down via “ethics”. For those of us who invested in popcorn futures… HA!
H.E.Wolf
@Leto: [re: Bob Good] So a constituent of Gym Jordan? Good to know.
Nope, Good’s from OK, Jordan’s from OH, so not a constituent.
Fellow traveler, perhaps. :-/
catclub
Trump’s strategy at his fraud trial appears to be: “Continue to enrage the Judge so that Judge makes a ruling too far that gets overturned on appeal.” It is an ethos, I guess. In latest example, going after Judge’s Clerk, by name on social media. Sure to endear him to the judge.
Captain C
@Alison Rose: And by “you,” Rep. Cole actually means “us Republicans, but it’s your fault because Reasons.”
sdhays
Re: Trump’s business woes – Considering how heavily leveraged Trump is, is it possible that liquidating the Trump Org and having to pay $250m in fines basically clean him out?
I hope everyone who did business with him loses their shirts.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jackie: just read this
I’m under no illusions about who Liz Cheney is, I don’t to see her even named to one of those vague oversight or advisory boards you read about old pols washing up on from time to time, but I do enjoy watching her know how to hate, since she’s hating in the right direction, for now
Elizabelle
I hope the normies hear that the GOP finds it anathema to work with Democrats. That is what Gaetz is marauding about.
Maybe the Hastert Rule will come as a shock to some normies, who blithely assume “a pox on both their houses” and think it’s all posturing, anyway. Maybe some of these normies are the same Mensa candidates who think (or at least say) the GOP is better for the economy. Cynics and the low information types gotta wake up.
Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall in Nancy Pelosi’s office? Ice cream time.
CaseyL
@Shalimar:
A bit O/T but: I subscribe to many, many YT channels. (Not “YouTube TV,” but the individual., independent creators.) One of them is, or I should say was, a couple from Arizona who spend most of the year RVing around the country, doing a lot of very cool stuff. (They got a vintage Bluebird motorhome and drove it along all of Route 66, all the way to Santa Monica, before donating the rig to an RV museum, for instance).
I never thought much about their politics, just figured they were “moderates” whatever else they were. But then they sent their youngest son off to college, and he went to… Liberty University.
WTF sends their kid to Liberty University, unless they’re fundie nut jobs who don’t want the kid to get anything like a real education?
I was beyond shocked. I was stunned. They never seemed like the kind of people who would even think about Liberty University in the context of college-for-my-son.
Anyway, I unsubscribed as fast as I could pick my jaw up from the ground.
Sigh. You never know, do you?
karen marie
@JWR: Don’t hold your breath.
H.E.Wolf
Now up: Tom Emmer, MN, Majority Whip: supporting McCarthy “[who] promises to rein in Democrats’ reckless spending” … which is pretty rich, of course, coming from the party of tax cuts for the wealthy.
Has now stomped back to his seat, and Gaetz is blathering on again. I’ve got this whole thing on mute, thank you C-SPAN for closed captions!
Leto
@Alison Rose: lowtechcyclist @193 sums it up.
Elizabelle
@Alison Rose: Trashferret. That has legs.
MattF
@Shalimar: Noot has definite negative opinions about Gaetz. Makes a point of agreeing with Pelosi about him.
Martin
@Leto: Wow, that’s a big deal. I didn’t know the governor had the power to do that. We’ll see how that shapes up in court – I don’t see this court ruling against property rights, though.
H.E.Wolf
That disgrace to Congress and Ohio, Jim Jordan, is now at the mic. He’s on a decompensatory rant of some sort, not related to the topic of the debate.
He’s wearing a tie and a suit jacket, rather than engaging in his shirtsleeves shtick.
Shalimar
Getting ultra-serious now, Jim Jordan is wearing his jacket.
catclub
@MattF: I have definite opinions about the WAPO giving Noot free real estate on their newspaper and website.
smith
@Jackie: Recent update is that the judge held TFG and his lawyers back from the lunch break to hold a private little woodshed moment with them, after which TFG took the post down.
catclub
@Martin:
I think she can end their free-riding if this is true. I suspect the lease is for State lands.
David Anderson
@smith: Rules Committee can rule.
Leto
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I always imagine her ala Bane, where you can sub in “hate” for “darkness”, considering who her daddy is:
sab
@H.E.Wolf: What with the tie, he is now oxygen deprived. That can’t help his thinking abilities.
CaseyL
News Alert: Gaetz says something factually true. (from The Guardian’s live coverage):
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@smith:
karen marie
@Leto: I think state employees finding out their retirement fund was involved upped the pressure to do something. There was a bit of reporting on that over the summer. Of course it could be coincidence.
David Anderson
figure if we think of the House as if it was a Parliament (let’s not talk about the Rules Committee for a moment) the fundamental problem is that McCarthy et al are a minority government with different coalitions for supply/appropriations (200+ Dems and 130-150 GOPers) and confidence (2018-ish GOPers)… and the GOPers who are not in the supply coalition but are in the confidence coalition aren’t happy
Leto
To sum up every Republican: you promised that you’d let us drive the country off the cliff. WHY DIDN’T YOU LET US??? *rolls around on the ground, kicking/screaming
Alison Rose
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: LOLOL wanna start a betting pool on how soon TIFG violates the order?
H.E.Wolf
Up now: Andy Biggs, R-AZ-05. Driveling on about border issues and scary people of color! and drugs!! and terrorists!!! “They come across our border to the tune of hundreds of thousands….” aka Racism 101.
Says the House is “entrenched in a suboptimal path”… oh, okay, finally gets around to his anti-McCarthy position. “Time to make a change – I’m not the only one”.
Now he’s complaining about the IRS.
MattF
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If anyone was wondering if Trump will push past limits to force a judge to act.
smith
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: About time a judge took this step. Now, let’s see follow up from the other judges. He might as well get used to being gagged.
CliosFanBoy
@Cameron:
“Vote Bo-Bo: A Chicken in Every Pot, and a Handjob in Every Theater.”
Martin
We need a betting pool on whether or not there will be ‘0 acts of physical violence in the last 45 days’ in the chamber of the House 45 days from now. I’ll take the over on that.
Geminid
@Jackie: I don’t think the conservative Republican challenger pressed Newhouse that hard in the jungle primary. Over in the 5th Washington CD though, Impeacher Jaime Herrera Butler came in 3rd to a more conservative Republican and Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Then Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez won in November.
The 5th CD is right across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, and is becoming a suburban/exurban district. With her home in the woods and her repair shop in Portland, the new, 33 year-old Congresswoman exemplifies this trend.
japa21
I am actually starting to believe that Kevin is, deep inside his pea sized heart, feeling relief at this and hopes to be unseated. Nah, he’s just an extreme masochistic narcissist (there are those people).
JWR
And my new U.S. Senator is sworn in! Three strong, Black women standing together. Oh wait, I’m a White person. I think I’m supposed to be miffed by such displays, right?!
Captain C
@H.E.Wolf:
If he’s not already being investigated, what are the odds he’s got some massive tax fraud going?
H.E.Wolf
UP now: Rep Westerman, AR.
Talking about some Old Testament shibboleth [S-E-L-C-H??] that I don’t recognize, and there were a lot of Sunday School teachers among my forebears. Something about pausing to think before acting?
“Voting yes is, at the least, a disruptive overreaction”. Lots of applause from other Rs.
Geminid
@CaseyL: Bob Good? Ewwww!
H.E.Wolf
Up now: Thomas Massie, R-KY-04: pro-McCarthy. Folksy with a mean undertone.
Michael Bersin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
…I’m under no illusions about who Liz Cheney is, I don’t to see her even named to one of those vague oversight or advisory boards you read about old pols washing up on from time to time, but I do enjoy watching her know how to hate…
It’s the family business. They know it well.
Bill Arnold
@dmsilev:
That might be the most sensible approach in the current political context.
It would greatly shrink the space of possibilities of additional chaos if the GOP majority shrinks at all, e.g. George Santos troubles.
MattF
@japa21: There’s competing psychopathologies here. Not sure how to pose the appropriate wager.
CliosFanBoy
@CaseyL:
Apparently, there is a small College Democrats chapter at Liberty. From the news stories I saw about it*, they appear to be either African-American Protestant evangelicals or whites from the small liberal evangelical wing.
But yeah, it puzzles me too.
the “university” administration was not as accepting of them as they were the College
republicansfascists.Leto
@H.E.Wolf: is it a requirement to have a bad perm job if you’re a Rep from KY?
Alison Rose
My dude, that is the modern GOP’s motto.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I had to turn off the braying, but I am amused how Florida Fivehead keeps making viral moments for Dem PACs and strategists
Failure Theatre.
Old School
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Curious how far this extends. If I posted something would I get in trouble? What if Steve Bannon did it?
My guess is it only applies to the Trumps and their lawyers.
trollhattan
@Leto: That is a big fucking deal. Last I checked Arizona brags of 300,000 acres dedicated to alfalfa–one of the most water-thirsty crops imaginable. In the desert. In a place where water is squeezed out by the gallon. In a state relying on an over-subscribed Colorado river. Whee!
Alison Rose
@JWR: If you happen to find a video of it, send it along! (I assume there was video…)
H.E.Wolf
Now up: Tom McClintock, R-CA-05: the public will be rightfully repulsed by GOP dysfunction. Racist border stuff as a throwaway line. We are at the precipice. I’m guessing pro-McCarthy.
Scout211
@JWR: 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Senator Butler! Yay!
CliosFanBoy
@trollhattan:
And they export it to (drum roll please) SAUDI ARABIA! Seriously.
Alison Rose
@trollhattan: On the Last Week Tonight episode about water usage in the southwest, he noted that in order to retain their water rights, farmers HAVE to use up what they’re allocated, so many of them intentionally plant alfalfa just to keep their water rights. It’s fucking bonkers.
H.E.Wolf
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-FL-28. Angry raisin face. Speaking of his immigrant credentials. McCarthy fought for people like Gimenez.
bbleh
@H.E.Wolf: Selah. Uncertain meaning but consensus seems to be a “pause” for one or another reason.
Scout211
@H.E.Wolf: Ewwwwww! McClintock is my rep. I call him the odious Tom McClintock. Ugh.
You are correct, he will support McCarthy. He only ever does what the current GOP leader tells him to do. He is not very bright. He has no ideas of his own, ever.
Michael Bersin
It’s surreal listening to extreme far right wingnut republicans arguing on the House floor with far extreme right wingnut republicans. There’s no such thing as a “moderate” republican.
Jeffro
INDEED!
ALL the reasons.
Geminid
@H.E.Wolf: Bob Good’s no businessman. At, least, he was empoyed by Liberty University as an Athletic Department fundraiser up until when he ran for Congress. The District Convention where Good beat Denver Riggleman in 2020 was staged at Liberty.
H.E.Wolf
Mrs. [sic] Ashley Hinson, R-IA-02. BORDER CRISIS!! (Yeah, tell us what border Iowa has with another country, why dontcha.)
Pro-McCarthy. “This is the choice, be a chaos agent or get back to work”.
piratedan
@Martin: I would say she does, if they’re in default as Hobbs claims, then she can end the relationship.
CaseyL
@CliosFanBoy:
They’re white and fairly affluent, and have never said or done anything to so much as hint at being evangelical, liberal or otherwise. IOW, I can’t think of any reason to go to Liberty U unless you’re looking to get into the RW grift-welfare system.
Ramona
@Elizabelle: Early voting in Virginia has already started…
H.E.Wolf
Ilhan Omar is seated behind the mic, deadpan while Gaetz rants about brown people coming over the border.
Shalimar
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I want to be there when someone explains to Gaetz that you have to pass bills that Biden will sign before they can become laws. That isn’t on McCarthy, and his replacement isn’t going to do better with Gaetz helping write the bills.
Leto
@CaseyL:
(WaPo) Liberty University broke safety laws for years, government asserts
Elizabelle
@eversor: Yay! I’ll go early vote pretty soon, too. Go Virginia Democrats!
Lyrebird
@CaseyL:
I knew some very nice and not-fundie folks, rural PA, parents never went to college, sent their son to Liberty because he got a great scholarship, and they really didn’t see the scary side of it. I was shocked, too, but I wished the kid well.
FSM bless those Liberty Democrats!
Jackie
@smith: The judge put a gag order on him!!!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
RaflW
Watching some of the more experienced GOP House members freak out in real time (ie: Rep. McClintock (R-CaA) says doing [it] would lead to more turbulence: The Democrats will revel in Republican dysfunction and the American people will be repulsed), I can’t help but think the only thing that might, maybe break the current fever is the GOP losing like 35-38 House seats in Nov. ’24.
CaseyL
@Leto:
And that’s probably the least of it. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the whole thing, and so unsubscribed to their channel.
Shalimar
@Geminid: I looked at Good’s biography. He ran a whole string of businesses in different fields. It doesn’t look like any of them were successful.
H.E.Wolf
Up now: Steve Scalise, R-LA, Majority Leader [sic; Motion To Vacate-related?]. Pro-McCarthy. Scalise likes the procedural changes McC has instituted.
More border stuff. Racism is the new lapel flag pin for the GOP.
Cameron
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Failure Theatre? I remember watching that as a kid. Wasn’t it hosted by Pumpkin Head?
RaflW
@Jackie: Apparently he said there will be significant sanctions if Trump persists. Hopefully it is big dollar fines. Payable on the instant or via bond. Because money is DJTs pain point. And throwing him in the cooler is, while fun to contemplate for how he’d be personally immiserated, would give him a martyr status he absolutely does not deserve.
JWR
@Alison Rose:
So far I can only find video of the actual swearing in, and not the one done with/for family and friends.
smith
Well, they do have that border with Illinois. Can’t have those people coming over from Chicago.
H.E.Wolf
Gaetz rebutting Scalise. This whole GOP intramural debate reminds me of a shoving match at the tether-ball pitch in middle school.
bbleh
@H.E.Wolf: Racism is the new lapel flag pin for the GOP.
… for those who don’t have it tattooed on their foreheads.
Citizen Alan
@Leto: I don’t know enough about California farming to know if this is true or not, but I have read (here, I think) that California would be perfectly fine regarding water if only they banned the growing of alfafa and almonds, both of which require ridiculous amounts of irrigation. More knowledgeable people, please feel free to correct me.
H.E.Wolf
Current dude Mike Garcia R-CA-27 starts with the de rigueur racist comments about people “penetrating our borders” … which is pretty damn Freudian IMO.
Moved on to “a few Reublicans are running with scissors”. I’m guessing pro-McCarthy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@H.E.Wolf: Isn’t he one of the ’22 freshman in a district Biden won?
lowtechcyclist
@…now I try to be amused:
IANAL, but as I understand it that means the prosecuting attorney can cross-examine him. He’ll blow up or fall apart, or both.
Gonna have to stock up on popcorn.
H.E.Wolf
Rep. McHenry, a piece of work from NC. Bow tie is his brand; makes him look like a bargain-basement Truman Capote. Pro-McCarthy. Some sort of slam at “liberals” which I didn’t catch.
Alison Rose
@Citizen Alan: See my comment above. I don’t think this is down to California alone, but rather the whole Colorado River Compact and how water rights have been designated.
Cameron
@Citizen Alan: I don’t know about the alfalfa, but I remember reading that the state was trying to encourage pistachio production over almonds because of water issues.
H.E.Wolf
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: [re: Garcia] @H.E.Wolf: Isn’t he one of the ’22 freshman in a district Biden won?
Might could be. I’d love it if you’d look that up and report in! I’m busy liveblogging and correcting my typos on the fly. :)
ARoomWithAMoose
@Bill Arnold: Before we start imagining “grand bargain”, what are the parlimentary rules regarding the MTV procedures that were selected on for this session of congress? Do they get to vote on new rules for this session if the Speaker gets replaced or does the angry toddler caucus get to file MTV’s whenever they can get the floor?
Cameron
@H.E.Wolf: “Penetrating our borders.” “Ramming it down our throats.” What is it with these people?
H.E.Wolf
Rep Stephanie Bice, R-OK-05. based on her opening comments: pro-fossil fuel, pro-abusive parents. Supports McCarthy.
Leto
@Citizen Alan: I think we’ll have to rethink our entire ag industry sooner rather than later here.
StringOnAStick
@CaseyL: Some friends who are new to town suggested we get a group together to go to a large corn maze. I had to let her know that in 2020, that ranch’s corn maze was covered on one end with pro-tRump signs, and if someone is going to make politics part of their business strategy, then it is also my right to avoid them if I don’t agree. She fully agreed and the idea was dropped.
Anoniminous
Shouldn’t they STFU and start voting Real Soon Now?
Thread of newness? Too? (also ditto)
H.E.Wolf
Ms Elise Stefanik, power-hungry apparatchik. “This Republican majority has exceeded all expectations.” Pro-McCarthy.
H.E.Wolf
(She’s upstate NY.)
Martin
@Shalimar: His failures were all because of regulation.
scav
@smith: Shit, at this time, who would want Iowans? Whole state is now the bottom tier. Even Missouri’s IQ would go down now if the border budged.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, Biden carried Mike Garcia’s 27th California CD. He’s the guy who won the special election to succeed Rep. Katie Hill. Garcia barely squeaked by in 2020. He won in the midterms by a few points and he’s a prime Democratic target for next year.
H.E.Wolf
Gaetz: saying nanny nanny boo boo to Stefanik.
trollhattan
@Citizen Alan:
Ag is by a yuge margin the largest water consumer in the state. California was the last state to manage our groundwater basins, and over-drafting ag concerns have until sometime in the 2030s to bring their practices into conformance with no further overdrafting of the aquifers.
State Water Project contractors are mostly municipal, partly ag. They all pay the actual cost to deliver the water, so market rate for everybody. (The farther down the system, the higher the charge.)
CVP federal water contractors are primarily ag and all pay subsidized rates, rates that are not easy to obtain by the curious public.
If CVP contractors were forced to pay market rates the overuse issue would go away. Because winged monkeys will fly from my butt before the feds force market rates on the likes of Westlands Water District, the subsidies will continue and crazy things like millions of almond acres continue. Fact is they can also resell the water to, say, San Diego and pocket the difference.
That’s a lot of words to say California has enough freshwater for our municipal needs. Should their Colorado River allocation be cut back, Southern California will have problems because SWP and CVP can’t supply enough by themselves–LA and their subcontractors use quite a lot.
We’re considering switching over to Brawndo.
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
Anybody who’s still tweeting over there, do you get likes from bots claiming to be looking for romance?
ETA: Woohoo, #300!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jackie: He worked for the January 6 committee. She probably met him then.
Old School
@H.E.Wolf:
According to Axios, CA-27 was D +12.4 in 2020 and R +6.6 in 2022.
Leto
@Alison Rose: Water: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Always helpful primer on the subject.
Geminid
@H.E.Wolf: The Republican majority hasn’t exceeded my expectations and they real f***ing low, too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lowtechcyclist: Wait, what do you mean “bots”?
bbleh
@Anoniminous: too right! These speeches sound like they were written by a chatbot, and I can’t imagine they’re going to affect a single vote.
H.E.Wolf
Garret Graves, R-LA-06. Well-groomed. A well-preserved 50-ish. Pro-McCarthy on whatever grounds a well-dressed weasel would choose. Family and military blah de blah blah.
H.E.Wolf
Gaetz again, now with moar racism. Ugh.
H.E.Wolf
Gaetz has that “aggrieved entitlement” rage-face which I remember so well from Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.
...now I try to be amused
@Citizen Alan:
I feel a bit guilty because I love almonds. I could live without them, though.
H.E.Wolf
Mr. Kelly Armstrong, R-ND-at large. Pro-McCarthy, or at any rate anti-Gaetz. His hands are trembling with agitation or nerves.
Alison Rose
@Leto: I referenced this in the comment I was referring to.
japa21
@lowtechcyclist: I get those all the time. Obviously, they haven’t checked my bio.
Jackie
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Oh doy, I completely forgot Goldman was on The Committee!🤦🏼♀️
Alison Rose
Delicious:
Although “seriousness” is not the word I would use here.
ETA LOLOL
Frankensteinbeck
@RaflW:
I’m not sure. DJT is very willing to spend other people’s money, and so far has been doing that to deal with stuff like fines. On the other hand, his PACs have spent so much on legal fees that he can see the bottom of the barrel, and the existence of his business empire is in doubt. He might be panicking.
H.E.Wolf
Gaetz is now making his closing remarks. Those of his colleagues seated behind him (GOP, I think) are maintaining poker faces.
Anoniminous
NBC news reporting McCarthy’s office is “reaching out to moderate Democrats” to vote to keep him as Speaker. Which must mean he has done the counting and know he is a goner
PRAISE JEEBUS!!!!!!!!!!! They are finally voting
Leto
@Alison Rose: ah, well there’s the sauce.
lowtechcyclist
@CliosFanBoy:
Can’t say I’m surprised. There’s a lot of “how can you possibly be a Christian and a Democrat?” bullshit amongst evangelicals.
H.E.Wolf
Taking a voice vote. Now taking a roll call vote. I’m going to go do errands.
bbleh
Aaaand … here we go.
JWR
@Alison Rose:
Here’s a short video from NBC Bay Area.
rikyrah
@Leto:
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
That deal was a sham
smith
@H.E.Wolf: I’d just like to say, thank you for your sacrifice in watching and, worse, listening to these meatheads so the rest of us can follow along.
H.E.Wolf
@Geminid: @H.E.Wolf: The Republican majority hasn’t exceeded my expectations and they real f***ing low, too.
Heh. Depends on what one expects. :)
Heard the NM water-rights news earlier today and thought of (a) you and (b) Xochitl Torres-Small!
Leto
And here comes the count.
Alison Rose
@JWR: Thanks! Will watch after the roll call fun :P
Jackie
Gaetz is figuratively blasting his AR at everyone. He’s not going to have any friends to save his ass if the Ethics Committee convicts him:
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think Rep. Goldman was counsel for the 1st Impeachment effort. I’m not sure he had a role with the J6 Committee. Former U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy was counsel for Bennie Thompson’s committee.
Barry
@Shalimar: “Trump already gave a deposition in this case. How much worse could he fuck up his criminal cases than he already has?”
Many, many, many hours on the witness stand pleading the Fifth for hundreds of questions.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
And they are too stupid to realize it.
You see it.
I see it.
It’s glaring.
They are in denial.
RaflW
I’m hoping for more GOP chaos.
And a Tbogg Unit.
tobie
@JWR: Gosh, Butler’s swearing in is such a mood-lifter and palate-cleanser after the shit show in the House. Thank you for the link.
trollhattan
@…now I try to be amused: We grow much of the planet’s almond supply. If we cut back 50% that would still be more than the US consumes.
As to alfalfa, just how many horses are there?
CarolPW
@…now I try to be amused: Almonds as nuts are not the big problem (there is not a huge demand), it’s almonds as almond milk. You have to grow a lot of almonds to get a gallon of almond milk, using about 920 gallons of water to get there.
SFBayAreaGal
@RaflW: Getting close to Tbogg level
RaflW
@Anoniminous: I’m gonna guess the past hour of poo flinging didn’t sway the Problem Solvers or the Blue Dogs.
Alison Rose
Motion to Change Clerk Roll Call Terms to “Yep” and “Nope”
Anoniminous
@trollhattan:
Not horses, dairy cows.
RaflW
Whoa. Ken Buck (R-CO.04) votes yes. Qevin is screwed.
lowtechcyclist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They have handles like @Katelyn2540965 and are looking for love. I get a ‘like’ from one of them with a different handle every time I tweet.
Citizen Alan
@H.E.Wolf: Sigh. My new rep. Better than Trent Kelly, I suppose.
rikyrah
@JoyceH: I loved his pirate vibe 😁
Anoniminous
@RaflW:
McCarthy’s word doesn’t mean a damn thing. Death in a political negotiation.
JWR
@Geminid:
I really hope the same person who twice ran and lost to him doesn’t try again.
bbleh
I think that’s it — I think Gaetz is #5.
Alison Rose
@lowtechcyclist: I think Jim was being snarky :)
CarolPW
@trollhattan:
Grown for cattle, goats and sheep too (and alpacas, vicunas, camels and all the rest). It’s a significant portion of what herbivores eat in winter in much of the country.
tobie
Will Ukraine be able to get any aid? That’s the one looming question for me. Otherwise the Republicans can continue with their war of attrition against each other as far as I’m concerned.
Bill Arnold
@Old School:
The original now-deleted post has already been copied elsewhere in RW social media space, so mission accomplished it Trump was intending death threats.
e.g. this account, which copies Trumps Truth Social posts
jonas
@Eolirin: Molinaro wants a shot at running for senator or governor again, so I think is trying to walk a fine line between not getting primaried and not saying/doing anything that would sink him politically at the state level. A different case is Brandon Williams over here in NY-22 who is in a (iirc) Biden +6 district (centered on Syracuse), but really hasn’t tried to put any daylight between himself and McCarthy. He made some noises early on about wanting George Santos to go away, but other than that, he’s been indistinguishable from any other MAGAt Congressman.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Anoniminous: Ken Buck, a far right loon who has recently been presented as a moderate on TV*, voted to boot His Kevin
*near as I can tell because he said he won’t vote for trump if he’s convicted of a felony, the piles of evidence and the civil liability for rape not being quite enough without that conviction
eversor
@Elizabelle:
Two nieces first chance to vote as well. They both broke off from the family and Christianity so they are voting Democratic. This is not allowed in the Filipino extended family because Jesus.
One of them has quasi moved in. She got into GW University and we came up with some bullshit excuse that as we lived closer she can just crash her if she wants. She was also sexually abused by that horrible religion and while I haven’t told her what I went through I’ve hinted at it. In the “you aren’t alone in this, it gets better and it gets worse, but if you want to talk I’m here and trust me I get it” manner.
We have a bunch of computers here that clear 10k per so she loves it for her studies.
The problem with her was getting over the boys issue. I just sort of cleared the air and was blunt about it. Me and your aunt were your age once so you aren’t fooling anyone. We have dozens of friends in the area. So if you want us to just not be here we can go to a friends and crash there. Just be honest. We don’t care.
Amazingly that worked well enough we’ve met all the boyfriends she’s shopping about with.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
did Jared Golden, “problem solver” of Maine, just vote with the Rs again?
eversor
@CarolPW:
The vegans are going to come after you now.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Not with a bang, but with a whimper
Frankensteinbeck
@tobie:
I don’t see why it wouldn’t. This will shake itself long before that becomes an issue, even considering the absolutely absurd levels of dysfunction that are likely in picking a new Speaker. Getting aid for Ukraine hasn’t been difficult so far, because it has strong bipartisan support. That’s why Democrats gave it up on the CR. There was no need to fight over something they can get as a solo package when the tantrum winds down from sheer exhaustion.
Elizabelle
@eversor: Welcome, nieces.
Shalimar
@bbleh: At least 2 Dems (Pelosi and Bush) are absent, so it will take more than 5 Republicans.
Elizabelle
You guys got me to stream C-Span. This is kind of exciting.
Ramona
I’m surprised that I too am finding it exciting…
RaflW
Nancy Mace is the 7th Republican to vote to vacate.
Buh.
Bye.
Kev.
Geminid
@trollhattan: Plenty of hungry camels. Racing camel trainers probably swear by alfalfa from Arizona.
I read that afalfa means “best fodder” in Arabic. I’m glad not many people knew that after the 9/11 attacks. If it they had,, we might be talking about “Freedom Fodder!”
bbleh
@Shalimar: aren’t some Reps absent too? I think there are 427 total present. And I think with Mace there are 7 Rep yeses. (Any dem noes yet?)
tobie
@Frankensteinbeck: You’ve thought this through, and also explained the strategy on the CR, so I’ll stick with your reassuring take.
Old School
@Bill Arnold:
That’s what I was wondering. The judge issued a gag order, but is there any consequence to social media or Newsmax commentators continuing to name the clerk through the duration of the trial?
lee
That might have been the deal to save his ass.
MisterForkbeard
@RaflW: Mace voted to vacate? She’s supposed to be “moderate”, though she constantly tonguebathes Trump.
I am surprised.
tobie
@RaflW: i think Mace wants to be VP. That’s the only thing that can explain her transformation into a fire-breathing MAGAt in her 3 years in DC.
Tony G
Good quote from Napoleon. And then he invented that tasty pastry.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@tobie: I think she’s hoping to take either Lindsey or Scott’s place, sooner or later
Elizabelle
Tee hee. WaPost:
Photo of that absurd book from several years back: Young Guns. (They were Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy.)
Headline: The Future of the GOP is Now Its Past.
Shalimar
@Old School: Will they name her correctly? Trump got her first name wrong and accused her of having an affair with Schumer.
Tony G
@Geminid: Kids stopped trying to learn algebra after 911 also. Actually, numbers are Arabic too. Ignorance is strength.
C Stars
@CarolPW: It surprises me that almond milk is such a big business, as it’s a poor substitute for dairy compared to some of the other legume/grain “milks” that are on the market now.
Geminid
@JWR: Actually, that Democrat ran against Garcia three times, counting the special election. She lost the 2020 election by less than 400 votes, so I can’t blame her for running again, or blame district Democrats for favoring her in the primary either. But they are unlikely to pick her again even if she runs.
Shalimar
@bbleh: You have the total number right. There are 2 seats open. I don’t know the breakdown of the other 4 missing members.
Looks like it won’t matter if there are already 7 Republican Yays though.
CaseyL
@C Stars:
And oat milk is better all round. I think almond got to market first as a big dairy replacement, though, and there are tons of processed goods, non-gluten foods, and low carb foods that rely on almond flour.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Marie Gluesencamp Perez votes to vacate
Mary Peltola didn’t vote? I guess she’s not back yet after her husband’s death
I thought I heard Jared Golden vote with the Rs, but no one’s on twitter calling for his head, so I’m guessing I mis-heard
WaterGirl
@Jackie: He wasn’t on the Jan 6 Committee. He was COUNSEL to the impeachment
committee.edited
RaflW
Rosendale votes against, the 8th Republican
bjacques
Selah. Hunter S Thompson ended many of his rants that way.
Geminid
@Shalimar: Rep. Peltola might be in Alaska still.
RaflW
@MisterForkbeard: Some D.C. punter said Mace was in the “YOLO caucus of one” so I think this all is befuddling to gop-whisperers, too.
Anoniminous
@RaflW:
If the Dems hold together – that’s it. McCarthy is not only history he’s in the history books.
CaseyL
If this vote does remove McCarthy from the Speaker’s chair, it will be ever so fitting.
He wanted nothing more in life than to be Speaker, and sold whatever was left of his soul (not that there was much) to get it. Note I don’t say whatever was left of his integrity, because I can’t remember “integrity” and “Kevin McCarthy” ever being said in the same breath.
And now he may be the first Speaker of the House in US history to get booted from the position.
So very fitting.
bbleh
@Shalimar: I just read 4 Dems out, which suggests 2 Reps, leaving 219 Reps and 208 Dems, which would make 6 reps the magic number, assuming no Dems vote nay. And I think there’s 8 now.
I really never thought it would come to this. What a sh!tshow.
Elizabelle
Not gonna be a secret squeaker.
Splitting Image
@Anoniminous:
Damn. I hate seeing bad things happen to good people.
That’s why I’m enjoying this immensely.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
some buffoon just shouted out “somebody pull the fire alarm!”
Shalimar
@Elizabelle: Yeah. He isn’t even close.
6 who are there apparently haven’t voted.
lee
It looks like McCarthy is out, correct?
CarolPW
@C Stars:
Used to be that Blue Diamond Almonds was considered to have made the almond industry profitable by developing flavored nuts (memory says about 1970ish?). Before then the market was pretty small. The increase almond acreage from then to now is pretty amazing. On the other hand, olive trees (for cured olives or oil) are pretty thrifty water users.
Old School
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I thought it was “Nobody pull the fire alarm!”
Elizabelle
One of those sides of the aisle looks way different from the other. A lot of Dem women in green today, it seemed.
Yarrow
I’m just now getting to check on any of this. They’re voting now to oust McCarthy? We live in crazy times.
eversor
@bbleh:
They were always going to fuck that wood chipper.
SiubhanDuinne
So that’s that?
RaflW
@lee: 216 to 206.
He’s done. We’re in lala land.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The Blue Dogs voting with the Republican majority could be doing this on instructions from their leadership. This will come out in reporting after this vote is decided.
I can just see Pete Aguilar signaling the last, deciding Democratic Representives which way to vote, tapping his right elbow and then his nose like a third base coach signaling a hit-and-run play.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Womp-womp
Old School
So Pelosi isn’t voting?
Jeffro
I hear you but he’s already the MAGA mob’s ultimate martyr. Orange Jesus made flesh (and lots of it), here on Earth.
Let’s try it and see how it shakes out. =)
Elizabelle
Luna. Short for Lunatic. (Florida, natch.). Not there; not voting.
Pelosi, Peltola. Not there. Both for sad reasons. (Less so for Pelosi. 90 is a good run for DiFi.)
Shalimar
@bbleh: Gooden and Luna seem to have been the 2 Republicans. Might have been one more.
Ken
Drama demands that the vote be apparently over and exactly tied, and at that moment Pelosi walks into the chamber and says, “Well, Kevin?”
Mike in NC
Qevin McQuarthy should start drinking heavily tonight. They don’t even like him much in shitty Bakersfield.
Frankensteinbeck
@RaflW:
Some front pager please start a fresh thread with this title.
JWR
@Geminid: That she only lost by 400 votes might seem like a case for running again, but someone in this thread mentioned that CA-27 is solid Biden country, so I’d say nope to a
thirdfourth try.Shalimar
@Old School: Pelosi is in California for Feinstein’s funeral.
Alison Rose
BAHAHAHAHA
Elizabelle
Who is presiding?
Yarrow
Wow! Office of Speaker of the House is officially declared vacant.
SiubhanDuinne
@Old School:
Surprised she didn’t designate a proxy. She’s in SF for Dianne Feinstein’s funeral.
ETA: Similarly with Peltola, who is still grieving her husband.
Anoniminous
216 to 210 — Bye-Bye McCarthy
Elizabelle
McCarthy is a lying schmuck who cannot be trusted. But somehow, I feel a tiny bit sad for the guy. What a public smackdown. Gaetz claims his scalp.
Patrick T. McHenry. Lucky us. Mr. Bowtie.
Old School
@Shalimar: @SiubhanDuinne:
Ahhh. Thanks!
coin operated
@RaflW:
Like his martyr status isn’t high enough already? Screw that…I’d pay good money to see him remanded and his cell phone confiscated. We could all use the peace and quiet about now
@Jeffro…GMTA
Geminid
@Mike in NC:
McCarthy: “You don’t know me, and you don’t like me…”
Bakersfield resident: “Yes and yes.”
Alison Rose
This dude speaking looks like a librarian in a movie adaptation of a middle-grade fantasy novel.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
We live in strange times.
Old School
Patrick McHenry (R-NC) will be Speaker pro tempore per MSNBC.
Anoniminous
@SiubhanDuinne:
Have to be Present and Voting, no proxies allowed.
IIRC
zhena gogolia
@CaseyL: How’s rice milk? That’s the one I use. I tried oat milk, but it went bad too quickly. They don’t seem to sell it in small containers.
BretH
It is done. BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!
I would be surprised if Pelosi didn’t pretty much know the outcome, give or take a vote or 2, so didn’t need a proxy.
Geminid
@JWR: My guess is that there won’t be a fourth try. District Democrats will be moving on.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So Gaetz got McCarty thrown with the Democrats’ help. ROLF
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
😛
eversor
These fucking idiots.
Righteous Hazard
That is a keeper
Alison Rose
McHenry sounds like a garden variety Republican dick, but:
So that’s something.
CaseyL
@zhena gogolia: So sorry, but I don’t know. Never had any.
Geminid
@Elizabelle: I might feel a little sad too if that schmuck hadn’t run Representative Omar off the Foreign Relations Committee. As they say, “What goes around, comes around.”
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Shalimar: She had a choice, attend Feinstein’s funeral or McCarthy’s funeral
Ken
@Geminid: I’m petty. I want to see the pictures of him carrying his boxes out of the Speaker’s office
Also, my Google skills are failing me. I knew McCarthy wouldn’t have the shortest term in office — it would be hard to displace Theodore Pomeroy — but I’m unable to find a list of speakers by length of term.
Yarrow
Looks like no one voted Present. Everyone picked a side. Heh.
JWR
Okay, so if I’ve got this right, (and I doubt that), the Dems aren’t gonna give McCarthy his Speakership for now, but might crossover to support him if or when he runs again? Heh! Haile Jackson of NBC just said that the Dems are gonna let McCarthy sleep in the bed he himself made. Sweet dreams, MyKevin.
CaseyL
New thread up!
Elisabeth Albert
@trollhattan:
Horses don’t eat alfalfa, they eat timothy grass. Cows eat alfalfa, so if California doesn’t grow alfalfa, it will have a large impact on their dairy industry.
CarolPW
@zhena gogolia: Rice takes stupid amounts of water to grow, but in the Central Valley of California is mostly grown in the flood plains. Unless there is a drought there are enough flooded areas to grow a reasonable rice crop, and in a reasonable rain year they get a good crop. It is generally (in central California) not irrigated but gets its water from surface runoff and diversion from the rivers as flood control. A lot of the rice-growing area is also in the flyway so it’s good for the waterbirds too.
trollhattan
Bored, so looked up more almond stuff.
The USDA measures almonds by meat pounds, as in
How fun is that? US seems to produce about 2 million metric tons/year with Spain in second at 200k tons and Iran at 150k. I’ll convert to meat pounds another day.
What catches my eye is while California almond acreage and production are up, the crop value has dropped. i.e., the 2022 crop of 1.16 metric tons from 1.35 million acres earned $3.5 billion @ $1.40/ pound. The 2014 crop of 0.85 metric tons from 0.93 million acres earned $6.4 billion @ $4.00/pound. (1991 there were 405k acres of almonds.)
FOMO is a huge factor in ag and it seems the rush to rip out old orchards or convert from row crops, to plant almonds has been vastly oversold and the promised profits have left the barn. I understand the labor to raise almonds is low, so that’s a factor, too.
What’s the next fad? Kale?
CarolPW
@trollhattan:
I think kale came and went already.
Ealbert
@trollhattan:
Horses don’t eat alfalfa, they eat timothy grass. Cows eat alfalfa, so if California doesn’t grow alfalfa, it will have a large impact on their dairy industry.
trollhattan
@CarolPW: Here’s hoping it stays went!
Tony Jay
Is Kevin going to disappear under his desk, emerge wearing a false moustache and holding a signed super-secret letter introducing him as ‘Mark Cenvicthy’, interim Speaker until such a time as a replacement is elected who you wouldn’t know because he’s from a new district on the Canadian border?
Worth a shot.
zhena gogolia
@CaseyL: Oh, I meant environmentally. I use it on my cereal and I like it.
zhena gogolia
@CarolPW: Thanks.
RaflW
I did not expect this:
Meanwhile, a virtually-secret society (with a purported membership of about 40) has threatened Mace’s participation in their little club of do-nothings:
Fair Economist
@Ken:
Excuse me, nothing says *Republican controlled House* like making a rule requiring a secret Speaker, but not bothering to define what that person can and cannot do.
Cause that kind of garbage would NEVER have happened under Pelosi (or Jeffries).
eversor
@zhena gogolia:
They all suck and are more problematic than milk in odd ways. If you are going to give up milk, just give it up. Don’t try fake around it.
Bill Arnold
@H.E.Wolf:
They should just go all the way and wear double-lightning-bolt lapel pins. In tasteful red-white-and-blue, of course.
Cameron
@Old School: Oh. I guess Benjamin McFranklin got lost in the shuffle.
Tony Jay
@Fair Economist:
If he had any kind of wit about him Kevin would have drafted a Secret Speaker rule with only two clauses and leaked the news that they were –
a) interim post to maintain all powers and privileges of elected Speaker until such a time as The House has voted to confirm a replacement.
b) only current elected Representatives who have previously held the post of elected Speaker are qualified to serve as interim Speaker.
That would have cut Gaetz off at the balls.
Elizabelle
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
LOL! She chose well. As usual.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: I use lactose free skim milk. It makes tea ( loose tea ) taste weird though.
Kayla Rudbek
@C Stars: The almond milk generally is supplemented with calcium and oat milk is generally not supplemented with calcium. I tend to buy nondairy milk based on calcium content and low sugar content so often the almond milk wins.
Alison Rose
I solve the “which milk” issue by not drinking any kind of milk because it is all gross.
Jim Appleton
Um
Tbogg is looming here …
Mai Naem mobile
@Leto: the water ranch stuff has been going on in Arizona for decades but it used to be just the Metro Phoenix cities buying up land for water rights down the road. The Saudi thing has been going on for years. One of the big problems in AZ is that a lot of city/local/County elected positions are held by developer or developer adjacent business people who don’t care about the future of the state. They just want to make a quick buck. I heard the Saudi stuff years ago on NPR. I’ve never understood why AZ didn’t learn any lessons from California and California has made some awful mistakes in water management. We only just started collecting rain water because in the desert it evaporates quickly and so its just wasted if it’s not collected. This should have been done years ago.
Chris Johnson
@Jim Appleton: Qevin ain’t worth a TBogg.