99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. Take one down, and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall.
h/t Manyakitty
I don’t know if there’s any chance that Santos will be expelled, but I would love to see it.
Also, I can’t figure out why 5 or 10 of the 28 Republicans in Biden districts haven’t initiated a motion to vacate. The circus of a couple of weeks ago made them look better than the current Pastor of the House.
Totally open thread, in case that’s not obvious!
Update: Gosh, as soon as I get the post up, the vote is already over. Even 25 Dems voted against expelling Santos.
He’s facing 23 felony charges.
His campaign manager pled guilty to conspiring with him.
He pled guilty to stealing checks in Brazil.They’re not even sure of his real name.
Yet, the House of Representatives couldn’t muster enough respect for their chamber to expel George…
— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) November 2, 2023
sdhays
Does Santos get a vote?
piratedan
@sdhays: i believe so, but who knows, he’s apparently multitudes…
WaterGirl
@sdhays: Hopefully not one vote for every name he has used!
Mel
@WaterGirl: Thank you for that! I needed a good laugh this evening!
WaterGirl
Update up top. With this result, we might just need that drinking game.
I hope we do better on the vote related to the military promotions… that I hope will happen very soon.
WaterGirl
@Mel: h/t Manyakitty
WaterGirl
What’s on everybody’s mind tonight?
lowtechcyclist
44 bottles of beer on the wall, 44 more days in my working career…
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: Calendar days or work days?
WaterGirl
5 days until Virginia elections and Ohio Issue 1. Those are both on my mind.
Another Scott
Mid-November is going to be an exciting time in DC.
Cheers,
Scott.
MattF
On the other hand, we keep a source of comic relief, which the House needs badly. And, perhaps… an all-star volleyball champion? Maybe, but… maybe not. For a while.
Geminid
There was interesting news out of St. Louis two days ago. City Prosecutor Wesley Bell dropped out of the Missouri Democratic Senate primary and announced he would instead challenge 1st CD Representative Cori Bush.
I guess that will take some pressure off of Senate candidate Lucas Kunce. It could be a tough race for Ms. Bush, though.
mvr
Which Ds and why?
Craig
On my mind? Scheduling screwup gives me a paid Friday off, plus same on Monday. I get to go see my homegirl’s documentary Richland playing in the usually private Premiere Theater at ILM in The Presidio as part of the SF Docfest. One of the best places in the world to see a movie. Psyched.
Old School
While the charges don’t look good, I don’t have an issue with waiting for a conviction before expulsion.
Marleedog
The new Speaker, or Preacher if you like, in referring the matter to the Ethics Committee made it difficult to vote for expulsion without even a fig leaf of due process. Even some Democrats went along.
Ethics Committee will release some kind of report in about 3 weeks or so. Making every attempt to maintain their fragile majority, they might try to whitewash the whole affair, but Santos faces serious allegations and I would not be surprised to see a future motion for expulsion to succeed if he does not resign (as he should, but probably will not).
MattF
@Marleedog: He’ll never resign. He might try to disappear— in which case we’ll get to see him flushed out of a broom closet in some bus terminal.
WaterGirl
@mvr: I don’t know, but I am curious, too. Maybe you can google and let us all know?
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
Calendar days. When I log off work on December 15th, that will be the last time.
ETA: Who knows how many work days. Depends on what happens between now and November 19th. (Technically the 17th, but I’m not working on Saturday and Sunday 11/18-19 any which way.)
Lacuna Synecdoche
Jack E. Smith via WaterGirl @ Top:
If they kick Santos out over 23 charges, what would that say about Donald “93 Charges” Trump?
They can’t kick out Santos and not look like hypocrites for supporting Trump. And they were, surprisingly, smart enough to figure that out.
Well, that was cynical. Obviously, they’re hoping to keep Santos there as a millstone around the House GOP’s neck. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
I refuse to believe George Santos exists. So many lies, so little substance – how can he be a real person?
danielx
@Boris Rasputin (the evil twin):
One could say much the same about TFG and he’s all too real.
Manyakitty
@WaterGirl: 😊😁 I’m still giggling about the Peloponnesian War.
mvr
@WaterGirl: According to the Hill:
Lyrebird
@Geminid: Thanks Geminid!
Interesting indeed.
ETA: regarding the vote, I wonder if some of those voting No want to wait for the ethics report.
mvr
@mvr: Some of these folks I generally admire – Raskin & Davids in particular. And some are in swingish seats.
Apparently 2/3 were needed so even adding the Ds would only have gotten it to 210 to expell vs 182 not to. Not enough.
mrmoshpotato
Wow. Wow. Wow.
And I will raise myself a Jesus Fucking Himself!
Both Sides Don’t! (h/t driftglass and bluegal)
WaterGirl
@mvr: There are some interesting names on that list. Several that I wouldn’t have expected. I wonder what their thinking is.
mvr
@WaterGirl: Amended my comment above to note that it still would not have reached 2/3. So if one is in a close seat and you think it could hurt your re-election, why bother. And if you think you might be up for a similar vote for either good or bad reasons, why set the precedent of doing it before the ethics committee acts?
Timill
@WaterGirl: There may be procedural reasons for some: in Robert’s, you can’t bring up a motion more than once in a session. But, if you voted with the winning side, you can move to reconsider the decision, thus bringing it back to the floor. I presume House rules have something similar.
Jackie
@WaterGirl: Waiting for the Ethics Committee report? Because what goes around, comes around — eventually.
I’m guessing that – based on some of the names listed.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@mvr:
Et tu, Rashida 😢
Betty
@mvr: Raskin explained his vote. He said it would set a bad precedent and was without due process. I assume he was referring to the Ethics Committee report which isn’t out.
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: Early Christmas gift!
WaterGirl
@mvr: Just realized that I forgot to say thank you for the list!
WaterGirl
I had left my Christmas cactuses out during our 20-degree overnight freeze. Oops. I knew it was going to freeze, but I hadn’t planned on it being that cold.
Brought them in on Tuesday before the second 20-degree night in a row. The leaves are still pretty cold tonight, but I think they are going to be okay.
Whew! I have 9 of them, so it was going to really suck if I lost them all.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
With all the turmoil in the Middle East, now was not the right time to expel a Jew-ish congressman like Santos
BruceFromOhio
@Betty:
Thanks, this was very curious, and Raskin’s got serious street cred. Yep, bad dude is bad, but keeping horse and cart in correct order is always wisdom.
Carlo Graziani
One bottle of beer on the wall!
One bottle of beer!
Take one down, pass it around,
Zero bottles of beer on the wall!
Zero bottles of beer on the wall!
Zero bottles of beer!
Take one down, pass it around,
Negative-one bottles of beer on the wall!
Negative-one bottles of…HEY! OW! [Number theorist gets whanged upside the head with a missing beer bottle at this point.]
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
These Christmas cactuses? Are they Christmas gifts for friends or enemies?
Manyakitty
@WaterGirl: mine turned to mush and died this year, inside. I moved my ‘experiment’ lemon trees and a few other items outside for summer, we got snow last night and the last two out there survived. I forced myself outside today and brought them in. Can’t turn down a reprieve like that.
Manyakitty
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: oy
frosty
Since it’s an Open Thread (and a dead one) I’ve got a complaint against my County Board of Elections. My son sent his absentee ballot request in on 10/16. THEY STILL HAVEN’T MAILED HIS BALLOT TO HIM!!!!!
What the fuck is going on with them?
Manyakitty
@frosty: call and check the rules. When I worked the polls in Ohio, you could cancel an unreturned absentee ballot request at the board of elections and early vote. I don’t remember the rules for election day, though.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@frosty:
What state does your son live in?
steve g
My sister and my her two kids sang 80 bottles of beer on the wall for my father when he turned 80. And they brought 80 bottles of Guiness to put on the mantle and the tables and anywhere else they could find to put one. Good laugh, and good beer!
WaterGirl
@Carlo Graziani: haha!
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: No, they are mine. All mine! :-)
I have had them for years. Over a decade. Since I lost the previous batch to a big freeze the year the tree hit my house and I was too distracted to bring them inside in time. That was 2013.
edit: okay, that’s exactly a decade.
WaterGirl
@Manyakitty: yep. second chances.
WaterGirl
@frosty: Call them on the phone.
And it’s not a dead thread.
WaterGirl
@steve g: how fun, great memory!
mvr
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: I actually had in mind Rob Menendez who is the son of the Senator with a very similar name. I don’ think RT has done anything worthy of expulsion though I do think legislators that draw criticism might worry about being expelled for bad reasons.
HumboldtBlue
@WaterGirl:
Raskin issued a thoughtful statement on his no vote, one I think all here will agree with.
Mr. Bemused Senior
From one of my favorite sources, The Alice and Bob After Dinner Speech. Forgive me if you’ve heard this one before…
frosty
@WaterGirl: Thanks, I called them on Monday and got a live person without having to go through a voicemail menu. Miracle! The worker said mailing is done by a third party and the Board doesn’t control it. I’ll call again and ask what is going on and why it hasn’t been mailed. I of course suspect conspiracy and vote suppression, right?
I think my son will have to take off and come here on Tuesday, which is his busiest class day. At least he’s only an hour away and not in Pittsburgh like my other son.
frosty
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): He’s in PA, like we are.
frosty
@Manyakitty: Good idea. It would be more convenient and a 20 miles shorter trip if he can do that. I’ll find out.
Manyakitty
@Mr. Bemused Senior: that is ridiculous. Love it! Thanks 😆🤣
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
MWHAHA?
Manyakitty
@frosty: good luck, and glad you stayed on top of it.
wjca
Also not the right time to expel a Muslim congressman like Santos. (It seems impossible that he hasn’t claimed to be Muslim, or perhaps Arab, at some point. After all, he contains multitudes.)
columbusqueen
Some of the Dem no votes may have been based on the belief that keeping Santos in the House to continue embarrassing the rest of the New York delegation improves the odds of winning seats back next year.
Hkedi [Kang T.Q.]
Rep Ed. Case… FROM HAWAII!!! WTF? somebody is tired of being a house member? that makes literally NO sense over here. People are still sore and angry from Tulsi Gabbard.
Shalimar
@columbusqueen: Even if that is their real reason, the reason you give in press releases and interviews is waiting for due process. Either the Ethics Committee report or a criminal conviction depending on how long you want to let the millstone hang.
owlbrick
Ninety nine cars on the assembly line
Ninety nine cars on the line
You take one down , you put one up
Ninety nine cars on the assembly line….
WaterGirl
@frosty: Hand off something as critical ballot mailing to a third-party group –whose political leanings they know nothing about – s a mistake of the highest order.
I hope you reminded them of that, because that’s bullshit.
Tarragon
@Carlo Graziani:
SW tester walks into a bar:
Carlo Graziani
@Tarragon: That’s very good.