Ron Johnson voted against Veterans with cancer. Rick Scott ran a healthcare scam that cheated Vets out of millions.
OF COURSE they’re teaming up with MAGA Republicans to block aid for US allies.The GOP is a national security threat! https://t.co/HuRd9iKGB5
— VoteVets (@votevets) November 1, 2023
======
Today, thanks to American leadership, we secured safe passage for wounded Palestinians and for foreign nationals to exit Gaza.
We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days.
We won't let up working to get Americans out of Gaza.
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 1, 2023
Per the Associated Press:
…The first people to leave Gaza — other than four hostages released by Hamas and another rescued by Israeli forces — crossed into Egypt, escaping the territory’s growing misery as bombings drive hundreds of thousands from their homes, and food, water and fuel run low.
The U.S. State Department said some American citizens were among those who left, without giving specifics. It said it expected more Americans and other foreign nationals to get out of Gaza in coming days. Talks were reportedly ongoing among Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which has been mediating with Hamas…
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and Jordan on Friday – his second trip to the region since the war was sparked by Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel. Blinken aims to reiterate U.S. support for Israel, but also to push to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza.
In a sign of increasing alarm over the war among Arab countries, Jordan — a key U.S. ally with a peace deal with Israel — recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel’s ambassador to remain out of the country…
By midafternoon Wednesday, 335 foreign passport holders left Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority.
The authority said the plan was for more than 400 foreign passport holders to leave for Egypt. The White House said it expected a “handful” of American citizens to be among them, and German, French, British and Australian officials said their citizens were among the evacuees.
Hundreds more remain in Gaza. The U.S. has said it is trying to evacuate 400 Americans with their families.
Egypt has said it will not accept an influx of Palestinian refugees, fearing Israel will not allow them to return to Gaza after the war.
Biden’s call for a “pause” was a subtle departure for White House policymakers, who have insisted they will not dictate how the Israelis carry out military operations. The White House has, however, been signaling that Israel should consider humanitarian pauses to allow more aid into Gaza and for trapped foreign nationals to leave. Biden’s new comments put pressure on Netanyahu to give Gaza’s civilians at least a brief reprieve…
======
The Incredible Mr. Santos survives another crisis…
Well yeah, he's a huge embarrassment for the party and a dream opponent for a gettable seat. Just like in the speaker fight, they're not gonna save the GOP from themselves. https://t.co/bz766F64aF
— Not up for trouble, please stop asking (@agraybee) November 2, 2023
Actually, I’m with Rep. Rasking; if the Dems help the GOP turf out their weakest link, the Repubs would absolutely take it as permission to start voting to expel every Democratic member they decide has looked at them funny (i.e., every single Democrat):
NotMax
Lawdy lawdy. Hadn’t given it so much as a passing thought in 60 years and suddenly it’s an earworm.
Brain goes in, brain goes out; who can explain it?
;)
dmsilev
It didn’t actually matter how the Democrats voted. With a 2/3s threshold to expel, the 182 GOP Nay votes were more than ample to keep Santos in his seat.
That said, Raskin’s argument rings true to me.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Well that’s funny! I never knew the Chad Mitchell Trio had recorded JJMM, but it happens that that song, along with a great many other snippets from When We We Very Young and Now We Are Six (all to H. Fraser-Simpson’s wonderful tunes), are constantly in the back of my mind just waiting to emerge. I learned them in infancy, loved them then and love them now.
sab
@dmsilev: It is the same argument as we were making when Al Franken was forced out. I think Franken was innocent and Santos is guilty, but that is the point of due process.
Raoul Paste
That Luckovich cartoon is superb.
Kay
@dmsilev:
Me too and fuck the NY Republicans. It’s not Democrats job to get rid of their criminal.
satby
So, some Senate drama last night as Republicans clashed with traitor Tommy when they attempted to move military promotions ahead and he objected to every single one.
Edit: Republican senators angrily challenged Sen. Tommy Tuberville on his blockade of almost 400 military officers Wednesday evening, taking over the Senate floor for more than four hours to call for individual confirmation votes after a monthslong stalemate.
Betty Cracker
I understand Raskin’s point, but maybe there are matters weightier than Santos’ right to due process given the nature of the job? As a thought experiment, put that lying fraud aside for a moment and look at the criminal indictments of Donald Trump and Bob Menendez.
IIRC, it’s customary for presidential nominees to get classified briefings in the last stage of an election. Are we okay with Trump receiving sensitive info? Chuck Schumer allegedly told Menendez not to show up at a classified briefing on Israel a couple of weeks ago because there would be discussions involving the role of Egypt, on whose behalf Menendez is accused of acting as a foreign agent. He didn’t show up, but it was his choice, not Schumer’s, and he DID show up to a classified Ukraine briefing yesterday, asserting his right to due process and ongoing Senate privileges.
I’m not sure what the right thing to do is, but I don’t think it’s as simple as waiting for alleged transgressions to work themselves through the court system or the joke that is any ethics committee controlled by the GOP.
Kay
Republicans aren’t ashamed of him anyway. There’s loads of photos of Santos yukking it up with Gaetz and Boebert. They love him. They need to keep him until he’s convicted. He’s a perfect example of modern conservatism.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Good point. The Menendez situation is intolerable and of course he doesn’t recuse just on his own. They never do. They always require outside regulation because they have no inner ethical standards.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Correction (too late for the edit window): the composer’s name is Fraser-Simson, not Fraser-Simpson.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: Can Menendez be removed, even if temporarily, from that committee? I don’t understand why that hasn’t happened.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I don’t know but reading that he was on it and would be attending was depressing enough that I quit reading politics that day. Good Lord. Get him off there! They’re all goddammned lawyers. Come up with something!
But I guess this is the body where I watched GOP Senators beg a GOP Senator to stop saying “I object” and holding up the entire armed forces last night, so apparently they can’t protect us from any threats.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Could you say what it is? I can’t play anything right now.
New Deal democrat
As to the failure of the expulsion resolution, this is yet another example of how Congress has over time given away its power to the other branches of government.
For the first 150+ years of its existence, Congress had no problem expelling Members without waiting for the Courts. By the way, many times such expelled Members immediately stood for and won re-election. But beginning roughly with the Nixon era, Congress decided to let the Judiciary do the heavy lifting, and only expel Members after they had been convicted of a crime. At that point expulsion has usually become moot, since the Member has resigned.
There is no such need for Congress to defer to the courts, where the criminal standard is “beyond reasonable doubt.” Expulsion does not send a Member to prison. If Congress thinks it significantly more likely than not that the Member did the ugly deed, Out they should go.
For that reason I disagree with Raskin, and with several commenters above.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: To not expel a member for very real corruption because you think your opponents will do the same over made up corruption is pretty weak thinking in my book.
Not that his vote effected the final outcome in any way. I am a big fan of Raskin but I think he is wrong here.
Geminid
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That may have been the briefing for the whole Senate, by the Secretaries of State and Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence.
Nelle
@satby: And yet, when I wrote Joni Ernst about it several months ago, she defended Tuberville. I feel another email to her coming on.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
It is a video of the Chad Mitchell Trio performing “James James Morrison Morrison.”
Betty
@New Deal democrat: I agree that it should not wait for a criminal conviction, but there should be some clear standard to prevent abuse. Perhaps being indicted for a felony would be enough?
Another Scott
@dmsilev: +1
Empty Green is having a fit online, of course, which is another indication that Raskin is correct.
Politics is slow. Santos will be gone soon enough.
Cheers,
Scott.
Chris Johnson
@OzarkHillbilly: I don’t, because as I saw it he demands due process.
The guy will be booted when he’s found guilty, which he so obviously is. Letting him get booted before he is held to account in due process of law (I mean, felonies? seriously?) is like a kind of cover-up.
We’re the ones trying to build working systems. It’s the Republicans trying to throw bombs and burn everything down. Hold them to due process and don’t let them weasel out. The process is important.
Jeffro
It’s a good question.
Add it – the ability to pass a basic security clearance – to the long list of things that we ought to legally/Constitutionally require of candidates for federal office.
The Other Steve
@Nelle: I’m sure Joni Ernst will consider your note in the same manner as Tom Emmer responds to mine. i.e. he keeps ghosting me.
OzarkHillbilly
@Chris Johnson: I happen to think there should be higher standards for serving in the House than those of a pick pocket.
New Deal democrat
@Chris Johnson: I disagree.
Had the Founders intended for a criminal conviction to be necessary, they could easily have said so (“a Member shall be expelled upon conviction of a felony” – see how easy that was?).
The powers of Congress to regulate itself were based on the 200+ year successful struggle of the House of Commons to assert its authority against encroachment by the Monarch and his judges.
As I wrote above, expulsion does not send a Member to prison. If they want to, they can – and have – run for re-election. Expulsion does not in any way vitiate the prosecution in the Courts.
I will go so far as to say that it is silly to require proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” of a felony before Congress can regulate the conduct of its own Members.
Jeffro
OT but I’m excited to see that the always on-point Trae Crowder is coming to my town in a couple months! That should be a fun show.
Betty Cracker
@Betty: Great point — there needs to be a clear, consistent process. As I understand it, currently a criminal indictment triggers loss of committee chairmanship, which is why Menendez no longer chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but he’s still a member of that group. (I’m not 100% sure, but I think the rule that required him to relinquish his chairmanship was adopted by Dems when they took control of the Senate, so if he were a Repub under the old rules, he could still be chair.) I’d be in favor of strengthening that rule so that indicted members lose committee memberships too, not just leadership positions.
Due process is important, but there are plenty of exceptions to that standard in other lines of work, such as cops who get put on administrative leave while shootings are investigated, pilots who are grounded while incidents are assessed, etc. Something like that could be adopted in Congress too while finding a way to ensure constituents still get representation. Of course, the ultimate solution is for crooks to resign, but that’s not gonna happen
@Jeffro: Also an excellent point about security clearance. That might require a constitutional amendment though — I don’t know.
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: The Blackadder episode “Dish and Dishonesty”, where Blackadder is filling out the MP application form, remains perennial.
BLACKADDER: Now then; criminal record…
BALDRICK: Absolutely not.
BLACKADDER: Oh, come on, Baldrick, you’re going to be an MP, for God’s sake! I’ll just put fraud and sexual deviancy.
MisterDancer
And, as your very nym notes, not everything the Founders intended for America turned out to be a healthy way to ensure Life/Liberty/Pursuit of Happiness. We’ve had to, over the centuries, re-tool the American Experiment to work better, and to avoid traps those Founders did not foresee — or, at least, didn’t think enough of a concern to word laws in certain ways.
Indeed: many of the current issues plaguing our system come from loose rules that are more like guidelines. Also: rules that assumed good faith, or at least strong pressure, on people in government to act in “right” ways.
Making very clear what the line is, regardless of what the line is, feels like the right way to approach it in this day and age. [EDIT: What Betty says above about “clear standard(s)”, in other words.]
lowtechcyclist
@SiubhanDuinne:
I was today days old when I found out someone had put “James James Morrison Morrison” to music.
In retrospect it’s hardly a surprise that someone did that, but I’d just never considered the possibility. I’d never encountered it outside of whichever A.A. Milne book it’s in.
H.E.Wolf
@lowtechcyclist:
It’s in A.A. Milne’s first book of poetry, “When We Were Very Young”, published in 1924.
The poem’s title is “Disobedience” – popularly known as “James James Morrison Morrison”. (The “Weatherby George DuPree” is understood.)
Or, as the Chad Mitchell version has it in the final verse: “Hm, hm, hm, hm, hm-hm hm hm-hm”.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
I’m fine with what Raskin’s rationale is and I think it is absolutely correct. Santos hasn’t been convicted of anything or even censured for anything yet, so I am okay with him being the poster boy of the GOP House, along with his buddies Gaetz and Taylor Greene.
As for Cheeto Mussolini getting classified briefings as nominee, you’re talking about what is customary. It’s not required and I am quite sure no one plans to give him any. As it should be.
H.E.Wolf
Here’s the link to The Chad Mitchell Trio’s version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axPaGP1UEqc
New Deal democrat
I have no problem with this, but the Congress should not be relying on the Judicial process for the drawing of that line. Specifying the type of conduct that will lead to expulsion via its own internal Rules is a far better option.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
I’d think it could just be in the rules of each House of Congress that being a Representative or Senator doesn’t get you into any classified briefings you couldn’t otherwise get a security clearance to attend.
geg6
@New Deal democrat:
In the history of the House, only five members have been expelled, three for being Confederate traitors, one in the ABSCAM bribery cases (was convicted before being expelled) and once being Jim Traficant for numerous crimes (also convicted before being expelled). So your argument that they didn’t wait for the courts to finish their work before doing it is wrong.
lowtechcyclist
@H.E.Wolf:
Yep, I looked it up, I was just seconds too late to make the edit window. Because of course the A.A. Milne books are in my bookcase, just a few steps away from my desk.
bookworm1398
Santos is an interesting problem. On the one hand, he lied on a massive scale to get elected. On the other hand, as a Congressman he has been fine, not among those who have threatened other congress members or disrupted business. Does it really make sense that he gets expelled and Greene gets to stay?
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
See my comment at #38. Raskin is correct. As he almost always is.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: I’m always glad to see crooked Repubs dragging their crooked party down, but there are larger issues at stake here, and waiting for the courts to act doesn’t address them. As our favorite hoodie-wearing senator said of Gold Bar Bob Menendez: “He’s entitled to the presumption of innocence, but he cannot continue to wield influence over national policy, especially given the serious and specific nature of the allegations.”
Ken
“We made every effort to follow this custom, but the difficulties in giving a classified briefing in a Federal prison proved insurmountable.”
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6: See my comment at #25. I disagree.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
And he shouldn’t get any information regarding things he’s been indicted for, but he hasn’t resigned and no one is putting up legislation to expel him. So he should get to represent his constituents until the Senate decides to expel him or he’s voted out or convicted (more likely both, from what I’ve seen).
Leto
Actual expulsion from the US House of Reps is pretty fucking rare. Of the 5, none ever held office again. Only 1 ran for office again, and they received 15% of the vote from prison. Sure, there’s been plenty of censures and reprimands but those are basically worthless. *slap on the wrist* Don’t do it again!
I know I’m asking too much for people to keep actual perspective on this issue, but we should. Should we get rid of Menedez? Sure we should. But what’s everyone’s #1 mantra here? JUDGES JUDGES JUDGES!!! As long as that’s on the table, he ain’t going anywhere no matter the ethical/moral fuckups he’s committed.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
And you’re perfectly free to. But New Deal Democrat and you are not basing your arguments on any precedents. The precedents are there and it’s not outrageous that the House is following those precedents.
OzarkHillbilly
One hell of a dude.
eta: And while he was the first, he is not now the only one.
SiubhanDuinne
@lowtechcyclist:
The Fraser-Simson settings of Milne’s poems are quite wonderful. This, of course, was long before Disney got their grubby little hands on Pooh.
geg6
@Leto:
Exactly right.
smith
As I recall it’s also customary for former presidents to get security briefings, but Biden did not follow that custom with TFG. I doubt he will change his mind after the nomination.
Jeffro
@lowtechcyclist: I’m good with it being a rule until my fantasy wishlist Amendment passes. =)
jonas
I think Raskin’s argument makes sense, particularly in today’s House, which is being run by a bunch of vindictive clowns for whom the term “bad faith” is a badge of honor. In any sane world, people like Santos and Menendez would resign, but these days, shamelessness is a superpower and federal indictments are to be scoffed at, not feared (at least until you’re standing in front of the judge for sentencing).
jonas
Biden would have to give him his security clearance back and, yeah, that ain’t happening.
smith
The need to set clear standards before invoking severe consequences in the political arena has been on my mind vis a vis using the 14th Amendment to disqualify TFG. I’m glad there’s a current case in CO which will undoubtedly reach the Supreme Court so there will be some guidance as to how to apply it (recognizing, of course, that we might not like that guidance. See: bribery of public officials). I could easily see the secretaries of state in the red states disqualifying any Dem who had ever voted for gun control on the grounds they had rebelled against the 2nd Amendment.
Geminid
@smith: Even if Trump the candidate were to get briefings, the briefing team would pick and choose what to tell Trump. All he could do is complain, which won’t help him.
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6: I stand by what I said. As far precedents go, in my book they are wholly lacking. Serving in Congress is not a right, it’s a privilege. The House is capable of setting some minimum standards. It says so in the constitution:
Article 1, sec 5
Just because they haven’t yet, doesn’t mean they can’t now.
Ken
@Geminid: They could run a canary trap — give him false information and see if it shows up anywhere it shouldn’t.
satby
@Ken: We may see they’ve already done that by what Smith’s team reveals at his trial.
Steeplejack
If anybody (still) cares about Sam Bankman-Fried, the articles about his trial at The Verge have been good. “Closing time for Sam Bankman-Fried.” (Links to other articles at the bottom of this one.)
Betty Cracker
@geg6: I agree Menendez shouldn’t get any information, but currently, there’s no process to stop that from happening, which is a problem, IMO. Fetterman and Schumer appear to have shamed Menendez into not showing up for the classified briefing on Israel, but ultimately it was his choice not to appear.
Repubs are absolutely shameless, so that wouldn’t work on them. And who’s to say Russia won’t slip a few gold bricks into Menendez’s Christmas stocking to get classified info from the Ukraine briefing that he did attend? I wouldn’t trust that crook not to spill the beans. IMO, we shouldn’t have to rely on their nonexistent honor to protect national secrets — that goes for Trump and Santos too.
mrmoshpotato
This is where my brain yelled “Nope! Fuck that!”
Actually, it was before NBA* Johnson was mentioned.
*No Bank Account
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Yup! House members should be held to a higher standard. More should be expelled from office in my opinion. If there is payback so be it.
Leto
@OzarkHillbilly: Ofc they can’t now. Who controls it? Shit ain’t happening. I still stand by the fact that every single fucking active/retired/medically disabled vet who was connected with Jan 6th, including shitheel Flynn, should be recalled to to AD, dishonorably discharged, and have their pension stripped. There’s more precedent for that, as well as happening more times, than MoC being expelled.
This is where the reality of, “It was never going to happen” should’ve already kicked in. And this is where the two sides of this are simply going to have to agree to disagree; on this and so many other issues. Maybe one day in the distant future when Dems control 400+ plus seats in the House, as well as 98 seats in the Senate, will we finally get some ethics reforms in both the Congress and the SC. And even then, doubt that shit will happen.
Matt McIrvin
@jonas: so I guess that explains why Rashida Tlaib voted against expelling Santos– they’re trying to expel her for not being pro-Israel, and she’s going to be wary of expelling someone without super clear guidelines.
mrmoshpotato
@Jeffro: That should be fun. Do you know if he has a Q and A after his show?
dirge
True. And it looks like a super-majority of the democratic caucus agrees with you.
I actually think the caucus as a whole represents my view pretty accurately: on the one hand, expelling a member is extraordinary and should require something official, so shouldn’t we wait for the ethics committee, but on the other hand, have you seen this fucking guy? If the whole house had voted that way, he’d have been expelled over legitimate due process objections, which seems like a reasonable outcome for a truly extreme case like Santos, even if the precedent might be worrying.
As it happens, he was saved by republicans who care more about power than integrity. Nothing democrats could have done about that. I’m hopeful that before long we’ll have an opportunity to reverse that, or at least sharpen up the contradiction.
UncleEbeneezer
@OzarkHillbilly: Very interesting. I have always been a good athlete but I always struggled in pressure situations. I would be great on the practice field bit terrible in the real game. I suspect that adrenaline overload was a big factor. Still is. When I play tennis I often miss a million easy shots during the first set then find my groove and dominate the second. A couple months ago I played doubles with three other guys who are solid, but frankly nowhere near my level. Like they would normally be paying me to coach them. Anyways, the first set my adrenaline was in complete overload and I must’ve had 30 unforced errors. My team was struggling mostly because of my shitty play. Then the second set I calmed down and started blowing everyone off the court. It’s super-frustrating because I almost always have to go through a shitty spell at the start. Though to be fair, Serena’s matches often played out like this, so I’m in good company :)
New Deal democrat
My source is Josh Chaffetz, “Congress’s Constitution”, pp. 232-266, “Internal Discipline.”
Just for example:
“In 1797, President Adams transmitted to Congress evidence that Senator William Blount, a Republican from Tennessee, was promoting a scheme to help the British and Native American tribes size Spanish Florida and Louisiana. The select committee empaneled by the Senate received an impeachment of Blount from the House, and the day after that, the Senate expelled Blount by a vote of twenty-five to one.”
p.242
and
“In 1857, a House select committee recommended that four Members be expelled for various acts of corruption …. The House found insufficient evidence to proceed against [one], but the other three [ ] all resigned while the expulsion resolutions were pending.”
Pp. 248-49.
The demand for a conviction in the courts is a modern dodge.
Steeplejack
@geg6:
Point of clarification: The three Confederate traitors were expelled from the House without any court doing anything.
sab
@New Deal democrat: Didn’t Adam Clayton Powell Jr win a case in the Supreme Court when they tried to kick him out of Congress?
OzarkHillbilly
I am there.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
OzarkHillbilly
@UncleEbeneezer: I have had the same issue from time to time.
Leto
@Steeplejack: so are you and @New Deal democrat: stating that Santos’ misdeeds are equivalent to taking up arms against the US, and actively participating in a rebellion? New Deal can keep on harping about how:
which is just wrong, on all accounts. To recap: we’ve expelled 5. 3 for actively supporting the insurgents, the other two for similar shit to Santos. And no, none of the 5 have not stood for and won re-election. Again, that’s just wrong. And for obvious clarifications sake, because we’ll have too many fucking, “WEHLL, AKSHULLY”, we’re talking about the House. And no, we’re not counting any of the previous members who were shamed into resigning. We’re only talking about formal expulsions.
Chris Johnson
They are trying to overthrow the government and instill a theocratic dictatorship by means of a revolutionary coup.
I’m gonna grade them on a god-damned sliding scale. If that means not yeeting them out a window on suspicion of being secretly Carmen Sandiego, maybe it’s because I think there’s something to be gained by sticking super aggressively to due process.
Due process helps US, not them. It’s rule of law, as a living thing and a guiding principle. If their side’s criminality has deteriorated so badly that rule of law is ready to entirely collapse, they have more practice living in that toxic environment than we do! And now they’re seeing the fetid results.
I’m not prepared to help ’em sweep all that under the rug. George Santos, hell: Mike Johnson stinks to high heaven. Jim Jordan is a living nightmare. Matt Gaetz is a target-rich environment. The entire world of the GOP is incompatible with rule of law and they desperately need a ‘both sides’ narrative where it’s true that everyone’s the same and we are just out to get them because we’re so mad at them.
Yeah, I’m mad at them, but I want their swamp drained, not to match it. I want them to be compelled to face justice, not to see them out-wrestled at their own games.
Steeplejack
@Leto:
I am simply pointing out that the Congress has a long history of regulating its members without recourse to the courts. I don’t know if waiting on a conviction is a “modern dodge,” as New Deal democrat said above, but it’s definitely modern.
sab
@sab: I got that wrong. They tried to block seating Powell. S Ct said they had to seat Powell since his voters had elected him. Then maybe they could kick him out by a 2/3 vote but that wasn’t the issue in that case.
lowtechcyclist
@SiubhanDuinne:
I have managed to entirely avoid the Disney version of Winnie-the-Pooh and friends. Disney is just so wrong for them – a total mismatch.
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffro:
I bet my fantasy Amendment wish list is longer than your fantasy Amendment wish list! ;-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
Kos is once again live blogging the NY fraud trial. Don Jr. just finished his testimony, and Eric has taken the stand.
Old Man Shadow
Half of Gaza’s population is children.
So I’m happy 400 people have escaped the Hellish war zone, but it would be nice if someone gave enough of a fuck to let the kids move somewhere with their parents while Israel is turning their homes into piles of rubble and fire.
Suzanne
Yeah, what is a “humanitarian pause”? I mean, it sounds good. What does it entail? How long does it last? Is it just getting foreigners out? What about Gazans? We do not seriously expect them to stay confined in this tiny little walled enclave while it gets bombed, right? Without clean water and fuel and medicine? That cannot possibly be The Plan…. right? Tell me that’s not The Plan.
I mean, it is promising that we are hearing this from Biden publicly. I’m sure it means that, in private, it’s being made clear that we’re not going to keep forking over money and weapons to drop on more refugee camps and watch (more) poor Palestinian children die.
Steeplejack
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Thanks again. The link yesterday was very useful.
piratedan
@Chris Johnson: even though I stray into the “do something” turf from time to time, most of what I want the “do something” to be is to just simply fucking start the process. With Santos the process has been started and if we’re going to draw parallels with what took place with Franken, I agree that we need to let the internal ethics review play out.
Jeffro
@lowtechcyclist: ha!
My list of new requirements for running for/holding federal office is loooong and it’s just one amendment (there are many, many others needed!) But it’s worth it, if it means we never have to listen to future Viveks and Mariannes among other things.
Old Man Shadow
We do.
It’s their punishment for not following Hamas fighters into Israel and throwing themselves between the guns of the terrorists and their victims.
jimmiraybob
File under: Local Affairs and GOP/NRA Gun Worship
Does anybody know if the Sheriff(s) involved in the Lewiston, Maine shooting is of the “Constitutional Sheriff thar ain’t never be no reason to take a gun away from a citizen” variety?
Leto
@Steeplejack: They’ve regulated them with censures and reprimands, which again are basically just slaps on the wrists. They could probably do it here too. That might gain enough support to actually pass. Previous generations of conservatives also had a modicrum of shame and would resign. But expulsion? Again, 5. It’s a rarity.
@Old Man Shadow: heard a figure from an interview with a UN official the other day: 70% of the Gazan casualties so far are women and children. You know, the people who were primarily responsible for the attack.
Matt McIrvin
@Old Man Shadow: This is where the “human shield” rhetorical move comes in, which our administration has already used. Of course in Gaza you can’t not be a human shield, everyone is crammed into the same little place.
Steeplejack
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Uh-oh. Just went to your Trump trial link, and it’s actually a link to an Apple podcast on “The Space God Memoirs.”
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: Exactly why I hate the “human shield” nonsense. It implies some action, like active measures taken to protect, and not just…. an ordinary Gazan living their damn life in a densely populated place.
New Deal democrat
@Leto: I already rebutted this. There were also instances before the Civil War where expulsions failed for reasons of the 2/3rds requirement and partisanship, but in no case was the argument made that the Congress had to wait for the Courts.
Oh, and one of the Congressmen who resigned in 1857 during the pendency of the expulsion resolution was accused of bribery. Nobody suggested the House had to wait on the Courts.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: Republicans were trying to censure Rep. Tlaib yesterday, not expell her. That would have taken only a majority vote, but 20 or Republicans wouldn’t go along. Rep. Greene had a big mad over that.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Steeplejack: Oops! Here’s the trial link.
The other link is to a podcast by a guy I know. It’s pretty good!
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Correct link for Daily Kos coverage of Trump trial.
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I see you beat me to it.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Steeplejack: Thanks. I had just sent the other link to someone who was looking for scifi podcasts. I guess I didn’t copy the Kos one with enough vigor.
Philbert
@H.E.Wolf: The things I learn here. I am an old and I actually have a Chad Mitchell LP, complete with Jim McGinn. I had not heard this before and between this and a new-to-me Henny Youngman dirty joke I heard elsewhere, this is my best day in a good while.
dirge
Nobody is suggesting that now, including Raskin. He says he wants a result from the courts or the House’s own ethics process. You’re arguing with a straw man.
evodevo
@Geminid:
OR…not dumb it down for him with drawings, like his NatSec team had to do when he was in office LOL- 25 pages of dense, single-spaced text at the very least, and no summaries…
Paul in KY
@Ken: As the presidential nominee-inmate kept trying to barter cigarettes for them…
Paul in KY
@Leto: Don’t know why they’ve not done that to that traitor Flynn.
wjca
If, and only if, he doesn’t get to keep a hard copy. Also, doesn’t get to have anyone else in the room with him.
JAFD
@Jeffro: Speaking as someone born in 1950, thus of draft-able age during the Vietnam era:
Making ‘ability to get security clearance’ as a requirement to serve in Congress is equal to ‘giving whoever’s running the CIA a veto over the election of anyone’ – without reason or accountability. Read the history where ‘the civil rights movement’ was labled ‘Communists’, for example, and the cases of Julian Bond and Adam Clayton Powell.
NotMax
@New Deal democrat
The unspoken (unwritten) assumption was they would be men (just men) of good standing in the community.
artem1s
@smith:
I could easily see Red states disqualifying women candidates and elected officials on the grounds that she may or may not have had an abortion or used a contraceptive some pharmacist deemed an abortifact. Look at what’s happening in TX and tell me it’s not possible.
Bill Arnold
@Leto:
His electoral win was election fraud. Specifically, it was resume fraud; in the private sector he would have been bounced out to the street within a week or three.
But since he is approximately 25 percent (?) of the very slim GOP House Majority, he is protected. Because keeping power is vastly more important to the GOP than ethics.
(There’s another GOP House member, Andy Ogles, with similar resume fraud, though not quite so flamboyant. District is Red but not heavily so.)
trnc
Hell, no! It’s customary not to steal classified information, and to only discuss it with people with security clearances. DT can get it if he takes office again and not a second before that.