Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

People are weird.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Petty moves from a petty man.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Come on, man.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Military / Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Tuberville Backs Down (Mostly)

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Tuberville Backs Down (Mostly)

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Happier holidays for a whole lot of military families!

Far as I can tell, ‘Coach Tubbs’ just doesn’t like having women in *his* military (and I doubt he’s got much use for military POCs, either, especially at a level where they’re giving orders to white enlisteds). The anti-abortion blat gave him an excuse for bollixing up military readiness, making trouble for a Democratic administration, and most important of all: Media attention for Tommy Tuberville!

Per the Associated Press:

The Senate in a single stroke Tuesday approved about 425 military promotions after Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama ended a monthlong blockade of nominations over his opposition to a Pentagon abortion policy.

Tuberville had been under pressure from members of both sides of the political aisle to end his holds as senators complained about the toll it was taking on service members and their families, and on military readiness.

“Thank God, these military officers will now get the promotion they so rightfully earned,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The action came hours after Tuberville said Tuesday he’s “not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer.” He said holds would continue, however, for about 11 of the highest-ranking military officers, those who would be promoted to what he described as the four-star level or above.

There were 451 military officers affected by the holds as of Nov. 27. It’s a stance that has left key national security positions unfilled and military families with an uncertain path forward.

Tuberville was blocking the nominations in opposition to Pentagon rules that allow travel reimbursement when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. President Joe Biden’s administration instituted the new rules after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to an abortion, and some states have limited or banned the procedure…

For months, many of the military officers directly impacted by Tuberville’s holds declined to speak out, for fear any comments would be seen as political. But as the pressures on their lives and the lives of the officers serving under them increased, they began to speak about how not being able to resettle their families in new communities was impacting not only them, but their military kids and spouses.

They talked about how some of their most talented junior officers were going to get out of the military because of the instability they saw around them, and they talked about how having to perform multiple roles because of so many vacancies was putting enormous additional stress on an already overworked military community.

The issue came to a head when U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith suffered a heart attack in October, just two days after he’d talked about the stress of the holds at a military conference…

In the end, Schumer said Tuberville ended up failing to get anything that he wanted and held it out as a warning to others who might attempt similar efforts in the future to undo policies they oppose.

“It’s a risky strategy that will not succeed,” Schumer said. “I hope it doesn’t happen again.”

The Democrats, fortunately, are not in a forgiving mood:
Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Tuberville Backs Down (Mostly)

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Reader Interactions

107Comments

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    Is the Senate stuck with the rule that allowed Tuberville to pull this stunt?  Do they have to wait for a fresh Senate term, or can they amend the rule(s) in the meantime?

    I am wondering if Tuberville just made himself a one-term Senator.  Which would release him to return to his home.  In Florida.

    I wish we, the people allegedly being represented, could do something about these whack congressional rules.

  4. 4.

    Trivia Man

    The 4 stars are the ones TFIG needs to have open to implement his plans. But there are few enough they can be done one at a time.

  7. 7.

    CaseyL

    The GOP waited 10 months to push back: Fuck ’em all.

    Between their no-abortions-at-all policies and their guns-guns-guns-everywhere policies, the GOP  believes only fetuses have a right to life.  (Well, fetuses… and the very rich who can afford the kind of security that keeps them safe from randomized shootings.)  Once you’re out of the womb, you’ve got no rights at all.  And that’s how the GOP likes it.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    Regarding Tuberville’s “pretty much a draw”, I’m curious what he thinks “they” wanted and didn’t get. Blanket approval of all the outstanding promotions, perhaps?

  11. 11.

    wjca

    those who would be promoted to what he described as the four-star level or above.

    “or above”

    Wow, it’s only been half a century since anybody was promoted above 4 star rank.  In fact, the rank was formally retired (in the 1980s IIRC).  But doubtless the junior senator from Alabama Florida would be ignorant of that fact.  As he is of so many others.

  12. 12.

    dmsilev

    @Ken: It’s the same sort of “let’s call it a draw” as the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

  13. 13.

    hells littlest angel

    The Senate in a single stroke Tuesday approved about 425 military promotions after Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama ended a monthlong blockade of nominations over his opposition to a Pentagon abortion policy.

     

    Yeah, the month of Marchember.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    Bravo. I wondered if they would follow thru:

    “Today, the State Department is implementing a new visa restriction policy targeting individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities,” Blinken said.
    President Joe Biden and other senior US officials have warned repeatedly that Israel must act to stop violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has increased since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
    “We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank,” Blinken said.
    Blinken did not announce individual visa bans, but department spokesman Matthew Miller said the bans would be implemented starting Tuesday and would cover “dozens” of settlers and their families, with more to come. He did not give a number and didn’t identify any of those targeted due to confidentiality reasons.

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    @hells littlest angel: At least at the link, it’s fixed:

    The Senate in a single stroke Tuesday approved about 425 military promotions after Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama ended a monthslong blockade of nominations over his opposition to a Pentagon abortion policy.

    “monthslong” is, according to at least some dictionaries, an actual word, though my browser’s spellchecker doesn’t like it.

  18. 18.

    dr. bloor

    It was pretty much a draw.  They didn’t get what they wanted, and we didn’t get what we wanted.

    Fortunately for Coach, he has ample experience spinning humiliating losses.

  19. 19.

    RSA

    Why do Alabama Republicans hate the U.S. military?

    …is a question I hope gets raised at every possible opportunity.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    a monthlong blockade

    WTF, AP!?  It was many months. Many, many, MANY months.

    A monthslong blockade.

  23. 23.

    Feckless

    It’s not senator tuberville it’s traitor tuberville it’s not coach tuberville it’s traitor tuberville.

    He’s a traitor.

    It’s important that you always call him what he is and nothing else.

  24. 24.

    PAM Dirac

    @dmsilev:

    It’s the same sort of “let’s call it a draw” as the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

    I’m invincible!

    You’re a looney.
    Monty Python still comes in handy.

  25. 25.

    RaflW

    @RSA: Given the ten friggin months it took his GOP colleagues to get him unstuck, I’d say the whole Senate GOP hates our military and doesn’t care about national defense.

    All of them, every single one has been a disgrace since March.

  26. 26.

    DrDaveChemist

    @WaterGirl: He’s one of our two great senators from tiny RI. Sheldon Whitehouse has added SC ethics to his consistent climate advocacy and Reed carries a lot of cred on military matters as a West Point grad. As a friend likes to say, our guys aren’t just on the bus, they’re helping to drive it!

  27. 27.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I just finished reading a book from 2005 and man, it’s so weird to read stuff that is both pre-Obama and Trump.  The book even talked about how big-time rappers would have to “Out-Trump Trump” in order to be the most outlandish, megastars of the game, in the future.

  28. 28.

    Dan B

    @RaflW: I disagree.  The Senate GOP has been doing an admirable job.

     

    Putin will be giving them medals and certificates for dachas.  Admirable!

  30. 30.

    Martin

    Eh. Tuberville blocking 4 stars is still a loss for him. Having to approve these promotions through regular order isn’t a big deal – there are so few of them. It was the large number of lower ranks that was really fucking things up that needed unanimous consent.

  33. 33.

    Paul in KY

    Glad Sen Tubesteak (GQP – Florida) felt enough heat to slink out & slime off to his abode of stupidity. Glad for all the troops getting their promotions approved!

  34. 34.

    Old School

    He said holds would continue, however, for about 11 of the highest-ranking military officers, those who would be promoted to what he described as the four-star level or above.

    About 11?  Do they not stay still long enough to count?

  35. 35.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: A friend of mine in high school briefly got preoccupied with Donald Trump as kind of a camp icon of extreme wealth way back in the 1980s. Just thought it was kind of cool that this guy was so rich and ostentatious. It was the first I had heard of him. But I think his very very public divorce from Ivana inflated his public profile tremendously.

  40. 40.

    Gvg

    @Matt McIrvin: his several rather stupid bankruptcies spread his reputation among people a lot. And before that he and his wife were so…shockingly in bad taste. Like a bad evangelical TV preacher from Las Vegas. I watched the news stories and gagged.

  41. 41.

    JoyceH

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
     

    A friend of mine in high school briefly got preoccupied with Donald Trump as kind of a camp icon of extreme wealth way back in the 1980s. Just thought it was kind of cool that this guy was so rich and ostentatious. It was the first I had heard of him.

    My first encounter with Trump was years ago when I was channel surfing for something to watch, came across Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Trump’s Taj Majal was about to open in Atlantic City, and he was giving a tour of the place, gushing about the QUALITY of it all. I still remember sitting there slack-jawed, wondering, ‘can he really not see how gaudy and tacky it all is?’

  42. 42.

    CaseyL

    O/T (from Steve Herman on Mastodon)

    700+ Washington Post employees plan to walk off the job on Dec. 7 for a 24-hour strike amid contract negotiations with management and layoffs.

    Try not to access, use, refer to, or visit WaPo at all on the 7th (Thursday). Honor the striking workers.

  44. 44.

    RevRick

     

     

    @Mike in NC: That’s an understatement. But besides the damage he’s done to our military, he also is example #1089 of why women should never trust a single word the GOP on matters of their reproductive rights. He puts lie any attempt to be moderate about abortion. The foaming at the mouth fanatics will never be satisfied until abortion is banned absolutely, everywhere. There is NO reasonable GOP position, because as soon as they have the votes they will enact a total ban.

  47. 47.

    Jackie

    Other good news:

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the special election to fill expelled Rep. George Santos’ House seat will be Feb. 13, CNBC reports.

    Until then, House Republicans will be down a vote, leaving them with an even narrower majority in the chamber than usual.

    Hochul isn’t wasting any time; hopefully we’ll have a new DEMOCRATIC Rep soon!

  48. 48.

    RevRick

    @JoyceH: Growing up in the NYC metro area, we were constantly aware of Trump’s sleaziness from the moment he first appeared. His mug was plastered over the tabloids and often showed up in local news broadcasts. Needless to say voters in NY, CT and NJ have said a loud no to him .

  49. 49.

    Anyway

    Can’t believe that a dumbass football coach who’s been in the senate for five minutes was able to hold up so many appointments and there was nothing that could be done. What an overvalued institution.

  50. 50.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JoyceH: Spy Magazine was a great source of Trump mockery in the ’80s.  It’s where “short-fingered vulgarian” originated.

  51. 51.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: Evidently the special election process will be streamlined,and instead of primaries, the parties’ district committees will select their candidates

    Ed. Former 3rd CD Rep. Tom Suozzi is the likely Democratic nominee.

  53. 53.

    RevRick

     

    @Anyway: The Senate rules allow for routine actions to be passed by unanimous consent. But if there’s an objection, it requires a filibuster proof majority to override it. Ordinarily, if it’s one item, after a several days process, a vote can be taken to deal with it. But in this case, it involved hundreds, which would literally consume every hour the Senate has to conduct all it’s business.

  57. 57.

    Hoodie

    @Mike in NC: He’s always been an asshole.  Just ask former players at Texas Tech and Mississippi.   He’s a self-serving, self-dealing piece of shit, irrespective of whether he’s MAGA or not.

  58. 58.

    Splitting Image

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    @Omnes Omnibus: I read a lot of Doonsburry in the late 80s (I was a weird kid), and TFG was a regular “character”.

    And in Bloom County. I still say that the only thing Berkeley Breathed got wrong was that Bill the Cat sold secrets to the Russians before Donald Trump’s brain got put in his body.

  59. 59.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Feckless:

    It’s not senator tuberville it’s traitor tuberville it’s not coach tuberville it’s traitor tuberville.

    He’s a traitor.

    It’s important that you always call him what he is and nothing else.

    For some time now I’ve been calling his wuthless ass Dummy GooberVile (Shithead-AL). Does that work for you?

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: It will be appealed through to the WI supreme court.  The Dane County Court of Appeals won’t overturn and neither will the supremes.  This suit was just waiting to be filed the moment the court flipped.

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    A catchy bumper sticker slogan/#hashtag that captures how GOP pols fuck up normal governance and make us all less safe would be great right about now.

  65. 65.

    Jackie

    Official Statement from President Biden:

    After 10 months of undermining military readiness and the morale of our troops, Senator Tuberville of Alabama has finally lifted his politically motivated hold on hundreds of military nominations. 425 highly-qualified, patriotic military leaders have now been confirmed by the Senate to perform their duties as they fulfill their sacred oath to keep our country safe. These confirmations are long overdue, and should never have been held up in the first place. Our service members are the backbone of our country and deserve to receive the pay and promotions they have earned. In the end, this was all pointless. Senator Tuberville, and the Republicans who stood with him, needlessly hurt hundreds of servicemembers and military families and threatened our national security – all to push a partisan agenda. I hope no one forgets what he did.

    Those who serve this nation deserve better. Thankfully, military leaders will finally be able to take their next post. Military families who for months have been in limbo will finally be able to make plans to move, start new jobs, and enter new schools. Our servicemembers and military families put everything on the line for our country. I thank the Senate for quickly confirming these appointments and urge them to confirm the remaining appointees swiftly.

    whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/12/05/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-li…

  66. 66.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: There was a 1994 decision that the statute only applied to fetucide, i.e., an assault on a pregnant woman that killed a fetus.  This decision build off that precedent.  It essentially says that the choosing an abortion isn’t covered by the law at all.  This would leave in place state laws that permit abortion up to 20 weeks.

  67. 67.

    Splitting Image

    @WaterGirl:

    @Omnes Omnibus: That’s great news!  That must have been one weird law.  So there were non-consensual abortions back them?

    It’s kind of bad framing. Basically the point of law was to affirm that if you kill a pregnant woman, it’s two counts of murder rather than one. One section adds that if you kill a fetus after the quickening it’s also murder, unless you did it to save the mother’s life.

    Medicine in 1849 was a lot iffier than medicine in 2023, so that section was put in to pointedly include doctors who gave women medicine that would harm or kill the fetus. Alcohol or morphine, for example.

    I found a pdf discussing the law here. This is from the wisconsin.gov site.

  68. 68.

    brantl

    “The american people didn’t get a voice….” Yes, they did, TuberHead, and pretty largely, they said, “Hey TuberHead, sit down and shut the fuck up!”, and, pretty loudly, I might add.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    This would leave in place state laws that permit abortion up to 20 weeks

     

    If there were already more recent laws that allows abortion, why didn’t those automatically govern?

  73. 73.

    brantl

    @Splitting Image: I would pay money (good money) for a Bill the Cat T-shirt with Stumpy’s hair style. He’s already orange, hell; how much closer could you get? And the diaper looks just like Stumpy’s belly.

  75. 75.

    Old School

    @Baud:

    If there were already more recent laws that allows abortion, why didn’t those automatically govern?

    The laws prohibited abortion after 20 weeks rather than allowing it prior to that.

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: I think they should; it’s the position I would have taken.  I guess the opposing argument is that those other decisions were specifically enacted to comply with Roe and therefore were rendered moot by Roe being overturned. Also, until August, we didn’t have a supreme court that was going to rule my way.  I think the law suit was crafted cover all bases.

    ETA: It looks like Old School has a handle on it.

  78. 78.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Why can’t the Dems in Senate abolish the Senatorial hold rule? It is only there to be abused.

  80. 80.

    Ken

    @Baud: You may recall Justice Alito’s fondness for invoking 13th-century ecclesiastical law to overturn 20th century civil laws and precedents.

  83. 83.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Omnes Omnibus: Of course. Quite a few Dem Senators, who tend to use Sinemanchin as their fronts on such matters, care more about preserving their own parochial power than improving the quality of American democratic governance.

  84. 84.

    catclub

    @Martin: there are so few of them. It was the large number of lower ranks that was really fucking things up that needed unanimous consent.

     

    I think they should have changed the rules so that unanimous consent means less than ten opposed.

  85. 85.

    Anotherlurker

    @JoyceH: I go a little further regarding the media. I personally hold the late Robin Leach, host of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”  responsible for the worship of the rich .  He tongue bathed the anus of every rich asshole that he could find.

  86. 86.

    waspuppet

    Trump told him he only cared about keeping the four-star jobs open for “when” he returns.

    I didn’t buy the conspiracy theory when Tuberville started this. After this long, I believe it now.

  89. 89.

    Tony G

    @CaseyL: Actually, they don’t give a fuck about fetuses either.  Amazingly, I have not heard of any “pro-life” senators or representatives proposing universal pre-natal care, paid for by taxes on the rich.  The anti-abortion rulings and legislation is just a way to punish women (and thereby gain support from the Evangelical fascist voters).  Punishing women is all that it ever has been.

  91. 91.

    smith

    Has anyone yet mentioned the filing made by Jack Smith today that, among other things, says they have evidence that TFG’s co-conspirators tried to start a riot in Detroit to stop the vote count in Nov 2020? This was a well-developed playbook, apparently. I wonder if the fact that they couldn’t make it happen then inspired them to approach the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to make sure it did on Jan 6.

  92. 92.

    Martin

    @YY_Sima Qian: That’s how this got resolved. Schumer threatened to just ignore the rule and Tuberville dropped the holds.

    Cue all the people who called me a monster for asserting that Democrats should ignore rules that Republicans refuse to give mutual consent for.

    Here you go, Schumer did the thing, and it worked. What a monster.

    See also Dick Durbin last week, who did the same thing and got cheered by everyone. Also a monster.

  94. 94.

    Ramona

    @CaseyL: And I am entirely sure that this delayed pushback to Tuberville’s country-jeopardizing sabotage from the GOP Senators is NOT based on principle but on weaselly election strategy concerns. We progressives have been begging the Dem party to boldly and repeatedly shout out our more than legitimate criticism of the GOP to the press for decades and they have finally started to and look at how successful it is at making these GOP bullies back down. It is sad that it had to take the insurrection inciting Trump for Dems to surrender at least this small amount of their nice guy behavior with the Republicans.

  95. 95.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Ben Cisco: Shit is an inevitable by-product of life and can be put to use. Honestly, it’s a compliment your senator does not deserve to call him a turd.

  96. 96.

    Scout211

    Posted tonight on CNN

    A pregnant Texas woman who says her unborn baby has a genetic condition and carrying the child to term could threaten her life filed suit against the state Tuesday, asking a court to declare she has the right to terminate the pregnancy.

    Kate Cox said the state’s current abortion ban puts her husband and her gynecologist at legal risk if she has an abortion in Texas.

    The lawsuit is believed to be one of the first attempts in the country by an individual seeking a court-ordered abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, according to the New York Times.

    . . .

    The lawsuit says Cox’s baby was diagnosed with trisomy 18 and is not expected to live more than a few days outside the womb. “Ms. Cox’s physicians have informed her that their ‘hands are tied’ and she will have to wait until her baby dies inside her or carry the pregnancy to term, at which point she will be forced to have a third C-section, only to watch her baby suffer until death,” the lawsuit states.

    Trisomy 18, sometimes called Edwards syndrome, is a chromosomal condition that can cause heart defects and other organ abnormalities. In about half of cases, the fetus dies before birth. Many children who are born with it die within a few days, and more than 90% die within a year.

    . . .

    Cox is asking the judge to issue a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction preventing the state from enforcing its abortion ban against her, her husband and her doctor.

  100. 100.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Martin: There is a big difference between being willing to toss aside a minor rule and being willing to engage in tit-for-tat on ignoring basic principle of fairness and democracy.  One you can bring back if it is worth it, the other is very hard to bring back.  YMMV.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    Cosnsidering the source would normally include a big caveat but this seems on the whole straightforward.

    Kyrsten Sinema accused in ethics complaint of ‘ongoing failure’ to report finances Source

  102. 102.

    Fake Irishman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Also the Dems were moving a rule change to apply to military promotions. It would have needed nine GOPers, and perhaps one reason why Tuberville caved was because there were nine who told him they would vote for it. Over the last three months, multiple Republican senators haven’t just been applying behind-the- scenes pressure to Tuberville: they’ve been blasting him loudly on the floor in all-night sessions and making him object to unanimous consent requests.

  103. 103.

    Fake Irishman

    @Fake Irishman:

    Dems move through the process to change rules within the structure of rules. Remember when McConnell got too greedy and blocked all Obama’s nominees to the DC Circuit in 2013? Harry Reid — who had been roundly denounced as a squishy weakling — spent months working his caucus, working with reformers to hammer out a rule change that blew up the filibuster for district and appellate judges.  The result was the dems confirmed 90 judges in 2014 — and flipped the DC Circuit, the second most important court in the country, which they still have more appointees on today.

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    @Fake Irishman

    The vote in the Senate Rules committee was a powerful signal.

    In November, the Rules Committee voted 9-7 to advance a resolution to break through Senator Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions on the Senate floor. The resolution, led by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI), would establish a standing order for the remainder of the 118th Congress to provide for the en bloc consideration of military promotions – with the exception of nominees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commanders of a combatant command – that have been favorably reported by the Senate Armed Services Committee. Source

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    Let the schisms commence.

    A local chapter of the far-right Moms for Liberty has taken a step back from its national entity amid a swirling rape allegation against the husband of one of the group’s co-founders.

    The Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, chapter announced Monday that it will distance itself from its parent organization, citing a difference in values. Source

  106. 106.

    Geminid

    @Martin: I thought Senator Klobucher and the Rules Committee passed a new Rule that would have allowed a vote on multiple nominations at once. Passing a new Rule to get around an old Rule is not ignoring that Rule, you Monster!

  107. 107.

    RAM

    Can’t help but wonder if any media types are investigating to see how much Russian cash is being funneled to Tuberville via cutouts. Tommy obviously figures Putin owes him big-time for screwing over U.S. military readiness.

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