GOP House Members Assault Democracy: Meet the Insurrectionist Protection Committee

When Republicans narrowly took over the House it was a guaranteed shitshow.

The public now has a front row seat to all the upcoming attempts to dismantle our government by MAGA minions who put McCarthy in their pockets.

With ultra MAGA minion Jim Jordan chairing the Judiciary Committee it was no secret he was not only going to protect Trump in any way possible, but that he would be sending heat-seeking missiles at the Democrats and established rules of law.

As Jordan puts together a subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government their mission will be to attack President Biden, the FBI, Merrick Garland, and the Department of Justice.

The opening salvo is putting insurrectionists like Scott Perry on the committee to oversee their own criminal cases being investigated by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

To no one's surprise Jordan is also protecting his ass because the Jan.6 committee was investigating him.

The House resolution authorized the 13-members to allow Jordan to subpoena the Justice Department about its inquiries into Trump's fail coup attempt and handling of classified documents.

If this doomsday committee is granted access to records normally restricted to Congressional intelligence committees, the GOP-majority panel could potentially have the authority to investigate the Justice Department, even as the department investigates lawmakers' actions concerning Jan. 6 insurrection.

That will never happen. They might as well pound sand. Despite MAGA fever dreams to the contrary the MAGA rats are going to be up against reality.

That reality is they'll lose every court challenge to the FBI and DOJ because their dealing in facts and evidence and the Insurrection Protection Committee is pushing lies and conspiracy theories.

The DOJ has spent decades resisting similar attacks. In 2000, the department issued a response to congressional inquiries, known as the "Linder Letter" that outlined its staunch position against sharing information related to criminal matters.

After four years of Trump and his administration seeking to cripple the Justice Department the die was cast. The feds aren't going to fold. They didn't when the GOP had both the House and Senate and they won't now.

The political flotsam that surfaces during the upcoming court battles will undoubtable dismay mainstream America. 

As it stands, watching traitors trying to destroy our Justice system in the next two years is going to be very difficult. 

McCarthy Pleases Right-Wingers by Passing a Bill to Defund the IRS - Too Bad It's Not Going Anywhere

What a sad picture.

A gaggle of House Republicans hugging each other after passing a bill to defund the IRS.

McCarthy and cadre of election deniers were seen gloating after their imaginary victory.

Back in the real world.

There's no way in hell the Democratic majority in the Senate will approve McCarthy's move to please his base. The White House quickly announced that Biden would veto it if it came to his desk.

McCarthy knew that but agreed to push it through the House along with a list of other MAGA fantasies he granted to get the speaker of the House seat. 

No doubt some of the mega GOP donors demanded he pass the IRS defunding legislation allowing them to continue to cheat Americans by not paying their share of taxes.

The most disgusting part of McCarthy passing the bill is that it's based upon lies and MAGA conspiracies.

Republicans falsely claimed that the 87,000 new IRS employees who would be added over the next decade, would be agents. 

A blatant lie.

The fact of the matter is the funding for the IRS came out after last year's Inflation Reduction Act that included tax reforms, health care and climate issues.

Furthermore, only a small portion of the money for the 87,000 IRS employees would go to agents.

The rest accounts for other workers such as customer service representatives and computer scientists as well as replacements for the 52,000 employees expected to retire or resign with the next six years.

It all comes down to this, we have proof that House Republicans are there to serve Trump and not their constituents.

The new order in the House is a minority that can shake the majorities will off with relative ease. So far.

To lather on some irony the bill is terrible for middle-class families and small businesses despite what the GOP called it, the "Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act"

As it stands, the day is going to come when the majority of Republican House members get tired of not seeing any legislation get passed into law because they've been passengers on the Clown Train Caucus. 

Hints of Spring This Winter: Trump Indictment(s) Thawing Out Soon

There's something in the air this winter that hints at spring. Renewal. A clean start. A renewed sense of hope. 

Justice is blooming in the record high winds buffeting the country from coast to coast. Can you smell it? It's accountability.

Powerful political high winds are increasing for Trump and cronies as Georga state officials move forward towards filing criminal charges.

The special grand jury that was appointed to investigate charges released a full report to Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis today. 

What does that mean?

A big step towards Trump being criminally indicted.

It contains a summary and recommendations of indictments for those involved in trying to overturn Georgia's voters will.

Willis then must present evidence to another, regular grand jury that has the authority to indict.  

Meanwhile.

Mark Jan. 24th down on your political calendar.

That's the day a judge will hold a hearing to allow relevant parties - including the Fulton County Attorney's office that advised the jury, news outlets, and those investigated - to present their case as to whether or not the grand jury's report should be made publicly available.

One way or the other it sounds like the report will eventually be made available to the public even if it has retractions.

Another point to be aware of. If the judge chooses to keep the report private until the case is closed, the public won't know the results for months, or even years.

Meanwhile.

Stormy weather ahead after today's announcement that a lawsuit filed by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll against the former president is going to get real embarrassing,

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump failed to reply with his testimony, as required, to explain why the 34-page excerpt should not be released to the public.

Carroll has accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. With the passage of a New York law last November victims are now able to sue over sexual abuse dating back decades.

As usual Trump's lawyer Alina Habba played the dummy and claimed she didn't know there was a time period to turn in his deposition. It's uncertain what the judge will rule and when.

As it stands, I can almost smell accountability on every breeze. It's a refreshing scent this winter day.

GOP Right-Wingers Burn House Down: Now Who's Going to Rebuild It?

The House Chamber still smells like smoke after 21 of its craziest members set it on fire last week challenging the majorities pick McCarthy for Speaker of the House.

In an attempt to rebuild the ruins, the majority of Republicans don't want to see the House torn down from within every time they start to make legislative progress.

The first big challenge is getting the new House rules certified today. When McCarthy caved into the crazy of the craziest, he agreed to add some House rules that don't necessarily coincide with the majority's wishes.

There may be unexpected resistance to some of the more wacko rules proposed. Keep your eyes on the moderate Republicans during the voting process. 

I suspect there will also be multi-pushbacks from the crazies' fever dream rules of the road if they hit a roadblock... or two. Or three, and on and on. 

Beyond that initial governing challenge, the pathway is perilous with potholes for the next two years. Americans need to buckle up because there's a treacherous highway ahead.

As for rebuilding and rebranding the House, I don't see the next two years of chaos being popular with the majority of Americans when no meaningful legislation gets passed and every day brings a new embarrassment.

Instead, Americans will have a front row seat to a Congressional clown show 

until the 2024 elections when they're ran out of the House like arsonists.  

As it stands, watching this new era for the House is a lot like watching the inmates take over an asylum.

New House Playing Political Poker: Jokers are Wild

The high stakes game starts Monday.

New House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is going to have to show a poker face when dealing with the jokers in his recently formed and fragile house of cards.

The first hand for the new speaker is passing new rules for the now MAGA infested House on Monday. 

After the drama of getting elected after 15 attempts McCarthy can reasonably assume the jokers in the deck aren't going to play nice on Monday.

Jokers like Chip Roy of Texas are going to want to play "Texas Hold 'Em" where blinds (forced bets) are set up and the first person to play is said to be under the gun. 

In reality McCarthy is playing with one hand tied behind his back. He promised some of the biggest jokers that they would get to chair committees. That's a recipe for a ridiculous waste of time and taxpayer dollars.

The concessions McCarthy threw into the pot to get to continue playing speaker of the house were longtime MAGA fever dreams. Non-MAGARats in the GOP majority recognize that nightmarish scenarios lie ahead in the next two years. 

Plans like investigating the so-called weaponization of the federal government and the power to reduce the salary of government officials are going to be up for a vote Monday.

Here's what we know. 

The Republican Party is one hot steaming pile of shit. After a week of trying to pick their own leader (what is normally an easy game to play) they're preparing to bring the swamp to the House on Monday.

As Speaker of the House McCarthy is not the new sheriff in town. He's a temporary dealer subject to the whims of crazy political poker players who could take him down in a heartbeat.

As it stands, knowing when to draw or to fold will be crucial to McCarthy's political life in Congress.

McCarthy Elected Speaker of the House in the Dead of Night

Just after the witching hour of midnight struck, Kevin McCarthy was finally elected to the House speakership on Saturday morning.

Not exactly a prime time to gloat over his hard-fought battles with Americans sleeping through the swearing-in ceremonies.  

It took 15 pathetic attempts and a lot of groveling (something he excels at) to finally get his rag tag party to agree that he should be their fearless leader.

It was getting ugly by the 14th attempt and a couple of Republicans had to be separated like two bad boys in a reform school. 

That humiliation may have moved the needle embarrassing them enough to come together in a devil's pact for the remainder of McCarthy's soul.

I suspect he won't last long with the new rules neutering the speaker's power and making him vulnerable to an in-house coup the moment one of the crazies feel neglected. 

But one never knows how low he will go to cling to the puppet speakership. 

As it stands, the 118th Congress will be remembered for a lot of reasons. None of them good ones.

House Almost Opens its Doors for Business but MAGA Maroons Block It

After losing his bid for the House speakership 12 times McCarthy sensed blood in the waters after a group of resisters flipped after an overnight epiphany - well, bribe - and voted for him today.

(Illustrations via The New Yorker)

One can only speculate what he promised those former "Never Kevins/MAGA Morons" but it had to be something significant like human sacrifice involving Democratic lawmakers.

It didn't matter. McCarthy lost his 13th bid for the speakership anyway. The problem is not all of the "Never Kevins/MAGA Morons" took his bait. 

The six holdouts are having a great time obstructing one-third of the government. 

They came to the House to set it on fire. 

Not to work with the majority in their party who won the House.

In an attempt to flip the stubborn six, the Republican majority voted to adjourn.

Apparently, they plan on coming back this evening to take up a vote... again. And again. It's probably going to be a long night.

Don't place any bets that a speaker will emerge from the dark after an all-nighter.

After all we're looking at a bat-shit crazy caucus whose mission is to dismantle democracy.

One thing is becoming increasingly obvious. If, and when, McCarthy becomes Speaker of the House of Representatives, he's going to be one of the weakest speakers in the House's history.

We'll see just how craven McCarthy's been in the next two years as an extremist agenda goes on a Revenge Tour with frivolous investigations.

I suspect McCarthy won't last for long with the new rules neutering the speaker's power and making him vulnerable to an in-house coup the moment he pisses off one of the crazies. But one never knows how low he will go to cling to the puppet speakership.

I watched a split screen today that truly tells the story of America. 

One half showed President Biden giving out medals of honor to the heroes of the 2021 insurrection who protected our democracy.

The other half showed the lawmakers who promoted the coup arguing about who's going to be the next House speaker while shuttering all functions of the House while they have their tantrums.

As it stands, it's been 200 years since we had a more dysfunctional incoming House leadership. This is ridiculous.

The House is on a Hamster Wheel Going Nowhere: And That's Supposed to be Good for Democracy?

When my wife and I got married in 1974 we chose a hamster for a pet because they're low maintenance, and we were on the move a lot.

His name was Zig Zag and we only had him a few weeks before he ran himself to death! At least that's what we think happened.

For some reason he wouldn't get off his hamster wheel one day and ran in it around the clock for several days before collapsing.

When I look at the current situation in the House of Representatives, I think about Zig Zag and his wheel of death. 

House Republicans are making a mockery of governing with their display of confusion about who they want to lead them. It's been one hundred years since the Republican Party had this much of a problem selecting a leader.

They took nine votes before settling on a new speaker. So far this session there's been 11 futile attempts with no end in sight.

It really cracks me up when they say that chaos is good for the country. We're supposed to be satisfied with their claims that their dysfunctional attempt to agree on something is what democracy is all about.

"It's supposed to be messy," more than one MAGA Republican claimed. No. Romper Room at the schoolhouse is messy. Adults should work things out in a reasonable way.

That's not what's happening. If anything, the dialogue between MAGA holdouts and moderates is getting nastier by the day.

Understand. With no functioning House bad things are going to happen in the near future. The world is already bemused by our inability to even pick a leader in a winning party.

No legislation can be passed. It cripples a third of our government. It also hurts our national security. That's just not cool.

Idealogues would rather argue about getting their way than actually taking action and moving the country and party forward. That stalemate gets more serious with each passing day.

There's something else that concerns me about what's unfolding in the House. It's looking like a MAGA minority (10 percent) is going to be calling the shots for the next two years. 

It appears that the other 90 percent of Republicans are just going to have to go along with what the crazies want.

As it stands, if the GOP can't pull their head out of their asses that interparty schism assures there will be more chaos for the country and no meaningful legislation passed in the House before 2024.

New GOP Majority Needs an Adult to Make an Intervention

Take a long look at the 118th Congress under a Republican majority.

They can't even decide who they want to lead them! 

The result is we have a dormant House that can't legislate anything. The members aren't even officially sworn in.

For the second day in a row Republicans couldn't decide who they want for the Speaker of the House after McCarthy lost his opening bid in the first three rounds of voting yesterday. 

He was so sure he was going to be elected McCarthy had his stuff moved into the Speakers Office. A bit prematurely it now appears.

To rub more salt into McCarthy's wound it was the first time in 100 years congress was so dysfunctional the majority party couldn't decide who they wanted for a leader in the first round of voting. 

After three voting attempts the meeting was finally adjourned.

Today's Voting Results

Hakeem Jeffries had the most votes in the 4th round with 212.

McCarthy could only muster up 202 votes.

A newcomer Byron Donalds got 20 votes.

The 5th round wasn't any different. Jeffries once again got the most votes with the same count as round 4.

Apparently, they weren't embarrassed enough by the results as they tried voting for the sixth time... hoping for a change. The very definition of stupid. 

Predictably it failed and no Speaker of the House emerged. After that they gave up and adjourned the meeting. Again.

Republicans are going to pay a price in the 2024 Presidential election. The American public is watching this drama play out as the GOP self-destructed the moment they came into power.

Americans expect the House of Representatives to be a fully functional government institution.  

As it stands, I wonder if Republicans are tired of winning if this is what it's going to look like!

New GOP House Member is the Party's 2023 Poster Boy

He lied to his constituents in order to get elected to the US House of Representatives.

It worked and he's expected to be sworn in by the new Speaker of the House despite being caught lying right after the election was over.

His name is George Santos and he's the new Poster Boy for right-wing lawmakers. And why not? He represents everything in the Trump wing of the party.

Lie. Defy. Lie again if caught. And again, regardless of facts and reality as long as you pledge fealty to his Rumpness Trump.

I'm cynically amused at the deafening silence coming from Republican Party lawmakers over Santos's corruption. 

Sure, there's a few mumblings out there about accountability but for the most part the GOP would take a mass-murderer into their club if he was elected by Trump's crazed base.

Especially right now with the house speakership struggle coming to a head. McCarthy needs every vote - regardless of how crooked the new arrival.

This automatically promotes Santos to the GOP Poster Boy of the Month for lying and getting away with it. The fact that he was a graduate of Trump University (certificate above) really helped. He majored in lying and cheating.

Twisting facts into political pretzels is brought up in the first chapter of Trump's underground book - The Art of the Steal - which is required MAGA reading (I should say required viewing of videos as most can't read).

Today, the clown show in the House will commence as Republicans attempt to select a speaker. If Kevin McCarthy can't get 218 votes there will have to be another round of voting. And the recounts go on until they figure it out.

The last time that happened in the House was 100 years ago.

Meanwhile Santos is actually enjoying the limelight and not worrying about any kind justice catching up to him anytime soon. 

As it stands, the 118th Session of Congress isn't going exactly the way Republicans thought it would with such a shaky start. No surprise, however.

Oregon is the First State in the Nation to Legally Offer Magic Mushrooms to Veterans

What a way to start a new year.

Oregon's veterans are being offered a new way to combat the negative effects of PTSD by taking Magic Mushrooms. 

With the passage of Measure 109 Oregonians got the green light to use the psychedelic for treatment programs for veterans. 

Who ever thought that psilocybin would be legalized someday?

The state is processing licenses this month, and organizations that connect veterans to psychedelics have high hopes.

The ultimate plan is for the Beaver State to be home to future psilocybin retreats, where new cohorts of veteran facilitators can be trained.

This form of treatment has seen numerous studies indicating psilocybin is effective in treating symptoms of depression, addiction, and PTSD.

Despite the positive news coming from these studies the Food and Drug Administration still classifies psilocybin as a Schedule 1 Drug - on no known medical value.

As of this year Oregon will legally pioneer this new approach for healing in the nation. I should point out that Colorado will have a similar program that's scheduled to roll out in 2024.

In addition, cities like San Francisco and Washington DC have passed ballot measures to decriminalize the drug. No roll out dates are available at this time.

As it stands, as a Vietnam veteran with service-connected PTSD, I welcome any program that will help veterans cope with their PTSD.