pork

“They Don’t Give A Damn About The Rest Of The Unit” – That’s Us


Regular reader Diana Dobrovolny Hefter put together a piece of clarity you must see. She was motivated to speak out due to congressional insanity designed to kill your rights and your freedom. She had help making her point from Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL-6) to communicate what the sneaky, Republican National Defense Authorization Act really is.
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Read Diana’s guest essay for the full story.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which funds the annual budget and appropriations of the Department of Defense, regularly passes Congress on a bipartisan basis. Since 1961 it has been considered must-pass legislation, as it provides the funding for our national security. For all that there is grumbling on both sides over one thing or another in the measure, it is generally kept outside partisanship.
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On July 14 House Republicans did what they criticize: they added pork and demands unrelated to a defense budget. They added their entire agenda: no books; no abortion; no training; no LGBTQ+ rights; etc. Every point DeSantis defends has been added in. Every Republican voted for it – vote totals: 219-210.
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That has never before been done to the Military Budget.
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The Right can NEVER again criticize any add-on to bills, pork or otherwise. This issue is a hostage maneuver and they took it. Time will tell if it lives through the Senate and then next steps. But they have been clear – they’ll do whatever it takes.
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Representative Sean Casten (D-IL) summed up the vote on Twitter.

“The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the bill that funds all of our military operations. It is typically bipartisan and is about as serious as Congress gets. What weapons of war we fund, which allies we share them with, how we recruit. National security is a BFD.

“We can have our political debates about any number of issues but it is generally understood that when Americans are willing to sacrifice their lives to defend us, it’s time to check the crazies at the door. But today, the crazies won.

“They won first because [McCarthy] put the crazies in positions of power. But second because none of the “moderate” Republicans had the courage to stay the hell out of KrazyTown .  .  .

“Is every member of the [House Republican Conference] a homophobic, racist, science denying lunatic? No. But the lesson of today is that the ones who aren’t are massive cowards completely unfit for any position of leadership.

“There is space—and demand—for reasonable differences of opinion in our democracy. This isn’t about whether we agree. It’s about whether we can trust that—differences aside—we trust that we’ve got each other’s back if we ever find ourselves in a foxhole together.

“That’s usually a metaphor, conflating the horrors of war with the much lower-stakes lives that most of us are fortunate enough to lead. But today, the entire [House Republican Conference] told us—both literally and metaphorically—that they don’t give a damn about the rest of the unit. [emphasis mine]

Be clear that “the rest of the unit” is you and me and all of we-the-majority.

Diana wrote separately:

When the far right held [Speaker] McCarthy to “firm commitments” in order to be elected Speaker of the House, one demand was increased transparency for future earmark spending – as in: ONE BILL, ONE TOPIC.
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Republicans just broke their own rule. Showed they are out for themselves, not our country.  In less than 6 months their own Republican House actions show they cannot be trusted.
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Reference: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/july-14-2023?r=z96xn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

I think that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the long suffering, often filibustered, not exactly titan of communication might need a smidgen of assistance in responding to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) when the House poo-poo NDAA bill arrives in his office. Here is a proposed memo to help him.
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Kevin, thanks for sending along the NDAA the House passed on a party line vote. Of course you know that means that both extremist, hair-on-fire Republicans and so-called “moderate” Republicans all voted to violate their own rule about packing a bill with pork. It also means that every Democrat gave the finger to this insane bill. More on that another time.
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You know that both here in the Senate and in the hearts of the American people we’re all for a vigorous national defense and national security, including enthusiastic support for our military people.
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What we’re not in favor of, Kevin, is the partisan, extremist pile of poo-poo you loaded onto this bill. Not only does that stinky stuff not belong in a bill focused on our national defense, the majority of Americans oppose everything contained in your unconscionable amendments to the bill. Everything.
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And so, my friend Kevin, ask not what your crazy caucus members can do for you, because they really don’t give a damn about you or our country. Ask what you can do in hopes of finding even a chip from your long lost backbone.
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I’m sending this krazykrap bill back to you, Kevin, returning it in the same envelope in which it arrived. I’m both surprised and impressed by your creativity in crafting an envelope from toilet paper cores and duct tape. That’s so very appropriate for this bill.
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Face it: there just isn’t a way to disguise this sneaky move that you promised wouldn’t happen under your leadership, or your attempt to attack key things Americans want.
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Get rid of what you know doesn’t belong in the NDAA, Kevin. Use that big eraser on the handle end of your gavel and eliminate the sideways poo-poo from this legislation. Get a clean bill passed and send it to me. I’ll have my homies look it over carefully for any vestigial poo-poo and maybe it will make its way to the floor of the Senate for a vote, but only if you’ve performed a radical krap-ectomy.
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And Kevin, if you send me more crap like the sewerage you forwarded, I’ll package it with a brick and snail mail it to you at your house in Bakersfield, COD.
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By the way, Kevin, the President recognizes that you knuckled under to the worst of the extremists in your party, this in order to become Speaker. He understands the terrible bind you are in to pass a sane NDAA in the face of extreme pressure from your crazies. He sends his warm wishes to you for a fine stewing in your own juice.
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It is with collegial affection that I await your revised, clean NDAA.
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Chuck
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Bragging Rights Made Easy

Last Sunday I encouraged you to help stop the hand wringing about President Biden’s age and instead to talk about all the great benefits he’s brought to Americans. There was a link to a White House page with lots of good stuff listed there.

To make it even easier for you to wave the President’s flag of accomplishments, here’s a PDF for you to print. Affix it to the door of your refrigerator so you have the facts ready when you need them.

Many thanks to JN for forwarding this construct.

Finally, Everything Ends

From The Onion:

THE WORLD WIDE WEB—The existence of shared communal truths was dealt a critical blow at approximately 10:07 a.m. Monday, sources reported, when the last factual piece of information was deleted from the internet.

Today is a good day to be the light.

______________________________

  • Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
  • Fire the bastards!
  • The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.

    Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
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    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

FDB – Not a Typo


The Yungr Machine is a modification of the Wabac Machine.

Were I twenty years younger and living where there is a Republican senator or congressperson I would run for office in 2022. I’m licking my lips at the idea of running against any fool Republican who voted against the American Rescue Plan, which includes every Republican in Congress. By November 2022 it will be the single most positive and popular thing to impact the voting public in many decades and its popularity will climb as people get checks, vaccinations. jobs and their kids go back to school. Please, somebody, stuff me into the Yungr Machine so I can become a generation younger and run against an R in the mid-term election.

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Passing the American Rescue Plan is a huge step in delivering what Americans want and desperately need. It has a 76% approval rating – over 60% of Republicans like it – and those numbers are going nowhere but up. It’s the kind of thing that makes people say, “Hey, this is pretty good stuff – these guys actually can deliver.” Some will say quite reasonably, “It’s about damn time,” and, of course, they’ll be right. We’ve dragged feet for decades on any kind of benefit package that actually helps working people and our most desperate.

This is so good that even stogy economists, like those at Goldman Sachs, as well as non-stogy Paul Krugman, are predicting 7.7% growth in GDP, and that’s nothing but good for everyone.

The key political play is for the Dems to keep the Plan properly framed and its benefits in front of voters for the next four years. That’s critical, because Trump will try to steal the glory by claiming that “only he” could have delivered Operation Warp Speed. Look for that BS coming soon to a communication near you.

Now imagine Biden delivering an infrastructure bill, a critically needed updating and rebuilding of our national foundation that politicians have been wagging tongues about and have steadfastly avoided tackling for at least 40 years. This will be a WPA-like package that puts millions more Americans to work with good wages and benefits and the self-respect that comes with that. That will be next on Biden’s playlist and, like the American Rescue Plan, it will be gigantically popular.

Big projects are what are needed for our big challenges. This is very much like the time of the Great Depression, in that there are big crises afoot, which opens a space for a strong leader with the right message to emerge and champion serving the people. Delivering on that opportunity will cement Biden as the right guy for our time and perhaps the cultural and economic successor to FDR; hence, the title, “FDB.”

Republicans know and fear this, so they especially want to oppose an infrastructure plan, because its popularity would likely portend 8 to 12 additional years of a Democrat in the White House and Democrats controlling Congress, too. That’s why they are scratching and clawing to keep the filibuster. They are desperate to prevent its modification so that they can continue to submarine every Democrat and every Biden effort. Their motto:

Obstruction Я Us

They are all about stopping anything that is good for We the People because that prevents Ds from having a win. They think that will put them in power. Too bad for you.

That is why Democrat efforts to de-fang the filibuster and prevent Republican obstructionism is so important to our nation. Read this to understand fully.

Republican legislators refuse to be responsive to the needs and desires of the American people, but they still want power. They ache for the appalling thrill of minority rule. They are unable to compete on policy, so they’re waging a war using cultural divisiveness, fantastical lying, gerrymandering and overt voter suppression. Sadly, in their complete absence of even a single idea of substance for We the People, they’re now using their lofty Congressional status to attack Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head. Really.*

If you believe in majority rule, you better get into the fight to limit or eliminate the filibuster.

Fun Contest

There’s red wine, white wine and Republican whine, and they have already started their whining campaign about the American Rescue Plan. They are claiming that it’s full of “pork barrel spending.” They are wailing great cries of woe and rending their garments in anticipation of a fantasy mortal hog snort to our nation. This is exactly like Trump and Republican accusations of voting fraud in the 2020 election, in that in neither case are they able to point to even a single example of the horrible thing they decry. All they have are false accusations projected at spit-spewing volume.

Which brings to mind the title and key lyric of a fine blues tune:

Your Mind Is On Vacation (and Your Mouth Is Working Overtime)

So, the contest is to find an example of the pork that Republicans claim is in this bill. Submit your contest entry in the Comments section below. The contest winner’s name will be attached to a pork chop that will be sent to the Congressional pork whiner of his/her choice.

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  • *Tucker Carlson responded to President Biden’s Thursday speech, wherein the President offered hope that we will be able to gather with friends and family on the Fourth of July. Carlson said, “This is a free country. How dare you tell us who we can spend the Fourth of July with?” He’s quite good at indignation.
  • That empty headedness is what passes for thoughtful Republican commentary in a pandemic.
  • Okay, I accept your criticism that Tucker Carlson is anything but thoughtful. So, instead consider applying to him the blues tune title above.

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Ed. note: We need to spread the word so that we make a critical difference, so,

  1. Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! Please subscribe and pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) Use the simple form above on the right.
  2. Engage in the Comments section below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings, so don’t bug me about it.
  2. Said John Maynard Keynes, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” So, educate me and all of us. That’s what the Comments section is for.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

JA


Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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