speaker

I’m Sorry


Post 1,021

___________________________________

I’m sorry that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) hates America.

At least he hates the Capitol Police and the DC cops who saved his miserable ass on January 6, 2021. He wants to protect not the cops, but the mob that attacked, injured and killed cops. And he clearly wants to protect the traitors who sacked the Capitol Building, carried a traitorous Confederate battle flag through it and pissed and defecated in the halls.

He still challenges the 2020 decision of We The People and tried to have us all stripped of our votes and our voices. He’s promoting a presidential candidate who has called for the “termination” of our Constitution, who says he’ll be a dictator if elected and who encourages Americans to commit violence against fellow Americans. No, I don’t think Mike Johnson loves America at all. I think he hates America.

I’m sorry, too, that his principles shift like a weather vane as the winds change.

He repeatedly wailed crocodile tears over the awful, unfair, partisan impeachment of Donald Trump. You likely recall that in one impeachment Trump was caught trying to extort Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, this for a Trump political advantage over Joe Biden in 2020. In the other impeachment he was caught leading an insurrection, a traitorous act. In both cases the evidence was and still is in plain sight. Nevertheless, Johnson’s croc tears.

The impeachments were largely decided on party line votes only because Republicans hadn’t the courage of the Republicans who told Richard Nixon that they would vote to impeach and convict him for his crimes because he was, in fact, a crook. Just like Trump.

So, Mike Johnson shed his aforementioned crocodile tears over and over for the unfairness of one-party impeachments, never mentioning the cowardice of his party and its denial of the obvious high crimes and misdemeanors of their orange fuhrer.

Then the wind shifted to Republican control of the House and a Democrat in the White House.

As Speaker Johnson has seen his party spend over 11 months digging for evidence of any Joe Biden high crime or misdemeanor, this in order to impeach him for something – anything – jaywalking – whatever. Literally, the only thing they’ve come up with is to invent the label “Biden crime family.” They have unearthed no facts to support that or their other dishonest accusations. Meanwhile, they have nothing – as in: NO THING! – that so much as hints of anything untoward done by the President.

To be clear, the Republicans have launched an entirely baseless political proctoscopic examination of anything that might possibly appear to be attached to Biden, but probably isn’t. And Mike Johnson, he of the “awful, unfair, partisan impeachment” crocodile tears for Trump, has waved his magic wand and “Abracadabra, WHOOSH!” Partisan impeachment is okay now! Who woulda guessed it? And Johnson isn’t shedding crocodile tears over this awful, unfair one-party thing now.

It’s that weather vane thing. I’m wondering if Johnson is good buds with Lindsay Graham.

Here’s why they’re doing this:

  1. The Democrats impeached Trump. Now that they have control of the House, they want to eliminate that election advantage for Biden. They want Biden tarred and kicked in the Constitution, however much fraud and hypocrisy that might require.
  2. The Republicans held eleven (11!) different hearings on Benghazi in 2016 looking for wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton. They found nothing, NO THING! But they kept digging anyway, wasting millions of dollars and thousands of brain-free political hours, when instead they might have actually done something to benefit the country.* What they accomplished was to keep a false appearance of Clinton wrongdoing in the public eye until the 2016 election in order to disadvantage Clinton. They are trying to do the same thing to Joe Biden with their “impeachment inquiry” ahead of the 2024 election.

Meanwhile, I’m sorry that the Republican controlled House:

hasn’t passed an emergency supplemental bill

hasn’t passed a regular Appropriations bill – that’s going to crash and burn again in just a few weeks

hasn’t passed a funding bill for aid to Ukraine or Israel **

hasn’t passed a bill to enhance border security (although they’ve whined a lot and pointed fingers at Biden)

hasn’t passed a bill for humanitarian aid for Gaza

hasn’t passed the Farm Bill

With Mike Johnson’s partisan hand on the gavel they haven’t even been able to name a post office.

To be fair, last Thursday they managed to pass an $886 billion military spending bill. There’s much to scrutinize there, including that some of our lavishly paid military contractors design, build and deliver weapons that the Pentagon doesn’t want.

Meanwhile, I’m wondering if Biden can legally redirect some of that defense overspend to support Ukraine, as they fight to protect western democracy, and to support Israel, as they fight to stay in existence.

Ah, what was I thinking? If Biden were to ignore this mean-spirited, do-nothing Republican House and instead do what needs to be done for our country and for our allies, Mike Johnson wouldn’t stand for that. Biden would be impeached for protecting our national security without employing extortion or retribution.

I’m sorry, but I really don’t think Mike Johnson loves America.

LATE ADDITION

Yesterday the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump could not be on the Colorado primary ballot nor be elected President from that state – something like that. The word “disqualified” is prominent in the court’s ruling. Details are still being sorted out. The expectation is that the case will be appealed to the US Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Trump just lost again.

I’m not sorry about that. At all.

_______________________________

* Fun fact: The last Benghazi hearing closed on December 12, 2016, oddly, just a short time after the November election. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

** As the House went on vacation for 3 weeks, Speaker Mike Johnson tweeted his explanation for sitting on their hands regarding aid to Ukraine. He tweeted, “we must secure our own border before we secure another country’s.“ Apparently, he thinks our having done nothing to improve our immigration system for decades means that we must remedy that before we help to stop Russia from killing, raping and kidnapping Ukrainians. Apparently, he doesn’t just hate America. He hates Ukraine, too.

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.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


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

An Unavoidable Parallel


Post 1,000

—————————————

The Shutdown

We were at the edge of a cliff. It wasn’t just U.S. bankruptcy and the end of the authority for economic bedrock that were at risk. With our failure to honor our debts we would lead the entire economic world over that cliff.

At the 11th hour Speaker of the House McCarthy and President Biden shook hands on a deal to raise the debt ceiling and honor our debts, plus they agreed to pass a budget in a timely manner to avoid even the threat of yet another government shutdown. McCarthy gave his word as leader of the House Republicans, as Speaker of the House and presumably as a man.

Then McCarthy reneged. He broke his word and led our government to the edge of shutdown, with all the international, national and personal harm to Americans that threatened. Sadly, that wasn’t the worst part.

McCarthy broke his word In plain sight, but so did nearly every Republican in the House when it came to funding our government. On the first go around 90 Republicans voted against their own budget plan. Then, with only a few hours left, the continuing resolution was placed on the floor for a vote as a last chance to avoid a shutdown. 21 Republicans voted against it. They voted to shut down your government. They voted to not pay our troops, our air traffic controllers, our security personnel and so many others.

So, bad as it was, the worst part wasn’t McCarthy breaking his word and violating the deal he struck with the President. The worst was that the Republicans violated the sacred oath they swore – most on their own Bibles – to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

They made themselves liars. They proudly declared their disloyalty. They voted not to pay our sailors who are now headed for the Middle East to rescue our countrymen being held hostage by Hamas. The liars voted to undermine our nation.

Would you make a deal with such people? Their voters did.

Here’s a useful descriptor of Kevin McCarthy from Mother Jones‘ Inae Oh:

.  .  .  a man whose entire career is owed to soulless ambitions for power.

That fits the 21 Republican extremists and the hundreds of spineless ones who cower under their desks when they’re called upon to stand up for our country.

Now they’re proposing to replace McCarthy as speaker with the repugnant Jim “Who cares about sexual abuse of student athletes?” Jordan or Steve “David Duke without the baggage” Scalise.

To date I have not heard a consistent excoriation of Republican dis-loyalists that should come from the mouths of Democrats and loyal Republicans alike. The sound of crickets is exactly why I wrote this post.

The Why

As people are suffering, the radical Republicans in Congress are doing nothing but firing up culture wars and starting a fraudulent, lie-filled impeachment inquiry, where even their own witnesses testified that there is not even a hint of anything impeachable about President Biden.

If you want to know why these Republican terrorists attack our government and weaken our country instead of doing things to help Americans, there is only one thing you need to know:

They don’t want to improve government.
They want to tear it down.
.

That sounds a lot like Hamas.

And that alone explains the looming government shut down, the impeachment “inquiry,” the perfidious attacks on the DOJ and FBI and more. These extremists will hobble the House to powerlessness and then point fingers, saying, “See? Government doesn’t work.”

We live with destruction always lapping at our shores and we must decide what we will do to protect this noble experiment in self-rule and the rights and freedoms that accompany it.

From MacBeth by William Shakespeare:

    • Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
    • That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
    • And then is heard no more: it is a tale
    • Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
    • Signifying nothing.

In time, these MAGA traitors, these falsely self-defined patriots, will be unmasked and stopped. They are, in fact, nothing but idiots with guns, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing but a shouted “F”*K YOU!” Just like Hamas.

They have fooled themselves into believing that they stand for honor. That’s their idiot’s tale. In fact, they stand only for domination and destruction. One day they will go, leaving behind mountains of rubble. It will be their shameful mark on our national history, much like the wreckage that the Civil War traitors left and like the debris fields Hamas has left in Israel.

The Unavoidable Parallel

The Hamas leaders and fighters knew that they could not defeat Israel and push all the Israelis into the sea. They knew that any attack would trigger retaliation, likely with far greater intensity than anything Hamas could summon. They knew that their own people – Palestinians – would be killed or injured in the process. So, what do they hope to accomplish?

It’s posited that Hamas hopes that Hizbullah in Lebanon, West Bank militarists, Iran and other Arab states would join in the attacks and together they would destroy Israel. Perhaps. And what else?

In times past they used the suffering of Palestinians from Israeli counter attacks as proof of how Palestinians were victimized by Israel. Oddly, the world largely bought that cartoon explanation, delivering many anti-Israel resolutions before the United Nations. Maybe Hamas’ ferocious intensity this time could deliver such loss and humiliation that Israel would do far worse to Palestinians now, generating even greater international condemnation of Israel. We don’t yet know, but that is monstrously cynical and cruel.

What we do know is that Hamas has said that when Palestinian civilians are killed by Israeli attacks that Hamas will murder hostages. Their only goals are death and destruction. That’s what terrorists do.

What should Israel do? What should the United States do?

Here at home the Republican destroyers are attacking our political and cultural foundations at all levels of government, much like Hamas is doing to Israeli society with their rockets and their invasion. Destruction is what terrorists do. They have no plan for a better future. They just want to tear everything down.

It’s up to us to stop the destruction here at home, to quiet the idiot’s tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing but destruction.

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.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


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

Jack For Speaker Of The House


Post 999

—————————————

Dear Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Patrick McHenry:

I watched with interest as the post of Speaker of the House became vacant through a vote forced by the radical right of the Republican Party. Of course, we all knew this was coming from the moment of the fateful 15th vote, when McCarthy surrendered his manhood to Matt Gaetz and his band of flamers.

Most Republicans in the House are bemoaning the present situation, as there doesn’t seem to be any Republican who could pass muster and garner the necessary 218 votes to become the new speaker.

Jim Jordan? The master of stupid and mean attacks? The performative narcissist? Never lets reality intrude on his scheming? Hasn’t any positive achievements in over 16 years in the House? That guy?

Or Steve Scalise? “David Duke without the baggage” is how he describes himself. Wanna parse out that descriptor? No? I didn’t think so.

Two points:

  1. In 2016 Republicans told us that once elected, Trump would be presidential. Later they said, “Let Trump be Trump.” How’d that work out for us? Do you think that making either of these guys speaker would make them statesman-like leaders, that they could rise to the challenge? Me neither.
  2. Maya Angelou taught us, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” These guys have shown us exactly who they are and the sight isn’t pretty.

These are not serious contenders for a most serious job. They are nothing but thugs with Congressional pins.

As bad, nobody qualified for the job has any interest in assuming that now thankless post. That’s a huge problem, especially as the budget deadline looms larger every second and no business can be conducted in the House until there is a new speaker. That could leave us with terrible consequences.

There is talk among some Republicans about recruiting the former President to be the new speaker. However, I understand that he’s a bit busy just now intimidating witnesses, tainting jury pools and making personal attacks on judges, prosecutors and cute puppies. He likely cannot devote full attention to the job. More to the point, it is unlikely that he would be able to discharge the full duties and responsibilities of Speaker of the House from his prison cell. I suggest that his name be dropped from consideration.

Because there is no consensus Republican candidate and there is no way the self-neutered, cowardly majority Republicans would allow the House to be led by a speaker from the minority Democratic Party, I hereby place my name in nomination to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Offered to the 435, my qualifications are:

I am not a member of any political party and I don’t give a damn about them.

In the context of this job, I don’t care who likes me or who doesn’t like me.

I am dedicated solely to serving our nation – getting stuff done for the people. I will not be re-elected, so I have no need to suck up to anyone.

I keep my promises and my word. If you want someone who doesn’t, you already know who the strong candidates are.

I’m not a convicted felon nor am I under indictment. I hope that doesn’t disqualify me.

I’ve never run for office and I don’t owe anything to any donors.

I will not campaign, form a super PAC, beg for dollars or horse trade for anyone’s vote.

I am open to ideas and constructive arguments if they are focused on doing what is best for our country. If they are just self-serving crap, go away.

I don’t care about you keeping your job. I care about you doing your job.

If you are wise enough to elect me to this post:

I will immediately change committee assignments, removing committee chairs and members who are trouble makers instead of servants.

I will immediately terminate the idiotic, baseless impeachment “inquiry.”

If you are all about chaos and tearing down our government, our institutions and our nation, I will find a way to stand on your neck, metaphorically speaking, of course.

I will ensure that the Ethics Committee actually does its job. That will be refreshing – and surprising.

If a bill to help our people and our nation passes, one which you had previously blocked with great pride and bravado, I’ll understand your upset. And I won’t care a bit. You are 1 330-millionth of the American people and I care about you not more than that.

Immediately upon being handed the gavel I will open a vote to extend funding to Ukraine. They are fighting for freedom for themselves and, by proxy, for us and all of Western civilization. Anyone who votes against funding them will be called out as a Putin sucking, fascist craving, anti-democracy, anti-American stupid weenie. Because they are.

If you have acute Look-At-Me Egomaniac disease (“LAME”), you will be considered a pestilence, unfit to be among others. You will be confined to the cloak room until your smarter constituents vote you out of office.

All special privileges, especially those McCarthy mindlessly gave to flamers in order to become speaker, will be terminated immediately. That includes committee chairmanships.

I will serve only until the next congress is seated. Neither the speaker post nor any member’s position was intended to be a lifetime gig.

My requirements are:

Lose that stupid one vote speaker hook thing. Revert to the rule that was in place before McCarthy went suicidal.

If doing what is best for our country isn’t your sole reason for being in your job, we already know that about you. Resign immediately. You’re easily replaceable.

You will pay me for my services the same salary and supply the same perks provided to all members of the House, including franking privileges. I’ll need those because when you misbehave I will write a letter to your mom telling on you. You will answer to her. And to your dad.

Representatives Jeffries and McHenry, please forward my nomination to the full House, including the particulars detailed in this communication. Make sure everyone knows that my terms of service are non-negotiable.

The nation awaits the reply of the 435, but should never have had to. Shame on the ones who did this. Too bad they’re so far gone that they don’t recognize their own shame. But we do.

We need to get this right to prevent our manufactured dysfunction from sliding into:

Götterdämmerung: a collapse (as of a society or regime) marked by catastrophic violence and disorder; broadly: downfall. Merriam-Webster

Quite seriously,

.

Jack Altschuler, registered voter, of service to We The People.

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.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.

    Click me

    JA


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

 Scroll to top