Napoleon Bonaparte’s dream was to unite Europe under French rule and he did succeed…by uniting Europe against him and the French, much as Donnie DooDoo is busily uniting much of the free world against him, MAGA, and the U.S. So much winning!
A local physician,and wife of US MAGA Rep, has been selected to be acting Chief of Staff and senior advisor to the Surgeon General.She’s actually well-qualified so it could get interesting…
And instead of getting property insurance reform in the recent FL legislative session,we got a bill that officially renames the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” That’ll show the hurricanes! 🌀
Great summary as always TC. Donnie Two Dolls has so much going on sometimes it feels like being inside a dryer at the laundromat but we should always remember Jan6 and that every one of those 1500 convicts he pardoned had a fair trial. Shame on repubs for staying quiet and voting for his bottom of the barrel administrators.
That’s a given MaryPat. She has ice running through her veins and not a warm cell in her body. Couldn’t expect anything else from a puppy killer though. Her lack of feelings were on full display with a complete lack of facial expression and a face frozen in smugness, with the help of Botox and fillers to hold it in place.
People in Illinois didn’t appreciate her presence in their state and her attempt to make political hay out of a young woman’s murder by someone alleged to be here illegally. The young woman’s family outright condemned Noem’s dog and pony show. Springfield residents made it clear she wasn’t welcome at all, and Gov. Pritzker snarkily warned Illinois residents to watch out for their beloved pets.
A hopeful aspect of the idiotic nomination of a non-practicing doctor who appears to be on the same pages as the Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr., is that the office of the Surgeon General of the United States requires Senate confirmation. Most confirmations by the Senate seem to be pro forma since we never hear about them but we can hope this woman's so-called medical creds are so outlandish that she won't survive a Senate committee hearing.
Let’s hope, pray (and call our, and others’, elected representatives at every level !) for “an Ed Martin”.… My new name for when something or someone doesn’t make it out of committee.
He gets around those by appointing people as “Acting” Secretaries or heads, and then slow walking their “confirmation” process. And that can go on indefinitely. 😖
Sleepy Don, the lord of Merde-a-Lardo, was correct in one part of his description of his latest nominee; Jeannine Pirro is definitely in a class by herself, and for that we can all be grateful.
I received a very succinct text about the issue below, stating that he lied to Congress in his confirmation hearing. When I try to find the original text, I keep getting bumped to the final page asking for a donation, ActBlue, etc. So I searched the topic and you see it below.
Really basic question and we’ve run into this with Brett Kavanaugh, Kash Patel, other Supreme Court nominees in confirmation hearings…
THE QUESTION: If someone is confirmed, but then it is provable/proven they lied under oath, do we have any recourse whatsoever?
I mean……???!!!
By Confirming Bisignano, Senate GOP Greenlights 'DOGE Destruction of Social Security' | Common Dreams
Bisignano "is a Wall Street CEO with a long history of slashing the companies he runs to the bone, including massive layoffs," she noted. "He is also a liar. He claims he was not involved in all the chaotic and destructive changes at the Social Security Administration: the hollowing out of the agency, the stealing of our most sensitive data, the harmful and poorly rolled out policy changes, their sudden reversals, and more. However, there are well over a dozen long-serving civil servants, identified by a brave whistleblower, who can validatethat he is lying."
Yes, a new hearing… I mean, a perjury charge should carry some weight, and if people voted to confirm in good faith, believing everything stated under oath was truthful, if that’s not true, it seems like there should be some way to back things up and pick up at the intersection where things don’t match.
Impeachment for some roles too, yes.
Just watched a short clip of Kash Patel yesterday being grilled about his (MIA) FBI budget submission and it’s clear he’s not prepared in any way to commit to any sort of timeline and he’s missed the due date by more than a week…Aaugh!
I appreciate your response. Thank you!
So many moving parts and nefarious players…
It’s like a herd of cats in a room with multiple players casting multiple rapid fire red laser dots… It’s really chaotic, makes it harder to effect accountability and hold individuals to account. Flood the zone. Gish gallop! Ugh.
Nobody gets prosecuted for lying to congress. Probably because the place is full of lawyers and they made all the rules.
Case in point, Hillary Clinton & the House Select Committee on Benghazi, 2015/16.
18 U.S.C. §1621 — perjury and 18 U.S.C. §1001 — false representations before Congress.
"The government must prove that the defendant: (1) knowingly and willfully made or concealed a (2) materially (3) false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation within (4) the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the federal government."
Thank you for your response. While I understand, I see clearly that ambiguities, or inability to prove one thing or another, leads to lack of appropriate resolution, such as with the Benghazi issue… And in the cases I referenced, we end up with people voted into positions where not only are they dubiously qualified, but somehow still are confirmed…and, in addition, they lie during the confirmation hearing only to act 180° opposite from what was said under oath once they are in that office… I appreciate you taking the time to respond, and while I understand, I still find it deeply unsettling… Deep sigh.
I understand that but, as the Clinton example showed, they can all sleep well at night safely assured that even blatantly lying to congress will have no consequences whatsoever so long as their party has a majority in one chamber and/or influence or control over the DoJ or FBI. That's the way it is, and the only way to prevent that is appointments simply have to be Tubervilled (blocked) by one member to guarantee they don't get Senate approval in the first instance.
Interesting catalogue of monikers evolving, like to be Tubervilled or to be Ed Martined … Although those two are one and the same… Memorable actions named for those made famous or infamous by the event.
The magas, GOP, and Trump stopped respecting any kind of boundaries--geographic or behavioral--back in the '70s. Dissing the Pope will be the least of it. The people running this country and their supporters are right out of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian," and they disguise their plotting with prayerful poses. The old political distrust of Catholics is back now after JFK tamped it down.
As for the pitiable John Fetterman, I wouldn't lean on his fragility too hard or he may change parties. His wiring will never be what it used to be.
Finally, Fox has done so much to discredit our courts that it's odd that Piro would even accept the post.
They disguise their plotting with prayerful poses, explains a lot, doesn’t it. Couldn’t the Dems find a sane, reasonable Democrat when Fetterman was chosen,. He is a liability. And as to Piro, she will run her court as chump dictates. Not a trace of integrity there.
Perhaps it is true that problems can be seen more clearly from a distance than in their midst. The world is rejecting the viper and his take on America more than are many Americans. But some of us are fighting back from up close and it is inspiring to see that much of the world is able to see what we see. May the cult nuts implode or wither away into a singularity that will never rise again.
Thanks for mentioning Anthony Albanese's big win in the Australian federal election. However it changed its name from "Labour Party" to "Labor Party" in 1912, for reasons that I cannot find.
There are a couple of places in Australia (such as Victor Harbor) which use the American rather than British spelling ... perhaps a gaggle of Yankee surveyors and geographers snuck in!
According to him it was a bit trendy in Aus to write like a Septic back then which I find amusing, as I believe Americans initially started omitting some letters from words to save costs due to telegraph transmissions being charged at a penny per letter.
It may also have been something to do with the transPacific telegraph line connection being established between Brisbane and Vancouver in 1902, (and combining all those surveyors) bringing the penny-per-letter cost of international telegrams to Australians.
I like a lot of Septic spelling reform - such as fixing center and theater, and the dropping of the "u" in glamour, honour, favour, and indeed labour, and many others. I dislike "aluminum", when it is absolutely compulsory that it should be "aluminium". I dislike the lack of hyphens, in words like "reenter" and "monthslong", and I particulalrly dislike the lack of a double ending consonant when the word demands it. I'm quite content with clear words like "ticketed" and "budgeted", where pronumciation is unambiguous, but I really recoil at the dropping of a consonant in words where it is too weird - traveller, reveller and worshipped are three that I can think of.
Napoleon Bonaparte’s dream was to unite Europe under French rule and he did succeed…by uniting Europe against him and the French, much as Donnie DooDoo is busily uniting much of the free world against him, MAGA, and the U.S. So much winning!
The nominee du jour for Surgeon General has called birth control a threat to women’s “life-giving nature” and its use a “disrespect of life”.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/casey-means-surgeon-general-conspiracy-theorist_n_681be0c0e4b0794c7c965940
A local physician,and wife of US MAGA Rep, has been selected to be acting Chief of Staff and senior advisor to the Surgeon General.She’s actually well-qualified so it could get interesting…
And instead of getting property insurance reform in the recent FL legislative session,we got a bill that officially renames the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” That’ll show the hurricanes! 🌀
Great summary as always TC. Donnie Two Dolls has so much going on sometimes it feels like being inside a dryer at the laundromat but we should always remember Jan6 and that every one of those 1500 convicts he pardoned had a fair trial. Shame on repubs for staying quiet and voting for his bottom of the barrel administrators.
Senator Chris Murphy eviscerates Homeland Barbie. A must watch.
https://open.substack.com/pub/politicsusa46/p/when-a-government-is-out-of-control?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Noem reminds me of Palin, but she's wisely not as loud. Murphy has been raising his profile, so I expect a run in 2028 if we still have elections.
Thanks, Karen. So power-full! Except Homeland Barbie will still do supremely evil things.
That’s a given MaryPat. She has ice running through her veins and not a warm cell in her body. Couldn’t expect anything else from a puppy killer though. Her lack of feelings were on full display with a complete lack of facial expression and a face frozen in smugness, with the help of Botox and fillers to hold it in place.
People in Illinois didn’t appreciate her presence in their state and her attempt to make political hay out of a young woman’s murder by someone alleged to be here illegally. The young woman’s family outright condemned Noem’s dog and pony show. Springfield residents made it clear she wasn’t welcome at all, and Gov. Pritzker snarkily warned Illinois residents to watch out for their beloved pets.
That was well worth watching, and Noem didn’t say a ward. Everything Sen. Murphy said was true.
A hopeful aspect of the idiotic nomination of a non-practicing doctor who appears to be on the same pages as the Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr., is that the office of the Surgeon General of the United States requires Senate confirmation. Most confirmations by the Senate seem to be pro forma since we never hear about them but we can hope this woman's so-called medical creds are so outlandish that she won't survive a Senate committee hearing.
I was amazed to learn just how many appointments require Senate confirmation. How many of them under Trump have actually been confirmed? Take a look: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_positions_filled_by_presidential_appointment_with_Senate_confirmation
Let’s hope, pray (and call our, and others’, elected representatives at every level !) for “an Ed Martin”.… My new name for when something or someone doesn’t make it out of committee.
He gets around those by appointing people as “Acting” Secretaries or heads, and then slow walking their “confirmation” process. And that can go on indefinitely. 😖
There's a time limit on "Acting" appointments, 6 months I think.
Sleepy Don, the lord of Merde-a-Lardo, was correct in one part of his description of his latest nominee; Jeannine Pirro is definitely in a class by herself, and for that we can all be grateful.
We can refer to Pirro as Judge Box O Wine.
The cat photo is comforting. Healing even.
I have a question!
I received a very succinct text about the issue below, stating that he lied to Congress in his confirmation hearing. When I try to find the original text, I keep getting bumped to the final page asking for a donation, ActBlue, etc. So I searched the topic and you see it below.
Really basic question and we’ve run into this with Brett Kavanaugh, Kash Patel, other Supreme Court nominees in confirmation hearings…
THE QUESTION: If someone is confirmed, but then it is provable/proven they lied under oath, do we have any recourse whatsoever?
I mean……???!!!
By Confirming Bisignano, Senate GOP Greenlights 'DOGE Destruction of Social Security' | Common Dreams
https://www.commondreams.org/news/frank-bisignano
Excerpt:
Bisignano "is a Wall Street CEO with a long history of slashing the companies he runs to the bone, including massive layoffs," she noted. "He is also a liar. He claims he was not involved in all the chaotic and destructive changes at the Social Security Administration: the hollowing out of the agency, the stealing of our most sensitive data, the harmful and poorly rolled out policy changes, their sudden reversals, and more. However, there are well over a dozen long-serving civil servants, identified by a brave whistleblower, who can validatethat he is lying."
Good question. I think it would take an impeachment (for some roles), or an additional hearing.
Yes, a new hearing… I mean, a perjury charge should carry some weight, and if people voted to confirm in good faith, believing everything stated under oath was truthful, if that’s not true, it seems like there should be some way to back things up and pick up at the intersection where things don’t match.
Impeachment for some roles too, yes.
Just watched a short clip of Kash Patel yesterday being grilled about his (MIA) FBI budget submission and it’s clear he’s not prepared in any way to commit to any sort of timeline and he’s missed the due date by more than a week…Aaugh!
I appreciate your response. Thank you!
So many moving parts and nefarious players…
It’s like a herd of cats in a room with multiple players casting multiple rapid fire red laser dots… It’s really chaotic, makes it harder to effect accountability and hold individuals to account. Flood the zone. Gish gallop! Ugh.
Nobody gets prosecuted for lying to congress. Probably because the place is full of lawyers and they made all the rules.
Case in point, Hillary Clinton & the House Select Committee on Benghazi, 2015/16.
18 U.S.C. §1621 — perjury and 18 U.S.C. §1001 — false representations before Congress.
"The government must prove that the defendant: (1) knowingly and willfully made or concealed a (2) materially (3) false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation within (4) the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the federal government."
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/why-hillary-clinton-will-not-be-charged-for-lying-to-congress-even-though-she-did/
Thank you for your response. While I understand, I see clearly that ambiguities, or inability to prove one thing or another, leads to lack of appropriate resolution, such as with the Benghazi issue… And in the cases I referenced, we end up with people voted into positions where not only are they dubiously qualified, but somehow still are confirmed…and, in addition, they lie during the confirmation hearing only to act 180° opposite from what was said under oath once they are in that office… I appreciate you taking the time to respond, and while I understand, I still find it deeply unsettling… Deep sigh.
I understand that but, as the Clinton example showed, they can all sleep well at night safely assured that even blatantly lying to congress will have no consequences whatsoever so long as their party has a majority in one chamber and/or influence or control over the DoJ or FBI. That's the way it is, and the only way to prevent that is appointments simply have to be Tubervilled (blocked) by one member to guarantee they don't get Senate approval in the first instance.
Interesting catalogue of monikers evolving, like to be Tubervilled or to be Ed Martined … Although those two are one and the same… Memorable actions named for those made famous or infamous by the event.
The magas, GOP, and Trump stopped respecting any kind of boundaries--geographic or behavioral--back in the '70s. Dissing the Pope will be the least of it. The people running this country and their supporters are right out of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian," and they disguise their plotting with prayerful poses. The old political distrust of Catholics is back now after JFK tamped it down.
As for the pitiable John Fetterman, I wouldn't lean on his fragility too hard or he may change parties. His wiring will never be what it used to be.
Finally, Fox has done so much to discredit our courts that it's odd that Piro would even accept the post.
They disguise their plotting with prayerful poses, explains a lot, doesn’t it. Couldn’t the Dems find a sane, reasonable Democrat when Fetterman was chosen,. He is a liability. And as to Piro, she will run her court as chump dictates. Not a trace of integrity there.
"Jeanine previously hosted her own Fox News Show,' - Well, there you have it. 24 karat proof of compitentcy and skill!
Thank you, TC.
Perhaps it is true that problems can be seen more clearly from a distance than in their midst. The world is rejecting the viper and his take on America more than are many Americans. But some of us are fighting back from up close and it is inspiring to see that much of the world is able to see what we see. May the cult nuts implode or wither away into a singularity that will never rise again.
Thanks for mentioning Anthony Albanese's big win in the Australian federal election. However it changed its name from "Labour Party" to "Labor Party" in 1912, for reasons that I cannot find.
There are a couple of places in Australia (such as Victor Harbor) which use the American rather than British spelling ... perhaps a gaggle of Yankee surveyors and geographers snuck in!
This Victorian computer bloke Kelvin seems to believe he has the answer. https://www.australian-dictionary.com.au/dictionary/is-spelling-labor-or-labour.php
According to him it was a bit trendy in Aus to write like a Septic back then which I find amusing, as I believe Americans initially started omitting some letters from words to save costs due to telegraph transmissions being charged at a penny per letter.
It may also have been something to do with the transPacific telegraph line connection being established between Brisbane and Vancouver in 1902, (and combining all those surveyors) bringing the penny-per-letter cost of international telegrams to Australians.
I like a lot of Septic spelling reform - such as fixing center and theater, and the dropping of the "u" in glamour, honour, favour, and indeed labour, and many others. I dislike "aluminum", when it is absolutely compulsory that it should be "aluminium". I dislike the lack of hyphens, in words like "reenter" and "monthslong", and I particulalrly dislike the lack of a double ending consonant when the word demands it. I'm quite content with clear words like "ticketed" and "budgeted", where pronumciation is unambiguous, but I really recoil at the dropping of a consonant in words where it is too weird - traveller, reveller and worshipped are three that I can think of.