The last time I spoke with y’all, I got some pushback in the comments to my assertion that the moderate GOP Senators are ready to just roll over for Traitor Tot to skritch their tummies. I would beg you to remember Rachel Maddow’s mantra, Don’t watch what they say, watch what they do. In WWII, the French partisans didn’t announce that they were going to attack a German supply train. They just popped up and did it.
These GOP Senate moderates aren’t going to come right out and announce to the world and Traitor Tot that they’re going to torpedo his nominees. GOP Senator John McCain didn’t tip his hand until he turned thumbs down on repealing the ACA at like 2:40 in the morning. What you’re hearing is the typical Traitor Tot bullsh*t noise, the brainless sycophants and craven toadies lining up behind the tin flute.
I wrote last week that there were anywhere from 5-10 moderate GOP Senators ready to vote to kibosh Matt Gaetz. That’s the power of numbers. His Lowness can’t find any one GOP Senator to blame. And now it’s even worse.
On Wednesday the House Ethics Committee will meet to decide whether or not to release the Matt Gaetz report and recommendations to the public. The committee is composed of five Democrats and five Republicans. El Pendejo ex Presidente has demanded that it remain sealed, and Squeaker MAGA Mike Johnson is backing that play. It will take one GOP committee member to vote yes in order to release the report. This is not the reach you might think it is, since the Ethics Committee has a proud reputation for apolitical independence.
But the moderate GOP Senators aren’t waiting. They’re not condemning, but they’re making a stand. Senior Senate Judiciary Committee member John Cornyn said, The committee will do its job, and I think that the President would want the facts to come out rather than have any unpleasant surprises during the hearings. In poli-speak, Cornyn is using the media to offer The Peach Penguin a way out. Read in English as, The dude is toast.
And let’s just forget about the Tulsi Gabbard nomination, shall we? There is no f*cking way the Senate is going to approve a Putin loving, Q-Anon conspiracy theorist to be the one who decides what goes into the Presidential Daily Briefing.
And now you can add the name of the Defense Secretary nominee, FUX News weekend host Pete Hegspeth to the list of the Walking Dead. The Washington Post is reporting on a credible rape accusation against Hegspeth from a women’s GP conference at which Hegspeth appeared several years ago, and was actually investigated by the local police. This literally embraces the concept of political stupidity.
Do yourself a favor, lower your blood pressure. Tune out the noise! Traitor Tot will come, and Traitor Tot will go, but this is still politics. And these GOP Senators are still going to be running for reelection long after MAGA mania is gone. And they sure as sh*t are not going to demolish the very system that gives them their ill begotten paychecks. This is going to be messy, and it’s going to be ugly, but it may well still be a helluva lotta fun. Don’t touch that dial.
I thank you for the privilege of your time.
Trump is going to find the deep state is a lot shallower than he thought it was, and spread far more widely.
More like a blanket to smother him than a pool to drown in.
Trump will just use Recess appointments if he can’t get the votes.
IIRC, while the Bronze Bozo can try to keep the Senate in recess and “appoint” Cabinet members as long as his cold, cold heart desires, once the Senate reconvenes, all the appointments will become subject to its consent. Want to keep the Senate in recess? Then, NO legislation gets to the president’s desk, NO federal budget, NO funding for the mass deportation program, NO NOTHING! Traitor Tot will have effectively shut down the federal government. Without the $$$$, Project 2025 goes nowhere.
True to form, the Bronze Bozo hasn’t looked further forward beyond the tip of his spraytanned nose.
Take The Murfster’s advice “Do yourself a favor, lower your blood pressure.”
There is a hilarious British comedy series, ‘Allo, ‘Allo, about the French resistance. It was funny because it made fun of all sides in a terrible war. Especially the Germans. Not a funny subject but a very funny show IMO. But now, entering into our own fascism, I’m having trouble finding amusement there, or anywhere else. Mentioned because the French resistance was cited above and maybe someone here might get a few moments of levity? Again, maybe not funny to anyone here. Just because McConnell did ONE good act in his entire political life…. I hope the magats enjoy those cheaper eggs (see Brando’s song about cheaper eggs at medias touch). I am getting small satisfaction reading of the magats learning that what we warned them of may indeed come true in January. Back to lurking. And trying very hard to heal
Grief is incredibly powerful and it is as real as any physical object a person can touch. It’s natural for so many to feel grief after what happened two weeks ago. Hell, I’M experiencing it non-stop with waves of particularly bad darkness. However I’m in my late 60s now and began experiencing profound times of grief since I was young. The demise of my parent’s marriage and the seemingly stable and modestly pleasant home environment I’d known. My dad moved out and only moved back in because he couldn’t afford to keep paying for the house and a room (at the Logan Hotel in town), much less an apt. but the lack of any feeling, and even sometimes animosity between him and mom was evident. The slept in separate rooms and he was home as little as possible. Being able to compare my own home to that of classmates/friends showed me what had been lost.
I’d go on to experience the death of important people in my life including loved ones and starting younger than most. I’ve experienced grief over loss of what I thought was a decent life/job that threw everything into turmoil. And more deaths. Grief is part of life and not all grief is caused by the death of a person we love.
So half of us in this country are experiencing grief and for a good chunk of that half the grief is as profound as any we’ve experienced. But you know what? Almost all of us get through it. The world turns and the sun rises in the east. Even if we have no appetite we eat. We take care of some things for daily living that have to be taken care of. Not always as well as we should but we muddle through. Without realizing it we are somehow coping. Maybe not very well but just eating, washing up etc. and if not retired going to work. Figuring out how to pay the bills whether earning a paycheck or retired. Again, these don’t seem like much but it’s coping.
Through THAT we take the measure of what’s been lost, experience the hole in our heart and often despair it can ever be filled. Often we know it never will be filled. At least not in the way it was before. However we can and DO find ways to fill it. With memories, and new things. Right now I feel like my task and other’s is to summon resolve. Not just to get by with day-to-day living but to organize and fight together with others to bring back some of the good aspects of the old America – the one now dead. It was an American with flaws to be sure. It has been from the beginning as we will always bear slavery as our Original Sin.
However for all our flaws this country has done incredible, seemingly impossible things. AND I remind you (and everyone) that fully half of us fought like hell to prevent what’s coming with a new Trump administration from being able to happen. HALF. It wasn’t quite enough but it’s way the fuck more than nothing. It is a LOT. Grieve, by all means. But the grief you feel is like any other grief that has deeply affected you. Carry on as best you can from day to day BUT seek out others for support. There is comfort in numbers. There is also strength which over time can be built up again. At times the odds will seem overwhelming. Like there’s no point.
Growing up I experienced not one but two significant growth spurts. I was gangly and awkward right through adolescence. I wouldn’t become “normal” until the latter half of high school. I spent YEARS, from early childhood (often by myself) practicing basketball (and other sports) and sucked. But I kept at it. I was also a musician. After Jr. High I stopped with band and concentrated on singing and my voice was hardly good. But I practiced that too. So often being not only not encouraged but even made fun of. But you know what? Even though it often felt hopeless I kept at it. Thousands of hours of practice and by my senior year of high school while I wasn’t the best (as in most skilled) player on our basketball team I was the leader. The solid guy who passed, controlled the backboards and in some games including our hugest against one of the better teams in the state proved I could step and score big time if the team needed it. I also made All-State chorus and played the male lead when our new chorus teacher decided to revive having an annual musical. (I played Curly in Oklahoma)
It was all part of that “real Mur-I-can” ethic MAGAs crow about but so seldom practice any more. We are where we are because they DON’T practice what they preach. The believe they’re entitled to all the good stuff life can offer. No one is. Some of us have to work harder for it than others but almost all of us have to work for it, and usually work hard.
WE mostly have spent our lives doing that. THEY mostly have not. And that my friend(s) is what we’ve got that they don’t. And why if we summon the resolve we can rebuild a country worth living in. It will take years, maybe more than I have left on this earth (hopefully quite a few ) but if we can’t get it done before I turn up my toes and get fed into the cremation chamber fire I can set the stage for younger folks to finish the job.
But in the end remember. As bad as you’re hurting right now HALF of this country feels like you. We all need to take our grief and share it, and with the goal of not just getting through it but once we each have healed enough to do so start rebuilding our lives and country. Remembering the best of what was lost and creating something new. Maybe even way better than it was before.
Thanks for this Denis. It’s very good advice.
Thank you Murph, Excellent!
listen carefully, I will say this only once.
what did she say?
just a quick game of leapfrog then back to the cafe.
There are some great compilations on each character, their tag lines (listen carefully I shall say this only once, good moaning, it is I, helga, etc), and much more also. It’s a bunch of bonus “episodes” on you tube I believe. Glad someone else has heard of this show. Thank you
“sometimes you’re up…sometimes you’re down…a half an inch of water and you think you’re going to drown. That’s the way the world goes round.” John Prine
hope I’m not popping any balloons but I don’t think mitch & co are riding in to save democracy. the lesson they want to teach Trump is that this was never for or about him. they will gladly rubber stamp any names he puts forward from the heritage foundation/project 2025 approved list. they have their boy jd waiting on deck and more than ample evidence of Trump’s cognitive decline for the 25th amendment. since Trump can’t actually nominate anyone for another two months there will be plenty of time for this to play out. I also read elsewhere the theory that this is a loyalty test on Trump’s part. so far it looks like his senate is failing (but Mikey gets a gold star). we’ll see how far they want to push things this early.
That certainly would have been true previously. At this point the situation is existential. I mean for the Senate itself to mean anything. I just hope they realize that.