The days keep flying by and now the numbers are getting ridiculous. Mike Johnson has had Congress shut down for quite a while now, the government shutdown is entering its fourth week and the House largely in recess since mid-September. The people of AZ-07 have been without representation for seven months now. Does the date December 16, 1773 ring any bells with you? Because that’s going to be the next reaction to Johnson’s stonewalling of the admission of Rep. Adelita Grijalva to Congress, is a reenactment of the famous event of that day, namely the Boston Tea Party. It also was fought over taxation without representation, although having to do with much more than just the swearing in of one person to a House that at that point did not yet exist. Still, the parallels are striking.
Taxation without representation.
— Here we go again but worse! (@AlexisCeule) October 25, 2025
The stakes were pretty high in 1773, as well, although not as high as the Epstein files could be for some people in Congress, not to mention the White House. That moonlit night, 342 chests of tea went over the side and into the Harbor. Because we think of tea as somewhat trivia (say, compared to munitions or heavy military ordnance) we usually don’t think of what a financial blow that was against Mad King George. But 342 chests of tea was worth almost two million bucks and in 1773 terms, only nations had that kind of cash, not merely wealthy men.
In any event, Mad King George didn’t change his ways, Mad King Donald most definitely won’t — except to get worse — and Mike Johnson is absolutely running out of political runway. He cannot keep the House closed forever and the people of AZ-07 going without representation indefinitely.
Ms. Grijalva has pledged to add her name — providing the last necessary signature — to a bipartisan petition to force a vote on a measure demanding that the Trump administration release files on the investigation of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mr. Johnson has denied that his refusal to seat Ms. Grijalva is tied to any desire on the part of the White House and Republican congressional leaders to avoid the vote on the Epstein files.
The lawsuit represents an escalation in the Democratic pressure campaign to have Ms. Grijalva sworn in. She was joined in the suit by Kris Mayes, the attorney general of Arizona and a Democrat. In a statement, Ms. Mayes said, “Speaker Mike Johnson is actively stripping the people of Arizona of one of their seats in Congress and disenfranchising the voters of Arizona’s seventh congressional district in the process.”
Filed in the United States District Court in Washington, D.C., the suit argues that there is no legal basis for the delay.
Ms. Grijalva “indisputably meets the constitutional qualifications” to take office, the suit says, and Mr. Johnson has no authority to “arbitrarily delay” her ability to carry out her duties as a member of Congress, including signing petitions, sponsoring bills and providing constituent services. […]
The lawsuit asserts that the speaker “has not identified any reason that he (or a designee) is unable to administer the oath” to Ms. Grijalva.
It also notes that Mr. Johnson swore in two Republicans this year while the House was not in session for legislative business. Those representatives, Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, both of Florida, were seated within 24 hours of winning special elections in April.
The speaker’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he has said that Ms. Grijalva’s situation is different than that of the Florida representatives because she was elected while the House was out of session. However, there is no such distinction in the law or the rules of the chamber.
In other words, Johnson is lying through his teeth as usual. Let’s see what happens between now and the week before Xmas. History may not always repeat itself but it certainly does rhyme and right now nothing in Washington would surprise me. Maybe a desert, southwestern state will end up reenacting the actions, or at least the spirit, of one of the original eastern seaboard colonies some 252 years ago.
And with all the talk about the shutdown and the ballroom, just coming on the radar is a massive scandal concerning trump’s $230 million claim for reimbursement for legal costs related to his prosecution. The corruption in the DOJ being revealed in leaks is truly breathtaking. This podcaster absolutely nails it:
Duplicate a shitload of Trump Vodka (Remember that? Another of his long list of FAILURES) labels. Some Democrat with a little money to burn can buy up a tractor-trailer load of empty bottles – the same kind a distillery would buy for some cheap ass brand of vodka. Fill them with water (take it from the ocean so there’s no waste) and put them back in the boxes which can be labeled in the exact same way cases of Trump Vodka were.
After said tractor-trailer is filled up with all that (and a particularly ugly/nasty picture of Trumpty and the Trump Vodka logo covers each side hold a gathering in the district. Give people who show up a case as they arrive, and after some speeches referencing Trumpty, Johnson and the Boston Tea Party start emptying the bottles one by one. Hold them out with the logo showing for the cameras to see!