TrickstaPriest

This is my favorite version.

That's been precisely what's happened in the past. 
 
The problem they face at the moment is that they've been electing ignorant people from their base to become Congressmen.
 
So it's really an open question over when they'll reach the tipping point of not being ABLE to swerve at the last moment when playing chicken with the debt ceiling.

"Mainstream" might have been a bad word choice.  
 
Voting to overturn the election was a move in the political sphere.  Those who voted for it, are simply trying to ride that wave.  I'm more inclined to go with LL, tho, with many of them, especially the pre-Trump members.  They're perfectly happy to work to suborn the election process, but they'll be much more cautious WRT a move that will upend the economy.  

IME that isn't completely opposed to actual research. Scientists will create a theory -- inspired by observed phenomena, granted -- then look for experimental evidence to support it. Experiments are designed for the purpose of testing that theory.
 
But that isn't what the GOP in the House are doing. The smarter ones already know they won't find anything, but almost none of them care. This is a circus intended to make them look to their supporters like they're actually doing something, to distract and embarrass the Democrats as much as possible, and for some of them, because they have Trumpian levels of craving attention.

The choice of words in the committee's stated purpose declares that as far as Republicans are concerned, its findings have already been decided.
 
Lavrentiy Beria, Josef Stalin's deputy premier and chief of the secret police from 1941 to 1953, is famous for having said, "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime."

Holy crap, Ohio. 
 
With stroke of his pen, Gov. Mike DeWine defines natural gas as green energy
 

See also, for example, the times recently that a Republican state legislature has passed laws to strip power from their state's Governor and give it to themselves in the period between a Democrat getting elected Governor and taking office.

The rebuttal to that, I think, is Czar Nicholas II.  As I understand it, he didn't particularly want to be Czar, he wasn't trained very well for the job, and consequently wasn't very good at it, to the point that he crashed the entire Czarist regime.  Maybe it would have survived without the First World War, but with an heir who would have to beat very long odds to live into his twenties, that doesn't seem likely.
 
I do think that to be a good leader, one must want the job and work for the job.  But what is more important is that one must care enough about the people and the community they wish to serve to be an effective leader and act in their best interest.  And it is important that leaders think of themselves as servants, rather than masters, to have the humility to think of themselves as still one of the people, rather than set themselves above them.  I don't believe Trump had that humility, or that he cared enough about the nation and her people--and I think Melania expressed that lack of humility in that particular choice of outerwear.  And I'm mostly certain that none of the more vocal Republicans care enough about the nation and her people, either.  They just care about being in charge.

An interesting editorial here. The pundit makes a good point about how the new Republican party is in some senses making Congress more "democratic," which doesn't sound "authoritarian." But I think the writer misses the point that one can be anti-institutional and still be rabidly authoritarian. The question is where the authority lies. Part of what makes fascism fascist is the lack of due process: Institutions operate by the whim of the leader, the party, or the mob. And from what I can see, the core grievance of MAGATs is that the formal machinery of law and government denies them the cultural dominance they seek, in which people like them can wield arbitrary power over everyone else. In which case, offices stripped of power and institutions in chaos suit them very well.
 
The Kevin McCarthy speaker debacle has a silver lining (msn.com)
 
Dean Shomshak

If someone tried to write Santos, the critics would pan him as totally unbelievable....
 
Turned the sound back on for Boebert, as I was curious who she was nominating...Hearn, the guy she voted for last round.  She continued a thread:  no, this isn't broken, this is a good thing, this debate.  That's been repeated several times now.  Like repeating them endlessly will give them greater validity?
 
EDIT:  it's Hern, according to the display.  My bad, I just went with what I expected from the sound.
 
EDIT 2:  the vote's ongoing but the trajectory is the same as the last 2.
 
From the Slate article someone posted before, I think:

 
 

Today, Explained discusses the e;ection of George Santos; why nobody noticed (until too late) that he is almost entirely fictional; what can be done now (probably nothing, unless something turns up now that people are following the money); and what it means for American politics going forward.
 
https://www.stitcher.com/show/today-explained/episode/the-many-lies-of-george-santos-210502804
 
My guess is that Republican strategists are already prepping additional fictional candidates to flip seats in 2024. It's not clear that *any* amount of lying about oneself is a criminal act in running for office, or forces removal once the votes are cast. So, work out which candidate would attract votes the best, recruit an actor to play that role, and fake up some documentation if you think it's necessary. Once butt is in Congressional seat, who cares if the fraud is discovered? One can do a lot in two years.
 
Democrats, as usual, will be completely outflanked, bewildered, and impotently outraged once they figure out what happened.
 
Dean Shomshak

Some may or may not be sane, but they're gutless, so it doesn't matter. The GOP had a hundred opportunities to curtail this garbage over the past seven years, and did nothing. They deserve whatever happens to them, it's just tragic that the rest of Americans are stuck with it too.

Given that (at least in my opinion) the GOP House members had no intention of actually doing their jobs, but instead just being obstructionist / perpetually try to impeach Biden / posture and pontificate without legislating... I'm not sure them being tied up indefinitely just trying to elect a Speaker of the House is all that much worse, or even all that different.

Removing the metal detectors makes it easier for another January 6th-like event to succeed. It's a feature, not a bug.
 
 
Edit: It's possible that I've grown old and cynical the last few years. If that's the case, you have my apologies.
 
(But that doesn't mean I'm wrong....)

This is actually worse than it sounds.  Random reps are not empowered to direct the Capitol Police--only the House Speaker can do that.  And there is no House Speaker.  So right now people are trying to figure out who ordered the removal of the metal detectors, and why.
 
(Well, we know why.  But still.)

House Republicans remove metal detectors from the Capitol

I don’t disagree with this, and it’s also in our strategic interest. That’s a compelling reason why it’s Ukraine (as a way to degrade Russian power) as opposed to Ethiopia or Myanmar. 
 
I would be in support of this action whether it’s Biden, Trump, Obama or GW Bush. It’s a rare opportunity to do the right thing and also advance national military and geopolitical interests for a relatively modest cost (to us, anyway). It’s unfortunate we are so polarized that isn’t good enough anymore.

Because it's being done by a Democratic president, so of course it's just another spending boondoggle.
 
 

The other thing the west in general and the US in particular is getting out of their involvement in Ukraine is that their Military Industrial Complexes are in position to make a killing while the Russian military is just getting killed.
 
Moving forward, what country is going to want to invest in Russian military hardware after watching it get pwnd by NATO stuff? Besides the bad press, Russia is going to have a hard time filling any external orders because all of its production capacity is already pre-spent just trying to replenish its lost inventory.
 
Besides that, the Pentagon and other nations are going to be able to make much more informed decisions about what systems to invest in and what to avoid based on the performances of said systems in a real world testing ground.

Sometimes I despair of people, and sometimes I despair of the culture.  Is the guy stupid, or is he simply caught up in the trap of lies that others spread presumably to promote their agenda?  
 
I agree with the social media issue...which is why what Musk is doing is so problematic...but it's not limited to social media.  It's simply the most reactive echo chamber...seed a few juicy, explosive tidbits, and sit back to watch the hyperexponential growth you're aiming for...which creates buzz off social media, and establishes a self-perpetuating 'truth.'
 
I've said it before.  Mainstream and social media manipulators declared a war on truth a long time ago...and they've won.  They've established an alternate concept of reality wherein they're the lords of judgment.  They create the lens through which facts are viewed.  So to what degree is your co-worker foolish, versus a victim?
 
EDIT:  nasty tangent.  If you question how a Putin can keep the Russian people toeing his line...well, just look at how effective Fox News is, with their followers...despite the presence of numerous alternatives.
 
BTW, the source of this kerfuffle:
https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-445225024907
 
 

When your philosophy or faith says to do something, the problem is, it tends to be an absolute.  As such, indirect negative effects become swept under the rug.  Human life begins at the moment of conception, AND human life is the highest value of all...no abortion can ever be countenanced.  No exception for rape, child abuse, health of the mother, or health of the *child*.  No consideration for the social consequences...unwed mothers, unfit mothers, the risk that continuing the pregnancy will lead to both mother and child dying, the medical cost when it's clear the child will be seriously deformed, and may be lucky to live to age 2.  It denies even having the discussion about whether a child that would be born with major defects, but would live...should the parents be allowed to abort?  Maybe the answer's no...but that's a legitimate debate.
 
The book banning movement is in this group.  I think, by and large, they adhere to narrow notions of acceptable.  Promotion of anything outside those notions is Not Acceptable and Must Be Eliminated.  Consequences?  Irrelevant.  I think they're pursuing the book bans for 2 reasons:
1.  As a general measure to silence opposition voices.  This is, IMO, part of the longer-term strategy, by basically controlling the message.  If you can control the message sufficiently, you have control.  Don't think it works?  Fox News.  That's far, far more blatant;  book banning is part of the very long term strategy.  
2.  Book bans are far less likely to run afoul of the courts.  Banning LGBT books IS a form of discrimination...but the civil rights being violated are more subtle, and thus, book bans are much less likely to be rejected.
 
But make no mistake.  The long-term goal, IMO, is to relegate, penalize, and potentially even criminalize what they consider to be Unacceptable Behavior.  This isn't a short term goal, it's a very long term goal.  They know the social climate isn't sufficiently in their favor to do this.  Not now, and not for a long time.  But getting the books banned is a move to change the underlying social fabric to be more conducive to their interests...and they don't care about the consequences.

Angry Librarian Tells Off Right-Wing Pro-Censors

I really, really hope Fox News gets crucified in this trial.  IMO this is a watershed event.  The verdict should have a major impact on media practices moving forward.

Boebert maybe, but I suspect Greene is only playing dumb. What clinched it for me was the "peach tree dishes." To me that sounds too on the nose, too calculated a mistake. An impersonation of ignorance and stupidity. And right on cue, mainstream media pounced on her and mocked her for it... and right on cue, the Republican base sent Greene more gobs of money. I am told she's the GOP's top fundraiser.
 
Fear Marjorie Taylor Greene. If I'm right, she has the chops to make it into the ruling junta of Fascist America, and maybe even win the Game of Thrones. Playing dumb can be a powerful gambit.
 
Dean Shomshak