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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:16:47 GMT -8
I Have No Idea If These Are Real
Dear Abby,
A couple of women moved in across the hall from me. One is a middle-aged gym teacher and the other is a social worker in her mid-twenties. These two women go everywhere together and I've never seen a man go into or leave their apartment. Do you think they could be Lebanese?
Dear Abby,
What can I do about all the Sex, Nudity, Fowl Language and Violence on My VCR?
They've Got New Rules, I Count Them
After a historically tumultuous week electing Republican Kevin McCarthy as speaker, the House reconvened Monday evening and adopted the new rules for the 118th Congress.
What rules changes were made?: The rules give more power to individual members, allow for aggressive investigation of the Biden administration on issues such as COVID-19 and the southern border; and make it more difficult to increase federal spending.
Republicans reinstated a thing called the Holman Rule in their rules package. That allows them to target and defund single individuals, offices, and agencies in the federal government. Any investigator or prosecutor of a MAGA Republican (or a wealthy donor to the GOP) will be the target, the House GOP defunding their salaries and operating budgets. Except, of course, they can’t—because there’s a Democratic Senate and a White House which won’t go along with that. Here’s where people need to let the MAGA example be their guide—ignore the subpoenas. Force Jordan to go to court to enforce them and fight it out until this Congress is dissolved and Republicans are no longer in control, because this Republican House won’t survive the next election.
Unprecedented
House Republicans are about to officially set in motion their plans for a subcommittee to mess up the Biden administration and federal law enforcement as much as possible. The “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” slated to be passed Tuesday, will operate out of the Jim Jordan-headed House Judiciary Committee. While the committee’s final roster isn’t known, Jordan is expected to head it, which tells you most of what you need to know. Far-right Reps. Dan Bishop and Tom Massie are also likely to be on the committee, and Rep. Scott Perry, whose phone was seized last year by the FBI amid investigations into Donald Trump’s coup attempt, sees no reason why he shouldn’t be on a committee that will supposedly have oversight of “ongoing criminal investigations.”
The committee will supposedly have that oversight, because it will not get that authority without a big legal fight from the Department of Justice. The department usually doesn’t even comment publicly on ongoing criminal investigations, let alone turn over the files to Congress, let alone to a nakedly partisan effort to hamper investigations into the party running the committee.
A former Richard Nixon Watergate lawyer called the scope of the committee’s intentions “unprecedented.” And in fact, the committee’s scope expanded dramatically during Kevin McCarthy’s protracted battle to become speaker of the House as he gave away more and more to his Republican opponents.
The original plan didn't include the part about ongoing criminal investigations and only would have allowed the committee to look at the FBI, DOJ, and the Department of Homeland Security. Now, the bill setting up the committee would allow it to investigate any part of the executive branch relating to how agencies “collect, compile, analyze, use, or disseminate information about citizens of the United States.” That could be almost anything, from those criminal investigations to labor statistics or educational data. Which means that every federal agency will have to be worried about what conspiracy theory tangentially relating to them will show up on Fox News or OAN at a moment when Jordan or Massie or Bishop is watching.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:20:40 GMT -8
We Overuse the Word "Hero", But I Think This Qualifies
The Virginia elementary teacher who police say was intentionally shot by a 6-year-old student is being hailed as a hero who saved lives by escorting her students out of the classroom while wounded.
Abigail Zwerner was struck Friday while teaching her class, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said Monday at a news conference.
"The 6-year-old child displayed a firearm, pointed it at her and fired one round," Drew said. "There was no physical struggle or fight. She was providing instruction to her class."
The bullet went through the teacher's hand and into her upper chest, "but she was still able to get all of her students out of that classroom," he said.
"She made sure that every one of those students was safe."
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:26:27 GMT -8
Where can you still get gas for $1.39? Taco Bell
A commissioner with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing a ban on gas stoves, calling them a "hidden hazard."
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Richard Trumka Jr. said all options would be on the table to regulate the appliances, which have been shown to be harmful to both human health and the environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
"Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” Trumka said, adding the commission could also consider imposing new emissions standards on the appliances. Trumka is one of several commissioners on the CPSC.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the CPSC said there was not yet an official proposal on the matter, and that any action to regulate the appliances would involve a "lengthy process."
"Agency staff plans to start gathering data and perspectives from the public on potential hazards associated with gas stoves, and proposed solutions to those hazards later this year," the statement said. "Commission staff also continues to work with voluntary standards organizations to examine gas stove emissions and address potential hazards."
An estimated 40% of American homes still rely on gas stoves. Though some chefs favor them, they can emit hazardous levels of compounds such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and methane, especially in poorly ventilated areas or if the stoves are not properly maintained. A recent study estimated that as many as 1 in 8 childhood asthma cases in the United States can be attributed to the presence of a gas stove in the home.
In a December letter to the CPSC, multiple U.S. senators and representatives urged it to take action on the harms of gas stoves, which they noted disproportionately affect minority and low-income communities.
"We ask the CPSC to explicitly evaluate the disparate health outcomes that occur from the coupling of gas stoves with the material realities to which the most vulnerable Americans are subjected, as well as evaluate the health impacts of gas leaks due to gas stoves connections," they wrote.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:28:07 GMT -8
Good News, Bad News About Emissions. (Not About Taco Bell.)
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased by about 1.3% in 2022, rebounding for a second straight year after pandemic disruptions to high-emitting industries like shipping and travel.
That's according to a preliminary analysis from the Rhodium Group, a research company that tracks yearly emissions and U.S. progress toward its climate goals.
Emissions fell by about 10.6% in 2020, as the U.S. reckoned with the consequences of the pandemic. When the economy rebounded in 2021, so did U.S. greenhouse gases, which recorded a 6.5% uptick.
Before the pandemic, emissions were on a slightly downward track. The new analysis suggests that emissions are back on that trend line despite several volatile years.
“Greenhouse gas emissions are still not back up to 2019 levels. Potentially they won’t ever get back up to that level. Time will tell on that front,” said Ben King, a co-author of the report and an associate director with Rhodium Group’s Energy & Climate practice. “We’re continuing on the trajectory of decline. The challenge is we need big decreases.”
The Rhodium analysis suggests the U.S. is off track to reach fast-approaching climate goals in 2025 and 2030. Reductions from the landmark climate bills Congress passed in 2022 — the infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act — have yet to kick in. Even then, the U.S. is projected to fall short of its goals.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:30:47 GMT -8
The QOP House is Off to a Rousing Start of Passing Bills That Will Die in the Senate.
Fulfilling their 2022 election pledge to take aim at President Biden’s economic agenda, House Republicans late Monday voted to strip roughly $71 billion from the Internal Revenue Service, targeting money Congress approved last year to help the agency find and pursue tax cheats.
Democrats, meanwhile, repeatedly pilloried Republicans for engaging in political hyperbole — and faulted the GOP for pursuing legislation that would add to the federal deficit despite the new majority’s fervent commitments to improve the country’s fiscal health. The criticisms came in the wake of a report Monday from the Congressional Budget Office, which found that clawing back IRS funds would curtail its ability to collect unpaid taxes, adding about $114 billion to the deficit over the next decade.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:33:13 GMT -8
How the QOP Plans to Screw Up the Budget
One compromise basically promised that the House would never pass an omnibus appropriations bill again, holding votes on 12 separate appropriations bills instead. The problem here is that Congress has routinely relied on omnibus bills in recent years not just to “hide” controversial spending items but because it has proved impossible to get separate bills through Congress by the end of each fiscal year. Last year, for example, six appropriations bills made it through the House and zeromade it through the Senate. In effect, the House is now demanding that both chambers now do something they’ve been unable to do for decades.
It’s a recipe for fiscal gridlock, government shutdowns, and, at best, a system in which the government chugs along on the power of “continuing resolutions” — stopgap spending bills that keep spending levels the same — which is likely what the MAGA conservatives want. So, ironically, instead of the deep and thoughtful review of federal spending the rebels claim to want, this promise will probably produce at least two years of keeping the federal government on automatic pilot when it comes to spending priorities.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:37:39 GMT -8
Love Her or Hate Her, Here Comes Katie
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) announced her candidacy for Senate on Tuesday, officially kicking off what is expected to be a crowded 2024 primary to fill a California seat that hasn’t even been vacated yet.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 89, is up for reelection that year, but the longest-serving California senator hasn’t announced whether she plans to seek another term.
“I don’t do Congress the way others often do. I use whatever power I have to speak hard truths to the power that be,” Porter said in a video announcing her bid for Senate.
The two-term progressive representative from Orange County cited her work grilling executives from Wall Street, Big Pharma and the oil and gas industry as reasons to get behind her candidacy.
Almost Any Democrat Would Be an Improvement Over Diane Who Voted for the Bush Tax Cuts, Iraq War, and TARP, Among Other Things.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:39:07 GMT -8
TucKGBer Sure Likes Rioters
Fox News host Tucker Carlson said exactly what you’d expect after supporters of defeated former President Jair Bolsonaro violently stormed government buildings in Brazil in protest of what they falsely claimed was a stolen presidential election.
On Monday, Carlson echoed the rioters’ rhetoric when he baselessly alleged that returning Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had only beaten Bolsonaro due “to what was very clearly a rigged election.”
“Millions of people in Brazil understand exactly what happened,” the right-wing personality continued. “They know that their democracy has been hijacked, possibly forever.”
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:41:35 GMT -8
No FBI Raid Required
Classified documents from Joe Biden's vice-presidential days were discovered in November by the U.S. president's personal attorneys at a Washington think tank, a White House lawyer said on Monday.
Nearly 10 documents were found at Biden's office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, CBS News reported earlier, adding that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland had asked the U.S. attorney in Chicago to review the classified documents which were handed over to the National Archives.
The classified material was identified by personal attorneys for Biden on Nov. 2, days before the midterm elections, Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said in a statement on Monday.
The Penn Biden Center is named for Biden, who periodically used the office space from mid-2017 until the start of his 2020 presidential campaign. The White House Counsel's Office notified the National Archives on the day of the discovery of those documents, Sauber said, adding the National Archives took possession of the material on the following morning.
The QOP Reacts Like the QOP
Republicans seized on revelations that several classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president were found in his former private office to create cover for former President Donald Trump’s hoarding of secret records.
The disclosures Monday about the material found last fall spun up an immediate political storm at a time when Trump is in increasing legal peril. The new GOP House majority is meanwhile rushing to undermine investigations against him and unleashing a wave of counter investigations against the current president.
But there are clear distinctions between the two cases.
The new controversy so far appears to be on a smaller scale than the more than 100 classified documents – some bearing the highest designations of government secrecy – taken from Trump’s resort at Mar-a-Lago after a court-approved search by FBI agents. And Biden appears to be cooperating with the National Archives and the Justice Department in a way that Trump failed to do and unlike the former president he is not being investigated for possible obstruction of justice.
Bradley Moss, a security clearances expert, told “CNN This Morning” on Tuesday that so far, and if no more problematic evidence emerges, the current president team’s conduct was different because of “the cooperation and the absence of obstruction in which they have engaged compared to what Donald Trump did.”
“So far, it’s completely apples to oranges here,” said Moss, who is the deputy executive director of the James Madison Project.
But the disclosures spun up an immediate political storm at a time when Trump is in increasing legal peril. The new GOP House majority, meanwhile, is rushing to undermine investigations against him and unleashing a wave of counter investigations against the current president.
Trump, who brands attempts to make him face accountability for his conduct in office and afterward as political victimization, sought to capitalize on Biden’s discomfort over the documents in a post on his Truth Social network.
“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified,” he wrote.
New House Oversight Chairman James Comer told CNN: “This is (a) further concern that there is a two-tiered justice system.”
New House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also moved quickly to respond to the discovery of the documents in an office used by Biden after he left the vice presidency.
“Oh, really? They just now found them after all these years,” he told CNN. “What has he said about the other president having classified documents?”
Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked the US attorney in Chicago to review the material, some of which bore the marking “sensitive compartmentalized information” – showing that it came from intelligence sources.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:44:59 GMT -8
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:46:52 GMT -8
Stop Calling These People "Conservatives"!
One of Kevin McCarthy’s first acts as speaker of the House was to take a selfie with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right conspiracy theorist and election denier who has emerged as one of his staunchest allies.
That image, which Greene immediately posted on social media, encapsulates the wager McCarthy has placed for the entire House Republican Conference – and indeed for the GOP overall.
To secure the speakership, McCarthy did what his two Republican predecessors in the job, Paul Ryan and John Boehner, would not: grant concessions to the House GOP’s most militant conservative faction that will vastly increase their visibility and leverage in shaping the party’s agenda.
With that decision, McCarthy is betting that the GOP can maintain broad enough electoral support to defend its House majority even while moving to center firebrand conservative representatives such as Greene, Jim Jordan and Scott Perry – all of whom the January 6 committee singled out for their roles in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Almost universally Democrats believe McCarthy will lose that bet. They believe his concessions to the GOP’s most militant conservatives will compound the problems Republicans faced last November when the party suffered unexpectedly broad losses in swing states and Congressional districts in part because too many voters, especially independents, viewed the party as extreme.
“To win back the Independents they lost in 2022, Republicans should be embracing bipartisanship and compromise, but instead they are doubling down on the extremism that prevented them from achieving a red wave,” says Democratic pollster Matt Hogan.
Conservative activists cheering the outcome of the speaker fight insist that a more consistently right-leaning agenda will produce more electoral victories for the GOP by inspiring more conservative voters to the polls – the way Donald Trump won in 2016.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:49:20 GMT -8
How Long Before They Create the Putin Youth Authorities in the Russian-occupied Donbas region of Ukraine are reportedly compiling lists of children to join the war when they come of age. According to the Ukrainian National Resistance Center, officials in Russia's so-called "people's republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts have started putting together lists of schoolchildren who can be conscripted into the Russian army, starting with those who will come of age this year. "Ukrainian children born in 2005-2006 in the temporarily occupied territories must register for 'compulsory military registration,'" the center said in a report on Monday. "Admission onto the so-called registry is taking place in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts." Citing local underground resistance, the center said Russian occupiers are forming lists of those who can be mobilized immediately after graduation from school. "First of all those who come of age in 2023," it said. The National Resistance Center in its report called on the parents of schoolchildren in the regions to take their children "to a safe area whenever possible." Separately, an unnamed guest on Russian state TV recently suggested that schoolchildren should be trained to fight in case they need to go to war.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 10, 2023 9:51:27 GMT -8
26% Is Still Too High, But Kevin Is Working On That
One week into the House GOP's follies in the majority, the Republican Party favorability rating plunged in Civiqs tracking Sunday to just 26% among registered voters—a two-year low point since hitting 25% in the weeks following the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The party also notched a 65% unfavorable rating—it's highest point in almost six years since the first year of Donald Trump's tenure.
To be fair, the GOP's rapid descent doesn't fall entirely on the shoulders of House Republicans. The party's favorables have steadily declined ever since Republicans' 2022 midterm debacle. The party kicked off November at an already anemic 32%, yet things still took a turn for the worse after Election Day.
The drop off has mostly been driven by both Republican and independent men. Among men overall, GOP favorables have dropped nearly double digits since the election, from 38% in early November to 29% Sunday. That included a 10-point decline among independent men, from 27% to 17%, in the same timeframe.
But Republican men delivered the real blow, with their favorable feelings toward the GOP taking a 13-point hit since Election Day, from 75% to 62% over the weekend. As with Trump’s cratering favorability rating, it appears men really don’t like a loser.
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