Tag Archives: GOP

national news

Now it’s OK for ‘partisan impeachment’?

US House Speaker Mike Johnson is on record saying that “partisan impeachment” by Congress sets a dangerous precedent.

Oh, but wait. That was then. The here and now suggests that Johnson has changed his partisan mind. You see, the House yesterday voted along party lines to launch an impeachment inquiry to find something on which to charge President Biden.

Every Republican voted for the inquiry; every Democrat voted against it. The GOP caucus is looking for something. To date, they don’t even have a suspected “high crime and misdemeanor” to allege against Biden.

But, hey, who cares what the speaker once said? He must’ve been kidding when he called for a bipartisan impeachment. The inquiry, for sure, doesn’t necessarily guarantee an impeachment against President Biden.

My hunch tells me that if one comes, it’ll be along partisan lines.

Disgraceful.

national news

Cheney emerges as odd hero

As I watch former Congresswoman Liz Cheney make the TV rounds pitching her book, I am profoundly struck by the injustice that was done to her by members of her own Republican Party.

They castigated this conservative lawmaker from Wyoming because she had the courage to stand firm against the reprehensible conduct of a GOP president. Her own state’s party organization kicked her out. Then she got ‘primaried” in 2022 and lost to an individual who is loyal to the cult that follows the 45th POTUS.

And, again, I have to wonder why.

Cheney is not my kind of lawmaker. I disagree with her on guns, abortion, trade, taxation … you name it. However, she has demonstrated this trait above all else: She is a principled woman who stands on a guiding notion that the oath she took was to protect the Constitution, that she would be loyal only to the nation and not to one man.

And she paid the price for her principles.

It is shameful what has become of the Republican Party, where the MAGA morons label other Republicans “RINO” because they disagree with the 45th POTUS. That individual, the ex-president, is the real Republican In Name Only.

But, good grief! There is no talking sense to the cultists who have swallowed the poisonous, autocratic view of government that he offers.

national news, political news

This guy’s the worst of ’em

OK, I’ve already established that Chris Christie has emerged as my favorite Republican contender for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024.

The former New Jersey governor has shed the gloves and has donned the brass knuckles in taking on Donald J. Trump. For that I give him high marks.

Now … I want to say a few words about the worst Republican running for this nomination. Step up, Vivek Ramaswamy and take your licks.

I am unclear what his credentials are for seeking the presidency. I understand he’s a successful businessman. He has no public service in his background.

However, he is managing to become the most obnoxious, disgusting, disgraceful bunch among the candidates still standing. Good grief — and I can’t believe I am going to say this — this guy might be worse than Trump! I’ll need to avoid being struck by a lightning bolt.

Ramaswamy is brusque, loud, abrasive and mostly incoherent in his rants. What in the world is this guy’s hallmark, his defining issue?

He has managed to make a complete ass of himself during most of the four GOP joint appearances.

Ramaswamy won’t win the nomination. Perhaps he’s vying for a spot on a ticket led by — gulp! — I can’t say his name any longer.

Believe me when I say this: I am trying to give the remaining GOP candidates a careful examination. I detest Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, so he’s out. Meanwhile, former South Carolina Gov. and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley is a possibility; she’s certainly smarter than Ramaswamy, who insulted her intelligence the other evening.

My interest in the Republican field is predicated somewhat on the bizarre notion — which I hope doesn’t materialize — that President Biden will not be the Democratic nominee for president.

So, there you have it. Chris Christie is my GOP favorite; Vivek Ramaswamy is the GOP pits.

And the frontrunner? Enough about who former secretary of state Rex Tillerson once called a “fu**ing moron.”

national news, political news

Impeach POTUS? For … what?

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said it is imperative that the House launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden’s conduct.

Sigh …

I am trying to understand this idiocy being promoted, fomented and put forth by the MAGA wing of the House Republican caucus. They are looking for anything to hang around Joe Biden’s neck. They are angry that the House impeached their guy, Donald Trump, twice during his single term in office.

So they’re out for revenge. Credible charges? Evidence of corruption? Anything of substance they can present as a “high crime and misdemeanor”? Pffttt!

This is the theater of the absurd run amok.

Now we have the speaker of the House saying its so damn important that the House launch an inquiry into impeaching the president.

The man is nuttier than a Payday bar!

national news

McCarthy bows out? G’bye!

Kevin McCarthy has had enough of Washington, D.C., and is leaving Congress at the end of the year, prompting some members of the MAGA clown squad among congressional Republicans to concoct some sort of “conspiracy” to deny the GOP any real power as the governing majority.

Conspiracy? They all have rocks in their noggins!

I get why McCarthy wants out.

He lusted after the House speakership. When Republicans regained control of the House after the 2022 midterm election, McCarthy announced his intention to run for speaker. He got there … but only after 15 ballots on the House floor. He gave up damn near everything to the MAGA morons before getting enough votes to take the gavel.

Then he riled the MAGA loons by working with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, allowing one of the chief MAGA blowhards, Matt Gaetz of Florida, to call for McCarthy’s removal as speaker; that was one of the deals to which McCarthy agreed. The House removed McCarthy.

“No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing. That may seem out of fashion in Washington these days, but delivering results for the American people is still celebrated across the country,” McCarthy wrote.

So … he goes from being second in line to presidential succession to a place on the back bench. Would you want to stay in office serving an institution that treated you like that?

He’s a goner. Fine. Hit the road, dude. As for conspiracy, there isn’t anything of the sort.

education news, State news

Abbott devoted to single issue?

Well … what do you think of this, which is that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has endorsed the re-election of 59 state lawmakers — all of whom have supported his school voucher idea?

Me? I think it stinks. Why? Because legislating on behalf of a state as large, diverse and demanding as this one ought to require a comprehensive approach to governing. Abbott doesn’t see it that way, I guess.

He wants to plunder public education funds, siphon them off to private schools and, in my view, deplete our state’s public schools of the resources they need to provide our children a quality education.

If you don’t see it his way, according to the governor, why, you just don’t deserve to be re-elected to the Texas Legislature.

What a pile of dog-dookie!

education news, local news, State news

Vouchers torpedoed by GOP lawmakers

How ’bout them rural Republican Texas legislators for standing up for their public school systems?

They have helped torpedo a plan to allow public school money to be funneled away to enable parents to enroll their children in private schools. According to the Texas Tribune: The House voted 84-63 in favor of an amendment offered by Rep. John Raney, R-College Station, which removed the provision of the bill allowing some parents to use tax dollars to send their children to private and religious schools. Twenty-one Republicans, most of whom represent rural districts, joined all Democrats in support.

Texas House votes to remove school vouchers from massive education bill | The Texas Tribune

Is this a major embarrassment to Gov. Greg Abbott, who keeps calling legislators back into special session to enact his top priority? You bet it is.

My hope is that Abbott will surrender on this approach that he deems so vital.

The GOP lawmakers understand something fundamental about the role that public school systems play in their district. Which is that the schools are the heart and soul of their districts. Why damage or destroy them by taking money away? They won’t go there. Nor should they!

Pete Laney of Hale Center is the most recent Democrat to serve as speaker of the House. Laney always said that he wanted to let “the will of the House” determine the flow of legislation. One of his successors, Republican Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont, is following that lead.

The will of the House has spoken on behalf of our public education system.

national news, political news

So long, Rep. Santos

George Santos will go down in history as the first — but probably far from the last — piss ant member of Congress to bring shame to the body before ever taking office.

The New York Republican announced this week he won’t seek re-election to the district he won by lying his way throughout the 2022 campaign. He also allegedly stole money from his campaign fund and used it for personal pleasure.

The House Ethics Committee has issued a blistering report condemning Santos and its chairman, a Republican who voted against impeaching Donald Trump and in favor of overturning the 2020 presidential election result, now vows to file a resolution calling for Santos’s expulsion from the House.

Santos has taken lying to stratospheric levels. It’s unbelievable that he hasn’t been sanctioned long before now. But … it’s about to happen.

Santos says he won’t run for re-election. Big … effing … deal!

As for shaming the body? Well, it was full of shame long before Santos set foot in the House chamber.

Good riddance … George!

national news, political news

Girding already for … the grind

Make no mistake about this undeniable fact: The next presidential election is likely to drive me to the loony bin.

The Republican Party’s presidential primary field is winnowing down already. Tim Scott is out. So is Mike Pence. Others ought to take a powder as well. Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley got into a beef the other evening when Ramaswamy mentioned Haley’s daughter as a TikTok user, prompting Haley to call the loudmouth pretender “just scum.”

Meanwhile, President Biden is taking hits from within his Democratic Party over whether he ought to seek a second term. He is 80 years of age; the oldest man to occupy the presidency. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has abandoned the Democratic Party and is running for POTUS as an independent. Another guy has decided to run for the presidency too as a Democrat.

If I could manipulate the system, I would much rather see someone other than Donald Trump nominated by the GOP to run against the president. If it’s not meant to be, then we can kiss the Republican Party we’ve all known goodbye.

Trump doesn’t have a single policy principle he can tout as his own. He is pledging a scorched-Earth campaign to “eliminate” everyone who’s ever opposed him.

And … how in this ever-lovin’ world will Biden and Trump fare if we are forced to listen to them debate each other on the world stage? Do you remember the 2020 campaign, when Biden told the blathering Trump to “just shut up, man”?

I am going to offer a prayer to myself that I am able to keep my sanity as this campaign unfolds. While I’m at it, I’ll pray for anyone who’s having the same feelings of anxiety about the future of this great country. So much of that future is going to depend on whether Americans can reject the nonsense touted by the former POTUS.

Here’s hoping for the best.

national news, political news

What’s point of GOP debates?

I’ll concede I haven’t watched much of the three so-called “debates” among the Republican presidential candidates seeking their party’s 2024 nomination.

My disinterest boils down to two words: Donald Trump.

The prohibitive (ye gads!) frontrunner for the nomination hasn’t bothered to show up. Why should he? The MAGA cult continues to swoon over the twice-impeached, multiple indicted former POTUS … who stands a good chance of being a convicted felon before the 2024 GOP nominating convention.

The men and one woman who have shown up for these joint appearances have sought at varying levels to explain why they are better than Trump. I actually like what I hear from a couple of them: former Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Nikki Haley of South Carolina are beginning to float my boat.

They remain far behind the frontrunner.

The GOP field is left, therefore, to blather on about this and that with little chance of winning the party’s nomination.

Which brings me back to my original thought: What is the point of these debates? These all are pretenders, not actual contenders for the presidency.

The GOP clown show will go on without the Clown in Chief. We all know what would occur were he to show up at one of these events. Every question posed would result in a litany of accusations from the pretenders aimed at the Big Man … who then would turn the event into a blizzard of epithets and personal insults.

We are left, therefore, with a pointless series of joint appearances that contribute virtually nothing to the election outcome.

What a waste of time!