DL Open Thread: Saturday, January 7, 2023
McCarthy Completes Blow Job Just In Time For Gaetz To Cum To His Rescue. I’m not the most scatological contributor on here, but no other metaphor will suffice. This could well be the Worst Figurative Blowjob In HISTORY. Haven’t scoured the intertubes yet, but I’m sure I’m not the only one to come cum to the same conclusion. Didn’t take me long. From Jeff Sharlet:
Best part was when some Democrat yelled “on your knees” as McCarthy approached Gaetz. (I’m not making that up.)
When you think about it, there’s no better person to put McCarthy over the top than Matt Gaetz. Although…McCarthy had already promised to basically deep-six the Ethics Committee. Hmmm, I wonder if Michael Frayn has one more play in him. It could even be funnier than ‘Noises Off‘ , which was so funny, I had to go back to NYC to see it a second time. The door-slamming slapstick of that show along with the characters becoming increasingly unhinged would fit yesterday’s action perfectly.
This excerpt from The Hill sums up pretty much everything:
McCarthy added he’s “1,000 percent” confident he’ll be Speaker for a full two-year term.
Gaetz, for his part, said he had switched from voting for other candidates to voting “present” because “I ran out of things to ask for.”
Asked if he trusts McCarthy, Gaetz suggested he does not. “Fortunately, we have a rules agreement that isn’t reliant on that,” he said.
Ho-kay.
Krugman On Ukraine And Fallacies About Military Might. Good stuff:
Even before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine I was a fan of the military historian Phillips O’Brien, whose 2015 book about World War II, “How the War Was Won,” has a memorable opening sentence: “There were no decisive battles in World War II.” What he meant was that the conflict was mainly a war of attrition, in which no single battle did much to shift the balance of power, especially given the rate at which all the main players were producing new weapons until late in the game.
O’Brien was, as it happens, one of the few commentators to reject the idea that Russia could overrun Ukraine in a few days. He predicted, instead, that Russia-Ukraine would turn into a war of attrition — and that Ukraine stood a good chance of winning such a war.
Just read the piece, OK?
Biden Pushes To Lower Permissible Limits On Soot:
The Biden administration is proposing lower limits for a deadly air pollutant, saying tougher standards for soot from tailpipes, smokestacks and wildfires could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year.
A proposal released on Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency would set maximum levels of nine to 10 micrograms of fine particle pollution per cubic meter of air, down from 12 micrograms set a decade ago under the Obama administration. The standard for particle pollution, more commonly known as soot, was left unchanged by then president Donald Trump, who overrode a scientific recommendation for a lower standard in his final days in office.
In a development that could lead to an even lower standard, the EPA said it also would take comments on a range of ideas submitted by a scientific advisory committee, including a proposal that would lower the maximum standard for soot to eight micrograms. A microgram is one-millionth of a gram.
Lawsuits to begin in 3-2-1.
Delaware Taxpayers Cough Up $440K In Settlement Of Harassment Case Against IC Trinidad Navarro. Navarro himself didn’t have to cough up a penny. Are we looking at KMG Part Deux? Check this out:
The settlement comes as Navarro’s administration continues to litigate fallout from the lawsuit filed by Fleur McKendell, the former director of Life and Health Consumer Services in the Delaware Department of Insurance. A separate employee, the administration’s former head of human resources, continues to pursue a lawsuit claiming Navarro sought to influence the investigation into McKendell’s complaint.
McKendell’s settlement is one of the largest payouts by the state to a maligned state government employee in recent years and comes as the department has racked up more than $1 million in legal fees to litigate the claims.
Public records revealed recently through Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act show Navarro signed off on the $440,000 settlement with Fleur McKendell and her attorneys in March. The Department of Insurance was responsible for $275,000 of the settlement amount. McKendell’s lawsuit also included allegations regarding the state’s Office of Management and Budget, which was responsible for the balance of the settlement total.
Maybe it’s just me, but this seems to have flown beneath the radar and it flat-out shouldn’t have. Navarro is an ex-cop, right? Shocking.
What do you want to talk about?
It seems like we’ve got two lines conventional wisdom. 1) We are completely fucked. & 2) We are partially fucked.
Normally I’m pessimistic, but I have to feel like we are only partially fucked. I can’t put my finger on why I’m feeling like the GOP house is not going to be a complete disaster for the country. Maybe it is the very thin majority. Maybe it is that we have a Dem Senate and President.
(I understand why those mitigating factors don’t fill anyone with warm feelings.).
I think we’re totally fucked in the House. At least, until 2024.
If I had to place an early bet on 2024 (I don’t bet), I’d bet the House goes D and the Senate goes R.
WHAT ABOUT THE White House?
Uh, no idea.
As ever a good memory remains the enemy of all things political, in a family plagued by generations of dementia I remain the lone survivor. Look to both the history of Republican “takeovers” of the house and to the constant reminder we call the third world, as ever a constant sad reminder of where we are headed. It has been suggested with the removal of the metal detectors in congress that it will result in more then a few members being armed. Cool! Let the slaughter begin as our current sad excuse for a functional government remains but a distant dream.
El, I agree you are clearly not a scatological kind of fellow, but it did have to be said. Ali Velshi of msnbc was on the same page late last night, when he commented, “Welp, McCarthy just gave up his underpants.”
KWS never caused a settlement like that, Trini was not the only named individual FYI,
From Delaware Online:
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2023/01/03/harassment-lawsuit-against-delaware-insurance-commissioner-settled/69764911007/