Rep. Paul Gosar isn’t really a member of Congress, so Congressional Punishments don’t really matter

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The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to approve a resolution that censures Rep. Paul Gosar for posting a photoshopped anime video showing him murder Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The censure strips him of his two committee assignments. Gosar's response was more or less - "Big Whoop. I'm just here to fuck around and shit post anyway." CNN and others call the more "a major rebuke" but let's face it - Gosar is right abut his tenure. He is a hype-man. He can put his clown show on just as easily without committee assignments. I liked AOC's response:

Biden’s Dilemma

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He ran as the sensible moderate who, even in the age of unbreakable, unreasonable, recalcitrant Republicanism,  could "bring people together."   The unreasonable, recalcitrant Republicans have called bullshit on that plan, so Biden can either renounce this key campaign promise, or make pretend that Susan Collins,  Mitt Romney, Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski,  Shelley Moore Capito attending a White House signing ceremony means that he is "bring people together." I'd be the farm that the Biden braintrust goes with "let's make pretend" as a strategy. And I get it.   Calling out Republicans for what they are and charting a bold, aggressive new course of direct confrontation would be akin to admitting that his political life up until now is a bit of a scam.   You can't blame him for not having the guts to renounce his entire political identity, who could possibly do that? Sure.  That sucks for the country, but there you have it.

DL Open Thread Tuesday November 16th 2021

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Everybody hates Joe Biden because gas is expensive, so he passed some gimmicky pork barrel bill to try and buy back some approval points.  That's what the very objective DC press corps is saying, so it must be true. Kevin Goff, the defendant's lawyer in the murder trial of Ahmaud Arbery keeps trying to make the trial about his own racism.  “How many ministers are there in the Arbury family?” Said Goff,  “The seats in the court’s public gallery are different from the courtside seats in the Lakers game.” Steven Bannon is a fine upstanding member of the Republican Party. Liz Cheney has been removed from the Wyoming GOP. In these days of glorious bipartisanship, I guess that means Coons will be reaching out to Bannon instead of Cheney going forward (?) The UK is still being haunted by its ill-conceived, Brexit vote.

Johnson Says It'd Be 'Legitimate' to Suspend Brexit Deal Over Northern Ireland

Boris Johnson said it would be “perfectly legitimate” for the U.K. to suspend part of the Brexit deal with the European Union, though his government still wants to negotiate a solution to their escalating trade spat. The U.K. is demanding a major overhaul of the divorce agreement it signed with the bloc, arguing that its implementation is causing significant harm to businesses and communities in Northern Ireland. Johnson has repeatedly threatened to suspend parts of it by using Article 16 of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, if the bloc doesn’t agree to rewrite it.

Yet doing so carries the risk of severe retaliation from the EU. On Monday, the bloc’s top negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, told Irish lawmakers that any such move would call into question the EU’s broader trade deal with the U.K., signed at the end of 2020 to ensure tariff-free commerce.

     

DL Open Thread Monday October 15th 2021

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I am very happy to be living in an era bipartisan cooperation in which everyone puts the country first and petty tribalism doesn't run the show.   But can the current golden age of Coonsian bipartisan cooperation and happiness survive the Colorado River drying up for good?  I sort of doubt it. Also today... only 16% of Americans are hard line anti-vaxers. But they sure get a shit ton of media attention. And speaking of airtime, UD Alum Lydia Cole joins Rob in the bunker to talk about current protests and what demands need to be made to make sure that sexual assault is taken seriously on campus. And finally, if you never want another decent night's sleep, read this article El Som linked to over the weekend and marvel at how hard republicans are working to install trump as President for life, while Democrats can't be bothered to lift a finger to stop it.