How Democrats can control Republican leadership . . ."If nothing gives, will the 123rd session of the House of Representatives see a coalition government? Can Steve Scalise or another candidate gallop in as a dark horse? Or will the swamp be swampy and reach some other sort of compromise? Your guess is as good as mine, but too much delay doesn't reflect well on the GOP's ability to govern. Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
"The group is led by Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, who has put himself forward as an alternative. Biggs received 10 votes in the first round, while nine Republicans backed other candidates.tative Andy Biggs of Arizona, who has put himself forward as an alternative. Biggs received 10 votes in the first round, while nine Republicans backed other candidates."
Reality bites: We don't currently have a House of Representatives. . ."No serious person that I’m aware of actually believes that this situation will go on indefinitely. But if it lasts too much longer some serious threats to the nation’s stability will begin to loom on the horizon. For one thing, as was pointed out by The Hill last night, if the current majority can’t even manage to name a Speaker, what will happen when they vote on the debt limit later this year? If they similarly deadlock on that, we will quickly hit the country’s spending limit. After that, America would begin to default on its debts and the entire economy would quickly collapse in response.". . .
Media, Democrats Now Comparing Boring Speaker’s Race to Capitol Riot, January 6 . . ."I’d be willing to bet the farm that, unless you happened to come across a conservative who is dedicated to reading independent media (like The Political Insider!), you will be told by these random Americans that a mob killed several police officers that day.
"And yet, because “President” Biden, Democrats, and media outlets keep repeating a blatant falsehood, Americans believe it. They act and vote accordingly.
Twenty thousand pounds of fentanyl. It’s a killer. It’s a flat killer.” It’s a killer, indeed, when you demonstrate that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
" President Biden let it be known first thing yesterday morning that he would visit El Paso this coming Sunday. The visit is notable for two reasons. First, it’s a rare weekend when Biden will not be on vacation. He has spent 40 percent of his term in office so far on vacation. At age 80, the guy needs his r & r.
"Second, for “El Paso” read “the border.” For the first time in his political life Biden will visit the border. This can mean only one thing. Biden is preparing to announce his candidacy for a second term in office.
"This raises the question whether he will be fit for a second term. We can answer that question definitively in the negative insofar as he is not fit for his present term. Moreover, his faculties are declining. He’s not getting shaper with age.
"On Biden’s first day in office as president he undid approximately everything President Trump had done to achieve control of our border. During his campaign for the Democratic nomination he made it clear that he would open the border and he has made good on his promise.
"Biden has dissolved our southern border. The official statistics reflect 4,000,000 illegal crossings in fiscal years 2021 and 2022. The first of those two years set a record that was broken by the second of the years. Nearly 5,000,000 illegal aliens have entered the United States since Biden took office.". . .
MSNBC's Joy Reid will find Bush a blessing, I'm sure. TD
RedState . . ."As RedStatereported, after Rep. Byron Donalds was nominated for the position in place of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Bush lashed out, essentially accusing Donalds of being an Uncle Tom who wants to perpetuate “white supremacy.” You know, because black guys are famous for their white supremacy.
"It’s just incredible what Democrats can get away with. Imagine if a Republican launched into that kind of vile, racist attack against a colleague, much less a colleague from a minority group. Don’t you think it might be major news and that it would lead to major consequences? That person would be stripped of their committees and censured in no time. But when Bush launches into a racist attack or Rep. Ilhan Omar dabbles in anti-Semitism, the leaders of the Democrat caucus just shrug. There’s zero accountability on that side of the aisle.". . .
"The 28-year-old has been formally charged with the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin on November 13 in Moscow, Idaho. He has been held on bail and will reappear in court on January 12.
"In affidavit released on Thursday, it describes where the officer first on the scene found the bodies of the murder victims, and discovered a leather knife sheath on the bed of two of the victims. Kohberger's DNA was discovered on the button of the knife sheath, and genealogy experts matched it to samples from trash taken outside his parents' home in Pennsylvania.
"The affidavit also lays out how the 28-year-old PHD criminology student stalked the victims' home at least 12 times, and details his movement through cellphone pings on the night of the murders.
A rump caucus of Republican malcontents take their own party hostage.
"After four years of legislative malfeasance by Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic myrmidons, the Republicans will soon have a 222–213 majority in the House of Representatives. It should be obvious to the meanest intelligence that, to accomplish anything useful with such a narrow majority, the House Republican Conference has to close ranks and prepare for a war with a radicalized Democratic minority that will continue its ongoing effort to undermine the will of the voters.
"The new Republican majority will get its first chance to present a unified front on Jan. 3, when the House meets to elect a new speaker to replace Pelosi. Yet a small cadre of GOP opportunists vows not to vote for the only realistic choice — current Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). On Nov. 15, the Republican House Conference elected McCarthy to be its nominee for House speaker. He defeated his only challenger for the gavel, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), 188–31. The latter nonethelessinsistshe will challenge McCarthy again in January.
"Aside from Biggs, McCarthy’s loudest critics are Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.). The GOP majority is so narrow that, if they remain intransigent, it could prevent McCarthy from becoming speaker of the House. To prevail on Jan. 3, he must garner a majority of those voting in the full House, and he won’t get any Democratic votes. All of this would be less perverse if McCarthy’s GOP critics backed a viable alternative. But, as Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.)toldFox News, they don’t:. . ."
How Democrats can control Republican leadership . . ."Now U.S. House rep. Kevin McCarthy is considering working out a deal with Democrats to land him the position of speaker. As third in line to the presidency, it's just about as important a position as you can have in government, and he feels that he's due for the title. A group of Republicans are a hard no to McCarthy's candidacy, though, and several votes have failed to win him the election.". . .
“we’ll have to pass the bill to, well, find out what is in the bill” etc. ~ Nancy Pelosi 2009 “We rely upon the stupidity of the American voter” ~ Johnathan Gruber 2011, 2012.
. . .Once you understand this process you can understand how politicians get rich.
"When a House or Senate member becomes educated on the intent of the legislation, they have attended the sales pitch; and when they find out the likelihood of support for that legislation; they can then position their own (or their families) financial interests to benefit from the consequence of passage. It is a process similar to insider trading on Wall Street, except the trading is based on knowing who will benefit from a legislative passage.
"The legislative construct passes from K-Street into the halls of congress through congressional committees. The law originates from the committee to the full House or Senate. Committee seats which vote on these bills are therefore more valuable to the lobbyists. Chairs of these committees are exponentially more valuable.". . .
In martial arts, the blow to the left chest over the heart is called “the touch of death.” The defibrillator placed on Mr. Hamlin’s chest was the saving grace because it restored a heartbeat that pumped blood. He is now in an induced coma with the hope that it will protect not his heart but his brain.
John Dale Dunn, M.D."The collapse of Damar Hamlin, Buffalo Bills Safety, after a tackle, has been described as a “heart attack,” but the reader should be warned that medical events are sometimes not described properly.
"What everybody who was watching the game witnessed on Monday was Mr. Hamlin taking what looked like an ordinary hit to the chest. He and the other player both hit the ground, they both stood up, and then Hamlin collapsed in an instant. He received at least nine minutes of CPR on the field before an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital, where he is still in critical condition. . . .
. . .It’s worth noting that Americans have found horrifying what happened to Mr. Hamlin and have reached out in typical American fashion: Mr. Hamlin’s charity project for kids is reported to have been bumped from a few thousand to more than a million.
John Dale Dunn MD JD is a retired emergency physician and inactive attorney in Brownwood, Texas.
Revolver"Six weeks ago, Revolver News published a blockbuster investigative reporton Ray Epps — a man who, more than any other individual, appears to be the key unlocking the question of active federal involvement in the so-called “Capitol Siege” of January 6th.
"Out of all of the thousands of January 6’s protesters, and the thousands of hours of publicly available footage from that fateful day, Ray Epps has turned out to be perhaps the only person nailed dead to rights confessing on camera to plotting a pre-planned attack on the Capitol. On both January 5 and January 6, Epps announced multiple times, at multiple locations, his upcoming plot to breach the US Capitol. He then spent hours attempting to recruit hundreds of others to join him. On top of it all, Epps was seen leading key people and managing key aspects of the initial breach of the Capitol grounds himself.. . .
. . ."It would be one thing if Epps’s repeated calls on January 5 to “go into the Capitol” had simply amounted to bluster. But Epps followed through on his stated mission to shepherd others inside. In clips 4-6 of the above compilation, we see Epps actively orchestrate elements of the very first breach of the Capitol barricades at 12:50 p.m, while Trump still had20 minutes leftin his rally speech.
"It is noteworthy that this Ray Epps breach occursjust one minuteafter Capitol Police began responding to reports of two “pipe bombs” located at DNC and GOP headquarters, respectively. Rather conveniently, the already-handicapped Capitol Police thus had still-fewer resources with which to respond to the barricade breach in question.
"While the “pipe bombs” turned out to be a dud, the Ray Epps breach proved fateful. Today, the official stories told by theNew York Times, theWall Street Journal, and theUS Justice Departmentall depict the apparent Ray Epps-orchestrated 12:50 p.m. initial breach of metal barricades as the “Big Bang” event of January 6.
"In large part, this description is hardly an exaggeration.Indeed, it was the 12:50 p.m. breach of the Capitol grounds, in conjunction with a handful of suspicious individuals ripping down fencing and signage, that set in motion the conditions allowing for 1/6 to turn from a rally into a riot.
"In this report, we will blow open this network of still-unindicted key operators who appear to have been at work either with or around Ray Epps during the initial Capitol grounds breach. You, dear reader, will be scandalized — though perhaps unsurprised — to learn that none of the actors covered in this report have received attention in the mainstream press, despite their active and indispensable roles in the events of 1/6.". . .
November 12: Biden's Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Chris Magnus, "is the first openly gay commissioner of the agency." On the other hand, he tried to enforce the border, so naturally Biden had no choice but to fire him.
Ann Coulter"This is the only "So Long, 2022!" column you need to read. I combed The New York Times' archives for all the pivotal moments.
"It turns out that 2022 was a MAJOR year for firsts. True, other years had their noteworthy events -- the first flight, the first man to walk on the moon, the first iPhone and so on. But step aside, 1903, 1969 and 2007! This past year was a goldmine of firsts. Below are just some of the epochal moments registered by the newspaper of broken record.
"January 5: "Adrienne Adams Makes History as First Black N.Y.C. Council Speaker."
Boise, Idaho, held a special parade to mark the occasion!
"February 13: Erin Jackson wins gold in the 500 meters, "becoming the first African American woman to win a medal" in speedskating.
If this historic trend continues, could we one day see a black man in the NBA?
"February 27: Burna Boy "will be the first Nigerian musician to headline Madison Square Garden."
Just think of how much history we have to look forward to -- the first Mauritian to headline MSG, the first Gambian to headline MSG. (There are unconfirmed rumors that a Djiboutian may have played cymbals at the Blue Note once, but apparently that moment was lost to history.)
"March 6: Memoirist Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is "the first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits and the first Peruvian woman to summit Everest.' ". . .
"The first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one. Unless of course, you’re the Biden administration. Then the first step is to blame someone else for it.
"At first blush, it would appear that Biden and Co. are finally going to get serious about the crisis on the southern border. But not so fast—there’s a catch. It isn’t the administration’s fault. It never is.
"On Wednesday, DHS Secretary Alejandro “The Truth is Not Out There” Mayorkas admitted to there being an illegal immigration issue. Of course, he did not use the word “illegal” and blamed someone else, according to Fox News. During a Wednesday interview/talking points briefing with The Washington Post, he was queried about what the administration will do about the influx of illegals once Title 42 came to an end. Mayorkas stated:
There’s no question that the number of encounters that we are experiencing at the border is straining our system. No one disagrees with that. We just can’t seem to agree upon the solution. And a solution is long, long overdue. Within the broken immigration system that we are operating we are managing the number of encounters, and we are prepared to address the end of Title 42. We’ve been preparing for this since well beyond last year.
"So far, so good, but don’t get your hopes up. According to Mayorkas, Congress needs to pass immigration legislation that will include… if you guessed amnesty, winner, winner, chicken dinner! With amnesty guaranteed, immigrants “could” start an eight-year path to citizenship. Mayorkas supports it in part because the U.S. has a labor shortage:
We have 10 million job openings in the United States. I was reading about what Canada is doing to address a million open jobs. They’re bringing in about 1.3 million migrants to fill that labor need that cannot be met within their own borders. President Biden sent forward a comprehensive package on day one. It has not occurred yet.
To right-thinking Americans attempting to make sense of a nation seemingly gone mad, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the irrational, deranged – and often demonic – leftwing political and cultural movements currently capturing the minds of millions of Americans are nothing short of full-fledged cults.
"Whether or not Rep. Kevin McCarthy gets the votes for House Speaker, the renegade conservatives fighting to unseat him have succeeded in exposing the corrupt legislative process and weak leadership that produced another massive spending bill loaded with liberal, special-interest projects like $3 million in taxpayer money for an “LGBTQ Museum.”
"One House conservative who has emerged as an articulate spokesman for the “not business as usual” Republicans is U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, who represents a stretch of Texas ranging from Austin to San Antonio. A former chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Roy is now a formidable force on his own speaking out on behalf of grassroots conservatives against the D.C. “swamp.”
"No congressman has been more forceful in decrying the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, recently signed into law by President Biden, that won passage with the help of 18 GOP senators and nine House members, and explaining how it happened.
"On the House floor [see video below] and in media interviews, Roy has exposed how legislators are given bloated bills resulting from negotiations between advocates for defense spending and legislative liberals as afait accompliwith no opportunity to debate the final bill nor offer amendments. He demands an end to this process:
“The American people are looking at this body and asking how we can pass $1.7 trillion bills that are unpaid for.". . .
"Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been branded the most annoying celebs of 2022 - just weeks after the release of their splashy, multimillion-dollar Netflix special that criticized the royal family.
"The couple - whose high-profile split from the royal family dominated headlines in 2020 - each snagged a spot on Ranker's recently released‘Celebrities You’re Sick of in 2022', with the Duchess of Sussex leading the list of figures readers have reportedly grown weary of.
"The dubious distinctions for the duo is markedly more pronounced than where they placed earlier in the year, when Markle was booked as low as the 20th spot, while her husband, faring slightly little better, was pegged at no. 23.
"Names to round out the top top ten this year included Oprah Winfrey - whose interview of the couple last year saw Markle claim royals had 'concern' over her sons' skin color - as well as Amber Heard, James Corden, Kim Kardashian and several other polarizing personalities.
"That said, in a list that, unlike the Sussexes, also included stars who saw their reputations come into question this year - such as Kanye West and Ellen DeGeneres - the Sussex squad was still featured the most prominently.". . .
At first she said she didn't realize who he was but then heard jail employees discussing him and another inmate told her: 'That's the guy who killed those college students.'
UK Daily Mail "Suspected Idahomurderer Bryan Kohberger spends his days ranting and singing lyrics from violent rap songs inside thePennsylvaniajail where he is being held.
"And several times the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students tried to expose himself to a female inmate who was held in a cell close to him.
"Now that inmate, 50-year-old Valerie Cipollina, has revealed exclusively to DailyMail.com how Kohberger taunted guards, saying they were too scared to go in his cell.
" 'I cut them, I'll cut you,' Kohberger yelled repeatedly, said Cipollina, who was held at the Monroe County Jail for six hours on a New Year's domestic violence charge.
" 'You come in here and I'll cut you,' Kohberger allegedly yelled at one guard. 'I'm going to pee on your face. Do what you want with me, I don't give a s**t.'". . .
The lady relating this story is bipolar; could she be making this up? She can do him a service if her story is false.
"He then screamed at the top of his lungs: 'Come in all of you. You scared of me? You should be scared of me.
" 'You're going to do nothing to me because I'm going to cut all of you up,' he allegedly ranted. 'Come into this cell and I'll show you I'm a creeper. Come in this cell and I'll cut you up too.' "
He added that the pair were pulled over twice during their trip as they passed through Indiana, once for speeding and the other for following a car ahead too closely.
