How can the silliest of Democrats seem to outsmart Republicans?

 McCarthy Holdouts Progress Towards Deal: ‘We’re in a Good Position’  "The House of Representatives will attempt to elect a speaker as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to try to find a deal with conservatives.

"McCarthy and House conservatives have been inching towards a deal that would elect a potential Speaker McCarthy.

"McCarthy offered conservatives more concessions, which include:

• One member motion to vacate, instead of five.*
• More House Freedom Caucus members on the House Rules Committee.
• Promises to hold votes on controversial term limit and border security bills.

"The conservative activist group Club for Growth and the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a super PAC aligned with McCarthy, struck a deal to prevent CLF from weighing in on any open-seat primaries in safe Republican districts.". . .

*Concessions such as this one I fear will leave Republicans powerless and the Speaker afraid to act. TD

See what is happening now? Democrats Push for Pro-Amnesty ‘Moderate’ GOP Speaker

"Democrats are trying to sneak a pro-amnesty GOP legislator into the House Speaker’s seat."

“I would consider the right Republican, someone I could trust,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Ca), a pro-migration Democrat close to California’s Silicon Valley. Khanna continued:

Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Gallagher, who actually spoke eloquently on the floor. David Joyce. But there need to be two conditions. One, you can’t have debt ceiling — the debt ceiling debate or shutdown as something that takes the country hostage, and two, there would have to be some agreement on subpoena power. But I’m open to a Republican who could work to put the interests of the American people first.

Suggestion from a member of the party with neither affection for our nation nor her Constitution.TD

Gaetz: If Democrats Join Up with GOP to Elect a Moderate Republican House Speaker, I Will Resign  That would be a two-fer for Democrats, Matt. Win-win.

House Democrats Float ‘Unity Speaker’ Possibility amid GOP Speaker Debate  . . ."On MSNBC Tuesday evening, Ocasio-Cortez tried to drive a wedge between McCarthy and the 20 conservative holdouts.

“ 'I do not believe that Kevin McCarthy has the votes. I believe that a lot of the opposition to him is very personal. I believe his leadership style is incompatible with a lot of Republican members and certainly the Democratic Caucus,” she said.". . .It would seem that the great power behind this teeny bopper prom queen is using her to good effect. TD

Biden Administration Finally Admits How Disastrous Cancelling Keystone XL Was

 RedState

"Just how bad was Joe Biden’s decision upon taking office to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline? We now have an admission directly from Biden’s own administration.

"According to a newly-released report from the Department of Energy, which cited a variety of studies on the economic impact of the pipeline’s construction, the cancellation of Keystone XL cost somewhere between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs. Lost GDP from the project is also estimated to be between $3.4 billion and $9.6 billion.

"Even when you only consider the SEIS, which is the government’s environmental impact study, the numbers of jobs and money involved aren’t small potatoes.

The 2014 Final SEIS estimated that about 42,100 total jobs, or 21,050 jobs annually, would be created if construction were to take two years (direct, indirect, and induced), as well as $2.05 billion in earnings in the United States. About 3,900 of these jobs would be direct construction jobs in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. The project was expected to support 50 jobs during the operation. The SEIS estimated that the construction of the KXL pipeline would contribute $3.4 Billion (or 0.02 percent) to the United States Gross Domestic Product.

"The cop-out here still being pushed by the DOE is the idea that the pipeline would only have created 50 permanent jobs. That’s a farce for several reasons. For starters, I’ve never heard of a pipeline that’s 1200 miles long and only requires 50 people to maintain it, from those on the ground to those flying pipeline patrol from the air.". . .

Kevin McCarthy Drama Underscores Impotence of Republican Elite

 Even if McCarthy prevails — and that is highly questionable, as of this writing — he will only have done so by making unprecedented concessions to his foes within his own partisan caucus.

Those figures on the right who have aggressively pushed McCarthy look silly.   "After Republicans clinched their narrower-than-expected new House majority in November’s midterm elections, the only relevant questions for Congress-watchers seemed to pertain to what Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) impending House speakership would look like.

"To what extent, if any, would he return House rules to “regular order,” whereby bills are drafted and marked up in decentralized committees, rather than unilaterally imposed by the speaker’s office? To what extent would he stack committee chairmanships with like-minded allies, and to what extent would he be forced to offer some chairman gavels to skeptical conservatives? To what extent would he direct the new Republican majority to focus on passing substantive legislation, and to what extent would he focus on subpoenaing and investigating the Biden administration? Would the so-called “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair be restored to the prerogative of a single House member, as was the case for two centuries?

"As of this writing, none of these questions can be answered because McCarthy is not the speaker of the House. Nor is anyone else, for that matter. Eleven ballots in, there is no winner. The race for speaker of the House has not taken this many ballots since 1859 — before the Civil War. A set of roughly 20 House conservatives, led by Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Chip Roy (R-TX), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Scott Perry (R-PA), has repeatedly defied McCarthy on ballot after ballot. The California Republican has yielded numerous concessions to the holdouts, but there is still no resolution. It is unclear how the stalemate will end.

"But the mere fact that, even if McCarthy does prevail, he will necessarily have had to work harder for it than any new House speaker in over 160 years, comes replete with lessons. There are myriad cautionary lessons to be found here in the malodorous wreckage: for McCarthy himself, for McCarthy-endorsing former President Donald Trump, and for the legacy conservative pundits who have emerged as some of McCarthy’s most impassioned supporters."

"His political philosophy and guiding principles are to this day largely unknown, to the perhaps-dubious extent they exist at all. True, he is a well-known prolific fundraiser who knows how to work a room full of donors — but what exactly has that accomplished for either the GOP or the conservative cause, of late? McCarthy is best understood as an empty suit and a quintessential Swamp creature — someone who lives and breathes the D.C. game, who is cozy with K Street, and whose main lodestar is cutting deals and expending political capital in order to boost his own political fortunes.". . . Emphasis mine. TD

Tucker Carlson Rips Dan Crenshaw In McCarthy Fight; Crenshaw Returns Fire 

. . ."On Thursday, McCarthy lost a ninth consecutive vote for the speakership, picking up just 200 of the necessary 218 votes. Seventeen Republicans cast votes for Byron Donalds (R-FL) and three chose Kevin Hern (R-OK). The vote came after McCarthy met with the holdouts Wednesday night and made  several significant concessions designed to get him to the magic number.

"The concessions reportedly included allowing a motion from a sole member to force a vote on ousting the speaker, more key committee seats for Freedom Caucus members, a promise to hold votes on term limits and border security, and appropriations changes aimed at preventing another omnibus spending bill. McCarthy also reportedly agreed to keep his super PAC, Congressional Leadership Fund out of Republican primary races for open seats.". . .

How do Republicans hand victory to a party as contemptible as Democrats? Biased media and academia.

 

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 bid for House Speaker is looking more and more like a soap opera   . . ."McCarthy's primary detractors were the Freedom Caucus, who think he is part of the problem, the swamp, and not of the solution.

"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. 

"That is patently false. 

"And yet, because “President” Biden, Democrats, and media outlets keep repeating a blatant falsehood, Americans believe it. They act and vote accordingly. 

"It matters." 

Bordering on nullity

 Power Line   

 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.". . .

Cori Bush Gets Roasted on the House Floor for Her Vile, Racist Attack Against Byron Donalds

MSNBC's Joy Reid will find Bush a blessing, I'm sure. TD

 RedState   . . ."As RedState reported, 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.". . .

Read the FULL affidavit on how Idaho cops linked Bryan Kohberger to the murders of four college students

 UK Daily Mail  "Police have released a bombshell affidavit laying out their initial case against murder suspect Bryan Kohberger. 

"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. 

Read the full affidavit:

Video, Day Three of House Speaker Voting – Two Lobbyist Groups Likely to Determine Outcome

 

Rich Terrel

lThe GOP’s Moronic House Speakership Fight;...  

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 nonetheless insists he 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.) told Fox 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.". . .

Video, Day Three of House Speaker Voting – Two Lobbyist Groups Likely to Determine Outcome

“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.". . .

Damar Hamlin’s ‘heart attack’

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.

Meet Ray Epps, Part 2: Damning New Details Emerge Exposing Massive Web of Unindicted Operators at the Heart of January 6

 Revolver  "Six weeks ago, Revolver News published a blockbuster investigative report on 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 had 20 minutes left in his rally speech.

"It is noteworthy that this Ray Epps breach occurs just one minute after 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 the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the US Justice Department all 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.". . . 

2023’s First List of Openly Gay Transgender Non-white Accomplishments!

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.' ". . .

Mayorkas Admits to an Immigration Problem. Sort Of. Biden Will Go to the Border. Maybe.

CauseACTION

"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.

"See? Too good to be true."

Related: Biden’s Border Policy Isn’t Working Because He Doesn’t Have a Policy