I sent an e mail to House Speaker a couple of days ago. In it I recommended she and Chuck Schumer get out in front of a tv camera and mic and remind America how many bills they have passed and put before the Senate, where they will sit,languish and die, sadly. I also recommended in the background they could put up some kind of a bill “counter” that showed how many bills they have put before the Senate. I said they should use theatrics and signs much like our friends on the other side of the aisle do. The House is working, the Senate does not, and is not! Moscow Mitch must go in 2020!
in case some mixers have just tuned in and missed it, there was an intervening thread immediately prior to this one with a link to former Sen Flake’s op ed on the Goper’s future and an interesting but long guardian article about the holidays.
and in the Northern Kentucky Tribune, Bill Staub pointed this out on dec. 12th among other things regarding the House bills languishing in the Senate :
According to govtrack, only 78 new laws have been enacted this year, which is well below average. That likely will change some before Jan. 1 if, as expected, the two chambers adopt the National Defense Authorization Act, which basically reauthorizes the U.S. military. It was one of the bills gathering dust and giving old Mitch angina that finally resulted in a deal.
But there are literally scores of House-passed bills – many of them significant – that McConnell has chosen to ignore, basically because he can. To ol’Root-‘n’Branch the imperative is to take up Senate floor time confirming federal judges, some of whom barely qualify for the job, thus making a mockery of the courts.
The House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee reports that as of Nov. 22 the House had passed almost 400 pieces of legislation, some of which are aimed at “driving down health care costs, raising wages and cleaning up corruption in Washington.” But 80 percent of those measures are being blocked from consideration in the Senate by McConnell, who, you’ll recall, is castigating the lower chamber for inaction.
“Sadly, more than 275 bipartisan bills passed by the House are currently sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk waiting for a vote,” said David Cicilline, D-RI, the panel’s chairman. “He’d rather tout himself as the grim reaper than vote on these bills that will help his constituents and the American people. Senator McConnell should do his job or his constituents will pick someone who will.”
LOVE these pics! I see a lot of NYC pics from my sister on Facebook.
LOVE the t-shirt in the upper right hand corner. I’d like to wear it around here… but living in a small town… and one never knows when you’ll need help… I’m not gonna do it. I will not act as assholic as a maggot hat wearer.
ps… it was a goddam bear! It came back last night and cleaned out my seed feeders and crushed one of them. It was 7 degrees out last night…. stupid bear doesn’t know it should be hibernating. Must be a Republican.
Whoever thinks Joe Biden is responsible for Obama care passing is delusional
as for repairing our relationships — pretty much anyone with a shred of integrity can do that
not someone who really does not have a clue…this is the guy who said he wouldn’t support legalization of pot until called on it in public and then quickly reversed\
the same for abortion rights. The man is a loser
Renee, when meddlesome squirrels mess with my bird feeders I leave them a respectful note acknowledging their hunger while pointing out the many oak trees that I have planted.
Late Friday night, minutes before deplaning in Florida for the holidays, President Trump retweeted a link to an article in which Russian President Vladimir Putin defended him against impeachment.
“A total Witch Hunt!” the president tweeted at 10:30 p.m., as he shared a 36-hour-old Associated Press tweet that read: “BREAKING: Russian President Vladimir Putin says U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment is far-fetched and predicts the U.S. Senate will reject it.”
Trump’s boasting of Putin’s support comes a day after The Washington Post reported that White House advisers feared Trump’s belief that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for interfering with the 2016 election was spurred by conversations Trump had with Putin.
Trump’s critics responded to the tweet, expressing exasperation more than incredulity.
“At the end of the day, it’s always Putin First,” wrote conservative commentator and “Never Trumper” Bill Kristol.
“Trump wants us to know that Putin has his back. We know,” tweeted Eric Columbus, a former Justice Department appointee in the Obama administration.
“Putin is a dictator who jails opponents, kills opponents, invades neighbors, interferes in democracies’ elections, etc. I don’t think an American president should be buddying with him. I wonder if Trump defenders are ever (secretly) embarrassed by this stuff. I hope so,” wrote Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor at the right-leaning National Review.
At his annual end-of-the-year news conference on Thursday, Putin was asked about Trump’s impeachment. He called the charges “completely fabricated reasons.”
That evening, Russian state media, which follows Putin’s lead, also threw its support behind Trump.
Popular Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Soloviev gave an impassioned defense of Trump on his evening show, raising his voice several times in a discussion with Atlantic Council expert Ariel Cohen.
“I can’t understand for what reason [Democrats] don’t like Trump,” Soloviev said.
Days earlier, on his two-hour Sunday night program, anchor Dmitry Kiselyov opined about how Hollywood has joined the Democrats in being against Trump, portraying him as “always on the dark side.”
And the state-sponsored Rossiya-1 news channel, which airs Soloviev’s show, recently broadcast segments of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s interview with right-wing channel One America News, in which the president’s personal attorney promoted debunked conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Top chest, 2009 Sears purchase. Center chest 2019, Sears purchase. Tool cabinet, 2019 Lowes purchase.
Life is good. It is nice to have enough tools of the correct size and fit to start taking care of my needs at home and on the boats. Although a good selection of hand and power tools are in the chests, almost all the odd tools and things I created over the decades are not with me anymore. Some will need to be purchased. Some will never be replaced, the vehicles and whatnot are now antiques and should be in museums (out of my reach finally).
Why does it cost will over one hundred dollars an hour to have a mechanic look at your car? Tool costs are one part of it. The other is the cost to know how to use the tools. Unfortunately, there are too many people in shops who have the first but not the second. I can now avoid being charged a thousand dollars a visit because now I can skip visiting, for most repair issues.
…feel like i just took the train past the ash fields of West Egg.
That’s probably cigarette smoke catching the sunlight in GCS, patd.
yesterday talking heads were shaking them aghast at how trump has lost (thru firing or resigning) all his top-notch Russia experts. no people left with expertise and able to advise him.
Whaddaya mean? didn’t he just have Russia’s foreign minister there in the oval office giving him advice?
i’m sure Trump has access to plenty of Russia-experts: Russian ones.
Trump’s been naughty, to say the least. In 2020, maybe, he ought to try nice | Opinion
The most diabolically brilliant shift in political strategy that Donald Trump could devise for the 2020 campaign:
My fellow Americans,
Happy holidays from Mar-a-Lago! This is my first Christmas as an official resident of Florida, a fantastic place to relax, spend quality time with the family and collect my thought (or thoughts).
The last three years have been exhausting for me and my legal team, not to mention this great country. As we look ahead to the historic election next November, I want to share some New Year’s resolutions that might surprise you.
1. Once I’m acquitted by the Senate, I promise not to keep bringing up the whole impeachment mess. Everybody’s sick of hearing about it. We won. They lost. I intend to gloat quietly, and with class.
2. I’m also going to quit rambling on about Ukraine, because that only raises more questions with voters about what the hell I was really up to. Besides, I can easily beat Joe Biden without spreading any more nutty conspiracy theories about his son.
3. In the months ahead, you won’t be seeing much of my loyal crime-fighting friend Rudy Giuliani. I honestly don’t need his “help” to get re-elected, so we’ve found a quiet, private place in upstate New York where he’ll be comfortable and can make some new friends.
4. To avoid making statements that might seem confusing, contradictory or even incriminating, from now on I resolve to walk directly from the White House to my Marine helicopter without stopping to chat extemporaneously with reporters.
5. After what happened last summer, I will no longer be personally involved in forecasting the path of dangerous hurricanes. The time that it takes to explain my expertise would be better spent talking about the new trade deal with China.
6. Due to an onset of carpal tunnel pain, I’ll be doing way less tweeting in 2020 than in the past. As much as I love all my Twitter followers, I must heed my doctor’s advice and cut back to four hours a day while I recover from the tendon damage caused by excessive use of capital letters and exclamation points.
7. My plan is to use all that extra non-tweeting time to travel around the country talking about how fantastic things are. You won’t be hearing any more from me about Nancy Pelosi’s dental work or Adam Schiff’s height, because that phase of my presidency is over.
8. Adhering to this kinder, gentler path, I will also stop insulting the memories of beloved deceased political figures such as Sen. John McCain and Rep. John Dingell, the latter of whom I recently suggested was in hell. Of course I was only kidding — what do I know about hell? — but the time it takes to explain my sense of humor would be better spent talking about America’s incredibly low unemployment rate.
9. Likewise, I will no longer be making fun of environmentalist Greta Thunberg, or any Scandinavian teenager who happens to beat me out for Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Instead I’ll congratulate them politely and continue giving speeches about our amazing coal industry (which keeps losing jobs just because natural gas is cheaper and cleaner. What’s wrong with people?)
10. Due to an unpleasant medical condition caused by too much sitting, I’ll be watching way less television this year. Although I’m basically addicted to the worshipful treatment I receive on the Fox network, I must heed my doctor’s advice and play more golf.
11. Speaking of which, from now on I promise to use the traditional method of keeping score on the golf course, which is apparently to count every single shot you take, even the lousy ones.
12. Finally, while I love entertaining my boisterous supporters, I will no longer be using campaign rallies to rant psychotically about my political opponents. From now on, the atmosphere at these events will be big-hearted, civil and upbeat, and will focus on my exciting, soon-to-be-conceived agenda for the next four years.
13. In keeping with that new spirit of high-energy positivity, we will be replacing our popular red MAGA hats with silver ball caps emblazoned with a modified version of the Rolling Stones’ iconic logo — featuring my tongue instead of Mick Jagger’s.
Patd, I think that’s Grand Central, and it is probably not touched up but rather was a long exposure.
Happy winter solstice.
Eddie’s back on SNL.
KGC is still tiresome in her quest to weaken the dem front runner.
Hey Pogo, did you notice i haven’t shit on any Dem. candidates since you asked me not to?
Yay, maturity!
*cries on the inside*
atta boy, bink. we yellow dog voters are grateful.
it’s to the point i’ll even vote for an aging flea on the yellow dog in order to rid us of putin’s petulant, pestilent and putrescent puppet.
sturge, that pic of grand central (or is that Penn station?) is a beauty. so much so I wonder if it wasn’t touched up a bit. any idea?
interesting comments on “Pelosi Has Passed 307 House Bills Sitting in Senate”
story at aarp online community included this idea by tom:
I sent an e mail to House Speaker a couple of days ago. In it I recommended she and Chuck Schumer get out in front of a tv camera and mic and remind America how many bills they have passed and put before the Senate, where they will sit,languish and die, sadly. I also recommended in the background they could put up some kind of a bill “counter” that showed how many bills they have put before the Senate. I said they should use theatrics and signs much like our friends on the other side of the aisle do. The House is working, the Senate does not, and is not! Moscow Mitch must go in 2020!
in case some mixers have just tuned in and missed it, there was an intervening thread immediately prior to this one with a link to former Sen Flake’s op ed on the Goper’s future and an interesting but long guardian article about the holidays.
and in the Northern Kentucky Tribune, Bill Staub pointed this out on dec. 12th among other things regarding the House bills languishing in the Senate :
According to govtrack, only 78 new laws have been enacted this year, which is well below average. That likely will change some before Jan. 1 if, as expected, the two chambers adopt the National Defense Authorization Act, which basically reauthorizes the U.S. military. It was one of the bills gathering dust and giving old Mitch angina that finally resulted in a deal.
But there are literally scores of House-passed bills – many of them significant – that McConnell has chosen to ignore, basically because he can. To ol’Root-‘n’Branch the imperative is to take up Senate floor time confirming federal judges, some of whom barely qualify for the job, thus making a mockery of the courts.
The House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee reports that as of Nov. 22 the House had passed almost 400 pieces of legislation, some of which are aimed at “driving down health care costs, raising wages and cleaning up corruption in Washington.” But 80 percent of those measures are being blocked from consideration in the Senate by McConnell, who, you’ll recall, is castigating the lower chamber for inaction.
“Sadly, more than 275 bipartisan bills passed by the House are currently sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk waiting for a vote,” said David Cicilline, D-RI, the panel’s chairman. “He’d rather tout himself as the grim reaper than vote on these bills that will help his constituents and the American people. Senator McConnell should do his job or his constituents will pick someone who will.”
LOVE these pics! I see a lot of NYC pics from my sister on Facebook.
LOVE the t-shirt in the upper right hand corner. I’d like to wear it around here… but living in a small town… and one never knows when you’ll need help… I’m not gonna do it. I will not act as assholic as a maggot hat wearer.
ps… it was a goddam bear! It came back last night and cleaned out my seed feeders and crushed one of them. It was 7 degrees out last night…. stupid bear doesn’t know it should be hibernating. Must be a Republican.
Whoever thinks Joe Biden is responsible for Obama care passing is delusional
as for repairing our relationships — pretty much anyone with a shred of integrity can do that
not someone who really does not have a clue…this is the guy who said he wouldn’t support legalization of pot until called on it in public and then quickly reversed\
the same for abortion rights. The man is a loser
Renee, when meddlesome squirrels mess with my bird feeders I leave them a respectful note acknowledging their hunger while pointing out the many oak trees that I have planted.
wapo:
Late Friday night, minutes before deplaning in Florida for the holidays, President Trump retweeted a link to an article in which Russian President Vladimir Putin defended him against impeachment.
“A total Witch Hunt!” the president tweeted at 10:30 p.m., as he shared a 36-hour-old Associated Press tweet that read: “BREAKING: Russian President Vladimir Putin says U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment is far-fetched and predicts the U.S. Senate will reject it.”
Trump’s boasting of Putin’s support comes a day after The Washington Post reported that White House advisers feared Trump’s belief that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for interfering with the 2016 election was spurred by conversations Trump had with Putin.
Trump’s critics responded to the tweet, expressing exasperation more than incredulity.
“At the end of the day, it’s always Putin First,” wrote conservative commentator and “Never Trumper” Bill Kristol.
“Trump wants us to know that Putin has his back. We know,” tweeted Eric Columbus, a former Justice Department appointee in the Obama administration.
“Putin is a dictator who jails opponents, kills opponents, invades neighbors, interferes in democracies’ elections, etc. I don’t think an American president should be buddying with him. I wonder if Trump defenders are ever (secretly) embarrassed by this stuff. I hope so,” wrote Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor at the right-leaning National Review.
At his annual end-of-the-year news conference on Thursday, Putin was asked about Trump’s impeachment. He called the charges “completely fabricated reasons.”
That evening, Russian state media, which follows Putin’s lead, also threw its support behind Trump.
Popular Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Soloviev gave an impassioned defense of Trump on his evening show, raising his voice several times in a discussion with Atlantic Council expert Ariel Cohen.
“I can’t understand for what reason [Democrats] don’t like Trump,” Soloviev said.
Days earlier, on his two-hour Sunday night program, anchor Dmitry Kiselyov opined about how Hollywood has joined the Democrats in being against Trump, portraying him as “always on the dark side.”
And the state-sponsored Rossiya-1 news channel, which airs Soloviev’s show, recently broadcast segments of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s interview with right-wing channel One America News, in which the president’s personal attorney promoted debunked conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Top chest, 2009 Sears purchase. Center chest 2019, Sears purchase. Tool cabinet, 2019 Lowes purchase.
Life is good. It is nice to have enough tools of the correct size and fit to start taking care of my needs at home and on the boats. Although a good selection of hand and power tools are in the chests, almost all the odd tools and things I created over the decades are not with me anymore. Some will need to be purchased. Some will never be replaced, the vehicles and whatnot are now antiques and should be in museums (out of my reach finally).
Why does it cost will over one hundred dollars an hour to have a mechanic look at your car? Tool costs are one part of it. The other is the cost to know how to use the tools. Unfortunately, there are too many people in shops who have the first but not the second. I can now avoid being charged a thousand dollars a visit because now I can skip visiting, for most repair issues.
…feel like i just took the train past the ash fields of West Egg.
That’s probably cigarette smoke catching the sunlight in GCS, patd.
yesterday talking heads were shaking them aghast at how trump has lost (thru firing or resigning) all his top-notch Russia experts. no people left with expertise and able to advise him.
Whaddaya mean? didn’t he just have Russia’s foreign minister there in the oval office giving him advice?
i’m sure Trump has access to plenty of Russia-experts: Russian ones.
Carl Hiaasen at Miami herald:
Trump’s been naughty, to say the least. In 2020, maybe, he ought to try nice | Opinion
The most diabolically brilliant shift in political strategy that Donald Trump could devise for the 2020 campaign:
My fellow Americans,
Happy holidays from Mar-a-Lago! This is my first Christmas as an official resident of Florida, a fantastic place to relax, spend quality time with the family and collect my thought (or thoughts).
The last three years have been exhausting for me and my legal team, not to mention this great country. As we look ahead to the historic election next November, I want to share some New Year’s resolutions that might surprise you.
1. Once I’m acquitted by the Senate, I promise not to keep bringing up the whole impeachment mess. Everybody’s sick of hearing about it. We won. They lost. I intend to gloat quietly, and with class.
2. I’m also going to quit rambling on about Ukraine, because that only raises more questions with voters about what the hell I was really up to. Besides, I can easily beat Joe Biden without spreading any more nutty conspiracy theories about his son.
3. In the months ahead, you won’t be seeing much of my loyal crime-fighting friend Rudy Giuliani. I honestly don’t need his “help” to get re-elected, so we’ve found a quiet, private place in upstate New York where he’ll be comfortable and can make some new friends.
4. To avoid making statements that might seem confusing, contradictory or even incriminating, from now on I resolve to walk directly from the White House to my Marine helicopter without stopping to chat extemporaneously with reporters.
5. After what happened last summer, I will no longer be personally involved in forecasting the path of dangerous hurricanes. The time that it takes to explain my expertise would be better spent talking about the new trade deal with China.
6. Due to an onset of carpal tunnel pain, I’ll be doing way less tweeting in 2020 than in the past. As much as I love all my Twitter followers, I must heed my doctor’s advice and cut back to four hours a day while I recover from the tendon damage caused by excessive use of capital letters and exclamation points.
7. My plan is to use all that extra non-tweeting time to travel around the country talking about how fantastic things are. You won’t be hearing any more from me about Nancy Pelosi’s dental work or Adam Schiff’s height, because that phase of my presidency is over.
8. Adhering to this kinder, gentler path, I will also stop insulting the memories of beloved deceased political figures such as Sen. John McCain and Rep. John Dingell, the latter of whom I recently suggested was in hell. Of course I was only kidding — what do I know about hell? — but the time it takes to explain my sense of humor would be better spent talking about America’s incredibly low unemployment rate.
9. Likewise, I will no longer be making fun of environmentalist Greta Thunberg, or any Scandinavian teenager who happens to beat me out for Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Instead I’ll congratulate them politely and continue giving speeches about our amazing coal industry (which keeps losing jobs just because natural gas is cheaper and cleaner. What’s wrong with people?)
10. Due to an unpleasant medical condition caused by too much sitting, I’ll be watching way less television this year. Although I’m basically addicted to the worshipful treatment I receive on the Fox network, I must heed my doctor’s advice and play more golf.
11. Speaking of which, from now on I promise to use the traditional method of keeping score on the golf course, which is apparently to count every single shot you take, even the lousy ones.
12. Finally, while I love entertaining my boisterous supporters, I will no longer be using campaign rallies to rant psychotically about my political opponents. From now on, the atmosphere at these events will be big-hearted, civil and upbeat, and will focus on my exciting, soon-to-be-conceived agenda for the next four years.
13. In keeping with that new spirit of high-energy positivity, we will be replacing our popular red MAGA hats with silver ball caps emblazoned with a modified version of the Rolling Stones’ iconic logo — featuring my tongue instead of Mick Jagger’s.
Patd, I think that’s Grand Central, and it is probably not touched up but rather was a long exposure.
Happy winter solstice.
Eddie’s back on SNL.
KGC is still tiresome in her quest to weaken the dem front runner.
Hey Pogo, did you notice i haven’t shit on any Dem. candidates since you asked me not to?
Yay, maturity!
*cries on the inside*
atta boy, bink. we yellow dog voters are grateful.
it’s to the point i’ll even vote for an aging flea on the yellow dog in order to rid us of putin’s petulant, pestilent and putrescent puppet.