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Free-dumb Caucus
Attribution: Government Shutdown -Advance by Bill Day, FloridaPolitics.com
Author: patd
“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
View all posts by patd
43 thoughts on “Free-dumb Caucus”
as for the rest of the GOP (greed over people party), an alternate ‘toon:
Attribution: Republicans Shutdown New Ideas by Peter Kuper, PoliticalCartoons.com
A government shutdown increasingly looks inevitable as GOP opponents of a stopgap in the Senate seek to drag out the process ahead of a midnight Sunday deadline.
Opponents of the Senate stopgap, which is backed by leaders in both parties, are delaying a vote to give the House a chance to pass its own continuing resolution to fund government.
Senate conservatives want to give Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) more leverage to negotiate spending cuts and changes to immigration policy, leverage that would diminish if the Senate jams the House by moving first and passing a relatively clean stopgap.
It’s unclear if House Republicans will be able to rally around their own funding measure or if McCarthy would put the Senate bill up for a vote in the House once it passes the upper chamber.
Senators say they are being advised to expect to vote through Sunday to get the funding measure to the House.
The legislation would fund the government until Nov. 17 and provide $6.15 billion in funding for Ukraine and $6 billion for disaster relief.
“It’s hard to see that we would get everything done by Saturday night,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), adding that senators have been told to be “available” through the weekend.
“Right now we’re told if Republicans insist on delay we’ll be voting through Sunday,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said.
[…]
The Senate still needs to take at least four more votes to get its continuing resolution over to the chamber, which would require votes on Saturday and Sunday unless Paul unexpectedly relents.
The sense that a shutdown is now inevitable is spreading among House lawmakers, as well.
“Unless something dramatic happens today or tomorrow, there will likely be a couple-of-day or longer shutdown — very, very unfortunately, because it’s our responsibility to exercise and exhaust all options,” Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) said. [continues]
The House late Thursday night overwhelmingly approved $300 million in new aid to Ukraine.
The 311-117 vote came after House GOP leaders on Wednesday stripped the Ukraine assistance from a Pentagon funding bill. All “no” votes came from Republicans.
[continues]
Some members of the far-right faction of the party are coalescing around nominating a member of McCarthy’s leadership team, Rep. Tom Emmer (Minn.), to be the next speaker if they can successfully oust McCarthy, according to those people. The members think Emmer is more attuned to their concerns and will better deliver conservative results.
The effort to replace McCarthy with one of his top deputies is the latest example of the acrimony and chaos that has upended the Republican conference this year and has Congress on the path to a government shutdown. Many within the GOP conference, including McCarthy allies, have long warned that McCarthy’s leadership would be tested during the fight to fund the government because of promises he made to far-right lawmakers in January to win the speaker’s gavel.
Emmer, according totwo people who have spoken to him, has not indicated whether he would want to pursue the speakership or support a measure to oust McCarthy.
“I fully support Speaker McCarthy. He knows that and I know that,” Emmer told The Washington Post in a statement. “I have zero interest in palace intrigue. End of discussion.”
It’s unclear if far-right members will move forward with the plan or if the plotting is simply a warning to McCarthy about the seriousness of their displeasure. But some members have emphasized that removing McCarthy is “inevitable” and “imminent” and they are calculating the right time to try to do it.
One lawmaker said they want McCarthy to leave the speakership with “some grace,” meaning that a motion would happen ifthe government shuts down and McCarthy has exhausted all options to keep it open with only Republican votes.
[…]
Ultimately, Democrats will decide McCarthy’s fate since a motion to vacate needs the support of a majority of the House— 218 lawmakers — to succeed. Democrats have not yet determined whether they’ll protect McCarthy’s speakership or wash their hands of him, according to multiple people familiar with the leadership’s thinking.
“I have no interest in what is happening in terms of the GOP civil war, zero interest,” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) said. “That is not our business. Our business is to focus on the well-being of the American people.”
Other Republican lawmakers expressed shock hearing hard-liners are moving toward choosing a McCarthy replacement. People who are often in the room with McCarthy and Emmer say their relationship is strong and it would be shocking if Emmer were toturn on McCarthy, who values loyalty.
[continues]
Once again, Fox News hosted a Republican primary debate. And once again, Donald Trump was absent. Buddy, I would have liked to have been absent, too. Here is how it went, roughly.
Moderators: Do you want to hear these seven people yell unintelligibly over one another for two hours of your life that you will never get back? Then boy, do we have an evening for you!
Ron DeSantis: I’m here! And you know who isn’t here? Donald Trump. I am a person who is physically present in this room, which is how people are always describing me, except in those times when they refer to my presence as “a kind of bleak, charisma-less void that just sat in the corner, devoured the life force of several children, then belched.”
Chris Christie: (Looks around menacingly) I’m here, too. But where is Donald Trump? My quarrel is with him, and him alone.
Moderator: This is literally the place on Earth he is least likely to be, except possibly on public transportation, at an ailing friend’s bedside or taking a mild inconvenience well.
[…]
Christie:Donald Trump, I know you are watching! I know you can’t stay away! Listen to me: Donald, you are ducking questions so much that soon “no one up here is gonna call you Donald Trump anymore. We’re gonna call you Donald Duck.” (Note to readers:I am not making this up. This is an actual zinger he prepared and delivered, on purpose, and as your faithful recapper this is the kind of thing I feel duty-bound to observe.)
[Brief pause so that everyone onstage can shout unintelligibly; the voice of Doug Burgum can just be made out saying “North Dakota.”]
Moderator: Thank you for that. What would you do to stop mass shootings?
Burgum: Every time I see a policeman, I say thank you. That’s what I would do to stop mass shootings.
Ramaswamy: To stop mass shootings I would make certain people get off social media, which is evil and addictive.
Moderator: Wait, aren’t you on TikTok? Because of Jake Paul?
Ramaswamy: Excuse me, Ronald Reagan said that Republicans should not attack one another personally. That was his special 11th commandment.
Moderator: No, I’m the moderator.
Mike Pence: Commandments! Ronald Reagan! Two things I love, exactly as much as I love my wife, even if she does teach school, which we are against now, I think?
[…]
Moderator: Vice President Pence, I have a question about how you would repeal Obamacare.
Pence: I would solve mass shootings with … the death penalty.
Moderator: So Obamacare is here to stay?
[Another pause for the candidates to shout unintelligibly over one another, this time with the voice of Tim Scott emerging as he asks whether anyone can see or hear him.]
[continues]
Son has been instructed to bring home computer tonight so that if furloughed he can check in daily to learn if he needs to come in to work. This condition is true for all the military contractors on base as they divide into essential and non-essential on programs that are currently required well into at least the next decade.
Something I remember from covering shutdowns in my working days, there’s an important caveat to the claim that furloughed govt employees eventually get their money (no easy thing if you’re living check to check):
Workers for subcontractors DO NOT always get back pay. And there are lots of them — maintenance workers, IT staff, researchers, many different types of jobs. In the past some got paid but lots didn’t.
Last weekend I was visiting my mother and brought along a laptop because she occasionally wants me to look things up for her, her vision is almost gone. Packing up I grabbed one out of the closet, a light one because the machine was not going traveling. My mother asked me to look something up so I took the computer out of the bag and looked in the bottom at a packet of papers.
It was a from 2017, furlough information and FAQ from when sfb was going to shut down the government. The same notice, with updates specific for this coming mess, that is being handed out today, or being sent via email. I think there was some legal reason we got it in paper form. We also had to bring in our phones and laptops to leave on our desks so we could not do government work will furloughed, that is illegal. We were to use public communication for news and to check the OPM website for information about returning when the government was to reopen. How timely. I had quite a stack of those from the orange moron era. The best was the December to January shutdown. That was almost a full month on my boat.
Craig – recently the Dems passed an act to have back pay for feds a guarantee. When I was a fed the Congress had to pass a bill to back pay feds. To get rid of that nonsense the bill was passed.
Sometimes it amazes me when people around my age still have mothers.
Newsom could appoint Kamala and become Biden’s running mate.
i can’t be the only one to see the irony of encouraging human-beings to kill lanternflies because they’re “invasive” and “environmentally-destructive”, right? 🧐
Newsom could appoint Kamala and become Biden’s running mate.
Would be perfect except Dems can’t run two white men on the same ticket
Sorry to hear about Diane. I guess she was sicker than I thought.
BlueB, I think that law only guaranteed all direct employees get back pay (previously only those required to work without pay got paid). Democrats wanted to include contractor employees but didn’t get it done, as I remember it.
This observation from the WaPo article about the RWNJs trying to vacate the seat Kev sits in:
But keeping McCarthy in the post could face long odds: Democrats would need to vote in support of McCarthy to overcome the more than a dozen far-right members who probably would vote to remove him. Jumping in to save McCarthy would almost certainly require he concede a significant amount to Democrats.
Damn skippy it would require he concede a significant amount to Democrats – like putting bills on the fucking floor, just as a for instance.
Sorry to hear the sad news about Senator Feinstein. I hope her legacy will be honored.
In the past the feds who were essential and on duty were paid using a bill after the restart, and the non-essential were added to the bill authorizing payment; we could not go anywhere, we had to be ready to return to the office on something like 24 hour notice. After the sfb 35 day furlough, the issue of the people keeping the Capitol clean, the cafeteria, and others, all contractors, came up as the fight to pay everyone. The greedy old perverts fought that and they were not added. The Dems were trying to make it personal when trying to get all the contractors paid.
In the 80’s and 90’s I was a government contractor, but the contract had us paid no matter what the rest of the government did. I think all deep black contracts were similar to avoid any questions.
This should be split-screened with Trump this week saying wind turbines are killing whales.
Biden yesterday: “Democracies don’t have to die at the end of a rifle. They can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn threats to democracy. When people willing to give away what’s most precious to them because they feel frustrated.”
“I hope her legacy will be honored.”
Remember RBG?
They’ll honor her legacy like a rattlesnake would honor a frog.
Back in the late 80’s and most of the nineties I had an easy parttime gig. It was litter pickup at a corps of engineers lake. Went from April to November. The Feds contract year begins in October, so October and November were on next years contract. Those were my 2 easiest months as few people used the lake at that time. So Bush the elder and the Democrats got in a fuss and they shut down the government which meant I lost those 2 months. When you have a contract if they don’t order work then you don’t get paid.
But what really hurt was the contract manager realized that they really didn’t need me for those months and when the contract came up for bid the next year they eliminated those 2 months from the contract. I lost $8000 of easy money.
Jack
I’m with you Ivy…. Feinstein deserves to be honored.
Also I’m very happy that the governor of California is a Dem.
patd… thanks for Ms Petri’s synopsis of the repub debate… I didn’t bother watching it this time.
she better get the money upfront asap ’cause after the monday hearing if not before whatever dollars are available will long be moved elsewhere
Former first lady Melania Trump has reportedly renegotiated her prenuptial agreement with former President Donald Trump ahead of a possible second term as president, doing so under the radar.
A source described the agreement’s details to Page Six, saying negotiations took place over the past year. The new agreement didn’t solely come ahead of the former president’s third White House run, they claimed, adding that mounting legal concerns played a role.
“This agreement was necessary because of the current legal battles … [Donald] has suffered,” they said.
The source explained, “Trump remains very rich, but with mounting legal bills and judgments,” the agreement was amended to “provide a more solid future” for both Melania and Barron Trump.
“This is at least the third time Melania has renegotiated the terms of her marital agreement,” the source added, noting that the negotiated agreement does not mean a divorce is imminent.
“It’s not that she threatened to leave him,” the source said, adding, “It’s definitely the underlying idea.”
According to the source, Donald Trump’s youngest child, 17-year-old Barron Trump, is Melania Trump’s chief concern when it comes to the agreement. A different source indicated to Page Six, “I know that she wanted it to provide her with more money, and also, from what I understand, there’s a specific amount at minimum that Barron is supposed to obtain.”
The new version of the agreement reportedly provides for Melania Trump as well as Barron Trump and secures both money and property for the former first lady.
The Trump campaign didn’t provide confirmation or comment to the Washington Examiner.
Melania Trump has been absent from the campaign trail as her husband courts voters for his 2024 run. The former president addressed this recently, saying, “Honestly, I like to keep her away from it.”
“It’s so nasty and so mean,” he added.
It was previously reported that her absence was due to her preference for privacy and her prioritization of raising Barron.
mel & son would’ve been better off had they not moved to floriduh.
Florida Equitable Distribution Statute 61.075 (1) addresses Florida unequal distribution of marital assets, and provides the court’s process for dividing marital property: “In a proceeding for dissolution of marriage…the court shall set apart to each spouse that spouse’s nonmarital assets and liabilities, and in distributing the marital assets and liabilities between the parties, the court must begin with the premise that the distribution should be equal, unless there is a justification for an unequal distribution based on all relevant factors.”
Feinstein had a unique ability to start from zero and still manage to finish at the top.She was a native San Franciscan. She was a beauty queen -a cowboy princess at the Cow Palace.
She also helped me on a personal level. She made it possible for my partner and I to get a lease at the SF airport. I don’t think she was aware that we were the beneficiaries. One day at the airport she was there with Dick Blum and they were picking up Sir Edmund Hillary. She saw us standing by our cart. It was like watching a movie. She came over to say hello and said she was glad she could help us out.
Cassidy Hutchinson on threats to Milley, judges, prosecutors etc: “Donald Trump knows the impact of his words. It’s intentional. He knows that people will come out and be violent against these people. That’s what he wants.” (CNN)
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant… and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”
A liberal group on Friday filed a lawsuit in Michigan contending that former president Donald Trump is disqualified from regaining his old job based on a rarely used, post-Civil War provision in the U.S. Constitution.
This is the first time an organization with significant legal resources has sought to block the GOP frontrunner’s campaign in a swing state.
Free Speech For People argued that Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and encouragement of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol violated section three of the 14th Amendment, which holds that anyone who swore an oath to uphold the constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it is barred from holding office.
The case is the second the organization has filed to block the GOP presidential frontrunner’s bid, following one in Minnesota.
Dozens of cases have been filed nationally but the Free Speech For People cases and one filed in Colorado by another liberal group are the first brought by organizations with significant legal resources.
Trump has dismissed the push to bar him from the ballot as “election interference” and his attorneys argued in the Colorado case that it violates his free speech rights.
Those are seen as most likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never ruled on the provision.
Michigan is a particularly significant location for a challenge because it is both a swing state and its Democratic Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, wrote in The Washington Post earlier this month that she and other top election officers don’t have the ability to bar Trump under the clause.
Section three has only been used a handful of times since the Civil War.
Trump is such a thug. In CA speech just now he brags “We got rid of crazy Nancy Pelosi” and as crowd cheers he says “How’s her husband by the way, hope he’s doing well”. Crowd laughs.
It’s like watching a movie.
Those people cheering just sounded WAY spooky.
Obviously he was taking credit for the attack on Mr Pelosi.
Nice Pelosi you got there…,it’d be a shame if something was to—happen—to it.
Capisci?
Judge Chutkan schedules a hearing on DOJ gag order request for Trump — 10am on Oct. 16.
Beautiful memory of Senator Feinstein, Ms. Cracker. I’m always moved by first-hand testimony of how notable people conduct themselves “in real life.”
I was equally moved by Claire McCaskill’s reading of Barbara Mikulski’s tribute to her late colleague Senator Feinstein.
We loved being Senator Mikulski’s constituents for 15 of her 30 years in the Senate. (Babs left too soon.)
At the gag hearing prosecutor should use today’s clip of Trump taking credit for getting Paul Pelosi’s head bashed in
Why must there be a hearing? We’ve already heard too much from a completely vile man.
NEW THREAD by Fearless Leader
The House caved. I’m guessing Mitch or his CoS had a come to Jesus call with Kev or his CoS this morning. Something along the lines of if you float that BS you may keep your Speakership for now but it won’t go anywhere here and don’t expect us to pull your fat out of the fire next year when a blue wave sweeps over the House, so put something on the floor that looks like our bill and stop listening to a dozen idiots.
as for the rest of the GOP (greed over people party), an alternate ‘toon:
Attribution: Republicans Shutdown New Ideas by Peter Kuper, PoliticalCartoons.com
and a tune for the fools on the hill
Lawmakers say government shutdown appears inevitable | The Hill
however, things are getting interesting.
the Hill:
Hardliners plot to replace McCarthy as government shutdown looms – The Washington Post
ms petri’s Opinion | Here’s what happened at the second Republican primary debate. Really. – The Washington Post
Son has been instructed to bring home computer tonight so that if furloughed he can check in daily to learn if he needs to come in to work. This condition is true for all the military contractors on base as they divide into essential and non-essential on programs that are currently required well into at least the next decade.
Senator Diane Feinstein has died. Way back when I had spent time in San Francisco, a very interesting city with her and Harvey Milk.
Dianne Feinstein has passed away. As yet no details on her death at 90.
Feinstein info
Senator Dianne Feinstein dies at 90, source confirms: Remembered as ‘icon for women in politics’ – ABC7 San Francisco (abc7news.com)
Something I remember from covering shutdowns in my working days, there’s an important caveat to the claim that furloughed govt employees eventually get their money (no easy thing if you’re living check to check):
Workers for subcontractors DO NOT always get back pay. And there are lots of them — maintenance workers, IT staff, researchers, many different types of jobs. In the past some got paid but lots didn’t.
Last weekend I was visiting my mother and brought along a laptop because she occasionally wants me to look things up for her, her vision is almost gone. Packing up I grabbed one out of the closet, a light one because the machine was not going traveling. My mother asked me to look something up so I took the computer out of the bag and looked in the bottom at a packet of papers.
It was a from 2017, furlough information and FAQ from when sfb was going to shut down the government. The same notice, with updates specific for this coming mess, that is being handed out today, or being sent via email. I think there was some legal reason we got it in paper form. We also had to bring in our phones and laptops to leave on our desks so we could not do government work will furloughed, that is illegal. We were to use public communication for news and to check the OPM website for information about returning when the government was to reopen. How timely. I had quite a stack of those from the orange moron era. The best was the December to January shutdown. That was almost a full month on my boat.
Craig – recently the Dems passed an act to have back pay for feds a guarantee. When I was a fed the Congress had to pass a bill to back pay feds. To get rid of that nonsense the bill was passed.
Sometimes it amazes me when people around my age still have mothers.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California dies at age 90, sources tell the AP – The Washington Post
California’s Newsom faces tough question: Who would replace Feinstein? | AP News
Newsom could appoint Kamala and become Biden’s running mate.
i can’t be the only one to see the irony of encouraging human-beings to kill lanternflies because they’re “invasive” and “environmentally-destructive”, right? 🧐
Would be perfect except Dems can’t run two white men on the same ticket
Sorry to hear about Diane. I guess she was sicker than I thought.
BlueB, I think that law only guaranteed all direct employees get back pay (previously only those required to work without pay got paid). Democrats wanted to include contractor employees but didn’t get it done, as I remember it.
This observation from the WaPo article about the RWNJs trying to vacate the seat Kev sits in:
Damn skippy it would require he concede a significant amount to Democrats – like putting bills on the fucking floor, just as a for instance.
Sorry to hear the sad news about Senator Feinstein. I hope her legacy will be honored.
In the past the feds who were essential and on duty were paid using a bill after the restart, and the non-essential were added to the bill authorizing payment; we could not go anywhere, we had to be ready to return to the office on something like 24 hour notice. After the sfb 35 day furlough, the issue of the people keeping the Capitol clean, the cafeteria, and others, all contractors, came up as the fight to pay everyone. The greedy old perverts fought that and they were not added. The Dems were trying to make it personal when trying to get all the contractors paid.
In the 80’s and 90’s I was a government contractor, but the contract had us paid no matter what the rest of the government did. I think all deep black contracts were similar to avoid any questions.
This should be split-screened with Trump this week saying wind turbines are killing whales.
Biden yesterday: “Democracies don’t have to die at the end of a rifle. They can die when people are silent, when they fail to stand up or condemn threats to democracy. When people willing to give away what’s most precious to them because they feel frustrated.”
“I hope her legacy will be honored.”
Remember RBG?
They’ll honor her legacy like a rattlesnake would honor a frog.
Back in the late 80’s and most of the nineties I had an easy parttime gig. It was litter pickup at a corps of engineers lake. Went from April to November. The Feds contract year begins in October, so October and November were on next years contract. Those were my 2 easiest months as few people used the lake at that time. So Bush the elder and the Democrats got in a fuss and they shut down the government which meant I lost those 2 months. When you have a contract if they don’t order work then you don’t get paid.
But what really hurt was the contract manager realized that they really didn’t need me for those months and when the contract came up for bid the next year they eliminated those 2 months from the contract. I lost $8000 of easy money.
Jack
I’m with you Ivy…. Feinstein deserves to be honored.
Also I’m very happy that the governor of California is a Dem.
patd… thanks for Ms Petri’s synopsis of the repub debate… I didn’t bother watching it this time.
she better get the money upfront asap ’cause after the monday hearing if not before whatever dollars are available will long be moved elsewhere
wash. examiner:
The LA Times has an excellent obit for Feinstein, I hope it is not behind the paywall. She went through so much, including two assassination attempts. I hope the books about her are good.
Feinstein had a unique ability to start from zero and still manage to finish at the top.She was a native San Franciscan. She was a beauty queen -a cowboy princess at the Cow Palace.
She also helped me on a personal level. She made it possible for my partner and I to get a lease at the SF airport. I don’t think she was aware that we were the beneficiaries. One day at the airport she was there with Dick Blum and they were picking up Sir Edmund Hillary. She saw us standing by our cart. It was like watching a movie. She came over to say hello and said she was glad she could help us out.
Cassidy Hutchinson on threats to Milley, judges, prosecutors etc: “Donald Trump knows the impact of his words. It’s intentional. He knows that people will come out and be violent against these people. That’s what he wants.” (CNN)
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant… and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”
— farewell speech, General Mark Milley
give it a year
KGC – wonderful action. Great memories too.
Another suit to disqualify Trump under the Constitution’s ‘insurrection’ clause is filed in Michigan | AP News
Trump is such a thug. In CA speech just now he brags “We got rid of crazy Nancy Pelosi” and as crowd cheers he says “How’s her husband by the way, hope he’s doing well”. Crowd laughs.
It’s like watching a movie.
Those people cheering just sounded WAY spooky.
Obviously he was taking credit for the attack on Mr Pelosi.
Nice Pelosi you got there…,it’d be a shame if something was to—happen—to it.
Capisci?
Judge Chutkan schedules a hearing on DOJ gag order request for Trump — 10am on Oct. 16.
Beautiful memory of Senator Feinstein, Ms. Cracker. I’m always moved by first-hand testimony of how notable people conduct themselves “in real life.”
I was equally moved by Claire McCaskill’s reading of Barbara Mikulski’s tribute to her late colleague Senator Feinstein.
We loved being Senator Mikulski’s constituents for 15 of her 30 years in the Senate. (Babs left too soon.)
At the gag hearing prosecutor should use today’s clip of Trump taking credit for getting Paul Pelosi’s head bashed in
Why must there be a hearing? We’ve already heard too much from a completely vile man.
NEW THREAD by Fearless Leader
The House caved. I’m guessing Mitch or his CoS had a come to Jesus call with Kev or his CoS this morning. Something along the lines of if you float that BS you may keep your Speakership for now but it won’t go anywhere here and don’t expect us to pull your fat out of the fire next year when a blue wave sweeps over the House, so put something on the floor that looks like our bill and stop listening to a dozen idiots.