Today has been somewhat relaxing. I even managed to cut the nails of my three furbabes and watched a movie for my "me time"! Tomorrow is my busy day with physio, teaching and a few errands. TGIF!!!
Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:27 (average 5:29). To do it, click here. How did you do? For those that don't know, we always do the 48 piece classic.
Short Takes
The New Yorker — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has entered rehab to deal with his “struggles with nouns and verbs,” an aide to the congressman has confirmed.
According to the aide, McCarthy abruptly dropped out of the race for Speaker of the House because his difficulties with those two parts of speech had “spiralled out of control.”
Well McCarthy certainly did spill the Republican beans, didn't he! And now out of the race for Speaker. Was it the beans really?
NOLA.com — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's surprise decision Thursday (Oct. 8) to drop out of the race for speaker likely puts an end to Rep. Steve Scalise's run for the No. 2 House leadership post.
McCarthy announced that he plans to stay on as majority leader. McCarthy, a California Republican made his announcements to a GOP caucus meeting that had been expected to vote him the members' choice to be elected speaker during a full House vote slated for Oct. 29.
McCarthy said it's important the GOP caucus be "100 percent united," and that "if we're going to unite and be strong, we need a new face to do that."
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said McCarthy dropped out because he didn't think he could get the 218 votes needed in the House to replace John Boehner as speaker. Issa said neither of the other candidates – Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., and Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, could, either, although McCarthy had the backing of a majority of the GOP caucus.
Continue reading about these GOP follies at NOLA.com. It would seem that there is a lot of confusion and the issue of the ultra conservatives vs the conservatives is shredding the party right now.
Prompted by an e-mail I received, I looked into the Constitution to see who could be the next Speaker. The Speaker need not be a sitting member of the House and "…based on tradition and practice from the earliest days of the nation, to be elected speaker a candidate must receive an absolute majority of all votes cast for individuals, i.e. excluding those who abstain. If no candidate wins such a majority, then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected." (from Wikipedia)
Huffington Post — Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Thursday that the GOP's investigation into Planned Parenthood's use of federal funds hasn't turned up anything.
"Did I look at the finances and have a hearing specifically as to the revenue portion and how they spend? Yes. Was there any wrongdoing? I didn't find any," he said during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the family planning provider. …
Chaffetz said Thursday that he still supports digging into Planned Parenthood's activities, even if they're using their money appropriately.
"I think there will continue to be investigations," he said.
Read the rest at Huffington Post. Enough already!!! How many tax payer dollars are going to be misappropriated for what in my mind, should be classified as partisan politics? I would say the same about Benghazi and the ACA too.
My Universe — It's Carnivale for these two energetic Bengals!
19 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 09/10/2015”
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New Yorker: One less clown, glad he stepped down…I know he had trouble with nouns and verbs, Andy. But how about those prepositions, and those dangling participles?
HP: Seriously. Wasting time, effort and taxpayers money on investigating PP after saying there is no wrongdoing. Stop it already! Oh,…that's right, we're talking about the clowns…ugh!
My Universe: How adorable! Gorgeous kittens too!
Enjoy your day, and Thanks, Lynn for this
Brunsvigia josephina puzzle time; 4:58.
I love the kitty maze!
The last couple days have been wonderful watching the GOP tear itself up.
It's our outing day. We are either going to Chicago's 606 Trail or to the National Veterans Art Museum.
I hope our Tom Cat comes back soon!
I do too Gloria! We all just need to be patient which is really difficult. Hang in there girl and enjoy your outing.
New Yorker: More like rehab time for the entire GOP and its factions of klowns in a mental place and to leave Congress foregoing their free, government health plan.
NOLA: John Boehner:
"Our conference will work together to ensure we have the strongest team possible as we continue to focus on the American people's priorities."
What he really means is that they will continue to serve their masters, the Koch Bros., billionaires and ALEC, as best as they are ordered. The other reason is to continue to oppose Obama on any issue he proposes or better known as "NO!".
HuffPo: Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) "said Thursday that he still supports digging into Planned Parenthood's activities, even if they're using their money appropriately."
""I think there will continue to be investigations," he said."
Another example of wasting taxpayers' money. Just like the current Benghazi investigation and trying to debunk ACA for the umpteenth time (60?) at a cost of a million dollars per pop.
Universe: Silly Bengals!
Jim, that figure is a bit low according to CBS Miami.
"Last year, CBS News calculated that the first 33 votes to repeal health care reform took up approximately 80 hours of floor time from the House, or roughly two weeks. The Congressional Research Service said it costs $24 million to run the House for a week, so the first 33 votes cost taxpayers approximately $48 million."
That's over $1.45 million.
And the cost overall . . . from Fortune
"Repealing Obamacare would add as much as $353 billion to the U.S. budget deficit through 2025, the non-partisan CBO found. "
So much for fiscal conservatism. This is strictly ideology at work. No one could accuse the Republicans of being sensible or compassionate!
5:06 I assume the lily is not photosopped but the background is?
New Yorker – I don't think it actually was the beans. When did a Republican ever back off because of saying something stupid? I mean, look at the clown car. No, I think it was threats of exposing his sex life.
NOLA – Oh, my, that is going to be an all nighter, isn't it? It could go forever unless they sequester them like the college of cardinals electing a Pope. There could be blood.
HuffPo – They really don't care how much they spend to score cheap points. That's the cost of being Government. They really resent their opponents, who only have to send a threatening email and their candidates fall apart. That's way too easy. Throwing good money after bad is the Republican way. Besides, every penny spent on grandstanding hearings is a penny that can't be spent to help the poor or the environment, and thus is well spent.
Universe – Whack-a-kitten! Wow! A new way to play "I love you, let's kill each other."
"There could be blood." No kidding! Perhaps we could replace those kittens with Republicans, right wing evangelicals and TeaPartiers. Would be fun to watch!
The McCarthy-Rethuglican-House fiasco is exactly what any sane person would expect to happen when they’ve allowed the Looney Tunes “Freedom Caucus” to take hostages – viz., of their own Party, the House and OUR country.
(And my money is on Paul Ryan "relenting" and agreeing to be Speaker – but ONLY for one term. He’s got his eyes set on a higher prize!)
And I LOVE the "Whack-a-Cat" clip!
So good to hear you manage some "me time" too in between the lessons, physiotherapy and keeping TomCat's site up and running, Lynn. Kudos to you for all you're doing AND keeping a good balance.
The New Yorker: Oh Andy, could you be any harsher? “He agreed that he needed help, although it took people awhile to realize that’s what he was trying to say.” I almost feel sorry for McCarthy…almost. Imagine being handpicked by Boehner and then making a nosedive even before you even got off the ground. So sad 😉
NOLA.com: I'm utterly confused, but apparently so are the Republicans. I'm confused because I had mistakenly assumed that the majority leader of the House was also the speaker. Knowing now this is not correct, I'm further confused about McCarty staying on as majority leader which he becomes by default because Boehner made him his second man but not going for the speaker position which is electable and not handed down. Won't an elected "outsider" speaker, an inheriting majority leader who can't put a long sentence together and an incredibly divided GOP in the House make matters even worse? I hope so. And why is the name of Darrell Issa, who was so quick to point out that none of the candidates have or had enough backing to get the vote, not mentioned here as a possible candidate, which seems to be the worse case scenario for us? And has this been the intention of Boehner all along? I'm sooo confused.
Huffington Post: It was clear from the very start when Chaffetz sprung to action with his committee and turned it into the Inquisition that we had another Benghazi on our hands. The only difference with that committee that those responsible for the Benghazi investigation only now acknowledge that their only intend was to bring Hillary Clinton as much harm as possible; the PP investigation led by Chaffetz admit to it freely almost from day one that they can't find a thing wrong with PP (besides performing abortions of course) but they will continue the farce at the cost of the taxpayer anyway, just because they can and in the hope it will make the GOP's rabid base stay loyal to them when they have absolutely nothing else to offer them.
My Universe: A tailor made box, how wonderful!
Lona, it is not difficult to get confused about the Republican Speaker debacle! Apparently, or so it is hypothesised, McCarthy had a dalliance on the side . . . he broke his Republican family values and was caught by someone. Since he withdrew his name from the Speaker's race, he retains his majority leader position as he was elected by the Republican Conference. Perhaps THIS will help answer some of your questions.
Here is a thought…
DRAFT LEADER PELOSI
Help us capture the momentum and Draft Leader Pelosi now!
http://action.dccc.org/petition/draft-pelosi
signed–best candidate I've heard mentioned yet
Signed!
As I have read, any potential Speaker must garner the vote of 50% or 218 House votes. With Republicans having 247 seats, it would seem a slam dunk. But the Republicans are so fractious, nothing should be taken for granted. Put Pelosi back in charge and watch Republicans squirm!
That controlling far right group numbered 50 until recent days (at least one resigned in recent days)…so they needed 20 DEMs to join with the rest of the GOP for getting the votes…
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/08/1429416/-Flashback-to-5-years-ago-and-promise-of-a-new-now-hilarious-generation-of-Republican-leaders?detail=email
Makes a great statement on McCarthy et al (and I know I saw someone rating the possibles based on the quality of their grammar in an article so AB may not have been the original to see the problem)
Grayson filed a formal complaint on the Benghazi witchhunt waste–perhaps Chaffetz will now be subject to a similar complaint re:misuse of power and money for partisan politics
Kitties always welcome
I hope that complaint goes all the way! It would be nice if he was handed his political head.
The New Yorker: Andy is so funny, but from watching the news, we may be in worse shape with the potential candidates who a being considered.
NOLA: It appears that the HOuse Republicans are in such disarray, they will have a hard time finding a speaker. If this does not show the voters that they need to vote them OUT, nothing will.
Huffington Post: They found no wrong doing on the part of Planned Parenthood, but plan to continue to investigate? But,,,,, they don't have a war on women, do they?????
My Universe: This video makes me want a kitten.
Edie, have you mention a new baby to your hubby yet?
And of course, there's no war on women. Ask any Republican!
Thanks all. Rushing. I'm off to see my mother.