Yesterday, McCarthy continued his losing streak. The quiet part that Boehner published out loud in his book is that these people just wast chaos. They literally wasnt to make government look bad so that they can destroy it. I’m impatient for Democrats to negotiate with the few sane ones and get behind a sane person, but I do uderstand that they might want to allow this to continue for a bit longer to draw attention to Republican shenanigans. But I hope they won’t allow it to continue for 2 months and 133 ballots, as happened in 1855-56. Even with a stable White House, that would not be helpful. Meanwhile, in the Senate, Patty Murray makes history as the first female President Pro-Tem. (That’s not actually an elected office – it is the senior member of the majority party – “senior” meaning the longest-serving.) Also, the Conversation published an article about several conditions which might have caused Damar Hamlin’s incident. Not what did happen – that can’t be determined without more evidence (sometimes an autopsy, and no one wants that.)
Cartoon – 05 0105Cartoon.jpg
Short Takes –
New York Times (no paywall) – Brazilian Authorities Will Revive Fraud Case Against George Santos
Quote – But an older criminal case may be more pressing: Brazilian law enforcement authorities intend to revive fraud charges against Mr. Santos, and will seek his formal response, prosecutors told The New York Times on Monday. The matter, which stemmed from an incident in 2008 regarding a stolen checkbook, had been suspended for the better part of a decade because the police were unable to locate him. A spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office said that with Mr. Santos’s whereabouts identified, a formal request will be made to the U.S. Justice Department to notify him of the charges, a necessary step after which the case will proceed with or without him.
Click through for details. I love that “with or without him.” Pray for extradition. And the next time you hear a Republican say “George Soros,” respond “You mean George Santos?”
The 19th – Democratic women who made history in 2018 are stepping into leadership in 2022
Quote – Of the 35 Democratic women first elected in 2018, 25 ran for and won reelection in 2020 and 2022. And as Democrats prepare to enter the House minority in January under new leaders, many of those women are now stepping up into increasingly powerful leadership positions and are poised to exert more influence than ever before on the future of their party. “I am somewhat biased, but I do believe that the class of 2018 was a pretty extraordinary class,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, who was one of the first two Latinas elected to Congress from Texas that year.
Click through for story. The rising stars in that class aren’t all women, but a lot of them are.
Food For Thought
