The News Won’t Stop

I haven’t been much in the mood to discuss politics of late. The last couple of weeks, my constant and increasingly physical habit of rolling my eyes progressed to throwing my arms in the air as I do so, and then I added a jump stop, time step which resulted in a pulled hammie. Words.

Have you seen the video of Alexi Navalny, Putin’s opposition leader who survived two poisonings? As he was being sentenced to two years and eight months in prison he drew a heart on the glass partition pointing to his wife, Yulia.

I would do the “I’m not crying, you’re crying” bit, but I can’t make light of that. It is so profoundly wrong I can’t pretend it didn’t get to me.

https://www.businessinsider.com/alexei-navalny-russia-doctor-after-poisoning-suddenly-died-2021-2-?amp

Now we learn the doctor who saved Navalny’s life, Sergey Maximishin, “suddenly” died at the age of 55. No cause of death has been listed. No doubt he caught the Russian flew (out a window.)

The number of political news stories in a single day is overwhelming. I foolishly thought once the boil on our collective ass was lanced life would return to whatever it was before. The problem is that he, the boil, isn’t really gone. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has made a habit of visiting him at Mar-a-Lago. McCarthy’s behavior and the behavior of most Republicans in Congress leads me to believe that the orange guy still has people on the inside, who are working for him.

Why else would Republicans attach themselves to Marjorie Taylor Greene? I think he is the reason, but what do I know.

Earlier this week Speaker Pelosi issued a statement in which she referred to the GOP leader as “McCarthy (Q-CA).”

Kevin McCarthy had been tasked with the job of removing the new Qongresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, from the committees she had been appointed to, (by him?) education and budget. I’m not going to list all of the toxic things Greene has done and said, only because she has had enough time in the news. I will say she is unQualified to be on any committee, let alone a be a member of Congress. Did the washed-up reality tv guy direct McCarthy to put her on the committees to forestall progress? Was McCarthy in Florida to get instructions?

Greene is dangerous. She has threatened the lives of many colleagues, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on social media. She encouraged the coup attempt and may have been instrumental in its planning.

https://news.yahoo.com/amphtml/marjorie-taylor-greene-threats-pelosi-mccarthy-qanon-parkland-163725291.html

McCarthy did not remove Greene from the committees, instead, he made excuses for her.

On Thursday House Democrats along with 11 Republicans did McCarthy’s job. Whether or not the House finds a way to remove Greene from Congress may depend on the results of the FBI investigation into the events on January 6. Justice takes time, unlike crime.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/537228-pelosi-refers-to-gop-leader-as-mccarthy-q-ca

Do you remember the game whack-a-mole? My children were Chuck E. Cheese age when I first played it. (I was glad they sold wine.) A plastic mole would pop up out of a hole in a platform and you had to whack it with a mallet to make it go away, but another would pop up. I feel like that’s what we’re doing with these politicians. We vote one out and another nut pops up, it has become tiresome because the Republicans either have no conscience or they’ve lost touch with reality.

The political news this week is not all bad. The crazy train is still running, but it is making fewer stops.

Kamala Harris flexed her new muscle this morning, for the first time, breaking a partisan tie in the Senate to pass a relief bill that will send out the $1,400 we were shorted from the last stimulus bill, meant to give $2,000 to the non-wealthy. Republicans reduced the amount to $600. Remember this when you get your money. Not one Republican Senator wanted you to have it.

Today’s vote followed a 15-hour long debate that primarily consisted of attention-seeking empty arguments by Republicans who wanted to be on record demonstrating their fiscal responsibility to the public.

The nickel and diming arguments by GOP members, like perpetually concerned Republican Senator Susan Collins, (thanks Maine,) make me wonder where the concern was when they gave the rich & their corporations a $1.9 trillion tax cut in 2017. The budget deficit wasn’t concerning then.

Collins argued that the checks should be withheld from high wage earners, although she did not specify what income level she considers to be “high wage.” The bill is already capped at recipients whose income is at or above $300,000. So once again Collins whining drivel was nothing but time-wasting, attention-seeking talk.

👆🏼Those are the words of our 46th President Joe Biden, whose approval rating is at 61%. Trump’s numbers never reached 50%, I don’t think he ever exceeded 41%.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/us/politics/biden-stimulus-senate-vote.html#click=https://t.co/LIj7wO2tvp

Merrick Garland’s confirmation as the U.S. Attorney General will not precede -45’s Senate impeachment trial. I don’t know that having Garland in place as AG would be of consequence, but Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the new Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, made several attempts to move up the confirmation hearings. It won’t happen.

The process of a Senate impeachment trial should be fresh in our minds because Trump was impeached just a year ago in January. The trial will proceed on Tuesday, February 9th. The most senior Senate Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, will preside over the trial. Speaker Pelosi has appointed nine House Democrats to be “impeachment managers.”They will present the case that the instigator in chief, (of the attempted coup,) should be convicted.

Pelosi chose a former constitutional lawyer Jamie Raskin of Maryland as lead manager. The remaining eight are:

Stacey Plaskett of the U. S. Virgin Islands,

Joaquin Castro of Texas,

David Cicilline of Rhode Island

Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania.

• Diana DeGette of Colorado

• Ted Lieu of California

• Joe Neguse of Colorado

• Eric Swalwell of California

These nine lawmakers have the daunting task of convincing two-thirds of the Senate to Convict Trump. That would mean seventeen Republicans and every Democrat, including Joe Manchin (is he a democrat?), would have to vote to convict.

All but five Republicans voted with the GOP Senator from Russia Kentucky, Rand Paul, who argued that the trial was unconstitutional because 45 is no longer president, (even though he insists he is.)

The prospect of convincing seventeen Republicans to convict seems like an impossibility. That said, a simple majority would be enough to bar him from holding public office again. That is not enough, but it’s something.

Lindsey Graham, recently ousted from his position as head of the judiciary committee, is lashing out with threats, meant to dissuade Democrats from calling witnesses. He’s specifically threatening to expose Vice President Kamala Harris, saying that “if this is done by Democrats then Republicans will produce their own witnesses” and “be careful what you wish for.”

Holy Captain Kompromat, what is Lindsey Graham afraid will come out in the trial? He must have done something very bad.

I want to end on a positive note and so I’ll share something I found on Twitter. The sculptor is very talented.