A Reminder To The Troll

 feo,

 Try re-establishing your blog where you can post your drivel and no one will read it there, either.

A Wild Ride!

So Kevin McCarthy is our new Speaker of the House for the 118th Congress.  It took six present votes to get him over the finish line on the 15th vote.  Historic.  15 votes.  It's been awhile since electing a speaker took so long (not the longest...it only went to the fifth day).  What a civics lesson!  

I'm not particularly keen on McCarthy, seeing him as too much a Paul Ryan/John Boehner than a Newt Gingrich, which is the kind of Speaker we really need.  But I agree with Tucker Carlson that he's far more suited for the post than for most any other...for a rather establishment Republican.  That is to say, he really is more of a swamp creature than I'd like to see leading the GOP in the House.  We have a worse example leading the GOP in the Senate, but they're of the same breed more than not.  

On the plus side, the 14 of the original 20 opponents who changed their votes to support McCarthy worked hard to squeeze him for most necessary concessions.  I'd like to think McCarthy conceded the points on the principle that the points had merit...which they do (insofar as do those of which I heard).  The remaining holdouts who voted "present" simply don't like the guy for the job, which is cool.  I don't agree he's so bad that they'd totally hold up business indefinitely, and their "present" votes seem to have demonstrated that.  Of course, there was always risk.  But at worse I think the GOP would have simply nominated and pushed a different name rather than let election denier Hakim Jefferies take the gavel.  

One of the concessions had to do with ridding ourselves of the Speaker, should he fail to satisfy.  I don't know exactly how many reps must join forces to get it done, but if I understood him correctly, Byron Donalds asserted that prior to Nancy Pelasshole changing the rule to make it harder, it had long been the rule that only one Congress-critter could demand the Speaker be removed, yet it had never been exercised before.  I imagine...and this is likely the case...Pelosi simply didn't want to risk being tossed, so she got the rule changed to raise the bar for removal while she had the majority.  It should be fairly easy to reject a lame Speaker such that the Speaker must do his/her job effectively to prevent it from happening.  We adults call that "accountability", and it is a good thing.  Kudos to the holdouts.

Another is the move to deny the absurdity of another omnibus spending bill as was just passed.  The rule will prevent such monstrosities from being passed in the middle of the night without the bill given adequate time for scrutiny before voting on it.  Also, it would require that each department would be of a separate spending proposal and in addition, no amendment unrelated to the bill would be allowed.  If I've got all this right, it is a good thing.  

Also, I think Friday is now pizza night, but I'm not sure about this one.  

In any case, the holdouts did their duty as their oath to their office and their promise to their constituents demanded and together with other concessions the rules of operation will result in the House going what the House is supposed to have been doing for some time but hadn't in quite awhile.   We'll see.

For the record, Steve Scalise is Majority Leader and some dude from Minnesota is Majority Whip, while the moron Jefferies is Minority Leader and some broad from Massachusetts is Minority Whip.  

All in all, I enjoyed the entire process.  It was amazing to witness, though I hope we don't have to endure another for a long time.  I wish McCarthy the best and hope that he will lead the House to do its job and justify a better opinion of them in short order.  The people shouldn't have such low regard for Congress and this part of it can do great things, even with it's small majority...that is, so long as the assholes in the Jackass Party don't obstruct just to obstruct.

Wine Altered Thoughts On A Year So Deserving Of The Door Hitting It In The Ass Really Hard On It's Way Out.

I feel like a New Year's post is in order, but somehow I just don't feel I can put into words my current state of mind.  Despite starting a new life in another state with my beloved (and her cat), and enjoyment we're experiencing with all the novelty of our new digs and area, the year as a whole was pretty much crap.  It's a blatant example of what life normally is:  bullshit with some brief moments of extreme joy. 

The bullshit runs from the negative impact of the our current political situation, with a moron leading an administration chosen by box-checking instead of by pure merit and ability.  The harm to the nation from this administration continues as hard as from the first moment after the inauguration and I can't help but believe we haven't seen the worst of what this abject asshole is capable of bestowing upon a nation too stupid to acknowledge that only a shit show was likely.  He's delivered in spades and I don't know if the GOP majority come January will be able to do all that much to stand in the breech and mitigate the harm Biden will no doubt inflict on the nation.  (And there we were sittin' pretty as a nation before total jackasses threw it all away on the falsest of false pretenses.)

The bullshit of my personal life is too mundane to describe, but it's the constant nature of it which is so hard to bear.  It's pretty much been a daily thing with little respite.  I persevere because that's what men do.  I fall back on my faith and my relationship with my better half... because that's what men do.  Yet I feel as if the breaking point is right there in front of me because of the amount of bullshit.  You know how you can sometimes come just short of bumping into someone, and as you move right to avoid the person, the person moves in the same direction, and then you change to the left and the person does as well, and you both do this stupid dance for a few moments until one of you decides to just stop and let the other person pass?  Imagine never getting to that point, and the past year feels just like that. 

Of course, there's a part of me which seems to wallow in it, as in the case of the social media discussions in which I choose to engage.  Doing so is similar to knowing fire is hot but one still puts one's hand into the flames.  What the hell are you doing to yourself???  I'm thinking of begging off the social media for a week or two to see how much my mood is altered.  Don't know if I can, as I enjoy the opportunity to express my thoughts and opinions, but the thoughts and feelings of the very same asshats who have put the nation in its current dire state are those with whom normal people must eventually engage.  

Anyway, I'm thinking of doing a New Year's Resolutions post, and it won't be pretty.  After so many years of being accused of being an angry white man, I've actually become one and it's as if those who said that crap sought to make it a reality.  Not a good f**king idea.

If ever I needed my Lord, now might be my time of greatest need.