New Speaker Chosen

Well, after multiple tries, the Republicans have finally chosen a Speaker for the House of Representatives.

They sealed the deal with a lawyer from Louisiana, who fought against the Certification of the 2020 election, is against abortion and gay marriage, and is in a Covenant marriage.  

You know, just your average everyday American!

He may represent the Maga Republicans, but my guess is that he represents few other Americans.

There is a lot of news this week, but tonight I am going to pass on writing about it, as I am a bit under the weather , as they say.

So - Til next week -Peace!

Chaos in DC. War in Israel, Week 3

After the withdrawal of Rep. Steve Scalese from the House Speaker’s race, Rep Jim Jordan stepped up for the position. He lost the first two open floor votes. Needing 217 votes, he had fewer than 200 on the second try, which was less than he got during the first go-round. Reporters noted that some of his detractors were receiving threats and menacing messages after they refused to endorse his MAGA-supported bid. Some members of the House, pushing for Jordan to win selected him as the Speaker-designate. Eventually, after Jordan continued to lose votes, the Republican caucus held a secret ballot. To the surprise of few, once the members could vote in private, Jordan mustered only 84 votes. He then withdrew and threw the nomination back to the House members.

Currently, up to twelve men (and there have been no women who stepped up) have either said they are running or considering running for the office of Speaker. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy endorsed Rep. Tom Emmer from Minnesota, who has been serving as the GOP Minority Whip. Many in the Party dislike him because he voted to certify the 2020 election after the assault on the Capitol on January 6^th. Unlike Jordan, he is not a member of the Freedom Caucus but is more of a moderate given to constructive governing. He is a member of the mainstream leadership team, which makes him suspicious to the outliers. As Jordan and Gaetz are from the part of the Party that proposes few constructive measures and are more content with creating destructive forces; if Emmer can overcome their objections, this could be a more hopeful move toward settling this long-drawn-out process. For the sake of our country and its standing in the world, I hope this mess can be resolved soon.

The country has seen this chaos for almost three full weeks now. For the past three weeks, they have neglected to hold any hearings on important legislation, failed to present or pass any bills, and made no progress on the Continuing Resolution (CR) that needs to be decided in a few short weeks. President Biden, in a major Oval Office speech last week, stated that he would send Congress a request for emergency legislation for 105 Billion dollars for aid to Ukraine and Israel. He needs a functioning Congress to consider this request. The CR contained no Ukraine funding, as that was considered too divisive at the time. Then Speaker McCarthy promised to bring it up in the interim and find common ground. But, after the Republicans deposed him for working with Democrats to pass the CR, he cannot fulfill this promise. In the void of the last three weeks, the members have not addressed or assessed this. Some Republican Senators are saying they do not wish these two funding streams to be linked. President Biden linked them, in my opinion, to ensure the passage of both funding streams.

The President’s speech from the Oval Office was historic and important. He said: “that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror and dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos, death, and destruction.” (This was his way of linking both the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the surprise horrific attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians.)

As discussed by Heather Cox Richardson: ( <heathercoxrichardson@substack.com>) “Biden explained that he was sending to Congress “an urgent budget request to fund America’s national security needs, to support our critical partners, including Israel and Ukraine. It’s a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations, help us keep American troops out of harm’s way, help us build a world that is safer, more peaceful, and more prosperous for our children and grandchildren,” he said.  That money, he said, would harden the Iron Dome that protects Israel’s skies after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that took more than 1,300 lives. But he also said that the U.S. “remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination. The actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away” 

On Friday, “the administration asked Congress for a little over $105 billion in funding for national security. The package would devote $61.4 billion to support Ukraine (some of it to replenish U.S. stockpiles after sending weapons to Ukraine); $14.3 billion to Israel for air and missile defense systems; $9.15 billion for humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Gaza, and other places; $7.4 billion for initiatives in the Indo-Pacific; and $14 billion for more agents at the southwestern border, new machines to detect fentanyl, and more courts to process asylum cases. “

After the bombing of the Hospital in Gaza, now shown by multiple intelligence forces to be an explosion from an Islamic Jihad group misfired rocket, tensions erupted across the Middle East. Authorities canceled meetings that President Biden had scheduled with other leaders in the area and the propaganda machines went wild. Protests were held throughout the Moslem world as photos of dead children were shown across the region.

Military people speak of civilian casualties as “collateral damage.” But these civilian deaths are real, not just numbers. Deaths in Gaza and Israel reflect lives that were lost through no fault of their own. I believe no parents bring children into the world only to have them blown up by bombs, missiles, or other destructive forces. Does a Palestinian mother love her child less than an Israeli mother? I doubt that premise; every life has worth. So as Israel lines up troops on the border with Gaza and Hamas, places its rocket launchers on top of schools and shelters, I only wish that someone could impose a truce.

The United Nations seems powerless here, but it helped to find donations of aid for the trucks that have just now started flowing in from Egypt. Supplies have been limited and are now only a trickle. Truckloads are being inspected to determine if contraband, such as weapons or ammunition, is hidden aboard. Israel denied the transport of fuel, suspicious that the armies would confiscate it, but hospitals need fuel to run. So, an impasse persists. Impasses exist also with the number of hostages. Arab nations have urged Hamas to release women and children, to no avail. Last week, they suddenly released two Americans, a mother, and daughter from Illinois with help from Qatar and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. There remain hundreds more who need to be released. Hamas claimed they would start killing hostages if Israel invaded. So, there is another impasse.

We have two forces armed and ready to destroy each other. Hamas has as its mission the destruction of a Jewish state. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas so her people can never again be attacked in this manner. But there are two million people living in the battleground and they cannot leave. Unlike in Ukraine, when Russia attacked, no nations opened their borders to Palestinian refugees.

President Biden, and other world leaders, have urged caution on the Israeli military; just because they can reduce Gaza cities to rubble does not mean they should. Revenge is not a sane military plan. As the number of civilian casualties increases, world opinions will change and Israel risks becoming isolated. Hamas claims to have miles and miles of tunnels throughout the area. Destroying those will not be easy. It seems to it instead diverted me such a shame that resources that could have bettered the lives of those in the Gaza Strip to build tunnels, equip a military, and purchase weapons.

Since 1947, no one has provided a solution for these troubled lands. I agree that after the horrors of the concentration camps, Jewish people needed a homeland. Their history evolved in towns such as Jerusalem and Bethlehem. But then, so did the history of the Palestinians and the early Christians. Both Jewish and Palestinian people need a homeland. The sticky questions remain: where should that homeland be? Currently, about 20% of the population within the state borders is Arab. Although most are Muslim, some are Christian Arabs, and others belong to the Druze religion or other sects. Some live in Arab towns, others live in mixed areas. The majority are Israeli citizens, although others have temporary cards and more restrictions.

One thing is for sure, the settlements in the West Bank have to stop. The government of Israel has to cease allowing the ultra-right (which has helped keep Netanyahu in power) to have free rein. Many pundits noted that after this critical period, they expect the country to have new leadership. As Netanyahu moved toward a more authoritarian leadership, more people took to protesting in the streets. It seems that form of governance will not persist because people do not want what it represents. If the U.S. tied any strings to its aid, I hope humanitarian considerations were part of it.

I, sadly, have no answers to this dilemma. Far too much enmity has been created over the years to make co-existence possible; far too many entities, such as Iran and others, have moved to keep warring factions in place. Could there be a UN-protected zone somewhere, maybe?

So again, another week with no suitable answers.

‘Til next week–peace. 

Chaos in DC. War in Israel, Week 2

Twelve days ago, a revolt from some House Republicans led to the dismissal of the current House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California. Since then, no House member has gathered enough votes in straw polls to take the vote to the House floor. The initial front-runner, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, lost votes as his persuasion attempts faltered. The next in line, Jim Jordan of Ohio, the favorite of the MAGA crowd and endorsed by the former president, fell short in votes also, despite some strong-arming from his supporters.

As I mentioned last week, each man carries some baggage from a previous time. A recent New York Times op-ed by David Firestone opined that “both Scalise and Jordan were worse than McCarthy because they misunderstood the nature of power.” As he further notes, both candidates have cast doubts about the 2020 election, voted against certifying the results, and did not support funding for Ukraine. Firestone discusses the faction in the House that views compromise as an anathema and instead prefers confrontations as a way of achieving leverage on some unrelated topic. We famously knew Jordan as a figurative bomb thrower on issues such as the Affordable Care Act, cutting money for Planned Parenthood, and immigration. According to Firestone, Jordan has helped lead at least three shutdown efforts. Scalise has apologized for speaking at a White Nationalist rally and opposed the creation of a holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries noted this week on Meet The Press that informal talks are ongoing about finding a bipartisan solution to the leadership problem. He said that Democrats “want to ensure that votes are taken on bills that have substantial Democratic support and substantial Republican support so that the extremists aren’t able to dictate the agenda.” They removed McCarthy because it angered the extremists when he got Democratic votes to pass the Continuing Resolution (CR) and keep the government from shutting down. The extremists wanted the shutdown. Our party-based system has never had a power-sharing agreement, so I am eager to see how this might work. McCarthy had agreed to lopsided Republican Committee lineups, as well as giving the extreme right-wing members choice spots on the Rules, Oversight, and Judiciary Committees so they could prevent bills from coming out of committee and investigate any issue they chose to look at.

Some House members are feeling more urgency now that the War in Israel will need approval of funding for additional weapons, while the issue of more funding for Ukraine is still unsettled in the House. Ukraine funding was too controversial, so they left it out of the CR with McCarthy promising to review the issue and bring it up later before the funding deadline. That deadline is now only about one month away.

In the meantime, no bills can be proposed or passed out of committees, the House can send no legislation to the Senate, and no money can be appropriated, because the interim Speaker has only limited powers. Another Times editorial noted:

“A new speaker should also commit to plain dealing with Democratic colleagues and may need them to prevent another putsch. Mr. McCarthy lost faith among Democrats by failing to keep his word and honor a deal over spending caps that he negotiated with the White House in May. The next speaker might consider that a good starting point for negotiations.

Once a speaker is chosen, the House will have less than 40 days to avert yet another standoff over a shutdown, and members of goodwill in both parties will again need to show that they are willing and able to compromise; the Democrats could permit more spending on border security, and Republicans should continue the vital flow of aid to Ukraine, among other issues.

The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said Tuesday that his caucus would “remain willing to find common ground on an enlightened path forward,” one that did not leave the public’s business at the mercy of a few extremists. Whichever leader Republicans choose should agree to a similar path.”

 

Meanwhile, Americans, and many across the world, wonder when the House will get its’ act together and function as a cohesive arm of government. While I’m not holding my breath, I remain hopeful that there must be some leaders in the Republican Party, old statesmen or women, that can start to pull a solution together that will serve both parties and the American people. We shall see.

And in other news…

The news from the Middle East continues to get worse. The expected Israeli ground offensive into Gaza has not yet started, but the Palestinian population of Gaza is on the move toward a somewhat safer southern area. Israel dropped leaflets last week urging the population to move away from Gaza City. Hundreds of thousands are now on the move, by donkey cart, automobile, buses, and on foot. Some may find shelter with relatives, but many have no destination except to get away from the bombings and the war they did not start. Egypt will open its closed crossing on Monday for foreign nationals and those with dual citizenship to leave the Gaza Strip. There are approximately 500 Americans who live there now. Egypt did not yet welcome any exodus of Palestinians, although it will allow some humanitarian supplies to come into the country. Israel said it will turn the water back on in southern Gaza, though some wonder how this will work without power.

Many people are holding their breath to see what the Israeli military will do. Secretary Blinken and President Biden have both agreed that while Israel can effectively destroy much of Gaza, some restraint, and protection for civilians is necessary. The Rules of War do not allow for indiscriminate attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure. However, this restraint becomes more difficult when the Hamas forces shoot rockets from the roofs of schools or hide ammunition next to hospitals. It is also well-known that street fighting in urban areas leads to high casualties, both civilian and military, especially in an area riddled with secret tunnels and caches of weapons. And, unquestionably, the issue of hostages complicates the promised search and rescue efforts.

Although the number of casualties is incomplete and still rising, here is a rough estimate so far: 1400 Israelis have been killed; (30 Americans are in that number), and more than 3000 have been injured.  2670 Palestinians have been killed; half of whom are children, again, thousands more have been injured. Although there are some Americans unaccounted for, some are thought to be in the group of 150 hostages Hamas took to the Gaza Strip. This group included men, women, and children. Qatar is in talks with Hamas leaders for the release of the women and children being held, but they have reached no agreements to date. Hamas has threatened to kill the hostages if any attempts are made to free them.

Many questions have been raised concerning how this attack by Hamas could have been carried out with no Israeli military warning. Some agreed with my previous assessment that protests and other turmoil over the Supreme Court and other changes may have allowed some to take their eyes away from defense, while others believe that the continued troubles in the West Bank made Gaza seem less problematic.

Some pundits believe that this will be a prolonged war and do not agree on a solution. While a Two-state proposal has been on the table for a while, it does not allow for adequate protections for two groups who each have no trust for the other side. How, then, can they be expected to live almost side by side without walls or military troops in place? I have no answers; this has been a thorny problem for generations. When you have two competing nationalities claiming the same territories, something has to change. I do not know why the two states have to be on the same strip of land. Could Egypt, Jordan, or Saudi Arabia use some of their wealth or donate land to help establish a new state for the displaced Palestinians? Could the Israelis stop placing settlements and displacing Palestinians on contested land such as the West Bank? These lands were annexed by Israel and are governed under its authority with an ineffective local administration. The areas are not peaceful, as the locals have little autonomy. The far-right religious in Israel believe settlements are their right even as they displace those who have lived on the land for generations. Conflict has to result and must be resolved. But as long as the far-right group keeps the current administration in power, they may build settlements. The U.S. has been discouraging this settlement building across several presidencies.

The news today noted that Netanyahu invited President Biden to come for a personal visit to Israel. (This is the same man who disrespected both President Obama and VP Biden when they were in office, to the great joy of the Republicans.) I think the President should stay out of an active war zone. But I don’t think a photo op and macho walk are that noteworthy. So, it will probably happen. Maybe they could meet on the aircraft carrier instead?

I guess this is why I write instead of working with the diplomatic corps. I’m not one for sugarcoating difficult situations. There have been many attempts, some admittedly half-hearted, to solve this problem over the decades, but none have succeeded. Now is the time to think of a solution.

‘Til next week – Peace, please world.

Chaos in DC. War in Israel

This week saw the U.S. House of Representatives descend into chaos as Florida's self-important Representative Matt Gaetz continued his campaign against the Speaker, Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy had committed the unspeakable sin of working with the Democratic side of the House to pass a Continuing Resolution that prevented the U.S. Government from going into a shutdown since Congress passed no budget by the end of the fiscal year.

That move seemed to infuriate Gaetz and his band of nay-sayers. If you remember, he was the leader of a small right-wing group that humiliated McCarthy with a round of 15 votes back in January before a Speaker could even be seated. Although McCarthy made many concessions to the group then, including placing them on important committees, the worst error he made was allowing a rules change that allowed a single member to push for a vote to vacate the chair. That proved to be his undoing. On Tuesday, Gaetz moved to vacate the chair and led his small group of eight to vote to unseat the Speaker. Over 200 Republicans voted against this move. However, because of strained relations, all the Democrats supported the move. (After working with the Speaker on Saturday, to prevent a shut-down, Democrats saw McCarthy go on the Sunday talk shows and blame the Democrats for the current issues relating to the continuing resolutions, which was untrue.)

After being defeated, McCarthy said he would not run for the position again. An interim Speaker with limited powers is now serving as a caretaker of the currently recessed House. A few candidates have emerged to run for the position. The two most prominent, to my mind, speak to a lot of what is wrong with the Republican Party today. One, Jim Jordan of Ohio, is another MAGA bomb thrower, so to speak; he is known for espousing conspiracy theories and holding pointless hearings such as on the crime rate in New York City after the DA there indicted DJT, even though his District in Ohio has a higher crime rate. Reports say the former president who also wanted to shut down the government endorsed his candidacy. Jordan refused to answer a subpoena from the House Select Committee on January 6^th. Many authorities suspect he knew and approved of the January 6^th Insurrection and was in touch with the White House throughout that day, even though he has refused to clarify his moves.

The other prominent candidate is Representative Steve Scalese of Louisiana, self-described at one time as ‘David Duke without the baggage’-referring to the infamous White Supremacist and Klan member. A deranged gunman severely wounded Scalese at the Congressional Baseball field a few years ago. He is now undergoing treatment for myeloma, a form of blood cancer, according to the AP.

Although both men have been in Congress for several years, neither one has distinguished himself as a legislative leader. Both voted, after the insurrection, to de-certify the election. Surely, there must be some moderate Republican who is serious and interested in governing who could stand for the position of Speaker other than either of these men.

Another consideration has to be who can take the position of McCarthy as a Republican Party fundraiser. He is known as one of the most successful fund-raisers in the party and donates to those candidates who support his views. An article in the Washington Post recently noted he had raised over 88 million dollars from just eight families. (Aside from thinking that it is cringe-worthy to learn that just eight families could or should have that much power to address electoral politics, that is just a minor part of the money he raised.) The house will begin to vote for the new Speaker on Tuesday. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, proposing shared responsibilities.

Jeffries also said:

“The need to change course is urgent. Congress is in the midst of a Republican civil war that undermines our ability to make life more affordable for American taxpayers, to keep communities safe, and to strengthen democracy. Traditional Republicans need to break with the MAGA extremism that has poisoned the House of Representatives since the violent insurrection on Jan 6, 2021, and its aftermath — when the overwhelming majority of House Republicans continued to promote the “big lie” and voted not to certify the presidential election.”

Wiser members of the Republican Party would do well to heed his words. The city stands in chaos. No one knows what will happen with the promised funding for Ukraine. No one knows what will happen at the end of the 45 days set for the CR. To many, despite the efforts of President Biden to show the government working and the economy improving with a strong jobs report, the House appears rudderless. In vacuums often comes opportunistic trouble. Adversaries of our country might assume confusion reigns and take advantage.

That is what many observers of the horrific situation in Israel are concluding. Israel has been undergoing a battle of Democracy vs. Autocracy. Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to lessen the role of the Courts, and since they have no written constitution, he can do this with legislative support. Throngs in opposition to these moves have crowded the streets for months. Despite criticism, he conceded to the right-wing parties, since they are his strength. Some commentators noted that these pre-occupations might have distracted the highly regarded security and intelligence services recently and allowed them to miss the build-up of Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. The night-time attacks on Israel caught both Israel and the U.S. by surprise. The loss of life on both sides in just two days has been overwhelming. Some think, that because Israel was thought weak and unaware, they were attacked now. The Israelis vow to respond with a huge military force but will be restrained because hostages have been taken. Hamas has killed some Americans, others are missing and thought to be among the hostages.

Israel has approximately 9.5 million residents. The population of the Gaza Strip is about 2.5 million, while the West Bank has about 3 million residents. There should be a way to resolve the issues of Israeli sovereignty and safety while also providing a homeland for the 5.5 million Palestinians somewhere. The two-state solution does not appear to work if Netanyahu keeps building settlements in the occupied West Bank, so I do not have an answer.

My concerns are that with the continued chaos in DC, some others might think the U.S. is also vulnerable. We should guard against this.

I have copied comments from many articles this weekend that discuss the War in Israel. Since these are the experts, I’ll share their thoughts rather than just my ideas below.

According to the Economist:

“It is too soon to know how the next few weeks will unfold. Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has vowed to exact “a huge price” and he is right: Hamas must be made to pay for its atrocities, which include the massacre of more than 250 young Israelis at a festival in the south. But Israel’s response comes with grave risks.” 

The article concludes with these thoughts:

“Nobody should underestimate the difficulties that lie ahead. The second intifada turned young Israelis against talking to the Palestinians. This outrage will surely create a new generation of Israelis who cannot imagine how Palestinian factions could be a partner for peace. At the same time, Israel’s right-wing coalition has been focused on annexing parts of the West Bank. It will redouble these efforts.”

“Despite that, hard-headed Israelis will need to grapple with the fact that they must once again start to deal with the Palestinian issue. Israel’s security apparatus needs a counterparty to work with if it is to have any sway over the Palestinian territories. That means it needs a Palestinian interlocutor.”

“What comes next will depend greatly on who is in power in Jerusalem. For the moment, Israel is pulling together, but it will soon undergo a bitter reckoning that could yet lead to a new coalition or even a new prime minister. If Israelis are to be safe, whoever is in charge will need to stop thinking of the Palestinians as a problem that can be shelved and start thinking of them as a people who must be engaged.” 

According to the New York Times:

“Mr. Netanyahu said early Sunday that the “first phase” of Israel’s response had come to an end, claiming that Israeli forces had fought off most Hamas militants inside its territory. Amid speculation that Israel was preparing for a substantial ground invasion of Gaza, he pledged to continue the offensive “without reservation and without respite.”

“President Biden and other world leaders condemned Hamas — which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization — saying they support Israel and its right to defend itself. Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, have called for de-escalation, but have avoided blaming Hamas.”

 

An Editorial published in the Washington Post states in part:

“Palestinian Authority leaders are being equally shortsighted by blaming Israel for inviting the attack. While dramatic, the cross-border incursion will not lead to the defeat of Israel nor change its policies in the occupied territories. Ordinary Palestinians will pay a heavy price for Hamas’ wanton and unprovoked massacres of innocent Israelis. Meanwhile, the chances of substantive territorial concessions in the West Bank as part of a prospective peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel have shrunk further.

 

Eventually, Israeli leaders will need to confront their own mistakes: The fact that Hamas could have planned such an assault — involving dozens of fighters, boats, paragliders, and drones — over months without Israel’s vaunted intelligence services catching wind represents a massive failure. There is plenty of blame to go around. The Netanyahu government’s attempts to transform the judiciary have needlessly riven Israeli society and distracted the military and security services. Its hardline policies in Jerusalem and the occupied territories have fueled Palestinian anger and desperation, endangering Israelis far from the settlements.”

 

“But all that’s for another time. For now, Israel’s priority must be to destroy the ability of Hamas and its ilk to further threaten the country’s security. Pursuing peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors will be much harder in the near term, which no doubt was one of the militants’ aims. Yet all parties should recognize that, once the fighting is over, such efforts will also be more important than ever — and something all sides in this conflict should still aspire to and pursue. The alternative is only more bloodshed, death, and terror.”

 

From Heather Cox Richardson:

There are serious questions about how the Netanyahu government did not see this attack coming. It was either a spectacular intelligence failure or a security failure or both, and it strikes at the heart of the Netanyahu government’s promise to keep the country safe. At the same time, the attack is making Israelis rally together. The hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been protesting Netanyahu’s strengthening hold on the government have said they would come together in this dangerous moment.”  

“A number of countries, including the U.S., have designated Hamas a terrorist organization. It is backed by Iran, which provides money and weapons, and last month high-level Iranian officials apparently met with Hamas leaders in Lebanon. Today Iran praised Hamas for the attack. Iran has opposed the recent talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel about normalizing relations. Since the decline of Iraq as an independent power, Iran has viewed the combination of Israel, its main enemy, with Saudi Arabia, its main rival for power, as the greatest threat to its security in the region.” 

She concludes with:

“In the United States, Republicans used the moment to attack President Biden. In an echo of a similar lie from Trump, who falsely claimed the Obama administration had paid $150 billion to Iran for a nuclear agreement, they took to social media in a flood to say that the U.S. had funded the attack on Israel because it had recently “paid” $6 billion to Iran.” 

“The statement was wrong across the board: the U.S. did not pay Iran anything. It helped to ease restrictions on Iranian money that had been frozen in South Korea, enabling Qatar to take control of the money and use it for humanitarian aid. In any case, the money has not yet been transferred. Still, it was a surprising decision to attack the U.S. government at a time when the country would normally be united behind Israel.”

“Nonetheless, the attack has made the national implications of Republicans’ own troubles even more clear. In times of crisis, the executive branch briefs the so-called Gang of Eight on classified intelligence matters. The Gang of Eight is made up of the leaders of each party in the House and the Senate, and the leaders of each party in each chamber’s intelligence committee. But without a House Speaker, this leading intelligence group is missing a key member. It is not clear if the acting speaker, Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who was tapped by former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and not elected, can participate.” 

“The lack of a speaker is a problem. Although House committees can still meet, the House can’t do much. McHenry is responsible mostly for overseeing the election of a new speaker; he does not have the authority to bring bills or even resolutions to the floor.” 

And with those words, I will conclude. We move into a new week with many uncertainties both at home and abroad. We should all hope that next weekend will show the resolution of some.

‘Til next week- hope for peace.

MAGA lost, US won, for now

 

On Saturday, as the midnight deadline for shutting down the government loomed, wiser heads prevailed and a vote approving a 45-day Continuing Resolution (CR) for government funding passed both the House and Senate. President Biden signed this imperfect compromise shortly before midnight and a shutdown was averted- for the time being.

Many Federal employees, members of the military, and Federal contractors all breathed a sigh of relief at this news. The respite may only be for 45 days, but it allows the personnel involved to better plan. While Federal employees will receive retroactive pay after any shutdowns end, according to recent legislation, many temporary employees, or contractors, will not get back pay. Those who work in the cafeterias of Federal buildings, for example, often work for contracted food service companies and are not under civil service coverage. Their bosses may or may not give them pay for time missed or might require that they exhaust any leave if they have it, before they will be paid. As is often said, it is the little guy who gets hurt when the big guys tangle.

This measure passed with bipartisan support, although the negative votes in both Houses reflected the naysayers in the Republican Party mostly. The Senate approved it by a vote of 88-9. The full Senate was down by two members, with Senator Debbie Stabenow being out with COVID and, because of the recent death of Senator Dianne Feinstein.

The House vote was more nuanced. According to Axios: “The bill passed 335-91, with 90 Republicans and one Democrat voting against it.”

(The one Democratic vote was from a representative who has many Ukrainians in his district and who did not like the lack of funding for the Ukraine War in the CR.)

The 15-20 House rebels who helped push the Speaker vote to an unprecedented number of 15 rounds of votes in January are still rebelling against the Speaker.

Axios also reports that Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is leading this current move to take down the Speaker, met with a cool response when he approached Democrats. They also reported: “Gaetz said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he planned to file a motion to vacate against McCarthy this week.”

Estimates currently show around 200 Republicans who will support the Speakers in his quest for the vote minimum of 218 votes. All the math points to the Speaker needing Democrats to keep him in the Speaker’s position. Some pundits say that Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is waiting to see what bargains he can work out before committing. That used to be how bipartisanship worked. Members would support bills that the other side wanted in return for agreement on other issues.

Gaetz, for all his bluster, maybe walking on very thin ice as CNN reports that the House Ethics Committee, which had investigated him under the Democrats, quietly reopened questioning of witnesses regarding Gaetz’s activities this summer under Republican leadership. This bipartisan committee meets in secret and reports findings when they are ready. Some have said the committee is ready to oust him, based on their findings. (A recent FBI investigation into claims of sex trafficking, drug use, financial misdeeds, and improper behaviors did not lead to any known indictments, even though his best friend was convicted of those and other crimes.)

Speaker McCarthy is not out of the woods yet. He has to deal with his fellow Republicans and still craft a bill that puts back spending on Ukraine and other important measures. That will not be a simple task. He cannot afford to lose many members if members challenge him for his post.

According to the Economist:

“America’s congress stunned the world on September 30th by doing its job: passing a last-minute bill to avert a shutdown of the federal government that had seemed certain. However, the stopgap legislation came at the expense of extending American support for Ukraine and may prompt further acrimony. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, is facing a challenge to his authority from his own party.”

“For weeks Mr. McCarthy had tried to placate hardliners in his camp pushing for steep spending cuts and other conservative policies, such as stricter border enforcement, that had no chance of becoming law with Joe Biden in the White House. Yet with just hours to spare before a shutdown, he called up a bill that tossed aside the priorities of the far right and relied on Democratic votes to pass the legislation, which Mr. Biden signed minutes before the midnight deadline. Indeed, more Democrats than Republicans supported the bill.”

To further compound the woes of the Speaker, the former MAGA President spoke out on his social media urging the House to move for a shutdown. He argued that President Biden would be blamed if a shutdown happened, even though that was not the case previously when Republicans shut down the government under President Obama.

According to the Hill:

[the former president] urged GOP members to dig into their demands, arguing that unless they “get everything,” lawmakers should “shut it down.” 

“Close the Border, stop the Weaponization of ‘Justice,’ and End Election Interference–WE MUST HAVE HONEST ELECTIONS. It’s time Republicans learned how to fight!” [DJT continued.]

“DJT’s post echoes calls he made to Republicans last week to use the looming deadline as an opportunity to withhold funds from the Justice Department.”  

(Apparently, he believes his legal troubles will be delayed if there is a shutdown. That is not the case, as funds for Justice come from different appropriations, as do those for Social Security payments. So, Justice will keep on indicting the bad guys and the Cours will continue their trials.)

“Biden’s reelection campaign …called out the former president.. for these comments, arguing that …he is “rooting” for a government shutdown” and does not care about its impact on families.” 

In legal news, The Fulton County DA has her first guilty plea. Bail Bondsman Scott Hall, who at the urging of Sidney Powell it is said, went to Coffee County GA, and accessed voting machines with help from local Republican officials, pled guilty to those offenses. The Authorities expect this to be the first of several lower-level defendants charged with lesser offenses to take a plea bargain.

Meanwhile, the process for the other defendants moves forward. Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesboro are still on track for the start of their cases on October 23^rd or shortly thereafter. Kenneth Clark tried to get separated and have his case heard in Federal court, claiming he was a Federal employee, but many assume they will deny his claims, just as Mark Meadows was. (He was not acting under the definitions of his assigned job when he agreed to be named acting Attorney General or encouraged others to send letters to state election officials.)

And, as an aside, PBS reported a trial judge in NY stripped the former president of his business licenses in New York State after the state AG’s request for summary judgement regarding falsification of business records and more was honored. He vastly overvalued his properties, sometimes as much as 10 to 20 times their actual value. The judge referred to some of these claims as being in a fantasy world. The nature of his fines, the involvement of his company personnel, and his sons will be worked out in court this week in this civil trial. Reports are suggesting the costs to the businesses will be in the hundreds of millions. We shall see. For far too long, this man and his enterprises have walked away from loans, not paid contractors, filed for bankruptcy, and gotten rich on the backs of others. It is well past time for him to pay the piper, i.e., taxpayers, for his misdeeds.

Finally, I am giving you a link to the speech President Biden made at the dedication of the library for former Senator John McCain. In this, he calls out the excesses of the MAGA crowd and warns they will try to undo much of what we hold dear. I, among many Americans, was shocked when DJT called for the death of decorated Army General Mark Milley, who had spoken out against the former president. Part of what Biden said:

“These principles of democracy are essential in a free society, but they have always been embattled.

Today, let’s be clear. While we’ve made progress, democracy is still at risk. This is not hyperbole; it’s a simple truth — a simple truth.”

So, on that simple truth, I will close.

‘Til next week-Peace.