175 Comments
Nov 2, 2023·edited Nov 2, 2023Liked by Jeff Tiedrich

First, we owe Congressman Raskin a vote of thanks. He’s right on when he points out law, not our heart’s desire, should guide process. As for Tuberville, he is disgraceful. But we should ask what Senate rule (not in the Constitution) should allow a single person to so jam up military promotions, and without any safety valve? In that respect, Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell owe us an accounting.

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agreed. the Senate has long been hobbled by a series of nineteenth-century "courtesies" that the Republicans continually abuse

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The question also should be raised as to why President Biden has not crafted some type of emergency executive order that addresses this problem; after all he is The Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces.

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Nov 2, 2023·edited Nov 2, 2023

You wouldn't think that one dumb shit senator who couldn't even name the 3 branches of government would be able to hold our military hostage. Traitor Tommy would rather show his loyalty to MAGA than making the security, safety of country and well being of our troops a top priority. Like many of his GOP colleagues, this incompetent bastard has no shame or brains whatsoever.

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Yes!! I’ve had this thought in the back of my mind.

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Amen. And meanwhile, back at the ranch...

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I finally looked up, "How can one Senator hold up military promotions?" and got this from AP (07/14/23):

"In the Senate, one senator can hold up nominations or legislation even if the other 99 want it to move forward. Generally, leaders in the majority party get around this by holding a series of votes to move a measure and dispense of the hold. It just takes some additional time on the Senate floor.... Tuberville has put the Senate in a bind. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said this week that voting on the more than 260 military nominations through the regular procedure would take 27 days with the Senate working “around the clock” or 84 days if the Senate worked eight hours a day."

There has GOT to be another way around this bullshit, and if Schumer can't think of it, he should conference with the Grim Reaper, Mitch McConnell. I can guarantee that if a Democrat was doing this, and the Republicans had a majority in the Senate, McConnell would find a way around it. WTF?

By the way, I have NO DOUBT that this crap that Tubashit is doing is a part of the 2024 attempted coup. He's going to hold out until Trump is back in office (fat fucking chance!) and then the military leaders will be chosen by Trump and SAIL through the Senate. Mike Johnson is too, part of the coup. These traitorous assholes have ALWAYS played the long game, and I can see this shit coming from a mile off. The Project 2025 Playbook is being run.

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Agree, Steve. Some major connecting of the dots is in order!

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Schumer has long been close to useless, I’m afraid.

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Am I the only one that thinks the coup will occur before the election?

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By no means. I can smell it from here.

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Oh, NO!!! Don't say that!!!

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If Putin (who owns Trump, who owns Tuberville, who handcuffed the military)were to attack another country, a NATO country, or god forbid our own country and our military decided not to respond, what then?

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Did you read Hubbell today?

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Yeah. I felt the same way.

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So true. WTF already? Watch McConnell build a kangaroo court but can't stand-up to this crap Tuberville is doing?

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I completely agree. “Courtesies”, norms, or even actual laws (Emoluments Clause, anyone?) went by the wayside when the fat orange fuck began his reign of terror as there was no rule, norm or courtesy he didn’t smash into oblivion. And gee...what happened to him? Absolutely nothing. So why on earth would anyone abide by those pesky things?

It has been 9 months - 9 MONTHS - since the senator from Alabama (who lives in Florida, by the way) has been holding up military promotions using an arcane senate rule because he doesn’t agree that woman should have control over their own bodies. (Excuse me, but WTAF?) Or another nutter (here’s looking at you, Gym Jordan) not showing up when he received a congressional subpoena to explain why he aided and abetted an insurrection. And what were the consequences to them personally? Yup. None. Just more fund raising opportunities from their ignorant base! Yay!! 😳

As the Republican party respects neither, courtesies and norms need to be abolished and replaced with actual congressional rules and law. And when they break existing laws - like the Emoluments Clause - there needs to be real consequences. Like expulsion. Or fines. Or impeachment. No more hemming and hawing by Democrats saying, oh but it’s soooooo hard to enforce...we just can’t because whatever... No more. If not, we are going to continue to be ruled by chaos. One crazy Republican congressman - or president - at a time.

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Karen, I don’t think abortion travel is the real reason. It’s a made up reason. Tuberville has another much more ominous reason to put the military on ice.

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If we/Dems, had stood-up to the lawless Republicans after 1/6, IF we had gone after all those coup plotters seeking pardons and brought them up on charges or even the 14th amendment, we would have cut this "coup" at its inception. But, no...couldn't do that! Why not?

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I think when anything really extraordinary and violent happens there is a period where people are stunned into inaction. They’re in shock you could say. Then there’s the period of decision on how to respond correctly. I think of W after the 9/11 horror and how he did everything wrong.

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Perhaps. It would be really extraordinary if the Dems would actually meet the Republicans at the line of scrimmage-and then make a bold play instead of waiting for the next election.

In 2000, it was the Brooks Brothers rebellion and the SCOTUS decision. 4 years later, whatever that funny business with voting machine "totals" that had to cross the KY/Ohio border, whatever THAT was, we will never know but not knowing and just hoping for election wins is not enough. John Kerry "did the right thing for country" and conceded. By not confronting the crimes they get bolder. We had 8 years of Obama and now these guys are not playing. All mechanics of normal have given way, every pretense and fair play, thats over. No more "platforms" and even faking honesty, the GOP haS been completely given upon that. Now, as we have read it is just corruption and criminality with no more cover. No more Mr. nice guy and being "gentlemen". The GOP is in our face, daily and we can expect no more time on the clock. Whistling through the graveyard with our fingers crossed... we had our chance to round the conspirators up but we blinked. We had better not only win the next election we had better figure out how to survive and conquer.

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I feel your frustration and exasperation. I wish I knew the answers. The encouragement I give myself is: remain calm and alert. Rely on the strength gained from having faced many trials before these. Spread loving kindness in all ways all the time, tell my truth, listen carefully to others and go beyond the superficial. Every day I discover new encouragement from the people in these Substack groups. Hate is self-defeating. Love is what endures. Keep The Faith.

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Also, the shock of 130 GOP ready to take the government apart must be an extraordinary event our AG & DoJ ( how many willing lawyers besides J. Clark?) might still be recovering from!

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I would love to know what it is! Please share!

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Perhaps the Toobs is following Putin’s orders.

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I don’t know.

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Time for the Dems to take the fucking gloves off and fight fire with fire…no more Mr. Nice guy. Those days are OVER!!

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While I think Santos is guilty of all the charges against him, I would understand waiting until he’s convicted, if he hadn’t already admitted his resumé lies and if his treasurer hasn’t copped to being in cahoots with him to falsify those reports.

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This fuckstain Santos just took a page out of trumpsters playbook. The QOP party is the ultimate “threat from within..”

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Thanks Jeff!!

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The World Clown Association (yes there is one) has filed a Cease-and-desist complaint against the House Majority.

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I’d love to join the complaint!

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How about a defamation of clowns lawsuit?

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Total shit show.... and now the poster boy for "Christiaan Fascists" is showing h shining face...

My son serves as a commander in the navy.... will not even say Tupperville's name.....

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Only with a Few Ephitets Hopefully?

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I’ve been wanting to know what is on the mind of your son and others in their position who are directly affected.

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Disgusted.... but doing their job...

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THAT IS ONE ABORTION THEY SHOULD HAVE APPROVED

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Okay, Tubby. You win. No one will force you to have an abortion, and no one will pay for it if you choose to have one because you are raped by your uncle. Your vagina and uterus and fallopian tubes are yours to keep. GFY

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Thats not it Kimberly!

It's some sick deluded idea propagated by the Republican Religious Right.

Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid Tale

Nailed it, spoke more truth and is more Prophetic than any holy book

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Margaret Atwood is having the last laugh at people who thought her book was a silly fairytale with no basis in reality.

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author

Margaret Atwood, btw, has a pretty entertaining substack https://margaretatwood.substack.com/

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Wow. Thank you, Jeff. I had no idea she was on Substack.

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founding

I can’t get past laughing at the headline to even read the post! 😆

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Wait until you get to this part:

“the House GOP — that ragtag gang of insurrectionists, religious zealots, homophobes, transphobes, racists, Nazis, white supremacists, misogynists, sex traffickers, rape enablers, conspiracy loons, trouser-snake charmers, space laser enthusiasts, shit-flingers and bomb-throwers “

Loved that “trouser-snake charmer” part!! 😂😂😂

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His run-on sentences are disgracefully...the best!

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That’s me most days with these posts, but I somehow keep going because I know it will get even better.

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I was so puzzled last night by Jamie Raskin's vote not to expel George Santos but was too exhausted to look into it further. Thank you, Jeff for sharing the details of the level-headed Jamie Raskin vote! Santos should be convicted in a court of law prior to expulsion. Of course, there were plenty of Republicans without principals to keep Santos in. It's best to force those Republicans to give an excruciating full term birth to yet another cancer in their party for the whole country to witness.

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founding

Adam Kinzinger said on Colbert, ‘they have to lose, lose and keep losing’ the vote.

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The magats in the House didn't do an investigation. They don't have to wait for a court of law. Remember the investigation into the orange man for the impeachment? That's the due process they didn't follow.

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Raskin’s vote still makes no sense to me. I would rather Santos be voted out of the House and have their razor slim majority even smaller. What am I missing here?

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H/T to Republicans Against Trump on Twitter:

Congressman Jamie Raskin defended his vote against expelling George Santos:

"I’m a Constitution guy. The House has expelled five people in our history, three for joining the Confederacy as traitors to the Union and two after they were convicted of criminal offenses. Santos has not been criminally convicted yet of the offenses cited in the Resolution nor has he been found guilty of ethics offenses in the House internal process. This would be a terrible precedent to set, expelling people who have not been convicted of a crime and without internal due process...

It’s a very risky road to go down and we have to stick by due process and the rule of law, as obvious as the eventual result seems." Professor Laurence Tribe agreed.

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Tuberville is utterly unqualified to be in the Senate. He has neither the intelligence, knowledge or temperament. He is there to wreak havoc, because that is all the rethugs do nowadays. They have not had a plan for governance for years. They seek only to keep others from governing. It is all you can expect when a significant plurality of the electorate is so heavily propagandized they can only shake their fists and vote for cretins. Everyone else pays the price - 10 million are losing Medicaid, the number losing child care benefits is TNTC, women are dying for lack of access to safe and medically necessary abortions - it is not just a chaos caucus - it is a deep, pervasive, society-wide dysfunction.

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Re: the cretin electorate who just shakes their fists and votes for more cretins. I'm currently reading Mitt Romney's new biography, and he related a story of a speech he gave to what sounded an awful lot like a crowd of MAGAts, except in 2012 they were known as the Tea Party. He threw in some line about reducing or eliminating Capital Gains Taxes and got cheering and a standing ovation. He remembers looking out over the crowd and thinking that since Capital Gains didn't really kick in until you were worth $2 million or more, none of the people cheering him would ever face Capital Gains. It almost sounds like a typical rich Republican attitude until you realize that his point was that people were NOT voting for things they believed in or would affect them, they were voting for who made their "anger" justified, even though their anger was misplaced and probably originated from failures in their own lives.

This attitude is STILL what Republicans vote for. That's how we get people like Trump and Tuberville. People completely unqualified to be in representative government and are affecting ALL of our lives.

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I like what you said here. The people completely unqualified to be in representative government are voted in by completely unqualified voters. It’s becoming clear to me we need some kind of voter eligibility test, like a drivers license exam to find out if the voter is informed with regard to what’s true and what is not true. Why should voters who believe things that have been proven false be allowed to vote? Instead of ‘one person one vote’ it would be ‘one person informed with facts, one vote.’ The facts should be available to everyone in a up to date booklet. The 2020 election was not stolen. Fact.

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Well said

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Instead of carrying flagrant asswipe Santos to term, someone should have slipped mifepristone into the Republicans coffee.

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You’re a nasty woman! 😂

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You bet and zero apologies for it. 😂

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I absolutely meant it as a compliment. What comes to mind is the “nasty woman“ speech that Ashley Judd gave years ago at some kind of anti-Trump rally, or it might’ve been at one of the women’s marches, but it was fabulous.

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I absolutely took it as such and yes I recognized it from that speech

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Greetings, fellow Nasty Woman!

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Which is, of course, a high compliment! :-D

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I want to strap Tommy Tub-of-shit to a rocket and launch it straight into the fucking sun.

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Hey, all George has to do is get The Johnson fired from his post as Speaker, get elected Speaker, stop all inquiries into himself, declare he's been found innocent, and then pardon himself. He'll be second in line for President. I mean, the man truly has some mad skills, so he should get himself into the top office in no time at which time he could make his pardon official.

If not that, he should be required to don his crossdresser's persona still wearing that fucking AR-15 pin as he becomes the albatross attached firmly to the sinking ship. What a weird time we are living in.

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founding

No - he just will SAY he’’s done all that.

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It's all a giant clown car filled with feckin' eejits and power hungry shit for brains immoral disrespectful misogynistic homophobic racist cowards. This is the United States today....

It's getting harder to keep myself from bashing my head into a wall 🙄😳☹️🤯🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️repeatedly. At least I get to read Jeff's stunningly accurate descriptive lists of those who pretend to be public servants. 🤣

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Please do not harm yourself because of others people’s stupidity. I feel that people are getting disgusted enough that we’re going to see both chambers flip in 2024, and then we’re all getting together at some mutually agreed-upon location to celebrate with drinking and drugs. 😊🥂🍺

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I know that I plan to gloat, and gloat A LOT!

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From your lips to gods ears Janet!

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Since I gave up the party scene years ago I would certainly act as the designated driver for this event!!

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Lol. I could as well. I gave up being a deadhead a while back because I absolutely did not want to lose any more brain cells. In fact, I’m sitting here tonight reading a book, a couple of newsletters, and drinking tea. Fun times!!

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It's a metaphorical head bashing. I like my head the way it is!!

Gloating, drinks and drugs - perfect!!! I'm in. (I was thinking that very thing, meeting in person, like a reunion of sorts.)🙃

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Have you considered they don’t plan on holding an election this year? They have something else in mind.

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No, I have not. I don’t consider that even a remote possibility. An election will take place in 2024. And there will be one next week. But what I have considered is that if a republican does not win the presidential election, they will create the same mania that they did in 2020.

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Don’t you wonder about the strangeness of Tuberville’s actions and motives? To me that is suspicious and not to be taken at face value.

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Yes I do. Aside from Tuberville having fewer brain cells than an earthworm, I have always suspected that this is about trying to hold off on these promotions so that Republicans can fill these empty positions as part of Project 2025, or whatever it’s called. However, that is a long way off. It’s one thing to do what Trump did, which is try to overturn the results of an election; but it’s an entirely other thing to stop an election from happening, unless the Republican president is already in office. I don’t think they have a prayer to prevent an election unless Trump gets back in the White House after next year. And I can’t even go there. I can’t even allow that in my brain as a possibility.

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We already have the Senate.

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Yep, but we need a bigger majority.

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Yes indeed, stunningly accurate.

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Re: Santos being expelled, I agree with Jamie Raskin. But what's left out is the fact that if the House decides to kick out a representative for anything less than treason, or violating the rules of the House multiple times, then they're basically telling voters, "We've decided your vote doesn't count. Also we decided that the Constitution doesn't really apply to us, and we've got an Office of Ethics just for looks. Anytime we don't like somebody, we can kick them out, and if you don't like, well, fuck you that's why."

Although I do find it interesting they don't seem interested in voting to keep what's-his-name off the ballot for the numerous charges he's indicted for. I guess they forget that the indictments were handed down by everyday citizens serving on a Grand Jury, and not the DOD, despite their whining to the contrary.

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Jeff: I am so glad to have a paid subscription to continue enjoying reading more of your work. It makes my day!

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Best headline of the day. Now on to the delicious parts.

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Trouser-snake charmers

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What'a shit show!

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