A report card on the Biden administration

[Sandy Shanks]

Cheney is the third ranking Republican in the House, but not for long. She likely will be replaced by Representative Elise Stefanik. The staunchly conservative Cheney voted with the Republican caucus 92% of the time. The staunchly conservative Club for Growth says “Elise Stefanik is NOT a good spokesperson for the House Republican Conference. She is a liberal with a dismal 35% conservative lifetime rating."

We could all use a good laugh.

The latest bit of humor comes from a very unlikely source -- the House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy. Try to control yourself. This is a good one.

McCarthy and Steve Scalise, the Republican whip, both have gone down to Mar-a-Lago to pay homage to the party's leader -- Donald Trump. Trump has asked for loyal conservative Liz Cheney's head and has endorsed her replacement, the liberal leaning Elise Stefanik

McCarthy sent a letter to the Republican caucus declaring his intention to lead the effort to remove Cheney from her leadership position for her thought crimes.

Cheney is accused of telling the truth about the Presidential election and the Jan. 6 insurrection led by Trump.

"We are a big tent party," McCarthy declared as he promised to purge anyone who refuses to sign off on the Big Lie. "And unlike the left, we embrace free thought and debate."

As the rest of the world laughs at McCarthy's ridiculous comment, one has to wonder. Did he say that with a straight face? Did he mean it as a joke?

I told you this was good one.

McCarthy is an idiot. Little wonder as to why Republicans on this forum do not want to talk about their party. It's embarrassing.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

In a statement sent through his political action committee, Save America PAC, Trump blasted his loss in November as “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020” and said it “will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”

We are a big tent party," McCarthy declared as he promised to purge anyone who refused to agree to the Big Lie. "And unlike the left, we embrace free thought and debate."

Trump's lawyer at the time, Bill Barr, who doubled as the attorney general, differed with Trump on the election.

"Disputing President Donald Trump’s persistent, baseless claims, Attorney General William Barr declared Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election," the AP reported on Dec. 1.

On the same day that Trump's acting attorney general, Jeffrey A. Rosen, reported "The Justice Department “had been presented with no evidence of widespread voter fraud at a scale sufficient to change the outcome of the 2020 election" Liz Cheney was ousted from her leadership position by House Republicans who were led by Minority Leader McCarthy. Cheney was forced out because she told the truth about the 2020 election.

Because House Republicans were ashamed of what they were doing, Cheney was removed by a secret voice vote. We don't know how House Republicans voted, and we don't know the vote count.

“I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the president’s election,” McCarthy said today. “That is all over with.”

No one except Donald Trump who won't let us forget the election he lost. No one except 60% of Republicans who think the election was stolen, according to a recent poll. No one except Trump's darling pegged to take Cheney's place, Elise Stefanik, who again raised questions about the election in the Washington Examiner published Monday.

It says something about Trump's gullible cult whose members will believe what McCarthy said while believing that the election was stolen from Trump.

All this is to please Donald Trump whose endorsement is essential to nomination and whose displeasure is the kiss of death as shown by the ignominy of Cheney's removal that is even concealed by the Republicans who participated in her censure.

Is this how Republicans will win the general election?

 

[Sandy Shanks]

It says something about Trump's gullible cult whose members will believe what McCarthy said while believing that the election was stolen from Trump.

More and more the Trump influenced Republican Party is using lying as a tactic. Indeed, they banished Liz Cheney from her leadership position, the sole reason being, she told the truth about the 2020 election and the Trump-led Jan. 6 insurrection against our government.

Allow me to provide some examples.

First, we have two whoppers from the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. As he was leading the ouster of Cheney for telling the truth, McCarthy declared, "And unlike the left, we embrace free thought and debate."

With the exception of the party's leader, Donald Trump, who won't let us forget the election he lost, and 60% of Republicans who think the election was stolen, according to a recent poll, McCarthy said on Wednesday, “I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the president’s election.”

Not to be outdone, Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.) told this outrageous fabrication. “Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes, taking videos, pictures, you know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) questioned whether those who invaded our capitol were Trump supporters. “I don’t know who did they poll to say that they were Trump supporters,” adding that the attack was premeditated and so could not have been incited by Trump.

“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Trump tweeted on Dec. 19, just one of several of his tweets promoting the big day. “Be there, will be wild!”

Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) accused the Justice Department of harassing the peaceful patriots who ransacked our capitol. “Outright propaganda and lies are being used to unleash the national security state against law-abiding U.S. citizens. The FBI is fishing through homes of veterans and citizens with no criminal records and restricting the liberties of individuals that have never been accused of a crime.”

475 people have been "accused of a crime” in the Capitol insurrection so far.

Why are Republican lawmakers using disinformation as a tactic?

It's simple. Intelligence challenged, uninformed grass-roots Republicans -- also known as Trump's cult -- will believe every word of it. Because they avoid reality, they don't know any better.

In Trump's world, which has been adopted by the GOP leadership, the more outrageous the lie, the better.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...c03342-b351-11eb-a980-a60af976ed44_story.html aided me in this report.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

The staunchly conservative Cheney voted with the Republican caucus 92% of the time. The staunchly conservative Club for Growth says “Elise Stefanik is NOT a good spokesperson for the House Republican Conference. She is a liberal with a dismal 35% conservative lifetime rating."

One reason why today's Republicans are not speaking up is because there is not much they can say in defense of their party. In addition to distortions of the truth, vain attempts to revise the events of Jan. 6, and the misadventures of Marjorie Taylor Green, there is the vote today on Liz Cheney's replacement whose only crime was telling the truth.

The Times reports, "House Republicans on Friday elected Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, a vocal defender of former President Donald J. Trump, as their No. 3 leader, moving swiftly to replace Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who was deposed this week for her refusal to stay silent about the former president’s election lies."

Once again, as was the case in Cheney's removal, the vote was in secret, and it took place in the basement of the Capitol.

While Trump was President, the Republican Party lost the House, Senate, and the Presidency. Angered by the loss and claiming to this day without basis that the election was stolen from him, President Trump led an insurrection on Jan. 6 and our capitol was ransacked by far right wing groups loyal to him. Five people were killed.

Following the vote, liberal leaning Stefanik said: “I believe that voters determine the leader of the Republican Party, and President Trump is the leader that they look to. I support President Trump, voters support President Trump; he is an important voice in our Republican Party.”

No one is surprised by the total lack of support from Republicans regarding their party. How does one defend this charade?

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.) -- “Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion taking videos, pictures. You know if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”

Stefanik said: “I believe that voters determine the leader of the Republican Party, and President Trump is the leader that they look to. I support President Trump, voters support President Trump; he is an important voice in our Republican Party.”

Now we are going to get an in-depth look at what happened on Jan. 6 with a 9/11 style bi-partisan commission.

The Post reports, "A group of House Democrats and Republicans announced Friday that they had struck a deal to establish an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a significant breakthrough after months of partisan standoff over the mandate for such a panel — and whether it should exist at all.

"The proposed 10-member commission, which emulates the panel that investigated the causes and lessons of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, would be vested with subpoena authority and charged with studying the events and run-up to Jan. 6 — with a focus on why an estimated 10,000 supporters of former president Donald Trump swarmed the Capitol grounds and, more important, what factors instigated about 800 of them to break inside. Trump’s critics in both political parties view it as a means to bring further public scrutiny to his role in inspiring the violence."

This will not go well for the Republican Party. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has not signed off on this yet, although his approval is not needed. “[Speaker] Nancy Pelosi has played politics with this for a number of months," He told reporters shortly after the announcement.

Here is hoping that the commission will not overlook the fact that Trump planned the insurrection well in advance. He informed the radical far right loyal to him, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Trump tweeted on Dec. 19, just one of several of his tweets promoting the big day. “Be there, will be wild!”

 

[basquebromance]

infrastructure is the foundation that allows us to go about our lives. … To me, it makes no sense to say, 'I would have been for broadband, but I’m against it because it’s not a bridge. I would have been for eldercare, but I’m against it because it’s not a highway.'

so i support the biden bill

 

[Sandy Shanks]

The Pasquotank County sheriff has advised several deputies who were involved in the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown to temporarily relocate. This seems to be proof that withholding body cam footage is causing the disagreements in the county to fester and get worse, not go away.

I know I am beating my head against the wall, but that is the last we have heard about Andrew Brown.

Brown was shot in the back by sheriffs deputies on April 21 in a rural county in North Carolina. Since this pathetic announcement by the sheriff we have heard nothing from the county or the state.

Why the media, state, and federal governments are allowing the sheriff and his deputies to skate is unknown. We hear no explanation because absolutely no one wants to talk about the shooting.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

While Trump was President, the Republican Party lost the House, Senate, and the Presidency. Angered by the loss and claiming to this day without basis that the election was stolen from him, President Trump led an insurrection on Jan. 6 and our capitol was ransacked by far right wing groups loyal to him. Five people were killed.

ABC News reports, "Former President Donald Trump will speak at North Carolina’s annual state Republican Party convention next month, party officials announced Monday.

"The former president will speak in person at the June 5 convention dinner in Greenville. Trump's speech will be closed to the media, and journalists won't be able to view it via livestream or alternate forms, said Livy Polen, a spokeswoman for the NC GOP."

That is extremely significant. Imagine that, a former Republican President is speaking to a state party convention, and Republicans do not want us to know what he is saying.

That is incredible. It is shocking even by Republican standards.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Trump's speech will be closed to the media, and journalists won't be able to view it via livestream or alternate forms, said Livy Polen, a spokeswoman for the NC GOP."

A former Republican President is speaking to a state party convention, and Republicans do not want us to know what he is saying.

CNN reports, "Arizona Republican officials are pushing back against false claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies about the 2020 election -- another sign of how the same divisions that led the House GOP to oust Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her post as No. 3-ranking member last week are fracturing the party outside of Washington.

"Trump lit the latest fuse Saturday -- as Republican leaders of the Arizona state Senate press forward with a controversial audit conducted by Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based consulting firm -- when he falsely claimed in a statement that the "entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED!"

"Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County recorder -- a Republican who heads the county's election department -- responded to Trump's statement by saying on Twitter: "Wow. This is unhinged.'"

"I'm literally looking at our voter registration database on my other screen. Right now," Richer wrote. "We can't indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country."

Today's Republicans are saying nothing.

I can relate. I, too, am speechless.

Trump is the party's leader??? He may run for President in 2024??? Has the GOP gone nuts?

We will never know. There will be no response.

 

[beautress]

Texas has an open carry law. A person can walk down a street in Bryan carrying an assault rifle. On March 17, 2021, the South Carolina House gave key approval to a bill allowing people to carry an assault rifle on a street in Rock Hill.

All this follows mass murders in Atlanta and Boulder three weeks ago. Both Georgia and Colorado allow persons to carry assault rifles down their city streets.

Following several mass murders, Republicans on this forum are largely avoiding discussions on the Second Amendment and gun ownership. Why? It once was their favorite topic. There was zero reaction to the comments I made concerning recent mass murders (see post 380). I anticipate my comments here will be avoided by my Republican friends as well.

Republicans argue that reasonable laws to control gun ownership is a slippery slope to taking away all guns. It is a ludicrous argument, and they know it.

There are state laws that require a person to wear a seat belt while driving. Is that a slippery slope to take away your car?

You are told not to exceed a certain speed limit when driving your car. Is that a slippery slope to take away your car?

If it becomes illegal to walk down a street with an assault rifle or prevent a deranged person from acquiring an AR-15, does that mean the government is going to take away your deer rifle? Only an idiot would believe that to be true.

Not unlike the seat belt law and the speed limit, certain laws are created to prevent injury or death to others as well as ourselves.

Oh, snap! The Democrats like Maxine Waters pushed naive people to get in the face of Republicans so hard they rioted for .months on end in the behalf of a counterfeiter who resisted arrest and was so high he had to be severely restrained which led to his death because of the illegal drugs he took. He did just what Maxine told him to do, except he showed his resistance to those holding him so they could take him in for questioning.

Maxine Waters instructions were clearly in play when all this stuff went down. Yet she goes free and police are being tried for murder for upholding the law.

RIP, civil government.

 

[CowboyTed]

President Joe R. Biden, how refreshing that sounds. What a refreshing day. Our divisive, erratic, foolish, conspiratorial, narcissistic President is gone, replaced by a President who deeply wants to unite us. Barring ill-advised preconceived notions about President Biden, his task should be easy. We are all Americans.

That said, although I voted for Biden for obvious reasons, not unlike 81 million Americans who did the same, I am a conservative Independent. That's official. In CA, we have to declare our political posture. Until I was driven out by Trump, for over a quarter of a century I was a declared Republican. I voted for Biden, but I have some reservations concerning him, mostly having to do with taxation and spending.

I said all that because I want to be honest with readers. I want them to know where I am coming from.

Whether or not Biden will be a good President is obviously an open question, but I think he is a good man. He will do his best to unite us and adopt policies that benefit all Americans, while removing those policies that do us harm. He wants the United States to rejoin the community of nations, and the days of isolation and making unitary decisions that involve other nations, in particular our traditional allies, are over.

The European Union's top politician, Ursula von der Leyen, said it best. "After four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House."

For the first time in four years, there is optimism in America created by a popular President. 59% of Americans approve of Biden.

On day one, Trump's approval rating was 40%, and, although it went lower than that, it never got much higher. Thus the reason for American optimism.

Why hasn't Biden cured COVID yet?
Why hasn't he brought world peace on day-one?
Why hasn't he totally erased the National Debt yet?
I don't understand what's taking him so long!!!!

Too busy fixing shit Trump broke...

But he will get around to it...

 

[mudwhistle]

President Joe R. Biden, how refreshing that sounds. What a refreshing day. Our divisive, erratic, foolish, conspiratorial, narcissistic President is gone, replaced by a President who deeply wants to unite us. Barring ill-advised preconceived notions about President Biden, his task should be easy. We are all Americans.

That said, although I voted for Biden for obvious reasons, not unlike 81 million Americans who did the same, I am a conservative Independent. That's official. In CA, we have to declare our political posture. Until I was driven out by Trump, for over a quarter of a century I was a declared Republican. I voted for Biden, but I have some reservations concerning him, mostly having to do with taxation and spending.

I said all that because I want to be honest with readers. I want them to know where I am coming from.

Whether or not Biden will be a good President is obviously an open question, but I think he is a good man. He will do his best to unite us and adopt policies that benefit all Americans, while removing those policies that do us harm. He wants the United States to rejoin the community of nations, and the days of isolation and making unitary decisions that involve other nations, in particular our traditional allies, are over.

The European Union's top politician, Ursula von der Leyen, said it best. "After four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House."

For the first time in four years, there is optimism in America created by a popular President. 59% of Americans approve of Biden.

On day one, Trump's approval rating was 40%, and, although it went lower than that, it never got much higher. Thus the reason for American optimism.

Why hasn't Biden cured COVID yet?
Why hasn't he brought world peace on day-one?
Why hasn't he totally erased the National Debt yet?
I don't understand what's taking him so long!!!!

Too busy fixing shit Trump broke...

But he will get around to it...

Try again.
He's busy eating fudgecicles while the pinkos in his administration are busying destroying every bit of progress Trump made....but never got any credit for.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Trump is the party's leader??? He may run for President in 2024??? Has the GOP gone nuts?

We will never know. There will be no response.

Why are we not surprised?

 

[beautress]

In a statement sent through his political action committee, Save America PAC, Trump blasted his loss in November as “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020” and said it “will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”

We are a big tent party," McCarthy declared as he promised to purge anyone who refused to agree to the Big Lie. "And unlike the left, we embrace free thought and debate."

Trump's lawyer at the time, Bill Barr, who doubled as the attorney general, differed with Trump on the election.

"Disputing President Donald Trump’s persistent, baseless claims, Attorney General William Barr declared Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election," the AP reported on Dec. 1.

On the same day that Trump's acting attorney general, Jeffrey A. Rosen, reported "The Justice Department “had been presented with no evidence of widespread voter fraud at a scale sufficient to change the outcome of the 2020 election" Liz Cheney was ousted from her leadership position by House Republicans who were led by Minority Leader McCarthy. Cheney was forced out because she told the truth about the 2020 election.

Because House Republicans were ashamed of what they were doing, Cheney was removed by a secret voice vote. We don't know how House Republicans voted, and we don't know the vote count.

“I don’t think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the president’s election,” McCarthy said today. “That is all over with.”

No one except Donald Trump who won't let us forget the election he lost. No one except 60% of Republicans who think the election was stolen, according to a recent poll. No one except Trump's darling pegged to take Cheney's place, Elise Stefanik, who again raised questions about the election in the Washington Examiner published Monday.

It says something about Trump's gullible cult whose members will believe what McCarthy said while believing that the election was stolen from Trump.

All this is to please Donald Trump whose endorsement is essential to nomination and whose displeasure is the kiss of death as shown by the ignominy of Cheney's removal that is even concealed by the Republicans who participated in her censure.

Is this how Republicans will win the general election?

Might be. Tissue?

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Why the media, state, and federal governments are allowing the sheriff and his deputies to skate is unknown. We hear no explanation because absolutely no one wants to talk about the shooting.

Finally,we hear something about the killing of Andrew Brown, shot in the back by sheriff's deputies. It is as many suspected. The county prosecutor is covering for the county sheriff and his deputies, when they should be charged with murder.

The Times reports, "A North Carolina prosecutor said on Tuesday that the fatal shooting of a Black man in Elizabeth City, N.C., by local sheriff’s deputies was justified, because the man, Andrew Brown Jr., used his car as a “deadly weapon” as he tried to evade arrest. The deputies will not face criminal charges, he said.

R. Andrew Womble, the district attorney for North Carolina’s First Judicial District, made the announcement in a news conference on Tuesday, during which he described Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies’ efforts to serve a drug-related warrant on Mr. Brown and showed snippets of police body camera video from the brief, deadly encounter.

"The facts of this case, Mr. Womble said, “clearly illustrate the officers who used deadly force on Andrew Brown Jr. did so reasonably, and only when a violent felon used a deadly weapon to place their lives in danger.'"

What is clearly illustrated is that Brown evaded the deputies, not using his car as a weapon. After he cleared the deputies and is driving away -- and not before -- the deputies fired 14 times, the kill shot being hit in the back of the head.

Womble is saying one thing, but the actual body cam footage is showing something completely different.

He convicted himself in the court of opinion when he said regarding the killing of a black man by the deputies, "I don't care what direction you're going -- forward, backwards, sideways. I don't care if you're stationary, and neither do our courts and our case law."

He is wrong with that Jim Crow remark. For one thing, the deputies violated procedure by shooting at a car moving away from them.

There is a federal investigation of the shooting by the F.B.I., which is working with federal prosecutors and the civil rights division of the Justice Department.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Trump is the party's leader??? He may run for President in 2024??? Has the GOP gone nuts?

Republican leaders are no longer interested in looking into what happened in the Jan. 6 insurrection, during which our capitol was ransacked by radical right wing groups loyal to President Trump.

The threat to American democracy is becoming very real.

McCarthy is protecting his ass. “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said Jan. 13. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”

He has since changed his mind, and there is very little doubt that McCarthy would be subpoenaed by the commission. He doesn't want to anger the boss.

NBC reports, "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Tuesday voiced opposition to legislation to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

"A day before the House is set to vote on the measure, McCarthy complained about the negotiations, and said he wants the panel to also look into other instances of violence [by BLM and antifa].

"The legislation is the product of a compromise announced Friday by the top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and John Katko, R-N.Y., who reached a deal on the guidelines for the panel to model it after the 9/11 Commission."

McCarthy does not explain the relationship between protests concerning the deaths of black people at the hands of law enforcement and an insurrection led by our President and the invasion of our capitol.

The Republican whip and No. 2 House Republican, Steve Scalize, is mobilizing House Republicans against the measure. Yesterday, Scalize said that Republicans should vote their conscience.

As usual Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, can't make up his mind. “We are undecided about the way forward at this point,” he told reporters.

Welcome to today's Republican Party, so bad Republicans on this forum won't even discuss it.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

[The county prosecutor] convicted himself in the court of public opinion when he said regarding the killing of a black man by the deputies, "I don't care what direction you're going -- forward, backwards, sideways. I don't care if you're stationary, and neither do our courts and our case law."

The county sheriff convicted himself in the court of public opinion when he told us that the three deputies who killed Andrew Brown would keep their jobs, but would be disciplined and retrained.

After avoiding the deputies with his car, Brown was shot in the back by the three deputies as he tried to flee.

So far, the state of North Carolina is allowing all this to happened. They are doing nothing.

Well, this is South, after all.

Not a word from the DOJ.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

By inciting an insurrection against our government using radical far right groups loyal to him and causing the ransacking of the capitol, Trump is leading the Republican Party into the abyss.

On Tuesday, Trump expressed the hope that Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell are listening to him.

They are. On Tuesday, House Minority Leader McCarthy came out against the bipartisan Jan. 6 commission he okayed in February.

Today, with a series of mischaracterizations, Senate Minority Leader McConnell came out against it.

The Democratically controlled House passed the measure with 35 Republicans voting for it, but, with McConnell's opposition, it faces tough sledding in the Senate where it will require 60 votes for it to pass.

Clearly, Republicans are putting themselves before the country and the Constitution as they want to hide an invasion of our capitol so they can win in 2022.

Clearly, McCarthy and McConnell are trying desperately to protect their asses. Here's why.

“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding,” McCarthy said on January 13.

McConnell told us on Feb. 13 that the rioters had been "fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth. Because he was angry he'd lost an election."

"Former President Trump's actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty," added McConnell. "Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day."

Now they ask, "how high?" when Trump tells them to jump.

Defeat of the commission in the Senate is Trump's want. Once again, we must ask, just how stupid is this man?

"I certainly could call for hearings in the House with a majority of members being Democrats, and full subpoena power, and the agenda being determined by Democrats -- but that’s not the path we have chosen to go," Speaker Pelosi asserted.

Which would be better for Trump and the Republican Party? A bipartisan commission, five members chosen by Democrats, five members chosen by McCarthy, subpoenas approved by all; or an investigation with full subpoena power with Democrats in charge?

Taking into account his own well-being, Trump didn't answer that question well. Apparently, he wants the Democrats to investigate, and that is likely to happen if McConnell and McCarthy have their way after listening to Trump.

Surprisingly, every member of Trump's flock adore him. That's a problem for the GOP. It explains why they are acting so foolishly.

 

[Sandy Shanks]

Biden finally reined in Netanyahu ... hopefully. The IDF did make their point.

"We've held intensive high-level discussions, hour-by-hour, literally, (with) Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and other Middle Eastern countries with the aim of avoiding the sort of prolonged conflict we've seen in previous years when hostilities have broken out," Biden said.

CNN reports, "Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire, after more than a week of conflict left hundreds dead, most of them Palestinians. The truce signals an end to the immediate bloodshed, but will likely leave both sides further apart than ever.

"Over the past 11 days, Israeli airstrikes killed 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there. At least 12 people in Israel, including two children, have been killed by Palestinian militant fire from Gaza, according to the IDF and Israel's emergency service.

"A senior Hamas leader told CNN that the truce, under terms brokered by Egypt, would commence at 2am local time on Friday, though an official announcement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Officer said the timing of the ceasefire was yet to be agreed."

 

[Sandy Shanks]

By inciting an insurrection against our government using radical far right groups loyal to him and causing the ransacking of the capitol, Trump is leading the Republican Party into the abyss.

ABC News reports, "The House on Thursday narrowly [one vote] approved $1.9 billion to fortify the Capitol after the Jan. 6 insurrection, as Democrats pushed past Republican opposition to try to harden the complex with retractable fencing and a quick-response force following the most violent domestic attack on Congress in history.

"The bill's 213-212 passage came a day after the House approved the formation of an independent commission to investigate the deadly mob siege by President Donald Trump’s supporters, who battled police to storm the building in a failed attempt to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s election."

Republicans on this forum continue to hide. That's too bad. In view of their awkward behavior, I'm interested in learning how the Republican Party can hope to win majorities in the House and Senate in 2022. I guess we will never know. Republicans are not talking about the Republican Party.