US House Of Representatives

Massive Day Of Republican Defeats: Well Deserved!

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Tuesday February 6—ironically the birthday of Ronald Reagan—was a low moment in the history of the Republican Party, which has sold its soul to the evil Donald Trump!

A series of defeats:

Donald Trump was informed by a three judge Court of Appeals panel of the District of Columbia that he was not immune from prosecution for illegal actions he took to try to keep himself in power!

The Republican House of Representatives majority failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a major blow to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who should be removed as Speaker as a total disgrace!

A separate Israel aid bill that was offered in the House of Representatives to push the Senate to back, by having a two thirds vote, as an alternative to an all encompassing bill on border security that also included aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, also failed miserably!

This author and blogger was pleased to see that the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is in such disarray, and it is time for the disastrous speaker Mike Johnson to resign as a totally abject failure!

The Republican Party is on the run from any reasonable voter who has no desire to see a dictator named Donald Trump, who gives not a hoot about the border security matter or about the survival of Ukraine in its war against Russia!

Reagan Appointed Federal Judge Denounces Republican Deniers Of January 6 Insurrection

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Reagan appointed federal Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court in Washington, DC, has denounced Republican deniers of the events and participants in the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection.

Appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1987, Lamberth was reacting to statements by Donald Trump and New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik that the arrested and convicted participants in the horrendous events of that day were “hostages”; Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who called them “political prisoners” for their beliefs; and Georgia Congressman Andrew Clyde who said that the participants of that day had been involved in an “orderly normal tourist visit”.

Lamberth, a true and respected conservative, is working to insure that Americans do not accept the outrageous denial of truth being exploited by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans, undermining American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law.

The Disgraceful Fawning Of Republican Women Who Want To Be Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential Running Mate!

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It is an unbelievable disgrace how several Republican women politicians are fawning to Donald Trump, in hopes that one of them will end up as his Vice Presidential running mate.

These include the following:

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem

New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene

Former South Carolina Governor and Republican Presidential contender Nikki Haley

This last possibility is highly unlikely, as now Trump is accusing Haley of being ineligible, not being born in America, which is a falsehood.

This was the same “Birther” tactic Trump used against Barack Obama, Ted Cruz, and Kamala Harris.

Haley is also the only one of these women who we could trust being a heartbeat away from the Presidency, as the others are “light weights”, not having the credentials to serve in the Oval Office, and nowhere near the qualifications of Vice President Kamala Harris!

Elise Stefanik A Totally Unprincipled MAGA Republican After Being Moderate!

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New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is a totally unprincipled MAGA Republican who started off as a “moderate” upstate NY Republican a decade ago, but has now sold her soul to Donald Trump.

She has made a reputation for herself as a demagogue, who is attacking University Presidents, as a so called champion of Israel; as an election denier of the 2020 Presidential Election results, and now ready to resist the results in the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election; calling the January 6 Insurrectionists “hostages”; and having no issue with Donald Trump’s utterances that are seen as authoritarian Fascist in nature, including his promotion of a dictatorship on Day One if he is elected in November.

It is clear she is auditioning to be Trump’s Vice Presidential running mate, clearly extremely ambitious but having a lack of any principles other than her own advancement at the expense of American democracy!

Top Five Political Heroes Of The Year 2023

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In a year with so many politically difficult moments, certain situations stand out as bright moments.

Liz Cheney, the former Republican Congresswoman from Wyoming, stayed strong and continued to fight against the cancer represented by Donald Trump, holding to the traditions and beliefs of a Republican Party that once believed in principle, but no longer exists, ready to sell its soul to a charlatan who is destroying its history and traditions.

Adam Kinzinger, the former Republican Congressman from Illinois, has also, like Cheney, been a Profile in Courage, who has refused to bend to the intolerance and authoritarian nature of a party which has left him, and Cheney, rather than the other way around.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has proved to be an exceptional potential Speaker of the House in 2025, as he has kept the Democratic minority united and strong against the degradation of the small majority Republicans in the House of Representatives. His leadership contrasts with the disgraceful, extremist oriented leadership of Kevin McCarthy, but even more so, Mike Johnson, a true religious extremist and moral hypocrite, who is sadly only two heartbeats away from the Presidency in his role as Speaker of the House.

President Joe Biden has shown great principle, courage, and decisiveness in a multitude of domestic and foreign crises, too often underrated and unappreciated for his strong stand for basic principles, including promotion of democracy, common decency, empathy, compassion, and the rule of law. He is presiding over the greatest crisis to our Constitution since the Civil War, but something that will only be fully understood in the future.

And finally, above all else, the survival of American Democracy itself, with the support of Democrats, courageous Republicans, the courts, the responsible news media, and decent citizens who value our heritage of nearly 250 years of constitutional government, is the ultimate “HERO” in this nation!

Resistance to authoritarian Fascism in all its forms is a constant, long term battle, and the final defeat, conviction, and imprisonment of the evil Donald Trump is the battle ahead, and with the understanding, that MAGA Trumpism will continue to be a threat, that all decent people will need to continue to resist beyond the time of Donald Trump!

Top Five Political Villains Of The Year 2023

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As we look back at the year 2023, it was a very tumultuous year in so many ways.

The five most negative political factors in 2023 would include the following:

The disgraceful Republican controlled House of Representatives under Kevin McCarthy, and then, Mike Johnson, and including former Congressman George Santos, who represents the true nature of the Republican Party in the lower chamber.

The weak, spineless Republican contenders for the Presidency, including Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, unwilling to condemn Donald Trump and take him on in a full throated campaign to remove this cancer on the party and the nation.

The corrupt, evil Fox News Channel, which lost a major defamation suit, but continues to spew forth poison, venom, and lies incessantly.

Billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of what used to be called Twitter, who showed how hateful, unstable, and dangerous unchecked wealth accumulation can be for society at large.

And finally, the continuing cancer and destruction of the Republican Party at large, provoked by Donald Trump, but with willing suicide victims who are willing to promote racism, nativism, and misogyny as a new norm for American politics.

The 80th Congress (1947-1949) Vs. The 118th Congress (2023- )

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It has often been claimed that the 80th Congress (1947-1949) under President Harry Truman was unproductive, or as Truman claimed it in his 1948 Presidential campaign, a “Do Nothing” Congress.

While it is true that the Republican dominated 80th Congress worked against Democratic President Truman and his “Fair Deal” proposals, most notably passing the anti Labor Taft-Hartley Act over the President’s veto, in reality a lot was accomplished in that Congress.

The following actions were accomplished:

The Truman Doctrine
The Taft-Hartley Act
The Presidential Succession Act
The National Security Act–including the Defense Department at the Pentagon in Virginia, the National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, separate Department of the Air Force, and the Central Intelligence Agency
The Marshall Plan
22nd Amendment to the US Constitution

At the same time, NOTHING significant has been passed into law in the present first session of the 118th Congress, making it the least productive in modern times since the Great Depression 1931-1933 72nd Congress, split between a Democratic House of Representatives and Republican Senate under President Herbert Hoover!

Republican Speakers Of The House: From Bad To Disastrous!

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The Republican Party has gone from bad to disastrous in their choosing of Speakers of the House in the past thirty years.

Dennis Hastert, the longest serving Republican Speaker in American history, eight years, from 1999-2007, seemed reasonable, but later was tried and convicted as a sex offender of teenage boys, and served time in prison, becoming the highest ranked elected official in American history to serve a prison sentence.

From 2011-2015, John Boehner served as Speaker, and got mixed reviews, as a major decline in reputation as compared to Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who served from 2007-2011, and later from 2019-2023. Boehner made it his mission to do everything possible to block President Barack Obama in any way imaginable.

Paul Ryan succeeded Boehner from late 2015-2019, and is considered to have been worse than Boehner.

Then, Kevin McCarthy became Speaker in 2023 after 15 ballots, and ended up serving only nine plus months, as he was voted out by his Republican caucus, and is considered to have been worse than any of his Republican predecessors.

And now, we have Mike Johnson, who is a religious extremist, rejects science and facts, and has proved to be a Donald Trump lackey, after having refused to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the Presidential Election of 2020.

The idea that these men were and are two heartbeats away from the Presidency is terrifying, and they make Nancy Pelosi stand out as one of the top few Speakers of the House in all of American history!

Disillusionment Over “Centrist Republicans” Who Voted To Promote Impeachment Inquiry Of Joe Biden Without A Scintilla Of Evidence!

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We have been told that there are “moderate” or “centrist” Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This includes Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and the 17 members from Biden won districts in 2020 in New York, California, New Jersey, and elsewhere, who are members of the “Problem Solvers Caucus”, and supposedly have an “open mind”!

This group supposedly represented bipartisanship, and yet they went ahead and, unanimously, voted to start an impeachment inquiry on President Joe Biden without a scintilla of evidence of any impeachment offenses, doing this to please the corrupt, twice impeached, four times indicted for 91 counts, former President Donald Trump!

If only eight or more of this group had done the right thing, refuse to support a phony resolution, Joe Biden would not be facing an impeachment inquiry! He is a good and decent man who has done nothing to deserve this action!

So the idea that one can “trust” the fairness of these Republicans has been blown up, and it means total “war” on the Republicans in Congress is essential, as they have all become cult followers of an authoritarian Fascist who is declaring his intention openly to establish a dictatorship if he is reelected to the Oval Office next November!

Joe Biden and the Democrats must now drop the idea of cooperation and follow the strategy of Harry Truman in 1948–GIVE THEM HELL–against the Republican Party in Congress and its Presidential nominee!

118th Congress Least Productive Since Great Depression 72nd Congress!

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The 118th Congress (2023-2025) is fast becoming the least productive since the 72nd Congress (1931-1933) under President Herbert Hoover at the worst times of the Great Depression.

Both the House of Representatives and US Senate are responsible for such poor performance, but clearly, if the House of Representatives is poorly organized and operated, the Senate cannot make up for it.

Both Congresses had one house Democratic, and one Republican, which also caused stalemate and gridlock.

The fact that the House of Representatives Republican majority has just voted an Impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, with zero evidence of such abuse of power, is a sign of how incompetent and hopeless the 118th Congress is, even with a small Democratic majority in the US Senate.

Clearly, the most productive Congresses have been when one party, in all modern times Democrats, has had a vast advantage in the number of seats in both houses of Congress.

So those most productive Congresses were, chronologically:

63rd Congress (1913-1915) under Woodrow Wilson
73rd Congress (1933-1935) under Franklin D. Roosevelt
74th Congress (1935-1937) under Franklin D. Roosevelt
89th Congress (1965-1967) under Lyndon B. Johnson
111th Congress (2009-2011) under Barack Obama

The most productive of all were the 73rd Congress under FDR, and the 89th Congress under LBJ.