Well, we avoided another government shutdown. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting sick and tired of this happening every time a political party doesn’t get their way. Now one might say, the Democrats shut down government themselves in the 1980s. Yes, I checked and it was less than a day twice in 1984 and 1986. In other words, people got off early.
It wasn’t until the Republicans regained the House of Representatives in 1995 that this became the playbook anytime they didn’t get their way. The problem is this was part of a plan the Republicans had reached earlier this year. So, now, all they did was delay it a little more. But we obviously know what this is about. The same Republicans who pushed for the shutdown are the same ones who hold on to Donald J. Trump’s word as if it’s the gospel.
And this past week hasn’t been good for him. On Tuesday, Sept. 26, New York judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump had fraudulently inflating the value of his business and organizations up to $2.2 billion. This comes right before the state’s civil trial which began today Oct. 2 filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James who is seeking $250 million in damages and to bar Trump for doing business within the state. Engoron ordered that within 10 days of the ruling, Trump and the other defendants must provide names of potential independent receivers “to manage the dissolution of the canceled LLCs.”
Then, on Friday, Sept. 29, Scott Hall pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges and will be sentenced to five years’ probation in Fulton County, Ga. court in connection with the 2020 election interference case connected to Trump and 17 others. Hall, a bail bondsman, was alleged to have helped with the unlawful breach of election equipment and theft of voter data in Coffee County, Ga. As part of his plea, Hall has agreed to testify for the prosecution.
More than likely, others will make pleas with prosecutors to avoid any jail time or serve as little as possible. Judge Tanya Chutkan also announced in the last week that she won’t recuse herself in the federal case out of Washington D.C. for Trump’s alleged interference. As Trump faces 91 indictments in four different cases, it’s clear that any type of distractions is necessary.
And that’s what this shut down scare was about. At the same time, Republican Congress members were more concerned with an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden that produced some criticism from Democrats. Most notably Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) who called Republicans out for producing no evidence but still overlooking the fact that classified documents were found in the bathroom at Mar-a-Lago. Of course, Rep. Crockett committed the almighty atrocity of saying the word “shitter” instead of “toilet” “commode” “bathroom.” She’s also African-American, so they went after her for that too.
In other words, she “needs to know her place.” Well, her place is on the U.S. House of Representatives. And she has bigger brass than a lot of other people in Congress. Oh, the other thing that really got them upset was that Sen. John Fetterman doesn’t wear a suit and tie. As usual, if they can’t attack someone’s policies correctly, they attack someone’s appearance of their “decorum” which is the word I heard thrown around because it has three syllables and sounds smart. “That sumbitch Reagan” was shown in his pajamas ordered the Grenada Invasion 40 years. No one said anything until Barack Obama wore a tan suit and put his feet up on the desk.
And now, the Republicans are fighting amongst themselves because they want to overthrow Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) as the Speaker of the House. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) wants to overthrow him because McCarthy has committed the great sin of finding “common ground” in politics. Yes, Gaetz who was investigating for child sex trafficking, says that McCarthy is the wrong choice and he’s right. But Gaetz is no better.
This is like someone giving you the option of hitting you in the face with a baseball bat or hitting you in the groin. It’s going to hurt either way. It’s probably going to cause some major damage. So, the question is what is the least amount of damage that you can walk way from, if you can even walk away.
The question is how much longer can we allow just a few people to cause serious problems in our day-to-day lives. A report from the Washington Post earlier this week concluded that it was just 11 people who had done the most damage in recent years in getting books banned from schools and public libraries. It’s just 11, not even a full dozen. That means if there was a trial to ban books, it wouldn’t happen because they need an unanimous vote of 12 people to do so.
But they’ll only be one person deciding on Trump’s civil trial. That’s because his lawyers forgot to ask for a jury trial. And he did his normal ranting and raving. Either he’s trying to do this to make an argument Engoron is baised or he’s fuckin nuts. Both sound more appropriate.
We’re letting 11 people determine what books are on shelves. Most classrooms are at least twice that much. Some have more. It’s a small number of Republicans in the House who voted no to avoid the government shutdown because of their loyalties to Trump. But that’s nothing compared to the Senate where they were so concerned about dress, they’re still allowing Sen. Tommy Tuberville to hold up military promotions. Thankfully, they did realize they could override him and as of now, four-star Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., of the U.S. Air Force is the new Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Gen. Mark Milley retired as of Sept. 30 and they couldn’t delay his retirment or the appointment to Chair. Milley took a dig at Trump and probably others in government who want to have one rule. “We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator,” he said. “And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
In other words, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. And thankfully, we have people like Gen. Milley and Gen. Brown willing to do what’s right for everyone and not just a select few. Trump wants a military that’s beholden to him. He wants to have the authority to overrule state governors and send National Guard troops into cities. He wants the authority to go after his political opponents, such as the Clintons and Bidens. As a news editor, I had to publish things I didn’t agree with. It didn’t matter. I knew the rules when I took the job. I don’t hunt for deer or waterfowl, but others do. If they want to submit stuff, I put it in the paper.
Trump is learning for the first time in his life what it’s like for people to say “No” to him. And government shutdowns which have cost the country billions because Republicans don’t like hearing “No.” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) who was one of the 21 who voted no said that she’s sacrificing time raising her four boys to be working in D.C. Well, all she has to do is resign. And considering that she barely got re-elected, it’s likely she won’t have this problem come Jan. 1, 2025.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 