U.S. Politics January 2023: Kevin McCarthy's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Life

xpost if they actually do succeed in making the U.S. go into default, i think people would remember it a year later. god, i hope they would. but despite their being some temporary political damage to the GOP after they created the 2011 and 2013 debt ceiling hostage situations, it didn't seem to create lasting consequences. at least, no more so than the 2013, january 2018, or dec 2018-jan 2019 government shutdowns.

i guess the question is whether or not this GOP congress would actually push us into default or not. i do agree that it's more likely now than it was the previous two times.

Going after Social Security money was the tipping point for the Bush Admin, forcing a shutdown and/or default because they want everyone's grandma to get $200 less a month is the kind of thing that has consequences down the line.

BREAKING: Live look at the Republican house leadership as we enter the 4th straight day of the speaker holdout. pic.twitter.com/hhQ369dZ69

— James (@GravitysRa1nbow) January 6, 2023

Just like most Americans don't care about this farrago; it's a part of the Washington-is-broken-both-parties-suck drivel I hear in the wild at least twice a week.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, January 6, 2023 1:14 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Most people are actually correct when they say this sort of "drivel."

The difference is one party has genuine differences within it about the influence of corporate money, the role of labor unions, what to do with lawless police departments, our posture toward Israel, etc. It's a political party. While the other nominal party -- a pathology really -- comprises trolls and insurrectionists.

democrats have a good politics wing but theyre not the ones in charge

I agree with you insofar as what you say is correct, but tend to think that most of the disagreements within the Dems are performative, as they know where their bread is buttered. We can disagree on this again, but let's just leave it at me being more of a cynic.

I'm not a labor lawyer, but this strikes me as a big deal?

In a far-reaching move that could raise wages and increase competition among businesses, the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday unveiled a rule that would block companies from limiting their employees’ ability to work for a rival.

The proposed rule would ban provisions of labor contracts known as noncompete agreements, which prevent workers from leaving for a competitor or starting a competing business for months or years after their employment, often within a certain geographic area. The agreements have applied to workers as varied as sandwich makers, hairstylists, doctors and software engineers.

Studies show that noncompetes, which appear to directly affect roughly 20 percent to 45 percent of U.S. workers in the private sector, hold down pay because job switching is one of the more reliable ways of securing a raise. Many economists believe they help explain why pay for middle-income workers has stagnated in recent decades.

Very big.

democrats have a good politics wing but theyre not the ones in charge

― lag∞n, Friday, January 6, 2023

I live in Florida lol -- don't I know it

good stuff re non competes

there are so many ways that wages are suppressed, including the work of the federal reserve, good to get rid of one of them

When I did paralegal work, I did a *lot* of research on non-competes. Really interesting area of the law, imho, but yes, good news!!

the federal employee unions should enjoy this new addition to the proposed rules package:

If passed, the package would reinstate the Holman rule, an obscure procedural rule that “allows amendments to appropriations legislation that would reduce the salary of or fire specific federal employees, or cut a specific program.” As The Washington Post reported in 2017, the last time Republicans revived the Holman Rule, Democrats criticized the move because it threatened to upend the federal workforce.

They are back to voting for the 14th time now, this may be the one.

Boebert votes Present, is pissed

Does that clinch it? I wonder if anyone is asleep.

Boebert votes Present, is pissed

lol yes she sounded like she was grinding her teeth so hard they were going to crack

the holdouts and their votes this time around, so far:

biggs - jordan
boebert - present
crane - biggs
gaetz
good
harris
rosendale

Boebert seen visibly rebuffing an attempted fist bump

gaetz - somehow missed the vote, most likely on newsmax right now. if anything, he probably wants to the opportunity to be the deciding/undeciding vote at the end of the process
good - jordan
harris - mccarthy (and no applause for that. i guess he already switched to mccarthy earlier)
rosendale - will vote when his name comes around several hours from now

This Exterminating Angel remake sucks

gaetz - somehow missed the vote, most likely on newsmax right now. if anything, he probably wants to the opportunity to be the deciding/undeciding vote at the end of the process

Ain't no "probably" about it

I wonder if McCarthy understands how doomed he is. You can’t take a role like that after everyone’s seen you humiliated in public over and over. He’s a punch line. A punching bag.

and with rosendale's vote (biggs), it will hinge on Gaetz. he has to vote "mccarthy", not present. if he doesn't, this continues

awkward

https://i.imgur.com/Go5KWiE.png

mccarthy and gaetz are having kind of a tense, on floor argument as everyone watches, and mccarthy seems pissed.

and i just heard "we'll do it again" on a hot mic

the guy hiding his shiteating grin just above the # 215 is eli crane, one of the holdouts all week. he's in congress because he sells bottle openers that are made out of 50 mm shell casings, and he was on shark tank and mark cuban invested. that's his only skill

Good job, Gaetz! You got what you wanted: everyone watching you.

how the fuck is Gaetz not in jail yet?

the american legal system for wealthy people is like a giant battleship. it takes a very long time to turn it in a new direction. but when you finally do, and point it toward justice, you can be assured that someone in the ship will probably press a button that makes it stop for several days, first, and then it might go back to the old direction. it depends on who has more money

motion to adjourn until monday. they'll vote on that now.

so did the right flank promise McCarthy he was good and then Lucy the football away? If so: that kinda rules

during that tense confrontation with mccarthy, i missed this:

At one point a McCarthy ally, Mike Rogers of Alabama, stormed into the huddle and seemed on the brink of violence, but he retreated to a cloakroom off the floor.

kick his ass mike rogers!

i do feel kind of bad for the Hunt guy, who was in DC all week as his wife gave birth to a premature baby, flew to TX and back today, just for this vote that matt gaetz fucked up.

Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) walks away from Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as an altercation with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) breaks out during a session of the House of Representatives to elect a Speaker of the House. Jack Gruber-USA TODAY @guygruber @usatoday pic.twitter.com/iUiXbdp9RV

— Andrew P. Scott (@apscott) January 7, 2023

Iconic

He’s gonna get fewer votes on Monday

Would love to see one of the football heart attack meatheads in the gop leadership beat the shit out of gaetz on the house floor.

Bring this back https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caning_of_Charles_Sumner

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, holds her smart phone with former US President Donald Trump on the line, as Rep. Matt Rosendale, a Republican from Montana, waves it off during a meeting of the 118th Congress in the House Chamber on Friday.#SpeakerVote pic.twitter.com/VWvOGfXd9Q

— Al Drago (@Al_Drago) January 7, 2023

looks like the nays have it on the motion to adjourn. we're gonna political party all night

*massive booing from all sides*

Republicans are whipping against adjournment suggesting they’ve found another McCarthy testicle to give someone

the official tally will make that motion to adjourn look way more lopsided than it was. it's at 192 fuck yeah to 242 fuck nay at the moment, constantly being revised toward the nays. but for a moment, at the end of the official voting period, it was tied, 216-216.

Gaetz is flipping, or is telling people he will

GOP chants of "one more time!" on the floor

https://media.tenor.com/teNIvp3Uz-YAAAAM/daft-punk-one-more-time.gif

Gaetz is the one keeping this going, why would he flip now?

1/6 II: The insurrection is coming from inside the House.

god it's crazy this is one of our two parties these guys wanna legislate in the same sense that people go on The Bachelor to find true love