Thursday, October 5, 2023

Flotsam and Jetsam - Pelosi, Hoyer Evicted, FBI Targets MAGA

 We're still dealing with the fallout from the nuclear explosion at the Capitol building, when Matt Gaetz, 7 other Republicans, and the entire Democrat contingent conspired to unseat Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 10.04.23 (Punditocracy Edition), EBL Kevin McCarthy’s Bad Weekend. Don Surber is unperturbed, McCarthy gets Liz Cheneyed "You lie, goodbye." Matt Margolis is, saying This Was a Bad Week for the GOP. PJM's Stephen Kruiser  says Please Welcome to the Main Stage—YOUR Republican Dumpster Fire! Hat Hair's Dave Strom has Thoughts on the McCarthy ouster. Hat Hair's Capt. Ed, Frog meets scorpion: House Republicans threaten to quit Problem Solvers Caucus after McCarthy ouster, and what problems have been solved? It reminded Jonathan Turley of a Monty Python sketch, The House Crack Suicide Squad: The Ouster of McCarthy Captures the Politics of Our Times. At Town Hall 'Becca Downs notes Newt Gingrich Doesn't Hold Back Against 8 Republicans Who Voted to Oust McCarthy "speaking to Fox News' Sean Hannity, during which he called the eight Republican members who voted to oust McCarthy "traitors" and said all of them "should in fact be primaried" and "be driven out of public life " and Cutie Pavlich hears Mark Levin Unload on Matt Gaetz Over McCarthy Ouster "Let's cut to the chase. Gaetz is a POS demagogue who repeatedly lied during the House floor debate yesterday, and then, of course, simultaneously was fundraising and collecting email lists on behalf of the people." At the Messenger, GOP Rep. David Joyce Would Vote To Kick Gaetz, Others Out of Conference Over Ousting McCarthy: ‘Waste of Time Having Conversations With These People.’ Capt. Ed comments An understandable reaction, perhaps, but it would mean handing the gavel to Hakeem Jeffries. Phil Klein at NRO, cited at Hat Hair, Yes, Democrats bear responsibility for the chaos too "Democrats had the choice between sucking it up and allowing a few moderate members to vote to spare McCarthy, which would have made a government shutdown less likely, or allying with fringe members of the Republican caucus to get rid of McCarthy so they can enjoy the chaos. "

The Speaker pro tem, Jeff Van Drew to Newsmax: GOP 'Can't Dwell' on McCarthy Vote, take a few days off. Leah Barkoukis at Town Hall sees McHenry's First Act as Speaker Pro Tempore Outrages Gaetz.  “I do have to offer some pretty sharp criticism of the new pro tem of the House, Patrick McHenry,” Gaetz told Newsmax’s Eric Bolling. “We met tonight, and he sent us home until Tuesday of next week, Eric.  We should be here tomorrow, working to elect a new speaker, getting onto our appropriations bills and engaging in a negotiation with the Senate to get the government funded, but instead these people have got to go home and cry for a week.” From Mediaite,  ‘You Would’ve Seen Fists Thrown’: House Republican Glad GOP Meeting After McCarthy Ouster Didn’t Last Any Longer. Victory Girls, Speaker Race: Candidates Getting In, But Can The Caucus Agree? "I think it will come down to Scalise or Jordan, with Scalise possessing a slight edge because of his status as House Majority Leader. His health issues are his single biggest detraction, which does make Jordan’s bid possible. However this ends up, the caucus needs to hammer out ALL the details before even stepping into the chamber to vote. We cannot do 15 rounds of voting again. These shenanigans have to stop, the House GOP needs a leader who won’t be ousted on Matt Gaetz’s whim, and the caucus needs to get their act together in order to blockade the Biden agenda." Ace, Jim Jordan Announces Bid to Become Speaker "I guess he's okay, considering the other alternatives, which are few." Sundance at CTH expresses doubt, Beware the “Anger Manager” – Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan Says He Would Accept House Speaker Role. Hat Hair's KT, Speaker Steve Scalise? Who knows where this goes? Alpha News, cited at Hat Hair, Emmer demurs on Speaker, aims for Majority Leader instead. PJM's VodkaPundit wonders Speaker Trump? Sundance, President Trump Responds to Question About Whether He Would Accept Nomination to Be Speaker of House… "President Trump said he would do whatever is needed to be of interim benefit to the Republican Party and to the House leadership, as the quest for the White House continues." That's a pipe-dream. 

Scott Johnson at Power Line (retitled at Hat Hair) wonders Did Biden's DoJ let Gaetz off the hook for this? "Listening to Gaetz leaves me wondering if the Biden Department of Justice might have chosen to leave Gaetz at large so he can continue to do his thing inside the Republican Party. His thing seems to serve the Democrats’ purpose as they understand their purpose."

Town Hall's Matt Vespa explains Why Republicans Are Evicting Top House Dems From Their Capitol Hideaway OfficesJake Sherman@JakeSherman "NEWS — HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP has kicked @RepStenyHoyer out of his Capitol hideaway. Republicans — McCarthy — are taking revenge for Democrats voting with @mattgaetz to boot @SpeakerMcCarthy from the speakership. Expect more of this, GOP sources tell us." At RedState, Sister Toldja thinks The Whole ‘McHenry Kicks Pelosi out of Her Hideaway Office’ Story Gets Even More Amusing "GOP Rep. Garret Graves told reporters on Wednesday that McCarthy is getting the office that McHenry has ordered her to vacate. Look the deal is that the office that Pelosi is in right now is the office of the preceding speaker. Speaker Pelosi and other Democrats determined that they wanted a new … speaker, and it’s Kevin McCarthy. So, he’s getting the office,” he said." From NewsBuster, Andrea Mitchell Gets Triggered When Guest Defends GOP Booting Pelosi From Her Office “I don't think that when you participate in a coup of the Republican leadership that you should expect any professional courtesy at this point. I don’t think any—I think any collegiality goes out the door at that point. So, I know that may be unpopular, but I have absolutely no problem with that.”

From the Free Bacon, Biden Taps Former Hunter Biden Colleague To Lead Office of the Special Counsel. Totally a coincidence I'm sure, there was no one else qualified. At the Slantic, Conor Friedersdorf explains Why Biden’s Age Is an Unavoidable Conversation, "“Human history is littered with good leaders who stayed too long,” one reader argues." Bad ones like Joe, too. Joe does it again, Beege Welborn at Hat Hair, Magical Joe: $9B in student debt...POOF! At Insty, AT THIS POINT, BIDEN WILL SOON BE ANNOUNCING THAT MEXICO WILL PAY FOR IT: Mayorkas announces border wall construction and THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL: High-Level Iranian Spy Ring Busted in Washington. "The Biden administration’s now-suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley helped to fund, support, and direct an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence the United States and allied governments, according to a trove of purloined Iranian government emails."

News Week reports Donald Trump Followers Targeted by FBI as 2024 Election Nears.  'Streif' at RedState, Trump Supporters Now a Special Target of the FBI; They Have Their Own Cute Name and Everything

As the 2024 presidential election looms, the FBI has created a new class of "domestic violent extremists" to track and place under surveillance: Donald Trump supporters. This new category, AGAAVE ("anti-government, anti-authority violent extremism"), was created to capture people motivated by political or social issues, not just ideology (Newsweek).
. . .
"What other name could we use?" asks one FBI officer who spoke with Newsweek, and who defends what he says is merely a record-keeping change in response to Congressional pressure to track things better. "Obviously if Democratic Party supporters resort to violence, it [AGAAVE-Other] would apply to them as well. It doesn't matter that there is a low likelihood of that. So yes, in practical terms, it refers to MAGA, though the carefully constructed language is wholly nonpartisan."

Another senior intelligence official who requested anonymity told Newsweek, "We've crossed the Rubicon." In emailed responses to questions, he said, "Trump's army constitutes the greatest threat of violence domestically ...politically...that's the reality and the problem set. That's what the FBI, as a law enforcement agency, has to deal with. But whether Trump and his supporters are a threat to national security, to the country, whether they represent a threat of civil war? That's a trickier question. And that's for the country to deal with, not the FBI."

Dave Strom, Biden's FBI has classified MAGA as terrorists. At NewsMax, a Report: FBI Eyes Trump Supporters Ahead of '24 Vote. Now ostensibly, the FBI is looking for violent people, but given the way the FBI has operated in the past, we may presume that they find some of the more radical Trump supporters, infiltrate their ranks, and encourage them to commit criminal acts, and provide them the training, the means and the opportunity.

At NYPo, NYC professor who threatened Post reporter with a machete avoids jail with wrist-slap therapy plea deal.

Capt. Ed, notes Fifth Circuit to DHS: Shut down Big Brother. Bob Spencer at PJM maintains Only the ‘Far Right’ Is Standing Between You and the Death of Free Speech

The Free Bacon reports Planned Parenthood is Helping Teenagers Transition After a 30 Minute Consult. Parents and Doctors are Sounding the Alarm. "The abortion provider is wading into transgender care, doling out prescriptions for estrogen and testosterone, including to special needs kids." From Da Blaze, 'Way to cheat, bro!' Trans high school athlete places 5th in girls' race after being ranked 172 as a boy. Jazz Shaw, "Open" (trans) swimming category scrapped after nobody signs up.  "The female swimmers weren’t going to sign up because having to swim against men was the problem in the first place. And the trans swimmers don’t want to sign up for a competition where they would have to compete against other males because they have a natural advantage over the women. Also, there probably aren’t enough trans competitors in the sport to fill out a tournament roster anyway." But weak male athletes might sign up to compete against men taking estrogen. Jim Treacher, If a Boy Claims He's Now a Girl, How Do You Know If He's Lying?

Amanda Hoover, Wired (emphasis mine):
It was meant to be a week for women in tech—but this year’s Grace Hopper Celebration was swamped by men who gate-crashed the event in search of lucrative tech jobs.

The annual conference and career fair aimed at women and non-binary tech workers, which takes its name from a pioneering computer scientist, took place last week in Orlando, Florida…

Cullen White, AnitaB.org’s chief impact officer, said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, that some registrants had lied about their gender identity when signing up, and men were now taking up space and time with recruiters that should go to women. “All of those are limited resources to which you have no right,” White said.

Okay, I don’t really care about any of that. If you want to have a tech conference and ban half the population of the planet, be my guest. It’s probably illegal, but I’m not a cop. You don’t want me or my kind there? No problem.

What I do care about is this: How do you know those men are lying about being women?

Greg Gutfeld took Jessica Tarlov to task on this on The Five yesterday, and it was a thing of wonder. Maybe you can find it. I can't. Ace, Viciously Racist Right-Wing Feminist TERFs Literally Endanger the Existence of Beautiful Non-Binary Bros, "Via David Strom: A job fair to help women get Affirmative Action make-work jobs in tech specifically announced the fair was open to "non-binaries" as well as women . . . "

Campus Reform, EXCLUSIVE: WSU promotes porn-filled Discord server in mailing list "One image shows a nude 'furry' character tied to a cross with the text 'Make America Great Again.'"

The Wombat has and FMJRA 2.0: Lepanto up and garnerning clicks at The Other McCain.

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