"The president said, 'no oversight. You can't talk about anything that has to do with oversight.'"
— Untroubled GOP chair of oversight https://t.co/N8GzcYl4Aj
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) February 7, 2017
Chaffetz gets a 30-min mtg with Trump/Priebus in the Oval Office, says Trump insisted on no talk of investigations https://t.co/D0j8zI19Wq
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 7, 2017
And the venal little bastid couldn’t wait to run bragging to his Media Village Idiot buddies, because of course he did.
… Chaffetz described an inquisitive, “chit-chatty” president, eager to learn about Postal Service reforms, undoing President Barack Obama’s move to turn Utah’s Bears Ears into a national monument, embassy security and reining in costs associated with the federal workforce. The elephant in the room — Chaffetz’s power to investigate Trump and his administration — never came up, he said. Nor, he added, did his ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server…
Chaffetz credited Priebus — an ally since the two traveled together during Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign — with arranging the Oval Office sitdown…
Chaffetz said Trump was supportive of him conducting vigorous oversight during their Philadelphia chat.
“He was the one who said proactively, feel free to investigate anything you want. That’s your job, that’s your role,” he said. “He is not going to put a heavy hand in one direction nor the other. We have a job to do and we’re going to do it.”
Sure, investigate the King’s enemies like you were screening for skin cancers. Just never investigate the King, because His Majesty is incapable of error.
Chaffetz says Reince Preibus, of the RNC, put this little confab together. The GOP is happy to let everyone know: IOKIYAR is now official government policy.
Every surviving Watergate CREEPster is sobbing into their pillows, dreaming of lost opportunities.
Rep. Chaffetz says his Oval Office meeting with President Trump won't affect his job as Congress's top investigator. https://t.co/8puPs2uaG2
— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) February 7, 2017
… Mr. Chaffetz’s visit to the White House was unusual. House members who are not in leadership rarely get a one-on-one sit down meeting with the president.
But Mr. Chaffetz said that it appeared to be part of an effort to build better relations with Congress. “This is such a sea change from President Obama who essentially gave us the stiff arm,” Mr. Chaffetz said. “This is just so much better — it’s so interactive.”
“Interactive” — One hand washes the other!
It won't change his decision to erect a protective wall around Trump's unprecedented conflicts of interest and lack of transparency https://t.co/KN1SoXdYZC
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) February 7, 2017
I wonder how much Trump agreed to pay him?#peopleareasking https://t.co/4gWU1R7L0d
— digby (@digby56) February 8, 2017
Or what the Russians threatened to expose about him https://t.co/LZMpPXw5iF
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 8, 2017
Chaffetz took a victory lap tonight:
Seriously, can we get anyone else to run the House Oversight Committee? A cocker spaniel? Maybe a bag of gravel? pic.twitter.com/oXiP63fjwo
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) February 8, 2017
Going to be really awkward for Jason Chaffetz to keep looking away when Trump shoots a Nordstrom exec on 5th Avenue.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 8, 2017
hilts
Jason Chaffetz – gutless lying sack of shit
Omnes Omnibus
Cocker spaniels can be very aggressive.
Yarrow
In October:
I wonder what his daughter thinks now.
Major Major Major Major
Wait, he’s still investigating Hillary’s emails?
What is he, the New York Times?
schrodingers_cat
The present Republican admin is front page news in every newspaper around the world.
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus: They’re also a lot smarter than Chaffetz.
Gin & Tonic
@Yarrow: I wonder why brave Wolf Blitzer didn’t ask him?
Yarrow
@Gin & Tonic: It would even be relevant given the Republican president’s tweet about his daughter’s business.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: That too. And such irresistible eyes. They are altogether superior to Chaffetz.
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: everything Trump touches turns to shit. EVERYTHING. Every ally who once defied him will be defiled. The only winning move is not to play.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: How about a nice game of chess?
Mike J
Grab torches. Grab pitchforks.
amk
what exactly is stopping the dems from starting their own investigations on this not yet 3 weeks old admin’s corruptions? honest question. the thugs have had all kindsa investigations in the last 8 years.
Mnemosyne
First World Problem of the Day:
I was getting worried about how I was going to track my steps on my upcoming trip to Disney World, because everything is done by Magic Band (wristband) now, and I discovered last time that it’s a giant pain in the ass to try and wear both a Fitbit Charge and a Magic Band at the same time.
Turns out that Fitbit can now access the pedometer on your iPhone, so I can turn that on instead and track that way without having to wear two wristbands. Yay!
Dog Dawg Damn
@amk: They are in the minority and so cannot, AFAIK.
andy
So, beyond the oversight this toad Jason Chaffetz won’t be engaging in, there was also talk of “postal reform.” What are they planning to further degrade the service?
Major Major Major Major
@Dog Dawg Damn: they can do a toothless shadow government thing. Unprecedented, I think, but then again, interesting times.
amk
@Dog Dawg Damn: so, checks and balances are all bs then?
Major Major Major Major
@andy: sell more of the offices to Trump, probably.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major: Shadow government actually makes good sense. Having a known go-to person for each set of issues. When DeVos does something stupid, you know that the shadow Sec of Education will have the official party response.
Dog Dawg Damn
It’s amazing how the minute Trump becomes President, every Deplorable on Twitter is all of a sudden a Constitutional scholar.
Twitter University School of Law must be working overtime.
? Martin
Watch this story coming out of Arizona.
This was a voluntary check in by Garcia de Rayos, and they arrested her and moved to deport her. This is what states like California fear, that millions of undocumented immigrants will withdraw from interacting with government agencies, local police, etc. This is incredibly unhelpful.
Kryptik
@amk:
There are plenty of checks and balances: Russian checks to deposit and fill out their bank balances.
And that’s what’s really important if you’re a GOPer, right?
Aleta
eager to learn about Postal Service reforms, undoing President Barack Obama’s move to turn Utah’s Bears Ears into a national monument
hurts the heart
Standing Rock
efgoldman
@amk:
The minority can only do what the majority allows them to do. I suppose they could hire their own investigative attorneys, but they wouldn’t have subpoena power and couldn’t compel appearance or testimony. And even if they found something, they’d have to make a referral to a prosecutor, and the AG and all the US attorneys will be RWNJs.
The only thing they could would be to make any findings public, but as we’ve seen, at least for now, that doesn’t mean shit.
jl
@Dog Dawg Damn: The scandal and class action law suit of the Trump Correspondence School of Law and Other Flying High BS hasn’t hit the news yet.
Omnes Omnibus
@amk: Checks and balances are between the branches of government – where each is expected to do its job. It has nothing to do with political parties.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: The minority has no subpoena power or investigatory control without the accent/cooperation of the majority in Congress. This is based on Congressional rules for each chamber set by each chamber. Its completely democratic in that its completely majoritarian. The minority has no say, no control, and no ability to anything but complain.
? Martin
@amk: Being in the minority means they can’t do that. That said, Nordstrom is incorporated in Washington state, and Washington state might have standing to investigate.
Anne Laurie
@andy:
Yup. No Saturday delivery, dropping unprofitable rural routes, shuttering ‘low usage’ branches, all the usual break-it-and-then-complain-it-doesn’t-work GOP treatment of any government department they’re put in charge of. They think they’re making Fedex and UPS happy, although IIRC Amazon’s a big fan of the postal service.
jl
@? Martin: ” This is incredibly unhelpful. ” I’d say dangerous. Besides doing recklessly incompetent and morally wrong things, Trump is initiating very dangerous policies.
White bigots in Ryan’s House district or out in some white bigot sticks back East can be as ignorant and afraid and as vengeful as they want. Just keep their BS out of our state affairs. Trump will try to do a bunch of immoral and dangerous BS and he has to be very strongly resisted.
NotMax
Every time any R says “reform” it means at minimum one of two things:
1) ruin
2) privatize
Yarrow
@andy:
Sell it off to UPS or FexEx, probably.
? Martin
@Anne Laurie: Fedex and UPS don’t want to be running packages out to bumfuck – they give them to the USPS to deliver. If the USPS is privatized, either the private services will need to be mandated to run trucks out to the middle of nowhere, which is incredibly unprofitable, or rural citizens (you know, the ones who voted for Trump) will be fucked.
jl
@NotMax: It’s one underpants gnome scheme that they have made work.
privatize
plunder
profit (from crony monopoly capitalist payoffs)
? Martin
@jl: Yeah. Just to be clear to everyone, Garcia de Rayos came here when she was 14, she’s been in the US for 22 years. Her only ‘crime’ was working. She’s being separated from her two children who are both US citizens.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: checks and balances are also, as Frum(?) noted recently, an idea, not a mechanism. Somebody has to want to do it. (I liked the phrasing.)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@? Martin: Yup, why law enforcement likes the “sanctuary city” type of thing, if people are afraid of deportation they won’t come forward as crime victims or witnesses.
NotMax
@jl
Dogwhistle.
The tell is that they never, never, never employ the word “reform” when it comes to anything to do with the military.
Never.
danielx
What I can’t understand is why Trump felt compelled to even mention the word ‘oversight’ to Chaffetz; it’s not like the maggot was going to bring it up.
efgoldman
I’ve got a great idea to revive Atlantic City: A Smarmy Punchable Face Pageant.
Chaffetz for sure; Tailgunner Teddy Cruz; Old Orrin Hatch, Cobra-faced Cotton, Kelly Ann Riefenstahl (no sexism here!), Sphincter….
Why the possibilities are nearly endless. The Republiklown big spenders won’t be able to keep their wallets in their pockets.
We could even hire Zombie Bert Parks to host. We’ll need a new song, though.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: True as well.
? Martin
Another thing to remember – regarding the Yemen raid, there were two Americans killed. The SEAL and the 8 year old girl were both Americans. I keep hearing that a single American life was lost – it was two lives. I’m still of the view that 8 year-olds are not old enough to consent to revoking their citizenship, regardless of how horrible their parents might have been.
jl
@? Martin: I agree. The private carriers fear the USPS being allowed to step up from starvation level indirect subsidies to generating its own revenue to improve service, things like providing internet service, email accounts, and a lot of other services that are common in other high income countries, and postal banking. Not many countries have full blown postal banking any longer, but they have split off revenue generating bits of postal banking services that their postal systems are allowed to offer.
The private carriers want a crippled USPS that will provide universal retail delivery on the cheap (and they don’t mind indirect public subsidies for that, of course). They don’t want it dead.
sukabi
@Adam L Silverman: seems like the only recourse would be for private investigations (of personal indiscretions ) and major leakage to the press to get the house and senate functioning as they should.
PeakVT
The Repukes in Congress aren’t merely deplorable; they’re downright execrable.
I wish Cheney would take them all hunting.
Darkrose
@Mike J: Because this is a huge problem in basball, SAID NO ONE EVER!
Aleta
@andy: Privatizing it has been a stated goal of the Koch Brothers since 1980. Things they could do before that: stop home delivery in rural areas. Try to weaken the mail handlers union by eliminating certain jobs entirely. (Not sure, but I think they might have to offer members a different job, but it can be one in another state, and of course no moving expenses.) Close down even more processing centers, which will hurt newspaper subscriptions because the longer the travel time the later the paper arrives.
Order more of the same time wasting tinkering changes as they’ve been doing the last 4 years so that efficiency numbers on paper look abysmal. Continue the switch to even more temporary workers who are hired, let go, rehired, let go, and therefore never qualify for sick days, paid vacation, health insurance, retirement, or raises. Sell off buildings and property. Close more local POs in small towns.
efgoldman
@sukabi:
It’s not like their grifting, from Tangerine Tumor on down, is secret. Everybody who cares, knows. At least for now, until re-election prospects are endangered, they don’t care.
NotMax
@Aleta
Also too, double, triple or quadruple cost of renting a P.O. box. Same for cost of processing passport applications.
Aleta
@Anne Laurie: Ironically, in addition to Amazon, this Christmas their volume was way up, due to all the stuff coming off container ships from China.
Darkrose
@Major Major Major Major: Is there any legal reason they couldn’t do that? Because I think that’s a great idea.
jl
@Aleta: The Koch brothers want to do a lot of stupid things that would be very politically unpopular, and which would severely harm all the ‘real Americans’ that they claim they champion. And I think there will be a lot of corporate money on the other side of that fight.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Major Major Major Major: I think it’s been done. IIRC in ’04 or ’05 they held some quasi-hearings in meeting rooms in the Capitol, but it didn’t get a lot of attention or results
Mike in NC
Sniveling asshole.
Aleta
@jl: Perhaps they will contract out more of the rural delivery. They already contract it out in the farthest reaches including off shore.
jl
@Darkrose: If they do then they’ll have to rent a private hall. IIRC the GOPers shut down an attempted press conference the Dems tried to hold during the Dub years in the Capitol, or in some Congressional office building. I think the DEms went ahead and tried to hold it, and the GOP thugs turned off the juice, or something. Anyone remember something like that?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Anne Laurie:
Link at “Mr. Chaffetz’s visit” is screwed.
Darkrose
Also, Chaffetz has a face like a rectum.
Omnes Omnibus
@Darkrose: First, we don’t have a parliamentary system. Second, the ranking minority member on each House and Senate committee is the de facto shadow and they are usually treated as such.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Yup, turned off the sound and lights.
Adam L Silverman
@? Martin: We also do not punish children for their parents’ actions.
Adam L Silverman
@sukabi: This is where anonymous sources meet the press.
Peale
@Major Major Major Major: actually no. The article says she was convicted of felony theft in 2009. The issue isn’t that she’s being deported. The issue is the children, who are probably us citizens.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: we do the SOTU responses.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Done even more recently than I had thought, and I, liberal political junkie, didn’t notice
Anne Laurie
@? Martin:
“But the Mooslims stone wimmen for adultery, so BOTH SIDES!” — conservidiots
Mike in DC
@? Martin:
Terrible. The real shit storm begins when ICE starts doing neighborhood raids to seize undocumented residents. 60 million pissed off Latinos will make themselves heard and felt.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: We do now.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Mike J:
Aw, hell, no!
Adam L Silverman
@jl: They cut the power and then had them locked out by the custodian. They then, in an attempt to drive the point home, changed the meeting times and locations for the committees and sub-committees so that the Democratic members couldn’t be present when they met.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: GOP loves them some decorum bigly, don’t they?
Dog Dawg Damn
@amk: Checks and balances are not all BS. (See 9th Circuit, e.g.). But the House and Senate are controlled by the GOP, so they will not be a balance or check until they either 1) grow a pair or 2) are thrown out for a Dem majority.
Part of the “checks and balance” thing is predicated on frequent, fair elections. 2018 is the key.
Major Major Major Major
@Peale: I imagine this was for somebody else.
amk
rethugs are saying fu to all the ‘rules’ and ‘norms’ while the dems are left wringing their hands. yeah, great checks and balances that.
? Martin
@Mike in DC: A lot of pissed off caucasians will be right there with them. And California has an estimated 500K+ undocumented immigrants from Asia – India, China, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines.
30% of Californians are foreign born – and that’s not including the undocumented immigrants.
Anne Laurie
@danielx:
Trump doesn’t do subtle, and Chaffetz wanted to advertise that he’s up for sale to the highest bidder. Your modern GOP!
Darkrose
@Omnes Omnibus: I know we don’t have a parliamentary system. However, we also have a one-party state now, where even when the Democrats have power they aren’t able to legislate. Forming a Shadow Cabinet wouldn’t change that; I’m just thinking there might be some advantage in adopting that terminology.
? Martin
@amk: States are independent governments. States will fight as well. The travel ban is being fought by the states.
Anne Laurie
@Steeplejack (phone): Fixed, thanks.
sukabi
@efgoldman: I’m talking David Vitter or Foley types of indiscretions…
Adam L Silverman
@jl: They’re like school in the summertime: No Class!
jl
@? Martin: Well, ha ha, more like 97 percent, if you go back far enough. But, hell, maybe someone will give Trump the bright idea of deporting Native Americans back to Siberia. None of them are documented, and they are threatening sovereign nations in our midst!
Omnes Omnibus
@Darkrose: Please explain who would be what. Who would be the Shadow SoS? And why?
danielx
@Anne Laurie:
You got me there, although the wonder isn’t that they can be bought, it’s that they can be bought so cheaply.
Redshift
Comment from a Utahn, via another Utah friend of mine:
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman: Did you dig out your Fat Albert VHS tapes again?
rikyrah
@Mike in NC:
what he said
Aleta
@Mike J: That’s not the way the game is played.
efgoldman
@sukabi:
Those DVDs are in Russia. The other participants are likely dead or in the gulag.
Gin & Tonic
I love these kinds of heart-warming stories. A hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) was found dead in a sauna in an area near Kiev known for spas and “resorts.” The beautiful phrase in the story was that: “death caught up to him while he was in the company of several young ladies of loose behavior.” Having been observed entering the sauna with the cleric, they later left, leaving the cleric both dead and no longer in possession of his valuables.
A story as old as time, it seems.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@sukabi: Didn’t seem to hurt Vitter in the Senate. There are rumors about The Turtle.
Aleta
Anonymous Sources could be a new Sunday show.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I hear there’s a grandma in New York that has some experience.
jl
@Gin & Tonic: You suggest something shady. Young ladies have spiritual needs too, you know.
Aleta
-Mother Jones
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
So that’s what the kids call it these days.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Pray for play.
Aleta
Meanwhile the ignoble Ted Cruz says Democrats are the party of the K l an. Helpful.
Gin & Tonic
@jl: I suggest nothing of the sort, I just really liked the turn of phrase. And while I am not familiar with all ecclesiastical traditions, there aren’t many that I recall that involve tending to one’s spiritual needs while naked in a sauna. Maybe I need to search for a new path to Godliness.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Aleta: Well, you know about Bobby Byrd.
sigaba
@Mike J: Shadow governments make sense in a parliament, where the legislators in office take the department jobs while still holding their seats. What would it mean if Senator Warren is the Shadow Secretary of Labor, if by definition, if the Democrats retook the White House, they’d either lose her in the Senate or she wouldn’t accede to the job?
Also parliaments have the most important piece, a Shadow President/Prime Minister, and in our system the parties don’t do that. We don’t know who the presidential nominee will be, and we usually let presidents pick their cabinet so…
In our system Chairmen/Ranking Members of the senate committees serve the same role as the shadow government.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic:
Might I suggest gin and tonic?
Villago Delenda Est
The hallmark of the 21st Century Rethuglican is cowardice.
None of them are worthy of any office under the Constitution of the United States. All worthless and weak.
Peale
@sigaba: Lordy. The last thing we’d need right now is to have the Democrats “anoint” a shadow president. I can’t imagine the shitstorm in the 2020 primary about that.
Darkrose
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t know. I’m asking if it’s even possible first. If so, is there value in officially being the Loyal Opposition in terms of having a consistent message and pinning the fallout from the shitgibbon’s policies on the GOP.
I’m just spitballing, mostly to keep from screaming because the Democrats are completely shut out of the government. We can march all we want but when our representatives aren’t allowed to participate in government, and all protests are branded as astroturfing, I’m feeling pretty hopeless right now.
Villago Delenda Est
@Dog Dawg Damn: One of the things about “checks and balances” is that each branch of the government is supposed to be jealous of its prerogatives, and its position, and eager to fight to maintain that position.
Congress has been, for the last 40 years, since the demise of Nixon, no longer concerned with that.
Aleta
from website of Rep. T. M.
Mike J
@sigaba: Who’s our best person on education? On defense? Make them the shadow secretaries. Their job is to get on TV every time the administration does something in their bailiwick and put forward the Democratic response. Every day, on every issue, we need to show that our ideas are better for America.
efgoldman
@Aleta:
But he doesn’t have a racist bone in his whole eyeball.
All those fuckers are lower than whale shit, and twice as stinky.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mike J: I think it’s a good idea for the DNC to have “specialists” to go on “the shows”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Darkrose: It isn’t a possibility.
Yarrow
@Aleta:
I’m imagining it as a TMZ type show.
Major Major Major Major
@Peale: “no coronation for Elizabeth Warren! She must compete against a less impressive gentleman!”
catbirdman
@Mike J: Agreed. We need SOME effing strategy — where are all the Congressional geniuses?
Yarrow
@Aleta: Well, that’s terrible. But I still have to laugh that the day the unqualified Betsy DeVos is confirmed they introduce a bill to take her entire department away from her.
Dog Dawg Damn
@Villago Delenda Est: Yup. Republican party as it is needs to be removed, root and branch.
Peale
@Aleta: part of me hopes they pass that. I mean, everybody hates their student loans and knows Pelli grants are too small. Until you find that no one will offer them without a guarantee.
ETA: We’d probably lose 2,000 colleges overnight. I would hope that that might rouse voters against it, but who knows? A surprisingly high number of voters like to be kicked in the teeth.
Yarrow
@Mike J: Agreed. The idea of a “shadow government” doesn’t have to completely mimic how it works in a parliamentary style of government to be effective. Find, as you say, the best person on Education, Defense, Economy, etc. and put them out there to talk abut the issue every time the Republican administration does something predictably stupid and horrible.
They don’t have to be called a “shadow government”–it’s a convenient shorthand, though. Bonus for using that phrase is that it will drive the Republican president crazy. It also has the benefit of making the Democrats look like the adults who are willing to do the hard work of governing, rather than just sitting around looking helpless.
jl
@Darkrose: if the demonstrations and giving mass heck to Congresspeople move public opinion substantially, some GOPers will panic as the midterms approach. Trump has historically unseen low popularity and job approval for a new president. He is pushing immoral, incompetent and counterproductive policies, a lost-lose-lose combo. I see no sign he will change the course of an economy that has pissed off so many people. Might well make the situation worse.
Fact that GOP seems only able to produce failed and corrupt presidential administrations over the last 20 years may sink in.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow: These folk need to feel comfortable and look good on the TV machine as well.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: More like the last 50 years.
ETA: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, Dolt45.
Cain
@Major Major Major Major:
A nod for the War Games quote. :-)
Darkrose
@jl: I’m in a pretty dark place right now, because I feel like none of it matters. Spicer’s repeatedly claimed that the demonstrations are by paid protesters and as far as I’ve seen no one’s demanded proof of this. Tom McClintock lied about what went down in Roseville, acting like there were ravening mobs with pitchforks outside the Tower Theater. The GOP held a meeting to address the issue and it was all about “How can we keep our contituents at bay?” They’re whining about being attacked by progressives when no one said shit about Teaturds showing up to town halls with guns.
I told myself I was expecting Sessions to be confirmed, so focus on the next fight…but we’re going to lose that one too. All of the fuckwitted talking rectum’s nominees will be confirmed. I fully expect BLM to be declared a terrorist organization. Our public schools will be sold off to the highest bidder or closed in favor of homeschooling, religious schools, and for-profit charters. If there’s not a terrorist attack soon enough, I’m sure Kelly Anne and Sean will make one up out of whole cloth and there will be nothing except maybe the courts to keep President Trump from declaring martial law and sending troops into Chicago for reasons. And our opposition party has been completely hamstrung. Republicans will simply change the rules so that all Democrats can do is sit there.
I don’t see any way out of this.
JordanRules
@Darkrose: I like the ideas! Keep doing what you need to so you don’t feel so impotent. Some things may not be possible now, but perhaps later they become useful even if for some good art and not policy. So many norms have been demolished, we might as well consider many options in good faith and discuss them and then think beyond them. The Civil Rights movement (and so many others) certainly had to think beyond and within the current system.
Dog Dawg Damn
@Darkrose: The way out is that Trump isn’t that popular. He’s actually literally mentally ill or impaired in some way. Many, many people suspect this.
As we keep pressure on, this becomes more apparent. If we have to endure 4 years of his hell, then at least we’ll have him out in 2020. Likely, Dems can ride a wave in 2018 and put a brake on his administration and start investigating Russia and Mental Illness and Conflicts of Interest, driving him from office in shame.
That is the gameplan, and it can work.
Yarrow
@jl:
We don’t even have to wait for midterms. Big elections in NJ and VA this year. Let’s send Republicans a message. They’ll hear it if Dems win big.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yes, that’s important. Bonus if they are also good on social media.
Cain
@Adam L Silverman:
Could of fooled me.. cuz I could have sworn when the democratic party controlled the House, it seemed like Republicans were able to do all kinds of things to gum up the works.
Cain
@? Martin:
My postwoman, listens to lars larson while delivering the mail. She is the nicest lady and she treats just fine and what not. But I never could understand why she would listen to that vile man. But a number of postal folks are right wing…
amk
@Darkrose:
This. Isn’t the concept of two senators from each state all about the tyranny of majority?
Thru the Looking Glass...
@hilts: Whenever I see a picture of Chaffetz, the first words that come to mind are “squishy little sack of shit”…
Major Major Major Major
@Cain: in the senate, yes. In the house all a minority can do is refuse to cooperate on things that have previously been bipartisan, like the GOP started to do with the debt limit.
Cain
@Yarrow:
There will be all kinds of voter fraud allegations.. we should make that motherfucker Chaffetz to investigate the Trump election if they believe it so much. Make em do the investigation!
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Cain: Uh, yup… I can’t recite specifics, but that’s generally what I remember too..
Dems just gotta learn to fight meaner and dirtier… they need to start hitting back…
All tides turn… it’s the way of the world…
Major Major Major Major
@amk: if by “the tyranny of the majority” you mean “slavers were upset that they weren’t the majority” then yes.
Cain
@Dog Dawg Damn: I’m in. Let’s do this.. Wave election in 2018.
Another Scott
@andy: They’ve so strangled the USPS over the last several years that it’s actually in danger of going under. So there’s a real actual bill to fix many of the problems that they’ve made. Lots of buy-in by USPS management, the unions, and others.
GovExec has more:
It’s not a done deal, and it probably doesn’t fix everything that the GOP has broken over the years, but it sounds like significant progress.
Cheers,
Scott.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Another Scott:
Republican wet dream…
Anne Laurie
@Redshift: True story: I first noticed Jason Chaffetz’ name because I was a Dukakis voter; Jason’s father was Nancy Dukakis’ first husband.
Gotta assume, if she ever notices young Jason’s career, she is reminded that she made a good choice by divorcing his progenitor!
Cain
@Anne Lauri – Up kind of late ? I’d think you’ll soon be getting up to deliver the morning post :-)
ruemara
@Darkrose: FYI, neither do I. These people telling you about popularity and the masses have a faith as arcane to me as people who believe in the flat earth. It will be bad until even conservatives chafe under the yoke.
Anne Laurie
@Cain: Nah, I usually write the morning post just before I go to bed.
Now that I’m not employed for money, I can keep the vampire hours (ca. 2pm-6am) my body prefers.
Aleta
@Darkrose: We had a bad week. Trump had a bad week too. One week at a time.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Yarrow: I’m thinking a “shadow cabinet” would be a good compromise. Makes it difficult for the rat-humpers to find a single target, provides a good contrast (heightening the contradictions ya know, without all the blood and suffering on our side), and gives space for 2nd and 3rd level appointees to get some experience and training.
We take the executive back, and it provides a framework for a fast transfer of power (unless the republicans decide to forgo the peaceful bit, but that’s another problem). Honestly, D.C has been doing this ad. hoc. with their think tanks, this structure would make it more honest.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Aleta: We are only in week THREE FFS…. Not even out of the first month, it’s gonna be a LONG 4 years…..
Aleta
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: 2 years.
Aimai
@amk: the minirity party doesnt have investigative suthority. Cant issue subpoenas.
Morzer
@Aleta:
Well, that’s certainly one way of minimizing the harm that DeVos can do.
NorthLeft12
@Yarrow:
Gee….I wonder what changed since October, 2016?
Republicans; obsequious, cowardly, and hypocritical lickspittles since forever.
Gindy51
@Anne Laurie: So is UPS, they contract with the USPS to deliver packages to rural routes all the time. Half of my UPS shipments are dropped off by my rural contract postal worker. The folks at UPS are going to be mighty pissed if they have to drive way the hell out here to drop off a tiny box.
evodevo
@danielx: It’s called projection …obviously, down deep, he knows all this stuff that he’s doing, and wants to do, is illegal/immoral/unethical, and he is just doing a little pre-emptive blocking.
Sherparick
@efgoldman: The Democrats did do this starting in 2005-06 during Bush Administration. But you are limited to only those witnesses who voluntarily attend and whether the media thinks it is an interesting enough to cover without some witness taking the 5th. The minority has no subpoena power, only the Chairpersons of the committees and subcommittees and the committees by majority vote can issue subpoenas. This is why it would be really nice if Democrats would organize and expand their parties starting at the school district level on up and win local, state, and house elections so they can be in the majority. Also, if you are an independent, anti-fascist, pro-environment Republican in a Red State or area, organize your other disaffected Republicans and primary these suckers. Because politicians like Chaffetz right now they look at the polls and see Trump is at 85% approval among self-identified Republicans and Conservatives. The Base feeds on the tears and defeats of liberals like vampires on blood. It is want they yearned for the last 8 years, it is what Trump promised, and he is at least, so far, giving them what they want in the form of bashing liberals, immigrants, Muslims, foreigners, and the courts. Chaffetz is an amoral shmuck and will do what the Base and donor class wants with pleasure, and right now they want him to suck up to Trump.
Jeffro
@Kryptik:
Nice! Stealing that.
evodevo
@Cain: This. My fundie co-worker listens to talk/religious radio all day while delivering the route. Her family is pretty much completely dependent on her working, and her benefits. She has 10 years to retirement, and she opted to go to the federal 401K 9 years ago, and consequently has almost nothing in retirement, due to the crash (and she was in the “conservative” option). Some of her family was enrolled in KyNect, the very successful Ky version of Obamacare, and now are out in the cold ’cause our knuckle-dragging voters voted in a Teabagger gov who promptly killed it. If they f&*k with the Post Office, she, AND I, will be feeling it bigtime. she has a union, but constantly denigrates it, not realizing that it got her the great salary and perks she currently enjoys. If you explain this stuff to her an issue at a time, she goes for the progressive version….COGNITIVE DISSONANCE. The main reason she voted Trump was ‘bortion/gaymarriage, and because her fundie preacher tole her that was the godly thang to do. (he’s an idiot,by the way) So, there you are….this is what we are fighting, and why we are where we are today … I vowed to confront her with Trump screw ups every day for the next 4 years….
laura
@andy: it’s been in the works for years. Post office is one of the largest unionized federal workforce. OUR post office buildings have been given away at fire sale prices with Feinsteins husband dick Blum on both the seller and buyer side -which is why the Washington Post Office is now a trump hotel.
Amazon and fed ex want to get rid of delivery and then corner the market.
Charlie Pierce wrote a most excellent synopsis of the unrelenting bipartisan attack on OUR Post Office. An Office deemed so very necessary by the Framers that they enshrined it in the Constitution.
The idiot presnit would be unlikely to have known about the war on OUR Post Office without lil weasely lick spittle bringing it up.
ET
He is also talking about messing about in DC city laws like assisted suicide. Republicans only like local control when it means keeping the parts of the federal government it doesn’t like out, otherwise when it comes to things they personally don’t like they are willing to muck about and do as much damage as they can.
laura
@Darkrose: Take heart Darkrose, you are in good company and you are not alone. This nightmare is new to us, and it will demand more of us than we’ve been asked at any time in our lives.
Never forget that you are one of the helpers. You are a Librarian. You are a keeper of the truth, a keeper of the flame. You are a woman and you are a person of color. The fight will be long and right now, it seems that the goal is out of reach. But fight, we must. Every day. There’s more of us than there is of them. Rest and recharge your soul and rejoin the resistance please.
Savor the little victories. For every McClintock, there’s a Kevin McCarty.
If you can, get in over to Art Street. It will restore your spirit.
Never. Give. Up.