Babies and Toddlers, WTF ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️🌻

Both Sides:  A shout out to the Democratic Socialists and far too many university students and groups, including at least one really foolish, now jobless NYU law student leader, for reminding us that being hateful and callous in the face of horror is not unique to the right.  Who could have guessed that advocating for Palestinian rights while holding up swastikas as news about the decapitation of infants and toddlers by Hamas terrorists was coming to light wasn’t, to borrow a phrase from Martha Stewart, “a good thing?”  Doubling down by saying that some of the children were just killed by Hamas terrorists rather than decapitated also not so good, to say the least. Not all members of the Democratic Socialists contingent, a group that includes the so-called Democratic Squad, are backing away from their “blame Israel for everything” position, though a few have walked back some of their undying adoration for all things Palestinian with wishy washy heavily word-smithed statements that acknowledge Hamas’ depravity.  Some like Representative Shri Thanedar have had it though, the Michigan Congressman is revoking his Democratic Socialist membership over its promotion of what he called the “anti-Semitic rally” in New York City and NY Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who earlier came under criticism from the group for traveling to Israel and who is currently best known for pulling a House fire alarm, quietly let his membership lapse a while ago. Naturally, Trump who popularized the “both sides” philosophy with his response to the Charlottesville’s tiki torch hate rally, is now going after Bibi Netanyahu, not for his right wing positions nor his efforts to limit Supreme Court powers, but in an odd word salad where he drudged up the past to say that Bibi failed him for not helping the US with the 2020 drome strike that killed Suleimani, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp as if that’s what anyone sane is focused on right now. So basically, since Bibi, who closely aligned himself with Trump, is deservedly in hot water for the intelligence failures that led up to last weekend’s attacks not to mention some of those other things, Trump is distancing himself from his one-time friend because that’s what Trump does. As to Bibi, yesterday he agreed to form a unity government to deal with Israel’s unprecedented crisis. And the saddest thing is that nothing can be done to undo what’s happened.  The suffering will continue, yes on both sides, because war sucks.  Hamas didn’t just attack Israel, by focusing on hate and destruction, the terrorists have failed their own people, bigly.   

Déjà vu:  Yesterday by a vote of 113 to 99, House Republicans voted to nominate Louisiana’s Steve Scalise rather than Ohio’s Jim “Gym” Jordan as their Speaker candidate.  Unfortunately for Scalise, he needs 217 votes to win and at the current time he doesn’t have near that many.  Though Jordan says he’ll support Scalise, quite a few of Gym’s supporters say they won’t vote for Scalise, and a significant number of others say they won’t support either candidate. Scalise is now facing the same dilemma that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy faced last January and no surprise, it appears that he’s following Kevin’s “promise everything to everyone” playbook.  Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna says that he won her over by promising that he’ll meet her demands which include nothing for her district but do include defunding Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, holding a House floor impeachment vote on Biden and issuing a subpoena for son Hunter. Margie Q says that she adores Scalise but won’t vote for him because of her concern that serving as Speaker will impede his cancer recovery, her way of saying that she’s taking orders from a higher authority: Trump, Putin, or both.  Lauren Boebert is still in the Jordan camp because she won’t support anyone who was previously in leadership. Colorado’s Ken Buck says that he won’t support Scalise or Jordan because neither is willing to say that Biden won the 2020 election.  Then there’s South Carolina Nancy Mace, who says she voted to oust McCarthy because he failed to take her concerns about victims of sex crimes seriously. Mace says that she won’t vote for Scalise because of his KKK affinity.  That’s nice but she voted for Jim Jordan and would still vote for him despite the accusations that he failed to stand up for the members of his wrestling team even though according to those team members he knew they were being sexually attacked by an Ohio State doctor. In a party of not serious people, Mace may be one of the most unserious.  That list is just the tip of the iceberg, Scalise is short far more votes which is why no floor vote was held yesterday. There are some suggestions that a dark horse could still emerge, someone like the current Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry or even less likely, McCarthy. Despite the fact that the Democratic caucus runs the gamut from blue dog to socialist, Hakeem Jeffries won all their votes and will be the party’s candidate for Speaker which is nice but means little unless some of the vulnerable so-called moderate, but not really, Republicans cross the aisle and they most likely won’t. And because having a House in disarray has consequences, both Ukraine and Israel funding which may or may not be tied together is up in the air and the government budget deadline and a possible shutdown loom.   

🤡 🚗: Kari Lake who still hasn’t conceded the Arizona gubernatorial race that she lost announced that she’s running for Senate for the seat currently held by former Democrat/now Independent Kyrsten Sinema.  Lake was immediately endorsed by Trump.  Sinema who’s swimming in campaign cash hasn’t announced her intentions.  Congressman Ruben Gallego is likely to be the Democratic candidate in what could turn out to be a three-way race.  The pile of 💩 surrounding George of many names Santos stinks and is growing. In a superseding indictment made public on Tuesday, federal prosecutors charged him with stealing the identities of family members and using donors’ credit cards. The mendacious Santos asserts he’s totally innocent and would never enter into a plea agreement but there are reports that he is currently in discussions with prosecutors about such an agreement.  A group of New York freshman Republican Congressman, including Esposito, Lawler, Molinaro, LaLota and Langworthy, all except Langworthy in swing districts, say they plan to introduce a resolution to have Santos expelled from Congress but it’s hard to believe that Republican leadership will do that because they can ill afford to lose Santos’ vote.  Then there’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary who is now the Governor of Arkansas.  She’s apparently involved in a “podium gate” scandal, something that involves spending state funds on a bespoke expensive podium while also paying for her friends to accompany her on a trip to Paris. Bedbugs anyone?