Overheard in a Congressional back room (probably): “On behalf of the Right half of the Senate, congratulations on your new job as Speaker of the House. Now pull your head out of your ass and stop with the crazy talk. We know you’ve been an anti-abortion activist all your life and we support you in that. But introducing a national ban is political suicide. More than 60% of the country is against us on that, so we’d much rather use your abortion shit as a campaign issue to keep the Wingnuts… I mean, our evangelical base, revved up. If we actually ban abortion, we’re out on our asses come next November. So by all means, talk the talk about the sanctity of life, but don’t actually DO anything about it or that will jeopardize the sanctity of our jobs. And it will generate headlines like this:”
Like with Southern border security, this is too valuable
to them as a campaign issue to lose by taking action. It’s far better for them
to use the issue to browbeat the simple minds into submission, with scary talk
of invaders, terrorists, and freeloaders bent on taking your jobs. (“The Oxymorons are coming!”) Republicans could
have passed a real border security/immigration bill, (as opposed to their “wall”
bullshit which was much more effective as a symbol than an actual barrier), but
they weren’t interested. They could have done it themselves when they had control
of both Houses and the Presidency, or even with the help of Democrats, provided
it wasn’t loaded with poison pills. But they passed nothing because they didn’t
really care about it. Someone’s gotta pick the lettuce, right? And if Americans
do it, even at minimum wage, it’ll cost $35 for a salad. They WANT a cheap
labor force available. But they’re not too proud to use the issue to scare
people into voting Republican. It’s the same way with abortion. It’s great
for moving 30% of the country, but a hot poker in the eye to the other 60%.
We’re only now hearing story after story about the
unintended consequences of abortion bans in states like Texas, where the
wingnuts are in charge. Whoever these Senators are who spoke to Mike Johnson, they're taking heed.
Meanwhile in the Senate…
About which McConnell
said, “What he’s targeting here is
private citizens with no legislative purpose. I think it’s completely and
totally inappropriate.”
I think Mitch makes more sense when he goes catatonic
than he does here. How can it NOT be appropriate to investigate when our
highest jurists in the nation appear to be taking in hundreds of thousands in
goodies and then issuing rulings that benefit their benefactors?
The “legislative purpose” is the notion that laws get
passed and reviewed on their merits, rather than being foregone conclusions
that always benefit the rich, because of shady, under-the-table pocket-stuffing.
I think what Mitch finds “inappropriate” is to have to
explain to the donors why they are no longer getting returns for their massive
bribes… I mean payoffs… I mean donations to dear friends. The last thing they
want is some kind of Code of Ethics where they must publicly declare every kickback
gift they receive. And we’re not talking
about branded keychains here, not unless they contain the keys to a new yacht. I
think he also knows that there are more such arrangements that can go public
with a little more investigation, that might lay bare just how corrupt the Red
Six really are, and how far up their robes the Big Donor tentacles go.
They are so bought and paid for and I hope it all goes public and perhaps many may also end up indicted for crossing legal boundaries that aren't vague about criminal consequences... Dawn the Bohemian
ReplyDeleteJudges and politicians should be forced to wear the logos of those entities that financed them/paid them off, like race car drivers. Then we can at least know where their true interests lie.
ReplyDeleteIf you are a Judge you should never need a Corporate Sponsor. In fact, in my Corporate Lives at Financial Institutions and the DA's Office, I wasn't allowed to accept Gifts since it could become a conflict of interest when dealing with those who you were the recipient of an unpaid for item of value. I was shocked that 45 was allowed to keep his interests in various Countries since that too compromised his decision making when dealing with those Countries where he had Business interests and/or Loans not satisfied. He was bought and paid for by a lot of Bad Actors long before he became President. His Bank and Tax Fraud were known for Decades, it's just now catching up to him, but he wasn't able to borrow from American Banks for a long time... so got in Bed with the Chinese, Deutschbank, the Russians and some Arabic Royals.
ReplyDeleteOf course. Your experience in the corporate and legal world is how it's supposed to be. But once there is that much power to be wielded, the 1% can't let that go to just anyone, especially those whose judgments might cost them money. Citizens United opened the floodgates.
ReplyDelete