Dasting Drops.
62
4211 (4 to 11)
I Am Absolutely Loving the Petty Evictions Happening in Congress
The gears of Washington—as they so often do in this age of soul-crushing gridlock—have ground to a halt. Kevin McCarthy, a man whose political career is singular proof that karma is real, has been stripped of his gavel by the unseemly fringes of his truculent GOP. He is no longer speaker of the House, nor is anyone else. The position, which is crucial to marshaling routine bills across legislative arteries, is currently being filled by pro tempore Patrick McHenry, of North Carolina’s 10th district, while new leadership is ascertained. Nobody is sure when that will happen, or who it will be, which means Congress is essentially frozen. In the meantime, jilted Republicans who were allied with McCarthy are clamoring for whatever revenge they can find. And because Democrats didn’t bail them out of their own mess, the first thing on the menu was telling Nancy Pelosi to pack up her office and kick rocks.
Yes, in one of McHenry’s inaugural acts as a lame-duck speaker, yesterday—mere hours after his accidental ascension—his staff informed Pelosi that she must abandon her congressional hideaway office so it may be repossessed for “speaker office use.” Politico first broke the story, and reported that the mandate was passed along to Pelosi’s team in the form of a luridly frosty email. (“Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” it read. Yikes!) Pelosi is currently in California for the public mourning of Dianne Feinstein, so she missed the tragicomic fall of McCarthy entirely. Thankfully, according to Politico, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dispatched his staff to retrieve Pelosi’s belongings for safekeeping. It’s a good thing he did, otherwise the former speaker might’ve needed to hire a locksmith.
For the uninitiated, “congressional hideaways” are secret enclaves on Capitol Hill—usually roomier and more luxurious than standard offices—doled out to some of the more esteemed, high-ranking members of Congress; for Pelosi, this certainly applies. Therefore, her eviction seems to be less a matter of procedural governmental function and more a soupçon of prickly pettiness unleashed on a political enemy. McCarthy and his allies are furious that the Democrats didn’t step in to save the embattled speaker from hard-right Republicans: Without Democratic support for McCarthy, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s contingency threw the leader to the wolves.
McHenry, who remains an ephemeral interim speaker in a divided party with a razor-thin majority, has limited means to voice his displeasure administratively, but forcing Pelosi to haul her belongings down the hall certainly does get some kind of message across. (It should also be said that Pelosi is no longer in a Democratic leadership position, so this is more proof that her resonant legacy is still large enough to make her public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of the GOP.)
“This eviction is a sharp departure from tradition,” said Pelosi, in a statement to NPR. “As Speaker, I gave former Speaker Hastert [who served from 1999 to 2007, right before Pelosi took the reins] a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
“Now that the new Republican Leadership has settled this important matter, let’s hope they get to work on what’s truly important for the American people,” the statement continued.
She’s right that the circumstances are wild, but Pelosi’s claim that McHenry’s move is totally unprecedented isn’t entirely true. (Also, why is she name-dropping a kindness she did for disgraced ex-House Speaker Dennis Hastert?)
We’re living in the age of the impasse. The constriction of MAGA hyperparity has made any substantial nation-altering projects untenable by design, and in that environment, our lawmakers must turn to increasingly arcane regions of the rulebook to “do politics” on the most vicious, schoolyard scale. Honestly, the next time the Democrats have the House, the speaker should immediately set up a cardboard box on Pennsylvania Avenue for McHenry’s new command center. Let’s see how he likes that! If this is going to get ugly, let’s make it as ugly as possible.
Regardless, I do hope Pelosi does find a nice place to shack up when she returns to the District of Columbia, especially in this housing crunch. Is the former speaker about to enter her Virginia suburbs era? Only time will tell.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/am-absolutely-loving-petty-evictions-194712332.html
Why so many changes?
Who decided they could take it upon themselves, and change it for all? if it was "the word?"
(Rhetorical)
And yet, most forget the Prayer that said "Forgive us our SINS…"
Hum, which seems more likely?
Debts, Tresspasses, or SINS?
Contemporary
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
>10 days