GO CAROLING DAY UPDATES
Just Do Like Me and Try to Harmonize During the Refrains So Being Out-of-Tune Seems Endearing
-Oh for the days when the holidays hit and everything in DC and the world hit a kind of snooze button for two weeks so all you had to focus on was how to wrap gifts in a semi-professional way and the New Years' Day bowl games. Those days are long gone, however, and we instead have a tsunami of stuff happening because there's no such thing as resting, especially in Washington.
-BECAUSE, even if you have zoned out since early November, you no doubt are NOW aware that the incoming administration has decided it couldn't wait for January 20 to come, and instead decided to get right to the self-immolation part of their governance - and that self-immolation was one of the drivers that made a ton of us put our hearts and souls on the line to try to stop it, (and, IMHO, will be the thing that allows us to pick up the pieces and put everything back together as we growl at everyone who thought self-immolation was a good idea) ...
-I write, of course, of what by most accounts at the time of this writing is the near-certainty of a government shutdown that upended weeks of careful negotiations with the outgoing Congress thanks to the ADHD and social media feed of Apparently Acting President-to-Be Elon Musk and his mascot, ostensibly elected MAGAt puppet Donald Trump. (Intern JD Vance is reportedly on a McDonald's run.) What is motivating Little Apartheid Boy is not known beyond his sense of being a Sooper-Genius who wants to run the US Government like a Tesla truck because dammit he bought it and he can, but the ramifications of his sticking his fingers (along with the wee tiny fisties of his increasingly cadaverous-looking ventriloquist doll) into the proceedings are just starting to be figured out.
-For starters, there is the obvious: a government shutdown means no pay for the holidays for Government workers from those friendly agents making sure you don't bring scissors onto planes to everyone in the armed forces worldwide, and shutting down national parks and passport agencies and food stamp mailing and all those fun things Musk and MAGA see as wasteful spending. Happy Holidays from Elon and Donnie and MAGA, y'all!
-For seconds, it very likely means the end of another Speakership, this time LA Rep. Mike Johnson, who will be crushed since he was being included in Air Trump One with all the people he thinks are cool like Elon and Donnie and Donnie's lead failson and that nice Bobby Kennedy with the brainworm story.
-One day, Mikey is hanging eating fries with the Mean Boyz, the next he has everyone from Steve Bannon to his own alleged caucus wanting him to turn in his gavel - perhaps to be replaced, at the suggestion of Sen. Rand Paul (Aqua Buddah, KY) with none other than Elon Musk (yes, that can happen - a Speaker need not be a member of the House, and should things happen and the Presidential succession ladder needed to get used, Elon would be skipped over since he overstayed his visa and is technically an illegal immigrant - OH WAIT DID I SAY THAT?! I meant, he wasn't born here).
-Now, if Johnson is not elected Speaker for the new Congress and they have a hard time finding a successor - why would that be a problem? - a fun unintended consequence would involve a Congress with literally no leadership, and thus no way to convene the Electoral Congress to certify the 2024 election before January 20! Not to mention delaying all the hearings for the Putz Parade of cabinet nominees lined up awaiting airings of grievances and conspiracy theories and using the nose test to determine sobriety and whatnot ...
-This doesn't even get to the economic hamstring pull that a shutdown creates for the country, the roiling of confidence (already shaken) of the new old administration, the reminder that THIS is what people voted for when they could only think of how expensive eggs were last month, and the start of a Trump II term in a country where successful second Presidential terms are rare indeed (Obama, arguably Eisenhower, arguably FDR, and that's kind of the list of not-so-bad second terms) - particularly when the incoming President had a first term that historians rank down there among the worst ever.
-Mind you, the above paragraph presumes we are still counting Trump as President - something Congressional Democrats have not been, to the somewhat pleasant shock and surprise of national Democratic voters. On the heels of far too many Democrats making noises that they might actually play with Elon and fellow shrinking violet Vivek Ramaswamy on the NOT-A-DEPARTMENT thingie the two of them co-chair allegedly meant to ferret out gubmint waste, Hakeem Jeffries and company are managing to stick together remarkably well to point out to Legacy Media Inc. that it is PRESIDENT Musk and VICE-PRESIDENT Trump that are creating this government shutdown, and whom are unified (so far) in telling Mikey and company that they have the majority, they should get the votes to keep the joint open without Democrats helping. Thus far, Musk and Trump are holding themselves together, but the Trump history is that he has no loyalty to anyone and an ego that cannot be stroked hard enough, so how long they stay together remains an open question.
-That said, is there something that could bring Democrats to the table that would legit be good for them and the country? Apparently, yes! In one of his most recent social media postings, Trump posted a new desire to do something Democrats and good-government types have been hungering to do for ages: end the whole debt ceiling nonsense once and for all.
-After all, it was only since Barack Obama became President that the debt ceiling became a thing at all ... huh ... and while this shutdown threat was an attempt to use an extension to Blame Biden for creating a means to cut taxes for the super-rich (the lone GOP maneuver they've done since 1981), the concept of negating it forever might be something Democrats might be willing to hear if MAGAGOP want to negotiate - though it is not likely President Musk - who has also been called "Leon" (after a self-own post he made) or "Elmo" (no offense to Sesame Street) by online wags) want to.
-Leon/Elmo/Elon has been talking about "sacrifices" that have to be made by people not named Leon/Elmo/Elon to take what has been a historically strong economy and make it one that will allow folks like Leon/Elmo/Elon to get richer, and stiffing soldiers and the poor are the way to make that happen, so he has no problem to do that. After all, when the initial bill that was going to pass earlier in the week was written, it included piffle like extended relief for victims of Hurricane Helene in the south (Trump/MAGA country!) as well as $190 million to fight pediatric cancer. We can't do those if Leon/Elmo/Elon and company need more wealth, can we?
-So the revised bill died thanks to 38 Republicans voting NO. And here is another wrinkle to watch for, as Leon/Elmo/Elon promised to primary EVERYONE who dared vote against an unelected oligarch to do what he sees fit for the country he isn't really a part of. If those 38 don't get opponents - it's only 23 months until the 2026 midterms, after all! - how MAGA is Leon/Elmo/Elon really? Huh? HUH?!
-(Stands on soapbox.)
-Bullies only work if the people being bullied allow it. If the House defies the incoming administration like this - along with the Senate turning down a couple of the more rancid Trump picks, suddenly "the biggest mandate in 129 years!" (according to Trump) looks more like the razor-thin eking out of a win without even quite getting to 50% of those who voted that the 2024 election actually was.
-And the ability to fight weakened leadership like that should be bulked up big time.
-Keep all of this in mind as you grab wrapping paper and start thinking about travel and menus and (if you do so) the new College Football Playoff tournament literally kicking off tonight with Notre Dame hosting Indiana in a football game (NOT a basketball game - I KNOW!). What is happening now will have ramifications going forward that should give us steel to fight.
-Trump and Musk and company ain't a juggernaut, folks. They can barely get their shoes on the right feet. We can fight for what's right and stop some stuff. Let's get ready ...
-(Steps down from soapbox.)
-On this date in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was finalized. On this date in 1860, South Carolina seceded from the United States. On this date in 1957, Elvis Presley was drafted. On this date in 1967, Ian Anderson and Glenn Cornick created Jethro Tull. On this date in 1989, Operation Just Cause - a military invasion of Panama to oust dictator Manuel Noriega - was launched. And on this date in 1995, NATO moved in to Bosnia as a peacekeeping force.
-Debuts on this date: GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES (1812), IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), the Osmond Brothers (1962), ROGER & ME (1989), SCREAM (1996), Macau (1999), The United States Space Force (2019).
-Happy Birthday to Bonnie Prince Charlie, Harvey S. Firestone, Branch Rickey, Fred Merkle, Irene Dunne, Gabby Hartnett, George Roy Hill, Jim Simpson, John Hillerman, Bob Hayes, Peter Criss, Dick Wolf, John Spencer, Uri Geller, Alan Parsons, Bill Clement, Jenny Agutter, Sandra Cisneros, Anita Ward, Billy Bragg, Mike Watt, Nate Newton, Bobby Phils, Todd Phillips, Jonah Hill, and Kylian Mbappe.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Sacagawea, Moss Hart, John Steinbeck, Roy O. Disney, Gabby Hartnett, Bobby Darin, Richard J. Daley, Max Robinson, Madge Sinclair, Carl Sagan, Dawn Steel, Hank Snow, Foster Brooks, Son Seals, Brittany Murphy, Steve Landesberg, Junior Johnson, Chad Stuart, and Franco Harris.
-Feed the Worms: Dr. Samuel Mudd entered Earth on this date. Dean Rusk bought it on this date.