Every ten years the United States conducts a census of the country and reapportions the number of Congressional House seats for the next decade based solely on the census. Pretty straightforward stuff, no?
Not so fast, amigo. Let’s dig a little deeper.
Something is rotten in Denmark.
I am a policy guy. Tell me your policy and I will tell you whether I like it and think it is good for the country. That is my only political yard stick.
I care not whether you are in favor of or opposed to Dr Seuss, but I do want to know whether you support having a border or making the US an uninterrupted continuum that starts in Central America and continues to Montana (or the North Pole). That is policy.
Which brings me to the issue of EARMARKS.
Not this. This is a cattle earmark. Funding earmarks.
Spoiler alert — this is a blog post about how the US Congress is wasting their time and our money while engaged in meaningless self-flagellation.
So, President Donald J Trump unleashed the power of Twitter in his inimitable style. It offended a few folks.
There is no novelty amongst that trio — Trump, Twitter, folks taking offense. Let me take that a step further — if Trump is tweeting, he is pissing people off.
Pro tip: He does it on purpose. It’s part of his schtick. When you react to it, you are doing exactly what he wants you to do. He got elected using his Twitter antics. He is the King of Twitter. He will only stop when you stop feeding the beast.
Amongst those offended were The Squad. The Squad — also known as AOC Plus Three — had flung some invective his direction and he responded with Tweets that they classified as RACIST.
Calling somebody a racist these days is the new normal. The word itself has lost any grounding in the English language. If anybody disagrees with another, they are a racist. It is slipping into the lexicom like the word “dude.”
I have a pal with whom I enjoy discussing the issues of the day. Before we start chatting, we both say, “Dude, you’re a hopelessly clueless racist.” That keeps us from having to build to that crescendo. Gets us off on the right foot.
BTW, I think you are a racist. Glad we got that out of the way.
This happened after AOC implied Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was also a racist for singling out The Squad — The Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse — for picking on them because they were “women of color.”
Nancy, trying to ingratiate herself with AOC suggested that any Dem in “her” district could get elected including a GLASS OF WATER. Ouch. So we had some raw nerves amongst the Speaker (Wily Coyote), AOC, and The Squad.
There is no quicker trigger finger in the Congress than Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when it comes to hurling racist invective. You’re drawing your six gun and Alex has already fired and hit you twice, amigo.
I dig AOC.
All spending bills — such as the budget of the United States — must originate in the House of Representatives in accordance with the US Constitution. In many years, the Congress doesn’t do its job in a timely manner.
This year doesn’t look much different. We are in July with a fiscal year to start in October and the budget hasn’t made its way out of the House yet.
This month the House has the Defense Appropriation up for consideration. There are twelve such appropriations that make up the budget.
During the course of debating the Defense Appropriation, Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md) proposed an amendment that would forbid the military from spending any money on any military exhibitions at which the President of the United States presides.
The amendment passed by a vote of 221-207 thereby attaching to the underlying bill for further consideration. [There are 235 Dems, 198 Reps, 1 Ind in the House.]
Above you see a picture of the Blue Angels flyover at the celebration of Independence Day on the 4th of July.
This celebration was presided over by President Trump. Just for the record, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the military under the US Constitution.
If the amendment were to make it through the Senate — not bloody likely — it would forbid the Blue Angels from performing for the 4th of July crowd because, arguably, the celebration was presided over by the President.
Big Red Car here getting ready to take a long drive to the Hill Country, but first a few words on the census and reapportionment.
Every ten years the United States conducts a census. It is done in order to reapportion the seats in the House of Representatives.
There are a fixed number of seats — 435. Right now, a Congressperson represents 712,000 persons.
Repeal & Replace taxes, Big Red Car?
Big Red Car here on a spectacular Texas morning in May, the kind of day which fuels your passions and diminishes your troubles. On Earth as it is in Texas! Alternatively: Make America Texas Again? [Doing some A/B testing is the Big Red Car?]
So, the Republicans and their Trumpeteer were in the Rose Garden at the White House for a self-congratulatory orgy post the Repeal & Replace of Obamacare.
“Paulie Boy, you did it.” “Thank you, Mr. President. It’s a crappy plan, but it’s the best I could get these crazy Republicans to vote for. Nancy Pelosi said ‘HI.'”
Some, like me, will say it’s a tad premature what with those balky chaps over at the Senate. I have other complaints but they will wait. Today we talk Repeal & Replace TAXES.
Yes, dear reader, our “healthcare” monstrosity was really a tax bill in disguise and those clever Republicans smoked it out.
The US budget, Big Red Car? Couldn’t you come up with anything more boring?
Big Red Car here on a perfectly delightful Texas day — convertible weather, y’all.
So, today, we chat about the US budget. [Boring, Big Red Car. Can we talk about … anything … else? No, dear reader, please be quiet and eat your vegetables. Act like an adult.]
This week the Congress passed a CR (continuing resolution) to fund the government through the end of September when the government’s fiscal year ends. It was a piece o’ crap, but that is not the story today. The story is what is a continuing resolution?
Thank you for subscribing.
Something went wrong.