Tag archive: Nemesis

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Colorado to Trump: Beat It!

On December 19, 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court handed the Trump Campaign perhaps its most significant defeat to date.  In a 4-3 decision, the Court ruled that the former president was ineligible for inclusion on the state’s 2024 Primary ballot, due to a clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which provides that persons who previously took an oath to the Constitution, then supported insurrection or rebellion against the US government, are barred from holding political office again in future. 

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Georgy, We Hardly Knew Ye: George Santos Booted from Congress

In the “It’s about time!” category, Washington watchers were pleased to note the ouster from Congress of Representative George Santos (R-NY) on December 1st, removed from office less than a year after his swearing in.  The noted, notorious fabulist and fraudster was finally ejected by a resounding margin of 311-114, after a House Ethics Committee report revealed numerous, egregious, staggering lapses of judgment, ethics and morals, as well as probable infractions of the law and campaign finance rules. 

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Aster-Obits: Henry Kissinger & Sandra Day O’Connor

Two conservative icons recently passed within days of each other, as November rolled over to December 2023.  On November 29th, Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, propelled from academia into international prominence by Richard Nixon, instrumental in ending the Vietnam War and reestablishing diplomatic relations with Communist China, died at the age of 100.  Two days later, on December 1st, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a Reagan appointee and the first woman to sit on the US Supreme Court, passed at age 93.  While neither would recognize today’s Republican Party, so focused on grievance and retribution instead of policy, and both have serious blots on their legacies, each reminds us that there were once two viable political philosophies vying for control of the country, in a comparatively congenial and collegial atmosphere.

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Capitol Hill Fireworks

It may be long past Fourth of July, but GOP lawmakers treated the public to a variety of fireworks displays on November 15th, 2023, as tempers flared in both legislative houses.  In the hallowed halls of Congress, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) allegedly elbowed fellow Republican Tim Burchett (R-TN), one of eight GOP members who voted for his ouster last month, while passing in the corridor.  On the Senate floor, a hearing threatened to dissolve into fisticuffs when Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) challenged witness Sean O’Brien, Teamsters President, to take it outside, with a mano a mano bareknuckle brawl.  Meanwhile, back in the House of Representatives, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) verbally sparred with committee member Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), who accused Comer of eerily similar financial transactions with his brother, compared with actions between President Biden and his own brother, which Comer characterizes as corrupt.

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AAA Profile: MAGA Mike (AKA Speaker Johnson)

Only today’s GOP could take a bad situation and make it worse.  After weeks of wrangling following the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with multiple abortive attempts to install at least four nominees, the Republican caucus unanimously chose Mike Johnson (R-LA) as their new Speaker on October 25th.  Johnson is a MAGA diehard, one of the architects of the attempt to override the 2020 election results; his elevation is a clear signal that the Party has no desire to reform its ways, and is intent more on obstructionism and culture war posing than true governance. 

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Mayhem in Maine: The Lewiston Mass Shooting

On Wednesday, 25 October 2023, the peace of a Down East autumn evening was shattered by gunfire which took the lives of at least 18, wounding 13 more.  At this early date (October 26), names of the victims have not been released, and police are engaged in a statewide manhunt for the suspect, 40-year-old Robert Card, missing after separate attacks on a bowling alley and a restaurant bar.  Card, who has been dealing with mental illness, has a military background and worked as a firearms instructor; his car was found abandoned in nearby Lisbon, but there is no trace of the suspect.  [Author’s note:  Robert Card was found dead, an apparent suicide, late on Friday the 27th.]

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