The powers that be had a little talk with Norman and Self, who changed their votes to Mike Johnson, making him Speaker of the House 218-215-1

 Hard turd Thomas Massie can't be flushed.

 

Chip Roy (TX-21) was silent for Mike Johnson, then 13 minutes later voted for him because he did not want to be "that guy" lol

Matt Gaetz is not in the House today, that's why we have 434 not 435. He resigned after winning re-election.

That vote could have come in real handy right about now, but no, FL-1 had to have a prima donna in the House.

Others not voting for Mike Johnson:

Keith Self (TX-3)

Ralph Norman (SC-5)

Thomas Massie (KY-4).

 

 

ICYMI: The House Republican spending bill with Trump's provision to stop non-citizen vote fraud was defeated on Sept.18 202-220 because of 14 Republican No votes, 5 Republican No shows, and 2 Republican fools voting present

 

House GOP torpedoes Speaker Johnson’s funding bill :

A diverse group of House Republicans torpedoed Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) proposal to fund the government on Wednesday, dealing an embarrassing blow to the GOP leader and derailing his strategy to avoid a shutdown at the end of the month.

Fourteen Republicans joined virtually every Democrat in voting against the spending plan — which paired a six-month stopgap bill with a measure that would require proof of citizenship to vote — bringing the final tally to 202-220, with two voting present. Three Democrats crossed the aisle to back the measure. [Davis of North Carolina, Golden of Maine, and Perez of Washington State]

The Speaker faced a troika of GOP opposition, with hard-line conservatives criticizing the use of a continuing resolution; defense hawks voicing concern about the impact the long-term funding bill would have at the Pentagon; and moderates expressing worries about having a shutdown threat so close to the election.

The roll call vote is here. 5 Republicans didn't bother to vote, mostly liberals from New York. Libertarian fool Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Gazpacho Greene voted present. The 14 Nay Republicans included cranks Biggs, Boebert, and Burchett, as well as grandstander Matt Gaetz and Nancy Look At My Big Tits Mace.

Don't blame Donald Trump or Speaker Johnson, or the 199 Republicans who supported them.

 

 

It's always nice to see where Justin Amash's wingman stands, firmly in the camp of the House's leftwing lunatics

 

Wanting-it-both-ways DeSantis strikes again

 

Ron DeSantis: "I Was One Of the Guys That Opposed McCarthy Before It Was Cool" :

At the same time, though, I look at guys like Chip Roy, Tom Massie, Jim Jordan, and they’re basically saying there’s not a plan to go forward with whatever Matt Gaetz is doing.

Republicans barely control one half of the legislative branch and eight of 'em decide to eat each other instead of to live to fight again in 45 days

 Brilliant, just brilliant.

McCarthy removed as speaker 216-210.

The roll call vote is here.

Eight Republicans joined 208 Democrats to depose McCarthy as Speaker.

the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy as Speaker included that slut Nancy Mace

not even that Scrooge Thomas Massie voted to depose McCarthy

Nancy Pelosi had just enough class not to vote at all

 

Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted for the rule advancing the debt ceiling compromise to the House floor because the compromise contains the Penny Plan and a return to regular order

 The Penny Plan would be triggered in the event 12 appropriations bills are not passed by Jan. 1 annually, automatically reducing spending 1% across the board.

Ending the present bad habit of omnibus spending bills is essential to a return to good governance and represents a good reason to vote for this bill despite its shortcomings.

 

Massie followed through with his statement during Tuesday evening’s vote when he supported the rule. He also told reporters that he plans to vote for the bill when it comes to the floor on Wednesday after announcing it in a closed-door GOP conference meeting minutes earlier.

“It’s because it cuts spending,” Massie told The Hill Tuesday night when discussing his intent to support the bill.

“Nothing I’ve ever voted on has ever cut spending that’s passed that’s become law; this will,” he added.

During Tuesday’s Rules Committee hearing, Massie highlighted a provision in the debt limit bill that incentivizes Congress to pass 12 appropriations bills rather than relying on omnibus measures to fund the government. The provision threatens to cut government spending by one percent across the board if the measures are not approved by Jan. 1.

“There is one way in which I think this bill got better, and it is this 1 percent cut that we’re all agreeing to if we vote for this bill, Republicans and Democrat, come Jan. 1. If we haven’t done our homework, and if the Senate hasn’t done their homework, and if the president hasn’t signed those bills — so everybody is gonna be in this, responsible for the outcome,” Massie said.

More.

The debt ceiling compromise freezes spending in the next fiscal year about $400 billion too high, and does nothing to pay for the $4.9 trillion added to the debt over and above "normal" deficit spending

The Washington Examiner, here:

In exchange for a two-year hike in the federal borrowing limit, the legislation roughly freezes next year's spending at fiscal 2023 levels, followed by a 1% increase in 2025. The legislation also imposes some changes to work requirements for food stamps and will speed the development of energy projects with permitting reform.

Fiscal outlays for 2023 are projected to hit $5.792 trillion. Adjusted for inflation since 2019 that should be more like $5.385 trillion.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, deficit spending since 2019 through fiscal 2023 has added, will add, $8.5 trillion to the debt, which has been the solution to, and the cause of, all our problems.

We are not governed by serious people.

We have the government we deserve.

Since the beginning of the year the CDC has been propagating false science, publicly claiming that COVID vaccines protect people previously infected when there's no evidence of that

"Rep. Massie: And instead of fixing it, they proposed repeating it and just phrasing their mistake differently. So, at that point, right now I consider it a lie. I think the CDC is lying about the efficacy of the vaccine based on the Pfizer trials, for those who have already had the Coronavirus." 

Story.

Massie continues to tweet his frustration as recently as Mar 20.

Just six House Republicans voted against the NDAA with its provision of paid family leave to The Swamp

Buck

Gohmert

Griffith

Massie

McClintock

Rice (South Carolina)

The roll call vote is here. 

377 Yeas, 48 Nays, 5 Not Voting.

Profligacy and stupidity are bipartisan.

Republican Thomas Massie's KY-4 ladies and gentlemen: Kinky Kenton County female judge, 38, turns private chambers into group sex venue

Libertarianism in action:

According to an investigation by the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission, she flirted with attorneys over Snapchat, put pressure on them to sleep with her and, in one case, asked a female attorney to join her in a threesome with her former church pastor turned lover. ... Family Court Judge Dawn Gentry has been hit with nine misconduct charges by the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission. ... Gentry serves as a family court judge for Kenton County which is south of the Kentucky-Ohio state line near Cincinnati.

LOL: CNN calls US House vote supporting 2-state solution and opposing boycott, divestment, sanctions movement "divisive" when it passed 398-17

House approves resolution opposing Israel boycott movement in divisive vote

Roll call vote 497 is here.

The headline is correct in one sense, however: Both hard left and hard right are cracking up.

The former leader of the Rebel Alliance, Justin Amash, ignominiously abandoned the fight to vote "present" with four other courageous Democrats cowardly lions, leaving his wingman Thomas Massie of Kentucky to cast the lone Republican "nay" vote.

Massie strangely thought it a good idea to associate himself with the likes of Democrats AOC, Omar and Tlaib, apparently rushing to fill in for Squad member Ayanna Pressley, who inexplicably abandoned her compatriots and voted "yea", proving once again that the true meaning of libertarianism is the freedom to be anti-Semitic.

 

There were just 7 votes in the House against making the deep state permanent

The 7 Republicans who voted against back pay for furloughed workers:

But seven lawmakers — all House Republicans — opposed the measure. Those "no" votes came from Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Glen Grothman (Wis.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Chip Roy (Texas) and Ted Yoho (Fla.). ... Gosar issued a statement after the vote saying the bill removes an incentive to resolve the shutdown swiftly. "This ill-conceived legislation takes away a useful tool in holding government accountable," he said. "Shutdowns have historically served to push both parties to compromise and resolution.  This bill eliminates the impact and urgency a shutdown creates and rewards bureaucrats and swamp dwellers." Massie made similar remarks in a statement saying the bill "guarantees retroactive pay for every possible future shutdown, which will only make it easier for politicians to cause future shutdowns." "This is irresponsible and I want to prevent future shutdowns from happening," he said.

Nine Republicans in the US House voted against the Obamacare repeal framework today, the usual malcontents

The roll call vote is here, the framework passing 227-198, 10 not voting (five from each party).

Republicans Amash, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Jones, Katko, Labrador, MacArthur, Massie, and McClintock voted against the measure from the Senate.

Libertarians will never boldly go where no man has gone before

That's because they'll be retreating underground to their inner planet "Galt".

Libertarians hate the original Star Trek on television for some reason, more than any other show (the riveting "24" also does poorly with them). Who knew?

The story is here.

Except that libertarian Justin Amash likes to imagine Thomas Massie is his X-Wing Starfighter wingman in the Rebel Alliance. He said so with a Lego toy a year ago.

Maybe it's time to raise the qualification age to run for Congress? 

Warning To Sen. Mitch McConnell: Watch Out For A Libertarian Spoiler

Incumbent Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader in the US Senate, should get ready to face both a Democrat and a libertarian spoiler in his reelection bid.

Libertarians spoiled the senate races for Mourdock in Indiana and for Rehberg in Montana in 2012. So-called Tea Party candidates, Mourdock and Rehberg lost by margins posted to the libertarians' columns in their races. In Montana the libertarian was actually funded by Democrats.

Republicans like Sen. Jim DeMint and Gov. Sarah Palin continue to think, incorrectly, that libertarians are on the Republicans' side. They are not. Gov. Palin in particular has said in the past that she believes it would be a political mistake to alienate libertarians. In saying that, she reveals that she believes Republicans cannot stand on their own. Senator DeMint has said recently that as the new head of the Heritage Foundation he believes it is time to reach out to libertarians to forge an alliance on those things about which Republicans and libertarians agree. It makes one wonder if their own minds aren't divided over whether they are conservatives or libertarians.

Politico reports on the possibility of a libertarian running against McConnell, buried on page 3 of this story about Democrats planning to back a Tea Party candidate:

Liberty for All, a super PAC that put cash behind [Rep. Thomas] Massie and other conservative Republicans, is signaling it’s prepared to spend money to boost a McConnell challenger. One of the group’s leaders, Preston Bates, is a former Democratic operative who worked for Jack Conway, the Democratic candidate who lost to Rand Paul in 2010.

Bates said he left the Democratic Party in 2010, adding that while he personally identifies more with his former party, his year-old group puts money behind viable small government and libertarian-minded conservatives.

“Generally, what we need is to stop electing Republicans that are out of touch with most general election voters,” Bates said.

Libertarians are indeed a subset of the Democrat Party, not a genuine third party. They view themselves as successful not when they stop Democrats from getting elected, but Republicans, as Bates openly states. Democrat money helped a libertarian spoil the race for a Republican challenger to Rep. Giffords in Arizona in 2010, after which she was shot by a deranged libertarian, and in 2012 the Libertarian Party viewed itself as successful because it stopped those Republican candidates for senate in Indiana and Montana.

Sen. McConnell should consider the Democrat threat to back a Tea Party candidate in the Republican primary as a fake to the right. I'd bet rather that the Democrats intend to go left and back a libertarian in the general if possible. That's been their m/o in the past, and likely will be again because it is the more natural for them. When push comes to shove, libertarians jettison economic conservatism for social liberalism, the latter's home being in the Democrat Party.