Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is all up in his feelings today because he’s having to stay in Washington, D.C. and do his job instead of attend a family reunion.
You can start playing your world’s smallest violin for Chuckles.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has scheduled a vote on the Inflation Reduction Act today, meaning that Grassley can’t return to Iowa for his reunion, as he told the entire world via Twitter:
“Each Dec Schumer puts out schedule for Senate I set Grassley family reunion based on schedule. For 2nd yr in row I won’t be at reunion I’m in DC to fight Dems irresponsible tax&spend bill. Need a Republican majority to hv schedule we can count on & A RESPONSIBLE FISCAL AGENDA.”
Each Dec Schumer puts out schedule for Senate I set Grassley family reunion based on schedule. For 2nd yr in row I won’t be at reunion I’m in DC to fight Dems irresponsible tax&spend bill. Need a Republican majority to hv schedule we can count on & A RESPONSIBLE FISCAL AGENDA
Boo freaking hoo! Go to your damn family reunion, Chuck. There’s no need to do the job you were elected to do. A reunion is much more important than doing the business of government, which is supposed to be what you were elected for.
Grassley was hit with a torrent of internet karma for his bellyaching.
Sorry kids grandpa can’t be here this weekend. He loves you very much, but, even though he’s 88 years old, he has no other options in his life but to remain in Washington to performatively protest any action on climate change and oppose Medicare negotiating lower drug prices. https://t.co/ev7FR3Kiy0
Sorry but Grandpa is missing the reunion so he can go to Washington to vote against the most important measures ever taken in the US to fight climate change
Sorry, grandkids, but Grandpa is battling to make the climate worse for your generation
I’m sure someone who doesn’t put a family reunion over his or her responsibilities to their constituents would be happy to take your place, Chuck. Then you’ll never have to miss out on any of the fun & the country will get a Senator who understands the nature of the job. Win win.
Sir, I could not care less about your vacation. Ask any service member who's had leave approved for a family vacation and then had it cancelled at the last minute because of needs of the unit. If our military can be called on to do this, so can you. Stop whining and do your job.
Lol your fault for scheduling the family reunion right at the beginning of summer recess. It always runs long. Schedule it in mid August if you don't want to have to choose between spending time with your family and serving as lackey of big corporations and polluters.
— That Well-Adjusted Biden Guy (@What46HasDone) August 5, 2022
Sorry, Millionaire Career Politician Guy.
You could always quit and get a real job. I hear a lot of places are looking for laborers.
If this whole showing up to work thing is cramping your style, Chuck, you could back out of your re-election bid….or just retire right now, so you won't have to miss the reunion.
Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy is one of the most annoying and arrogant people in Congress, and he made a complete ass of himself on Tuesday during a hearing with Attorney General Merrick Garland, proving just how completely clueless many in the GOP are when it comes to the issue of law enforcement.
Kennedy began his remarks by attacking Garland:
“I think the Justice Department is losing. I think you’re losing on crime. I think you’re losing on drugs. I think you’re losing on immigration. I think you’re losing on Chirenese espionage.”
From there, Kennedy asked about dirty cops:
“Let me start with crime. What percentage of cops in America do you think are bad cops?”
Garland:
“A very small percentage.”
Rather than let the attorney general continue his remarks, Kennedy interrupted to ask:
“How small? Is it less than 10%?”
AG Garland responded:
“Yes, let me be clear. We believe that most police officers follow the Constitution. Most police departments do. All police officers, I believe, want to work in police departments that follow constitutional policing requirements.”
Next, Kennedy asked about stop and frisk, though he was hardly able to call it by its proper name:
“Why doesn’t the Justice Department support stop question, and frisk?”
Garland replied:
“I don’t know that the Justice Department has a position. This is a state and local role normally”
Rather than accept that response, Kennedy asked:
“Why doesn’t the Justice Department aggressively encourage law enforcement officials to use that technique? It’s been declared constitutional as you know?”
The AG again noted that stop and frisk is left to local law enforcement, which led to an extended rant from Sen. Cornpone:
“Here’s what I’m asking. Let’s take Chicago, where you have, we haven’t made any inroads and stopping the killing. Chicago is now the world’s largest outdoor shooting range. We know that a lot of the shootings come from gangs. Why wouldn’t you want to call the police chief, the mayor in Chicago, and say, ‘look, you know who these gang members are. When you have reasonable suspicion, and objective standard, more than just a hunch, why don’t you aggressively stop, question, and frisk these gang members?’ You get guns off the street. You’ll get drugs off the street and you get at a lot of gang members off the street. You’ll stop people killing each other. Why won’t you do that?”
Garland patiently tried to explain:
“The best way for the federal government to stop violent crime is to work at each local level and determine and let the state and locals determine what the best use of their –“
Kennedy rudely interrupted the attorney general yet again:
“I’m sorry to interrupt. I’m trying to get some answers. Why won’t you do that?”
Garland answered:
“Because there is no one solution fits all that the federal government can suggest to state and local law enforcement.”
Someone needs to explain some basic facts to Sen. Kennedy. Then again, as stupid as he seems to be, all the explanations in the world would probably leave him nonplussed.
In an effort to explain why she is opposed to the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) cited the U.S. Constitution as her rationale.
But instead of referencing the Constitution, Blackburn proved her own massive ignorance, quoting the Declaration of Independence.
Here’s the tweet Blackburn sent out on Wednesday afternoon:
Um…no.
As HuffPost notes, this isn’t the first time Blackburn has gotten American history horrible wrong:
Blackburn has something of a history of constitutional screwups. Last year, she vowed: “We will never rewrite the Constitution of the United States,” seemingly ignoring the 27 times it’s been amended. Blackburn even co-sponsored resolutions in support of three potential amendments.
It didn’t take long before social media lit up with laughter and mockery, all aimed at the ditzy Tennessee senator, who has a degree in home economics and clearly didn’t bother to study very hard in college.
Shamefully, this US Senator doesn’t know her American history…The DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE “declares” our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…NOT the Constitution. https://t.co/EuVAfy6JnN
She’s confusing the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence. Neither document *grants* these rights. And what’s the deal anyway with Republicans insisting our rights come from government? The Declaration specifically rejects this notion. https://t.co/Vrojsuk8CA
1. That's from the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution, Einstein. 2. You're on the Judiciary Committee. You should know this. 3. You violated your oath to the Constitution when you voted against impeachment, but at least read the document. pic.twitter.com/uoDkasCZYt
Literally the LEAST we could ask is that members of Congress be familiar with the country's founding documents. Unfortunately, our qualifications are basically "how old are you and can you exhibit the motor functions of a tadpole."
That's in the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. I grew up in Tennessee public schools and you're an embarrassment to the state and education both, you racist box of hair. https://t.co/P4xET6dYyQ
According to Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, the theory of evolution is bogus because apes and humans currently coexist on the planet.
Walker made his remarks during an appearance at a Georgia church over the weekend, HuffPost reports:
“At one time, science said man came from apes, did it not? … If that is true, why are there still apes? Think about it.”
Yeah, think about it. Because it’s quite clear that Walker didn’t give it much thought.
Evolution doesn’t say that humans evolved from the apes that are found at the zoo. Instead, both humans and apes have a common ancestor that walked the Earth about 10 million years ago.
Humans are also technically classified as apes, but that doesn’t mean the chimp you see at the zoo is just one evolutionary step from being fully human. And there’s nothing that prohibits apes and humans from coexisting at the same time. If there was, then one of the two species wouldn’t be here.
Walker went on to try and prove his thesis about why God is necessary for all creation by saying that science “can’t do” the “conception of a baby.”
“They’re still trying to do that, but they can’t, because there has to be a God.”
Does there have to be a God for in vitro fertilization? If so, is he found in the test tube or the contents of that glassware? And if God is in everything, how to explain the existence of evil people such as serial killers, genocidal dictators, and cult leaders?
Amazingly, Walker is currently in the lead in a head-to-head matchup with current Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who just so happens to be an ordained minister and could probably quote the Bible a lot more fluently and accurately than Walker, whose claim to fame is that he used to play professional football and won the Heisman Trophy in 1982.
For those of you keeping score at home in the Great GOP Civil War of 2021, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says he’s officially done with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) because Mitch isn’t being sufficiently subservient to failed, one-term former President Donald Trump.
Yep. Lindsey says he won’t even support Mitch to be the next majority leader if Republicans happen to win back control of the Senate in the midterm elections.
During an appearance on Fox News Wednesday evening, Lindsey told host Sean Hannity:
“Elections are about the future. If you want to be a Republican leader in the House or the Senate, you have to have a working relationship with President Donald Trump. He’s the most consequential Republican since Ronald Reagan. It’s his nomination if he wants it, and I think he’ll get reelected in 2024.”
If elections are about the future, as Graham asserts, why would you want to hitch your wagon to a man who was impeached twice, lost by nearly 8 million votes, and has a lower positive approval rating among the public than gonorrhea, not to mention that he’s facing indictment in multiple jurisdictions?
But Lindsey was far from finished laying a massive smooch on Trump’s fat butt, adding:
“I’m not going to vote for anybody for leader of the Senate as a Republican unless they can prove to me that they can advocate an ‘American First’ agenda and have a working relationship with President Trump, because if you can’t do that, you will fail.”
Graham: If you want to be a Republican leader in the House or the Senate, you have to have a working relationship with Trump. Can Senator McConnell effectively work with the Donald Trump. I’m not going to vote for anybody that can’t have a working relationship with Trump pic.twitter.com/boOjekgyTT
Pay attention, Lindsey: DONALD TRUMP HAS ALREADY FAILED! He failed miserably and will go down as the worst president in American history. Step aside, Millard Fillmore and Warren Harding, Dotard Donnie is taking your spot!
Graham was asked Thursday by Fox host Sandra Smith if he really meant what he told Hannity:
“When you go back to the warning to Mitch McConnell, why would you do that in this moment in a midterm election election year?”
Graham snapped back with this reply:
“Are you not listening? It’s not a warning. He says he wants to be the Republican leader. I’ve acknowledged he’s been the most consequential Republican leader of my lifetime. … But look what Mitch accomplished working with Donald Trump. The question is, how do we go forward as a party?”
Graham then added to be an effective GOP leader “you don’t have to kiss Donald Trump’s ass, but you got to have a working relationship with him for us to be successful.”
Fox News anchor Sandra Smith: "When you go back to the warning to Mitch McConnell, why would you do that in this moment in a midterm election year?"
If that’s the case, then why is Lindsey so eager to pucker up and kiss Donald Trump’s ass?
Republicans are convinced they’ve got the 2022 midterms all sewn up, but based on the way they’re sniping at each other ten months out, they might not want to count those chickens just yet.
Oh, and Lindsey, one other thing: Do us all a favor and wipe that orange and brown smudge off your nose.
