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Tag Archives: Sam Graves

Fascist is as Fascist does

01 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

4th Congressional District, 6th Congressional District, 7th Congressional District, 8th Congressional District, Billy Long, Donald Trump, electoral college, fascists, Jason Smith, missouri, right wingnuts, Sam Graves, sycophants, Vicky Hartzler

Vicky Hartzler (r) [2016 file photo].

We Will Object
Co-authored By: Rep. Jason Smith (MO-08), Rep. Vicky Hartzler (MO-04), Rep. Sam Graves (MO-06), and Rep. Billy Long (MO-07)
Washington, December 31, 2020

Next week, your 117th United States Congress will convene for the first time. After the election of Speaker and the adoption of the Rules of Congress, the action will quickly move to reading aloud the electoral votes submitted by each state from this past November’s election – counting them, and declaring the vote tally for President and Vice President. During that process, the question will be put before your elected officials – does anyone object to the certification of electoral votes of a state. We will object. Our hope is that others will join us.

We don’t take this decision lightly, but we must protect the integrity of each vote cast by every law-abiding Missourian. For every instance of Georgia failing to follow its own state law in verifying signatures, of Pennsylvania accepting mail ballots after the legal deadline set by its state legislature, or folks from outside Nevada casting a ballot in that state – the value of every Missourians’ vote is diminished. That’s not right. And we cannot simply look the other way.

The right to freely cast your vote in elections is a sacred privilege afforded to us as Americans because of the sacrifices of the patriots who fought for that right. When that process is spoiled and abused by officials not following their own state law, it violates that right and jeopardizes the entire integrity and foundation of ‘free and fair’ elections. In such instances, where voting process changes are made without the consent of the voter, we know it is our duty and our obligation to serve as a backstop to protect the power of one person, one vote – to protect your vote as a Missourian. We must be able to have confidence in not only the agreement and expectation that this election would follow the law, but future ones will as well. We take the responsibility of upholding the Constitution seriously, and that is why we feel compelled to object to the electoral count taking place on January 6th.

The reported results of this past November’s Presidential election don’t even pass the most basic eye test. Republicans were projected to lose seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, we gained more than a dozen. Republicans were supposed to lose control of several state legislatures, we picked up multiple. We were projected to lose control of the United States Senate – we didn’t, and we won’t. All of this occurred on the same night President Trump lost? It’s hard to believe. Combined with the daily reports of voting irregularities where state election laws were discarded and not followed, something doesn’t add up. President Trump won over 74 million votes, Obama – 69 million. President Trump won 2586 counties, Obama – 873 counties, Joe Biden – 527 counties. The numbers, the evidence, and the abnormalities all speak for themselves.

We have joined lawsuits, called for a Special Counsel and demanded accountability and integrity, now we finally get to cast our vote. We have no illusions about the outcome, at the end of the day, this is still Nancy Pelosi’s House. Our only hope is that more will join us – that more will value protecting the vote of every American living in their state as much as we do fighting for yours.

Spare us.

Representative Billy Long (r) [2016 file photo].

Number of court cases? What where the outcomes? Federal cases? How many Trump appointees among the judges and justices?

Counties don’t vote. People do. Morons.

The population of Los Angeles County, California? The population of McPherson County, Nebraska? Should we list more small population counties, or do you get the point?

“…The reported results of this past November’s Presidential election don’t even pass the most basic eye test. Republicans were projected to lose seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, we gained more than a dozen. Republicans were supposed to lose control of several state legislatures, we picked up multiple. We were projected to lose control of the United States Senate – we didn’t, and we won’t. All of this occurred on the same night President Trump lost? It’s hard to believe. Combined with the daily reports of voting irregularities where state election laws were discarded and not followed, something doesn’t add up. President Trump won over 74 million votes, Obama – 69 million. President Trump won 2586 counties, Obama – 873 counties, Joe Biden – 527 counties. The numbers, the evidence, and the abnormalities all speak for themselves…”

In 2016: Hillary Clinton, 65,853,514 votes. Donald Trump, 62,984,828 votes.

Eye test?

What this speaks of: Stupid people came up with this. Stupid people wrote this. Stupid people signed on to this. Stupid people believe it.

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

Previously:

Right wingnuts throw shit against the wall to see if it sticks – Washington, D.C. edition (December 10, 2020)

Amicus this (December 11, 2020)

Amicus this

11 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in Missouri General Assembly

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Ann Wagner, Billy Long, Blaine Leutkemeyer, Donald Trump, election, Georgia, Jason Smith, Joe Biden, Josh Hawley, Michigan, missouri, Pennsylvania, Sam Graves, standing, Texas, U.S. Supreme Court, Vicky Hartzler, Wisconsin

Buh, bye. Loser.

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

This evening, an order at the United States Supreme Court in the election case Texas filed against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The court denied the complaint for a lack of standing and “All other pending motions are dismissed as moot”:

7-2. Alito and Thomas. Go figure.

So much for pandering right wingnut “constitutional scholars”.

Vicky Hartzler (r) [2016 file photo].

Josh Hawley (r) [2016 file photo].

Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (r) [2014 file photo].

Representative Billy Long (r) [2016 file photo].

Shit didn’t stick. Ignorant Fascist hacks.

Previously:

Uh, the job description says Missouri (December 9, 2020)

A party in disarray (December 10, 2020)

Right wingnuts throw shit against the wall to see if it sticks (December 10, 2020)

Right wingnuts throw shit against the wall to see if it sticks – Washington, D.C. edition (December 10, 2020)

Right wingnuts throw shit against the wall to see if it sticks – Washington, D.C. edition

10 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

amicus brief, Billy Long, Blaine Leutkemeyer, Donald Trump, fascists, Georgia, Jason Smith, Joe Biden, Michigan, missouri, Pennsylvania, right wingnuts, Sam Graves, Texas, U.S. Supreme Court, Vicky Hartzler, Wisconsin

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) [2016 file photo].

Today, at the United States Supreme Court in the election case Texas has filed against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – right wingnut members of Congress (bless the State of Missouri) filed an Amicus brief:

[….]
Amicus U.S. Representative Sam Graves represents the Sixth
Congressional District of Missouri in the United States
House of Representatives.

Amicus U.S. Representative Vicky Hartzler represents the
Fourth Congressional District of Missouri in the United
States House of Representatives.

Amicus U.S. Representative Blaine Leutkemeyer represents
the Third Congressional District of Missouri in the United
States House of Representatives.

Amicus U.S. Representative Jason Smith represents the
Eighth Congressional District of Missouri in the United
States House of Representatives.

Amicus U.S. Representative Ann Wagner represents the
Second Congressional District of Missouri in the United
States House of Representatives.
[….]

Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (r) [2014 file photo].

Maybe Billy Long (r) was sleeping.

Representative Billy Long (r) [2016 file photo].

….Pursuant to subparagraph 2(b) of Rule 37, amici U.S. Representative Mike Johnson, et al., hereby move the Court for leave to file a brief amicus curiae in support of Plaintiff Texas’ Motion for Leave to File a Bill of Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction….

….On the merits, this amicus brief defends the constitutional authority of state legislatures as the only bodies duly authorized to establish the manner by which presidential electors are appointed, one of the central issues in the pending litigation. As members of the federal legislature, these amici seek to protect the constitutional role of state legislatures in determining the manner by which states choose their electors….

Uh, no. Texas wants to impose the will of its Attorney General (r-pardon me) on other states and their legislatures.

….These amici appear as 106 Members of Congress and respectfully request that this Court uphold the plenary authority of the state legislatures to establish the manner by which electors are appointed, and determine the constitutional validity of any ballots cast under rules and procedures established by actors or public bodies other than state legislatures….

….National polls indicate a large percentage of Americans now have serious doubts about not just the outcome of the presidential contest, but also the future reliability of our election system itself….

That’s some serious Chutzpah. Who was it who “cast doubt”? We’ll wait.

Besides, opinion polls don’t decide elections, voters do.

….Fortunately, the Framers of our Constitution provided for this moment. It is now the duty of this Honorable Court to objectively review the facts presented by the Plaintiff in this historic case, render judgment upon the unconstitutional actions in the Defendant states, and restore the confidence of all Americans that the rule of law will be upheld today and our elections in the future will be secured….

They’re that stupid. And they believe everyone else is.

They want to disenfranchise millions of voters.

That’s some serious shit.

And a waste of time.

Previously:

Uh, the job description says Missouri (December 9, 2020)

A party in disarray (December 10, 2020)

Right wingnuts throw shit against the wall to see if it sticks (December 10, 2020)

H.J.Res.46: it’s not an emergency

26 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Billy Long, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Congress, Donald Trump, Emergency, Jason Smith, Sam Graves, Vicky Hartlzer

Everybody knows it.

Bad combover. Check. Too long red tie. Check. Orange spray tan. Check. Tiny hands. Check. Cluelessness. Check…

Today in the United State House of Representatives:

H.J.Res.46 – Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019.

House – 02/25/2019 Rules Committee Resolution H. Res. 144 Reported to House. Rule provides for consideration of H.J. Res. 46 with 1 hour of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. Bill is closed to amendments.

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 93
H RES 144 YEA-AND-NAY 26-Feb-2019 3:30 PM
QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Resolution
BILL TITLE: Providing for consideration of the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 46) relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019

—- YEAS 229 —

Clay
Cleaver

—- NAYS 193 —

Hartzler
Graves (MO)
Long
Luetkemeyer
Smith (MO)

—- NOT VOTING 9 —

Wagner

The text of the resolution:

116th CONGRESS
1st Session

H. J. RES. 46

Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JOINT RESOLUTION

Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, pursuant to section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622), the national emergency declared by the finding of the President on February 15, 2019, in Proclamation 9844 (84 Fed. Reg. 4949) is hereby terminated.

The final vote in the House:

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 94
H J RES 46 YEA-AND-NAY 26-Feb-2019 6:32 PM
QUESTION: On Passage
BILL TITLE: Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on February 15, 2019

—- YEAS 245 —

Clay
Cleaver

—- NAYS 182 —

Hartzler
Graves (MO)
Long
Luetkemeyer
Smith (MO)

—- NOT VOTING 5 —

Wagner

Thirteen republicans don’t agree with Donald Trump (r).

So much for the past concerns of Missouri republicans about executive overreach and the separation of powers.

Oh, silly me, *IOKIYAR

“Trump is wrong about everything”

* it’s okay if you’re a republican

Missouri GOP House members go into hiding when Trump shows his true colors – about skin color – while GOP Senator Roy Blunt soft peddles the story

20 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

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Tags

Ann Wagner, Billy Long, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Claire McCaskill, Donald Trump, Emanuel Cleaver, GOP dogwhistles, immigration, Jason Smith, Lacy Clay, racism, Roy Blunt, Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler

It’s been a couple of weeks since President Racist Moron sent us spiraling down toward a government shutdown by expressing his goal of importing prosperous, wealthy white Norwegians – who have little reason to come to the U.S. – instead of brown folks from S**thole countries – who actually need the haven that the United States has traditionally offered the oppressed, poverty stricken folks who flocked to these shores and helped build a strong, wealthy country where the middle class grew and prospered as never before. During this time, I’ve been monitoring the newspapers and congressional press releases to find out how our representatives in Congress have responded to Trump’s racist babblings – and I’ve found out just about nothing to let me know how our GOP profiles in political cowardice stand on the issue. However, today, Salon has posted an article that tells us what each member of Congress has had to say about this destructive and ugly piece of “telling it like it is,” as some of the more racist “deplorable” Trump supporters would have it:

  • Blunt, Roy (R–Sen.): Condemn
  • *McCaskill, Claire (D–Sen.): Condemn
  • Clay Jr., William “Lacy” (D–HR): Condemn
  • Cleaver, Emanuel (D–HR): Condemn
  • Graves, Sam (R–HR): No response
  • Hartzler, Vicky (R–HR): No response
  • Long, Billy (R–HR): No response
  • Luetkemeyer, Blaine (R–HR): No response
  • Smith, Jason (R–HR): No response
  • Wagner, Ann (R–HR): No response

Although GOP Senator Roy Blunt, as befits a junior member of the Senate Leadership, did make a statement, you might be struck, as I was, that it focused on the pragmatic aspects of Trumps words – addressing his competence in securing GOP goals, rather than his bankrupt moral world view:

Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, suggested the president’s inability to refrain from incendiary statements was detracting from his agenda.

“It’s an unacceptable view of the world, and it’s an unacceptable thing to say,” Mr. Blunt told KMBZ, a radio station in the Kansas City area. “You would expect the president to lead in determining how you filter your thoughts, rather than to continue to say things that take a lot away from what’s actually getting done.”

Compare the measured words of Blunt – who carefully avoided any overt reference to Trump’s racism, to the unequivocal tweet Democratic Claire McCaskill issued,:

It is unacceptable, repugnant, and morally bankrupt for a President of this great nation to call the countries of Africa “shitholes”. #sicktomystomach  9:32 AM – 12 Jan 2018

 I understand the need for political pragmatism, going along with a bad deal to avoid a worse deal – and I appreciate Blunt’s willingness to sorta, maybe imply that Trump isn’t really a great “dealmaker,” but for many of us racism, arguably the original sin that lies at the heart of American democracy, is the line that may not be crossed. Which means that I also understand the reticence of our Missouri House members to speak out – Republicans in general, not just in Missouri, have been calling out to more or less covert racism via code words and dogwhistles for years.What can these already compromised politicians do or say to credibly face down the beast they have enabled and continue to enable in order to benefit their wealthy patrons.
Of course that last sentence doesn’t even address the possibility that many of our elected Missouri representative may actually endorse Trump’s nasty racial sentiments.

 

 

Sam Graves pities poor multi-millionare farmers decimated by the estate tax

20 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

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Tags

Ann Wagner, estate tax, Farmers, GOP Tax Bill, Sam Graves, tax cuts, Tax policy

Missouri Rep. Sam Graves (R-6), as behooves the offspring of a farm family, couches his defense of the provision of the GOP tax-cut-for-the-rich bill that would repeal the estate tax in terms of farmers. But before I get to that defense, it’s important to note that Graves seems to be a little confused about the meaning of words. He somehow thinks that the estate tax amounts to double taxation on the person who dies – rather than a one-time tax levied on the folks receiving a hefty gift they almost surely did not work for or earn. And BTW, big gifts are taxable even when the giver isn’t dead.

But he’s right about where to focus his defense of eliminating this particular rich folks’ goodie. Nobody will cry too hard if the Trump offspring someday have to pay estate taxes on what Daddy Trump represents as his billions. We all know that they’ll continue to live big no matter what – especially given the ways that Daddy is monetizing his time in the White House. But Graves knows that if his rural farming constituency thinks that the tax hurts small family farmers who receive their inheritance in the form of land, etc. rather than ready cash, they might be willing to foot the cost for Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric to buy a few more yachts, which is why he “gravely” (get it?) pronouces:

Farmers are hit especially hard by the death tax. After a lifetime of acquiring land and equipment to help provide food for the world, farmers are subjected to an additional tax on their estate when they die. The real effect of this double, and sometimes triple, taxation is felt by the late farmer’s family.

While many folks receive an inheritance in the form of a check or stocks and bonds, the family farmer passes on his life’s work and ensures that farming continues as a way of life in North Missouri and around the country.

It’s no wonder that our kids and grandkids aren’t choosing to farm when they grow up. It’s expensive enough to get a farming operation off the ground, much less keep it in the family after giving part of it to the government.

Could get a farmer all fired up and maybe even willing to overlook all the ways that the GOP tax plans will shaft the middle class – even middle class farmers. Except for one thing: Graves is playing fast and loose with the facts. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), “only 50 small farm and small business estates in the entire country will pay any estate tax in 2017 […] and they’ll owe less than 6 percent of their value in tax, on average.” Nor, as the CBPP further notes, will paying that tax force farming heirs to sell the family farm:

The estate tax affects so few small farms and businesses because the first $5.49 million of assets per person ($10.98 million per couple) are entirely exempt from it. Moreover, most farmers and business owners with estates large enough to owe the tax have sufficient liquid assets (such as bank accounts, stocks, and bonds) to pay the tax without having to touch other assets or liquidate their farm and business, a 2005 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study found. Today’s estate tax rules are even more generous than those CBO assumed in its analysis. Special estate tax provisions also allow estate tax filers to spread their payments over a 15-year period at low interest rates.

While doing next to nothing for family farms, repeal would provide a windfall to the wealthiest 0.2 percent of estates — the only ones large enough to pay the tax. A repeal proposal recently reintroduced in the Senate would provide the 0.2 percent of wealthiest estates with an average tax cut of more than $3 million in 2017. Roughly 330 estates worth more than $50 million would get more than $20 million apiece in tax cuts, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates. The proposal would also cost $269 billion over the decade, expanding deficits and adding to pressure for cuts in federal programs.

I’d say that somebody ought to tell Rep Graves to get his facts straight, but there’s that part of me that wonders what the point would be. We’ve seen his colleagues spin whopper after whopper to try to sell us on a tax cuts for their donors. Is it Graves fault that the best he can do is that old swampland special, the farm estate tax canard? It may even do the job it’s designed to do. After all, for many Trump voters who believe he/she knows from whence emanates all fake news, it probably still has currency.

At least Rep. Graves isn’t resorting to claims like those made my my Representative, Ann Wagner (R-2), that raising taxes on the middle class, cutting funding to programs that benefit the middle class, while giving a big regressive tax cut to the wealthiest of the wealthy will somehow help a “single mother of two.” Of course, there’s nothing to stop an unmarried Paris Hilton clone from giving birth twice. It could even happen on a lavish country estate that qualifies as a “family” farm.

Bipartisanship gone bad: The Israel Anti-Boycott Act

20 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

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ACLU, AIPAC, Ann Wagner, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Claire McCaskill, H.R. 1697, Israel, Israel Anti-Boycott Act, J Street, Jason Smith, missouri, S. 720, Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S.720 and H.R.1697) is very bad legislation. It’s also that rarity, a bill that truly has bipartisan support. It’s laws like this proposed legislation, I suspect, that gives being bipartisan a bad rep.

The bill essentially bans boycotts or economic sanctions against countries “friendly” to the U.S. , specifically, but not necessarily limited to, Israel:

The bill amends the Export Administration Act of 1979 to declare that it shall be U.S. policy to oppose:

  • requests by foreign countries to impose restrictive practices or boycotts against other countries friendly to the United States or against U.S. persons; and
  • restrictive trade practices or boycotts fostered or imposed by an international governmental organization, or requests to impose such practices or boycotts, against Israel.

The bill prohibits U.S. persons engaged in interstate or foreign commerce from:

  • requesting the imposition of any boycott by a foreign country against a country which is friendly to the United States; or supporting any boycott fostered or imposed by an international organization, or
  • requesting imposition of any such boycott, against Israel.

The bill amends the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 to include as a reason for the Export-Import Bank to deny credit applications for the export of goods and services between the United States and foreign countries, opposition to policies and actions that are politically motivated and are intended to penalize or otherwise limit commercial relations specifically with citizens or residents of Israel, entities organized under the laws of Israel, or the Government of Israel.

The legislation would levy significant fines not only for participating in boycotts or sanctions, but also for simply requesting information about such actions. Legislation like this would have precluded the boycott of South Africa that was at least partly responsible for the fall of apartheid. People on the left and on the right oppose this bill for much the same reason: it is improperly coercive, too broad in scope, and violates the Constitution. If its support is bipartisan, so is its opposition.

Who opposes the Israel Anti-Boycott Act?

The ACLU wrote in a letter to the Senate that “the bill would punish businesses and individuals based solely on their point of view. Such a penalty is in direct violation of the First Amendment,” adding that:

“… this bill cannot fairly be characterized as an anti-discrimination measure, as some would argue. For example, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 already prevents businesses from discriminating against customers based onrace, color, religion, and national origin. This bill, on the other hand, aims to punish people who support international boycotts that are meant to protest Israeli government policies, while leaving those who agree with Israeli government policies free from the threat of sanctions for engaging in the exact same behavior. Whatever their merits, such boycotts right ly enjoy First Amendment protection.

The American Conservative’s Daniel Larison, on the other end of the political spectrum, is in perfect agreement:

Whatever one thinks about the BDS [i.e., boycott, divestment, and sanctions] movement and related international efforts to pressure Israel to change its occupation policies, it is deranged to try to criminalize protected political speech and association. As the ACLU points out, that is what this bill does. This legislation is plainly unconstitutional, and I assume it would be struck down in court if it were ever signed into law, but the deeper problem is that so many elected representatives think it is appropriate and desirable to trample on the constitutional rights of Americans to defend another government’s illegal occupation. …

J-street, a liberal Jewish lobbying group that advocates for a two-state solution to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians but which has stopped short of endorsing boycotts and sanctions, also opposes the legislation. In an email to congressional staffers, the J Street Vice President of Government Affairs, Dylan J. Williams, wrote that in its present form, the bill would:

…undermine decades of US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, bolster the settlement enterprise and harm the prospects for a two-state solution. […]

[…] we recommended that Members consult with free speech experts on possible Constitutional concerns with the bill. Accordingly, I want to make sure that you saw the letters issued by the ACLU yesterday opposing both the Senate and House versions of the bill on the grounds that they would impose penalties in “direct violation of the First Amendment.”

So who does support this bill?

AIPAC. But that goes without saying.

Who else? At least 237 members of the House of representatives, 63 of whom are Democrats, are cosponsors of the bill, and 45 Senators, 13 of whom are Democrats, are also cosponsors . Others will probably, due to either conviction or the pressures of the prevailing political wisdom, help vote it into law.

Missouri Supporters

As for whom in Missouri supports this legislation, here’s the list of House cosponsors from our fair state: Rep. Wagner, Ann (R-2), Rep. Sam Graves (R-6), Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-4), Rep. Jason Smith (R-8), and Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-3). And in the Senate, who else but that consummate bipartisan wannabe, Senator Claire McCaskill, has signed on. So far, at least, Senator Blunt is keeping his hands off this one. Do you think he might actually have a few Constitutional scruples?

McCaskill’s presence is the most easily explained. She’s good at the political calculus and you can bet there’s some payoff here, or at least she hopes there will be, in 2018. The woman’s great strength is her pragmatism. It’s also, alas, her frequent downfall.This case falls into the latter category.

What really bothers me, though, are all those Republicans in the House who support this bill. Don’t most Missouri conservatives get all teary-eyed about the right of bakers and the like to refuse to do business with the LGBT folks – or whoever else their personal Jesus tells them to dis? Yet they don’t want to let businessmen or individuals who have moral qualms about the activities of foreign countries refrain from doing business that supports those activities? It’s not exactly the same question – there’s lots of issues to unpack here – but, on the surface at least, it seems just a little hypocritical.

More importantly, weren’t lots of these chuckleheads elected during the Tea Party “uprising” by voters who went around in tricorner hats waving pocket copies of the Constitution? It was pretty clear, even at that time, that few Tea Partiers had actually bothered to read the document and fewer still understood it, but don’t you think that the folks they sent to Washington ought to at least show a little deference to the legal underpinnings of of our great Democracy?

*2nd to last paragraph slightly revised for clarity (12:03, 7/21/17).

True believers

15 Monday May 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in US Senate

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Ann Wagner, Billy Long, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Congress, Donald Trump, Jason Smith, missouri, Roy Blunt, Sam Graves, Trumpism, Trumpistas, Vicky Hartzler

There’s no such thing as a “moderate” republican.

FiveThirtyEight (Nate Silver’s place) is keeping a running tally of the votes in Congress and how they align with Donald Trump’s wishes:

Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump
An updating tally of how often every member of the House and the Senate votes with or against the president.

Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (r) [2014 file photo].

In the House of Representatives [How often a member votes in line with Trump’s position]:

Jason Smith R MO-8 96.6%
Billy Long R MO-7 96.6%
Sam Graves R MO-6 100.0%
Emanuel Cleaver D MO-5 12.0%
Vicky Hartzler R MO-4 100.0%
Blaine Luetkemeyer R MO-3 100.0%
Ann Wagner R MO-2 96.6%
Wm. Lacy Clay D MO-1 14.3%

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) [2015 file photo].

Representative Billy Long (r) [2013 file photo].

Voting for Donald Trump’s agenda 96.6% of the time is an unqualified endorsement. 100% is a true believer.

In the U.S. Senate [How often a member votes in line with Trump’s position]:

Roy Blunt R MO 100.0%
Claire McCaskill D MO 45.0%

Well, look at that, Roy Blunt (r) is no moderate.

Roy Blunt (r) [2016 file photo].

There’s no such thing as a “moderate” republican. They own Donald Trump (r) and his agenda.

Predicting the future: After the Trumpcare 3.0 vote

03 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

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ACA, AHCA, Ann Wagner, Billy Long, Jason Smith, Obamacare, Roy Blunt, Sam Graves, Trumpcare, Vicky Hartzler

There are rumors that the 3rd iteration of the Obamcare repeal and replace bill, GOP Dump& Dupe, will be voted on this week – perhaps tonight, and – brace yourselves – this totally terrible, cruel bill might pass the House and be sent to the Senate. It’s likely that it won’t pass in the Senate, at least not in its current incoherent form, but, who knows? As Steven Benen observes, lots of us cheered when Big Orange got the GOP presidential nomination – no one thought such a clown could ever in a million years win the general election.

But console yourselves. There are some existential bedrocks you will always be able to count on:

After she votes for the revised bill – and she’s not currently counted among the holdouts – those of us who subscribe to Rep. Ann Wagner’s (R-2) email newsletter will get a gushing account of how she battled to save us from that bad, old Obamacare. And she won’t even ask for thanks – she just wants us to stop phoning her about the damn thing, please, and, for god sakes, quit asking her to come to an in-person town hall and actually listen to random concerns of the hoi polloi. Mama did what she had to do to save us from ourselves and no matter how many time we’ve asked her to leave Obamacare alone, she knows that we really don’t mean that at all. After all, St. Louisians stop her in the grocery all the time to tell her to keep on keeping on. At whatever she keeps on at. Working to help bankers, I think.

GOP Senator Roy Blunt will hem and haw in order to persuade us he isn’t as dumb as the rest of his party, but he won’t even require that push comes to shove to make him go along with GOP leadership when/if the bill comes to the Senate – when the inevitable fallout begins, though, he’ll remind you about the hemming and hawing.

Rep. Billy Long (R-7) will carry on about how he held out until he got a dinky little pittance as a down-payment for ineffective high risk pools (along with a in-person goosing from the Big Guy in the White House). He’ll try to persuade you (using standard talking points developed by somebody else ) that this particular thirty pieces of silver makes up for voting to take away protections from folks with preexisting conditions. Nobody but the terminally stupid will be fooled. Oh wait, those are the people who vote for Republicans like Billy Long.

And Vicky Hartzler (R-4) will let us know that Jesus told her to vote for Trumpcare 3.0. She’ll do it indirectly, as befits a congresswoman who has to pretend to serve the heathens too. She runs with Jesus after all and Obamacare was just full of provisions that were hurtful to the Christian Taliban members who worry that they’ll go to hell if they contribute to a common insurance pool that also funds contraception for those who don’t share their beliefs.

Sam Graves (R-6) and Jason Smith (R-8 ) will vote as expected. And if they say anything about it all, they’ll do it in the usual way which consists of whispering over in the corners with safely like-minded supporters. Nobody else actually knows who they are, so no big deal.

But It’s good to know that you can rely on Republicans to be Republicans. Isn’t it?

*Third sentence of 2nd paragraph edited slightly for clarity (5-3-1, 9:51 pm)

Time to exorcise the NRA’s 2nd amendment demon?

03 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ann Wagner, Billy Long, Blaine Luetkemeyer, gun control, Jason Smith, Mental illness, missouri, Roy Blunt, Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler

Representatives Sam Graves (R-6), Vicky Hartzler (R-4), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-3), Billy Long (R-7), Jason Smith (R-8), and Ann Wagner (R-2). The entire Republican Missouri U.S. House lineup. Remember each one of these names next time there’s a mass shooting and Republican Senator Blunt or some other NRA apologist comes out and says, as Blunt did after one or another in the spate of mass shootings we have experienced in the past few years, that the problem isn’t guns, it’s mental illness.

These five congresspeople voted today to rescend an Obama administration rule that prohibited the sale of guns to mentally ill persons. Specifically:

The House voted 235-180 largely along party lines Thursday to repeal an Obama-era rule requiring the Social Security Administration to send records of some beneficiaries to the federal firearms background check system after they’ve been deemed mentally incapable of managing their financial affairs.

The rule, when implemented, would affect about 75,000 recipients of disability insurance and supplemental insurance income who require a representative to manage their benefits because of a disabling mental disorder, ranging from anxiety to schizophrenia. It applies to those between age 18 and full retirement age.

What’s really rich is that GOPers explained their vote by saying they were worried that the rule “stigmatized” folks with disabilities and “unfairly” deprived them of their 2nd amendment rights. This, mind you, is coming from the very people who think every Muslim is a terrorist until proven otherwise. Folks who  don’t turn a hair when 100,000 people with totally legal visas are denied entry to the U.S. because they are Muslim. And they’re worried that denying guns to people too ill to handle their own affairs is overkill.

Maybe we should give blind drivers licenses so that they don’t feel unduly stigmatized.

Or we could permit folks on the terrorist watch list to purchase guns – oh, wait. I forgot the same cast of characters made sure that we already do just that.

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