{"id":106166,"date":"2023-01-01T19:17:13","date_gmt":"2023-01-02T00:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=106166"},"modified":"2023-01-01T19:17:20","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T00:17:20","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-wednesday-december-28th-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=106166","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Wednesday, December 28th, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Wednesday, December 28th, 2022…but before we begin, in an entry which deserves inclusion in full, the incomparable Kim Strassel shines the harsh light of reality on…<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Back End of an Omnibus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

GOP complicity with the spending blowout is one reason it is still in the Senate minority<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/h3>\n

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“Senate Minority Leader\u00a0Mitch McConnell\u00a0said this week he was \u201cpretty proud\u201d of the $1.8 trillion-plus omnibus the Senate passed Thursday, since the GOP was able to \u201cachieve .\u00a0.\u00a0. essentially all of our priorities.\u201d That, America, is why Republicans are in the Senate minority.<\/span> And why they arguably deserve to stay there.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Never has Washington contemplated such a monstrosity.<\/span> If a satirist set out to describe a once-admirable institution in decline, its members cheerfully passing off their laziness, secrecy, cowardliness and graft as \u201csuccess,\u201d it\u2019d be hard to compete with this week\u2019s Senate show. The omnibus is everything that is broken in D.C., dumped in one steaming pile.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Congress has this omnibus only because Democrats wasted the year chasing\u00a0Joe Biden<\/a>\u2019s Build Back Better agenda, while Republicans helped waste more with semiconductor payouts and other unnecessary legislation. The Senate couldn\u2019t rouse itself to pass a single one of its 12 annual spending bills. <\/span>Pretty much the only deadline Congress hit this year was the cutoff for submitting thousands of earmark requests for home-state pork. Priorities, priorities.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A handful of powerful leaders took advantage of this dilatory behavior by using it as an excuse to disappear at the last minute into a smoke-filled room and conjure up a \u201ctop line\u201d number for funding\u2014with no votes, no debate. Other leaders then disappeared to write the bill in secret\u20144,155 pages of it.<\/span> It was unveiled in the dead of Monday night, with initial plans for Wednesday passage, the better to ensure nobody would know what\u2019s in it.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Or what\u2019s attached to it.<\/span> Past omnibuses at least confined themselves to funding everything under the sun (especially monuments to super-appropriators like Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby). This omnibus has also become a vehicle for legislation Congress wanted to pass this year but didn\u2019t. <\/span>These aren\u2019t small changes: An overhaul of retirement savings rules. Cosmetics regulation. <\/span>Electoral Count Act reform. Major changes to healthcare.<\/span> For all we know, there\u2019s a provision creating 12 new cabinet positions. We\u2019ll find out next year<\/em><\/span>, when someone<\/em><\/span> has time to read it<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Want to know if your senator approves of authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to micromanage your mascara? Or killing off drift-net fishing operations?<\/span> Or letting athletes at service academies get a waiver to play professional sports? Good luck<\/em><\/span>. <\/span>Members of both parties will say they voted for this turkey solely to avoid a government shutdown, and they\u2019ll duck questions on the other major changes. Lucky them<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> Zero<\/em><\/span> accountability. Only this isn\u2019t<\/em><\/span> luck\u2014it\u2019s by design<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Senate Republicans spent this week telling the public there were only two options: Sign off on earmarks, bad policy and Democratic demands for huge increases in domestic spending (on top of $4.5 trillion in the past two years), or lose a 10% increase in defense dollars. We can add dishonesty to the list of transgressions.<\/span> The GOP could have insisted on zero domestic increases and dared Democrats to own a shutdown and the loss of military readiness. But who wants a spending fight when we can simply spend?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a central problem for Republicans\u2014even if they don\u2019t want to admit it. They haven\u2019t shown a whiff of interest in fiscal restraint since the early days of\u00a0Paul Ryan\u2019s tenure as House speaker.<\/span> Their majorities broke the bank during the Trump administration, enabling Democrats to point to deficits as reason to resist further tax reform. They held hands with the left to partake in five Covid bailouts in 2020 alone.<\/span> They joined again to pass Mr. Biden\u2019s infrastructure bill and the semiconductor slush fund. Members of the new, supposedly responsible Republican House majority weeks ago voted to keep the earmark gravy flowing.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Voters in 2010 put Republicans in charge of the House to serve as a brake on the Obama administration. Next year\u2019s House majority is no guarantee of a repeat.<\/span> Democrats have figured out that the bait for \u201cbipartisanship\u201d is the promise of dollars, and today\u2019s Republican Party bites every time. Eighteen Senate Republicans voted Thursday for the ugliest, least transparent spending bill on record. <\/span>As Republicans scratch their heads over their disappointing midterm, they might consider that voters don\u2019t see much of a defining difference with Democrats.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The real scandal of the holdouts to House Republican leader\u00a0Kevin McCarthy\u2019s bid for speaker is that they are stomping on an important message.<\/span> A far bigger and more serious group of House conservatives are appalled by the practices that lead to omnibuses, and want changes to require the House to return to \u201cregular order.\u201d Committees.<\/span> Votes. Amendments.<\/span> Debates. This would return a focus on fiscal discipline, with members again subject to transparency and accountability.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

But Reps.\u00a0Andy Biggs\u00a0and\u00a0Matt Gaetz\u00a0are more interested in grandstanding than actual victory. The battle helps Republican House porksters ignore substantive demands by casting the race for speaker as a fight over personalities.<\/span> It enabled Senate Republicans to justify their mess of an omnibus on the grounds that House Republicans can\u2019t be trusted to do better.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Right now, neither<\/em><\/span> chamber can.<\/span> Your government at work.<\/strong><\/span>“<\/p>\n

Case in point: Lindsay Grahamnesty<\/em><\/span><\/a>, the complete a*sclown who just signed on to the omnibus monstrosity has the chutzpah to criticize Biden’s border surrender<\/em><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Which begs the question why Brian Kilmeade failed to point out his hypocrisy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And did we mention how far Tom Cotton’s stock has fallen?\u00a0 Its decline makes Black Tuesday<\/em><\/span><\/a> look like a minor correction.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, and Kevin McCarthy isn’t sorry Congress is spending so irresponsibly<\/em><\/span><\/a>; He’s only sorry he’s not the one dictating where the funds are going!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, here’s The Gouge<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

First up, here’s a story FOX<\/em>\u00a0repeated without benefit of investigation, fact-checking or analysis of any kind:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Washington burglars take out three power substations on Christmas<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

Pierce County Sheriff’s Office officials said three substations were vandalized on Christmas morning<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n

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“…When deputies arrived, a statement from the department read, they saw evidence that a fenced area was broken into.<\/span> While nothing was taken from the substation, police said equipment was vandalized, causing a power outage in the area.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Another burglary was reported later that morning at a Tacoma Public Utilities substation on 224th Street, again with\u00a0forced entry and damage\u00a0to the equipment, and nothing stolen from the scene.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

At 11:25 a.m. a third burglary was reported by Puget Sound Energy of a power outage and burglary that occurred at about 2:40 a.m.<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>Deputies said the third scene was broken into as well, and the equipment was vandalized.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of the burglaries and vandalism that took place, 14,000 Tacoma residents were without power on Sunday morning<\/strong><\/span>…”<\/p>\n

Contemporary politically-correct dictionaries define “burglary” as “illegal entry into a building with intent to commit a crime, especially theft”.\u00a0 Yet here, in all three “burglaries” nothing was taken, only equipment “vandalized”, i.e., “destroyed”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s the juice: Does anyone else sense Washington authorities are unwilling to call a spade a spade, or, in this case, acts of domestic ecoterrorism acts of domestic ecoterrorism?!?\u00a0 We’re not talking about a couple of home boys spray painting graffiti on a transformer or substation.\u00a0 Think about it: Nobody in their right mind risks electrocution by cutting their way into three substations early Christmas morning with any intent other than deliberate, targeted destruction.\u00a0 This bears the fingerprints of Antifa or some “the planet is more important than people” EnviroNazi organization.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fact Tuesday morning Jim Geraghty came to the same conclusion<\/em><\/span> we reached late Sunday evening only solidifies our position.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the law enforcement branch of the Biden clown car is focused on “right-wing” domestic terrorists.\u00a0 You know, like this<\/em><\/span> duo of incredibly dangerous desperados:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In a related item, at the same time they seek to impose utterly unnecessary, completely counterproductive restrictions and changes on a country in which many shiver in the cold, Biden’s climate czars fly private and live like kings<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 This despite us being nowhere near<\/em><\/span> a world in which we can live without fossil fuels, as evidenced by this forward from Nick:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Fossil fuels powering 90% of the Texas grid during the storm<\/p>\n

Nuclear powering more than their renewables & TX hasn\u2019t built a new plant in 30 yrs<\/p>\n

Over $70 billion spent on wind & solar and solar with 0% & wind 4.8%<\/p>\n

Wind & solar aren\u2019t serious energy sources when you need them pic.twitter.com\/2E05VPXeqO<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 max gagliardi (@max_gagliardi) December 24, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n