Two stories from today show how the GOP is truly the party of “Nothing”. As in, “Nothing is going to get accomplished.” Border security that they scream about, but make no attempt to fix immigration laws. The economy, which is improving, and most of their campaigns mentioned (but with no concrete ideas), but they can’t even get their collective acts together to pick the Speaker for the upcoming term.
There will be sham investigations into shadow crimes that did not occur. There will be investigations into the country’s leading infectious disease expert because his views changed as the science changed. There will be much gnashing of teeth over this that or the other that has nothing to do with what the country needs. Just party over country. Daily.
Gonna be a short GOP Majority in the House.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
To be fair, the Republicans have made a mess of their party because of Trump. Yes, MAGA still has power, but not nearly what most Republicans think.
What we have is a party that requires cult like obedience to election fraud lies in primaries, then tries to govern with that burden if they get elected. On top of that, they are expected to exact vengeance for the ex-president because his Big Lie did not steal the election.
Now, there is some breaking of the ranks, but all those elected or re-elected based on that impossible conundrum will now risk censure if they waver.
Now you would think that losing Congress in 2018, the presidency and Congress in 2020 and the Senate in 2022 would be a wake up call, but apparently not. So they have a tiny majority in the House, with half the GOP caucus either wing nuts or spineless half nuts, it will be either a come to Jesus moment or oblivion.
I wager that most Republicans would love to see Trump gone.
Unfortunately, he is kind of like dog poop stuck to a running shoe. Can’t just scrape it off you have to dig it out from all the grooves, then rinse and repeat.
Good luck with that.
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Democrats controlled every level of government, yet couldn’t advance immigration measures, but you condemn the GOP for not fixing it when they will only control the House next month?
With the Senate controlled by Schummer, the House can only say no, it cannot advance anything.
So, say no they should. It’s time to starve the beast.
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Democrats may have controlled Congress, just like Republicans did early on. Filibuster stopped most attempts.
Republicans are not interested in immigration reform other than using illegals as a cudgel for elections. Corporate America loves the present system. Compliant, cheap labor with no recourse for abuse or safety.
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Actually, the most recent attempt at immigration reform was killed by the Congressional Black Caucus because they feared relaxing the quotas for green cards would result in Chinese and Indian immigrants sponsored by tech companies using up all the slots, reducing opportunities for immigrants from Africa and the Carribean.
Immigration is a difficult issue for both parties.
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It is difficult. I think immigration is going to be a really big issue worldwide. Conflict and climate are going to create masses of refugees worldwide in the coming years.
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Climate will be an excuse but not a reason.
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No matter how you parse it, we have billions of people in places that had a lot less decades ago. Even with cyclical droughts, starving people are not going to debate nuances.
Like our own Southwest, too many people and desert farms, too little water. Cyclical? Perhaps, but the daily drain on water sources is huge compared to 50 years ago.
Failed states added to the mix and we have a problem.
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So, is that a climate problem?
If an arid region has periodic droughts, is its carrying capacity what it can support in a good year or in a bad year?
Of course, it’s the bad years that limit population.
California has had megadroughts of 50 years or more for thousands of years. But the population there has grown because they have effectively mined their aquifers using up water that had accumulated for millions of years in a few decades.
Now their luck is running out, but that is not climate change, There have always been droughts there because of geography. Abandoning fossil fuels is not going to relocate the mountain ranges.
Blaming climate change for ignoring the reality of living in certain places just directs our efforts to the wrong place.
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You can blame whomever or whatever you want. If there is no food or water to sustain a population they will move. Niceties like borders will mean little and violence will be the norm.
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It makes a difference.
If we ascribe problems to climate change, people think there is something we can do about it other than adapt.
That something is to abandon fossil fuels before we have an alternative. Current energy policy in the US and Europe is like jumping out of an airplane and hoping you can figure out how to make a parachute on the way down,
China and India have no intention of cutting back, so it doesn’t make any difference anyway.
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Climate is part of the reason, no matter how much you want to deny it.
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OK, show me the example of people forced to migrate due to climate not within the historic range of climate for that region.
You can’t, no matter how much you want to deny it.
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You are making it iut as the SOLE reason. I ma just saying that it is PART of the problem.
The worsening weather, the worsening droughts and the overuse of scant resources all combine to cause climate refugees to migrate.
Deny all you want; it is blindness and denial that changes occurring are causing more than just weather issues.
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Show me worse weather outside the historic range for a region. There has been no increase in drought anywhere outside historic ranges.
Keep in mind that climate has cycles that have nothing to do with us. California has had periods of drought lasting decades for thosands of years.
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Republicans had the same at the beginning of Trump’s term. Yet, ince again you open with it’s the Dems fault.
Screw the hypocrisy.
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Trump did act on immigration, just not in the way you, or I, would have chosen,
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He acted by reneging on a BIPARTISAN deal presented to him by the leaders of BOTH parties.
That isn’t really acting; unless he was going for some sort of Academy Award or Golden Globe.
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…”the House can only say no”…
I guess you missed the part where the GOP House said that GOP SENATE priorities will be DOA.
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That would be saying ‘no.’
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To their own party?
That is not a great way to work together.
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There is nothing good about working together to do stupid things.
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You make a valid point. The GOP worked together to elect, re-elect and then attempt to overturn the will of the people in order to keep Trump in power.
So, yes, the GOP is really good at doing stupid things together.
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Which has nothing to do with the lame duck Congress trying to commit the incoming GOP House majority to a spending orgy they ran against.
The Senate GOP should have held out for a Continuing Resolution of no more than 3 months so the incoming House could exercise its power of the purse.
It’s the Rinos in the Senate who are betraying the Republican voters.
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RINO’s? Mitch McConnell is now a RINO? Eggnog out the nose hysterical.
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Well, after the GOP gained control of the House, he promptly cut their legs out from under them by denying them the power of the purse for the next fiscal year.
Now, they will be powerless to change course and will appear to have done nothing with their majority.
So, yeah, RINO. And every bit as petty and vindicative as Trump.
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I can’t believe I’m about to say this…
But for once in his career, Magic Mitch did the right thing for the country. The House GOP is preparing to do one thing and one thing only: investigate and hold hearings strictly out of spite. They weren’t going to do anything with their majority except for a repeat of Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi.
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Republicans can walk and chew gum at the same time,
I won’t say I support all the investigations planned, but some are necessary. And in any case, after not passing a budget bill all year, jamming through an omnibus at the last minute that ties the next Congress’s hands was something that should have been filibustered till to Democrats accepted a short term bill or the government had to disband.
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“Republicans can walk and chew gum at the same time,”
Not really. But if you want to believe that, you go right ahead.
And exactly which investigations does Don, the Wise and Powerful, deem necessary? Hunter’s “big guy” pics? Anthony Fauci doing the best job possible while trying to keep an unbalanced lunatic from driving the country over a COVID cliff? Election fraud that doesn’t exist?
Maybe they should look inward and say, “Man, we kinda screwed the pooch with this blind fealty to TFG. Maybe we should investigate ourselves for being the Party of Stupid.”
ANd who exactly is responsible for budget bills not being passed this year? It is the MINORITY party playing political games, not for the benefit of the country, but to pander to their “base”. THe same thing happens when the Dems are in the minority. At least I am willing to admit that. Too bad you ONLY EVER blame Democrats for doing the exact same things Republicans do.
Dr. Hypocrite, you are. ANd by attempting to deny that, you PROVE your hypocrisy.
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The Democrats did not bring the budget to the floor for debate until after the mid-term election, so I don’t see how you can honestly blame the minority for the last minute rush.
I would agree that there are many things about COVID that need not be investigated. Since the Chinese have all the records, we can never settle them matter about the origin of COVID.
But keep in mind that while it is dishonest to fault Fauci for being wrong when we were learning about COVID, it is also dishonest to fault Trump for following Fauci’s policies to the letter.
It is legitimate to investigate the extent to which COVID policy was influenced by the teacher’s union and wokeness instead of science. It is also legitimate to look into the suppression of contrary opinion on treatment. The FDA should not dictate treatment decisions using known safe drugs.
The Biden’s family’s business dealings do need investigation. It could be that Hunter traded on Joe’s position as VP without Joe’s knowledge, but that seems unlikely and meeting records, and gaps in those records will tell us one way or the other. If Joe knew, or shared, that is criminal.
Further investigation of the 2020 election is pointless, but enacting measures to ensure confidence in future elections is worthwhile.
The most important investigation will be determining to what extent the bureaucracy sought to use pressure on big tech to influence public opinion and the elections. That is absolutely unacceptable and a lot of people need to be fired.
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