23 Comments

Who does this benefit? It did not benefit the border states. It did not benefit Americans who will see another mortgage increase and higher gas prices. It did not benefit the grandmother who is in solitary confinement for walking into the Capital. It benefits only Putin and buying 6 Congressmen is not all that expensive.

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October 5, 2023
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Honeypots are straight out of the KGB handbook

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McCarthy gave the bombers the power and opportunity, the rest of the House GOP can't get out of their own fantasies of power and profits to care. There is a way, it is called bi-partisanship, without that they fail completely. Time to end this all or nothing sickness and re-invent themselves.

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All this chaos in America begs the question , who owns these Republican nihilists ?

My suggested owners of trump,some members of Supreme Court,other team maga members are Putin and his band of oligarchs.

Democracy is going to need a miracle to survive .

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putting Jordan or Scalice in charge is ceding power to the the terrorists.

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Brilliant commentary, Ms. Francis! The graphs were most poignant!

"Free-dumb Caucus" indeed.

Alas, I wonder, why did Minority Leader Jeffries and others not offer just enough votes to save McCarthy, through a contractual agreement of collaboration through the end of this session? Perhaps this one attempt to "fire" the speaker would cancel any further attempts at this type of sabotage. The so called "winners" would have been the Democratic caucus, the so-called "Speaker" McCarthy, and the American people. The losers certainly would have been the conservative and MAGA movements.

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It is indeed curious but as I mentioned the explanation is that they didn't because he raises a ton of money for the Republicans, their opposition.

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I can understand their reasoning, however ...

Now, which party has the greater opportunity to raise money from this fiasco, the "Free-Dumbers" or the Democrats? Currently, as is the case as of now. Or, had the Dems bailed out the sinking captain. Either way, I expect Dems to be able to raise dough from the captains of industry and the captains of pleasure crafts.

Ahhh, somehow, through all of this, I'm feeling happy all over, again!

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The only person on this planet that is 'giddy' with joy is Putin. The rot in America is now 'smelly' and there is NO leader to shake the '---' rats out of gov't. What a mess -

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thanks for the reply. I think you miss my point. I consider “illegals” a loaded term. Why do people, usually conservatives, use it in this case but not others. If I get stopped for drunk driving, get charged, and even convicted, I am not an illegal. There’s more behind the use of the term illegal than is first apparent.

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Illegal is as illegal does no matter who chooses to apply the term or not. It's simply politicized not inaccurate. That's simply the way it is. People are outraged at the millions that have arrived unimpeded over decades. Look at my previous newsletter "The Global Refugee Mess"....

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Yes it is mess caused by nasty rulers of usually corrupt nation states that illegals want to leave. Then present USA has been brought low as you so very well explain Diane so no nirvana there.

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I agree, Ms Francis, with your main points in this and so many other articles you pen. Your details and evidence gathering I find enlightening. I do strongly disagree, however, with your references to migrants and asylum seekers at the southern border as “illegals.” It is demeaning and prejudicial to to refer to people in this way. To do so is to conveniently overlook the desperation that so many of these folks feel and experience. Their crossing may be illegal and there is a problem to be solved. But degrading their persons is not part of the solution, but part of the problem. I might be charged with a DUI and convicted. But am I then an “illegal”? Though I did something illegal in this case, do I deserve such a branding?!

Jim Ballard

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they are illegally crossing the border, ergo "illegals".

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Super reply. They are by illegal by definition unlike

Ukrainians who are being invited Is everyone invited to enter USA? No and same applies world wide to refugees and immigrants I write this as a Canadian who waited years for citizenship and am glad to be here despite Canadian WOKE and pronoun rubbish!

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I hope that Biden addresses this out of control issue as a monumental problem than will require intensive support and cooperation from all of Central and South America. Kamala Harris tried at the beginning of her "term" but was angrily shot down by one of those Central American leaders. Unfinished business. Will require the same degree of intensity as Ukraine, and Israel-Palestine to solve the slaughter.

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Worth repeating)Via The NY Times comment section)

Bannon's carefully staged "living room" set is fascinating.

Prominent on the fireplace mantel behind him, on the right to counterbalance Jesus, is a plaque that says: "There are NO conspiracies, but there are NO coincidences.

So, it's no coincidence that the book "China After Mao" is on the very top of his reading stack. He's a big fan.

Remember that Bannon was arrested on the yacht of a Chinese billionaire and charged with defrauding Trump supporters through his "We Build the Wall" scam. (He didn't build a wall. He pocketed the money.) For that, he was pardoned by You Know Who.

Bannon is an unregistered foreign agent (like Manafort and Flynn), working on behalf of hostile foreign states (China, Russia, Hungary) whose autocratic forms of government he prefers to ours.

Remember his famous announcement:

"I'm a Leninist.... Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that's my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today's establishment."

Wait a minute. He sounds just like the deposed Kevin McCarthy describing his own caucus as, "individuals that just want to burn the whole place down."

Bannon is nothing if not well-organized, always plotting several moves ahead. He's the scorpion and we're supposed to be the frog who doesn't see what he's doing until it's too late. And because he's so up-front about it, he thinks he can dismiss anyone who notices as a conspiracist: "It's no conspiracy! I'm doing it all on my podcast.

Article link (non paywalled)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/us/politics/bannon-republicans-gaetz-mace.html?unlocked_article_code=qcsR7zWH2-vvLTa92mOHyjT7S7V7a5OXgn7KTwBKofW47B0iO8EDKSd9fgOSEmQdw4pGvSUQz4sS5QniqXrrflvkV6F7BsTYDuA1Q4g4f4_-7AlUYNB66KWXClsJ5BNAD9j6XzKnS-tENAcpHVuS6X0J-cFdp3AzRsCNwhyJ90yFumdCmdQ24JLd_SbRGs0U-Kd5NlFNr1_Ah5UzwCyQjB9WE9Jmfy-QGo6RhcMGkfMvivpu-TkJazI_hqeNrPJXcN04q20_B8JSkTE-zmDsh6Bv8amHoUip3JqAVmLoRBR4GBRTLZ8N47xodWWhck6vSxTLmVx-6lcv6lLch6iqircorfAJ93ei6u5a&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

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Your play on words was brilliant - a little late in mentioning that - but it shows that using 'words' can create an effect like the one I saw a little while ago - someone was taking a swipe Donald tRUMP - that was very well thought as well.

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"Free Dumb" so apt Diane! All of "this" is not Matt Gaetz's idea (Gaetz confirmed that they speak daily)--it is ALL at the behest of Donald Trump who declared that he wanted this government to collapse. As you must remember, "only he can fix it!". So, the House is under the control of Trump. And, as you note, there are more than the aggrieved 8 in favor of Trump over anything and everyone else. Sadly, the House reflects the voting public of our country. Of course, fixing injust gerrymandering, and whatever went so very wrong in NY State could bring a better balance to our country's well-being.

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Couldn’t have come up with a better title.

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Again, thank you for a wonderful summary. So many alligators in the GOP swamp. The World is looking at the US in wonder; when and how will this insanity stop? Putin must be enjoying this clown show?

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Excellent thank you

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Best column yet Diane!

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