Mike Johnson May Have Decided Which Side of History He's On

And he may have chosen the side of not appeasing either the Russians or the Batshit-Putin Caucus in the House.

With rare bipartisan momentum, the House pushed ahead Friday on a foreign aid package of $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian support as a robust coalition of lawmakers helped it clear a procedural hurdle to reach final votes this weekend. Friday’s vote produced a seldom-seen outcome in the typically hyper-partisan House, with Democrats helping Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan advance overwhelmingly 316-94. Final House approval could come this weekend, when the package would be sent to the Senate.
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“Ukrainians desperately need lethal aid right now. ... We cannot allow Vladimir Putin to roll through another country and take it,” Johnson told the conservative host of The Mark Levin Show about the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine. “These are very serious matters with global implications.”

That, of course, does not make Marjorie Traitor Greene and the rest of her Putinite Useful Idiots in the Caucus of Appeasers happy. So they'll try to kick Johnson out of the Speaker's chair, which may fail as Democrats could help him out. What that'll do to his re-election chances are a different question. But Johnson may have decided that some things are more important that political survival. If so, then he's a rare breed in the job.

But we shall see.

Too Bad MTG Wasn't On Board as an Observer

Ukraine said it shot down a Russian strategic bomber in combat for the first time since the Kremlin’s invasion began after the aircraft launched a missile strike that left at least nine people dead in the central Dnipro region.

The Tu-22M3 was downed some 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Ukrainian border after launching missiles, Ukraine’s military intelligence, or GUR, said on its website. It was the first successful hit against this type of bomber since the start of Russia’s invasion, GUR said. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry also confirmed the strike.

She has been busy pulling her pro-Putin tricks to try and screw up helping the Ukrainians fend off the Katsaps. Even some people on the GOP Agitprop Channel have had enough of her.

Because It's Friday

Hauling heavy stuff over the road, the old-fashioned way.

Game On, Lobsterbacks!

The war* got going 249 years ago this day. It is also the day of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which was one of many.

I probably should snark that the current government in the Massachusetts Commonwealth is very much against citizens owning state-of-the-art weaponry and, in that regard, they have more in common with the Lobsterbacks than they do with the Colonialists. I'm surprised that they haven't made Concord replace the musket held by the Minuteman with a rake or some such.
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* "The war", when I was a child, referred to either the Revolutionary War or the Second World War. That 19th Century dust-up in the South was not given much regard, because, after all, we had won that one, too.

GOPers Love Committing Voter Fraud (and Complaining About It)

Republican state Rep. Austin Smith has dropped his reelection bid after being accused of personally forging more than 100 petition signatures to get on the 2024 ballot.

And he’s facing a possible criminal investigation into his signatures after state elections officials forwarded his petition signatures to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

Smith is first-term representative from Surprise, a member of Arizona’s far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus and a top official at Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of the far-right Turning Point USA, which is aimed at young Republicans and run by Charlie Kirk.

One has to wonder how many decades he could spend behind bars for forging that many signatures.

He's also quit TP-USA, presumably so he can spend time with his new wife and his criminal defense attorney.

Drones Kill Helicopter

One of Connecticut’s major manufacturers is laying off hundreds of employees.

Stratford-based Sikorsky says it’s making the cuts after the U.S. Army canceled plans for a new helicopter called the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft.
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As many as 400 workers in Connecticut will be affected, the vast majority of them in Stratford. Many of the workers are part of the company’s engineering and digital technology staff.

A new manned aerial reconnisance helicopter in the age of drones would seem to be as sensible as buying new flintlock rifles after the invention of percussion caps. So, good on the Army.

Pumping These Down, Here

GOP Impeachment Big Fail

Heh.

The Senate has dismissed all impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ending the House Republican push to remove the Cabinet secretary from office over his handling of the the U.S.-Mexico border and ending his trial before arguments even began.

The Batshit-Crazy Caucus's argument on this case has always been that they didn't like how he was doing his job. No crimes, no misdemeanors, they just didn't like him. Which is hardly a reason to impeach him.

The Trumpanzees are living in some sort of alternate universe where having threadbare control of one house of Congress gives them the power to dictate everything. it doesn't, anyone with a sense of realism would know that, which is why you have imbeciles like MTG throwing hissy fits on a daily basis.

This particular circus act has been a stellar example of that

Erecting These Down, Here

The Selective Outrage of the Pro-Hamas Jerkoffs

So where is the outrage of the pro-Hamas twits over what the Russians have been doing in Ukraine? Why are they giving the Russians a pass on bombing cities, massacring civilians and torturing people? Do they not care about Putin's attempt to conquer a peaceful neighbor?

Anyone?

Heidi-II

CBS said it will re-air its broadcast of Billy Joel's 100th consecutive performance at Madison Square Garden after it was cut short for some viewers on Sunday.

Joel was in the middle of singing "Piano Man" when local news began in some parts of the country.

"Due to the overwhelming demand from his legion of fans," Joel's performance, filmed on March 28, will air again in its entirety on Friday, April 19, at 9 p.m. ET, CBS said on Monday.

The DJs on the classic rock stations have been ranting about this since Sunday night.

In case you've forgotten about the Heidi Game.

Dumb Fuckers, Stupid Assholes and Fascist Douchebags

Israel’s top general has said the country will respond to Iran’s missile and drone attack, but it remains unclear what form that response will take and whether it will be so forceful that it could tip a worsening spiral of violence into a full-scale regional war.

The Israelis are a bunch of dumb fuckers if they do. They attacked Iran's territory (bombing a consulate). Iran struck back with a large and ineffective missile and drone attack. A smart person would leave it there. But nobody has accused Bibi recently of being smart.

And now, to the stupid assholes:

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway.

Here is a lesson: When you engage in a protest that inconveniences lots of people (making them late for work, miss their flights), those people are not going to ruminate about or consider the cause you espouse. No, they are going to judge you to be the asshole of the day. You will end the event by making more enemies to your cause than you won over.

You feel that strongly about it? Go to Lebanon and sign up for Hamas. See what that gets you.

Assholes.

Oh, and by the way, I make this pledge: If Republicans continue to block military aid to Ukraine, I will not vote for any Republican whatsoever for any office, from town council on up. Never, ever. They supported Hitler in the 1940s and they support Putin now. Fuck them all.

Raking in That Good Old Wingnut Welfare

Nikki Haley, who was Donald Trump’s last remaining challenger for the Republican presidential nomination until she dropped out of the race in March, has a new job.

The former South Carolina governor has accepted a role with the Hudson Institute, a Washington DC-based, ultra-conservative thinktank specializing in foreign policy affairs.

That's how the game is played. She gets a high-profile gig that is the best thing to a no-show job while she ponders her options.

Maybe she can try to clean the bloodstains and dishonor out of Kissinger's old chair there.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

A DC-10 tanker:

Christian Bigots Never Think It'll Be Their Kids

Until it is their kids. One dad who bought into the Christianist hatred of LGBTQ changed his tune when it was his kid who was transgendered.

Good for him for getting past the crap that was taught to him by his hate-based church and letting his love for his child take over. Other members of the Church of Southern Slavers would have kicked the kid out of the house.

Juicing These Down, Here

Just a few:

Caturday

Chip accidentally was included in a meme post. He survived.

Because It's Friday

German steam.

New Pithtols?

Taurus now has a line of hammer-fired, DA/SA, polymer-framed pistols called the "TH" line. Think HK USPc for less than half the price.

I haven't had a Taurus since I bought a 605 a quarter-century ago. It was not a fancy gun, one that if it got a little rust on it, I just wiped it off and drove on. In the mid-'00s, Taurus earned a reputation of being terrible for both quality and customer service. I knew two gun shops that stopped carrying their guns because too many customers were not happy. (One sold Hi-Points, which may give you an idea of how bad things were for Taurus.) Taurus sold some guns that were eminently mockable (View, Curve).

Taurus has been trying to change things and I wish them luck with that. But when it comes to jumping on gun bandwagons, I'm a trailing-edge type.

"Of Course You Realize This Means War."

An Israeli airstrike that demolished Iran’s consulate in Syria on Monday killed two Iranian generals and five officers, according to Iranian officials. The strike appeared to signify an escalation of Israel’s targeting of military officials from Iran, which supports militant groups fighting Israel in Gaza, and along its border with Lebanon.

And this:

Mexico’s government severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest a former Ecuadorian vice president, an extraordinary use of force that shocked and mystified regional leaders and diplomats.

Ecuadorian police late Friday broke through the external doors of the embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest Jorge Glas, who had been residing there since December. Glas sought political asylum at the embassy after being indicted on corruption charges.

It has been international law for a very long time that embassies and consulates are considered to be foreign soil. If you go to the French consulate or embassy, as soon as you walk onto the property, you are legally in France. That is why József Cardinal Mindszenty was able to stay in the American embassy in Hungary for fifteen years and Julian Assange was able to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy for seven years, until he pissed off his hosts. (The irony of Assange hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy and the Ecuadorians invading the Mexican embassy doesn't escape me.)

I believe the world would be a better place if the people of Iran were able to rise up and stand all of the ruling clerics up against a wall like the Romanians did to Nicolae Ceaușescu. But, having said that, Israel committed an act of war against Iran. I would be surprised if they didn't retaliate.

Only Speak "Good" of the Dead

O.J. Simpson, the football star and Hollywood actor acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend in a trial that mesmerized the public and exposed divisions on race and policing in America, has died. He was 76.

Good.

Sequencing These Down, Here

Range Report

For this gun,

That was at 50' with Speer Gold Dot hollowpoints.

I like the .40 round. For one thing, in a hi-cap ban state, the limitations mean that I give up two rounds to the hand-wringers in the statehouse. With a 9mm, I give up a third of the capacity. In a metal-framed gun like the P229, I don't think it's too snappy. (A Glock 27 is a while different thing altogether.) And I do have a liking for DA/SA guns, too.

This'll do nicely.

It's a Parking Lot, Asshole, Not a Racetrack. Slow the Fuck Down.

That is all.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, the Cops Staged a Legal Execution

Plainclothes Chicago police officers fired nearly 100 gunshots over 41 seconds during a traffic stop that left one man dead and one officer injured, according to graphic video footage a police oversight agency released Tuesday.

Five officers from a tactical unit who were in an unmarked police vehicle surrounded an SUV last month driven by Dexter Reed, allegedly for failing to wear a seatbelt. Video shows the 26-year-old Black man briefly lowering a window and then raising it and refusing to exit the vehicle as more officers arrived, yelled commands and drew weapons.

I call bullshit. Plainclothes cops in unmarked vehicles have no business pulling people over for traffic violations. It reads as though they were baiting the bad guy to do something stupid and he did.

Outside of that, there is no shortage of cases of goons impersonating cops. One can easily buy light bars and "raid jackets" online. The bad guy might have thought that he was being set up for a hit. And in a way, he was.

GOP Gets What They Want (and They Ain't Happy).

Arizona will soon join 14 other states that have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy after a state Supreme Court ruling Tuesday found that officials may enforce an 1864 law criminalizing all abortions except when a woman’s life is at stake.
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The law provides no exceptions for rape or incest.

Right. A law that was enacted a half-century before Arizona became a state, when the primary occupations of Arizonans were cowboy, gambler, gunfighter and whore, is given credence?

Republicans, who formerly praised the law, are now running from it. Because they know that, other than the batshit-crazy Christian Talibanistas, a majority of voters favor keeping abortion legal. Even the looniest person in Arizona politics can read the signs.

In a sign of Republicans’ political bind, even Kari Lake, a staunch Trump ally and abortion opponent who is running for Senate in Arizona, said the total abortion ban “is out of step with Arizonans.” It’s a shift from two years ago when Lake praised the 1864 law.

Yeah, because now, Ms. QAnon has seen that a majority of people don't like her party's position and, in an election where it is on the ballot, will turn out. Which may happen in Florida and Arizona, among other states.