Good news! Your government is back up and running. Well at least temporarily.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins: "Today is a day to celebrate because we have shown that a determined group of senators working together across the aisle can result in positive action" https://t.co/xXFLArURok

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 22, 2018

Courtesy of CNBC: 

Senators were optimistic they had the votes to end the government shutdown Monday after leaving meetings more confident about a compromise deal to allow Congress to pass a short-term funding bill. 

On Monday afternoon, the chamber advanced a stopgap bill to keep the government open through Feb. 8 by a comfortable 81-18 margin. The chamber still needs to approve its final passage. 

"We will vote today to reopen the government," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. 

Schumer said Democrats have received assurances that the Senate will take on immigration issues, such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Earlier Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he intends to allow debate on immigration before Feb. 8.

Oh Democrats, Democrats, Democrats, when will you ever learn?

Mitch McConnell is never going to keep that promise, and if he does, he is guaranteed to sabotage the process.

Under the cover of darkness the Republicans pass massive tax overhaul.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

The Senate passed the most sweeping tax rewrite in decades early Saturday, with Republicans lining up to approve an overhaul that will touch almost every corner of the United States economy, affecting families, small business owners and multinational corporations, with the biggest benefits flowing to the highest-earning Americans. 

Senators voted 51-49, as Republicans approved the nearly 500-page bill in the early morning hours after lawmakers received a rewritten version, which contained significant changes from the original bill that passed two Senate panels last month along party lines. The last-minute revisions prompted an outcry from Democrats, who said it was impossible — and irresponsible — for lawmakers to read and digest a significant piece of legislation in such a short period of time. 

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader and Kentucky Republican, called it “a great day for the country.” 

The president praised Republican lawmakers on Saturday morning on Twitter, saying, “Biggest Tax Bill and Tax Cuts in history just passed in the Senate. Now these great Republicans will be going for final passage. Thank you to House and Senate Republicans for your hard work and commitment!”

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, said in a statement that with Senate approval “we will move quickly to a conference committee so we can get a final bill to President Trump’s desk.”

But, speaking on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, called the Republican approach “a process and a product that no one can be proud of and everyone should be ashamed of.”

As explained by Senator Jon Tester last night, this bill was handed to the Democrats with only a handful of hours before the vote, and with revisions being added almost up until the last minute.

I was just handed a 479-page tax bill a few hours before the vote. One page literally has hand scribbled policy changes on it that can’t be read. This is Washington, D.C. at its worst. Montanans deserve so much better. pic.twitter.com/q6lTpXoXS0

— Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) December 2, 2017

Many of those revisions contained sweetheart deals for Senators who were previous hold outs like Susan Collins:  

Several amendments that Collins offered were incorporated into the bill, including the restoration of a $10,000 deduction for property taxes and a lower threshold for deducting medical expenses. 

Collins touted the ability for her to get changes into the bill as crucial to her decision to ultimately be able to support it.

And Lisa Murkowski:  

Senate Republicans passed legislation early Saturday allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of a tax reform package, moving closer to fulfilling a long-time GOP goal. 

The passage of the bill marked a significant achievement for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who has introduced legislation to open a portion of the Alaskan refuge to drilling every term she has served in the chamber, only to be blocked by Democrats. 

“This small package offers a tremendous opportunity for Alaska, for the Gulf Coast, and for all of our nation,” Murkowski said before the vote. “We have authorized responsible energy development in the 1002 area.” 

This has already received significant backlash from conversations groups: 

A major conservation group is blasting the newly passed Senate GOP tax bill for allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), calling the bill “simply shameful.” 

“Opening the Arctic to drilling as part of this tax plan is simply shameful. The Arctic Refuge isn’t a bank—drilling there won’t pay for the tax cuts the Senate just passed,” National Audubon Society President and CEO David Yarnold said in a statement Saturday.

Actually it is not likely to bring in much money at all as the cost of new drilling is quite high in Alaska and with the price of oil plunging the risk to cost ratio may mean that few, if any, new wells are dug.

In the meantime the bill did repeal the Obamacare mandate which means that the healthcare of millions of Americans will likely be affected by the vote.

The editorial board of the New York Times called it an "Historic Tax Heist":

The bill is expected to add more than $1.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, a debt that will be paid by the poor and middle class in future tax increases and spending cuts to Medicare, Social Security and other government programs. Its modest tax cuts for the middle class disappear after eight years. And up to 13 million people stand to lose their health insurance because the bill makes a big change to the Affordable Care Act. 

Yet Republicans somehow found a way to give a giant and permanent tax cut to corporations like Apple, General Electric and Goldman Sachs, saving those businesses tens of billions of dollars.

All in all it is a truly terrible bill, which is why the Republicans demanded that it be passed late last night, because they well knew that if the American people had the opportunity to really know what was in it that they would take to the streets with pitchforks and torches. 

New accuser comes forward and claims that Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was only fifteen years old.

"He said 'You're just a child.' And he said, 'I am the District Attorney of Etowah County. And if you tell anyone about this, no one will ever believe you," accuser Beverly Young-Nelson says Roy Moore told her after the alleged sexual assault. (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/3GZNQqIO0A

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 13, 2017

Courtesy of CBS News: 

Nelson describes her first encounters when she was 15 years old working as a waitress at a local restaurant after school. 

She said Moore, DA of Etowah County, was a regular customer where he would often pull the ends of her hair as she passed by and complimented the young girl's looks. 

"I did nothing to encourage this behavior," said Nelson, adding "I did not respond to any of Mr. Moore's flirtatious behavior." 

She said that at the time of the encounters she had a boyfriend and was "not intersted in having a dating or sexual relationship with a man twice my age." 

Nelson went on, describing another incident in which Moore signed a school yearbook of hers when she was 16. 

"He wrote in my yearbook as follows: 'To a sweeter more beautiful girl, I could not say merry christmas, Christmas, 1977, Love Roy Moore, old hickory house. Roy Moore, DA.'" 

She said after the incident, Moore had offered to drive Nelson home after work, during which she alleges he forced himself on Nelson and groped her in a locked car. 

"I trusted Mr. Moore because he was district attorney, I thought he was doing something nice to offer to drive me home," said Nelson. 

She detailed her fighting off Moore in the car as he squeezed her neck, forcing her head onto his crotch. 

She said that Moore eventually gave up, and told her, "You're just a child and he said I'm the district attorney if you tell anyone about this no one will ever believe you."

This woman also says that she told others about the assault, though not at the time that it took place, and informed her husband before they got married.

If that can be verified, along with Moore's signature in her yearbook, I think Moore is cooked. 

According to her attorney she is also perfectly willing to testify before Congress and the Senate under oath.

The other day a former boyfriend also came forward to affirm that he once dated the former 14 year old girl that Moore molested and that she told him the story back in 2009.

Mike Ortiz says he dated Corfman (Roy Moore’s accuser) for 2 years around 2009.
He says during that time, she told him about a sexual encounter w/ Moore when she was young.
Again: Moore calls these claims “completely false & a desperate political attack.”#ALSen pic.twitter.com/T9iCDiIkJr

— Lauren Walsh (@LaurenWalshTV) November 10, 2017

In response Mitch McConnell publicly stated that he believes the women and is calling for Moore to "step aside."

Senators Orrin Hatch and Susan Collins are also calling for Moore to resign.

On the plus side for the embattled Senate candidate more than 50 Alabama pastors just signed a letter of support for Roy Moore and  his campaign.

Moral Majority my ass.

Update: I realize now that nobody can leave comments on any of the posts after the Sean Hannity post from 6:15 this morning (Including me).

No I do not know what is wrong at the moment, but I have been having my own problems with Blogger for several days now.

Hopefully it will rectify itself, but in the meantime if you want to talk about a post you will have to leave a comment on the Hannity post from this morning. 

Susan Collins pulls a John McCain and kills the most recent Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare.

Breaking: Susan Collins is a NO. Her statement: pic.twitter.com/QKgv8wrsde

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 25, 2017

I am no Nostradamus or anything but I knew that neither Collins nor Murkowski were going to sign on to this bill.

In fact this came out earlier today concerning Lisa's vote.

Friend saw @lisamurkowski at farmer's mkt in Anchorage this Sat. Asked re ACA. She looked him in the eye & said "I will not be bought off."

— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) September 25, 2017

This is where I would typically say that this thing is now dead for good, and we can all relax.

But that it what they used to say about Jason Voorhees, and he kept coming back over and over again. 

John McCain has killed another Trumpcare bill.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Senator John McCain of Arizona announced on Friday that he would oppose the latest proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, leaving Republican leaders with little hope of succeeding in their last-ditch attempt to dismantle the health law.

Mr. McCain, who killed the previous repeal effort with his dramatic “no” vote in July, released a statement saying he would not support the latest proposal, by Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is Mr. McCain’s closest friend in the Senate. 

“I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal,” Mr. McCain said. “I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried. Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it.”

With McCain out this deal is dead, because I am convinced that both Senator Murkowski and Collins will also likely vote no on this bill. And right now the Republicans cannot afford to lose even one of them.

I imagine this was hard for McCain since his bestest buddy in the whole world, Lindsey Graham, put his name on this, but the man has brain cancer so how COULD he in good conscience have voted any other way?

Somebody in another thread asked if this meant we had to forgive John McCain for Sarah Palin, and the answer to that is no, no we do not.

What John McCain has done may seem admirable, but seriously it is the bare minimum that people should expect from their representatives.

Sarah Palin is a plague on this nation which keeps on giving, and there is NO undoing that.

Senators Jack Reed and Susan Collins caught on hot mic discussing Trump's sanity, his lack of understanding about the budget, and whether Collins could "beat the shit" out of Rep. Blake Farenthold.

Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democratic Senator Jack Reed.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

After Reed praises Collins’s leadership of the hearing, she laments the administration’s handling of spending. 

“I swear, [the Office of Management and Budget] just went through and whenever there was ‘grant,’ they just X it out,” Collins says. “With no measurement, no thinking about it, no metrics, no nothing. It’s just incredibly irresponsible.” 

“Yes,” Reed replies. “I think — I think he’s crazy,” apparently referring to the president. “I mean, I don’t say that lightly and as a kind of a goofy guy.” “I’m worried,” Collins replies. 

“Oof,” Reed continues. “You know, this thing — if we don’t get a budget deal, we’re going to be paralyzed.” 

“I know,” Collins replies. 

“[Department of Defense] is going to be paralyzed, everybody is going to be paralyzed,” Reed says. 

“I don’t think he knows there is a [Budget Control Act] or anything,” Collins says, referring to a 2011 law that defines the budget process. 

“He was down at the Ford commissioning,” Reed says, referring to President Trump’s weekend event launching a new aircraft carrier, “saying, ‘I want them to pass my budget.’ Okay, so we give him $54 billion and then we take it away across the board which would cause chaos.”

“Right,” Collins replies.

Collins then went on to bring up  remarks made by Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold suggesting that if she were a man he would challenge her to "step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.”

“Did you see the one who challenged me to a duel?” Collins asks. 

“I know,” Reed replies. “Trust me. Do you know why he challenged you to a duel? ‘Cause you could beat the s— out of him.” 

“Well, he’s huge,” Collins replies. “And he — I don’t mean to be unkind, but he’s so unattractive it’s unbelievable.” 

“Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this Playboy bunny?” she continues, referring to an infamous photo of Farenthold.

This by the way is the picture Collins is referring to:

So yes, Susan Colins COULD easily beat the shit out of him.

Here is the audio of the above remarks.

Just so you know Farenthold and Collins have already apologized to each other for their remarks, but let's face it the toothpaste is out of the tube concerning what they really think about each.

And we also know what some in the Senate secretly think about the guy now occupying the Oval Office. 

Republican Senator Susan Collins writes op-ed explaining why she cannot support Donald Trump. 50 top GOP security officials write a similar letter.

Here is a link to Senator Collins article over at the Washington Post:

I will not be voting for Donald Trump for president. This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican. But Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country. 

When the primary season started, it soon became apparent that, much like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mr. Trump was connecting with many Americans who felt that their voices were not being heard in Washington and who were tired of political correctness. But rejecting the conventions of political correctness is different from showing complete disregard for common decency. Mr. Trump did not stop with shedding the stilted campaign dialogue that often frustrates voters. Instead, he opted for a constant stream of denigrating comments, including demeaning Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) heroic military service and repeatedly insulting Fox News host Megyn Kelly. 

With the passage of time, I have become increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize. But it was his attacks directed at people who could not respond on an equal footing — either because they do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility precluded them from engaging at such a level — that revealed Mr. Trump as unworthy of being our president.

Now that is pretty bad for Donald Trump, as Susan Collins is a highly respected Senator, however perhaps this is even worse:

Fifty former top Republican national security officials have signed an open letter in The New York Times opposing Donald Trump's candidacy, warning that he would be "the most reckless president in American history."

Many of the officials served in the administration of former President George W. Bush, but some served other Republican administrations. 

"From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be president and commander-in-chief," the letter said. "Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our country's national security and well-being."

Yeah, that's worse.

And of course it is only now added to the long list of Republicans and donors who are publicly rejecting Trump as their candidate.

It is looking more and more likely that either Trump does not make it to the general election, or gets "schlonged" once he does.