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Thursday, January 03, 2019

Swearing In!


I will be following Lucy McBath, Alexnadria Ocasio Cortez, Antonio Delgado, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Lauren Underwood and Jahanna Hayes on their achievements.

As you know, we have a bunch of freshman lawmakers being sworn in. We have a well established politician who will become the House Speaker. Our dear leader takes a shot at a presidential candidate who officially declared her intentions. Yes, we're still in a government shutdown that will probably last for a while because the dear leader wants the border wall.



Today is the official start of the 116th Congress of the United States. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will take the helms of top leads respectfully.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) will be the youngest members sworn in. Ocasio Cortez is a progressive firebrand who has often tangled with conservative agitators and members of the Democratic establishment who believe her ideas are too extreme. She often retorts most of the right wing. She is a lightening rod.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) will be sworn on the Thomas Jefferson Koran. The two women are the first Muslim women to be sworn in to the U.S. Congress. They will join Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) as the only practicing Muslims in the House. Tlaib is Palestine-American and represents metro Detroit. Omar is a Somali-American who live in a refugee camp during her young life. She was then a state representative for Minnesota for one term before she took the spot of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to be sworn in the House. Ellison is now the Attorney General of Minneosta. She represents portions of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) will be sworn in. He was the 2012 U.S. Republican nominee for president who ended up losing to Barack Obama. He wrote an op-ed criticizing Donald J. Trump. He also faced a backlash from his own niece. Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel blasted Romney for his op-ed.

Romney's old running mate Paul Ryan leaves the gavel to Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi is the first woman to hold the power as the Speaker of the House. She held the position from 2007-11 and 2019 to present.

Many Democrats believe that Pelosi will be the scapegoat of Trump and the far-right. Pelosi promised that she will hold the gavel for at least one term.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) is the first African American woman to represent Massachusetts as a lawmaker. She was an at-large member of Boston's city council. Her surprise primary victory against Mike Capuano is a big win for progressives. She vows to be a thorn to Trump. She vows activism. She wants to wipe away the negative perceptions of Boston. Many believe the Boston Police are brutal to people of color. She wants police reform and gun reform as her platform. She beat Capuano, a white lawmaker who represented a district with a near-Black majority.

She won't be the only Black lawmaker from New England. Former Teacher of the Year recipient, Rep. Jahana Hayes will be sworn in as the first African American woman to represent Connecticut. Hayes district represents Waterbury, Hartford and Newtown. Newtown was the place where a white terrorist massacred 24 people in an elementary school. Hayes who wants to take on Betsy DeVos, the former CEO of Amway and now U.S. Education Secretary. Hayes believes that DeVos and her cronies are making education a business and not a learning institution. She believes that public schools help grow students. She opposes private school and charter school funding.

Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) will take the spot that was held by far-right lawmaker Randy Hultgren. The registered nurse ran on the issues of healthcare and gun violence to beat back a racially motivated campaign sparked by Hultgren and Fox News. They were trying to paint her as an "angry Black woman" during the election. They didn't care about the issues. They wanted to make Underwood the focus because she worked under Barack Obama. Underwood believes that if Republicans repealed the Affordable Care Act, many of Americans could be hurt by the effects. She said that she is in favor of universal healthcare, paid family leave, expanding job opportunities to felons and underclass and working to improve Illinois roads and bridges.

Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) is a Mother of a Movement. She is the mother of Jordan Davis. He was killed by a white man in Florida after a dispute over loud music. She is part of the Moms Demand Action movement. She became the first member of that organization to successful beat back a relentless opponent known as Karen Handel. The seat once held by Newt Gingrich and Tom Price swung to the Democrats for the first time in 30 years. McBath who sympathizes with the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown wants criminal justice reform, a stronger gun background check and accountability for law enforcement.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) will take the helm. Sinema beat McSally in the 2018 Midterm. Jon Kyl resigned and Arizona governor Doug Ducey appointed the defeated McSally as the U.S. Senator to replace him. John McCain passed away last year leaving Ducey to appoint Kyl. Kyl was then the senator of Arizona before he retired and Jeff Flake took the spot. Flake is considering a 2020 run for the Republican nomination. Sinema is the first openly bisexual woman in the senate. She is the first woman elected to the Senate from Arizona.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says that if Trump "caves in" to the Democrats, his presidency could be over. The South Carolina senator who was a punching bag for Trump during the presidnetial campaign now seems quite pleased with the way Trump is governing. Although he's critical of Trump pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan, Graham has been pretty much a waterboy for the imbecile.

Graham and many Republicans went to the only place where they can get kid glove treatment. The country's most annoying conservative agitator, Sean "Softball" Hannity returned to radio and television on Wednesday. He brought back his usual routine. He started off the 2019 season with Hillary Clinton as his primary source of agitation. Softball Hannity along with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and white extremist Rep. Steve King (R-IA) will continue to be thorns in this new congress.

Fox News has seen its best year. Although ratings are down, Sean "Softball" Hannity is the king of cable news. His reign won't be for long. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC is gaining momentum. Many folks who long await for a Hillary Clinton indictment won't see it. So some are tuning his show out.

Jay Inslee will be considering a bid for the White House. More on that later. The Washington state governor has formally announce his intention to run. He will run on the climate change and social justice platform.

Little known member of Congress, Rep. John Delany (D-MD) has announced back in July that he will take on Trump. He is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of moderate and pro-growth (corporate) Democrats.

Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) is the first openly gay member of Congress. She is a retired mixed martial artist who tried out for The Ultimate Fighter. She is the first Native American woman (of Ho-Chunk) who succeed in beating a far-right former lawmaker Kevin Yoder. The other Native American woman to hold position is Deb Haaland.

Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) is joining the ranks of Congress as the first Native American from her state to win. She took the spot of Michelle Lujan Grisham, the new governor of New Mexico. She was the former chairwoman of the New Mexico Democratic Party. She is part of the Laguna Pueblo tribal union and has degree in Indian law and social activism.

Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM) is the first Mexican American and woman to hold the position of House member. Her district once represented by Steve Pearce was a big victory. Pearce went on to run for governor of New Mexico and lost. The person who wanted to replace him was ill-prepared for the ass whooping. Yvette Herrell was a relatively unknown ran on the Pelosi-Clitnon clone nonsense. Instead of talking about issues, Herrell went to Fox News and Softball Hannity to whine about how Torres Small was this big government liberal who wanted to make New Mexico a communist state.

Dave Brat was beaten by a Democrat. Brat beat then Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014 in an upset primary. Brat who was part of the Freedom Caucus went to Softball Hannity begging his constituents to reject his opponent Abigail Spanberger. He called her a Hillary Clinton-Nancy Pelosi clone and couldn't stay focused on issues. Spanberger, a former CIA operations officer and retired law enforcement agent had made the issue about the Affordable Care Act. She was proud that the Congress passed the ACA (Obamacare). She told constituents that if the Republicans repealed the law, they would hurt Virginians. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) broke the Republican Party's 36 year hold on the district. Brat vows a rematch in the 2020 election.

Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-NY) is one to watch. Delgado was facing an onslaught of racial attacks from his opponent John Faso, a first term Republican, Faso was trying to label Delgado as a "big city rapper" who wants to be a Nancy Pelosi-Chuck Schumer clone. When he was younger, Delgado was a rapper known as AD The Voice. He rapped about socially conscious issues like Common. Delgado told constituents that Faso wanted to repeal the ACA and destroy the safety net. The New York Post and Fox News ran on the fact that Delgado was a rapper and not an attorney. They tried to race-bait throughout the election. Delgado won handily.

Now there are other members of Congress who made an impact. I cannot go through all the names but I want you to know that they will be either memorable or a distant memory.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) is a former U.S. Navy Seal who became famous after SNL comedian Pete Davidson mocked him during sketch of Weekend Update. Crenshaw went to Fox News to denounce the skit. Davidson who later apologized invited him on to roast him. Crenshaw has maintained a friendship with Davidson since. Davidson gotten calls from Crenshaw, former girlfriend Ariana Grande, rapper Machine Gun Kelly and others when he posted a cyptic message about suicide.

Rep. TJ Cox (D-CA) won his congressional seat in a surprise upset of longtime member David Vlaadao. Cox is of Asian-American decent. His father is Chinese and mother is Filipino. He represents the Fresno area and will be serving with embattled lawmaker Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) is a former NFL star who played for the Indianapolis Colts. He won his congressional race. The former was Jim Renacci, a lawmaker who was trounced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in the Midterms.

Hey, if I missed something. Let me know. Anyway, good luck to the new members of Congress. They're gonna need it. Donald J. Trump, Mike Pence and the voices of the right will undermine the Democrats. They will play every card from the bottom of the deck.

Please take note, that Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) is the first to launch the Articles of Impeachment against Trump.

Lets get the government open and get America on the right path.

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