Two steps forward and four steps backyard sums up Jim Jordan’s progress today in his attempt to become the speaker of the house. In round two today, Jordan had two less votes today than he did yesterday as 22 Republicans chose not to vote for him. Jordan ended up with 199 votes which is 18 shy of the 217 needed to become speaker. Let the clown show continue. Thirteen more rounds and he ties McCarthy.
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One of the persons getting a vote for speaker was former U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, who served seven terms in Congress and is now Macomb County’s public works commissioner. Michigan Republican John James voted for Miller which was a surprise to Miller, who said Wednesday she was in a meeting when her phone “blew up” with texts about James’ vote. Miller has no interest in the position. Miller’s response when told about getting a vote gets my Quote of the Day.
“All of these strong-arm tactics and the bullying that’s been going on for Jim Jordan did not sit well with a lot of different people. I’m not speaking for John. He can speak for himself,”
“I think right now, whoever they decide as speaker, you have to be strong on national defense — not somebody that votes against every single national defense reauthorization every time. You have to be fiscally conservative, but you need to keep the government open. I mean, the world’s on fire, for goodness sake.”
Miller has always been a straight shooter.
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“The U.S. government assesses that Israel was not responsible for an explosion that killed hundreds of civilians yesterday at the Al Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council. “Our assessment is based on available reporting, including intelligence, missile activity and open-source video and images of the incident.”
I think I am becoming a cynic. When I first read reports that preliminary data analyzed by the U.S. indicates the hospital bombing in Gaza was a result of a malfunction of a Hamas rocket and the bombing was not the fault of Israel I had my doubts. My first thought was, what else are we going to say when President Biden is in Israel showing his support while he tries to de-escalate the current fighting?”
If after a complete analysis the U.S continues to support that the bombing was a result of Hamas, my doubts will be diminished. Regardless, no matter what the U.S. says, the Arab community is going to blame Israel.
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My favorite attorney general is at it again. Per the Detroit News reporter Charlie LeDuff, Attorney General Dana Nessel promised not to intervene in an investigation of a friend, but documents show she did breach the firewall created to prevent conflicts.
The friend, Traci Kornak, is a personal injury lawyer and treasurer of the Michigan Democratic Party. Kornak was accused last year by the director of a west Michigan nursing home of using the account of her elderly, brain-damaged client to fraudulently bill an insurance company for nearly $50,000. Kornak worked on Nessel’s transition team in 2018 when Nessel was elected attorney general.
After the nursing home director’s accusations appeared in a Detroit News column last July, an investigation into Kornak was opened by the Attorney General’s Office.
Scott Teter, the director of the AG’s Financial Crimes Division, was so concerned about the obvious conflict of interest he drafted a memo last September informing staff that he was constructing an ethical firewall to distance Nessel from the investigation. “Because the suspect in this matter assisted with Attorney General Nessel’s transition into office, I believe it would create the appearance of impropriety for AG Nessel to access information about this investigation,” wrote Teter. “I am asking for a conflict wall to be established preventing Attorney General Nessel from being provided or accessing any information related to this investigation.”
The ethical wall was constructed. But Nessel barreled through it anyway, according to her own emails obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request.
She cannot help herself. Once again, she gets my Onion of the Day.
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Today and tomorrow will determine whether the two MLB championship series will be competitive or a foregone conclusion. Houston in the American League and Arizona in the National League are both down 0-2. Houston needs to win tonight, and Arizona needs to win on Thursday. Otherwise, they are down 0-3 and only two teams have ever been able to win a series after being down 0-3.
It is looking like we are going to have two wildcard teams in the World Series, with Texas representing the American League and Philadelphia in the National League.
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Quote of the Day: See above from Candace Miller
Orchid of the Day: Florine Mark of the Weight Watcher Group, who passed away last week at age 90. She changed people’s lives for the better.
Onion of the Day: AG Dana Nessel, she just can’t help herself. See the above story.
Question of the Day: Will Jim Jordan be the next Speaker of the House?
Video/Image of the Day: As promised, Lion’s announcer Dan Miller for the Call of the Game. I have a hard time believing there is a better radio football announcer than Dan Miller. Win or lose, I look forward to this clip every week.