kanesrealm

Paul Ryan has been elected Speaker of the House by his fellow Republicans, at least enough of them. The public vote will occur on the floor tomorrow. Enjoy the evening Paul, sit in the Speakers chair, spin around and soak in the glory cause after tomorrow your nightmare begins. John Boehner did Ryan a big favor by cutting a budget deal, including raising the debt limit into 2017. Ryan's response was to say it stank but then he said it's okay. After winning the grand poobah seat he gave Boehner a backhanded compliment for his service but then made it clear there's a new sheriff in town and things are gonna change. If you aren't really familiar with Paul Ryan here's your best insight. He is a disciple of Ayn Rand. He began playing that down when he ran for Vice-President in 2012, particularly when he was hit with questions revealing that he is as ignorant of the true Ayn Rand as everyone else who embraces her political philosophies. But there is a long on the recor...

Last Friday John Boehner came to the podium singing Zippety Dooda and announced his resignation as Speaker of the House. He's sang this to the press before but this time there was an abundance of joy in his voice. He will vacate the Speakerhip and his Congressional seat on October 30 and who could blame him. Boehner has been in the U.S. House of Representatives for twenty-five years, five as Speaker. Climbing to that ultimate position of power is what many members hope to achieve but for Boehner it has certainly not been a time of joy. He has had about 30 members of his caucus who have no interest in governing the country they simply wish to be obstructionists. They arrived in 2010 as Tea Party newbies that helped deliver the House back to Republican control. They now call themselves the Freedom Caucus. Their my way or the highway attitude has disrupted the nation's business and presented John Boehner with a massive headache. Boehner is a conservative but also someone that un...

Hillary Clinton and her private e-mail server, story or no story? The Clintons have many political enemies. The first reason for this is the simple equation of opponents for the same office. The second reason is the Clintons are tough and resilient, the harder you charge at them the stronger they become. They are in short, survivors. Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server violated no laws, department regulations or best practices. The e-mails currently being released were from the original 50,000 pages already provided to the State Department. The ones flagged for review for "classified" information are based on deciding if they should now be marked classified, they weren't classified while Clinton was Secretary of State. This is what the normal process would be before allowing public access. There is also the normal inter-departmental bickering over what should and shouldn't be classified, a detail we would otherwise be oblivious to except this is abo...

The wonderful yet tragic aspect of politics is that logic need never interfere. President Obama announced today that U.S. citizens who consider paying ransom demands of terrorists will no longer face the possibility of criminal prosecution. Seems reasonable, even makes one think there should never have been such a possibility to begin with. Some politicians, including Speaker of the House John Boehner, aren't so sure it's a good idea. They think it might encourage terrorists to take more Americans. Really? Terrorists need an incentive to harm Americans? Kidnapping is on that list of crimes that has been around as long as man first linked thoughts and wanted what someone else has or can agree to. Sometimes it's for money, the phrase a king's ransom is not simply the clever droppings of a wordsmith. Sometimes it's about the acquiescence of power and sometimes it's just to horrify. The F.B.I. deal with kidnapping on a regular basis. Americans have faced this cri...

Speaker John Boehner is fond of accusing President Obama of violating the Constitution on a variety of actions including his Executive Orders. Mr. Speaker you have broken not only acceptable protocols, but you are in violation of Article 2 section 3 of the U.S. Constitution by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress without prior consultation with the Executive Branch.                                                                                     Netanyahu is no babe in the woods and knows exactly what U.S. protocols ca...