President Chuck Grassley? Here's How It Could Happen - The Friday AM Quickie 1/3/25
I'll leave it for Jacob, who returns Monday, to determine whether this is really Elon Musk posting pseudonymously to a notoriously toxic message board in order to brag to "extremely far-right, disaffected, angry males" about how much he gets laid. It would certainly be in character! - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
Let Them Fight: House Speaker Vote Threatens Trump's Inauguration
The House will meet to vote at noon today on whether to retain Budding Theocrat Mike Johnson as Speaker. Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy has already come out opposed to Johnson's candidacy, meaning Johnson can only afford to lose one more GOP vote if he hopes to maintain his position without a fuss. Johnson has Donald Trump's support, but Roy and at least a few other Republicans are holding out for concessions, including leadership appointments and guarantees on spending (or, more accurately, budget cuts).
Without a Speaker, the House can't do business – including certifying Trump's election as president on Jan. 6. Politico lays out the likely scenarios with today's vote, assuming it doesn't go Johnson's way. The House could elect a temporary "caretaker" speaker to oversee the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress – but this would essentially require Johnson to agree to give up power. "The most extreme, maximally chaotic outcome of this battle is a protracted speakership fight without a caretaker, one that stretches so deep into January it threatens the inauguration," Politico reports.
"It would be a power struggle with no precedent to guide the results. The letter of the Constitution says Biden's term ends on Jan. 20 at noon, and if there's no successor certified to take office, the job would fall to the first person in the presidential order of succession. Without a speaker, this would be the Senate President pro tempore, expected to be 91-year-old Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the most senior Republican member of the Senate.
President Grassley? Sure, why not. It would certainly give Trump something to rant about at his indoor MAGA rally in Washington, DC on Jan. 19. On the other hand, maybe we don't need to see what kind of damage another riled-up crowd of Trump fanatics can do.
Meanwhile at the White House, President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people, pointedly including GOP Rep. Liz Cheney and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the co-chairs of the committee that investigated into Trump's Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. And the FBI released new surveillance images of the person who placed pipe bombs around DC the night before the insurrection, along with a $500,000 reward for information leading to the elusive suspect's arrest. The feds hope to "jog someone's memory," and note that "allegiances and relationships" may have changed after four years. True enough. In MAGAworld they seem to change every four hours.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Yoon's Bodyguards Repel South Korean Police
South Korean corruption investigators failed to execute an arrest warrant against impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol yesterday following an hourslong standoff at his residence with his far-right supporters and members of the Presidential Security Service. One of Yoon's supporters, 71-year-old Pyeong In-su, told Reuters "that the police had to be stopped by 'patriotic citizens,' a term Yoon used to describe those standing guard near his residence.
"Holding a flag of the United States and South Korea with the words "Let's go together" in English and Korean, Pyeong said he hoped incoming US President Donald Trump would come to Yoon's aid.
Per BBC News, some Yoon supporters have also embraced Trump's "Stop the Steal" slogan. Yoon has been stripped of his powers since his six-hour declaration of martial law last month, but still has the support of his party. The country's acting conservative leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, declined to respond to the opposition Democratic Party's call that he to order the presidential security service to stand down, lest more public officials be dragged "into the depths of crime." The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions has announced that it will lead an anti-Yoon march to his residence today, to be followed by an overnight vigil.
FBI Now Thinks New Orleans Attacker Acted Alone
Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division, told reporters yesterday that the man who drove a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the wee hours of New Year's Day, killing 14 and injuring 30, had no accomplices, contrary to initial speculation by the police. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the former US Army staff sergeant killed by police during the attack, also had "no definitive link" to the man who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas hours later, now identified as active duty Army Green Beret Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado Springs. Both veterans rented the trucks they used in their attacks from the same app, Turo. But, as with their Army service, this appears to have been a coincidence. "Defense officials compared the service records of Jabbar and Livelsberger 'side by side' and found no connection between the two, a military official" tells the Washington Post. "Whatever the motive, I think we first need to look at his mental health," Fran Racioppi, a former Green Beret who served in the same group as Livelsberger, tells the New York Times.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down FCC Net Neutrality Rules "Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel says. "With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law." via the New York Times and the Verge.
- Biden Will Block Japanese Buyout of US Steel In its review of the proposed deal, the Committee on Foreign Investment warned that foreign owners "could reduce domestic steel output and pose 'risks to the national security of the United States'"; the United Steelworkers leadership also opposed the deal. via the Washington Post.
- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Dodges Justice Department Ethics Referral The US Judicial Conference, a policymaking body for the federal court system led by Chief Justice John Roberts, declined to act on a request by Senate Democrats to refer Thomas's undisclosed junkets to DOJ for review. via the Associated Press and NBC News.
- Captive Audience Meetings Are Now Illegal in California "This isn't a free speech issue. An employer can still talk crap about unions — they can talk about politics and about religion. They just can't retaliate against workers who don't want to sit through their opinions," California Labor Federation chief Lorena Gonzalez says of a lawsuit filed by business lobbyists to undo Senate Bill 399, which went into effect Jan. 1. via the Los Angeles Times.
SOME NUMBER
$20
That's how much Apple owes to millions of individual customers under the terms of a $95 million settlement over allegations that the company secretly activated the Siri virtual assistant on people's iPhones to eavesdrop on their conversations in order to gather data for advertisers. As the Associated Press reports, "Apple isn't acknowledging any wrongdoing in the settlement."
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Biz Bro PANICS When His Scam Is Exposed
Pity the millionaire.
Dem Leader Backs Wikler for DNC Chair
Dude, your life is the smear campaign.
PARTING WORDS
"If there really is a shortage of skilled tech workers in America, why did Tesla lay off over 7,500 American workers this year – including many software developers and engineers at its factory in Austin, Texas – while being approved to employ thousands of H-1B guest workers?"
-- Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, weighing in on the Republican intra-party fight over H-1B visas, supported by the oligarch Elon Musk and opposed by older MAGA allies.
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