By Colleen O’Connor
On Friday, the United Kingdom’s retail industry warned the British government that the country only had “10 days to save Christmas.”
Seriously.
Ten days in which to find nearly 100,000 Lorry drivers to transport the needed pre-ordered holiday goods to market. So desperate is the government to save Christmas that it has fast-tracked emergency authorized visas for lorry drivers. They have even begun hiring women for the task.
Gas stations around London have already run short on fuel and long on lines. Food shortages are another new worry. COVID-19 and Brexit exacerbated an already existing bottleneck.
Cut to the United States where the debate over:
- a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill;
- a reduced $2.5 trillion social safety net and climate change reconciliation package;
- plus, another vote to lift the government debt ceiling;
- codify federal voting rights to counter recent voter suppression bills in the old Confederacy;
are all due for votes in just four days.
Four days to save democracy and the planet.
There are only four days in which to solve problems as old as the Constitution, and avoid the biggest crisis facing American democracy since the Civil War, WWII, and the Depression combined.
Who cares about the 90 cargo ships stranded off the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles yesterday (due to global supply chain clogs and a lack of truckers and workers). More trucks, more trains, more workers, more warehouses all needed to move the cargo.
Or the school yard antics of the GOP Senate and the two Democrats “Attention Deficit Disorder Senators” (Sinema and Machin) to block progress.
On Monday, according to The Hill, just three days ahead of those “transformative” roll call votes, the legislative gears were beginning to turn, but not for the reasons given; i.e., lots of meetings, conference calls, and deal-making.
On Tuesday (today) the real reasons for the excitement in Speaker, Nancy Pelosi’s eyes, and lilt in her voice, surfaced.
Over the weekend, she who makes impossible things happened, provided a positive hint: a possible delay until Thursday (day 4—the last day to save democracy and the planet). Pelosi just needs a little more time.
“You cannot choose the date. You have to go when you have the votes in a reasonable time, and we will.”
“We can wait a few days,” she smoothly intoned.
Her first commandment: “You have to have the people on your side,” has already been accomplished. Every poll on this week’s looming votes remain “bigly” popular.
But, Pelosi’s lighter step and more confident posture are due, not just to her maestro-like legislative skills, nor her advanced knowledge of how the Senate Parliamentarian will rule on allowances in the reconciliation bill.
Pelosi knows what is coming and her timing is impeccable. She didn’t serve on the House Intelligence and Appropriations Committees for nothing.
She knew the now failed Arizona “audit,” that took months and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to confirm President Biden’s win, would tank; and of the evidence seeping out of the January 6th Congressional investigation into the coordinated “plans” of high-ranking Republican co-conspirators in that attempted coup.
No, Pelosi’s real advantage is the contents in the yet to be released book by Trump’s former White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham.
That is leaking out just today. Tuesday. A volcanic eruption of disgusting behavior by the ex-president, Donald Trump that threatens to befoul his GOP enablers.
In her book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now, Grisham alleges that Donald Trump became obsessed with a young, female press aide, according to the Washington Post.
“The president constantly asked where the aide was during press events, Grisham wrote, and allegedly once requested that she be brought to his cabin on Air Force One so he could ‘look at her ass.’”
“Trump behaved inappropriately with Grisham, too, she wrote — once calling her from Air Force One to assure her that his penis was not small or toadstool-shaped, as the porn star Stormy Daniels had alleged in an interview.”
More to come. Every day this week is a bonus day for Pelosi and a nightmare for the GOP.
Trump’s legacy will rain down on the GOP like corrosive volcanic ash.
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And now “pre-conference” move by Pelosi on reconciliation.
And more subpoenas for Trump & Co. from Jan. 6th House investigation.
Lots more document dumps, too.
Coming to a theater near you this week!
From watching the news, one thing about the UK fuel shortage is it’s been creating some rather colorful brawls (tho a bit bloody) between citizens.
Two points to ponder: First, why would the UK suddenly have a breakthrough concept to wit “They have even begun hiring women for the task” regarding women in the truck driving industry? Are they really that misogynistic over there across the pond that they are just waking up to the fact that around 10% of the drivers in the USA are women? Perhaps this is congruent with the increase of guest visas; were women previously excluded?
Second, if you are going to criticize a US Senator (who admittedly deserves it, as a champion of coal) you can a LEAST spell his name correctly.
Wait for it…..all still in play.
https://politicalwire.com/2021/10/03/pelosi-on-the-verge-of-cementing-her-legacy/