[Athos]

Without a single hearing or debate and behind closed doors, the Republicans gutted the INDEPENDENT Office of Congressional Ethics by placing it under the jurisdiction of Congress removing its INDEPENDENCE from that body.

The office will now REPORT TO Congress - the very group it was intended to OVERSEE!!

Now the REPUBLICANS will determine WHO WILL or WHO WILL NOT be investigated for ethics violations. Convenient, huh? So much for "drain the swamp".

This is akin to the criminals being in charge of the police department.

HEIL !!

[smoothy]

Oh gee... And yet you were fine with Obama ruling by decree with executive orders... and the fact Obamacare was passed behind closed doors without a single Republican present...

Mr Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.

Democrats thought it was fine when THEY had a majority... now they get their panties in a knot now that the pendulum has swung back the other way.

And don't even get me started about Democrats violating FEDERAL law with "Sanctuary Cities" and pretending they are making POT legal when its Illegal under FEDERAL law that supersedes state law. And that's just the tip of the Iceberg of the law violations the Democrats do frequently.

[excon]

Hello smoothy:

Yeah, them dems cheated, so WE can cheat too.. STUFF it America!!

excon

[smoothy]

This isn't cheating.. its completely on board according to the rules. And well we know the Dems haven't done ANY self policing themselves.

Whats that old saying...be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. Dems set the bar very low...if its acceptable for themselves..they can't complain when the Republicans do it.

Now if they lowered that bar even lower than it ever was before....then I might be with you on that.

[Athos]

PUBLIC OUTRAGE has stopped the Republicans in their tracks. They have REVERSED the attempt to gut the INDEPENDENT Office of Congressional Ethics.

Let us hope this is only the FIRST of MANY such reversals.

[talaniman]

Its being reported that King Donald's Tweet got the plan scrapped.

Donald Trump slams House Republicans on Twitter for gutting ethics committee

[Wondergirl]

Its being reported that King Donald's Tweet got the plan scrapped.

Donald Trump slams House Republicans on Twitter for gutting ethics committee

I almost liked Trump for a second until I read his reasoning.

From The Hill:

Even before Trump weighed in, a barrage of negative headlines and public outcry made it difficult for Republicans to stand by the measure, especially given that the Republican president-elect had campaigned on a promise to "drain the swamp" of Washington, D.C., of corruption.

"We shot ourselves in the foot," Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) told reporters after the conference meeting.

[tomder55]

The swamp in DC that needs draining is a bipartisan swamp. The Republicans should devote much of their time reigning in the out of control executive branch and taking back their constitutional share of the government .

BTW ,that " independent " ethics board (OCE)is a toothless kangaroo court . It is mostly used strategically by lawmakers to create charges against opponents that can be used in 30 second ads against them ....even if the House ethics committee failed to act on the OCE recommendations .In fact ;the OCE's recommendations have been rejected by the House Committee 97% of the time. In it's 9 year history they've only managed to censure Charles Rangel ,and reprimand Laura Richardson .They have sent 60 referrals to the House Committee . In other words ,the independent committee has no power . The House Ethics Committee is the governing body if there is one at all.

[joypulv]

Toothless kangaroo court indeed. As a former counsel says "The OCE board has issued overly broad and intrusive requests for information, taken overly expansive positions on the scope and meaning of House standards of conduct, and overlaid a duplicative series of investigative steps on what was already a drawn-out and byzantine ethics disciplinary process." He agrees that nothing should have been done in secret, but that changes are needed.

[excon]

Hello again:

Look.. Republicans aren't used to governing.. It takes a little gettin used to... Even if the bill IS worthy, going after the ethics committee on your FIRST day, LOOKS like you're planning to CHEAT and you wanna get rid of the cop...

I don't understand HOW the Republicans DIDN'T understand that... Call this a WIN for the dems.

excon

[Wondergirl]

going after the ethics committee on your FIRST day, LOOKS like you're planning to CHEAT and you wanna get rid of the cop...

Ssssssshhhhhhhh! That was supposed to be a secret!

[talaniman]

At least 50 Donald Trump electors were illegally seated as Electoral College members: report - Salon.com

Just sayin'

[tomder55]

tal move on.

I guess if that report is true then Congress won't certify the results tomorrow. bwaaaahaaaahaaa . Look on the bright side ;you'll be able to claim another " Republican " President was illigitimate .....selected not elected ... yada yada yada .

[talaniman]

I have moved on Tom, matter of fact I'm still taking bets on how long until The Donald:

Starts a war

Sends us to bankruptcy

Gets us SUED.

Of course it depends on the REPUBS!

PLACE YOUR BETS!!

[smoothy]

Obama is the one doing everything possible to start a war with Russia before he leaves... since none of the stuff he has been accusing Russia of have been proven. Including expelling diplomats for no reason. At least Putin is a MUCH smarter man than Obama is... but then, at least half of the AMerican Population is much smarter than Obama is. After all, zero proof he even did better than just barely getting passing grades, because he was too ashamed to make them public. And the ONLY reason he even got into the schools he did was 100% affirmative action... and his skin color. Not on merit.

I'm within just a few months of his age, and I know the crap I went through as a poor white person while anyone dark skinned got free education and never had to go through the normal screening process PARTICULARLY during that era. This isn't on Trump... this is ALL on Obama... all he has been doing since Trump won is act like a petulant child throwing a tantrum and breaking all the toys in the room so nobody else can use them, even if some of them were his own.

[excon]

Hello smoothy:'

Yeah, dat Obama... He's EBIL, and STOOPID, amirit??

excon

[smoothy]

Stupid? Not really... he did manage to not get kicked out of school and did manage to hoodwink enough people to vote for him... but that doesn't mean he has a clue about anything else.

He is the type who can't stand not being the smartest person in the room on everything so he surrounds himself with people that know less than himself. Bad choice from the beginning... the entire purpose of having advisors is have people that know more than you in their perspective fields... not to pat you on the back and stroke your ego.

[Wondergirl]

Stupid? Not really... he did manage to not get kicked out of school and did manage to hoodwink enough people to vote for him... but that doesn't mean he has a clue about anything else.

He is the type who can't stand not being the smartest person in the room on everything so he surrounds himself with people that know less than himself. Bad choice from the beginning... the entire purpose of having advisors is have people that know more than you in their perspective fields... not to pat you on the back and stroke your ego.

Hmmmm, that sounds exactly like....

[smoothy]

Hmmmm, that sounds exactly like....

Bill and Hillary Clinton?

[Wondergirl]

Bill and Hillary Clinton?

Nooooooo. Keep guessing. I'm sure you've heard or read his name somewhere. (Yes, it's a he.)