Thoughts for the Day, December 23, 2024: Gaetz goes down in flames, rightfully so, and his own party made it happen.

Matt Gaetz crashes and burns

It is safe to say that the Republicans in the House are making sure they never have to deal with Matt Gaetz again. Gaetz is crashing faster and harder than Rudy Giuliani.

This is all over the news media, I have taken excerpts from The Guardian. A House ethics committee report on Matt Gaetz, the former Florida Republican congressman, found “substantial evidence” that he engaged in sex trafficking and paid for sex with a minor, among other serious violations of state law and congressional rules.

The investigation concludes that Gaetz…made payments totaling tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex and drugs across at least 20 separate occasions. The report also states that in 2017 Gaetz paid a 17-year-old girl for sex when he was 35 years old, which would constitute statutory rape under Florida law.

“The committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the Republican-led panel wrote in the investigation.

According to the report, Gaetz used payment apps including Venmo and PayPal to transfer money directly to more than a dozen women during his time in Congress.

The committee determined that Gaetz regularly used illegal drugs including cocaine and ecstasy between 2017-2020 and appears to have set up a pseudonymous email account from his House office to purchase marijuana, violating both state laws and House ethics rules.

The committee believes that Gaetz “knowingly and willfully” attempted to obstruct the investigation, including failing to comply with subpoenas, withholding evidence, providing misleading responses, and making false public statements about “voluminous documentary evidence” that he never actually produced.

Investigators also highlighted a 2018 trip to the Bahamas where Gaetz allegedly “engaged in sexual activity” with multiple women. One woman told the committee that the trip itself served as “payment” for sexual services. The same witness reported that Gaetz took ecstasy during the Bahamas visit, which investigators determined violated House gift rules.

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Gaetz’s response is classic.

“The Biden/Garland DOJ spent years reviewing allegations that I committed various crimes…I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me…“It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life.”

But in a pointed jab at the House’s current ructions over a continuing resolution (CR) bill on public spending aimed at keeping the government open, he concluded: “At least I didn’t vote for CR’s that f**k over the country!”

The above gets my Second Quote of the Day

Note, there was no apology to congress and his constituents.

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Ricky Henderson

Ricky Henderson passed away on Friday at age 65. Henderson was elected in the first year of his eligibility to the baseball Hall of Fame.

Over the weekend there were so many wonderful things said and written about his 25-year major league career. People talked about his 25-year career, his demolishment of the MLB stolen base records for career and season, his most career homeruns for a leadoff hitter, his most runs scored in a career, and his leading MLB in steals when he was age 38. Most of the articles said he was as good of person as he was player. All the comments were well deserved. However, the comment that resonated most with me was this comment made on Facebook.

“You could take Henderson’s 25-year career and divide it in half, and both halves would be first ballot Hall of Fame.” This is my Quote of the Day

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How to turn chicken soup into chicken s**t

From Chad Livengood, Opinion writer for the Detroit News; The Michigan House's epic lame duck session meltdown was years in the making, a culmination of Lansing's growing dysfunction with a culture that rewards festering indifference, the unchecked power of legislative leaders and the disintegration of orderly policymaking.

The thing is, it didn't have to go down like this.

Any number of these bills could have been passed at any time in the past two years when Democrats had complete control of the House, Senate and governor's office.

The House took no votes at all over a 19-week period from late June to early November. Their unmistakable focus was campaigning instead of legislating, and this contributed to the acrimony toward Tate within the House Democratic caucus that spilled out in public in recent weeks.

Instead of spacing out big policy issues over the past year, the Democratic-controlled Legislature....tried to jam dozens of bills into a three-week session between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The result was what state Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, astutely described as "an absolute train wreck."

“There was plenty of time this year where we could have workshopped bills through committee, had session days to vote them out, send them over the Senate, vice versa,” Coffia said.

On Jan. 1, divided government returns to Lansing as Republicans retake the House with a 58-52 majority and Hall becomes speaker. Republicans aren't going to be banning ghost guns or creating a subsidy among southeast Michigan communities and elsewhere to the benefit of poorer urban areas. They also aren't likely to subject themselves to the Freedom of Information Act.

I couldn’t have said it better. The Democrat controlled legislature, and the governor missed a great opportunity to govern and make a difference. Instead, they turned chicken soup into chicken shit and lemonade into lemons. FUBAR

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Three National championships in four years for the Ferris State Bulldogs

Per the Detroit News, Trinidad Chambliss threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more scores as No. 2 Ferris State steamrolled No. 1 Valdosta State, 49-14, to win its third Division II national championship in the last four years on Saturday at McKinney ISD Stadium in suburban Dallas.

Ferris State won national championships in 2021 and 2022, before being eliminated in its playoff opener in 2023. The Bulldogs (14-1) finished this season with 14 consecutive wins, after a season-opening loss to Pittsburg State.

"You're gonna have heartbreak in your career and you're gonna have elation in your career," Ferris State head coach Tony Annese said. "I just feel fortunate to have this kind of elation and see the elation on my guys' faces.”

Th Bulldogs get my Orchid of the Day

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More Sports

The first 12-team college football playoff kicked off on Friday. The home field advantage proved to be true as none of the games were in doubt by halftime. This weekend will prove to be much different as the games are played on a neutral site in warm weather.

The Lions took care of business early against the Bears, racing to a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter. During the game the Lions pulled off one of the best “trick plays” in a long time, which resulted in a 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam Laporta who was wide open in the endzone. On the play, QB Jared Goff faked stumbling and fumbling the ball after taking the snap. Running back Jamyr Gibbs dove for the ground like it was fumble, while the offensive line yelled “fumble”. The Bears bit just long enough for Goff to calmly stand up and complete a pass to the wide open Laporta. See my Video of the Day.

The PNC Championship which pairs professional players with one of their sons or daughters was played this weekend. It is a fun event to watch as the kids are usually very talented, as Tiger Woods’ and Padraig Harrington’s sons both proved on Sunday. Charlie Woods (15) and Paddy Harrington (21) both recorded their first holes-in-one during yesterday’s final round. Since Paddy is 21, it may have cost him a little money, as golf etiquette requires the person getting the hole-in-one to buy drinks for everyone in the locker room following the round. I am confident both dads happily covered the cost of their celebratory rounds of drinks. See my second and third Videos of the Day

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Due to travel and family commitments, this will be my last blog of the year. I will start back up on January 2. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Stay safe and enjoy the holidays.

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Quote of the Day: See above about Ricky Henderson.

Second Quote of the Day: See above from Matt Gaetz

Orchid of the Day: The Ferris State Bulldogs for their 3^rd national championship in four years.

Onion of the Day: The U.S. Navy for accidently shooting down of one of their own fighter planes in the Red Sea on Sunday. Fortunately, the two pilots ejected and were rescued with one having minor injuries.

Question of the Day: The release of the Gaetz report makes one wonder, why did the FBI choose not to file criminal charges against Gaetz?

Video of the Day: Jared Goff pretends to fall down, and then throws a Touchdown | Detroit Lions Vs Chicago Bears

Second Video of the Day: Charlie Woods’ hole-in-one

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/43110745

Third Video of the Day: Paddy Harrington’s hole-in-one

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/43111361

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