Gop Presidential Hopefuls Begin Circling Iowa

“President-elect Donald Trump’s last-minute demands for a congressional funding package were rejected by dozens of Republicans this week, foreshadowing the legislative challenges he could face next year — even with unified GOP control,” the Washington Post reports. “Trump’s role in sinking a bipartisan deal to fund the government — and his public insistence that any spending bill lift the debt ceiling — led to a failed vote on the House floor Thursday evening.

After the week of drama around a short term spending bill, Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) said: “I am now undecided on what House leadership should look like in the 119th Congress.”

“President-elect Donald Trump, who derailed a bipartisan spending deal in Congress, tried on Friday to escape responsibility for the consequences, saying it would be better to let the government shut down under President Biden’s watch than to allow a politically damaging stalemate once he takes office next month,” the New York Times reports.

Stephen Moffat was excellent as a show-runner for the Dr. Who franchise and he returns to pen the latest Christmas Day special. IO9 Returning Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies might have pioneered modern Doctor Who holiday specials—Christmassy monsters, high spectacle, an occasional amount of Kylie Minogue—but it’s arguable that it was his successor, Steven Moffat, that really nailed the balancing act of what a good Doctor Who Christmas story should be. Have a Merry Holiday and a Happy Christmas - and open thread away. read more

Rep. Victoria Spartz said she is refusing to do her duty as a House Republican and instead wants to join forces with the fake group known as Doge. Instead of caucusing with Republicans she wants to play in the sandbox with Elon and Vivek. Edith Olmsted at TNR reports,"Representative Victoria Spartz’s move could threaten the Republicans’ House majority." The Indiana Republican went on CNN and began spewing gibberish to Pamela Brown on Tuesday. SPARTZ: And I mean, there are a lot of different frustrations. People have to decide. And we'll decide as a conference.

Sen. Ron Johnson was speaking at a Heritage Foundation event about one of his favorite subjects - junk science and quack medicine. RoJo was ranting about how everything involving COVID was corrupt and that Big Pharma was quashing reports that supported hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin in order to get quick approval for their evil vaccine that kept millions of people alive, when he said this doozy (emphasis mine): The fact that they sabotage early treatment, I mean, truthfully, I was working with Novartis.