The GOP Finally Has Something to Run on: Gazpacho Police and Crack Pipes
Republican Congress member Marjorie Taylor Greene took to the One America News to denounce “Nancy Pelosi's Gazpacho Police” for supposedly spying on members of Congress The consensus on Capitol Hill is that the Congresswoman from Georgia meant to say Gestapo as in Nazi police as opposed to the chilled Spanish tomato soup.
Greene has time for this sort of nonsense because a bipartisan group of her colleagues saw fit to deny her any committee assignments in response to statements suggesting violence and assorted other nonsense. Twitter banned her from the platform in January, 2022. If you’ve followed her antics in the media, you know she's a trash-talking windbag who is willing to repeat any conspiracy at the drop of a hat.
She was apparently triggered by allegations made on Twitter by Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), who claimed police had “illegally” entered his office in November and took pictures. He also said “intelligence agents” dressed as construction workers returned days later and questioned an aide.
From the Washington Post:
Nehls accused Capitol Police leadership after one of the officers entered his office in the Longworth House Office Building with no prior notice Nov. 20, 2021, ahead of the Thanksgiving break, and took pictures of a whiteboard. The officer filed a report raising concerns about the contents of the whiteboard, which included mentions of “body armor” and a poorly drawn map of the Rayburn House Office Building — which is also part of the Capitol complex — that had an X at one of the building’s entrances.
[U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas] dismissed Nehls’s suggestion that the officer who entered the Longworth building office was acting on behalf of an intelligence-gathering operation. The officer walked into Nehls’s office, Manger said, because the door had been left open, and it is protocol for Capitol Police officers to check whenever an office is left unattended.
“If a Member’s office is left open and unsecured, without anyone inside the office, USCP officers are directed to document that and secure the office to ensure nobody can wander in and steal or do anything else nefarious,” Manger said. “The weekend before Thanksgiving, one of our vigilant officers spotted the congressman’s door was wide open.”
Manger said that the Monday after the agent stepped into Nehls’s office, Capitol Police personnel followed up with the lawmaker’s staff about the issue and determined no further action or investigation was needed.
Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican from Florida who’s just plain weird, is upset because he believed a Free Beacon story (amplified by Fox) claiming the Biden administration was doling out $30 million for crack pipes.
Funding for the "harm reduction" grant program is provided through Democrats' American Rescue Plan, which the Senate passed along party lines after Vice President Kamala Harris cast a tie-breaking vote. Other equipment that qualifies for funding include syringes, vaccinations, disease screenings, condoms, and fentanyl strips. The grant program will last three years and includes 25 awards of up to $400,000.
An HHS spokesman declined to specify what is included in the smoking kits. Similar distribution efforts provide mouthpieces to prevent glass cuts, rubber bands to prevent burns, and filters to minimize the risk of disease.
It is against federal law to distribute or sell drug paraphernalia unless authorized by the government.
President Biden's son Hunter is a longtime user of crack cocaine.
What was really at issue here was the administration's attempt to fund “harm reduction” efforts to prevent disease, injury and other collateral trauma to people addicted to illicit drugs.
Since such efforts are considered controversial in circles where prison time is seen as the best solution for drug addiction. Every time the phrase gets used, critics go to the media to complain about conjured up consequences, even though such programs in other countries have proven to have a real public health value.
Psst. Don’t tell anybody, but both the Count and City of San Diego have a needle exchange program as part of a strategy to reduce health risks for intravenous drug users.
So that’s what passes for news on the right during a week where (some classified) documents purloined from the White House were recovered by National Archives, the fourth season of the Marvelous Ms Maisel starts on the 18th, and Chloe Kim claimed her second gold medal, becoming the first woman to ever win multiple gold medals in the women's event since it became an Olympic sport in 1998.
But wait! There’s more bottom dwelling!
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