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January 4, 2023
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Many readers said they did not want the newspaper publishing opinions in the for of editorials or columns. But without those thought-provoking articles, where do people consider another point of view? Where do they get the fact check?

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Fact checking to a MAGAt is worse than yelling motherf$#@*+ in church on Sunday.

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You mention Stec and Simpson and that brings to mind a question I have. What happens with local Republican pols now that the national Republican Party is undoubtedly, certifiably insane?

What we’re seeing with the bizarre attempt to seat a Speaker is only the start of what will be 2 years of pure dysfunction in the House. Senators McConnell and Brown are with President Biden today for a celebration of funding for a replacement bridge between Kentucky and Ohio. But, Senators Vance and Paul blew off being there. They’re the ideological soul brothers to the hostage takers of McCarthy. And McConnell is seen as a RINO by large portions of the Republican base.

So, does that reflect on local Republican pols?

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That pretty well sums it up. The Times' Confessore did his homework in the 21st District, too.

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Unfortunately, Once again, it hurts to agree with you but I have to, for the facts as I know them and I have been wrong in the past BUT for what I know & read and know of her, that is why it hurts to agree. Where is the Bipartisanships that used to exist in our Government where you voted your conscious & intelligence!!!

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It’s a question I have been answering for some time. Do we still believe that most people are somewhere in the middle with their politics or do we thing the vast middle has swung one way or another. Who is out there to represent the moderates?

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I’m just about certain she will be running for a sixth term. I remember thinking at the time that was an odd thing to promise.

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Well, well, for anyone who can read, they certainly can't say they weren't given plenty of advance warning and in depth information about "Lyin" Elise Satanic over the last years!!! She's wins the "best new actress" award in the never ending REP Shock Opera and Political Theater of the "118th Do Nothing Congress!!!" A student of Karl Rove and Paul Ryan (who disowns her now--as does Harvard), and a carpetbagging, coattailing, sycophant of Trump, (the biggest con man and grandstander of our times), she watched carefully and made her power moves quickly once she got the limelight in the first impeachment trial. One can only hope that as Trump's power fades, and REP party implodes during the next 2 years, her comeuppance will be delivered. What goes up must come down, simple law of gravity. The higher you fly, the farther you fall. And Karma is a b*tch!! What goes around comes around (although not necessarily on the time line we would like to see). At this point, I think the tide has turned and even some of the diehard MAGA Morons in upstate NY are getting sick of her nonsense. The House needs to get the peoples work done and investigating non factual, political dead horse issues is not what they were elected to do. That said, how in the world did a George Santos ever get elected? Where was the investigative media and the muck racking REPs who still want to find Hillary's 30,000 emails and Hunter Biden's laptop? Ugh. Happy New Year?

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Very well said Ken.

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Looking forward to hearing and seeing you in person at the AAUW event in January. This is such an important topic.

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I am looking forward to it as well. Connie was one of our best citizen members of the Editorial Board at The Post-Star.

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After speaking out for years against the sedition, lies and fraud that Elise Stefanik has based her career on, I'm actually thankful to see that it's brought us to the point of a non-functioning Congress. This is exactly what her entire congressional career has been worth - nothing. Yesterday we saw this seditious fraud release a litany of complaints again for issues that they will not solve if and when they ever decide to form a government. Their reliance on grievance is too strong, and they know already that issues like energy production and inflation are determined, caused and controlled by market factors in a capitalist economy. Now forced into a corner by a small opposition faction within their own caucus, they will turn to Democrats for help. The evil, radical socialist left. The demonized left. Hopefully we will continue to simply sit back and enjoy the demolition derby while unanimously backing our candidate.

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Ted Lieu, God bless him, literally brought popcorn. I’d like to see the Democrats give McCarthy a list of their demands in order for McCarthy to receive their vote. 😆

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“There are worse transgressions. She has not stolen money or taken bribes and at least her resume is accurate.”

This is only as true as we can see, and we have to look past a lot of dishonesty to even come to that conclusion.

About five years ago stiffy stopped posting her taxes, and those that were online were deleted. In a span of that time she went from being worth $200,000 to around $2 million.

Did she do something nefarious, like start investing in all the military contracts that she was voting for? Who knows, as the congress works -- if she did it probably should be illegal, but isn’t.

Or if ups gives her money and she responses with a product placement on her social media.. or she votes against bills that help the USPS. Sure it has the dna of criminal, but still not exactly illegal.

We know she sleeps with the gun lobby -- literally

***[In my mind these are examples of stealing money and accepting bribes.]****

Yesterday I watched the #kevinmccarthy vote, better known as the #HakeemJeffries election. It was interesting to see stefanik with mccarthy and gym jordan..

Two republicans who if you look into their history of deception, you would not be surprised to see stiffy, thick as thieves (not an intentional fat joke). Just as “ #surpriseNOTsurprised ” each time the camera as on eLIEs, she lacked all emotions.

She is the quiet neighbor that never invites you over, or has a good answer why you hear a circular saw running at midnight.

At this point we know the political persona of stefanik was not conceived, but contrived.

======

I would like to vote in the poll, but there isn't a choice of

" stefanik's evil has become more transparent "

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I clicked gotten more conservative on the poll, as did everyone. I actually feel as though I might be more conservative in many ways than Elise Stefanik is. Extremism is not conservatism. Those members holding McCarthy hostage are not conservatives.

I wanted to see Matt Castelli elected. Not surprisingly. I think the district would have been honored to have him as a rep. The second best outcome is having Stefanik go back for the humiliation she’s going to endure. We’re an hour away from, most likely, McCarthy’s feeble attempt at becoming Speaker. ES is part of that leadership and it certainly reflects on her as well. Anyone that thinks she might slink her way into is wrong. Both sides trust her less than they do McCarthy. She’s without a country. Neither the moderates nor the zealots trust her. Confessore pointed that out about the Trump people at the end of his piece.

I don’t see how the GOP finds its way from where it is back to normalcy. Pretty sure I can’t see ES as being part of that process. There’s a song Pete Seeger used to sing about Vietnam called “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.” That reminds me of where Republicans are.

"All we need is a little determination;

Men, follow me, I'll lead on."

We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy

And the big fool said to push on

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I guess there is no way to convince Chris Gibson to primary her.

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I hadn’t thought about Gibson. Don’t know if he’s had commentary on his Republican Party. I always think about Jerry Solomon and wonder where he’d be nowadays. Whether he’d be with the Trump Brigade or a RINO like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and John Katko.

I feel bad for them and for the country they sought to serve. Maybe especially for Katko since he’s local and not the big name the other two are. I suppose less renown leads to fewer death threats, tho.

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These two articles in NY Times and WashPost have been excellent. But I fear in our district her commercials and her Twitter get more traction.

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Sadly, those two publications are not going to have high visibility around here.

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One additional thought.

As much as this column zeros in on what we know about stiffy up until 2023.

After 48 hours where we watch of the republicans to pick a speaker of the house.. we know more than anyone wants to know about stiffy

the third highest ranking republican has zero

Z E R O

power.

she didn't work out any deals

she only watched as the vote repeated itself

She could not broker deals. If you watch on c-span you would see she just stood around like the emotional zombie that she is.

I pointed this out long ago when she was deputy whip for the republicans. She achieved nothing. The whips are about rounding up party members... a border collie if you will. stiffy proved she is a basset hound at best.

if she couldn't rally clowns into clown car, let alone get them out to do anything.

------

Note that when she was on camera, she was not reading, she was not taking care of baby arbittron (many house members WERE spending quality time with their children), she was not posting on her social media.

and worse she was not brokering deals.. No she sat alone and foolish like her protegé george santos

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I do find it funny that in the last two years stiffy has done one thing well, it wasn't successful, but she did it nearly every day.

'issue a statement'

In the past two days, she did not issue any statements. Either she is stumped (certainly a possibility) or (more likely) is clueless

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I hate to admit this, but I was conned by Elise Stefanik. I thought that I was voting for a middle of the road Republican. She appeared to check all of the boxes on issues that I was concerned about. After two months I knew that I had made a mistake. I did not vote for her in the next four elections. She said that she would not run more than five times. I'm hoping that she means it, but she lies so much, I have little hope...Thanks for the information, Ken. You pointed out some things that I was unaware of.

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