The House speaker doesn’t want Republicans to be around when the deadline comes.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is conveniently sending Congress home the day before the Justice Department is supposed to release the Epstein files in full. The announcement came Wednesday night.

This looks like yet another instance of Johnson doing every little thing he can either to delay the release of the files or to make it so that his fellow GOPers don't have to be in town to answer to their complicity in this monthslong campaign to avoid their release---as he did by egregiously delaying the swearing-in of Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva for weeks.

"Like I said: view all political developments for the rest of the week in light of the fact that the Epstein Files are supposed to be released on Friday," Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote Wednesday evening on X. "House Republicans just suddenly canceled Congressional session Friday and are sending everyone home Thursday evening."

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[–] 239 points 10 months ago (20 children)

This guy is a one-trick pony.

Have to oath in a Democrat who will trigger a vote his master doesn't like? Send everyone home!

Files that incriminates his master are being released? Send everyone home!

This tactic is getting old already.

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  • [–] 107 points 10 months ago (9 children)

    I see it as them showing their hand. They know they cant take the heat, so they run. Pussies.

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  • [–] 92 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    Hey now, pussies can take a pounding and keep on coming.

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  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

    When does the coming happen? Asking for a friend. A highly unsatisfied friend.

    Edit: i just noticed how this joke might be taken. Before the unsolicited offers and pictures come rolling in, thought I should make clear that A) this was entirely a joke, a complete fabrication, and B) that I'm a dude. Please don't send me pictures of your unimpressive dicks. I'll post them online.

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  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    What does Mike Johnson know how to do besides not doing things?

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Well the GOP loves to say that government doesn't work, and surprise surprise when they're in charge it's the one thing they're right about.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    It's more than that even, they're usually the reason why the government doesn't work.

    Social security would work great if funded properly, so what do they do? Screw with the funding. The ACA would work if properly funded, so what do they do? Let the subsidies expire. Medicare for all would work if properly funded. The education system would work if properly funded. The VA works when properly funded. And so on, and so on, and so on. In most cases, all it takes is the money and resources that they'd rather steal or give to their donors and like magic, we'd have a functioning government again.

    They constantly sabotage programs that benefit tax payers while spinning the lie that government run programs can't and don't work. And after decades of dealing with underfunded programs run with minimal staffing and a maximum of red tape, of course people believe them.

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  • [–] 119 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    I wish I got so many days off...

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  • [–] 62 points 10 months ago* (4 children)

    No shit! Same… add to that the best healthcare, transportation, and a personal assistant.

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  • [–] 18 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Pension too if you can last long enough

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  • [–] 22 points 10 months ago* (2 children)

    Pension for them is like 5 years or something absurd like that.

    A pension is available to members 62 years of age with 5 years of service; 50 years or older with 20 years of service; or 25 years of service at any age. A reduced pension is available depending upon which of several different age/service options is chosen. If Members leave Congress before reaching retirement age, they may leave their contributions behind and receive a deferred pension later.[1]

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    That's actually a pretty standard public service pension schedule.

    Mine had me vesting in 5 years, but the contributions at that point aren't high enough to mean much. It just means that if if I didn't make it 5 years the city wouldn't contribute to my retirement ( I put in 7 and the coty double-matches, so I get 21%). When I hit 5 years, I retroactively got the 14% from the city for my previous 5 years added to my pension. If I had quit before the 5 years, I'd have been given my 7% back as a cash payment after 5 years away from public service.

    But I can't collect until I reach retirement age or have 20 years of service.

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  • [–] 53 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    Dems should release more pics right when they come back.

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  • [–] 31 points 10 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Wait, there's a person named Noam Chomsky?

    I've heard the name said on the news before but was never listening.

    Isn't that the name of the gnome in the carnival campaign of Left 4 Dead 2?

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  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Yes, the person was named after the gnome.

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  • [–] 34 points 10 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    The guy that shares details around jerking off with his son. Totally normal.

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    [–] 34 points 10 months ago

    The epstein files are inevitable at this point and republicans are already getting marching orders for how to do damage control.

    Mad props to AOC and I get why she wants to keep that in the cultural zeitgeist ahead of... tomorrow. But this is very much about house republicans breaking with johnson/doing token "See, I am one of the good ones" votes to override him on obamacare extensions and preventing trump from bombing Venezuela to distract from the epstein files.

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  • [–] 28 points 10 months ago

    It may also effectively kill the discharge petition for the 3-year extension of ACA subsidies vote.

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  • [–] 26 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    I guess it's the land of the free after all if you can fuck a bunch of children and still be president

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  • [–] 17 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Beacon of conservative Christian values

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  • [–] 31 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Are we gonna see the naughty list soon?

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  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Is the idea that he knows the justice dept is going to delay, and if the house isn’t in session, they can’t do anything?

    I wonder if the Republican voters recognize this is literally protecting pedophiles. There’s no way around it.

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  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago

    He sent everyone home because of the discharge petition for ACA. Epstein was coming anyway, this is about ripping healthcare away from millions. Which in Mike's own words....."It's only 7% of the country"

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  • [–] 10 points 10 months ago

    Wow, I don't know about you guys, but I've come to the end of my attention span. I guess there was never anything to see there after all, right?

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  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago

    Are there any conservatives out there that can tell us why you worship a pedophile?

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  • [+] 48 points 10 months ago (16 children)
  • [–] 24 points 10 months ago

    We lack the will.

    Kinda, although I fully agree with everything else you said. Collective action is really difficult even when the government isn't running COINTELPRO-like operations on anyone who tries to organize anything like a mass protest. For an example of the challenge of collective action, think about how hard it is to get your group of close friends to agree on which restaurant to go to and when. And that's when everyone wants to hang out together, with nobody intentionally mucking up the works.

    If we can overcome the "internal" hurdles to collective action, we can take back the country.

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    Pretty sure there’s at least a couple other steps involved, though

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  • [+] -3 points 10 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Okay, so . . . now!

    . . . Wait, where tf were y’all?

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  • [–] -3 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    I personally don't get why people pay for music. You can just listen to Taylor Swift's albums on YouTube

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    You know some people don’t mind supporting creators of things they enjoy. People also don’t mind spending a small sum of money to enjoy things without getting an ad every 30 seconds.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (4 children)

    I can do that for free too. I can also pay for music that isn't shitty after listening to it to support actually good musicians, coincidentally none of them being billionaires.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Someone’s financial status has no bearing on whether they make good music or not. Are you really gonna tell someone else what they can and can’t do in their free time? What are you a Trump supporter?

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    since when does not being a billionaire apologist-bootlicker make you a trump supporter?

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  • [–] 0 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    You Trump supporters like telling people what they can and can’t do with their own bodies. It doesn’t surprise me you want to control people’s free time too.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    dude I still don't know where you are getting that from. I never said anything remotely about controlling anything or anyone. and I'm no trump supporter. I'd kill him and all his dipshit cronies with a rusty spoon if I could get away with it.

    Since we are making assumptions, are you a rabid swiftie that got mad that I implied her music was shit? I stand by that. She has like one non irritating song and its decent at best. If only that whole thing about swifties getting mad at trump and voting him out went anywhere I'd have stopped talking shit a long time ago but apparently even her fans suck.

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago

    These files must still have some juicy bits after redaction to pull this.

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago

    Nothing spells guilt like..

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago

    I think this is so there can be no council sessions that might be discussing the obviously over-censored and incomplete dataset released tomorrow before the GOP can sit their butts on billionaire owned media networks (hint: all of them are billionaire owned now) and give the idiots who listen to them their opinions.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    I was promised all the epstein files today. Who do I call and complain to?

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

    We got them, hundreds of pages blacked out completely redacted. It is absolutely ridiculous

    Edit: for those who are curious.

    https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%203/EFTA00005586.pdf

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    This has to be a joke, right? But the .gov domains are reserved in us for actual government agencies, right? So what the fuck

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  • [–] 0 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    I am sure they have some good "rationale" for redacting what looks to be a significant portion of grand jury testimony. Of course the administration did say they would release them, but probably back tracked or they are "protecting" the victims.

    I personally think it is bullshit. They are handling it like top secret stuff. The President clearly has the authority to release this considering his current MO. It is a giant middle finger to the public.

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago

    I'm sure he's going to run home to Louisiana and explain why he's blocking ACA subsidies 

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago

    Grindr use is going to spike.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Like rats abandoning a sinking ship.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    When he sends everyone home, they just aren't doing committees and votes?

    Can't they stay and still do things that help their districts or prep for when they are back in session? They can still work. They are still getting paid.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    Hey, he’s gotta go murder a few more twinks. That basement’s not gonna fill itself up, ya know.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    This is illegal.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Yeah, looks like they're up to something.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    at this point, we need to form an alternative socialist government of the united states as a micronation. seriously!

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    This is fascism. They'll always win.

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  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago* (2 children)

    Fascism wins until good men go to war. Then they fold

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    That means he knew in advance that the fix was in.

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