Today in nothing to see here...

Congressional Republicans, seen here
cloaked in shadow, voted 119 to 74
in favor of more secrecy.

Ever heard of the OCE? No? Yeah, I wasn't super clear about it either until I looked it up. The Office of Congressional Ethics is a sort of a watchdog group whose job it is to review allegations of misconduct and rules violation by members of Congress and make sure they are investigated fully and don't just get swept under the rug. Fans of Government transparency, ethics, and the rule of law love it. Fans of corruption and the general sense of decay that pervades our entire democracy? Not so much.

Here, for no reason at all,
a picture of Nixon.

Monday night, in a totally not at all suspicious move, House Republicans held a secret, closed door meeting where they decided that the independent watchdog group would be way more efficient if it had no authority whatsoever and was run by the Congresspeople it's supposed to keep an eye on. If that sounds like a shady move designed to give members more freedom to break House rules and even the law, you're just being paranoid. You can trust the GOP. I mean, when have they ever been less than totally forthcoming?

Nancy Pelosi, who helped create the OCE back in 2008 was understandably chagrinned and immediately took to Twitter to register her disgust.

Incidentally, is it me or is Twitter like 90% Tweets
about how disgusted people are with one another?

Above: Yeah, basically. 

The OCE isn't gone yet, this was just GOP House members deciding to change the rules to make it harder to investigate all the terrible and illegal things they'd like to be able to get away with, but the proposal will be voted on on Tuesday. If it passes, the OCE will be renamed the Office of Congressional Complaint Review which kind of hits it on the head, doesn't it? Instead of an independent, non-partisan board doggedly investigating ethics violations, they'll be more of a customer service line, grudgingly listening to your complaints while making the yak yak gesture with their hand and rolling their eyes.

Ok, so the Republicans once again prove that they're the party of corruption and naked power grabs. Boooo. Right? Well, yes, obviously, but do you want to know how you can tell this is a seriously fucked up move? House Speaker Paul Ryan is against it. Like, Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi are on the same side on this one. These are strange days. Strange.

That warm, sticky liquid trickling out of your ear and running
down your cheek? Don't worry about it, I'm sure it's nothing.