Today in Satyagraha...

What the hell is satyagraha? you ask. I looked it up and it's sanskrit for non-violent insistence on the truth. Ok, cool, but why is Nancy Pelosi talking about it on CSPAN? Because she and other Democratic Congresspeople and even some Senators are participating in a sit-in organized by Georgia Congressman John Lewis to force House Republicans to allow a vote in some gun control measures kind of like the ones the GOP torpedoed on Monday.

Also she's dropping sanskrit because she represents
the Bay Area and that's just how people talk out here.

"If there's one thing the American
people admire, it technicalities."

-Ted Poe, (R) Texas

Ok, but why the shitty camera? Because when the sit-in started Republican Congressman Ted Poe declared a recess and had the cameras shut off. However, because we live in the future everyone pulled out their cellphones and did a live feed because fuck yeah. Look, procedurally Poe might have been correct. I guess if you're not congressing, then the session should technically go into recess, and that's what Poe did. But this wasn't so much about parliamentary procedure as it was about sour grapes. Classy. Oh, and did I mention that John Lewis organized this? Because he did.

I mention it because Congressman Lewis is a 76 year-old civil rights activist who used to hold sit-ins back in the 60's to protest segregation and often got the shit kicked out of him for his trouble. And now Ted Poe has turned the cameras off on him while he was trying to get Republicans to allow a vote the Democrats are pretty sure they'll lose. Yeah, lose. The reason the GOP can gavel the cameras off in the first place is that they have a majority in the House and could totally kill these bills if put up for a vote, so why the sit-in?

Here's a picture of that time John Lewis suffered
a skull fracture while marching for civil rights.

Congressman John Lewis apparently
forgetting the the GOP is biologically
incapable of feeling shame.

Why shame of course! If they allow a vote, then the GOP will be voting 'no' on a couple of measures that have overwhelming popular support but exactly 0% support from the NRA who as we've discussed, basically own them. If they don't allow the vote they're the stubborn, gun-loving jerks who stood in the way of democracy and made an elderly civil rights activist sit on the floor all night. In the mean time, the Democrats are the tech savvy rebels fighting the good fight and Periscoping about satyagraha on CSPAN.

The only way something gets passed tonight is if Speaker Paul Ryan shows up at like 10 o'clock on a Wednesday night, alone, and lets a bunch of Democrats who've been shit-talking him since noon vote unopposed on bills he can't support. Anyway, that's not super-likely so the Democrats might want to order Thai or something, between the sit-in and the Big Bang Theory marathon on TBS, I think Paul Ryan's staying in.

"Public shame for myself and my party?
In an election year? Sure, I'll be right there!"