April 11, 2019

"Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)...introduced the Preventing Extreme Negligence with Classified Information Licenses Act, or PENCIL Act..."

"... a nod to Trump’s insults calling the California lawmaker 'little pencil neck Adam Schiff.'"

The Hill reports.

The bill would remove Schiff from his position as Chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

I don't see the value of inscribing a personal insult in the name of the bill. It undercuts whatever serious argument there is for removing Schiff.

69 comments:

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Not funny!

Chuck said...

But since there never was any serious reason for removing Schiff, the showbiz part is all that matters.

rhhardin said...

The insult makes it talked about. The bill may not even be the point.

rhhardin said...

Play the idiot media, or actually pander to their audience demand. The media can't help running it.

Chuck said...

After this, Gaetz can go back to introducing hopeless legislation to repeal Obamacare. Because that is what a powerless minority in the House does.

rhhardin said...

How do you govern when there's no serious news anywhere, but all entertainment.

One way is defang the entertainment news business with trivia that's at least not harmful. Demanded but not harmful.

DavidD said...

Maybe President Trump came up with the name of the bill and then the acronym; maybe the nickname came after.

Hey, it could happen. Occam’s butterknife and what have you, to borrow an expression.

Bay Area Guy said...

Yeah, sadly, and mirthlessly, Althouse is probably right.

Ya gotta have the appropriate time, place and manner for sophomoric, dare I say, moronic humor, but plastered on proposed Legislation from the House of Representatives is probably not it.

Schiff, however, is a Russian-Collusion truther, who falsely claimed he had evidence supporting same.

traditionalguy said...

Gaetz is imitating Rooster Cogburn in True Grit confronting Lucky Ned Pepper.

Fernandinande said...

NMDBNBOMPYA
No More Dumb Bill Names Based On Mnemomics Please You Assholes

Some appropriate formality would be nice, too: henceforth the bills should be called "williams".

hombre said...

By any name, a bill depending on Democrats doing the right thing stands no chance.

Michael K said...

Because that is what a powerless minority in the House does.

Says Chuck who had something to do with that being a minority. The never Trumpers lost the House. Wonder why ?

hombre said...

So Chuck Channeling Schumer is now defending Schiff?

livermoron said...

Althouse wrote:I don't see the value of inscribing a personal insult in the name of the bill. It undercuts whatever serious argument there is for removing Schiff.
---------------------------------------------------

"Alinsky, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!" - (reanimated)George C Scott as President Donald Trump in the 2030 movie blockbuster hit "Trump!".


-livermoron

Fernandinande said...

Lucky Ned Pepper

Played by Average Luck Barry Pepper in the Coen-heads version.

Shawn Levasseur said...

PLACATE

Preventing Legislative Action Containing Acronyms That Exasperate

Achilles said...

I don't see the value of inscribing a personal insult in the name of the bill. It undercuts whatever serious argument there is for removing Schiff.

Of course you don't. You have never been able to see outside your bubble very well.

The republicans are up against the entire media complex. 80% of the population of this country will only see what the media wants them to see.

By putting this stupid name on a piece of legislation we are now talking about why Schiff is the target of this legislation.

Schiff is a traitor. It is no wonder that Chuck is here attacking the republicans who are attacking him.

The traitors are all on the same side.

Big Mike said...

I don't see the value of inscribing a personal insult in the name of the bill.

I do.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Pencil neck”? Well that’s just puerile!

Michael K said...

By putting this stupid name on a piece of legislation we are now talking about why Schiff is the target of this legislation.

Some Republicans (not Chuck or Patterico) are learning from Trump. There is no chance it would get a vote so this is guerrilla legislation,

Fernandinande said...

Preventing Legislative Action Containing Acronyms That Exasperate

Thanks! That's what I meant to say. (acronym -> mnemonic = brain fart)

bagoh20 said...

But it's true. I mean look at the man's neck. He could do some exercises to fix that like pull ups using just his neck and a rope.

bagoh20 said...

"Crayon neck" would be puerile. "Pencil neck" is sophomoric.

Birches said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Birches said...

And Althouse is probably right.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Some Republicans (not Chuck or Patterico) are learning from Trump. There is no chance it would get a vote so this is guerrilla legislation"

Oh, yeah. And it gives me hope for the future. At the same moment that Democrats are hopelessly, incontinently, gloriously, shatting all over themselves, Republicans are finally showing some signs of understanding how the game is played.

Fernandinande said...

He should continuously flex his sternocleidomastoids.

Chuck said...

Michael K said...
Because that is what a powerless minority in the House does.

Says Chuck who had something to do with that being a minority. The never Trumpers lost the House. Wonder why ?


We lost the House because in one suburban swing district after another, moderate Democrats knocked off Trumpist Republicans.

There were two of those in Michigan alone. 2 out of Michigan's 14 House seats. As good a microcosm of the 2018 election as you can find.

Elissa Slotkin, whose career had been in the service of the CIA, the NSA and the DNI, knocked off Mike Bishop. Bishop had great name recognition in a district that leaned Republican. Slotkin had never run for office before; she is from a family of Republicans.

Haley Stevens, a nearly-unknown Obama Administration (Car Czar staff) official, beat Trump's 2016 Michigan Campaign Chairwoman, Lena Epstein, in another Republican-leaning district that hadn't gone to a Democrat in decades.

Republicans ruled Michigan at every level -- Governor, AG, Sec State, state senate, state house, 9 out of 14 congressional seats, Oakland County government, etc. -- until 2018 and the referendum on Trump. We held majorities in the state house and senate only because the numbers there are so wonderfully overwhelming thanks to pre-Trump Republican districting.

Achilles said...

Fernandistein said...

Thanks! That's what I meant to say. (acronym -> mnemonic = brain fart)


That is not a valid signature.

mnemonic: (acronym) -> brain fart

And I need to more properly define the data that are not primitive values.

sorry about the nerd humor...

I am also sorry I had to tell people it was nerd humor.

More nerd humor.

It never ends...

The nerd humor I mean.

Chuck said...

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...
"Some Republicans (not Chuck or Patterico) are learning from Trump. There is no chance it would get a vote so this is guerrilla legislation"

Oh, yeah. And it gives me hope for the future. At the same moment that Democrats are hopelessly, incontinently, gloriously, shatting all over themselves, Republicans are finally showing some signs of understanding how the game is played.


"House minority" is how the game is being played right now.

Dude1394 said...

Civility bullshit Ann. Since when have the democrats been serious about anything, EXCEPT getting power.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...


""House minority" is how the game is being played right now."

Given the comic impotence of the majority, I'd say it's a good time for House Republicans to hone their Trumpian skills.

Yancey Ward said...

Mockery is what you have to resort to when you can't actually do anything about removing Schiff. In this case, it is appropriate.

Achilles said...

Chuck said...

"House minority" is how the game is being played right now.

Republican voters lost nothing when democrats took the house.

There were enough traitor cuck republicans in the house and senate to make sure Trump and Republican voters didn't get what they wanted the first two years.

Now the traitor Paul Ryan is gone and unable to foist democrat budgets on Trump under the name of republicans. The democrats have to take responsibility for any budgets they want.

In 2017 and 18 with Paul Ryan running his false flag bullshit and John McCain going full democrat voting down the Obamacare repeal democrats were able to take cover behind "bipartisanship."

Now they are out in the open.

We lose nothing by removing traitors from our midst.

Michael K said...

We lost the House because in one suburban swing district after another, moderate Democrats knocked off Trumpist Republicans.

Chuck, you apparently need some help.

Why did those Democrats "knock off moderate Repubs?"

Maybe because, aside from a tax cut that donors liked,. they did not do shit ? What if they voted to build a wall ? Or enforced E Verify? Remember 1948 and the "Do Nothing Congress?" Your guys, you and Patterico, sat and scratched.

Achilles said...

Republican voters would be better off if Utah was represented by a democrat.

At least then they would have to be honest about their vote for open borders. As it is now we have a liar sitting in that senate seat pretending to be a republican but voting for open borders whenever the chance rises.

Chuck said...

What is wrong with you, Dr. K?

You quoted me via cut-and-paste, and then you typed a comment and flatly misquoted me.

Moderate Republicans won in Michigan. Fred Upton won. Justin Amash, devout libertarian and rule-of-law devotee, is one of the most notorious rebels against Trump's excesses, won.

It was Trump's own Michigan campaign manager (Lena Epstein) who lost a Republican+ district. And Mike Bishop, who became a major Trump apologist while facing a primary challenge, lost.

Former Michigan AG Bill Schuette, who became a major Trump flunky to win his primary, lost the governor's race.

Marshall Rose said...

Civility Bullshit by Althouse.

n.n said...

This is the first step to direct journolism. The second step is to pass a framing act that will manage its presentation. The third step is to count the number of reporters that can dance on the edge of a scalpel.

Michael K said...

then you typed a comment and flatly misquoted me.

Sorry, Chuck. Upton is one of the most despicable members of Congress who sold out to China and banned incandescent light bulbs. I've been hoping to see him hanging from a lamp post since. I am not surprised he is a favorite of yours.

My point was that Congress did NOTHING when they had a majority, They were all waiting, like you, for Trump to be impeached and expressing reluctance to be seen with him. There were very few if any "Trumpist" members of the GOP majority in Congress.

n.n said...

PENCIL, graphite, carbon, catastrophic anthropogenic global warming.

PNCL: Prevent Negligence with Classified Licenses Act

A happy coincidence, a semantic sensation. There really is no way to spin it that will not expose the black face... black lead within. That said, was it negligence, incompetence, or hate? PeNCiL, PICkLE, or PHiCkLe

Greg Q said...

I don't see the value of inscribing a personal insult in the name of the bill. It undercuts whatever serious argument there is for removing Schiff.


The serious argument is an obvious slam dunk: Schiff used his position on the House Intelligence Committee to lie for over two years about the investigation of Trump. He repeatedly claimed possession of facts that proved crimes that Mueller has stated did not happen.

It's to the GOP's benefit to have Schiff out there, being the proved dishonest face of the Democrat Party. It's to the Democrat's best interest to dump him.

But they won't. Because the Left's central goal is to "never let the Right win", not "do the right thing, for our own interests."

See Clinton impeachment. President Gore would have won re-election in 2000. But the Left sold their souls to protect Clinton

Francisco D said...

I don't see the value of inscribing a personal insult in the name of the bill. It undercuts whatever serious argument there is for removing Schiff.

Russian Collusion was a sick joke that Schiff constantly promoted. It is Karma that he is now treated as a joke.

I agree that he will be protected by Dems and not removed from his role. He is the congressman from Hollywood and Dems need their money. Chuckles also needs his hero. I see a bromance evolving.

Chuck said...

Michael K said...
"then you typed a comment and flatly misquoted me."

Sorry, Chuck. Upton is one of the most despicable members of Congress who sold out to China and banned incandescent light bulbs. I've been hoping to see him hanging from a lamp post since. I am not surprised he is a favorite of yours.

My point was that Congress did NOTHING when they had a majority, They were all waiting, like you, for Trump to be impeached and expressing reluctance to be seen with him. There were very few if any "Trumpist" members of the GOP majority in Congress.


"Sorry"? Are you admitting that you misquoted me and are now apologizing for it? Or is this one of those "Sorry but you're wrong" usages? I thought you were a sorry motherfucker for your "autism" snark.

For the comment in question, you quoted me accurately, by cutting and pasting, and as soon as you engaged your brain and started typing you got it wrong and misquoted me.

I don't care what your fucking opinion is. When it comes to you and me, all I want is to be right. I am telling you who won and who lost in Michigan in 2018. "Moderate" Republicans were winning in Michigan. Fred Upton won. Anti-Trumper Justin Amash won.
"Winners take office and make policy. Losers go home." You know who said that? Mitch McConnell.

And the Republicans who gambled the most on their pro-Trump status (Epstein and Bishop and Schuette and don't forget John James) all lost.

Nichevo said...


Chuck said...
After this, Gaetz can go back to introducing hopeless legislation to repeal Obamacare. Because that is what a powerless minority in the House does.


Spoken like a true Democrat.

MacMacConnell said...

I personally believe if ever there was ever a pencil neck it's Adam Shiff, they don't make men's shirts with that small of a neck. Just check it out next time you see that lying turd on TV. I prefer to call the lying cowardly unpatriotic reptile a turd.

MacMacConnell said...

Eric Swalwell Shiff's side kick is a mouth breather.

Birches said...

Some people crave negative attention in these comment sections.

Michael K said...

I'm arguably more "Trump" than conservatives like Jonah Goldberg, Bill Kristol, Steve Hayes or Charlie Sykes, since unlike them I voted for Trump when the general election of 2016 rolled around.

I agree that was the forte of the GOPe that you support. Then they got a president who would sign the bill. GOPe took off for the hills running. It was all a lie. The voters figured that out back in 2010. That was the "John the Baptist" moment for Trump. You never saw it coming.

Brian McKim said...

Of course, giving the act a catchy acronymic name has been S.O.P. in congress (and in state legistlatures) since I can remember. But I think we might be seeing the end of this, and your annoyance at it is indicative of an annoyance at the traditional and insipid ways that congressmen seek to get coverage of their pet bills. And an annoyance at the dopey habits of congressmen and politicians in general. Anti-elitism? Yes. Anti-blowhard, anti-cutesy, anti- media (since all this nonsense is "journo-nip"). And while we're at it, let's lump in naming the (usually Constitutionally questionable) law after the victim, using only the first name (see "Megan's Law" from 1994, NJ legislation). Seems a little exploitative and overly emotional to me. Law as memorial. Emotional blackmail, perhaps? Didn't the law have enough good intent without tugging on the heartstrings?

Danno said...

Bay Area Guy said...Schiff, however, is a Russian-Collusion truther, who falsely claimed he had evidence supporting same.

I believe using past tense is not really correct as Schiff keeps saying this day after day. You may have a point that anything said by someone becomes part of the past immediately after it is said.

Christy said...

Nunes just sent his letter to DOJ about the leaks of classified information and conspiracy. I'm wondering if Schiff will get caught up in that? Does any one think he truly believed he had evidence of wrong doing? Was he the victim of deep state disinformation, assurances? Wouldn't that be evidence of his unworthiness?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

hahahaha do it. Schit is a fraud on stilts.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Schit doesn't deserve a drop of respect. He slandered Trump with lies and hearsay and now Schit must be forced to eat some major schit.

I think the guy has more of a creepy shrunken head thing going on

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It's important to rub puerile on your hands after touching Adam Schit.

TJM said...

Schiff and AOC should have an "eye" contest. Who would win?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Schit lost all credibility after appearing on CNN for 2+ years spouting unsubstantiated Russian Dosier BS. He is Pravda's Pencil neck.

readering said...

Althouse posts on Gaetz personal insult. Commenters here go, hold my beer.

glenn said...

Putin’s c**kholster had no comment. And pencil neck is still pencil neck.

Sebastian said...

"I don't see the value"

Considering it won't go anywhere, I see the entertainment value.

Of course, the GOP does have to reckon with nice Midwestern women who don't like personal insults. Baseless accusations against Supreme Court nominees are one thing, but a bit of humor in legislation is beyond the pale.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Fair Pravda Colbert is also Poot's c**kholster.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Althouse posts on Gaetz personal insult. Commenters here go, hold my beer.”

I sometimes wonder if she doesn’t post these sort of posts to invite more insults from the commentariat.

“Some people crave negative attention in these comment sections.”

Indeed. I’d work on that if I were you.

Anonymous said...

Harrumph... Ha. It's just fun to twist the knife - that's all. Long overdue. Hilarious.

Kirk Parker said...

Kirk's [First] Law: Any law that's named after a victim, or whose title spells out a cutesy acronym, is certain to be a bad law.

Bruce Hayden said...

The problem is not really that Pencil Neck lied about having proof of Russian collusion by Trump, but rather that he, a member of the Gang of Eight, has routinely leaked classified information. The Dems in the Senate several years ago quietly replaced their Intel committee ranking member for just this sort of reason. But Palsi runs the House (or, when not in a majority, runs her caucus) however she wants, which means leaving her committee chairs to essentially run their committees as private fiefdoms. Moving Schaffer’s out would violate that, so he is staying put. All the Republicans can do is hold him up to ridicule, and work the long game, planning on how they can win back those House seats that the Dems bought last year.

Rusty said...


"We lost the House because in one suburban swing district after another, moderate Democrats knocked off Trumpist Republicans."You've never been a republican, Chuck.

Known Unknown said...

A dumb waste of time.

Kyjo said...

But will Gaetz garner support?

Tom Grey said...

If you know your bill is not going to pass, then a cute name is cool fun. In either case, when Schiff is shown to be a bigger liar than Trump, those who vote to keep him will be stuck with ... voting to keep him.

Plus, the silly name gives it more publicity -- so the publicity, based on the extra silliness, actually makes it more likely to pass. A boring named bill would fail without comment.

Self-parodying silliness to gain publicity and thus increase the extremely low chance of passage to ... maybe just very low? (from 1% to 5% is a huge increase!)