JAEGER

Wednesday evening, the House Republican Conference met to deal with a rebellion against a party leader who had voted to impeach former President Trump and with a newly-elected backbencher who made death threats against fellow Members while still a candidate.

As POLITICO Playbook reported, they send a rather mixed message.

If you’re trying to figure out the direction of the Republican Party after Wednesday’s circus of a five-hour (!) House GOP Conference meeting, good luck. One hour, Republicans were rallying around — and literally standing to applaud — the QAnon congresswoman. The next, they voted to protect the avatar of the Republican establishment from DONALD TRUMP cronies itching to boot her from leadership.

A day that was supposed to be clarifying was anything but. Yet many House Republicans emerged feeling more confident about their political fortunes — a bit of a mystery to us. Here are our takeaways from Wednesday’s soap opera:

1) Trump allies stumbled on Capitol Hill; LIZ CHENEY got her swagger back. All that talk about kicking the third-ranking House Republican out of leadership was, it turns out, just that: talk. House Republicans voted overwhelmingly to allow Cheney to keep her position — despite weeks of attacks from Trump backers who were determined to punish her for voting to impeach the ex-president.

That doesn’t mean Cheney’s in the clear. Despite their rather embarrassing defeat, Trump’s enforcers said they’re not done with her. “Tonight Liz Cheney was fighting on her home turf — Washington D.C. And if Washington won’t hold her accountable for her failed leadership, Wyoming will,” Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.), who trolled Cheney in her home state last week, said in a statement.

2) Republican lawmakers are more anti-Trump than you think. For years, they’ve talked smack behind Trump’s back as they praised him publicly in order to appease the base. Wednesday night put those private versus public sentiments in particularly stark relief: 145 Republicans backed Cheney for her job, while only 61 did not — even as most refused to defend her. What gives? The vote was by secret ballot, so lawmakers could bash Cheney in public but support her in private — i.e. when it actually mattered — without fear of repercussion.

3) KEVIN MCCARTHY gambles on GOP unity. The minority leader started the day floating a peace accord with Democrats that would remove MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE from one of her two committees. He was, unsurprisingly, rebuffed — then went all in for Greene. After a bit of throat clearing denouncing some of Greene’s past rhetoric, McCarthy effectively rallied his conference to her defense. “Never before in the history of Congress have we allowed the other party to dictate our committees,” he said, a reference to Democrats vowing to remove Greene from her committee posts if Republicans refused to. “If they come after her, they’ll come after someone else next.”

Thursday night, House Democrats rallied to oust Greene themselves:

The House approved a resolution Thursday that removes embattled GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her assigned committees.

The final vote tally was 230-199 and 11 Republicans voted in support of the resolution: Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, John Katko of New York, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Fred Upton of Michigan, Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Chris Jacobs of New York, Young Kim of California, Maria Salazar of Florida, Chris Smith of New Jersey and Mario Diaz Balart of Florida.

Greene, a vocal supporter of Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, has been condemned by Democrats and many Republicans for embracing numerous conspiracy theories in videos and social media activity before she took office this year.

In posts and videos from 2018 and 2019 reviewed by CNN, Greene appeared to endorse violence against prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and suggested that the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings were staged “false flag” operations. They have since been taken down.

It’s extraordinary, if not unprecedented, to punish a Member for conduct committed as a private citizen before election. It’s actually rather problematic, especially since there is no supermajority requirement for this as there is for a formal censure. The longstanding tradition is that they are elected by the people of their districts to represent them and those people are entitled to make that choice.

But, of course, the people don’t often send dangerous lunatics who have threatened violence against the Speaker of the House, either. Greene has not helped herself since being sworn in, antagonizing other Members, such that at least one requested and was granted permission to switch to an office further away from Green for her own safety.

And this is just silly:

Greene defended herself in a speech ahead of the vote and expressed regret over some of her past remarks — which some viewed as doing too little, too late.

“These were words of the past and these things do not represent me, they do not represent my district and they do not represent my values,” Greene said of her past posts and interactions on social media.

Green is a 46-year-old woman referring to remarks she made, publicly, within the past two years, some of which while she was running for election to Congress. Further, while she seems quite deranged, she’s a 1996 graduate of the University of Georgia, the flagship institution of a well-funded system. We should expect her to know better.

And, frankly, this is just nonsense:

“This is something I absolutely rejoice in today to tell you all. I think it’s important for all of us to remember, none of us are perfect. None of us are,” she said.

Greene also said that she believes “9/11 absolutely happened” and “school shootings are absolutely real and every child that is lost, those families mourn it.”

But she also attempted to blame “cancel culture” for her troubles and the media for how she’s come across, saying, “big media companies can take teeny, tiny pieces of words that I said, that you have said, any of us, and can portray us into someone that we’re not.”

I have no idea what her actual beliefs are vis-à-vis 9/11 or Sandy Hook. But she was either lying to the public during her campaign or lying to her colleagues now. There’s simply been no new evidence made public that would change a sane person’s views on either.

The post Marjorie Taylor Greene Stripped of Committee Assignments first appeared on Outside the Beltway.

Written by Martin Hodgson

We’ve all dreamed about it at some point, handing in our resignation and stepping out into the world on our own to be the one who calls the shots, the boss! Some will make it but most of us, for good or for bad, will remain punching the clock from 9 to 5. From a very young age however, Lithuanian, Matas ‘Matt’ Rinkevičius had two things running through his veins to launch him to success. An entrepreneurial spirit and a deep love of all things motorcycles, so it makes absolute sense his company is called Two Wheels Empire and their latest offering is this beastly BMW K100 known as the Silverback Gorilla.

At just 12 years old Matt was riding scooters and fixing them up before selling them off so he could make his next purchase. By the time he was 16 he had his own eBay store and ever since he’s been involved in the motorcycle industry in a variety of roles, almost always at the same time; as a mechanic, salesman, journalist and racing Supermoto and Motocross. In 2014 he’d risen to be the sales manager of the largest motorcycle dealership in his home country of Lithuania but still, his heart cried out for more.

So after some deep reflection he handed in his notice and set off on a path to building his own motorcycle empire. Now with locations in three countries, the business is a mix of sleek one-off builds, motorcycle merchandise and a range of multimedia solutions for the industry. But success brings compromise too and when a German customer saw Matt’s custom K100 known as Black Mamba, he wanted one exactly the same. Although not thrilled about replicating a path already taken, it was a chance to test their building abilities against Germany’s ultra tough road registration laws.

With the donor BMW at the workshop in Kaunas, it was up onto the lift and time to strip down the 500lb+ flying brick. Such a bulky bike with complex for its time fuel injection, strange engine layout and K series quirkiness is not easy to work on, so getting it down to a bare frame is essential. This allowed Matt to then cut off the subframe and rather than simply add a hoop, the tail is totally transformed with a newly fabbed backside that matches the bikes naturally angular lines. While perched on top is the stunning tail unit and seat combo that can be purchased via the company’s webstore.

To add a sense of lightness to the big girl the centre section is left open, the negative space a result of the removal of the factory air box. Before the big Silverbacks shoulders show off more aggression with the factory tank given subtle changes to bring out its muscular side. On top the factory filler cap is ditched with a new fitment inserted to accept the machined alloy cap for a serious touch of class. To ensure passing Germany’s road test was a breeze, there is a front fender positioned over the tyre with custom drilled mounts, while a number plate holder bolts to the swingarm’s single side.

With the metal work done it was time to get the bike rolling and a beast of the wild can’t have spindly little limbs. So the front forks are thrown away and with new bearings and a steering stem change, a set of modern USD forks from a Suzuki GSXR are bolted into place. The addition provides the sort of braking power that every K bike needs, twin drilled discs that are clamped by Tokico calipers. Very cleverly the factory front wheel is retained, matching the rear item exposed by the swingarm, which is controlled with only the best from Ohlins!

Moving to the engine and Matt has done a great job at making the big four-cylinder engine look like a cohesive part of the entire bike and not a huge lump of ugly metal. All blacked out, the air intake is redesigned with a custom made manifold and pod filter that wraps neatly around the side. To satisfy the road testers the factory exhaust headers remain in place, while a custom box muffler and side exit chrome tip gives the owner the look and the soundtrack they were after. Before bolting the lump back in the wiring loom was torn apart and rebuilt reducing mess and complication.

Here the addition of a full array of Motogadget pieces come to the party with speedo, indicators and control unit adding a serious touch of minimalist style. The headlight design has been well used in the streetfighter world, but it finds its perfect home on the K bike with the angular lines only adding to the muscle. A host of quality custom parts are taken from the shop’s store, like the footpegs, shifter and big dollar Brembo RC19, which all combine with the matte paint to give the brutish Silverback a fearsome presence. With the bike successfully passed for the German streets, Matt and his Two Wheels Empire move on as they add video content creation to their already bulging arsenal, in pursuit of being the King Kong of the custom bike world.

 

[ Two Wheels Empire | Photography Arnoldas Ivanauskas ]

It’s after 1 am Eastern Time and, while it’s not yet over, it’s looking like the racist ignoramus Donald J. Trump has defied all odds and been elected President of the United States. There’s a lot of parsing of the exit polls and other post-mortems to be done but, whether the results hold or Hillary Clinton rebounds to eke out a narrow win, I think Michael Moore’s pre-election analysis is the best explanation I’ve seen:

 

Matthew Maton ran a 3:59.38 in the mile at the Oregon Twilight Meet on Friday in Eugene. The 19-year-old high school senior became the sixth U.S. prep ever to break four minutes in the mile.

Maton, who ran 3:42.54 in the 1,500-meter (the equivalent of a 4:00 mile) at the Oregon Relays last month, went into the race with the stated goal of running under the mark.

“I knew you’re not supposed to fixate on running sub-four if you’re going to do it,” Maton told LetsRun.com, “but I would have been disappointed if I didn’t do it.” ...Read More

Please to be enjoying this subtle cartoon about the recently revived efforts to challenge the zoning of Reston National Golf Course to open the door for development. Fortunately, our BFFs at Rescue Reston held a press conference this week to explain things.



Here's the video from the press conference, which actual members of the press actually attended. (Journalists hate press conferences, so that's a big win.)

The resulting news coverage repeated one of the few public comments from the managers of the golf course, which is itself owned by insurance giant Northwestern Mutual.

RN Golf Management’s legal representative, Frank McDermott, has said repeatedly through this process that the company is seeking clarity on the property’s zoning.

“The owner of Reston National is asking for confirmation of the zoning that applies to the property so it can understand the property rights that apply,” McDermott said in November. “It has proposed no change in the zoning of the property and has filed no plans for its redevelopment.”

Which is why it's spent countless thousands of dollars on lawyers -- out of idle curiosity. Which is why we hired geological experts to drill under Restonian World Headquarters to see if it was suitable for a profitable potential fracking operation -- we were just curious. Don't sweat the oil rigs in our backyard, DRB!

But we digress. During the press conference, Rescue Reston officials shared their own interpretation of what's happening.

Rescue Reston founder John Pinkman said RN Golf tried to slip its case back in over the holidays, when no one would be looking.

“The timing of the appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals is suspicious,” he said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “From day one, this secret project has hoped to slide through the appeal process without involving Reston residents. Now they come again, trying to push this appeal through during the holiday season, hoping that few would notice. Well, that didn’t work.”

Pinkman says he believes Lerner Enterprises, owners of, among other properties, Dulles Town Center, North Point Village Center and the Washington Nationals baseball team, is the developer that seeks the golf course property. Lerner has had no comment.

“Respectable developers have in the past come to directly affected residents in clear transparency,” he said. “Northwestern Mutual’s strategy is quite the opposite.”

That's for sure.

To its credit, the Reston Association, which participated in the press conference, is holding firm to its opposition to any changes to Reston National, even offering to buy the golf course to preserve it as open space (though if people don't want to spend a couple of thousand bucks for a bocce court, getting a multimillion-dollar purchase approved might be a little dicey). That aside, RA President Ken Knueven made the right point about why it's important to oppose the redevelopment of Reston National, whether you like golf, or golf course views, or open space, or not:

"If it doesn’t follow the master plan, then we are no longer a planned community. If we are no longer a planned community, we are no longer Reston.”

Well put.

Rescue Reston is holding a rally at 2pm Saturday at Langston Hughes Middle School to rally support ahead of the Jan. 21 Board of Zoning Appeals hearing, which it is also urging residents to attend. Rescue Reston has pointed out the hearing is at an inconvenient time for most folks, but we'd say it might be worth taking the morning off work.

Alain Bernard is French, but he lives in South Florida. His shop is named Santiago Choppers, and while he has built custom choppers and trikes, Bernard’s fame stems from meticulously designed and crafted café racers. The Santiago name originates from a shop he owned while living in the Dominican Republic’s capital; Santiago.

In 1994, while operating a car and bike dealership in France, Bernard flew to the U.S. for his first visit to Daytona Bike Week. On the very first night in Daytona, a drunk driver put him in the hospital. Seven surgeries and some insurance money later, he opened V-Cycle, in Riverview, Florida, in 1996.

In 2001, a friend wanted him to help open a new shop in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Bernard agreed, eventually opening Santiago Choppers. “When I came back to the U.S. I thought the name was cool, so I kept it,” he explains.

Bernard is a major appreciator of all kinds of motorcycles. His great-grandfather, Fernand Bernard, opened the very first motorcycle shop in their hometown of Lille located in the north of France in the early 1900s. “It was a combination motorcycle shop and barber shop all in one,” says Bernard. “My Dad didn’t want me to ride, so I bought a Jawa behind his back in 1974. It was too small, and a friend was going into the Army. So, I got his Kawasaki 750 H2.

“I was 16 and riding with no license, but with that bike, the cops couldn’t catch me,” he continues. “I had also started working on motorcycles, my first custom made in 1978, a Kawasaki 750. Then I took an engine out of a Harley XLCR and made a chopper.” As they say, the rest is bike building history.

Mucho Macho Moto Guzzis

After opening its doors in March 1921, Moto Guzzi has had quite a bit of racing success, beginning with the famous win at the Targa Florio in the same year. The factory stepped away from the track in 1957, but not before racking up 14 Grand Prix championships, 11 Tourist Trophies and countless other race wins. Guzzi race machines were no slouches, but when it came to modern, street-legal Guzzis, Bernard knew there was plenty of room for improvement.

After disassembling a 2003 Le Mans, Bernard fabbed a new rear section and also drilled the frame’s main downtube and inserted alloy “donuts” to save some weight, but also to add some flare. He retained the oil cooler, front end, Brembo brakes and 17-inch wheel from the LeMans. Normally, the bike is fuel-injected, but Bernard opted for 40mm Dell’Orto pumpers. The slick gas tank was transplanted and modified from a 1974 Kawasaki 500. The headlight also from a Kawi, but a 900 in this case, while the tail section is an aftermarket Ducati racebike design.

Adding the necessary performance spark, Bernard upgraded to a special German made ignition from Silent-Hektik, featuring a digital printed circuit and triple-spark design. The coffee and cream paint job and Expresso graphics were applied by Greg Skiver in Tampa who paints all of Bernard’s bikes.

“Why do I call this one Expresso? Well, it’s a café racer, and my favorite drink is espresso. It’s also like express – very fast delivery. So, it’s a play with the word,” says Bernard.

Moving on to what Bernard calls “The Aluminium Bike,” we learn it’s based around a 2000 V11S. As far as designing this or any of his bikes, Bernard says, “I cannot draw anything, it’s just a picture I have in my head.”

Like the Le Mans, he tore apart the original machine, kept a section of the main frame, fabricated the subframe, then covered it with a Ducati Imola tail section/seat combination. A modified a Yamaha TZ750 gas tank is fitted with a Monza filler cap. The aluminum fairing was handmade by a friend in England. The race-ready look of the instrumentation is Bernard’s design using a small side-mounted speedometer and some switches he found at a car shop.

The monoshock is a Hagon, sourced from England. Also, like the Le Mans, Bernard replaced the stock electronic fuel injection system and attendant wiring with a pair of high performance CR carbs and Silent-Hetik ignition. Says Bernard, “When you put CR carbs on the Guzzi, it’s like going from a 4-cylinder car to a V-8.”

As far as battery power, Bernard relies on small, light lithium batteries provided by Anti-Gravity, installing them in the tail section of his bikes. Relieving the spent gases is a custom stainless steel exhaust system of Bernard’s design.

Brembo brakes are fitted on the Italian 17-inch Alpino wheels. In this case a single Brembo disc is employed up front. “We only used one brake because I did not want to hide the beautiful spoked wheel,” says Bernard.

Finishing touches include an array of custom brackets, everything held together by a full spread of aluminum and titanium bolts sourced from Pro-Bolts in England. For contrast, gold-colored bolts are used on the Expresso bike, black on the Aluminum bike.

Asked how it felt to ride these mucho macho Moto Guzzi’s, Bernard reveals a surprising admission. “Before last year I never rode a Guzzi like these two bikes, and when I did, I got a feeling I never experienced before from any other motorcycle. Incredible. They are much lighter than the factory, maybe a 100-120 lbs. You got the torque, and you can lean them forever. I love the feeling. I don’t know how to explain it. I just love it.”

For more about Santiago Choppers check out www.santiagochopper.com.

A Trio of Other Bikes by Alain Bernard/Santiago Choppers

Santiago Choppers Builds Cafe Racer Masterpieces appeared first on Motorcycle.com.

A very studious lieutenant pointed out that while I had many pictures of the Canadian Rockies, I had none of the proof that I did indeed make it to Alaska.

Duly noted, young observant lieutenant.  Duly noted.




























Now go have a warm, inviting cup of STFU doubting lieutenant!

Bikers have always had a strange relationship with patriotism. Some of the most anti-establishment biker characters are sometimes the most patriotic. It’s like when you see a Maltese cross and American flag on the same bike. It’s a patriotism that isn’t blind allegiance. It’s a patriotism that revels in the fact that we are a nation of firebrands, misanthropes, and weirdos. This is a patriotism that can sometimes make people very uneasy, like when the Hells Angels volunteered to go to Vietnam. It’s “freedom” with a hard “F.”

It was maybe 1981. There was this guy who worked at my father’s nursery – a lanky guy with a stringy George Thorogood haircut and an Ironhead Sportster. That bike was probably the most valuable thing he owned. He worked outside in the fields or in the smothering heat of the quonset huts all day and wasn’t that interested in talking to a little kid. I seem to recall he had once worked as a deck hand on a Great Lakes freighter, so let’s call him Freighter Dave. The only protective gear Freighter Dave wore on his bike was aviator sunglasses and engineer’s boots. His Sportster had a sissy bar and straight pipes – absolutely no baffles.

At that point in my life, the loudest thing I had ever heard were the jet funny-cars at Thompson Drag Raceway, but this bike came a close second. It was shockingly, frighteningly, wonderfully loud. Freighter Dave said it was “the sound of freedom.” I thought he meant because it was made in America. I knew we didn’t like “Jap” bikes, so I took this as a simple, straightforward statement of patriotic loyalty. It didn’t occur to my eight-year-old brain that Freighter Dave was not exactly the rah-rah America type.

That comment about “freedom” stuck with me, maybe because it was one of the few things Freighter Dave actually said directly to me. Later, I thought it meant that he felt free and in control while he was riding, when the rest of his life certainly had few luxuries and few choices. It wasn’t until decades later, in a moment, that I realized what it was about.

He was talking about righteous dissent.

This is summed up perfectly in the image of Peter Fonda’s “Captain America” bike from Easy Rider. Here is this character, this anti-super-hero, striking away from society’s expectations, a new pioneer, with the flag on his tank. Of course, he runs up against “real” American society, with terrible results. A sociologist might say he “appropriated” the flag “iconography” in order to “re-invent” or “re-interpret” it, but I say that’s where it was meant to be all along. The spirit of righteous dissent is essential to the American spirit. Without it, there is no Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, or Woody Guthrie. It’s something you don’t hear in Lee Greenwood, but you do hear something like it in Elmore James. It is what makes America unique… or at least what makes America interesting.

We are the nation of the Whiskey Rebellion. Right after we had a revolution and formed a shiny new country, a bunch of farmers and distillers took up arms against our very first administration over whiskey taxes. Many of them were even veterans of the Revolutionary War. You have to love a bunch of nuts like that.

Our culture is bursting with great examples of dissent. Every “great American novel” is a book that is critical of our society, and we celebrate them for that very quality. From The Last of the Mohicans to The Scarlet Letter to Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, The Jungle, The Great Gatsby, A Farewell to Arms, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Naked and the Dead. It is a canon of malcontents!

This is why I believe Rocky I is a more genuinely patriotic movie than Rocky IV. It’s why the most credible rendition of The Star Spangled Banner is by Jimi Hendrix. Once you hear his “rockets red glare,” when you can’t tell if you’re hearing celebratory fireworks or a shitstorm of missiles raining helldeath out of the sky, every other version of the national anthem will just seem boring. This is why Abbie Hoffman wore that American flag shirt. This is why we love the First Amendment so much. Think about it: you don’t need an amendment to protect inoffensive speech. You don’t need it if everybody agrees. The only reason to have it is to protect offensive, unpopular, outsider speech. It is our license to dissent. Our license to be a crackpot.

I think we are in danger of losing this spirit of righteous dissent and becoming boring. Patriotism is becoming too narrowly defined. At the end of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson talks about reaching a high water mark in the 60s, and seeing the tide recede, sliding into apathy and complaisance. I don’t think we’re apathetic, but bumper-sticker love of country is too easy and lazy. Patriotism now seems to mean supporting a particular agenda. We have plenty of partisan bickering, but no real dissent. It’s morbid compliance. Biker-style patriotism is anti-agenda, and we need to spread more biker-style patriotism.

Most people who ride are good, normal citizens – squares. That’s fine; we love bikers from all walks of life – I don’t hold to that “real biker”/”not real biker” thing. But whether you’re a nursery worker, a high school teacher, a dentist, or even (ugh!) an architect, when you get on your bike, you know deep down that you’re tapping into something dangerous. I don’t mean physically dangerous, I mean a dangerous idea. You are hearing Thomas Jefferson tell you, “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.” This is something that emanates from core biker culture, and it’s good. It feels good. We need it.

I don’t know what happened to Freighter Dave. He would only be about 55 or so now, so I hope he’s still riding. I wonder what he’d think if he knew I spent so much time thinking about his comment. I know he wasn’t thinking about the Whiskey Rebellion or Upton Sinclair when he said it. All these connections are just my own ramblings, but as I try to look past all the sameness around us, the chain restaurants, reruns, pop anthems, cars that all look the same, the neighbor’s leaf blower, and all the fucking parking lots, when I look for what is awesome, inspiring, and uniquely American, I always come back to this common theme of restlessness, rebellion, and dissent. I’m always listening for the sound of freedom.

Who is Carter Edman? An architect and writer in Cleveland. He teaches “Motorcycles and American Culture” at Case Western Reserve University. He is also an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church and can perform marriages in the State of Ohio and at sea. Carter rides a modified 2008 Triumph Bonneville.

You can follow the Moto Sapiens twitter feed.
Carter also tweets Things that I know to be True.
And writes as Richard Parker.

The post Bikers, Patriotism and Righteous Dissent appeared first on RideApart.