Why I Agreed to Stop Calling Liz Cheney “BabyDick”
I made a vow on Twitter one of these days that I would no longer refer to Liz Cheney as “BabyDick” if she voted for impeachment.
She is going to vote for impeachment — the second Republican House member to announce their vote.
So I’m on my last legs using the term that invokes her protection of her own father for torture. But this seems like an obviously smart strategic position, as I laid out in this thread;
- Dems need to realize the GOP wants to be purged of Trumpism
- After Trump lost, Mitch McConnell thought he could make demands as the senior elected GOP
- That didn’t happen
- Then Trump lost the GA vote
- Then Trump almost got Mitch killed
- That gives Dems an opportunity to demand the purge of insurrectionists like Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Boebert, Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Tommy Tuberville
- That means institutional Republicans — like “BabyDick” and McConnell — actually have an incentive to use impeachment to cleanse their party
It’s a small ask for the GOP, because they’d like to get their corporatist party back, thank you.
Liz “BabyDick” Cheney and I will never be friends. But she will have served a key leadership role in this troubled time in providing another path for the Republican party by voting to impeach an authoritarian.
May she help others feel safe in rejecting this scourge.
It has been enormously galling to have to agree with the “BabyDick Chick” on anything. But I will be grateful for whatever she can do to move some of the traitorous bastards towards their monogrammed orange jumpsuits.
Too bad she will be clearing the way for her own brand of authoritarians.
I am probably never gonna get over the WORST VIOLENCE EVER CAUSED BY A PRESIDENT that her daddy perpetrated, but sure, we can wait to remind her til she votes for impeachment.
Yet AGAIN demanding Democrats clean up the mess they’ve been making for… A LONG TIME… is just… like… an abuser telling their abuse victim to clean up the blood on the floor from the beating they just received.
I am in total agreement with Sophia
As Driftglass and BlueGal say: No lifeboats!
Don’t let the Repubs clear-wash their reps and get away with/from this.
1(!) voted to impeach…ALL the rest decided to support.
Never let them forget!
PdEchsing
(Ped X-ing)
Here here!
May she and Mitch serve as the first dominos to wipe our govt of trumpers and future babydons
My guess is that when it is her turn to abuse power, she will be more subtle, like daddy dick, and you will be freed to use baby dick again, or perhaps queen dick, given where, if they can purge the Trump scourge, this will put her on the power trajectory of the renewed GOP.
I’m thinking about this point: “That gives Dems an opportunity to demand the purge of insurrectionists like Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Boebert, Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Tommy Tuberville”.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than purging my senator, Ted Cruz.
That list is (roughly) 20 percent of the Republican senate. Since the Senate is small, and the number of open insurgents is relatively small. I think you could go person by person and explain why you think each person should be removed.
The corresponding list for the House would be 147/211, or about 70 percent of the Republicans in the House.
Any thoughts on ways to punt some part of the Sedition Caucus in the House without asking the House Republicans to take a stand on that level of carnage? If we go person by person, can we meaningfully distinguish between Rep1, who did X, and a bunch of other Reps who also did X, so they all need to go, or all need to stay? And yes, this is a problem because the House Republican leadership has been extremely weak since at least 2010, so the crazies have accumulated.
Expulsion takes a 2/3 vote of the relevant House, meaning it will most likely take criminal charges or very serious non-criminal behavior to get the numbers.
In the House, at least, disciplinary action short of expulsion can happen on a simple majority vote. Censure, for example, strips committee seats from members, which can be a big deal in terms of fundraising.
The House is also free to create new ethics rules on a majority vote, and I think that is necessary. They could, for instance, strip members of offices, budget and staff, essentially making it impossible for them to do their jobs and force them to cover their own expenses.
In recent years the House has suspended ethics complaints until after prosecutions have run their course — for example, Duncan Hunter was allowed to serve and draw a salary even though he was obviously headed for a guilty verdict.
That obviously needs to change. The Democratic leadership needs to recognize that the nuts will not stop and they will get worse. The sooner the leadership gets to work writing new conduct rules, investigating 1/6, enforcing past violations, and pursuing the violations to come, the sooner they can wrestle this down. To the extent this can be done with McCarthy and/or defecting GOP reps, great, but they shouldn’t expect much help, if any.
Thanks, that’s very helpful. Your answer dovetails nicely into what I was thinking – getting a 2/3 majority to expel at least the most insurrectionist senators would be possible, but I’m not sure how many House representatives we could expel.
Just punting Gohmert would be awesome, I guess …
Don’t assume too much about what happens. I have a bad feeling that we will see criminal behavior exposed or else openly flaunted by the time this session ends in 2022. We may well see expulsions.
I think the most radical ones are genuinely nuts, and will believe some kind of deus ex machina is going to save them from what they are going to do.
From a strategic perspective, the best Reps to target would be those inside the Overton window where juniority overlaps with extremism: Boebert, Greene, Cawthorne. Gosar’s extremism might put him in this group because he hasn’t been there that long. With Gohmert the risk would be his constituency; they support him and have for a long time. Which is the real danger that needs to be addressed. But sending a message that potential candidates need to rein it in might help.
Would love for Gosar to be gone, but short of him being in prison, he will likely get reelected. He won in 2020 with 68% of the vote. AZ-4 is extremely right wing conservative.
In Ghostbusters, they had to cross the beams of the proton packs in order to send Gosar the Gosarian back to its dimension.
He really is that bad.
That’s depressing, and confirms my horrified conjecture when he first got elected–that his voters have numbers, and are beyond all reason.
Gohmert will have Don Jr.’s excuse: he’s too dumb to be charged with a crime.
More to add to the “insurrectionist” list: Kevin McCarthy, Devin Nunes, Louie Louie, and Louisiana John Kennedy. And has anybody heard anything from Steven Miller since last Wednesday? A penny for your thoughts, Stevie.
Also, since Stone and Flynn were pardoned, they were free to whip the crowds up in D.C. last week. What about another pardonee: Duncan Hunter? Did he do anything to help the insurrectionist cause? (Asking for an enemy)…
Stone and Flynn were pardoned for past crimes. They were not — and could not be — pardoned for any future criminal actions they might engage in.
Today McCarthy’s trying really hard to pretend he’s been a voice of reason all along.
It was fun while it lasted ; )
Just a point of order for the parliamentarian… Do we have to retire PapaDick, too?
I’ll abide by the rules of the house…
gotta let us have PapaDick! a fair exchange.
Whew!
It would have been hard to go cold turkey ; )
So the enemy of my enemy is my temporary friend….?
Maybe the enemy of my enemy is useful.
The Hoarse is not a lawyer, but — often — he has some *fantastic* insight.
“The Hoarse Whisperer@TheRealHoarse
1/12/2021 ~ 14:30 ET
“Replying to
@BatchelorLaw
Nope. McConnell benefits tremendously by harming Trump now. The last thing McConnell wants is to have Trump still the de facto boss post-departure.”
~~~~~~~
Liz could become “bee-dee.”
From business Insider
“McConnell wants to fully review the article of impeachment the House plans to vote on before taking a public position on impeachment or censure, but he wants to do some damage to Trump’s career prospects on his way out the door, according to The Times.“
Suckers. McConnell is playing you.
Yup. McConnell is laying a trap.
TC in NC
“McConnell is playing you.” To me, a redundancy. He is never NOT playing us, always for his own benefit. Peeling himself off from Trump at this moment and outwardly disaffiliating with a mob he did nothing to quell? Next he will “somberly” plead for “unity” as a means of extorting concessions from Biden and the Democrats. Do not trust. Always verify.
Alan Charbonneau is correct.
She will always be BabyDick Chick to me.
Baby dick Toilet Bowl Saleswoman?
Or M i getting confused?
Seriously tho, supporting impeachment buys her some atonement points. We can use the adults right now. (McConnell? No way)
Liz Cheney hasn’t voted yet, though.
Talk on her part is cheap re: saving democracy, though much appreciated at this critical moment in history. However, better to see her carry through on her word before you fully carry through on your promise.
Agreed ~ she shares the same dead-shark eyes as her father and Rafael Cruz (R-Canada).
Perhaps double check the 1/6/21 Parler archive for any posts out of alignment with her speech today.
Please don’t malign my fellow countrymen and I by referring to that sorry excuse for a human being with the word “Canada”. The fact that circumstance meant his mother happened to be in Alberta at the time should in no way denigrate an entire nation. Cheers!
M’escuse. My intent was to impugn Rafael’s American fidelity (other than to his Senate paycheck) and meaning no aspersions on the glories of Canada and her citizenry.
Merci bien, mon ami.
There was a time in this fair land when the Trumpers did not run;
When the wild majestic Mounties stood alone against the scum.
etc.
Oh, no you don’t. He’s Texas. You got him, you keep him. Don’t want his name in the same sentence as the name of our country. Canada may have had some assholes politicians but none as bad as the Seditious Six.
In the Canadian system, a political party can remove some one like Cruz from their political party. They are also not permitted to sit with their former political party in Parliament. Then when the election rolls around the party can tell them they can’t run to represent the party. He’d have to run as an independent. Independents rarely are elected, unless there is something special about them and I do mean they have to be liked very much across party lines.
“Canada may have had some assholes politicians but none as bad as the Seditious Six.”
The Ford brothers, Rob and Doug, could give them a run for the money I do believe.
na, they only were into drugs, well the Mayor was and “rumour” has it they sold some thing which is now legal in Canada, in their misspent youth. They never were considered seditious. When the Mayor got out of hand, they simply stripped him of his powers. Some may consider the former Mayor’s brother his enabler. I do. He was his brother and sometimes you do those types of things. the “boys” were not nice but they didn’t betray their country and its Constitution.
This reminded me– also, Rep. can vote one way publicly, then change their vote quietly before final votes are tallied. Someone pointed out this tactic to me a long while back, sending me to Roll Call to look at the final votes. Not saying this will happen here, but I was prompted to remember the tactic.
Thanks, I did not know that tactic existed.
That might fly on an infrastructure bill, or the confirmation of an assistant deputy buttonhole maker, but not on an impeachment vote. There’s nothing quiet about an impeachment vote.
I know. But I happened to remember it. I can’t remember exactly what the vote was about when I learned this lesson- at least 10 years ago- but is was way more significant than a buttonhole-maker vote.
You can change your vote up until the gavel falls, but after that it is final. Occasionally that happens when someone fat fingers the button.
On rare occasions the speaker or speaker pro tem will delay closing the vote when it’s very close while people scurry around to see if they can twist an arm into changing sides. But it has to happen pretty quickly — the longest delay might be an hour or so.
There is an option to enter a statement into the Congressional Record after a vote saying they screwed up and pushed the wrong button, but that doesn’t change anything.
I always thought Dick Cheney was a major dick, his daughter just another dick. Whatever, talk is cheap and whiskey costs money, lets see her bonafides.
I’ve always inferred that the monicker derived from the lovely Duvalier “dynasty” in Haiti (Papa Doc and Baby Doc). It doesn’t quite align with the history, but if we can get Cheney the elder exiled abroad (please not the Cote d’Azur, like Baby Doc), then that woud be a bonus.
And WHO is RESPONSIBLE for THAT President?
THAT President did NOT come out of nowhere. He was BORN from, is the inevitable outcome of the DISCISIONS and ACTIONS of the REPUBLICAN PARTY.
So, too is that “violent mob” which follow [PRESENT TENSE] him.
The Republican Party is SOLEY responsible for INFLICTING US with the pain and mayhem we have experienced for the past four years.
No, I’m not ready to make nice.
plz don’t chomp on me — I’m just mulling over the reality that Trump spent the last major part of his life registered as a democrat, right?
When Trump took out the full page ad (circa 1989) calling for the Central Park Five *to be executed* he was a democrat?
~~~~~~
Trump is some kind of swarmy swamp creature; I hope he has earned an equal punishment — “in this life or the next.”
It doesn’t matter what he called himself.
Democrats didn’t put him in power.
For that, he needed the Republicans.
While I agree with harpie that Trump’s party affiliation is purely transactional, it is worth remembering that those in NYC elected office while the rights of the Central Park Five (at the time, six) were violated were mostly Democrats. No political party shields us from the worst effects of our time’s bias and bigotry.
I doubt that he has a strong allegiance to either party – his allegiance is to his feelings and his bank accounts. Whichever party helps those is the one he is with at that time.
There is a very specific reason why he changed parties and ran as a Republican. As a skilled con-artist, he knew a pre-primed group of marks when he saw them. R’s have long fed their people lies (going back as far as I can document, the 1990’s), coordinated on those lies, amplified those lies in the right wing echo chamber and have a base of low-information / single issue voters who were/are ripe for accepting all kinds of criminal and unconstitutional behavior in exchange for getting what they want the most (i.e. reverse Roe v Wade, support gun rights, stop immigration, go down the list of Trump talking points) He knows that if you promise to give people the thing they want most and affirm their false fears, he “…could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
The 70s and 80s. Milton Friedman. Reagan. Koch Brothers and Business Roundtable and ALEC, not to mention dozens of “think tanks”. Talk about a conspiracy…that’s a real one.
There is a long lineage reaching back to Newt Gingrich/Grover Norquist/Ronald Reagan that subverted the governing and electoral process. Before that politics was a ‘gentleman’s armchair sport’. Before then, the opposing parties had drinks together, they all lived in the DC suburbs if not in town proper and socialized across the aisle.
The opponent was not the enemy.
Newt and company rewrote the rules and made it a scorched and salted earth blood sport and we are suffering the consequences.
Aided and abetted by a whole conservative media ecosystem, starting with Fox, think tanks, AEI, and vicious, inflammatory shock radio.
Rush got in there long before Fox, etc.
They still think that we should be nice to them.
They’re not the party of law’n’order – they’ve demonstrated that quite thoroughly in the last two months. They aren’t the party of family values – they’ve demonstrated that with the border camps and the lack of funding for people suffering during the pandemic. And they sure aren’t the part of morals. If they had any, we wouldn’t be in this situation, because they’d have tossed Newt on his well-padded rear.
Republican grievance politics dates back to at least the Carter administration. They still vilify him even as he spends his last breaths helping others. Republicans feelings were hurt by regulators in his administration who actually tried to enforce laws passed largely in the Nixon era.
That was effectively the end of 40 years of democratic majority rule in Congess.
This.
So says my emotional, enraged self.
On the other hand, Democrats should be coldly clear-eyed and willing to make alliances, however temporary, with any Republicans who will help them hold the sedition caucus accountable. Once this rebellion is thoroughly quashed we can shout loudly about how it was enabled – even encouraged – by the entire Republican Party. No one who didn’t condemn the birthers, and tea partiers who terrorized health care town halls (not to mention the militia movements of the 90’s), has an ounce of credibility if they proclaim shock and dismay at what happened last week.
There is a reason I’m not a politician! :-)
Btw, let’s remember what the vote for impeachment last year looked like. No one who didn’t vote to impeach has any right to disclaim responsibility for this.
What we get wrong about the Southern strategy
It took much longer — and went much further — than we think.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/07/26/what-we-get-wrong-about-southern-strategy/ Angie Maxwell July 26, 2019
[Angie Maxwell is the Diane D. Blair Endowed Chair in Southern studies, and associate professor of political science at the University of Arkansas. She is coauthor of “The Long Southern Strategy.”] [I added the numbers]
Very concise description of the situation. The issue I have is that “Trump has wielded the GOP’s Southern playbook with precision…”. This is the man who thought Fredrick Douglas was still alive. This is the man who thought shining a bright light inside the body might kill the Covid virus.
There is no way that he is informed about the Southern Strategy of the Republican party and knew to hire Manafort. He has been a willing and useful tool for, whom ? I want to know who has Trumps play book. Rupert Murdoch ? The Kochs ? Sheldon Adelson ?
He is not analytical enough to have done this himself.
Yes. Someone chose Trump because they KNEW how he would act.
I think Roger Stone is probably involved.
“I want to know who has Trumps playbook”
Answer: Anyone who has read “Mein Kampf” and studies the rise and fall of the Third Reich
I’d look to that book on Trmp’s old bedside table, the speeches of Adoft Hitler, first rather than Mein Kampf.
Molly, you might want to check this out, and Happy New Moon! I would like to share an interesting nugget I ran across. I read an astrological blog. It is not a stupid commercial horoscope, but a very intelligent one written by a scholarly woman with a great heart. And before anyone blows this off while considering themselves a Christian, ask yourself, “Who were those wise men at his birth?” Here’s the web site:
http://wisdom-of-astrology.blogspot.com/
Read about steve bannon, how interesting! Nancy reagan anyone?
An oh yeah, if you need a break from the shit show, may I suggest a wonderful new book, The Once and Future Witches, by Alex Harrow. Belly laughing involved!
And I know I said I wouldn’t do it, but I feel compelled;
I don’t want to be dominated, but slicing the sword back the other way I don’t want to dominate. I want true balance for all. Learn to balance yourselves so we can balance our world together.
Come to think of it q may very well be steve bannon.
What about Michael Flynn? Among the “brains” behind the riot he seems to be the most qualified in terms of military training and expertise to organize an insurrection like we saw on January 6, 2021 on US Capitol.
25th Amendment debate in the House is live now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8MtrGk6uHk&ab_channel=PBSNewsHour
Thought this was an interesting article, it traces the roots of Josh Hawley’s rage. From the New York times by Kathryn Stewart.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/opinion/josh-hawley-religion-democracy.html
Thanks for sharing that. It was very educational. It would seem that the GOP has been hijacked by extreme Christianity, from Opus Dei Barr to mega churches to pentecostalists.
Isn’t it amazing that this country was initially propagated by people seeking religious freedom?
I also find it ironic that the frothy right is always so hysterical about the coming of Sharia Law, when they are the ones always looking to mold this country in the dictates of their own religions. Their very own Western Sharia.
Mistreatment of children and animals is my greatest hatred. After that is hypocrisy.
IMHO the real elephant in the room, the marriage of politics and religion, and it’s not about being kind and generous to your neighbor, living an ethical life, it’s about control and power. The other point I would make is if you are not particularly religious, or more mainstream religious, it all goes on in the background, you are unaware of it.
This just in from the Supreme Court. Slowly but surely.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics/supreme-court-medication-abortion/index.html
I left a comment above that’s also related to this conversation.
It’s an excerpt of a WaPo opinion piece:
What we get wrong about the Southern strategy:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/01/12/liz-babydick-cheney-will-vote-to-impeach/#comment-876383
Thanks read it, agree completely, the 2005 book by Kevin Phillips “American Theocracy” in its sections on “Church State and National Decline” says much the same.
Also, Jeff Sharlet’s “The Family”.
We were initially colonized by folks seeking freedom for their religion, or ways to get rich quick, or both. La plus ça change…
What we now call the US was initially colonized by two separate groups of mainly British settlers with two very different goals: the Massachusetts Bay puritans and the Virginia profiteers. In the 1600s these might as well have been two incipient nations. While the puritans struggled to survive and eventually saw their Calvinist principles degrade as a second and third generation found a foothold, the Virginians (speaking broadly, since at that time this included the Carolinas) were starting to thrive, and although they certainly considered themselves Christians their affiliation was not central to their mission and those among the nascent upper class treated it casually. I find it ironic in the extreme to witness how the Grace-not-Works theology (the “chosen,” meant literally) has become the underpinning for a movement led by sanctimonious men like Hawley whose only service is to those like him, and those who can help him. It should also be noted that their 21st century version of this bleeds into the overt philosophy of white nationalist groups like Proud Boys in its insistence on “women’s place” being strictly domestic. They won’t tell you this in so many words; their policies say it for them.
Some of them were only interested in freedom for *their* religion. Including the much-worshiped Pilgrims, who were kicked out of Holland for being religious bigots.
The enemy of my enemies…..
It works both ways. Nevertheless, synergies of the moment is an opportunity for possible healings between the PEOPLES.
It is far better build honest alliances between the non-hysterical GOP members and the Democratic Party. We can separate the sane from the fundamentally inclined. A third party will hopefully form.
Too many of them were willing to let him stay a year ago. I’m not ready to make nice with a party that has been getting more and more extreme over the last 40 years.
Nope, not ready to make nice.
There is nothing to make nice over. The GOP is unchanged and ready to install the next demagogue who wants to pick up the Confederate flag to lead the teeming Trump hordes.
To think that the behavior that is possibly going to lead to Trump’s removal from office is altruistic is laughable. This only clears up the very messy spill on aisle (Jan) 6 in order to clear the deck for the next candidate.
People always talk about “lessons learned”, but they rarely are.
SEE: Susan Collins
Heh, “It was the Iranians!!”
I’ve been saying this since Wednesday at curfew. Getting rid of Trump is of much more benefit to the GOP than it is to the Dems. The Dems get almost nothing out of it at all. Stevens in the Times says it today. He’s toast, and as long as he sticks around, any 2004 GOP hopeful is screwed. They desperately need a deal. All McConnell wants is his majority back in 2022 and he’ll sell anyone out to get it. Purge the traitors now.
Welp.
Mitch may have misunderestimated just how severely multinationals are pissed about his accommodationist bullshit with Trump, Hawley, Cruz, et al. The chaos in DC is making the US look like some failing state with barbarians storming the gates. I’d be surprised if anyone with functioning brain cells and overseas investments (apart from China) is likely to forget Mitch’s role in enabling Trump.
Also, Sheldon Adelson, who with his wife gave in the range of half a b-b-b-illion to the GOP and helped Mitch try to hold the senate in Nov 2020, died today.
Yes, I’ve had my red sequined dress power washed just for the occasion of dancing the hoochie-koochie at Shelly’s shevah.
There are many, many more GOPers on that list. Graham, Johnson, McCarthy, Scalise, Nunes, Grassley, Rubio, Scott, Lee, Gaetz, Gohmert, Jordan…. Just to name a few.
HR 38 just passed 222-207. But Mike Pence is currently standing with his man. (What an awkward position to be in)
Sorry, I couldn’t resist! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2KP9fYZUWA
omg
~~~~~~
I have popehat’s kitten (a “carbon copy” — tiny female) so I’m gonna go hug her now.
There may well be remnants of the Republican Party of yore. If so, Mitch McConnell is not one of them. Mitch is of the party of Dixiecrats who co-opted the Republican Party of yore consequent its Southern Strategy. It is important to distinguish that the Dixiecrats didn’t join the Republican Party, they didn’t become Republicans; they became the Republican Party.
The shock on Mitch’s face last Wed Eve was a realization of what he had wrought, and that Mitt Romney was now the leader of the Party. Because? Because Mitch is unfit, always was. Mitch, born and raised in Alabama until teenage, is the Southern Strategy personified. He cannot change. His is the world of economic servitude, control of the vote, …, extortion of the Yankees.
Cheney may well aspire to be the leader, probably is, in WY, but if there is to be a reformation, Liz won’t be leading it; Mitt will.
Materials in Support of House Res. 24 in honor of the High Criminal:
https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/house_judiciary_committee_report_-_materials_in_support_of_h._res._24.pdf
CSPAN: “House Impeachment Managers: @RepRaskin @RepDianaDeGette @RepCicilline @JoaquinCastrotx @RepSwalwell @RepTedLieu @StaceyPlaskett @RepJoeNeguse @RepDean [photo]”
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1349180005545340928
9:22 PM · Jan 12, 2021
Putting that together with Dick Cheney possibly being in a lead role to put together that letter from ALL living Sec Def’s basically signaling the military to avoid supporting Trump, or possibly any of his commands, gives one pause.
For anyone missing Trump tweets, I give you C-Span PDFs: http://static.c-spanvideo.org/files/pressCenter/Statement_from_President.pdf
Somehow I doubt they have the same reach…
I think abstaining from the use of a specific epithet to achieve an emphatic renunciation of the Trump stain on America is a pretty good deal.
I always appreciate a good spoonerism/euphemism/portmanteau word … got any in mind?
The season is still young.
not what you wanted, but Trump stepped on his own dick (possibly wearing his golf shoes). And, given how small it is, he probably had to bend over quite a bit
Not possible.
Too much gut in the way.
“. . . an emphatic renunciation of the Trump stain on America . . .”
“. . . a good spoonerism/euphemism/portmanteau . . .”
fogdart
[technically a noosperism, especially when used in a sentence]:
Troopers in The Cosplay Army shoot fogdarts out both ends of their alimentary canals.
A tweet about this story sits atop Marcy’s twitter feed:
Mastriano campaign spent thousands on buses ahead of insurrection
https://whyy.org/articles/mastriano-campaign-spent-thousands-on-buses-ahead-of-d-c-insurrection/
It’s about the bumblefucks in Pennsylvania. Bumblefucking. The titular fucker, State Sen. and would-be-gov Mastriano, hosted the sham “hearing” at Gettysburg with Rudy, Jenna, and Trump via phone; drove to DC after to meet with Trump, but was ejected from the contingent due to his hot case of COVID; he’s since been a regular on the nutter shows, etc. His campaign spent over 3k on buses, advertised seats as $25 per adult *and $10 per child* (yikes, I hope none attended). Three additional points of note:
(1) Article also details how misc. county GOP offices hired buses. But one affiliate had a change of heart:
Emphasis added on the CYA forethought; gee I wonder where they got that info and why everyone else didn’t act on same.
(2) One of the reporters on this WHYY story, Ryan Briggs, was brutally assaulted this summer by white vigilantes who roamed the streets of Fishtown (NE Philly) after curfew with police assent; they were “protecting their neighborhood” in anticipation of BLM protesters and dangerous reporters. I linked his thread here at the time, if I could ever find it … the photos are alarming.
(2.5) Four Seasons Total Landscaping is on the margins of the River Wards not far from this location, aka Trump country. Which is why Lewandowski selected it as the site for Rudy’s “rigged election” press conference the day after PA, and the EC, were declared for Biden.
(3) Recursive, recursive: we saw the insurrection coming — watched all pieces of incitement — all along.
Eureka, thanks for paying such close attention to what’s going on in our uncommon Commonwealth. Honestly, I just can’t bring myself to follow most of it; it’s too disturbing.
That said, I was at least proud to listen to Rep. Conor Lamb’s remarks during the objection fight last week, all the more so because he would have been my congressperson had I not moved to Philadelphia from Allegheny County. At least there’s some good judgment at the physical margins of Pennsylvania, if not in the middle.
Please keep tracking these Nutsylvanians, and thanks for having the stomach to do so.
The Whiskey Rebellion never died in Pennsylvania.
Where’s Major General Dan Morgan when you need him?
Thanks for the kind comment, Yinzer. Funny you mention stomach, as I have paid attention due mostly to a constant pit that these events would render themselves of national importance (Trump and his ilk telegraph pretty clearly), then ramify and curl back into our more immediate cesspools. And still there are too many balls to watch.
Lamb was great and I’m glad he’s stepping into a more prominent role of late.
I have to issue a correction: the press person savagely beaten by white mobs roving the streets with weapons after curfew with the assent and at times pleasure of the police was WHYY producer Jon Ehrens. [I was following Briggs that night and 2020-deprived synapses take a bit longer to complete their circuits.] I regret the error and the chronic lack of boundaries and accountability for violent mobs everywhere.
Jon Ehrens (Repelican with Friends 2/5/21!!): “I got called out for recording them and they beat the shit out of me and pushed my girlfriend [photo]” [thread w video]
https://twitter.com/jwehrens/status/1267621976379740170
9:00 PM · Jun 1, 2020
The Republicans had the opportunity to previously impeach Trump. . Had he been impeached back then we most likely would not have had 6 Jan. All of those Republicans who didn’t vote to impeach Trump the first time are as guilty as the “6”, for what happened on 6 Jan. They all bear responsibility as do all the financial contributors. It is rather amusing Adelson died right after all of this seditious activity. He financed a lot of it, in one way or another.
As to Liz Cheny, she may vote to impeach this time, but I’d never trust her. She maybe useful on this one item, but in my opinion, she has an agenda and what she has written is simply to put her in the best possible light. Watch her run for the Presidential nomination of the Republican party next time round. she will have gotten rid of a whole lot of competition and she’ll have had the help of the Democrats. Mom always said a leopard doesn’t change its spots.
Congw Cheney is a hard fighter. But its time to win this vote and contest other issues later. There will be other issues to argue about.
Dr. emptywheel: you made a commitment and just stick to it. It’s not like she will not do something in the future to warrant a new nickname.
reboot: BabyDick 2.0
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pompeo-cancels-europe-trip-after-eu-officials-too-embarrassed-to-meet-with-him-report-says
State Department announced the cancellation of all travel plans for this week, Reuters reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had effectively been disinvited from his final overseas meetings. The State Department leader was supposed to meet with European leaders in Luxembourg and Brussels on a trip this week, but ultimately the EU leaders refused his requests for appointments. A source told Reuters that the U.S. allies were “embarrassed” by Pompeo’s support for President Trump after he incited a violent riot at the Capitol last week. Luxembourg politician and NATO ally Jean Asselborn, whom Pompeo had attempted to schedule a meeting with on the trip, called President Trump a “criminal” during a radio appearance the day after the Capitol riot.
Mike Pompeo is a special kind of seditious.
From Wikipedia: In 1998, Pompeo moved to Wichita, Kansas, where he and three other West Point friends, Brian Bulatao, Ulrich Brechbuhl, and Michael Stradinger, acquired three aircraft-part manufacturers there (Aero Machine, Precision Profiling, B&B Machine) and in St. Louis (Advance Tool & Die), renaming the entity Thayer Aerospace after West Point superintendent Sylvanus Thayer.[25][26][27] Venture funding for the private organization included a nearly 20% investment from Koch Industries [4] as well as Dallas-based Cardinal Investment, and Bain & Company (Brechbuhl worked for Bain at the time).[28][25] Brechbuhl and Stradinger left the company shortly after it was founded, but Pompeo and Bulatao continued.
In 2006, he sold his interest in the company, which by then had been renamed Nex-Tech Aerospace, to Highland Capital Management, which had clients including Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream Aerospace, Cessna Aircraft, Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems and Raytheon Aircraft.[29] Pompeo then became president of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturer that was also a partner of Koch Industries.[30]
In 2017, when Pompeo became head of the CIA, he named his former business partner, Brian Bulatao, the agency’s chief operating officer.[26]
Why not “Babydick (who says she’ll vote to impeach)”?
Hang a Louie on McConnell.
BMAZ is correct. We are being played.
May the gods cast spells and curses on all Republicans!
Do not believe the Sirens beguiling songs.
As Charlie Pierce notes “Liz Cheney is still the spawn of Satan.”
The ones who talk about “unity” and “healing” – those are the ones who are not to be trusted. Notice how many of them were pushing the “stolen election” lies.
It’s galling to listen to them cry about the need for unity when THEY HAVE BEEN ENABLING THIS FRAUD SINCE AT LEAST NOV 3, if not since the 2016 election. Makes my blood boil.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill [D-NJ-11]
[Annapolis grad, former Navy pilot, former prosecutor, Armed Services Committee]
https://twitter.com/johnkruzel/status/1349198860573421568
10:37 PM · Jan 12, 2021
Transcript: [I don’t think this is the whole announcement]
Remember what Whip Clyburn said the other day:
“Something Else Is Going On”: James Clyburn Asks How Rioters Found Out The Location Of His Office
https://www.siriusxm.com/clips/clip/0469a9b1-fd7d-4257-ab28-f76acc8fa2aa/58377517-3602-40f9-822a-81dd774d84fb
JAN 8, 2021
These are the Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee https://armedservices.house.gov/meet-our-members. [Asterisks denote those 13/26 [!!] who voted to overturn the election results AFTER the insurrection]:
Mac Thornberry [ranking]; Joe Wilson*; Rob Bishop; Michael Turner, Mike Rogers*, K. Michael Conaway; Doug Lamborn*; Robert Wittman*; Vicky Hartzler*; Austin Scott; Mo Brooks*; Paul Cook; Bradley Byrne; Sam Graves*; Elise Stefanik*; Scott DesJarlais*; Ralph Abraham; Trent Kelly*; Mike Gallagher; Matt Gaetz*; Don Bacon; Jim Banks*; Liz Cheney; Paul Mitchell; Jack Bergman*; Michael Waltz
https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1349064363500589058
1:43 PM · Jan 12, 2021
UPDATE:
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1349446721718378506
3:02 PM · Jan 13, 2021
Added: ALL of the officials the letter is addressed to are ACTING!
[2 Seargent at Arms, and CP Chief]
A sentence from the letter:
Reminded me of this from 1/7/21:
https://twitter.com/AricToler/status/1347558296052498432
9:58 AM · Jan 8, 2021
Given the wording of Liz Cheney’s announcement, plus Mikey Sherrill’s comments, plus the “New Abnormal” podcast of Jan 11 (Rick Wilson & Molly Jong Fast), at around min 10 of that podcast episode, Wilson attributes some of the organization/backing to the Republican Atty Gen Assn.
**If** true, this is very, very dark.
That group is dreaded for a number of things, including links to K-k-karl Rove, as well as the fact that it has a pool of Dark Money.
If that is in any way true, then it suggests that GOP AG’s are a problem.
If I heard incorrectly, feel free to correct!
Oh, it is true.
Holy hell…!
So a quick google search turns up a map of GOP AGs, which includes (as expected) most of Pipelinestan, most of the Old Confederacy, and Alaska (i.e., Northern Pipelinestan): https://republicanags.com
guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/11/republican-attorneys-general-association-robocall-capitol
– re: RAGA behind robocalls urging people to join the insurrection on 6 Jan:
Houston Chronicle,
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/texas-ag-ken-paxton-declines-to-join-50-attorneys-general-in-condemning-capitol-riot/ar-BB1cJ693
“Texas AG Ken Paxton declines to join 50 attorneys general in condemning capital riot”
Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-08/republican-ags-group-disavows-staff-ties-to-pre-riot-march
“Republican AGs Deny Backing D.C. Rally That Led to Riot”
This one is amazing – and I’m only spotting it now:
https://documented.net/2021/01/republican-attorneys-general-dark-money-group-organized-protest-preceding-capitol-mob-attack/
Oh…My…God…
Apologies for the number of links, but I had not seen this info at EW previously, nor at the main NYT or WaPo that I breeze through.
Seems important.
Hence, the links…
Each day, the gravity of all this seems heavier.
And now, looking back, fretting about the Federalist Society almost seems quaint…
!!!
https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1349372058237546496
10:05 AM · Jan 13, 2021
[First question: “What’s the floorplan?”]
WOW! I don’t have time ight now to transcribe this, but…wow!
I do not have faith in the integrity of the agencies charged with insuring the safety of the inauguration. I think that there are bad actors in all of the divisions who will be participating.
There is no other reason for the Joint Chiefs to have released the highly unusual statement defending the Constitution, the Constitutional process, the validity of Joe Biden’s Presidency and role as Commander in Chief then that they have doubts about the commitment of their troops also.
This is going to be a very long seven days. I wish I was sleeping better.
If it helps, you’re not alone.
This is going to be a long seven days indeed. Remember that all the German wheelers and dealers like the Krupps, threw in with Hitler in the late 20’s and early 30’s thinking that they could control him and that most of ’em survived the fall albeit in Argentina or wherever. The playbook has been handed down from generation to generation like a family heirloom.
Yes, this is a real concern. We know that there are right-wing extremists in law enforcement and the military. We do not (yet) know just how many or, more important, to what degree they are an organized cabal preparing for coordinated action. The recent revelations in Germany are disturbing in this regard. That being said, I would be very surprised (not to mention doomed to either live out my remaining years under a fascist regime or die on some hopeless barricade) if such plotters were able to subvert the protections ordered for the presidential transition. That would necessitate overcoming the loyal soldiers and police, who surely outnumber the plotters by a wide margin. The only avenue to possible success would be for a mid-level commander who happened to be placed in charge of a key position to order his/her troops out of position while a team of assassins passed. That could happen, in theory, but would require a lot of luck as well as better planning than what we’ve seen so far…
The problem with focusing on the transition, by which I’m assuming you mean the inauguration, is that the plotters I’m watching have mostly decided to eschew that event (aside from a few ‘joking’ about “mooning” the parade route). They intend to use it as a decoy while they target, instead, state offices that won’t be as well-protected. I dread the prospect of hearing law enforcement once again declaring themselves “surprised” by attacks being mulled in plain sight.
“That gives Dems an opportunity to demand the purge of insurrectionists like Mo Brooks, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Boebert, Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Tommy Tuberville” — Love to see it; don’t believe any GOP rep or senator will be purged unless hard evidence emerges that shows him/her to be involved in planning or carrying out the insurrection. I have also been doubtful about a coming split of the GOP. They all tend to fall in line. That said, if corporate backers really do opt out for the long term, the GOP is stuck with a rabid base that, in my view, does NOT have the ability to raise the kind of campaign cash democrats have been raising from small donors lately. Too soon to say though.
Zirc
Remember that the issue is not just what they did — it is where they are headed.
McConnell and Dick Cheney (who is likely a source of info for Liz, and has been sounding his own alarms) are plugged into a higher level of information than most members of Congress, and are far more adept than most at thinking beyond a two week time frame.
It is very possible don’t see a failed plot, they see an ongoing one. It may make more sense to look at moves in January as related to putting down an ongoing insurgency rather than a simple cleanup operation.
Some of the Trump backers in Congress are just stupid or weak, and will float back to the traditional awful GOP agenda if Trumpism can be smothered. But I think the inertia and surrounding networks are too strong for others, and it is only a matter of time before they shatter House rules and openly break laws. Maybe a matter of days or hours.
It is possible the establishment GOP leaders want to be clear when that happens.
The #1 comment on Tom Friedman’s opinion piece in the NYT, Author: Socrates, Downtown Verona, NJ:
The runaway Republican freight train is not a recent Trumpian phenomenon.
I am not a fan of Friedman, but Socrates said it better than I could. S/He points out what I believe to be our main problem, the “right wing oligarchs built a massive disinformation and misinformation propaganda industrial complex and echo chamber that has largely disemboweled the average American’s ability to see objective reality.”
We need to find a way to deconstruct this.
I have a stupid question. Is “Eureka” who often comments here the same person formerly known as “Eureka Springs” from firedoglake?
Nope.
ES was here for a while, then disappeared.
> Dems need to realize the GOP wants to be purged of Trumpism
Purging of Trumpism… maybe that’s all too modest.
AOC now said she thinks the attack on the Capitol was also enabled by inside jobs. Both lawmakers and members of the security force may have been part of the conspiracy, including necessary leadership and organization from White House staff. Given how successful this all was, and Trump’s criminal energy, that’s probably correct. That implies a very detailed and elaborate planning of the whole operation and the Trump administration has had four year to purge and bribe, to be able to pull this off.
Impeachment should definitely go forward, not (just) for the outcome to impeach Trump, but to investigate this special op. Since it’s hard to keep secrets in groups of 50, or 100, or more people, there could emerge very detailed results how the details of this assault were planned and who was involved. The outcome might be that this was not just a ‘symbolic’ coup attempt, but an actual, real coup attempt, with all the consequences for the people involved.
So, the GOP should not only wish to get rid of Trumpism, but members should run, run, run, to avoid being complicit in high crimes and casualties.
“AOC now said she thinks the attack on the Capitol was also enabled by inside jobs. Both lawmakers and members of the security force may have been part of the conspiracy, including necessary leadership and organization from White House staff. …. that implies a very detailed and elaborate planning of the whole operation”
I’m sure there was some degree of enabling, though a few sympathetic people giving assistance at certain key points or just standing aside could result in what happened, once a large mob stormed an inadequately defended building.
Perhaps there was an “elaborately planned conspiracy” but I think more evidence is needed before that conclusion is reached.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/13/aoc-capitol-mob-republicans-death/
That’s the source of information I am referring to. Trump and his allies want everyone to believe that is was just the “angry people” that came over them. But like the Georgia events show, Trump is in fact taking to the phone and telling people (election officials) in very detailed ways what he wants them to do. But it only comes out every now and then, the tip of the iceberg, I’d guess. Is such an epic security failure really thinkable, just by accident, misunderstandings and so on?
Yes, there is more evidence needed…that looks really like something for Bellingcat (if part of the security apparatus is already compromised). Who was where, when, who met the days and weeks before it happened. Did they have contact to the foot soldiers, e.g. via Parler? Those who voted against the certification in the House, especially those who also allegedly took visitors through the building, that were later part of the storm on their ‘reconnaissance’ trips, are good starting points.
To be clear, I’ve no doubt that Trump and his cronies planned for chaos, because the “stop the steal” narrative had no possible off-ramp. But I hesitate at a carefully planned conspiracy involving a focused outcome.
“But I hesitate….”
Rather, this attack on America was a sloppily planned conspiracy with a maleably vague intended authoritarian outcome.
We are fortunate indeed that the organizers from Trump on down are unable to plan more thoughtfully. A better organized effort would have succeeded.
Instead of fussing over arcane congressional process now, we’d be huddled behind barricades ourselves with the whole of Congress hostage and quite possibly Pence, Pelosi, Grassley and Harris dead and Biden on the run while Trump, standing alone, no successor apparent, starts rounding up adversaries by the thousands under suspension of habeas corpus.
The Trump gang’s fundamental incoherence has been the salvation of our country. A next attempt, by competent seditionists, and we might not be as fortunate.
I can’t decide how I want to react to your skepticism in the face of mounting evidence there were plans but they failed only because of disorganization, lack of practice, and dumb luck in the form of a couple of brave Capitol Police.
The planning was there, just not as well fleshed out as the plans to kidnap, try, and execute Michigan’s Gov. Whitmer.
still want to know where is gen flynn, and why we do not have a form of pre-emptive custody for a situation like this.
What?? There is no such thing as “pre-emptive custody”. That is far beyond Orwellian and straight into Minority Report dystopia. You have to be kidding me.
This is a common refrain, but let us remember that the Bletchley Park secret was kept by 10,000 people for 30 years. If people believe in a cause, they can keep secrets. Absence of leaks is not, by itself, evidence of anything.
The enforcement mechanism there and in places like Oak Ridge Tennessee were still in place. After Trump that has a chance to stop, if leaders insist on breaking down the enforcers, which of course is a big if.
Organized crime has historically been full of leakers. Sometimes people like Henry Hill help make big arrests. Other times you get situations like Whitey Bulger who was a bogus informer who just played with his FBI handlers.
Our institutions have been in a situation like the FBI in the 50s which had an institutional denial of organized crime except for token cases. I think attitudes toward the fascists are changing, although whether the change will go far enough is very much up in the air.
People take secret clearances seriously, because they come with *legal* penalties, starting with losing your job (and that clearance). I grew up in one of those high-security areas, and the one question no one asked, when we were kids, was “what does your father do?”, because you wouldn’t get an answer that was more than general information. (All I know about what my father did was from reading his resume and the stuff he *could* talk about.)
They didn’t need secrecy. They did it all out in the open because the participants absolutely believed the conspiracy theory that the election was rigged; they absolutely believed they were in the right and nothing would stop them.
And they absolutely believed in the authority and power of their whiteness — out of an estimated 8000, only one was hurt by law enforcement. Compare that to any of the hundreds of post-Floyd murder-by-cop/BLM protest this year, which were peaceful until the police made it otherwise.
Coup Coup Nest
A brood parasite as their prophet,
Ugly thugs did what they saw fit,
They get friggin’ hopped up off it,
Exalting in a spasmodic cough hit.
It’s always the way of the coup coup,
Nothing’s too low to stoop to,
They haven’t got a clue to
the treasured nest that they flew to.
Now we’ve all had a close sighting
of the radical red Maga right wing,
Unable to render the right thing,
Hooked by siren calls of a white wing.
Invasive species assaulted the nest,
In a murderous, filthy slugfest,
What in these times would be best
to free us of what we detest?
Before our values further erode,
We must bare what has been sowed,
We know what our founders bestowed:
Honor for peace and a lawful code.
Some of those involved certainly had inside information – read that statement from Clyburn about his office. Read those tweets from Boebert.
It wasn’t a mob, and it wasn’t a riot; it was planned ahead. And if it had succeeded, we’d be under Trmp’s fist.
Yeah and why it didn’t succeed keeps nagging at me. According to Congressman Mahoney they got downstairs with less than a minute to spare. Somehow they locked out the really bad guys from getting down there, and remember its been reported they had the schematics and layout. One thought I’ve had is it was Trumps reluctance to make an appearance to declare himself King Donald or he was called off. They were supposed to have a hostage situation and they obviously failed at getting hostages before they were ejected from the Capital, and if they had succeeded, then Trump would make an appearance to intervene or declare himself the winner of the election.
Boeberts text about Pelosi being led out of the chamber to someone may have been the lets call it off signal, or a communication to the really bad guys that they had to up their game, though thats a long shot guess, but Trump had to be called off because he never took advantage of the opening he got and for which he urged the crowd on.
The guys who were going to tie people up and possibly kill them would have been under the control of another individual. I don’t see that being Trump. The only value to a hostage situation is to have hostages. Failing to accomplish that meant they had no purchase and the insurrection failed at that point. So back to the drawing boards and to the threats we’ve seen online and to the second nag in the back of my head, the Nashville explosion which affected communications in 4 states.
They’ve declared it a suicide and maybe it was, they have DNA evidence so it is reasonable to assume a suicide. But maybe it was a suicide test just to see what they could accomplish, a test case so to speak. A favorite terrorist tactic years ago was to leave a suitcase with a lot of explosives and a timer at a busy intersection and bam, a lot of casualties, here the guy left an RV filled with explosives, shots were fired bringing cops, recording gave 15 minutes warning to residents which the good guys were able to capitalize on to evacuate the area, meaning the bad guys did not intend to hurt anyone, but the blast had to have a purpose. It’s that purpose that nags me, is it a one off, or a test case.
I think you’re right that people inside the Capitol were waiting for a signal. A lot were people who had bought into the crazy QAnon narrative, and thus were waiting for the promised signal from Trump. But I don’t think Trump was coordinating with the Q crowd, though he was urging them on.
Yeah the crowd was cover, I think you’re correct about that, the real bad guys who were interspersed in the crowd and in some cases leading it on were in communication with the individual who called it off, possibly Miller or Kushner, or someone whom we have no knowledge of. I still think there was an on site commander who was the other link.
I wasn’t saying the crowd was cover.
Sorry I am, cover for the real bad guys.
I misread Trump for several years, thinking he has dementia. It is possible that he does, but if you listen to that tape of him talking to the Georgia Elections official, there is purposeful, amoral, insistent, language.
There has been purpose for months, but what we don’t yet know is the extent to which Roger Stone and his ilk were involved in the Capitol incident. Or Erik Prince.
But over the past few months, we’ve seen:
— court cases seeking to overturn the election, all of which Trump/GOP lost,
— repeated badgering of election officials and state officials to overturn election results, conducted by Trump himself,
— tweet, after tweet…
and when none of that worked, we watched what appears to have been some kind of paramilitary operation to take key legislators hostage, with a group of Qanon and Trumpers riled up in a swarm to camouflage the paramilitary action.
Honestly, some of those videos could be from Ukraine, and it wouldn’t have been beyond belief if ‘little green men’ had been planting pipe bombs.
It’s a fair guess that the people bleating loudest for kumbaya and ‘forgive and move on’ are the most complicit.
There’s no way this was simply some kind of riot.
I’m extremely curious about cell phone data, and Kushner, Miller, and Trump’s phones all need to be in the care of the FBI.
I think that Trmp might have shown up, after a few people were executed. I don’t know that they would have hanged more than Pence, because they had firearms and probably knives, and wanted to make examples of people they were told to hate. The missing panic buttons in Pressley’s office weren’t accidental, either.
Kevin McCarthy is an empty space where a congressional leader should be, and his weakness has given free rein to the crazies, whether they’re idiots and bigots (Gohmert, Biggs, Brooks), performance artists (Gaetz, Jordan), and now the next generation of seditionists (Greene, Boebert)*. Next in line is Scalise, who remains David Duke without the baggage. Only then do you get to Cheney, and perhaps former leadership people like Patrick McHenry — who notably voted to certify the EC votes. So I’m not sure if there’s enough pieces of a corporatist party left on the floor of the House to rebuild it, even once the fear and stench has lifted.
* I don’t know how to classify Cawthorn. There’s the base-level stuff: the embellished bio, the sexual assault allegations, the statue-avi-guy stuff. But there’s also the sense that he doesn’t have opinions of his own, and is just a vessel for whoever’s in his proximity. Honestly better to get him out of there before people like Gaetz and broader the right-wing media ecosystem tell him who he needs to be.
Jordan is already calling for Cheney’s removal from her post, and odds are they will spike her at the next opportunity.
It will be interesting to see if they go after McCarthy too for declining to whip the vote, and if an amnesty vote is on the table for rank and file who cross the aisle, or if there is a purge.
Rep. Gym Jordan is a dork, a hypocrite, and a liar of Trumpian proportions. The GOP claim that Trump advocated for peaceful protest is like Lt. Kendrick claiming that he specifically ordered those men NOT to give Private Santiago a Code Red. The timing of this impeachment is entirely appropriate, as it is in direct response to an unprecedented assault on the legislative branch last week.
Republicans have supported Trump without fail, qualm, or hesitation, regardless of what he does, regardless of his aims or his level of violence. Even now they support him, barring a few exceptions that are happily growing in number.
Given the events that have occurred since the last impeachment – and because the failure to convict and remove Trump from office – that the GOP leadersheep have not changed its tune demonstrates why Trump should be removed and why more than a few of the GOP should be ejected from the House and Senate.
Glad to see that you are back, earlofhuntingdon. I hope you are okay and that nothing awful has kept you away.
A-OK, other than having to wade through more Trump and GOP gobshite.
Whew. Thanks for responding. In times like these it’s easy to imagine the worst.
Your voice has been missed here.
Yes. I wrote just yesterday (not here on EW but in my personal journal) about how you are one of the cherished people who got me through the past year. I’m so glad to see you back!
Thank you both. Commenting here is my avocation.
I’m glad to see you, too. T’was a comment the other day where my reaction was [oh boy], this is one for earl to handle. We all have our gifts and yours are appreciated even in absence.
The gobshite — epic.
^ by that I meant escape from gobshite(ry) (is / to be an epic tale)… Anyway, sláinte!
Every Emptywheeler should go read the post up on KOS on AOC’s hour long Instagram video. I’m not certain that the troops will stay in the barracks folks.
Here is that video:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CJ-OkgNAO1N/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
To be clear, AOC is not saying anything about the military interfering.
I want to stress that people should not assume the nutjobs will run the same playbook. What happens next time may arise in a very different form. It may take the form of individual violence or it may be designed for a more calculated political goal than a coup.
Whether the military leaves the barracks or not doesn’t matter anymore. It is clear that those that have been engineering this slow moving nightmare, those who tell the lawmakers what to do and when to do it. these folks are still in control and it is now clear that those folks are now richer and more powerful than the entire American government.
Can you clarify who these “folks” are?
Seriously dude!!
I thought we were talking specifically about what’s going on right now, my bad.
Here are the 63 billionaires who bankrolled Trmp and the Trmpublicans: https://inequality.org/great-divide/trump-many-billionaire-enablers/
Chuck Collins is a national treasure.
I do not honestly understand the statement that it doesn’t matter.
According to a Newsweek report, Rep. Ayanna Pressley – when she and her staff barricaded themselves in her office during the riot – discovered that the panic buttons had been removed.
https://www.newsweek.com/capitol-hill-riots-panic-buttons-torn-out-staffer-1561191
Very chilling
When listening to the FBI/DOJ presser yesterday, I remember one of the presenters saying people will be “shocked” by upcoming revelations associated with the 1/6 insurrection.
My thought at the time was that he might well mean information on “insider” involvement in both the planning and execution. Some of the news since then has served to reinforce my impression.
Seems the House 145 are attempting to out Trump Trump with hatred, cruelty, lies, vote stealing, and fake alternate reality. 64 lost court cases are not enough for them they have to follow some Federalist Society lawyer pipe dream that the vice president can choose which electors to count.
https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1349190676295135232
This is a really important thread about our old friend John Eastman being a major ringleader. He is lowkey missing out on more spotlight due to folks like Rudy, Powell, et al., but needs more attention. He came most strongly on the radar with his Newsweek Harris birther piece (see Rayne’s post), then filed a brief to SCOTUS on behalf of Trump to intervene in the Texas (purported pardon-beggar Paxton) vs Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin case.
Stern’s thread collects his efforts to convince Pence he could act to overturn the election, with highlights from his appearance from the incitement rally (and more).
It is nice to see that Gym Jordan found his sports coat this morning.
Yes, and wearing a mask. Although, he still yells. He has a microphone in front of him and continues to yell.
something is seriously out of kilter with Jordan; it’s not only that he can’t seem to dress himself. (Maybe he’s color blind — green tie, blue shirt??? Then you put on a jacket.)
Will this be all of us on the afternoon of January 20, 2021?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErXU5lAUcAE-8vt?format=jpg&name=small
Millie and Chester corgi
LOL! Sweet happy face.
A wish: OANN and Newsmax should be loudly voicing approval for the arrests of last week’s rioters. Some of the remaining Trump supporters suffer from serious mental illness, but the cognitive dissonance might (might) give some of them pause. I wish I had a better idea how to reach them. The website headlines right now are completely off point. I hope FBI has been on the phone asking them to join America before more people get hurt or killed. Perhaps we have developed tools, techniques, and networks to counter “Al-Qaeda-inspired,” “ISIS-inspired,” and other inspired-type attacks that can be deployed in the current situation.
Their website headlines a few minutes ago:
Lindsey Graham Warns GOP Against Supporting Impeachment
Pastor Jeffress: ‘Absolutely’ No Regrets for Support of Trump
Trump Admin: Illegal to Forgive Student Debt With Executive Action
House Approves Largely Symbolic Resolution Calling To Invoke 25th Amendment, Pence Rejects
Yes.
Many folks who are in the MAGA swamp are mentally/emotionally strained and others are, to borrow from the fundamentals, evil.
The evil ones will be harder to deal with than being stuck in the Capitol building on January 6th.
Thanks to one brave man in D.C. for getting us to this point in time.
If not for one non-white officer, we would have devolved into something far worse than this nation is at the moment. As a society, we are too soft on public corruption.
Meet the Press: “WATCH: Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) says majority of GOP “paralyzed with fear” @RepJasonCrow: “I had a lot of conversations with my Republican colleagues. … A couple of them broke down in tears … saying that they are afraid for their lives if they vote for this impeachment.” [video]”
https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1349369689227603968
9:56 AM · Jan 13, 2021
Not the first time we’ve heard of GOPers dis/misusing the powers of their offices or names to either assent to Trumpian desires or refuse to rebuke them out of fear for their lives.
“fear for their lives”, I guess they should know, right?
Here’s my reminder to all those tough, conservative Congress members who fear the monster they grew. More than 2 decades ago, I (and my family) received threats from white supremacists and their militia. I also encountered physical, psychological, and emotional abuse from government officials who refused to do the right things (including “Ginni Thomas” equivalents.) I lost a critical body organ because of their evil behavior.
After finally prevailing in my pursuit of justice, one day the mayor visited our work site. I walked up to him and said, “God knows what happened. God knows the truth and will act accordingly.” His jaw almost fell to the floor. I wasn’t then, nor am I now a religious person. But I do have very strong spiritual beliefs, like many others who don’t subscribe to any individual religion. The mayor, though, was Catholic. Sometimes I wonder what he really thought about how things went down.
Now here we are, more than 2 decades later and God is singing that campfire song:
“Same song, second verse,
a little bit louder, a little bit worse”
So, as you can see, I survived the vicious threats and abuse. And even if I had not, I am convinced the things I did would still have been the right things to do. The right things to do. Do the right things for humanity and for the country. Or else, Congress members, go get yourselves other jobs where courage and abiding by laws are not required.
Twas ever thus, SL. Sometimes my only means of self-soothing is to remember that they have to live with themselves. For their whole lives. And on some level, they have to know what they did.
Ha, yes! And they have to know that others know and remember, too. I’ve outlived a few of them. So, there’s that, too.
Welp, I’ve been reflecting lately on how white supremacists (and -cy) have adversely impacted my life — current events will spur those flashbacks occasionally, but this is really the whole enchilada / state of our nation as an ideal structure at stake so memories heighten. I’m glad you each take some relational comfort, but all I’ve got is knowing I’ve done the right things (in other words I am having a hard time believing that these people ever give pause to what they’ve done, because sociopaths. There are also the ways people impact others’ lives without ever knowing, and I daresay most playing these parlor games would never try to know. But that’s just my mood).
One satisfying thought: some of the Capitol bunglers have exposed on a grand scale the incompetence that attends privilege — the type that women and/incl. people of color have complained about, and science has documented, wrt jobs and other gate-kept basics of life. They assumed they could do whatever, non-vigilant to fear of consequences. Being realistic, many will face none. But some of the carefree will be hoist by but-muh-social-media, my phone, my fans: How can I be famous if nobody knows!
Meet the Press Twitter: 9:56 AM · Jan 13, 2021
WATCH: Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) says majority of GOP “paralyzed with fear”
@RepJasonCrow: “I had a lot of conversations with my Republican colleagues. … A couple of them broke down in tears … saying that they are afraid for their lives if they vote for this impeachment.”
https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1349369689227603968
Freshman Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) implores the Congress to impeach the White-Supremacist-in-Chief:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_6yogKL73c&ab_channel=IndivisibleTeam
I was thinking about Daddy Dick a week ago when the police functions in the capital were tamped down, just as the intelligence mechanisms were tamped down when Daddy Dick came on the scene in January 2001. Then came 911 which justified DD’s whole life. Funny thing that. But still Liz did the right thing here.
Marcy has said that Cheney is perhaps the most skilled bureaucrat of the modern era.
Let’s assume for the moment that is apt.
If that is apt, then Cheney would have understood things about all the changes in who resigned in Nov/Dec, and who was appointed within DoD in Nov/Dec.
He would have read tea leaves that the rest of us can’t, and don’t, because he knew how things should have functioned. So he’d have seen warning signs.
Presumably, he also has contacts around the globe, so if weirdness was happening in the Middle East, or elsewhere, he may well have known what to look for.
The irony!
LBJ might wish to have a word, but Cheney is a solid nominee and, maybe, the best.
Was just looking at Dr emptywheel Twitter where Marcy noted Jim Jordan read Trump’s statement to Congress.
Occurred to me that the reason Jordan was *wearing a jacket* was due to Trump probably telling him to! (Like the water bottle on the floor — Pence.) So we can expect Jordan to be Trump’s ventriloquist dummy. A theory.
If I understand from reading here and in the media, once the articles of impeachment are passed, it is up to the House as to when they are sent to the Senate. It has been opined that it could be months down the road, and then those articles would be considered in committee prior to action by the whole Senate.
Meanwhile, it looks like DOJ and the FBI are aware of the seriousness of the crimes – not just a trespass and curfew investigation. There is a boat-load of information the FBI can collect. Could we expect warrants allowing them access to:
— Records from hotels/motels in the DC area
— Passenger manifests from airlines and Amtrak for several days before and after the 6th, along with purchase information from bus companies (scheduled and chartered), ride sharing operations, and airport shuttles
— Rental car records
— Flight plans for private or chartered aircraft
— Cell phone call records and other metadata, along with image files, voice mail, and text messages
— Banking/credit card information (follow the money)
— Social media information, including deleted postings and back-up archives
— News media audio and video
— Security camera footage
That’s a lot of information that could be sorted and cross-referenced. (It certainly will attract the attention of privacy advocates.) Is it safe to assume that much of it, possibly including the analysis of the Intel, would be available to Congress? Once Trump is out of office (with federal LEOs providing his daily security) I’d be quite happy it Dems allow some time for this to be documented through Congressional hearings and investigation, though it will surely have the many Congressional Republican enablers squirming.
A bonus will be the hobbyist criminals getting some first-person lessons in OPSEC.
Don’t forget that almost if not all of Parler has been downloaded too. Should be a lot to look at there too.
And another big mining project will be Dominion’s lawsuit. Their CEO has indicated that he isn’t looking for a settlement — he wants this stuff aired out in a public trial. There is a huge amount of B.S. that Trump’s “lawyers” have been spewing out and it will take a lot of hours to catalog, sort, and link it — and then turn it into a cohesive package.
OMG
Steny Hoyer’s closing statement is ridiculously bad!
Seriously? This is the best work Hoyer has done in many years.
I admit I wrote that early in his remarks, partly out of frustration at my impressions of him from earlier in the day. Still, I can’t imagine they couldn’t find a more eloquent speaker.
Agreed, and I have nothing for Hoyer. But that was a decent ramble.
bmaz, I agree with your initial remark: that was the best I’ve ever heard from Hoyer. I hope it serves as his valedictory. Among other reasons, it will do him justice.
Oh, like Pelosi, he should be retired. But credit where rarely due.
An 18-Year-Old Saw Her Mom, Aunt, And Uncle In DC In A Video — So She Named Them
Many families have been torn apart by politics and social unrest in the Trump era. Here’s one teen’s story
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/clarissajanlim/teen-names-mom-trump-supporter-dc
Successful cults rely for their success on sundering family members from each other. Despite his manifest failures as president and human being, Trump has achieved this abject fealty from a terrifying number of once seemingly normal adults. This tragic family story, writ large, will survive his presidency. For how long? And will they switch affiliation (to “Q,” say) over time? Those of us who study cults have been watching this evolve. If I said we (I) had answers about the future, I’d be lying.
Isn’t there already a significant crossover between Trump and QAnon, and other myths? It’s so easy online for these to blur together.
Yes, extremely significant crossover at this point, with anti-vaxxers and wellness influencers crossing into Q/Trump territory as well. See everything on this website if you are into the weeds on this particular aspect of contemporary society:
http://conspirituality.net/
Indeed.
I’ve encountered it in the wellness space more than I even want to think about. In my experience, this is an apt observation.
Please don’t retire the homerun name of big dick toilet salesman or all bets are off