The picture of what was happening at the White House in the days before the January 6 insurrection is becoming clearer. (While we also have a decent idea of what was happening at the Department of Justice, what was happening at the Pentagon remains unclear.)
A coup is an act of war against the country. Treason, the only crime defined in the Constitution, has as an element, "making war on the United States." Someone should be making a list with every name in this article on it, and tomorrow morning at 0600, the FBI should arrest all of them - starting with Trump in Mar A Lardo, and then after a night in the DC drunk tank, they should be arraigned Monday morning, charged with Conspiracy To Commit Treason. And Senator Graham and all the rest of the traitors in Congress should be there with them.
It all came down to Pence. Imagine if Pence had gone along with the coup. Imagine if he had questioned some states’ results, suspended the vote, and thrown the election to the House. After watching Pence kowtow to Trump for four years, it’s astonishing that he told Trump no.
Lindsey Graham knew the plan before Jan 6th. So did Kevin McCarthy, and other Republican leaders. They said nothing, did nothing to stop it. They were waiting to see how it played out. They would have gone along. No wonder McCarthy didn’t want there to be a Jan 6th Commission.
And now we know why Trump refused to intervene Jan 6th, why he waited for hours before saying anything to stop the rioters. The riot was part of his strategy. He was hoping the count would be delayed long enough that it couldn’t be completed on Jan 6th.
Imagine if Trump had replaced Pence before the election with a more craven Veep - Kristi Noem, say. We’d be living today under the reign of Trump. With constant protests and riots, and the National Guard in the streets. We came closer to this than we dare think.
What's astonishing is that the players at the center of this conspiracy to overthrow the US government and usurp power from the incoming president not only feel no shame but are doubling down by ignoring subpoenas and making false claims of immunity. And, even worse, they're getting away with it. I have to wonder if there is any other country in the world where a former leader can foment an insurrection and pressure officials to lie and defy legal precedent to hold on to power and then brazenly continue to undermine the legitimacy of his successor- and face no consequences. Trump is reputed to have once said he could shoot someone in public in New York City and get away it. But that's nothing compared to what he's getting away with now.
Thank you for the timeline of how the coup was planned. Everyone of those in Congress who knew are insurrectionists and unfaithful to their oaths to uphold the Constitution. This makes my hair stand on end.
And when will they all be handcuffed, arrested, tried, and thrown in jail for life? WHEN? Each one of these traitors are still a danger to our country!
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear."
Thank you Heather for yet another excellent Letter that connects the dots. Today the Tampa Bay Times printed my letter to the editor that attempts to follow your example on a much smaller scale:
UF president needs to answer report findings | Editorial, Dec. 8
Gov. Ron DeSantis has very publicly positioned himself as the defender of our freedom to choose (anything but abortion, of course). And then he quietly takes away our access to accurate data, on which to base our choices: (1) Daily COVID updates are now weekly; (2) Location of outbreaks (schools, hospitals, nursing homes, businesses, government offices) are no longer released, even to those who work there; (3) No information is posted on the percentage of breakthrough infections; (4) No state public service announcements encouraging masks and vaccines; (5) And now state pressure on researchers and universities to destroy data that contradicts the governor and Legislature. This isn’t freedom, folks. This is the behavior of wannabe autocrats who are systematically suppressing our freedom to know, while pretending to champion it. It’s an old playbook and a very dangerous one.
I am sure this will sound somewhat pathetic compared to the well-written, articulate comments already written, but I cried while I read this post by HCR, just like I cried while I watched the news video of the insurrection on news video on January 6th. How can this happen?? How can we stop this radical right-wing takeover of our country? This isn't who we are or should be. May God bless America and bring us back to the strong nation we were and should always be. I will be actively working to support & fund voting rights to the extent that I can. We cannot let the right wing takeover in 2022 and 2024.
I think an important thing to keep in mind is the untold number of executive agency and legislative branch employees whose names we will probably never know, for whom this all was just another day at the office. Who were just beavering away at their jobs, taking care of the mundane details of overthrowing the government.
The procedural violence to regular order and institutional norms has been GOP business as usual since Newt Gingrich and is perhaps best personified by Mitch McConnell. The Republican attack on constitutional law, epitomized by the GOP insurrection on Jan 6, is not possible without an entire scaffolding propping it up. In this case, the entire apparatus of the Republican party and each person it employs.
Thank you for this clear summation of the plot to overthrow the government. We are living through an historical crisis point. May we have the will and courage to do what is necessary---the enemy has been at work for years. The Democrats and all true Patriots (not the Fake Patriots) need to get to work. Messaging by Schumer; Messaging by Pelosi; Messaging by DNC --- Absolutely.Necessary.NOW! They are failures so far. May they finally wake up before it really is too late.
California Governor Gavin Newsome pledges to use latest SCOTUS decision supported by Conservative majority to make a point showing the danger of states enacting laws to defy federal rights. If states can restrict women’s reproductive rights, then that same approach can be used to restrict the sale of assault weapons and ghost guns. Tit for tat, you reap what you sow. This was forecast to happen following SCOTUS decision this week. The dissenters to the decision predicted it, including Chief Justice Roberts.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday he will push for a new law modeled on Texas’ abortion ban that would let private citizens sue anyone who makes or sells assault weapons or ghost guns.
Newsom has excoriated the Texas law for limiting women’s access to abortion by allowing people to sue anyone who “aids or abets” one performed after about six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. Nevertheless, he said the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to let the law stay in effect while legal challenges proceed has opened an avenue for states to circumvent federal courts.
In a statement Saturday evening, Newsom pointed to a recent federal court decision to strike down California’s assault weapons ban. In his decision, a judge compared assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, language Newsom has harshly criticized.
“I am outraged by yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Texas’s ban on most abortion services to remain in place,” Newsom said. “But if states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts that compare assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, then California will use that authority to protect people’s lives, where Texas used it to put women in harm’s way.”
Newsom said he will work with his staff, the Legislature and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to craft a bill that would let citizens sue anyone who “manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts” in California. They could seek damages of at least $10,000 per violation plus costs and attorney’s fees, Newsom said.
“If the most efficient way to keep these devastating weapons off our streets is to add the threat of private lawsuits, we should do just that,” said Newsom, a longtime advocate of strict gun control laws.
California has banned the manufacture and sale of many assault-style weapons for decades. A federal judge overturned that ban in June, ruling it was unconstitutional and drawing the ire of the state's Democratic leaders by comparing the popular AR-15 rifle to a Swiss Army knife as "good for both home and battle." California's ban remained in place while the state appealed.
I have to get used to "nothing is enough". What you have written in this letter listing all the who and when and what we know so far about the coup attempt is totally damning. If this were Watergate, and there were any ethics left in the R's, this material would be enough to convict. But in a time when the same people don't believe there is a deadly pandemic raging around the world and in their own states, expecting rational responses to a coup attempt in the US is not real. Boggles the mind.
Like I have said before regarding other “Heather Letters”, the drums are rolling in the background but their tone is getting a little louder now. Methodically, the Select Committee is issuing subpoenas to TFG’s and Pence’s staff members. What did they know and when did they know that a coup was planned and who initiated it? I say grab their many passports (think Jeffrey Epstein) so they cannot leave the country via Putin-provided aircraft or submarine. Let’s see if Christopher Wray will do his job. Let’s also see if those pleading the fifth, will be held in contempt and treated to a pair of handcuffs.
A coup is an act of war against the country. Treason, the only crime defined in the Constitution, has as an element, "making war on the United States." Someone should be making a list with every name in this article on it, and tomorrow morning at 0600, the FBI should arrest all of them - starting with Trump in Mar A Lardo, and then after a night in the DC drunk tank, they should be arraigned Monday morning, charged with Conspiracy To Commit Treason. And Senator Graham and all the rest of the traitors in Congress should be there with them.
20 years in the Florence SuperMax for each.
It all came down to Pence. Imagine if Pence had gone along with the coup. Imagine if he had questioned some states’ results, suspended the vote, and thrown the election to the House. After watching Pence kowtow to Trump for four years, it’s astonishing that he told Trump no.
Lindsey Graham knew the plan before Jan 6th. So did Kevin McCarthy, and other Republican leaders. They said nothing, did nothing to stop it. They were waiting to see how it played out. They would have gone along. No wonder McCarthy didn’t want there to be a Jan 6th Commission.
And now we know why Trump refused to intervene Jan 6th, why he waited for hours before saying anything to stop the rioters. The riot was part of his strategy. He was hoping the count would be delayed long enough that it couldn’t be completed on Jan 6th.
Imagine if Trump had replaced Pence before the election with a more craven Veep - Kristi Noem, say. We’d be living today under the reign of Trump. With constant protests and riots, and the National Guard in the streets. We came closer to this than we dare think.
The surest way to protect our democracy is to eliminate the electoral college and gerrymandering, and have the popular vote decide elections.
The most surprising revelation:
Graham demanded proof.
The least surprising revelation:
Apparently, none of the people briefed called the attention of the FBI to the coming attempt to overturn the election.
What's astonishing is that the players at the center of this conspiracy to overthrow the US government and usurp power from the incoming president not only feel no shame but are doubling down by ignoring subpoenas and making false claims of immunity. And, even worse, they're getting away with it. I have to wonder if there is any other country in the world where a former leader can foment an insurrection and pressure officials to lie and defy legal precedent to hold on to power and then brazenly continue to undermine the legitimacy of his successor- and face no consequences. Trump is reputed to have once said he could shoot someone in public in New York City and get away it. But that's nothing compared to what he's getting away with now.
Thank you for the timeline of how the coup was planned. Everyone of those in Congress who knew are insurrectionists and unfaithful to their oaths to uphold the Constitution. This makes my hair stand on end.
And when will they all be handcuffed, arrested, tried, and thrown in jail for life? WHEN? Each one of these traitors are still a danger to our country!
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear."
Taylor Caldwell, *A Pillar of Iron*
Thank you Heather for yet another excellent Letter that connects the dots. Today the Tampa Bay Times printed my letter to the editor that attempts to follow your example on a much smaller scale:
UF president needs to answer report findings | Editorial, Dec. 8
Gov. Ron DeSantis has very publicly positioned himself as the defender of our freedom to choose (anything but abortion, of course). And then he quietly takes away our access to accurate data, on which to base our choices: (1) Daily COVID updates are now weekly; (2) Location of outbreaks (schools, hospitals, nursing homes, businesses, government offices) are no longer released, even to those who work there; (3) No information is posted on the percentage of breakthrough infections; (4) No state public service announcements encouraging masks and vaccines; (5) And now state pressure on researchers and universities to destroy data that contradicts the governor and Legislature. This isn’t freedom, folks. This is the behavior of wannabe autocrats who are systematically suppressing our freedom to know, while pretending to champion it. It’s an old playbook and a very dangerous one.
Diane Love, St. Petersburg
https://tampabaytimes-fl.newsmemory.com/?publink=2cb0aa77e_1346030
Freedom from information
tampabay.com/letters
I am sure this will sound somewhat pathetic compared to the well-written, articulate comments already written, but I cried while I read this post by HCR, just like I cried while I watched the news video of the insurrection on news video on January 6th. How can this happen?? How can we stop this radical right-wing takeover of our country? This isn't who we are or should be. May God bless America and bring us back to the strong nation we were and should always be. I will be actively working to support & fund voting rights to the extent that I can. We cannot let the right wing takeover in 2022 and 2024.
Tonight’s letter is a welcome dose of Vitamin H……Hope
I think an important thing to keep in mind is the untold number of executive agency and legislative branch employees whose names we will probably never know, for whom this all was just another day at the office. Who were just beavering away at their jobs, taking care of the mundane details of overthrowing the government.
The procedural violence to regular order and institutional norms has been GOP business as usual since Newt Gingrich and is perhaps best personified by Mitch McConnell. The Republican attack on constitutional law, epitomized by the GOP insurrection on Jan 6, is not possible without an entire scaffolding propping it up. In this case, the entire apparatus of the Republican party and each person it employs.
Thank you for this clear summation of the plot to overthrow the government. We are living through an historical crisis point. May we have the will and courage to do what is necessary---the enemy has been at work for years. The Democrats and all true Patriots (not the Fake Patriots) need to get to work. Messaging by Schumer; Messaging by Pelosi; Messaging by DNC --- Absolutely.Necessary.NOW! They are failures so far. May they finally wake up before it really is too late.
Peace and Courage to All the People.
You reap what you sow -
California Governor Gavin Newsome pledges to use latest SCOTUS decision supported by Conservative majority to make a point showing the danger of states enacting laws to defy federal rights. If states can restrict women’s reproductive rights, then that same approach can be used to restrict the sale of assault weapons and ghost guns. Tit for tat, you reap what you sow. This was forecast to happen following SCOTUS decision this week. The dissenters to the decision predicted it, including Chief Justice Roberts.
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/12/1063489922/california-governor-gavin-newsom-assault-weapons-ban-texas-abortion-law
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday he will push for a new law modeled on Texas’ abortion ban that would let private citizens sue anyone who makes or sells assault weapons or ghost guns.
Newsom has excoriated the Texas law for limiting women’s access to abortion by allowing people to sue anyone who “aids or abets” one performed after about six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. Nevertheless, he said the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to let the law stay in effect while legal challenges proceed has opened an avenue for states to circumvent federal courts.
In a statement Saturday evening, Newsom pointed to a recent federal court decision to strike down California’s assault weapons ban. In his decision, a judge compared assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, language Newsom has harshly criticized.
“I am outraged by yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Texas’s ban on most abortion services to remain in place,” Newsom said. “But if states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts that compare assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, then California will use that authority to protect people’s lives, where Texas used it to put women in harm’s way.”
Newsom said he will work with his staff, the Legislature and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to craft a bill that would let citizens sue anyone who “manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts” in California. They could seek damages of at least $10,000 per violation plus costs and attorney’s fees, Newsom said.
“If the most efficient way to keep these devastating weapons off our streets is to add the threat of private lawsuits, we should do just that,” said Newsom, a longtime advocate of strict gun control laws.
California has banned the manufacture and sale of many assault-style weapons for decades. A federal judge overturned that ban in June, ruling it was unconstitutional and drawing the ire of the state's Democratic leaders by comparing the popular AR-15 rifle to a Swiss Army knife as "good for both home and battle." California's ban remained in place while the state appealed.
I have to get used to "nothing is enough". What you have written in this letter listing all the who and when and what we know so far about the coup attempt is totally damning. If this were Watergate, and there were any ethics left in the R's, this material would be enough to convict. But in a time when the same people don't believe there is a deadly pandemic raging around the world and in their own states, expecting rational responses to a coup attempt in the US is not real. Boggles the mind.
perilously close...and working, they are, to ensure the ability to take the next election. America, who are we?
These sitting congresscritters who were involved, shouldn't there be consequences?
Like I have said before regarding other “Heather Letters”, the drums are rolling in the background but their tone is getting a little louder now. Methodically, the Select Committee is issuing subpoenas to TFG’s and Pence’s staff members. What did they know and when did they know that a coup was planned and who initiated it? I say grab their many passports (think Jeffrey Epstein) so they cannot leave the country via Putin-provided aircraft or submarine. Let’s see if Christopher Wray will do his job. Let’s also see if those pleading the fifth, will be held in contempt and treated to a pair of handcuffs.