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We can take pride and comfort from knowing that the Jan 6 Special Committee is steadily doing the work to discover the true story of what led to this shocking event by those who perpetrated it. The principals behind the assault on our Capitol and who fomented an attempt to steal the presidency from the majority who voted to elect President Biden, will be prosecuted and tried; many, many will be convicted and barred from ever being able to serve in public office again. This is as it should be and most definitely will be; there is ample time for this to happen. Our system of laws and due process guarantees it. The Important thing for all of us to realize is that our democracy will not only keep functioning and steadily improve over time, but that the bad actors who dared to put themselves above the will of the people and scheme to steal the election after stirring up a group of disaffected and sorry individuals to literally violently attack our Capitol and prevent Congress from doing its job, will pay dearly for what they did, tried to do and are still agitating to do. The fog of authoritarianism will lift and burn away from Washington in the days ahead and be gone for decades. So much good work ahead for 2022, and in the years ahead that will make America a better nation, and example for the world of what a great democracy can achieve. Happy New Year everyone.

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The committee has announced they will begin public hearings in late January/early February, that they will extend through the spring and early summer with "our best witnesses" and that the final report will be published in "late summer" - all perfect timing to tie anvils around every Republican running for office, making questions about their support of Trump prime time in the middle of their campaigns.

And there is news that the reapportionments don't look so terrible for Democrats, and if they are running against loonie tunes traitors who are being asked about their support of insurrection when they try to speak - and the idiots are running not on legislating but on passing articles of impeachment for Biden, the mendacious morons may sink themselves. And if they lose 2022, you can bet Fatso Fatass won't announce he's running for president.

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The House committee investigating the events of Jan 6 is being diligent in pursuing the facts and strategic in pursuing justice. They know what is at stake. They are being very thoughtful about their responsibility to take what actions they can.

I hope that every potential Democratic voter - and that should include every American who does not support the sacking of the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power - will follow the committee's work and their lead.

2022 is upon us. We need to do our part to secure the Democratic majority in Congress. The committee's example of being diligent and strategic will serve us well. It should give us heart at what is possible, appreciation of what is at stake, and inspiration to do our best.

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What this letter reminds me of is when Nixon vowed he “wasn’t a crook” when he absolutely was. His jowls would flap in the wind when he lied, which was often. Then his VP, the dishonorable Spiro Agnew, was running his own little money laundering scheme while Watergate was in full force. Two fine gentlemen…

The frivolous lawsuits filed against the Select Committee are just to give these liars more time to figure out what their next chess move will be. Jim Jordan, whose very loud mouth should really get him into trouble, is relatively silent. The walls are closing in now and I, for one, am enjoying the squeeze.

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Thank you Heather.

The elephant in the room is, and has always been, without passing the Voter Rights Act, this investigation is meaningless.

I am somewhat ashamed to say that I am seeing far too many fellow Democrats seeing the January 6th Committee proceedings to be the answer to Trumps ills.

Stop looking for the next shiny object and concentrate on the real problem at hand. Voting Rights.

JFC, I've been hearing the "Trump is going to jail" chorus for years. I couldn't possibly care less at this point.

Be safe. Be well.

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Is the country ready to go down the path of indicting a former president, his associates, and certain sitting members of Congress? Is the DOJ prepared to take such unprecedented steps? If recent history is any indicator, I am not so certain. Many of us thought that the actions of GW Bush warranted further investigation. He and his administration took us into two catastrophic and illegal wars, and yet Obama gave them a pass. What will it take, in terms of egregious acts against the Republic, for there to be a righting for the wrongs inflicted against it?

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No deep thoughts here, just that letters like this, make my heart feel all warm and fuzzy. I'm so looking forward to the hearings.

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Claire McCaskill had an interesting theory yesterday about tracking tRump's moves during the insurrection. She noted that tRump watched TV 24/7 so. he was clearly watching what was happening at the Capitol. She suggested all the committee needed to do was match the timing on video footage with the calls that were coming into him from those on the floor... I.e. Jordan, Hannity, etc This would give the committee added info with which to move on tRump et al. She also went after Garland, wondering where the hell he is. She said if he doesn't move soon he will "go down as the worst AG ever." She wasted no words.

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Dec 28, 2021·edited Dec 28, 2021

Thank you Heather and a very good morning to all. I've read part of Budowich's lawsuit and will finish up with my coffee. If nothing else, Budowich certainly knows how to whine.

Here's a question: If money was being requested and transferred by various groups and individuals via electronic mediums with the intent of that money being used in the commission of a crime why haven't wire fraud charges been filed? If it's proved that Trump, other individuals and groups, including the War Room participants, were organizing and planning the attack on the Capitol, enterIng the Capitol illegally, capturing and possibly harming key politicians, including then - VP Pence, using electronic mediums, (which they certainly were) why can't the individuals and entities involved be charged with wire, and perhaps, mail fraud? Wouldn't discovery in wire fraud lawsuits support the filing of other related lawsuits? Lawyer subscribers, please forgive my ignorance in advance.

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"Our legacy piece and final product will be the select committee’s report.”

"Fools cannot distinguish this, and knaves will not." (Laurence Stern, 'Tristram Shandy'.) Well that just about covers everyone involved in the entire apparatus of the Republican enterprise - paymasters, officials, amplifiers, and camp followers.

So it's on the rest of us to unite and give Democratic elected representatives the majority they need to get the work done.

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Dec 28, 2021·edited Dec 28, 2021

Thank you for sticking with this project, Dr. Richardson ❤️ (Do you remember when you thought you might be finished when the election was over?) What ever happened to the Fairness Doctrine? Telling the Truth?

Every time I hear the defense from a “Stop the Steal” supporter, I think of Alice in Wonderland. So many relevant connections. Their strategy…keep talking nonsense and the nonsense becomes sense?

“And the moral of that is—‘Be what you would seem to be’—or, if you’d like it put more simply—‘Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.’” —Chapter 9, The Mock Turtle’s Story”

https://bookriot.com/alice-in-wonderland-quotes/

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Today's post reminded me of nothing more similar than a boa constrictor slowly encircling its prey and tightening its coils every time the prey squirms to escape. (courtesy of Shel Silverstein; https://hellopoetry.com/poem/595/boa-constrictor)

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Dec 28, 2021·edited Dec 28, 2021

An interesting outcome of Trump's Presidency is that employment among lawyers has spiked up 430%, and lawyer pay is up 80% in just six months! Most of that employment gain is associated with dodging subpoena's, crafting legal language around lies, filing lawsuits and filing court writs to protect folks that openly and blatantly planned to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States on Jan 6. There are so many folks involved!!

In fact, many newly minted engineering students are going without employment due to continued Corporate outsourcing and offshoring since nothing has changed in that domain. America first left us with no new laws limiting what corporations can send overseas, even military contractors can outsource stuff and do, no legal limits on hiring low paid software engineers in (pick a country) and firing Americans AFTER the Americans are forced to train their (pick a country) counterparts.....

America First? Yep, Zero new legislation limiting new factory builds in China.

Well...at least some good news...newly minted lawyers are getting multiple offers and one recent grad was heard to express descent into a profound depression associated with trying to make a choice among his fourteen high paid offers to defend Jan 6 plotters. Another lawyer was reviewing 12 job offers from the Jan 6 committee.

One new Mechanical Engineering grad was recently hear to say: "That's it, I'm off to law school to get in on that big money keeping those (hundreds of) patriots out of jail".

So? It seems that, except for a corporate tax cut, the main thing to emit from Trump's Presidency is thousands of court cases, subpoena's, lawsuits, writs, filings and other legal maneuverings associated with dodging and faking by a bunch of Republicans who learned from Reagan that "Before Telling the Truth Give Lying A Chance" was good doctrine (it certainly worked out very, very well for Reagan).

BOOMING legal employment and judge dockets that extend out well beyond 2025, LONG after the next Presidential election is over ladies and gentlemen.

Just IMAGINE, if, instead of spinning on all this stuff that pied Piper Trump prompted, IMAGINE that the government, instead, had a legislative set of bills on the docket to block American corporations from firing Americans and replacing them with the equivalent of slave labor in other countries thereby propagating legal slavery. That a new law just passed limiting American corporate manufacturing builds in China.

Suppose Apple announced that it was shutting down its manufacturing in China (where it all currently remains). Apple pays Chinese nationals $17 per day to work 12 hour shifts (this is a fact) and has no plans to bring that manufacturing back to America. Did anyone notice that "America First" prompted exactly ZERO companies to return manufacturing to the United States from China?

And IMAGINE that the army of newly minted lawyers were off to defend Americans against that 40 year practice of undermining the middle class with outsourcing and offshoring because of those new laws (which corporations would try to dodge).

WARNING: This is a spoof, all data is fabricated to make the point that, wow, we are wasting so much money, talent, attention, and court time on stuff that to an engineer like me? Just seems like it is obvious and we should just move forward with charges, arrest folks, toss 'em in jail and move on.

Ah, well. Back to reality TV (or riveting reading from HCR)

......... live from the United States of Amurca.

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In a time of declining journalistic recording of events, Dr Richardson portrays the growing importance of using the tools of the Historian to describe and record events.

Journalists rely on personal narratives, theirs and the principals to report the development and denouement of significant occurrences of change. But the strength of the Historian is the reliance on existing and recordable documentation to formulate explanations.

I have followed these magnificent essays from the beginning and I consult with past and developing episodes of the current crisis in Government through them, trusting that the validity of their record will not succumb to the personal viewpoints or political hackery Journalism displays.

Thank You Heather Cox Richardson for using your education and discipline to explain us to us.

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In my mind, I believe that the Jan 6th Committee is going to provide the American people, and the world with the lies and deception of the people in the top levels of our government piece by bloody piece. This will allow our citizens to take it all in, slowly, and to awaken to the deep deception many of them conspired with thinking it was The Truth.

The beauty of this J6th Committee is that they will allow We the People to judge for ourselves before anything goes to the DOJ and SCOTUS. This is a brilliant and very welcomed move because it will forego any potential blasphemous, wet noodle "interpretion" such as perfidious Bill Barr thrust upon the world after the Mueller investigation. I look forward to seeing these hearings. I also think, to claim the fifth in a matter or terrorist activity and coup against our democracy and elected officials is a right in no one should have. Speak up or be jailed. No rights for terrorists acts. (Radical Independent who believes it is time for the majority of good people to be protected from criminals, corporations and kleptocrats despite party affiliation).

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I recommend all 14 of Hugo Lowell's reports in December 2021. Just use HCR's Link & click on his by-line: "Hugo Lowell."

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