Preliminary reports say that about 20 million people watched last night’s compelling hearing of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. That number, which does not include streaming or later views, is fewer than tune in for a normal State of the Union address, but more than for the World Series. In contrast, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 11-hour testimony in a 2015 Benghazi hearing drew only about 4 million viewers.
The Hearings opened well. Now the challenge is to keep to this tone and substance and press the facts and the crimes they implicate.
Pressure and more pressure, through the recitation of events, evidence, perpetrators and crimes committed, until the Attorney General wakes each morning with his ears ringing.
If the DOJ does not pursue an indictment of trump on a felony (non of the misdemeanor stuff and "slap on the wrist" punishments some of the pawns have received), we really are doomed. trump and his minions are a clear and present danger to our government and our lives.
A bit off topic, but one little metric I have been using as an indication Americans are unwilling/unable to step up to this political madness (and even taking the tiniest steps regarding climate change) is the whining and complaining about gas prices and placing the blame on Biden. Even with gas averaging close to $5/gallon, people are driving more than ever. With hybrid work situations and online shopping, one has to wonder where the heck everyone is going 24/7! Collectively, we seem to have fallen into a major "entitled" mentality and everything else be damned. This is also apparent when seeing the overbooked/overpriced vacation travel that requires either significant car or airplane travel.
The heat dome has already started over the Southwest . . . it looks like a very hot summer is well on its way.
Janet, yes, it is interesting that the most popular vehicle in America is a 7000-9000 lb, dual cab, pickup truck (with the bed covered to keep it dry).
One would think if gas prices actually mattered to Americans, they would be driving smaller vehicles. Reduced demand would lower prices.
Giant pickup trucks get 15 mpg at best. But, Americans Do....No....Care.......
In fact, the perverse love Americans have for gigantic, gas guzzling trucks even though they don't haul hay or watermelons ever, is one sign that Americans are out of touch with reality and ignorant.
Nobody in their right mind on earth would drive such an inefficient energy/natural resources (steel, rubber, etc) hog except someone who is completely ignorant and UNABLE to resolve that ignorance.
My view is that big trucks are like guns and are designed to enhance the feeling of masculinity. They also often have bodies jacked up and lots of accessories hanging on them. Then there is the noise. They sometimes ride loud motorcycles. We have a very large sewer project in front of our house and the street is closed at our corner. There are many signs announcing this; yet big trucks invariably drive up and have to turn around. At least one driver gave the workers the finger. This week an older couple managed to drive through and now the workers have made sure that no one can get through. Not long ago we saw a Rubicon jeep all tricked out and one the stickers on it announced that it was a Christian jeep association member. My husband wondered if it was a holy roller.
Still driving my 2008 Camry - possibly the last vehicle I will own!! And watching the "interviews" by reporters of people pumping gas & whining about the cost when they are filling up these SUVs and pickups? STooopid!!! And blaming Biden? Really stupid!
I agree. The big truck syndrome is ever present in my area of the country. So big they don't fit in the garages of the owners. It's the wife or girlfriend that owns the tiny sedan or CUV.
In my county, not only do they drive those things, they soup them up to use even MORE gas, and make them belch great gouts of black smoke out of pipes mounted behind the cab and sticking at least a foot higher than that cab roof. Not real subtle about their attempts to "own the libs" by emptying their own pockets polluting their own air.
Please see my comment to Mike S in NY for an additional comment on these obscene (yes, I do think they are too!) vehicles. They do that here too. But there is more.
Dude, you're singing my song! I've been railing against these roadway "menaces" for a while now, and there is NO place they are more ubiquitous than the American South. Good ol' boys gotta have their pick-up trucks! Like you said, they have become more of a status symbol much more than an actual utilitarian vehicle designed for hauling and farm work. The overwhelming majority of these behemoths around here are parked in suburban houses' driveways than at some rural farm. It is the epitome of conspicuous consumerism, and the auto industry has been right there supplying the product. I detest them. And 9 times out of 10, at least around here, the a$$holes driving them, drive like a$$holes. With abysmal gas mileage, I'll bet that for many owners it's there way of giving the finger to libtards and others concerned about the planet's natural resources. "It's MY money and I'll spend it like I damn well please, so F***K YOU!" Well, with gas prices right at $5 a gallon, and going up, who's laughing now??? Of course, Ford has now come out with the latest "must have", an F-150 super behemoth with all the bells & whistles that is all electric--not with a super battery, but with something like 4 separate batteries over each of the wheels. There's no engine in front, only a trunk-type space, called a "frunk". They START at $80,000 and go way over 6 figures. They'll go zero to 60 in a few seconds and if the power goes out at home, they'll generate enough power to run some things in your house. (Of course, my next question is, "Will the power infrastructure of this country be able to keep up with all the re-charging needs of increasingly more cars and trucks??" I wonder.) When I see these huge monsters taking up more than their share of space on the roads I always ask out loud, "Dude, is your penis THAT small that you need such a thing to compensate???" I talk to drivers a lot when I drive...
My husband was parked at a red light. He was in a Mazda Miata. One of those monsters pulled up behind him, couldn’t see him there, and tried to run over him when the light changed. He had a hard top on what was a convertible. If that truck had gone four more inches, it would have displaced the hard top and decapitated my husband. The good ole body policeman decided that both of them deserved a ticket. So, I REALLY don’t like them, but see a much larger problem of which they are only a part.
About 40+ years ago, after letting my left hand and a particular finger slip out the window and noticed by a vehicle that had cut me off (he then chased me and tried to smash the driver side window; I drove off so he smashed the windshield of the car behind me!) my husband suggested for everyone's safety, I keep all my body parts in the vehicle!!! 😆
I am always cautious now about that. I have had one road rage incident. I was coming home from the dentist and rounding the corner of my street and doing it slowly because people always jaywalk or fly out of the business driveway there.. I heard a horn and had no idea where it came from, and saw in my rear view mirror that a big black SUV was right on my tail. So I gave the one finger salute and got it returned. It should have ended there, but she come up close and kept honking. I could see that she was a middle-aged hard looking blonde (probably fake) who looked like nearly all the women at death star's rallies. She continued to follow me closely honking, and I decided I wasn't going to show her where I lived, so I turned and sped off to the local church (would never be seen there otherwise) and she followed me around the corner but kept going, thankfully. Glad she didn't have a gun. Since then the one finger salute still occurs, but is out of sight.
I'm on the waiting list for the Ford F150 Lighting. I decided it would be a good replacement for my old Volvo station wagon. We have enough solar on our roof so we're not pulling off PAM'S power grid while charging a vehicle as we also power our home.
We now have two EVs. Have been driving one since 2016. Never going back. We're investigating solar, too. Biden wants to do so much to encourage EV purchases, but Manchin and others — as usual — stand in the way. Most of the country is living in ignorance-is-bliss mode when it comes to the dire, even existential threat of climate change. It doesn't take much reading to understand this. The consequences are accelerating rapidly.
Hi Bruce! Your last sentence is exactly what one of my nieces always assumes is behind the wheel of every male driving an oversized SUV or truck. (Coincidentally she's a therapist.) It's funny that while those drivers feel they are "owning" someone and/or impressing others by the size of what they drive, they are causing MANY others to glance at them on the road, casually turn away without being upset in the least and think "tiny penis." Some people may remember when there was a gas shortage--I think in the 80's--and while everyone was upset at the price, there were huge SUVs all over the highways and there was no noticeable drop in their presence either during or after that shortage. My first thought about oversize cars and trucks that are not needed for a person's work, is not even how much gas they use, although that is important, but how when they move in front of me, I can't see a darn thing that's up ahead. It's not just a sign of someone who thinks it's a status symbol. It's also selfish and sometimes dangerous.
We have solar on our roof and just added 8 more panels and storage batteries in the garage. So they will power our Prius. The batteries do not power big items like stoves during a power outage, but they will run lights, freezer, fridges, etc. I had one of the local stars and bars wavers castigate because they were likely made in China....has she ever looked at what's in her house???
As I have mentioned, I am (was) manufacturing. Once or twice a year for my Japanese masters, I would go from plant to plant in Asia to see what we could do better in supplying them with parts for automotive wire harnesses. Many of these are still made off shore. In simple words, I am supply chain and was so for 40+ years. Occasionally I would lecture on how not to be an ugly American in Asia to 3rd and 4th year students.
The attempts to rekindle American manufacturing is notable. Much of it should be done in the US. The issue is our Overhead. Healthcare, SS, Workmans Comp, Child Labor laws, OSHA, EPA, vacation time, OT laws, building codes, etc. It costs far more than the amount of Labor per item in things manufactured. Companies do not want to pay for that Overhead.
My thoughts are companies should pay for Overhead they avoided by going overseas as they bring back their product to the US. It is not that much.
I am sure you are saving a lot in power usage which is great. Thought about it myself.
Thanks for this clarification of overhead costs. It's not just the wage per hour. I would hope that some companies at least would want to manufacture here, but we have a public that wants everything on the cheap. I constantly hear about the good old days and the wonderful stores in downtowns. Well, first it was big box stores....I am very rarely in one, but had to leave a Costco because everything became surreal and I felt like I was in a Dali painting. Now it is Amazon....so easy....comes to your door...as you pray porch pirates don't get it. We have a principle to buy locally as much as we can. We were at our Saturday Market this am as we are most Saturdays. Great produce and of course, Bodhi Bakery, our fav. Our buying habits are groceries, garden items, and books and now and then local restaurants. We shop at Powell's not Amazon for books. My husband has power usage records going back to when the house became ours which was early 70s I think. The solar panels do a great job and we save a lot on our power usage. We are all electric, no gas. We decided to do storage batteries after an awful ice storm that had the power out for five days for us and longer for many. We also have a couple generators. Our next door neighbors had power (go figure) and we ran a cord to them to power our deep freezer. I learned how not to be an ugly American in the Peace Corps and I hope that I have never been one. One of our last trips was to Croatia and environs and we did meet a few really ugly rich Americans, but ugliness there was mostly Italians and Japanese.
Hi Michele. A word of warning - take care where you install your solar panels. Areas of your roof that are shaded by tall trees or other buildings will not be effective at producing the solar power that you need. We have them too but as new houses have been built around us, we cannot install any more.
We are on a nearly half acre lot in an older subdivision of large lots with ranch style homes. The ice storm did in both of our trees in the backyard that were of any size, so nothing to shadow the south facing roof. The other tallest tree went down before that in a wind storm. This could change in the future I suppose, but by then we will be pushing up daisies. When we had the latest solar panels installed, they were able to look at the roof and the surrounding area using google.
LOL. Totally. Everything you said. I expect these numbnuts will boycott the electric 150s until the day they die with a gas cap clutched in their paws.
Well that's not quite true. We drive an F250 pickup because it's necessary to pull our 5th wheel trailer that we live in while we volunteer for Oregon State Parks in the summer. There are also many people who need such a truck or even bigger ones, to haul materials for their contracting or farming. Not everyone lives in a city, not everyone works in an office, not every truck is a toy.
I'm positive no one is throwing blame on anyone who needs a truck or other vehicle to do actual work!! My granddaughter has to have a truck to haul her horse trailer - my son has an old Ramcharger as a plow truck. But boy, are there many many others who fit the bill on these comments.
Hi. While I agree with your sentiments in principle, The objectification of people through their “things” only perpetuates the “tribalism” mentality that tears this country apart. Yes, people who have no need of these large trucks are indeed (probably) enhancing their insecure masculinity, but amongst working contractors, farmers, ranchers, etc., these large vehicles are part of their “tool Chest.” And I’m sure they are just as frustrated at the operating costs of these “beasts” as the rest of us are. Unfortunately, since no operating balance sheet exists that includes “environmental cost” exposure, industry deludes itself in what any true cost of “doing business” can be recognized by the business owner. That in itself holds back solving environmental issues much more than the “teeny weanie” syndrome owners do.
Hello, Patricia. I appreciate your points. But I wasn't referring to people who use pickup trucks for working. We have plenty of those here, too. They're usually filled with tools of the trade and show the wear and tear. The types of vehicles I was talking about are definitely NOT work trucks. They are ego-mobiles, shiny, flying oversized confederate flags, riding on ridiculously oversized tires, and the other excess accoutrements I mentioned above. These trucks are not outfitted for work. They're a statement.
Working pickups are not laden with foolish add-ons that decrease their gas mileage and usefulness, and cost a lot of extra money to operate. People who use their pickups for work want those vehicles to help them make money, not waste it.
I am in perfect agreement with you. But — I was making an overlooked point about assessing the costs of environmental stupidity. Those costs are completely hidden on any accounting balance sheet — and until they are included in the “cost of doing business, there is no accountability for wasteful, erroneous building, design, etc. errors. These things are hidden by choice because there are costs to such re-design, etc. Hiding the environmental costs can somehow justify their ignoring what they are creating for the rest of us. It’s another kick the can down the road opportunity that can be hidden.
One of the memes posted by a conservative friend yesterday claimed that "You can't sell electric cars if gas prices are low". I commented that therefore Elon Musk must be in charge of fuel prices! After all, he sells more electric vehicles than ay other car maker in the US.
Seriously, if Republican politicians are so concerned about fuel costs, why aren't they bringing legislation to control the price of gasoline, or the profits of oil companies? Simple, they are in the pockets of those very companies and reaping the benefits of those sky-high profits!
It's plainly obvious that these people couldn't pass a basic economics course because they refuse to understand the influence of supply vs. demand. Low supply + high demand (because we drive gas hogs) = higher prices = higher profits for the fat cats!
Or compensating for small appendage anatomy. “proud of their small penis’s boys”, 3%’ers of normal size, Oath of ‘so small and belly so fat, can’t find it’ keepers
Truer words have not been written. These same folks are going to shoo in the insurrectionists this November. Global Warming is my hot button, above all else. Nothing else matters as much. Put aside (somehow) the dystopian, existential ramifications of it continuing unabated, it shows in stark reality the nature of the average American. He/she cannot get out of his/her own way. I suppose there was a time where "rugged individualism" had its place, back when a large portion of our citizens were directly doing battle with mother nature in order to just survive. But that was a couple centuries ago. No, the "bigger is better", "don't tread on me", American way of looking at the world was never respectable, but is now so very obsolete. It does not and cannot address the global issues at the forefront today. Much of Europe and Scandinavia, and the British Empire nations see this, and have for some time. "American Exceptionalism" my ass. Maybe one but no longer. We are becoming irrelevant.
This idea of "exceptionalism" was perfectly reflected in the exchange a British journalist had with Se. Cruz right after the Uvalde massacre. The reporter was asking about why was American exceptionalism with regard to numbers of people killed by guns so much greater than the rest of the world. Cruz, of course, totally didn't hear the context of his remark about American exceptionalism, but instead jumped on him saying that the reporter was obviously motivated of his hatred of America's "exceptionalism"--this totally was not even remotely what the reporter had asked. Cruz seized on the word "exceptionalism" and asserted that the reporter "hated America's exceptionalism" since America is the greatest country on earth, and then he walked away. The reporter was no doubt left baffled, and probably amazed at Cruz's sheer stupidity. Like you said, "'American exceptionalism' my ass"...
Bruce I had a slightly different take on that exchange with Cruz (a person very high on my detestometer). I think like you he didn't get the snide irony of "American Exceptionalism" when applied to our "exceptional" gun violence stats. But what he took issue with was his belief that the British reporter doesn't believe America is exceptional at all, not that he hated America's exceptionalism (as if jealous). Cruz's warped view of the world has him believing we are exceptional and other nations like Britain are jealous of it. It is typical of the far right wing beliefs that they are actually popular and represent the majority of people in the US. That is why so many Republicans think the 2020 election was fraudulent. They just cannot fathom that their views are in the minority. American exceptionalism - there is some truth to it, if you define it as a the first successful example of a Democratic society. But that's where it ends, especially since that experiment is going south. To take the notion of "American Exceptionalism" and turn it into an excuse to do or not do god only knows what shitty things on the international stage (exhibits A and B are the Bush II and Trump administrations respectively), well that's not exceptional at all. It is no wonder many countries take no stock in the notion of "American Exceptionalism". Democrats see this, Republicans do not.
That is entirely credible. It was so easy to see the Cruz really didn't seem to understand what the reporter was getting at and taking umbrage that the reporter didn't believe in America's "exceptionalism", in ANYthing, inferring, as Cruz and his wacko colleagues believe, any British reporter from the British media is automatically going to be liberal and biased. Like you said, these extremists still think America is the best country in the world, while the rest of the world is, like, "Umm...you all are the only ones that believe that now, so that doesn't mean it's so." Pathetic.
Never thought of that, James. that we're becoming irrelevant because we are unable to face the real dangers like global warming while others are making changes. maybe we'll see many Americans move to those other countries.
Mary - that is happening already, if my family is any indication. I have a step daughter in S. Korea, and a daughter in Australia, and another step-daughter who has done two stints in France and would like to go again, permanently - all three abhor what has happened to the US politically, and wanted out. Among other reasons. Unfortunately for them and all of us, global warming knows no international boundaries.
I don't know how to say enough how much I don't miss my car which I sold 4 years ago. I can walk 8km to town or take a bus for €2.15 or taxi for €1 per km.or hitch a ride from a friend. I do not miss paying for gas, insurance, repairs, license renewal, or municipal car tax. The bus drivers are on time and courteous and helpful. All I have to do is an my time around their schedule. A train to one of three nearby cities is economical,on time, and clean. I can do any number of chores while someone else is driving. Car conversations put me to sleep. Every morning I see a lady coasting to.work on an electric scooter. She wears a different dress every day and her skirt and long blonde hair billows out behind her. She's so smart! And then there's bicycles. There actually is a farm kid who has a big blue truck in the neighborhood, but he's married with two kids and spends most of his working hours on a tractor.
A euro is worth $1.15 + -. Gas here just came down a little to €2.15 a liter is roughly 5 cups. The Greens had a bigger influence here. The. 4 lane toll road that runs the length of Portugal is expensive so only commercial transport trucks use it and it's only busy close to large cities: most car drivers use the old national roads built 80 years ago and are well kept up. There are several bus companies that provide transportation throughout Europe. I hear there is very little intercity public. transport in the USA. and who knows if it is any safer than a public school. I can not imagine living there now's. It's not America anymore.
EXACTLY! I lived in Holland nearly 18 years. In that time I used a car ONE time, a rental (they didn't have what I'd reserved so they gave me a BMW!) to assist in a move across Amsterdam. I never missed having a car as the public transportation infrastructure in The Netherlands is incredible. By the time I left, I could spend about €200+ (Sadly, the Euro is down to about $1.05 the last time I checked--which is killing me because the pension I get from Holland and it's costing me BIG time!) a month and have a pass to travel anywhere throughout the country on any bus, tram, or train as much as I wanted. I could get ANYWHERE I needed to go. I also had 2 bikes and biked and walked EVERYWHERE. (The Dutch infrastructure for bike paths throughout the country has to be seen to be believed!) I was healthier, 60 lbs lighter than I am now, eating better, looked & felt better, far happier. Life there was a breeze compared to here--and yes, I DO wonder why I came back here!! In short, having a car in Holland is almost a liability and they almost try and discourage people from owning one. The taxes and insurance are extremely high, and petrol there translates now to about $7.83 per gallon. Holland's roads are downright luxurious in comparison to here (that's where those taxes go!), but then that is easier in such a small country. Coming back here 14 years ago was major culture shock and I realised all the more what I've given up. You're wise to stay there! (LOVE Portugal, BTW!) Americans don't understand how good they have it regarding their petrol prices, so welcome to what the rest of the world has to deal with, y'all!!
Yes. Also, fairly fluent in German, can manage in French and Italian, with a smattering of Spanish and Russian...I was blessed with a keen ear for languages. Plus, if you're a singer you have to be a bit of a polyglot!
It's not for everyone, but for me it's a little bit of Parsdice .I could write a series of novels about a Protestant living in a medievil Catholic backwoods. Life is what you make it.
I sometimes wonder if Garland is hesitant to indict Trump because he's afraid he won't be able to find a jury impartial enough to convict the former Pres. For the Trump worshipers, an indictment without a conviction would be more proof of his saintliness.
Yes, we are a spoiled and entitled bunch here in America. Unwilling to be inconvenienced or uncomfortable for five minutes. Once again, with our pathetic complaining about gas prices, we make ourselves ridiculous. Europeans, on the whole, pay higher prices for gas than we do. We have made ourselves a laughing stock. And if Europe pays more for gas during this hideous war that Russia is waging, think about the gap between our high gas prices and the cost to the Ukranians.
Interestingly, on Thursday at 10:00 a.m., I was heading to an annual doctor's appointment. The streets were packed with cars and trucks and such. Totally unheard of at this time in my little city. The same was observed at 11:15 on my way home. I have adjusted my driving to once a week for several errands. Doesn't seem the case for most. And, yes, those huge trucks with big wheels and loud mufflers are still out in force.
@R Dooley, I merely would add to your pitch-perfect comment that if designated top officials up to and including Trump are not held accountable for criminal behavior, for which there clearly is sufficient factual predication, I would expect the perpetuation of false grievances that the 2020 election was stolen to succeed, largely unimpeded.
Without accountability we'll have a repeat of Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson - years of further damage to the republic stemming from their transgressions.
Ray, I recall the Nixon era as one, wherein our institutions held. Barry Goldwater, you may remember, led a delegation of Senate Republicans to inform Nixon that once he was impeached the Senate would vote to convict. Hence, Nixon was forced to resign.
McConnel wavered January 7th, unlike Goldwater to Nixon. He could have saved his party and Democracy. Instead he soiled his reputation forever. His legacy is like a John Calhoun or any of the Confederate Senators, now and forever.
And the media ignores that fact. They are not holding theGOP as a party responsible for any of it. Until they do I don’t think the public at large will care at all
Ted, While your point is indisputable, I also hold the 42 other Senate Republicans who voted to acquit equally culpable. Moreover, I’m no less disgusted by Manchin’s & Sinema’s hollow and performative support, this past January, for federal voter protection safeguards only to oppose a modest modification of the filibuster that would have allowed for an up or down majority vote.
Surely starting not after but BEFORE this year's elections.
Otherwise those elections and America's entire political landscape will be a grotesque madhouse, and likely to remain that way for a long, long time to come.
Internet seemed like a wonderful opening for mankind, but... the effects of virtual reality, especially, especially in America have been beyond disastrous.
I never forgot my first direct taste of the USA in 1994... at age 54... No, not the inefficiency and irresponsible hysteria of Latino ground staff at Miami airport -- that was just a failed transfer...
No... the weird and totally unprecedented sense after arriving in New York less than two weeks later... of having landed in another planet.
An alienation I'd never felt anywhere, neither in Central America nor under Kilimanjaro, neither in Japan nor among the mountain people of the Central Cordillera in Luzon.
I couldn't get it... but something clicked on arriving in Time Square. Through the Looking Glass... Virtual reality had already begun to take hold...
While the internet seems to offer great promise as a platform for democracy to flourish, a forum where any and everyone can broadcast their opinions to the masses, in reality it turns out to be a modern Tower of Babel. Largely a constant noise machine that effectively drowns out attempts at reason.
Read Stole Focus by Johan Hari for how the internet platforms have been designed to work. The platforms are vested in time spent on their platform, the clicks, etc rather on how the platform could be doing good.
It's a shame. The potential exists, but the mighty economic imperative always takes precedent.
I have a pet theory, a rule of thumb I came up with, that says it will take at least 50 years for us as a society to really understand the transformative nature of the internet's impact, and accordingly design rules of the road for how to successfully integrate it into everyday life. I date this from the early 90's, which is my observation of when the internet became widely available and started to have an impact on society.
Right now we are fairly deep into the chaos phase of this process. Which I would point to the election of RTump as president, with the help of targeted social media campaigns by Russian bots as a prime example. As well as Qanon, 8chan, and any number of fringe online advocacy groups that would never find the critical mass to exist under analog, real world conditions.
I'm guessing we've got at least 20 more years before we figure out ways to put this genie in its bottle. Although now, 30 years into my timeline, I'm beginning to think I may have been overly generous in my faith in humanity's ability to reckon with our creation!
Fox news by grabbing most of trumpets' by their family jewels have held them under Murdock's firm control squeezing tightly upon the least's ability to comprehend reality somewhat like the debilitating effect of common testicular hypofunction...
I disagree. Justice delayed is Justice denied. I think we will see another layer of underlings indicted this summer. This layer will sing rather than go to prison, setting the higher up indictments like a mob trial. Layer by layer, brick by brick, the wall of corruption is going to tumble.
I don't understand your comment that Democrats aren't allowed to do anything within 6 months of an election which may affect outcome. What law or regulation bars that? And how can holding the hearings now be more shocking than TFG and McConnell ramrodding through the appointment of Barrett to the Supreme Court so close to the 2020 election.
Lisa, Though aware of terrifying possibilities, I choose to draw upon the findings of the Select Committee to do my part in prevailing upon DOJ to prosecute Trump and his coterie.
Lisa, Admittedly, you might be right about unknown complexities. That said, I have to limit the amount of fear I internalize if I’m to retain the resilience to stay in the fight.
In the past it has been said that the DOJ goes for the low hanging fruit first to build their case. I expect the indictments of the then administration officials, Roger Stone, Bannon, etc and members of Congress will end up under RICO, if not sedition - maybe both. The committee and DOJ might not have been sharing info until now (even if just via TV) but it feels to me like the presentation was scheduled in a timely, well coordinated manner. This AG will not cut corners like the last one! Why does everyone think he is doing either nothing or moving too slow? I'm thinking after those that stormed the capital we will see what Garland does with the volunteer slate of alternates and Ginni. If her business is separate from her husband's than there should be no problem throwing the book at her. Hope they all get to cool their heels in prison for a few years. Arresting a former President for what he did while President has never been done before and must be done with great caution.
As per Ginni, I read an article about Justice Thomas stating he has lost trust in the Supreme Court and his colleagues. It read like someone laying the groundwork for a possible retreat in light of emerging facts about his wife's involvement in the coup.
Robert Barnes had an article in the Washington Post on May 14, 2022 about Thomas essentially whining that the public has lost trust in the Supreme Court because of the leak of Alito’s draft. (Sorry my phone won’t let me paste the link) My reaction to the article was that no, distrust started with the 2000 election and then was exacerbated by the actions of Mitch McConnell, culminating with the actions of the current court. This court has earned all the distrust aimed at it.
I get that. However, we have zero idea that a grand jury has or has not already been assembled. Probably the best we can hope for at this point, timing wise, is a bunch of Repugnant indictments before Nov 2022 and trial dates set -with Trump's trial scheduled last and televised like OJ's in 2024. It would be sort of hard to run for president while on trial when fellow Repugnants take the stand as witnesses and sell you out. There is more than one path to victory, and as Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said — 'When you strike at a king, you must kill him.' Garland and the DOJ are doing exactly what is needed to assure the indictments will stick, including on tRump. That takes time. Plus, 20+ million watched the hearings (with streaming later I'm guessing twice that many watched), so the Court of Public Opinion will more likely now support the DOJ's charges.
I think we see a lot of indictments this summer. To avoid prison many will sing louder and louder, turning state’s witness like Barr and the Kushner’s. What would u do if you were guilty? Take a bet on November elections, or take the sure thing with your freedom on the line? Hmmmmm
I seriously doubt their involvement regardless of their politics. They are where they want to be and if the constitution were desolved their Supreme Court becomes a side show. No Thomas, not his appointed justices, was courted by Trump. They became regulars at the White House. It was probably to woo Thomas in the event he needed his vote. But getting crazy Ginni to help him over throw the electoral process was a bonus. The Thomas finally got the respect they believed their due. Flattery from high places. Ginni has terrible taste in men. Thomas himself found himself being Scalia to Trump's Thomas. It was interesting that he finally found his voice.
I agree completely: realistically, despite the drama of the hearings, the committee is impotent. The audience is not the American public (who have largely made up their minds one way or the other about Trump, or they're more worried about inflation and gas prices), but the AG. If the rest of the evidence is as compelling and damning as what was presented yesterday, Garland might feel he has no choice but to prosecute. Trump's best hope is that his hand will be stayed out of fear that the Trump loonies will, in response, reproduce events like the Capitol insurrection nationwide. I think this is why Fox is trying desperately to keep the truth from the faithful: if enough of them learn how despicable Trump's actions have been, the rampagers - as dangerous as they can be - will be viewed as fringe lunatics and their power to prevent Trump's rendezvous with his fate will be diminished.
Frank you need to change the brand you are smoking.
Do you not yet realize the soul of our American democracy is being successfully attacked by the by the élite ultra wealth of republicans who will succeed next time!
Especially next time if those like you have, after witnessing the first Jan 6 Committee hearing, been sucked into Fox News total BS. Your contention that Fox cares one whit about saving our American democracy is preposterous!
Are you one of the fully deceived unaware minions that a majority of voting patriotic Americans fully support all the effort our Congress and judicial system are expending against the republican goal destroying America's democratic governance ever again?
NO BODY IS ABOVE THE LAW...NOBODY...AND TRUMP IS CERTAINLY NOBODY NOW.
GARLAN IS NOT WAITING...HE IS DILIGENTLY WORKING...ALL THOSE COMPLICIT WILL FULLY SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR WILLFUL CRIMES AGAINST AMERICA; INCLUDING AT LEAST TWO SUPREME COURT JUSTICES!
George - I have been misunderstood! You are preaching to the choir - certainly Trump deserves - and must face - prosecution for his actions. My post simply expressed my concern that fears of violent public unrest by his loyalists might undermine the legal process. I know that I never said anything that could be even vaguely construed as saying that Fox "cares one whit about saving our American democracy" - that clearly is preposterous. I said that I felt Fox' intent in refusing to air the hearing was one part of their effort to keep Trump's base from learning the truth. I apologize if my post lacked clarity. We are on the same side here.
I agree. They have signaled just enough to know that they are busy. This DOJ does not leak and so they have been able to indict and arrest the leadership of the advance guard of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for seditious conspiracy. I think that they have discovered vast amounts of info and that they want to have watertight cases.
Agree Spooky! We just are so UN-accustomed to NO leaks. The DOJ is collecting solid evidence, methodically and thoroughly as must be done in order to indict and convict a seditionist president and all his traitor minions. While the purpose of the Congressional January 6th Committee is to evaluate the coup attempt so they can create laws to prevent future attempts to overturn our government, the evidence produced will be shared (much already has been) with the DOJ for use in indictments and convictions. And tRump is included in these investigations. But remember, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said — 'When you strike at a king, you must kill him.'
Right on, MaryPat. I understand the frustration of many people regarding why Trump and his henchmen haven't been indicted yet. But conducting the complex investigations and then building strong, winnable court cases like these are unprecedented in our history. The J6 Committee is setting the stage, building public understanding and hopefully support. The Justice Department will deliver the coup de grâce
The methodical approach, while maddening, is the only rational way to pull this off legally AND without inciting Trumpists to take up arms.
Michael, what about Watergate? Nixon was the first president in our history to resign. That took incredible skill and work to force him out. It’s good we had that “practice” to fight an even more insidious plot with 45. Roger Stone was there in the 1970’s and came back even stronger this round. He must be stopped with all the other Benedict Arnolds. LOCK THEM UP!
I'm not assuming inaction - I am not assuming anything. I am aware of the DOJ process, and believe that well-framed arguments can be persuasive.
The leap here is the indictment of a former President - not something the DOJ is likely eager to do. Opinions may differ on the wisdom of such a move - I am of the opinion that the current situation merits that leap.
The strength of our democracy's pulse will be measured by what kind of action the House Committee's revelations bring about. Remember we have a Constitution filled with compromises that made a civil war necessary to end slavery and permits us to daily experience a level of gun violence unheard of in other civilized democracies and a Supreme Court likely to pose an obstacle to the DOJ's taking steps to act on the Committee's findings.
... not to mention international fossil fuel corporations continuing to operate in violation of established law, and blatant disregard for First Nations rights and environmental health - foundational to the growth of this nation from it's inception ....
... "White Christian heterosexual men" of wealth who proclaim to own "property" that is not theirs (nor ours) to own, trade, buy or sell - including the lives, bodies and souls of other humans ... they may be white, however, they are anything but hetero (gasp!) - or Christian in the true sense of the word ....
In time Oligarchs will take from some of those rich white men as they have done under Putin. Sickening that we have the power to make life better for everyone on the planet and the tipping point is the midterms.
I haven't read it either, Mike - did hear about it - here are some links to the report and associated materials - for those who have time to take it in ... so to speak ... the main take-away for me is this:
We all need Love. Love flourishes in grounds of Truth - true feelings, true intentions, true devotion > True Love ....
When our lives are bound in false paradigms (such as religions or regimes that profess life and love, but promote death and hatred) we may become disassociated from true feelings/intentions - devotion becomes focused around reinforcing the illusion that we are loving and living well, when in fact we are starving for the love that truly nourishes our soul.
Here are the links:
*********
Guidepost Solutions’ Report of the Independent Investigation
The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s Response to Sexual Abuse Allegations and an Audit of the Procedures and Actions of the Credentials Committee
The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s Response to Sexual Abuse Allegations and an Audit of the Procedures and Actions of the Credentials Committee
"Who cannot now see the rot in a culture that mobilizes to exile churches that call a woman on staff a “pastor” or that invite a woman to speak from the pulpit on Mother’s Day, but dismisses rape and molestation as “distractions” and efforts to address them as violations of cherished church autonomy? In sectors of today’s SBC, women wearing leggings is a social media crisis; dealing with rape in the church is a distraction."
Southern Baptists Refused to Act on Abuse, Despite Secret List of Pastors
Armed with a secret list of more than 700 abusive pastors, Southern Baptist leaders chose to protect the denomination from lawsuits rather than protect the people in their churches from further abuse.
Morning Lynell. What drives unfortunately a horse and cart through the Dem's idea of democracy is the preponderance in discussions of November elections and Republican gains is a little matter of gas at $5 and that seems to be something so horrendous they would willingly throw away democracy as long as somebody promised to make it go away.
And that of course is the big bogie man. People will show just how clueless they are when they "vote with their pocket books". Biden administration must get at the root of why oil products are double or nearly so, and do it quickly. If it were up to me, I'd let it climb more, for the sake of reducing usage and better addressing the climate. But I know its potential to lose us the mid-terms which is unthinkable. I smell a rat, myself. I highly suspect Big Oil is complicit in the inflation for political reasons (they want their Republican buddies back in charge). In other words - price gouging. I don't think it can all be explained just with Russia sanctions and supply chain issues and post-covid activity.
Jay, I have been thinking the same thing about gas prices. It would definitely benefit the oil industry to have the Republiqans back in power, so keeping the price of gas high will make people blame Biden and, by extension, the Democrats.
You got it Cathy. At the very least, if not an outright conspiracy, Big Oil is happy to take advantage of the situation any way they can. That must mean some sort of monopolistic actions - which I believe is illegal.
Hard to know which is the most salient factor: price gouging and record profits, or the desire to have a more "oil friendly" administration. Both of those seem to be in play, but who knows? Certainly not my idiot friends, who only whine that it costs too much to fill their giant vehicles.
NOTE: I drive one of those aforementioned 7-9K pound quad cab pick-ups with a covered bed. I am not a farmer, but I use my truck as a truck far more often than do any of my neighbors. It is also convenient for tuba hauling.
Heh, if you are driving the speed limit (which most people do not) or a couple of miles over, you are doing more to conserve gasoline than most and that includes smaller vehicles. Part of a recent post . . .
"The last time gas prices were as high as now? It was 2008. In inflation-adjusted terms, prices were higher fourteen years ago. What would have happened if smarter vehicle-efficiency standards had been put in place back then?
It is impossible to know exactly. In the intervening years, the U.S. certainly could have cut oil consumption by a million barrels a day. The amount the Biden Administration has said it will release from the strategic reserve (SPR). Total U.S. oil consumption is almost twenty million barrels a day.
Funny thing is people will not give up driving 15 mph over the speed limit to save 260,000 gallons of gasoline a day. It ain’t much at 1.3% of the total. It is the easiest to accomplish."
Furthermore, the load of C02 being dumped in the air is impacted by our driving. Check out that Ford F150 Raptor or the Dodge HellCat. The Raptor adds three times what a regular F150 adds in C02.
Just drive the speed limit and you are doing your part.
Getting on north bound US 23 from Nine Mile Road just before the I96 interchange was always a treat. People passing on the right doing 85 to move around people doing 75 in the left lane to make the exit from that lane to west bound 96 was always thrilling.
I grew up in Chicago and was very used to the Dan Ryan, the Kennedy and the Congress expressways. I am used to congestion. Here in AZ, they are murderous in how they drive.
We are short-sighted and unaware of the wolf at the door. Just get me what I want - now. Sacrifice, what’s that. We will see, I fear. Well, the young will see if we don’t
Stuart, After Thursday’s Committee hearing, news correspondents posited that Mitch McConnell’s foremost hope was that inflation would keep rising. What terrifies me is the prevailing assumption that an insecure middle class would be willing to accept any authoritarian option in order to provide some sense of normalcy and security in their lives.
Simple formula - if it is perceived to improve chances of regaining or retaining power for him and the Rethuglicans, then McConnell will try to make it happen. No other factor need be considered. Nothing in two-party politics could be more dangerous for a country.
James, For some time, my response has been to prevail upon Senate Dems to pass whichever provisions of the Budget Reconciliation package (BBB) can gain support from 50 Senators to present to voters as a down payment of more to come if Dems hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats.
Gail, As repulsed as I was by the Reagan era, contrary to this breed of MAGA Republicans, the Reagan Administration mostly colored, so to speak, inside the lines.
True, but the whiplash to Reagan had much to do with inflation and gas prices, to say nothing of the machinations regarding the hostages. Another slick actor who preyed on fear.
Gail, While your assertions are indisputable, the moment I always will relish is Carter’s 1979 Malaise Speech, wherein he “condemned our consumerism, our materialism,” after which his poll numbers, admittedly briefly, rose by 11 points.
I think the main cause for Reagan was a moralistic and politically incompetent prig who preceded him in the white house. Funny how people prefer a change over a preachy condescension. I am no Reagan fan, but Carter was just an antidote to Nixon.
Antidote or no, Jimmy Carter had many accomplishments: He established the Department of Energy and Department of Education; He signed several bills to counter the adverse effects on the environment, to wit, he signed into law the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). The SMCRA regulated the environmental effects of coal mining in the U.S. through the creation of two programs: one for regulating active coal mines and a second for reclaiming abandoned mine lands. He signed into law the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The Act doubled the amount of public land set aside for national parks and wildlife refuges; He brokered the Camp David Accords, leading to a peace treaty between Israeli PM Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat; He improved relations with Panama by giving them control of the Panama Canal; He improved industrial growth through deregulation, signing the Airline Deregulation Act, which "ultimately led to a great increase in the number of flights, a decrease in fares and an increase in the number of passengers and miles flown. However, the Act did not diminish the regulatory powers of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over all aspects of aviation safety; He "deregulated the beer industry, by making it legal to sell malt, hops and yeast to American home brewers. In 1978, the USA had just 44 domestic breweries. Today, there are over 1,400 American breweries." For details see either of the following:
Didn’t say he did nothing. I said he was a moralistic prig, dour and arrogant. I lived in Atlanta-when his term as governor was up, Carter (who did some good things) was so unpopular he could not have won an election to statewide dog catcher.
This is what we saw in Egypt after the revolution in 2011. When the Muslim Brotherhood was unable to keep chaos and high bread prices at bay the people yearned for a strong leader, a Pharaoh, to return normalcy and security to their country. It was heartbreaking. So much hope and then... bitter disappointment.
Terry, I recall Foreign Affairs Analyst Robin Wright speaking at a community event amid the high hopes and bitter disappointments unleashed by uprisings and protests across the Arab world.
We were sailing the Nile on a private dahabiyah shortly after the revolution. It was Captain Said's dream to fly Egyptian flags from his mast and we made it our mission to procure some for him...his eyes filled with tears of love and pride when we presented him with three flags. Later we witnessed many Egyptians proudly displaying their red fingers, each stain signifying a meaningful vote in a new born democracy. When we visited a few years later it was heartbreaking - all that pride was replaced with grudging relief that at least there was bread but little joy remained. Democracy remains a dream and Egypt endures.
Terry, Thank you for sharing this bit of your personal experience. I worry that people here in the states who never have lived under circumstances that afford little, if any, tolerance for political opposition also are not “woke” to the dangers that could lay ahead for all of us.
Maybe without the dual (4-wheel) rear axle. I don’t see many of those on the road, but extended-cab pickup trucks with standard 2 wheels on an axle: oh yeah, they’re everywhere.
Stuart, I think your point is well made. And I observe the same apathy toward the bigger-picture so long as gas prices and groceries’ prices continue to rise. Some simply are legitimately concerned because they teeter on a knife’s edge for stability. Others though, the majority, just want democracy as long as it doesn’t personally ask anything of them - including to vote.
Isn't it amazing that when voter fraud happens, its always by Republicans AND unlike their whining about the democrats, THERE IS EVIDENCE, something the Republicans are woefully short of.
My favorite quote by tRUMP was "I didn't know about the hearing and I told everybody not to watch it. DJT logic and intelligence (?) in a nutshell (nutcase?)
Oh yes I do! I guess you haven't lived in Florida long enough. My 200-years-old Cracker family watches Fox and then turns the TV off to read selected passages from the King James Red Letter Bible!
Rosalind, I wish I could share with you my daughter’s brief but utterly epic rant from last Saturday. She needed to get her car serviced and took it to her local Tires Plus store. I walked in to pick her up just as she was lecturing the manager about having Fox Entertainment blaring in the waiting room. She told the manager, in no uncertain terms, to either turn off the “filth” or lose her employer as a customer. She is a delivery driver for a large medical delivery service. The manager laughed at her initially. So right in front of him, she called the President of her company, and explained that she was being treated disrespectfully by the manager, and felt that the company should change vendors because, as a woman, she did not feel safe in the waiting room. (Rian was driver of the month last month and has talked with the president several times) Then she walked out.
When she got back to pick up her car, the TV was tuned to some sports channel, the volume was lower, and the manager apologized- sort of. We could tell he was fuming. But her employer is working to change vendors because half the drivers are women and he’s a decent guy who appreciates his employees and tries to do right by them. So proud of my kid....
Wonderful!!! How proud of her you must be!! I have the same problem at Macho Belle Tire. My polite requests then my rants went nowhere - but I'm the boss of my business and let them know I was going elsewhere.
That they turn it off at all is tepid comfort. It’s on around the clock in my family,, except for when they’re watching the daily disaster stories of local TV newscasts or “reality”shows. The meanness and manufactured drama of shows like Survivor and The Apprentice “groomed” Americans to see the world as dog eat dog and fiction as reality.
Thank you. I still hate CBS for the Survivor bull Schitt. Changed tv to appeal to the brain-dead. I have watched blah tv some days when my brain was exhausted, but never the reality crap, the Kardashians, or anything to destroy brain cells, just let them rest. All the while, republicans took support from PBS so that my go-to became the “ad channel.” Does anybody remember the days when commercials were 15 or 40 seconds? Nah, not unless you are as old as I am…
I remember when people subscribed to cable because the subscription price replaced ad revenue - there weren’t ads on cable at all at first.
We’ve been streaming Stanley Tucci’s Italy show (it’s so good!) but the ads are so frequent, and so long, so repetitive, and so focused on medication, that unless the programming is great, we turn it off in frustration.
Those bastards yearn to make PBS and everything they can lay their filthy paws on into not just ad channels, vehicles for raking in more, and more, and more... but another of their... not "channels" but charnel houses.
A profound observation, I think, Maureen. I would add all of the movies glorifying violence. Good guy with gun defeats baddies. Lots of “collateral damage” but it doesn’t matter because the good guy wins. Yes, our culture grooms us toward not caring about each other.
The definition of "average" is that most people are of average intelligence. That doesn't bode well for attaining an educated populace. And, it's not just that they're not very smart, but it's also that they're often afraid. Afraid of change, of difference, of uncertainty. That makes them susceptible to being bigoted, gullible and superstitious.
Fear of change has been & continues to be the driving force in the current iteration of the gop. The yearning for the perceived “good old days” is their bread & butter: any issue can and is framed to fit a nostalgia for a US that was never good for many of our citizens. And the actual good parts of those days--like corporations & the wealthy paying their fair share of taxes and strong unions, both of which benefited many & created our middle class--are not included in their skewed nostalgia.
Whenever I think about this skewed nostalgia, I remember what I learned right here in Heather’s community: that southern white families used to picnic while watching lynchings. Does a Southern Christian picnic complete with lynching qualify as “the good old days”?
Intelligence is not the only normally distributed characteristics. Every trait and characteristic has a very wide range. The root of all of the current chaos goes way beyond differences in intellect.
Agreed. The problem with the Republican/racist/sexist block of American society has to do with cultural programming. It takes education and intelligence to change away from the racist, sexist, slavery mentality. The default, if you do nothing, is you remain the way the culture used to be, racist and sexist and gay hating.
Average is plenty smart enough. The problem has less to do with a poor education system than with willful ignorance. Yes, much more investment in K-12 education would be greatly beneficial but would not improve the hearts and minds of the willfully ignorant, where the real problem with America, now and in the past, lies.
I didn't either. Long gone is my innocent and naive view of the typical American voter. I can still hear the yelling and chanting during the insurrection - "USA...USA...USA!!" They vote. It is this ugly "patriotism" that I think of now when I think of American. Of course I realize that they are in the minority, but they are too strong and have shown that they can take over when others get complacent. I am not quite ready to admit we as a nation have had our time in the sun, and are past our prime. But if it were true, this is what it would look like. Mid-terms will be a defining event.
The first time I heard the "USA...USA...USA" chant was at the Fouth of July fireworks display at Battery Park in New York City celebrating the nation's 200th birthday in 1976. Somehow, even then it seemed alien to me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. But now I can. Thanks for defining it for me as "Ugly Patriotism." It's like wearing a hat or shirt emblazoned with giant-sized American flags as proof of patriotism on the part of those not necessarily patriotic. It's their preference for the sizzle without even tasting the steak. It's why the Nazis in Germany wore armbands.
I agree with your uncle. Just the fact that you are here, d017, means that you are in rarefied company. I don’t say that to swell your head, I say that as an objective statement. Most of America, and that includes the Biden voters in the last election, do not pay close attention to the nuances of society. They’re just trying to survive and make do and get by, which is hard enough all by itself. Most Americans are ignorant of things they need to know, especially re: policy and politics. I consider that a statement of fact. This is not Europe.
An additional nugget of insanity and evil . . . "And yet, despite the increasing mess around Trump, other Republicans won’t risk angering him or his voters." For the life of me, I just don't get the hold trump has on these people. He always sounds dumb as dirt and is not even eye candy!
Rupert never told the troglodytes, edited every image and even plopped a halo on the clown head. The pic of a “Superman” chump is all they see, a fiction to lure the ignorant, the stupid, the greedy, the power-hungry, the religiously self-righteous, and the fearful, for whom hate is the go to solution.
He gave them permission to hate/justification to hate all of the "others" who might just get some of "their" stuff. You know, like rights. Not to get executed by cops while Black. Not to let same-sex couples marry/adopt kids. Not to be able to have the gender expression that fits. Everyone a cookie-cutter, except with w/c/h/c/ men at the top of the heap.
Trump is his own propaganda source, like Fox Noise. The man with a learning disability who doesn’t read took the time to read a book by Hitler on the subject of how to influence the public. So you have two things coming out of his mouth: (1) lies (disinformation) intended to deceive the public and (2) his truth, what he really believes. During his presidency, you saw plenty of both. So he’s trying to make the impression that no one cares about January 6, to divert attention away from it by any means possible because he is criminally culpable, and at the same time he was glued to the screen during that presentation.
I will validate you however on the subject of him being a nutcase. He is absolutely a whack job. This country full of massive stupidity voted for the least qualified human being in the US for president. A criminal linked to the New York mob. A student of Hitler. Serial sex offender and rapist. Die-hard racist, sexist, antisemite, and gay hater. Business fraudster. How many different ways is this guy a criminal. This guy is an absolute POS. Paying close attention to what comes out of his mouth is a mistake. Spews filth constantly.
And being from Michigan, it’s especially funny to hear these candidates assert they should legitimately still be allowed to be on the ballot! The howling and squealing is loud!!!
This has been the GOP strategy since Reagan at least. Republicans embraced the self righteous racist right wing religious extremist anti government resentments of the slave states - where poor whites went to the mats for their 'right to work' for 'slave wages' and created the 'party of god, guns, and greed.'
Besotted Palin fanboy Bill Kristol put his locked and loaded 'GOP Barbie' on the McCain ticket - announcing that Republicans had moved from taking metaphorical and logistical aim at the US government, to threatening a militia based shooting war. Trump and the Republican insurrection was in the stars and in the cards.
Onward Christian soldiers!
'The sleep of reason breeds monsters.'
Fallacious rhetoric. False equivalencies. Misappropriations. All play their part. The Spirit of 1776. Trump as Christ's herald. Republicans are very good at this. And although Trump stuff is being discounted on Amazon - we'd be foolish to grasp at straws. From big mouth Marjory Taylor Greene to mealy mouthed Susan Collins - McConnell et al are still hedging their bets on an American Orban, no matter the cost.
As was brought out last night, one of the false equivalencies is equating Badger News (with non-fact-based lies) to MSNBC and CNN (with fact-based analysis).
I watched the two hour committee presentation, and then watched an hour of commentary on MSNBC. I think that Liz Cheney provided the steel backbone on which the rest of the presentation rested. She did a marvelous job, and the live witnesses gave compelling testimony that underscored the need for a full airing of what happened on January 6. Other than claiming that the committee hearing was unworthy of watching, Trump supporters offered no evidence that countered either the basic thrust of the committee's narrative, or any of the detail. I spent a moment watching Donald Trump, Junior's rant. He sounded like a used car salesman down on his luck trying desperately to unload the junkers that he had on the company lot.
It's going to take a few months for the committee's counter-story to sink in and gain traction. Televising key portions of the witness depositions in which they admit to facts and circumstances that President Trump and his circle of advisors have routinely denied is likely to persuade those who might be reachable. Watching Trump supporters behave like apoplectic wild men is not going to be persuasive to those willing to take a few moments to think about where the competing narratives differ in substance and likelihood that one side is telling a story that is more likely to be true then the story put forth by the other side. If the next hearing sessions are as well assembled as the first one, this will certainly have greater impact than the Senate Watergate Hearings that I watched in 1973. Back then, Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina chaired a bipartisan committee that alternated and taking turns asking questions of witnesses that appeared before the committee. The sessions were long and somewhat tedious, as every senator on the committee wanted his chance to question witnesses and 'showboat' a bit; but that's part of being a politician.
This time is likely to be much different. The committee has interviewed more than a thousand witnesses, a few of whom will be invited to testify before the committee; and I suspect that the pace of questioning will be a lot quicker than it was, say, on June 25, 1973, when John W Dean gave his leadoff testimony accusing the president, Richard Nixon, and participating in a criminal cover-up of the Watergate burglary, and other criminal acts committed by operatives working for the Committee to Reelect the President. On that day I was sitting in the gallery not ten feet away from him. All of that was great political theater; especially when the FAA Administrator, Alexander Butterfield, revealed the White House taping system.
It's not going to be the same way this time, because this is about President Trump refusing to accept the results of the election, and his spreading the Big Lie about a stolen election. Instead of a simple cover-up orchestrated from the Oval Office, what we will be treated to is the substantive equivalent of a spy thriller where the Trump people cobble together a seven part plan to corrupt the vote counting in individual swing states that would've been necessary to go for Trump in order for him to receive an Electoral College majority. The plan largely relied upon Trump operatives being able to browbeat local election officials into substituting false results favoring Trump, and suppressing vote tallies that showed that Joe Biden was the winner. The plan very nearly succeeded; but when it didn't succeed, as was the case in Georgia, with Trump failing to persuade Georgia's Secretary of State to come up with '11,780 votes for Trump', or as in Arizona where a group of Trump supporters created forged election certifications that they forwarded to the national archives, the stage was set for a showdown on January 6, in which Trump announced that there would be a huge rally in Washington coinciding with the counting of the electoral college votes by the two houses of Congress assembled for that purpose, and that Trump would unleash his minions on those members of Congress in order to disrupt the vote counting.
Yesterday, Friday, I spent several hours watching the PBS show Frontline, consisting of a recorded interview with J. Michael Luttig, a former federal appeals court judge who found himself called upon to provide legal counsel to Vice President Mike Pence's White House staff and legal counsel on an emergency basis, culminating in judge Luttig, for the first time in his life, posting a multi-thread Twitter message, definitively stating that the Vice President of the United States had no authority to change or disregard certified Electoral College results from any state during the official counting of the votes; and that the Vice President owed his loyalty to the Constitution, and not to the President, for the purpose of the completing the ceremonial (and official) counting of the votes by Congress. Judge Luttig went on to say that this was the most serious constitutional crisis faced by the American people and their government since the founding of the country, and it was a circumstance that the Framers of the Constitution could not have imagined would have happened. He basically said that if the insurrectionists succeed, the America we know would be destroyed.
I posted a link to this interview on my Facebook page, writing in part, "This is quite long, but it is well worth your time and attention… I sat watching this interview for several hours.… (Judge Luttig)… Is a smart, careful, and thorough jurist…" His remarks were picked up by the New York Times on January 5, 2021, and were mentioned by Congresswoman Liz Cheney in her opening remarks this past Thursday. Judge Luttig is expected to testify in person at one of the sessions that January 6 committee will hold this month. Having seen the complete Frontline interview, I would urge everyone who can do so, to tune in to hear his live testimony.
You are right Peter, the "new normal" is truly bizarre.
That we now have (and apparently need) "PRO-DEMOCRACY" politicians reveals how extreme a shift there has been in our perceptions and language in the last four decades. I'd like to think we could challenge everyone running for office with a simple question: are you "pro-democracy?" Sadly I fear that there could be a possibility that even THIS could become a rallying point for the autocrats.
“Do you believe in democracy?” Is the the fundamental question of our time and the answer quite clearly shows whether you are with us or against us, no mealy mouth in between.
"...on June 25, 1973, when John W Dean gave his leadoff testimony accusing the president, Richard Nixon, and participating in a criminal cover-up of the Watergate burglary, and other criminal acts committed by operatives working for the Committee to Reelect the President. On that day I was sitting in the gallery not ten feet away from him." WOW Arthur!! A ringside seat to history!! I watched every minute of the Watergate hearings with my mom in 1973. Maybe I saw you!
Not a big deal at all. I clearly remember John Dean and his wife Maureen sitting together at the hearing. I recall that Dean was wearing a light colored suit. Maureen was wearing a white dress and she had her blonde hair tied tightly in a bun behind her head. The really sad part of all of this was that Dean could've had a brilliant future as a lawyer. He was the kind of a guy I instinctively would've thought would have made managing partner for some multinational law firm early in his career. He had the poise and the incisiveness that one sees in exceptional lawyers, and his memory, under the pressure of testifying on his own behalf before a skeptical Senate committee, proved to be exceptional. He looked to be about my age at the time; that day was my 31st birthday.
In fact, Dean's youth actually worked against him; as Counselor to the President, Dean was the official White House lawyer whose charge it was to ensure that in all presidential matters, the Office of the President operated fully in accord with federal statutes and ethical standards. His mentors were all senior lawyers; but their focus was on presidential politics, and keeping the 'boss', President Richard M Nixon, happy. Richard Nixon himself was a highly capable lawyer, but he was better known for his utter ruthlessness as a Republican politician. Nixon's personal and political ambitions put him at odds with senior members of the Washington Republican political establishment. He was the darling of the McCarthyite wing of the Republican Party, very much the Trump Republican Party of today. Their calling card was hatred — hatred of everything and everyone who is in any way different from themselves. Nixon's bitterness oozed like sweat from his pores; his lower middle-class upbringing shouted every turn; and 'country club Republicans' saw in Nixon the sweaty face of a striver and arrivistic.
Under those conditions, young men like John Dean, eager to win approval from the White House staff and the president, were easily corrupted. The perquisites of office came immediately, and only later did John Dean realize that he was set up to be the fall guy for the Watergate cover-up. To his credit, he recognized that he was in legal jeopardy, and he secretly went to the prosecutor's with his tale of the ethical rot that was permeating the Nixon White House. Ultimately, I recall, Dean received a reduced sentence of six months confinement at Fort Holabird, near Baltimore, Maryland. In all, 49 individuals, many of them lawyers admitted to the California State Bar, were convicted on a variety of criminal charges. I speak to this from my memory alone, as searching out the details would take more time that I have at the moment.
Nonetheless, I certainly admire the man that John W Dean ultimately became. He learned his lesson, and well. Early on he recognized that the Republican Party viewed democracy as a threat to their quest for power. He's written a number of books about it, and is a frequent guest on political talk shows, because he knows what the corrupting power of office can be. We see this in the way that William Barr, the former Attorney General behaved. Back when Barr was Attorney General in the administration of George H W Bush, Barr was known for his extreme views about the scope of presidential power, a point of view that he pushed to the fullest when he had a second bite at the apple under Donald Trump. Barr, too, allowed himself to be corrupted by power, but for that corruption, the political power he wielded would not have come about. Be happy he's gone, even considering his grudging admission that he could not find any evidence that the 2020 election was 'stolen' from President Trump. John Dean is an honorable man. William Barr is not.
Just followed the link to the New York Times article to find out more about the pro-democracy groups. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/are-crossover-efforts-to-defeat-extreme-republicans-gaining-ground In the group called Renew America Movement (with a Ram as a very appropriate mascot), I found Theodore Roosevelt IV, the great grandson of Teddy, like Teddy a conservationist. Have been wanting to find the Teddy Roosevelt of our time to blow up the big tech and other monopolies and to conserve the planet. Also, see Bill Weld is also among RAM's leadership. I've voted for him three times now -- twice as a Republican Governor of Massachusetts and once on the Johnson - Weld Libertarian ticket in 2016. So, I'm going to support this movement. Take a look at: https://renewamericamovement.com/ Their watchlist of candidates lists both Renewers who are pro-democracy candidates and Dividers who are those who are dismantling democracy. Nice to have a non-partisan list of pro-democracy candidates. We, the People, all of us this time.
I had hoped that Weld would gain traction in the last go around. He was another popular Republican governor in a dark blue state. We in MA have liked that balance of power. The leftie legislature (when it can get its act together) pushes through some good laws. The GOP govs try to rein in the spending. Our Baker may be the most popular governor in the US. And guess what? The state has a budget surplus it is deciding how to spend!
I like many of Weld's views. But I fear that he would starve any government with his cave man attitude about taxes. I think if our society was truly built on a level playing field, there are some aspects of Libertarianism that have value. But it ain't.
That being said, Bill Weld could have been a very fine president. But he was too truthie and respectable for the new GQP. Too decent. Too patriotic. Too reasonable. Too inclusive.
It was reassuring to see the number of viewers watching the opening of the hearings but not enough as most watching were probably already on board with the fact this was an insurrection and set up by Trump and his sycophants on the extreme right. Everyone of us believing in the rule of law and the pursuit of democracy must push the narrative outlined in these hearings to show just how much our country is in danger if you do not shout and vote down candidates espousing these views. Thank you once again for outlining the facts Heather.
Heather said "That number, which does not include streaming or later views, is fewer than tune in for a normal State of the Union address". We streamed it on You Tube since we don't watch regular TV and don't subscribe to cable any more (I quit because they would not remove Fox). So hopefully many more did see it. Some of my friends have decided to watch nothing that might upset them because they already have too much to worry about. I understand, but can't hide my head in the sand. I want a decent future for my grandchildren.
I couldn't bear to watch it right before sleep, but streamed it in the morning, and know others who did the same. I think we need to double the "number of viewers" reported by TV surveyors.
I’d venture triple numbers or more. Many that said they will NOT watch it live because it’s this or that….trust me. They recorded it and will sneak a view.
Hearings on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday will be recorded and viewed later also by most people with job schedule or whatever.
I read a few comments in WaPo, before giving up (there were over 10,000) when someone scornfully said "Facts? Opinion!" So, those terrifying shots of the invading swarm were just the opinion of the security camera on the roof.
It is interesting that you, HRC, found out about 20 million were watching the hearings. I wonder if that figure includes those who live overseas. Regardless, the hearings are necessary and very important to those of us who believe in justice and democracy. I also want to comment on that Don, Jr. video…made me ill. He is as big a blowhard as his dad. Chip off the old block, eh?
At this point, I just want Garland to start grabbing these stone-cold criminals by their starched collars as soon as possible!!!
Hoping to capitalize on Donald J. Trump’s annoyance at his daughter for her testimony before the January 6th committee, Eric Trump requested that he be given Ivanka Trump’s room at Mar-a-Lago.
The 20 million just includes broadcast viewers, not streaming, so would be an undercount. I know people have short attention spans and maybe didn’t watch at all, so I’ve been trying to amplify some of the clips the J6 Committee posts on Twitter on my Facebook page.
[Trump] "...refused to intervene to protect lawmakers, law enforcement officers, or the law."
Or his own vice president. After four years of Pence's obsequious, groveling loyalty, on Jan. 6, when Pence indicated there was a line he could not cross, the former president hinted that hanging him wasn't a bad idea.
What a scathing indictment. Because I’m an idealistic idiot, I thought a man who is as horrible and hideous a criminal and loser as Dump would never win an election. I’ll never make that mistake in judgment again. And then my father and a huge number of Americans voted him in. I will never again have a favorable opinion of Americans. How can you. If integrity had a smell, this guy would smell like Manhattan’s central raw sewage facility. A criminal in the New York mob. A student of Hitler. Serial sex offender and rapist. Die-hard racist, sexist, antisemite, and gay hater. Business fraudster. How many different ways is this guy a criminal. This guy is an absolute POS, and that was obvious in 2016. So we know the importance of personal integrity to the 2016 American voter. Even in 2020, out of 155 million votes he lost by a scant 7 million. He had 48% of the vote. The only reason those efforts in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan etc. were problematic is because he lost by so little. The vote was incredibly close. Think Bush Gore 2000.
I have been trying to figure out how the present state of postwar Republican decline is tied into the "passionate intensity" (Yeats, "The Second Coming") the exhibit, pathetically, in their violent effort to cling to political power, by whatever means, in spite of having no developed vision of a shared world that has been growing global since about the time of the rise of the Roman Empire. Our "community of concern" has become a global collection of extra-national states because of climate change linked to unhinged productivism, because of nuclear materials not stopped by mountains and oceans, and, more positively, because the future as a framework of opportunity has expanded to suit new conditions impacting the division of labor and has conquered the terror of material scarcity. As I argue in a comment I wrote today in response to an article in The Washington Post, seeking why some Republicans reacting to the House Committee investigating the events of 6 January 2021 at the Capitol say they want to "move on" and forget about the assault on the Capitol. I argue that this desire to look this way at the attack on the Capitol is similar to how an abuser seeks by threat to intimidate his victim into silence. Here is my text.
Ref: The Washington Post : "Fox News didn’t just ignore the Jan. 6 hearing. It did something worse", analysis by Philip Bump, National correspondent, dated June 10, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
Text:
I have searched for what explains the hostile Republican resistance to strong objections, or condemnation, of the insurrection or coup attempt of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol, and suddenly it came to me how rapists and abusers present the same hard face and glazed-over eyes to their victims, showing no remorse and daring them with barely contained anger to oppose, object to or show any sign of objection likely to attract negative public attention.
Abusers self-hate for being weak and fear being outed because it would likely bring social death on them; what makes them very dangerous is their willingness to dehumanize another person who it excites them to control and very really deprive of autonomy.
When a Bill Cosby, a Harvey Weinstein or Larry Nassar (gymnastics) puts on the abuser's mask, the victim is often made to feel blamable for causing herself her own abuse. An attack on one's autonomy as a moral person is quasi mortal because it requires at least a showing of willing complicity with the attacker to avoid the attacker's likely violent death-defense response.
When targeted by an ardent abuser, a victim does not see the sheepish Larry Nassar or lovable, big-daddy Bill Cosby seen in custody, she sees a wild monster. The abuser has mastered the ability to grant himself permission to selectively engage with a state of temporary insanity, allowing him to resist with impunity the normal fears of social exclusion.
The Trump-model Republicans, increasingly loosing relevance, which they quite objectively see as existential death, have no tools of persuasion left and feel compelled to resort to the violence of mocking character assassination, undisguised dehumanization, and intimidation to further their pipe-dreams of righteous salvation. A baseball bat, not words, is the arm of choice of defense (figurative) for anyone caught in the crosshairs of such a transformable brute who looses, at will, the skills of principled self-governance, moral compass.
Although I agree that the tactics of former president Trump and others who ardently follow him are the tactics of domestic, or intimate partner abusers, their bizarre behavior when confronted with proof of their abuse is even simpler than Philip Bump's analysis. Abusers are actors. They believe that as long as they can deny they did anything wrong, they can avoid accountability. These denials are acting. They know full well what they are doing. As proof of their abuses becomes more and more visible, widely known, and irrefutable, their acting becomes more bizarre because there is no plausible, refutable position left to them. Acting innocent is the tool that has worked for them. When they cannot pretend innocence anymore, they become furious and physically dangerous.
Thank you Pam for your response to my comment. In the case of the aggressive collective Republican denial of even a democratic willingness, in a civilized spirit, to even openly debate the relative gravity of an alleged gross abuse of power on 6 January 2021 aimed at attempting to prevent the legally established procedure for the passage of presidential power is patently desperate if taken and meant to be real and intentional. Ordinarily, a flat-out refusal to accept the means of reason-ruled dialogue to arbitrate differences is understood as fighting talk and counts as an act of violence. On the street, the insulting commentary of a Jim Jordan, or Marjorie Taylor Green, or House Minority Leader McCarthy himself would easily provoke a punch in the face. Most of us do not accept to be dehumanized and degraded sitting down. Of course, we know these players protected by the usual decorum of public leaders are putting on a show to a rebellious mob in the gallery, or offstage. Such governance trashing comportment indicative of the wounded-animal reflex among the leadership choice of Trump radicalized designer anarchists shows how far Republican Party leadership has lost their capacity of independent critical judgement. Trump is the epitome of the caricature of the Modern Manager who says, "I do nothing, I just make things happen." Trump will eventually fly away in the hot air balloon of Alice's Wizard of Oz and reveal his most recent brain scan indicating no cerebral activity. How can you beat up on such a frivolous twit? Trump's modus operandi, since forever, has been to act criminally, or stage an insurrection, always sheltered by plausible denial, while all the time ready to make the most of it if the ruse works. Trump watched the events of 6 January at the Capitol from his private tv screening room because he saw the whole parade as reality tv, as a show. His loyal collaborators who tried to make his dreams come true are a joke. This isn't Russia in 1917, totally primed for a game-changing revolution. The answer to "Where's the beef?" here is the hamburger between the naked emperors ears. A few thousand overweight selfie obsessed Capitol invaders-for-a-day are—be serious—hardly a match for an Army supervised National Guard trained to herd citizen loud-mouths doing late adolescence for a weekend get-away. All this being said, I can't take much of the pathetic charade we have been watching since the arrival of the Reality TV King in 2016 otherwise than as a perfectly ordinary breakdown disturbance spectacle of shiny surfaces that is part of boring history and generational attrition. Ms. Cox has written eloquently about the understandably disturbing experience of our World War II born present and the rapid habitat demise of small-town USAmerica. Her favorable commentary about President Dwight D. Eisenhower is a positive message about the survival prospects of our country in the postwar, global evolving present. Eisenhower had a brain: he and Truman not only defeated Hitler with cooperative productivity that outgunned the screaming pre-Putin authoritarian paradigm, he stared down Britain's General Montgomery who, thanks to US investments in the war, felt enabled to take a glory pause on arriving on the Normandy D-Day beaches instead of charging on hard into France on the way to Germany. The war showed how the power of the "American Experiment" is in its ordinary, competent people able to work together against the persistent rot of corrupted power. Trump is all heel spurs and hair-helmet.
'Eric Trump Asks Dad Whether He Can Have Ivanka’s Room Now'
'PALM BEACH (The Borowitz Report)—Hoping to capitalize on Donald J. Trump’s annoyance at his daughter for her testimony before the January 6th committee, Eric Trump requested that he be given Ivanka Trump’s room at Mar-a-Lago.'
'According to those familiar with the exchange, Eric Trump’s campaign for his sister’s room began just moments after her testimony aired on Thursday night.' (Satire,NewYorker)
It's hard to wait four days until the next hearing. This is a show I want to binge watch! I wonder what it would look like for a representative to do a 180 and suddenly say that the election was not rigged. It's hard for these guys to ever admit they were wrong or apologize, and this is a big one. How would they actually do that? I wonder if they went along with it thinking it would all go away in a matter of weeks and here we are, still getting it shoved in our faces. And will history continue to carry this stance of theirs as an important part of their legacy, as Liz C. said? I hope so. I heard one of them on PBS last night saying we should be looking, first and foremost, into how the Capitol Police weren't able to hold of the rioters and it reminded me of the gun issue. Don't do anything about the real problem but just work on protecting yourselves. Arm teachers, build a better Capitol Police force...Their bread and butter must be protected over everything: our democracy, children's lives, our freedom to move about safely in this country, our feeling safe. So much anger/hate/fear in that party. It's a tough way to live, and the opposite of what our founders intended.
There is an element to this that I am curious about, which is not just the Capitol Police response (which was nothing short of some of the most heroic conduct I've ever witnessed) but what seems to be the utter lack of preparation for the event. That area is multi-jurisdictional; Capitol Police are assigned to the Capitol. National Park Police are assigned to the "grounds" that include the Capitol, monuments, etc. while Metro DC is the City Police Department for Washington, D.C. There are other Federal agencies (ATF, FBI, Homeland Security) which also have jurisdictional responsibilities. I cannot fathom how those agencies were so unprepared for the attack on the Capitol. I understand the Mayor of DC's reluctance to deploy the National Guard after what happened during the summer and the BLM protests, but at some point, "optics" have to go by the wayside when a mob is attacking the seat of your government with an attempt to overthrow the results of an election and abort the peaceful transition of power which has defined our country to this point.
Of course he did. How else did he know what Ivanka said? He would need to know first hand what was being said rather than relying on others. I imagine him stuffing his face with Big Macs while watching. Waiting for him to have the "big one".....please.
When trump tweeted during his reign of terror, I would make myself (wouldn't share with my husband!) a mac & cheese casserole and eat the whole damn thing in a couple of sittings!!! I paid for that with a necessity to drop 20lbs! My friends and I already have established that whenever we die (regardless of age), it is trump's fault!!
I was wondering how long it would take before Trump turned on his daughter. Shorter time than even I anticipated. I hope the Committee plays even more video of her. Let him squirm.
As difficult as it was to watch, the upcoming rollouts need to hit just as hard as the first one. Eventually, the GOP crap spewing machine will run out of material to counter with.
The Emperor has no clothes, that was evident the other night.
Another superb piece but here's a perhaps important quibble. Dear Professor, you write: "it is at the very least a problem that he has refused to recuse himself from cases in which her activism might have caused a conflict of interest." The recusal issue does not concern only cases arising from past events. Her alignment with the independent state legislature theory specifically, with the Trump wing of the Republican party generally, creates grounds for recusal as to all cases now and in the future that have an impact on the outcome of elections. Already, husband Clarence Thomas is ruling on cases where he should be recused, and the ISL claim very likely to be made in 2024 isn't one he should rule on. Furthermore, if he followed appropriate ethical principles, the conservative majority would discover that Chief Justice Roberts is the determinative swing vote, rather than the current situation where Thomas leads the pack far to the political right.
sorry. jargon. Independent State Legislature doctrine. What Ginni was invoking. Stems from a case called Arizona Redistricting where Roberts wrote for majority.
It should be an important quibble. Justice Thomas should be removed from the court, and Barret and Kavanaugh should be on very short leashes for a decade.
The Hearings opened well. Now the challenge is to keep to this tone and substance and press the facts and the crimes they implicate.
Pressure and more pressure, through the recitation of events, evidence, perpetrators and crimes committed, until the Attorney General wakes each morning with his ears ringing.
If the DOJ does not pursue an indictment of trump on a felony (non of the misdemeanor stuff and "slap on the wrist" punishments some of the pawns have received), we really are doomed. trump and his minions are a clear and present danger to our government and our lives.
A bit off topic, but one little metric I have been using as an indication Americans are unwilling/unable to step up to this political madness (and even taking the tiniest steps regarding climate change) is the whining and complaining about gas prices and placing the blame on Biden. Even with gas averaging close to $5/gallon, people are driving more than ever. With hybrid work situations and online shopping, one has to wonder where the heck everyone is going 24/7! Collectively, we seem to have fallen into a major "entitled" mentality and everything else be damned. This is also apparent when seeing the overbooked/overpriced vacation travel that requires either significant car or airplane travel.
The heat dome has already started over the Southwest . . . it looks like a very hot summer is well on its way.
Janet, yes, it is interesting that the most popular vehicle in America is a 7000-9000 lb, dual cab, pickup truck (with the bed covered to keep it dry).
One would think if gas prices actually mattered to Americans, they would be driving smaller vehicles. Reduced demand would lower prices.
Giant pickup trucks get 15 mpg at best. But, Americans Do....No....Care.......
In fact, the perverse love Americans have for gigantic, gas guzzling trucks even though they don't haul hay or watermelons ever, is one sign that Americans are out of touch with reality and ignorant.
Nobody in their right mind on earth would drive such an inefficient energy/natural resources (steel, rubber, etc) hog except someone who is completely ignorant and UNABLE to resolve that ignorance.
My view is that big trucks are like guns and are designed to enhance the feeling of masculinity. They also often have bodies jacked up and lots of accessories hanging on them. Then there is the noise. They sometimes ride loud motorcycles. We have a very large sewer project in front of our house and the street is closed at our corner. There are many signs announcing this; yet big trucks invariably drive up and have to turn around. At least one driver gave the workers the finger. This week an older couple managed to drive through and now the workers have made sure that no one can get through. Not long ago we saw a Rubicon jeep all tricked out and one the stickers on it announced that it was a Christian jeep association member. My husband wondered if it was a holy roller.
Yes. Agree.
Big trucks are also designed to fleece money from the ignorant.
8 and 10 year loans on an $85,000 truck?
Just an IQ test.
Americans fail.
Well, we have one vehicle now....a Prius Prime. I had no idea what those big trucks cost.
Some of them cost well over 6 figures, palaces on wheels with every convenience you can imagine and dripping with chrome. It's obscene.
Still driving my 2008 Camry - possibly the last vehicle I will own!! And watching the "interviews" by reporters of people pumping gas & whining about the cost when they are filling up these SUVs and pickups? STooopid!!! And blaming Biden? Really stupid!
I agree. The big truck syndrome is ever present in my area of the country. So big they don't fit in the garages of the owners. It's the wife or girlfriend that owns the tiny sedan or CUV.
lol !
In my county, not only do they drive those things, they soup them up to use even MORE gas, and make them belch great gouts of black smoke out of pipes mounted behind the cab and sticking at least a foot higher than that cab roof. Not real subtle about their attempts to "own the libs" by emptying their own pockets polluting their own air.
Please see my comment to Mike S in NY for an additional comment on these obscene (yes, I do think they are too!) vehicles. They do that here too. But there is more.
Dude, you're singing my song! I've been railing against these roadway "menaces" for a while now, and there is NO place they are more ubiquitous than the American South. Good ol' boys gotta have their pick-up trucks! Like you said, they have become more of a status symbol much more than an actual utilitarian vehicle designed for hauling and farm work. The overwhelming majority of these behemoths around here are parked in suburban houses' driveways than at some rural farm. It is the epitome of conspicuous consumerism, and the auto industry has been right there supplying the product. I detest them. And 9 times out of 10, at least around here, the a$$holes driving them, drive like a$$holes. With abysmal gas mileage, I'll bet that for many owners it's there way of giving the finger to libtards and others concerned about the planet's natural resources. "It's MY money and I'll spend it like I damn well please, so F***K YOU!" Well, with gas prices right at $5 a gallon, and going up, who's laughing now??? Of course, Ford has now come out with the latest "must have", an F-150 super behemoth with all the bells & whistles that is all electric--not with a super battery, but with something like 4 separate batteries over each of the wheels. There's no engine in front, only a trunk-type space, called a "frunk". They START at $80,000 and go way over 6 figures. They'll go zero to 60 in a few seconds and if the power goes out at home, they'll generate enough power to run some things in your house. (Of course, my next question is, "Will the power infrastructure of this country be able to keep up with all the re-charging needs of increasingly more cars and trucks??" I wonder.) When I see these huge monsters taking up more than their share of space on the roads I always ask out loud, "Dude, is your penis THAT small that you need such a thing to compensate???" I talk to drivers a lot when I drive...
My husband was parked at a red light. He was in a Mazda Miata. One of those monsters pulled up behind him, couldn’t see him there, and tried to run over him when the light changed. He had a hard top on what was a convertible. If that truck had gone four more inches, it would have displaced the hard top and decapitated my husband. The good ole body policeman decided that both of them deserved a ticket. So, I REALLY don’t like them, but see a much larger problem of which they are only a part.
Whoa!!!
The cop probably drives one, too.
Bruce, I also talk to other drivers when I’m behind the wheel, but my comments are more on the order of, “Love your f**king signal, a**hole!” 😂
About 40+ years ago, after letting my left hand and a particular finger slip out the window and noticed by a vehicle that had cut me off (he then chased me and tried to smash the driver side window; I drove off so he smashed the windshield of the car behind me!) my husband suggested for everyone's safety, I keep all my body parts in the vehicle!!! 😆
I am always cautious now about that. I have had one road rage incident. I was coming home from the dentist and rounding the corner of my street and doing it slowly because people always jaywalk or fly out of the business driveway there.. I heard a horn and had no idea where it came from, and saw in my rear view mirror that a big black SUV was right on my tail. So I gave the one finger salute and got it returned. It should have ended there, but she come up close and kept honking. I could see that she was a middle-aged hard looking blonde (probably fake) who looked like nearly all the women at death star's rallies. She continued to follow me closely honking, and I decided I wasn't going to show her where I lived, so I turned and sped off to the local church (would never be seen there otherwise) and she followed me around the corner but kept going, thankfully. Glad she didn't have a gun. Since then the one finger salute still occurs, but is out of sight.
I talk to other drivers too....the inside of the car is often blue.
I'm on the waiting list for the Ford F150 Lighting. I decided it would be a good replacement for my old Volvo station wagon. We have enough solar on our roof so we're not pulling off PAM'S power grid while charging a vehicle as we also power our home.
We now have two EVs. Have been driving one since 2016. Never going back. We're investigating solar, too. Biden wants to do so much to encourage EV purchases, but Manchin and others — as usual — stand in the way. Most of the country is living in ignorance-is-bliss mode when it comes to the dire, even existential threat of climate change. It doesn't take much reading to understand this. The consequences are accelerating rapidly.
Watch Buttigieg - electric infrastructure going in right under Republican's noses.
Heat dome already in the southwest and southern CA.
Hi Bruce! Your last sentence is exactly what one of my nieces always assumes is behind the wheel of every male driving an oversized SUV or truck. (Coincidentally she's a therapist.) It's funny that while those drivers feel they are "owning" someone and/or impressing others by the size of what they drive, they are causing MANY others to glance at them on the road, casually turn away without being upset in the least and think "tiny penis." Some people may remember when there was a gas shortage--I think in the 80's--and while everyone was upset at the price, there were huge SUVs all over the highways and there was no noticeable drop in their presence either during or after that shortage. My first thought about oversize cars and trucks that are not needed for a person's work, is not even how much gas they use, although that is important, but how when they move in front of me, I can't see a darn thing that's up ahead. It's not just a sign of someone who thinks it's a status symbol. It's also selfish and sometimes dangerous.
OR when you are parked in a parking lot with one on either side - almost a guess when backing out as to whether its clear or not.
We have solar on our roof and just added 8 more panels and storage batteries in the garage. So they will power our Prius. The batteries do not power big items like stoves during a power outage, but they will run lights, freezer, fridges, etc. I had one of the local stars and bars wavers castigate because they were likely made in China....has she ever looked at what's in her house???
Michele:
As I have mentioned, I am (was) manufacturing. Once or twice a year for my Japanese masters, I would go from plant to plant in Asia to see what we could do better in supplying them with parts for automotive wire harnesses. Many of these are still made off shore. In simple words, I am supply chain and was so for 40+ years. Occasionally I would lecture on how not to be an ugly American in Asia to 3rd and 4th year students.
The attempts to rekindle American manufacturing is notable. Much of it should be done in the US. The issue is our Overhead. Healthcare, SS, Workmans Comp, Child Labor laws, OSHA, EPA, vacation time, OT laws, building codes, etc. It costs far more than the amount of Labor per item in things manufactured. Companies do not want to pay for that Overhead.
My thoughts are companies should pay for Overhead they avoided by going overseas as they bring back their product to the US. It is not that much.
I am sure you are saving a lot in power usage which is great. Thought about it myself.
Thanks for this clarification of overhead costs. It's not just the wage per hour. I would hope that some companies at least would want to manufacture here, but we have a public that wants everything on the cheap. I constantly hear about the good old days and the wonderful stores in downtowns. Well, first it was big box stores....I am very rarely in one, but had to leave a Costco because everything became surreal and I felt like I was in a Dali painting. Now it is Amazon....so easy....comes to your door...as you pray porch pirates don't get it. We have a principle to buy locally as much as we can. We were at our Saturday Market this am as we are most Saturdays. Great produce and of course, Bodhi Bakery, our fav. Our buying habits are groceries, garden items, and books and now and then local restaurants. We shop at Powell's not Amazon for books. My husband has power usage records going back to when the house became ours which was early 70s I think. The solar panels do a great job and we save a lot on our power usage. We are all electric, no gas. We decided to do storage batteries after an awful ice storm that had the power out for five days for us and longer for many. We also have a couple generators. Our next door neighbors had power (go figure) and we ran a cord to them to power our deep freezer. I learned how not to be an ugly American in the Peace Corps and I hope that I have never been one. One of our last trips was to Croatia and environs and we did meet a few really ugly rich Americans, but ugliness there was mostly Italians and Japanese.
Hi Michele. A word of warning - take care where you install your solar panels. Areas of your roof that are shaded by tall trees or other buildings will not be effective at producing the solar power that you need. We have them too but as new houses have been built around us, we cannot install any more.
We are on a nearly half acre lot in an older subdivision of large lots with ranch style homes. The ice storm did in both of our trees in the backyard that were of any size, so nothing to shadow the south facing roof. The other tallest tree went down before that in a wind storm. This could change in the future I suppose, but by then we will be pushing up daisies. When we had the latest solar panels installed, they were able to look at the roof and the surrounding area using google.
LOL. Totally. Everything you said. I expect these numbnuts will boycott the electric 150s until the day they die with a gas cap clutched in their paws.
Have you seen the "squat version" yet?
Well that's not quite true. We drive an F250 pickup because it's necessary to pull our 5th wheel trailer that we live in while we volunteer for Oregon State Parks in the summer. There are also many people who need such a truck or even bigger ones, to haul materials for their contracting or farming. Not everyone lives in a city, not everyone works in an office, not every truck is a toy.
I'm positive no one is throwing blame on anyone who needs a truck or other vehicle to do actual work!! My granddaughter has to have a truck to haul her horse trailer - my son has an old Ramcharger as a plow truck. But boy, are there many many others who fit the bill on these comments.
Hi. While I agree with your sentiments in principle, The objectification of people through their “things” only perpetuates the “tribalism” mentality that tears this country apart. Yes, people who have no need of these large trucks are indeed (probably) enhancing their insecure masculinity, but amongst working contractors, farmers, ranchers, etc., these large vehicles are part of their “tool Chest.” And I’m sure they are just as frustrated at the operating costs of these “beasts” as the rest of us are. Unfortunately, since no operating balance sheet exists that includes “environmental cost” exposure, industry deludes itself in what any true cost of “doing business” can be recognized by the business owner. That in itself holds back solving environmental issues much more than the “teeny weanie” syndrome owners do.
Hello, Patricia. I appreciate your points. But I wasn't referring to people who use pickup trucks for working. We have plenty of those here, too. They're usually filled with tools of the trade and show the wear and tear. The types of vehicles I was talking about are definitely NOT work trucks. They are ego-mobiles, shiny, flying oversized confederate flags, riding on ridiculously oversized tires, and the other excess accoutrements I mentioned above. These trucks are not outfitted for work. They're a statement.
Working pickups are not laden with foolish add-ons that decrease their gas mileage and usefulness, and cost a lot of extra money to operate. People who use their pickups for work want those vehicles to help them make money, not waste it.
I am in perfect agreement with you. But — I was making an overlooked point about assessing the costs of environmental stupidity. Those costs are completely hidden on any accounting balance sheet — and until they are included in the “cost of doing business, there is no accountability for wasteful, erroneous building, design, etc. errors. These things are hidden by choice because there are costs to such re-design, etc. Hiding the environmental costs can somehow justify their ignoring what they are creating for the rest of us. It’s another kick the can down the road opportunity that can be hidden.
I have no problem with large trucks for work purposes. What goes up and down our street does not usually qualify for that.
One of the memes posted by a conservative friend yesterday claimed that "You can't sell electric cars if gas prices are low". I commented that therefore Elon Musk must be in charge of fuel prices! After all, he sells more electric vehicles than ay other car maker in the US.
Seriously, if Republican politicians are so concerned about fuel costs, why aren't they bringing legislation to control the price of gasoline, or the profits of oil companies? Simple, they are in the pockets of those very companies and reaping the benefits of those sky-high profits!
It's plainly obvious that these people couldn't pass a basic economics course because they refuse to understand the influence of supply vs. demand. Low supply + high demand (because we drive gas hogs) = higher prices = higher profits for the fat cats!
Or compensating for small appendage anatomy. “proud of their small penis’s boys”, 3%’ers of normal size, Oath of ‘so small and belly so fat, can’t find it’ keepers
LOL.
Colbert could really run with these.
Truer words have not been written. These same folks are going to shoo in the insurrectionists this November. Global Warming is my hot button, above all else. Nothing else matters as much. Put aside (somehow) the dystopian, existential ramifications of it continuing unabated, it shows in stark reality the nature of the average American. He/she cannot get out of his/her own way. I suppose there was a time where "rugged individualism" had its place, back when a large portion of our citizens were directly doing battle with mother nature in order to just survive. But that was a couple centuries ago. No, the "bigger is better", "don't tread on me", American way of looking at the world was never respectable, but is now so very obsolete. It does not and cannot address the global issues at the forefront today. Much of Europe and Scandinavia, and the British Empire nations see this, and have for some time. "American Exceptionalism" my ass. Maybe one but no longer. We are becoming irrelevant.
This idea of "exceptionalism" was perfectly reflected in the exchange a British journalist had with Se. Cruz right after the Uvalde massacre. The reporter was asking about why was American exceptionalism with regard to numbers of people killed by guns so much greater than the rest of the world. Cruz, of course, totally didn't hear the context of his remark about American exceptionalism, but instead jumped on him saying that the reporter was obviously motivated of his hatred of America's "exceptionalism"--this totally was not even remotely what the reporter had asked. Cruz seized on the word "exceptionalism" and asserted that the reporter "hated America's exceptionalism" since America is the greatest country on earth, and then he walked away. The reporter was no doubt left baffled, and probably amazed at Cruz's sheer stupidity. Like you said, "'American exceptionalism' my ass"...
Bruce I had a slightly different take on that exchange with Cruz (a person very high on my detestometer). I think like you he didn't get the snide irony of "American Exceptionalism" when applied to our "exceptional" gun violence stats. But what he took issue with was his belief that the British reporter doesn't believe America is exceptional at all, not that he hated America's exceptionalism (as if jealous). Cruz's warped view of the world has him believing we are exceptional and other nations like Britain are jealous of it. It is typical of the far right wing beliefs that they are actually popular and represent the majority of people in the US. That is why so many Republicans think the 2020 election was fraudulent. They just cannot fathom that their views are in the minority. American exceptionalism - there is some truth to it, if you define it as a the first successful example of a Democratic society. But that's where it ends, especially since that experiment is going south. To take the notion of "American Exceptionalism" and turn it into an excuse to do or not do god only knows what shitty things on the international stage (exhibits A and B are the Bush II and Trump administrations respectively), well that's not exceptional at all. It is no wonder many countries take no stock in the notion of "American Exceptionalism". Democrats see this, Republicans do not.
That is entirely credible. It was so easy to see the Cruz really didn't seem to understand what the reporter was getting at and taking umbrage that the reporter didn't believe in America's "exceptionalism", in ANYthing, inferring, as Cruz and his wacko colleagues believe, any British reporter from the British media is automatically going to be liberal and biased. Like you said, these extremists still think America is the best country in the world, while the rest of the world is, like, "Umm...you all are the only ones that believe that now, so that doesn't mean it's so." Pathetic.
Never thought of that, James. that we're becoming irrelevant because we are unable to face the real dangers like global warming while others are making changes. maybe we'll see many Americans move to those other countries.
Mary - that is happening already, if my family is any indication. I have a step daughter in S. Korea, and a daughter in Australia, and another step-daughter who has done two stints in France and would like to go again, permanently - all three abhor what has happened to the US politically, and wanted out. Among other reasons. Unfortunately for them and all of us, global warming knows no international boundaries.
I don't know how to say enough how much I don't miss my car which I sold 4 years ago. I can walk 8km to town or take a bus for €2.15 or taxi for €1 per km.or hitch a ride from a friend. I do not miss paying for gas, insurance, repairs, license renewal, or municipal car tax. The bus drivers are on time and courteous and helpful. All I have to do is an my time around their schedule. A train to one of three nearby cities is economical,on time, and clean. I can do any number of chores while someone else is driving. Car conversations put me to sleep. Every morning I see a lady coasting to.work on an electric scooter. She wears a different dress every day and her skirt and long blonde hair billows out behind her. She's so smart! And then there's bicycles. There actually is a farm kid who has a big blue truck in the neighborhood, but he's married with two kids and spends most of his working hours on a tractor.
A euro is worth $1.15 + -. Gas here just came down a little to €2.15 a liter is roughly 5 cups. The Greens had a bigger influence here. The. 4 lane toll road that runs the length of Portugal is expensive so only commercial transport trucks use it and it's only busy close to large cities: most car drivers use the old national roads built 80 years ago and are well kept up. There are several bus companies that provide transportation throughout Europe. I hear there is very little intercity public. transport in the USA. and who knows if it is any safer than a public school. I can not imagine living there now's. It's not America anymore.
EXACTLY! I lived in Holland nearly 18 years. In that time I used a car ONE time, a rental (they didn't have what I'd reserved so they gave me a BMW!) to assist in a move across Amsterdam. I never missed having a car as the public transportation infrastructure in The Netherlands is incredible. By the time I left, I could spend about €200+ (Sadly, the Euro is down to about $1.05 the last time I checked--which is killing me because the pension I get from Holland and it's costing me BIG time!) a month and have a pass to travel anywhere throughout the country on any bus, tram, or train as much as I wanted. I could get ANYWHERE I needed to go. I also had 2 bikes and biked and walked EVERYWHERE. (The Dutch infrastructure for bike paths throughout the country has to be seen to be believed!) I was healthier, 60 lbs lighter than I am now, eating better, looked & felt better, far happier. Life there was a breeze compared to here--and yes, I DO wonder why I came back here!! In short, having a car in Holland is almost a liability and they almost try and discourage people from owning one. The taxes and insurance are extremely high, and petrol there translates now to about $7.83 per gallon. Holland's roads are downright luxurious in comparison to here (that's where those taxes go!), but then that is easier in such a small country. Coming back here 14 years ago was major culture shock and I realised all the more what I've given up. You're wise to stay there! (LOVE Portugal, BTW!) Americans don't understand how good they have it regarding their petrol prices, so welcome to what the rest of the world has to deal with, y'all!!
Are you fluent in Dutch? Can you get by with English?
Yes. Also, fairly fluent in German, can manage in French and Italian, with a smattering of Spanish and Russian...I was blessed with a keen ear for languages. Plus, if you're a singer you have to be a bit of a polyglot!
Thanks, Susan. Your life sounds somewhat idyllic.
It's not for everyone, but for me it's a little bit of Parsdice .I could write a series of novels about a Protestant living in a medievil Catholic backwoods. Life is what you make it.
I sometimes wonder if Garland is hesitant to indict Trump because he's afraid he won't be able to find a jury impartial enough to convict the former Pres. For the Trump worshipers, an indictment without a conviction would be more proof of his saintliness.
Yes, we are a spoiled and entitled bunch here in America. Unwilling to be inconvenienced or uncomfortable for five minutes. Once again, with our pathetic complaining about gas prices, we make ourselves ridiculous. Europeans, on the whole, pay higher prices for gas than we do. We have made ourselves a laughing stock. And if Europe pays more for gas during this hideous war that Russia is waging, think about the gap between our high gas prices and the cost to the Ukranians.
Interestingly, on Thursday at 10:00 a.m., I was heading to an annual doctor's appointment. The streets were packed with cars and trucks and such. Totally unheard of at this time in my little city. The same was observed at 11:15 on my way home. I have adjusted my driving to once a week for several errands. Doesn't seem the case for most. And, yes, those huge trucks with big wheels and loud mufflers are still out in force.
@R Dooley, I merely would add to your pitch-perfect comment that if designated top officials up to and including Trump are not held accountable for criminal behavior, for which there clearly is sufficient factual predication, I would expect the perpetuation of false grievances that the 2020 election was stolen to succeed, largely unimpeded.
Without accountability we'll have a repeat of Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson - years of further damage to the republic stemming from their transgressions.
Ray, I recall the Nixon era as one, wherein our institutions held. Barry Goldwater, you may remember, led a delegation of Senate Republicans to inform Nixon that once he was impeached the Senate would vote to convict. Hence, Nixon was forced to resign.
McConnel wavered January 7th, unlike Goldwater to Nixon. He could have saved his party and Democracy. Instead he soiled his reputation forever. His legacy is like a John Calhoun or any of the Confederate Senators, now and forever.
And the media ignores that fact. They are not holding theGOP as a party responsible for any of it. Until they do I don’t think the public at large will care at all
How could they? The GOP is one of their biggest customers.
Ted, While your point is indisputable, I also hold the 42 other Senate Republicans who voted to acquit equally culpable. Moreover, I’m no less disgusted by Manchin’s & Sinema’s hollow and performative support, this past January, for federal voter protection safeguards only to oppose a modest modification of the filibuster that would have allowed for an up or down majority vote.
Surely starting not after but BEFORE this year's elections.
Otherwise those elections and America's entire political landscape will be a grotesque madhouse, and likely to remain that way for a long, long time to come.
Internet seemed like a wonderful opening for mankind, but... the effects of virtual reality, especially, especially in America have been beyond disastrous.
I never forgot my first direct taste of the USA in 1994... at age 54... No, not the inefficiency and irresponsible hysteria of Latino ground staff at Miami airport -- that was just a failed transfer...
No... the weird and totally unprecedented sense after arriving in New York less than two weeks later... of having landed in another planet.
An alienation I'd never felt anywhere, neither in Central America nor under Kilimanjaro, neither in Japan nor among the mountain people of the Central Cordillera in Luzon.
I couldn't get it... but something clicked on arriving in Time Square. Through the Looking Glass... Virtual reality had already begun to take hold...
Humankind cannot bear very much reality...
*
And now, it's mass psychosis...
While the internet seems to offer great promise as a platform for democracy to flourish, a forum where any and everyone can broadcast their opinions to the masses, in reality it turns out to be a modern Tower of Babel. Largely a constant noise machine that effectively drowns out attempts at reason.
Read Stole Focus by Johan Hari for how the internet platforms have been designed to work. The platforms are vested in time spent on their platform, the clicks, etc rather on how the platform could be doing good.
It's a shame. The potential exists, but the mighty economic imperative always takes precedent.
I have a pet theory, a rule of thumb I came up with, that says it will take at least 50 years for us as a society to really understand the transformative nature of the internet's impact, and accordingly design rules of the road for how to successfully integrate it into everyday life. I date this from the early 90's, which is my observation of when the internet became widely available and started to have an impact on society.
Right now we are fairly deep into the chaos phase of this process. Which I would point to the election of RTump as president, with the help of targeted social media campaigns by Russian bots as a prime example. As well as Qanon, 8chan, and any number of fringe online advocacy groups that would never find the critical mass to exist under analog, real world conditions.
I'm guessing we've got at least 20 more years before we figure out ways to put this genie in its bottle. Although now, 30 years into my timeline, I'm beginning to think I may have been overly generous in my faith in humanity's ability to reckon with our creation!
Sadly, largely true. However, please take hope from another truth; We found each other here, did we not.
Fox news by grabbing most of trumpets' by their family jewels have held them under Murdock's firm control squeezing tightly upon the least's ability to comprehend reality somewhat like the debilitating effect of common testicular hypofunction...
I disagree. Justice delayed is Justice denied. I think we will see another layer of underlings indicted this summer. This layer will sing rather than go to prison, setting the higher up indictments like a mob trial. Layer by layer, brick by brick, the wall of corruption is going to tumble.
Here's hoping... 🤞
I don't understand your comment that Democrats aren't allowed to do anything within 6 months of an election which may affect outcome. What law or regulation bars that? And how can holding the hearings now be more shocking than TFG and McConnell ramrodding through the appointment of Barrett to the Supreme Court so close to the 2020 election.
Lisa, Though aware of terrifying possibilities, I choose to draw upon the findings of the Select Committee to do my part in prevailing upon DOJ to prosecute Trump and his coterie.
I’m with you, Barbara.
Lisa, Admittedly, you might be right about unknown complexities. That said, I have to limit the amount of fear I internalize if I’m to retain the resilience to stay in the fight.
100% Lisa!
In the past it has been said that the DOJ goes for the low hanging fruit first to build their case. I expect the indictments of the then administration officials, Roger Stone, Bannon, etc and members of Congress will end up under RICO, if not sedition - maybe both. The committee and DOJ might not have been sharing info until now (even if just via TV) but it feels to me like the presentation was scheduled in a timely, well coordinated manner. This AG will not cut corners like the last one! Why does everyone think he is doing either nothing or moving too slow? I'm thinking after those that stormed the capital we will see what Garland does with the volunteer slate of alternates and Ginni. If her business is separate from her husband's than there should be no problem throwing the book at her. Hope they all get to cool their heels in prison for a few years. Arresting a former President for what he did while President has never been done before and must be done with great caution.
As per Ginni, I read an article about Justice Thomas stating he has lost trust in the Supreme Court and his colleagues. It read like someone laying the groundwork for a possible retreat in light of emerging facts about his wife's involvement in the coup.
Robert Barnes had an article in the Washington Post on May 14, 2022 about Thomas essentially whining that the public has lost trust in the Supreme Court because of the leak of Alito’s draft. (Sorry my phone won’t let me paste the link) My reaction to the article was that no, distrust started with the 2000 election and then was exacerbated by the actions of Mitch McConnell, culminating with the actions of the current court. This court has earned all the distrust aimed at it.
Wonder if the retreat is voluntary or if he has been advised? It would be ironic if his career ended because of a woman's bad behavior!
I've suddenly become religious, and pray for his healthy, but immediate retirement. Except won't happen during a Democratic presidency.
Martha. Good analysis.
But. Timing does matter in the case against Trump.
The longer it goes on without a result against Trump the less likely a result is produced.
In the case where the result extends past 2024, then, if Pubs reoccupy the White House no result will ever occur.
I get that. However, we have zero idea that a grand jury has or has not already been assembled. Probably the best we can hope for at this point, timing wise, is a bunch of Repugnant indictments before Nov 2022 and trial dates set -with Trump's trial scheduled last and televised like OJ's in 2024. It would be sort of hard to run for president while on trial when fellow Repugnants take the stand as witnesses and sell you out. There is more than one path to victory, and as Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Love that scenario!!
Yes!
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said — 'When you strike at a king, you must kill him.' Garland and the DOJ are doing exactly what is needed to assure the indictments will stick, including on tRump. That takes time. Plus, 20+ million watched the hearings (with streaming later I'm guessing twice that many watched), so the Court of Public Opinion will more likely now support the DOJ's charges.
100%
Let's hope so.
FOLLOW THE MONEY TO REVEAL THE TRUE INSTIGATORS HELL BENT ON DESTROYING AMERICA'S DEMOCRACY...
I think we see a lot of indictments this summer. To avoid prison many will sing louder and louder, turning state’s witness like Barr and the Kushner’s. What would u do if you were guilty? Take a bet on November elections, or take the sure thing with your freedom on the line? Hmmmmm
May he hear bells!
I wonder if any of the Supreme Court judges might be exposed as well.
I seriously doubt their involvement regardless of their politics. They are where they want to be and if the constitution were desolved their Supreme Court becomes a side show. No Thomas, not his appointed justices, was courted by Trump. They became regulars at the White House. It was probably to woo Thomas in the event he needed his vote. But getting crazy Ginni to help him over throw the electoral process was a bonus. The Thomas finally got the respect they believed their due. Flattery from high places. Ginni has terrible taste in men. Thomas himself found himself being Scalia to Trump's Thomas. It was interesting that he finally found his voice.
Well it is his choice. Nobody can make him recuse himself. There are no honorable people in Trump's circle.
I agree completely: realistically, despite the drama of the hearings, the committee is impotent. The audience is not the American public (who have largely made up their minds one way or the other about Trump, or they're more worried about inflation and gas prices), but the AG. If the rest of the evidence is as compelling and damning as what was presented yesterday, Garland might feel he has no choice but to prosecute. Trump's best hope is that his hand will be stayed out of fear that the Trump loonies will, in response, reproduce events like the Capitol insurrection nationwide. I think this is why Fox is trying desperately to keep the truth from the faithful: if enough of them learn how despicable Trump's actions have been, the rampagers - as dangerous as they can be - will be viewed as fringe lunatics and their power to prevent Trump's rendezvous with his fate will be diminished.
Frank you need to change the brand you are smoking.
Do you not yet realize the soul of our American democracy is being successfully attacked by the by the élite ultra wealth of republicans who will succeed next time!
Especially next time if those like you have, after witnessing the first Jan 6 Committee hearing, been sucked into Fox News total BS. Your contention that Fox cares one whit about saving our American democracy is preposterous!
Are you one of the fully deceived unaware minions that a majority of voting patriotic Americans fully support all the effort our Congress and judicial system are expending against the republican goal destroying America's democratic governance ever again?
NO BODY IS ABOVE THE LAW...NOBODY...AND TRUMP IS CERTAINLY NOBODY NOW.
GARLAN IS NOT WAITING...HE IS DILIGENTLY WORKING...ALL THOSE COMPLICIT WILL FULLY SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR WILLFUL CRIMES AGAINST AMERICA; INCLUDING AT LEAST TWO SUPREME COURT JUSTICES!
George - I have been misunderstood! You are preaching to the choir - certainly Trump deserves - and must face - prosecution for his actions. My post simply expressed my concern that fears of violent public unrest by his loyalists might undermine the legal process. I know that I never said anything that could be even vaguely construed as saying that Fox "cares one whit about saving our American democracy" - that clearly is preposterous. I said that I felt Fox' intent in refusing to air the hearing was one part of their effort to keep Trump's base from learning the truth. I apologize if my post lacked clarity. We are on the same side here.
Good to know...thanks Frank.
I agree. They have signaled just enough to know that they are busy. This DOJ does not leak and so they have been able to indict and arrest the leadership of the advance guard of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for seditious conspiracy. I think that they have discovered vast amounts of info and that they want to have watertight cases.
Yes. They HAVE to have water tight cases.
Agree Spooky! We just are so UN-accustomed to NO leaks. The DOJ is collecting solid evidence, methodically and thoroughly as must be done in order to indict and convict a seditionist president and all his traitor minions. While the purpose of the Congressional January 6th Committee is to evaluate the coup attempt so they can create laws to prevent future attempts to overturn our government, the evidence produced will be shared (much already has been) with the DOJ for use in indictments and convictions. And tRump is included in these investigations. But remember, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said — 'When you strike at a king, you must kill him.'
Right on, MaryPat. I understand the frustration of many people regarding why Trump and his henchmen haven't been indicted yet. But conducting the complex investigations and then building strong, winnable court cases like these are unprecedented in our history. The J6 Committee is setting the stage, building public understanding and hopefully support. The Justice Department will deliver the coup de grâce
The methodical approach, while maddening, is the only rational way to pull this off legally AND without inciting Trumpists to take up arms.
I believe the Trumpists have taken up arms. The Congress has not stopped the cancer of gun violence and this is the direct result, IMHO.
Michael, what about Watergate? Nixon was the first president in our history to resign. That took incredible skill and work to force him out. It’s good we had that “practice” to fight an even more insidious plot with 45. Roger Stone was there in the 1970’s and came back even stronger this round. He must be stopped with all the other Benedict Arnolds. LOCK THEM UP!
Thank you Michael. You said what I thought so much better!
More indictments are coming this summer. I believe.
From your lips…
I'm not assuming inaction - I am not assuming anything. I am aware of the DOJ process, and believe that well-framed arguments can be persuasive.
The leap here is the indictment of a former President - not something the DOJ is likely eager to do. Opinions may differ on the wisdom of such a move - I am of the opinion that the current situation merits that leap.
Agreed. We have had some bad ones, but nothing like death star.
Though not as strong as we would like it to be, that our democracy still has a pulse is reassuring. Thank you, Heather, for today's Letter.
The strength of our democracy's pulse will be measured by what kind of action the House Committee's revelations bring about. Remember we have a Constitution filled with compromises that made a civil war necessary to end slavery and permits us to daily experience a level of gun violence unheard of in other civilized democracies and a Supreme Court likely to pose an obstacle to the DOJ's taking steps to act on the Committee's findings.
... not to mention international fossil fuel corporations continuing to operate in violation of established law, and blatant disregard for First Nations rights and environmental health - foundational to the growth of this nation from it's inception ....
Or the rights of anyone other than White Christian heterosexual men.
... "White Christian heterosexual men" of wealth who proclaim to own "property" that is not theirs (nor ours) to own, trade, buy or sell - including the lives, bodies and souls of other humans ... they may be white, however, they are anything but hetero (gasp!) - or Christian in the true sense of the word ....
In time Oligarchs will take from some of those rich white men as they have done under Putin. Sickening that we have the power to make life better for everyone on the planet and the tipping point is the midterms.
Kathleen, check out the Southern Baptist Convention report on sexual abuse and deviancy among its leadership.
I only read NY Times summary, not the document, but, whew, it reads like a story from some sick novel sold in weird book stores.
I haven't read it either, Mike - did hear about it - here are some links to the report and associated materials - for those who have time to take it in ... so to speak ... the main take-away for me is this:
We all need Love. Love flourishes in grounds of Truth - true feelings, true intentions, true devotion > True Love ....
When our lives are bound in false paradigms (such as religions or regimes that profess life and love, but promote death and hatred) we may become disassociated from true feelings/intentions - devotion becomes focused around reinforcing the illusion that we are loving and living well, when in fact we are starving for the love that truly nourishes our soul.
Here are the links:
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Guidepost Solutions’ Report of the Independent Investigation
https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/guidepost-solutions-report-of-the-independent-investigation
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Report of the Independent Investigation
The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s Response to Sexual Abuse Allegations and an Audit of the Procedures and Actions of the Credentials Committee
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6108172d83d55d3c9db4dd67/t/6298d31ff654dd1a9dae86bf/1654182692359/Guidepost+Solutions+Independent+Investigation+Report___.pdf
*****
Appendices
The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s Response to Sexual Abuse Allegations and an Audit of the Procedures and Actions of the Credentials Committee
Appendices - Volume 1
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6108172d83d55d3c9db4dd67/t/628a9360d4553e012cb66221/1653248867294/Appendices+to+Guidepost+Report+FINAL+pt.%231.pdf
***
Appendices - Volume 2
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6108172d83d55d3c9db4dd67/t/628cf4d0c789f919abfd6224/1653404881473/Appendices+to+Guidepost+Report+FINAL+pt%232_.pdf
*****
Task Force Update (slightly revised 5/7/22)
https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/task-force-update-slightly-revised-5722
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Independent Investigation Conducting Interviews and Document Review - 1
https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/independent-investigation-conducting-interviews-and-document-review-1
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Independent Investigation Conducting Interviews and Document Review - 2
https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/independent-investigation-conducting-interviews-and-document-review
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Independent Investigation Continues
https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/independent-investigation-continues
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Independent Investigation Underway
https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/independent-investigation-underway
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Three FAST FAQS
https://www.sataskforce.net/updates/three-fast-faqs
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This Is the Southern Baptist Apocalypse
"Who cannot now see the rot in a culture that mobilizes to exile churches that call a woman on staff a “pastor” or that invite a woman to speak from the pulpit on Mother’s Day, but dismisses rape and molestation as “distractions” and efforts to address them as violations of cherished church autonomy? In sectors of today’s SBC, women wearing leggings is a social media crisis; dealing with rape in the church is a distraction."
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/may-web-only/southern-baptist-abuse-apocalypse-russell-moore.html
*********
Southern Baptists Refused to Act on Abuse, Despite Secret List of Pastors
Armed with a secret list of more than 700 abusive pastors, Southern Baptist leaders chose to protect the denomination from lawsuits rather than protect the people in their churches from further abuse.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/may/southern-baptist-abuse-investigation-sbc-ec-legal-survivors.html
The report itself is hair-raising.
Get set. We’re taking a hard turn for the next few comments. From the point to personal bugbears.
Politics is personal, Tom - all part of the point ....
Part of the problem these days. Why focus on an issue. Much more rewarding to nurture personal feelings.
Morning Lynell. What drives unfortunately a horse and cart through the Dem's idea of democracy is the preponderance in discussions of November elections and Republican gains is a little matter of gas at $5 and that seems to be something so horrendous they would willingly throw away democracy as long as somebody promised to make it go away.
And that of course is the big bogie man. People will show just how clueless they are when they "vote with their pocket books". Biden administration must get at the root of why oil products are double or nearly so, and do it quickly. If it were up to me, I'd let it climb more, for the sake of reducing usage and better addressing the climate. But I know its potential to lose us the mid-terms which is unthinkable. I smell a rat, myself. I highly suspect Big Oil is complicit in the inflation for political reasons (they want their Republican buddies back in charge). In other words - price gouging. I don't think it can all be explained just with Russia sanctions and supply chain issues and post-covid activity.
Jay, I have been thinking the same thing about gas prices. It would definitely benefit the oil industry to have the Republiqans back in power, so keeping the price of gas high will make people blame Biden and, by extension, the Democrats.
You got it Cathy. At the very least, if not an outright conspiracy, Big Oil is happy to take advantage of the situation any way they can. That must mean some sort of monopolistic actions - which I believe is illegal.
I think this is part of their strategy. That and plain old fashioned price gouging.
Hard to know which is the most salient factor: price gouging and record profits, or the desire to have a more "oil friendly" administration. Both of those seem to be in play, but who knows? Certainly not my idiot friends, who only whine that it costs too much to fill their giant vehicles.
NOTE: I drive one of those aforementioned 7-9K pound quad cab pick-ups with a covered bed. I am not a farmer, but I use my truck as a truck far more often than do any of my neighbors. It is also convenient for tuba hauling.
Ally:
Heh, if you are driving the speed limit (which most people do not) or a couple of miles over, you are doing more to conserve gasoline than most and that includes smaller vehicles. Part of a recent post . . .
"The last time gas prices were as high as now? It was 2008. In inflation-adjusted terms, prices were higher fourteen years ago. What would have happened if smarter vehicle-efficiency standards had been put in place back then?
It is impossible to know exactly. In the intervening years, the U.S. certainly could have cut oil consumption by a million barrels a day. The amount the Biden Administration has said it will release from the strategic reserve (SPR). Total U.S. oil consumption is almost twenty million barrels a day.
Funny thing is people will not give up driving 15 mph over the speed limit to save 260,000 gallons of gasoline a day. It ain’t much at 1.3% of the total. It is the easiest to accomplish."
Furthermore, the load of C02 being dumped in the air is impacted by our driving. Check out that Ford F150 Raptor or the Dodge HellCat. The Raptor adds three times what a regular F150 adds in C02.
Just drive the speed limit and you are doing your part.
I do. Mostly.
🎵🎵🎵
Mary:
Getting on north bound US 23 from Nine Mile Road just before the I96 interchange was always a treat. People passing on the right doing 85 to move around people doing 75 in the left lane to make the exit from that lane to west bound 96 was always thrilling.
I grew up in Chicago and was very used to the Dan Ryan, the Kennedy and the Congress expressways. I am used to congestion. Here in AZ, they are murderous in how they drive.
Yup. I much prefer driving to visit my kids in Chicago than driving in the Motor City (or Phoenix). When we lived in Tucson I rode my bike.
We are short-sighted and unaware of the wolf at the door. Just get me what I want - now. Sacrifice, what’s that. We will see, I fear. Well, the young will see if we don’t
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸.” --Gordon B. Hinckley
Psychological tests largely confirm this but there are many exceptions who are prepared to wait for more and better jam tomorrow
Ours is a time, when ‘instant gratification is not fast enough’
Stuart, After Thursday’s Committee hearing, news correspondents posited that Mitch McConnell’s foremost hope was that inflation would keep rising. What terrifies me is the prevailing assumption that an insecure middle class would be willing to accept any authoritarian option in order to provide some sense of normalcy and security in their lives.
Simple formula - if it is perceived to improve chances of regaining or retaining power for him and the Rethuglicans, then McConnell will try to make it happen. No other factor need be considered. Nothing in two-party politics could be more dangerous for a country.
James, For some time, my response has been to prevail upon Senate Dems to pass whichever provisions of the Budget Reconciliation package (BBB) can gain support from 50 Senators to present to voters as a down payment of more to come if Dems hold the House and pick up at least 2 Senate seats.
Well - it's a weak stance, but just about the only stance.
James, If the provisions that could pass would make people’s lives easier and be counter-inflationary, that would count for something.
See Reagan, circa 1980.
Gail, As repulsed as I was by the Reagan era, contrary to this breed of MAGA Republicans, the Reagan Administration mostly colored, so to speak, inside the lines.
True, but the whiplash to Reagan had much to do with inflation and gas prices, to say nothing of the machinations regarding the hostages. Another slick actor who preyed on fear.
Gail, While your assertions are indisputable, the moment I always will relish is Carter’s 1979 Malaise Speech, wherein he “condemned our consumerism, our materialism,” after which his poll numbers, admittedly briefly, rose by 11 points.
I think the main cause for Reagan was a moralistic and politically incompetent prig who preceded him in the white house. Funny how people prefer a change over a preachy condescension. I am no Reagan fan, but Carter was just an antidote to Nixon.
Antidote or no, Jimmy Carter had many accomplishments: He established the Department of Energy and Department of Education; He signed several bills to counter the adverse effects on the environment, to wit, he signed into law the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). The SMCRA regulated the environmental effects of coal mining in the U.S. through the creation of two programs: one for regulating active coal mines and a second for reclaiming abandoned mine lands. He signed into law the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The Act doubled the amount of public land set aside for national parks and wildlife refuges; He brokered the Camp David Accords, leading to a peace treaty between Israeli PM Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat; He improved relations with Panama by giving them control of the Panama Canal; He improved industrial growth through deregulation, signing the Airline Deregulation Act, which "ultimately led to a great increase in the number of flights, a decrease in fares and an increase in the number of passengers and miles flown. However, the Act did not diminish the regulatory powers of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over all aspects of aviation safety; He "deregulated the beer industry, by making it legal to sell malt, hops and yeast to American home brewers. In 1978, the USA had just 44 domestic breweries. Today, there are over 1,400 American breweries." For details see either of the following:
https://learnodo-newtonic.com/jimmy-carter-accomplishments
https://www.worldhistoryedu.com/10-major-accomplishments-of-jimmy-carter/
Didn’t say he did nothing. I said he was a moralistic prig, dour and arrogant. I lived in Atlanta-when his term as governor was up, Carter (who did some good things) was so unpopular he could not have won an election to statewide dog catcher.
This is what we saw in Egypt after the revolution in 2011. When the Muslim Brotherhood was unable to keep chaos and high bread prices at bay the people yearned for a strong leader, a Pharaoh, to return normalcy and security to their country. It was heartbreaking. So much hope and then... bitter disappointment.
Terry, I recall Foreign Affairs Analyst Robin Wright speaking at a community event amid the high hopes and bitter disappointments unleashed by uprisings and protests across the Arab world.
We were sailing the Nile on a private dahabiyah shortly after the revolution. It was Captain Said's dream to fly Egyptian flags from his mast and we made it our mission to procure some for him...his eyes filled with tears of love and pride when we presented him with three flags. Later we witnessed many Egyptians proudly displaying their red fingers, each stain signifying a meaningful vote in a new born democracy. When we visited a few years later it was heartbreaking - all that pride was replaced with grudging relief that at least there was bread but little joy remained. Democracy remains a dream and Egypt endures.
Terry, Thank you for sharing this bit of your personal experience. I worry that people here in the states who never have lived under circumstances that afford little, if any, tolerance for political opposition also are not “woke” to the dangers that could lay ahead for all of us.
Stuart, the lyrics to this Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song strike me as particularly relevant.
Find the Cost of Freedom
Daylight again, following me to bed
I think about a hundred years ago, how my fathers bled
I think I see a valley, covered with bones in blue
All the brave soldiers that cannot get older been askin' after you
Hear the past a callin', from armegeddon's side
When everyone's talkin' and no one is listenin', how can we decide?
(Do we) find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down
Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down
(Find the cost of freedom buried in the ground)
Find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground
Mother Earth will swallow you
Lay your body down
Live acoustic performance by CSNY below.
https://youtu.be/3YUkiAU7aRM
Wow! I’m posting this one, Daria! Thanks!
Deborah, I woke up with that song in my head.
Put it on my turntable recently. Thanks Daria.
UNITA.
UNITA, Christine 🌷🌷🌷
Thank You. I have it on a DVD in my car. Might be time for a long ride.
Stuart,
Evidence that Republicans don't care about gas prices: The most popular vehicle sold to Republicans?
A dual cab, 7500 -9000 lb pickup truck with dual tandem wheels and about 12 mpg on the hiway.
If Republicans actually were worried about gas prices, those vehicles would be unsold and sitting on dealers lots.
Instead, they are the number one vehicle sold in America today.
Maybe without the dual (4-wheel) rear axle. I don’t see many of those on the road, but extended-cab pickup trucks with standard 2 wheels on an axle: oh yeah, they’re everywhere.
Stuart, I think your point is well made. And I observe the same apathy toward the bigger-picture so long as gas prices and groceries’ prices continue to rise. Some simply are legitimately concerned because they teeter on a knife’s edge for stability. Others though, the majority, just want democracy as long as it doesn’t personally ask anything of them - including to vote.
Morning, Stuart! Yeah, there's that, and it's supposed to get worse...Ouch!
Isn't it amazing that when voter fraud happens, its always by Republicans AND unlike their whining about the democrats, THERE IS EVIDENCE, something the Republicans are woefully short of.
My favorite quote by tRUMP was "I didn't know about the hearing and I told everybody not to watch it. DJT logic and intelligence (?) in a nutshell (nutcase?)
Honestly, did you ever realize there were so many stupid people in this country? I didn't.
Oh yes I do! I guess you haven't lived in Florida long enough. My 200-years-old Cracker family watches Fox and then turns the TV off to read selected passages from the King James Red Letter Bible!
Rosalind, I wish I could share with you my daughter’s brief but utterly epic rant from last Saturday. She needed to get her car serviced and took it to her local Tires Plus store. I walked in to pick her up just as she was lecturing the manager about having Fox Entertainment blaring in the waiting room. She told the manager, in no uncertain terms, to either turn off the “filth” or lose her employer as a customer. She is a delivery driver for a large medical delivery service. The manager laughed at her initially. So right in front of him, she called the President of her company, and explained that she was being treated disrespectfully by the manager, and felt that the company should change vendors because, as a woman, she did not feel safe in the waiting room. (Rian was driver of the month last month and has talked with the president several times) Then she walked out.
When she got back to pick up her car, the TV was tuned to some sports channel, the volume was lower, and the manager apologized- sort of. We could tell he was fuming. But her employer is working to change vendors because half the drivers are women and he’s a decent guy who appreciates his employees and tries to do right by them. So proud of my kid....
Wonderful!!! How proud of her you must be!! I have the same problem at Macho Belle Tire. My polite requests then my rants went nowhere - but I'm the boss of my business and let them know I was going elsewhere.
Brava!! You have every reason to be proud of her.
That's fantastic! Fox is the misogynistic TV face of evil - even for the women who are not aware they are being maligned. Thanks to your daughter.
👏👏👏 way to make one person’s actions matter!
Brava Rian!
That is fabulous. I love the next gens. They brook no nonsense.
Please tell Rian that we think she's terrific!!!!
Please tell her I’m proud of her!
Yay, Rian!
Hooray for your daughter and her employer!!!!!!!!
Yeh, Rian.
👏👏👍 Yes, you should be proud. I’m grateful she had the wherewithal to speak up and follow thru. Kudos to her boss as well.
GO RIAN‼️‼️🏆🏆🏆🏆❤️❤️
Rian rocks! And and so does her mom….💙
That they turn it off at all is tepid comfort. It’s on around the clock in my family,, except for when they’re watching the daily disaster stories of local TV newscasts or “reality”shows. The meanness and manufactured drama of shows like Survivor and The Apprentice “groomed” Americans to see the world as dog eat dog and fiction as reality.
Thank you. I still hate CBS for the Survivor bull Schitt. Changed tv to appeal to the brain-dead. I have watched blah tv some days when my brain was exhausted, but never the reality crap, the Kardashians, or anything to destroy brain cells, just let them rest. All the while, republicans took support from PBS so that my go-to became the “ad channel.” Does anybody remember the days when commercials were 15 or 40 seconds? Nah, not unless you are as old as I am…
TV will air what they think gets the largest audience, period. TV has about as much conscience as the Republican party.
I remember when people subscribed to cable because the subscription price replaced ad revenue - there weren’t ads on cable at all at first.
We’ve been streaming Stanley Tucci’s Italy show (it’s so good!) but the ads are so frequent, and so long, so repetitive, and so focused on medication, that unless the programming is great, we turn it off in frustration.
I can’t stand it. At least if recorded I can ff.
Those bastards yearn to make PBS and everything they can lay their filthy paws on into not just ad channels, vehicles for raking in more, and more, and more... but another of their... not "channels" but charnel houses.
I no longer watch TV (except The Hearings).
The popularity of “Survivor” and the other reality shows is an indictment of American “culture.”
A profound observation, I think, Maureen. I would add all of the movies glorifying violence. Good guy with gun defeats baddies. Lots of “collateral damage” but it doesn’t matter because the good guy wins. Yes, our culture grooms us toward not caring about each other.
Yes. When I want to give my poor brain a rest I watch SF Giants baseball or Caught in Providence (Frank Caprio). That’s my go-to reality TV.
There shouldn't be any difficulty selecting several years' worth of antidotes to Fox from the same book...
And THAT makes me shudder . . .
Well, at least they recognise the need for shriving... That maketh it all OK.
Oy Rosalind. I thought my family had issues…
Oh no!
The definition of "average" is that most people are of average intelligence. That doesn't bode well for attaining an educated populace. And, it's not just that they're not very smart, but it's also that they're often afraid. Afraid of change, of difference, of uncertainty. That makes them susceptible to being bigoted, gullible and superstitious.
Carl Sagan used to rail constantly about the sad state of education in the USA - that it has been going downhill. How prescient was that.
Fear of change has been & continues to be the driving force in the current iteration of the gop. The yearning for the perceived “good old days” is their bread & butter: any issue can and is framed to fit a nostalgia for a US that was never good for many of our citizens. And the actual good parts of those days--like corporations & the wealthy paying their fair share of taxes and strong unions, both of which benefited many & created our middle class--are not included in their skewed nostalgia.
Whenever I think about this skewed nostalgia, I remember what I learned right here in Heather’s community: that southern white families used to picnic while watching lynchings. Does a Southern Christian picnic complete with lynching qualify as “the good old days”?
Intelligence is not the only normally distributed characteristics. Every trait and characteristic has a very wide range. The root of all of the current chaos goes way beyond differences in intellect.
Agreed. The problem with the Republican/racist/sexist block of American society has to do with cultural programming. It takes education and intelligence to change away from the racist, sexist, slavery mentality. The default, if you do nothing, is you remain the way the culture used to be, racist and sexist and gay hating.
Average is plenty smart enough. The problem has less to do with a poor education system than with willful ignorance. Yes, much more investment in K-12 education would be greatly beneficial but would not improve the hearts and minds of the willfully ignorant, where the real problem with America, now and in the past, lies.
I didn't either. Long gone is my innocent and naive view of the typical American voter. I can still hear the yelling and chanting during the insurrection - "USA...USA...USA!!" They vote. It is this ugly "patriotism" that I think of now when I think of American. Of course I realize that they are in the minority, but they are too strong and have shown that they can take over when others get complacent. I am not quite ready to admit we as a nation have had our time in the sun, and are past our prime. But if it were true, this is what it would look like. Mid-terms will be a defining event.
If the Mid-terms go badly I see no way to recover and without good leadership from the United States the world will be in dire trouble.
The first time I heard the "USA...USA...USA" chant was at the Fouth of July fireworks display at Battery Park in New York City celebrating the nation's 200th birthday in 1976. Somehow, even then it seemed alien to me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. But now I can. Thanks for defining it for me as "Ugly Patriotism." It's like wearing a hat or shirt emblazoned with giant-sized American flags as proof of patriotism on the part of those not necessarily patriotic. It's their preference for the sizzle without even tasting the steak. It's why the Nazis in Germany wore armbands.
It stinks to high heaven of racism.
My Uncle told me that 99% of the Americans are ignorant. I told him that he was Mean. Now...
To be ignorant is no sin. To be ignorant and fight to stay that way?…..well………
There is a difference between ignorant (and reveling in it) and being uneducated (and wanting to learn).
I agree with your uncle. Just the fact that you are here, d017, means that you are in rarefied company. I don’t say that to swell your head, I say that as an objective statement. Most of America, and that includes the Biden voters in the last election, do not pay close attention to the nuances of society. They’re just trying to survive and make do and get by, which is hard enough all by itself. Most Americans are ignorant of things they need to know, especially re: policy and politics. I consider that a statement of fact. This is not Europe.
Ignorance can be cured with knowledge. Stupidity cannot.
I realized that the moment they reelected George W. Bush.
And the prosecution rests its case…
And they just started.
An additional nugget of insanity and evil . . . "And yet, despite the increasing mess around Trump, other Republicans won’t risk angering him or his voters." For the life of me, I just don't get the hold trump has on these people. He always sounds dumb as dirt and is not even eye candy!
Rupert never told the troglodytes, edited every image and even plopped a halo on the clown head. The pic of a “Superman” chump is all they see, a fiction to lure the ignorant, the stupid, the greedy, the power-hungry, the religiously self-righteous, and the fearful, for whom hate is the go to solution.
You nailed it...
Damn Jeri . . .
Like Cynthia says, you nailed it. 🏆🏆🏆🏆
He gave them permission to hate/justification to hate all of the "others" who might just get some of "their" stuff. You know, like rights. Not to get executed by cops while Black. Not to let same-sex couples marry/adopt kids. Not to be able to have the gender expression that fits. Everyone a cookie-cutter, except with w/c/h/c/ men at the top of the heap.
His word-salad blather appealed to the troglodytes, of which we have many. Who knew the collective ignorance. Rupert, of course.
Yes, Rupert has found an unlimited harvest in collective ignorance.
Trump is his own propaganda source, like Fox Noise. The man with a learning disability who doesn’t read took the time to read a book by Hitler on the subject of how to influence the public. So you have two things coming out of his mouth: (1) lies (disinformation) intended to deceive the public and (2) his truth, what he really believes. During his presidency, you saw plenty of both. So he’s trying to make the impression that no one cares about January 6, to divert attention away from it by any means possible because he is criminally culpable, and at the same time he was glued to the screen during that presentation.
I will validate you however on the subject of him being a nutcase. He is absolutely a whack job. This country full of massive stupidity voted for the least qualified human being in the US for president. A criminal linked to the New York mob. A student of Hitler. Serial sex offender and rapist. Die-hard racist, sexist, antisemite, and gay hater. Business fraudster. How many different ways is this guy a criminal. This guy is an absolute POS. Paying close attention to what comes out of his mouth is a mistake. Spews filth constantly.
And being from Michigan, it’s especially funny to hear these candidates assert they should legitimately still be allowed to be on the ballot! The howling and squealing is loud!!!
More than one page of petition signatures were obviously and entirely done by the same writer! The GIP candidates got what they paid for.
Good riddance to bad rubbish
No! Did he really say that? And they take him seriously?
👍🏼
“They simply want a fight,”
This has been the GOP strategy since Reagan at least. Republicans embraced the self righteous racist right wing religious extremist anti government resentments of the slave states - where poor whites went to the mats for their 'right to work' for 'slave wages' and created the 'party of god, guns, and greed.'
Besotted Palin fanboy Bill Kristol put his locked and loaded 'GOP Barbie' on the McCain ticket - announcing that Republicans had moved from taking metaphorical and logistical aim at the US government, to threatening a militia based shooting war. Trump and the Republican insurrection was in the stars and in the cards.
Onward Christian soldiers!
'The sleep of reason breeds monsters.'
Fallacious rhetoric. False equivalencies. Misappropriations. All play their part. The Spirit of 1776. Trump as Christ's herald. Republicans are very good at this. And although Trump stuff is being discounted on Amazon - we'd be foolish to grasp at straws. From big mouth Marjory Taylor Greene to mealy mouthed Susan Collins - McConnell et al are still hedging their bets on an American Orban, no matter the cost.
Oh, HALLELUJAH!! Thank you lin - for laser sharp wit and clarity!!!
As was brought out last night, one of the false equivalencies is equating Badger News (with non-fact-based lies) to MSNBC and CNN (with fact-based analysis).
Badger News?
Fox News. Trying to stay in Substack’s good graces.
Every word true, in my experience. Lived all of it, sad to say
Like, for instance, Orban's proselyte Carlson?
🤢🥶🤮🥶🤢
Nice post Lin! Don't forget Newt Gingrich's slash and burn policy of "Burning Down the House" (great book by the way). Now SOP.
Add to reading list "The Party's Over."
Hoping MTG will be arrested (and gagged) for her pre-insurrection Capitol tours.
Bill Kristol is such a pompous jackass
I watched the two hour committee presentation, and then watched an hour of commentary on MSNBC. I think that Liz Cheney provided the steel backbone on which the rest of the presentation rested. She did a marvelous job, and the live witnesses gave compelling testimony that underscored the need for a full airing of what happened on January 6. Other than claiming that the committee hearing was unworthy of watching, Trump supporters offered no evidence that countered either the basic thrust of the committee's narrative, or any of the detail. I spent a moment watching Donald Trump, Junior's rant. He sounded like a used car salesman down on his luck trying desperately to unload the junkers that he had on the company lot.
It's going to take a few months for the committee's counter-story to sink in and gain traction. Televising key portions of the witness depositions in which they admit to facts and circumstances that President Trump and his circle of advisors have routinely denied is likely to persuade those who might be reachable. Watching Trump supporters behave like apoplectic wild men is not going to be persuasive to those willing to take a few moments to think about where the competing narratives differ in substance and likelihood that one side is telling a story that is more likely to be true then the story put forth by the other side. If the next hearing sessions are as well assembled as the first one, this will certainly have greater impact than the Senate Watergate Hearings that I watched in 1973. Back then, Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina chaired a bipartisan committee that alternated and taking turns asking questions of witnesses that appeared before the committee. The sessions were long and somewhat tedious, as every senator on the committee wanted his chance to question witnesses and 'showboat' a bit; but that's part of being a politician.
This time is likely to be much different. The committee has interviewed more than a thousand witnesses, a few of whom will be invited to testify before the committee; and I suspect that the pace of questioning will be a lot quicker than it was, say, on June 25, 1973, when John W Dean gave his leadoff testimony accusing the president, Richard Nixon, and participating in a criminal cover-up of the Watergate burglary, and other criminal acts committed by operatives working for the Committee to Reelect the President. On that day I was sitting in the gallery not ten feet away from him. All of that was great political theater; especially when the FAA Administrator, Alexander Butterfield, revealed the White House taping system.
It's not going to be the same way this time, because this is about President Trump refusing to accept the results of the election, and his spreading the Big Lie about a stolen election. Instead of a simple cover-up orchestrated from the Oval Office, what we will be treated to is the substantive equivalent of a spy thriller where the Trump people cobble together a seven part plan to corrupt the vote counting in individual swing states that would've been necessary to go for Trump in order for him to receive an Electoral College majority. The plan largely relied upon Trump operatives being able to browbeat local election officials into substituting false results favoring Trump, and suppressing vote tallies that showed that Joe Biden was the winner. The plan very nearly succeeded; but when it didn't succeed, as was the case in Georgia, with Trump failing to persuade Georgia's Secretary of State to come up with '11,780 votes for Trump', or as in Arizona where a group of Trump supporters created forged election certifications that they forwarded to the national archives, the stage was set for a showdown on January 6, in which Trump announced that there would be a huge rally in Washington coinciding with the counting of the electoral college votes by the two houses of Congress assembled for that purpose, and that Trump would unleash his minions on those members of Congress in order to disrupt the vote counting.
Yesterday, Friday, I spent several hours watching the PBS show Frontline, consisting of a recorded interview with J. Michael Luttig, a former federal appeals court judge who found himself called upon to provide legal counsel to Vice President Mike Pence's White House staff and legal counsel on an emergency basis, culminating in judge Luttig, for the first time in his life, posting a multi-thread Twitter message, definitively stating that the Vice President of the United States had no authority to change or disregard certified Electoral College results from any state during the official counting of the votes; and that the Vice President owed his loyalty to the Constitution, and not to the President, for the purpose of the completing the ceremonial (and official) counting of the votes by Congress. Judge Luttig went on to say that this was the most serious constitutional crisis faced by the American people and their government since the founding of the country, and it was a circumstance that the Framers of the Constitution could not have imagined would have happened. He basically said that if the insurrectionists succeed, the America we know would be destroyed.
I posted a link to this interview on my Facebook page, writing in part, "This is quite long, but it is well worth your time and attention… I sat watching this interview for several hours.… (Judge Luttig)… Is a smart, careful, and thorough jurist…" His remarks were picked up by the New York Times on January 5, 2021, and were mentioned by Congresswoman Liz Cheney in her opening remarks this past Thursday. Judge Luttig is expected to testify in person at one of the sessions that January 6 committee will hold this month. Having seen the complete Frontline interview, I would urge everyone who can do so, to tune in to hear his live testimony.
How weird. So much talk about politics -- and WHAT politics! -- none about CRIME. Crime and punishment.
Has that Agent Orange succeeded in poisoning the entire nation, not just his votaries, with his cancerous "new normal"? Even readers of these letters?
Our future hangs on the arraignment of the leading conspirators and the exercise of exemplary justice.
You are right Peter, the "new normal" is truly bizarre.
That we now have (and apparently need) "PRO-DEMOCRACY" politicians reveals how extreme a shift there has been in our perceptions and language in the last four decades. I'd like to think we could challenge everyone running for office with a simple question: are you "pro-democracy?" Sadly I fear that there could be a possibility that even THIS could become a rallying point for the autocrats.
“Do you believe in democracy?” Is the the fundamental question of our time and the answer quite clearly shows whether you are with us or against us, no mealy mouth in between.
More "Are you committed to democracy?"
Belief isn't enough.
👍👍
Been waiting, and waiting, and waiting…
good info. thanks.
Thank you.
"...on June 25, 1973, when John W Dean gave his leadoff testimony accusing the president, Richard Nixon, and participating in a criminal cover-up of the Watergate burglary, and other criminal acts committed by operatives working for the Committee to Reelect the President. On that day I was sitting in the gallery not ten feet away from him." WOW Arthur!! A ringside seat to history!! I watched every minute of the Watergate hearings with my mom in 1973. Maybe I saw you!
I was on line to get in at 6 a.m.
Wow!
Not a big deal at all. I clearly remember John Dean and his wife Maureen sitting together at the hearing. I recall that Dean was wearing a light colored suit. Maureen was wearing a white dress and she had her blonde hair tied tightly in a bun behind her head. The really sad part of all of this was that Dean could've had a brilliant future as a lawyer. He was the kind of a guy I instinctively would've thought would have made managing partner for some multinational law firm early in his career. He had the poise and the incisiveness that one sees in exceptional lawyers, and his memory, under the pressure of testifying on his own behalf before a skeptical Senate committee, proved to be exceptional. He looked to be about my age at the time; that day was my 31st birthday.
In fact, Dean's youth actually worked against him; as Counselor to the President, Dean was the official White House lawyer whose charge it was to ensure that in all presidential matters, the Office of the President operated fully in accord with federal statutes and ethical standards. His mentors were all senior lawyers; but their focus was on presidential politics, and keeping the 'boss', President Richard M Nixon, happy. Richard Nixon himself was a highly capable lawyer, but he was better known for his utter ruthlessness as a Republican politician. Nixon's personal and political ambitions put him at odds with senior members of the Washington Republican political establishment. He was the darling of the McCarthyite wing of the Republican Party, very much the Trump Republican Party of today. Their calling card was hatred — hatred of everything and everyone who is in any way different from themselves. Nixon's bitterness oozed like sweat from his pores; his lower middle-class upbringing shouted every turn; and 'country club Republicans' saw in Nixon the sweaty face of a striver and arrivistic.
Under those conditions, young men like John Dean, eager to win approval from the White House staff and the president, were easily corrupted. The perquisites of office came immediately, and only later did John Dean realize that he was set up to be the fall guy for the Watergate cover-up. To his credit, he recognized that he was in legal jeopardy, and he secretly went to the prosecutor's with his tale of the ethical rot that was permeating the Nixon White House. Ultimately, I recall, Dean received a reduced sentence of six months confinement at Fort Holabird, near Baltimore, Maryland. In all, 49 individuals, many of them lawyers admitted to the California State Bar, were convicted on a variety of criminal charges. I speak to this from my memory alone, as searching out the details would take more time that I have at the moment.
Nonetheless, I certainly admire the man that John W Dean ultimately became. He learned his lesson, and well. Early on he recognized that the Republican Party viewed democracy as a threat to their quest for power. He's written a number of books about it, and is a frequent guest on political talk shows, because he knows what the corrupting power of office can be. We see this in the way that William Barr, the former Attorney General behaved. Back when Barr was Attorney General in the administration of George H W Bush, Barr was known for his extreme views about the scope of presidential power, a point of view that he pushed to the fullest when he had a second bite at the apple under Donald Trump. Barr, too, allowed himself to be corrupted by power, but for that corruption, the political power he wielded would not have come about. Be happy he's gone, even considering his grudging admission that he could not find any evidence that the 2020 election was 'stolen' from President Trump. John Dean is an honorable man. William Barr is not.
Thank You Arlen for your memories and insights! I've been wanting to admire John Dean, but my heart was stuck in the summer of '73. Now I do.
P.S. greatly appreciate Judge Luttig's role in saving our democracy.
Just followed the link to the New York Times article to find out more about the pro-democracy groups. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/are-crossover-efforts-to-defeat-extreme-republicans-gaining-ground In the group called Renew America Movement (with a Ram as a very appropriate mascot), I found Theodore Roosevelt IV, the great grandson of Teddy, like Teddy a conservationist. Have been wanting to find the Teddy Roosevelt of our time to blow up the big tech and other monopolies and to conserve the planet. Also, see Bill Weld is also among RAM's leadership. I've voted for him three times now -- twice as a Republican Governor of Massachusetts and once on the Johnson - Weld Libertarian ticket in 2016. So, I'm going to support this movement. Take a look at: https://renewamericamovement.com/ Their watchlist of candidates lists both Renewers who are pro-democracy candidates and Dividers who are those who are dismantling democracy. Nice to have a non-partisan list of pro-democracy candidates. We, the People, all of us this time.
I had hoped that Weld would gain traction in the last go around. He was another popular Republican governor in a dark blue state. We in MA have liked that balance of power. The leftie legislature (when it can get its act together) pushes through some good laws. The GOP govs try to rein in the spending. Our Baker may be the most popular governor in the US. And guess what? The state has a budget surplus it is deciding how to spend!
I like many of Weld's views. But I fear that he would starve any government with his cave man attitude about taxes. I think if our society was truly built on a level playing field, there are some aspects of Libertarianism that have value. But it ain't.
That being said, Bill Weld could have been a very fine president. But he was too truthie and respectable for the new GQP. Too decent. Too patriotic. Too reasonable. Too inclusive.
Thanks Cathy! Continuing to support "renewers" Elissa Slotkin and Peter Meijer in Michigan!!
Would a consolidation of such groups make a stronger presence united under the cause of saving democracy be advantageous?
It was reassuring to see the number of viewers watching the opening of the hearings but not enough as most watching were probably already on board with the fact this was an insurrection and set up by Trump and his sycophants on the extreme right. Everyone of us believing in the rule of law and the pursuit of democracy must push the narrative outlined in these hearings to show just how much our country is in danger if you do not shout and vote down candidates espousing these views. Thank you once again for outlining the facts Heather.
Heather said "That number, which does not include streaming or later views, is fewer than tune in for a normal State of the Union address". We streamed it on You Tube since we don't watch regular TV and don't subscribe to cable any more (I quit because they would not remove Fox). So hopefully many more did see it. Some of my friends have decided to watch nothing that might upset them because they already have too much to worry about. I understand, but can't hide my head in the sand. I want a decent future for my grandchildren.
I couldn't bear to watch it right before sleep, but streamed it in the morning, and know others who did the same. I think we need to double the "number of viewers" reported by TV surveyors.
I’d venture triple numbers or more. Many that said they will NOT watch it live because it’s this or that….trust me. They recorded it and will sneak a view.
Hearings on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday will be recorded and viewed later also by most people with job schedule or whatever.
Yes!
I read a few comments in WaPo, before giving up (there were over 10,000) when someone scornfully said "Facts? Opinion!" So, those terrifying shots of the invading swarm were just the opinion of the security camera on the roof.
So many of the ignorant are also stupid
(Sigh) Yes, indeed.
I am regularly dumbfounded by some of the comments In WaPo. I used the ignore function heavily yesterday.
I’m also dumbfounded by many recent comments in WaPo and wonder about the role of bots/trolls.
It is interesting that you, HRC, found out about 20 million were watching the hearings. I wonder if that figure includes those who live overseas. Regardless, the hearings are necessary and very important to those of us who believe in justice and democracy. I also want to comment on that Don, Jr. video…made me ill. He is as big a blowhard as his dad. Chip off the old block, eh?
At this point, I just want Garland to start grabbing these stone-cold criminals by their starched collars as soon as possible!!!
Don Jr. is taking advantage of his dad’s displeasure with sis to make a move to become the favorite child.
Hoping to capitalize on Donald J. Trump’s annoyance at his daughter for her testimony before the January 6th committee, Eric Trump requested that he be given Ivanka Trump’s room at Mar-a-Lago.
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/eric-trump-asks-dad-whether-he-can-have-ivankas-room-now
Yes, I get Borowitz’s stuff in my email and thank goodness, because he literally saves my sanity!😀
Thanks Ron! Made my day!!!🤣😅😂
Just imagine how unlucky it is to have Trump as a father.
There is not much worse that could happen to you except having Putin as a father.
There has to be something karmic about being born into a criminal family. I can’t believe it’s accidental you would show up there.
Don Jr and Cruella de Guilfoyle make a handsome pair.
Junior leaves a trail of grease wherever he goes, just like his dad.
The 20 million just includes broadcast viewers, not streaming, so would be an undercount. I know people have short attention spans and maybe didn’t watch at all, so I’ve been trying to amplify some of the clips the J6 Committee posts on Twitter on my Facebook page.
Good plan!
HRC (Clinton) probably did know about the 20M viewers too.
[Trump] "...refused to intervene to protect lawmakers, law enforcement officers, or the law."
Or his own vice president. After four years of Pence's obsequious, groveling loyalty, on Jan. 6, when Pence indicated there was a line he could not cross, the former president hinted that hanging him wasn't a bad idea.
After all, personal integrity is for losers.
What a scathing indictment. Because I’m an idealistic idiot, I thought a man who is as horrible and hideous a criminal and loser as Dump would never win an election. I’ll never make that mistake in judgment again. And then my father and a huge number of Americans voted him in. I will never again have a favorable opinion of Americans. How can you. If integrity had a smell, this guy would smell like Manhattan’s central raw sewage facility. A criminal in the New York mob. A student of Hitler. Serial sex offender and rapist. Die-hard racist, sexist, antisemite, and gay hater. Business fraudster. How many different ways is this guy a criminal. This guy is an absolute POS, and that was obvious in 2016. So we know the importance of personal integrity to the 2016 American voter. Even in 2020, out of 155 million votes he lost by a scant 7 million. He had 48% of the vote. The only reason those efforts in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan etc. were problematic is because he lost by so little. The vote was incredibly close. Think Bush Gore 2000.
And even that has not gotten a rise from Pence…
I have been trying to figure out how the present state of postwar Republican decline is tied into the "passionate intensity" (Yeats, "The Second Coming") the exhibit, pathetically, in their violent effort to cling to political power, by whatever means, in spite of having no developed vision of a shared world that has been growing global since about the time of the rise of the Roman Empire. Our "community of concern" has become a global collection of extra-national states because of climate change linked to unhinged productivism, because of nuclear materials not stopped by mountains and oceans, and, more positively, because the future as a framework of opportunity has expanded to suit new conditions impacting the division of labor and has conquered the terror of material scarcity. As I argue in a comment I wrote today in response to an article in The Washington Post, seeking why some Republicans reacting to the House Committee investigating the events of 6 January 2021 at the Capitol say they want to "move on" and forget about the assault on the Capitol. I argue that this desire to look this way at the attack on the Capitol is similar to how an abuser seeks by threat to intimidate his victim into silence. Here is my text.
Ref: The Washington Post : "Fox News didn’t just ignore the Jan. 6 hearing. It did something worse", analysis by Philip Bump, National correspondent, dated June 10, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
Text:
I have searched for what explains the hostile Republican resistance to strong objections, or condemnation, of the insurrection or coup attempt of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol, and suddenly it came to me how rapists and abusers present the same hard face and glazed-over eyes to their victims, showing no remorse and daring them with barely contained anger to oppose, object to or show any sign of objection likely to attract negative public attention.
Abusers self-hate for being weak and fear being outed because it would likely bring social death on them; what makes them very dangerous is their willingness to dehumanize another person who it excites them to control and very really deprive of autonomy.
When a Bill Cosby, a Harvey Weinstein or Larry Nassar (gymnastics) puts on the abuser's mask, the victim is often made to feel blamable for causing herself her own abuse. An attack on one's autonomy as a moral person is quasi mortal because it requires at least a showing of willing complicity with the attacker to avoid the attacker's likely violent death-defense response.
When targeted by an ardent abuser, a victim does not see the sheepish Larry Nassar or lovable, big-daddy Bill Cosby seen in custody, she sees a wild monster. The abuser has mastered the ability to grant himself permission to selectively engage with a state of temporary insanity, allowing him to resist with impunity the normal fears of social exclusion.
The Trump-model Republicans, increasingly loosing relevance, which they quite objectively see as existential death, have no tools of persuasion left and feel compelled to resort to the violence of mocking character assassination, undisguised dehumanization, and intimidation to further their pipe-dreams of righteous salvation. A baseball bat, not words, is the arm of choice of defense (figurative) for anyone caught in the crosshairs of such a transformable brute who looses, at will, the skills of principled self-governance, moral compass.
Although I agree that the tactics of former president Trump and others who ardently follow him are the tactics of domestic, or intimate partner abusers, their bizarre behavior when confronted with proof of their abuse is even simpler than Philip Bump's analysis. Abusers are actors. They believe that as long as they can deny they did anything wrong, they can avoid accountability. These denials are acting. They know full well what they are doing. As proof of their abuses becomes more and more visible, widely known, and irrefutable, their acting becomes more bizarre because there is no plausible, refutable position left to them. Acting innocent is the tool that has worked for them. When they cannot pretend innocence anymore, they become furious and physically dangerous.
Thank you Pam for your response to my comment. In the case of the aggressive collective Republican denial of even a democratic willingness, in a civilized spirit, to even openly debate the relative gravity of an alleged gross abuse of power on 6 January 2021 aimed at attempting to prevent the legally established procedure for the passage of presidential power is patently desperate if taken and meant to be real and intentional. Ordinarily, a flat-out refusal to accept the means of reason-ruled dialogue to arbitrate differences is understood as fighting talk and counts as an act of violence. On the street, the insulting commentary of a Jim Jordan, or Marjorie Taylor Green, or House Minority Leader McCarthy himself would easily provoke a punch in the face. Most of us do not accept to be dehumanized and degraded sitting down. Of course, we know these players protected by the usual decorum of public leaders are putting on a show to a rebellious mob in the gallery, or offstage. Such governance trashing comportment indicative of the wounded-animal reflex among the leadership choice of Trump radicalized designer anarchists shows how far Republican Party leadership has lost their capacity of independent critical judgement. Trump is the epitome of the caricature of the Modern Manager who says, "I do nothing, I just make things happen." Trump will eventually fly away in the hot air balloon of Alice's Wizard of Oz and reveal his most recent brain scan indicating no cerebral activity. How can you beat up on such a frivolous twit? Trump's modus operandi, since forever, has been to act criminally, or stage an insurrection, always sheltered by plausible denial, while all the time ready to make the most of it if the ruse works. Trump watched the events of 6 January at the Capitol from his private tv screening room because he saw the whole parade as reality tv, as a show. His loyal collaborators who tried to make his dreams come true are a joke. This isn't Russia in 1917, totally primed for a game-changing revolution. The answer to "Where's the beef?" here is the hamburger between the naked emperors ears. A few thousand overweight selfie obsessed Capitol invaders-for-a-day are—be serious—hardly a match for an Army supervised National Guard trained to herd citizen loud-mouths doing late adolescence for a weekend get-away. All this being said, I can't take much of the pathetic charade we have been watching since the arrival of the Reality TV King in 2016 otherwise than as a perfectly ordinary breakdown disturbance spectacle of shiny surfaces that is part of boring history and generational attrition. Ms. Cox has written eloquently about the understandably disturbing experience of our World War II born present and the rapid habitat demise of small-town USAmerica. Her favorable commentary about President Dwight D. Eisenhower is a positive message about the survival prospects of our country in the postwar, global evolving present. Eisenhower had a brain: he and Truman not only defeated Hitler with cooperative productivity that outgunned the screaming pre-Putin authoritarian paradigm, he stared down Britain's General Montgomery who, thanks to US investments in the war, felt enabled to take a glory pause on arriving on the Normandy D-Day beaches instead of charging on hard into France on the way to Germany. The war showed how the power of the "American Experiment" is in its ordinary, competent people able to work together against the persistent rot of corrupted power. Trump is all heel spurs and hair-helmet.
The rough beast slouching towards America to be born is terrifying (I love Yeats’ The Second Coming).
'Eric Trump Asks Dad Whether He Can Have Ivanka’s Room Now'
'PALM BEACH (The Borowitz Report)—Hoping to capitalize on Donald J. Trump’s annoyance at his daughter for her testimony before the January 6th committee, Eric Trump requested that he be given Ivanka Trump’s room at Mar-a-Lago.'
'According to those familiar with the exchange, Eric Trump’s campaign for his sister’s room began just moments after her testimony aired on Thursday night.' (Satire,NewYorker)
😀😂 Andy Borowitz is hilarious and clever.
Too funny Fern!!
WHAT would we do without Andy?!?
lol!!
It's hard to wait four days until the next hearing. This is a show I want to binge watch! I wonder what it would look like for a representative to do a 180 and suddenly say that the election was not rigged. It's hard for these guys to ever admit they were wrong or apologize, and this is a big one. How would they actually do that? I wonder if they went along with it thinking it would all go away in a matter of weeks and here we are, still getting it shoved in our faces. And will history continue to carry this stance of theirs as an important part of their legacy, as Liz C. said? I hope so. I heard one of them on PBS last night saying we should be looking, first and foremost, into how the Capitol Police weren't able to hold of the rioters and it reminded me of the gun issue. Don't do anything about the real problem but just work on protecting yourselves. Arm teachers, build a better Capitol Police force...Their bread and butter must be protected over everything: our democracy, children's lives, our freedom to move about safely in this country, our feeling safe. So much anger/hate/fear in that party. It's a tough way to live, and the opposite of what our founders intended.
There is an element to this that I am curious about, which is not just the Capitol Police response (which was nothing short of some of the most heroic conduct I've ever witnessed) but what seems to be the utter lack of preparation for the event. That area is multi-jurisdictional; Capitol Police are assigned to the Capitol. National Park Police are assigned to the "grounds" that include the Capitol, monuments, etc. while Metro DC is the City Police Department for Washington, D.C. There are other Federal agencies (ATF, FBI, Homeland Security) which also have jurisdictional responsibilities. I cannot fathom how those agencies were so unprepared for the attack on the Capitol. I understand the Mayor of DC's reluctance to deploy the National Guard after what happened during the summer and the BLM protests, but at some point, "optics" have to go by the wayside when a mob is attacking the seat of your government with an attempt to overthrow the results of an election and abort the peaceful transition of power which has defined our country to this point.
It’s because their voters are motivated by fear, and they do all they can to stoke that fear.
“This is a show I want to binge watch!”
Kim you are so cute
Anyone want to make a bet that Donald Trump watched it? It was all about him after all.
Nothing surer: he said he didn't know about it.
... while telling his 'fans' not to watch it ...?
Of course he did. How else did he know what Ivanka said? He would need to know first hand what was being said rather than relying on others. I imagine him stuffing his face with Big Macs while watching. Waiting for him to have the "big one".....please.
When trump tweeted during his reign of terror, I would make myself (wouldn't share with my husband!) a mac & cheese casserole and eat the whole damn thing in a couple of sittings!!! I paid for that with a necessity to drop 20lbs! My friends and I already have established that whenever we die (regardless of age), it is trump's fault!!
If you haven't seen this, you need to: Tina Fay on SNL after Charlottesville. Some days are just sheet cake and grilled cheese kinda days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVvpXZxXWZU
Yes!! Thanks Ally! The treatment for trumprumping is "Sheetcaking!!"
We amused ourselves imagining him seething in his pathological narcissism.
That might endanger his complexion.
😂 it’s all out of a bottle anyway
It's apparently a brand he has flown in from Switzerland...
He was glued to the screen
Just like Bin Laden.
Thank you Heather.
I was wondering how long it would take before Trump turned on his daughter. Shorter time than even I anticipated. I hope the Committee plays even more video of her. Let him squirm.
As difficult as it was to watch, the upcoming rollouts need to hit just as hard as the first one. Eventually, the GOP crap spewing machine will run out of material to counter with.
The Emperor has no clothes, that was evident the other night.
Be safe. Be well.
He looks even worse without clothes.
Lordy, the red tie was bad enough, can’t abide another image of a nude chump.
Indeed 🤣
As Stephen Colbert explained, " That [Ivanka's testimony] must have been a bittersweet moment for trump: She finally screwed him."
https://youtu.be/eQ8_X3FFxRU
🤣🤣🤣
1) Kevin McCarthy is a spineless, feckless cretin. That’s about the nicest thing that I can write about him.
Yes, yes and YES!
Another superb piece but here's a perhaps important quibble. Dear Professor, you write: "it is at the very least a problem that he has refused to recuse himself from cases in which her activism might have caused a conflict of interest." The recusal issue does not concern only cases arising from past events. Her alignment with the independent state legislature theory specifically, with the Trump wing of the Republican party generally, creates grounds for recusal as to all cases now and in the future that have an impact on the outcome of elections. Already, husband Clarence Thomas is ruling on cases where he should be recused, and the ISL claim very likely to be made in 2024 isn't one he should rule on. Furthermore, if he followed appropriate ethical principles, the conservative majority would discover that Chief Justice Roberts is the determinative swing vote, rather than the current situation where Thomas leads the pack far to the political right.
ISL?
sorry. jargon. Independent State Legislature doctrine. What Ginni was invoking. Stems from a case called Arizona Redistricting where Roberts wrote for majority.
Thank you!
It should be an important quibble. Justice Thomas should be removed from the court, and Barret and Kavanaugh should be on very short leashes for a decade.