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Jun 13, 2022·edited Jun 13, 2022

"As the atmosphere around Trump gets hotter, there are cracks appearing in the Republican Party’s support for the former president."

The cracks will widen. Republican leaders know that from here, the case against Trump and his people will intensify. The J6 Committee has the goods and if Thursday night was any indication, they will be delivered in compelling narratives.

Let's hope the cracks create a chasm that the seditionists tumble down and, at the bottom, reach prison.

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Jun 13, 2022·edited Jun 13, 2022

How does this work? Every attorney takes an unconditional oath to support the Constitution. I do not think there are exclusions for insurrections either. The oaths may vary by state except with support for the constitution. Pence is an attorney. His attorney Greg Jacob writing a three-page letter (redundant alert) is an attorney. Greg is writing about what the "president and his supporters were demanding Pence do the next day would break the 1887 Electoral College Act." Really? John Eastman is an attorney. Most of Congress are attorneys. They all swore oaths to support the constitution.

Seems to me we can hold a mass disbarment of those who failed to take action in warning people of the insurrection on the 6th (Pence and Jacob) and those who were silent. The committee already has the evidence. These people need to experience what the inside of a jail cell looks like.

Why are there exceptions for these critters while the insurrectionists who showed up on the 6th are being dealt with in courts and jail cells. Why do they get a by? In comparison, these people are worse than the insurrectionists. They knew, sat back, and "let" it all happen.

Sermon complete.

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As many know, insanity is increasing and is actually contagious, much like a virus with no vaccine. And political insanity is frighteningly common and exceedingly dangerous. Suicide is contagious. And violence can be addictive. Brazil has been unstable for decades. And Maureen Dowd’s Frankenstein is a monster and Donald Trump hides his transcripts for a good reason.

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Wow! I think we could drive a truck through McConnell's weasel words of "support" for the bi-partisan plan. I expect amendments to come from Republicans that will further weaken an already weak plan. Perhaps I've just become too jaded and cynical!

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Only the choir knows the danger we’re in. If voting in Republican-controlled states is gerrymandered or suppressed enough, the fact-holders will lose and the totally deluded will win. The latter have absolutely no idea what awaits them. They think they’re saving the Nation. Wait till they lose health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

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"Weak sauce" is an excellent description of today's announcement of a Senate "framework" on gun safety. The actual wording of the legislation has not been written and the 10 Republican senators who signed on to today's announcement have not committed to the actual legislation until they see the final wording. Translation: we can bail at any moment at which point nothing will pass the filibuster 60-vote threshold. Today's framework is nothing more than the chance for Republicans to claim that they're doing something on gun safety so that they can change the conversation back to inflation in time for the November election. It's a cheap political ploy. Let's hope (although I'm doubtful) that the Dems see through it and write a law that will actually accomplish something and force the Repubs to either put up or shut up. Let's not give away the powerful issue of gun safety in the November election in exchange for these meager, pathetic "solutions." Have some guts, write laws that will have an impact (banning assault weapons, banning high-count magazines, raising the age for assault weapons, rescinding the laws that exempt gun manufacturers from liability and more) and make the Rs show their true colors. Hammer it relentlessly from now until November.

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The Senate itself is an anti-democratic institution set up to satisfy the slave owners that they could keep the House from doing anything they didn't want even as the minority. The filibuster is an anti-democratic tool. Why are states rights given such power and priority over individual rights? Do we have to keep reliving the major flaw in the Constitution that makes some people (including blacks and women) property of the privileged white male? Justice Alito wants to leave abortion to the states saying it would put it back in the hands of the People. No, it doesn't. Not in Texas where there is minority rule by white men. Not is 19 states under minority rule. Like the NRA and guns, legislative power is under the thumb of the donors no matter what the People may want. Until we overturn Citizens United and the gutting of the voting rights act this will only get worse. Now it is time for me to go write to "Senator" Cornyn, the NRA's dupe, congratulating him on keeping his A+ rating from the NRA. As Representative Cheney said Thursday, "Your dishonor will remain". We the People, freedom for all of us from the tyranny of the Senate.

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Trump is not the disease, he's the symptom. Many Americans feel they are losing economically and socially. Fertile ground for the next populist demagogue. Trump's on the way down but Congress is a useless maze of special interest lackeys and the Supreme Court is not even trying to hide their antidemocratic rulings.

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With the inevitable migration pressures resulting from climate change and political disruptions,

totalitarian regimes are predominating worldwide. Efforts to gain rights for women seem to be regressing. Women and girls are increasingly victims of sexual assault (rape). Some of these oppressions are patriarchal, some are based in religious interpretations, others are hierarchal power domination.

In the past, a democratic system held hope that the voices of many would be heard and heeded. That made objectives worth working toward, rather than fleeing, the threats of "moving out of the country." The question has now become "where else can I go?" The looming loss of bodily autonomy, the moral imposition of biologically unrealistic laws, and the resulting loss of life and potential make living in certain states untenable. With the uniquely American existence of gun violence on an epidemic public health scale, lack of security and safety will cause the breakdown of functioning society - no tourism, no public education, no commerce, no peace. Just mounting body counts.

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Wonderful assemblage of strands, as usual, Professor Richardson. Thank you.

I found the podcast by Slate's Dahlia Lithwick (published Saturday) particularly valuable. She interviewed "Just Security’s" Ryan Goodman (he's a law prof with a chair, no?). https://slate.com/transcripts/eW4zL3RQTW8ycVlxTlZuZ1hGZHpPUFFndERDQ0FtcWFMZCttQi81STMrST0=

The analysis on NPR's Morning Edition on Friday was, in my view, excellent. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/10/1104109765/breaking-down-yesterdays-jan-6-hearing

There seems to be coalesence among sentient analysts that the Thompson-Cheney hearings are going to lay down a powerful narrative for history.

I understand that history is your gig, but I hope people today will listen to and understand the importance of your (and others') analyses for the future of...of...our government.

So, once again, tnx!

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Goodness gracious! Has Asa Hutchinson grown a backbone? Unearthed a moral compass? Only time will tell.

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So glad this Letter is here earlier than your usual time lately; go to bed, Dr. Heather! 💜 Thank you!!!

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At some point Trump's own hubris may be the force that undoes him. Or at least we can only hope.

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Happy Sunday June 12, 2022, Professor Richardson! Hope you’re tucked in already (it’s after 11pm East Coast time😴)

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"The January 6 committee will hold its second hearing tomorrow, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time." Wooooo can't wait!!!!!

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So glad that the J6 committee will continue to pull the pieces together with facts. Just watched CNN's special on InfoWars and Alex Jones. I had no idea thst he's been causing problems since before 9 /11. How do these sociopaths have the ability to be on the airwaves for 25+ years? Very scary stuff, especially how Trump partnered with him beginning in 2015. And interesting/scary to see the role Alex Jones played in January 6th.

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