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Both Chairman Thompson and Rep. Cheney’s opening statements were brilliant. Tightly written, clear and direct, no equivocating. I especially admired Rep. Thompson’s connecting his Mississippi heritage with the evils of that state’s history to the actions of Lincoln and that famous unsent letter. This is where history serves its highest purpose - to connect us with our past in order to underscore both the uniqueness of the threat that Trump posed and continues to pose and to clearly delineate the through line of white supremacy and fascism that he so expertly tapped into and exploited to support his grab for power. While he may indeed someday be gone, those rivers will continue to run deep in our country. We must never let our guard down.

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Jun 10, 2022·edited Jun 10, 2022

"We took some photographs on the east side of the Capitol, and then we went for lunch. We went for tacos" – Nick Quested, Filmmaker

That statement by Quested during last night's testimony reflects just how confident the Proud Boys were that Trump would have a mob whipped into a frenzy and ready to storm the Capitol that afternoon. They knew before lunchtime that the Capitol was drastically underprotected and an easy target. They thought shutting down the electoral vote count and handing Trump the presidency would be a snap. They never imagined Officer Caroline Edwards and the other officers on duty would commit to defending the Capitol and the lawmakers inside. So they went to lunch.

Sincere gratitude to every officer who stood against the mob on January 6, 2021. They are heroes.

Here is a link to transcript with regard to Quested's statement about tacos You are going to have to scroll through to find it. This is not time stamped and lifted from CNN's broadcast. A complete transcript has not yet been released by the Committee. There are other partial transcript sources as well. C Span's uncorrected transcript from closed captioning actually says tapas.

https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2022-06-09/segment/03

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Thank you for this. Well, we shall see if the American people actually translate this into action. My suspicion and fear is they will not (inflation's high, after all. Gas too! What in all the universe could be more important or alarming than that?)...and we will sleepwalk ourselves further down this road--because for all of our idiotic vitriol, we're still Sleepwalk Nation when it comes to big things. My other fear, based on some headline surfing, is that Meadows is already being cast as the "high enough person to scapegoat." Well no, Meadows is no scapegoat--he's guilty and frankly, should be hanged--and no, I won't apologize for saying that. But honestly, the outcome of this hearing, aside from prosecuting every person who took part, should be to make sure Donald Trump can never run for president again. If that man is running again as the GOP nominee in two years, we're headed toward a civil war, or worse, the utter destruction of our nation. That more average Americans cannot see this...well, maybe then we DO deserve what we get. I am deeply bothered, worried and upset at how much we--the American people--STILL don't seem to get it. The Army-McCarthy hearings were the beginning of the end for McCarthy. Somehow, I'm doubtful this will come close to achieving the same result.

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The overview has been delivered. While riot footage was as dramatic as we remembered, the narrative was delivered in calm, almost monotone voices, talking perhaps 2/3 the rate that you and I normally hold a conversation. It was hardly political theater; wasn't intended to be. It was delivered in a style that bespeaks the gravity of the situation, but not the entertainment value. Two persons present at the riot scene testified in person, shared video and verified by their eyewitness accounts the nature of the insurrection. I was most impacted by 3 short videos, however; Barr, Ivanka and Jerod. Without any fanfare, they called pft on the big lie in testimony before Congress. Can you imagine their experience with him; one from earliest childhood, the next who married into the family and finally, one of his closest advisors in the government. They all have lived in the shadow of pathologic, narcissistic and pervasive lying as the status quo from the chief executive, arguably once the most powerful individual on the planet. So, while they live just a few skips from Mara Lago, I wonder how often they and the grandkids eat dinner with their grandfather these days... He may be far too enamored of himself to admit consciously that his only relationship with others, including wife, children and grandchildren is based on the constant potential that he might turn his cannons on them. If he COULD experience anything but self aggrandizement, I suspect deep down he'd be profoundly lonely. He may actually do it already in private, but what about in public? Why do they stick by him? Is it really just the money and proximity to a kind of fame? His daughter knows he looks at her like a sexual object. His wife knows why she qualified to become his spouse. Her attitude towards him is a prickly tolerance, made manageable by lots of time in separate places.

With an overwhelming amount of evidence, bits of which have been curated for public consumption, he will be indicted in the court of public opinion. It won't be unanimous by any means, but adequate to assure that the academic texts don't whitewash it. Those close to him will be tarred with the same brush, as they colluded, tolerated or stood passively by as his behavior accelerated and amplified into the endgame we are hearing again for the umpteenth time. Frankly, essentially all of them will be relatively soon forgotten. If all parties follow the evidence where it leads and Garland indicts tfg in spite of all the historic resistance to the concept of prosecuting a former president, that will be the crowning mark on his legacy; the one, true, convicted crook in the hall of presidents. It will be a pyrrhic victory for the rule of law, not really something to celebrate, rather something on which to close the books as soon as humanly possible so we can all stop being constantly reminded of what a sordid chapter it was in the history of our republic.

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I was reminded of how I felt sitting there in front of the TV listening to John Dean tell the inside story of Watergate 50 years ago.

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(Sweden)

Today was really an encouraging story, also on the part of the committee. Key issues well presented and to the point. Remains to be seen what comes out of it, but there is one promising feature of fascists: they tend to go with the winner. The more people that are convicted and punished for these major crimes, the fewer followers. Also encouraging that Swedish television is giving full and good covering of the hearings. Sometimes SVT has tended to do "balanced" reporting of truths and lies.

When I had one year of studies at Montana State University I was sometimes asked why Sweden had not joined in against Nazi Germany in WWII. I was born 1945 and at 19 was not prepared for an answer, but found one: the only ones that wanted Sweden to go to war were the ones wanting to join the Germans, and I still think it was part of the reason. After the war Sweden was "Americanized" to an extent further than many European nations; talking of 'going with the winners'. I don't feel responsible for Sweden's policy during the war, but I believe fascism is about surviving at the cost of others, and as such belonging to most of us if we look generations back. In the course of human history I think legitimate surviving at the cost of others belongs only to women who can give birth.

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So,we the people of the United States of America, were attacked by our own President.

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Hearing Kevin McCarthy ask the press where are the hearings on inflation, on gas prices, and a few other talking points as though they are the equivalent of a coordinated insurrection was insulting and infuriating. Hopefully enough Americans will begin to understand the gravity of the threat the TFG posed and still poses to our democracy. The careful reconstruction of the timeline of events was compelling. Will it reach enough of the American people to forever disqualify TFG as a leader? We'll see as the rest of the story unfolds over the course of the next hearings.

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It gave me no small amount of satisfaction to watch Ivanka/Jared demonstrate that neither is bright nor well spoken; it’s obvious even in the brief clips that aired Thursday.

The presentation was compelling, and I felt as sickened last night watching the videos as I did January 6. I will watch each presentation.

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"There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain." Carve that on Mitch McConnell's tombstone, and the tombstone of every other summbitch senator and representative who supported, coddled, encouraged, and rode the coattails of that traitor & would-be dictator.

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Jan. 6 Committee’s hearing on June 6

Cheney has Trump in her sights for good reason.

U.S. Representative Liz Cheney:

"President Trump believed his supporters at the Capitol, and I quote, were doing what they should be doing. This is what he told his staff as they pleaded with him to call off the mob."

"On this point, there is no room for debate. Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful president. President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack

"All Americans should keep … in mind this fact, on the morning of Jan. 6, President Donald Trump's intention was to remain president of the United States."

"As you will see in our hearings, the White House received specific reports in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including during President Trump's Ellipse rally (near the White House), indicating that elements in the crowd were preparing for violence at the Capitol," Cheney said.

"The White House staff knew the President Trump was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his ends. They knew the president needed to be cut off from all of those who had encouraged him. They knew that President Donald Trump was too dangerous to be left alone, at least until he left office on Jan. 20."

"Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone but your dishonor will remain."

🟥⬜🟦

Nothing can replace Officer Edwards’ narrative on June 6th about the hours she was forced to engage in combat with the mob, unlike anything the police are trained to do, but her words about the violence that occurred at the Capitol on January 6th need to be remembered.

Caroline Edwards, U.S. Capitol Police officer injured in attack:

"I was called (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi's dog, called incompetent, called a hero and a villain."

"They dared to question my honor. They dared to question my loyalty and they dared to question my duty."

"When I fell behind that line and I saw - I can just remember my breath catching in my throat because what I saw was just a war scene. It was like something I had seen in the Middle East. There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up. I was slipping in people's blood. … It was hours of hand-to-hand combat."

🟥⬜🟦

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Thank you for this eloquent and powerful summary of these incredibly important hearings. Unlike the Mueller report which Bill Barr preempted by releasing a biased, inaccurate summary long before anyone could read the complete report, we are getting an unfiltered presentation of the horrors of J6. Embarrassing as a US citizen for the world to hear but I hope that this makes an impression on at least a few of tfg’s supporters.

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Yes, this was highly compelling story telling! Confirming for me was the proof that this wasn't a spontaneous riot but one well planned by the Proud Boys who were moving on the Capitol even before the former president gave his speech. Also enjoy the analogy with the Senator McCarthy hearings on un-American activities with Roy Cohn, later DT's lawyer, sitting next to McCarthy.

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The committee was formed to investigate the insurrection, and come up with recommendations to prevent it from happening again. I guess we will eventually get to that. But what I think I saw last night was an argument for criminal intent - that seditious conspiracy was committed by Trump. It looks to me that they are going to systematically show that all the legal elements are there - to pave the way for DOJ. It needs to happen. That alone would do wonders in helping prevent it from happening again. And BTW - I do hope the committee fully exposes Biggs and Perry and the other members of the House who are complicit. Seditious conspiracy charges should await them too. You just cannot do what they did without consequences.

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NYTimes 6/9/22 story about FOX News program without advertising breaks, with a short silent video of the hearing, in place of January 6th Committee hearings FOX aired their two leading propagandists last night: "Mr. Carlson and Sean Hannity, who took over the broadcast at 9 p.m., both boasted about Fox News’s decision not to air the hearing live. Mr. Carlson said his show was “the only hour on American television that is not broadcasting unfiltered propaganda into the homes of unsuspecting viewers.”

Mr. Hannity declared in his opening monologue: “Unlike this committee and their cheerleaders in the media mob, we will actually be telling you the truth.” "

This might as well be Putin's Russian state controlled media. We should demand sedition charges against against FOX.

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Thank you very much.

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