;)
October 14, 2022
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Justice Department asked an appeals court on Friday to end a special master review of thousands of documents that the F.B.I. seized from ... Donald J. Trump's Florida estate, arguing that a federal judge had been wrong to intervene in its investigation into Mr. Trump's hoarding of sensitive government records. In a 53-page brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, the Justice Department broadly challenged the legal legitimacy of orders last month by Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who blocked investigators from using the materials and appointed an independent arbiter to sift them for any that are potentially privileged or Mr. Trump's personal property. The Justice Department already succeeded in persuading a panel of the Atlanta-based court to exempt about 100 documents marked classified from Judge Cannon's move -- a decision the Supreme Court declined to overturn this week. In its new filing, the Justice Department asked the appeals court to reverse her order for the remaining 11,000 or so documents."
Kristen Holmes & Sara Murray of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Friday does not say whether he will comply with the subpoena by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill insurrection, in a lengthy response to the committee posted on Truth Social. In a letter addressed to committee chairman Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the former President doubles down on fraudulent claims that the 2020 election was stolen and insists the committee should have instead looked into these claims.... Trump lays blame on DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not utilizing the National Guard. As CNN has previously reported, the speaker of the House is not in charge of Capitol security. That's the responsibility of the Capitol Police Board...." ~~~
~~~ Marie's Hint to Orange Jesus: If you want to contact Bennie Thompson, you might send a letter through Louis DeJoy's faltering outfit; I would guess Rep. Thompson does not have a subscription to Liars Social. And just as an aside, it's likely you won't convince Thompson that Nancy Pelosi is the perp here. P.S. I guess you didn't see the tape of Pelosi running the show, trying to get your pathetic made guys off their asses. ~~~
~~~ Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "Never-before-seen video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other congressional leaders on Jan. 6, 2021, offers strikingly vivid evidence undermining ... Donald Trump's long-debunked claim that the failure to adequately protect the Capitol from a pro-Trump mob lay not with him but with Pelosi. In the video shown Thursday by the House committee investigating the attack, Pelosi is on the phone pleading with Trump administration officials for help to stop the violence and secure the Capitol as U.S. Capitol Police were overmatched by the hundreds of rioters storming the building -- including some who demanded her head. Getting nowhere with the officials, she contacts Virginia's governor and says she will contact the D.C. mayor....
"Trump often has suggested that Pelosi failed to do her job, that the breach of the Capitol was her fault and ... not that of the commander in chief. He has falsely claimed that Pelosi rejected his order for 10,000 National Guard troops -- something that never happened. The former president, in a statement posted online Friday responding to the committee, wrote, 'I fully authorized' deployment of National Guard troops, but, he added falsely, the request was refused by officials who answer to Pelosi.... Trump's false claims were echoed by Republican lawmakers, including some who -- according to the newly released video -- were literally in the room when Pelosi and others were calling in reinforcements."
Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Trumpworld sources tell New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman that ... Donald Trump says he'll testify before the January 6 Committee if he can do it live -- and at least one of his lawyers is on board." MB: I don't hold much stock in this story; it sounds like something Trump is throwing out there so he can (1) get more attention and (2) later say, "I wanted to testify, but my lawyers insisted the committee would be too unfa-a-a-ir."
"Better Check Bedminster.” Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "As many as nine boxes that Donald Trump's aides hauled from his home in Florida this year to his New Jersey resort are raising new questions about the ex-president's hoarding of secret government documents. Video published May 9 by the Trump-friendly Daily Mail with an article about Trump decamping from Mar-a-Lago in the hot weather and settling in at Bedminster, New Jersey, for the summer shows aides loading boxes onto a private plane ferrying Trump. The cartons appear similar to those that FBI agents confiscated at Mar-a-Lago in August with a search warrant. 'Better check Bedminster,' former FBI official Peter Strozok tweeted last month as the video made the rounds on social media.... The National Archives ... has said it believes members of Trump's administration still have failed to turn over documents and electronic records."
Why Marc Short Went Back to a Grand Jury. Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "A former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence returned before a grand jury Thursday to testify in a criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election after federal courts overruled ... Donald Trump's objections to the testimony, according to people familiar with the matter. In a sealed decision that could clear the way for other top Trump White House officials to answer questions before a grand jury, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled that former Pence chief of staff Marc Short probably possessed information important to the Justice Department's criminal investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that was not available from other sources, one of those people said. Trump appealed, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to postpone Short's appearance while the litigation continues, the people said, signaling that attempts by Trump to invoke executive privilege to preserve the confidentiality of presidential decision-making were not likely to prevail.... Other senior Trump White House officials could also be affected by the outcome of the court ruling...."
digby republishes a big chunk of a Daily Beast story: "In new exclusive footage obtained by The Daily Beast, a yet-to-be-released documentary captured [Roger] Stone's meltdown after learning on President Joe Biden's inauguration day that he wouldn't be granted a second coveted legal protection, this time to shield from any Jan 6 legal fallout. (Trump issued a pardon to Stone in December 2020.)... 'Fuck you and your abortionist bitch daughter,' he concluded, referring to Ivanka Trump, according to the filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen who said there was 'no doubt' who Stone was ranting about. According to the filmmakers, the video clip above was one of the few videos hand-selected by the Jan 6th Committee, but, in the end, the committee elected not to play the clip.... Guldbrandsen ... told The Daily Beast that the tense scene was from inauguration day on Jan. 20, 2021, and recorded in Fort Lauderdale.... 'Aside from Donald Trump, he also held Jared Kush[n]er responsible as being the guy who was the point man on the pardon,' he said."
Lauren Hirsch & Julie Creswell of the New York Times: "The grocery giant Kroger announced plans on Friday to acquire Albertsons in a deal that could reshape the supermarket landscape in the United States, uniting the country's largest supermarket chains at a time when rising costs and competition from Walmart and Amazon squeeze the industry. But the deal, which values Albertsons at about $24.6 billion including debt, is likely to invite intense scrutiny from regulators who are focused on the potential for large companies to affect prices, and have a history of blocking deals that may directly impact consumers. Even before the deal was announced Friday, consumer advocates had raised objections to its possibility."
Peter Walker of the Guardian: "Jeremy Hunt has been appointed as Liz Truss's new chancellor, in a stunning reversal of political fortune and a sign that the beleaguered prime minister wants to reach out to other sections of the Conservative party. Hunt, the former foreign secretary and health secretary, who has twice tried unsuccessfully to become Conservative leader, was named chancellor after Kwasi Kwarteng, in the job for just over five weeks, was sacked by Truss ahead of another U-turn over tax cuts."
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Lisa Mascaro, et al., of the AP: "The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Donald Trump, demanding the former president's personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video from his closest aides describing his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss that resulted in the assault on the U.S. Capitol.... In the committee's 10th public session, just weeks before the congressional midterm elections, the panel summed up Trump's 'staggering betrayal' of his oath of office.... To illustrate what it said were 'purposeful lies,' the committee juxtaposed repeated instances in which top administration officials recounted telling Trump the actual facts with clips of him repeating the exact opposite at his pre-riot rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6.... In never-before-seen Secret Service messages, the panel produced evidence that extremist groups provided the muscle in the fight for Trump's presidency, planning weeks before the attack to send a violent force to Washington. The Secret Service warned in a Dec. 26, 2020, email of a tip that members of the right-wing Proud Boys planned to outnumber the police in a march in Washington on Jan. 6." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's report is here.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post pulls out five takeaways from the January 6 committee hearing that seem spot on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The New York Times' live updates of the January 6 committee hearing are useful. ~~~
~~~ Catie Edmondson & Aishvarya Kavi: "Chilling new footage shared by the select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol showed for the first time how Congress's top leaders scrambled on Jan. 6 to try to secure the building as it came under attack. The tense video underscored how deeply they feared for the safety of their colleagues and staff members. As they watched the rioters' assault on television, [Nancy] Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer ... implored governors of nearby states to dispatch their national guards to protect lawmakers still in the building.... The footage, shot by Ms. Pelosi's daughter, Alexandra, also showed top Democratic and Republican officials -- including Senator Mitch McConnell ... -- huddling on the phone with Pentagon officials, mapping out how they could quickly certify President Biden's electoral victory....
Maggie Haberman: "This behind-the-scenes footage of the congressional leaders desperately trying to get help from the Trump administration is stunning....
Charlie Savage: Adam "Schiff seems to be accusing witnesses of perjury: 'The Secret Service and other agencies knew of the prospect of violence well in advance of the president's speech at the Ellipse. Despite this, certain White House and Secret Service witnesses previously testified that they had received no intelligence about violence that could potentially threaten any of the protectees on Jan. 6, including the vice president. Evidence strongly suggests that this testimony is not credible.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Never-before-seen footage, obtained exclusively by CNN, shows in vivid new detail how congressional leaders fled the US Capitol on January 6 and transformed a nearby military base into a command center, where they frantically coordinated with Vice President Mike Pence and Trump Cabinet members to quell the insurrection and finish certifying the 2020 election. The January 6 select committee aired snippets of the footage at its public hearing on Thursday, but CNN has obtained roughly an hour of additional material that wasn't presented by the panel.... The extended raw footage shines a devastating light on ... Donald Trump's inaction during the riot. Lawmakers are seen working around Trump to secure any help they could get -- from the National Guard, federal agencies and local police departments -- to defeat the mob he incited.... In [a] shocking moment, Schumer and Pelosi are seen chewing out the acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. In a heated phone call, Schumer told Rosen that federal authorities should 'make arrests, starting now,' but Rosen only offered a halting, non-committal response." Worth reading the whole article. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Unlike the clips the committee showed, CNN's footage included audio of the responses to Trump's Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Army & Attorney General. The Congressional leaders urged these men to immediately send military & law enforcement personnel to the Capitol to aid the Capitol Police, who were vastly outnumbered by the mob. You have never heard more stonewalling, hemming & hawing & double-speaking from government officials. They seemed petrified. ~~~
~~~ To me, this was the most shocking news of the day: that the top U.S. military & law enforcement officials were unable or unwilling to save the Capitol from the mobs whom their boss Donald Trump had sent to attack it. Meanwhile, of course, Trump was gleefully watching TV & egging on the mob. To add insult to injury, Trump, Kevin McCarthy & other House leaders later blamed Pelosi for not protecting the Capitol. Nothing could be further from the truth. She, Chuck Schumer & House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer took the lead in pressing for reinforcements for the Capitol Police. And while the Congressional leaders were explaining the urgency of the situation to men who also could watch TV coverage of what was going on, these top administrative officials were mumbling about "coordinating" and "planning" & "waiting to secure authority" to act. Pathetic!
Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post: As insurrectionists ran through the Capitol hallways on January 6 seeking to capture & assassinate Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi was in action. She was a battle general in taupe heels, making calls to move troops, to quell the ambush, to secure a peaceful transfer of power. This was the scene America finally saw in the video played at the Jan. 6 select committee's hearing Thursday. Calm, cool and focused, Pelosi was the leader that American democracy needed that day. Tell me again: How are women too emotional to be in charge?"
Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "The Secret Service had warnings earlier than previously known that supporters of ... Donald Trump were plotting an armed attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to records revealed in a congressional hearing Thursday. Secret Service agents in charge of assessing the risks around the protests had been tracking online chats on pro-Trump websites and noted that rallygoers were vowing to bring firearms, target the Capitol for a siege and even kill Vice President Mike Pence. As early as Dec. 26, Secret Service officials were sharing one tipster's warnings about extremist groups coming to the Capitol with murderous plans. 'They think they will have a large enough group to march into DC armed and will outnumber the police so they can't be stopped,' the tip read.... The evidence presented at the hearing adds the Secret Service to a long list of national security agencies who received prescient warnings about the assault protesters planned for Jan. 6, yet failed to respond with urgency or cohesion to prevent the insurrection." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is the other shocking revelation from Thursday's hearing. The Secret Service, the White House & Trump himself knew of the plans for violence on January 6. And they knew on January 6 that many of the insurrectionists were armed (rendering ridiculous Trump's later attempts to blame antifa adherents for the siege). In the past we have heard that the attack was the result of "a failure of intelligence." But it turns out law enforcement had the intelligence all along & they chose to suppress it and not share it with, say, the Capitol police or Congressional leadership.
Casey Gannon of CNN: "Two former Trump administration officials were seen Thursday at the Washington, DC, federal courthouse where the grand jury investigating the January 6 US Capitol attack meets. Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, was compelled to testify to the January 6 grand jury on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. It was his second time testifying.... Short previously testified this summer in front of the grand jury investigating the attack on the Capitol. His appearance at the court Thursday also comes as the Justice Department and attorneys for Trump are engaged in a secret court fight to stop a federal grand jury from getting information from former Trump administration officials. Trump adviser and former national security aide Kash Patel was also seen walking into an area where the grand jury meets."
Ryan Reilly & Ken Delanian of NBC News: "A week after the Jan. 6 attack, a person familiar with FBI operations informed a top bureau manager that 'there is, at best, a sizeable percentage of the employee population that felt sympathetic to the group that stormed the Capitol,' according to an email just released under the Freedom of Information Act.... The unnamed emailer said many FBI agents believed Jan. 6 'was no different than (Black Lives Matter) protests of last summer. Several also lamented that the only reason this violent activity is getting more attention is because of "political correctness."'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Supremes Brush Off Trump. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from ... Donald J. Trump to intervene in the litigation over documents seized from his Florida estate. The court';s order, which was a sentence long, was a stinging rebuke to Mr. Trump. There were no noted dissents, and the court gave no reasons, saying only: 'The application to vacate the stay entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Sept. 21, 2022, presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the court is denied.'" Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "A key witness in the ongoing Justice Department and FBI investigation of Donald Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents is a Navy veteran who followed the former president to Florida after serving as a valet in the Trump White House, people familiar with the matter said. Walt Nauta is the witness in question, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.... The information Nauta provided to FBI agents, and the footage described to The Post, offer the most direct account to date of Trump's actions and instructions leading up to the FBI's Aug. 8 search of his Florida property.... When FBI agents first interviewed Nauta, he denied any role in moving boxes or sensitive documents, the people familiar with the situation said in interviews before Nauta's name became public. But as investigators gathered more evidence, they questioned him a second time and he told a starkly different story -- that Trump instructed him to move the boxes, these people said." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Nauta is the person the New York Times identified Wednesday; the Times reporters were not sure he was the same Mar-a-Lago worker described in the WashPo 's Wednesday article; now we know he was. The Times story was updated Thursday.
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Days before the New York attorney general filed a lawsuit accusing Donald J. Trump and his company of fraud and seeking to shut down some of their business in the state, Mr. Trump's lawyers created a new company in Delaware.... On Sept. 21, the day the suit was filed, the new Delaware company filed paperwork in New York, seeking to be recognized there as the Trump Organization II. Those maneuvers were detailed for the first time in a court filing on Thursday from the attorney general, Letitia James, who raised the prospect that Mr. Trump was seeking an end run around some of her lawsuit's harshest potential punishments." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Mother Jones report is here.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "A financial firm that operates billions of dollars in real estate properties around the world is facing new questions from the powerful chairman of the Senate finance committee about whether Qatar was secretly involved in the $1.2bn (£1bn) rescue of a Fifth Avenue property owned by Jared Kushner's family while Kushner was serving in the White House. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who leads the finance committee, has given the chief executive of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management until 24 October to answer a series of detailed questions about a 2018 deal in which Brookfield paid Kushner Companies for a 99-year lease on the family's marquee 666 Fifth Avenue property.... In a statement on Thursday, Wyden accused Brookfield of stonewalling his committee and refusing to answer questions about the transaction, including whether Brookfield 'intentionally misled' the public...."
Lori Konish of CNBC: "Amid record high inflation, Social Security beneficiaries will get an 8.7% increase to their benefits in 2023, the highest increase in 40 years. The Social Security Administration announced the change on Thursday. It will result in a benefit increase of more than $140 more per month on average starting in January. The average Social Security retiree benefit will increase $146 per month, to $1,827 in 2023, from $1,681 in 2022." (Also linked yesterday.)
Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A veteran F.B.I. counterintelligence agent testified on Thursday that the Trump Justice Department's decision in 2020 to release sensitive documents about a bureau informant to a Senate committee examining the bureau's Russia investigation had damaged national security. The agent told jurors at the trial of Igor Danchenko, who is charged with lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about matters related to the anti-Trump Steele dossier, that Mr. Danchenko, a Russia analyst, had provided extraordinary assistance for years as a paid F.B.I. informant. Internet sleuths managed to piece together Mr. Danchenko's identity after Attorney General William P. Barr directed the F.B.I. to declassify a redacted report about its three-day interview of Mr. Danchenko in 2017 and give it to Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time.... The testimony by [agent Kevin] Helson, a witness for the prosecution, seemed to be another setback for the special counsel investigation...." ~~~
~~~ Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The final expected trial of special counsel John Durham's probe took an unexpected turn Wednesday, with Durham grilling and rebuking his own witness after the witness seemed to bolster the defense of Igor Danchenko, a key Steele dossier source.... The special counsel opened his case with testimony from Brian Auten, a senior FBI intelligence analyst who oversaw part of the FBI's early investigation into possible Trump-Russia collusion. Over two days, Auten helped prosecutors by saying there was information that Danchenko didn't share with the FBI about his dossier.... But the situation shifted when the defense got to cross-examine Auten. Danchenko's lawyers highlighted Auten's previous testimony, given years ago to the Justice Department inspector general and to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which contradicted some of Durham's claims. Auten previously said Danchenko was 'truthful' and 'assisted' the Russia probe. He also said securing Danchenko as an FBI source was 'one of the best things that came out of' the Russia probe. This undercuts the core of Durham's indictment.... Durham returned for a final round of questioning.... Durham sounded angry at times, and many of Auten's responses were adversarial, clearly not giving Durham the answers that fit his narrative." Durham tried to impeach his own witness.
James Barragan of the Texas Tribune: "Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar on Thursday certified that 49 migrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month were victims of a crime. The move clears a pathway for those migrants to get a special visa to stay in the country that they otherwise would not have received." The criminal? Why, DeSantolink, of course.
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Terry Spencer of the AP: "Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 murder of 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, after the jury said Thursday that it could not unanimously agree that he should be executed -- a decision that left some parents in tears as they exited the courtroom. The jury's recommendation came after seven hours of deliberations over two days, ending a three-month trial that included graphic videos, photos and testimony from the massacre and its aftermath, heart-wrenching testimony from victims'family members and a tour of the still blood-spattered building. Under Florida law, a death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will formally issue the life sentences Nov. 1. Relatives, along with the students and teachers Cruz wounded, will be given the opportunity to speak at the sentencing hearing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "A Russian-installed official in Kherson is urging citizens to evacuate to Russia, as Ukrainian forces conduct a counteroffensive and appear to make gains in the southern region that Moscow illegally declared it annexed last month. Ukraine says it has reclaimed more than 600 settlements from Russian control so far, including in the regions of Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk. Kyiv has criticized the International Committee of the Red Cross, saying it should do more to ensure the safety of Ukrainian citizens and fighters held in Russian captivity. President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the ICRC to visit the Olenivka prisoner of war camp, thought to house hundreds of Ukrainian detainees. The humanitarian agency says it has not been granted access to the prison, which is run by Russia. A blast at the camp in the separatist-controlled Donetsk People's Republic in the east is reported to have killed at least 50 people in July."
Alex Marquardt of CNN: "Since they first started arriving in Ukraine last spring, the Starlink satellite internet terminals made by Elon Musk's SpaceX have been a vital source of communication for Ukraine's military, allowing it to fight and stay connected even as cellular phone and internet networks have been destroyed in its war with Russia. So far roughly 20,000 Starlink satellite units have been donated to Ukraine, with Musk tweeting on Friday the 'operation has cost SpaceX $80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year.'... SpaceX has warned the Pentagon that it may stop funding the service in Ukraine unless the US military kicks in tens of millions of dollars per month.... Last month Musk's SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon saying it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service as it has. The letter also requested that the Pentagon take over funding for Ukraine's government and military use of Starlink, which SpaceX claims would cost more than $120 million for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400 million for the next 12 months."
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Reader Comments (11)
Sounds like our SS (Secret Service, if you will--or not) did not do a great job of protecting us from the president.
@Ken Winkes: It's worth noting that the SS is charged with protecting the veep & his/her family. They knew before January 6 that there were credible threats against Pence's life; they knew on January 6 that members of Pence's family were with him that day. Yet the SS did little or nothing about the fact that Trump was increasing the danger to Pence & his family.
I suppose you could argue that their ultimate decision not to allow Trump to go to the Capitol was a means of protecting the Pence family, but it took the SS a damned long time to insist Trump return to the White House; in fact, their expressed reason was that the Park Police refused to clear the roads for Trump's motorcade to travel to the Capitol. So if was less the SS than the Park Police who protected Pence from Trump. For that matter, the deplorable Kevin McCarthy, Don Junior & Sean Hannity did more than the SS to save Pence from the mob.
@Marie: True.
My thinking, though, led me more in the direction of all the intel the SS had about the portending violence that they unaccountably ignored and even kept to themselves. A sin of omission only maybe, but they certainly did little or nothing to protect either Pence and the nation (personified in the legislators trying to fulfill their Constitutional duty to certify an election in the Capitol building itself).
Wonder how their oath works. Protect the President at all costs?
Even at the cost of a Veep--or a nation?
And regarding those FBI Jan. 6. sympathizers...foursquare with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
Scary stuff. Men (mostly, I'd guess) who can't tell the difference between an attempted coup and people reacting in understandable if not aways acceptable ways to the frustrations imposed on them by continuing racial injustice that had recently reached the extreme of very public murders of Blacks, often by police.
Sorry. Sent that one before the concluding question:
I'd think that FBI agents would have to take and pass some sort of intelligence test before they are hired. If so, would/should not that test include the ability to tell one sort of superficially similar protest from another?
Almost said "to discriminate," but I'd guess discrimination might be the wellspring of their apparent stupidity...
An acquaintance in upstate NY whose work was somehow related to the FBI was virulently anti-Hillary in 2015-2016. Beyond all rationality. I don’t think he was alone.
And in the end it's that elusive search for accountability, as Susan Glasser states. Trump’s essential culpability for January 6th was never really the question. That was more than evident on the day itself. Accountability was always the problem. Will the former President, with his Houdini-like powers of escape, ever face it?
And in the years to come will the face of Fatty become like the mask of horror that little children will don on Halloween? Trick or treat ––-something that became the ways of the worst leader of the free world right from the beginning.
My mister was wondering why we haven't heard from motor mouth Jimmy Jordan––"you would think he'd want to weigh in on all this."
Joe will be pleased to have his question answered, for today we get Jim's big question of the day:
"Real America can't afford gas, groceries or rent. When will the Jan.6 committee adress those issues.?"
Read what others have to say to Mr. Concerned Citizen––a REAL American. He gets his clock cleaned good and proper.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jim-jordan-real-america_n_6348f31ae4b0e376dc0abd81
October 14, 2022 NYTimes
"From a cigarette dangling Bob Dylan to a newly coronated Queen Elizabeth I, Cate Blanchett has stubbornly confounded any efforts to typecast her. In her new movie “Tár,” she’s as inscrutable as ever."
Didn’t read beyond the header, but was reminded of a deceased friend whose politics were flat wrong but whose sense of language was impeccable. He once memorably railed against this use of “coronated.”
"A person is crowned, not coronated. “Coronate” is improperly derived from “coronation,” but “crown” is the original and still standard form of the verb.” (https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/31/coronate/)
The Times didn’t hear him.
@Ken Winkes: I think "coronate" refers to what happens to, say, fish & fowl, when they develop pointy "crowns" or their heads and/or backs. I think "coronate" or "coronated" can be a transitive or intransitive verb or an adjective.
"Coronate" does not occur, however, when a crown -- pointy or not -- is placed upon the heads of kings & queens. Your politically-challenged friend was right, IMO, about this.
I might use "coronate" if I needed it to conform to the meter of a poem (not that I'm sitting around writing sonnets). But it sounds like the type of word that people invent to try to sound highfalutin (I have recently heard people say with pride that they have rendered something more "functionable," for instance) or that a clever child extrapolates from the word "coronation."
Whatever happened about Chuck Grassley's role in January 6th? "Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the Senate president pro tempore, says he and not Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the certification of Electoral College votes, since "we don't expect him to be there.""
"Chesebro details that Pence would hand over the baton to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the Senate president pro tempore, by claiming that he has a "conflict of interest" as a result of being on the 2020 ballot. In theory, the plan would have effectively had Pence ignore the procedures outlined by the Electoral Count Act of 1878, which required that the vice president open all the electoral votes and hand them to Congress to be officially counted. Once Grassley takes over, the memo detailed, he "opens the two envelopes from Arizona, and announces that he cannot and will not, at least as of that date, count any electoral college votes from Arizona because there are two slates of votes."
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According to Chesebro's interpretation of the 12th Amendment, Grassley would then have "enormous leverage" to enact whatever solutions to the logjam he saw fit."
@RAS: Good questions. In watching Alexandra Pelosi's video, I saw that Grassley was in the room with the other Congressional leaders who had been moved out of the Capitol. Pence of course refused to go along with the plan Grassley seems to have alluded to when he said (on Jan. 5, 2020, I think) that he would take the gavel because he didn't expect Pence to be there.
The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Chesebro, but I don't see where he ever showed up. He also tried to get out of appearing in the Georgia grand jury investigation, claiming privilege. Most recently, he's been in the news because a group of prominent lawyers submitted an ethics complaint against him in NY State.