;)
The Commentariat -- March 5, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democrats maneuvered frantically Friday to push President Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus bill over the finish line in the Senate, agreeing to a last-minute change sought by moderates to keep federal unemploymen benefits at their current $300-per-week level instead of raising them to $400-per-week.... The fast-moving developments came as the Senate launched into rancorous partisan debate on the overall relief measure, with Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowing to stay in session until they pass the massive legislation as Republicans threatened a cascade of amendments aimed at slowing if not stopping the bill." ~~~
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A House Democrat who unsuccessfully prosecuted Donald J. Trump at his impeachment trial last month sued him in federal court on Friday for acts of terrorism and incitement to riot, attempting to use the justice system to punish the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. The suit brought by Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, accuses Mr. Trump and key allies of inciting the deadly attack and conspiring with rioters to try to prevent Congress from formalizing President Biden's election victory. And like the case laid out in the Senate, which acquitted him, it meticulously traces a monthslong campaign by Mr. Trump to undermine confidence in the 2020 election and then overturn its results.... Though not a criminal case, the suit charges Mr. Trump and his allies with several counts including conspiracy to violate civil rights, negligence, incitement to riot, disorderly conduct, terrorism and inflicting serious emotional distress -- findings that could severely tarnish his legacy and political standing. If found liable, Mr. Trump could be subject to compensatory and punitive damages; if the case proceeds, it might also lead to an open-ended discovery process that could turn up information about his conduct and communications that eluded impeachment prosecutors.... The suit also names as defendants his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., his lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and Representative Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama, who led the effort to overturn Mr. Trump's election defeat...." An ABC News story is here.
Katie Benner of the New York Times has more on Federico Klein, the Trump appointee who was arrested on charges of participating in the January 6 Capitol insurrection: "The F.B.I. said on Thursday that it had arrested a former State Department aide on charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including unlawful entry, violent and disorderly conduct, obstructing Congress and law enforcement, and assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon. The former midlevel aide, Federico G. Klein, who federal investigators said in court documents was seen in videos of the riot resisting officers and assaulting them with a stolen riot shield, is the first member of the Trump administration to face criminal charges in connection with the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.... The F.B.I. determined that when Mr. Klein allegedly attacked Congress on Jan. 6 to help Mr. Trump unlawfully maintain power, he was still employed by the State Department and possessed a Top Secret security clearance...." ~~~
~~~ An earlier Politico report, linked below, did not have the details of Klein's alleged actions on January 6 nor of the charges against him. The Politico story has been updated. BTW, according to the Politico report, Freddie didn't exactly tell his mom the whole truth. As far as she could recall, he told her only that he'd been "on the Mall." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's headline is on point: "State Department aide appointed by Trump stormed the Capitol, beat police with a riot shield, FBI says."
~~~~~~~~~~
Joe vs. the Junta. Simon Lewis & Humeyra Pamuk of Reuters: "Myanmar's military rulers attempted to move about $1 billion held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York days after seizing power on Feb. 1, prompting U.S. officials to put a freeze on the funds, according to three people familiar with the matter, including one U.S. government official. The transaction on Feb. 4 in the name of the Central Bank of Myanmar was first blocked by Fed safeguards. U.S. government officials then stalled on approving the transfer until an executive order issued by President Joe Biden gave them legal authority to block it indefinitely, the sources said."
President* Trump Is Still Not President* Trump. Kevin Roose of the New York Times: "QAnon ... had another bad day on Thursday. Following the letdown of Jan. 20 -- when, contrary to QAnon belief..., Donald J. Trump did not declare martial law, announce mass arrests of satanic pedophiles and stop President Biden from taking office -- some QAnon believers ... told themselves that 'the storm' -- the day of reckoning, in QAnon lore, when the global cabal would be brought to justice -- would take place on March 4.... But the Capitol was quiet on Thursday, and QAnon supporters did not erupt in violence. Mr. Trump remains a former president, and no mass arrests of pedophiles have been made.... [As the day passed without incident,] one Telegram channel devoted to QAnon chatter lit up with false claims that Bill Gates, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other prominent officials had been arrested or executed for treason already, and that 'doubles and A.I. clones' had been activated to preserve the illusion that they were still alive." From a liveblog on election misrepresentations. ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Landay & Julia Harte of Reuters: "A smattering of followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory gathered near the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, the day the movement had predicted ... Donald Trump's return to office, but they were far outnumbered by security forces deployed to deter any possible attack.... Media reports said that QAnon influencers had backtracked, posting on message boards that the March 4 theory was planted by the movement's enemies to make it look foolish." MB: Uh, it doesn't take your "enemies" to make you look foolish. You do very well on your own.
~~~ Marie: Aren't the faithful a little disappointed that their hero, Donald Trump, did not show up for his own fake inauguration? At least on January 6, he promised to be there even though he wasn't. Thursday, there was no word from the Don, nor any sightings of him in D.C.
Trump's Extremist Backers Still Pose a Threat. Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Capitol Police have requested a 60-day extension of some of the 5,200 National Guard members activated in the District in response to security threats and the Jan. 6 assault on Congress, opening the door to a military presence in the nation's capital into spring, defense officials said Thursday. Acting chief Yogananda Pittman submitted the request to the Defense Department for an extension, the Capitol Police said in a statement on Thursday evening, without saying for how long." ~~~
~~~ Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The congressional inquiry into the security failures surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol assault has barely begun, but one outcome already seems certain: The Capitol Police Board, the secretive three-member panel that oversees protection of the complex where Congress meets, is headed for major changes, if not outright elimination. Lawmakers of both parties in the House and the Senate, some previously unfamiliar with the sweeping authority of the board, have expressed astonishment at its lack of accountability and its inability to rapidly respond to the riot at the Capitol.... New tension over the board's power emerged on Thursday as Yogananda D. Pittman, the acting chief of the Capitol Police," told House & Senate leaders that the board was unresponsive to her request to extend National Guard deployments to protect the Capitol.
FBI Looking at Possible Congressional Collaborators. Evan Perez of CNN: "Federal investigators are examining records of communications between members of Congress and the pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol, as the investigation moves closer to exploring whether lawmakers wittingly or unwittingly helped the insurrectionists, according to a US official briefed on the matter. The data gathered so far includes indications of contact with lawmakers in the days around January 6, as well as communications between alleged rioters discussing their associations with members of Congress, the official said. The existence of such communications doesn't necessarily indicate wrongdoing by lawmakers and investigators aren't yet targeting members of Congress in the investigation, the official noted. Should investigators find probable cause that lawmakers or their staffs possibly aided the insurrectionists, they could seek warrants to obtain the content of the communications."
Trump Appointee Arrested for Insurrection-Related Activities. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The FBI on Thursday arrested Federico Klein, a former State Department aide, on charges related to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, marking the first known instance of an appointee of ... Donald Trump facing criminal prosecution in connection with the attempt to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's victory. Klein, 42, was taken into custody in Virginia, said ... a spokesperson for the FBI's Washington Field Office. Details on the charges against him were not immediately available. Klein worked on Trump's 2016 campaign and was then hired at the State Department. As of last summer, he was listed in a federal directory as serving as a special assistant in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and was designated as a 'Schedule C' political appointee." The story has been updated.
Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "Richard Barnett, infamously photographed during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot with his feet propped on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) office, shouted that it was 'not fair' that he remained in jail, in an outburst before a federal judge on Thursday. In a virtual hearing, Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Ark., complained of his pretrial detention after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper set the next court date for May." MB: Are we surprised that this loon can't control himself during a court proceeding?
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday released a Washington state leader of the Proud Boys from jail pending trial, chiding prosecutors for withdrawing some of the more sensational allegations against him in the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol. Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington upheld a lower court's Feb. 8 release order for Ethan Nordean, 30, of Seattle. She found that although Nordean appeared to be a key leader in raising money, gear and assembling Proud Boys to Washington before leading them to breach police lines in a '1776'-style revolt against the presidential election results, the government had not supplied evidence to date that he directly ordered individuals to break into the Capitol.... Nordean's release marked a stumble for prosecutors, who have cast him as a key figure based on what Howell agreed were 'ominous' communications before Jan. 6 that they said indicated he and other Proud Boys were planning 'violent action' to overwhelm police and force entry to the Capitol." (Also linked yesterday.)
Marianne Levine of Politico: "Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) will slow down the confirmation of Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Department of Justice.... The hold that Cotton has placed on Garland's nomination means that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will need to clear a procedural hurdle before a final confirmation vote. Democrats had hoped that Republicans would agree to skip that step, particularly given that several of them -- including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- plan to support the nominee."
A la Carte Election Interference. Igor Bobic & Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: "... many of [the] same Republican lawmakers [who voted to overturn states' presidential election results] are up in arms about a Democratic bill on voting and campaign finance reform that passed by a near party-line vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The legislation ... would effectively nullify the new wave of voter restrictions that Republicans are pushing at the state level. It faces exceedingly difficult odds of passage in the Senate.... Republicans are objecting to the House bill on the grounds that it would force states to adopt procedures decreed by the federal government, arguing that states should be left free to decide how they run elections. This is a principle that many Republicans abandoned in January when they sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election because they opposed state laws governing that election, which were passed in some cases by GOP-controlled state legislatures."
The Trumpiest. Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "North Carolina's Republican Party acted quickly last month to censure one of its most senior members, Sen. Richard Burr, for voting to convict ... Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. Burr's vote was 'shocking and disappointing,' said Michael Whatley, chairman of the state party. But the state GOP has shown no interest in exploring a similar action against one of its youngest elected leaders, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a pro-Trump freshman who is accused by a number of women of sexual harassment and has a record of making false statements and baseless claims." MB: According to Republicans then, it's okay to lie and harass women, but voting to convict a terrorist provocateur is unforgivable. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Take the Filibuster Back to Its Roots: Make the Senate Minority Defend Their Opposition. Norm Ornstein, in a Washington Post op-ed (March 2): "Instead of naming and shaming them, Democrats might consider looking at what [Democratic Sens. Joe] Manchin and [Kyrsten] Sinema like about the filibuster.... If you take their views at face value, the goal is to preserve some rights for the Senate minority, with the aim of fostering compromise. The key, then, is to find ways not to eliminate the filibuster on legislation but to reform it to fit that vision.... Currently, it takes 60 senators to reach cloture -- to end debate and move to a vote on final passage of a bill. The burden is on the majority, a consequence of filibuster reform in 1975, which moved the standard from two-thirds of senators present and voting to three-fifths of the entire Senate.... One way to restore the filibuster's original intent would be requiring at least two-fifths of the full Senate, or 40 senators, to keep debating instead requiring 60 to end debate. The burden would fall to the minority, who'd have to be prepared for several votes, potentially over several days and nights.... Go back to the 'present and voting' standard." MB: Ornstein's ideas make a lot of sense to me. He wouldn't eliminate the filibuster; rather, he would force the minority opposed to a piece of legislation do the work of showing their opposition.
David Folkenflik of NPR: "Michael Pack, [whom Trump appointed to be] CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media that oversees Voice of America, in August suspended ... top executives [of the agency]. He also immediately ordered up an investigation to determine what wrongdoing the executives might have committed. Instead of turning to inspectors general or civil servants to investigate, Pack personally signed a no-bid contract to hire a high-profile law firm with strong Republican ties. The bill &-- footed by taxpayers -- exceeded $1 million in just the first few months of the contract. Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit that represents federal whistleblowers accusing Pack and some of his inner circle of breaking U.S. laws and regulations, shared an analysis it conducted of documents related to the contract between Pack and the law firm."
Kelly Loeffler Gets Her Comuppance. Again. Jay Connor of the Root: "In the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's death, the WNBA ... launched a Social Justice Council, players donned warmups with phrases like 'Black Lives Matter' and 'Say Her Name', and similar messaging was emblazoned on the court itself. But ... former Georgia Senator and Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler was vocal in her opposition to everything Black Lives Matter stands for. And now, in a full-circle moment, [Dream guard Renee] Montgomery -- the same player whom Loeffler once refused to meet in order to address her racist rhetoric -- is part of a three-member investment group that's been approved to purchase the Dream, per ESPN.... [Montgomery,] who recently retired from the WNBA after 11 seasons (and two championships), becomes the first former player in the history of the league to become both an owner and executive of a WNBA franchise." MB: That leaves Kelly to sit home in her counting house to count her millions. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Amy Tells Sierra Club to Take a Hike, Ha Ha. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Justice Amy Coney Barrett issued her first signed majority opinion for the Supreme Court on Thursday, siding with the government over an environmental group seeking draft agenda reports about potential harm to endangered species.... Barrett's 7-to-2 opinion said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not have to provide the Sierra Club the guidance it gave the Environmental Protection Agency about a proposed rule regarding power plants that use water to cool their equipment.... Liberal Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor issued a mild dissent."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "With newly reported coronavirus cases stalling at high levels, after weeks of decline, and fewer Americans getting tested, health experts warned that pandemic fatigue in the United States could jeopardize recent progress against the virus. Despite the warnings, some states with still-growing outbreaks, such as Texas and Mississippi, have relaxed restrictions. 'I don't know why they're doing it but it's certainly, from a public health standpoint, ill-advised,' infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci told CNN on Thursday. Citing what he said was a high baseline for new infections, Fauci called the decision to pull back on precautions 'inexplicable.'"
Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "Senate Democrats muscled through the votes to begin consideration of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Thursday afternoon, putting the party on course to clinch a new stimulus law well before its official March 14 deadline. Early Thursday afternoon, Democrats rallied their 50 senators to kick off debate on their own version of the stimulus bill, a key test vote that demonstrated that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has the support to prevail in the end, whenever it may be." ~~~
~~~ Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "With President Biden's nearly $2 trillion stimulus bill moving toward passage, Senator Ron Johnson brought proceedings to a halt on Thursday by demanding that Senate clerks recite the 628-page plan word by word, delaying action to register his objections. The maneuver by Mr. Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, was unlikely to change any minds about the sweeping pandemic aid plan, which ... has broad bipartisan support among voters. Republicans signaled that they would be unified against it, and Democrats were ready to push it through on their own, using a special fast-track process to blow past the opposition.... With Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote, the Senate voted 51-50 to begin debating the bill on Thursday, just before Mr. Johnson made his objection, pushing off any substantive debate until Friday." ~~~
~~~ Marie: "'The positions are throwbacks to the days before Xerox machines and the ready availability of hard copies, or now digital copies of legislation,' said Paul Hays, who served as the reading clerk in the House for nearly two decades in the 1990s.&" Doesn't it seem way past time to change this archaic rule, Senators? You won't be surprised to learn, BTW, the clerks were reading to a largely empty Senate chamber, so there's absolutely no doubt they were being used as hapless pawns to Sen. RonAnon's well-documented histrionics. But guess who's the "real" victim of political shenanigans. ~~~
~~~ I think it's obvious that I'm target number one here. People are out to destroy me. -- Ron Johnson, to CNN ~~~
~~~ Even Though.... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "At this moment, on this issue, time can be measured in human lives.... [Based upon the time it took to read the first 40 pages of the bill,] it will take about 17 hours to read it in its entirety.... Given the current rate at which people are dying of covid-19, we can expect just shy of 1,400 Americans to succumb to the disease during that period.... [Ron] Johnson can end the reading whenever he wishes, though he's also indicated that he plans to introduce numerous amendments in an effort to obstruct its passage."
Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Wearing a mask in public ... is slightly inconvenient, but hardly a major burden. And the case for imposing that mild burden in a pandemic is overwhelming.... Covering our faces while the pandemic lasts would appear to be simple good citizenship, not to mention an act of basic human decency. Yet Texas and Mississippi [MB: and now Alabama*] have just ended their statewide mask requirements.... Refusing to wear a mask has become a badge of political identity, a barefaced declaration that you reject liberal values like civic responsibility and belief in science.... These days conservatives don't seem to care about anything except identity politics, often expressed over the pettiest of issues.... I don't know how many people will die unnecessarily because the governor of Texas has decided that ignoring the science and ending the mask requirement is a good way to own the libs. But the number won't be zero." ~~~
~~~ * Marie: My mistake. Alabama's Gov. Kay Ivey has not lifted the state's mask ban. I must quit believing everything I half-hear on the teevee.
Casey Smith of the AP: "The national rush to vaccinate teachers in hopes of soon reopening pandemic-shuttered schools is running into one basic problem: Almost no one knows how many are getting the shots, or refusing to get them. States and many districts have not been keeping track of school employee vaccinations, even as the U.S. prioritizes teachers nationwide. Vaccines are not required for educators to return to school buildings, but the absence of data complicates efforts to address parents' concerns about health risk levels and some teachers unions' calls for widespread vaccinations as a condition of reopening schools."
Unwashed writes from personal experience how to successfully garner a Covid-19 vaccination appointment at Walgreens: "... it appears that the magic witching minutes is at 7:00 a.m. After spending several days trying to secure an appointment with no result, it wasn't until yesterday at exactly 7 am when I signed on to their website that I was successful in being able to register for both dose 1 and 2 (Phizer/Moderna) of the vaccine. My wife was able to achieve the same result at exactly the same time this morning, 7 a.m. on the minute. Available appointments disappeared within minutes from that time. Pre-register and be ready to hit search, by zip code, on the dot."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
New York. David Goodman & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "A [June 2020] report written by state health officials ... included a count of how many nursing home residents in New York had died in the pandemic. The number -- more than 9,000 by that point in June -- was not public, and the governor's most senior aides wanted to keep it that way. They rewrote the report to take it out, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times. The extraordinary intervention, which came just as [Gov Andrew] Cuomo was starting to write a book on his pandemic achievements, was the earliest act yet known in what critics have called a monthslong effort by the governor and his aides to obscure the full scope of nursing home deaths. After the state attorney general revealed earlier this year that thousands of deaths of nursing home residents had been undercounted, Mr. Cuomo ... [said] he had withheld it out of concern that the Trump administration might pursue a politically motivated inquiry into the state's handling of the outbreak in nursing homes. But Mr. Cuomo and his aides actually began concealing the numbers months earlier, as his aides were battling their own top health officials, and well before requests for data arrived from federal authorities...." ~~~
~~~ The Raw Story has a summary report here. An AP report, based on NYT & Wall Street Journal stories, is here.
Beyond the Beltway
Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "In the dead of night on Sept. 28, 2019, Mark Russo [a New Jersey man --] sneaked into a wooded area in Salem, N.H., armed with a power tool, police said. His destination was 'America's Stonehenge,' a grouping of man-made rock formations that some say may date back thousands of years. His intent, police said, was to vandalize the stones with a message associated with QAnon, an extremist ideology that the FBI has deemed a domestic terrorism threat. 'The stone table was carved with "WWG1WGA" and "IAMMARK,"' an officer wrote in a vandalism report reviewed by Patch. The former stands for 'Where We Go One, We Go All,' a slogan often used by QAnon followers. The latter, police later learned, referred to his name and Twitter handle." MB: Hint to aspiring monument-defacers: do not leave a signature; do not admit to your crime on Twitter.
Way Beyond
AP: "Pope Francis arrived inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq's government, to meet with President Barham Salih and other officials." This is a liveblog of the Pope's visit to Iraq.
News Lede
CNBC: "Hiring surged in February as U.S. economic activity picked up with Covid-19 cases steadily dropping and vaccine rollouts providing hope for more growth. The Labor Department reported Friday that nonfarm payrolls jumped by 379,000 for the month and the unemployment rate fell to 6.2%. That compared with expectations of 210,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate holding steady from the 6.3% rate in January."
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Reader Comments (7)
Rachel reads the transcript of feet-on-desk guy's court appearance. Everyone's picking on the seditionists, poor things...
https://youtu.be/DxgUAk0NM9k
In the heads up department: I can't figure out how to get to the BBC world service radio I listened to yesterday to cite it. The report was about voter suppression and changes to voting being implemented by Chinese communists toward Hong Kong citizens. Gosh, what if the American Democrats started loudly addressing the Republicans as if they were the equivalent of the Chinese communists? Instead, it is all misdirection, Dr. Seuss, and Cuomo. Is there anything more cynical, if accurate, than the idea that the surest way to not get elected is to educate the electorate? I think Stacey Adams and the folks in Georgia are doing good work to dispel historical inaccuracies about educating the electorate.
Cuomo is the epitome of the double standard between Republican acceptability and Democrats. Don't get me wrong about Cuomo: he's an antediluvian dinosaur who would have fit right in with President Bonespurs bragging about grabbing women by their....
Speaking (almost) about Pence, he is smart enough to realize all those armed thug Republicans still have their guns. Type "mike pence" into google and his family comes up sixth. Mother and Mike probably had a chat about keeping the family head down while things blow over. Too many people, let alone Republicans, are from a Piaget perspective are decentrationists with the attention span of the average teevee commercial.
GOING EASY ON THE BAD GUYS?
Here's Masha Gessen's column that Chris Hayes discussed last night with her. Gessen sees a dismaying pattern emerging in Biden's use of sanctions re: Russia and S.A. As her colleague Robin Wright has said:
"Cutting off visas is not much of a punishment for murder."
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/bidens-tepid-message-to-putin-navalny-and-autocrats
Biden's optimism here at home, thinking he can do mucho- magic with the other side has proven–-so far––null and void. We are in different territory today––the party of elephants have ceased being reasonable or even coherent––they are running roughshod through the circus tents and will crush anyone who tries to reason with them.
So––I'm wondering, as someone said, if, in time, Joe will get a spine. I like to think he knows the right path forward and the excellent picks for his cabinet will forge ahead and his agency picks will help heal all the broken pieces left in shatters by the past administration whose stink is still with us.
@PD Pepe: I don't think Biden & his advisors are dumb or naive. They all know the chances of Joe's joining a barbershop quarter with Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy & Ron DeSantis where the repertoire includes "Kumbaya" and "We Shall Overcome."
Rather, Biden is presenting himself as a uniter of the American people, not of the American Congress, even as he is willing to invite the obstructionists to the White House for photo ops -- and curry favor with possible GOP issue allies like Murkowski & Collins. If this all works out as Biden wants it to, voters will think, "Wow, Joe keeps trying, and Mitch McConnell doesn't want my kids' teachers & me to get Covid relief."
Marie,
I think you’re right that Biden has a sense of realpolitik that Fatty never had. Trump operated on realdonald-ick. Whatever is best for Trump. To hell with the national interest, allies, or proportional responses to attacks on the nation (eg, election interference).
I’m still in the dark as to his stance on the Saudi Murderer. This thug should be put down hard. The Saudis need us more than (we need their oil, yeah, but that’s it) we need them.
I hope there’s something else in the wings, but acknowledging that MBS is a murdering gangster then not doing anything about it is a terrible look. We need to convince the king that his kingdom will not do well if handed over to this prick.
"Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren has quietly posted a nearly 2,000-page report documenting social media posts by her Republican colleagues who voted against certifying results of the presidential election on January 6. The information compiled isn't secret, but the report is another sign of the deep distrust that has settled into the US Capitol in the weeks since the insurrection.
The report chronicles the social media activity of members on public forums immediately before the November election and right after the January 6 riot. The report has been online for a week."
"Like former President Trump, any elected Member of Congress who aided and abetted the insurrection or incited the attack seriously threatened our democratic government. They would have betrayed their oath of office and would be implicated in the same constitutional provision cited in the Article of Impeachment," Lofgren wrote in her foreword to the report. "That provision prohibits any person who has previously taken an oath as a member of Congress to support the Constitution but subsequently engaged in insurrection or rebellion from serving in Congress."
This on Senator Johnson, appropriately enough, from Yahoo News:
https://news.yahoo.com/day-forcing-marathon-bill-reading-005804951.html