Category: Politics

everything to do with the execution of politics

Insurrection Update

The last day before Biden’s oath ceremony and the sane part of the country is holding their breath.

I was not planning on writing too much more on the attack on the Capitol….but a wealth of news keeps pour out…..so I feel I must update my readers to the situation and the breaking news around it.

Let’s begin with the lawmakers that have assisted the insurrection….

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that she wants to know whether any of her colleagues helped the mob that stormed the Capitol last week. That would put them in criminal jeopardy, she said. “If in fact it is found that members of Congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted the crime,” Pelosi said, “there may have to be actions taken beyond the Congress in terms of prosecutions.” Suspicions have been raised by House Democrats that Republicans gave tours to rioters before the attack, and they’ve asked Capitol Police to see visitor logs. “That will be looked into,” said Pelosi. She also said she’s asked retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré to assess security at the Capitol, per NPR. “We must subject this whole complex to scrutiny,” Pelosi said.

onoré was critical of the efforts to counter the rioters last week, per WVUE. “It’s like the Capitol Police was doing security by Zoom,” he said. The general added: “I’ve just never seen so much incompetence, so they’re either that stupid, or ignorant or complicit. I think they were complicit.” Steven Sund, who resigned as chief of the Capitol Police after the attack, said Friday that he believes the mob’s assault was part of a coordinated attack. In discussing the insurrection, Pelosi became emotional about the showings of bigotry in the Capitol, especially the “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt one rioter wore. “To see this punk with that shirt on and his anti-Semitism that he has bragged about to be part of a white supremacist raid on this Capitol requires us to have an after-action review,” Pelosi said.

The serious crime of sedition is now being talked about more and more…..

The acting US attorney for DC says Capitol rioters could face charges under a Civil War-era sedition law. The law was last used in 1995, when 10 Islamic militants were convicted of seditious conspiracy—a crime involving forceful opposition to government authority or seizure of government property—stemming from a plot to bomb New York landmarks, including the United Nations and FBI building. “Conspiracy was a layup because of the nature of the terrorist cell we were targeting,” Andrew McCarthy, the former federal prosecutor who secured the convictions, tells the AP. He says it’s logical that sedition charges would be brought in “an organized armed assault on the Capitol,” particularly one seeking to block the certification of electoral votes. But if they are, prosecutors will need to prove participants conspired to use force, McCarthy says.

In September, Jeffrey Rosen, now acting US Attorney General, suggested “rioters” taking part in racial injustice protests could be charged under the law, which was enacted to arrest those who might continue to fight the US government after the Civil War. He said proof of a plot to overthrow the government wasn’t necessary. But federal prosecutors on Thursday did mention a “violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government” in the case against Jacob Anthony Chansley, aka “Q Shaman” and Jacob Angeli, per Politico. Michael Sherwin, acting US attorney for DC, says he’s ordered prosecutors “to build seditious and conspiracy charges related to the most heinous acts that occurred in the Capitol,” per NPR. “Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government,” prosecutors wrote, reports Reuters.

I have made my thoughts public here on IST…..I want to see all identified to be prosecuted and if found guilty they should be given maximum sentences with NO time off for any reason.

Any lawmakers should censured and then banned for public office.

Then there are the radical right people at the breach…..FBI has IDed some as neo-Nazis…..

“dozens” of people who are currently on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database were in Washington D.C. to participate in the January 6 coup. An unnamed source told the Post that many are suspected white supremacists who had previously been entered into the database following prior interactions with state agents or informants.

The revelation that the domestic intelligence agencies knew that neo-Nazis and fascists were going to be in D.C. further exposes the lying claims of figures such as Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, who stated the day after the coup that “no intelligence” suggested a threat to the Capitol. There is no doubt that hundreds of people within the sprawling military-intelligence apparatus were aware of who was going to be at the rally and what their intentions were.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/15/poli-j15.html

Should this include the SCOTUS wife?

I say YES!

If she participated in any way then she needs to pay the ultimate price.

Now the long time Trump supporters have been said to be ass deep in this conspiracy…..you will recognize the names……

Three of the key advisers who helped engineer Donald Trump’s‘ rise to the presidency in 2016, and who fell from grace under the weight of federal criminal charges, resurfaced during Trump’s final days in office to help engineer his ill-fated attempt to cling to power.

Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn all participated in efforts to promote the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” event that ultimately devolved into a riotous and deadly melee at the United States Capitol, leaving five dead and causing Trump to become the only president to be impeached for a second time.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/longtime-trump-advisers-connected-groups-rally-led-capitol/story

More people to add to my list of “Show No Mercy”!

The face of the Far Right Sen. Hawley penned an op-ed defense of the vote on 06 January….

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) penned an op-ed Wednesday defending his decision to object to the Electoral College results of two states as he faces pushback from critics who say he helped fuel last week’s violent mob in the Capitol. 

Writing in the Southeast Missourian, Hawley looked to separate his objections from last week’s riot, noting existing questions among some Missouri voters over the presidential election’s integrity. 

“Let me say again, as I have said before: the lawless violence at the Capitol last week was criminal. There can be no quibbling about that. Those who engaged in it should be prosecuted and punished,” he wrote. “Lawless violence undermines the democratic process by which we settle our disputes and threatens our democratic life. That applies to mobs of any and all political persuasions. Mob violence is always wrong.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/534054-hawley-pens-op-ed-to-defend-decision-to-object-to-electoral-votes-amid

Nothing this traitor has to say should be any interest to a citizen.

One of the movers of the insurrection of 06 January was that un-American bunch of morons that call themselves QAnon….

The reaction to QAnon by many on the Day of Infamy…it should scare the crap out of Americans….

The right-wing demonstration turned violent riot at the US Capitol on January 6 was a spectacle, complete with Confederate flags and a QAnon shaman in red-white-and-blue face paint. The Venezuelan government stated: “With this unfortunate episode, the United States is experiencing what it has generated in other countries with its policies of aggression.”

Some half of the active electorate voted for Trump, who believed the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. The other half of the active electorate was abhorrent about what happened in Washington on January 6, speaking with semi-religious reverence about the desecration of sacred institutions. They believed, in contrast, that it was the 2016 presidential election that was stolen. The Russians were the culprits then and, for the last four years, they supported politicians ever.

The Only Thing Scarier than QAnon Is the Reaction to It

Will these Trump loving toads survive the aftermath of their actions?

QAnon as a named community or specific entity might be dead. This doesn’t mean the effects of this three-year old militant Magaist spiritual movement are gone. The collection of agitators and agitated has mutated, dispersed, and retrenched into something more dangerous: a networked social body on a death march to civil war. Jan 6 was its opening salvo.

QAnon’s Afterlife: A Holy Civil War

I think it is great that social media helped create this breach and now it is helping find and arrest the idiots.

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“lego ergo scribo”

What Would MLK Think?

Closing Thought–18Jan21

Today is MLK birthday holiday.

Many have wondered what if he were alive he would think about the division of today and the riot around the Capitol.

First of all MLK was a devout follower of the theory of non-violence in the vein of Gandhi….so he would not condone the events of 06 January in any shape.

This year, America commemorates Martin Luther King Jr.’s life amid a chaotic and shameful time for democracy. Less than two weeks ago, insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol after they were encouraged to “take back” the country by the sitting US president, holding fast to the false claim of election fraud.

MLK should be a prophet to those that want to protest….

  1. “In spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.”
  2. “We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself. We will try to persuade with our words, but if our words fail, we will try to persuade with our acts.”
  3. “Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”
  4. “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.”
  5. “Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one’s whole being into the being of another.”
  6. “World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point.”
  7. “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”
  8. “I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action.”
  9. “I am convinced that even violent temperaments can be channeled through nonviolent discipline, if they can act constructively and express through an effective channel their very legitimate anger.”
  10. “In the nonviolent army, there is room for everyone who wants to join up. There is no color distinction. There is no examination, no pledge, except that, as a soldier in the armies of violence is expected to inspect his carbine and keep it clean, nonviolent soldiers are called upon to examine their greatest weapons: their heart, their conscience, their courage and sense of justice.”

Learns Stuff!

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“lego ergo scribo”

During moments of social and political turmoil, we often ask ourselves, what would King do?

Unfortunately, the same forces that motivated the insurrectionists have tried their hardest to water down and whitewash King’s message and legacy. White supremacist ideology motivated the Capitol attack, and it’s this same power that has, in recent years, attempted to mischaracterize King’s words to fit their agenda.

Vice President Mike Pence, for example, has likened Donald Trump to King in an effort to defend Trump’s border wall. “One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was, ‘Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy,’” Pence said on Face the Nation ahead of MLK Day in 2019. “You think of how he changed America. He inspired us to change through the legislative process, to become a more perfect union.’”

https://www.vox.com/2021/1/18/22233296/martin-luther-king-jr-whitewashed-legacy-and-message

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate…Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

 

The Price They Pay

There is always a price for stupid!

Our Congress people that are in support of the stupid around 06 January and paying a price for their assault on our democracy…..

First, Sen Hawley of Missouri……

After losing a book deal and political contributions, Sen. Josh Hawley has now had the rug pulled out from a fundraiser over his support for overturning the results of the presidential election. Loews Hotels said Saturday that it has canceled the event planned for next month at its Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando, Forbes reports. The company tweeted that it was “horrified and opposed to the events at the Capitol.” The Missouri Republican stuck to his position when Congress returned to work after the Jan. 6 attack, even as other GOP members dropped their opposition to certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Loews cited the safety of employees and guests in adding that it was canceling the fundraiser “in light of those events.”

“If these corporations don’t want conservatives to speak, they should just be honest about it,” Hawley said in an email to Forbes. “But to equate leading a debate on the floor of the Senate with inciting violence is a lie, and it’s dangerous.” A flier said the event was to cost families $5,000, couples $3,000, and individuals $1,000, per the Orlando Sentinel. “I think it’s totally inappropriate,” said a Florida lawyer who posted the flier online earlier Saturday. “You bring your family down and go to Universal in the middle of a pandemic, after [he’s] incited an insurrection?” Not only have corporate political donations dried up since the attack, one company’s PAC wants its money back from Hawley. “I will not be deterred from representing my constituents and I will not bow to left wing corporate pressure,” Hawley’s statement said.

Then there is the QAnon member of Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has had her Twitter account suspended….

Twitter has been suspending accounts left and right as it cracks down on the QAnon conspiracy theory, and one pretty big name is included in the 70,000 suspensions so far: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia congresswoman has endorsed QAnon, and has also tweeted claims of widespread election fraud. In fact, one of her latest tweets before the suspension, along with a series of other tweets posted Sunday morning, were slapped with Twitter warnings for misinformation due to such baseless claims. NPR reports that Greene’s account remains viewable to the public, but she was locked out of it Sunday and will not be able to access it for 12 hours. In response, she called on Congress to “protect free speech in America,” CNN reports.

A Twitter rep says the Republican’s account “has been temporarily locked out for multiple violations of our civic integrity policy,” the same policy the company cited when it removed QAnon-linked accounts. Greene, who was just elected in November, is one of a few GOP freshman lawmakers who are already stirring controversy, the Wall Street Journal reports. In addition to her controversial stances on QAnon and election fraud, Greene was one of a number of lawmakers who refused to wear masks during the Capitol raid, after which several colleagues tested positive for COVID-19. In response to that controversy, her office said she had tested negative two days before the raid, and that “she does not believe healthy Americans should be forced to muzzle themselves with a mask.”

Consequences are a bitch!

But I do not think these go far enough.

Here is an article that goes with the post…..https://www.aier.org/article/congressional-hypocrisy-and-the-crackdown/

Not to worry I am sure we have not heard the last of these slugs.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Biden’s Stim Plan

Once he, Biden, takes the oath of office he will unveil a new economic stim package which will include a $2000 check for the people that need some help badly…..

So many plans and so little help for those struggling to remain solvent……what will his plan do?

President-elect Biden’s stimulus plan is rumored to include:

  • $1,400 or $2,000 direct payments for Americans. Democrats campaigned on $2,000 checks. However, a recent letter sent by Senator Schumer to his Democratic colleagues indicated the new payment may be just $1,400 per adult, combining with the recently issued $600 payment to provide $2,000 total — rather than an additional $2,000 on top of the other stimulus aid.
  • Aid to state and local governments. This was left out of the last coronavirus relief bill because many Republicans object vehemently to it. It is a key Democratic priority. However, if rumors that Biden is hoping to pass the stimulus bill on a bipartisan basis are true, the administration may have to limit this provision of the bill to get support from across the aisle.
  • More money for schools and for vaccine distribution.
  • Help for small businesses. Some of this aid may be targeted to lower-income communities and industries hit hardest by the pandemic.
  • Rent forbearance.
  • An expansion of the child tax credit. Biden had previously proposed raising this credit to as much as $3,600 for some families. Increasing it, and making more of it refundable, have long been priorities on the left and the incoming president campaigned on this issue.

The check for us mere mortals is a sound idea….funds for state and local governments that have been struggling is another sound idea…..I want to sede just how much goes where they promise or will it go where it is not need the big corporations that have already made billions out of this pandemic.

If you would like more information then here is a source…..https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-stimulus-idUSKBN29J1B1

To say I am optimistic is a bit of a stretch…..for I have heard many promises and most have fallen well short of the promise.

All I can say….”we will see”.

Learn Stuff!

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“lego ergo scribo”

“They Should Resign”

After the debacle of 06 January a new metal detector system has been installed to prevent any weapons and such could not get into the Capitol…….everyone including Congress people must enter the detector before entering…..

It appears the some Congress people think they are above the law and have decided that they do not the inconvenience……

Flippantly disregarding a basic safety measure put in place in the wake of last week’s deadly invasion the U.S. Capitol, numerous Republican lawmakers on Wednesday dodged metal detectors as they entered the House chamber to take part in debate over an article of impeachment charging President Donald Trump with inciting the mob attack.

In a series of tweets Wednesday, HuffPost reporter Matt Fuller named the GOP members he watched evade the newly installed magnetometers or walk through the detectors, set them off, and completely disregard their alarms and proceed into the House chamber without consequence.

“This system has been rendered meaningless,” Fuller lamented as one House Republican after another sidestepped the metal detectors, the establishment of which one GOP member called an “atrocity.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/13/they-should-all-resign-here-are-gop-lawmakers-dodging-metal-detectors-installed

Not to worry these slugs were caught on camera avoiding their duty The article has most of the evidence included).

There will be penalties for stupidity…..

Some Republican lawmakers are furious about new security measures in the House after last week’s Capitol riot, but if they keep trying to dodge the newly installed metal detectors, they’re going to face steep fines. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday that lawmakers evading the detectors will be fined $5,000 for a first offense and $10,000 for a second, with the money coming directly out of their House salaries, Fox reports. Several Republicans walked around the detectors or refused to stop after they were set off Tuesday and Wednesday. GOP Rep. Debbie Lesko complained in a tweet that lawmakers were being treated “like criminals,” the Washington Post reports. “We now live in Nancy Pelosi’s Communist America!” said the Arizona lawmaker.

“On behalf of the House, I express my deepest gratitude to the US Capitol Police for the valor that they showed during the deadly insurrection on the Capitol, as they protected the lives of the staff and the Congress,” Pelosi said in a statement announcing the fines Wednesday, per the Hill. “Sadly, just days later, many House Republicans have disrespected our heroes by verbally abusing them and refusing to adhere to basic precautions keeping members of our Congressional community, including the Capitol Police, safe.” Under a new rule introduced Tuesday, lawmakers will also face fines of $500 for a first offense and $2,500 for a second if they refuse to wear masks on the House floor.

Hit them in the pocketbook…..what about the third time or the fourth….so on?

I agree with the first article….make them resign and then ban them from public office.

Just look at the US Constitution….Section Three of the 14th Amendment

I like it!

Let the Constitution punish these traitors to their oath of office.

This is typical of the Repubs….they want laws but do not think they must obey them….and you wonder where the stupid came from….look NO further than the GOP.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Looking For a New Job?

In these dark days of the pandemic there are many looking for new employment….well there is a new website to help those find and apply for gainful employment….

Wanted: Spies from all backgrounds and walks of life.

Striving to further diversify its ranks, the CIA launched a new website Monday to find top-tier candidates who will bring a broader range of life experiences to the nation’s premier intelligence agency

The days of all American spies being white male graduates from Ivy League schools are long gone. The CIA director is a woman and women head all five of the agency’s branches, including the directorates of science and technology, operations and digital innovation.

But while the CIA has been diversifying for years, intelligence agencies still lag the federal workforce in minority representation. With thousands of job applicants annually, the CIA wants to do more to ensure its workforce reflects national demographics.

The revamped website has links for browsing CIA jobs complete with starting salaries and requirements, sections on working at the agency, and a streamlined application process.

“We’ve come a long way since I applied by simply mailing a letter marked ‘CIA, Washington, D.C.,’” said CIA Director Gina Haspel, who joined the agency in 1985. She said in a statement that she hopes the new website piques the interest of talented Americans and gives them a sense of the “dynamic environment that awaits them here.”

Haspel has made recruitment a priority since she became the first female director in May 2018. Since then, the CIA has started advertising on streaming services, launched an Instagram account and an online “onion site,” a feature that makes both the information provider and the person accessing information more difficult to trace.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/01/05/cias-new-recruitment-website-aims-diversify-spy-agency.html

If you always wanted to be a James Bond then here is your chance to become a member of an age old profession.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Another Pointless Putsch?

A Putsch?

An attempt to violently overthrow a government.

It appeared to me…I know that some will not agree with my assertion…..this was what occurred in DC on the 6th of January 2021.

It is not the first time such an event has happened….

The mos famous “Putsch” was when Hitler and the Nazis tried to take the Bavarian government in 1923 with the Beerhall Putsch.

For those unfamiliar with history…..

From November 8 to November 9, 1923, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and his followers staged the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, a failed takeover of the government in Bavaria, a state in southern Germany. Since 1921, Hitler had led the Nazi Party, a fledgling political group that promoted German pride and anti-Semitism and was unhappy with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement that ended World War I (1914-18) and required many concessions and reparations from Germany. In the aftermath of the failed “putsch,” or coup d’état, Hitler was convicted of treason and sentenced to five years in prison. He spent less than a year behind bars, during which time he dictated “Mein Kampf,” his political autobiography. The putsch and Hitler’s subsequent trial turned him into a national figure. After prison, he worked to rebuild the Nazi Party and gain power via legal political methods.

That would not be the first nor the last attempt to subvert a government.

The melée in Washington looked like the early stages of what in the Latin American context would be described as an attempted “self-coup” or autogolpe. That’s defined as an interruption of the constitutional and democratic order by means of the closure of congress and suspension of the constitution, typically followed by rule by decree and the perpetuation in power of an autocratic ruler. Variations on this script have been played out in Peru (1992), Russia (1993) and Guatemala (1993).

Reaching further back into history, examples of ambitious politicians disrupting established institutions to retain power can be found in the coup of the 18th Brumaire by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (the nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte) in France (1851), Oliver Cromwell’s dissolution of the Rump Parliament in 1653 and the rebellion of the Gracchi brothers in Rome (133-121 BCE.

https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-capitol-raid-was-a-failed-self-coup-previously-seen-in-dying-regimes-152917

In my younger days being a so-called “radical” there are reasons that I might  have joined these people in DC.

If those people stormed the Capitol because their government had abandoned them for nearly a year while an unprecedented pandemic ravaged the country.

If they stormed the Capitol because the government shut down their jobs and asked them to stay home but didn’t provide stimulus to replace their lost income, didn’t provide rent relief, mortgage relief, debt relief during an unprecedented pandemic.

If they stormed the Capitol because they were recently evicted or on the edge of eviction or their children were going hungry because the government abandoned them during an unprecedented pandemic.

If they stormed the Capitol because they couldn’t afford healthcare in the midst of a health crisis. Because they saw family, friends, coworkers die needlessly because the government abandoned them during an unprecedented pandemic. I would have supported them.

If the people who stormed the Capitol were part of the anti-war movement, disgusted that our military is still in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history, and still in Iraq, a war predicated on lies and misinformation that has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and displaced over a million.

None of that was the reason for the situation.

The truly bizarre thing about this whole fiasco. The devotion to Trump would be more understandable if he had made the average Americans life materially better while he was in office. But he didn’t.

They stormed the Capitol for a lie, to fight for a president that is a fraud, while all of the real problems this country faces remain unresolved.

All in all it was a pointless exercise in stupidity.

“Pointless?

I am not convinced that it was a pointless exercise…..as many of the other so-called “putsch” it set up the climate for change to come….and I believe that is what this act accomplished.

Now we wait for the stupidity that will surround the swearing in ceremony on 20 January.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Was It A “Come To Jesus” Moment?

Opening thought–the title alone should generate some interest and most likely some negative comments.

Let the healing begin!

First it would be delusional to even consider that this situation can be “healed”.

Interesting that the Congressional Republicans are starting to call for a come together…a healing process….of our country.

And yet none seems to want to admit their complacency in the events in and around 06 January…..

Republicans have spent the past two months lying about the election being stolen from President Donald Trump and refusing to acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden as the race’s winner.

But after thousands of Trump followers took what they were saying seriously and rioted last Wednesday at the Capitol, leaving five people dead — and as Trump faces impeachment for his role in inciting that riot — those same Republicans are trying to turn the page without any accountability for the role they played in poisoning the minds of their supporters.

“It’s not healthy for the nation,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said Sunday on Fox News of Trump’s possible impeachment. “I’m very concerned about where we’re at. I’m hoping we can come back together.”

https://www.vox.com/2021/1/11/22224872/trump-republican-election-lies-jim-jordan-ted-cruz

Seriously?  After months, nay years of lying to the people and enabling a crazed president to flaunt our Constitution they now want us to forget their crap.

The people with the Bulwark have an excellent idea how the Repubs can help with the healing….

So let us take them at their word. Let us provide them, and their colleagues, the opportunity to becalm the troubled waters.

Here’s how I imagine it might go:

At a joint press conference, a dozen or more of the most prominent figures in the “Stop the Steal” movement gather. There’s Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Steve Scalise, Newt Gingrich, and a claque of Fox News primetime anchors. (Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley are at a separate table, because no one will agree to sit with them.)

Yes, by All Means, Let the Healing Begin

I like some of their ideas but for me it does not go far enough.

I want these so-called people to suffer the way they made the country suffer.

I want them censured, a loss of ALL benefits then removed for office and banned from ever holding an office ever again.

This would apply mostly to all but the ones that need to be targeted are people like Josh Hawley the face of American fascism….

“No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s [January 6th] coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway.”

Sen. Josh Hawley: The Face of New American Fascism?

This stupidity needs to stop.

But if you think for a minute that this country will heal then you are deluding yourself…..the leaders are still in Congress and still on the air…..little will change in the next four years…..and then we will fight this fight again.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Second Time A Charm?

Yep it is impeachment time again.

A good place to start…..

The federal criminal code (18 USC 373) makes it a crime to solicit, command, induce or “endeavor to persuade” another person to commit a felony that includes the threat or use of physical force. Simply put, it is a crime to persuade another person, or a mob of several thousand, to commit a violent felony.

The federal criminal code makes it a crime for “two or more persons … to oppose by force the authority [of the United States] or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States” (18 USC 2384). That felony, including the use of force, clearly was committed by the mob after being encouraged by the president.

Now act!

After the breaching of the Capitol by protesters the Congress is taking it very seriously and is blaming the president for the instigation of violence and destruction.

For the second time in a couple of years there is a vote in the Congress to impeach the president of the United States….

There were 130 years between the first and second presidential impeachments in American history—and 13 months between the third and fourth. A majority of House members on Wednesday voted to support a a single article of impeachment charging President Trump with “incitement of insurrection,” making Trump the first president to be impeached twice, the AP reports. Roll Call points out the second impeachment differed from the first in that it had bipartisan support, with 10 Republicans, including No. 3 House Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, joining House Democrats. In Trump’s first impeachment, three Democrats broke with their party, but Democrats were unified this time. The final vote Wednesday was 232 to 197.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—the first speaker to oversee two impeachment efforts—said in a floor speech before the vote that Trump is a “clear and present danger to the nation we all love.” “We know we experienced the insurrection that violated the sanctity of the people’s Capitol,” Pelosi said, per the Hill. “And we know that the president of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country.” House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy argued that while Trump should “accept responsibility” for his role in the violence, a “vote to impeach would further divide this nation,” Politico reports. The next step will be a trial in the Senate, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he won’t bring senators back early for a trial before Trump’s term ends next week.

Why will McConnell NOT convene the SEnate for a vote?

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office told Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) staff on Wednesday that the GOP will not agree to reconvene the Senate before Jan. 19 to allow an impeachment trial while President Trump is still in office.

A senior Senate Republican aide confirmed that McConnell’s office reached out to Schumer’s office to relay the message that Republicans will not agree to a Friday session to enable House Democrats to present an article of impeachment to the Senate while Trump is in office.

McConnell said in a memo circulated to colleagues last week that the Senate will not be able to handle business on the floor until senators are scheduled to return to Washington on Jan. 19 unless all 100 senators agree to reconvene sooner.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/534053-mcconnell-wont-agree-to-reconvene-senate-early-for-impeachment-trial

Only mere days left int the imperial presidency and the Senate will not vote…..

Keep that in mind when they once again ask your support.

Tell them to go f*ck themselves.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Pardon Me? (Again)

After the breach of the Capitol and all the calls for retribution on Trump and his supporters there is concerns he might try an end run before he leaves office.

There has been a bit of a will he or won’t he about Trump attempting to pardon himself…..https://lobotero.com/2020/12/09/pardon-will-he-wont-he/

News last week came the tale again…..

President Donald Trump has prepared a sweeping list of individuals he’s hoping to pardon in the final days of his administration that includes senior White House officials, family members, prominent rappers — and possibly himself, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump is hoping to announce the pardons on Jan. 19 — his final full day in office — and his ideas are currently being vetted by senior advisers and the White House counsel’s office, the people said.

The biggest question facing his legal team may be whether the president has the authority to pardon himself, as he has discussed in recent weeks with top aides, according to the people familiar with his conversations. Trump has previously claimed the power, though it’s a matter of legal dispute and has never before been attempted by a president.

A self-pardon could also prove a major political liability and hamstring another presidential bid, with opponents sure to suggest the self-pardon amounted to an admission that he thought he might be prosecuted for breaking the law.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-prepares-pardon-list-for-aides-and-kin-and-maybe-himself

The big question is…..can a president self pardon?

President Donald Trump has declared that he has the “absolute right” to issue a pardon to himself. Yet the law is much murkier than his confidence suggests.

No president has attempted to pardon himself while in office, so if Trump tries to do so in the next six weeks, he will be venturing into legally untested territory without clear guidance from the Constitution or from judges. Legal experts are divided on an inherently ambiguous question that was left vague by the Founding Fathers and has never had to be definitively resolved in court.

https://apnews.com/article/can-donald-trump-pardon-himself-3fcbe6a0e961d8e90e9fc0a48e2ff126

After the riot on 06Jan21 the president is considering an all-purpose pardon……

As The New York Times reports, Trump has been talking to his staffers about whether or not he can perform autopardonica. Trump’s ability to get masturbatory with his pardon pen remains a subject of open debate, and obvious distaste. Apparently, Trump’s pardon lust was previously at the “idle musings” level, but in recent days he’s been chatting up the idea. That’s especially the case as Trump has become convinced that “his perceived enemies will use the levers of law enforcement to target him after he leaves office.”

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/7/2006893/-After-inciting-an-insurrection-Trump-is-seriously-considering-handing-himself-an-all-purpose-pardon

This will be yet another attempt by Trump to circumvent the Constitution and to be honest he has been pretty damn successful in the past.

Will he this time?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”