All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Tami]

Republicans Are Calling For “Unity” After They Voted To Try To Overturn The Election Following The Deadly Capitol Attack

The calls for unity came not in the immediate aftermath of the storming of the Capitol, or after the group — a majority of House Republicans plus eight of their Senate colleagues — spent seven more hours forcing votes to try to undo President-elect Joe Biden’s win and citing claims of election fraud that have been repeatedly rejected by the courts and for which there is no evidence. The calls came as Democrats began to consider imposing consequences.

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s violence — in which not only was Officer Brian D. Sicknick killed, but one Trump supporter was shot and killed by police, and three others died due to medical emergencies — the 147 Republicans who voted to try to keep Trump in power have largely praised law enforcement and, rightly, mourned Sicknick, something Trump himself has not publicly done. And they’ve decried Democratic plans to start a second impeachment of the president as anti-unity; a handful of the Republicans who voted to uphold Biden’s win are telling him the same thing.

[SquirrelMan]

Well, those colleagues should get the hell out of politics if they’re motivated to stay more from rank cowardice than duty to the constitution.

I agree. What else could they be intimidated into doing? Nuking France?

[Tami]

Now it's sinking in: Wednesday's Capitol Hill riot was even more violent than it first appeared

News outlets are publishing more and more videos, photos and testimonials from Wednesday's pro-Trump riot on Capitol Hill. And it's becoming clear that as heinous as the attack looked in real time, on live TV and in our social feeds, it was even worse than we knew then.

It was even more violent. It was even more treacherous. And Trump's behavior was even more disturbing.

On Wednesday we witnessed history through a handful of soda straws, to borrow a metaphor from the 2003 Iraq invasion. Journalists bravely covered the riot in real time and deserve enormous credit for doing so. But in the fog of chaos, it was impossible to see the full picture as it was happening. The public didn't find out that a US Capitol Police officer was gravely wounded until Thursday, for example. Officer Brian D. Sicknick died Thursday night, and federal prosecutors have now opened a homicide investigation.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Republicans Are Calling For “Unity” After They Voted To Try To Overturn The Election Following The Deadly Capitol Attack

**** that **** on steroids! Republicans tried to have the election overturned, Republicans incited that horde of thugs to storm the Capitol. The only “unity” I want to see are all those bastards collectively thrown out of Congress for betraying their oath to the Constitution, if not arrested and charged with sedition.

[Mister Mets]

Hawley. Cruz. Brooks. Biggs. Gosar.

My prediction is that as details come out to the extent they supported the coup (and in Cruz and Hawley's case, it was to f***ing fundraise for a 2024 campaign, the other three seem to be "true believers" in white supremacy), what I'm thinking is the 140-odd people who voted to not certify the vote results start seeing which way the winds are blowing and start trying to bail out. Because supporting a failed coup past its expiration date openly doesn't seem wise politically. Forcing the resignation or making pariahs out of the worst actors and pretending you didn't know what was going to happen...

Someone's gotta take the fall. I don't think all 140 want to ride this thing all the way down to the bottom of the canyon. Maybe some more are "true believers", your Louie Gohmerts, Lauren Boeberts, Marjorie Taylor Greenes, Madison Cawthorns and the like... but we're at the phase of the GOP death cult where the Kool-Aid is being served. And some folks ain't gonna sip.

The article suggested that if it was an inside job it was more likely to be law enforcement.

There are a lot of people with working knowledge of the capitol layout, including current and former staff.

Arizona county's Republican committee votes to censure Cindy McCain

They can censure the widow of a longtime Republican senator but they do not have the courage to impeach the POTUS?

That's a county party, a group of local political hacks.

[JackDaw]

**** that **** on steroids! Republicans tried to have the election overturned, Republicans incited that horde of thugs to storm the Capitol. The only “unity” I want to see are all those bastards collectively thrown out of Congress for betraying their oath to the Constitution, if not arrested and charged with sedition.

What does “unity” mean specifically in this case?

As a long term union member, I always regarded the only way you can demonstrate real unity is by accepting the results of a democratic vote, and afterwards working towards the common agreed end. i.e. If the union calls a strike vote, if you vote not to strike, but the vote goes the other way...you still support the democratic decision, you still “down tools” as soon as the strike starts.

What Republican politicians have shown “unity” by that standard? Precious few...it was obvious for months which way the vote went, but the vast majority have until very recently just stood aside while Trump made unsubstantiated challenge after challenge after challenge.

I hope the Democrats reverse the unity challenge: say to the Republicans “show unity by helping us to hold those people who did not respect the vote accountable for their actions”.

[Amadeus Arkham]

Dems grapple with impeachment realities in race to punish Trump

[Tami]

White House Forced Georgia U.S. Attorney to Resign

White House officials pushed Atlanta’s top federal prosecutor to resign before Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoffs because President Trump was upset he wasn’t doing enough to investigate the president’s unproven claims of election fraud, people familiar with the matter said.

A senior Justice Department official, at the behest of the White House, called the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak late on the night of Jan. 3. In that call the official said Mr. Trump was furious there was no investigation related to election fraud and that the president wanted to fire Mr. Pak, the people said.

Mr. Pak resigned abruptly on Monday—the day before the runoffs—saying in an early morning email to colleagues that his departure was due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Mr. Pak, who had a job lined up in the private sector, planned to leave by the end of the administration and had drafted a resignation letter, people familiar with his plans said.

Mr. Pak on Jan. 3 considered leaving early after the public release of a call from the day before between Mr. Trump and Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger in which the president pushed the official to overturn the November election results, one person said. When Mr. Pak communicated that on the Sunday call, the White House indicated he should leave immediately, the person said.

Mr. Trump then called the prosecutor he wanted to replace Mr. Pak, Savannah’s U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine, and told him he was putting him in the job, the person said. In doing so, Mr. Trump bypassed the traditional process in which the office’s No. 2 official would fill the vacancy, as well as longstanding protocol that discourages a president from directly contacting Justice Department officials.

[Tami]

Arizona GOP Group Licks Its Wounds by Censuring Cindy McCain

Republican Party leaders in Maricopa County, Arizona, voted Saturday to censure Cindy McCain for endorsing Joe Biden, who went on to win the state, the Arizona Republic reported. The statewide Republican committee will vote on a similar resolution later this month—six years after it censured her husband, the late Sen. John McCain, for supposedly being too liberal. Cindy McCain responded to news of the censure—which is purely symbolic—with a tweet that suggested she couldn’t care less. “I am a proud lifelong Republican and will continue to support candidates who put country over party and stand for the rule of law,” she wrote.

[worstblogever]

Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.)—the Republican who won the seat previously held by Justin Amash—tells Reason some House Republicans who voted to reject the election results knew they were lying about the election but worried about the safety of their families.

MEIJER: “My colleague told me that efforts to overturn the election were wrong, and that voting to certify was a constitutional duty. But my colleague feared for family members, and the danger the vote would put them in. ...my colleague voted to overturn.”

Amash's Successor Peter Meijer: Trump's Deceptions Are 'Rankly Unfit'

Cowards. Every goddamn one of them.

Rep. Meijer: I experienced the heinous assault on Capitol; now, time to face reality

The article suggested that if it was an inside job it was more likely to be law enforcement..

I never quoted an article about who's taking the fall, so I have no idea what you're looking to gaslight us on to provide cover for your craven party right now.

I'm not sure OANN or Newsmax cares since they're fully in bed with Trump, but perhaps Faux News is having second thoughts about their association with the Donald after 1/6. They knew Trump crossed the line with his having instigated a near insurrection and fear the prospect of a Joe Biden led Justice Department coming down on them if they give him an audience to continue spewing his bullshit whining.

Fox News as a whole is still embarrassing themselves. From Chris Wallace putting his foot in his mouth with the idea that "his supporters will get REALLY angry" if you try to impeach him over this... angry enough to what, Wallace, try to start a violent coup?

And that's their supposed "real journalist". The white power 3 hour programming block has Ingraham trying to make a martyr out of Babbitt, Tucker Carlson wondering how this might impact all the suffering rich white people involved, and Hannity is likely texting Donald and Rudy and trying to figure out how to help them spin out of this the same way he has for five years. Fox News fears losing their audience too much to make a sane decision.

[Tami]

Iowa man seen chasing cop in Capitol riot video arrested

A 41-year-old Iowa man was arrested Saturday on charges he was part of Trump-supporting mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol building Wednesday.

Doug Jensen of Des Moines appears to be the man who was at the front of a crowd that entered the Capitol and chased a black police officer up a flight of stairs in several videos of the riot, including one posted by HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic.

Jensen was wearing a black Q-Anon T-shirt and black cap as he pursued the officer up the stairs and into a foyer, where other officers joined in confronting the intruders. His face appeared in a photo array released by the FBI on Thursday.

In a now-deleted TikTok video, posted Thursday under the username @dougjensen, a man who appears to be Jensen suggested he was being made a “poster boy” for what happened and ends by saying, “Don’t believe the news,” The Associated Press reported.

[worstblogever]

Iowa man seen chasing cop in Capitol riot video arrested

The guy's defense for attacking the Capitol Police is effectively, "Don't believe your lying eyes."

[Mister Mets]

I never quoted an article about who's taking the fall, so I have no idea what you're looking to gaslight us on to provide cover for your craven party right now.



Fox News as a whole is still embarrassing themselves. From Chris Wallace embarrassing himself to with the idea that "his supporters will get REALLY angry" if you try to impeach him over this... angry enough to what, Wallace, try to start a violent coup?

And that's their supposed "real journalist". The white power 3 hour programming block has Ingraham trying to make a martyr out of Babbitt, Tucker Carlson wondering how this might impact all the suffering rich white people involved, and Hannity is likely texting Donald and Rudy and trying to figure out how to help them spin out of this the same way he has for five years. Fox News fears losing their audience too much to make a sane decision.

I think there's a misunderstanding when you're accusing me of gaslighting.

You were responding to this post.

Jim Clyburn, Pramilla Jayapal, and other House members have said that they think it was an inside job.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-c...was-complicit/



They point out that rioters knew how to navigate the Capitol houses when actual Capitol officers find it hard to navigate the place, they knew to target Clyburn's actual office out of the way (and steal his iPad) as opposed to the ceremonial office which is more accessible.

And Jim Clyburn was the Representative who criticized the progressive wing of the party for the slogan of "defund the police", so he's not someone who jumps at conspiratorial stuff or thinks the worst of law enforcement by default.

Pramila Jayapal says more here:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...ide-job-456725

You quoted the portion "Jim Clyburn, Pramilla Jayapal, and other House members have said that they think it was an inside job" when you wrote the following.

Hawley. Cruz. Brooks. Biggs. Gosar.

My prediction is that as details come out to the extent they supported the coup (and in Cruz and Hawley's case, it was to f***ing fundraise for a 2024 campaign, the other three seem to be "true believers" in white supremacy), what I'm thinking is the 140-odd people who voted to not certify the vote results start seeing which way the winds are blowing and start trying to bail out. Because supporting a failed coup past its expiration date openly doesn't seem wise politically. Forcing the resignation or making pariahs out of the worst actors and pretending you didn't know what was going to happen...

Someone's gotta take the fall. I don't think all 140 want to ride this thing all the way down to the bottom of the canyon. Maybe some more are "true believers", your Louie Gohmerts, Lauren Boeberts, Marjorie Taylor Greenes, Madison Cawthorns and the like... but we're at the phase of the GOP death cult where the Kool-Aid is being served. And some folks ain't gonna sip.

Perhaps you misread what he wrote, or meant to quote a different post, but the suggestion is that you think members of Congress were helping the idiots navigate through Congress.

The article was about suspicions that members of capitol law enforcement were involved.

If someone was providing insider information, it would also be possible for it to be current or former congressional staffers who outnumber members of Congress.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

How awful as humans do you have to be to censure a widow who didn't support your candidate. Good for the McCain's. I hope this splits party of Trump and if rumors of some moderate Republicans switching sides happen ...good.

[worstblogever]

I think there's a misunderstanding when you're accusing me of gaslighting.

There isn't a misunderstanding. I fully believe you are disingenuously providing cover for Republican Congress members or their staff by blaming it solely on the Capitol Police.

Because even after these fanatics you keep defending fail at a violent coup... you'd apparently rather find a patsy than accept there's been a problem with your party's extremism for the past several years.

People died. More people, our elected House and Senate members, could have been lynched by people who literally were making nooses out of news cables when they were fended off. And yet...

You're deflecting. And the Arizona GOP took time out to censure Cindy McCain for having the nerve to stand up to Trump for attacking her deceased husband.

Like... there's "have you no decency" doesn't even cover what we're seeing right now.

Calls for "unity" that are on the condition that no one is punished for attempting a coup.

To hell with that.