No we did not. That is a ridiculous comment. So dishonest and hyperbolic you should be embarrassed for using it. None of the protestors had weapons. They did not kill anyone. A few of them hurt police officers and they should pay for the crime. The only person killed was a protestor... murdered by a Dem capitol police officer. The Democrats and the media made it into a spectacle it was not. You are reading and watching cherry-picked footage and a Hollywood script. 98% of the protestors that entered the capitol were calling for peace.
Did you know that Ashley Babbitt, before she was shot and killed, was fighting with one of the hothead protestors telling him to stop being violent?
In March of 1971, a bomb went off inside the U.S. Capitol Building. There was never any question about who did it, a Marxist group called the Weather Underground immediately took responsibility for it even before the explosions. That story got buried.
But then after Jan-6:
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That day will be another day that lives in infamy in American History similar to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We can now add January 6, 2021 to that very short list of dates in American History that will live forever in infamy.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: A hundred and fifty days since the worst single act of political violence since the Civil War.
CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST: The worst attack on American democracy arguably probably since the Civil War.
SCHUMER: The greatest attempted insurrection since the Civil War.
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, NBC NEWS PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Think of the 6th of January, if those terrorists who committed that attack on our Capitol had been a little bit faster, they could have and probably would have executed the Vice President, executed the Speaker of the House, executed other Members and leaders of Congress.
The Biden Administration is withholding all the video footage from the Capitol Police and other cameras. Why? Clearly it would tell another story than the one you are sucking on.
Here is a transcript of the protestors in the legislative chambers:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey [bleep] man. Glad to see you guys. You guys are patriots. Look at this guy, he is covered in blood. God bless you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You good, sir? Do you need medical attention?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm good, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got shot in the face. I got shot in the face with some kind of plastic bullet.
CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: Any chance I could get you guys to leave the Senate wing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will. I've been making sure they ain't disrespecting the place.
CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: Okay, I just want to let you guys know this is like the sacredest place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.
Yeah... an insurrection. Your media feeds are incomplete, lying, distorted and wrong. And you are the same.
It wasn't a spectacle I liked or was proud of. But it was not a blood bath. It was not an insurrection (the dishonest FBI even agreed). It was not an attempt to take over the government. It was not sedition. It was a protest that got out of control because the Democrats (suspiciously) failed to provide enough crowd control.
And after seeing all the $2 billion in property damage and hundreds of injured and killed people from the leftist riots, Jan-6 is really quite a steaming pile of nothing burger.
I feel like a broken record here, but -- to quote Whitesnake -- "Here I go again on my own..."
We NEED to create a viable political party that does not have the words "Democrat" or "Republican" in its name. Yes, the deck is stacked. No, a 3rd party will not win many elections (at first). but, it will be a stake in the ground that we are not ready to give up on this great nation. We are done with the GOP forever -- the brand is eternally tarnished. We cannot go whole hog with the D party -- not because of policy, but because of their perennial inability to come to consensus around effective tactics and strategy. Plus I (and most centrists) are just bone-tired of being lectured and admonished by the far left wing of the party, and I don't want to have to argue those positions to my (hopefully) gettable moderate conservatives.
In practice, for the next few years this party will have to caucus with the Dems, and in national elections, bow out + endorse Dems unless/until we can plausibly project a win by staying in the race. When we spoil, we need to spoil the R's until they are a rump party of rural bigots, not taken seriously by anyone.
This is not fantasy. Things like this happen because people get together and do what needs to be done. Let's fucking start. Please.
I think Susan Collins is or has gotten death threats against her or her family. We know that Trump advocates are not afraid of any legal action and routinely threaten anyone who stands against Trump.
The "bullshit shotgun" strategy was indeed quite effective but ultimately not completely successful. The trigger men have had time to consider the effects and analyze the need for a weapons upgrade. Next time around, instead of a sawed-off double barrel with quite a spread but low rate of fire, expect a semi-automatic Street Sweeper model with 50-round drum magazines and interchangeable chokes to better lay patterns on targets at different ranges. If we don't gird for that now, the resultant stench just may prove to be too powerful to overcome.
I've been popping in on the PoliticusUSA website for a year now. They're left of center Dem, sometimes too much so. But they seem to have sources that put them ahead of other sites. They're now reporting some Reps seem to be waking up - Gov Hogan from Maryland, Morning Joe now calling out Trump's fascism, and others. No comments section, but the writers do respond to emails and make corrections. Worth a peek anyway. (If the supporting thing pops up, keep hitting the continue without supporting button to get in.) TAC has its head buried in the sand, completely ignoring everything outside of wokeness and love of Orban/Putin and complaining about masks. God knows what's going on with Rod Dreher, other than trying to sell his book.
Can't help but wonder how much those who are desperate to remain "in the room" are also desperate to remain alive? The locked and loaded threats coming from inside the House are the tip of the iceberg. We've all heard the deranged voicemail left for those that do speak out, and since it's only a lone voice here and there and never the critical mass it needs to be, the danger is real. It's not good, none of it's good.
I mean....this part about Laura Ingraham just wraps the argument up nicely in a bow. The GOP is the Sedition Party. They are the Pretend O Party. Pretend that democracy does not have a knife to her throat.
NEWS FLASH (AP) The Right Honorable [sic] Senator Susan Margaret Collins (R, Maine) just announced through her Bangor office that Democracy should rest assured the Senator will probably stand equivocally behind tradition that mob rule is perhaps not a fitting method of governing. Moreover, her press secretary declared, "The Senator will continue to assess as always reaction in Maine District 2 [aka Northern Trumpistan] to her possible support for rule by law. And as Maine residents well know, the Senator now and then puts the good of citizens and governance before her own political ambitions." Senator Collins was not present for questioning because she is now hiding under a rock up in Piscataquis County.
Anyone that thinks the GoP is going to save us (from what, the GoP?) is seriously off their meds. They are determined to openly demonstrate repeatedly that they will do little or nothing that will provoke the ire of TFG and his "stormtroopers in all but name."
At some point they will drop the pretense--probably in 2024.
The e-mail from Wood that Charlie quotes pretty much nails what is going to happen in the GoP controlled states. A blizzard of BS, followed by appointing a slate of GoP electors.
The GoP is completing its transformation into the PoT... but there is a large number of people (voters) who will sit around with their fingers in their ears, humming a tune and ignoring it. Nothing to see here.
Charlie, I get that you disagree with Elias on a number of things. You're not wrong. But he's the reason Trump went 1-60 (or whatever the actual number was) in court. It's a BFD. It certainly doesn't give him a free pass. I find it ridiculous that he's picking on Cheney and Kinsinger as well. We all need to be strange bedfellows until we make sure Trump is gone for good, and then we can go back to our corners and argue about policy. But, on that same note, if 2022/2024 are going to be as bad as we think, we need him.
The establishment GOP will not save us. The new GOP can. The new GOP will be the party of the common sense and pragmatic producer... the people of the working class and small business economy. It needs to crush the billionaire boys club that owns and control the corporate media and shrink the size of government that colludes with the billionaire boys club for more Chinese Yen. But to make that happen we have to purge the Collins and Romneys from the party.
Charlie, your headline premise is wrong: There is no GOP. You yourself gave us Exhibit A ... Susan Collins to prove your point. The GOP, with a clear reverence for Bull...., has become the POT.
"All evil needs to triumph is good men desperate to remain "relevant", "in the room", and "a part of the conversation". I want this spread far and wide. The flip side is "but no one's talking/doing anything about MY issue so I'm just not going to bother to vote" which is just as dangerous.
"We came minutes away from a real blood bath"
No we did not. That is a ridiculous comment. So dishonest and hyperbolic you should be embarrassed for using it. None of the protestors had weapons. They did not kill anyone. A few of them hurt police officers and they should pay for the crime. The only person killed was a protestor... murdered by a Dem capitol police officer. The Democrats and the media made it into a spectacle it was not. You are reading and watching cherry-picked footage and a Hollywood script. 98% of the protestors that entered the capitol were calling for peace.
Did you know that Ashley Babbitt, before she was shot and killed, was fighting with one of the hothead protestors telling him to stop being violent?
In March of 1971, a bomb went off inside the U.S. Capitol Building. There was never any question about who did it, a Marxist group called the Weather Underground immediately took responsibility for it even before the explosions. That story got buried.
But then after Jan-6:
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That day will be another day that lives in infamy in American History similar to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We can now add January 6, 2021 to that very short list of dates in American History that will live forever in infamy.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: A hundred and fifty days since the worst single act of political violence since the Civil War.
CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST: The worst attack on American democracy arguably probably since the Civil War.
SCHUMER: The greatest attempted insurrection since the Civil War.
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, NBC NEWS PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Think of the 6th of January, if those terrorists who committed that attack on our Capitol had been a little bit faster, they could have and probably would have executed the Vice President, executed the Speaker of the House, executed other Members and leaders of Congress.
The Biden Administration is withholding all the video footage from the Capitol Police and other cameras. Why? Clearly it would tell another story than the one you are sucking on.
Here is a transcript of the protestors in the legislative chambers:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey [bleep] man. Glad to see you guys. You guys are patriots. Look at this guy, he is covered in blood. God bless you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You good, sir? Do you need medical attention?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm good, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got shot in the face. I got shot in the face with some kind of plastic bullet.
CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: Any chance I could get you guys to leave the Senate wing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will. I've been making sure they ain't disrespecting the place.
CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: Okay, I just want to let you guys know this is like the sacredest place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.
Yeah... an insurrection. Your media feeds are incomplete, lying, distorted and wrong. And you are the same.
It wasn't a spectacle I liked or was proud of. But it was not a blood bath. It was not an insurrection (the dishonest FBI even agreed). It was not an attempt to take over the government. It was not sedition. It was a protest that got out of control because the Democrats (suspiciously) failed to provide enough crowd control.
And after seeing all the $2 billion in property damage and hundreds of injured and killed people from the leftist riots, Jan-6 is really quite a steaming pile of nothing burger.
I feel like a broken record here, but -- to quote Whitesnake -- "Here I go again on my own..."
We NEED to create a viable political party that does not have the words "Democrat" or "Republican" in its name. Yes, the deck is stacked. No, a 3rd party will not win many elections (at first). but, it will be a stake in the ground that we are not ready to give up on this great nation. We are done with the GOP forever -- the brand is eternally tarnished. We cannot go whole hog with the D party -- not because of policy, but because of their perennial inability to come to consensus around effective tactics and strategy. Plus I (and most centrists) are just bone-tired of being lectured and admonished by the far left wing of the party, and I don't want to have to argue those positions to my (hopefully) gettable moderate conservatives.
In practice, for the next few years this party will have to caucus with the Dems, and in national elections, bow out + endorse Dems unless/until we can plausibly project a win by staying in the race. When we spoil, we need to spoil the R's until they are a rump party of rural bigots, not taken seriously by anyone.
This is not fantasy. Things like this happen because people get together and do what needs to be done. Let's fucking start. Please.
Thanks to Michael Wood for that very clear-eyed assessment, and to Charlie for printing it.
I think Susan Collins is or has gotten death threats against her or her family. We know that Trump advocates are not afraid of any legal action and routinely threaten anyone who stands against Trump.
I'm working on the hope it will. Too many people don't vote.
The "bullshit shotgun" strategy was indeed quite effective but ultimately not completely successful. The trigger men have had time to consider the effects and analyze the need for a weapons upgrade. Next time around, instead of a sawed-off double barrel with quite a spread but low rate of fire, expect a semi-automatic Street Sweeper model with 50-round drum magazines and interchangeable chokes to better lay patterns on targets at different ranges. If we don't gird for that now, the resultant stench just may prove to be too powerful to overcome.
I've been popping in on the PoliticusUSA website for a year now. They're left of center Dem, sometimes too much so. But they seem to have sources that put them ahead of other sites. They're now reporting some Reps seem to be waking up - Gov Hogan from Maryland, Morning Joe now calling out Trump's fascism, and others. No comments section, but the writers do respond to emails and make corrections. Worth a peek anyway. (If the supporting thing pops up, keep hitting the continue without supporting button to get in.) TAC has its head buried in the sand, completely ignoring everything outside of wokeness and love of Orban/Putin and complaining about masks. God knows what's going on with Rod Dreher, other than trying to sell his book.
Can't help but wonder how much those who are desperate to remain "in the room" are also desperate to remain alive? The locked and loaded threats coming from inside the House are the tip of the iceberg. We've all heard the deranged voicemail left for those that do speak out, and since it's only a lone voice here and there and never the critical mass it needs to be, the danger is real. It's not good, none of it's good.
I mean....this part about Laura Ingraham just wraps the argument up nicely in a bow. The GOP is the Sedition Party. They are the Pretend O Party. Pretend that democracy does not have a knife to her throat.
NEWS FLASH (AP) The Right Honorable [sic] Senator Susan Margaret Collins (R, Maine) just announced through her Bangor office that Democracy should rest assured the Senator will probably stand equivocally behind tradition that mob rule is perhaps not a fitting method of governing. Moreover, her press secretary declared, "The Senator will continue to assess as always reaction in Maine District 2 [aka Northern Trumpistan] to her possible support for rule by law. And as Maine residents well know, the Senator now and then puts the good of citizens and governance before her own political ambitions." Senator Collins was not present for questioning because she is now hiding under a rock up in Piscataquis County.
- A Maine Native
Anyone that thinks the GoP is going to save us (from what, the GoP?) is seriously off their meds. They are determined to openly demonstrate repeatedly that they will do little or nothing that will provoke the ire of TFG and his "stormtroopers in all but name."
At some point they will drop the pretense--probably in 2024.
The e-mail from Wood that Charlie quotes pretty much nails what is going to happen in the GoP controlled states. A blizzard of BS, followed by appointing a slate of GoP electors.
The GoP is completing its transformation into the PoT... but there is a large number of people (voters) who will sit around with their fingers in their ears, humming a tune and ignoring it. Nothing to see here.
Charlie, I get that you disagree with Elias on a number of things. You're not wrong. But he's the reason Trump went 1-60 (or whatever the actual number was) in court. It's a BFD. It certainly doesn't give him a free pass. I find it ridiculous that he's picking on Cheney and Kinsinger as well. We all need to be strange bedfellows until we make sure Trump is gone for good, and then we can go back to our corners and argue about policy. But, on that same note, if 2022/2024 are going to be as bad as we think, we need him.
The establishment GOP will not save us. The new GOP can. The new GOP will be the party of the common sense and pragmatic producer... the people of the working class and small business economy. It needs to crush the billionaire boys club that owns and control the corporate media and shrink the size of government that colludes with the billionaire boys club for more Chinese Yen. But to make that happen we have to purge the Collins and Romneys from the party.
Charlie, your headline premise is wrong: There is no GOP. You yourself gave us Exhibit A ... Susan Collins to prove your point. The GOP, with a clear reverence for Bull...., has become the POT.
"All evil needs to triumph is good men desperate to remain "relevant", "in the room", and "a part of the conversation". I want this spread far and wide. The flip side is "but no one's talking/doing anything about MY issue so I'm just not going to bother to vote" which is just as dangerous.
The moment to truly fear is when Trump no longer needs the GOP. If he gets re-elected...that moment won't be far away.