Yesterday, I watched the second hearing – not live, but the Committee’s offical video on YouTube, here. In case you missed it, it was mostly proof of zero election fraud, but at the end it covered the corrupt fundraising Trump** did on the strength of those election lies and hw many small grass-roots donors were cheated. (Ironically, the answer to the day’s Wordle was “DONOR.”) I have still not been surprised at any revelations, just glad that the chain of evidence is so strong.
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The Daily Beast – Steve Bannon Digs Into Roger Clemens’ Playbook to Try to Beat Congress
Quote – In both cases, they asked for legally “privileged” congressional records that wouldn’t be released. In Rainey’s case in 2015, when no politician or staffer would waive their right to those privileges, the federal judge thought it appropriate to exclude any evidence of “obstruction of Congress” and dropped that charge. With half the criminal case gone, a New Orleans jury acquitted him of the only remaining charge a few days later. Click through for story. I won’t go into what this smells of. I think the prosecutor and he judge can shut it own – but who knows whether they will.
She’s Baaack! Sarah Palin To Face Off Against Santa Claus For Congress
Quote – Before changing his name from Thomas Patrick O’Connor in 2005, Claus spent time in several US cities. … [H]e often played Santa Claus during holiday events and became an advocate for at-risk children…. On a walk on a snowy road in 2005, he had prayed about how he could use his Santa Claus-like appearance to help children. As he finished, he recalled, a white car drove by, and someone inside shouted: “Santa, I love you!” “So,” he said, “I took it to heart.” Click through for details. In Alaska, name recognition might just carry Mr. Calus to the runoff. Good luck to him.
Yesterday, I was surprised by how many of my regular newsletters were not in my inbox. Even for a Sunday, this was striking. Perhaps the internet in general (at leas the sane part) is in the same headspace I am. I want to cover the hearings certainly, but I don’t want the blog to turn into a January 6 blog. There are too many other things happening which are also important – and not being seen. Both this thread and the Videu Thread will be a little short today I will find a way to watch today’s full hearing, probably after the fact, and will post links tomorrow. I”ll continue to do that for wach hearing. And if the posts continue to be short until the hearings are finished it will be what it is.
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The Hill – March For Our Lives co-founder: Senate gun reform package should be beginning of Congress’s work
Quote – The senators’ framework includes funding for school safety resources, expanded background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21 and incentives for states to implement “red flag’ laws. The proposed legislation comes in response to the recent string of mass shootings in the U.S, which prompted more debate on gun control in the country. Click throug for story. The March for Our Lives event was Saturday, and it took place in 450 cities all over the country. I want to help prevent it from being overlooked.
The Conversation – Ice world: Antarctica’s riskiest glacier is under assault from below and losing its grip
Quote – Antarctica is a continent comprising several large islands, one of them the size of Australia, all buried under a 10,000-foot-thick layer of ice. The ice holds enough fresh water to raise sea level by nearly 200 feet. Its glaciers have always been in motion, but beneath the ice, changes are taking place that are having profound effects on the future of the ice sheet – and on the future of coastal communities around the world. Click through to read just how bad it is, with photos and maps.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
I don’t suppose the headline of this article is a surprise to anyone – nor that it is the first time the thesis has crossed your mind. (And there are a lot of those groups. Besides the Proud Boys, the article mentions Oath Keepers, The Base, the Aryan Brotherhood, the KKK, and Hutaree. In addition to those, there’s the Three Percenters, Opus Dei, whatever the cult is that Amy Coney Barrett wwas a “handmaiden” in – and more others than I could possibly remember (unless maybe I set them to music, as Tom Lehrer did with the chemical elements.) The thing they have in common is that all are bad news – and, of course, all are white.
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Regardless of seditious conspiracy charges’ outcome, right-wing groups like Proud Boys seek to build a white nation
Members of the Oath Keepers stand at the east front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Those charges can be difficult to prove in court. But regardless of the outcome of any prosecution that alleges these groups worked to overthrow the government, ourresearch has shown that the more committed members of these and other extreme right-wing groups believe that the U.S. government, as currently constituted, is illegitimate and should be overthrown and replaced with one that is based on white supremacy.
Like any street gang, the Proud Boys as a national group is made up of semi-autonomous chapters of varying numbers and abilities. They are in different degrees of contact and coordination with other chapters. It’s not clear the level of interest – or capability – that most members have in actually following through with overthrowing the government.
Oath Keepers is an anti-government group that calls itself a “militia” focused on defending the Constitution and fighting tyranny. Former Oath Keepers spokesman Jason Van Tatenhove stated that the group is actually “selling the revolution,” meaning that the group is pushing conspiracy theories and propaganda to facilitate confrontations with federal law enforcement.
While members of the Proud Boys have concentrated their confrontations on anti-fascists or other protesters, Oath Keepers have participated in several armed standoffs against the government.
But prosecuting far-right groups has tended to be much more difficult. In 1988, Louis Beam, a figurehead in the white power movement, and 13 white supremacists from groups such as the Aryan Brotherhood and the Ku Klux Klan were acquitted of conspiring to kill a federal judge and an FBI agent and plotting to overthrow the federal government to establish an all-white nation in the Pacific Northwest.
In 2012, charges of seditious conspiracy against members of Hutaree, a militant far-right Christian nationalist group, were dismissed after the judge concluded the government had not proved there was an actual conspiracy.
============================================================== Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, members of these groups think they are in the right. Yet, on some level, they must know they aren’t – they know they need to hide from law enforcement certainly. I would speak in favor of departation – except that – who would have them? Even Russia, Belarus, Hungary, the Phillippines (not that they’s want t go there) – I can’t imagine anyone wanting them. We certainly don’t. We need solutions – and we need them faster than we may realize.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “The Rake’s Progress” – probably the only opera ever based (loosely) on a set of paintings (later published as engraved prints) designed to tell a cautionary tale. The music is by Stravinsky composed during his Neo-classical period, so it’s singable, and not much like The Rite Of Spring (not that I don’t like The rite of Spring.) This was the last opera to be broadcast by the Met – but from here on out until the Met picks up again in the fall, WFMT will take over and play an opera every Saturday, chosen from different opera copanies all over the world. I have not yet looked at their playlist, but have heard enough in past years to know it will be well worth listiening to. (It was through this program that I was able to hear “Scalia/Ginsburg” – though I think it was composed when both were still alive. Ironically, it take place in the afterlife, explaining to the recording angel [or someone like that] how on earth such different people could get along so well IRL. But I digress.) The paintings and prints are all public domain and can be seen on Wikipedia.
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Rolling Stone (in cooperation with POGO) – Inside the Capitol Cops’ Jan. 6 Blame Game
Quote – New documents describe critical errors in the Capitol Police’s handling of intelligence prior to the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, revealing missed warning signs that — despite the undeniable heroism of many of its officers — contributed to the agency’s failed defense of the Capitol. The documents, which were obtained by the Project on Government Oversight, add to a body of reporting by the government and the press surrounding failures by the Capitol Police intelligence division and its key leaders to clearly, consistently, and widely communicate the severity of raw intelligence threats to the Capitol and lawmakers — a failure that on Jan. 6 left Congress under-defended and rank-and-file officers unprepared. Click through for details. I’m not sure it shuld be called an “intelligence failure” when someone somewhere deliberately suppressed some or all of the intelligence – and the reprisals reported certainy suggest that that happened. It’sa shame tha honest, patriotic officers such as Edwards, Sicknick, Goodman, and others had to suffer for it.
Click through for more reaction. Many people, including me, have wondered whether the hearings would change the mind of even just one person. The tweet I quote is for us.
Law and Crime – Manhattan Judge Dismisses NRA’s Countersuit Against State AG: Gun Group’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Claim ‘Is Simply Not Supported by the Record’
Quote – A Manhattan judge has dismissed the National Rifle Association’s countersuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), rejecting the gun group’s accusation that it’s the victim of a political “witch hunt.” In February, the attorney general’s office warned that advancing the NRA’s counterattack would give regulatory targets a new tool to “harry prosecutors.” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen considered the competing arguments for months before ruling in the AG’s favor, but the blistering 14-page opinion suggests that it wasn’t a close call. Click through for parts of the “blistering opinion.” Tthis story was really the only interesting thing I could find which was not about the insurrection or the hearings.
Food For Thought
Eat yout hearts out, Don Caron and Rocky Mountain Mike:
Yesterday, I got my ballot into the mailbox before the mail delivery happened – So I could hear it’s been received as soon as Monday. After that, it’s not longe before I hear that it has been validated and will be counted. And that’s about it. I did a little knitting – I’m working on a shawl. Many people feel that shawls are easier and faster than sweaters because no sleeves, no openings no fitting. And I suppose they don’t actually take any more time than a sweater. But it seems longer, because it’s boring AF. Even with some increases – ans this pattern has some – by the time you get past the first skein, there is so much straight knitting berween them, that if ells like there’s no fitting. I need extra knitting markers not to skip them by just forgetting. But it will get done – and there’s really no hurry.
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The 19th -Many low-income people are already shut out of IVF. Could abortion bans make it even more expensive?
Quote – Almost 20 years ago, Italy tested what it would look like if embryos were given the same rights as a living person. The country put stringent limits on in vitro fertilization treatments (IVF), banning embryo preservation, limiting the number of embryos created a time to three and mandating that they all be transferred to the uterus. In the years the law was in place, before it was ultimately repealed in full, more IVF treatments failed, more pregnancies resulted in no live births or more multiple births, and IVF became more difficult to access — and more expensive. Italian patients who could afford it traveled to other countries across Europe to receive treatment. Success rates at IVF clinics dropped, high-risk pregnancies increased and doctors had to risk transferring embryos that could lead to medical complications for the pregnant person. Single parents and many LGBTQ+ parents couldn’t access IVF at all because surrogacy and sperm donation were also banned. Click through. Anti-abortion people talk as if it’s a simple problem – sluts don’t want to be bothered with children. But the woman who desperately wants a child but has an ectopc pregnancy instead and will die without help – and he woman who desperately wants a child and cannot conceive without help – these are not just forgotten, but trashed – proving again, if proof were needed, that it isn’t about abortion at all, just about control.
Pro Publica – In Exclusive Jailhouse Letter, Capitol Riot Defendant Explains Motives, Remains Boastful
Quote – Reffitt went on to describe how the group might be able to disable a social media company’s servers by using a sniper rifle to disable the generators at a nearby Texas facility. According to court records, he said attacking the servers would “make them feel it back” in Washington, D.C. He added: “Then they won’t know we’re coming next time.” Click through for details. This is what scares me even more than Trump**. This guy is not alone, and he is competent enough to write a coherent letter. This is the guy his son turned in and who threatened to kill his son for doing it.
Thom Hartmann for Common Dreams – These Trump-Led Seditionists Must Be Punished in Court—and at the Ballot Box
Quote – Sedition is a word with which most Americans are not familiar. We haven’t had an American politician or armed group try to commit sedition in the United States since 1861, so it’s not a word that we normally use or see in the media. But sedition is what this is all about. An attempted coup to overthrow our government and replace its duly elected leader, Joe Biden, with Donald Trump. Click through for full opinion. I looked for non-insurrections stories, but there wasn’t much. That’s probably a good ting as it probably means that an impression was made by the Committee.
