Glenn Kirschner – Senate Report Reveals More Trump Election Crimes; What Congress Should Do About Witness in Contempt
Steve Schmidt on Deadline White House – I looked on YouTube and couldn’t find it.
Steve Schmidt perfectly nails Mitch McConnell’s game on #DeadlineWH , “Mitch Mcconnell and the Republicans want to create chaos. And then they will run on turning that chaos into restoring what was not broken before they broke it. It’s extremely, extremely cynical.” pic.twitter.com/TiPVKYm7Wk
Yesterday, JL and Pam and I exchanged some emails with Mitch about his internet issues. His correspondence included “[I} believe that the situation is just that I did NOT do Mac updates for years, and my system is unable to adapt to changes elsewhere.” I can’t really argue with that …
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The 19th – Elizabeth Warren isn’t in the White House. But she knows how to use the tools she’s got.
Quote – It wasn’t big news outside of higher education and financial circles, but their departures could result in roughly 15 million borrowers having their loans transferred to other institutions. The thought is that at better-regulated lenders, borrowers will have a greater chance at paying down debt loads that disproportionately weigh down people of color. But, Warren said, the best solution would still be to cancel $50,000 in federal student debt per borrower. Click through for more. One doesn’t have to be President to accomplish stuff. Thank God.
The New Yorker – Why Republicans Are Still Recounting Votes
Quote – A more subtle mind than Trump’s would see the futility of having a questionable firm undertake an unnecessary recount only to offer findings that are counter to his immediate interests. But the point of the exercise, and of others like it taking place across the country, is not so much to delegitimize the past election as it is to normalize specious reviews of future ones—including, perhaps, a 2024 race in which Trump’s name is on the ballot. We have seen too much of this form of mainstreaming of the absurd in recent years to note every example, but its origins likely lie in Trump’s fixation on Barack Obama’s birth certificate. In that case, once the birther myths were finally dispelled, Trump pivoted to congratulating himself for forcing people to get to the bottom of the issue. In effect, he recast a conspiracy theory as a legitimate inquiry resolved by legitimate means. The danger is the probability that some illegitimate future inquiry will be used to achieve illegitimate ends. The groundwork for this is more advanced than we care to contemplate. Click through for more about why this is so important.
Los Angeles Times – Jan. 6 rioters exploited little-known Capitol weak spots: A handful of unreinforced windows
Quote – Those upgrades were part of a well-publicized, large-scale renovation to the exterior stone and ironwork of the Capitol and surrounding office buildings. But the security improvements were not widely disclosed at the time. Most of the Capitol was covered in scaffolding during the multiyear project, and much of the work took place at night. Funding to reinforce the windows came from a mix of classified and unclassified appropriations, which helped mask the scale and cost of the project. Click through for story. It is possible to argue against it, but I personally feel, given all the other information we have, that this reinforces the idea that they had help from inside and that many inside had prior knowledge. The Times has a paywall, so if you want to be able to access it any time, “printing” it to a PDF or other file might be a good idea.
Food for Thought–
This is from the Wonkette newsletter from yesterday. The newsletter is put together by the CEO’s (Rebecca) husband who goes by “Shypixel”:
My best friend for many years was a quadriplegic man named Shane. One of the reasons we got along so well, according to Shane, was that I would call him on his shit, when nobody else would. Everyone was always so tender to him, even when he was being a raging asshole, because he was in a wheelchair. He hated it, hated the pity behind it. So let’s all honor Shane’s memory by calling Madison Cawthorn a raging asshole, loudly, to his stupid face.
– The Shypixel loves you all and wants you to be happy.
Yesterday, I did my best to rest. I worked a little more on that last cotton project I mentioned … I had to undo some after discovering I was working on the wrong side. But not too much. And it gives me a second chance to get a color change over short rows right. So I’m not complaining.
The Guardian – Facebook whistleblower to claim company contributed to Capitol attack
Quote – A whistleblower at Facebook will say that thousands of pages of internal company research she turned over to federal regulators proves the social media giant is deceptively claiming effectiveness in its efforts to eradicate hate and misinformation and it contributed to the January 6 attack on the Capitol in Washington DC. Click through for story. This wil have been on 60 Minutes last night. She’s not claiming financial contributions, but she is claiming motivatinal contribution.
Yesterday, when I got up, I had internet. Yay! That meant I could have opera. Every Saturday all year round, someone broadcasts a full opera. But it isn’t always my local station, whoch only broadcasts the New Yorkk Metropolitan Opera, roughly November theough May. The rest of the time it is broadcast on WFMT out od Chicago. They mke it available to any station who wants to broadcast it too, but it costs money which my local station doesn’t have. But it can be streamed on WFMT. So I did. Not, of course, before coming here to make sure everyone knew I was all right.
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Mother Jones – Trump Extremists Brought Numerous Guns on January 6, Evidence Shows
Quote – Kellye SoRelle, a lawyer who represents the Oath Keepers organization and is close with Rhodes, told Mother Jones in an interview that an Oath Keeper member transported a cache of firearms by truck from North Carolina to the Comfort Inn Ballston shortly before the assault on the Capitol. The member who transported the weapons then stayed at the hotel to oversee the stockpile, SoRelle said. (That Oath Keeper member has not been charged; although Mother Jones corroborated various details from SoRelle’s account, we were unable to confirm that member’s identity.) SoRelle herself may be a subject of growing scrutiny from federal prosecutors; as Mother Jones was first to report recently, the FBI seized SoRelle’s personal phone on September 7 as part of an ongoing “seditious conspiracy” investigation focused on January 6. Click through for what details there are. It actually sounds like we only know about a fraction of the guns which were there. Film at Video Thread (or at the link.)
The Hill – Where Things Stand With The Democratic Agenda: A Pause, A Reset And Maybe Hope
Quote – Afterward, Biden told reporters he was in no rush to pass his agenda, saying that whether passing both bills takes “six minutes, six days or six weeks ― we’re going to get it done.” In a sense, this week’s drama represents a triumph for progressives and party leaders over centrists. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the Democrat who has been most vocal in opposition to the Build Back Better bill, still has a lot of leverage ― but not as much as he did before. Click through for the story and analysis. The Hill is about as liberal as Joe Scarborough … but even The Hill is talking about “hope” like it’s the good thing that it is.
Wonkette – David Brooks Actually Right About Thing, Wants To Build Back Better Too
Quote – David Brooks is actually right this time. Sort of. He’s about the most right David Brooks is capable of being. Brooks published a column yesterday about the Build Back Better reconciliation bill titled “This Is Why We Need to Spend $4 Trillion.” It seems fair to say that if David Brooks, a man who cannot figure out how to politely say “It’s ham” to a friend bewildered by sub shop options, can figure out that this bill is actually necessary, anyone ought to be able to. Click through for the rest of the take. This is by Robyn Pennachia
Yesterday, I put everything physically in place to go quickly in the morning. I’m not expecting to need to take off my sweater then I leave. After tomorrow, it’s supposed to warm up some here, but not, for the next week, to ever break 80°F.
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The Hill – Jan. 6 panel subpoenas 11, including Pierson, other rally organizers
Quote – Each of the 11 individuals is identified by the committee as having been involved with the Women for America First-sponsored rally where Trump spoke on Jan. 6. “You assisted in organizing the rally held on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, in support of then-President Trump and his allegation of election fraud. President Trump spoke at the January 6th rally shortly before the attack on the Capitol, urging the crowd to ‘fight much harder’ and to ‘stop the steal,’” the committee wrote in letters to each. Click through for names. Note that the Congressinal select committee, while it has powers, does not have judicial powers. It can’t indict, or try, or convict, or sentence. The best it can do is to refer its findings to those who can do those other things.
Wonkette – Huzzay! We Shan’t Have A Government Shutdown Tonight! Probably!
Quote – This is where we reassure you that for years now, Congress has passed continuing resolutions to keep the government funded at current levels, often on the day a shutdown would otherwise kick in, and the only times there’s been an actual shutdown have been when the threat to force a shutdown was telegraphed well in advance. Then again, this is 2021, so we can’t completely rule out the possibility that once the CR is passed by the Senate, the entire House side of the US Capitol may be spirited away by Tralfamadorians in flying saucers, leaving President Joe Biden without a bill to sign. But that seems at least only a 30 percent possibility at the moment. Click through for story. Every publication has its own house style (some more distinctive than others), and also individual writers’ treatments of the house style. This article is by Doktor Zoom. By the time you see this, you will know whether or not a CR has been passed.
Yesterday, my grocery delivery came quite promptly (in the first hour of a four-hour window) and I got everything put away quickly except the shelf-stable beverages – and I did get those in, and have room to store them, they’re just heavy. Also, we heard from WWWendy. Please check out yesterday’s open thread for her comment.
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The Hill – Biden sidesteps GOP on judicial vacancies, for now
Quote – There’s no Senate rule that requires Biden get buy-in from GOP senators on who he nominates. But a Senate precedent known as the “blue slip” gives home-state senators tremendous sway over who gets nominated for district court vacancies in their state and the power to block nominees they oppose. Click through for explanation. In politics, everything is a gamble, but this seems reasonable.
Democratic Underground – Schmidt: The “TRUMP COUP MEMO” should be an occasion for a giant, collective, national time out.
Quote – There now exists in the public realm, documentary evidence, a written plan to kill it off and replace it with something new. It was written by the Presidents atty and presented to the President. Trump took that paper and turned it into a weapon, a poisoned shiv and stuck it into the rib cage of American Democracy. He twisted it, crazed with rage that he had been rejected and repudiated. Click through for the full thread – that’s what this is, a Twitter thread unrolled for easy reading. Schmidt knows whereof he speaks.
Yesterday, I listened to the opera on the radio (an even more obscure one than last week) but mostly just got ready for my long day today… and by the time wou read this I was be on the road. Yes, I promise to drive safely.
Reuters – Amid high security, small pro-Trump crowd rallies at U.S. Capitol
Quote – About 100 to 200 protesters showed up, some carrying the flags of the right-wing group Three Percenters over their shoulders. It was far fewer than the 700 people organizers had expected and the thousands who brought mayhem to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Hundreds of officers patrolled the Capitol grounds and a black eight-foot-high (2.44 m) fence that surrounded the white-domed building for about six months after the attack was reinstalled, reflecting unease about a potential repeat of Jan. 6. One hundred National Guard troops were on standby. Click through for the story. I assume everyone knows this by now, butI still didn’t think it right to ignore it.
The Guardian – Jared Polis becomes first sitting governor to marry in same-sex wedding
Quote – “The greatest lesson we have learned over the past 18 months is that life as we know it can change in an instant. We are thankful for the health and wellbeing of our family and friends, and the opportunity to celebrate our life together as a married couple,” Polis and Reis said in a joint statement…. Reis told the Colorado Sun that Polis proposed last winter while the couple battled Covid-19 in their Boulder home. Right before Reis was hospitalized, Polis got down on one knee. Click through for a bit more, including photo. Mazel tov, my governor. Mazel Tov. L’Chaim!
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.”
By the time you read this, the September 18th event – however big or small it turns out to have been – will be over. But I for one am not naive enough to assume that it will be the last such event – and, even if not in the Capital, such events will no doubt continue happening all over the nation. By “such events” I mean any event designed to show support for Donald Trump** and all his evils in some way (superspreading optional). So I don’t think it’s time wasted to look at some of the symbols being used in these vanity parades. The lesser known ones particularly may be helpful to alert you when you are dealing with a MAGAt.
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Capitol Police prepare for a return of insurrectionists to Washington – 5 essential reads on the symbols they carried on Jan. 6
A rally in Washington, slated for Sept. 18, 2021, is being billed as an effort to support people who face criminal charges for their involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The groups involved in January’s attack on the Capitol carried a variety of political and ideological flags and signs. The Conversation asked scholars to explain what they saw – including ancient Norse images and more recent flags from U.S. history – and what those symbols mean.
Here are five articles from The Conversation’s coverage, explaining what many of the symbols mean.
A man carries the Confederate battle flag in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, between portraits of senators who both opposed and supported slavery. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
1. The Confederate battle flag
Perhaps the most recognized symbol of white supremacy is the Confederate battle flag.
“Since its debut during the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag has been flown regularly by white insurrectionists and reactionaries fighting against rising tides of newly won Black political power,” writes Jordan Brasher at Columbus State University, who has studied how the Confederacy has been memorialized.
He notes that in one photo from inside the Capitol, the flag’s history came into sharp relief as the man carrying it was standing between “the portraits of two Civil War-era U.S. senators – one an ardent proponent of slavery and the other an abolitionist once beaten unconscious for his views on the Senate floor.”
Another flag with a racist history is the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. A symbol warning of self-defense, it was designed by slave owner and trader Christopher Gadsden when the American Revolution began, as Iowa State University graphic design scholar Paul Bruski writes.
“Because of its creator’s history and because it is commonly flown alongside ‘Trump 2020’ flags, the Confederate battle flag and other white-supremacist flags, some may now see the Gadsden flag as a symbol of intolerance and hate – or even racism,” he explains.
It has been adopted by the tea party movement and other Republican-leaning groups, but the flag still carries the legacy, and the name, of its creator.
A gallows symbolizing the lynching of Jews was among the hate symbols carried as crowds stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Shay Horse/NurPhoto via Getty Images
3. Powerful anti-Semitism
Another arm of white supremacy doesn’t target Blacks. Instead, it demonizes Jewish people. Plenty of anti-Semitic symbols were on display during the riot, as Jonathan D. Sarna explains.
Sarna is a Brandeis University scholar of American anti-Semitism and describes the ways that “[c]alls to exterminate Jews are common in far-right and white nationalist circles.” That included a gallows erected outside the Capitol, evoking a disturbing element of a 1978 novel depicting the takeover of Washington, along with mass lynchings and slaughtering of Jews.
A man known as Jake Angeli, who is soon to be sentenced for his role in the Capitol riot, wears a horned hat and tattoos of Norse images. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
4. Co-opted Norse mythology
Among the most striking images of the January riot were those of a man wearing a horned hat and no shirt, displaying several large tattoos. He is known as Jake Angeli, but his full name is Jacob Chansley, and he has pleaded guilty to one of six charges as part of a plea deal for his role in the riot.
Birkett traces the modern use of Norse symbols back to the Nazis and points out that they are a form of code hidden in plain sight: “If certain symbols are hard for the general public to spot, they are certainly dog whistles to members of an increasingly global white supremacist movement who know exactly what they mean.”
Another flag was prominent at the Capitol riot, one that doesn’t strictly represent white supremacy: the flag of the former independent country of South Vietnam.
But Long T. Bui, a global studies scholar at the University of California, Irvine, explains that when flown by Vietnamese Americans, many of whom support Trump, the flag symbolizes militant nationalism.
“[S]ome Vietnamese Americans view their fallen homeland as an extension of the American push for freedom and democracy worldwide. I have interviewed Vietnamese American soldiers who fear American freedom is failing,” he explains.
Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives and is an update of an article previously published on Jan. 15, 2021.
================================================================ Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, Some of these may be more accurate than those so proudly flashing them have bargained for. The Gadsden flag in particular I consider highly appropriate, implying, as it does, that the carrier or wearer is a snake. The Odinistic symbols are harder to spot, although I have seen at least one person wearing a Thor’s Hammer necklace. The flag of South Vietnam is a real surprise to me – but then, no one should be surprised that they misappropriate symbols – they do everything else.
