Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

In my day, never was longer.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Nothing worth doing is easy.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Not all heroes wear capes.

T R E 4 5 O N

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Another Day Closer to President Biden

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Another Day Closer to President Biden

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What’s the foreign-affairs version of ‘a shanda fur die goyim’? Because the GOP Death Cultists are that.

Some consolation:

Reader Interactions

209Comments

  2. 2.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    A scary morning thought:

    Given Rudy’s attempt to work Tuberville on picking 10 states for the purpose of delay and given that some of the shitheads had strip ties, pipe bombs and rope, I’m wondering if their wasn’t coordination within the ranks of Trump’s handlers about the insurrection in order to delay.

    Maybe the incitement wasn’t so incidental to what happened – to me, it looks like part of a bigger effort. That MAGA world is claiming “it was ANTIFA”, there’s a Reichstag Fire ring to it.

    It bears aggressive investigation.

  3. 3.

    germy

    A lawmaker from West Virginia, Derrick Evans, was among the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday. Evans, a Republican who was elected as a state delegate in November, posted several videos from the day’s events on social media. https://t.co/M7nTIdid7E— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 7, 2021

    And he needs to go. Directly to jail.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    Biden/Harris is official, and we’ll soon have the Senate.  The MAGAs’ shame will not stop us.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Josh Hawley must be investigated, if only for that power salute he gave the protesters as he walked to the Capitol.

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    No forgiveness???

    The protection of complexion on full display yesterday.

    The thought….

    The mere thought….

     

    Of what would have happened if they had been BLACK trying to storm the Capitol????

  12. 12.

    germy

    how could anyone have seen this coming, other than by listening to what Donald Trump and his supporters said for four years?

    Two weeks ago if any commenter here had predicted this they would have been pied or chased off the blog.  Let’s be honest.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    Okay, NPR has actually used the word “lie” five times in the past 15 minutes. A bit late, guys.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Maga v BLM: how police handled the Capitol mob and George Floyd activists – in pictures

    My sons called me last night to see what I thought of yesterday’s shenanigans. At the moment I had just sat down in front of the computer and was just then learning of them. My first question was, “Did anyone get shot?” the 2nd was, “Did anyone get arrested?” because we all know the special treatment fragile white males get from the police. The answers were exactly what I expected.

  16. 16.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    Just that one photograph of the Confederate flag sailing down the Capitol halls should be sufficient to award prison time of all of those traitors.

  18. 18.

    germy

    Video Shows Newly Elected W.Va. Lawmaker Among Mob That Stormed The U.S. Capitol

    The video that shows Evans entering the Capitol was later deleted, though not before multiple social media users made and shared copies of it.

    At one point during the video, hundreds of people are shown forcing their way into the building, and someone is heard yelling: “We’re in! We’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”

    In a separate Facebook post published just after 6 p.m., Evans said he was on a bus traveling back to West Virginia. He wrote that he did not have “negative interactions” with law enforcement. He said he did not participate in “any destruction that may have occurred.”

    He wrote that he was in D.C. “as an independent member of the media to film history.” However, Evans is not known to work as a professional journalist.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/congress-electoral-college-tally-live-updates/2021/01/06/954227854/video-shows-newly-elected-w-va-lawmaker-among-mob-that-stormed-the-u-s-capitol

  19. 19.

    raven

    From a buddy

    I’m old enough to remember the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran. I remember the anger at a mob invading a US government building and desecrating American flags. Part of the reason that the modern GOP was able to rise from the ashes of Watergate and regain the White House was conservative anger that President Carter did not do enough to punish those responsible for this outrage.
    Flash forward about forty years, and we have a GOP President inciting the storming of the US Capitol to disrupt a lawful Presidential election. While vandals associated with BLM protests were branded by that very same President as thugs deserving to be shot, he could only muster up the weakest of all calls for these insurrectionists to leave the Capitol, ensuring them that they would be allowed to do so, and that he “loved” them and shared their concerns.
    How is today not the last day of the Trump Presidency? Even if he is allowed to hold that office in name for two more weeks, how can this not be the end of a GOP so spineless as to have tolerated his increasingly erratic and damaging conduct, even going so far as to echo his baseless claims that the Presidential election was stolen?
    Shame on President Trump.
    Shame on you if you still condone or tolerate his behavior.
    It turns out that Hillary Clinton (whom I detest) is owed an apology. More and more, it seems that Trump’s supporters are “deplorables.”

  21. 21.

    Martin

    @rikyrah: Yeah, the insiders know what’s going on.

    I said 4 years ago that Trump would be carried out of the WH. 13 days out, that’s not looking like a bad prediction.

  22. 22.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    On a sad note, in the 32 years I’ce been with her, my wife has never had a cross word with her father. They started having an argument about this last night, and it got really bad – he’s been drowning in Fix News, cried over Loeffler and Perdue losing, is terrified about China and Venezuela and soc!alism.

    Dunno that that relationship is reparable.

    On a lighter note, her quote from yesterday:

    ”I don’t tweet. But I can.”

  25. 25.

    Baud

    @raven:

    It turns out that Hillary Clinton (whom I detest) is owed an apology. More and more, it seems that Trump’s supporters are “deplorables.”

     

    That’s a remarkable concession.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @raven:

    That’s good.  Still, you don’t see too many people outside of Balloon Juice acknowledge that Hillary was right.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    If he didn’t change his mind after that mob scene, then he needs to be removed from any committee he sits on and consigned to the back of the room (facing the wall) until he is removed.

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    John Heileman goes there.  Some members of the Capitol Police were complicit; at the very least overly tolerant of the insurrectionists’ presence.

    He said “Fifth? Column.”

  37. 37.

    Parfigliano

    @germy: Derrick Evans is really shitty at covering his ass…and shitting his pants scared about the legal problems staring him in the face.  Fuck him.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    Rick Scott objected to Pennsylvania.

    It’s odd that the Arizona and Pennsylvania objectors are not all the same.

  39. 39.

    Martin

    @Baud: I don’t think that’s the correct read. Trump has an easy out against a 25th amendment threat – he just fires the cabinet members that would support it. That immediately neuters the threat.

    25th amendment is one of those things you either do in private, or can never do.

  40. 40.

    Elizabelle

    Do you think there is a chance that Josh Hawley is not seated in the Senate?  Ted Cruz?

  44. 44.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @rikyrah:

    Blue ribbon 11 member commission with subpoena power via a grand jury in DC or ED VA,  a 1 year brief, consisting of 6 Ds, 4 never Trump Rs and a high level Trump firee like Mattis or Kelly.

  45. 45.

    Joey Maloney

    Let’s be clear about something. As awful and disgraceful as yesterday was, it was still largely cosplay. There were only a handful of fatalities, all but one due to medical causes.

    This was a heavily armed mob that met with at best token resistance and at worst active assistance from the Capitol Police. It could have ended in a massacre, with dozens of elected officials murdered. It didn’t this time only because of what I expect was a failure of imagination on the part of the mob. They didn’t fully realize how successful they were.

    The next time – and who believes there won’t be a next time – the insurrectionists will have this example in mind.

  46. 46.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    I don’t think anyone would have predicted how easily they were able to breach the Capitol.

    And how that happened should be one of the first investigations. Inside help perhaps?

  51. 51.

    Martin

    @Elizabelle: They’re already seated. The new Congress started last Sunday.

    But I wrote to all of my peeps that there should be a vote to expel them. It might fail, but it should still happen.

  52. 52.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    All kinds of sedition, not just physical destruction. Pay attention to these GOPers as they make their statements condemning violence. If they refer to this country as a Republic (because they can’t bear to even use the letters d, e, m, o, c, r, a), then they need to lose their assignments and be removed to the back of the room.

    Looking at you, Steve Stivers.

  53. 53.

    debbie

    @Joey Maloney:

    Do you think any of those assholes even vote? I am doubtful, but the prospect of his supporters not standing up for Trump with their votes is pretty amusing.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    @raven:

    I heard reporting that some were found, but not on their persons which surprised me. I thought they were glued to their penises.

  57. 57.

    hueyplong

    I think it’s great that news organizations have figured out who some of these fuckers are, but they should sit on that info until Jan 20.

    I’d like to think Trump can’t pardon anyone he can’t identify.

  58. 58.

    H.E.Wolf

    @germy:

    Video Shows Newly Elected W.Va. Lawmaker Among Mob That Stormed The U.S. Capitol…

    [Derrick Evans] wrote that he was in D.C. “as an independent member of the media to film history.” However, Evans is not known to work as a professional journalist.

    That NPR reporter (thank you for posting the longer excerpt) has a sense of humor dry enough to dessicate a rainforest.

    As is frequently the case with far-right nutcases, Evans has a history of misogynist behavior. Per the Washington Post:

    Evans, who was sworn into office last month and represents West Virginia’s Wayne County, is known as a local anti-abortion protester.

    [restating my comment from an earlier post]

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    Three cheers for Abigail Spanberger, who stood up for the physical safety of some journalists yesterday.  No surprise.

  61. 61.

    PenAndKey

    @germy: Two weeks ago if any commenter here had predicted this they would have been pied or chased off the blog.  Let’s be honest.

    While the exact details would have seemed near-worst-case-scenario even here, Adam has been warning of exactly this sort of event for quite a while. He’s been as oblique as necessary given his professional role but reading between the lines wasn’t exactly what I’d call difficult. The only thing about this that should be a surprise to any of us who regularly read his writings is how badly, intentionally or not,  the Capital Police screwed up.

    So no, if someone had said that the MAGA cult would form a mob and attempt to storm Congress to delay the EC certification that wouldn’t have gotten them driven off. We have a professional front-pager warning of far worse things having been gamed out as extremely probable, after all.

    @sanjeevs: As Adam mentioned yesterday, the mob was able to gain entry to the building through an internally locked side door on the East side of the building. To me this is clear evidence they had help on the inside unless it can be shown they somehow picked the lock.

  62. 62.

    Martin

    @Joey Maloney: Unfortunately, that disorganized mob has the backing of ⅔ of the House GOP caucus and half a dozen to a dozen Senators.

    The mob isn’t the problem – the leaders of the mob being members of congress and giving them voice is the problem.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    Twitter suspended Trump’s account, and I read somewhere that Facebook suspended him from their platform and also Instagram. And yet he remains in charge of this country for another 12 days. JFC.

  69. 69.

    TS (the original)

    @raven:

    I saw snippets of a press conference with the DC Mayor and the LE Officer with her spoke of 50 arrests (for ridiculously simple reasons) and I think a number of the arrests related to firearms offences.

  70. 70.

    PenAndKey

    @SiubhanDuinne: There’s no evidence they’re backing down from their additional threat to permanently ban him if he continues with his behavior. It took them long enough, but they’ve been clear on the sequence of events that will occur if his conduct continues. The 12 hour temp ban was always going to be lifted if he deleted the offending tweets. He’s, in effect, on probation.

  71. 71.

    Punchy

    From the accounts published today, the woman shot and killed was pure, distilled Qanon in a bottle.  Crazy, violent, and chock full of stupid.   Sorry, no tears from this guy.

  72. 72.

    Betty Cracker

    @TS (the original): Since the mob proudly live-streamed its POTUS-approved activities, it should be relatively easy to identify, arrest and prosecute them if there’s the will to do it.

  73. 73.

    Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ve read that in order to have it restored, he needed to delete several tweets, which apparently he did, and the next offense would result in his account being deleted.

    1. No chance in hell he doesn’t break the rules again
    2. Twitter won’t delete the account even if he does.
  74. 74.

    raven

    @debbie: That’s my problem, there is no way they were at the rally and were not put through a weapons check. People keep saying it but these clowns would have  had them in full view if they had them.

  79. 79.

    debbie

    @raven:

    I remember reading they wanted to disguise themselves as Antifa or BLM (figure that one out), so that would mean no guns.

  80. 80.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:   Not yet.  Story Andrea Mitchell told during her segment on Morning Joe.

    She was still rattled by what happened yesterday.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    @raven:   I agree with Punchy.  I have no sympathy for the woman who was killed.  She was off the deep end.  She was a military vet who once took an oath to serve her company.  She chose to be part of that insurrection.

  83. 83.

    Subsole

    @TS (the original): Truly.

    We need to take s long, hard look at replacing the capitol security (can’t bring myself to call them police) with people who actually want to do the work we pay them to do.

    All of them.

  84. 84.

    leeleeFL

    @rikyrah: Yes, I knew that that op ed from  Cheney, et all, was a portent for exactly what we saw yesterday.  Barr quitting was pure self preservation.  The past Secretaries were terrified by what they were hearing.

    Does anyone know if Alice left a trail of bread crumbs for us to get back thru the looking glass?

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    Yea!  Gary Peters of Michigan is going to chair the Senate Committee on Homeland Security.  (Tim Kaine related that on Morning Joe.)

    Doubly fitting.

  89. 89.

    raven

    Well they say “weapons” but that covers a lot of ground. I repeat, there is no way they got though security at the rally with guns.

     
    “WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Congress’ tally of the Electoral College vote won by Joe Biden (all times local):
    The Washington, D.C., police chief says at least five weapons have been recovered and at least 13 people have been arrested so far in pro-Trump protests.”

  90. 90.

    NeenerNeener

    When Real Time comes back with new shows Maher’s opening monolog will be 5 minutes of screaming ” I TOLD YOU SO!” over and over at the top of his lungs.

  91. 91.

    Tony Jay

    @debbie:

    Quite. And word is they must have been secret Leftist agitators because they were open-carrying those Trump flags and Dixie Swastikas. Genuine Ameriklanists wouldn’t have taken any incriminating banners with them if they’d been planning to blame this insurrection on effete, latte-sipping Thugs, would they? So, ergo procto nocto, Antifa outsmarted itself.

    I fully expect to see this nut-stew of a theory somewhere on the Interwebs by the weekend.

  94. 94.

    Elizabelle

    I think we need a good review of law enforcement’s social media.  I have been shocked by some of the stuff I am seeing, especially from friends of people I know.

    All the law enforcement shrieking about Blue Lives Matter and against Black Lives Matter and screaming about socialism.  They should get a very hard look, and perhaps be removed.

    Other women and men can do those jobs.  They are not irreplaceable.

  97. 97.

    Ohio Mom

    That Colbert clip was fabulous — history teachers of the future take note, what you’ll need to teach is right there in a compact 15 minutes. Your students will be riveted.

  98. 98.

    TS (the original)

    @PenAndKey:

    There’s no evidence they’re backing down from their additional threat to permanently ban him if he continues with his behavior.

    If ever there was an example of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, this would be it. Five years of inciting hatred and violence, of incessant lying and actively encouraging attacks on individuals – and twitter decides it has had enough, when trump is 14 days away from being dragged from the White House.

    Won’t matter one iota whether twitter does/does not back down.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    @raven:   No tears.  Not a one.

    I am amazed there were not more arrests at the Capitol.  Why did they not arrest everyone who stormed the building, or, at minimum, everyone who remained to be removed?

    They sure do that when peaceful protesters are on the scene.  I was in the Hart building during a protest against Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.  A lot of those peaceful protesters were happily arrested.

    But we can’t arrest these white guy and white woman “patriots”?  Really?

  102. 102.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @NeenerNeener: Problem is, he also told his adoring audience what a terrible candidate Hillary Clinton was. Smug Libertarian assholes like Bill helped put us here.

  103. 103.

    Spanky

    @Baud:

    Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in,” Mulvaney said. But he said other officials may not stay.

    I hate to admit it, but I think he’s right.

  104. 104.

    randy khan

    @Baud:

    Maxine Waters warned the Capitol Police about this possibility, so at least one person predicted that there would be an assault on the Capitol.

  105. 105.

    Immanentize

    @raven: not everyone at the Capitol had to have gone to the rally — or at least not to the secured area.  Anyone could stand off from the speeches, outside the security zone, until the SS was done and had left the circle. So not surprised if a few people could have been armed.  The Capitol is swept daily, so someone got some weapons up close.

  106. 106.

    satby

    @leeleeFL: I very fortunately cleared my booth in the farmers market out on Tuesday so that I don’t have to go back for a month. Because if I did, I would probably be screaming at the MAGAots until they called the cops on me. I need another 24 hours to cool down before I leave my house or I’ll randomly be calling red hats traitors to their faces all over the place.

  107. 107.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud:

    From your link – my bold

    We didn’t sign up for what you saw last night. We signed up for making America great again, we signed up for lower taxes and less regulation. The president has a long list of successes that we can be proud of,” Mulvaney said.

    “But all of that went away yesterday and I think you’re right to ask the question as to how did it happen,” Mulvaney told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, adding that Trump was “not the same as he was eight months ago.”

    Of course he was the same as 8 months ago – and only the committed sycophants have seen anything to be proud of over the past 4 years. Rats leaving the ship.

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    Joy Reid is great, but I beg to differ. I am a white person, and I am afraid of police.
    But her point of course is valid as a general rule. I was screaming at our neighbors’ house — “YOU BACK THE BADGE? YOU BACK THE BADGE unless it’s trying to protect against Trump!!!”

  109. 109.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Joey Maloney: That’s a really awful take. That’s the sort of slack white people always get when they crime. Not really dangerous. Not really a threat like brown people.

  113. 113.

    trnc

    Democrats take the Senate with both Georgia wins, boosting the prospects for President-elect Joe Biden’s ambitious legislative agenda

    Not if Schumer doesn’t get rid of the legislative filibuster.

  114. 114.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    What was it one of Trump’s inflatable crime-dolls said on that call with Georgia’s SOS? Something along the lines of “The fact that no one is giving us evidence that our conspiracy theories are accurate is itself evidence that the guilty parties are hiding said evidence, thereby providing evidence that our conspiracy theories are factual.”

    Or more concisely – “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”

    Or more accurately – “A black guy did it!”

    It’s testament to how genuinely warped the mindset of these people is that they can simultaneously clap each other on the back for their brave stand in defence of America’s foundational principle of White Supremacy while yes-indeeding the oh-so-clever cover-story that this was Antifa trying to frame them for a violent act of sedition. I guess all of that Bush-era caterwauling about Taqiya made an impression.

  115. 115.

    Subsole

    @rikyrah: That’s honestly been the part that has me ready to tear my desk in half.

    Hell, if these people had been white and democrats, they would have been herded onto buses and left to rot, not wandering the damn park three hours after curfew. Not giving interviews on national outlets. Not chilling in the hotel lounge sipping whatever the fuck these people sip when they’re not behaving like the absolute God-damned heathens they are.

    Minorities?? Shit. The capitol cops would have run out of body bags thirty minutes in and the shootings would still be going on this morning.

    I really don’t know how we fix this. But we better think of something, white folks.

    And it’s all so stupid. Those raggedy trash-asses are on this bullshit ’cause they don’t feel special enough! Maybe I’m crazy, but I think they’re jealous of outgroups. They honestly feel like everyone gets a special uplifting super cool backstory but them. Everyone gets to be the hero who overcomes adversity and they’re stuck apologizing because papa’s popaw’s pepaw was the villain of history. They are angry and frightened and resentful because they have nothing to be proud of and are scared to death inside that someone is gonna point out in front of everyone how utterly, crushingly dull they are. The fucking boiled-chicken tribe, strutting around in the emperor’s new hand-me-downs.

    And every day these affronts to their ego present them the cjance toascend, to repudiate old sins, to be better. Their super cool backstory is the redemption of putting aside old chains and hungry ghosts and becoming their own, new selves.

    They take the past as an insult, when it’s actually a door out of the prison.

    And I don’t know how to fix that.

     

    Sorry for the rant, but damn what a 48 hours…

  118. 118.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Credit where credit is due: Missouri lawmakers address ‘domestic terrorism’ in DC on first day of session

    “It’s domestic terrorism — might as well call it what it is,” Senate Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden said. “I think the folks that are using this method to try and prove a point are doing way more damage than they could even comprehend. … We’ve been divided for so long, and everybody is to blame for completely different reasons.”

    “I hope those folks get arrested, I hope they get thrown in prison, and hopefully we can get back to some sense of normalcy,” he said. “Everybody’s to blame. We’ve all screwed this up, and it’s going to be up to us to figure out how to fix it.”
    ……………………………….
    House Republican leadership also canceled a planned press conference. In a joint statement, they said: “The violence and destruction that occurred today in our nation’s capital is unacceptable. Peaceful protests are an important part of free speech, but violence can never be tolerated.”

    I was not expecting to pass on anything positive from a Missouri Republican today. Mike Parson on the other hand spoke in weasel, as per usual:

    Gov. Mike Parson said he hadn’t been closely monitoring the unfolding events in the nation’s capital but stressed his proclivity for “law and order.”

    Yeah, I’ll bet.

  120. 120.

    hueyplong

    I’ve been kind of vein-popping for the last 18 hours or so, but the bottom line is that “the Storm” did not prevent the election becoming final, there were objections but not as many objectors as predicted, and reachable people (i.e., non-consumers of Fox, OANN, and worse) got a good look at who these people and their enablers are.  Difficult to believe that anyone other than asshole fellow travelers could have watched that stuff and avoided yelling “Those assholes!” at the TV.

    Someone (can’t remember who) tweeted that Durbin giving it to Cruz while maintaining eye contact with him was her kink.  I agree.

    Seriously considering applying for one of those plum jobs as a guard at a FEMA re-education camp.

  123. 123.

    jonas

    @debbie: I noticed it starting about a month ago. I guess one of their producers suddenly grew a pair. Either that, or the news writers were getting sick of coming up with ever-more ridiculous circumlocutions like “The President’s remarks appeared to be at variance with what we can determine to be facts and reality…” every time Trump spoke.

  125. 125.

    Martin

    @trnc: Schumer suggested they would eliminate the filibuster if Dems won the Senate.

    Honestly, I say keep it but restore the old rules. You need to stand there and talk. None of this secret indefinite hold bullshit. As soon as you can no longer stand there and talk, the filibuster is over and you have a normal vote, or with 60 votes you can cut the spectacle short.

  126. 126.

    Ken

    @Just Some Fuckhead: My hat is off to the 19 year old Antifa kids for so effectively passing as 45-50 year old diabetics.

    I think they must have used those Mission: Impossible plastic masks, too, in order to so accurately impersonate well-known white supremacists and Trump supporters.

  127. 127.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The federal AGs for the north and south districts of Ohio have said they will prosecute any Ohioans found to have been part of the mob insurrection.

  128. 128.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Subsole: And it’s all so stupid. Those raggedy trash-asses are on this bullshit ’cause they don’t feel special enough! Maybe I’m crazy, but I think they’re jealous of outgroups. They honestly feel like everyone gets a special uplifting super cool backstory but them. Everyone gets to be the hero who overcomes adversity and they’re stuck apologizing because papa’s popaw’s pepaw was the villain of history. They are angry and frightened and resentful because they have nothing to be proud of and are scared to death inside that someone is gonna point out in front of everyone how utterly, crushingly dull they are. The fucking boiled-chicken tribe, strutting around in the emperor’s new hand-me-downs.

    That’s sure as hell what it feels like.

  130. 130.

    debbie

    @jonas:

    Right, “falsehoods,” “unsubstantiated,” etc. have been floating around for a while. I listen daily, and this morning was the first the actual “lie” word was uttered.

  131. 131.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Ken: They probably have technology that isn’t even available to moviemakers, what with all that Soros money.

  132. 132.

    leeleeFL

    @satby: Smart move.  I thought of calling out last night, but it went okay.  No one talked about it but one person, and I just walked away.

  135. 135.

    Booger

    Can we seriously start doxxing these terrorists already? I hope not a one of them can get a job or find a place to live evermore. They had their fifteen minutes of fame, let them suffer the consequences for the rest of their miserable deplorable lives.

  138. 138.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire.

  140. 140.

    jonas

    @Subsole: But we better think of something, white folks.

    Purging law enforcement at all levels across the country of white supremacists would be a good start. Police academies and recruiters have to be forced to weed these guys out. I don’t know what kind of carrots and sticks the federal government can use, but I really hope Garland at DOJ will do something around this.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: There is probably no way to reach your wife’s father. But I have a gullible friend who has also swallowed the MAGA line whole. Yesterday I sent him the British IT network’s video report made by their journalist and cameraman. They had accompanied the mob up the stairs and into the Capitol. He let me know it made an impression. (I tagged the report with “some people say these were Antifa” to pique his interest, but he could see that the rioters obviously were MAGA fanatics.)

  142. 142.

    snoey

    @Martin: Filibusters never worked that way. The actual filibuster was infinite quorum calls that forced the majority to be present, since adjournment for no quorum was as good as any other inaction.
    The long speeches were grandstanding since cloture rules allowed one last speech before the vote.

  148. 148.

    Subsole

    @trnc: That might not be as heavy a lift as it was three days ago.

    I’m wondering if yesterday didn’t spur some of the moderates to reexamine their ability to work with their goodbuddychum GOP colleagues…

  150. 150.

    LurkerNoLonger

    When the dust settles 3 things are clear, Joe Biden will be president, Nancy Pelosi will be speaker of the house, and Chuck Schumer will be majority leader of the Senate. The angry outburst from a mob of demented cosplaying confederates didn’t change that. Yesterday was a good morning in GA, a bad day in DC and good night and good riddance to Trump after the certification of Electoral College votes.

  151. 151.

    jonas

    @Elizabelle: I forget now where I saw it this morning — CNN? FTFNYT? — but lots of LE commentators were saying that this was a a complete cock-up by the Capitol and DC police and heads need to roll. At least one admitted that part of the problem was that a lot of cops obviously sympathized with these rioters and terrorists. As I observed here yesterday, there were also probably a lot of off-duty cops in the ranks of the MAGA mob whom they deferred to.

    Complete disgrace.

  153. 153.

    Subsole

    @Martin: I really like this idea.

    We even get to cast ourselves as the restorers of traditions perverted by the GOP.

    Anybody got Manchin’s #??

  154. 154.

    Quiltingfool

    @OzarkHillbilly: My rep, Vicky Hartzler, is also an insurrectionist.  By my count, there are 6 Missouri Reps and one Senator who aided and abetted sedition.  And the shitty thing is those traitorous assholes will probably be re-elected.

  156. 156.

    Amir Khalid

    I just watched a five-minute episode of John Dillermand, the Danish children’s TV show about the guy with the very very long penis.  Nothing sexual or offensive about the humour, which is kid-safe after all, but it is weird.

  158. 158.

    Martin

    @jonas: Congress should extend hate crime laws to cover law enforcement policy. That’s why it was enacted in the first place –  so that the feds could step in when the good old boys chose to let their friends off the hook. Clearly we didn’t go far enough. The sanctions on police departments for civil rights violations isn’t enough. It needs to be a federal crime to implement those policies in the first place.

    There also needs to be consequences for elected officials lying to the public. Basically, all elected officials in their official duties should be held to the same standard as we hold people giving testimony. It’s absurd that we can haul someone before Congress, demand they answer truthfully, but have members of Congress grandstand for 5 minutes telling lies. Same for law enforcement.

  161. 161.

    Elizabelle

    @Martin:   I wonder if Devin Nunes is still getting his Presidential Medal of Freedom.

    Talk about lying and grandstanding.  William Barr too (misrepresenting the Mueller report’s findings).

  162. 162.

    Jeffro

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I got into it with my RWNJ dad and brother last night, who have followed their cult leader all the way down the rabbit hole.  Ended up being the bigger man and told them both I was dropping the conversation before I said something I’d regret, so hey – progress!  But what a pair of un-American scumbags.

    We were all supposed to have a (delayed, obvs) Christmas visit this coming weekend.  I think I’m going to pull the plug on that and reschedule for a couple weeks from now.

  163. 163.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly:  So was mine, Billy Long, although I’m not sure whether or not he actually followed through with it. Probably. We both share that traitor Hawley, though. You know all the MAGAs just love him now!

  164. 164.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @Baud: Does the Washington Examiner explain how our clearly superior MAGA betters somehow failed to spot the traitors in their midst? Asking for a friend.

  166. 166.

    Ocotillo

    The 25th amendment stories are circulating and one said they need 7 cabinet members and Veep to force the Beast out.  My question is do “acting” cabinet members get a vote?   Who the hell is the AG now anyway?

  167. 167.

    Kathleen

    I read /heard that part of the terrorist attack plan was to take hostages and one thug was pictured with zip ties. Did anyone hear anything about that? I couldn’t find any confirmation though I admit I didn’t read all the WaPo articles.

  168. 168.

    TS (the original)

    @jonas:  81,283,485 people (at a minimum)  know exactly how it happened – as do a large proportion of the remaining voters – who refuse to admit what they can see.

  170. 170.

    Soprano2

    @NeenerNeener: When Real Time comes back with new shows Maher’s opening monolog will be 5 minutes of screaming ” I TOLD YOU SO!” over and over at the top of his lungs.

    Yep. What makes me mad is that none of the people he asked about this turned it around on him by asking him what he thought the solution was.

  172. 172.

    Martin

    @Kathleen: That was the backup plan in Michigan. One of the photos from yesterday shows one of the insurrectionists climbing over some seats, or a low wall with a fist full of zip cuffs.

    I mean, some brought weapons, there were 2 reported pipe bombs. At least some of them seem to have been running that Michigan plan.

  173. 173.

    jonas

    @Amir Khalid: Yeah, that is really, really, goofy and weird. One of my kids recently got deep into a quirky 70’s Finnish cartoon series about a bunch of little, hippo-like creatures called Moomins. As far as I know, they don’t seem to have 50 foot-long prehensile penises, though.

  177. 177.

    topclimber

    @Martin: I am surprised that no one on BJ has  linked to the actual amendment. There is a four-day window for VP and cabinet rebels to dispute President’s claim. So, duh, the drafters were aware that an insane President might pull the stunt you mention.

    In pertinent part (IANAL but it is a cool expresssion):
    Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. (emphasis added).

  178. 178.

    Soprano2

    @leeleeFL: My problem is that I work for a place filled with MAGAts

    Me too, I live in an area where the majority just love them some Trump. I was almost shouting at one of them at work yesterday, and that’s not like me. Yesterday they were telling me that mob was antifa!!! Another one of them told me you’d never convince him that Trump lost fairly, that there was massive fraud. I asked him if he thought all the other Republicans elected were also elected fraudulently, which gave him pause for a minute. I asked him if Missouri’s election was OK, and he said yes because Trump won. I asked him if he only thinks elections are valid if Republicans win, and he said no but blah blah blah so on. He said he doesn’t trust elections anymore.

  179. 179.

    topclimber

    @trnc: That’s a job for the new senators we elect in 2022. There were at least 3-4 great chances before yesterday, probably more today.

  183. 183.

    RobertB

    @Martin: My mom posts on Parler.  I told her back in 2016, “If you want to keep talking to me, don’t talk politics to me.”  We’ve stuck to that, but it’s not easy.

  184. 184.

    Elizabelle

    I am embarrassed for these middle aged white people who are up the ass of conspiracy theories.

    These are the 21st century jackasses screaming at young Black children who dare to attend their schools.

  185. 185.

    scav

    I’m honestly pretty ready to get into the face of any neighbor remotely even pitying those poor poor understandable dears sooooo frustrated at the election. They’ll likely attempt it with a pinky raised in their best doyenne of the golf club manner so I need to prepare carefully some long-term stiletto to their genteel self-esteem comments to add to my basic urge to get in their grill.

  186. 186.

    Geminid

    @Elizabelle: Richmond TV station WRIC had a couple of good interviews with VA 7th District Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and neighboring 4th District Congressman Don McEachin, speaking about yesterday’s events at the Capitol. They can be found at wric.com. (You may already have seen them.)

  188. 188.

    Quiltingfool

    So much about yesterday’s events anger and horrify me. This is a small potatoes gripe, but we didn’t get to fully savor the joy of Senators- Elect Reverend Warnock and Jon Ossoff! We didn’t get to celebrate the hard work put in by so many people in Georgia! Stacey Abrams! These MAGA sonofbitches do their damndest to steal our hope and joy.

    We cannot stop. We do not have the luxury of saying, “Well, Joe and Kamala will take care of things, we can just laze around and not be involved.” We did that to President Obama. We elected him and then we quit. We thought that man would just take care of everything and we didn’t need to do a thing — and look what that got us.

    Everyone is tired. We don’t know how to fix the MAGATs. We can’t fix them. But we can run over them. Look at the Black folks. They didn’t quit. They kept fighting, because they are fighting for their very lives. We must follow their example. They are the patriots.

  189. 189.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: If I am making the correct assumption about what you mean by “power salute”, Trump gave that several times from the podium right before he spoke to the insurrectionists in person.

  190. 190.

    Quiltingfool

    @ryk: I think Greitens was more dangerous.  He was on a fast track to the Oval Office.  Parsons is a run of the mill dumb fuck placeholder.  Most of the time he doesn’t know whether to shit, run or go blind.

  192. 192.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: You should tell him that you don’t trust him anymore because he can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy.

  196. 196.

    taumaturgo

    @Joey Maloney: The next time – and who believes there won’t be a next time – the insurrectionists will have this example in mind.

    And under the conservative democrats “look forward not backward” policy, Trump could be free and clear instigating the traitors to finish the job.

  197. 197.

    Wapiti

    @Elizabelle: This. veterans aren’t special; we’re just like other civilians with a different mix of life experiences. Some veterans are good citizens, some are not. General Flynn is a veteran and a total scumbag.

  198. 198.

    Geminid

    @Elizabelle: You are welcome! I like both McEachin and Spanberger. McEachin played an important role in drafting the House Democrats’ climate change legislation in the last Congress. Congressman McEachin is in his forties, and i hope he and Spanberger will be around a while.

  200. 200.

    J R in WV

    @H.E.Wolf:

    Mr. Evans should be arrested by federal LEO folks immediately, and forced to reveal who paid for his charter bus, and ID everyone else on the bus. Then all those people should be arrested and put away for as long as Riot and Insurrection and Sedition charges allow them to be put away.

    Shipped to Gitmo would be my preference, although Florence CO is a pretty secure prison in an inhospitable place, high desert country.

    I don’t care much if they put him out of the WV House of Delegates, as long as he’s jailed for a substantial amount of hard time. Can’t vote if you’re properly locked up in a federal pen. What a despicable piece of shit!

  201. 201.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @jonas: The Moomins are classic Finnish children’s literature. That says something about the Finns, maybe.

  202. 202.

    Tall Tom

    Which is more likely? FBI / DC cops decided to keep a low police presence because they thought that the risk of a Capitol attack was low, or they thought that by keeping a small police presence would lower the temperature, and lessen the chances of police / mob clashes? Is there another theory as to why the Capitol was so poorly protected?

  203. 203.

    burnspbesq

    @Elizabelle:

    The Capitol Police were badly outnumbered (and likely outgunned). Any attempts to arrest rioters inside the building would have ended badly.

    ‘Breathe, y’all. The statute of limitation on substantially all of the Federal crimes that were committed yesterday is five years, and there is plenty of high-quality video out there that can be used to identify the offenders. Let the process play out. An airtight case tried to a conviction a year from now is better than a hastily assembled case full of holes, from which the bad guy walks.

  204. 204.

    burnspbesq

    Tommy Tuberville’s Senate career picked up where his coaching career left off, with a pair of lopsided losses. Unfortunately, there are no rich boosters who can buy out his contract after three years of failure.

  205. 205.

    Chris Johnson

    @Tall Tom: Beau of the Fifth Column has spoken extensively about demonstrations and what to do and not to do about them: he thought protests in Oregon were being handled catastrophically badly, BECAUSE the police were attacking the protests as hard as possible. He says that when you do that, for every one protester you strike down, ten others are radicalized in the community.

    In that light, there is merit to the police not erupting in a frenzy of violence: creates martyrs, gives the impression that it’s a legitimate battle against terrible oppressors. Instead, the MAGA trolls came off as looters and vandals, which they are.

    I get that people wanted to see them all shot as traitors and an attacking group of terrorists, which they ALSO are: they’re just not very good at it, otherwise they would have been able to murder Congresspeople and capture hostages with their zip-ties brought for that purpose. Because of how things were handled, no Congresspeople were murdered and no hostages were taken, but it’s very hard and implausible to deny the nature of who invaded, looted and vandalized the Capitol… and of course who told ’em to do it.

    This is not wholly a bad outcome.

    Big additional Beau take-away: if they could have enlisted the military (or indeed more of the police) as support, THEY WOULD HAVE. That was their moment, and that’s as much as they could make of it. They are there, they are assholes, they have now pissed off Congress and the MSM and they’re not going to change or get significantly better at terrorism than they already are. This is the death of the GOP and Trumpism: the Right is irrevocably split, over this.

  207. 207.

    The Lodger

    @Baud: Scott is just trying to score points in advance with all the right-wing Pennsylvanians who will move to Florida in the next few years.

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