House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers would likely need more funding for security to protect them not just from outside threats, but also potentially from their own colleagues, whom she described as ‘the enemy within’ https://t.co/aPSyvvEMfO pic.twitter.com/jRYqHMekdz
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 29, 2021
Q to Pelosi: What did you mean "the enemy is within?"
Pelosi: "It means we have members of Congress who want to bring guns onto the (House) floor and that threatened violence on other members of Congress."
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) January 28, 2021
“The human person is built for survival. You know, we just are. But how do we come back? … You just really have to have justice. You cannot heal without it,” Pelosi tells @pkcapitolhttps://t.co/h4w1k1nLyw
— Amy B Wang (@amybwang) January 30, 2021
A great article from the Washington Post, if you can bear to read it:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first saw the emotional wounds moments after she returned to the U.S. Capitol the evening of Jan. 6.
“The trauma that I saw in their eyes,” Pelosi said, pausing three seconds as she recalled the faces of her closest aides. “It was just overwhelming, just overwhelming. You know, our staffs are largely young. They come here with the sense of idealism and just love that they’re working in the Capitol.”
In addition to leading the impeachment of a former president and the inauguration of a new one, Pelosi (D-Calif.) has also played a unique role these past few weeks: emotional shepherd to a flock of traumatized lawmakers, staff and police still reeling from the aftermath of rioters storming the Capitol in a bid to overturn the 2020 election.
Some of her staff members locked themselves in a windowless conference room, blocking the door with office furniture and hiding under a table for 2½ hours as rioters tried to break down the door…
(Which, as she pointed out in the immediate aftermath of the failed insurrection, those young staffers had been trained to do by active-shooter drills in their elementary schools.)
… Since then, the speaker’s office has served a leading role in providing the congressional community access to post-traumatic counseling. It convened online sessions for lawmakers and aides less than a week after the riot. On Jan. 21, lawmakers were invited to an in-person session inside a vast auditorium…
Pelosi is not interested in forgiving “those thugs, those terrorists” who trashed the Capitol, taking a bit more of an Old Testament view of healing through justice.
“I was thinking, the human person is built for survival,” she said of the counseling session. “You know, we just are. But how do we come back? Not to ignore the seriousness of the situation, but to recognize that, to heal, you have to have some justice. You just really have to have justice. You cannot heal without it.”
These sessions have been pulled together in the post-riot fog of trauma, and many people may not be aware of them. The critical thing Pelosi wants the Capitol Hill crowd to know is how common the struggles are, and that everyone can benefit from talking to a professional about their experience…
Near the end of our interview, Pelosi asked me: Were you in the Capitol that day?
She listened to my terrifying tale: of being just above the stairwell where a heroic Capitol Police officer held off a mob, buying us time to get inside the Senate chamber as officers locked the doors, and of eventually evacuating with the Senate to a secure location, with armed police protection.
“You also experienced firsthand the trauma of it all,” she said. “The uncertainty: How is this going to proceed or end?”…
OzarkHillbilly
‘It’s endemic’: state-level Republican groups lead party’s drift to extremism
This will not end well.
germy
cope
Yesterday I watched the Frontline episode “Trump’s American Carnage” on demand. It squeezes his reign of terror into an hour. It really is appalling what we endured and anything that can be done to prevent the next demagogue from gaining power must be done. However, the show really reminded me what I had forgotten and that is what I really worry about…people will forget.
BellyCat
Old Testament, indeed!
debbie
@germy:
Is that actually what his golfing cost us?
Matt
@OzarkHillbilly:
Tim Miller’s in full-on “only stop running away long enough to burn his uniform” mode; he’s desperately hoping to kick up a smokescreen to obscure that this is who the GOP has been for DECADES.
My suggested fix: all registered Republicans should be immediately permanently disenfranchised, full-stop. They’ve wrecked the country in the name of their imaginary friend and white supremacy; I don’t want them voting for _dog catcher_, nevermind President.
germy
So both sides, really.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
It definitely won’t. The GOP’s numbers are dropping, and they’re fast becoming stuck with the real dregs.
germy
@debbie:
Through October 2020, Donald Trump’s golf rounds have cost an estimated $140 million to taxpayers. Of course, that’s an estimate based on a variety of factors, but we can’t give you an exact cost for each round. We don’t have perfect information to tell you with certainty how much all of the factors cost together. We can estimate the cost per round, which is driven by Secret Service usage, transportation costs for motorcades and Air Force One, as well potential Coast Guard fees.
mrmoshpotato
@germy:
Oh Tulsi. You said something partially true for once, and you’re running away from it.
ETA – if anything, she should apologize for not also calling the mob Trump trash, ammosexuals, gun humpers, and suckers of the Kremlin’s ass.
germy
@mrmoshpotato:
Brennan & Schiff?
debbie
@germy:
Gotta love this detail:
Thank god for Trump’s fiscal frugality on behalf of the nation. //
Ned
@cope:
Right before I opened this BJ post, I watched the first five minutes of the Frontline episode. I decided it was more than I wanted to re-see today, if you know what I mean. I tabbed over to BJ for something lighter.
mrmoshpotato
@germy: Added some stuff for clarification. Also, fuck her for equating Brennan and Schiff to this mob of shitstains.
debbie
I cannot imagine what those staffers (and Capitol Police and Congressional members) were going through. All I know is that January 6 was as shocking to me as September 11.
That clown who was identified by the company name on his jacket lives a couple of miles from me. I’m going to assume that he lives at every house in that neighborhood still sporting a Trump sign.
MattF
And, btw, Trump’s trial lawyers all just quit because he demanded they argue that his actions were justified.
ETA: And, um… they hadn’t been paid.
Ken
Did he have divers standing by in case he drove a ball into a water hazard?
(Just kidding, I think. Offshore security for courses on the coast seems more likely.)
Anya
What happened in the capital depresses me more and more about our politics and how irreconcilable our differences are. The republican staffers also suffered the same trauma as their dem colleagues, still we can’t address such a serious incident because republican members of congress are bunch of cowards and craven opportunists. How can we as a nation come together on anything, if we can’t even agree on simple facts?
debbie
@MattF:
He’s still claiming election fraud. That cow left the barn weeks ago.
Though it does say something about his (alleged) state of mind.
Ken
@MattF: One notable thing about that is that those lawyers were already pretty far down into the bottom-of-the-barrel scrapings, and even they refused to go along with him.
Baud
@germy:
She’s the worst thing Hawaii has ever done.
germy
@Ken:
There’s always Dershowitz. And maybe Turley can be a witness for the defense.
Then again:
cope
@Ned: It was a tough watch for sure. I was a bit surprised to see PBS being so forthright about trump’s actions and motivations and the ebb and flow of the rest of the Republican Party during that time. I know I lived through it and paid close attention at the time but to see it all unreel and realize how much I had buried was a bit shocking to me. Now, disclaimer, I am old and memory stuff but, wow…
It is nice to have BJ as a safe port for sure.
Baud
@germy:
Toobin is probably more appropriate.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: I can’t wait to hear how much it costs for Biden’s vacations to exotic Delaware.
mrmoshpotato
@debbie:
Trillions voted illegally this time, right? Get me Kris Kobach!
Doc Sardonic
@debbie: That’s actually on the low end of estimates, probably only counting the actual expenses related to on the golf course activity. If transportation to and from the course are included it increases significantly.
Hoppie
Just read that 10 Republican senators want to meet Biden to pursue “bipartisanship”.
The Prez should show up in aviators, with a wall-sized blow-up of Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown in the room. Then run a clip of Reagan saying “Trust, but verify.”
Then start by saying “We’ve studied the McConnell negotiation manual, so we’re gonna skip the trust part.”
Ksmiami
@Matt: it’s that or even a more extreme solution- Re-education camps sound better every day
Ksmiami
@Anya: fascists can’t be reasoned with- only crushed
OzarkHillbilly
Rotating tag line?
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
The NYT will let us know, right down to the last penny.
debbie
@Ned:
I’ve also started watching, but have paused because I’m laughing too hard at Cruz, Rudio, and Graham’s 2016 campaign statements about the horribleness of Trump. Media’s real shortcoming is not calling each of them out.
dmsilev
@MattF: Apparently he told at least some aides that it’s such a simple case that he could save some money and defend himself.
Which is actually true in a way. The Senate Republicans have made it clear that they’re going to vote to acquit no matter what, so he could show up and do a full Captain Queeg ‘Who Stole The Strawberries?’ routine and it wouldn’t matter.
debbie
@Doc Sardonic:
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about the money; I heard the stat that he golfed the equivalent of once every three days.
Ken
And risk what remaining access he has to Martha’s Vineyard during the social season?
I am expecting any witnesses for the defense will turn out to be incredibly effective witnesses for the prosecution, especially if Trump’s case is to insist the election was stolen.
“Yes, we smashed down the doors of Congress, killed a cop and maimed a bunch of others, and would have killed the Vice President and all those traitor congressmen if we’d found them. And we did it because President Trump told us to!”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Doc Sardonic: Given that he’s entitled to permanent secret service protection, are we still paying for some of that? I assume he now has to provide his own transportation.
Geminid
@Hoppie: Biden should invite the ten Republicans to meet with Vice President Harris. Harris was their colleague until a couple weeks ago, and she seems to be Biden’s enforcer. Biden can tell them, “I’m pretty busy, but Kamala will let me know if you folks have anything worth talking about.”
oldgold
I am still not convinced that on the Covid front our government is acting like our nation’s hair is on fire.
I think it was a BIG mistake to vaccinate the pols.
I watched Olsterholm on MTP. What he said about the coming surge associated with the English variant was extremely frightening – doubling of hospitalizations and deaths from our last peak within the next 4 to 6 weeks.
Olsterholm is recommending Biden “call an audible” by giving as many people as possible just one shot and worrying about the second shot later in the game.
WaterGirl
@oldgold: If that’s what the scientists thought was our best way forward, they would be saying so. But they are not.
There’s no way Biden is going to gamble on that without the science to back it up.
oldgold
@WaterGirl:
Osterholm claimed many epidemiologists agree with him on the need for this “audible”
Amir Khalid
@dmsilev:
Maybe the Democrats can make Trump look so guilty that the Senate Republicans don’t dare acquit (he said with naive optimism). Or at least, if they do acquit, that doing so will come at a serious cost to be paid in the midterm elections.
Anya
@Hoppie: Alternately, he can make all the right noises while keeping close to the vest lessons learned from Republicans obstruction.
geg6
@oldgold:
Then he needs to name names and we can ask them what they think. Easy peasy.
oldster
Goddess bless Nancy Pelosi, indeed.
I stayed up all night, January 6, in order to see the House and Senate tally the Electoral College votes and declare Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the winners.
And I was in awe of Nancy. That tiny, frail person, even older than I am — I cannot imagine what kind of power* she was running on to stay on her feet that whole night, and see the process through.
I hope that someday someone will lightly adapt Francis Scot Key’s poem about watching an attack on America, and seeing by the dawn’s early light that America had survived its enemies. Because that’s how I felt, watching Nancy march methodically through the procedures, upholding the rule of law in defiance of the mob, seeing the process through to its completion, so that by dawn’s early light the greatest attack on our democracy since 1865 had been entirely defeated.
*(I know — she’d say it was her prayers to Saint Francis, and I won’t quibble with her, but I don’t have to believe it. All I know is, Catholics don’t have a corner on righteous anger, and that’s one of the few power-sources that still works in your 70s, if you know how to harness it.)
CliosFanBoy
@oldgold: I am, alas, being unkind, in that I really want it to hit rural, red areas first.
Spanky
Question for the lawyers: If Trump did testify before the Senate, could his statements be used against him in a criminal trial?
mrmoshpotato
@MattF:
@Ken:
Via Karoli
Valid question.
waspuppet
I think it was Bree Newsome Bass who said Republicans were essentially saying “Geez, this is awkwardn but in our defense we didn’t realize our overthrow of the government wasn’t going to work.”
oldgold
@geg6:
Osterholm is not a crank. He has been spot on concerning Covid from the get-go.
Osterholm made these remarks on MTP this morning. If he was talking out of his ass, we will know very soon.
I hope in March we are not looking at 10,000 deaths a day.
SiubhanDuinne
This is what just destroys me.
Kattails
Just called my Congresswoman and one Senator to let them know I appreciate all their work during these awful times. Left messages of course. I gave them the analogy that the Republicans literally pooped (I was being polite) all over the halls of Congress, which was absolutely disgusting. Now the Republican MOC’s want to just scrape some kitty litter over the whole thing, Oh, that didn’t happen. I said of course it happened and it still stinks, and the only way to deal with it is to clean the whole box out. I want it clear that they have my complete support for impeachment.
germy
SiubhanDuinne
@BellyCat:
It seems we live in Old Testament times, so perhaps Old Testament remedies are required.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: Same here.
We’ve fucked up an entire generation of kids (well, at least one) with “active shooter drills” because we refuse to do anything meaningful about regulating guns in this country.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Spanky: Yes, unless there was some arrangement for use immunity (think Ollie North testifying before Congress at the Iran-Contra hearings). Absent immunity, someone testifying before Congress can plead the Fifth Amendment
On the flip side, an impeachment is different from a criminal trial in that taking the Fifth can absolutely be held against you by the Senators if they so choose.
Also, double jeopardy explicitly does not apply to impeachments, so any evidence presented at the impeachment would be available at a criminal trial.
Plus, if Trump raises his hand and swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and then he lies, that’s perjury.
debbie
@oldgold:
I also heard someone imply that we may need COVID vaccines annually, like we do with influenza.
This will become moot when J&J’s one-shot vaccine becomes available. In the meantime, we should not condone any half-measures. A half-fail is still a fail.
debbie
@germy:
Half-measure also. Assholes.
mrmoshpotato
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Dump swearing to tell the truth would be a lie in itself.
...now I try to be amused
@dmsilev:
Sure, the whole thing is political theater, so make the most of it. Clarence Darrow lost the Scopes Trial in the courtroom but won in the court of public opinion. That’s what Dems need to do.
The Senate Republicans are unindicted co-defendants. Inflict the maximum amount of pain on them for that vote to acquit ex-President Queeg.
mrmoshpotato
OT – “Sick of snow?” asks this Arizona ad.
Replace it with burning hot summers!
sab
@oldgold: Agreed Osterhplm is not a crank. That is scary. I am mostly retired, so we can pretty much lockdown and we have for most of the year. Yet we might be getting vaccinated in the next couple pf weeks. Yeah we are more at risk if we get it, but it is a whole lot easier for us to avoid most risk of getting it.
Our kids are all essential workers. One of them already got it from an idiot co-worker and his fiancee might be a long hauler now. His brother has already been tested twice because it’s rampant through his workplace. His fiancee works in a convenience store with Trumpian customers. Nobody can afford to quit becaise food/rent/mortgage.
No vaccine for them in the foreseeable future.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: It’s a dry heat.
NextInGA
@oldgold:
In 5 or 10 years we’ll have mouse and associated computer models that could provide a more definitive answer. Right now as I understand it there is a legit trade off of A) produce fewer short term deaths (same # of infections at less severity) with the problem being that you are then actively promoting further mutations by producing partially immune hosts who’s incomplete immune response will drive any mutants that can evade that immune response or B) push as many complete vaccinations as possible and hope to get enough to see a network effect of basically firewalling off the most at risk as well at the most likely to spread (e.g. essential workers).
There really isn’t a good answer, but given human nature, at least a reasonable percent of people will one shot can be anticipated to ignore warnings about maskings, etc and make themselves more at risk… In my mind it’s an ugly choice but unless current modeling shows a clear advantage to “one shot, the re-vaccinate against mutations” then I would tend to favor the US’s current approach.
raven
@oldgold: Right after I get my second on the 10th.
oldgold
Doc Sardonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes. I believe that former Presidents in addition to their protective detail have funds budgeted for travel, an office and other items but I am not sure of the details and limits.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Fixed.
RSA
This, from the Post, made me laugh:
Woodrow/asim
He’s on Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board. Why is he on MTP yappin’ about this, and not working with all the other apparently-agreeing epidemiologists, presumably on same board, to shift policy?
Biden just signed an EO about listening to science. Science is about building consensus — not just through experimentation, but debate and discussion among peers. If Olsterholm is too lazy to build that consensus, and wants to grandstand in the media instead, that does not give me confidence in his approach and opinions, frankly.
We had enough of the media grandstanding, in the prior Administration, don’t you think?
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@oldgold: Jus giving the first shot and worrying about the 3nd later is what the UK is doing. Some infections disease experts worry that people only being partially immune (i.e. not having a sterilizing number of antibodies in their systems) may increase the number of new resistant variants.
burnspbesq
@germy:
It’s always been clear which side Tulsi is on.
germy
@Doc Sardonic:
I just hope he loses access to classified materials.
Baud
@Woodrow/asim:
I don’t mind him expressing his opinion on the media. But you’re correct about the need for science based consensus. And sometimes the science doesn’t lead to a clear result. No one person is god.
raven
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): In other words nobody knows shit.
Steeplejack (phone)
The clip is only 43 seconds long, and I would be interested to hear what people think Greene says starting at 0:30. (The other person is right-wing British nutter Katie Hopkins.)
Gravenstone
@Ken: If he’s near a coast, there will be a marine cordon which the CG would enforce.
germy
@Steeplejack (phone):
Greene mentions “White People” in her chat with the European racist. Like she’s disappointed in “White People” for not being as racist as their European counterparts.
oldgold
I am not claiming Osterholm is correct.
My larger point is we are not doing enough to get the vaccine in arms. Yes, Biden is doing much better than Trump. But, from my perspective, more urgency and focus is needed. To the extent Osterholm sounds the alarm and encourages thinking outside the box, I support him.
Steeplejack (phone)
@germy:
That’s what I thought. Dworkin says it’s “rotten people,” but I don’t think that’s even close. It’s somewhat obscured by Hopkins’s laugh, though.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well, the biggest cost comes from turning the train around in Philly, because they overshot Delaware. [Engineer/driver talking to his number 2: “So I was talking to my buddy about the Nationals game, and …. SHIT! I missed Wilmington AGAIN!”]
Baud
@Steeplejack (phone):
How would Greene use a sentence where either “rotten people” or “white people” would make sense?
(Can’t watch the clip right now.)
Baud
BR
@oldgold:
This is a funny one, because he may be right in this case, and he may not be a crank, but he also got COVID very very wrong early on, denying that human to human transmission was possible. He was cited as an expert early last year, and was saying it wasn’t something to worry about.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack (phone):
She says “rotten people.”
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
She says, “I’d like to trade you for some of our rotten people here who don’t care about our country.” She does not say “white people.”
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Thanks.
O. Felix Culpa
@oldgold: What would “more urgency and more focus” look like? Is there something specific that the Biden administration should have been doing…[checks notes]..in its first ten-and-a half days in office that it’s not doing?
ETA: and that’s actually doable? I.e., no underpants gnome theory of vaccine production and distribution.
debbie
@Steeplejack (phone):
I heard her tell the Brit she would like to trade her for the white people who have no appreciation for our country (paraphrase).
zhena gogolia
@debbie:
Do you have good audio on your computer? I can distinctly hear her say “rotten people.” She doesn’t have the kind of accent that would rhyme “white” with “rotten.”
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack (phone):
Just listened to it again three times. You can hear the “n” at the end of the word. And she does not have the kind of accent that would rhyme “white” with “rotten,” as I said above.
I just think we have to stick to the facts.
The Thin Black Duke
@zhena gogolia: It doesn’t matter. We don’t need a secret decoder ring to know what the translation of “rotten people” is.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Cranked it all the way and listened several times. Of course I’ve been wrong before, but I think she’s more ticked off about other conservatives not joining in her cause than she is with us libtards.
zhena gogolia
@The Thin Black Duke:
@debbie:
We have to stick to the facts. She says “rotten people,” not “white people.” Sorry for being a pedant, but I’m not ready to use Trump tactics. (Obviously I have no use for Greene.)
ETA: Mis-transcribing the video will only distract from the main point, which is that she is taking ownership of a violent insurrection.
Booger
@mrmoshpotato: I recall being mildly unsettled by doing “air-raid” drills/”Duck-n-cover” theatre in elementary school. And at that point, it had been twenty years since the first and last nuclear bombs fell. I can’t imagine doing such a training exercise when the names of the latest young victims are still fresh in everyone’s minds.
O. Felix Culpa
@zhena gogolia: I’m in with z.g. Let’s stick to facts — the actual words spoken — and then decode them. Greene says “rotten people.” By that, she
probablyassuredly means “Our Kind,” who failed to rise and up in defense of our glorious Whiteness.Booger
@Gravenstone: IIRC, the Coast Guard also enforced a cordon on the Potomac (!!) when that fucking lardass went lying on his course in Loudoun County. Because you never know when a kamikaze kayak might swing by.
debbie
Pied.
O. Felix Culpa
@Booger: I have experienced active shooter drills as a former school employee. As staff, we were notified in advance and were prepared for them. They were still traumatic, especially when the police came and hammered on our outer office door, as my staff and I huddled in my locked and barricaded inner office. I was surprised by how terrifying it was. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the kids.
Fair Economist
@oldgold: I think the new variants will probably bring a new high in cases but deaths will be cut back a lot because so many elderly will be vaccinated by late March. There are about 50 million over 65, but by mid-March we will have administered over 80 million shots even at current rates, which would work out to about 50 million with at least a first shot. Figure half of those in over 65 and you’ll about halve the topline death rate, which would roughly counteract the plausible doubling.
Now death rates in under 65s probably will reach scary new highs but that’s not really being reported. What’s going to be killer about the new variants is that things we have found bring manageable risk with the original variant, like primary education and office work, become superspreader possibilities with these new variants.
Of course there’s still the long COVID problems.
Omnes Omnibus
@oldgold: Let’s say a person comes into office and finds that there is no plan at all to to get the vaccine out to people, should we give that person a little bit of time to get something up and running or should we start carping that he’s not doing enough after 10 days? Asking for a friend….
O. Felix Culpa
@debbie: Huh?
O. Felix Culpa
@Omnes Omnibus: Co-signed. We organized a webinar this past week on Covid in NM. Topics included, but were not limited to, vaccine distribution in the state. The amount of querulous whining from privileged, retired people about when when when will I get MY vaccination and I saw/heard/read that some UNDESERVING person got a vaccination and I didn’t was predictable but nonetheless disturbing. And these were Democrats. Sigh.
oldgold
@Omnes Omnibus:
Given our current circumstances and the horror that may lie immediately ahead,
carpinglegitimate questions and suggestions made in good faith from day one to the last day should always be welcome and encouraged.O. Felix Culpa
@oldgold:
Ah, there’s the rub.
Uncle Cosmo
@oldgold: He needs to give us names & credentials or STFU.
Miss Bianca
@O. Felix Culpa: Yeah, this. Guy should get into specifics about what he thinks *should* be happening, that isn’t, and what is feasible, that isn’t, perhaps, *already* on its way. Or STFU.
oldgold
@O. Felix Culpa:
You think Osterholm was calling for an “audible” in bad faith? Based on what?
Doc Sardonic
@germy: Dr.Silverman would know more about this than I do but my assumption is that Top Secret and above materials are on a need to know basis and as former President he no longer needs to know.
O. Felix Culpa
@oldgold: See Uncle Cosmo at#105. Why is Osterholm litigating in the press citing unnamed sources so early in the game? He’s on the damn advisory board, he should make his case there. Or is the problem that he can’t win with actual experts?
ETA: It is, I suppose, possible that he’s setting the table for Biden to end up calling an audible, but I don’t see why the adminstration would need this strategy in order to do that. It sounds like ego talking to me. Mind you, I could be wrong, which would not be a first.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Okay, I have roused myself from the sleepatorium, and on the computer with the primo external speakers turned up it does sound like “rotten.” I was listening on the phone (loud) earlier.
So I was wrong on that, which I admit, but thank you for insinuating that I was trying to pull something by not “sticking to the facts.” You should know me better than that. My question was about the facts.
raven
@Doc Sardonic: There is no “above”.
“There are three levels of security clearance: confidential, secret, and top secret.”
raven
Anybody heard from Kent?
Geminid
@Doc Sardonic: Maybe they’ll run a standard security clearance investigation on trump. He could never pass. Then if he gripes about not being fully briefed, the relevant security official can explain why.
O. Felix Culpa
@raven: Not that I’m aware of. Is there a reason to be concerned? I haven’t been keeping up lately.
Steeplejack
@O. Felix Culpa:
He had (unexpected) heart surgery last week.
RSA
@Doc Sardonic:
I suspect it’s unlikely that Trump will ever see classified material again.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
I wasn’t directing that at you.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
Okay, now I’ve been pied and reprimanded just because I don’t want us to misrepresent the words of this piece of s–t. Time to go.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
Sorry, I did say that in a message that was replying to you, but it was conditioned by several people confidently stating that she said “white people.”
I’m sorry if I offended you.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Kent’s original post.
geg6
@oldgold:
I’m not saying he is, but I’m over all the ianonymous attribution crap. And that’s from everyone, media and the pontificators they air or quote. It’s bullshit.
And I’m willing be bet we’re going to see a big increase and will probably have to get to a vax rate of 80% to get to safety, a big increase from the 70% they were talking about a week ago. He’s not wrong, but he’s doing what I believe is one of the most damaging things, too common in our current media environment, to getting people to accept reality.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Okay, thanks.
Jinchi
@zhena gogolia:
This seems like a (blue dress/white dress) situation. I just listened myself after reading your exchange and on first pass I swore I heard her say “all the white people here”. The other woman’s laugh tends to overwhelm the audio at that point. It was only after listening closely that I could sort it out.
Barbara
@RSA: I don’t know much about these lawyers but it’s a big mistake to think that trial attorneys with a mostly local practice are inferior. Not in my experience.
Steeplejack
@Jinchi:
Yes! I was trying to remember the dress thing but couldn’t put my finger on it.
O. Felix Culpa
@Steeplejack: Oh my. Best wishes to Kent for a speedy return to health!
zhena gogolia
@Jinchi:
So which do you think it is?
RSA
@Barbara: Good point; that was maybe some regional bias showing through.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, it’s horrific.
“Active Shooter” training is an annual thing in many (most/all?) parts of the Federal Government, also too. DHS Booklet (13 page .pdf).
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
@CliosFanBoy:
Hell, I LIVE in red rural West Virginia on a forested hillside, and I want it to hit rural red areas first, and hard! But I wear a mask, and don’t go out unless really necessary.
Wife is scheduled for cataract surgery next week, scary! But they are all professionals and wouldn’t be doing these if they were sure they could keep their patients and staff safe. Still, Scary!
TerryC
So when I heard the quote, I heard it as the interviewer telling her that was a brave thing you did yesterday, referencing what Congress had gone through. And that the representative’s followup response referenced being “here” in the sense of “I wouldn’t be anywhere but here in my congressional seat.” YMMV
J R in WV
@mrmoshpotato:
Actually, as I have pointed out before, so is a Blast Furnace a dry heat. We try to get away from even high-elevation Arizona by April or May.
Ruckus
@germy:
I can not comment on the fucking republican party at this time, because I’m so fucking pissed off.
J R in WV
@TerryC:
I heard the interviewer praise the treasonous Insurrection as brave and heroic, and compliment the Congresswoman for her participation in the Insurrection.
I heard Congresswoman Green’s answer as telling us yesterday’s treason was so sweet to me, I can’t wait to do more treason for Dear Leader Trump.
I don’t see how anyone could hear anything else without also being in favor of more Trumpian Treason, really. The interviewer is famous in England for being a stone fascist already, and this doesn’t help her on that front at all.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
OK that’s serious but it is also modern medicine.
My grandfather one of his daughters, my aunt, died of congenital heart valve issues, both in their mid 40s, long before there was any concept of being able to do what Kent needed. I wish him well, along with all the other people who will live because modern medicine has figured out many ways to make our lives better, healthier and longer. There are more issues to answer and the science is trying to get there but we also have to have a better healthcare delivery system, without the massive profit system that increases cost massively all the while decreasing access.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@oldster: I stayed up too, to see the election ratified. God bless Nancy indeed. And as someone who’s going to turn 70 this year, I too am in awe of her stamina.
dc
@oldster: I didn’t go to sleep until the vote for president and vice-president was officially recognized either. A stature of Pelosi in her high heels in the Capitol.
Ruckus
@oldgold:
In Israel they looked at single dosing Pfizer and found that it is only 30% effective with just one dose yet over 90% effective with two. Olsterholm is full of whatever your favorite effluent is. Two companies didn’t make a two dose vaccine to make more money. Many, including me, might think so but they didn’t. They did 2 because that’s what’s effective in these vaccines. J&J did one and their vaccine is not bad but not as effective. If you are getting Pfizer or Moderna, you need two doses. Full Stop.
CaseyL
@Steeplejack: Holy crap, I somehow missed that. So good to hear the surgery went well and Kent is recovering at home!
I wonder if I should ask my doctor about that. I am definitely out of shape, but have no trouble taking long walks – unless there is a slope. I’m hopeless on slopes and always have been, even when I’m in top shape. Never occurred to me there might be a cardiac issue. Now I’m wondering.
Lyrebird
@Ruckus: Totally OT – have a question about a child’s first bike, there are some medical issues, would you be willing to have Anne Laurie convey my email address to you?
Chris Johnson
@zhena gogolia: For what it’s worth, on many thousands of dollars of studio-grade DACs, mixing, and monitoring (Lavry Black DAC, Heritage Audio mixer, Channel Islands monoblocks powering NS-10s with custom subwoofers (NS10s aren’t pretty sounding but resolve information incredibly well), she said ‘whahte people here’ behind the laugh. It’s a drawl, the same vowel as you’d get in ‘rotten’ and not an I as you’d get in ‘eye’, but she says ‘white people’.
I don’t see how this should surprise anybody. I also don’t see how it’s in the least ambiguous, in context, delivery, or the company she’s keeping. No shit that’s what she said. Unfortunately for her, white people in the USA are not automatically Nazis, poor dear.
I get that the overlap of speech makes it difficult, but that’s what studio monitoring is for. She’s a peach, isn’t she?
evodevo
@debbie:
Yes, yes it did…https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/10/31/fact-check-taxpayer-burden-trumps-golfing-hard-pin-down/3718413001/
evodevo
@Chris Johnson:
Yes.. Greene said “whatt people” – you have to be used to a GA hillbilly accint to get it, but she said white people…
rikyrah
@oldgold:
He is literally starting at point zero.
You do realize that.
They had no plan
They ‘lost’ 20 million doses.
They didn’t order all that they could.
Biden’s team is literally starting from scratch.
germy
US Congresswoman tells Katie Hopkins: “We’d love to trade you for some of our own white people”
brantl
F-Troop’s best!