Yes we need a January 6 Commission. pic.twitter.com/oxcxTyWZRs
— Barbara Comstock (@BarbaraComstock) May 18, 2021
GOP: investigating the insurrection is a distraction from our job, which is to pass bills that improve the lives of Americans
DEMS: ok here’s some legislation
GOP: oh absolutely not
— Jake Maccoby (@jdmaccoby) May 19, 2021
The House of Representatives passed a bill to form a commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump https://t.co/w8sn8tWwrF pic.twitter.com/wb931wnSkE
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2021
If one of our two political parties said we should not investigate 9/11 because a commission would find super damaging info about our party: you think mainstream media would have treated that as unremarkable political debate or admission of anti-US rot in that political party?
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) May 19, 2021
A proposal to create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the U.S. Capitol attack by a mob of Donald Trump's supporters advanced in Congress even as one key Republican announced opposition and another suggested the former president could become a witness https://t.co/YmCRqcKfS6 pic.twitter.com/m29kkcVdet
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 19, 2021
Unfair to al-Qa’ida, which, unlike the Republican Party, took responsibility for its murderous attack on the United States. https://t.co/jxhoKVTfMm
— Peter Wolf (@peterawolf) May 20, 2021
McCarthy wants to block a bipartisan commission on the Jan. 6 insurrection.
It’s clear why:
He doesn’t want to disclose what he discussed with Trump that day.
Or let Americans learn more about congressional Republicans’ complicity in the attempt to overturn our democracy.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 18, 2021
My guess is some GOP members of Congress – including McCarthy – are terrified of being called to testify under oath about what they know.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) May 18, 2021
Wow Tim Ryan has had enough pic.twitter.com/xAvjLikr6H
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 19, 2021
We just voted 252-175 to create an independent, bipartisan Jan. 6 commission.
35 Republicans had the courage & decency to join us.
175 Republicans voted for chaos over our Constitution, & turned their backs on the police who protected us.— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) May 19, 2021
this is pretty much word for word how the German press retroactively minimized the Beer Hall Putsch. haha these dumbasses can't be a threat to anyone, they can't even handle a provincial Bavarian police force, anyway this Hitler guy has written a cool book,
— Gorilla Warfare (again) (@MenshevikM) May 19, 2021
pretty weird how criminals don't want their crimes investigated, what's up with that
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) May 19, 2021
Makes you think. https://t.co/PPJGpkvHyO
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 20, 2021
raven
YO
Gin & Tonic
Segundo.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: not you!
Ken
[Memo to self. If this gets a good comment number, go back and edit it so it looks like something clever. — EDIT: Damn. Four.]
I agree with David Rothschild above. It’s like, oh, voting against an anti-human trafficking bill. You have to ask why anyone would take that stance.
Calouste
If McCarthy has to testify under oath, he will have complete and utter amnesia about 1/6. He won’t even remember where he was that day.
New Deal democrat
David Frum, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, wrote in 2018, “If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
Beginning then, I read a raft of history books on all of the most important Republics: Ancient Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution, as well as Locke’s famous Treatise. I also read a few books commenting about the current situation.
Modern liberal democracies, like all Republics, are ultimately all about a fundamental allegiance to the Rule of Law.
And Frum’s pithy comment is true about about any entrenched, privileged group in any of the historical polities I studied.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Easy, better solution to a joint commission that gets games – name Preet Bharara as special prosecutor, empanel a grand jury, and announce that your witnesses will include every Trump, Kevin McCarthy, MGT, Boebert, Gohmert, every guilty pled 1/6 Defendant, Stephen Miller, Bannon, Stone, Acting SECDEF, NG. bureau commander, etc.
Set ‘em up like dominoes – or like The Godfather baptism scene.
eddie blake
the gop did everything they could to sandbag the 9/11 investigations. W refused to testify under oath or even alone.
dm
More Americans died at the Capitol than died in Benghazi.
NotMax
There’s
an appa word for that: Mumpsimus.Cheryl Rofer
I recognize that I have shaped a liberal bubble for myself in Twitter, although conservative and mutinous sentiments leak in from time to time. My sense is that the events of 1/6 are far from being forgotten, much as Republicans, and Kevin McCarthy in particular, would have it otherwise. In fact, every time they take an action to minimize those events, they get more attention.
I don’t watch Cable tv, get all my national news from the internet.
It seems to me that one way or another, we will find out more. Thirty-five Republicans even broke with the “See No Evil” party yesterday to vote in an investigatory commission. And yes I know it’s not the commission everyone here wanted, but if they just keep fighting, the events will stay in the news into next (election) year.
Timill
In other news, Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and Decimus Junius Brutus would prefer not to dwell on the Ides of March.
Shana
Just popping in to say that I am disheartened to see Barbara f*&king Comstock showing up a lot recently. She happens to be right about a January 6th Commission, but I’ve seen her on Chris Hayes and another show on CNN recently. She tries to come off as a “moderate Republican” but she’s still shilling for the worst elements in the current version of the party. She lost her seat to Jennifer Wexton in the adjoining district to mine in 2018 and I think she’s trying to make a comeback if her media appearances are anything to judge by. She’s been pretty quiet up until a few weeks ago. I wish she’d go back to wherever she’s been the past 2 years.
No One of Consequence
@eddie blake:
I for one am always stunned by the fact that W can talk when Cheney is drinking a glass of water. That’s fuggin’ magic man!
Peace,
NOoC
Brachiator
@New Deal democrat:
Pretty much nails it.
I had assumed that the Republicans would settle for obstructionism when out of office, but they have become complicit in Trump’s most vile delusions. The GOP is now an ongoing danger to the country.
Citizen Alan
Can anyone post a link to the voting roll for the 1/6 commission? I’m certain my Puke Congressman voted against it, but I want to know for sure so I can start calling him a traitor on Facebook.
Ken
@Timill: And Brutus is an honorable man…
Nora Lenderbee
35 Repubs voted in favor of the commission, including all ten who voted for impeachment. I haven’t found the list.
geg6
Since this is an open thread, fuck Bibi and fuck Israel, but cease fire has finally been agreed to, so I guess 200+ dead innocents was enough for now.
Why do we keep funding apartheid there?!?!?!?
Old School
@Citizen Alan:
Here you go.
JanieM
Who voted which way. Just a list of names, though, it doesn’t include which district or party they’re from.
I was prepared to be pissed off that Jared Golden didn’t vote, then I remembered that his first kid was just born
ETA: Oh, wait, I didn’t even see the note at the top. Rs in italics. That helps.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Couldn’t resist.
Elie
These folks are about doing the business of dismantling our democracy, one brick or decision point at a time. They are absolutely serious about this work and it does no good to make fun of them. Between them and the State Legislatures, they are doing a damned good job of grinding shit to a halt and gumming up the real work of true representative governance. I lay awake some nights thinking of how to jam these fuckers up, but it aint and won’t be easy
Karen
Anyone in Maryland: There will be a lottery for people who have been vaccinated. $40,000 a day and a grand prize of $400,000. You don’t have to register, they get the info from the MD Dept of Health.
Here is the info
Ken
Millenarianism, I think, unless I mean millennialism. Anyway, the “Left Behind” checklist for what has to happen before Jesus comes back includes re-establishing the kingdom of Israel, after which Russia and Ethiopia will attack it. Expectations get a little unrealistic after that.
geg6
@Ken:
It makes me crazy. I was involved with anti-South African apartheid activism in college and I am just over my tax dollars, of which I pay a hell of a lot more now than then, going to the scum of the earth like this. Bad enough I pay taxes that fund our fascist, bigoted police but why must I fund foreign fascists?
schrodingers_cat
So why did AOC vote with the Republicans, again?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
On what?
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
I don’t get it — she voted for the commission.
Ohio Mom
Karen @24:
I didn’t like the lottery idea when my state, Ohio, announced it so I can’t say I’m impressed that Maryland will follow. But I will say that giving out less money to more people strikes me as an improvement.
And nice Biblical allusion with the number 40: while Noah was in the ark, it rained 40 days; the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years; Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness.
Why the number 40? That’s how many weeks a normal human pregnancy lasts, ending with a new life, full of promise. We can only hope that the Maryland vaccine lottery ends similarly, with a new Covid-vanquished era, um, delivered.
CliosFanBoy
@Baud: on money for extra security for the Capitol. Only 3 Dems voted against. I do not know why.
Baud
@CliosFanBoy:
Thanks. That is strange.
Baud
@CliosFanBoy:
Symbolic BS.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: From Politico: The group of liberal lawmakers, known as “the squad,” had objected to spending millions more dollars on the Capitol Police budget without more knowledge about whether some officers were indirectly complicit in the Jan. 6 riot.
Catherine D.
@Old School: Whoa, Tom Reed (R-NY “don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out”?) actually voted Yea? Wonder why?
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s a different spin than the NBC story I copied from above. Still, that’s a strange ask.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I think it is all covered under being averse to voting for more funds for the police (of any kind). It’s consistent with the Defund the Police mantra.
ETA: Or we could assume that AOC. et al., are out to destroy the Democratic Party from within and this is all part of their scheme – which I think is a stretch.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Nancy Pelosi can count votes and knows what she can release, whether it be on the right flank or the left.
rikyrah
????
T.Biggs (@TBiggsTequila) tweeted at 3:45 PM on Thu, May 20, 2021:
Eugene Goodman kept insurrectionist clowns at bay, saving how many politicians. Yet , the GOP and the Squad voted against strengthening security. The Squad and way left are garbage.
(https://twitter.com/TBiggsTequila/status/1395480893905674241?s=03)
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Yep. They got their symbolic vote, and the legislation was passed.
ETA: It’s rather funny that this discussion has come up in a thread about legislative sausage making.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ohio Mom:
Also, Lent is forty days long; the time from Jesus’ resurrection to his ascension was forty days; a Jewish man is supposed to have attained the age of 40 before he is considered ready to study Kabbalah; and the prophet Muhammad is said to have been 40 years old when he received the revelations from the angel Gabriel. The number is all over the place in religious scriptures and traditions.
Really interesting about human gestation lasting for 40 weeks. I hadn’t thought of that before.
Barney
Alexandra Petri’s column today:
Opinion: I do not wish to learn anything more about my wealthy husband’s near demise (which would have been sad)
Oh, detective. Must we look into the events of the past? Must we really? Must we dwell on the unpleasantness of a few months ago rather than moving forward? I for my own part would much prefer to move forward. Indeed, it strikes me as unavoidably morbid to ponder too closely what nearly befell my poor husband, Henry. I say “poor” only in the sense of unfortunate, of course — Henry is quite well off, and if I were ever to be his widow, I would also be quite well off. But fortunately Henry is still alive, and I am not his wealthy widow, and that is not a scenario we need to worry about or look into at all!
…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/19/jan-6-commission-republicans-wealthy-husband-near-death/
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I still would have preferred unity. But that’s a standing preference.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
They are such drama queens.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: You get unity when you really need it by being flexible about it when you don’t. Not everything is a three line whip.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Agreed. But this isn’t bill on economic regulation, but related to Jan. 6. Different in my mind as to the ideal.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I feel like this is flipping off the police officers who fought and some died and some nearly died, protecting the elected officials.
I’m thinking funding the police to prevent successful insurrections surely could be an exception to defunding the police.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I like it when you talk dirty.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I’m not a big fan of the slogan, so not my place to say.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Your comment makes me uncomfortable.
pluky
@SiubhanDuinne: Ali Baba faced 40 thieves. There are 40 numbered cards in the Minor Arcana. The list goes on.
Wikipedia had a bit on this.
Mai Naem mobile
@Cheryl Rofer: with her daddy’s connections i am pretty sure Liz Cheney knows stuff other GOP(and non leadership Dem) congressional critters don’t know and that was why she was willing to go out on a limb and be so outspoken on Trumpov. That’s the reason McCarthy, McConnell don’t want the commission. There’s going to be quite a bit of evidence coming out clearly connecting the insurrection to Trumpov. I know i sound political saying this but I just hope this stuff comes out in time for the 2022 election.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not the one who brought up whips.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I am not a fan of the slogan either, but I don’t think the slogan matters much at this point.
But I am most definitely not a fan of the police, yet I still think that the Capitol police being able to defend against insurrections, and being able to defend Democrats from Republicans, would be the exception that proves the rule.
Citizen Alan
@Old School: Yep, Trent Kelly is still a god-damned traitor to his country.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Whips can be used for other things, you know.
Just Some Fuckhead
Study Contradicts GOP Claims That Extra Covid Benefits Prevent People From Taking Jobs
Are we really talking about $20/hour jobs here? Last I checked, these fast food restaurants are paying shit wages because the entire business model is about lining a business owner’s pockets with the exploited productivity of others.
WaterGirl
@Just Some Fuckhead: It’s all a distraction, courtesy of the other side. If we are talking about that, we aren’t focused on something else.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Based on those articles, the slogan matters to three who voted against the bill.
Citizen Alan
@WaterGirl:
I think the issue for them might be that for every Capitol police officer who acted with conspicuous heroism in defending our democracy, there were others who were happy to take selfies with the insurrectionists.
Gin & Tonic
AZ Sec of State tells Maricopa County that the voting machines subpoenaed by the Senate and now in the control of “Cyber Ninjas” can no longer be considered secure and should all be replaced.
I’m sure this will be litigated extensively, but I’m inclined to agree with her.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I couldn’t bear to read the articles. I am tired of blurting out “Fuck” in despair after reading articles today.
I think “Fuck” is definitely a step worse than “What the fuck is wrong with these people?” which used to be my go to when reading.
Gin & Tonic
@Just Some Fuckhead: I had to pop in to my local Wal-Mart the other day. They are offering $17.50/hr for 3-rd shift shelf stockers.
WaterGirl
@Citizen Alan: Well, then fund the Capitol police and then get to the bottom of how individual officers behaved that day.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Wholeheartedly.
Ksmiami
@New Deal democrat: ides of March for GOP representatives then?
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: The bill passed. Also I am more likely to think that the Defund the Police issue is a matter of principle for the Squad since they will actually take some heat over this vote. A principle ain’t a principle unless it costs you.
Benw
@WaterGirl: do we know that the capitol police funds are actually inadequate or were they purposefully deployed inadequately and riddled with sympathizers on 1/6?
I listen to the BIPOC (including the squad) who express their fury at police brutality in their communities with defunding the police.
Ksmiami
@Elie: I have ideas
Calouste
@New Deal democrat: Shorter Frum: “scratch a conservative, find a fascist”
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: What they are is tiresome, like their finger wagging patron saint.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
One of their members sent an anonymous letter yesterday to members of Congress stating his disappointment in Republicans’ opposition to the commission.
debbie
@Citizen Alan:
I give them the benefit of the doubt. They weren’t expecting a rioting mob.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Why not?
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Are you saying you knew they would invade the Capitol?
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: I’m not the Capitol Police.
rikyrah
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I am coming to sit by you?
you-me
Justlikethis???
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Nor am I. TFG’s supporters had a history of mouthing off and threatening, but not of actually becoming violent. It was Trump’s stooges who knew what to expect, but they weren’t sharing anything with the Capitol Police.
Gin & Tonic
@debbie: They should have known. The plans were openly discussed on social media for at least two months.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Word.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Exactly.
sukabi
@Calouste: he’ll develop a complete case of amnesia… Kevin? Who’s that?
Another Scott
Yup.
We have to fight them every single day, but we’re not doomed. Making voting more of a hassle hurts them too.
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Does the Capitol Police monitor social media or do they rely on government agencies to keep them informed? I’ve always assumed the latter; if nothing else, it would seem sharing information is better and less wasteful of resources.
satby
@debbie: Social media is monitored by law enforcement, especially groups of concern like Proud Boys and 3%ers (or whatever those nutbags call themselves).
No One You Know
@Calouste: His kids will never forget who and what he was that day, I bet.