.
As a showdown vote nears, Senate Republicans are misrepresenting the timeline of a proposed independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots, an #APFactCheck finds. https://t.co/lBIBMWQlm2
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 23, 2021
Because lying is not only their go-to tactic, it’s all they’ve got left…
… On Sunday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, suggested that a roadblock to gaining GOP support is the commission’s timing, echoing concerns from Republican leaders last week that the panel’s final report could extend into the 2022 midterm election year.
That’s not the case.
COLLINS, citing issues that could lead her to oppose the panel: “I see no reason why the report cannot be completed by the end of this year. The commissioners have to be appointed within 10 days. There’s plenty of time to complete the work. And I’m optimistic that we can get past these issues based on recent conversations I’ve had with” Democrats. — interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
SEN. JOHN CORNYN, R-Texas, suggesting that Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will drag the commission’s work well into the middle of 2022: “Well, part of the concern is that’s the plan. That’s Pelosi’s plan … That would be the Democrats’ dream.” — interview with CNN on May 19.
THE FACTS: Those claims of a delayed report are untrue. The bill calls for the report to be complete by the end of this year.
Republicans in the U.S. Congress clashed over the need for an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, with one lawmaker warning that failure to create the panel could plague the party's election prospects in 2022 and beyond https://t.co/lEE8zqc4FU pic.twitter.com/psfiWLzykz
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 24, 2021
I applaud Rep. Kinzinger’s principles, while noting that he’s 43, not 68. He’s still got a career to salvage, unlike Susan Collins, who’s apparently decided to retire-in-office-place, with the generous assistance of Maine voters.
… Representative Adam Kinzinger warned that failure to establish a commission could lead to worse consequences for Republicans.
“What’s going to happen if this thing fails is that (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi will run a select committee and this could go all the way to 2024,” Kinzinger, a Republican who backed the commission and voted to impeach Trump, told “Fox News Sunday.”
“This is going to the 2022 midterms anyway, particularly if us as Republicans don’t take ownership for what happened,” Kinzinger said.
A note to the general Repub caucus:
At least a dozen people charged in the Jan. 6 riot Capitol have cited crowd psychology to explain their behavior during the insurrection. Legal experts say judges typically don’t let defendants use a blame-the-crowd defense. https://t.co/Od851huJVB
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 23, 2021
(Matt Davies via Gocomics.com)
Omnes Omnibus
The crowd psychology stuff might be useful come sentencing.
NotMax
Ah, the lemming defense.
Baud
I blame all my transgressions on you guys.
Chetan Murthy
@NotMax: “Your honor, they brought so many baked goods, I just gorged on them, and then I was outta control!” [the blueberry muffin bake sale defense]
NotMax
Because of course that’s where they’re calling from.
debbie
You made me riot! Sounds more like a two-year-old’s defense to avoid a time out.
jl
” Senate Republicans are misrepresenting…”
In this case I think ‘lying’ is better than ‘misrepresenting’.
it’s really SOP with Congressional GOPers. They claim to to bargaining in good faith, but don’t come back with proposals responsive to the Democratic positions, or don’t meet any deadlines for a counterproposal, or mealy mouth ambiguous commitments then come in at the last minute with poison pill or complete change in their position at the last second. Then they claim the Dems aren’t being bipartisan and won’t address their concerns, or have been mean to them, or some such nonsense.
Then the GOP runs to the corporate media and tell a pack of lies, which are transcribed and repeated almost verbatim, with whines about the Dems not being bipartisan.
The Dems need to start loudly calling out this tired GOP scam, and they need to confront the news media on its professional malfeasance and bias on this issue. If they are doing that and I haven’t seen it, I’d appreciate some examples and links.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
I blame everything on the Baud! personality cult.
NotMax
@Baud
So, discredit where it’s due?
:)
dmsilev
Gee, where Benghazi could Benghazi he have Benghazi possiBenghazibly gotten Benghazi that idea from?
jl
@dmsilev: The Benghazi hearings were a long running promotional campaign for Trey Gowdy’s innovative hair stylings, not partisan at all. Any fool can see that.
Cheryl Rofer
I personally would have no problem with the hearings and court trials running into next year.
jl
@Baud:
” I blame all my transgressions on you guys. ”
Baud XXXX!!? Transgressions? I thought they were the all the important Baudist campaign policy positions.
Baud
@Steeplejack (phone):
Truth be told, the Baudettes frighten even me sometimes.
Baud
@jl:
Positions were involved.
hueyplong
Some GOPer today said it is too soon.
So it will be too soon until suddenly and magically it’s too late because it’s unfair for voters to know that one slate of candidates is comprised of fools, traitors, and craven parasites living off the fools and traitors.
RaflW
Susan Collins is fully Trumped now. She’s just as complicit as the rest of the hyenas. Mitt, too.
Karen
I’ve noticed that the local DC TV media have changed the narrative from the “insurrection” to the “riot.” When I heard it the first time I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. How about your local TV media?
Major Major Major Major
I for one am shocked to find lying going on in that political party, especially pertaining to the prior president.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Sometimes? Like when you are conscious?
jl
@Baud: I forgot that by ‘transgression’ Baud XXXX!! means getting up before noon, and skipping the healthful breakfast of a few shots and smokes.
mrmoshpotato
Fuck ’em all.
Olbermann’s god-damned right. (and dmsilev)
piratedan
just hoping that the dramatic differences in GOP behavior are brought to the reporting about the events of January 6th. I know that many of us who watched it unfold will not forget, but then again, the sane amongst us don’t have three entire propaganda networks pumping revisionist history into the airwaves every single day.
mrmoshpotato
@jl: Don’t forget the deep-knee rock squats.
dmsilev
@hueyplong:
Just like how after every mass shooting tragedy, it’s “too soon” to discuss gun control measures, and then magically it’s “in the past and not worth discussing”, and I guess there’s about one nanosecond or so during which it’s the appropriate time to have that conversation.
satby
@Baud: Excuuuuse ME?
raven
@RaflW: same as it ever was
Baud
If the GOP didn’t want hearings to extend into 2022, they could save time by pleading guilty.
Baud
@satby:
Not you!
By which I mean especially you!
UncleEbeneezer
I wish a reporter would ask Collins: so you are suggesting we rush through this rather than ensure the future safety of Capitol Police?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Subtext: Restraining order to follow.
hueyplong
@dmsilev: But only if the conversation lasts for that nanosecond.
And then is forgotten.
satby
@dmsilev: Strangely enough, or not strange at all really, there was a second shooting in 3 days at the mall where the doctor’s office is. At the entrance we use, less than an hour after I left. Time to start confiscating some guns.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: ???
@Baud: ???
Benw
@raven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ll add it to the pile.
Comrade Colette
@jl:
Wonder if he shares a hair stylist with Meghan McCain?
Elizabelle
Can a Special Prosecutor be appointed?
Susan Collins looks like the personification of a bad bathroom smell. She can stick her “bipartisanship” where the sun don’t shine.
You cannot have “bipartisanship” where one of the parties was the transgressor, plain and simple.
Sometimes I wonder if the Democrats go through this kabuki so they can ultimately say: We tried, the GOP stonewalled. This is not “politics”, this was an insurrection aimed at overturning our system of free and fair elections. Bring on the Special Prosecutor. With a broad mandate.
I tire of the stories on any political topic that remind that the GOP could regain control in the midterms. While that is true (although I hope, not likely), it’s like being battered over and over and over again. I think they are battering on purpose, too.
This is not just “politics.” This is whether American citizens get to vote in free elections, fairly run.
It is goddamned insane that one party thinks that owning firearms is a right and voting is a privilege. So ass-backwards.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
Fuck the commission. We need to run Benghazi hearings for the next five fucking years. It was good enough for Republicans then, so it should be good enough for Democrats today. And besides that, we have legitimate reasons to want to look into the insurrection, quite apart from bloodying up the Republicans.
Run some committee hearings. Democrats will be able to call witnesses and subpoena shit, unlike with a commission, where Republicans would have a veto over all that shit.
Elizabelle
@satby: OMG.
I agree with you, though. Guns are a public health issue. Too many out there for us to be safe.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I was thinking you to her. But whatever works.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I would never restrain satby.
Joy in FL
I just left voicemails for my two GOP Florida senators. I know they don’t care about what I say, but I want their staff to hear from people who want that commission.
M31
I want new footage of those trumpholes assaulting cops, smearing shit on walls, and chanting ‘Death to Pence’ on TV every day.
And committee hearings where the Dems interview all the wives and girlfriends who turned in the pieces of shit insurrectionists to the FBI, then give them all medals at the end, and free lottery tickets and a gift certificate.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: May god have mercy on your soul.*
*All nouns potentially subject to proof of existence before benediction becoming effective.
The Thin Black Duke
@Elizabelle: If this doesn’t push those indifferent Democrats to drag their lazy butts to the voting booths in 2022, nothing will.
M31
commission some plaques to be put in the Capital hallways:
“Here @ProudBoyMAGAT2024 took a selfie while defacing federal property, 1/6/21. Sentenced to 6 years and 3 months.”
“On this spot, 1/6/21, @GODGUNSDONALD pissed behind the US Flag, broke 3 windows, and stole Nancy Pelosi’s stapler. Currently serving 5-8 years.”
Yutsano
@Chetan Murthy:
“LEAVE THE GUN TAKE THE CANNOLI IS NOT A LEGAL DEFENCE YA IDIOTS!!!”
satby
@Baud: Does this mean I need to send the fuzzy pink handcuffs back ?? Darn it.
Ksmiami
Every Democrat on every media outlet has to say the GOP is subverting our Democracy so they can rule and punish. Because it’s the truth
patrick II
I saw my first “Trump 2024” yard sign yesterday. I considered stopping and burning the house down, put kept on going.
MomSense
@Baud:
Not if I flip first! Triple backflips in the pike position! It was SubaruDiane and Notmax! Everyone knows they are the jackal masterminds!
Elizabelle
I don’t want to think about Republicans and their lying.
Happy 80th Birthday, Bob Dylan. We had a thread about it, a few posts back.
Also: excellent WaPost article today on how Joe Biden spends his day. And I am going to think of him, because he feels even more urgency than we do about the outcome of the attempted insurrection and all the voting suppression.
Plus: photos of Champ and Major! Champ is reclining; Major’s attention is directed elsewhere. Par for the course.
WaPost: worth a click. Long, informative, and it will make you smile.
Weightlifting, Gatorade, birthday calls: Inside Biden’s day
Mary G
Dr. Fungus
Has any interviewer asked *why* an investigation would hurt the GOP in the midterms? I understand neither party was involved. Am I wrong?
jl
@Comrade Colette:
” Wonder if he shares a hair stylist with Meghan McCain? ”
Setting aside the pros and cons of McCain in other areas, at least I don’t wonder what household appliance she got here hair caught in every time I see a clip of her jabbering away.
Elizabelle
@Dr. Fungus: Good point. I don’t follow the news that closely, but has anyone asked that obvious followup question?
patrick II
@Elizabelle:
“Depending on the viewpoint, Biden has restored routine and order to the White House. — or removed the free wheeling passion”. Freewheeling passion? Man, I just hate that faux equivalence, unless ” free wheeling passion” means listening to FOX all day and then doing as they say.
Elizabelle
@patrick II: Yeah. Freewheeling passion = crazy train.
Albeit, that was kind of wink and a nod phrasing, no?
Ken
Wise decision. What you want to do is take a vacation day for that. Then if you’re arrested you can say you were being a tourist.
Kristine
@NotMax:
Brought to you by the Party of Personal Responsibility Is For Other People.
jl
@patrick II: I don’t remember anyone ever characterizing obsessive and maniacal frenzy at theft and sundry other crimes in the cause of self-enrichment as ‘free wheeling passion.’ But, maybe I just don’t get out enough and am deficient in life experience.
leeleeFL
@NotMax: Wish I could say I was surprised
Elizabelle
@patrick II: A very recent WaPost reader comment — and perhaps it is yours:
patrick II
@Elizabelle:
I think that is right, but I also think that certain members of the audience will read right over that and it bothers me that saying the truth outright is avoided with cleverness. And if they said the truth outright they would be afraid of criticism. It is bowing to low level intimidation, and intimidation has become an important tool of the right.
jl
@leeleeFL: Bar owner’s fault that patronage of his bar, without masks, is an existential issue with so many Floridians. /snark
leeleeFL
@patrick II: Thank FSM my Mama raised me to hold myself back when I want to do something awful like that! Those flags make me nuts!
Ksmiami
@patrick II: just be stealth
geg6
@jl:
You must not see many clips of her then. I’m convinced her stylist HATES her. It’s the only explanation. Google Meghan McCain hairstyles and you’ll see.
leeleeFL
@geg6: I think Megs has zero self-awareness, on all possible levels. I think it’s her family that hates her. Otherwise they’d stage an intervention
geg6
@leeleeFL:
Or, it could be both. Probably both.
Elizabelle
@patrick II: Intimidation being a tool of the right: have you all been following the story of the AP firing Emily Wilder over tweets from college? She had expressed support for the Palestinian cause.
She was hounded out; the Stanford U College Republicans had a lot to do with this, I believe.
No paywall: The Guardian: Associated Press journalists condemn decision to fire Emily Wilder
The letter dozens of AP reporters signed: it is excellent. Google Doc.
The WaPost from 4 days ago on the Emily Wilder case. The Associated Press terminates new staffer amid uproar over tweets about Israel and Palestinians, sparking backlash
Emily Wilder’s history of politically charged tweets was aired by the Stanford College Republicans after she got her new job
Letting the Republicans collect scalps is how you end up with journalists at a major paper (“Democracy Dies in Darkness”) describing a kleptocracy as “freewheeling passion.”
I am thinking of that young Belorussian journalist/activist seized off the Ryanair flight.
Nothing good comes of destroying a free press, and “objective” as a standard has to go. Reporters should be accurate. Timidity is as destructive as “bias.”
Of course, the AP employed Ron Fournier for years. They have a lot to answer for there. And the new WaPost executive editor comes from the AP. Sally Buzbee spent her whole career there. I am concerned about that. I hope Marty Baron signed off on her.
Dr. Fungus
@Elizabelle: And here I thought Republicans were opposed to cancel culture.
Cameron
@patrick II: Is ‘free wheeling passion’ an attempt to make ‘grab ’em by the pussy’ sound dignified?
silent-q (not Q)
@patrick II: A natural reaction.
jl
@geg6: You might be right, I’m not very observant of that kind of styling stuff. A person’s hair is theirs, and as long as doesn’t become a safety hazard, they can do what they want with it as far as I’m concerned.
But my point still stands. If Gowdy’s hair stunts are so outrageous that even I, who seldom even notices such things, have to wonder if he got his head caught in a mixer, and I stare at the mess in wonder and alarm, it must be really really bad.
prostratedragon
The delightfully eccentric currency trader from Belarus who is buying up land in Vermont.
Also, one of the cover stories of NYRB this week happens to be a review of a novel by the Belarusian author Alhierd Bacharevič. Since no one knows nothing about the recent literature of Belarus, the reviewer, who is Belarusian, includes an overview. Paywalled, but subscriptions are cheap.
Kay
I want Biden to start talking about this immediately, and act like he knew it would happen :)
jl
@geg6: OK, I bit. The ones that look like somebody stapled French pastries on top of her head are weird.
But the styles do not not invariably prompt extremely disturbing panic and alarm, so I’m sticking with my point.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
A cunning plan to fuse sturgeon DNA into trees and develop maple flavored caviar?
//
zhena gogolia
@patrick II:
I took a 40-minute drive on Saturday that I had not made since the pandemic hit. Back in the day, it was Trump signs around every bend. Saturday I didn’t see a single one. I took heart.
Elizabelle
@Kay: I’ll read that later. Looks like a good article.
Yeah. Who couldaknowed? Biden and Democrats, that is who.
Top reader comments are discussing the importance of affordable healthcare for job mobility/making use of opportunities.
geg6
@zhena gogolia:
My John tells me it’s the same up in the Pennsyltucky area where our cabin is (for PA residents, that would be the Titusville/Oil City are). Used to be, it was a sea of TFG’s signs. They are finally all down except one house, the lawn of which has several signs and a huge TFG as Rambo flag. Making it all that much more delicious is that his next door neighbor has huge “Fuck Trump” signs in the yard and an out building that he painted with the Biden/Harris logo on the side facing his neighbor.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack (phone): So say we all.
Jeffro
It’s even narrower than the window for enjoying ripe avocados, which is really something when you think about it.
StringOnAStick
According to Ed Kilgore’s Maddow blog, the R’s have released their budget proposal. Change full SS retirement age to 69 then 72, no Medicare until 69 and also change it to “here’s a little money, senior, now go but yourself some health insurance”. They’ve written it down and put their name on it, so let’s hang this one around their necks for the next 2, 4 years.
Ksmiami
@StringOnAStick: hang them with this crap. The party is a menace
Jeffro
AY-MEN
I think each GQP enabler in the House and Senate should get his own hearing, don’t you? One right after another, focused on what – specifically – Congressman X or Senator Y was doing in the days leading up to and during the insurrection.
They could each have their own week and we could do it for years.
The Gosar Hearings.
The Cruz Hearings.
etc etc etc
Just One More Canuck
@geg6: oh dear god
raven
@StringOnAStick: If you want to read the article.
Redshift
@Karen:
I’m still seeing a mix, at least on WUSA, the one Ms. Redshift watches the most often. I’ve definitely seen “insurrection” in the past few days, but everyone also uses “rioters,” I guess because “insurrectionists” is too awkward.
Ken
@Just One More Canuck: Oh, they’re not that bad. Not by comparison, anyway.
Morzer
Helluva depressing story from Josh Marshall here:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/yall-qaeda
Trump’s rabble are really, really into threats of violence. 2022 is going to be ugly and 2024 might be the scariest election ever.
Chris Johnson
@Karen: Could be worse, they could have changed it from ‘insurrection’ to ‘protest’.
‘riot’ is in the ballpark. ‘terrorist action’ wouldn’t be bad, either.
jl
@StringOnAStick: You’re pranking us, right? Srsly?
geg6
@StringOnAStick:
Jesus fucking Christ. Are they really that stupid?
jl
@geg6: It’s a response to the Biden admin proposal to include human capital development in the infrastructure bill.
Clear out the deadwood, kill all the old people, shazzam: improved human capital. Started with their original covid control plan (let old people die and take a hit for the sake of the economy) and their dupes swallowed it whole. So, stick with it going forward.
mrmoshpotato
@geg6:
You know the answer to your own question. :)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@jl:
Well yeah, but this is SS and Medicare we’re talking about. The “third rail” of politics. Remember “keep the government’s hands off my Medicare” that right-wingers said during the Obama years? The GOP are fools
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
✊
jl
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think the GOP has same strategy as Fox, which is to mine weak minded or mean spirited and selfish elderly like an exhaustible resource, in order to eek out elections on their votes, and smash and grab while they can. That is why they usually try to include a grandfather clause for people over a certain age. A while ago the magic age where people got something for all their contributions, rather than nothing, was 55.
But who knows. The elders didn’t revolt when instructed to up and die of a new disease a year ago, so maybe the GOP thinks it’s time to stake out new territory on theft disguised as insane policy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@geg6:
Somebody, maybe here, suggested that her hairstyles are a deliberate ploy to get people to make fun of her appearance, so she can play the victim. I wouldn’t bet on, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it somehow were proved to be true.
debbie
@jl:
That smells mightily of Gym Jordan.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I bet Joy Behar told her that her hair looked great.
Elizabelle
@raven: Breathtaking in its cruelty and stupidity.
But its benefit: highly memorable, and emotionally engaging. [ETA: For our voters.]
Republican congresscritters truly do not live in the world that we do.
Ivan X
@Elizabelle: What’s a good bathroom smell?
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fine with me for people to hate on McCain’s fashion choices.
But I will not, cannot, allow the Gowdy hair horror to be ignored, to be erased from the historical record. It’s for the sake of all humanity present and future.
Elizabelle
That GOP Study Group plan is so whack that I almost wonder if it’s a parody. A trap, for Democrats and journalists.
Elizabelle
@Ivan X: Bubble bath. Clean soap. Fresh towels. Some shaving creams.
But Susan Collins: *ick
debbie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
This is why anyone who needs to continue working after reaching retirement age should put in for SSI. Get what’s yours while you can.
Amir Khalid
@Dr. Fungus:
I keep having to remind people that Republicans re fine with cancel culture as long as they get to do the cancelling.
Bill Arnold
@patrick II:
The Great Oxford Poop Prank – Don’t you guano know what happened? (Cara Giaimo, March 26, 2018)
Much easier now with a small sprayer and (double strength) liquid fertilizer. (Reportedly. I have not tried this (true! Except on parent’s lawn with their permission as a kid), but arson, attempted or otherwise, is a much more serious matter.)
Ken
They do think that quoting their own words is the lowest possible form of dirty politics.
Bill Arnold
@Elizabelle:
That story made me quite angry, especially after looking over their list of invitees[1] include mass homicide perpetrator Scott Atlas. (That guy (along a few others but especially him) killed at least 10s of thousands of Americans through political influence on Trump, and probably far more.) They are nasty partisan scum, and Stanford is sullied by allowing their scummy behavior to be associated with the institution. (And if they believe their own propaganda, they are own-propaganda-huffing gullible partisans.)
[1] https://stanfordreview.org/author/stanford-college-republicans/
?BillinGlendaleCA
Republicans have been telling us for years, especially Americans who don’t pass the manilla folder test, that if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have no reason to fear the police or an investigative commission. I fail to understand their concern that the commission’s work might extend to 2022, I mean, they’ve done nothing wrong…right?
Elizabelle
@Bill Arnold: The students delight in describing themselves as “contrarians.” Check out the “about” feature. Diverse editorial staff; sad to see them so wrong at so young an age
ETA: I really hope their participating in the smearing campaign against Emily Wilder comes back to haunt them. And that she goes on to even better opportunities than the AP, which is where bothsiderism thrives.
Bill Arnold
@StringOnAStick:
For those who want to read it as written.
https://banks.house.gov/uploadedfiles/budget_fy22_final.pdf
Search on “normal retirement age”, e.g.
Note also the inclusion of a political wedge at around age early 50s years old. Divisiveness is the Republican Way. (Well, one of their Ways, in service of Making the Rich Richer, making the Haves Have More.)
Elizabelle
@Bill Arnold: I do not even want to hear from those asshats about their concern with the deficit and financial rectitude.
Study group of a-holes feeding at the public trough. With excellent, government-paid healthcare and a pension system. All for me, but not for thee. Horrible people. Just horrible.
patrick II
@Elizabelle:
Those look interesting, but I will get them later. My real estate agent called — I just bought a house.
smith
@Bill Arnold: The mirror image of that prank, using herbicides, has at times been perpetrated on college football fields.
Elizabelle
@patrick II: Congratulations! Good luck with the closing and move, etc.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@NotMax: they have become as sheeple.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Karen: of course it was a riot.
antifa & blm organized it.
Steeplejack
@patrick II:
Congratulations!
J R in WV
@Karen:
Insurrection–>Riot–>demonstration–>victory party…
Maybe that’s the progression they really need? Hard to believe once a few dozen are convicted! Especially if we see some leaders go down for sedition and Insurrection, as we should!