Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

T R E 4 5 O N

Republicans don’t trust women.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / Repub Stupidity Open Thread: The Gang That Couldn’t Coup Straight

Repub Stupidity Open Thread: The Gang That Couldn’t Coup Straight

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If it weren’t for the whole ‘attempt to subvert the election and install a dictatorship’, there’d be genuine comic potential in this fustercluck:


Bess Levin, at Vanity Fair:

…[T]he messages help paint a picture of that day, raising new questions and answering others. For instance, in the former category, it seems pretty clear, as Cheney noted, that not only was the White House keenly aware of how bad the situation was, but the president himself was too. So why didn’t he act? Was it because things were playing out exactly as he wanted them to and he hoped his supporters would actually be successful in blocking the certification of Joe Biden’s win? Sure sounds like it! (Here, let’s recall that on January 8, Republican senator Ben Sasse said in an interview that senior White House officials had told him that as the insurrection unfolded, “Trump was walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was, as you had rioters pushing against Capitol police, trying to get into the building. That was happening. He was delighted.”)…

Finally, there’s the question of why Don Jr. was trying to communicate with this father through Meadows. Yes, Trump was the leader of the free world at the time, but surely most presidents inform their staff that calls from their children should be put through, particularly if they’re important. Did Junior initially try to contact his dad directly, only to find himself screened? Did he realize from the get-go that Trump—who’s never appeared particularly fond of his namesake—wouldn’t listen to him and then decide to try Meadows as a back channel?…

Reader Interactions

181Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    the plan went to shit when counter-protesters steered a billion miles away from DC because anyone with half a brain in their head saw the trap

    This seems like post hoc speculation.

  5. 5.

    Roger Moore

    What’s kind of amazing about all this, Meadows tried to avoid contempt by providing a few thousand text messages and emails. He ends up in contempt anyway, but now he’s also roped in Trump Jr., a bunch of former colleagues and Fox hosts for no discernible benefit.

    Alternatively, the whole thing is score settling. He’s happy to provide texts and emails from people he wants to burn, but he’s willing to risk contempt to protect others.

  8. 8.

    Cermet

    The failure was likely better since if they played their hand then, the court might very well have shot them down since proper electors had been sent and certified by each state. Now they control enough key states that they can control the electors and select the orange puss ball regardless of the states’ popular vote.

  10. 10.

    senyordave

    Ingraham text 2 Meadows on 1/6 (per Cheney): “[Trump] needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.”

    Can you imagine how bad it is when you’ve lost Laura Ingraham?  This is a woman who you can be sure will not bbe going to hell when she dies, because even Satan has some standards.

  17. 17.

    Spanky

    “It seems to me he’s worthy of being held in contempt,”

    Not contempt of Congress. Just held in contempt. We agree, Mr. President.

  18. 18.

    mrmoshpotato

    Don Jr. later said, “We need an oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far. And gotten out of hand.”

    Awww…. Shitstain Jr. wasn’t happy that they lost control of their mob of fascists.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @senyordave:

    Sometimes I find myself wondering about Trump’s death and funeral — not the part about hundreds of thousands lined up for miles in order to piss on his grave, but the serious ceremonial stuff: lying in state, military escort, flags at half-staff, National Cathedral obsequies, all living former Presidents and First Ladies in attendance, etc.  I simply can’t imagine any of that for TFG. I can’t think that Dubya or Clinton or Obama would even want to show up. As with everything else that came his way, he broke the norms and standards beyond recognition. When it happens, it’s going to be interesting as hell to watch.

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    Ouchie. Awakened on Tuesday to having severely pulled something in the upper left quadrant of the back while asleep. Day 2 of turning the wince-o-meter to 11.

  23. 23.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    that’s because you don’t follow their social media and freeform organizing. From the moment the “Stop the Steal” rallies started to be organized, with the “Usual suspects” lining up, word went out to not counter protest, any of the rallies, ( not just the DC ones) , anywhere near them,

    because the “Usual Suspects” Discord and Telegram chats were being hacked in almost real time, and the “Usual Suspects” were looking to kill people and use the conflict to prop up TFG.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I can’t think that Dubya or Clinton or Obama would even want to show up.

    Would they be invited? I guess it depends on who’s in charge, and I think both Malania or Ivanka would want the whole Club there, even if The Beast wouldn’t, and I suspect the fail-sons are afraid of both.

  27. 27.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    I doubt you ever will. Antifa is a bunch of individuals, not some kind of organized group. They must have a Reddit or something similar where they’d have been discussing the upcoming “march.” I think enough clues were being dropped (because it’s impossible for those assholes to keep their mouths shut) that they realized they needed to stay home.

  29. 29.

    Mallard Filmore

    it seems pretty clear, as Cheney noted, that not only was the White House keenly aware of how bad the situation was, but the president himself was too. So why didn’t he act?

    He was busy watching TV, filled with thoughts of how beautiful life was, what with all those people at the Capitol fighting for him.

  31. 31.

    Jay

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    the train of white horses dragging the Russian flag draped dumpster down the street will be quite the thing,…. not sure what part of the ceremony they set it on fire,…….

  33. 33.

    geg6

    @Jay:

    This is totally correct.  The groups that I follow and often attend local rallies, canvasses and other GOTV and activist events with had sent out warnings to steer clear of counter protesting them on 1/6.  All the warning lights were flashing red and some who had plans to go to Harrisburg to do counter protests cancelled their plans because of the rumors about possible violence being planned.

  34. 34.

    Jay

    @debbie:

    Discourse and Telegram, no Reddits.

    The Nazi’s figured out a long time ago that they could “slip by” social media restrictions by using “gamer chats”. Hackers also noticed that all those convo’s had pretty much no forewalls and almost a decade of data.

  35. 35.

    RandomMonster

    @Baud: I don’t have specific references, but my general recollection from the lead up to J6 is that activists were saying that these goons were spoiling for a left-right fight, and so the best strategy was to leave them alone to let them metaphorically shoot themselves in their own dicks.

  36. 36.

    Jay

    @Cameron:

    nobody’s going to pay TFG’s kids for golf cart rentals when horse  emissions are biodegradable and there is a scoop container right there,…..

  44. 44.

    Bill Arnold

    @Jay:

    word went out to not counter protest, any of the rallies, ( not just the DC ones) , anywhere near them,

    I remember at least one warning here, perhaps by you. (Will look for it after dinner.)

  46. 46.

    Jay

    @ian:

    here, based on “privileged access”, it ranges from blind trust down to E-Trade. Basically, based on being privy to info, determines restrictions.

    of course, rules haven’t kept up with loopholes and evasion.

    Back in the day, “Flying Phil*” had his kids buy land where the highways, dams and hydro lines would go. Entered politics with $1500, retired a multimillionaire, along with his kids.

    ”We”, really didn’t care, we got electricity, airports, highways, jobs, etc, out of the deal.

    (*Flying Phil for his habit of exceeding the speed limit in his caddy convertible by several digits, and not just at the ceremonial  opening opening of a new highway.)

  47. 47.

    MazeDancer

    Open thread report of no fun tonight in Iowa: 80 MPH wind gusts predicted tonight. My niece reports sirens are already blaring in Des Moines as the winds are howling in.

    Going to be 57 tomorrow in the Hudson Valley.

    Totally normal December…

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I can’t think that Dubya or Clinton or Obama would even want to show up. As with everything else that came his way, he broke the norms and standards beyond recognition.

    They might want to show up to make sure that Trump is really and sincerely dead.

  53. 53.

    Jay

    @Brachiator:

    close up cam of all the “mourners” , including his wife and kids, stabbing, shooting, using a hammer on the body, up close and personal to “prove” he’s dead will be a YouTube sensation.

  55. 55.

    Brachiator

    @Patricia Kayden:

    RE: Child Tax Credit.

    I have noted previously that refunds for many lower and middle income taxpayers may be significantly higher this tax season, because the Child and Dependent Care Credit and the Enhanced Child Tax Credit are both fully refundable.

    The sad and crazy thing is that Manchin and a few other senators and representatives keep trying to cut back these credits in the Build Back Better legislation.  These people are despicable.

    And again, here is a brief idea of how much of a difference this could make:

    A married couple with two kids making $100,000 and who pay $10,000 in child care costs would have a tax balance of $3400 in 2020, but a tax refund of $3000 on the same income in 2021 because of the new credits.

    A nice swing.

    I don’t expect the media to interview ordinary people who are helped by these credits.

    The Republicans will ignore this. They have falsely been attacking the BBB plan credits as welfare, free money to undeserving wretches.

    Typically, while they deride credits for individuals, they praise business credits and deductions as God’s will.

  60. 60.

    realbtl

    I’m thinking T went from Har har look at my boys to pants shitting fear when he realized things were out of control and was paralyzed.

  62. 62.

    Jay

    @dexwood:

    with or without a heart, the general area will suffice, as long as it’s deeply driven, and room is left for others,

    don’t be selfish.

  64. 64.

    Lyrebird

    @RandomMonster: I don’t have specific references, but my general recollection from the lead up to J6 is that activists were saying that these goons were spoiling for a left-right fight

    Same, I don’t have references, and most of my twitter access is through Anne Laurie anyhow.  But I recall the insurrection people saying loud and clear, “dress like Antifa” and let’s go break some heads…

     

    I am so happy that Meadows has implicated others up top.  Easy to hate the violence perpetrators, but it would be so refreshing and so right to get some accountability for the people stirring them up

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @Jay:

    “Alberta will allow unvaccinated adults to attend indoor private holiday gatherings despite the threat posed by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Premier Jason Kenney said Wednesday.”

    Wow. Meanwhile in Scotland:

    People in Scotland have been urged to cancel Christmas parties due to the rising number of cases of the Omicron Covid variant.
    Public Health Scotland said a number of outbreaks caused by Omicron were linked to Christmas parties….

    and

    People in Scotland have been asked to limit socialising to three households at a time in the run-up to Christmas amid concerns over the Omicron variant.

    We will see which advice was better, and depending on how people react.

     

  68. 68.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​
     

    Dump was so furious over being blocked from McCain’s funeral that he told staffers that when he dies not to allow John McCain attend his service.

  71. 71.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Brachiator: I will never understand why giving tax bennies to the already grown and rich instead of children is Manchin’s hill to die on. Despicable indeed. Even deplorable.

  75. 75.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    I will never understand why giving tax bennies to the already grown and rich instead of children is Manchin’s hill to die on.

    You could go to his yacht and ask him.

  78. 78.

    Richard

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I hope i live to see that day. It is hard to imagine how it will play out.

    Maybe they can do it at Mar a Lago and his followers can put on a ceremony.

    If it were up to me, i would sew him into a sack with some heavy rocks and throw him into the Ocean, far from shore.

  80. 80.

    Kristine

    This obit is an entire series co-written by Joe R Lansdale and Carl Hiaasen.

    Hers was an itinerant, much-lived life, a Yankee Florida liberal Jewish Tough Gal who bowled ’em in Japan, rolled ’em in North Carolina and was a singularly unique parent.

  81. 81.

    jnfr

    @debbie:

    I definitely saw stay-away warnings go out on Twitter. There was a hashtag for it, but I don’t remember specifically. Reddit and Twitter (and probably private groups I know nothing about) is as organized as these things get, from my observations.

  82. 82.

    dopey-o

    @SiubhanDuinne: I can’t think that Dubya or Clinton or Obama would even want to show up. As with everything else that came his way, he broke the norms and standards beyond recognition. When it happens, it’s going to be interesting as hell to watch.

    “I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a card expressing my approval.” (St. Mark Twain)

  86. 86.

    dopey-o

    @ian: I just hope that someone at the time can write something like this by Hunter S Thompson.

    I will go to my grave believing Nixon was the greatest American Mass Murderer (25,000 +/- draftees and god only knows how many SE Asians) until TFG sent 350,000 Americans to their early graves.

  90. 90.

    Jay

    @jnfr:

    we are organized, but it’s more collective than top down.

    eg. Our box store rents vans and cube vans, for Customers to rent for 90 minutes for cheap so that all the stuff they buy, they can get home.

    Between now and Christmas there will be a few less, because I convinced Corporate to give free daily rentals to the various “feed the people” Food Banks and Collectives between now and New Years and write it off as a “donation”,

    as a volunteer, I know that this time of year, added into the flooding and road closures, delivery and p/u is a bottleneck,

    We, the associates have been networking on this since September.

    We got the Corp okay on Monday, put the word out to our local orgs, and today, 58 “rentals” went out to p/u food, p/u gifts, deliver food, deliver gifts.

  93. 93.

    Jay

    @different-church-lady:

    if you really want to attend with a cordless drill and a hole saw, fine by me, just keep in mind the lines will be long and they get heavy after a while,

    but “God Bless” and use a comfortable backpack,…

  97. 97.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    havn’t seen any of the Dexter 2.0’s, just the trailers, but isn’t he in the dry arid parts now?

    no spoilers on his new “techniques” please.

    It’s on the watch list.

  100. 100.

    patrick II

    @Baud:

    That they stayed away is the fact that confirms the theory.

    I read about warnings from ANTIFA and other counter-protesting groups to stay away before the 6th, so they had understood the trap.

  102. 102.

    Jay

    @MagdaInBlack:

    we all are, except Baud, who is immortal.

    What I wouldn’t give for a 20 year old prostate,……

    did the Jolene joke today,….

    “So you’ve seen photo’s of Dolly Parton recently, and when she was you young,…..

    and you know she named it Dollywood rather than Dixieland to not dogwhistle racism,…..

    and she funds children’s and adult literacy programs to the tune  of over $1m a year,

    and she funded the basic research on the covid vaccines,….

    So what was Jolene bringing to the table aside from auburn hair???

    Most of the youngs don’t get it.

  103. 103.

    raven

    We’ve been renovating our rental since September and it’s almost done. We just rented to an artist from LA who did his grad work here and has family nearby. He will spend about 6 months a year here and is into a long term setup! It really took the heat off us to not have to evaluate the 25+ people who have applied to rent it!

  105. 105.

    lowtechcyclist

    @ian:

    I would say no to the congresscritters as well, but they have a lot of staff. Should we ban all of the staff from stock trades? Not so sure of that.

    There will be plenty of staff with knowledge not available to the general public about where legislation is going that could affect particular markets.  Trading on that knowledge is illegal; it’s known as ‘insider trading.’

    Yeah, in a perfect world, people who do insider trading would always be caught and convicted, but it’s a lot harder to do IRL.  And also, why put that particular temptation in their way that could wind up ruining their life if they’re unlucky?

    And since there’s really no good way to fence off the staff that would have access to such knowledge from those who don’t, yeah, ban them all from anything more than owning index funds.

  108. 108.

    Leto

    @Jay: Dex 2.0 is set 10+ years later and in upstate NY. Lots of snow. We’re recording it, have watched the first 3-4 episodes, but it suffers from the same issues that the original series did.

  109. 109.

    Chetan Murthy

    @lowtechcyclist: I’m not a specialist in this, but it seems like there’s an obvious fix: let Congresscritters trade as they wish, but:

    1. only publicly listed instruments (no startups, private companies)
    2. and they must publish their trades (instrument, buy/sell, price, # shares) TWO WEEKS before they execute the trade

    And by publish, I mean that it becomes public information two weeks before they execute.  And they cannot back out of the execution.  [maybe some special provision must be made for trades at market price].  This would allow any material nonpublic information that these leges possess, to become public knowledge, and vitiate any trading edge they have due to same.  Of course, the same rules should apply to any employees of Congress.

    If they’re investing for the long-term, a two-week delay is nothing.   And they should only be investing, not speculating, so this should line up with the public’s interest.

    But I’m not a specialist in these things …..

  110. 110.

    geg6

    @debbie:

    This has always been true.  You don’t pay the bill, you can’t have the merch.  In higher ed, the merch is the transcript and degree.  I’m not against the program in the article and, in fact, my own employer has instituted a similar pilot program in the past two years for students with balances of $6K or less.  But schools must have a stick to hold over students to get paid and holding credentials is the only one we have.

  111. 111.

    Jay

    @Leto:

    SWMBO loved 1.0. Took a couple of seasons of half hearing while reading or surfing while she watched for SWMBO to get me to watch from the beginning.

    It was okay, killed time, beat the McGyver 2.0.

    I don’t have any “must watch” TV except for “Rediculousness” and some doc channels.

  112. 112.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Baud: Nope. Prior to 1/6 there were plenty of leftist activists telling people to stay the fuck away to avoid giving the Trumpistas a chance to start some Reichstag fire shit.

    Obviously they didn’t know what we know today, but they were definitely worried Trump would take advantage of the situation, some even mentioning that he might use it as a pretext to declare martial law. Which was pooh-poohed as paranoia.

     

  116. 116.

    Jay

    @Kirk Spencer:

    the best bit, is I’m on 3 weeks vacation as of tomorrow, and I passed my physical, ( boosted, Long Covid), and I am back on the active list for Street Medical for the Unhoused and 2 food banks. No more doing paperwork only. 2 other Orgs will let me know Friday if I can be on the street again. My local PharmaSave has been giving out free Narcan kits, which I have been passing on, but my Medikit is well stocked.

  119. 119.

    MagdaInBlack

    Ok, its getting really REALLY windy here in nw Chicagoland.

    Eta: and..Minneapolis has tornado warnings.

  123. 123.

    mrmoshpotato

    @MagdaInBlack: What?!  I couldn’t hear you over the howling wind!

    24mph/gust to 28mph

    “A steady, soaking rain developing overnight.” according to wunderground.

  127. 127.

    dnfree

    @MagdaInBlack: Tomorrow is our garbage day and we usually put the containers out the night before.  No one on our street did except one house.  Their  trash container was in the street and the recycling was on the lawn on its side a little while ago.

  130. 130.

    Miss Bianca

    @mrmoshpotato: 24 mph/gusting to 28 is a “howling wind”? Surely you jest…

    (we had gusts measured between 75-90 mph round these parts today. Blew down one of the aspen trees in front of the theater. Still going out there now, le sigh.)

  135. 135.

    ian

    @lowtechcyclist:

    A senator’s staff may range in size
    from fewer than 20 to more than 60. A representative’s staff is limited to 18 full-time and four part-time
    staffers.

    https://www.sgim.org/File%20Library/SGIM/Communities/Advocacy/Advocacy%20101/THE-ROLE-OF-CONGRESSIONAL-STAFF.pdf

    That is 435 x 22 house staffers and 100 x 60 senate staffers- some 15,000 + people you want to ban from managing their own finances.  Then there is also the question of making sure our legislators have decent help, banning staff from participating in the stock market.  would create a disincentive to work for a congress critter.  Like you said, if they do the insider trading they can be busted for it.  There is a difference between banning congress people from trading stocks and banning their staff from doing it.  Our mileage varies on this, but I don’t think that it’s justified.

  136. 136.

    debbie

    @geg6:

    Thanks. I have zero knowledge about this, but I would have assumed they either had the funding or qualified for scholarships, grants, etc. Do the universities check into or verify finances before accepting students?

  140. 140.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    lots of chatter on MSNBC tonight that Biden is going to start ramping up the voting rights argument, though no one has quoted anything Biden said that I’ve seen

    I’m a firm skeptic of One Weird Trick politics and Obama Biden Needs To Give A Speech!, but I’d like to see him abandon the now traditional SOTU laundry-list in favor of a short, sharp focus on voting. “My fellow Americans, it is with a heavy heart that I come to you tonight, to say that the state of our Union is imperiled…

    ETA: like 20 minutes

  142. 142.

    Kristine

    @Miss Bianca: Here in NE Illinois, it’s 28-32mph with gusts in the 50s. Not slowing down much until the morning. Of course I need to go out tomorrow, and I’m crossing fingers that when I wake up I don’t find tree limbs blocking the driveway and that the power stays on

    Aaaand the power just flickered for the first time…

  144. 144.

    jeepers

    There’s a widespread assumption that all these people were contacting Meadows instead of trump but I’ll bet that at least some of them were also contacting trump directly and he was ignoring them all. If I was in their position I certainly would have contacted both in an effort to get it stopped.

  145. 145.

    opiejeanne

    Apologies if someone else has already mentioned that Gym Jordan was accidentally outed in an article written for The Federalist accusing Adam Schiff of fabricating part of Jordan’s text, or truncating it, in order to make it sound worse. The asshole who wrote that is Joseph Schmitz, former Inspector General of the Department of Defense during W’s administration.

    Schmitz is the son of failed Presidential candidate and former Representative from Orange County, CA, John G. Schmitz whose vile behavior finally proved to be too much even for that RW enclave. (We lived around the corner from the Karcher family, who helped foist this monster on us). John, Joseph’s father, was a Nazi in all but name, a truly nasty person. I’m not surprised that his children have continued to reflect his vile behavior. Another one of his children is Mary Kay LeTourneau.

    The wikipedia page on John G. is very instructive:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Schmitz

  146. 146.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Matt McIrvin:

    NGL, I was shocked people could just go kayak up to his yacht and talk to him. A tad unwise for somebody in his position to be so in the open like that…

  147. 147.

    debbie

    @opiejeanne:

    Apparently, one of the tweets Cheney read at the hearing was from Jordan. He’s also saying the text was actually Schmitz’s and he had accidentally forwarded it to Meadows.

  148. 148.

    Chetan Murthy

    @ian:

    some 15,000 + people you want to ban from managing their own finances.

    it’s pretty well-established that active traders cannot beat the market, unless they either (a) are gambling (e.g. “Capital Destruction Partners”) or (b) possess an informational advantage.  In this case, the informational advantage would be due to their jobs.  There’s excellent grounds for demanding that they invest only in broad-based indices.  But even there, there’s room for insider trading (like Burr did at the start of the pandemic — just dumping your holdings was a nontrivially smart move).  So I have to disagree with you.

    But even if we stipulate that these people must be allowed to actively trade, making all their trades public *before* they occur, solves the problem, I would think.

  149. 149.

    Peale

    Just called my Mom in Wisconsin about the winds. She’s not going to be taking the recycling out to say the least.

    in other “global warming isn’t real”, I had a few undershirts that didn’t completely dry in the wash today, so I put them outside on my clothes rack on my balcony. And when I went to bring them in, there were wasps on them, probably attracted to the dryer sheet. Anyway, starving wasps in December is not something I’d ever had to worry about before.

  152. 152.

    Kirk Spencer

    @ian: no. Not allowing them to detail trade is not banning them from managing their own finances.

    Each of them is in close proximity to influence and peculiar knowledge that can and does impact industries prior to it being known by the general public. I have no hesitation prohibiting more than index fund stock activity for them.

  153. 153.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Chetan Murthy:

    But even there, there’s room for insider trading (like Burr did at the start of the pandemic — just dumping your holdings was a nontrivially smart move).

    as long as you knew when to get back in

    but on balance I agree with you, we’d be doing them a favor by banning them from trading individual stocks

    does this apply to spouses? Nancy Pelosi’s husband is an investor worth about $100M, and I think Mr Dianne Feinstein could buy and sell him. Ted Cruz’s wife I believe works for the dread Goldman Sachs

  155. 155.

    Starfish

    @Peale: We were seeing live grasshoppers in Colorado in late November and early December. The lights have been flickering all day with 80-100mph gusts.

  157. 157.

    guachi

    No one will be shocked to find out that Sinema refuses to change the filibuster rule for voting rights. So BBB is dead and voting rights are dead. For the rest of the Congress all we’ll get are judges and more defense spending.

  160. 160.

    geg6

    @debbie:

    We do our best to inform students of costs and the aid they can qualify for and what the requirements are for keeping aid eligibility.  But, depending on the costs of the school, few students will have their entire bill covered by the typical federal, state or institutional aid, especially at the large flagship public universities which have restraints that many private universities don’t have.  For instance much, much, much smaller endowments and an inability to use strategies such as tuition discounting.  At my small campus of my state’s flagship university, few students other than commuters who are from low income families will have enough federal, state and institutional funding to cover all annual costs.  Most students, especially those who live on campus, will have to pay a balance after all aid has been applied to their accounts.  There are federal parent loans, private educational loans and payment plans to take care of the balance. People are given all these options, which are communicated to them numerous times, in numerous ways.  At my campus, students (and parents) must meet with me (campus financial aid officer) or my boss (enrollment director) before they can get their dorm key.  We go over their aid, their bill and try to help them make a plan for any balance.  That is just one of the different ways we make people aware and try to avoid these situations.  But we can’t always make them do it until they face a consequence, which means they can’t get a transcript or schedule any more classes until they have settled the bill that they have known about and been communicated to about for the past four months.  I’ve been dealing with a bunch of these students all week and have about lost all patience with their excuses. We will do what we can to help but students have to try to work with us.  I do not shy away from telling a student (and parents) that we might not be the best choice for their student financially but if they choose to attend anyway, they need to plan accordingly.

  161. 161.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @Sure Lurkalot: It’s a matter of building character, dontcherkno.

    Per the tenets of that soothing poison, American Calvinism, wealthy adults have established their strength of character and godliness, which is why they’ve been blessed with wealth. We should respect and honor that. Children have yet to achieve such traits, so we should help them by making them struggle. Matthew 19:14 does not mean, to these ass-chancres, that we should do anything as a nation to improve these children’s material lives.

    Excuse me, I need to take something for my nausea.

  162. 162.

    Peale

    @guachi: here’s a morbid but useful conversation. Had 1/6 succeeded and all the Democratic Senators were executed, which 10 would actually be missed? Are there even 10 of the 50 who have earned any modicum of emotional engagement with us? I bet most of our lists stop around 7 and we’d be stretching after that.

  163. 163.

    Another Scott

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    HouseStockWatcher says she (presumably she and her husband?) have $51+M in stock trading activity (buying and selling). Data from the Clerk of the House.

    Rapid, accurate disclosure is vital. Two weeks early disclosure might be going too far – dunno. Maybe the end of the actual trading day? Who should be included in the restrictions might get complicated. Someone on staff who opens envelopes and sorts letters? Someone on Appropriations? Someone on Ethics? Just make everyone restrict their trading to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) – what about spouses who do trades for a living??

    I’m inclined to say that lots of problems go away if there is rapid accurate disclosure. “Congressman, why did you buy $50,000 in a penny stock yesterday, hmm???”

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  164. 164.

    sdhays

    @RandomMonster: This is what I recall too. It was clear that it wasn’t going to be a normal rally.

    Unless, of course, you’re in charge of the Capitol Police, or FBI, or National Guard, or whoever. They saw “white people” and decided it would be a party. Or they were happy to welcome the violence. I hope we find out who was who.

  165. 165.

    Ancient Atheist

    @SiubhanDuinne: Well, Cheney won’t be invited! But, Obama, Bush, Biden, the Clintons will accccept the mantel if human dignity and national honor to display to the world what an aberation TFG was.

  167. 167.

    gene108

    @Peale:

    Why would a Senator need national brand appeal with voters? As long as voters in their respective states are happy with them, and keep re-electing them, I don’t see much reason any Senator needs to care beyond that unless he/she has Presidential ambitions.

  172. 172.

    Sloane Ranger

    @SiubhanDuinne:

     

    I simply can’t imagine any of that for TFG. I can’t think that Dubya or Clinton or Obama would even want to show up

    I can see them carrying it off with panache. They arrive and sit in their seats. Michelle hands round the Cadbury’s Celebrations. They each select the chocolate of their choice, pop it in their mouth and sit back with a blissful expression on their face.

  174. 174.

    evodevo

    @Jay: He’s in the snow in upstate NY…there are no convenient places to dispose of bodies, like in FL where he had the bay and the Everglades…quite the problem…

  175. 175.

    Gvg

    @debbie: it is the ONLY leverage the colleges have. It is perfectly normal and right. Also most students pay after a few years getting finances in order.

    Now, I speak from Florida where our state Universities and Colleges tuition is still low compared to most of the country, for reasons that aren’t clear to me. That is the tuition I have seen elsewhere just seems amazingly high when I worry ours is too high but then I see everyone else’s. Also long ago the State of Florida went to a common course numbering system and it is really easy to transfer credits around all the state schools, save money at community colleges, transfer because of jobs all over, pickup seeking a degree again after years of working when you grow up and know what you want to do etc. the common course numbering and easy transfer is a big deal and all states should do something like it. Apparently our legislature in the 70’s actually had vision and set up things well. I have heard they were imitating North Carolina and California examples, but most of the country doesn’t do anything like it and people can only finish degrees at the schools they started at.

  178. 178.

    debbie

    @Gvg:

    Thanks. I now have a far better understanding of this. When I read the article I’d linked to, it sounded like there wasn’t any communication until the end of the final year. Yours and geg6’s explanations have really been very enlightening.

    Not financially similar, but I first went to a junior college (to buy time to figure out what I wanted to do, plus gap years hadn’t been invented yet). It wasn’t until just before graduation that I was informed I wouldn’t be getting an A.A. degree because I was one credit short in math/science. That was the first I’d heard about this. The school had many more students than classroom spaces and I never got all of the classes I wanted every time I registered for a new trimester.

  179. 179.

    trnc

    these 1/6 hearings are going to be so much bigger than press thought.

    Press: “Not if we can help it.”

  180. 180.

    trnc

    @Roger Moore: ​
     Does anyone know yet what time Jr and the fox hosts sent their texts? I’m guessing that it was at least an hour after the breach and only when it became clear there were no antifa around.

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