Distracted by my horror at what is happening thousands of miles away as Russia attacks Ukraine and what’s unfolding close to home because DeSantis is a massive authoritarian dickhead,* I missed some significant January 6 news, and maybe you did too for reasons of your own. From The Guardian:
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack said in a major filing on Wednesday that it believed that Donald Trump violated multiple federal laws to overturn the 2020 election, including obstructing Congress and defrauding the United States.
The revelations came as part of a filing that intended to force John Eastman, Trump’s former lawyer, to turn over thousands of emails and records since his participation in potential crimes destroyed his arguments for attorney-client privilege protections.
Of course Trump broke laws, and he’ll almost certainly get away with it. But the filing revealed some interesting stuff in its own right, including conversations you’d think coup plotters with extensive legal credentials would know better than to have in written form.
For example, Eastman nagged Pence’s chief counsel, Gregory Jacob, via email all day on January 6 — before, during and after the mob stormed the Capitol — trying to convince him to get Pence to delay vote certification so the state legislatures could change the outcome. Here’s a post-mob attack plea sent while workers were still hosing blood and traitor shit off the walls:
Nothing to see here, folks: just a Fed Soc bigwig asking the sitting VP’s counsel to persuade the VP to engage in a bit of light treason. This reply from Jacobs to an earlier importuning Eastman email though:
I love the abrupt tonal shift in Jacob’s reply: respectfully-argle-legal-bargle-blah-blah-blah, then — BOOM — “And thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.”
Just when I think my gob is unsmackable, welp. Ironies abound beyond a white shoe con lawyer inciting a coup via email. For instance, did you know that in addition to being a Fed Soc bigwig, Eastman founded the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and clerked for Justice Thomas AND Judge Luttig?
I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that much of our elite DC legal establishment is pretty fucked up, y’all. With rare exceptions, so-called conservatives aren’t committed to democracy and the rule of law unless it drives outcomes favorable to them, which is not how it works! And some of the non-cons seem more interested in preserving the prestige of institutions than the principles the institutions exist to uphold, such as justice and equality under the law.
Open thread.
*How massive a dickhead is DeSantis? This massive:
And when he was done with the presser after yelling at the students, he walks right out and ignores them. Doesn’t even look at them. I will just tell you what many REPUBLICANS in the FL state govt have told me -to know him is to detest him. Just a jerk. pic.twitter.com/c6txCK9MOT
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 2, 2022
Christ, what an asshole!
germy
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Just coming to share this tweet, and you just have to look at the fucking picture, about 1/6
hard to believe an insurrection had costume design from the same people who did the old Batman TV show
Baud
I’m not sure there aren’t a couple of justices who are “broad-minded.”
germy
Baud
@germy:
It’s Trump so it’s not true, but if it was true, good on Dems.
Kay
I’ll say.
cmorenc
I wish a couple of the high school students had barked back at DeSantis: “fuck off asshole! even though that is stooping to his level.
Alison Rose ???
Nominated “thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege” for a rotating tag.
Also, Alito and Thomas were probably offended. How dare he think they have morals and scruples!!!!
(Added my Slava Ukraini emojis to my nym, apologies if that means this gets caught in moderation)
...now I try to be amused
@germy:
How ’bout this:
This place is not a place of honor… no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here… nothing valued is here.
Eljai
My inner conflict is raging out of control right now, but respect to Gregory Jacob.
I hope this latest display of dickishness by DeSantis will inspire the youth of Florida to come out in droves and vote that asshat out of office.
Motivated Seller
Apparently it is the glue that binds them.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
Remember how Trump was schlepping along with a pack of “acting” cabinet secretaries and deputies? Shuffling as he saw fit as opposed to doing confirmations? That is straight out of the authoritarian playbook, and guaranteed to reach pathetic levels of performance.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The “BAM!” and “POW!” signs were a nice touch, you must admit. They just needed Don Rickles popping his head out a window for some one-liners.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Motivated Seller: when the only point on your moral-political compass is “taxes bad”, you wind up with trump
...now I try to be amused
@Eljai:
Here’s hoping DeSantis ends up like everyone else who thought they could profit from associating with Trump and were very, very wrong.
Benw
The traitors should be forever scorned in a rational country of course, but I don’t think they ever had a chance with Pence: he was obviously scared shitless and Pelosi wasn’t going to take any shit from him, even before the insurrection.
...now I try to be amused
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
It reminds me of a character in the comic Cerebus: Lord Julius, a dictator drawn to look like Groucho Marx. Only he knew what his subordinates were really doing. For instance, Cerebus, his head of security, had the title “kitchen staff supervisor”.
dmsilev
@germy: I should try that with some of my work emails. “I have reviewed the additional details you have supplied for that quotation for equipment, and thanks to your bullshit, we’re now under siege.”
dmsilev
@Baud:
Well, we know for sure that broads were frequently on Kavanaugh’s mind.
Mart
Wish Dems would use the horrible impact of one man – Fed Soc Leo Leonardo – on our justice system and democracy to fire up the base in the same way the R’s use George Soros. (Who decades ago largely bailed out of trying to fund the good fight as he found Americans to be clueless.)
trollhattan
From the What could possibly go wrong? files a guy across the street with a tree service is in an oak, maybe 30 feet up, one-handing a chainsaw while hanging from a rigged rope.
Better him than me.
Jim Appleton
@cmorenc: Here in rural Oregon, I’ve occasionally had the DeStoopid treatment in public. Goobers gruffly telling me to take my mask off, one guy giving me a pretty convincing “bah-ah-ah” sheep sound, a lady who outright took my mask off and walked away with it.
Fla’s “governor” not only cravenly buys into this, he sets a prominent example.
Matt McIrvin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Have you seen Stone in the pinstripe suit and sunglasses? He seems to be consciously adopting Batman villain style all of the time.
West of the Rockies
DeSantis, like Piggy Pompeo, truly have no idea how very shitty they come off to most people. That they maintain presidential aspirations is amusing.
delk
And thanks to your steaming pile of boebert we are now under siege.
Matt McIrvin
@West of the Rockies: Trump won in 2016 so being an obvious complete asshole is not a disqualifier. You probably have to have his weird kind of TV charisma though.
germy
This might work as a caption for every New Yorker magazine cartoon.
catclub
@Baud:
That was my pessimistic view also. Those Trump judges have no problem with any decision that they favor, law or precedent don’t matter.
West of the Rockies
OT, has the Russian stock market opened at all this week? I heard the ruble was trading at one point at 171:1 (ruble to US $).
I am thoroughly enjoying every blow to the Russian government. (While I have sympathy for most of its people.)
James E Powell
@Mart:
Soros bailed? Is that why this blog failed to crack the top 10,000?
Baud
@Jim Appleton:
Damn. That’s why you always wear two.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim Appleton:
I’m guessing he’d heard it up close and uncomfortably personal (for the sheep)
dmsilev
@West of the Rockies: I don’t think it has. Last I heard, they were planning on reopening the exchange next Monday. I guess the plan is “win the war over the weekend”?
sdhays
@Matt McIrvin: A decade’s long branding campaign building him up as a business genius helped too. “He’s rich and successful, so clearly he’s not stupid, even though he seems awful and stupid whenever he opens his mouth.” was a real thing.
germy
I remember King Tut, Egghead and Mr. Freeze as 1960s Batman villains. I don’t remember Pinhead.
Brachiator
@germy:
And I guess the obvious cartoon would be a drawing of someone standing in a castle, and a heading referring to some actual date in medieval history, and the guy dictating to a scribe, “and thanks to your bullshit we are now under siege.”
Betty Cracker
Okay, she’s got my vote.
Calouste
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s his chat up line.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Heh.
Ruviana
@dmsilev: I thought Vova’s declaring martial law tomorrow.
Jeffro
If only more Republicans would abandon “results-oriented positions that they would never support if held by the opposition, and entirely made up”. That would be totes awesome.
germy
@Brachiator:
It’d work for every New Yorker cartoon. A middle-aged married couple sitting together in their living room. Or a man talking to his bartender.
germy
Geoduck
@germy: Milton Berle’s Louie the Lilac is probably the best match costume-wise.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
When was it ever not about him being an asshole?
steppy
I have thought so but I’m not as sure about that now. The ratchet tightened by two notches yesterday.
First, the Committee’s filing in the Eastman matter says to me that they will almost certainly refer to DOJ and that they’ve done a lot of the work of gathering evidence already.
Second, the James plea means we officially have a seditious conspiracy. James is only one hop to the bent pinhead freak Stone, which means he is only two hops from T***p. James may be able to put all three in the room, or Rhodes. That puts all of them into the conspiracy.
I know, from my lips to God’s ears, but…
Cameron
It’s a goddam shame. I really like Florida, but DeSantis has got me seriously thinking of moving back to Pennsylvania.
Ken
@steppy: So you’re saying we might soon get to test several theories:
laura
A friendly reminder that shite-bag attorney and Claremont Institute guy John Eastman wrote a show your whole dirty ass OP-ed opining that Kamala Harris was not an American Citizen and therefore not a qualified or eligible candidate for office back in the primary for 2016 despite her actual birth in California. I’ll always have room in my spite locker for that particular shite-bag and his misogynoir. Watching his denouement will bring me joy and satisfaction.
germy
narya
@Jim Appleton: Wow. The first two I’d probably roll my eyes and move on, but someone taking something OFF OF MY PERSON? I’d be hard pressed not to completely go bonkers. And I would want them prosecuted.
Lapassionara
@germy: That seemed to be a really dumb idea. First, Trump’s term ended at noon on Inauguration Day. Even if he refused to leave the White House, he would have ceased being President. No removing would have been necessary . Second, on Jan 6, I don’t know why anyone thought someone was going to try to get Trump out of the White House that day. None of this type plotting made any sense to me.
sdhays
@steppy: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”
That’s recorded, with lots of witnesses. I don’t really understand why that’s not already a charge. And I’m definitely not one of the “why isn’t Merrick Garland DOING SOMETHING brigade”. It just seems like that should be hard evidence of violating a statute or two. Is it not?
Jeffro
YES! I have been trying to figure out how best to rub this in my RWNJ dad’s and bro’s faces, but there’s no point – they’ll just duck, dodge, and blame Hillary. Best just to savor it all by myself, and move on to mocking their ‘bench’ for 2024.
West of the Rockies
@steppy:
Well, there is, of course, never a conspirator. That’s just a lone wolf. Other creeps were in the room where shit happened…
bluegirlfromwyo
@cmorenc: Good on the lady in the back, keeping her mask on and having none of it.
Baud
@Lapassionara:
Evil ≠ smart
steppy
@sdhays: I hear you. I am as frustrated as it sounds like you are with the apparent lack of urgency. The clock is definitely ticking. But if he is going to be successfully prosecuted, the case must be meticulously and thoroughly made. This is an ex-president that we are contemplating putting in prison, after all. You come at the king, etc.
I don’t know if that case can or will be made. We just don’t know how much the Committee really has and we know less about what DOJ has. From the outside looking in, it looks like a lot.
narya
@steppy: Also too: there’s a part of me that enjoys imagining him and the rest of that evil family watching as the evidence piles up all around them.
JustRuss
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I have to admit, I kinda enjoy Stone’s sense of style. Sure it’s a bit absurd, but why the hell not?
I would like to see what he does with a prison jumpsuit.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose ???: done!
Snarki, child of Loki
@West of the Rockies: “DeSantis, like Piggy Pompeo, truly have no idea how very shitty they come off to most people. That they maintain presidential aspirations is amusing.”
the only path for DeSantis to the Whitehouse is over Trump’s dead body.
I guess we’ll see if DeSantis is “low energy” or not.
Snarki, child of Loki
@JustRuss: Stone already has ONE of the gang-tats.
Time for him to get some more?
catclub
@sdhays:
Because it can be claimed that all he was doing was expressing an opinion.
Old Man Shadow
Oh, no! Poor people have food! American workers have slightly more power! Clean air and water might happens somewhere! Renewable energy! Better health care!
We have to stop the monsters!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I think we also going to find out that Trump secretly resigned as president November the 12th 2020 and try to blame the coupe attempt on Pence.
West of the Rockies
@Snarki, child of Loki:
I don’t think there’s a Nixonian Brotherhood prison gang.
Yarrow
@JustRuss:
You won’t recognize him. Without all the growth hormone, testosterone, Botox, fillers, tanning beds and whatever the hell it is he does to his hair he’ll look nothing like he looks now.
Miss Bianca
@Jim Appleton: Wow, I’ve never had anything like that happen to me, not even a mean-spirited barb, and I live in an extremely Trumpy red county here in CO. That’s just gob-smacking.
(And I’d probably have been arrested for literally smacking someone’s gob if they had tried that shit with me.)
gene108
Unfortunately for Florida, being a detestable asshole is a big plus in Republican politics right now. Republicans are like a cavalcade of horrible asshole clowns all trying to be the biggest rudest loudest jackass of them all.
Origuy
I thought this was interesting. From the Duolingo blog:
It goes on to discuss some of the differences between the Ukrainian and Russian languages and the political implications of using the Russian names for thinks versus the Ukrainian names.
Mike in NC
I’m more and more convinced that DeathSentence will have very little appeal outside of Florida. Rubio’s presidential campaign was a complete joke at the national level.
Chief Oshkosh
@cmorenc: The best “wished for” response I’ve seen is one of the BJ jackals yesterday, something along the lines of “Really? ‘Cause we are wearing them to protect your immunocompromised wife. But I guess, well, fuck you.”
Ken
Almost as if Stone had fled the country and was living in Russia under an assumed name, while some guy he paid off was serving the sentence in his place?
JanieM
@Jim Appleton:
I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up being arrested if someone does that to me. Whether for creating a nuisance, assault, or murder it’s hard to tell…..
Jim Appleton
@JanieM:
She was the one goober I yelled at. “That’s not freedom. Fuck you.” If we’d been in a business I’d have pressed charges. On a public sidewalk with no witnesses, not worth it.
JanieM
@Jim Appleton: I have a temper, so I would have yelled too, and been furiously frustrated if there was no one else around. I have notions of how easy it is to record things these days, but I don’t think quickly on my feet, and anyhow an incident like that is over so fast there’s no chance to do anything along those lines.
Bill Arnold
@Jim Appleton:
That is assault. Do you live in a place where such behavior is tolerated? Are you allowed to rip off women’s shirts, for example?
Origuy
Ain’t this a shame…
Ruckus
@Lapassionara:
Then there is a very good chance that you are sane.
Because all of this trumptastic bullshit and his bullshit supporters and vova’s bullshit attack on a sovereign country are really connected in a mental illness way.
Bill Arnold
@Chief Oshkosh:
Or maybe “You may not care about your immunocompromised wife, but I do.”
LongHairedWeirdo
This is big, I think. See, the one and only thing that Trump depended on was having enough “made men” who could claim attorney-client privilege, and were guilty of crimes or just actions that, if revealed, would destroy their reputations and possibly their hopes for freedom.
As soon as that gets stripped away, as soon as it’s a crime for the lawyers not to provide information and testimony, the whole house of cards collapses, and people are suddenly *very* eager to roll on the best and biggest they can, to cover their voluminous, filthy, asses. (At least the ASPCA took away the kindly donkeys that some were storing for Turtles.)
Matt McIrvin
@Bill Arnold: It’s arguably assault with deadly force, though I doubt you could make the case in most courts.
Miss Bianca
@Old Man Shadow:
Or, perhaps more to the point, “they’ll investigate us for *real* crimes, as opposed to the bullshit ones we make up for them!”
Miss Bianca
@Jim Appleton: On a public sidewalk, with no witnesses? I’d have tripped the bitch up. “Oop, Freedom Fall!”
LongHairedWeirdo
Random thing to run by lawyers: I saw someone, maybe a lawyer, say that one is expected to read an opinion as being written in good faith, even when you strongly feel it isn’t.
IF that is true – if lawyers must assume good faith – that’s exactly why we, as a nation, are so fucked. The OLC can issue opinions with the force of settled law, and is only considered incorrect when it fails a court challenge. So, the OLC got to say “Oh, torture, pooh pooh, pooh pooh, who cares about a little torture, so long as we dress it up in a fancy name like critical race theory, or enhanced interrogation techniques,” and that was a “get out of jail, free” card to the entire torture regime.
We know that torture memo was a bad faith document. Don’t bullshit me on that! But that’s the point. Even if it was a deliberate, bad faith, opinion, it gets treated as settled law. And it shouldn’t be – we’ve seen the process is being abused, right before our eyes.
Citizen Alan
@Jim Appleton: This is why I would almost consider suicide preferable to moving back to a rural Red state.
...now I try to be amused
@Origuy:
They may be Russian, but they practice American-style management.
Citizen Alan
@Origuy: I remember my first exposure to RT. It was in 2016 when I watched the Green Party debate on Youtube for laughs. By the 45 minute mark, I wasn’t laughing anymore. That was when I realized that the Greens are every bit the delusional authoritarian cultists that the Teabaggers were. They disagree only in what they want the absolute dictator to do once in office. One of them proposed to completely nationalize health care and also abolish private gun ownership “through an executive order within the first 30 days.”
Anomalous Cowherd
@Bill Arnold:
I wear my mask attached to a lanyard around my neck, so anyone trying to walk off with it would perforce drag me with them. I would then be forced into defending myself regardless of the situation.
Geminid
@Citizen Alan: I have this theory that the Green Party was taken over (or launched) by the the Lyndon Larouche crowd. It first occured to me in the 1999’s when I read some campaign literature for a Virginia Green Party candidate. “This reminds me of the stuff I read in those Larouche newspapers,” I thought. At the time, LaRouche had been based in Northern Virginia for a while, I believe.
I’ve never really tried to find out if this is actually true. But those LaRouche people seemed like a tight, secretive, and disciplined outfit, and they must have gone somewhere after the old man died.
Shana
@germy: Or a dog talking to a cat, or vice versa.
Brant
@Jim Appleton: I don’t believe you should hit women who haven’t hit me first, but I think you should’ve booted her in the ass, and taken your mask back!
Shana
@Snarki, child of Loki: I always thought politicians had to have at least a smidge of an ability to glad hand and schmooze and come off as a regular guy (or gal) when running for election. Does DeSantis have none of that? Did he just fake it long enough to get elected? Am I just not taking into account the modern GOP’s ability to run solely on TV ads and private fund raisers where they can let their real selves out and their funders like that?
Shana
I just got my daily New Yorker email with today’s cartoon and a bonus one, and am happy to report that the universal NY caption does in fact work for both of them.
Jim Appleton
@Bill Arnold: See 77 above.
Jim Appleton
@Miss Bianca: There were people around, but confident no one saw the demasking.
They WOULD, though, see the old hippy shoving the nice lady around.
Jim Appleton
@Brant: see 97 above
Ruckus
@cmorenc:
Is it possible that he wouldn’t understand anything higher than his level? Or if he does, shouldn’t he be expecting it? And if he’s not expecting a higher level then why not? You can’t make a kumquat understand any more than their minimum level. And I’m thinking that his level is low enough that a kumquat’s level of thought might be higher. A kumquat’s is at least more realistic.