Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

We still have time to mess this up!

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

People are weird.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Everybody saw this coming.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Recap Open Thread: The Jan 6 Committee Hearings So Far

Recap Open Thread: The Jan 6 Committee Hearings So Far

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(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)


… Is you taking notes on a criminal f*cking conspiracy?

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Reader Interactions

134Comments

  2. 2.

    debbie

    What’s the point of revisiting Watergate? These are two totally separate scandals.

  4. 4.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    # Fuck Mike Pence! Fuck Mike Pence!

    Within days of learning more details about Mike Pence’s close call with the MAGA lunatics on January 6th who were incited by Trump, he’s decided to double down on his scumbaggery:

    Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow took President Joe Biden to task for his economic policies during an interview with Mike Pence on Monday, where he asked the former vice president if he’s ever seen a president who “commits so many falsehoods.”

    Both Kudlow and Pence served in the administration of Donald Trump, who, according to the Washington Post, uttered more than 30,000 falsehoods during his four years as president.

    Kudlow criticized Biden because “he won’t take the blame” for inflation and other ills in the country.

    “Have you ever seen a president who refuses to accept blame, and I want to add to that, commits so many falsehoods?” Kudlow asked Pence. “I’m being very polite here, calling it falsehoods – falsehoods, you know, on any given day. He’s out there saying stuff that just ain’t true. Have you ever seen anything like that?”

    Pence replied that he had not.

    “Never in my lifetime,” said the former vice president. “I said today that there has never been a time in my life where a president was more disconnected from the American people than we see today.”

    h/t https://www.mediaite.com/tv/mike-pence-claims-never-in-my-lifetime-has-he-seen-a-president-lie-as-much-as-joe-biden/

  5. 5.

    SpaceUnit

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    And just think there were actual Democrats calling this guy a hero the other day.  I’ve stepped on cockroaches with more principles and moral courage than Mike Pence.

    The dude is deluding himself that he still has a political future.

  7. 7.

    Geminid

    I was impatient earlier for these hearings to commence. Now I think they were worth the wait. I believe the Committee’s mandate runs to the end of this Congress, so they are not prevented from staging more public hearings if neccesary. I guess we might hear about this in the final scheduled hearing. There certainly be an exhaustive written Report, perhaps an interim one by September and a final one before the end of this Congress.

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    “Never in my lifetime,” said the former vice president. “I said today that there has never been a time in my life where a president was more disconnected from the American people than we see today.”

    Dunce doesn’t even know he could just yell “But Democrats are worse!” and be done with it.  (And somewhere, Chuck Todd would pop a boner.  (Not sorry.))

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    I’m looking forward to Congresswoman Elaine Luria (VA 2nd) taking her turn on the national stage. Luria faces a tough reelection in her coastal Virginia district. Tomorrow’s primary will determine her opponent. The likely winner is another female retired Navy officer.

  12. 12.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @SpaceUnit:

    It’s been infuriating to hear individuals whom I thought were intelligent (i.e. Eugene Robinson) slobbering over Pence as if he were a hero when he’s clearly a scumbag. One correct decision on January 6th, does not excuse 4 years of enabling Trump’s corruption.  Pence can go fuck himself.

  18. 18.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @mrmoshpotato: 

    Chuck Todd a week or two ago was citing some poll about how a majority of voters see politicians as primarily self-interested, in it for themselves in politics, broken down by Dems, Indies, and Repubs. Surprisingly, Democrats were the highest at 66%, followed by Independents and then Republicans at 63%. Todd described this as an even worse problem than polarization

    I’m sure Todd has had nothing to do with that //

  19. 19.

    SpaceUnit

    @Spanky:

    Yeah. Looks like they’re trying to rehabilitate his image with their viewers.

    Not sure why they’d bother.

  20. 20.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Spanky: @SpaceUnit: 

    Who’s more delusional, Trump for believing that the 2020 election was stolen from him or Pence for believing that he can actually become the Republican nominee for 2024 ?

  21. 21.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Spanky:

    Case in point, Sarah Palin likely winning her primary for the late Don Young’s congressional seat

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @Wyatt Salamanca: I think Pence has no chance for the 2024 nomination, and I expect donors will agree.  Pence thinks he does; as Abraham Lincoln observed, once the worm of Presidential ambition starts to gnaw, it gnaws deep.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    as Abraham Lincoln observed, once the worm of Presidential ambition starts to gnaw, it gnaws deep.

     

    It consumes me.

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): If this special election is like other Alaska elections this year, winning the primary is only the first step. The top four finishers will advance to a ranked-choice general election. At least that’s how Lisa Murkowski’s Senate reelection will work.

  34. 34.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid:

    Pence thinks he does; as Abraham Lincoln observed, once the worm of Presidential ambition starts to gnaw, it gnaws deep.

    as one of the Udalls, I think Mo, put it: A disease for which the only cure is embalming fluid.

  35. 35.

    ian

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Sarah Palin did ‘win’ that primary, in the sense she got the most votes.  The top 4 recipients of voters (Palin (R), Gross (I), Begich (R), and Sattler (D)) all move onto special election.  The special election is August 16

  36. 36.

    JPL

    @debbie: By the time I post this it might be the fiftieth response.   It would be mentioned no matter what because it’s the fiftieth anniversary.

  37. 37.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Geminid: 

    In spite of Pence’s actions on January 6th, I hope his name will live in infamy because he, along with McConnell and McCarthy, were the greatest enablers of Trump’s lunacy for 4 years.

    I understand that Pence feels obligated to criticize Biden’s policies because he dreams of becoming the 2024 Republican nominee, but I can’t believe this asshole doesn’t have the courage or self-respect to publicly state that Trump is morally and ethically unfit to serve as President. Pence is, far and away, the most gutless and spineless politician in American history.

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    We were told that the Jan. 6 committee would make no difference.

    That’s the official Village narrative.  The Village should be nuked from orbit.

  40. 40.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @debbie:

    What’s the point of revisiting Watergate? These are two totally separate scandals.

    It was the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in a few days ago. The WaPo was going to “revisit” that timeline regardless of January 6.

  43. 43.

    JPL

    @Geminid: nope.   At least once McCarthy is mentioned as being concerned about trump being on the Russian payroll.   Pence even after have an x on his back is still defending him.

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @debbie: He definitely knew he lost. He was told to his face several times right after the election.

    Google “far side what cats hear”.

  45. 45.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Spanky:

    No, lol

    @Geminid:

    @ian:

    I’m not especially familiar with the race, but given it’s a GOP district, in a GOP-leaning election year, with Palin’s name recognition, shouldn’t she have a good shot?

  46. 46.

    SpaceUnit

    @debbie:

    I think they’re also pointing out that Trump’s corruption and malfeasance makes Nixon look like a piker.

    No small feat.

  47. 47.

    topclimber

    @Wyatt Salamanca:  From a GOP perspective, Pence got it right. He said Joe is the President most disconnected from American voters,what with those liberal views and all. Many people are saying that, which once you stipulate it is Republicans saying it, is accurate.

    Granted, Trump is the President most disconnected from reality, but that seems to explain rather than refute his arguably deeper connection to voters vs. Trump.

  48. 48.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Geminid: 

    I think Minority “Leader” Kevin McCarthy has Pence beat in the gutless, spineless category.

    It’s certainly a close call between the two of them, but I have to go with Pence because Trump incited a mob to kill him and all Mike can say about it is that Trump’s theory was wrong. He can’t bring himself to publicly state that Trump is a bloodthirsty lunatic. Given Pence’s inability to denounce Trump for almost getting him killed, I don’t know how he can sleep at night or look himself in the mirror.

  49. 49.

    Scout211

    Ha ha ha! Don’t these people realize that loyalty to TFG only goes one way?

    Trump criticizes “foolish” Kevin McCarthy  for not appointing Republicans to the January 6 committee.

    This committee, it was a bad decision not to have representation on that committee,” Trump said. “That was a very, very foolish decision because they try to pretend like they’re legit, and only when you get into the inner workings you say ‘what kind of a thing is this?’ Just a one-sided witch hunt.”

  50. 50.

    Anne Laurie

    @debbie: What’s the point of revisiting Watergate? These are two totally separate scandals.

    People tend to forget that ‘Watergate’ actually unfolded over several years, with the Very Serious Media Villagers yawping all the way about ‘nothingburgers’ and ‘Democratic abuse of the judiciary’ and ‘butwhatabout [insert long forgotten trope] ‘.  

    As the top cartoon notes, Nixon ‘solved’ his Watergate problems by skipping out for California… and his hand-picked replacement, Jerry ‘Extremely Mediocre’ Ford, was allowed to grant a blanket amnesty that let a generation of bad actors skitter off & plan bigger crimes in the future.  (Exemplar: Dick Cheney, of CREEP.)

    Trump’s not smart enough to pull a Nixon — he’s not even smart enough to stop attacking the GOP henchmen who essentially threw a bag over his head & hustled him out of the Oval Office.  But we Democrats need to be careful that no new, improved Gerald Ford clone gets his paws on the levers to ‘exonerate’ the Trump KKKrime Cartel!

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid: The whole party is horrible.

    Excerpts from Mary Trump’s book:

    At the end, Mary Trump writes “Donald isn’t really the problem after all” – it is his enablers, from his father to the celebrity media to the congressional Republicans who acquitted him of impeachment.

    “This is the end result of Donald’s having continually been given a pass and rewarded not just for his failures but for his transgressions – against tradition, against decency, against the law, and against fellow human beings,” she writes.

    He would have been just a scammy local real estate developer and a washed-up “reality” TV show host without his enablers. FTFNYT, Moonves, Tuckems, Hannity, Limbaugh, Graham, Falwell Jr, Pence, McCarthy, Moscow Mitch, the RWNJs on the courts, all of them. All of them.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  55. 55.

    JWR

    This, from Sunday noon, was quite good.

    Background Briefing with Ian Masters: June 19, 2022

    The Critical Tipping Point For Democracy and the Rule of Law America and the World Faces
    With Lincoln Mitchell

    What the Democrats Can Do As a Perfect Storm of Economic Gloom Approaches
    With Richard Parker

    How to Fight Back Against Our Courts Stacked With Far-Right ideologues
    With Sarah Lipton-Lubet, (Executive Director of the Take Back the Court Action Fund)

    In the last interview, the one with Sarah Lipton-Lubet, Masters asked about the argument that if the Dems expand the court, the Rs will expand it again once they have the power. Here’s what Lipton-Lubet had to say about that, (my own juicy bits transcription):

    Ian Masters (paraphrased): Is there a danger in stacking the court?

    Sarah Lipton-Lubet: The danger here would be to look at the crisis we’re facing and not do anything about it. Expanding the court is frankly UNpacking it. The Republicans have packed it, they’ve stacked it, they’ve manipulated it … I think what we need to do here and the important thing to do here is to act while we can. … and uniterateral disarmament can’t be the approach that we take.

    I heard an interview on the same program the other day with a guy who’s lukewarm on expanding the court. He favors term limits, changing the scoring from a simple majority (5-4) to maybe 7-2. Stuff like that.

    But one thing I’m sure of is that leaving the future of so many of us in the hands of so few will be our downfall.

  57. 57.

    kalakal

    @Alison Rose : Nooo! Raccoons are very smart ( and can be cute, espescially when they don’t crap in the swimming pool), I nominate tapeworms. Spineless parasites with no brains that thrive on shit. Ticks* all the GOP boxes.

    *Another candidate

  59. 59.

    Another Scott

    @Mike in NC: Kristol is still horrible – don’t be fooled.  As I’ve mentioned before, he’s on the board of the Manhattan Institute, where the monster Rufo is on the payroll as a Senior Fellow.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  60. 60.

    debbie

    @Anne Laurie:

    I remember how it was revelation upon revelation and being so shocked at every single one. I can still picture sitting on my apartment’s balcony early on Sunday morning, drinking coffee and reading about the Saturday Night Massacre.

    In fact, I think Watergate was about to fade away for the upteenth time when Alexander Butterfield took his place at the witness table.

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Palin’s name recognition got her first place in the first round. I’ve read that she has a bad reputation among Alaskans generally. In a four way ranked-choice election a lot of people will rank her fourth or not at all. I don’t see Palin winning.

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    @Geminid:

    I don’t know if Pence thinks he has any shot at the 2024 nomination, but he can be sure there’s some grifting opportunities if he runs.  I honestly don’t think you can understand Republican presidential politics without figuring in the grifting opportunities.

  63. 63.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @JWR:

    Thanks for posting that link! Background Briefing used to air on my local Pacifica radio station and I always found the program highly informative.

  64. 64.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud: Dung beetles.  (I first said this back around 2016? maybe? on the former blog.)

    Busy, busy invertebrates who collect & curate filth to nurture the next generation of dung beetles!

  65. 65.

    James E Powell

    @debbie: 

    What’s the point of revisiting Watergate?

    I think the comparison is supposed to encourage those of us who think these Trump & Jan 6 investigations and prosecutions are taking too long & producing too little.

    NB – I don’t really believe that, but, as Tom Petty put it, the waiting is the hardest part.

  66. 66.

    ian

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
    I don’t claim to have any better knowledge of Alaska, maybe an Alaskan juicer can chime in. The special election is the same day as the next primary for the regular 2022 election, which may end up favoring the R team by having more competitive primaries elsewhere driving turnout. If I had to hazard a guess, many of the same 4 people will move onto the general election. Gross, the (I) candidate, was previously endorsed by dems in a senate race in 2020, so there is a strong likelihood that the Dem and Ind candidates will split the liberal/moderate voters from Juneau and Anchorage. The wildcard is Alaska’s larger than usual Native American population. Typically First Nations lean Democratic, but Native Alaskans have favored Murkowski and Young in the past, so it is beyond my knowledge to say how it will unfold

     

    Edit: I forgot ranked voting is a factor too.  More uncertainty

  70. 70.

    JWR

    @Wyatt Salamanca: You’re welcome! Did you hear why he left his spot at KPFK? It was basically, and I wish I could remember the way he put it, but “grifters to the left of me, charlatans to the right” pretty much summed it up.

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    @ian: I read that Murkowski’s singular win as a write in candidate in 2010 was made possible by her strong support from labor unions and Alaska’s ten Native Corporations

    I doubt if the Native Corporations will see the fickle Palin as a reliable ally in Washington, and that’s what they want. There are plenty of other Alaskans who might vote for her, but I think she has a bad reputation in her state. We’ll see before too long.

  72. 72.

    Danielx

    @Roger Moore: 
    honestly don’t think you can understand Republican presidential politics without figuring in the grifting opportunities.

    Skip the presidential and you’ve got the picture.

  74. 74.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @JWR:

    I’m a New Yorker not a Californian, so I’m not a listener of KPFK.  Background Briefing used to air on WBAI. The internal politics of BAI have been chaotic for decades, so I guess this chaos is a common thread among all of the Pacifica stations. Fortunately for listeners, talented broadcasters like Ian Masters have been able to produce great shows in spite of all the internal bickering and internecine warfare.

  75. 75.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    When we finally defeat fascism, I’m going to need to take a long hot shower.

    If there’s one lesson everyone should learn from watching Saturday morning cartoons, it’s that evil can never be defeated, just driven away for a while.  The moment you let your guard down because you think you’ve won, the tiny remnants of the evil you believed you had defeated forever will reassemble and start rebuilding.

  78. 78.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @ian:

    Between Gohmert, Gaetz, Gosar, MTG, and Boebert, doesn’t the Rethuglican Party currently have more than enough wingnuts in the House of Representatives? Must we add Saint Sarah Palin to this confederacy of dunces?

  87. 87.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @ian:

    @Geminid:

    I can’t wrap my mind around the idea of an even larger collection of wingnuts serving in the House of Representatives.  This country is on the verge of falling off the cliff.

  89. 89.

    Roger Moore

    @Steeplejack: 
    You say this in jest, but I think it’s exactly what’s happening. People like Pence did some stuff in what they thought was behind the scenes to undermine Trump. They hoped that by getting rid of him permanently, they’d open up space for their own ambitions. But once that came out, they have to act as loyal as possible publicly or the Trump-loving base will hate them.

  90. 90.

    Mike in NC

    Watching a documentary series on Amazon Prime called, “The Impossible Peace” about the 20 years between the world wars. Life was as scary then as it is now, but at least fascism wasn’t on the rise in this country.

  93. 93.

    Skepticat

    @topclimber: Oddly enough, and I do mean oddly, Palin would probably raise the competence level among the current GOP caucus

    It terrifies and sickens me, but I have to agree, even though that’s damning with verrrry faint praise.

  95. 95.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Steeplejack: @Roger Moore: 

    Pence’s nickname of Dense is well-earned. If he’s dumb enough to run in 2024, I look forward to seeing him get completely humiliated in the primaries and caucuses.

  96. 96.

    Geminid

    There’s biggish news out of Israel this evening. Prime Minister Bennett and Foreign Minister Lapid held a news conference where they announced that they would move to dissolve parliament next week. Their 8 party coalition government lasted longer than many expected when it took power a year ago, but recent defections from Bennett’s Yamina party brought it’s numbers below 60 Knesset members and the coalition could not pass critical legislation.

    Unless opposition leader Netanyahu can pull some parliamentary rabbit out his hat there will be new elections October 25 or so, with Lapid heading an interim government in the meantime. This will be Israel’s 5th election since 2019.

    From the Times of Israel.

  98. 98.

    The Golux

    I’ve been thinking for a while that the Democrats should be airing commercials about what a total failure the Republican party has become, and what a threat they are to democracy. (Not to mention to women’s health, human rights and the climate.) Kind of like Newt Gingrich’s campaign to cast everything Democrats do in a negative light, but with the advantage of it being true. A jackal brainstorming session to come up with pithy slogans might yield useful results. Thoughts?

  99. 99.

    mrmoshpotato

    @topclimber: Oddly enough, and I do mean oddly, Palin would probably raise the competence level among the current GOP caucus.

    I doubt Michael would want a damn thing to do with today’s GOP even if he were American. :)

  100. 100.

    Steeplejack

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    Somebody on Twitter said that Pence is so dumb that he’s running on autopilot: when you’re the vice president and your president’s term ends ( ) you get to run for president next. QED. That’s just science.

  101. 101.

    James E Powell

    @The Golux: 

    I agree with you and do not think that it would be that hard to come up with a series of ads. Regular people in conversation. Set it up like one is explaining the situation to others in typical social settings.

    Suggested topics include: The only thing they ever do when in power is tax cuts for the rich, they’ve got no solutions so they are fanning racist & anti-LGBTQ hysteria based on lies, they left a mess for Ds to clean up, they are spreading the big lie & suppressing voters.

  103. 103.

    J R in WV

    @debbie: 

    The evening of Saturday, October 20, 1973, Wife and I were at a work Saturday night pizza party, with a radio on while we ate and drank beer and talked about current events, like Watergate. Work at that time was a local morning newspaper, which meant 6 days a week of putting out the current news.

    Then we heard that the AG had quit/been fired, and then his deputy AG quit or was fired. We drove back to work, because we knew there would be current news coming across the new wires, news from the NY Times, the Washington Post, the AP, the UPI Wire, all the wires. And no one was in the teletype room that night but us.

    We watched for at least a couple of hours, reading the words out of DC coming across at about 60 words a minute, high speed wire service back in 1973. Neither of us will ever forget that night.

    And now we have the Jan 6th committee hearings, the unbelievable lawless Trump activity, that makes Nixon look like a law abiding leftist compared to current Republican office holders!!! Can’t believe what we’re seeing right now!!!

  105. 105.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV: ​
     

    This was all the Saturday Night Massacre, when NIxon fired the leadership of the whole DoJ to save his presidency. Oops, that didn’t work either ~!!~

  106. 106.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Steeplejack:

    Somebody on Twitter said that Pence is so dumb that he’s running on autopilot: when you’re the vice president and your president’s term ends ( ) you get to run for president next. QED. That’s just science.

    Dense’s party doesn’t believe in science.

  107. 107.

    Starfish

    @James E Powell: “Ask your Republican congressional candidates about their health care plan.”

    Shot of the cows that died in Kansas during the last heat wave. “Do your Republican congressional candidates have a climate action plan yet?”

  110. 110.

    mrmoshpotato

    @J R in WV: ​

    This was all the Saturday Night Massacre, when NIxon fired the leadership of the whole DoJ to save his presidency.

    Move along. Nothing to see here.

  112. 112.

    Anne Laurie

    @Starfish: Shot of the cows that died in Kansas during the last heat wave. “Do your Republican congressional candidates have a climate action plan yet?”

    Of course they do; they’re blaming those dead cows on Bill Gates, who wants to force Real ‘Muricans to choke down his chip-laden *fake meat* plantburgers instead.

    (You *wish* I was kidding… )

  114. 114.

    MagdaInBlack

    @mrmoshpotato: Since the thread says recap, and because I know your head will explode: the NYT Chicago TikTok Bimbo that you hoped was not a suburbanite?…is from St Charles, IL. Went to HS there, seems to still live there.

    ( stepping back to avoid brain fragments)

  115. 115.

    Another Scott

    In other news, supposedly Biden is going to announce something to do with the federal gas tax and student loans this week. Maybe something like this, also too, from BlueVirginia.US:

    From Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA07):

    Spanberger Urges President Biden to Use Defense Production Act to Strengthen America’s Short-Term Oil Refinery Capacity, Lower Gas Prices for Virginians

    Last Week, a Bipartisan Majority of the U.S. House Voted to Pass the Congresswoman’s Legislation to Help Bring Down Food Costs, Reduce Gas Prices, and Strengthen America’s Supply Chains

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger is helming another effort to help lower gas prices for Virginia consumers and expand refinery capacity across the country.

    While skyrocketing fuel prices have been primarily driven by high crude oil prices, the most recent spike in gas prices is in large part due to a lack of refining capacity — as oil demand has returned to pre-pandemic levels but global refining capacity has declined by 3,000,000 barrels per day and U.S. capacity alone has declined by 1,000,000 barrels per day. This oil refining capacity shortage is the result of an unprecedented wave of refinery closures after demand for fuel plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite record gas prices, oil companies have demonstrated little interest in restarting refineries that were shuttered during the pandemic.

    To help get America’s refineries into high gear, Spanberger and U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) and Sharice Davids (D-KS-03) introduced a resolution urging the Biden Administration to use its powers under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to expand America’s short-term oil refinery capacity and curtail the refining bottleneck that is contributing to rising gas prices. While the White House has previously issued letters to the industry pressing for increased production, this legislation presses the President to take real action — rather than issue more statements.

    […]

    Could be a very interesting summer. It looks like the gasoline futures traders are expecting something to happen – July futures prices are down from their peak.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  116. 116.

    mrmoshpotato

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Since the thread says recap, and because I know your head will explode: the NYT Chicago TikTok Bimbo that you hoped was not a suburbanite?…is from St Charles, IL. Went to HS there, seems to still live there.
    ( stepping back to avoid brain fragments)

    HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!

    Not surprised. (Scanners head explosion)​

  117. 117.

    ian

    @Geminid:

    That’s one upside to the US system of government that doesn’t get enough credit.  Imagine if we had to rehold elections every time we lost Manchin or Sinema’s vote

  119. 119.

    Mike E

    @Mike in NC: You also forget the monopolists’ coup plot of enticing Smedley Butler’s recruitment to usurp the FDR presidency. Fascists abounded then and they are never far enough away to think such things as unlikely, sadly.

  122. 122.

    Tony G

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Beyond that, I think that it’s worthwhile to compare and contrast Watergate and 01/06/21. As corrupt and lawless as Nixon was, Trump and the current Republican Party are an order of magnitude worse.

  125. 125.

    JaySinWA

    I have been thinking of the attempt to deify Pence along with the gallows as a crucifixion story gone wrong. I think that doesn’t help Pence since he rejected his role as the sacrificial lamb that would bring salvation to the long suffering Trump supporters.

  127. 127.

    Another Scott

    @JaySinWA: Looks like the “edit other people’s comments” bug is still lurking – it gives me the option of editing your comment (though of course it will not ‘take’).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  128. 128.

    Geminid

    @ian: Israel has a very fractured political system. In the last election, 13 parties passed the 3.25% threashold to gain at least 4 of the 120 Knesset seats. If a party polls 10% it is awarded 12 seats. Netanyahu’s Likud won the most seats, at 27. Lapid’s Yesh Atid had second most with 17.

    The party run by the Sephardic rabbis won 9 seats, and the one run by the Ashkenazi rabbis got 6. The Arab Joint List won 6 seats, while the Arab Islamic party Ra’am broke away from the Joint List and squeaked in with 4 MKs. Ra’am joined the coalition Lapid put together and became the first Arab Israeli party ever to serve in a government.

    Some Israeli parties are durable, others only last from one election to the next. Prime Minister Bennett’s Yamina party likely will not even field a slate this fall.

  129. 129.

    JaySinWA

    @Another Scott: I’ve heard that from several people, haven’t seen it yet myself, It’s back of the queue for fixing. What I am seeing is the lack of the visual/text tabs and defaulting to text. Several times including just now.

  131. 131.

    columbusqueen

    The main reason Don Young got First Nations votes was his first wife (think she died in 2012 or so) was a tribal member, & he pulled in a lot more pork for the Native corps than most white reps would bother. So obviously a card Palin can’t even begin to play.

  133. 133.

    JaySinWA

    test visual with save my name, email…

    Edit save my name tik box is sticky now, I don’t remember it being sticky.

    In any case I think I was always getting the text version without the save my name ticked. Now for two tries I am getting the visual tab and default to visual after ticking save my name

    ETA and now save my name is unstuck, but still defaulting to visual

    ETA 2 so maybe, just maybe if you tick save my name when in text mode (with no tabs?) it remembers too much?

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