Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

We will not go back.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Innocent people do not delay justice.

You are here: Home / Politics / So Now We Know Why Grassley Was So Sure He Would Be In Charge on Jan 6?

So Now We Know Why Grassley Was So Sure He Would Be In Charge on Jan 6?

by | 143 Comments

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I can’t help but wonder – if Pence hadn’t been available because he, let’s say, got in the vehicle with the Secret Service as they had wanted him to, would Pence simply not being available (or worse! … hang Mike Pence) have eliminated the need to actually recuse himself?

The more we learn, the more I shudder at the thought of what would have happened that day if even one of the things that went our way hadn’t gone our way.  How naive I was, to be confident that we would get it all under control.  It was stressful and it was distressing and it was worrisome, but in my mind the only question was how long it was going to take to get things under control.

I feel kind of sick just thinking about how bad it really was.

We dodged a bullet, though sadly it cost some of the capital defenders their lives, their good health, and their peace of mind.

I hope the bastard and all his accomplices and all of his minions land in jail for a very long time.

Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

143Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Idiot cheese ball lost his original memo on the hotel computer?

    He as freaking planning a coup from the Holiday Inn Business Center?

    Jesus.

  2. 2.

    Alison Rose

    I assume the dude’s name is supposed to be pronounced “Chez (to rhyme with Pez)-bro” but I love hearing news anchors and such call him “Cheese-boro”.

    Also, fuck him.

  3. 3.

    danielx

    “The truth is these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.”

    Lock the fuckers up.

  4. 4.

    lollipopguild

    It’s scary how overturning an election  was seen to these people as business as usual. No big deal. Gee if we have to call out the U.S. military to kill hundreds of Americans that will be fine and ok.

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: Hahaha!

    ETA: I guess he didn’t have to do the “security tutorial” that my employer makes us all pass every once in a while.

  8. 8.

    bbleh

    I srsly hope Jack “You Can’t Pronounce The Original Klingon” Smith drops a 20-pound sledge on Mr. Cheese-bro.

  12. 12.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: Don’t these people have laptops?! They’re not that expensive.

    Lemme guess…. Cheesebro is so technologically impaired that he can’t rotate a PDF.

  16. 16.

    Dangerman

    RIP, Robbie Robertson.  HIs first solo record (titled, well, Robbie Robertson) is one of my favorites. Supported by Peter Gabriel, Tony Levin, U2, et al, how could it not be great?

    This one seems appropriate.

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    We have never had this question answered.

     

    WHO CHANGED THE LOCK ON PENCE’S OFFICE ON 1/6?

    WHO HAS THE AUTHORITY TO DO THAT?

  19. 19.

    LAO

    @bbleh: I can’t fathom a world where all the unnamed co-conspirators in the J6 indictment, aren’t going to be indicted shortly.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    WG,

    THE one main thing that went our way that I still am grateful for..

    No counter-protesters.

    THAT was a stroke of providence for us.

    NO excuse to bring in the National Guard. Only reason to bring them in was because of HIS rioters

    Which is why it took PENCE to call them out.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    @lollipopguild:

    It’s scary how overturning an election  was seen to these people as business as usual. No big deal. Gee if we have to call out the U.S. military to kill hundreds of Americans that will be fine and ok.

    THIS

    And I hope they get asked, and are forced to answer publicly:

    “What was it that made staying in power so urgent that despite losing the election you’d run right over the Constitution and potentially kill hundreds if not thousands of your fellow Americans when they protested this coup, this power grab?  Why not just go back to your law practice?  Why wouldn’t your rich, billionaire president just go back to being the world’s most satisfied Twitter troll?”

    Make them say it.

  25. 25.

    Josie

    I’d like to know more about Grassley’s involvement. What did he know and when did he know it?

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    It’s chilling.  They describe the steps to that part of the overthrow of the government so calmly and coldly – for some reason, it makes me think of a serial killer calmly and coldly describing how you cut up a human body for disposal.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    So we knew Pence refused to do the deed himself, but this is the first I’ve heard that he was asked to recuse and refused to do so.

  29. 29.

    Maxim

    @rikyrah: And not just his, right? Or maybe his was the only one that had the locks changed, but other offices were tampered with in other ways (panic buttons removed, phones messed with or removed).

    Chesebro needs to go away for a long time, and every single person who was a part of this shit needs to be identified and prosecuted.

  31. 31.

    Hoodie

    That guy’s name is perfectly descriptive.  What a freaking hack, Saul Goodman level bullshit. That theory makes no sense whatsoever except, perhaps, as something they thought Pence might buy as a cover story to get out from under threats to his life/career.  However, I don’t think even Pence is that dumb.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @lollipopguild: ​
     
    I think the big thing happening here was wishful thinking. They didn’t make real plans for contingencies because they assumed things would work their way. Of course Pence would go along. Only a few people would object to the plan, and they could easily be put down using the Insurrection Act. They never seriously considered what would happen if Pence didn’t go along, or if there were massive riots, or if the military refused to go along with invoking the Insurrection Act. I don’t think they ever thought about what would happen if state governments refused to go along, even to the point of coming up with the kind of flimsy contingency plans they did for the other stuff.

  35. 35.

    sdhays

    @rikyrah: The VP doesn’t have an office at the Capitol, do they? I recall a member of Congress (AOC?) had her locks changed and needed to shelter in a colleague’s office. The claims were that it was a coincidence, which…maybe?

  37. 37.

    bbleh

    @rikyrah: blind spot for them. They may just have assumed that Those People would riot (because you know how They are).

    The footage from that day is scary AF.  I can’t imagine it wouldn’t influence a jury, but I’m also having trouble imagining a reason to exclude it.

  38. 38.

    Shana

    @Suzanne: I heard an exchange on either CNN or MSNBC the other day where someone had confirmed that it is pronounced “Cheese bro”

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    @sdhays:

    since the VP is the President of the Senate, I always thought they had some sort of office setup in the Capitol.

     

    The United States Constitution designates the vice president of the United States to serve as president of the Senate and to cast the tie-breaking vote in the case of a deadlock. To carry out these duties, the vice president has long had an office in the Capitol Building, just outside the Senate chamber.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    Jack Smith knows all of what we know, x1000.  As do the others working on the J6 case.  I picture him channeling the rage into a cold fury as he works methodically to make his case, and take them down, one by one.

  43. 43.

    Suzanne

    @Shana: Fantastic.

    Now if someone could confirm that the terrible NYT Catholic guilt dude’s name is pronounced “DOUCHE-hat”, I’d be laughing even harder.

  46. 46.

    Anonymous At Work

    Can I add to this conversation by pointing out that Rudy “Four Seasons” Guiliani wasn’t “Mayor” and hadn’t been since 2001, almost 20 years prior, yet he insisted on using the honorific?  Kind of like how Mr. Trump insists on his former honorific in all court filings.  Big egos, out in front, leading the way.  Nice big targets if Jack Smith feels the need.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: I think Nancy SMASH understood exactly what was happening that day, in a way that we did not until now, yet she was still as cool as a cucumber.

    Even when she said she was gonna punch out Trump, she was very much in control.

  50. 50.

    Jeffro

    Side note but back to what we were talking about earlier: abortion rights far outpace support for Dems in general or Biden in particular

    RUN ON THIS, Ds!

    “…abortion measures continue to break through partisan walls, landing consistently to the left of the presidential vote nearly everywhere in every state that’s held a vote. A review of six statewide votes since last year, including Ohio’s, shows that in 500 of 510 counties, access to abortion outperformed President Biden’s 2020 results. Across those counties, including a lot of deep-red ones, the margin of support for abortion access topped Biden’s 2020 margin by an average of 26 points, a significant shift to the left.”

  51. 51.

    Josie

    Oh, good grief. I just saw on Political Wire that Trump’s lawyers have requested that Judge Cannon approve of setting up a SCIF at Mar-a Lago. They claim it will save money over travel to Washington or something.​

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah: and that’s just what happened.

    What could have happened is even more crazy.  We could have easily seen Pelosi, Pence, AOC dragged out to the Capitol steps and strangled.  Or worse.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Jeffro:

    I don’t disagree, but lots of liberal issues are more popular than Democratic candidates. There’s always something in the package that makes our candidates less popular.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    @Josie: As long as someone from the DOJ is guarding the door at all times.

    And a key person from the DOJ is inside the room at all times.

    And that everyone is searched for phones and electronic devices before going into the SCIF.

    And that everyone is searched on their way out of the SCIF.

  59. 59.

    piratedan

    and I gotta believe that more than just ol’ Cornfield Chuck were clued into this gameplan.  Which kind of implies that more than a few sitting Senators were aware a that an attempted coup was on its way.

  61. 61.

    Burnspbesq

    @LAO:

    i’m happy to wait until after the Trump trial, so long as there’s no threat of statutes expiring. Don’t need the distractions.

  62. 62.

    narya

    @WaterGirl: Yes, this. While traveling, I happened on most of the documentary on Nancy Smash that her daughter did; we didn’t see all of it, but we saw quite a bit. Her control was truly amazing–she was furious and also clear-eyed. And I have to admire her respect for the office of the VP, even though I suspect she thinks he’s a dolt personally.

  63. 63.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    Step 1. Rent a storage locker for 6 months, fake ID, cash up front.

    Step 2. Install a small deep freeze.

    Step 3. Butcher the body and grind parts of it up, and package it in butcher paper with labels like Ground Beef, Round Steak.

    Step 4. Put it in the freezer.

    Step 5. At 6 months, don’t renew the rental.

    Step 6. (Not your step) The Storage Company will cut power to the locker.

    Step 7. (Not your step) The Storage Company will apply through the Courts to clear your locker and sell of anything of value. This takes a while.

    Step 8. (Not your step) Once the Storage Company has gained the rights to your locker, the Staff will find (depends on the size of your victim) 150lbs to 250lbs of labelled, rotting meat. They will get it into a dumpster asap.

    follow me on you tube for more useful household tips and life hacks

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @Josie: As long as they are part of Jack Smith’s team, I am good with it.

    *except I’m really not.  Cannon is very clearly on team Trump and if she agrees to let that happen I hope it can be appealed.

  67. 67.

    bbleh

    @WaterGirl: lol as someone not very long ago said, Nancy Pelosi doesn’t put her socks on without thinking first of the political implications

    She knew exactly what she was saying and where it would go.

    &btw I was also impressed with the footage her daughter shot when they were in the Safe Place, when she was on the phone with Pentagon people.  Every sentence had an angle.  It was masterful.

  68. 68.

    anitamargarita

    @Baud: maybe not comparable, but a precursor? Remember roger stone and the brooks brothers riot in Miami? Not too far from what they did in Arizona, Michigan etc. the brooks brother riot worked, along with the Supreme Court, so storming the capitol wasn’t necessary. Along with other differences. Bottom line is that republicans have been anti-democracy for decades, and in 2000 they succeeded in “peacefully” stealing the presidential election.

    Roberts, kavanaugh and Eastman were all there in Miami, I doubt they have forgotten what they pulled off.

  70. 70.

    Ocotillo

    @Josie:  I could have swore I saw on X or whatever the hell Twitter is called these days a rumor that Jack Smith is looking into Grassley.  Please be true.

  72. 72.

    Burnspbesq

    @Jeffro:

    I hope that at some point in time, Grassley is subpoenaed, too

    as soon as that subpoena is served, Grassley will go full metal Feinstein. He won’t remember a damn thing. And he’s likely to get away with it, because he’s pushing 90.

  73. 73.

    Hoodie

    @WaterGirl:  I would imagine there is a SCIF at McDill AFB.  Lauro is from Tampa.  The prosecutor could offer that as a compromise, put Cannon in a bind.  Hard to justify creating a SCIF at Mar a Lago if there’s already one relatively close to his lawyer’s office.

  75. 75.

    Bill Arnold

    @Josie:
    Here’s the Grassley thing, Jan 5 2021. Re VP M. Pence, it was not “recuse”, it was “don’t expect him to be there”

    NEW: Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the Senate president pro tempore, says he and not Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the certification of Electoral College votes, since “we don’t expect him to be there.”
    — Roll Call (@rollcall) January 5, 2021

  76. 76.

    LAO

    @Josie: I’m trying to figure out whether a district court judge has the authority to authorize a SCiF. I really don’t know if she can order it.

  80. 80.

    mrmoshpotato

    It was stressful and it was distressing and it was worrisome

    Also, enraging, and infuriating, and maddening. :)

  81. 81.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Hoodie:

    However, I don’t think even Pence is that dumb.

    According to Judge Luttig, Pence was just smart enough to ask one of his attorneys, who had been a Luttig protege, to call Luttig to ask for advice on that. We apparently are lucky the Luttig’s wife pushed him to be more proactive (again, according to Luttig).

  82. 82.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Burnspbesq:

    as soon as that subpoena is served, Grassley will go full metal Feinstein. He won’t remember a damn thing. And he’s likely to get away with it, because he’s pushing 90.

    also, he and the state party have groomed his grandson (ISWIDT) to be appointed in his place. Kind of surprised they haven’t pulled the trigger on it already, but that “Die in Office” thing seems to be part of Senate Brain.

  83. 83.

    Alison Rose

    @WaterGirl: “I’m gonna punch him out, I’m gonna go to jail, and I’m gonna be happy.” As much as I know those moments were terrifying for her and everyone else, I loved this line because even with everything happening, she was still Nancy SMASHing it up.

  84. 84.

    VOR

    @WaterGirl: I confess to being mystified by an aspect of a SCIF at Mar-A-Lago. Yes, it’s an obvious delay tactic. Yes, they ought to assume TFG and his people will attempt to violate the rules. But shouldn’t there have BEEN a SCIF at Mar-A-Logo during TFG’s administration? The dude spent a lot of time there, shouldn’t there have been a secure area? In which case, setting up a SCIF would be a matter of reconstituting a former installation rather than creating something net new.

    Maybe it’s like the Mar-A-Lago helipad, installed during his mis-reign but required to be removed by the local government afterwards.

  85. 85.

    Maxim

    @Burnspbesq: I sure hope these fuckers took copious notes on their criminal conspiracy. He may claim he doesn’t remember, but it won’t do it him any good if Jack Smith has the receipts.

  87. 87.

    Craig

    @Baud: I feel like that’s to avoid having a trail of data on his computer. Of course that’s not how things work.

  88. 88.

    Suzanne

    @Anonymous At Work:

    Can I add to this conversation by pointing out that Rudy “Four Seasons” Guiliani wasn’t “Mayor” and hadn’t been since 2001, almost 20 years prior, yet he insisted on using the honorific? 

    Note that these are the same people who sneaked about Dr. FLOTUS using her proper academic title.
    What ever could be the difference, hmmmmm?!

  89. 89.

    Baud

    @Craig:

    I can see that Microsoft Word Clippy guy now.

    “I see you are writing a plan to overthrow the U.S. government…”

  90. 90.

    Bill Arnold

    @Roger Moore:

    Only a few people would object to the plan, and they could easily be put down using the Insurrection Act. They never seriously considered what would happen if Pence didn’t go along, or if there were massive riots, or if the military refused to go along with invoking the Insurrection Act.

    Not sure whether these (attempted) election thieves realize that they are personally lucky that it didn’t go that far. They would have personally been legitimate targets of any subsequent violence.

  91. 91.

    LAO

    @VOR: There was a SCIF at mar-a-lago during his presidency, it was dismantled after he was cheated out of a 2d term.

    /y’all better know I’m kidding about the 2020 election

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @LAO: not according to Marc Elias (check a couple other of my TeeVee Lawyer Friends, Weissman and Katyal, they haven’t posted on this)

    Marc E. Elias @marceelias 1h
    I don’t believe a federal judge overseeing a criminal case can require the government to approve a SCIF. If the judge inadvisedly grants this motion, this may be one DOJ is forced to take to the 11th Circuit.

    I would think Cannon is a little gun shy about the 11th circuit at this point

  93. 93.

    RSA

    @VOR: Wikipedia agrees with you:

    Officials documented to have had a SCIF set up in their private residences include:

  94. 94.

    moops

    I can imagine the plan was to hustle Pence into the Secret Service car, and then take him to a safe location and thus be unavailable to preside over the certification.

     

    But then how did Grassley know this ahead of time?  as reported in RollCall?

  95. 95.

    mrmoshpotato

    @lollipopguild:

    It’s scary how overturning an election was seen to these people as business as usual. No big deal. Gee if we have to call out the U.S. military to kill hundreds of Americans that will be fine and ok. 

    Sledgehammer to all their balls!

  97. 97.

    VOR

    @moops: Bingo. And Pence didn’t trust his Secret Service detail to bring him back when needed. That’s why he refused to get in the car.

  98. 98.

    Jackie

    @Josie: Nothing like returning classified documents back to the scene of the crime!🙄

    I hope Cannon doesn’t have any jurisdiction on that! Or sets up a SCIF at the courthouse.

  99. 99.

    Baud

    @moops:

    Someone must have at least told him ahead of time to be ready.  They weren’t going to surprise him at the last minute.

  103. 103.

    Old School

    @Dangerman:

    RIP, Robbie Robertson.  HIs first solo record (titled, well, Robbie Robertson) is one of my favorites.

    Good album.  I think I’ll be putting on The Band.

  104. 104.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @LAO: Oh shit! wasn’t trying to bait you there, just figured he might know something because of the jobs he’s had

  105. 105.

    p.a

    Sooo… American domocracy’s survival that day at least came down to Mike fucking Pence?  We are so fucked.

    DoJ should go after every officeholder on any email cc chain no matter how far down the line.  Get them on record explaining.

  110. 110.

    piratedan

    Here’s one thought that keeps coming to mind….  Okay, so we have this coup rolling in motion, the Trump Coup Cartel have maneuvered their pieces into place… the Oath Keepers, IIi%’ers and Proud Boys are in place.  The Capitol Police are understaffed and placed at a distance from the Metro Police, Trump’s Secret Service crew are in the know (and maybe some of Pence’s as well) and they have a rough outline of when the votes are taking place and members of Congress are in the know to delay and obstruct to keep those not in the know in place to be used as retribution or hostage or what have you…..

    You don’t pull this kind of shit into place without a boatload of minions doing the dirty work, so you have to look at NOT JUST those politicians that are implicated, but also their staff.  If I was the DOJ, I would be inviting more than a few folks in for conversations regarding who knew what and when and why didn’t anyone raise the alarm?

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    @VOR: The podcast peeps say that it was already taken down.  And it was apparently a tiny room, and you know that Trump would never sit in there – he could go anytime day or night and grab whatever he wanted.

    I don’t see any way they could allow that since HE STILL HAS documents in his possession that he shouldn’t have.

  112. 112.

    catclub

    @lollipopguild: It’s scary how overturning an election was seen to these people as business as usual.

     

    Smedley Butler may have stopped a coup  around 1933.

  113. 113.

    Jackie

    @VOR: Off topic, but you reminded me of a question I have every time I see overhead footage of MAL; is that large green turf rectangle on the front lawn where the helipad used to be?

  115. 115.

    VOR

    @Jay: Season 4 of the excellent BBC series Unforgotten had a discarded freezer disgorging a headless and handless corpse. They didn’t take your suggestion of Step 3.

  116. 116.

    catclub

    @Josie: ​
      There is probably a SCIF somewhere near MAL, {Private company, government office]
    but if you were the security officer for such a SCIF, would you want a man indicted for mishandling SCI documents in YOUR SCIF?

  119. 119.

    Scout211

    Reposted from downstairs.

    The request for a home-based SCIF seems to have been expected and Smith’s team has already responded on this earlier: added additional text

    Link

    U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, previously committed to building what’s known as a secure compartmented information facility (SCIF) inside the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., where Trump is slated to be tried.

    Special Counsel Jack Smith suggested that Trump wants special treatment.

    In a recent legal brief, his assistants wrote that the secret locations in question are two of Trump’s private clubs: Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., and Bedminster in New Jersey.

    “There is no basis for the defendant’s request that he be given the extraordinary authority to discuss classified information at his residence, and it is particularly striking that he seeks permission to do so in the very location at which he is charged with willfully retaining the documents charged in this case,” the Justice Department’s counterintelligence chief at the National Security Division Jay Bratt wrote on July 28.

  120. 120.

    Bill Arnold

    @Josie:
    Note also that is says “we don’t expect him to be there”, not ” “I don’t expect him to be there”.
    He had staff. With their own devices, email accounts, etc.

  121. 121.

    kalakal

    @catclub: Insist that TIFG take a reading comprehension test first. Then posit the question as to why an man who is functionally illiterate should require a SCIF

  124. 124.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud: ​
     

    I don’t disagree, but lots of liberal issues are more popular than Democratic candidates. There’s always something in the package that makes our candidates less popular.

    I think we all know what parts of the Democratic package are unappealing to a lot of people: the parts where Those People get to share in the benefits. There’s a reason Obamacare was the first big social program that didn’t have carve-outs to prevent it from helping Black people as much as Whites.

  125. 125.

    Ken B

    @LAO: IANAL, but I’ve been assuming that Smith won’t indict any of them until Trump’s trial is complete.

    If he indicts, then I would expect them to try to join their trials to his, more as a delaying tactic for him and them, than for any legal reasons.

    If Trump’s been convicted, though…

    I expect all of them to get hammered as soon as Smith gets a verdict.

  126. 126.

    Roger Moore

    @VOR:

    As I understand it, SCIFs aren’t necessarily big permanent facilities.  There are ways of setting one up temporarily, even in something like a hotel room. It pretty much has to be like that.  VIPs who deal with classified information all the time tend to be pretty mobile, and they aren’t going to want to have to head back to a stationary position every time they need to deal with classified information.  Just as an example, when the President is visiting another country, he can’t just stop doing the parts of his job that require looking at classified information, and he can’t go back to AF1 all the time, either.  There has to be a way to set up a temporary SCIF so he can do his job.

    The SCIF at Mar-a-Lago was probably something like that.  They’d be given a room or two and then go do their stuff to make it secure.  They would probably keep it that way for as long as Trump was visiting, or maybe even for the whole season when he was likely to come every weekend, and then pack it up after.  It would be easier to set it up again than to maintain a SCIF with no users for several months.

  127. 127.

    hotshoe

    @Jeffro: ​ … “the margin of support for abortion access topped Biden’s 2020 margin by an average of 26 points, a significant shift to the left.

    ”my emphasis:to the left? no dammit, to the CENTER.

    Rejecting policies which condemn women to dying of pregnancy is not a LEFT issue, it’s a CENTER issue in any decent segment of humanity. If the death-loving evangelicals had not captured the Red party — and corrupted the Supreme Court — no “left wing” or “right wing” would have been confronted with the need to hold these referendum votes. We could have stayed in the Roe lane, the middle-of-the-road policy, abortion safe legal and not talked about, forever.

    Of course, now that the wannabe fascists have made it an issue, I’m happy to see our side using health-care rights to bring voters to the polls to block as much of the anti-democracy anti-voter shit as possible. But I still resent the assholes who pretend that abortion access is a “left” issue.
    Even Repug women who vote for creepazoids like DeSantis or Abbott still deserve access to health care.

    ​ETA: that quote is from the Washington Post; haven’t read the whole article, have no idea whether the rest is unbalanced or fair; but the usual slant of such articles gives me no confidence.​​

  129. 129.

    Craig

    @WaterGirl: more delays. How long to build a SCIF. How to coordinate on building it with MAL staff. Building permits in Palm Beach. Just No. You got a jet you fucker, use that.

  131. 131.

    Scout211

    @Burnspbesq: @Jackie:

    [Cannon] previously committed to building what’s known as a secure compartmented information facility (SCIF) inside the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., where Trump is slated to be tried.”

    link at #119

  132. 132.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Roger Moore: I think part of it is a lot of people that lean Republican really have no idea where the party stands on a lot of issues. They think both parties support a lot of this popular stuff so why not continue voting for the party I am loosely affiliated with? I think that delusion is maybe beginning to crack for some of them though.

  133. 133.

    MinuteMan

    They really need to stop treating the “president pro-tempore” as a gold watch for the most senior senator.  The president pro-tempore is 4th in the line of succession.  It should be the equivalent of the Speaker of the House.

  137. 137.

    Immanentize

    @Scout211: I particulary love this response by Smith because it outs Cannon’s semi-secret order yo build a SCIF. Which is what she did regarding other GJ proceedings.

  138. 138.

    Roger Moore

    @MinuteMan:

    They really need to stop treating the “president pro-tempore” as a gold watch for the most senior senator.

    They, or at least the Democrats, have.  The current president pro-tempore is Patty Murray, who isn’t even close to the most senior Democrat.

  139. 139.

    Ksmiami

    @WaterGirl: well yes, but anytime someone here brings up the stakes so we can be prepared, they get called hysterical, or blood thirsty etc. No, truly no one wants to start anything, but we will finish it. The GOP is a danger to every American.

  141. 141.

    Chris T.

    @Jay: The head, hands, and feet may be a problem…

    I’ve been watching Grimm reruns and maybe “eat them” is the solution (was Dahmer really Wesen?)…

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