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You are here: Home / Domestic Terrorism / Late Night Open Thread: Speaker Johnson & the Domestic Terrorists

Late Night Open Thread: Speaker Johnson & the Domestic Terrorists

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It could be argued there’s an outside chance Speaker Johnson really believed the Capitol tapes would show ‘peaceful tourists’ quietly browsing the People’s Palace. Or it could’ve been argued, if he hadn’t immediately hustled to cover up criminal behavior by tampering with the evidence. A revered Republican tradition!


Reader Interactions

42Comments

  1. 1.

    HumboldtBlue

    When I rob a bank, I’m gonna demand my face be blurred out in the surveillance video.​ 

    I’ll give Joe credit for his timing. The sign of the cross works very well in his favor too, one of the few men in public life who appear to genuinely practice their faith.

  2. 2.

    bbleh

    So my understanding is that DOJ already had the tapes, and has for a long time, ie he’s not actually concealing anything.  Ergo either he didn’t know it and he’s kind of scary stupid, or he DID know it and he’s just performing for the rubes (which of course he’s doing in either case).

    And I think I then read that there was a hasty retraction by some nameless spokesdroid, who said he was trying to “protect” the rioters from “retaliation” by “others” explicitly NOT law enforcement, which tends to support the Scary Stupid theory.

    Either way, it’s evidence of intent.  And, y’know, OMG, Republican hypocrisy, yada yada, roll the tape.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    What tourist doesn’t show up in tactical gear, packing bear spray and tasers? Nuthin’ to see here, move along.
    //

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    @bbleh:

    And I think I then read that there was a hasty retraction by some nameless spokesdroid, who said he was trying to “protect” the rioters from “retaliation” by “others” explicitly NOT law enforcement, which tends to support the Scary Stupid theory

    At the beginning of the investigation, a lot of the rioters were turned in by family members etc., but I imagine the number of tips of those sort has dropped way down over the last almost three years, just because anyone who wanted to turn in their crazy uncle or whatever has already done so.

  8. 8.

    Brachiator

    Johnson: We have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in the events of that day because we don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ

    Who is “We?”

  10. 10.

    bbleh

    @dmsilev: yeah I think this is just more rube-bait, because I think the comment also included words like “violent,” ie they were trying to “protect” the rioters from imaginary Enemies of America like BLM and “Antifa” and, I dunno, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.  I think somebody somewhere got to Johnson or a senior aide and said, ahem, (1) obstruction of justice and (2) they already have the tapes you moron, and this was the wholesome-America pivot they came up with.

  11. 11.

    Chetan Murthy

    @dmsilev: IIUC, because the Govt didn’t release *all* the tapes, there are still individuals who haven’t been identiified.  IIRC there was a case a few months ago where the FBI appealed for help from the public, and the public responded by identifying the perp-in-question.

    So I conjecture (it’s only conjecture, I could very well be wrong) that what Johnson is afraid of, is that if he releases all the tapes unblurred, there’ll be a whole lotta Sedition Hunters out there (as well as ex-{GF,wife} who’ll drop a dime on his dear heroes).

  12. 12.

    C Stars

    It doesn’t really matter to the rubes; the optics of it matches perfectly with their general conspiracy theory-addled worldview. First it was: “When ALL the tapes are released, then we’ll know what REALLY happened.” And now the tapes are released and it’s just kinda more of the same disgustingness, but when they add the distortions over people’s faces it makes it seem mysterious. And then to frame it as “We must protect these people from retaliation…” I mean, nothing really has to make sense to the maga folks as long as it tickles their paranoia bone, right?

  13. 13.

    Martin

    Learned the expression “Tolerable level of permanent unhappiness” today, and it’s occupying a lot of my brain.

  15. 15.

    Chetan Murthy

    @C Stars: “well, those were heroes donchyano!  They were fighting to preserve our way of life!  Of course we shouldn’t want them to face punishment for standing up for real Americans, for the America we grew up with, just trying to make America great again!”

    /s

  18. 18.

    Ohio Mom

    @Martin: I googled that and came up with links about unhappy marriages. But I can think of many other sources of permanent inhappiness. It is a haunting phrase.

  19. 19.

    C Stars

    @Chetan Murthy: No better way to make America great again than shitting on the capitol building floor and beating on cops.

    /s

    Or maybe some of MTG’s friends can be seen in the scrum? Really can’t put anything past these con artists.

  20. 20.

    C Stars

    @Martin: The expression is occupying your a lot of brain, or the unhappiness? If it’s unhappiness, then one could argue it is not tolerable.

  21. 21.

    Jackie

    I just watched the Lawrence O’Donnell show on time delay, and he had Nancy Pelosi on to discuss Liz Cheney, and her book.

    Nancy was almost gushing in her praise and admiration for Cheney.

    If you can find a link, watch it.

  22. 22.

    Sally

    First of all, I thought these were peaceful tourists who did nothing wrong. So how could the DOJ charge them with anything when they committed no crime. Second, I thought al liberals were a bunch of anti gun weaklings who couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. So what retaliation are they afraid of.

  23. 23.

    Martin

    Going to translate this paragraph from CNN:

    None of the school leaders explicitly said that calling for the genocide of Jews would necessarily violate their code of conduct. Instead, they explained it would depend on the circumstances and conduct.

    It’s a tricky thing to put into a code of conduct without running afoul of allowing academic discussions of genocide like the Holocaust. Universities don’t have a ‘this set of rules for in the classroom’ and ‘this other set of rules outside the classroom’.

    The rub is in the term ‘calling for’. There are almost always restrictions about directed hate speech, but schools teach courses on hate speech, which you can’t do without invoking hate speech. Creative writing courses may involve including hate speech. I had an entire creative writing course on taboo subjects – because maybe your character would say slurs, and how to do it in a way that is respectful of the reader, and what is not respectful. It’s not easy. We have drama courses and production that might include those kinds of expressions in dialogue. We have student performances that involve nudity. University rules are incredibly complex in terms of what must be considered. We used to have all kinds of fun with this during our mandatory sexual harassment training. ‘Hostile workplace might include hanging a suggestive photo in your office’. <Hand goes up.> ‘My area of research is the effect of pornography on society, and viewing pornography is a necessary part of my research group activities’. <Trainer begins visibly sweating>. We weren’t making light of it – it was actually a service for the trainer to do the additional work of differentiating between intent, invoking the word ‘consent’ and so on because they usually glossed over that.

    This is why you have administrators observe these student events whenever possible, because you tell immediately when something is directed or not. You can tell the difference between an academic discussion, a protest, and an attempt to incite. And that’s why you don’t put it in the code of conduct with that kind of specificity because doing so will immediately get weaponized. That’s how book bans happen. You put ‘no discussion of genocide allowed’ and some Moms of Liberty asshole prints a list of every book in your library that covers the Holocaust and how you are violating your student code.

    That said, Ivy League presidents get paid a lot. They can dig their way out of their own holes. And this shit isn’t easy. Mein Kampf is usually part of the curriculum somewhere in a university. Having the book and reading it is a perfectly appropriate thing to be doing. But it can also be a very inappropriate things to be doing, particularly if it’s a set piece for your insta. Writing a policy that can differentiate between those is, effectively, impossible.

  24. 24.

    rekoob

    @NotMax: Thanks for the link. I have a dear friend who was actively involved in People for the American Way. Poignant that Koppel and Lear lamented the need for a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion function in today’s society.

  25. 25.

    Martin

    @Ohio Mom: It has broad application. Consider respecting pronouns. If someone’s assigned at birth pronouns make them unhappy, they may ask people to use different ones, that make them happy. If you complain about the hassle of respecting them, you’re essentially saying that their unhappiness is below a level that is tolerable to you. Basically, I don’t care if you are unhappy, this is inconvenient to me.

    It came to me in the context of trigger warnings. But it applies anywhere there’s an effort to maintain a power imbalance around something that affects one party’s happiness but not another’s. And women seem to have really grabbed onto the sentiment with relation to their marriage.

    @C Stars: The expression. Do I contribute to that in the people around me. It’s a good framing to consider.

  26. 26.

    bbleh

    @Sally: are you not aware of the threat posed by ooga-booga Others from places like Inner City Philadelphia?!?

    There are even acronyms!  BLM!  Antifa!  Which have nothing to do with race but only with Respect For The Law, which also, um … well, sometimes, y’know, the Tree of Liberty, and … stuff.  Anyway, you need to wake up before it’s too late!!

    Oh, and also The Border, too.

  27. 27.

    bbleh

    … and btw, if anyone wants Speaker Johnson and the Domestic Terrorists as a band name — say, for Republican weddings or something — I hereby renounce all claim to it as such.

  28. 28.

    frosty

    @Martin: ​I read Mein Kampf in a class on political philosophy. Along with Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. And the Federalist Papers. My favorite thing I took from that class was the law firm I ran into in Gravity’s Rainbow: Salitieri, Nash, De Brutis, and Short.

  29. 29.

    wjca

    @bbleh:  I think somebody somewhere got to Johnson or a senior aide and said, ahem, (1) obstruction of justice and (2) they already have the tapes you moron

    Certainly my first thought.  It’s possible that Johnson already knew, and was just performing for the rubes.  But there hasn’t been a lot of evidence that he’s all that bright, so likely not.

  30. 30.

    patrick II

    @wjca: ​
    The justice department is not the only ones Johnson may be worried about. Many of the January 6th rioters were in identified by friends and family. Perhaps Johnson does not want to see more of the same.

  32. 32.

    sab

    OT Paul Lynch won the Booker!! Maybe people will notice him. Writes about unmentionable aspects of Irish history. The Famine and the Diaspora. One of his books resonated with me because main character came over at same time as my great-great grandfather, doing the exact same work in a similar place. The book had a prequel. Father’s story. Daughter’s story.

    Heard about it years ago from a lovely informative but not spoiler interview with author by Outlander actress  Catriona Balfe. They’re both Irish. But she is a high end fashion model turned actress. Those buying into stereotypes would say model/actress equals idiot, but they would be wrong. This was a really good interview. My very limited experience is fashion models are not idiots. Just very pretty girls with some ambition. Morals vary, but brains not so much.

  34. 34.

    sab

    @Tony Jay: They didn’t manage to kill all of themselves off.

    My RWNJ brother who joined a financial cult instead of a religious cult ( he thinks Fauci conspired with Chinese in Wuhan lab, plus he admires Pompeo!) according to my sisters has long Covid. His affects his hearing. All the tones are off. Everyone is pitched higher, often  outside his hearing range. Women speak at dog only levels. He has to lip read, and he can’t do that if they are wearing masks.

    No point in me ever meeting him again in my lifetime. I am a soprano.

    I pretty much wrote him off when he blew off Fauci and defended Pompeo. I lke living in an actual democracy, and some people endanger that.

  36. 36.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    The one thing that strikes me about the conservatives here in the US, the UK, Israel, Russia and so on it their utter toxic incompetence.  These clowns are less Hitler and more Kaiser William III.

  37. 37.

    Montanareddog

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Modern movement conservatism is a tool of the new oligarchy, as is mass communication, in this second Gilded Age.

    Because the actual policy desires of the oligarchs are anathema to the electorate and cannot be supported by those, including traditional conservatives, who favour good governance for the general benefit, you need dishonest or stupid political actors to distract the public with ginned up culture wars, xenophobia, scorched earth tactics and purges of internal opponents, all of  which discredit the very concept of good governance.

    Thus you end up with clowns, idiots, grifters, narcissists, nihilists and fascists – all the detritus of the right – running the show

  40. 40.

    wjca

    @Tony Jay: They’ve already shrunk their voter pool with Covid and frothing extremism. Johnson doesn’t want to shrink it any further.

    It occurs to me to wonder: how many of the Jan6 insurgents were actually, you know, registered to vote?  I wouldn’t be amazed if it was a substantially lower fraction than among the general population.

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