Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

T R E 4 5 O N

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

This really is a full service blog.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Violent Insurrection at the Capitol / Investigations Into Violent Extremist Attacks

Investigations Into Violent Extremist Attacks

GOP Insurrectionists Open Thread: Ginni Thomas, Text-Cheating on Her Husband with Mark Meadows

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No wonder the poor fella’s been hiding out… err, hospitalized… for the last week:

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Friday Night Films: Roger Stone, Criminal Conspirator

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Roger Stone, (once again) taking notes on a criminal f*cking conspiracy:

As a mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s longest-serving political adviser, hurried to pack a suitcase inside his elegant suite on the fifth floor of the Willard hotel. He wrapped his tailored suits in trash bags, reversed his black face mask so its “Free Roger Stone” logo was hidden, then slipped out of town for a hastily arranged private flight from Dulles International Airport.

“I really want to get out of here,” Stone told an aide, as they were filmed at the hotel by a Danish camera crew for a documentary on the veteran Republican operative. Stone said he feared prosecution by the incoming attorney general, Merrick Garland. “He is not a friend,” Stone said…

Stone privately coordinated post-election protests with prominent figures, and in January he communicated by text message with leaders of far-right groups that had been involved in the attack on the Capitol, the footage shows. The filmmakers did not capture conversations between Stone and Trump, but on several occasions, Stone told them or his associates that he remained in contact with the president…

On the day of the attack, as he packed his bags, Stone told the filmmakers the riot was a mistake and would be “really bad” for the pro-Trump movement.

On the eve of the 2020 election, however, he seemed to welcome the prospect of clashes with left-wing activists. In a recorded conversation, as an aide spoke of driving trucks into crowds of racial justice protesters, Stone said: “Once there’s no more election, there’s no reason why we can’t mix it up. These people are going to get what they’ve been asking for.”…

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Life Goes On

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Nah, I don’t think Putin’s paying Hawley to be obstructionist. Why pay for something he can get for free?

… “Intentionally delaying the confirmation of a qualified expert on Russian affairs at a time like this is supremely reckless,” Schumer said Wednesday, adding that Hawley’s actions are “making the American people less safe.”

Spokesmen for Hawley did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Hawley’s colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee also have criticized his move…

On Monday, Hawley defended his decision to delay Wallander’s confirmation process by accusing Biden of pushing Europe closer to war.

“As Joe Biden’s incompetence leads Europe closer to war, Dr. Wallander seems to think we should keep doing more of the same in Europe, including bringing Ukraine into NATO, which will mean more and more American troops,” said Hawley, who opposes any effort to admit Ukraine to NATO and insists the focus should be on China.

Russia has demanded that Ukraine be barred from joining NATO; the United States and NATO have said the alliance’s open-door policy is nonnegotiable.

Dogs all over lower Florida must’ve had a bad day, what with the supersonic screeching noises from Palm Beach…

… The House committee has requested a wide range of material from the Trump White House relating to the Jan. 6 attack and Mr. Trump’s efforts to remain in office after his defeat. The committee is seeking to pull together a definitive account of that period and is considering whether it should refer its findings to the Justice Department as a way of creating pressure for a potential criminal prosecution.

The response from Ms. Remus appeared to indicate that Mr. Biden would not assert executive privilege over any visitor logs that touched on the matters the committee wants to know more about.

Those lines of inquiry include: the pressure campaign on Vice President Mike Pence to delay the certification of the Electoral College tally on Jan. 6, the scheme to put forward alternate slates of Trump electors from states he lost, Mr. Trump’s consideration of plans to seize voting machines and the various legal challenges brought by Mr. Trump and his supporters.

Under Mr. Biden and under President Barack Obama, the White House has made its visitor logs public, a move that proponents of government transparency have long said gives the public a greater sense of who has a direct pipeline to the country’s most powerful officials.

But the Trump administration said in April 2017 that such logs should remain secret because of “the grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.” Barring their disclosure made it far harder to determine which donors, lobbyists and activists had access to Mr. Trump and his aides…

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Welp, there it is

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“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

― George Orwell, 1984

From a NYT report on the Republican National Committee’s shindig in Salt Lake City (where I hope they’re freezing their balls off — oh wait…):

WASHINGTON — The Republican Party on Friday officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it “legitimate political discourse,” formally rebuking two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of Donald J. Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it…

On Friday, the party went further in a resolution slamming Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger for taking part in the House investigation of the assault, saying they were participating in “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

It was an extraordinary statement about the deadliest attack on the Capitol in 200 years, in which a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters stormed the complex, brutalizing police officers and sending lawmakers into hiding. Nine people died in connection with the attack and more than 150 officers were injured. The party passed the resolution without discussion and almost without dissent.

Mitt Romney was the lone dissenter, according to The Times. Romney’s niece, who has repudiated their shared name because the sloshing orange bag of liposuction clinic medical waste who rules their shared party demands it, “presided over the meeting and orchestrated the censure resolution.”

Speaking of Ronna Not-Romney McDaniel, I just realized I often confuse her with the Huckaspawn woman who also served Orangmandias and is now running for governor of Arkansas. It’s nepotism grifters, all the way down.

Open thread.

 

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Domestic Terrorists Open Thread: Head Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes Remains in Custody

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(I checked; it was up to a whole $230 by 4pm EST… )

Per the Washington Post:

With his signature eye patch and fiery speeches, Stewart Rhodes is among the most recognizable leaders of the anti-government movement — and one of its most controversial.

As founder of the Oath Keepers, part of the self-styled militia segment of the far right, Rhodes projected himself as the commander of a private army willing to confront “tyrannical” federal authorities and defend the Constitution by any means necessary.

In reality, according to extensive interviews with his associates and extremism trackers, Rhodes is a couch-surfing propagandist whose thousands of recruits paid membership dues but mostly acted as “keyboard warriors,” disseminating violent rhetoric but rarely showing up in great numbers when Rhodes called.

The Oath Keepers contingent that participated in the U.S. Capitol attack was among the biggest showings researchers have seen from the group — about two dozen members or associates, including Rhodes, have been charged with conspiracy, and a handful more face other charges related to individual actions they allegedly took that day.

It was also a moment that would implode the organization and alienate Rhodes from other anti-government leaders. Oath Keepers members, including those charged in the Capitol attack, bristled at what they see as Rhodes’s pattern of calling on followers to rise up and then abandoning them when they faced legal consequences.

“He sets the stage for other people to very quickly make the decision for themselves to engage in criminal or violent behavior,” said Sam Jackson, an extremism scholar whose book “Oath Keepers” traces Rhodes’s path from Army paratrooper to Yale Law graduate to far-right figure…

Hampton Stall, an extremism researcher who monitors self-styled militia groups, said any future iteration of the Oath Keepers is likely to come from “an insurgency” that’s trying now to regroup into a movement that can endure beyond Rhodes.

“If there’s any sort of accountability that ever comes to him, it will have been after years of him basically telling people to take up arms and shoot people,” Stall said. “His role within the Oath Keepers environment is less about coordinating specifics and more about creating the fertile ideological soil for violence.”

A man after TFG’s own tiny, shriveled pulmonary organ…

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Saturday Evening Retro Open Thread: The Gang(s) That Couldn’t Seditiously Conspire Straight

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Perhaps related: Teach the controversy!

All the ‘classic’ assassination conspiracy theories, resurfacing like scum in a backed-up sink…

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Thursday Evening Open Thread: Seditious Conspiracy

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Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, and 10 other members or associates have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, authorities said Thursday.

Despite hundreds of charges already brought in the year since pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, these were the first seditious conspiracy charges levied in connection with the attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

It marked a serious escalation in the largest investigation in the Justice Department’s history – more than 700 people have been arrested and charged with federal crimes – and highlighted the work that has gone into piecing together the most complicated cases. The charges rebut, in part, the growing chorus of Republican lawmakers who have publicly challenged the seriousness of the insurrection, arguing that since no one had been charged yet with sedition or treason, it could not have been so violent.

The indictment alleges Oath Keepers for weeks discussed trying to overturn the election results and preparing for a siege by purchasing weapons and setting up battle plans. They repeatedly wrote in chats about the prospect of violence and the need, as Rhodes allegedly wrote in one text, “to scare the s—-out of” Congress. And on Jan. 6, the indictment alleges, they entered the Capitol building with the large crowds of rioters who stormed past police barriers and smashed windows, injuring dozens of officers and sending lawmakers running…

The indictment against Rhodes alleges Oath Keepers formed two teams, or “stacks,” that entered the Capitol. The first stack split up inside the building to separately go after the House and Senate. The second stack confronted officers inside the Capitol Rotunda, the indictment said. Outside Washington, the indictment alleges, the Oath Keepers had stationed two “quick reaction forces” that had guns “in support of their plot to stop the lawful transfer of power.”

Rhodes, 56, of Granbury, Texas, is the highest-ranking member of an extremist group to be arrested in the deadly siege. He and Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix, Arizona, were arrested on Thursday. The nine others were already facing criminal charges related to the attack…

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