Even the Dark Lord's daughter is disgusted and has had enough.

"The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President," said [Liz] Cheney.

"The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not."
"There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution," she added. "I will vote to impeach the President."

Sorry, I didn’t notice Cheney was already mentioned in the excerpt Amy posted.

I think it is important to stress that not one of these Republican members of Congress is the least bit concerned that their lives would be in danger if they didn't vote in favor of impeachment.

They fully understand which side the political violence is emerging from.

These people are physically afraid of what the conservative base will do to them if they vote their conscience.

"These people are physically afraid of what the conservative base will do to them if they vote their conscience."

Sort of like being a shop owner in Portland, or Seattle, except with a higher level of privilege and graft.

Gog,

Your analogy does not work... what shop owners in Portland or Seattle are concerned their families will be killed if they don't do as some politically motivated loon demands?

You and others desperately want to go down this road of false equivalence.

We cannot function as a free democracy if our elected representatives vote against their conscience because they fear physical retaliation against themselves or their family members.

That is the essence of domestic terrorism.

"what shop owners in Portland or Seattle are concerned their families will be killed if they don't do as some politically motivated loon demands?"

Bob. And Betty, I think, but I haven't spoken to her for a few weeks.

Gog Says:

"Bob. And Betty, I think, but I haven't spoken to her for a few weeks."

Maybe you lost touch because they went on a quick trip to overthrow the government and are now in FBI custody.

http://bettyrestaurant.com/

At the risk of being a sunshiney optimist, I think the system may have taken to look but is finally kicking into gear.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), the third-ranked Republican in the House, announced in a blunt statement that she will vote to impeach. "None of this would have happened without the President....There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution."

Dick Cheney's hawk daughter is Antifa!!!

NicoleK,

I recommend you buckle up because this ride isn't over yet.

So.

Why report on the claims of people instead of the alleged actions of Trump? Because speech is violence. The same people who thought he might be mean to gays, so they voted for the woman who took money from people who killed them, think the man's a criminal for speaking.

Why not riot? There was no consequence for BLM/Antifa riots. Where were rioters from? This blog passed on a report that they were from SeaTac. Yeah, that's a red stater there. You do know that those guys were all ID'd to fly, right?

You already have the political system's correction in place - to prevent anyone but approved members of the political class from candidacy. The current path to impeachment is mandatory only to keep Trump, somewhat ironically cleared of "Russian collusion" by Democrat politicians, from running for another term. They cannot risk another poll manipulation.

The idea that an outsider can be elected must be crushed, and this is more important than anyone's life.

The steps to maintaining a democracy have long been represented as
• Soapbox
• Ballot Box
• Cartridge box

This is now hate speech because it implies utility in those steps through simple acknowledgement. That half the country thinks the ballot box has been stolen brings the cartridge box closer, and a desperate struggle to juggle perception of this is underway.

If you tell me you'd approve of 600K votes appearing en bloc for Trump anywhere, as they did for Biden, I'll call you a damned liar to your face - while I still call for verification of poll integrity beyond those now running it saying they checked it and it's all OK.

If I were Mitch McConnell, I'd be fearing assassination not because of how he votes during impeachment but because he held 2000 dollar stimulus checks hostage until the Senate voted on his pet projects.

Is Mitch McConnell psychopathic, or merely a narcissist? Because apparently, he's completely without empathy. I just don't know which mental illness he has that makes him so. He refused to allow the 2000 dollar stimulus checks to be voted on until the repeal of section 230 immunity for social media companies. "You vote the way I want you to, and do it now, or Americans can have their lights shut off, be unable to buy food or pay rent. I don't care."

But the larger issue I'm seeing is that we're dealing with a government who actively hates the American people. Why are the stimulus checks even in a position to be voted on in the first place? They government actually shut down our businesses, locked us in and imposed curfews, yet made no provision for us as they did so, brainlessly expecting us to continue paying our taxes and shut up.

The people feel imperiled, feel their lives are in danger, due to how the politicians vote.
Why should politicians get a break they don't give us?
My rights and my liberty are NOT subject to their whims.
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty (until the legislators retaliate, anyway). I've had enough.

While I have a hard time mustering much sympathy for the neo-confederates and Holocaust deniers that stormed out capital, I am greatly concerned by the near uniformity of our corporate overlords to try to completely silence any and all Trump supporters. Just one more step in the erosion of freedom of speech that has been going on in this country. But Shtetl G these are private corporations and they those fools can start their own twitter. These corporations now have a strangle hold on communications in the USA and are doing their darnedest to make sure any alternatives are also strangled. If you believe in free speech you should be concerned. Silencing these people will not make them go away and don't be surprised when what comes unacceptable to say gradually keeps increasing.

So go ahead and impeach and then silence Trump. For me Trump has always been a symptom and not the cause of the decay and rot in our political system. I'm sure getting rid of him will fix everything.

But the larger issue I'm seeing is that we're dealing with a government who actively hates the American people. Why are the stimulus checks even in a position to be voted on in the first place? They government actually shut down our businesses, locked us in and imposed curfews, yet made no provision for us as they did so, brainlessly expecting us to continue paying our taxes and shut up. ~ Patrick at January 13, 2021 6:00 AM

Don't you know, Patrick, taxpayers are merely an ATM for the government?

I don't know if McConnell had good reasons for tying the higher stimulus checks to Section 230, but I do know that bills moving through Congress get riders and addenda attached that often have little to do with what original bill is about. It's the only way some of those riders could ever be passed.

Why did the earlier $600 stimulus bill have foreign aid sprinkled throughout it? Why is Chuck Schumer adding funding for arts facilities to the $2,000 bill? Why can't Congress just write and pass a bill that provides for the American people whom federal, state, and local governments have locked in their houses and rendered out of work?

Is $2,000 really going to buoy a struggling family? Probably not. Let's face it, that will keep them afloat for about a month, no longer. Why not let people go to work, travel, shop, and socialize, but with reasonable precautions? That way, they won't be dependent upon a government check. Maybe dependency is the goal here.

None of the senior folks leading our government has had to make his or her way in the private sector for a long time now. Most of them won't have to worry about ever doing it. With a generous pension, relatively low service requirements, and a low eligibility age, they're set for life after only a few years.

We've turned elected official into a sinecure. Many of those elected officials joined the public sector right out of college or law school. A number of them are the sons and daughters of politicians. A disturbing number of them are attorneys.

Why does their being attorneys matter? I had an interesting conversation with a female engineer at my last job. She described college majors as giving us "ways of looking at and solving problems." So, we solve problems with the tools we have. Attorneys have one tool kit, engineers another, and accountants a third kit. Too many attorneys means too many in government looking at problems through a single lens, a solution-by-legal-action lens.

Attorneys generally come to the law through arts and humanities undergrad majors. The most popular is political science at 3x the number of the next most popular major, psychology. Other popular pre-law majors include communications, English, history, sociology, etc.

We've created a political class so far removed from the day-to-day concerns of its constituents, that those concerns are little more than campaign themes for them. Politics-the-game is the main event for the people who are supposed to be representing us, not politics-the-running-of-a-country. Is that disconnect on us, or them? I think a bit of both.

Conan, what do you think reasonable precautions would be.

The council spoke today! We're back in semi-confinement. Work from home, shops are closed, but schools and ski stations stay open.

Radwaste: That half the country thinks the ballot box has been stolen...

Yes, and that's because their dear Cult 45 leader -- through his constant whining and ranting and bleating and braying -- has convinced them it's been stolen.

Do you honestly not understand that, given his demonstrated disdain and contempt for "losers", that Trump would never -- as in NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER -- accept being a loser himself? He is fundamentally incapable of that.

He was pulling the same shit prior to the 2016 election. Here's just one tweet of many, from October 2016:

Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day.

"Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!

While I have a hard time mustering much sympathy for the neo-confederates and Holocaust deniers that stormed out capital, I am greatly concerned by the near uniformity of our corporate overlords to try to completely silence any and all Trump supporters. ~ Shtetl G at January 13, 2021 7:59 AM

✔︎

==========

For me Trump has always been a symptom and not the cause of the decay and rot in our political system. I'm sure getting rid of him will fix everything. ~ Shtetl G at January 13, 2021 7:59 AM

For me, too.

I think history will judge a second impeachment effort harshly - not because Trump doesn't deserve it, he does, this time, and for a whole slew of reasons - but because the first effort was so ham-fisted and overtly political.

The new impeachment effort may run into a few snags. Trump will be out of office by the time the Senate is able to hear the case. While he did incite the crowed, he actually told them to make their way to the Capitol and peacefully protest. Yes, the word "peacefully" was used, so incitement to riot may be off the table.

If the Democrats do impeach and convict Trump, what precedent will this set going forward? Democrats will argue it will impose law and order on a lawless president. But he won't be president then. Will this open the gates to politically-motivated impeachments in the future, even post-term ones? Retroactive trials a la the cadaver synod?

On the other hand, doing nothing might show a future president that mayhem or even crimes can be committed in the waning days of one's term with few consequences, so a case can be made for both paths of action. I just don't happen to think that a frenzied political party bent on vengeance will conduct this with the appropriate regard for precedent.

The Republicans may be to blame for setting the politics-motivated impeachment precedent with the Clinton impeachment. At least in that one, there was a proven crime, perjury. Clinton, although left in office, was disbarred in NY for a period and barred from ever arguing a case in front of the Supreme Court. He was also forced to agree to a settlement with Paula Jones in a case that, I argued then, should never nave been allowed to go forward.

I happen to agree with Mike Pence that the 25th Amendment is also not the way to handle this. Such a measure should be reserved and utilized only in extreme situations. Utilizing it now would set a precedent of using it for political reasons, not health ones. It seems that at least one politician is letting a cooler head prevail and thinking about the long-term implications of any action taken today.

==========

Conan, what do you think reasonable precautions would be. | The council spoke today! We're back in semi-confinement. Work from home, shops are closed, but schools and ski stations stay open. ~ NicoleK at January 13, 2021 8:07 AM

I don't know Nicole, but it seems to many that the "essential" criterion is motivated by politics. We can go grocery shopping right now and dine in restaurants with some precautions - e.g., tables set far apart or outdoor dining. We can go to liquor stores, but not churches. Which is fine by me as I'm more likely to visit the former than the latter. We can get on a plane with masks. We can go skiing or golfing but not to football or basketball games. Some protests and rallies are okay while others are "super spreader" events. Our family gathering are limited by politicians lecturing us from their own large family gatherings or vacation spots. The logic of what is okay and what isn't is escaping people and frustrating them.

Perhaps some sort of uniform distancing requirement could be implemented; distancing standards for seating, desks, and work stations could be implemented for jobs, churches, social clubs, schools, etc. and people could resume a semblance of normalcy. Perhaps that will cut down on some of the societal anger we're seeing.

Low-income students have been falling behind with learn-from-home requirements. My new neighbor is a teacher and she told me that the schools are having trouble with even the good students now. Getting even formerly motivated students to pay attention in class and do homework has become difficult. The lack of physical proximity has degraded her ability to exercise control. She said she's having to make personal calls and spend more time following up on lessons than she used to.

“Why does their being attorneys matter? I had an interesting conversation with a female engineer at my last job. She described college majors as giving us "ways of looking at and solving problems." So, we solve problems with the tools we have. Attorneys have one tool kit, engineers another, and accountants a third kit. Too many attorneys means too many in government looking at problems through a single lens, a solution-by-legal-action lens.”

The older I get the more I blame things like Boys State and Girls State, This is where young naive liberal suck ups go to play at forming a government.
The mindset that passing a law is a real solution to an intractable problem of human nature starts early and persists long after these brown noses should know better.

An engineer’s designs have to work in the real world. They bump up against reality at every step of the process.

A politician has no such check on either their ideas or their work. Law doesn’t bring about the intended result? Pass five more, and spend billions of OPM on enforcement.
Even small rollbacks in their budget or their power bring on the screams of the damned, promising death and destruction for every real and imagined cut.

I personally like the idea of a poorly paid, part time legislature, and judiciary at every level of government. Maybe done by lot like jury duty.

How we rid ourselves of the special interests and foreign interests now controlling every level of government without a cataclysm, or a revolution, I know not.

Thanks Obama.

Used to be that politicians with principles, who no longer agreed with their own party (or their voters) switched parties.

I would respect Liz more if she did this. But I won’t be voting for her anymore regardless. Wyomingites have long memories. It will be interesting to see what 2022 brings.

Trump got seventy percent of the votes in Wyoming. Just who does Liz think she represents? My guess is; not us.

To clarify a rhetorical question I asked earlier, I was wondering why lockdowns are imposed in such a way as to allow them to continue indefinitely, but support for the American people during these lockdowns have to be voted on. And they won't even vote monthly.

If you impose an indefinite lockdown, then the support for the American people during this lockdown should also be indefinite. It would give the government more incentive to end these lockdowns.

Regarding the impeachment, I have no great love for Trump. In fact, I think he's horrible. It's just that he's better than the alternatives the Democrats have offered.

But what I'm wondering is, if everyone is so convinced that Trump, through his very public tweets, cause the storming of the Capitol Building, why was no one prepared for it?

No one felt the need to consider the impact of Trump's tweets when he made them, but in hindsight, he's somehow responsible for this.

Just a few other choice statements made by prominent Democrats.

"If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." -- Barack Obama

"If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere." -- Maxine Waters

"Before I end, that’s my call to action here. Please don’t just come here today and then go home. Go to the Hill today. Get up, and please get up in the face of some congresspeople." -- Ted Lieu

"And I don't think -- even in states where Trump won big -- that it does you any good running away from Donald Trump. I think you need to go back and punch him in the face." -- Jon Tester.

@Isab,

The collapse is imminent and the USA is eventually gonna end up in a modern-day Russia-like state.

The most important signs that tell you that it's time to leave will be when they defang the 2nd Amendment, and when the presidential term limit is removed.

He was pulling the same shit prior to the 2016 election. Here's just one tweet of many, from October 2016: ~ JD at January 13, 2021 8:52 AM

And then there's Hillary's 2020 LA whine: "You can run the best campaign, you can even become the nominee, and you can have the election stolen from you." Stolen. Hmm. Pot, meet Kettle.

How about the lawsuit the Democratic Party filed in 2018 against "the Trump campaign, the Russian government and the Wikileaks group, claiming a broad illegal conspiracy to help Trump win the 2016 election."

How about Nancy Pelosi's 2017 tweet, "Our election was hijacked. There is no question."

How about Hillary's claim in an interview for an October 2020 episode of the podcast, The Ticket, that "there was a widespread understanding that this election [2016] was not on the level. We still don’t know what really happened.”

Sounds like Trump's is not the only sore-loserism in town.

That a losing candidate can make claims of a "stolen" election that resonate widely with his or her base, and even resonates a bit with the opposition, is a big part of why I keep saying we need to take bipartisan measures to restore public faith in our election system, instead of watching the winning side each time sneer "We won, you lost, get over it."

Isab Says:

"Trump got seventy percent of the votes in Wyoming. Just who does Liz think she represents? My guess is; not us."

She is representing the Constitution Isab. She took an oath to defend the Constitution.

Presumably you took the same oath at some point in your life and yet you were all for overthrowing a democratic election because you didn't like who won.

Conan,

All the "whataboutism" in the universe isn't going to clean the seditious stain off of the GOP for generations.

You cast your lot in with Trump... and just as pretty much anyone who has had dealings with him in the past... they live to regret it.

Oh, Conan, since I've been an adult EVERY President has had his right to be President questions. Blow jobs, hanging chads, birth certificates, Russia... I have never seen an election where the President just became President and no one questioned his right to be there.

It's been building up to this. We can't just blame the right wing. This has been building up a long time. The idea that the winner of election should be disputed has been a long time coming, and now it is exploding.

Conan Says:

"That a losing candidate can make claims of a "stolen" election that resonate widely with his or her base, and even resonates a bit with the opposition, is a big part of why I keep saying we need to take bipartisan measures to restore public faith in our election system, instead of watching the winning side each time sneer "We won, you lost, get over it.""

No Conan... the rational for setting up commissions and audits is not "belief"... it is substantive evidence.

Trump also spent years promoting nonsense birther claims against Obama... and as of 2016 more Republicans still believed Obama wasn't born in the US (even educated Republicans):

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/poll-persistent-partisan-divide-over-birther-question-n627446

"The fact that more Republicans currently think that the president was not born in the U.S. and that this belief does not depend on how knowledgeable they are about politics is surprising."

One does not overcome propaganda by setting up commissions and investigations and audits.

One overcomes propaganda by doing what Mitt Romney did and just telling people the truth and stop lying to them.

NicoleK,

Al Gore conceded... Donald Trump did not.

Instead Donald Trump went around trying to pressure people to change votes, riled up his base and sent them to the Capitol building where they tried to overthrow the government.

Trying to call it even here doesn't cut it.

This is how the Republican Party loses 50-75% of the people that would normally vote Republican. But I guess the Republican "leaders" have seen the writing on the wall and realize the number of legitimate voters one has is no longer relevant to who "wins" an election.

Artemis is totally wrong. Rarely encounter someone so totally off-base and tone deaf. You'd think he was blowing smoke and waving mirrors for Democrats here.

It was far more than "propaganda" that there was significant election fraud. And if you'd been paying attention and were being honest, you'd know that.

If you want American voters to respect the outcome of elections (and there is no duty or obligation they have to do so based upon unfounded declarations of the media or political parties), then you'd better be able to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the elections you just carried out were fair, free, and above-board.

That hasn't happened here, and it is nothing but insult to the citizenry to refuse to (1) investigate the alleged fraud, and (2) not create a future voting system that can't be co-opted like what we've seen.

If a significant fraction of the voters think there was cheating, there's no reason for them to obey government, follow laws, or remain peaceful. None.

ruralcounsel Says:

"If you want American voters to respect the outcome of elections (and there is no duty or obligation they have to do so based upon unfounded declarations of the media or political parties), then you'd better be able to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the elections you just carried out were fair, free, and above-board."

And what on earth do you do when the doubts are unreasonable?

That is the issue we are dealing with at the moment.

Most Republicans still didn't believe Obama was born in the US as of 2016... despite him doing something no other president ever did... he released his birth certificate.

The Republican base still wasn't buying it.

The doubts are unreasonable... that is the fundamental problem.

Of course, Artie. How blind of me not to see it! It's all Trump!

Trump is the cause of every problem we've ever had with our political system. My God! If someone would just gut him like a fish, everything would be fine. No more venal politicians. No more disputed elections. No more violence in the streets. It'll be all peace and love once Trump is gone.

Of course we'll have to build a concentration -- er, re-education -- camp for his "followers." No problem there. We'll just ask our wonderful, freedom-loving Chinese allies how to do that.

Thank you for clearing the wool from my eyes, Artie.

ruralcounsel,

I'll go one step further. Tell me what the most reasonable doubt you have is... the absolute best doubt, the one you have the most concrete evidence for that you can share directly with me.

The mere existence of doubt does not in and of itself make it reasonable.

Conan,

The issue was never really Trump... he was just the symptom of a deeper issue.

A significant portion of the Republican base has become detached from reality.

That is the real issue, it is also what made them susceptible to leadership by someone like Trump.

Sadly, it appears that a significant portion of both the Republican and Democrat bases have become detached from reality, just in different ways.

ruralcounsel: "If you want American voters to respect the outcome of elections (and there is no duty or obligation they have to do so based upon unfounded declarations of the media or political parties), then you'd better be able to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the elections you just carried out were fair, free, and above-board."

Let me state this again:
Trump is fundamentally incapable accepting the fact that he is a loser.

Therefore, there is no amount of evidence that will convince him otherwise. There is no proof that will convince him otherwise.

Jared, Ivanka & his BFF Vladimir could all tell him they've reviewed the evidence and agree that he lost and he would refuse to accept it.

God himself (or herself or itself) could appear in the heavens and proclaim that Trump did indeed lose and Trump would then claim that God is a hoax, that there is no God (and yet he wouldn't lose any evangelical supporters.)

And because Trump would never accept that he lost, he will continue to whine and rant and bray and bleat that the election -- that he "really won in a landslide" -- was "stolen" from him.

He will continue to lie and lie and lie and lie and lie and lie and lie and lie. And then lie some more. This is what he does. If you don't understand this you haven't been paying any attention to him for the past four years.

And because Trump understands very well the law of propaganda attributed to Joseph Goebbels -- "Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” -- the members of Cult 45 will continue to believe him.

Isab: I would respect Liz more if she did this. But I won’t be voting for her anymore regardless. Wyomingites have long memories.

Long memories...and a lot of guns.

Liz would be wise to watch her back (and front and sides.)

JD,

~60 lost court cases... multiple recounts including hand recounts... reassurances from state level Republican election officials haven't been enough to budge the needle for these folks in terms of their "doubts"

However these folks assure us that just one more investigation... just one more court case... just one more audit will erase all shadow of doubt.

That is ridiculous when the real issue is they are already convinced the election was stolen so every effort that doesn't confirm their faith based belief is rejected as insufficiently rigorous.

If all these folks want are laws to shore up future elections I'm totally on board... increasing election security moving forward is fine by me because that is reasonable. Continuous improvement is something I pretty much always support.

Publius Quibbleworth Says:

"Sadly, it appears that a significant portion of both the Republican and Democrat bases have become detached from reality, just in different ways."

Agreed... but there are degrees of detachment here.

The Qanon folks are completely off their rocker... the political right wants to overthrow the government with armed loons.

The loons on the political left are into crystal healing and believe vaccines cause autism.

At the moment we need to triage and the Republican base is presently bleeding out in terms of their grip on reality. Once they are stabilized mentally we can focus more attention on the loony beliefs of the left.

> Why not riot?

Because it's immoral, and people get killed.

"So."

Gee, sounds like an overbearing, self-righteous, sanctimonious, priggish scold has joined the conversation. Oh, it's Artemis, the numismatist who specializes in one-sided coins.

"Why should politicians get a break they don't give us?"

This is exactly the sort of anti-Fatherland talk that gets you renditioned to Gitmo.

Jay R,

That you would call someone "self-righteous" for being against the violent overthrow of the government and terroristic threats against elected members of Congress says much more about you than it does about me.

People who support that nonsense deserve to be scolded because they are acting like children.

Thanks for proving my point, Artie.

Thanks for proving my point Jay R.

" Oh, it's Artemis, the numismatist who specializes in one-sided coins."

I had an acquaintance who loved downers. He'd get loaded, forget how many he'd taken, take some more, pass out, then wake up angry because no one at the party thought to hide his stash from him.

Next party, he'd do it again.

You can't get quality entertainment like that just anywhere, ya know.

He/she's not from our country, nor is his or her 'spouse,' though they sometimes 'participate in the American tax system.'

Gog,

You're the dude who has been saying for years the following:

"I like the part where Hillary isn't President." whenever an issue with this administration came up.

You don't have a leg to stand on in these discussions when you couldn't bring yourself to criticize the current administration on anything for four years.

Anything you have to say about any administration in the future can be summarily dismissed on similar grounds.

You reap what you sow.

"You don't have a leg to stand on "

Making fun of an amputee now, Artie? Nice.

Can this please not be the America we continue to have?

Well, the part I'd like to keep is where people committing felonies and other crimes are so fucking stupid that they photograph and film themselves doing so, and then proudly disseminate it.

That part's really good.

As are the subsequent statements:"I just got caught up in the moment and made the worst mistake of my life; please don't let this have any consequences."

Those are fun too.

Gog,

I'm just saying you have no ability to balance yourself... if anything I am making fun of drunkards.

In other words... it's time for you to go home Gog, you're sloshed.

This was a fun three-act play, too:

I: "When the looting starts, the shooting starts."

II: (Moron steals Speaker's podium or lectern or whatnot and grins for photo)

III: "He has FIVE CHILDREN! He just wants to go home to HIS FAMILY! Did I mention he has FIVE CHILDREN?"

Kevin,

You are leaving out the part where they call *everyone else* hypocrites.

Folks who defend this nonsense do not care about the country... they care about conservatism and what this all means for their political agenda.

It means the conservative political agenda is sunk for the foreseeable future... and that isn't the fault of liberals, progressives, or Democrats.

It is the fault of the loony right-wing extremists who descended on the Capitol to subvert the Constitution.

" loony right-wing extremists who descended on the Capitol to subvert the Constitution"

Large, open-weave blankets of floofy New Zealand wool in contemporary colors! So comfy.

"II: (Moron steals Speaker's podium or lectern or whatnot and grins for photo)"

You could just call it a stand, in which case, at least he's finally taking a stand.

The loons on the political left are into crystal healing and believe vaccines cause autism. ~ Artemis at January 13, 2021 11:31 AM

Not quite, Artie.

The "loons on the political left" are not the anti-vaxxers and harmless hippies Artie describes. They are the people we spent the summer watching riot and burn US cities while the left-wing politicians paid their bail and celebrated them.

The "loons on the political left" believe the system is inherently racist, sponsored a summer full of riots to "burn the system down," and think the following are Aspects and Assumptions of White Culture:

• Scientific Method
• Work Ethic
• Competition
• Meritocracy
• Protection of Property
• Written Tradition
• Objective Truth
• Nuclear Family
• Delayed Gratification
• Respect for Authority
• Individualism
• Self-Reliance

Conan,

That you cannot seem to focus your attention on the army of Trump followers willing to overthrow the democratic institutions of the country to place him in an authoritarian position is disturbing.

It was members of the right-wing that plotted to kidnap and murder the Governor of Michigan. It was members of the right-wing that sent death threats to the Secretary of State of Georgia after he certified the election results. It was members of the right wing that stormed the Capitol in DC and ended up beating a Police Officer to death as a mob.

Things like the scientific method are unfortunately under attack from both the left and the right. You actually fall into this group with your uninformed criticism of things like climate change.

You also don't get to act as if right-wing folks are the least bit interested in "protection of property" after what just happened and all of the excuses that are being given here.

You've lost all credibility.

Eat some crow and start earning back your seat at the table.

I like the part where Hillary isn't President.

The part where Democrats riot in Portland for 220 straight nights, not so much.

Gog,

When you cannot tell the difference between a group of unarmed people assembled locked arm in arm chanting "hands up/please don't shoot me"... and a group of people with flak jackets, tasers, bear spray, batons, and various other weapons chanting "hang Mike Pence" you may have lost the plot.

No one in Portland breached the walls of the court house... nor did they drag an officer of the law out of the building to beat him to death.

They did vandalize the exterior walls and lit garbage cans on fire though.

To you it's all one and the same.

Artie be trollin', yo.

Well, me too, but I'm well-liked and my personal hygiene is beyond reproach.

Gog,

If I was "well-liked" by some of the folks around here I'd have to seriously question my quality as a human being.

There are just some groups where you really do not want to be popular.

This idiot hasn't gotten nearly the attention he deserves:

THEN: “I just got back from storming the Capitol,” said Dreww, who appeared energized and jittery in the video. “It was successful. For all you bitches on Facebook going crazy talking about it was Antifa, and saying it wasn’t us, it was us. We proudly took back our Capitol. They brought the National Guard out for us. We had the (expletive) cops running from us. Not because they are bitches but because they are smart. We did it. God it’s so exhilarating!”

NOW: In a phone interview as he made the nearly 2,700-mile drive from Washington to Huntington Beach, Dreww said he has received death threats from both Trump supporters and detractors. He worries about being arrested and believes his successful beauty salon business is doomed. “I’m scared,” he said, choking back tears. “I fear for my life.”

https://www.pe.com/2021/01/09/huntington-beach-far-right-activist-contrite-after-fiery-video-about-capitol-attack-goes-viral/amp/

> I am greatly concerned by the near
> uniformity of our corporate overlords
> to try to completely silence any and
> all Trump supporters.

Agree completely, but was amused (in that 'if-only-he-didn't-have-the-guy-with-The-Football-sitting-outside-his-office' kind of way) by this tweet:

WH aides know few GOP members have any real worries about any retaliation from Trump, and realize he has been essentially castrated without his Twitter account.

His connection to his base wasn't through social attunement to Washington's conversations of power, or to his manipulation of the writers and publishers of our ideas, or to some once-in-a-century heartfelt affinity with the man on the street.

People who think about it clearly have suggested that it's social media which has doubled the propensity for suicide among teenage girls in the past fifteen years. It's not much of a stretch to imagine that it merely corrupted the political understanding of a few million of their dads, themselves being underdeveloped personalities with a taste for watching bitchslaps through their smartphones.

He had no other channel to them.

We'll be really lucky if Beijing doesn't move on Taiwan next week.

> I'm well-liked and my personal
> hygiene is beyond reproach.

Your grooming is unimpeachable. (So to speak.)

I, personally, have always admired the scent of that single pinky-tip dab of European cologne on your neck, halfway between the collar buttons of your oxford shirts and the stitching over the shoulder to the sleeve.

Elegant as Hell. A masterful touch.

Jesus Christ, Crid! Fucking winner. That's it. I'm out.

ditto Sixclaws!

Eh, there are other channels, Breitbart is still peddling the stolen election narrative, I just checked.

Yeah, there are other venues where Trumpanoids might convene for mischief, but the man himself is out of time for selecting a new flagship. And one wonders how many of them are hosted on AWS. IIUC he's already been tossed off YouTube, so Google Cloud is probably inhospitable to Parler et al as well. It seems unlikely that Microsoft Azure is eager to cater to his market segment.

It's a big week, and things are wiggling wildly. A case could be made that it's good for conservatism, however you define it, that this chaos happens ASAP, whence it can be buried & forgotten with all the idiocies of Trump…

…That is, if you were certain that the GOP was going to recover its mojo in the times ahead. Which seems like a dicey proposition.

Genuine conservatism will always be there when people need it; its precepts demand no approval or enthusiasm. But the Republican Party may have stumbled so badly that it's crippled as a locus of national political activity. Maybe not, but parties come and go, right? (Where are the Whigs nowadays? Serious question, I have no clue.)

Crid,

The modern Republican party exists as an unholy alliance between conspiracy theory wackaloons and so-called establishment conservatives.

Neither of these groups particularly likes one another and they each regard the other as a set of useful idiots toward their own ends.

What Trump has done is he has weaponized the wachaloon conservatives against the establishment conservatives and fractured the party in two.

Neither group can win on the national stage without the other, but neither group likes or respects the other.

The conservative enterprise will likely be relegated to state and local political victories with diminishing federal political influence over the coming years.

The only way out of this is for conservatives to overhaul their platform and appeal to more voters... but their utter dishonestly being on such flagrant display will make it difficult to grow their base because no one outside the existing base trusts them to govern.

They played with fire and got what they deserved.

Even if there were a reason to care what a foreigner thought about such things, that wouldn't be interesting.

And you bungled the idiom.

Crid,

The idiom in question is simply to "play with fire":

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/play+with+fire

You are talking about a slightly different idiom here "if you play with fire, you get burned":

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/If+you+play+with+fire%2C+you+get+burned

I was already kind of off script for the conditional version so I ended up going a different direction... it's nothing for you to get your knickers in a twist over.

You misspelled it.

We try to be patient with infantile commie intruders of indeterminate gender doing schoolwork, because after all, who gives a fuck what you think. But we're kind of embarrassed for you. And your teacher. Wherever you're from, it sucks there.

As per usual you are busy making a mountain out of a molehill.

Or maybe you are just all smoke, no fire.

FYI... here is the officer who was being crushed to death by an angry right-wing mob in a doorway saying that it was his pleasure to put down a white nationalist insurrection:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/capitol-police-riot-trump-dc-b1788358.html

Remember just a few days ago when you said this:

"It wasn't a coup or an insurrection or anything of the kind." - Crid at January 6, 2021 7:34 PM

The officers who were there do not agree with you, the prosecutors involved to not agree with you, the top military brass does not agree with you... the list goes on and on.

I'm just racking up points on the board in terms of having qualified experts agreeing with my position... you've got what exactly?... I am sure Trump agrees with you, for that you should be very proud.

I'm in good health, taking good exercise, surrounded by loving family and friends, and I'm still startlingly attractive look at in close quarters… I may live to be ten thousand years old.

But even if I do, even if I live to be ten thousand years old, no one will ever give a shit what you, a needy foreigner, think of American politics.

Crid,

You are no patriot when you insist that a direct assault on the Capitol by an angry and seditious mob was really much ado about nothing.

I am sure you are a very proud boy...

"I'm in good health, taking good exercise, surrounded by loving family and friends, and I'm still startlingly attractive look at in close quarters… I may live to be ten thousand years old."

Considering you are a pathological liar this essentially translates into you being an unhealthy wastrel that no one has any use for and would rather avoid altogether. You'll be lucky to survive the next few years I suppose and your funeral will be poorly attended... people might stop by to urinate on your grave though I suspect.

Why would I care what you think of my patriotism? You're not American.

For god sakes Crid... you're barely even sentient.

America rules civilization for a reason, Orion. It's hard to feel insulted by someone who doesn't know the power.

Crid,

Who are you kidding? You don't have any power... you are just a morbidly obese man who has become fused to his couch due to inactivity and bodily neglect.

You lash out, and we Americans hear the pain and neediness of your distant privation. That's gotta suck!

Crid,

Everyone is sick of your shit already. You are the reason we cannot have nice things.

So go somewhere else.

So go somewhere else.

Crid at January 17, 2021 7:44 AM

Artemis’s CCP handlers have assigned him to troll this blog with his progressive propaganda, He isn’t free to go somewhere else.

Crid Says:

"So go somewhere else."

Why on earth would I go anywhere now? Watching the post-Trump meltdown is the fun part.

> Who are you kidding? You
> don't have any power...

Because you're not from America, you don't recognized the scope of my "nexus of control."

Crid,

I get that you think that you are important... but the reality is you are a nobody.

Did your daddy touch you somewhere he shouldn't have when you were little?... is that what this is all about?

American, though. It's fabulous.

Crid,

You know, it's funny... I've never thought of my place of birth as an accomplishment since I really had nothing to do with it. I take pride in the things I have earned through hard work and determination.

Since that seems to be your main focus I have to presume that you really don't have much to show for your life beyond a birth certificate. It was apparently all down hill from the moment you left the labor and delivery ward... or perhaps you were born on the side of the road somewhere... who knows.

An American road. So I know how America works.

Crid,

If you actually had any idea how "America works" you'd realize what a stupid statement that is.

But Orion... You've never been here!

Crid,

I'm pretty sure at this point that you've never been anywhere.