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January 6 Hearings Live

“Everybody plays the fool”

The Main Ingredient, 1972

I won’t bother reasoning with you.

As I’ve said before in this space, it’s my opinion that you folks who support Donald Trump are, by definition, incapable of that function, so it’s foolish to even try. You may think that’s harsh. I think it’s time-saving.

But I do have a question for you: Don’t you feel kind of stupid right now? Doesn’t the revelation that it was all a con leave you feeling like a sucker? Doesn’t simple human pride have you smarting, at least a little bit?

Or maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about. After all, Fox “News” and other elements of the conservative media omniplex have studiously avoided giving much attention to the hearings of the House select committee investigating the attempted coup of Jan. 6, 2021. For the rest of us, they’ve become must-see TV, but you’ve likely been shielded from them.

So you may not have heard Monday’s revelation that not even members of Trump’s own inner circle — his daughter, his aides, his attorney general — believed his absurd claim that he was cheated out of the 2020 election. Lawyer Eric Herschmann thought it was “nuts.” Attorney General William Barr feared your guy was “detached from reality.”

But — and here’s the part that relates to you — even though his own people told him quite clearly that there was no election fraud, he still told you something else: a bizarre fable about a vast and byzantine conspiracy involving Democrats, Republicans, poll workers, truck drivers, a polling machine manufacturer and — who knows? — maybe Bigfoot on the grassy knoll. We all know how that lie brought thousands of you to the National Mall in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. What is less often discussed is that he also used this lie to tap folks like you for donations to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars.

It bears repeating: a quarter . . . of a billion . . . dollars.
 
“Everybody plays the fool”

The Main Ingredient, 1972

I won’t bother reasoning with you.

As I’ve said before in this space, it’s my opinion that you folks who support Donald Trump are, by definition, incapable of that function, so it’s foolish to even try. You may think that’s harsh. I think it’s time-saving.

But I do have a question for you: Don’t you feel kind of stupid right now? Doesn’t the revelation that it was all a con leave you feeling like a sucker? Doesn’t simple human pride have you smarting, at least a little bit?

Or maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about. After all, Fox “News” and other elements of the conservative media omniplex have studiously avoided giving much attention to the hearings of the House select committee investigating the attempted coup of Jan. 6, 2021. For the rest of us, they’ve become must-see TV, but you’ve likely been shielded from them.

So you may not have heard Monday’s revelation that not even members of Trump’s own inner circle — his daughter, his aides, his attorney general — believed his absurd claim that he was cheated out of the 2020 election. Lawyer Eric Herschmann thought it was “nuts.” Attorney General William Barr feared your guy was “detached from reality.”

But — and here’s the part that relates to you — even though his own people told him quite clearly that there was no election fraud, he still told you something else: a bizarre fable about a vast and byzantine conspiracy involving Democrats, Republicans, poll workers, truck drivers, a polling machine manufacturer and — who knows? — maybe Bigfoot on the grassy knoll. We all know how that lie brought thousands of you to the National Mall in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. What is less often discussed is that he also used this lie to tap folks like you for donations to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars.

It bears repeating: a quarter . . . of a billion . . . dollars.

Who is he talking to?
 
“Everybody plays the fool”

The Main Ingredient, 1972

I won’t bother reasoning with you.

As I’ve said before in this space, it’s my opinion that you folks who support Donald Trump are, by definition, incapable of that function, so it’s foolish to even try. You may think that’s harsh. I think it’s time-saving.

But I do have a question for you: Don’t you feel kind of stupid right now? Doesn’t the revelation that it was all a con leave you feeling like a sucker? Doesn’t simple human pride have you smarting, at least a little bit?

Or maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about. After all, Fox “News” and other elements of the conservative media omniplex have studiously avoided giving much attention to the hearings of the House select committee investigating the attempted coup of Jan. 6, 2021. For the rest of us, they’ve become must-see TV, but you’ve likely been shielded from them.

So you may not have heard Monday’s revelation that not even members of Trump’s own inner circle — his daughter, his aides, his attorney general — believed his absurd claim that he was cheated out of the 2020 election. Lawyer Eric Herschmann thought it was “nuts.” Attorney General William Barr feared your guy was “detached from reality.”

But — and here’s the part that relates to you — even though his own people told him quite clearly that there was no election fraud, he still told you something else: a bizarre fable about a vast and byzantine conspiracy involving Democrats, Republicans, poll workers, truck drivers, a polling machine manufacturer and — who knows? — maybe Bigfoot on the grassy knoll. We all know how that lie brought thousands of you to the National Mall in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. What is less often discussed is that he also used this lie to tap folks like you for donations to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars.

It bears repeating: a quarter . . . of a billion . . . dollars.

Who is he talking to?
Trump supporters, obviously.
As I’ve said before in this space, it’s my opinion that you folks who support Donald Trump are, by definition, incapable of that function, so it’s foolish to even try. You may think that’s harsh. I think it’s time-saving.

But I do have a question for you:
 
The Loudermilk video.


I was informed the first guy in the video with the "flag pole" is acrually carrying a bang stick. It's used on sharks or alligators before you pull them into the boat, basically a shotgun shell that goes off when poked into the animal.

Frankly I see little difference between these guys and the guy that wanted to kill SCJ Kavenaugh.
 
Fuck, I overlooked this when the story broke 3 days ago:


Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said on Sunday they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Seeing as the Jan6 committee is more than willing to show their receipts, I don't think this is posturing or hyperbole. Jayyyyyyzus.
 
The Loudermilk video.


I was informed the first guy in the video with the "flag pole" is acrually carrying a bang stick. It's used on sharks or alligators before you pull them into the boat, basically a shotgun shell that goes off when poked into the animal.

Frankly I see little difference between these guys and the guy that wanted to kill SCJ Kavenaugh.

So a US House Representative, Loudermilk, gives this guy is given a tour of the closed Capitol Building the day before the riot, during the pandemic.

The guy who said before the riot he'd fight the election results. The guy who voted to effectively trash PA, AZ electoral votes.

That same guy gave rioters a tour of the Capitol Building the day before the riot. When the Capitol Building was closed.

Totally legit, I'm sure!
 
I’m afraid the insurrectionist junta is “too big to fail”. I’ve been afraid of that since around 2018.
We’d have to arrest and imprison at least a third of all GOP congresscritters, plus thousands of militia and hundreds or thousands of lower level political operatives at the State and municipal levels …
We don’t even have the judicial infrastructure to make it happen.

This is another facet of asymmetry that cedes power to the authoritarians, who, once in power, will dispense with all that awkward judicial formality and simply start executing and imprisoning people willy-nilly if they are even suspected of being, or possibly becoming a problem.
 
I’m afraid the insurrectionist junta is “too big to fail”. I’ve been afraid of that since around 2018.
We’d have to arrest and imprison at least a third of all GOP congresscritters, plus thousands of militia and hundreds or thousands of lower level political operatives at the State and municipal levels …
We don’t even have the judicial infrastructure to make it happen.

This is another facet of asymmetry that cedes power to the authoritarians, who, once in power, will dispense with all that awkward judicial formality and simply start executing and imprisoning people willy-nilly if they are even suspected of being, or possibly becoming a problem.
We could always just charge them all with felonies that would carry no prison time, and thus deny them office and the franchise in the majority of their states, and make any additional bullshit bring back deferred penalties like correctional stints.

No immediate consequences happen, then, but their political power would be broken for a number of years, and they would be on legally thinned ice.
 
Not buying it.
Trump may be insane, but he knew goddam well that he lost. He scrounged around for someone - anyone - who would go along with his denial, and found them in the dingy corners of the dark web’s conspiracy theorists. That was sufficient to launch a fleecing campaign that fraudulently gathered hundreds of millions of dollars. Cheato’s eyes were, and remain, wide open.
So, I don't think they were.

I've seen this happen before where people actively persistently do something, even missing clear signals that they need to stop, because something in their head obfuscates the readily apparent truth of their senses from their consciousness, like a shield against reality.

The truth of their lack of consciousness of the situation of what they are doing is born out, at least occasionally, in the shame expressed, often for days, when it gets realized that they were unaware of themselves.

Most notably, I'm not sure it's even possible to be a narcissist and not have at least some aspect of that going on.

Trump is clearly an unmitigated narcissist, so it is entirely possible Trump, the trump you talk to and talks back to you, only heard "fraud", convinced by this darker element that neither he nor we see, that this was a reasonable explanation and something that would happen.

Something in there knows this is a fabrication, or perhaps cannot tell the difference between fabrications and truth, but it's not as simple perhaps as saying his eyes were open.

He is criminally insane, and the core of his ego is living in a place where reality cannot reach, and is blithely unawares of the deep evil that controls the projector to the wall of his cave.
 
A poll cited this morning in the news says abut 30% believe the 'election was stolen'.
 
A poll cited this morning in the news says abut 30% believe the 'election was stolen'.
Repeat a lie enough times...

The anti-Trump wing of the GOP has ridden a cash cow wave with this lie and they are almost as responsible as the people holding press conferences at a gardening shop.

People still aren't asking why Mike Lindell hasn't given Trump and the FBI his secret info. People aren't asking why didn't Trump's lawyers argue nearly any of this stuff in court. People aren't asking where did all the money go. They are believing what they want to believe. And they believe that our system of Governance is too inconvenient for them and they are entitled to greater power.
 
I was having a conversation with a state cop at n astronomy club meeting of all places back in the 90s.

I asked him why not ticket gawkers slowing down highway traffic at an accident even when the accident is cleared.

He said 'You do not understand. Individually people are smart, collectively they are sheep'.

From resorting Trump actually began prepping early in his presidency. One of his mantras was the only way he can loose the next elction is by fraud.

The hearings provide an historical record for posterity, but they are not going to change anything.

IMO the country has failed. Wee seeing what we historically see in Africa and the mid east and now eastern Europe. Judges and politicians fear for their lies. Arrned rebellion in the capitol. There was a plot to kidnap the Wisconsin governor. Armed militia zealots.

Militias gave been around for a long time.

Its the beginning of the end.
 
IMO the country has failed. Wee seeing what we historically see in Africa and the mid east and now eastern Europe. Judges and politicians fear for their lies. Arrned rebellion in the capitol. There was a plot to kidnap the Wisconsin governor. Armed militia zealots.

Militias gave been around for a long time.
Don't call them militias. They are cos-playing children who didn't get their way and are now having a tantrum.
 
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, emailed with Trump campaign lawyer John Eastman in correspondence obtained by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Citing three people involved in the committee’s investigation, the Post reported the emails’ existence while saying its sources declined to provide further details about the communications.

Eastman, a conservative law professor, crafted two memos for the Trump campaign in the lead up to Jan. 6 outlining a strategy to block certifying the election results.
Thomas’s involvement in the efforts has raised ethical questions over her husband’s role in deciding cases related to the election and Jan. 6. Justice Thomas has argued his decisions are entirely separate from his wife’s activism.
 
Something in there knows this is a fabrication, or perhaps cannot tell the difference between fabrications and truth, but it's not as simple perhaps as saying his eyes were open.
I’m familiar enough with the compartmentalization and willful blindness syndromes, and don’t think that’s what’s happening. Greed rules. Cheato knew he had a golden opportunity to fleece the flock by playing victim, which comes naturally to him. He even admitted an several occasions that he knew he lost. And by now it’s all out there, and he is STILL trying to fleece the flock. Who knows? If he can keep it up long enough, and enough of the corrupt politicians he is backing take office, he will run again and be installed as “president”, win or lose. Right now he’s promising pardons to one and all who back him, no matter what illegal acts they perform as long as they are in his service

Nope, his eyes are wide open and his plan is working so far.
 
A poll cited this morning in the news says abut 30% believe the 'election was stolen'.

If only.
I’d love it if all these insurrectionist candidates win their primaries, and get trounce by an on-average 70 to 30% nationwide.
I fear it’s closer to a split, which will result in a right wing extremist landslide.
 
Something in there knows this is a fabrication, or perhaps cannot tell the difference between fabrications and truth, but it's not as simple perhaps as saying his eyes were open.
I’m familiar enough with the compartmentalization and willful blindness syndromes, and don’t think that’s what’s happening. Greed rules. Cheato knew he had a golden opportunity to fleece the flock by playing victim, which comes naturally to him. He even admitted an several occasions that he knew he lost. And by now it’s all out there, and he is STILL trying to fleece the flock. Who knows? If he can keep it up long enough, and enough of the corrupt politicians he is backing take office, he will run again and be installed as “president”, win or lose. Right now he’s promising pardons to one and all who back him, no matter what illegal acts they perform as long as they are in his service

Nope, his eyes are wide open and his plan is working so far.
I think that someone can only be as successful and consistently dumb-seeming and effectively evasive as that with a compartment being active. I think something in Cheeto knows, but and the reason he seems so dumb is because he is, and all the "smart" is happening where not even "he" can see it.
 
I think that someone can only be as successful and consistently dumb-seeming and effectively evasive as that with a compartment being active. I think something in Cheeto knows, but and the reason he seems so dumb is because he is, and all the "smart" is happening where not even "he" can see it.
Oh for sure he is comparmentalizing. But he is totally aware that he's doing that, and in fact reveling in the fact that nobody can force him to stop. He can go on falsely claiming a stolen election for as long as he's not arrested for doing that (which he knows he won't be), and if he can corrupt enough politicians and voters in the next 28 months, he can again ascend to the throne, pardon everyone kissing The Ring and live happily ever after, sucking Putin's dick to his heart's content.
 
I think that someone can only be as successful and consistently dumb-seeming and effectively evasive as that with a compartment being active. I think something in Cheeto knows, but and the reason he seems so dumb is because he is, and all the "smart" is happening where not even "he" can see it.
Oh for sure he is comparmentalizing. But he is totally aware that he's doing that, and in fact reveling in the fact that nobody can force him to stop. He can go on falsely claiming a stolen election for as long as he's not arrested for doing that (which he knows he won't be), and if he can corrupt enough politicians and voters in the next 28 months, he can again ascend to the throne, pardon everyone kissing The Ring and live happily ever after, sucking Putin's dick to his heart's content.
I'm not so sure to assume awareness. Either way, it's a problem and needs to be put on felony charges.
 
So far today, the testimony has been "is there anyone up in here other than Trump and Eastman who thinks the VP can reject the electors?"


Answer: "No."


Trump camp: "But seriously, can he do this?"


"No. Actually, no."



Trump camp: "No, but really...can't he just throw the election for Trump?"


"I don't know if you heard me the first time, but no. In fact, hell no."



Trump camp: "Listen, I'm just saying..."


"Let me be clear: Fuck no."



Trump camp: "Great. So we'll go with demanding VP Pence reject the electors."


"Oh FFS."
 
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