SO THOSE POLITICIANS AND PUNDITS DOWNPLAYING THE COUP ATTEMPT TEXTED WHAT?

 

So the past week The House Select Committee on 1/6 come across some definite revelations regarding what happened back on January 6, 2021.

Documents released to the committee by former chief of staff to the Mad Fuhrer (Now Currently in Exile at) Mar-A-Lago Mark Meadows (who was supposed to cooperate and testify to the Committee but backed out last week) have found that while the coup attempt was going down in the Capital, several politicians were texting him asking him to tell the Mad Fuhrer (a/k/a: now former electoral vote winner Donny) to tell those who stormed the building to stop and go home.  In addition Fox News personalities Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Bryan Kilmeade texted Meadows asking him to get his boss to stop what went down. All of this while the Mad Fuhrer watched the violence on TV and refused to comment or take action to halt it for several hours. 

So why are these text messages important? Some people would say they don't mean much or that they didn't believe that add pure was in fact responsible for the capitol on January 6th. However, if that were the case I would they be texting Mark Meadows ask him to speak to his boss? When they just be asking the police for help? The answer to these questions lies in two the text messages themselves those Meadows by Fox News personalities.

For example the politicians who texted Meadows while this is going on we're asking for help because they were being ambushed. They were warning of violence at the Capitol building that was going down at the moment. Later on many of these Coupublican politicians but deny that there was violence on January 6th with some referring to it as a normal protest and one congressperson all in the mob that stormed the capital "a tourist group (never mind that no one in a tourist group as ever had attacking police officer for blue lives matter flags, stealIng fixtures and documents, are busting into a main number what chance to hang someone - in this instance co electoral vote winner Mikey - as part of their itinerary).

The texts to Meadows from two of the Fox News  personalities who contacted him that day are especially telling. Laura Ingraham's text urged Meadows that " the president needs to tell people to go home" and that he was " destroying his legacy." Kilmeade's text seconded what Ingraham said claiming that those involved in the insurrection were " destroying everything [now former el electoral vote winner Donny] had accomplished." it is telling because, even though publicly that night they would downplay the violence that happened at the Capital (with Ingram even suggesting it was possibly started by activist from Black Lives Matter or Antifa), they're private text to a chief of staff urged him to get his boss to say something to stop what was going down. In other words, they knew the shit was bad and had a pretty good idea who was the blame for riling everyone up tell a March to the Capital and then and decided to see search through the capital injury not only Capital police officers but even some of their own that got caught in the stampede.

Yes  a case could be made that their statements on the air left some gray area as to who is responsible. Still, if they really thought that b l m or antifa or the ones responsible for this do they think that they would have stopped because the Mad Fuhrer  told them to?

The truth is they knew, or had a pretty good idea, who was responsible for the tragedy that happened last year because their guy didn't get the election results he wanted. In fact, one particular text that we haven't mentioned yet pretty much goes straight to the point of this.

In a series of texts to Meadows the Mad Fuhrer (Now Currently In Exile at) Mar-A-Lago's oldest son Little Donny urged Meadows to tell his father that " he needs to make an Oval [Office]address" and that this had " too far and had gotten out of hand." he also told Meadows that his father needed to "condemn the shit ASAP."

Put aside the strangeness of Little Donny texting his father's Chief of Staff instead of calling his father outright, what is text is that that some of this may be planned but didn't expect results to be as violent as they ended up being. As a result this awkward questions that people need to be subpoenaed and made to testify about.

Was the storming of the capital planned? If so, who was responsible for planning the siege?  If the administration knew about it then how far up  did the knowledge of this go? Until we get some clear answers on this the coup attempt is going to be problem or if you know of any are held to account.

Like the Fox News commentators numbers in Congress who downplayed the coup attempt Little Donny has done his part to try and deflect from what the texts he sent Meadows actually said your suit texted Meadows on that January Wednesday afternoon Little Donny also ask some idea of where are the responsibilities lies for the events of that day as his father stirred shut up and had his fans march toward the Capital to try and overturn the election results claiming  he might join them (as I said earlier in this piece he didn't join them but watched it on TV instead). While they later downplayed what had happened that day all the people who texted Meadows contacted him try and get the match your to stop the storming of the Capital. The fact The Meadows is trying to claim executive privilege the reason not to testify  (even though he has his own coming out on his time at the White House) shows that really didn't do much to try and make boss do something to Halt the coup attempt that day.

If these were normal times the committee would be far more of a news item than it is now. However for too long scandals have been allowed to pop up and then disappear when the pundits of the corporate controlled mainstream media go on to something else in pursuit of ratings or to distract from some issue those who owned media Outlets stop focus on.

Regardless there needs to be accountability for what happened on January 6th. We need to know how far up the ladder the attempted coup planning went, if anyone from the previous dministration was involved, and what - if anything - did the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago know about this. Until these steps are taken The Coop applicants will continue to not take this seriously and think no one needs to be held accountable for it.

If we don't want another coup attempt to happen again in this country we need to make sure that someone is held accountable for this.

SOMETHING DEMOCRATS NEED TO LEARN AND TAKE TO HEART

 

It’s the end of 2021. We’re one year into the Biden-Harris administration and the 2022 midterm elections are about 11 months away (give or take a few days).  And the Democrats are in trouble.

Recent polls show the Democrats taking a plunge in support from the general public – or at least those willing to take part in a poll or survey.  Much of President Biden’s agenda has been held up at the moment not just by Coupublicans but by two Dems in the Senate (Joe Manchin [WV] and Kyrsten Sinema [AZ]) who’s refusal to support abolishing the filibuster much less anything that could raise taxes for wealthy donors or actually provide concrete support for those people who may need it the most has not only forced Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to scrap key parts of the Build Back Better agenda, but also hurts an already fragile Democratic party majority in both houses of Congress.  All of this has the mainstream media predicting the Coupublicans resuming control of at least one house of Congress in the midterms, despite said party refusing to accept the severity of the January 6, 2001 coup attempt or fully deal with very real problems this country still faces.

So what needs to be done?  Mainstream pundits in the corporate owned media claim the Dems are in trouble for adopting policies that are supposedly "too far left."  They claim this is losing the elusive suburban moderate, citing the recent loss to the Coupubs in the VA Governors Race. However, the far left of the party are the ones fighting hardest to try and get most of Biden's agenda passed. We';re also living in a time when many people are leaving jobs that a lot of them can't afford to quit due to a mix of COVID, not being paid enough, and increasingly untenable working conditions. Add to this a rise in workers strikes with some gaining the most amount of ground since before Reagan fired the air traffic controllers back in 1981.  

This is where the Dems need to put their energy and focus. Over the past few decades they've shifted focus from the working class to the upper middle class and the suburbs with mixed success (Bill Clinton's two terms as President is cited though the 1994 Repub counterrevolution was a fairly large slide backwards, for example). It also led them to try and emulate what the Coupublicans used to be, causing them to move even further to the right in the process.  As a result, those the Democrats could get as solid voters have gotten overlooked in hopes of gaining Coupub voters who tire of the culture war shtick. 

This tends to fail more than they succeed.  

So what should the Dems do?  They should embrace what's going on and focus on working class issues such as making the minimum wage a living wage, improving access to healthcare (including where it applies to reproductive justice issues), and the like.  This, along with making sure we focus on the truth about our history as something to reckon with and make this place better are a couple of things that the establishment democrats should do, not just as a strategy, but because it's the right thing to do.

Will the establishment democrats do this? I wish I could say yes. However, given that both parties in the U.S. listen to wealthy donors way more than actual people I have a fear they'll gladly throw themsleves on a grenade to keep that gravy train flowing while those they're supposed to help suffer.  It;s easy for those in power to accept repeatedly losing what they're supposed to get for their voters as long as they make money.

Times are hard now, both in realistic terms as well as politics. The Democrats are in trouble but it isn't terminal. Still, unless they move away from trying to be a slightly less hard right imitation of the Coupubs and become devoted to actually helping those they represent then even abolishing the filibuster (which they should've done months ago) might not help them when all is said and done.

WAITING FOR THE VERDICT - THOUGHTS ON THE DEREK CHAUVIN MURDER TRIAL

As I type this the jury for the Derek Chauvin murder trial in Minneapolis, MN has entered the first full day of deliberations before reaching a verdict.  While most of us have our thoughts on the former cop's guilt or innocence it now lies in the hands of 12 people. With that in mind a few thoughts are in order.

Let's start with the guilty or innocence issue. What we do know is that Chauvin's knee being of the neck of George Floyd for almost ten minutes is what led to the latter's death. While Chauvin's defense has claimed Floyd died of  complications of previous medical issues in conjunction with that (hypertension, drug dependency issues, etc) medical experts called by the prosecution stated in their testimonies that those deaths would appear different  during the autopsy than they did in Floyd's case (his autopsy ruled his death a homicide). When added to evidence that wasn't allowed in the trial (such as Chauvin's history of police misconduct complaints - over 15 in the course of his career) as well as testimony from bystanders that Chauvin's knee remained on Floyd's neck minutes after George Floyd was unconscious [a couple of reports have said the knee remained even after Floyd died) and it's clear that Chauvin's act was a large reason why George Floyd died that late Spring afternoon.l  

So was it murder? Hard to say. Chauvin is charged with 2nd degree murder, 3rd degree murder, and manslaughter. Because of this we know that it wasn't premeditated. However, his actions would likely garner a guilty charge of murder if the defendant hadn't worked in law enforcement. This exact charge is up to the jury to decide so anything here may be speculation.  

As for the trial itself, the fact the prosecution went for the jugular in a trial involving a police officer is a change from normal. Due to the difficulties of a police officer's job [both real and perceived] it's hard for an officer to be charged if an incidence of misconduct ends up killing someone. In some cases DA's overcharge and then don't do the best job prosecuting the case in the trial. This is also made difficult by the face that a prosecutor often has to work with police on their cases for the state, which requires them to walk a tightrope. In this case though several police officers, including the MPLS chief of police, testified that Chauvin violated policies on use of force. In addition, the prosecution on this case predicted a lot of what the defense might do and countered a lot of it early on. The defense did what they could with what they had but, when their best expert witness is being sued on the grounds he reportedly helped police in Maryland cover up a death, there are some stumbling blocks that - unless they're hoping for a mistrial or jury nullification - might not work well for them.

So should Derek Chauvin be convicted?  Personally I say he should, even if only of manslaughter. While he may not have planned to kill George Floyd the fact that an off duty first responder told an officer at the scene that Floyd was losing consciousness and was ignored when she told them they needed to get the knee off of Floyd's neck shows that things that might (emphasis on might - we can't know for sure) have changed the outcome of this shows that the officer's actions are a main factor leading to Floyd's death.  And all of this over the reported passing of a counterfeit $20.00 bill - something that nobody should be killed over. 

However, as I stated earlier in this, while many of us outside the jury can believe Chauvin is guilty of at least manslaughter if not 3rd degree murder, it's up the the jury to decide. They have to put aside any of the media information they may have seen before the trial and focus on the evidence they were given.  Is it possible that they'll find Derek Chauvin guilty? Yes. It can also end up in a not guilty verdict or a mistrial, depending on those 12 jurors and how they read the evidence.

And speaking of mistrials...Chauvin's attorney (Eric Nelson) yesterday in the closing arguments tried to use the statements of Rep. Maxine Waters (D, CA), who stated that Chauvin should be found guilty and that, if he isn't, people need to become vocal vocal and more confrontational, as something that would taint the jury, While the judge dismissed that he stated that they could use that in the mistrial., While that, and the reading of jury instructions when he did (before closing arguments when normally they're read after closing arguments wrap up) are odd it's hard to say whether the jury will take those into account.  Also, as Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks pointed out, nobody asks for a mistrial if they think they're winning.

So will the jury bring a guilty or not guilty verdict for Derek Chauvin? Who knows. We do know that, regardless of the verdict it will be tense out in the streets. Here's hoping the tension doesn't become an explosive powder keg.

A FEW VERY BRIEF THOUGHTS ON THE DEREK CHAUVIN MURDER TRIAL: THE SAD, THE INFURIATING, AND THE WEIRDLY UNDERSTANDABLE

Today marks day five of the Derek Chauvin murder trial in Minneapolis, MN. Chauvin is the former police officer from Minneapolis that faces  charges of 2nd degree unintentional murder, 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd after he and three other officers confronted him over Floyd reportedly passed a $20.00 counterfeit bill at a nearby store, creating a scenario that eventually ended with Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck for between 7 to 10 minutes, including several minutes after Floyd lost consciousness - all caught on cell phone video by bystanders (a nearby video from another angle finds three of the four officers with their knees on Floyd), provoking a summer of unrest that pushed the country only slightly towards reckoning with issues such as police misconduct and systemic racism. 

Like a lot of people I've been forced to rely on snippets and news summaries to see what's going on with the trial; mainly because I have work obligations and other things that have to be done.Because of this I won't go massively in depth over  the case. Instead I want to bring up a few things that have caught my attention. So here's the sad, the infuriating, and the weirdly understandable.

Let's start with the saddest fact. In one of the bystander testimonies an off-duty firefighter who was on the scene and ended up calling 911 as things happened testified that she saw that Floyd's face looked puffy and swollen and that fluids were releasing from his body. She also said she tried asserting herself as a first responder in an attempt to help him but was rebuffed by the officers (she testified one of them - who was standing in a defense position between the officers and the onlookers - rold her that if she really was a firefighter then she'd "know better" than to get involved). 

What makes this truly tragic is that, while hindsight is 20/20 and one can "woulda, shoulda, coulda" anything to death, it's possible that if she were listened to then maybe the outcome would've ended up different.  Again that's not a guarantee but at least an effort could've been made to keep him alive where his reported crime (the passing of a counterfeit $20.00 bill) could'[ve been handled by the legal system rather than the events leading up to Floyd's death.  

The infuriating part of all this is something that's totally to be expected - the decision of the defense to try and put George Floyd on trial for his own killing, claiming Chauvin and his fellow officers had no choice but to take the actions that ended up killing George Floyd. This is a common move over the past decade, especially in cases where white police officers end up killing unarmed black people. Because of that (and the defenses attempt to paint Floyd as either some mythical being with superhuman powers or too nodded out on drugs to function safely) it's one of the standard ways defense attorneys in these cases try to make a case for the officer having no choice but to kill the person they're on trial for killing. What's infuriating is not just that it seems to work most of the time but that it's almost considered a normal defense.  

And then there's the weirdly understandable - the testimony of the clerk at the store pointing out that he couldn't tell if the $20.00 bill was legit or counterfeit and wasn't trained to tell the difference. For a lot of people who've worked cashier positions this rings true to some degree (especially for those working in smaller places) as there might not be training on how to spot a counterfeit bill or not.  The bill could've been counterfeit, it might not have been/ Either way it shouldn't have been a detah sentence for George Floyd.

Those are a few thoughts on the trial from what I've gathered and how ti stands thus far. I do want to add that I find it interesting that there are some cops who may be testifying against Chauvin (including one who testified that Chauvin should let his knee off of Floyd's neck once the latter was handcuffed and not resisting - Chauvin kept it on way longer).  It's interesting because it almost never happens. This means something went way wrong (even with the jury not baing able to hear about the previous police misconduct cases against Chauvin, this is big news).  

At this point one can't say what the verdict will be. While it's possible that Derek Chauvin could be convicted of either murder or manslaughter it's equally likely that he could get off for some reason or another (given how hard it is to prosecute a police officer this is well within the realm of possibility). What is apparent though is that there's something different in this case that calls for some kind of reckoning in the bigger social and political pictures. 

Whatever verdict the jury reaches, this is a stepping stone and the struggle for justice will continue.

WHAT TO TAKE FROM THE COUPUBLICANS REFUSAL TO CONVICT THE MAD FUHRER IN EXILE AT MAR-A-LAGO OF INCITE TO INSURRECTION IN HIS SECOND IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

 So a couple of days ago the second impeachment trial of the Mad Fuhrer in Exile at Mar-A-Lago was wrapped up. A vote of 53-47 found him guilty of incitement to insurrection for getting people riled up leading to the coup attempt on January 6, 2021. Unfortunately, since the impeachment requires a two thirds majority in the Senate to convict this actually means he's acquitted of the charge (even if only on that technicality). With a pretty much dead even Senate (VP Harris can be the tie breaking vote when needed)  they needed 17 Repubs to actually put country over their party - only seven were willing to do so. Since there's more than enough coverage over what this means (the emboldening of extremists on the right and wondering if people are more prepared for the next coup attempt which, if the response form law enforcement is like the one last month, mightbe successful), I want to focus on something else.

One of the bigger questions is why the Coupublicans refused to stand up and purge the Mad Fuhrer in Exile at Mar-A-Lago from his influence in their party, making sure he can';t run for public office again as a result.There are two things we can take from this. The majority opinion is that the Coupub Senators are afraid. Afraid of the Mad Fuhrer in Exile at Mar-A-Lago's wrath for sure, but more likely of their voters - the majority of whom support the Mad Fuhrer and have been whipped up into a rage by them over false claims of voter fraud and conspiracy theories that cast anyone who opposes the Mad Fuhrer as a satan worshiping pedophile or some other nauseating bullshit with no fucking basis in fact). While this does play a role (look at what voters at an airport in his home state of South Carolina attacking Lindsey Graham when he decided not to challenge the election did to get him back in line with nose firmly up the Mad Fuhrer's ass for an example), I think there's another conjecture (some would even say conspiracy theory) that deep down can be drawn from this,.

THE COUPUBLICANS WERE HOPING THE COUP WOULD BE SUCCESSFUL!!!!

I know this is conjecture at this point and any evidence is circumstantial at this point but I do think we have to consider this.  

First, the majority of Coupubs in national office were more than willing to flirt with the thought that The Mad Fuhrer In Exile at Mar-A-Lago really won the election but had it stolen by voter fraud (i.e.: black and brown voters coming out and voting) or some other nefarious force to force Biden upon them. Some may have only mildly hinted but didn't denounce such theories. Others went whoel hog on embracing said bullshit and trying to kiss the Mad Fuhrer's ass. Regardless, decades of a right wing echo chamber helped build a situation where any truth that didn't fit their curren belief system is discounted and, in some cases treatede like it doesn't matter, even in the face of overwhelming evidence otherwise.

Now it's important to point out that, after the participants in the coup attempt left the Capital, Congress eventually came out of hiding and resumed the ceremonial vote to count the electoral votes as most of the 13 Senators that originally planned to challenge certain states electoral votes decided to stop challenging the vote and accept the election results. There are a number of small things (including the fear and shock of surviving such an event) but there's also a more selfish reason - IT HAPPENED WHILE THEY WERE IN THE ROOM!!!!!

Yes, seeing the angriest portion of your base storm in with weapons while a gallows is being built outside and people come in wearing flexicuffs (what the zip ties technically were) and hoping to arrest co electoral vote winner Mikey can put a jolt of fear that seems rhetorical when spinning a bunch of lies in a case of trying to out Repub your fellow Repubs while having a sense you'd never have to see what the result was.  However, in some of the cases (especially when one notes that the House COupubs kept their challenges even after the coup attempt), one gets a feeling that if it happened and the room only had Democrats in it they'd gladly want to grab some popcorn and watch whatever tortures and executions happened with a sadistic sense of glee for their entertainment.

See, even though the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago (now the Mad Fuhrer in Exile at Mar-A-Lago) was horrible to everyone who wasn't kissinfg his ass he did give white supremacists and white conservative christians a lot of what they wanted from court appointments to  repeals environmental regulations to making racism more acceptable for one political party to show more and more of as long as they didn't open shout out the N word. And guess what groups are the main demographics for the Coupublicans now?

As for this being a facotr in why the Coupubs wouldn't convict the Mad Fuhrer, it's a mix. In the case of Senators Joshy and Teddy both are being conisdered poptential presidential candidates for 2024 and feel they need to feed the increasingly toxic fanbase the Mad Fuhrer has created (it also helps that said toxicity melds neatly into many of the beliefs of both of these creatures). For others it's a cynical shift to hold power and try and prevent Biden's administration from doing anything (much like what they tried during the Obama years). House minority leader Addison who looks like a turtle's speech claiming that Donny was responsible for a lot of what happened on January 6th even though he earlier voted to acquit him on grounds that it was unconstitutional (though the charges were filed nine days before the Mad Fuhrer left office and Addison kicked the can down the road until the turnover so he could claim this horsehsit) is more a power play than anything else.  When added to th emix polls claiming a majority of Coupub voters would leave the party if the Mad Fuhrer would leave the Coupubs and start a new party and this has some validity.

Still, in the end, I have to say that their "acquittal" of the Mad Fuhrer in Exile at Mar-A-Lago shows that, even though a month earlier they were jolted by the reality of what their eliminationist horsehit broughr, it's clear that their desire for power over principle finds most Coupublicans in the space of being willing to risk another coup attempt and hope that it benefits them. I hope I'm wrong about that but given how the Coupubs have been acting (especially state parties who are still trying to overturn the election) it seems apparent that a majority of Coupublicans in national office would be fine withe another coup attempt (and hope it would be successful) as long as  it doesn't happen when they're in the room and only their opposition gets tortured and killed int eh process.

Here's hoping Democrats pay attemtion and realize that you can't reason with a Coupub most of the time mainly because it's likely they, on some level, want anyone who disagrees with them tortured and killed if it woould keep them in power.  

In the meantime the Mad Fuhrer in Exile at Mar-A-Lago still remains a figure to reckon with in the Coupublican party and, as long as teh party he's still the head of refuses to do the right thing to save the country and inste3ad choose their grip on power, we're still in the dangerous age of MAGA gone wild where conspiracy theories demonizing and dehumanizing your opponent are more important than the truth and a narrow interpretation of one religion is allowed their own facts and can impose them on the rest of us.  Because of this, eternal vigilance means being on guard against whatever coup attempts the Coupubs and their friends have in mind more than any foreign threat these days.

As I said earlier a lot of this is conjecture and I hope I'm wrong about this, but as we see senators like Gym Class Jordan and Devin "I'm gonna sue my ficitonal cow" Nunes try to blame Nancy Pelosi for the coup attempt despite overwhelming evidence that the Mad Fuhrer stirred this shit up and let the coup attempt loose while we went home to watch it on TV it's more than apparent that too goddamn many Coupubs in national office seem like they'd be okay with a suiccessful coup attempt as ong as they got the heads up and weren't in the room when it happens.

HEALING AND UNITY WIHTOUT ACCOUNTABILITY IS BULLSHIT

 As I type this it's been a week and a half since the Capital building riot on Jaqnuary 6, 2021 that, in retrospect, seems to be a failed coup attempt to stop the electoral vote count and overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election. While the coup attempt, thankfully, only delayed the inevitable vote count it has left a deep wound and many questions regarding security issues at the Capital building in DC and wondering what role the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago and his minions had in instigating this (enough, according to the House of Representatives that he's being impeached a second time - just days before his term is supposed to end). However, there's another issue that's emerging in all this garbage that needs to be addressed.

In the aftermath of the riots, a number of right wing pundits and Repub (Coupublican?) politicians have been urging president elect Biden and the Democratic controlled House of Representatives to drop impeachment proceedings against the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago rather than hold him accountable for what role he may have played in this mess. Those promoting this line of thought claim the country needs "healing" and :"unity" in this time and that impeachment would only "bring on more violence" at this time. While the mainstreeam media, under the illusion of being neutral and non partisan, air this with the illusion that these folks are arguing in good faith it is, in fact, bullshit.

First off, this intention of this line of reasoning is based more on plausible deniability for the Mad Fuhrer than anything else. At first, many of the right tried to claim that it was antifa activists pretending to be fans of the Mad Fuhrer that stormed the Capital. However, this was undercut by participants often going on social media and claiming that they were acting on the invitation of the President. They then attempt to claim those who rioted were anarchists, which [unfortunately and stupidly] drew a little more traction even amongst some mainstream media types and Democrats who seem unable to understand the simple reality that those following a philosophy that's mostly anti authoritarian and against all bosses and leaders would never support the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago and the Coupublicans. 

Since then the arrests have come at a semi brisk pace. Anger first mounted as the coup people were allowed to leave the Capital building with minor incidents. In the time sense, social media (and the white privilege that made these idiots think they could post these acts wihout consequence) led to the police and FBI arresting a lot of them - many on seemingly minor charges though some may get more serious down the road. It also brought to light reports from one Congressperson saying she witnessed Repub colleagues escorting people in tactical gear on a tour of the Capital, including some possibly verboten areas.  It also brought to light racial tensions within the Capital police where some officers were trying to fight off those in the coup while others took pictures with them and gave them directions to certain places. Some of this may be proven to be conjecture in due time but what does emerge right now is a system unprepared for something lie this to happen, even when reports have emerged that they were warned about it days in advance (and social media accounts of those involved found them planning often in plain sight). Because of this there needs to be accountability.

So what action do we take? Some have suggested going further into a security state but much of this could've been stopped if they enforced the laws they already have. Also, more laws regarding terrorism may backfire as police use them to target black and brown communities instead of the white supremacists and militias that have grown into this threat. 

What can be doe involves government involvement in this coup attempt, especially those in the House and Senate that objected, may have helpd plan it, or some combination of both. First off Senators Joshy (Josh Hawley [R, MO]) and Teddy (Rafall Edward a/k/a/ Ted Cruz [R, TX]) have to go. Joshy was seen leaving th eCapital building just as the marchers were about to take it over and giving them a solidarity fist while bothe Jishy and Teddy continued to object to the electoral count in Pennsylvania even after the coup attempt failed and the vote eventually resumed. They may claim it was out of concern but it was a way to appeal to the base. They should be made to resign but, since that';s unlikely, they need to be removed from office. This also goes for those repubs in the House who objected to the electoral votes as a way to try and overturn the election as well.

As for the reports that have emerged that aides to some of those in Congress may have helped plan the coup attempt with three Congresspeople helping plan the event that may have led to the riot itself.  These need to be investigated and, if found to be true, people need to lose their jobs at best if not face charges for their role in this shit.  In addition, some off duty police and military people have been found to have taken part in the coup, which means they should be fired from their jobs and face charges for their actions. Admittedly this might be easier to do in the military due to the Uniform Code of Military Justice as well as those in the military have taken an oath to uphold the constitution. Regardless, it's something that needs to happen.

That takes us to those who claim we need healing or more violence will happen. While some in the media are thinking these people act in good faith they really aren't. What they're actually doing is threatening violence if they don't get their way and couching it in plausible deniability. While there may be times that this might be a useful tactic in negotiation, in this instance it becomes another example of trying to make the Democrats give the Repubs what they want or else.  So far it appears this isn't working mainly because Repubs in both Houses of Congress were thratened, leading a handful of them in the House to vote for impeachment, making the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago the only leader in the U.S. to have been impeached twice. Now it's up to the Senate whehter or not to convict.

Does calling the Repubs bluff mean more acts like this won't happen in the future? That can't be answered at this time. What we do know is that if the government fails to hold those truly res;ponsible for this coup attempt accountable for their actions and tried to focus on healing and cries of false unity without the need for real accountabilitiy, then it's definitely likely to happen again somwhere down the road - and that time might be successful (which, on soem level, I personally think those Coupublicans crying for unity noiw really want). 

 And that is why calls for healing and unity on a national level without actual accountability is bullshit. Let's just hope those in the legislative branch realize that and don't fall for the Coupublicans trap.

WHAT A SURPRISINGLY SURREAL DAY - OR HOW THE MAD FUHRER OF MAR-A-LAGO'S MINIONS ALMOST GOT THE COUP FOR HIM

Let's talk about yesterday's bullshit coup attempt the fans of the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago tried to pull.

Yesterday was sup[posed to be merely the day a joint session of Congress counts the electoral votes in the final step to declaring the winner of the Presidential election back in November. In normal times this would be a non issue with, if there's any news coverage at all, any coverage buried in a small news article buried deep near the back of the front section of the newspaper. By then usually whoever lost already had conceded and this would be a mere formality.  However, this was before the reign of the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago,

The Mad Fuhrer decided that even after losing over 60 court cases in various state and Federal court to try and overturn his loss to Joe Biden that he'd stir the pot and have a big rally for the more angry and vengeful of his fans to come and try and fuck shit up in Washington, Naturally the milita types and christian extremist fanatics decided to take him up on the offer and hit the nation's capital to try and sitr up some shit. 

Tuesday night had the humorous moment of some of these so-called protests falling into some obvious police kettling situations and/or trying to start fights with the cops. However, the day of the rally the Mad Fuhrer gave a speech that instigated the crowd and told them to march to the Capital, even claiming he might join them (which, of course, he didn't preferring to hide in the White House instead). Once atg the Capital the rioters trashed the place, breaking windows and some doors to try and reach either the Senate or House chamber (both the Senators and Congresspeople were rushed into lockdown at a moment's notice with a couple of interns (are they interns or pages") grabbing the boxes with the electoral ballots and taking them to safety moments before they took the Senate chamber, armed with a mix of weapons, Trump and QAnon flags, and creating a menace as they chased the Capital cops who actually tried to do their jobs (as opposed to the assholes in their ranks who decided to take selfies with these arguments for why abortion should be encouraged).  When all was said and done four people were dead and a number of people were injured., 

While the rioters thought they were instigating a revolution, their coup did backfire as they were eventually forced out in a way that angered a lot of activists who noted that they took a far harsher stance with Black Lives Matters protestors (whose protests nationwide last summer were over 90% peaceful) along with people who have actually been arrested for protests at the Capital and know the Capital police are more than willing to arrest people in a far more harsh manner than they treated these rioters.  Even overlooking the seeming kid gloves treatment these idiots got from the cops it backfired in that not only did the military not drop everything and join them but what they did actually scared some Repub Senators off of challenging the election results (though seven did challenge Pennsylvania including TX Senator and often considered the most hated man in Senate Ted Cruz and Missouri Jr. Senator Josh Hawley (whom we'll refer to as Sen. Joshy from now on). In fact Sen. Joshy was phtotgraphed walking by and giving a raised fist in solidarity with the rioters just before the shit went down.

We'll leave a few tips on how to look at this for the next post but let's look at what they thought would happen and what actually did.  These rioters thought that they could attack and bully their way into stopping the vote count and believed that doing so would keep the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago in office as election winner. Instead, a number of hours later the vote count resumed with the only states challenged being Arizona (which happened just before the riot) and Pennsylvania. In both cases the challenges were unsuccessful and somewhere around 4 to 4:30 am Eastern time it was official that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election.  

It was a surprisingly surreal day that began with news of the Georgia runoff election results being puple leaning blue with the win of Rev. Raphael Warnock and news during the riots that Jon Ossoff was declare the winner in the other runoff (thus giving the Senate an even number of seats with the Repubs (with VP Harris being the 51st vote when ties need to be broken) and ended with many angry (including a number of Repubs) over the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago's bullshit inciting violence that led to a coup attempt and four people dead in the crossfire.

We still have two weeks until inauguration day and it's going to be a rough ride.

GEROGIA RUNOFF ELECTION THOUGHTS

 As I the this it's a few hours until the polls closed in today's runoff elections in Georgia for the U.S. Senate seat.  While early reports and early polls according to Five Thirty Eight) show Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev, Raphael Warnock with a two point lead over Senators Pewrdue and Loeffler (the latter appointed in the interim after the resignation of Sen. Johnny Isakson for health reasons), that remains within the margin of error which means the election can go either way. I've ever heard a prediction that it may be unlikely that we;ll know who wins tonight. Because of this here are a few thoughts to keep in mind.,

First, early polls have shown Warnock and Ossoff with a slight lead (Democratic voters have taken COVID more seriously and are more willing to vote early). However, it's the ground game on election day that will make the difference and traditionally Repubs tend to vote on election day itself. Because of this the runoff can go either way with either the Democratic eke-ing out a slim majority for the Senate (with VP elect Kamala Harris, once VP, being the tie breaker) or the Repubs (a/k/a: Coupublicans) getting a slim majority in the Senate but acting like they have a damn mandate to do everything to make Biden a one term President and make sure nothing gets done with Senate Majority leader Addison the Turtle doing just what he did during the Obama years. Between election day turnout, how the votes will get counted and the issue of absentee ballots this means that it's in the air and that nothing should be taken for granted.

Also of note is the reason for the run-offs is the third candidates in the race with Perdue facing off against both Jon Ossoff and Libertarian candidate Shawn Hazel and Loeffler (who's election was a special election due to Isakson's retirement facing off against both Warnock and former Rep. Doug Collins. These candidates might have gotten just enough votes to force runoffs in both races but it's hard to say. It did seem to have enough of an effect to make this possible so in the runoffs with just two candidates it's hard to say what voters for third candidates might go.  

So what will happen now? Time will tell. If the Democrats win there may be some steps in the right direction. If the Repubs win it'll likely be a mirror of what went down during the Obama administration with total obstructionism and the Repubs doing everything to make sure we don't move forward as a nation.

Here's to hoping things don't get too damn bad.

THE MAD FUHRER WANTS HIS 11,780 VOTES AND HE WANTS THEM NOW....

 I expected a lot of things as we turned the corner into 2021 and we enter what appears to be (and, if there's any remote sense in the world, should be) the last few weeks of The Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago's stranglehold on the country. With the Georgia Senate runoff elections just a couple days away it should be clear that eyes would focus on that and whether Democratic candidates Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will defeat interim Senator Kelly Loffler and Senator David Perdue (respectively) due to a mix of strong turnout (which appeared to happy early in this runoff) and whether Repubs would boycott claiming its rigged (a possibility I don't think is all that likely since Repubs tend to always vote and have for decades).  Then, a day after the runoffs Congress will hold a joint session where electors votes are counted and Joe Biden will finally win the 2020 Presidential election. While this should be something we normally don't pay attention to because of how routine it is, the Mad Fuhrer's legal team keeps refusing to throw in the towel means this is still an issue. However, on Sunday January 3, 2021 the Washington Post reported something that comes truly out of left field.

Yes, I'm talking about the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago's phone call with the Georgia Secretary of State that lasted an hour and had electoral vote winner Donny badgering, threatening, and pleading with the Georgia SOS to find 11,870 votes (one more than the amount he lost to Biden by). This has pretty much shocked people who aren't drinking the Mad Fuhrer of Mar-A-Lago's non carbonated soft drink mix (with added water that's likely from a place similar to Flint, MI) but, even when just focusing on the main clip that got leaked there's some simple things we can take from this.

First, I think it's pretty apparent that Donny violated both Federal and GA State election laws with even the excerpt that got the most mileage. Within one segment Donny implied that Repub voters in Georgia might not vote because Donny didn't win the Presidential election and that both the Secretary of State and his legal counsel could face charges.  At one point he even tried to claim that he won because his rallies were bigger (somehow overlooking the fact that not everyone at said rally is a GA voter [some may be too young, others may come from a neighboring state] and that attending a rally isn't the same as casting a ballot) than Biden's (who rallies were kept small due to COVID protocols and not wanting people to get sick)., This is obviously an attempt to threaten or otherwise influence in some way a state official to change the result of an election.

Now, in any other times, a President who said this shit and got caught would likely face immediate removal procedure under the 25th Amendment. At the very least this is impeachable and, even at this late date, steps would be taken. For better or worse, that is unlikely to happen in part because he only has three weeks left in office (provided the Repubs' coup attempt on the 6th isn't successful) and it seems easier to wait it out. However, there are demands of Federal investigations into Donny and his minions over this call so time weill tell how this goes. 

Also, this was a violation of GA election laws which means it is feasible that the Mad Fuhrer would be arrested if he ever sets foot in Georgis. While this is a feasible step, the state is run by Repubs (even though both the Secretary of State and the Governor remain on Donny's shit list) and are unlikely to take that step to ensure things are fair.  

So what now? Hard to say. While it may be unlikely that this gets Donny out of office prematurely it does show that he is committing acts that should be investigated and may be continuing to commit crimes. Regardless, this adds another log onto the fire of things he and his minions might maybe sort of get jailed for in the long run.

Time will tell.