DC Unrest Megathread

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Trump will probably not be removed from office under the 25th Amendment, but his congressional enablers like Cruz and Hawley might like to read the 14th Amendment. It was passed in the aftermath of the Civil War, but it's still perfectly valid today.

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

Nothing will come of that.

You cannot remove politicians from Congress for voting a certain way, even if what they were doing was craven and inflammatory. Doing so would do more to "destroy democracy" than that horrible mob did. Unless Trump's "congressional enablers" were also out there giving mob-inciting speeches like he was then it would be wrong to attempt to abuse the 14th Amendment to remove them.

What about this?

Colorado Rep. Boebert Under Scrutiny For Tweets Relaying 'Intel' During Capitol Attack

The tweets, which received fresh scrutiny after being widely recirculated by Boebert's critics on Sunday, were sent in the minutes after a violent mob of President Donald Trump's supporters breached the Capitol building on the afternoon of Jan. 6. As rioters, who killed one U.S. Capitol Police officer and injured many others, began rampaging through the building and vocally targeting elected officials, Boebert's Twitter account relayed information concerning the whereabouts of members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"We were locked in the House Chambers," Boebert tweeted at 2:17 p.m. One minute later, she added: "The Speaker has been removed from the chambers."

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CNN on air is reporting Mr. Trump considers pardoning himself, Don Jr. and Rudy for their role in the terrorist attack.

Which would be an admission that they committed federal crimes by inciting it.

Donald's put himself in a a dilemma. If he pardons himself before his second Senate trial, that's effectively a confession that he should be removed from office. But if he waits for the verdict, he'll lose the ability to abuse his office by an illicit self-pardon.

My prediction is that he waits until the Senate is voting and then self-pardons before the outcome is final.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

New footage that allegedly shows the rioters planning their assault on the Capitol.

https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1349348254694170626

https://twitter.com/HeatherWhaley/status/1349389303479230464

(The battering ram is, as may have already been mentioned, yet more evidence that the Capitol assault was premeditated by some of the attackers. Nobody hauls around four-inch poles for protest signs.)

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https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1349208280535617536

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https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1349492130578919425

Too little, too late. Trump appears genuinely chastised for the first time in his Presidency.

Criminal caught red-handed says, "crime is bad and can't we just let bygones be bygones" after he's given an trial date.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

As Donald Trump puts out statements written by his sane lawyers to try and defend himself, one of his insane lawyers makes a statement of his own.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1349521903686455298

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https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1349547450340675584

(Those betting on Donald being dragged kicking and screaming from the White House shouldn't give up yet.)

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https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1349525755802185728

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Mods please delete the Bohemian Rhapsody crap.

Bismillah! No - we will not let it go!

Let it go.

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Maybe I'm missing a rules change, but I'm really failing to see what the basis is for GOP whining about the metal detectors and security screen before entering the House floor. Did the 117th Congress rules package change  the exception for members of Congress from the ban on firearms in the Capitol?

If it didn't, then the rules are the same as they've always been: members can carry their weapons in the Capitol, but not on the floor (without explicit permission from the Sergeant-at-Arms). Are the Republicans whiners claiming they've previously been violating the long-standing ban of firearms from the House chamber? If so, they should be expelled. Are they afraid to to ask the Sergeant-at-Arms for a waiver? If so, why? (I'm sure these men and women who want to carry firearms in the very chamber of the august body in which they serve are all extensively trained and regularly practiced in their use. Anything less would be grossly irresponsible.) Or is the firearms whining really a cover for something else they don't want revealed  by metal detectors? 

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Maybe I'm missing a rules change, but I'm really failing to see what the basis is for GOP whining about the metal detectors and security screen before entering the House floor. Did the 117th Congress rules package change  the exception for members of Congress from the ban on firearms in the Capitol?

If it didn't, then the rules are the same as they've always been: members can carry their weapons in the Capitol, but not on the floor (without explicit permission from the Sergeant-at-Arms). Are the Republicans whiners claiming they've previously been violating the long-standing ban of firearms from the House chamber? If so, they should be expelled. Are they afraid to to ask the Sergeant-at-Arms for a waiver? If so, why? (I'm sure these men and women who want to carry firearms in the very chamber of the august body in which they serve are all extensively trained and regularly practiced in their use. Anything less would be grossly irresponsible.) Or is the firearms whining really a cover for something else they don't want revealed  by metal detectors? 

None of the members I've seen mentioned firearms in their complaints about the metal detectors.

(Your posts are often provocative, but I don't recall you descending to Trumpian reality denial before.)

https://twitter.com/RepBoebert/status/1349171194046668805
https://twitter.com/laurenboebert/status/1349806701998989312

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https://twitter.com/bradheath/status/1349911849127596039

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https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1350184951224930305

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https://twitter.com/CarolLeonnig/status/1350566269519585280?s=20

But why was he there with 500 rounds of ammo? There is nothing normal about having this amount of ammunition. Something is rotten in Denmark.

While I know nothing more than what was reported, to be fair to Beeler, that's an appropriate amount of ammunition for a few hours at the range.

Some things to keep in mind whenever there's a story about someone found with "hundreds or thousands of rounds of ammunition" (especially if it's at home, which I understand this wasn't): Ammunition stores well. Most people don't want to make a trip to their gunshop every single time they go to the range. Staying in practice with a firearm - which is part of carrying one responsibly, or participating in a sport like combat pistol - requires a regular time practicing at a range. And practice goes through a lot of ammunition. Add in just a dash of prepper, or simple penny-pinching, and what sounds like "huge" ammunition stockpiles can be just as reasonable as having a can of gasoline for your lawn mower and other small engines machines.

Here's what a case of 500 9mm rounds looks like:


One of my pet peeves is that it feels like reporting on firearms comes only in two flavors. Right-wing firearms reporting, which thinks an angels gets its wings every time someone buys a pistol with more tactical rails than they have hands. And left-wing firearms reporting, which breathlessly demonstrates a fearful inability to tell the difference between an 18th century antique and an illegally modified assault rifle.

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https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1351323566747377664

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https://twitter.com/CarolLeonnig/status/1352066474492497921

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Pennsylvania social studies teacher Jason Moorehead was suspended for attending the protest. He and his lawyer speak with CNN's Michael Smerconish.

Watch video here ... https://us.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/01/23/teacher-suspended-for-attending-capitol-stop-the-steal-rally.cnn

What do you guys think about this particular incident regarding this social studies teacher.
I have mixed feelings, but I do feel it strange that someone knowing (or should know) so much about politics/government, would fall for trump's antics about all the "election fraud" hogwash?

It's shocking, but not too surprising, if you give additional consideration to it. As I've alluded to myself before, and as has been noted by other posters on this forum, many genuinely intelligent people, who have substantive academic credentials and legitimate professional careers, have allowed themselves to be suckered in by Trump and by the crazy conspiracy theories which have been circulating. Humans seem to have a mechanism by which they allow their emotions to dominate over reasonable and logical thought.

Indeed, just look at Fuzzy Bear.  

That is correct. Fuzzy Bear persists in his belief that the election was stolen, in spite of the mountains of evidence he's been provided which rebut that belief. And it's especially perplexing given that he is very well-versed about 20th century American history, and doesn't seem to be able to understand how the events of the past influenced those of the present.

This entire experience we have had with Donald Trump's presidency does give you a window, though, into how fascist dictators like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler managed to hoodwink entire populations (including those you'd think would know better) into following them into the abyss.    

Eventually they'll be a doorstopper academic analysis of Trump administration entitled It Happened Here with a subtitle of "And It Can Happen Again".

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1355934447032541187

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https://mobile.twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1356735870846586883

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https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1356956411205455874

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https://twitter.com/RepBrendanBoyle/status/1357006013182976005

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https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1357400266044243970

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The Onion throws in the towel, just starts reporting news:
https://mobile.twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1357441564725936131

The Nancy Mace-AOC feud, briefly explained

On Thursday morning, Mace took to Twitter and accused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) of lying during an account of what she went through on January 6 that she shared during an Instagram livestream earlier this week.

Ocasio-Cortez said that on that day, she feared for her life when she heard banging on doors and someone yelling, “Where is she?” while she hid in a bathroom. She thought the yelling might be coming from Trump-supporting rioters, only to later discover that the commotion was actually coming from a Capitol Police officer.

Mace mischaracterized Ocasio-Cortez’s account. While Ocasio-Cortez never actually claimed rioters entered the office building she and Mace share, Mace suggested she did, tweeting, “I’m two doors down from @aoc and no insurrectionists stormed our hallway.”

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https://twitter.com/Will_Bunch/status/1358493397540036615

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https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1359226729903124480