Another “look what you made me do!” The cry of an abuser.
This is great news.
I think this is what Republican fascists want, and what they intend to do going forward. They deliberately obstruct the function of the legislature to the point where democrats, who represent what the majority of people in this country want in terms of policy, are unable to carry out the will of the people. So they either do nothing or they take extraordinary steps, like eliminating the filibuster in certain instances, or using reconciliation to get bills passed, or removing people who obviously won’t act in good faith from committees. Republicans then use this as a pretext to destroy more democratic norms going forward. Obstruction itself is a weapon of authoritarians that seek to gain control of a country’s politics.
Pelosi has officially announced that Kinzinger will serve on the select committee.
Pelosi appoints Kinzinger to 1/6 House select committee - CNNPolitics
Yay. I’m happy he said yes.
I am as well, although I would’ve been surprised if he said “No”. He did an interview with The NY Times and talked about how, on the morning of January 6th, he took his gun to work and told his staff to stay home and his wife to stay in their apartment because he saw the threats on Twitter.
Then he said that he suspected other Congressmen were complicit and needed to be investigated but he wasn’t going to name names. Then he changed his mind and named a name -Lauren Boebert- saying that when she tweeted “Today is 1776”, he knew what she meant.
I’m glad he’s going to be investigating. I have a lot of respect for him - while being sad that my bar for “respect” is set so low. 5 years ago, I probably would’ve hated everything he stood for, now he’s “on my side” just because he’s defending democracy.
Here’s a link to the NYT magazine piece
And, if that’s paywalled, here’s a Hill piece about the story
Kinzinger seems like a stand-up dude. I just wish he’d give up his party affiliation but that’s another thread.
I have no problem with a principled, rational conservative. In fact the country needs that. I don’t sit up at night hoping for president AOC and a congress full of Bernie Bros, though I do agree with them in spirit on a lot of issues. What I’d like to see is a diverse political body that is rational, flexible actors on both sides.
I reject the idea that conservatism means that they can’t change or bend on anything. I think conservatism at its finest is kind of like that mature adult figure that explains to his/her college-age son/daughter in a nice way why they can’t just treat a credit card like free money. At their finest, conservatives are realists. The problem with today’s American conservatism is that they believe a whole bunch of shit that just isn’t real or based on facts.
My synapses cross easily when mixing up Kinzinger with Dan O’Toole .
Not sure if I can think of any issues that I really disagree with them on. Just sucks that they’re constrained by the present situation.
Briefly looking back - Friedman? Podhoretz? Buckley? Kristol? Blech, phooey.
Free trade is the least onerous (and actually ok) conservative policy that comes to mind.
Well said, asahi. I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, today’s GOP is more a personality cult than a healthy, rational political party.
Interesting…
The U.S. Justice Department in a court filing on Tuesday declined to defend Republican congressman Mo Brooks in a lawsuit that alleges he conspired to instigate the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Brooks had asked the Justice Department consider him covered by the Westfall Act, which protects federal employees from being sued for actions taken as part of their jobs, concerning the lawsuit brought by Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell.
Came in to post that.
Also interesting is that the DOJ is not blocking former Trump officials from testifying (a move radically away from Former Guy’s policies):
Looking forward to hearing them talk out of multiple sides of their mouths at the same time when questioned. But they’ll probably dodge the subpoenas somehow.
I’ve been spending most of my time in the “big house” in the last few days, since the couch in my trailer has collapsed. Most of the time we’ve been watching the Olympics, my Disney+, or my landlady’s Say Yes to the Dress.
But my landlord loves Fox News and Newsmax, and believes everything they say. He worships at the feet of Donald Trump, and thinks that Alex Jones is “the tip of the spear against the New World Order”.
So he finally put on Fox News in my presence for the first time in a long time today, and I was raging within five minutes.
On “The Five”, that fuckin’ idiot Greg Gunfeld described the Capitol riots as a minor inconvenience. As congressional business being interrupted for two hours; big fuckin’ deal. I found myself in the unlikely position of agreeing with Geraldo Rivera when he called him out on his bullshit.
He’s the tip of something, certainly.
The GOP are blaming Pelosi for the attack.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/republicans-blaming-pelosi-jan-6-122152539.html
“The American people deserve to know the truth that Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility as speaker of the House for the tragedy that occurred on Jan. 6,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the party’s No. 3 leader…
Looking past the motivations of the mob or Trump, Republicans said it had been up to Pelosi and her leadership team to protect the Capitol from the attack…
I realize the names can be easily confused but when did Pelosi get a job with the Capitol Police?
Pelosi, Polise, Police… What’s the difference?
In all my years of getting in trouble I never thought of blaming my behavior on my mom’s inability to properly parent me . . . guess that why I’m not a Republican/conservative.
Considering all of the bridges that Republicans burned for Liz Cheney, I’ll be that she is going to go for the throat here. It won’t result in Trump going to jail, I’m sure, but I think she’s going to expose her so called friends in a big way. I hope, anyway. But I do think so, too.
So if I rob a bank and injure a guard… can I blame the mayor for not having more security at the bank?