I hope they are investing very heavily in wildfire prevention and control. This year looks like a nightmare in the making. And there’s still lots that could be done to lessen the effects, even simple things like hiring labor (at whatever price it takes) to create fire breaks and cleared spaces around buildings.
What human beings?
I listened to the last part of that hearing.
I think the most significant moment, and one which hasn’t been reported on, was when on of the officials testifying, and I’m 95% sure it was Christopher Miller, said he couldn’t fully answer a question because he was no longer a government employee with physical protection and he was concerned about his and his family’s physical safety should he answer fully and honestly.
And no one thought it was worth reporting on, or worth mentioning. The Republican Party is literally running a protection racket to shut people up.
No one will say what we all know happened, that President Trump had everyone so fully intimidated that no one dared take any actions to protect the Capitol from the totally predictable events on January 6th. There’s not going to be any smoking gun or incriminating conversations, after four years everyone knew their place and what they should and shouldn’t do.
It’s true that T. Administration criminals are currently receiving protection due to the mindset that descended on Washington beginning 20 January 2017.
The one and only thing that makes this slightly less depressing and soul-wrenching, is imagining the state of affairs after EIGHT years of a Trump Administration.
Of course the Congress would dutifully have declared F.G. the winner no matter how few legitimate votes he’d gotten in the sham elections that would have occurred. Of course there would have been a few years, already, of actual executions of critics and journalists. Of course the Jan 6 mob wouldn’t have had to bother to come to the Capitol—they’d have been deployed, instead, against all those still resisting, nationwide. Hell, there would be Open Season posters up everywhere, and mass awarding of Medals of Honor to those who were doing the extrajudicial killings.
Not that this makes it bearable that justice will (very possibly) never come for those responsible for January 6. That will never be tolerable.
But…oh, the danger we slipped away from. It’s still there, waiting. But perhaps we will come through.
Sitting back and enjoying this mornings cup of Schadenfreude, brought to us by Proud Boy leader Ethan Nordean on January 20, when he saw Trump’s final pardon list:
Source:
The good: Nordean sees Trump and Republican leadership as totally corrupt. The bad: he doesn’t appear to be moderating his views; he seems to still support regressive minority power and despise representative democracy.
Trump supports are evil basterds.
To repurpose an Oscar Wilde observation, one must have a heart of stone to read Ethan Nordean’s lamentation without laughing.
Yes, Trump is evil, but not sufficiently evil for the Proud Boys.
This. I have indeed seen various bits in the news about some of these plus-que-right-wingers backlashing against even the most right-wing elected politicians, even Trump, for not being right-wing and evil enough.
Josh Hawley (fist in the air): Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!
But it’s alright because, you see, the other side was doing it already.
He said he knew his wife would going to vote for Trump anyway, authorities said. The “other guys” were cheating, so he would give the former president “another vote,” Morphew allegedly said — apparently referencing the 45th president’s incessant claims that the election was stolen from him.
Preemptive retaliatory voter fraud is the best kind, y’know.
Can we dare hope for an indictment before the end of 2021?
I doubt it will occur before Agent Orange moves to NJ for the summer, but apparently FL is putting together a game plan should it happen there:
Earlier this week, former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara told Slate that he sees a “decent likelihood” of Trump being charged and according to a new report, local Florida officials do too.
Per Politico:
Law enforcement officials in Palm Beach County, Fla., have actively prepared for the possibility that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance could indict former President Donald Trump while he’s at Mar-a-Lago, according to two high-ranking county officials involved in planning sessions. Among the topics discussed in those meetings: how to handle the thorny extradition issues that could arise if an indictment moves forward.
An obscure clause in Florida’s statute on interstate extradition gives Gov. Ron DeSantis the ability to intervene and even investigate whether an indicted “person ought to be surrendered” to law enforcement officials from another state—which means that as Mar-a-Lago prepares to close down for the season and Trump relocates to Bedminster, N.J., it isn’t just the Florida heat he’s leaving behind: He could lose a key piece of political protection.
Other articles I have read say Vance is likely to seek indictments before he leaves office at the end of the year. That would be a really nice holiday present, imo.
I wonder if they’re shrewd enough to not announce or even make any moves at all until he’s in NY, NJ, or at least outside of FL?
Better if they do it while he’s still in Florida. That would force their asshole governor into a devil’s choice: Give up Trump to the Feds and kiss his chance of any higher public office goodbye, or shelter him, and kiss his chance of any higher office goodbye. DeSantis is screwed either way. Plus, it puts the disgraced, twice-impeached former president basically under house arrest. If he leaves the state he gets arrested immediately.
That’s not even getting into Yellen ordering his detail to drag his fat ass onto a plane at Patrick AFB.
I can’t imagine they’d announce anything - that makes no sense. And if there’s a a fear factor, I guess the rest of us could figure that out if he decides not to leave FL at all. I’d bet on him not trying to show that, possibly to his detriment.
I’m afraid that I don’t understand how DeSantis is screwed if he doesn’t allow Trump to be extradited. I’d love for DeSantis to be collateral damage, but it seems he’d be hailed as a hero. Can you expound on that?
DeSantis has higher aspirations. “The base” is now down to about 25%. If he shields the disgraced, twice-impeached former president, he’ll lose every other voter in a national election. That kind of shit may be catnip to the crazies, but it’s ammo galore for any and every person running against him.
Could he get re-elected in Florida? Sure. That state’s just as fucking loony as he is. But the national stage, after what we’ve been through? No way. The big donors would shut him out.