# Jan 6 Hearings Follow-Along & Commentary Thread (Starts Jun 9, 2022) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 9, 2022, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940 "2022-06-09T22:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 133
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2643 "2022-12-21T18:37:26Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Thinking further, though; if that Guardian article is right, and there’s a charge carrying significant prison time which it should be trivially easy to convict Trump of, why not swing for the fences and try to convict him of anything you think a jury might buy? Here in Texas, our AG has been under indictment for 7 years. It’s intolerable. My concerns with Trump are 1) massing all kinds of complex charges will give more grounds for delay, because he will use every opportunity to do so 2) a very real possibility that he drops dead any day now. Some haste is called for. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2644 "2022-12-21T19:06:44Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Also to take note of how seriously most elections workers take doing their job with integrity and in an ethical way irrespective of their personal politics, as you pointed out. I never worked at a poll on election day but I was on the ‘Accuracy Panel’ watching them process and count the ballots at the registrar’s office thirty years ago in Santa Clara county. There were literally hundreds of people in the warehouse working in pairs, opening the sealed tin boxes from the precincts then the sealed box within actually containing the ballots and checking them over for hanging chad, being [Votomatic cards](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Votomatic.jpg) before handing them off to be counted in the actual warehouse, constantly verifying numbers and signatures. The bulk of them were church people who would then donate the $25 paid to the church but there were other organizations and individuals as well. The overall buzz and atmosphere was the same you get from jurors and veniremen at the courthouse, there to do a job with as much integrity as they can muster. Like you, I get pissed at people who bray about election fraud with no idea of how the process works. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2645 "2022-12-21T21:06:10Z")
This thread is probably played out, but for one last topic: The Republican response has been released. > Link to report found in tweet. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2646 "2022-12-21T21:36:28Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > a very real possibility that he drops dead any day now. Personally, I’ve been working on the assumption that, at least in part, this is all taking so long is because they’re hoping he’ll die (or become incapacitated) before this ends up in court. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2647 "2022-12-21T23:11:32Z")
Actually, I am a moron. Completely forgot the full report is being released today. Here are the interview transcripts (34 of them): [https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/release-select-committee-materials](https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/release-select-committee-materials) ETA: lol, while the most common word in the English language is ‘the’, if you read these transcripts it looks like the 2nd most common word is “fifth”. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2648 "2022-12-22T00:23:59Z")
When I was in high school, occasionally we used to have school wide assemblies and you were supposed to go directly to your next class when they were over. If you took more than 5 minutes you could get in trouble. One time, my entire math class decided to test the “what’s she gonna do, she can’t send ALL of us to the principal’s office” theory. So we lingered after the assembly and ALL ( more than 20 or us, and only two chickened out) came in 15 minutes late. It worked. The teacher just rolled her eyes, shook her head and started class. That reminded me of the way these people used the 5th Amendment. They invoked the fifth amendment to refuse to answer factual questions that were both public record and utterly uncontroversial, like their age or job title. Every one of them should’ve been cited for contempt, and if they’d pulled that stunt at a criminal proceeding they’d have been held in contempt and thrown in jail. The “what’s she gonna do, she can’t send ALL of us to the principal’s office” gambit worked again. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2649 "2022-12-22T00:38:28Z")
Basically, it says, “You knew that we were going to attack the Capitol to stop the election, so why didn’t you beef up security even more?” And basically claims that Democrats are solely responsible for Capitol security, and wanted the attack to succeed for reasons? TBF, my eyes glazed over and rolled up in my head while bushwhacking my way through that dreck, so some nuance of their lies may have been omitted. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2650 "2022-12-22T00:39:03Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > The “what’s she gonna do, she can’t send ALL of us to the principal’s office” gambit worked again. We’ve got lots of prison cells, and if we get low, we can always release some non-violent offenders. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2651 "2022-12-22T00:54:14Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > They invoked the fifth amendment to refuse to answer factual questions that were both public record and utterly uncontroversial, like their age or job title. I’m not sure if you were thinking contempt because they were generally obstructing things or, what I was thinking, which is that since a case could be made that they effectively refused to identify themselves, there’s no proof that they actually showed up. Aren’t all these ‘please state your name/birth date/job title for the record’ questions specifically there to prove you are who you say you are? OTOH, maybe it’s part of their next big scandal. Maybe in a few weeks we’re going to find out that they all colluded with each other and agreed to decline to divulge that information under oath because a few of them would either have to perjure themselves or admit that some of those basic facts are falsifications. I mean, I doubt it, but it really is anybody’s guess these days. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2652 "2022-12-22T00:55:54Z")
Of the 5 or 6 interviews I browsed, no one refused to identify themselves. It’s just that a lot of them stopped answering right after that. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2653 "2022-12-22T00:56:52Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Basically, it says, “You knew that we were going to attack the Capitol to stop the election, so why didn’t you beef up security even more?” And basically claims that Democrats are solely responsible for Capitol security, and wanted the attack to succeed for reasons? > > TBF, my eyes glazed over and rolled up in my head while bushwhacking my way through that dreck, so some nuance of their lies may have been omitted. Thank you for taking the bullet. Your sacrifice will not have been in vain. 🎺 taps 🎺 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2654 "2022-12-22T01:24:57Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The Republican response has been released. Jim Jordan is listed. I’m not interested in a criminal’s “report” of his own crime unless it’s in the form of a confession. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2655 "2022-12-22T01:34:09Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > They invoked the fifth amendment to refuse to answer factual questions that were both public record and utterly uncontroversial, like their age or job title. Every one of them should’ve been cited for contempt, Uh, no. You can’t hold someone in contempt for exercising their Constitutional rights. They are perfectly entitled to withhold their age or job title. ANY fact could potentially be evidence against them. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2656 "2022-12-22T01:36:08Z")
Perhaps the word she was searching for was “obstruction”. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2657 "2022-12-22T02:11:00Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > “Ebenezer Trump, on this Christmas Eve, you shall be visited by three indictments…” Posts that make me laugh out loud. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2658 "2022-12-22T02:14:52Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > What is amazing is how many lawyers have put their licenses on the line. This is something I’ve wondered about a lot. How does Trump attract so many bad lawyers to do his bidding? Especially after they saw the bus-throwing-under of MIchael Cohen, one of Trump’s most loyal sycophants ever. I just don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2659 "2022-12-22T02:31:36Z")
Either they thought they were better, they were promised something they desperately wanted (money, fame, professional prestige, social status etc) or Trump had dirt on them, or some combination thereof. I’ve always assumed he has dirt on people that have no reason to even think they’re on his radar. Why else would random local politicians (or attorneys) from nowhere, USA suddenly turn MAGA and put themselves in the national spotlight for no apparent reason other than that they’re endorsing him. Alternatively, he really is just that good at manipulating people. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2660 "2022-12-22T02:32:01Z")
Because there are lots of bad lawyers? About half the people out there are below average at anything resembling reasoning, comprehension, literacy, and self-reflection. Turns out things like college degrees and professional certifications don’t actually filter for that kind of smarts. What I’ve come to believe over the last number of years is that people are generally incapable of comprehending the world we live in. It’s become too complicated, and that complexity has grown beyond our ability to react rationally or wisely within it. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2661 "2022-12-22T02:52:03Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > This thread is probably played out, but for one last topic: The Republican response has been released. I haven’t seen such whitewash since Tom Sawyer’s fence. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940/2662 "2022-12-22T03:05:05Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > This thread is probably played out, but for one last topic: The Republican response has been released. Is that the official report of the GOP, or just five morons? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940.md?page=132) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jan-6-hearings-follow-along-commentary-thread-starts-jun-9-2022/965940.md?page=134)