Fiendish Thingy
Fiendish Thingy's JournalDoes anyone know if Manchin shorted the market on Friday?
We can assume Manchin knew his remarks yesterday would cause turmoil in the markets today (perhaps he even anticipated that Goldman would downgrade projected 2022 US GDP as well).
Anyone who knew on Friday what Manchin was going to say on Sunday could have made a nice windfall today…
It’s a fair question.
To all those impatient with AG Garland: is it time to start impeachment hearings?
Since it appears that President Biden doesn’t intend on firing Garland, impeachment appears to be the only recourse.
Many here on DU are certain that the lack of information, or even confirmation of, a DOJ investigation of Trump and the January 6 coup architects, is solid proof that there is indeed no investigation.
Since Garland promised investigating January 6 would be his top priority as AG, and since there is now “proof” that he has not fulfilled that promise, impeachment should be a slam dunk, and would almost certainly have bipartisan support.
I’m sure you could get support from Josh Gottheimer or Ro Khanna or some other “centrist” Dem to pursue this after the Christmas recess.
You also probably should start thinking of who Biden could get confirmed to replace Garland…(not who you think would do a better job, who you think could get confirmed)
Note to juries:
I’m not advocating Garland be impeached, only pointing out that those who are fed up with Garland, and certain he is not fulfilling his oath, impeachment seems to be the only recourse left.
Monkees/Mike Nesmith - Me & Magdalena
From their final (not counting the 2018 Christmas album) 2016 album to celebrate the Monkees 50th anniversary, Good Times.
Stunning harmonies by Mike and Micky:
Excellent summary of DOJ's January 6 investigation/prosecutions at emptywheel.net
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/12/08/a-taxonomy-of-the-visible-january-6-crime-scene-investigation/If you have posted on DU complaining about Garland and DOJ’s supposed lack of action against the insurrectionists, this is essential reading to avoid embarrassing yourself further.
A sample:
Proving these interlocking conspiracies would be vital to moving up from the militias, because it shows the premeditation involved in the assault on the Capitol. DOJ hasn’t rolled this out yet, but they seem to be very very close.
(Snip)
But in the last six months or so, it seems that DOJ has been more selective about which of the 2,000 – 2,500 people who entered the Capitol they choose to arrest, based off investigative necessities. After all, in addition to being defendants, these “MAGA Tourists” are also witnesses to more serious crimes. Now that DOJ has set up a steady flow of plea deals for misdemeanors, people are pleading guilty more quickly. With just a few exceptions, the vast majority of those charged or who have pled down to trespassing charges have agreed to a cooperation component (entailing an FBI interview and sharing social media content) as part of their plea deal. And DOJ seems to be arresting the trespassers who, for whatever reason, may be useful “cooperating” witnesses for the larger investigation. I started collecting some of what misdemeanant’ cooperation will yield, but it includes:
Video or photographic evidence
Hard as it may be to understand, there were parts of the riot that were not, for a variety of reasons, well captured by government surveillance footage. And a significant number of misdemeanor defendants seem to be arrested because they can be seen filming with their phones on what surveillance footage does exist, and are known to have traveled to places where such surveillance footage appears to be unavailable or less useful. The government has or seems to be using evidence from other defendants to understand what happened:
(Snip)
TV lawyers seem certain that Trump could be charged with incitement, without considering that to charge that, DOJ would first have to collect evidence that people responded to his words by invading the Capitol or even engaging in violence.
.
Much more at link- highly recommended.
Marcy Wheeler shreds those who whine that Garland is taking too long to indict Trump:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/12/03/ten-things-tv-lawyers-can-do-rather-than-whinging-about-merrick-garland/It’s not that I don’t understand the gravity of the threat. I absolutely share the panic of those who believe that if something doesn’t happen by midterms, Republicans will take over the House and shut every last bit of accountability down. I agree the threat to democracy is grave.
But there is no rule that permits DOJ to skip investigative steps and due process simply because people have invested in DOJ as the last bulwark of democracy, or because the target is the greatest threat to democracy America has faced since the Civil War. DOJ investigations take time. And that is one reason why, if people are hoping some damning indictment will save our democracy, they’re investing their hopes in the wrong place, because an investigation into Trump simply will not be rolled out that quickly. Even if Trump were indicted by mid-terms, the Republicans have invested so much energy into delegitimizing rule of law it’s not clear it would sway Fox viewers or even independent voters.
I can’t tell you whether DOJ will indict Trump. I can tell you that if they do, it will not come in time to be the one thing that saves democracy.
Lots, lots more at link- this is a scathing, detailed, evidence based take down of the media’s prevailing narrative. Highly recommended.
The President's party ALWAYS loses the VA gov race the year after a new president takes office
This year is no different than 1977, 1981,1989, 1993, 2001, 2009, 2017.
People are overthinking this WAAAY too much.
In fact, this may be the narrowest Democratic loss in 40 years.
Sen. Warren is optimistic that a deal on Build Back Better is near:
Sinema sees Paris
Jayapal on Rachel just now: CPC will vote no on bipartisan bill if Senate doesn't pass BBB first
She implied that Pelosi’s scheduled vote this Thursday on the bipartisan bill is a “soft” date, and the vote won’t happen if the senate hasn’t passed the Build Back Better reconciliation bill first.
Also, Jayapal told WaPo last night that CPC “no” votes on the bipartisan bill (before reconciliation passes) grew from from 40 no votes on Friday, to 60 no votes yesterday. Those will all be “yes” votes once the reconciliation bill passes the senate.
Jayapal and her caucus aren’t playing. This could be the most intense legislative week in Congress in a long time.
EDITED TO ADD:
The centrist saboteurs are floating the talking point that only the “framework” for the reconciliation bill needs to pass the house and senate (what Jayapal has called “pre-conferencing”) before Thursday in order to vote on the bipartisan bill in the house, however, Jayapal made clear tonight on Rachel that passing the framework alone is not enough to gain the support of the CPC on Thursday- they won’t support the bipartisan bill until the reconciliation bill has passed.
The AZ Fraudit didn't prove a damn thing
I sure wish folks would stop saying “the AZ audit by the Cyber Ninjas proves Biden won by even more votes!”
That kind of framing gives legitimacy to a corrupt process that was anything but legitimate.
Better framing:
“The AZ Fraudit failed to prove Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen.”
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