Novara
Novara's JournalMore on Pence, the insurrection, and the Secret Service
Charlie Pierce has the scoop:i first got interested in politics through paranoia. (As the years have gone by, I’ve found that this was the best kind of introduction I could have had.) I devoured political thrillers about dark doings in Washington, D.C. Seven Days in May was my gateway drug. There was Night at Camp David, about a president who went crazy, and Vanished, about a secret peace conference, and the self-explanatory The President’s Plane Is Missing, about another secret peace conference. There was Fail-Safe, the classic about an accidental nuclear exchange. If you dig deep enough, you find that my politics were formed as much by Fletcher Knebel as by anyone else. However, this early reading has become increasingly relevant in recent weeks as we steadily discover that we actually had a half-mad president* who plotted to overthrow the government. Air Force One, I presume, is still where it’s supposed to be.
Over the weekend, speaking at Georgetown, Rep. Jamie Raskin brought us back to a genuinely scarifying tale that emerged concerning what happened with then-Vice President Mike Pence during the height of the violence at the Capitol. It came from an excerpt in the Washington Post from a book by the Post team of Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker published in July of last year:At that moment, Pence was still in his ceremonial office — protected by Secret Service agents, but vulnerable because the second-floor office had windows that could be breached and the intruding thugs had gained control of the building. Tim Giebels, the lead special agent in charge of the vice president’s protective detail, twice asked Pence to evacuate the Capitol, but Pence refused. “I’m not leaving the Capitol,” he told Giebels. The last thing the vice president wanted was the people attacking the Capitol to see his 20-car motorcade fleeing. That would only vindicate their insurrection.
At 2:26, after a team of agents scouted a safe path to ensure the Pences would not encounter trouble, Giebels and the rest of Pence’s detail guided them down a staircase to a secure subterranean area that rioters couldn’t reach, where the vice president’s armored limousine awaited. Giebels asked Pence to get in one of the vehicles. “We can hold here,” he said.
“I’m not getting in the car, Tim,” Pence replied. “I trust you, Tim, but you’re not driving the car. If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off. I’m not getting in the car.”
Wait. The vice president refused to obey his Secret Service detail because he was worried that the driver, also from the Secret Service, would abscond with him and Pence would be unable to complete the certification ritual that would make Joe Biden president? And, according to Leonnig and Rucker, this wasn’t the only scene of the Grab Pence drama.Around this time, [Pence’s national security advisor Keith] Kellogg ran into Tony Ornato in the West Wing. Ornato, who oversaw Secret Service movements, told him that Pence’s detail was planning to move the vice president to Joint Base Andrews. “You can’t do that, Tony,” Kellogg said. “Leave him where he’s at. He’s got a job to do. I know you guys too well. You’ll fly him to Alaska if you have a chance. Don’t do it.”
More in the link.
I fear our society is too damaged to repair
I am old enough to remember that it was a good thing to tolerate the other side of politics, even when you didn't agree.
I am old enough to remember when people taught their children to be kind.
I am old enough to remember that if you wanted respect, you extended respect to others.
I am old enough to remember that people apologized when they said or did something thoughtless.
I am old enough to remember when people tried not to purposely offend others in their daily lives.
I am old enough to remember when society was just that - a society. A group who shared this planet.
I am old enough to remember it wasn't cool to be an asshole for the sake of being an asshole.
I am old enough to remember when people respected others instead of making childish jabs at them just because they can.
I am old enough to remember when adults mostly acted with maturity around children instead of acting at their level.
I am old enough to remember when people strived to be positive role models for others.
I am old enough to remember what unselfishness is.
I am old enough to remember what kindness is.
I am old enough to remember what respect is.
I am old enough to remember what integrity is.
I'm not old enough to feel like I belong to some ancient out-of-touch generation because I value respect and tolerance and kindness and I try not to be an asshole. I am 60, not 100 years old. It wasn't that long ago when people were decent and kind just because it's the right thing to do.
Michigan state senator hits back at Republican who claimed she was a pedophile for supporting equali
Source: RawStory
Michigan Republican Lana Theis accused a Democratic state Senate colleague of being a pedophile because she supports LGBTQ+ equality.
Sen. Mallory McMorrow took to the Senate floor Tuesday to respond to allegations Theis made in a fundraising email saying Democrats and McMorrow are “trolls” and “groomers” that “sexualize” children. It's part of a QAnon conspiracy that Democrats are kidnapping children to drink their blood in Satanic rituals and traffick them.
One of the most notable pieces of the conspiracy was Pizzagate, in which QAnon claimed there was a trafficking ring in a DC pizza parlor. It led a man to show up with guns trying to save the children. He was shown that there was no basement in the building and no children being abused. He's now in prison for four years.
When Theis delivered a prayer last week telling God that there are “forces that desire things for them other than what their parents would have them see and hear and know.” That, she concluded was Democratic pedophiles trafficking children.
In response to the allegations on Tuesday, McMorrow said that Theis is accusing her of being a pedophile simply because she stood up to Theis' homophobic attempt to score campaign cash.
"I sat on it for a while wondering why me? Then I realized... I’m the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme," tweeted McMorrow. "Because you can’t claim that you’re targeting marginalized kids in the name of 'parental rights' if another parent is standing up and saying no. So, you dehumanize and marginalize ME. You say I’m one of THEM. You say she’s a groomer, she supports pedophilia, she wants children to believe they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they’re white. Here’s a little background on who I really am."
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/michigan-republican-groomers-allegations-destroyed/
Multiple Injured After Shooting at South Carolina Mall
Source: Daily Beast
At least 12 people have been injured following a shooting at a South Carolina mall, authorities said Saturday. Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said three people have been detained in a connection to the non-fatal shooting at a Columbiana Centre Mall in Harbison, South Carolina. Of the 12 people that sustained injuries in the shooting, Holbrook said 10 of them were hit by gunfire and two were injured while exiting the mall. Eight people were taken to a local hospital for treatment and two remain in critical condition. “We don't believe this was random,” the chief said, adding that at least one of the detained individuals opened fire at the mall. “We believe that the individuals that were armed knew each other and there was some type of conflict that occurred that resulted in gunfire.”
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/multiple-injured-after-shooting-at-south-carolina-columbiana-centre-mall
THIS is what happens when everybody thinks they have to carry a gun everywhere.
We don't know much about the DOJ's Jan. 6 inquiry. Here are 4 things we do know.
Source: Washington Post
snip..........
First, the criticism that the Justice Department has decided not to go after defeated former president Donald Trump is, from all appearances, false. The department continues to reaffirm it has not ruled out going after anyone. A grand jury, the New York Times reports, is already “asking for records about people who organized or spoke at several pro-Trump rallies after the election,” including two events before Jan. 6. It is also seeking “records about anyone who provided security at those events and about those who were deemed to be ‘V.I.P. attendees.’ ” The grand jury has also requested evidence “about any members of the executive and legislative branches who may have taken part in planning or executing the rallies, or tried to ‘obstruct, influence, impede or delay’ the certification of the presidential election.” Ostensibly, that would include Trump and former vice president Mike Pence.
snip...........
Second, none of this means that the Justice Department is acting with a sufficient sense of urgency. The rationale that the feds have to start at the bottom and work their way up — as though this were a Mafia case — makes no sense.
Prosecutors go after foot soldiers if they have no real proof the kingpin has engaged in criminal activity. But the former president has shouted from the rooftops that he wanted Pence to overturn the election. And there is an audio recording of Trump trying to twist the Georgia secretary of state’s arm to find just enough votes to flip his state’s results. Former senior advisers have written books, blabbed in TV interviews and testified before the Jan. 6 committee concerning communications with Trump and other senior advisers.
snip..............
Third, there is one investigation of which the Justice Department is properly deferring to a state prosecutor. Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., has impaneled a grand jury to investigate Trump’s pressure campaign against secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to manipulate the Georgia’s vote totals.
snip..........
Finally, it doesn’t really matter whether the Jan. 6 committee makes a “referral” to the Justice Department suggesting criminal prosecution. A referral, although the media and lawmakers have made much ado about it, would have no real legal significance, especially because the Justice Department is already well along in its investigation.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/10/doj-justice-department-investigation-jan-6-donald-trump-prosecution/
Jan. 6 Panel Has Evidence for Criminal Referral of Trump, but Splits on Sending
Source: NYT
WASHINGTON — The leaders of the House committee investigating the Capitol attack have grown divided over whether to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department of former President Donald J. Trump, even though they have concluded that they have enough evidence to do so, people involved in the discussions said.
The debate centers on whether making a referral — a largely symbolic act — would backfire by politically tainting the Justice Department’s expanding investigation into the Jan. 6 assault and what led up to it.
Since last summer, a team of former federal prosecutors working for the committee has focused on documenting the attack and the preceding efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to reverse his defeat in the 2020 election. The panel plans to issue a detailed report on its findings, but in recent months it has regularly signaled that it was also weighing a criminal referral that would pressure Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to open a criminal investigation into Mr. Trump.
...
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/us/politics/jan-6-trump-criminal-referral.html
DO IT. For fuck's sake, THESE ARE POLITICAL CRIMES! It can't NOT be political.
That orange shitstain is vowing that if he wins the presidency in 2024, he WILL use the DoJ to go after his political enemies.
And the J6 committee is wringing its hands????
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Member since: Fri Apr 10, 2015, 07:15 AMNumber of posts: 5,851